Street food, craft beer or music your thing? You're going to want to enter this contest for a chance to win a pair of tickets to CraveTO, Toronto's newest street food festival. It all goes down next Friday May 24th at Evergreen Brick Works.
Get all the details and enter the contest here
Toronto clothing designer Philip Sparks threw open the doors of his Junction factory on the weekend so curious members of the general populace could have a look at where his creations are made. He's been operating out of Toronto for six years and moved to this space last August.
His workspace is nothing like what I imagined a clothing factory would look like. It's not miserable or dingy or full of tiny, long-faced children sewing for their lives. Rather, it's bright, clean, and airy, with only Sparks and two beautiful grownups lacing the garments together.
Check out this series of photos by Kat Rizza detailing what it looks like behind the scenes.
What's open and closed on Victoria Day 2012 in Toronto:
Closed
Open
Transit
The TTC and GO Transit will operate on a holiday schedule.
Fireworks
Check out our dedicated post on Victoria Day Fireworks in Toronto for more info.
One day it's fridge magnets, the next day it's, well, see for yourself. New York-based news and gossip blog Gawker says it's seen a video of Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine, and claims the tape of the alleged incident is available to the highest bidder.
In a sensational blog post, John Cook, the site's editor, claims he visited Toronto with the intention of buying the tape and was able to see a few seconds where Ford "seated, in a room in a house. In one hand is a a clear, glass pipe."
The story continues: "In the other hand is a lighter ... he is red-faced and sweaty, heaving with each breath. Finally, he finds his moment and lights up. He inhales."
The original recording, apparently taken in the last six months, is still at large - the men Cook says he met with are asking "six figures" and were offered $40,000 by a "a Canadian organization," a price they rejected.
The picture that accompanies the post shows Ford with a two people, one of whom Cook identifies as Anthony Smith, a 21-year-old college student. Smith was shot to death outside Loki Lounge on King West at the end of March.
The caveats: this is all alleged, the tape has not been made public, and the veracity of the claims has yet to be proven. Rob Ford and his office have not officially responded, though there is a message purporting to be from a lawyer, Dennis Morris, that accompanies the post calling the accusations "false and defamatory."
This one's still breaking - expect it to be huge.
UPDATE: 22:03
Toronto Star city hall reporter Robyn Doolittle claims she has seen the video at the centre of the Gawker story, but declined to provide further details. Perhaps crucially she referred to it as "the video of Mayor Rob Ford" on Twitter. Michael Cook, the paper's editor, is promising a "huge" story in tomorrow's paper.
Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.
Just hours after New York-based news site Gawker published a sensational story alleging its editor had seen video of Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine, the Toronto Star is telling its own version of how its reporters came to view what appears to be the same astonishing tape.
The video in question is described by both publications as having been recorded in a well-lit room some time in the last six months. The narratives generally match: Rob Ford is seen, incoherent, warming a glass pipe with a cigarette lighter and briefly speaking to those around him. He calls the Don Bosco football team he coaches "fucking minorities," Liberal leader Justin Trudeau a "fag," then "inhales deeply."
Star journalists Robyn Doolittle and Kevin Donovan say they met with a group of Somali men who are trying to find a buyer for the tape filmed some time in the last six months. The reporters saw the video three times in the parking lot of a Dixon Rd. high rise complex on May 3.
"In a video clip less than two-minutes long, an incoherent and rambling Mayor Rob Ford can clearly be seen smoking what appears to be crack cocaine," they write in the story's most damning passage.
The paper was contacted in the wake of accusations made by former mayoral candidate Sarah Thomson related to a gala event the mayor attended in March where he appeared to be intoxicated, it says.
Where Ford goes from here is anyone's guess. Though no-one seems to have paid for the video - The Star denies it handed over any money in exchange for the viewing - it has been lent credence by two reputable news sources.
So far the tape remains in the hands of its owners and it appears no-one except for Gawker and the Toronto Star has seen it.
Ford's staff have refused to speak on the matter, the mayor himself has been silent, but a lawyer acting on Ford's behalf had disputed the contents of the tape. "How can you indicate what the person is actually doing or smoking?," Dennis Morris asked the paper.
We're all wondering the same thing.
UPDATE: 08:38
Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday is the first person close to the mayor to go on the record about the alleged drug video. He says he hasn't spoken to Rob Ford this morning and urges the public to proceed with caution, referring to a video released recently that purported to show a bird snatching a child that turned out to be fake. "They're just allegations until they are proven," he says.
UPDATE: 10:30
Toronto Sun columnist Joe Warmington says Rob Ford's office will release a statement later this morning regarding the allegations. Earlier today Ford was spotted leaving his Etobicoke home for City Hall. Watch this space.
UPDATE: 11:02
Rob Ford has arrived at City Hall to a throng of reporters over an hour after leaving his Etobicoke home. He said "wow, this is ridiculous" as he entered his office. Still no word on that statement or how it will be delivered.
UPDATE: 12:25
Rob Ford left his office to make the following brief statement:
"It's like I said this morning, these allegations are ridiculous. It's another story with respect to the Toronto Star going after me. And that's all, that's all I've got to say."
He's now reading the official proclamation at the PFLAG flag raising, flanked by reporters.
UPDATE: 13:13
Satirical Taiwanese news company Next Media Animation has given the Rob Ford scandal the (completely bonkers) digital cartoon treatment. Their version of events shows the Toronto mayor falling onto school children, running over cyclists and, yes, smoking from a glass pipe. The site is famous for its off the wall videos circulated in the immediate aftermath of major news stories.
Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.
Image: BruceK/blogTO Flickr pool.
It's going to be an interesting day. News broke early yesterday evening that New York-based news and gossip site Gawker had seen a video allegedly showing Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine. The Toronto Star has also seen the recording in question and is corroborating many of the details. Rob Ford's office has yet to respond. Watch this space, folks.
The video is reportedly for sale to the highest bidder. A crowdfunding campaign has been launched in an attempt to acquire the tape at the centre of the scandal. The organizers say the money - currently just $141 - will be donated to CAMH if the purchase is unsuccessful. Does Toronto need to see the tape or is its alleged contents damaging enough?
Elsewhere, Rob Ford has declared Toronto's proposed casino "dead" after a flurry of activity yesterday that saw the head of OLG dismissed and the province admit it's only willing to give Toronto half the amount it expects for hosting a major gaming facility. Ford said he's scrapping an important council debate on the issue. Is this the end for downtown gambling?
Drinkers delight: the LCBO strike has been averted. Union workers have reached a tentative deal with management, cancelling a planned walkout for this long weekend. The agreement still needs to be ratified but at least everyone got a decent stockpile of wine out of this, right?
The latest transportation announcement from the province isn't a subway. The first new project since the city talked transit funding is going to be a provincially-financed extension of Highway 427 north to Major Mackenzie Dr. The 2.2 km stretch is expected to open before 2020 and cost around $500 million.
Toronto's planned sale of disused road signs is garnering an intense amount of interest. The city department responsible for storing the road markers says it has received 2,000 to 3,000 calls since the blogTO story (and later Star story) last week. The stockpile contains about 950 retired road signs.
Finally, here's a picture of coun. Giorgio Mammoliti posing with a panda to soothe you. Mammoliti has been working for years to bring the animals to Toronto and visited China in 2009. He called yesterday's unveiling "a wonderful moment for all of us."
IN BRIEF:
Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.
Image: Randy McDonald/blogTO Flickr pool.
The photos of the week collect each of the editor-selected photos of the day into one post for a contest to be decided by our readers. Sponsored by Posterjack, the photographer whose image receives the most votes will be awarded with a voucher code for a 24"x36" poster print of their work.
All the rules and fine-print can be found in the original announcement post on the blogTO Flickr page. One thing to add, however, is that the voting period ends at 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, after which the winner will be contacted with the good news.
For those photographers whose images are featured below, please feel free to give us a little information about your shot — i.e. where and when it was taken — in the comments section. Who knows? Maybe your description will sway voters in your favour!
Lead photo by ~EvidencE~
6.
Yesterday's toppling of the OLG house of cards, accompanied by the feint whiff of an oncoming category 5 scandal presents us with yet another blunder in a long line of embarrassing, OLG related palavers. Did you ever hear the one about the Al Jolson lottery commercial?
In 1978, Ontario based "The Provincial," a $5 ticket with five $1 million Jackpots, became the first lottery available coast to coast. It saturated the airwaves with catchy jingles and fun TV commercials, one of which even starred the mighty Billy Van, but one commercial from June of 1983 ran seismically afoul of all good taste and sense:
A light hearted play on classic Hollywood characters and charactures - Groucho Marx, Louis Armstrong, W.C Fields et al - it's certainly no more or less misleading than any lottery commercial which asked you to "just imagine," or to picture yourself sitting on beach sipping champagne and lighting cigars with Million dollar bills. However, this commercial contained a snippet of Al Jolson doing his signature "Mammy" blackface shtick, and even by 1983's riotous punk standards, this was unacceptable.
Amazingly, around this time you could still see infomercials on TV for old Al Jolson record collections that showed clips even a decade earlier would have been considered mainstream. However, the 1980s was the decade when racially insensitive material from the unenlightened past finally began to get culled, by no means definitively, out of wide circulation (hence why Walt Disney's Song of the South VHS tapes sell for a small fortune on eBay).
Complaints about Al Jolson guesting in their commercial flooded into the Provincial and the OLG. CityTV's crusading crime reporter, JoJo Chintoh featured a story about a young 10 year-old local boy who was upset this grotesque parody of his race was the only time he saw anyone of colour on TV in prime-time. After getting a lot of negative coverage, especially on CityPulse, the offensive TV ad was re-edited to be made a little less "offensive":
In a moment of supreme un-ironic irony, Al Jolson had been white-faced in a weak sauce attempt to salvage the already submerged spot. As is always the case when something this monumentally stupid occurs, people got fired. The spots were pulled, replaced by something harmless, and the event was very quickly brushed under the carpet. We assume all copies of both spots were destroyed in a bonfire.
Thanks to the wonders of home VHS recordings from this Wild West era, both versions of this commercial were accidentally preserved on analogue tape and have now been placed on the internet where they can serve forever as reminders of a far less sensitive, less polished era in the OLG`s checkered history.
Retrontario plumbs the seedy depths of Toronto flea markets, flooded basements, thrift shops and garage sales, mining old VHS and Betamax tapes that less than often contain incredible moments of history that were accidentally recorded but somehow survived the ravages of time. You can find more amazing discoveries at www.retrontario.com
Ever noticed the preponderance of graffiti photos on Instagram? It makes sense, I suppose. While most people wouldn't make a dedicated trip to shoot street art with their DSLR, the act of taking a quick cellphone pic is a completely different story. Well executed graffiti is, to some degree, what Instagram was made for. As such, there's a great archive of images to peruse online. So, in an effort to show a little love for Toronto street art, we asked our Instagram followers to share their favourite street art photos with the hashtag #grafTO. Here are 10 of the best. Lead photo by paulraytru.
Photo by ericwetermann
Photo by torontophotog
Photo by streetartintoronto
Photo by the foreignflash
Photo by je55_keya
Photo by nor1na
Interviewing Oxbow was one of the most intense things I've done in recent memory. Even knowing the back story of the group, I was unprepared for how fierce, how sharp, and how full of fire these artists are.
Oxbow formed in 1989 and have never been interested in settling on a genre. In over two decades they've only released six full length records: a search for perfection that defies the demands of modern hype as much as their sound itself. Vocalist Eugene Robinson collages blues freak outs, guttural Birthday Party-esque gothic swagger and spoken word muttering over music that rises and falls between minimalist avant jazz to roaring, aggressive hardcore, metal, and noise - and everything imaginable in between.
Yet there's something dainty and tender dwelling within Oxbow: the music doesn't lurk in the surface mud of anger that many loud, macho groups accept as territory. Oxbow are at the bottom of human evil, probing for the reasons, or a glimpse of a true face to beam back as a warning to the world's children. They've collaborated with Marianne Faithful, and Robinson has been touring recently in support of his new project with experimental pop band Xiu Xiu: Sal Mineo.
Oxbow seem to fear nothing and confront everything: race, sex, interviewers who ask the wrong questions (you'll see) and their Garrison show this weekend is something music fans should not cannot miss. The force that is Oxbow has never been in Toronto before, and, as the band only tour about two weeks of the year, it may never return.
Oxbow founders Eugene Robinson and Niko Wenner answered these questions via email.
I get obsessive about wanting to see the live energy of certain groups and Oxbow is one of them. I can't wait for the show. After many years of touring and releasing records, what's more enjoyable for you, performing live, or recording?
Eugene Robinson (ER): Well they are different, almost completely different animals: recording and performing live. Recording is very much more of a HEAD process. Live is much more of a HEART issue. The balance is delicate. But it is a balance. Even if we manage, through every fault of our own, to not play very much live and not record very much either. Possibly largely connected to the fact that really complex things take time to make work right.
Niko Wenner (NW): I love both live and recording, couldn't do without either one and see them as very different but complimentary things. There are areas you can get to, things you can say, with each that are impossible otherwise. The lasting artifact of a polished recording, and the sweaty go-with-the-flow power and release of our live gigs both have their contrasting charms. Each must contain elements of the other but inevitably they satisfy different, and equally necessary cravings. Live demands reinterpretation every night and the beautiful new things that happen when you allow that. Studio recording is about getting one version of the story very, very right.
Have you ever played Toronto before?
NW: Near the start of the 10 years I was touring with the San Francisco band Swell we stopped in Toronto, maybe 1993 or '94. I was excited to be in Toronto but it was an under-attended show in a small forgotten venue. Too bad. I'm hoping for more this time.
ER: Never. Our understanding though is that if you can make it here you can make it anywhere. True?
It helps if you're wearing flannel... but don't do that. What's an ideal Oxbow show like, from the venue and the crowd to your own frames of mind?
ER: That's not so easy of a question to answer. Ideals are floating targets in any case. And in this instance would be built on a presumption that we have any sense of what the outcome will be anyways. And I don't know but the hope is always that it be the most perfect distillate of our lives and times as we've lived them right up until that time you see us. so you'd have to ask us all, and then average the responses but there are a few truisms: the sound would be perfect.
The stage would be wide. I would have a straight mic stand with a little bit of tape connecting the cord to the microphone. The stage would be about 4 feet high. That is: low enough to comfortably jump off of, but not so high I can't get back up on it quickly. Great lights. and a large, large crowd. This is probably perfectly prescriptive for an "anything can happen" kind of night.
NW: The ideal show is when we feel like we've reached people. When we've had some kind of conversation within the parameters of a live gig. This only happens when the audience pays attention.
What is the most difficult kind of audience for you, and how do you deal with them?
ER: people who are enemies of art. And there are many ways to deal with them. But the best way is just to hope that they stay home, keeping their hatred pure by watching TV and doing whatever else it is that they do.
NW: The most difficult audience is one that does not pay attention on any level, won't give us a chance. That only ever happens when we are paired with another group with both a much larger audience and one too narrow minded to try us. All you can do is play for the people that DO care. Frustrating as hell, and very rare thank goodness.
Is it true that Oxbow only tours two weeks a year? (If yes) what led to this decision?
ER: Yes. And "real life"....I mean when we went on tour with ISIS we did five weeks with them back in 2007. But very few jobs will give you 5 weeks of time to go off and play music. Most jobs give you 2 weeks of vacation.
NW: I find myself saying more and more frequently: someone's got to buy the cat chow. And there's no money in being in Oxbow.
During the rest of the year, what are you all doing aside from Oxbow?
NW: What? There is something else?
ER: We all have jobs. But let's presume for a minute that you mean CREATIVELY which will allow me to just say: side projects. I did SAL MINEO, a record with Jamie Stewart from XIU XIU... Important/Aagoo put it out. And we just toured on it back in February. I did a guest vocal tour with L'Enfance Rouge for 3 weeks December 2012, and will again in december of this year in Europe. A cd/dvd of that is out this year as well called THE FIRST WILL & TESTAMENT. Plus LEISURE HIGH with Bevin Kelley from BLEVIN FROM BLECHDOM. And finally a thing called STRANGER BY STARLIGHT with this kid Ant Saggers. Add to this my play THE INIMITABLE SOUNDS OF LOVE: A THREESOME IN FOUR ACTS out on Southern Records? Well, busy. But idle hands are the devil's playground. Oh, and I almost forgot, the project with Philippe Petit called PETIT-ROBINSON-MEOW called LAST OF THE DEAD HOT LOVERS....we're trying to find a venue to stage this but have not yet even though the record is out and it's great.
So that's what I'M doing the rest of the year. Well that and being the best MMA journalist of the YEAR, haha....
Are you writing songs together all year, and how much time do you spend writing music separately versus together?
ER: we write all the time. But the lyrics get finished first. And then Niko goes off and works up genius song ideas and we hammer those into something called Oxbow. we take a long time between records because it takes a long time to get this stuff right. to quote Nina Simone, "you think this is easy? It's not. YOU try it," haha....
NW: All year yeah, but really it's writing a lot all year and rejecting almost all of it. I find for Oxbow even more than any other music writing I do I have become extraordinarily picky. Really, you have no idea. For example more than ten years ago I realized I could write an "Oxbow song" without even thinking about it. I became determined to instead push myself to do something different but still of a piece, still Oxbow. Better for me, better for the band, and better for whomever might listen to us.
I'm the guy that starts the songs and brings the music I've begun at home, into rehearsals. And eventually I'll finish the musical arrangement taking into account the lyric by Eugene that I've determined works best with the music, suggesting which line goes where, a repeat here, etc. Dan and Greg will make essential changes to my initial musical thoughts about bass and drum parts, sometimes suggest better guitar parts too. And together we will work through ways to slowly make each song better, sometimes changing the initial musical concept to a lesser or greater extent. Eugene continues to improvise his recorded vocal parts based on mysteriously accumulated exposure at rehearsals often involving hypnopedia. This then requires extensive sound editing in order to achieve the focused and powerful sound of our last record The Narcotic Story. This also falls to me.
Eugene, among being an artist, actor, author, journalist, radio host and who knows what else, you're a fighter, which interests me because it's completely beyond the realm of most musicians I know. I was reading about this and saw something about tractor tires and sledgehammers. I don't know anything about fighting. How did you get involved in it and what goes on for you in the ring?
ER: well there are quite a few musicians who are fighters now. And even a few fighters who are musicians. But we can thank fighting for Oxbow since I would have turned into Fat Elvis a long time ago had it not been for fight training. But I was just a guest lecturer at the SF Art Institute and it was on athletics and aesthetics and I had said if you do not realize at this point that physical discipline is intimately connected to creating lasting and vibrant art, you're crazy.
Because it is. And so I do. And the same things that got me into it in the first place -- fear, paranoia, unspecified but not unknown tragedies --have informed my music. but in the ring, or cage, or on the mat? Unbridled joy. Which is also part of the Oxbow shows. and like Oxbow shows where sometimes the audience disappears for me a lot of times fighting the person I am fighting just ceases existing and it becomes very much more about me versus me.
When I think about it, the biggest fights I've gotten into (which can barely be called fights) have been while playing music. I believe you've had problems with audience members which turned into physical confrontations: how would you summarize what can lead to engaging corporeally with an audience member during an Oxbow set?
ER: Hateful, hurtful acts that would also get your ass kicked on the street: punching me in the testicles, throwing cigarettes at my head, threatening to hurt me, anything really that detracts away from the fact that we're serious artists creating serious art and if you'd like a forum to do the same, well, that's great, but do it on your own time.
But the reality of it is it makes me really sad to have to spend my time this way. Like fucking someone who answers the phone. An unnecessary distraction that is damning nonetheless.
What's the general reaction of clubs/venues toward your involvement in these altercations?
ER: if the club security is on the ball there are never any such-like altercations.
I guess I'm leading up to this: in your opinion what should a musician do if they're being harassed while performing: I mean physical assault or sexual harassment, not random heckling. There's been discussion online particularly about female musicians having issues with crowd members and not being sure of where the lines are. My own gut reaction is violence.
ER: well I was recently just talking to Ian MacKaye about this and his method is good and complete and works for him, much like Nina Simone's did for her. Essentially since you, the disrupter, have altered the moment, let's all acknowledge this and stop the show and deal with the alteration thusly: you can play and we'll stop. Or we can play and you can stop. I sort of like that since it seems we get paid no matter what but fundamentally only BULLIES do this shit and I hate bullies and so, yes...I will try to have a teachable moment that involves them understanding that art is serious business. But maybe that's precisely maybe why they have chosen to express themselves the way they do. I am unsure. I am sure of the fact though that fighting people who do not know how to fight is really boring. And I am not getting on stage because I actually want to be bored.
But I have a sister who is a singer as well. and she shuts people down with the exact opposite kind of energy: super positive. So there are other ways than my preferred way, but if I was a female musician I would do what Lydia Lunch does when faced with that kind of assholism. Turn my guitar up, have my vocals cranked and play on, son. Play on.
NW: I'm reminded of Pete Townshend righteously clobbering people on stage with his fists "Get the FUCK off my stage!" But you know what? I think just like someone harassing musicians is a drag for the more interesting thing, the music, TALKING about people harassing musicians and the inevitable violence that results is a drag and a distraction for the more interesting thing, the music. I count four questions now on things that have nothing really to do with the band, or the music.
I'm lead to the depressing thought that perhaps there is a feeling that music itself is not interesting enough a subject. Which is a shame considering what we are doing here. Please tell me I'm wrong?
[Writer's note: this is our working-it out chat which took place after the interview.]
Very wrong! For those unfamiliar a band, I think sometimes questions about a group's mythology as a live act can help introduce the feeling of a band to new ears. I'm also genuinely interested due to personal experiences and those of friends... I understand how the string of questions seemed superficial.
NW: Not surprisingly, I'm of the opinion that talking about a band's music makes for the most usefully compelling motivation to attend - longer lasting benefits, all that. But then, I'm not in journalism. My thought is that rather than a bait 'n' switch ("hey let's go maybe there will be a riot! ...uhhhh, they just played their set.") I'd rather be known for what we are good at and what we aim to do. Call me crazy. Although, just getting people in the door IS very important. Although on the other hand I'd wager that those that harass bands are more those attracted by a band's extramusical reputation, for fights for example, than those brought in by a rep for really interesting and powerful music. Then again, in any crowd of sufficient size there's bound to be some idiots. Anyway, I sweat blood to make the band work so naturally I'm biased.
[Writer's note: back to the OG interview]
Let's pull back to something softer. What's the cutest thing you've ever seen?
NW: Okay now I KNOW you are messing with us. Hah. Fair enough.*
ER: The faces of my daughters sleeping.
Do you have any must sees or must do things on tour? I know some bands absolutely have to hit every Waffle House or look for vintage cardigans.
ER: Museums. And I like to get one article of clothing from every place I go. But it's got to be super-special. so this does not happen often. But I am wearing a shirt now from Barcelona and I did a lot to get it and would do a lot to keep it. It's a great yellow color. Also I am a huge fan of fish/seafood.
NW: I'm looking forward to seeing YYZ tags on my luggage, as the happy phrase goes.
When and what is the next Oxbow record? Will anyone hear it?
NW: Working on the The Thin Black Duke now. Perhaps people will be too distracted by fist fights to hear it, but we try. We try.
ER: two different questions, really. We're working on it now. But we have no record label and even if we did? Unknown whether anyone wants to listen to it.
What should Toronto expect on the 18th?
ER: Love.
NW: Music, possibly brawl-free but who knows?
Eugene, what are the chances my dream of Sal Mineo performing in Toronto this year will come true?
ER: SAL MINEO travels a lot easier and faster than Oxbow....and all someone has to do is ask...but we can only do weekends for the rest of the 2013. and we're expensive, haha.
*Niko later revealed cats to be among the cutest most adorable things ever.
See Oxbow bathed in love at the Garrison Saturday, May 18th with Thighs + Godstopper + White Ribs.
Photos via theoxbow.com.
Toronto just had an earthquake. Yup, the news surrounding Rob Ford isn't the only earth-moving event of the day. Two earthquakes, a 5.2-magnitude tremor and a 4.1 aftershock, were reported by Earthquakes Canada 18-20 kms northeast of Shawville, Quebec, a town close to Ottawa.
The rumble, reportedly 10 seconds long, was felt here in Toronto and as far away as Cleveland around 9:43 AM but no property damage has been reported. Several buildings were evacuated in Toronto as a result of the earthquake.
In the immediate aftermath Twitter was alive with reports of rattling dishes, trembling drinks, and other minor household disturbances. Here's the best of what's circulating:
Did you feel the earthquake in Toronto? Seen any damage?
Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.
Image: Earthquakes Canada
The intersection of Queen and Yonge has largely escaped the recent condo boom, thanks in part to the presence of heritage buildings on three of its four corners. However, that could all be about to change if a giant new 65-storey, 220-metre condominium just proposed by Cadillac Fairview makes it through the city's approval process.
If allowed, the historic Philip Jamieson Building with its rounded corner, currently home to sportswear company Atmosphere, would become the base of the new residential tower. The store's 117-year-old heritage protected interior would become the podium for the building known as the "Residences at the Toronto Eaton Centre" in the document currently on file with the city.
Interestingly, the proposed property is listed as entirely rental at this stage. 80% of the units will be one- and two-bedroom, the remainder of the living spaces will be bachelor accommodation. A total of 580 suites are shown in the plans and diagrams.
Interestingly, the notices up on the street this morning say the development will have zero new car parking spots. 580 bicycle spaces are planned instead.
It's not clear what would happen to the heritage retail space were this to move forward. The early figures say there will be 3,950 square metres of non-residential space, including utilities, mechanical floors, lobbies, and hallways. The prime location at a major downtown intersection makes it unlikely that the store would be repurposed as an entrance hall, however the renderings don't show even a generic company logo over the main entrance.
The Philip Jamieson Building at 2 Queen Street West was built in 1896 to designs by the short-lived architectural partnership of Samuel Curry and Francis S. Baker. The Classically styled, curve-fronted building with its brick, stone and terra cotta trim originally housed a men's fashion store run by Philip Jamieson and was later occupied by a Woolworth's and Tower Records.
For several years the building's entire frontage was hidden behind a white metal curtain.
Big changes appear to be in store for the downtown stretch that's traditionally been retail-only. Massey Tower, just up the street at 197 Yonge, is preparing to break ground and inject hundreds of new property owners into the busy strip between Dundas and Queen stations. Another major residential development could change the flavour of the area even more.
That said, this project is still a long way from becoming a reality. A preliminary city planning report is due in June and a community meeting will likely be scheduled for July. Feedback from that meeting and the thoughts of the planning department will be handed back to Cadillac Fairview for them to take into consideration. A final report, with recommendations, won't be given to council until at least next year.
Also worthy of note is that no vehicular parking spaces are proposed for this development. Bike parking will be provided for all of the units, which makes sense given the location - but the decision to leave out the cars is intriguing.
What do you think of the first renderings for this project? Should Queen and Yonge be a place for people to live as well as shop? Are you concerned about the treatment of the existing heritage building?
VITAL STATS:
Site area: 654 square metres
Total units: 580
Height: 220 m (65 storeys)
Residential floor area: 40,425.8 sq. m.
Non residential floor area: 3,950 sq. m.
Bachelor apartments: 116
1-bedroom apartments: 232
2-bedroom apartments: 232
Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.
Image: Zeidler/Cadillac Fairview
Toronto Food Events rounds up the most delicious events: festivals, pop-ups, winemaker dinners, supper clubs and other food related happenings in Toronto this week and next. You can find us here every Friday morning.
THIS WEEK
UPCOMING
OTHER NEWS
As you've likely heard — unless you've been living under an, ahem, rock — Mayor Rob Ford has been accused of being an actual crack user. It is alleged that a gang of drug dealers has video footage that could smudge the otherwise spotless reputation of our mayor. It has been reported that Gawker's editor, as well as two Toronto Star scribes, have seen said footage, and the video is now for sale. Needless to say, the Twitterati have had a field day with the story.
Here's a sample of the reaction, ladies and gents:
Victoria Day weekend events rounds up what's going on in Toronto this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
COMMUNITY
We Should Know Each Other
After a successful launch last month, We Should Know Each Other returns to connect Torontonians in ideas and conversation. Host Liz Hollick invites you to expand your social circle and bring along someone the group doesn't know or someone you'd like to know better. WSKEO takes place at #Hashtag Gallery on Sunday evening and all are welcome to join in for free.
#Hashtag Gallery (801 Dundas Street West), May 19, 2013, 7PM Free
MUSIC
AUX Presents: Stranjah Visionz of a Future Album Launch Party
It took 15 years of recording but Stranjah has finally settled down and recorded a full-length LP. Visionz of a Future launches with a party hosted by AUX at Toika Lounge this Friday night. Stranjah puts his experience from 30 previous releases into this drum and bass album that will be sampled at this launch party by the producer DJ himself. Friends in DJing like Gremlinz, Rumbleton, Evidence and Artifice will join Stranjah as he celebrates his release. Cover is $5 after 11PM.
Toika Lounge (471 Richmond Street West), May 17, 2013, 10PM Free
For more music listings, check out This Week in Music and May Concerts.
FILM
May 2-4 Kegger: Dazed and Confused
Movies and a kegger are how Bloor Hot Docs Cinema celebrates a long weekend. Screening Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused in honour of this boozy holiday, this '70s themed kegger will include arcade classics that the audience can play on the big screen before and after the film as well as cold beer and good music to turn it into a party. The admission price includes two free drinks and guests are encouraged to dress up like Pink and Mitch might have in 1976 at this 19+ event. Tickets may be available through the Bloor Cinema website, but ID is required to enter.
Bloor Hot Docs Cinema (506 Bloor Street West), May 19, 2013, 8:30PM $20
For more film listings, check out This Week in Film.
SOCIAL MEDIA
IGToronto Does Distillery
If you're following someone you don't know on Instagram, perhaps your parents never taught about a little thing called "stranger danger". Still not concerned? Then the IGToronto Does Distillery event may be perfect for you. An Instagram meet-up happening this Saturday afternoon in the Distillery District, IGToronto Does Distillery will bring together photographers of all skill levels to get to know one another and put the social in social media. This is the beginning of a series of Instagram meet-ups in different Toronto neighbourhoods where lovers of the app come together to create photos and get to know one another as community members. Come out, come 'gram and make some new app-addicted friends.
Distillery District (1 Trinity Street), May 18, 2013, 1PM Free
FOOD
A Taste of the Dragon Boat Festival
In China, Zong Zi can be purchased from any bus station or street vendor from Shanghai to Kunming but in Canada, it's a rarity. This sticky rice dumpling, and the history around it, is at the heart of A Taste of the Dragon Boat Festival, which takes place this Saturday. Culinary historian and tour guide Shirley Lum will explain the history of Zong Zi and instruct participants on how to make it before sampling the delicious treat. What do dragon boats and a dead poet have to do with sticky rice? Come to Lillian H. Smith Library on Saturday morning to find out.
Lillian H. Smith Library (239 College Street), May 18, 2013, 11AM
Dundas West/Ossington Food Tour
Dundas West and Ossington is the city's latest grub hub with new eateries opening up weekly and the people behind the Scadding Court food market (the ones in the shipping containers) want to show Toronto the best spots. This foodie expedition will tour the neighbourhood, stopping for six tastings at local joints with guide Suzanne Urpecz. RSVP by e-mailing suzanne@savourtoronto.com to register.
Scadding Court Community Centre (707 Dundas Street West), 12:30PM $60
For more food listings, check out Toronto Food Events.
ART
Artfest Toronto at the Distillery
The 6th Annual Artfest Toronto takes place this long weekend at the Distillery District over the course of three days. Artists and artisans from across Ontario and Quebec showcase their works at this juried arts festival that takes place outdoors. Paintings, pottery, photography, gourmet food and jewelry will be on display and for sale until Victoria Day. If you needed to get out in the beautiful weather, now you have one.
Historic Distillery District (55 Mill Street), May 18-20, 2013, 11AM Free
Pop Art Pop-Up Art Gallery with Antoine Tavaglione
Montreal-based artist Antoine Tavaglione shows his pop cultural pop art for the first time in Toronto this Friday night at 431 Roncesvalles. This pop-up art gallery will feature silk screen prints and original paintings on display along with the large permanent mural that Tavaglione has painted on the outdoor wall of 431 Roncesvalles. Open to the public only on weekends, the show is influenced by Tavaglione's Italian roots and opinions on social and political culture. The exhibit runs until end of June.
431 Roncesvalles (431 Roncesvalles Avenue), May 17-June 27, 2013, 7PM Free
SPORTS
MEC Bikefest Toronto
Mountain Equipment Co-op joins together with Bixi, Clif Bar, Bullfrog and YNOT Cycle to celebrate cyclists and bikes this weekend in Trinity Bellwoods Park. Supporting the cycling community and recognizing their role on Toronto's roads, there will be bike seminars and clinics staged throughout the day on Saturday along with demos and activities planned for kids. All events are free. Good luck in your search for bike parking around Bellwoods.
Trinity Bellwoods Park (790 Queen Street West), May 18, 2013, 11AM Free
FASHION
Clothing Repairathon
Volunteer seamstresses, sewer and threaders will be ready to repair your worn out clothing at the Withrow Park Farmers' Market this Saturday. Whether you have holes, torn seams or rips, the volunteers are ready to repair your clothing with the help of donated thread and needles. Bring all the clothes you can to the second clothing repairathon of the season to support the initiatives of the Toronto Clothing Repairathon group. Come early for the farmers market and stay for a cookbook swap. There will also be a free bike repair and free compost set up so you can basically run all your errands in Riverdale this Saturday morning. The market and repairathon close down at 1PM so get there early.
Withrow Park (725 Logan Avenue), May 18, 2013, 9AM Free
For more fashion listings, check out This Week in Fashion.
THEATRE
The Walk
The story of Orpheus and Eurydice has been attempted in theatre many times and Echo Productiosn has chosen The Walk as their first performance of 2013. An adaptation that fuses theatre, contemporary movement and live music, the story follows Orpheus as he goes down to the depths of Hades to bring his wife back after her death. Directed by Victoria Fuller, the play stars the director alongside Adrian Yearwood with original music by Ryan Brookhouse and Etienne Levesque. The show plays for this weekend only so secure your tickets by calling 416-845-9411.
Red Sandcastle Theatre (922 Queen Street East), May 16-19, 2013, 8PM $12 general, $10 student
For more theatre listings, check out This Week in Theatre.
Have an event you'd like to plug? Submit your own listing to the blogTO Toronto events calendar or contact us directly.
Photo by Jesse Milns.
The first long weekend of the summer is upon us and along with a cooler and some suncreen we'd like to suggest our brand new Toronto Patio Guide app for Android as another essential for the next few months.
New to Google Play as of this week, the Toronto Patio Guide Android app includes photos and need to know details of hundreds of local patios from favourites like the Cadillac Lounge and The Pilot to lesser known gems like Against the Grain, Bar Neon and Gusto 101.
Not on Android? We have an iPhone version too, as well as this microsite for those who prefer not to get all their info through their smartphones.
It's long weekend! Awww...but you don't have a cottage. Instead of waiting by the phone for Matt or Brad or Linsday to ask you to come with, put down your technology and allow me to introduce you to hilarious humans in This Week In Comedy...
WED MAY 22 - SUN MAY 26 / STEVE BURR w/MATT DAVIS & FAISAL BUTT / ABSOLUTE COMEDY / 2335 YONGE / 8PM / $6-15
Your headliner, Steve Burr, got his start in New York. That's code for Do Not Heckle. He's since gone onto perform the world over, including entertaining the troops in Afghanistan and Japan. Oh, and whatever you do, do not heckle! Matt Davis is on this bill, and he will tear you to shreds if you try and get in his way. I'm not saying that he looks for opportunities to get into it with the audience, but he's one of those guys that's not afraid to keep going after a heckler even after they've waived the white flag. What's interesting is that, in my opinion, he can still maintain his likeability even when ripping an interrupter to pieces. That's a skill that's rare, even among professional comics.
THURS MAY 23 / COMICAL / COMEDY BAR / 945 BLOOR W / 930PM / $8 ADV $10 DOOR
Your host and producer, Michael Flamank, is celebrating the one-year anniversary of Comical with a studded cast. Your headliner, Chris Locke, is easily in the top five of Canadian comedians right now. Add in Fraser Young (Comedy Network), Julia Hladkowicz (Video on Trial), Dean Young (MTV), and Evan Desmarais (I Heart Jokes), and you have a recipe for fireworks.
THURS MAY 23 / NILE SEGUIN & REBECCA KOHLER / THE LOT / 100 OSSINGTON / 7PM / $15
On Thursday, Kohler and Seguin join forces to record a DVD. I first saw Kohler open for Tom Segura and Brendon Walsh at JFL 42, and she did amazing. It's no surprise that the Gersh Agency snatched her up as fast as they did. Funny enough, I caught Seguin for the first time at Comedy at Cam's on Yonge and I was thoroughly impressed by his sheer likeability. Between them, they've done everything from the Halifax Comedy Festival to Comedy Now specials. I think that the added push of recording their own DVD will bring out their best.
SAT MAY 25 / SUPERSTARS OF COMEDY / COMED BAR / 945 BLOOR W / 10PM & MIDNIGHT / $10
Alex has gotten to the point where his peers are constantly talking about how awesome he is. That's extremely rare when you consider how competitive and catty comedians can be behind closed doors. I had a chat with Pavone in September, and when I asked him what was next, he said,
No idea just keep plugging away at this...i truly have no idea man...I'm under the belief that when you get good enough someone is gonna see you but I don't know if that's just a way to keep yourself working hard...
Well, his hard work is definitely paying off. His act is lighting rooms afire, and bookings are coming in from all over the place. I'd bet that outlets like MTV and The Comedy Network are inspecting if not talking to him right now about joining their roster. It truly makes my heart happy to see a good human, getting exactly what he had coming to him, simply because he put in the work and kept the main thing the main thing.
About the Author: This is Michael Jagdeo, and I refuse to write about myself in the third-person. My blog, Diary of a Stand-up Comedian, walks you through the up's and down's (they're mostly down's, really) in my quest to become a killer comic in Toronto.
Toronto Zoo might get the pandas nowadays, but the land now occupied by Riverdale Farm used to be the city's premier animal watching institution. For 75 years Riverdale Zoo was home to a bizarre menagerie of wild and exotic creatures, including elephants, hippopotamuses, monkeys, and sea lions.
The historic Cabbagetown attraction closed for good and was partially demolished when the Metropolitan Toronto Zoo opened in 1975. Today, all that's left of the once thriving Victorian wildlife park with its decidedly dubious animal care policies is a scattering of historic buildings and a landscaped green space.
The land east of Winchester and Sumach streets that's now Riverdale Farm was once part of the estate of Henry Scadding, an early landowner on the Don River. In 1856, Toronto purchased a section his property for a new park and an industrial farm to be maintained by inmates at the Don Jail on the other side of the river.
The 162-acre landscaped area officially opened in 1890 on top of a pile of garbage and manure landfill that had been carefully prepared by the prisoners. Four years later, thanks to the efforts of the zoo's founder, Daniel Lamb, a city alderman and local resident, the city had acquired two wolves and a small herd of deer for public display. These would be the first pieces in a gigantic collection.
The creatures first went on display in 1899 in small purpose-built enclosures. As you might imagine, the conditions were fairly bleak. Zoos in the Victorian period were more like curiosity shows than anything we'd be familiar with today and many of the animals were kept in pens that were patently too small but had the benefit of affording the best views for visitors.
Reading the Toronto Star, it's clear the zoo experienced an overwhelming amount of animal donations. A headline printed in March 13, 1902, reads "The Elephant Coming." Animal dealers working under the direction of Alderman Lamb had arranged for shipment of a second Indian elephant from Bombay via New York. Two lions were added to the same request.
The city's newest pachyderm was given the title "Princess Rita" on her arrival in Toronto. Zoo officials, who were often a mix of parks staff and inmates at the Don Jail serving time for minor crimes like vagrancy, taught Rita to carry people on her head. One of her first excursions was a wobbly ride down the public road to the Winchester Street bridge. "She has developed an awkward habit of lying down and rolling over when her load gets troublesome," the paper noted.
The new lions weren't as happy in their new surroundings. One of them caught a cold and "snarled at everything from his straw bed to a red-headed boy in the throng of visitors." Alderman Lamb, still involved in the day-to-day management, fed him cod liver oil, and it appears to have recovered.
Without modern vets, the mortality rate among shipped animals was extremely high and there was always a risk the creatures wouldn't reach their destination. One steamship, the Buerania, carrying animals destined for the circus, lost three elephants, 100 monkeys, 26 "boxes of snakes," and hundreds of birds in a single voyage.
In 1902, the inventory at Riverdale included sixteen pheasants, two ocelots, a male camel, a dromedary, a bull buffalo, six pens of monkeys, a Siberian bear, a crane, lions, and a hippo. George H. Rust-D'Eye in Cabbagetown Remembered says 20,000 people crammed into the zoo the first weekend the elephant and lions went on display.
That same year the Moorish-inspired Donnybrook building was built and using funds from the Toronto Railway Company. During its construction one of the zoo's hippos sat down on a wet cement floor, leaving behind a substantial divot. The building is one of the few structures that still remains at Riverdale today.
Riverdale Zoo relied heavily on private donations to keep its herd expanding. Rattesnakes, Rocky Mountain badgers, porcupines, and a tiger were offered "almost faster than cages can be built for them." One aged lion, apparently a burden to management, "still fools the public by refusing to die" and free up enclosure space, it was reported.
It would be unfair to say there were no objections to the way animals were handled at the zoo. The Humane Society complained about the elephants being "shackled by one leg" in small enclosures. The cold weather posed challenges too. A winter house protected the most vulnerable creatures and radiators were installed in some cages as a measure of protection against the elements.
The animals took their revenge when they could. In 1905 a bull buffalo protecting its cow and calf charged at a group of workers, sending them scrambling up trees. The group was trapped for half an hour before someone could distract the beast long enough for them to climb down.
Monkey teasing was another popular pastime for visitors. Everything from cigars to ice cream would be passed through the bars to the excitable little critters, and they occasionally snapped at stray fingers. One provoked elk was so frustrated by a group of visiting boys that it mortally gored its mate. Dr. Mole, the aptly named veterinarian, was forced to euthanize the wounded beast.
In another bizarre incident, the resident pelican had 15-inches its beak bitten off at the wolf enclosure during a ill-advised visit. Unpeturbed, a doctor from the cat and dog hospital successfully grafted a duck's bill to the bird using horsehair. It seemed to work, and the animal was able to eat diced fish normally.
"Indeed, the pelican's bill will be stronger than ever," the Star reported. "It will combine the weapon of the duck with its own liberal organ."
Perhaps the most shocking example of Frankenstein engineering almost occurred in 1918. The early morning bellows of the zoo's sea lion had become a nuisance to local neighbours, so superintendent Frank Goode proposed a solution: surgically remove its vocal chords. "If we can give Torontonians a sea lion without a noise we will do it," he said.
It's not clear from the wording in the police blotter, but it appears one Sunday when the animal was mercifully silent a man named Tully Naumoff appears to have been arrested in the park and fined $5 plus costs for mimicking the barking sounds normally heard from the animal's cage "for the ladies."
Thankfully, the Humane Society were just as vociferous, and the animal was saved from the surgeons scalpel by the acting parks commissioner.
Conditions improved at Riverdale over the decades but by the 1960s the tiny cages and concrete outdoor runs were hopelessly out of date. On completion of the new Metropolitan Toronto Zoo, Riverdale closed for the last time at sunset on June 30, 1975, and much of the buildings were torn down.
Riverdale Farm, the successor to the zoo, opened in 1978, specializing in rare breeds of regular farm animals. No sea lions, thankfully.
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Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.
Image: City of Toronto Archives
