There’s nothing sexier than rock ‘n roll: The Triple Gangers, Hut and Moves at The Bovine Sex Club

When The Triple Gangers asked me to cover their show at The Bovine Sex Club on December 15th along with fellow Toronto bands Hut and Moves, I had two words in response: Hell! Yeah! I …

A Frightfully Good Time: The 9th Annual Toronto Zombie Walk

“Do you have the bag of sores?” one of my roommates said cheerfully as bacon sizzled in the background. “It’s right here! Where’s the jugs of blood?” the other responded lazily, putting on the coffee machine. Pulling myself from bed, I discovered that my roommates were going to spend the day working on a zombie themed music video…

One week in, Occupy Toronto draws 1,500 to downtown rally

Over a thousand people marched from the camp at St. James Park through downtown Toronto to Nathan Phillips Square on Saturday, one week after the beginning of the Occupy Toronto protest. “I think it’s really exciting and I’m really glad to see this big mobilization today,” said activist and researcher Emily Paradis, accompanied by her teenage son and his friend. After a week and extensive media coverage, it was still unclear…

Protesters occupy downtown park in Toronto version of Occupy Wall Street

Hundreds of people were still gathering in St. James Park on the east end of downtown Toronto late Saturday for the Occupy Toronto protests inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Earlier, reports said about 3,000 people rallied and marched from Toronto’s financial district to the park, the group’s chosen occupation site, at the corner of Jarvis Street and King Street.

The movement, which is against increasing financial inequality and excessive corporate influence in politics, arrived in Canada with…

A Modest Proposal for the City of Toronto (VIDEO)

Sometimes, there’s a little bit of Jonathan Swift in all of us. Mary Hynes is no different. Last week, this feisty senior living in North York, Ontario had some modest suggestions for Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and his plans to make serious budget cuts, affecting the city’s services, most notably the public library system. She got the opportunity to deliver her comments to the mayor in person at the Executive Committee’s Core Service Review panel…

Sluts Unite! SlutWalk Marches in Support of Victims’ Rights

The blogosphere has gone ablaze this week with talk of sluts. Ah yes, reclaiming pejorative terms is perpetually en vogue, especially given recent comments made by a Toronto…

I’m Not There: Craig Fox and The Greenhornes barely show up

When we finally arrived at the Horseshoe, The Greenhornes had just started and were in the middle of Too Much Sorrow from 2002′s Dual Mono. Drummer, Patrick Keeler was actually quite high-energy and fun to watch. He was given a few spots to really shine during instrumental breaks and did finales standing up, crashing down hard on his cymbals.

To the Plateau it Goes – Little City EP Review

Little City, a Toronto based band, is an interesting collective of diverse musicians who bring a variety of talent that is a true replicate of what Canadian music brings to the table in 2011. They are, repeat, one of the best upcoming folk/pop groups in our country. After randomly coming across Little City live at the Velvet Underground in Toronto during CMW, I picked up a copy of their EP, The Going and The Gone. We played it on repeat the whole way back to Montreal. It’s absolutely fantastic. I couldn’t stop saying…

What Does Music Mean To You? A CMW Film Festival Review

Unlike a lot of my fellow Montrealers, I enjoy being in Toronto. So when asked, I was more than happy to be a part of the team that went to cover Canadian music week for Forget the Box. As much as I love festivals I have to admit I’m a cranky little girl without my sleep, so I thoroughly enjoyed dozing off in the car ride back to Montreal on Sunday as the FTB gang listened to all the great new music we’d collected. After what felt like the longest shower of my life and a full night’s sleep for the first time in four days, I feel energized and ready to share hopefully a more detailed and coherent account for you of my time at CMW Film Fest…

CMW Day 2: East Coast Kitchen Party – Racoon Bandit

There were a lot of surprises at CMW, and like I’ve said, the best way (I think) to find a band is to stumble upon them. Meet Racoon Bandit, an east coast gem that will no doubt win you over with their killer, energy packed, live-in-the-moment performance. Racoon Bandit, a PEI based folk/country sounding group, made up of four perfectly honest and modest gentlemen, played at the Dakota right after Alcoholic Faith Mission. Wow. I can’t believe how easily…

CMW Film Fest Day 2: Feeling good, Feeling weird

I arrived at TIFF Bell Lightbox Saturday morning pumped for a full day of movie watching ahead of me, although I must admit I wasn’t on my a game going into day two of the CMW Film Fest. While Chris, Cassie and Jerry go to shows all night, dance around, then sleep in, I was up early to sit in a dark theater all day.

Of all the movies I saw on Saturday there are two that really stand out for me. The first was the Julien Temple documentary about the 1970s English rock band Dr.Feelgood called Oil City Confidential. Julien Temple is…

CMW Day 2: Strangers, Surprises and Old Friends – The Sadies, Sammy Hagar, Gabby Young & Maylee Todd

Canadian Music Week on Friday night led to many unexpected twists, turns, and surprise special guests. Including The Sadies with Ron Sexsmith, and Bachman and Turner with Sammy Hagar and Gabby Young. It was a strange kind of dreamy night where wandering around could lead to anything. Many of the new “independent” bands and performers we saw were also having the time of their life and were really fun to watch. This is what happened

CMW Day 2: Pure Amazement – Alcoholic Faith Mission, Racoon Bandit, Whale Tooth and more

Picking a band is like picking a book it’s all about the name. Don’t judge a book by its cover they say. Don’t judge anything. Judging is bad (or really just part of human nature). We all judge things. We have our opinions, whether you voice it or not, you have thoughts floating around in your mind like cheerios in milk at breakfast. Day two was ultimately amazing (the music gods must have heard my plea for greatness). My adventure started off at the Analogue Gallery. The gallery was lined wall-to-wall…

CMW Film Fest Day 1: Losers, Mods and Rock Stars

As Jerry has already mentioned in his CMW preview, it was not easy for FTB to leave Montreal Thursday morning. We had the best intentions of getting out of town as early as possible, and while we were in the car and ready to go at a reasonable hour, the goddamn snow refused to let us leave the city that morning. Tired and frustrated when we arrived in Toronto, the bad vibe had me really down on the whole CMW experience. Thankfully, that quickly changed…

CMW Day 1: Bored? Try moving your arm dude – Still Life Still @ Horseshoe Tavern

Still Life Still played at the Horseshoe Tavern last night for a packed audience. Having read back in August that they were eyed as one of the 10 bands to break through in 2010 I was expecting more. Their sound was on par, they played good songs, some guy in the front was trying to hump his girlfriend (which I’m assuming is code for Still Life Still is our sex music), and they did what they were supposed to do – stroke their instruments and sing into a mic. Cool, I get it, that’s their thing…but a little more life would have been fun. I guess they’re really trying to stick to their name’s meaning…

CMW Day 1: Endast and Barr Brothers

Toronto is rocking with music and I’m having a great time! The rain hasn’t let up, but anything’s better than the ice blizzard back home. At least I get plenty of great bands to look forward to. Here are a few bands that I got to see last night. Hopefully I will make it. With all this great stuff going on, getting pen to the page and writing is harder then is sounds. Let me tell you about some of the great shows I got to see last night…