Photo by Jon Purdy in the blogTO Flickr pool

With Just For Laughs around the corner, Toronto comedy shows are about to see some of their line-ups of the year. Where? When? Follow me as I walk you through This Week In Comedy

WED JULY 24 / A FEW GOOD STAND-UPS / COMEDY BAR / 945 BLOOR W / 8PM / $10

Producers often tell me that the host is more important to a show than the headliner, and I'm inclined to believe them. That says a lot about one of this evening's comedians, James Hartnett, who MC'd last month's NXNE edition of Laugh Sabbath, which featured guys like Chris Locke, Tom Henry, and Adam Christie. Sara Hennessey, a fellow Laugh Sabbath alumnus, is also on the show, and she's...I don't know how she's not more popular. As depicted in the first 20 seconds of the above clip, she has the raw energy and genuine childlike enthusiasm on stage that just energizes an audience. Your line-up is courtesy of Jacob Samuel, a start-up in and of himself who also co-produces Nearly Robots, one of the top five monthly shows in Toronto.

THURS JULY 25 / ROCK CLIMBING BENEFIT OF HILARITY / COMEDY BAR / 945 BLOOR W / 7PM & 9PM / $20

This show is being held to raise funds to send Pia Graham to the World Youth Climbing Championship, which will be held at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder in Scarborough and culminates with a graduation ceremony at UTSC. Nah, but seriously, they've put together a ridiculous line-up of all-stars...like, RIDICULOUS. Monty Scott, Jeff Elliott, Tim Gilbert, Sara Hennessey, Darryl Orr, Sandra Battaglini, Tim Golden, and Daryl Purvis. Usually, I try to single out one comedian to go in-depth on, but it's just not possible with a killer line-up like that. This is easily one of the best rosters of the month, if not the year.

SAT JULY 27 / SUE'S BACHELORETTE EXTRAVAGANZA / THE LOT / 100 OSSINGTON / 10PM / $15

"Come help TheTwoSues choose their summer flings in a Love Connection/Bachelorette-styled dating competition extravaganza."

I'm not sure what that means in practice, but what I do know is that they have a sick line-up of up-and-coming comedians that are about 1-3 years from hitting your television screen. In particular, I like this show because of the mix of comedians, which features the laid-back hilarity of Chris Robinson, the exuberant Blayne Smith, and the quiet charm of Steve Patrick Adams.

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.

With the amount of foodstagramming and selfies filling up our activity feeds, sharing has been integrated into nearly every aspect of our life. Although certain people feel their lives are more shareable than others, the increase in people's openness to share personal information seems to be on the rise.

If you take a trip to your local doctor's office or hospital, the amount of sharing might look quite a bit different than your twitter feed. Due to the sensitivity of the information within the medical community, privacy concerns are always a top priority compared to openness.

Hoping to encourage the medical community to share in a safe and secure way, the Toronto based team at Movable Science recently launched Figure 1. Serving as a platform that allows healthcare professionals to take pictures of patient conditions, remove the identifying details, and upload the photos to a central database for discussion with their peers, the team feels that Figure 1 has the ability to positively influence patient care locally and eventually around the world.

I had the opportunity to sit down with the Figure 1 team, who is based out of the Ryerson DMZ, and learn about the positive changes they are hoping to make within the Toronto medical community.

Figure 1 sounds interesting, where did the idea come from?

One of our founders, Dr. Joshua Landy, came up with the idea for Figure 1. He's a physician here in Toronto practicing in critical care and internal medicine and he's been involved in medical education and mobile health research.

In the ICU, many of his patients need to see multiple specialists in a short period of time, and their conditions change rapidly. Part of his daily work flow is to keep the team of specialists up to date about their shared patients, so the idea was partly born out of his desire to improve that sharing process.

He also noticed that many physicians collect images of interesting or representative cases on their phones and share them with small groups of colleagues. Figure 1 was designed to provide not only a privacy-safe way of sharing these images, but also a way to harness thousands of educational assets for medical learning.

How does Figure 1 work?

Healthcare professionals take pictures of patient conditions and remove the personally identifying details. The images are tagged by condition and shared with either a small group of users or the entire Figure 1 community. A medical discussion often springs from the image, surrounding treatment actions, what lead to a diagnosis, and more.

Who can use Figure 1? Is it only for Doctors?

Before we launched, we expected that people in visual specialties (like dermatologists and radiologists) would find Figure 1 most useful. But we've been surprised and excited to see people from many different areas of medicine that we didn't expect. We have seen everything from physician assistants to medical students, pathologists and even dentists getting involved. It's exciting to see all these healthcare professionals sharing their specific expertise with one another.

What incentive do patients and doctors have to use Figure 1?

Sharing images is something that healthcare professionals have already been doing via text and email. We wanted to make it easy to remove the identifying information, so that the process could be safer for doctors and patients. At the same time, not everyone who joins Figure 1 uploads images, and from many users, we hear that viewing and discussing the images alone is really valuable for their ongoing medical education.

What are your thoughts on the privacy concerns?

We realize that we're operating within a sensitive area, so we've gone to great lengths to ensure patient privacy is protected. Photos with identifiable features are not allowed in the app and we offer tools to remove them like an automatic face block and a simple swipe feature to remove other identifying information. There's also a consent form that the patient or their representative can sign in the app. If a user does mistakenly upload something with personally identifiable information in it, we monitor the database and flag those images. Other users can also flag anything they have concerns about. Our goal, and the goal of the Figure 1 community, is to protect the privacy of the patients who are featured, not to identify them.

How do you think Figure 1 will improve patient care?

Our hope is that this conversation around medical images is just one part of using technology to keep doctors connected and informed. We think that educated doctors save lives and that healthcare should embrace mobile interactions between doctors. There are so many advancements in the area of mobile health, and we personally think this field will rapidly and significantly improve patient care.

Would you want your doctor using Figure 1? Let us know in the comments below.

Members of Toronto's LGBTQ community had cause for concern and, in some cases, outrage yesterday after it was discovered that the gay news site Dailyxtra.com was blocked in Tim Hortons locations. Xtra asked that Tim's reverse the block and make the site accessible to its customers. Publisher and editor-in-chief Brandon Matheson said Tim Hortons wrote the magazine and said the site wasn't "appropriate for all ages viewing in a public environment." The WiFi vendor also initially said there was no way to change or reverse the decision.

Tim Hortons did the right thing after the fact, though. They apologized, agreeing to restore access to Xtra in their stores. They chalked the incident up to what they say was a misunderstanding on the part of their third-party WiFi vendor. "We're working on unblocking your site. It never should have been blocked in the first place," Tim Hortons told the magazine. They added that the initial statement about the appropriateness of the site doesn't represent Tim Hortons' viewpoints. Xtra accepted the apology. "Tim Hortons has resolved the situation properly," Matheson told The Canadian Press.

In the end, it was a very Canadian exchange. (Read: everyone was insanely polite).Tim Hortons took ownership of the situation by apologizing to both the magazine and queer communities as a whole, and they're working on restoring access to the site. They responded quickly, too, which also deserves props. Too often, that doesn't happen with larger corporations and franchises.

And, fairly, Xtra's Rob Salerno reported that Tim's doesn't block all gay news sites. But it still isn't quite clear how the site came to be blocked in the first place. Who did it? Is the system automated, somehow? And if so, were sites like Victoria's Secret blocked? Because I don't think I've ever seen anything more 'risque' on Xtra than that. Using words like "cocks" can also cause sites to be blocked automatically. But those are words. On the laptop screen of another individual. That doesn't seem like cause enough to block access to an entire website, and a legitimate news website, at that.

I'm not trying to stir up another argument over an issue that's been resolved. I'm happy Tim Hortons responded so well, and that they're correcting their mistake. But I do think a wider discussion needs to be had about the censorship of sexuality, especially censorship of queer sexuality and identity or any other sort of 'alternate' sexuality. And I don't think the site should ever have been blocked.

What do you think?

Photo by seannyk on Flickr

Members of Toronto's LGBTQ community had cause for concern and, in some cases, outrage yesterday after it was discovered that the gay news site Dailyxtra.com was blocked in Tim Hortons locations. Xtra asked that Tim's reverse the block and make the site accessible to its customers. Publisher and editor-in-chief Brandon Matheson said Tim Hortons wrote the magazine and told them the site wasn't "appropriate for all ages viewing in a public environment."

Tim Hortons did the right thing after the fact, though. After The Star and other outlets began reporting on the story, Tim Hortons apologized, agreeing to restore access to Dailyxtra.com in their stores. They chalked the incident up to what they say was a misunderstanding on the part of their third-party WiFi vendor.

"We're working on unblocking your site. It never should have been blocked in the first place," Tim Hortons told Xtra. They added that the initial statement about the appropriateness of the site doesn't represent Tim Hortons' viewpoints. Xtra accepted the apology. "Tim Hortons has resolved the situation properly," Matheson told The Canadian Press.

Kensington Market definitely won't be seeing work on a proposed Walmart for at least a year thanks to a surprise ban on all new stores and services on a long stretch of Bathurst St. from Queen to Dupont adopted unanimously at yesterday's council meeting.

Expansions of existing businesses beyond the current square footage are also nixed under the new rules that were backdated to 18 July. The embargo was enacted so city staff can undertake a detailed study of bylaw amendments, changes to the official plan, and heritage protections that may benefit the area, the bylaw says.

The Walmart, planned for the west side of Bathurst, opposite Toronto Western Hospital, has been a hotly debated issue in the neighbourhood and the wider city. Over the last few years the proposed three-storey RioCan retail development on the old Kromer Radio lands has been turned back by the city's committee of adjustment, the Ontario Municipal Board, and panned by local residents and the BIA.

Still, the plans continue to live.

The order to halt new retail and services will almost certainly have an effect outside of Kensington, too. Mike Layton says the bylaw isn't meant to target RioCan or Walmart specifically but I suspect many people will see it as a way to rein in the proposed 11,458 square metre commercial building.

What do you think of Mike Layton's bylaw? Will it keep Walmart at bay or hurt local business?

Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.

Image: RioCan, City of Toronto

The SRT, the monorail-like spur from the Bloor-Danforth line to the heart of Scarborough Centre, has always felt orphaned from the rest of Toronto's rapid transit network. Conceived in the early 70s as a way of tying the new heart of Metro's eastern borough to downtown Toronto, the LRT line never truly realized its potential.

When it was completed in 1985, the driverless, centrally-controlled trains were part of the most advanced urban transit line in North America, one that the province hoped would be purchased and installed in cities around the world.

Now, less than 30 years from its opening day, city council has decided (for now) to replace the line with a subway extension. Here's how Scarborough got light rail, rode it for decades, then decided it wanted a subway instead.

Scarborough's light rail line started life as a planned streetcar route that would connect the under-construction Kennedy station at the end of the Bloor-Danforth line to Scarborough Town Centre via a dedicated right of way, short tunnel, and concrete section of elevated track.

As approved by Metro Toronto and the Ontario Municipal Board in 1977, the $108.7 million capital cost of the line would be split 75-25 between the province and Metro. Ontario also agreed to kick in an additional subsidy toward the operating costs in exchange for transit-friendly promotions to be organized by the city. The opening date was tentatively set for 1982.

The 7-kilometre route borrowed space from an existing CN corridor from Eglinton Avenue E north to Ellesmere Road before making a sharp turn under the tracks to Midland Avenue then rising on to a concrete bridge to the yard at McCowan Road. A pamphlet issued at the time said this alignment would leave the line best placed for extension to Malvern.

At one time there was a proposal to build a similar streetcar line at the Kipling end of the subway, too. As these things often go, the dormant track bed opposite the bus bays on the upper level of the station is the only portion of the project that was ever realized. Had it been completed, it would likely have served an area east of Pearson airport and used streetcars as well.

"The RT will change the image of Scarborough," local Mayor Gus Harris declared in 1985. "This will be Scarborough's yellow brick road," said Alderman Brian Ashton, Harris' former assistant.

As originally conceived and partially built the line would use chains of six CLRV streetcars, the ones currently in service Toronto today, in a setup similar the Boston Green Line. The streetcars were one of the latest creations of the Urban Transportation Development Corporation (UTDC), a crown corporation formed to build vehicles for an anticipated worldwide light rail boom.

As it happened, the CLRVs only ran in a six-car train once during a test circuit of the St. Clair Carhouse on 21 March, 1982. Luckily for us, TTC worker Ray Corley was on hand to capture the occasion for posterity.

Unlike the ICTS vehicles the RT eventually adopted, the streetcars were unable to reverse and had to turn around in a large semi-circular curve. Although it's now out of use, the loop was built out the west end of Kennedy station above the kiss-and-rise area but it was only used for a short time due to problems getting the ICTS vehicles to make the tight curve.

Work began on the line in October 1981 and the first of the 24 linear induction cars were delivered from Kingston, Ontario on April 17, 1984. The boxy white trains were the pride of the province's light rail program and, in the hope of attracting orders from other cities, the UTDC had convinced the TTC to switch out the streetcars.

It worked too, Vancouver and Detroit all bought in to the magnetic propulsion system and established their own rapid transit lines to mixed success. The welded aluminum cars cost $1.5 million each and could hold 100 people, 30 seated and 70 standing.

The motors, related to modern mag-lev and roller coaster technology, were capable of propelling the cars to a top speed of 72 km/h but with station stops the train typically averaged 32.5 km/h. A set of steering axles helped reduce rail grinding noise (the squealing heard when a subway train rounds a corner) and climate-controlled interiors promised a comfortable ride year round.

Interestingly (well, interesting for people like me,) the ubiquitous subway door chimes were first introduced to Toronto with the Scarborough RT. Toronto Sun writer Peter Howell called the brief computerized melody a "welcome change from the two piercing whistle blasts that signal a subway ride."It's hard to argue against the manufacturer's claim the trains were technologically advanced. Though there's an operator on every train to close the doors, monitor the track ahead, and ensure the safety of passengers, computers - 1980s computers, no less - do the rest.

Each vehicle has two on-board processors that accept commands from the central control station. Acceleration and braking points are calculated using speed and location data broadcast from antenna beneath the train to receivers along the route and relayed back to the remote driver.

Controllers in the central office also have control over de-icing systems and escalators via the SELTRAC software, a system developed in West Germany by Standard Elektrik Lorenz AG, now Alcatel-Lucent.

The $196 million RT opened on a crisp 23 March, 1985 with a day of free rides for passengers starting their journey on the line. In celebration, mayor Gus Harris proclaimed "City of the Future" week in Scarborough.

It was good timing. The first town of Scarborough in Yorkshire, England was celebrating the 500th anniversary of its town charter being issued by King Richard III in 1485 and their mayor was on hand to mark the arrival of the new transit line. More than 600 other dignitaries turned up to pose for the cameras.

It wasn't all photo ops and sound bites, however. Several protestors, many in wheelchairs, protested the line's lack of elevators or access ramps on the RT. The ceremonial first train left Scarborough Centre for Kennedy and a champagne reception to the sound of music specially composed for the occasion, leaving the demonstrators behind.

"Can you imagine a wheelchair in the rush hour at Bloor and Yonge? That's why we have a parallel system for disabled with WheelTrans," said TTC GM Alf Savage, defending the lack of accessible stations. Former TTC chief Michael Warren was forced to deny calling disabled access "distasteful and inconvenient" as a protestor claimed on a placard.

One planned expansion of the RT in 1993 called for 3.2 kms of new track and stations at Bellamy Road, Markham Road, Milner Avenue, and Sheppard East - a path similar to the cancelled LRT extension but with two extra stops. A new yard would have been built just north of the Bellamy station at a total cost of $430 million in 1992 money.

At the same time, the province pitched the Spadina line extension (similar to what's currently under-construction), the Sheppard subway, the Eglinton West subway, a westward stretch of Bloor-Danforth line to Sherway Gardens, and a Waterfront West LRT. All were to be finished by 2003.

The Scarborough RT would struggle to achieve ridership projections. The promotional material claimed the line could handle up to 20,000 passengers an hour in trains of six tethered cars but the first estimates predicted about 3,000 passengers an hour in each direction. Today an average of 1,800 board every hour at Kennedy, the busiest station on the line.

The most recent figures available from the TTC estimate 40,000 people use the line each day, almost none of them boarding or alighting at Ellesmere, the quietest station on Toronto's subway map. For comparison, Bessarion, famously the quietest stop on the subway, sees double the number of riders.

Had it been approved, the LRT conversion of the would have kept the current alignment and largely followed the proposed expansion plan first proposed back in 1993. The subway, if it survives, will forge a new path up McCowan Road to Sheppard Avenue with fewer stops.

It's not clear whether light rail will remain in the east end beyond 2015 but, lacklustre ridership aside, Toronto should be reasonably pleased with its first taste of surface rapid transit.

MORE IMAGES:

Diagram showing the motors under the ICTS cars

Introducing the RT logo

Map of the RT

An early map labeling Kennedy and the RT as under-construction

The cover of the first public progress report showing streetcars as the vehicle of choice

Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.

Image: Ray Corley, TTC Archives, Ontario Archives.

Photo by ronnie.yip in the blogTO Flickr pool.

If the Canadian Stage adaptation of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew was also to update its title to reflect the superficial nature of their cheeky, modern characters, the play might well be called The Taming of the Bitch. The characters that inhabit the production are primarily a tacky, upper-class sort, obsessed with iPhones, Starbucks, and ridiculing the hardened Kate.

Director Ted Witzel is successful at sketching out a playful pop kingdom from the Bard's language, think a contemporary Clueless, where social media meets Elizabethan verse. The modern treatment tends to muddle though when the gender battle goes awry and conventions become tired.

There is something inherently fun about modern adaptations of Shakespeare which encourage an audience to be on the lookout for clever additions and extrapolations. But there is also a tendency to lose the core of emotional text with too much projection, something that happens to a certain degree here.

Brash and bold Petruchio (Kevin MacDonald) sets out to "tame" the rebellious punk, Katherina (Sophie Goulet), to be his dutiful wife. He's put up to the challenge by three suitors who will only be allowed to marry Kate's sister Bianca (Jennifer Dzialoszynski) if the shrew is first with husband. When Kate doesn't take kindly to Petruchio's lessons, a battle of wits leads the couple down the path to marriage.

The problematic comedy is rife with misogynist overtones, something Witzel seeks to tame. He flips Lucentio into Lucentia (Tiana Asperjan), making the wooing of Bianca a girl on girl love story. It's a delightful choice that succeeds, in part, thanks to strong performances from Asperjan and Thomas Olajide, her servant Tranio. Yet, the female couple isn't exactly welcomed into the fold (one character spews utter revulsion) which is awkwardly played for laughs.

MacDonald is confident and captivating as Petruchio and Goulet conveys a challenging journey from villain to victim with subtlety. The one drawback is that the treatment of Kate seems devoid of empathy and underlying softness, which makes the exchanges a lot less enjoyable.

Music from Lyon Smith and accompanying scene transitions help sketch in characters and speed along the plot, but they're a tad overused by the final act. Lindsay C. Walker's set design is tastefully done, something that very possibly could have gone the wrong way given the contemporary setting.

The opening interlude set to Frank Ocean's "Super Rich Kids" foregrounds the type of Shakespeare about to unfold: "Super rich kids with nothing but loose ends / Super rich kids with nothing but fake friends." Superficiality is played to full tilt in this modern adaptation in High Park.

—

The Taming of the Shrew, written by William Shakespeare and directed by Ted Witzel, runs in High Park until August 31.

Photo courtesy of CanStage

Photo by bob is my uncle in the blogTO Flickr pool

Toronto events on July 22nd, 2013

MUSIC | Chance The Rapper
Chicago hip hop artist, Chance The Rapper, hits TO tonight for a show at The Hoxton. Also known as Chancelor Bennett, word has spread quickly about this young hip hop force, who completed his first mixtape, 10 while being suspended for ten days from school during his senior year. Chance The Rapper definitely has a unique and instantly recognizable voice and tone, and there is almost a comic quality his style of delivery on many tracks. He has collaborated since 10 with Hoodie Allen, Childish Gambino, and others, and has also been given the nod as an up 'n' comer by XXL Magazine. His latest mixtape, Acid Rap was released back in April.
The Hoxton (69 Bathurst Street) 10PM $15

FOOD | Christina Tosi of Momofuku Milk Bar - Signing and Demo
Tonight, an amazing opportunity to see pastry chef Christina Tosi demo her culinary magic before your eyes, and also deliver a talk and do some book signing. Tosi is the owner of Momofuku Milk Bar. A self confessed cookie dough addict, she's known for pushing the envelope in the world of desserts. Crack Pie, Cereal Milk, and Compost Cookies are three of her inventions that have caused the foodie community to take notice in a big way. Admission to this event includes a copy of Milk Bar.
George Brown Chef School (300 Adelaide Street East, Room 112) 6:30PM $40

LECTURE | Anime and the Media Mix: A lecture by Dr. Marc Steinberg
The Japanese animated productions known as anime is the subject of a lecture by Dr. Marc Steinberg, tonight at The Japan Foundation. This popular product of Japanese culture has achieved cult status in the West in the last decade or so, but its history can be traced back to the beginning of the 20th Century. Steinberg will discuss not only the artform of anime, but the industry that surrounds and invariably influences and sustains it. The different forms of media that make up this "industry", including toys, comics, games, and books - referred to here as the "media mix" - and their interconnectedness, will all be examined, with a special focus given to Kadokawa Books.
The Japan Foundation (131 Bloor Street West, 2nd Floor) 6:30PM RSVP req'd

MUSIC | Make Music Matter Presents: A Night For Change
Tonight, Make Music Matter presents an exciting lineup of musical talent at The Mod Club. This organization helps youth living in extreme poverty to achieve better things through music, and has been working at this noble goal since 2007. Maintaining a presence in developing countries has enabled their efforts at education and improving the quality of the lives of children. Tonight, DJ Cone McCaslin (of Sum 41), DJ Human Kebab, DJ James Drummond, Broken Sons, All But Over, and Dani Jean will come together to make music for a good cause.
The Mod Club (722 College Street) $10

Also Of Note

• Phish at the Molson Amphitheatre
• Sean Nicholas Savage + Jamaican Queens + JFM + Bad Passion

Have an event you'd like to plug? Submit your own listing to the blogTO Toronto events calendar or contact us directly.

Photo of the new Momofuku Milk Bar in Toronto

Rob Ford is having a merry old time on vacation in Winnipeg and Regina. The mayor left before the end of last week's council meeting and has been spotted among the home fans at a Roughriders game in Saskatchewan's capital city in a suit jacket and t-shirt. According to the Winnipeg Free Press, fans at an earlier Argonauts-Blue Bombers game booed and yelled "crack" when he acknowledged the crowd from the sidelines.

Despite the dissent, Ford declared the the fans "the most friendly people I've ever met." He's due back in Toronto today.

The Ford crack saga has graced the venerable pages of Mad magazine with a listicle entitled "Signs Your Mayor Smokes Crack." Number 4 reads: "Proposes balancing the budget by stealing all the car radios from the next town over" above a cartoon of a cracked out "Mayor of Moronto." Watch out Mississauga.

The planned Bloor-Danforth extension in to Scarborough could cost significantly more than expected, the TTC is warning. CEO Andy Byford says without the benefit of soil studies, land valuations, and other calculations the $2.3 billion price-tag is simply a "best estimate." It's hoped the province will still chip in the $1.8 billion budgeted for the LRT conversion.

On the subject of LRT money, TTC Chair Karen Stintz and Ontario Transit Minister Glen Murray have agreed to discuss the topic sensibly after a public dispute. The province says just $1.4 billion will be available for the subway, owing to renovations needed at Kennedy station and costs already incurred by the light rail line.

Lake Ontario has famously been conquered bottom to top several times, most famously by Marilyn Bell in 1954, but now a team of swimmers are planning to attempt an end-to-end crossing from Kingston to Burlington. Working in a non-stop relay, the team think the 230 km swim will take about five days.

Toronto's former garbage can provider is filing a $60 million lawsuit against the city over alleged breaches of contract, fraudulent misrepresentation, and even trespass. The gripes of EcoMedia, the maker of the old style silver receptacles, date back to the 2009 garbage strike and clauses in its contract with the city. Why does Toronto have such trouble with its trash contracts?

Finally, the intersection of Broadview and Gerrard will remain closed for a few more days the TTC says, as repairs to overhead wires damaged by a recent fire continue. It's expected streetcar routes will be back to normal by the end of the week. Also in transport, the Gardiner is going to lose two eastbound lanes from Jarvis to the Don River this week for repairs.

FROM THE WEEKEND:

• This Week in Comedy
• Get to know a Toronto startup: Figure 1
• Tim Hortons apologizes after blocking gay news site
• Surprise moratorium halts new business on Bathurst St.
• A brief history of the Scarborough RT
• Shakespeare gets modern at High Park

IN BRIEF:

• Skydiving accident north of Toronto leaves man dead [CBC]
• Blue Jays add Carlos Delgado to Level of Excellence [CBC]
• Toronto Zoo worker in hospital after rattlesnake bite [Toronto Star]
• Thousands still without power after Friday's storm [Toronto Star]
• Rays hit three more home runs as Tampa Bay sweeps Toronto [CTV News]

Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.

Image: Dan Cronin/blogTO Flickr pool.

This Week in Music rounds up the latest news, releases and concerts coming to Toronto.

IN THE NEWS

Portishead refused sample to The Weeknd but he probably used it anyway

If you didn't watch this go down on Twitter last week, Geoff Barrow of Portishead is not into Abel Tesfaye (Toronto's The Weeknd)'s new track "Belong to the World." The song's video features some long sci-fi intro that seems like it's going to be a subversive ad for, I don't know, a car? Perfume? E-cigarettes? Then if you get past the two minute mark, you'll hear what seems to be a beat from "Machinegun" come in with some filters slapped on it.

The Weeknd has always been an eclectic sampler, but Barrow, in a series of Tweets at Pitchfork, expressed disgust, claiming while Portishead often sells samples to artists whom they like, they rejected clearance to Tesfaye. Some of The Weeknd's wonderful fans retaliated with homophobic slander. Art does indeed belong to the world, and sometimes the world is full of jerks. Now Tesfaye himself seems to be claiming the beat was "inspired" by Portishead. Stereogum has a run down on the dramz. Controversy aside, I haven't decided if the song is a misogynistic bore or an interesting take on the assumptions we make about sex work.

Austra release ghoulish video for Painful Like

Local pop heros Austra's second album Olympia, out now on Paper Bag Records, is already raking in rave reviews. Their video for "Painful Like" features black lights, roller skates, and a baby monster! The baby monster knows all the words to the track and is really cute in an Eraserhead sort of way, so I hope they let it join the band.

THIS WEEK'S HOT TICKETS

LIDO PIMIENTA & PETRA GLYNT / JULY 25 / COMFORT ZONE / $10

Petra Glynt and Lido Pimienta are fundraising for their respective new videos this Thursday at The Comfort Zone. Pimienta's analog and electronic pop sounds mix with Afro-Colombian influence: perfect music to beat the heat, while Petra Glynt, local psychedelic illustrator and environmental activist Alex Mackenzie's rhythm and conscience heavy, way-danceable solo music project, boasts a voice that might just be the true form of the Canadian Shield. $10 gets you in the door for four bands and DJs HVYWTR: wow. The full lineup is here.

Justin Bieber will be at the Molson both Thursday and Friday, if you're into that. So actually, you can catch Petra Glynt and still get a full dose of Biebz.

RECENTLY ANNOUNCED CONCERTS

• VISIONS 8.10 feat. FLOATING POINTS, BLACK & MEDLEY, PAUL REVERED / BLK BOX / AUGUST 10
• THE PATTI SMITH BAND / MASSEY HALL / SEPTEMBER 8
• MICHAEL MORLEY + TOM CARTER / DOUBLE DOUBLE LAND / SEPTEMBER 21
• IRON & WINE / SOUND ACADEMY / SEPTEMBER 28
• CRYSTAL STILTS / THE HORSESHOE / OCTOBER 8
• SPARKS / LEE'S PALACE / NOVEMBER 2

WHAT WE GOT UP TO LAST WEEK

• 12 hot and sweaty moments from Salsa on St. Clair
• Metz, Metric rep Toronto on Polaris Prize Shortlist
• Bjork's girl gang dance party erupts at Echo Beach

Photo of The Weeknd by Brian Morton.

A spellbound crowd traveled back in time as the high priestess of grunge presided over the Danforth Music Hall on Saturday. She stepped onto the stage in a Victorian pirate's costume, the ember of a cigarette visible through the dimmed lights. The crowd cheered for her, but it was more a cry of witchy worship than the excited sounds of nighttime revelers.

More than ever, Courtney Love has the air of a woman who knows who she is and what she wants. She still has the same Occult-ish hand movements she was recognized for 15 years ago, but she's lived through a hell of a lot more pain and sorrow, and it comes through. The third song in, just as I was marvelling at how great she sounded despite the mountains of cigarettes she's smoked over the years, she said, "Mama needs some nicotine," and proceeded to chain smoke throughout the entire show.

Nicotine wasn't the only thing Love made pause for: small quantities of tequila were demanded a few times, as well, like bits of nectar to an especially mischievous fairy. To say her voice is 'raspy' would be a tragic understatement, but the raw sound of it transported everyone at the Music Hall straight back to the '90s.

One of the highlights, in my view, was undoubtedly Celebrity Skin. The room was full of '90s babies, more than one of whom showed up to pay their respects to Courtney wearing just a bra. Though the room was a bit somber, even for Toronto, everyone rocked the fuck out for that song. It spoke as an anthem to me, at least. I mean, "When I wake up/in my makeup/it's too early for that dress," pretty much sums up the character of a generation whose members do whatever they please, and with an air of complete religiosity.

Love is our queen of no-fucks-given. Case in point: when she came out for an encore, she was wearing what looked like a shower cap. And she hung a pair of underwear and a bra off of the microphone as though proudly displaying the results of a scalping.

Love has a reputation for being unequivocally nuts. The freakiness started to show when she cursed us all in the form of "Skinny Little Bitch," from Hole's most recent (and final) album Nobody's Daughter. There was some real hatred and more than a twinge of the unhinged about it. Yes, I acknowledge that, to many, she seems, and has always seemed, 'crazy.' Writers in the likes of Vanity Fair and Pitchfork, blessed with the privilege of hiding behind the scenes, write the most scathing remarks of her.

Despite Love's powerful voice and the incredible show she put on, there was a distinct air of melancholy about it all, as could be expected. She did a blues cover for us, one she called her "favourite drugs song," and at the end, she told us "I've earned the right to sing the blues." She chose Dying as one of her closing songs, and after that, the lighters came out. It felt like a funeral at the end, and I wasn't the only one in the crowd who could sense that energy.

To me, and to others who have adored her, Courtney Love is just doing what we all tell children in primary school to do. Be yourself. Very few of us subscribe to this notion, but Love does so, unabashedly. And for that, she should be looked to as an inspiration. Shrouded in a cloud of smoke and sprinkling red rose petals over her audience, Love transmitted some of her bravery to us.

The crowd left a little quiet, like they would never be quite the same.

Photos by Denise McMullin.

After weeks of ardent denials, Momofuku's mysterious glass room is exactly what was expected on social media; the first international outpost of the cult sweet shop known for crack pie and cereal milk. Sadly, it's more like just Milk (drop the "Bar"), since the refrigerated shop is self-serve only and if you want a glass of cereal milk you'll have to mix it yourself.

Read my review of Momofuku Milk Bar Toronto in the grocery section.

Celebrating street food, art and music, La Carnita's DOS attracted throngs of guests to the Evergreen Brick Works this past Friday. Following last year's inaugural street food and art party, UNO, this year's event brought together international artists, DJs, a guest taqueria (Big Star from Chicago) as well as a sneak peek at Andrew Richmond's soon-to-open eatery The Home of The Brave.

Check out these photos from the tastiest AND hottest (quite literally) food and art party of the summer.

Photos by Morris Lum

Toronto was treated to a stunning display of mammatus clouds on Friday evening in the wake of a passing thunderstorm. While the storm took a few casualties, most noteworthy were the wild skies it left behind. Taking place at dusk, the entire city was cast in an otherworldly orange glow somewhat akin to what one sees during a solar eclipse. In addition to the mammatus display, the sky was spread with low-hanging white clouds, which stood in stark contrast to the otherwise saturated scene. It was positively stunning, and a sight you can bet you won't see again for a long time. We asked our Instagram followers to share their photos of the event with us. Here are some of the best from the collection.

Checkout the spectacular skies above Toronto in our #stormcloudsTO stream.

Photo by amymichellesmith

Photo by adrianopincente

Photo by amyjweinstein

Photo by oloveya

Photo by lucasmurnagan

Photo by jackienguye

Photo by lindulina

Photo by mska

Photo by katy_o

Lead photo by fragileheart

Street style in the Financial District doesn't always mean lawyers, bankers and suits. With the recent hot weather we hit the pavement to survey the looks on students, musicians and others hanging out near King, Queen and Bay.

Check out all the looks in our Style section.

This cute new ramen shop in Baldwin Village is sure to give its competitors a fierce battle. Featuring what must be one of the best broths in Toronto, it's easy to tell that Chef Ryuchiro "Roy" Takahashi is a ramen addict, a fact that shines through in just about every dish on the menu.

Read my review of Ryus Noodle Bar in the restaurants section.

The hotly-debated sale and development of Postal Station K, a historic art deco mail facility just north of Yonge and Eglinton, entered a new phase recently with the release of several detailed digital images and a clutch of statistics related to the planned residential addition to the multi-layered historic site.

As envisioned by developers Rockport and RAW architects, a relatively modest 26-storey condo tower will rise from behind the federally protected Queenston limestone, granite, and brick structure with only a handful of minor alterations planned for the existing property.

The two-storey art deco stone building is located on the site of Montgmery's Tavern, the focal point for a key battle during the early days of the town of York. It was here in 1837 a group of armed militants led by William Lyon Mackenzie, frustrated by the all-powerful rule of privileged British elites in Upper Canada, staged a futile last stand against loyalist troops.

The postal building was built in 1936 and contains several unique features, among them the rare royal cypher "EVIIIR" inscribed above the door. Short for Edward VIII Rex, the dedication is particularly valuable as Edward was on the throne for just under 11 months before his abdication in December 1936.

Canada Post owned and used the property until November 2012. Before that the lot was occupied by a hotel, a masonic lodge, and local council offices.

The heritage building will be converted for commercial use, most likely a restaurant or other business that allows public access to the interior. A rooftop patio could be part of the plans if a bar or some kind of eatery does take the space. Out the front - as planned in the early stages of the project - a public gathering place with benches, trees, and planters.

The proposed 26-storey residential tower, to be attached to the former post office via a glass atrium at the rear, will stand on a the site of a brick sorting warehouse scheduled for demolition under the proposal.

The podium area will feature a small cluster of nine townhouses; above, floors 5 through 26 will contain the remaining 225 residential units and various amenities. In total, the tower will stand 83 metres high.

According to documents filed on behalf of the developers, the mid-rise residential component already conforms with the official plan for the Yonge-Eglinton area and therefore shouldn't face any additional re-zoning application hurdles.

Official examination by the plans by the city's Design Review Panel and approval by community and city councils are still to come in the months ahead. In the meantime, what do you think of the proposal? Is this a good outcome for one of Toronto's finer examples of art deco institutional architecture? Are you pleased Postal Station K will remain publicly accessible?

QUICK STATS:

Site Area: 2,551 square metres
Total floorspace: 20,073 sq. m.
Height: 26 storeys (78.2 m plus 5-metre mechanical penthouse_
Residential units: 234
Indoor amenity space: 488 sq. m.
Outdoor amenity space: 169 m sq. m.
Car spaces: 174
Bike spaces: 175

Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.

Image: Rockport Acquisitions Inc.