Get Well Bar on Dundas has been serving up great craft beer for a full year. This week, they’ll be celebrating their first anniversary and joining in on Ontario Craft Beer Week. This week is OCB Week all across the province, with lots of opportunities to taste some of Homer Simpson’s favorite beverages as crafted locally.
The craft beer week events have already begun, and the festivities at Get Well start on MOnday with a Neustadt Beer Tasting and Tap Take-over. Starting at 6PM, reps from Neustadt will be in-house to talk about the beers and give out free samples.
Here’s our Saturday guide for music and comedy lovers who want to check out some of the great NXNE action in our immediate area. Within a short walk there’s also more great music at The Great Hall, The Drake Hotel, The Gladstone Hotel and the Mod Club. Check out the NXNE guide for more details. You can also read our calendar for other events happening in the neighbourhood.
NXNE kicks off early on the weekend, with free shows in Trinity Bellwoods brought to you by Young Lions Music Club. Their Great Hearts Music Festival features acoustic music south of the Dog Bowl:
1:00pm: Jane’s Party - Party rock band
2:00pm: Tyler Kyte: Guitar player-singer songwriter
2:30pm: Northcote: Bob Seger voice, sing-along songs
3:00pm: Taylor Knox: Poppy upbeat music that reminds us of Brendan Benson and Franz Ferdinand
3:30pm: Paper Lions: Quartet with beautiful harmonies and rocking guitars
4:00pm: Svavar Knutur: Icelandic troubadour
4:30pm: Eons: Male/Female pair who often play with Bruce Peninsula
5:00pm: Absolutely Free: Self-described psych rock world art rock avant garde
More unofffical (and free music) at Reposado, where Duggan’s Brewery also offers beer samples, the patio will be open and they’ll be flipping sausages and burgers for eating:
2:30 – The Dickens - Fast paced garage rock
3:30 – Station Twang - Country rock featuring Reposadist Sandy McFayden and Mike Duggan on drums
4:30: Rob n’ Bob Power Duo featuring Great Bob Scott
8:00 PM breeze - Ethereal pop ala Belle and Sebastian
9:00 PM Cousins - Garage rock crossed with punk
10:00 PM Beliefs - Catchy atmospheric pop
11:00 PM Dusted - Brian Borcherdt of Holy Fuck fame leads this new band. The place will be busy and rocking.
12:00 AM Tangiers - Punky garage rock similar to The Vines
1:00 AM doomsquad - Synthy atmospheric music
2:00 AM Dream Affair - Industrial post punk
3:00 AM Greys - Loud rock band
8:00 PM Jonah Tolchin - Flat picking guitar virtuoso with a bluesy singing style
9:00 PM Dusty Sunshine - Rollicking country from 6 women – if you liked O Brother, Where Art Thou
10:00 PM The Roseville Band - Welsh band with horns and guitars were a big hit at NXNE 2012
11:00 PM The Sumner Brothers - Alt-country band from Vancouver plays the perfect Toronto venue for their sound
12:00 AM Andrea England - Folk country singer with a sultry voice
1:00 AM Meanwood - Country five piece includes 2 guitars, accordion and banjo
2:00 AM Ketch Harbour Wolves - If you missed The National last night, go see this band
The Painted Lady:
8:00 PM ATTAGIRL
9:00 PM Teen Violence - Early Beatles pop sounds, not what you’d expect from the band name
11:00 PM Little Creatures - Anthem rock from a guitar/drum duo
12:00 AM Brave Parents - Moody and synthy energetic pop
1:00 AM The Pinz - Green Day influence punk pop
2:00 AM Silvergun & Spleen - Fast paced new wave
Comedy at the Lower Ossington Theatre:
8:00 PM Barry Taylor
8:10 PM James Nghiem
8:20 PM Paul Thompson
8:30 PM Lianne Mauladin
8:40 PM Daniel Woodrow
8:50 PM Amanda Brooke Perrin
9:10 PM Debra DiGiovanni
10:00 PM Tim Golden
10:20 PM Definition Of Knowledge
10:30 PM Nick Flanagan
10:40 PM Todd Graham
10:50 PM Sandra Battaglini
11:10 PM Precious Chong
Here’s our Friday guide for music lovers who want to check out some of the great NXNE events in our neighborhood. We’ve listed all the local stuff, but there’s more close by at The Great Hall, The Drake Hotel, The Gladstone Hotel and the Mod Club. Check out the NXNE guide for more details. You can also read our calendar for other events happening in the neighbourhood.
Free acoustic sets are happening in Trinity Bellwoods Park, south of the Dog Bowl.
9:00 PM Sarah Jaffe - Texas singer songwriter with a big voice and an indie-pop sound
!0:00 PM VALLEYS - This couple from NYC delivers solid noise pop with some melody
11:00 PM Big Black Delta - Beat heavy, poppy and ambient electronic solo artist
12:00 AM The Soft Moon - Post punk noise rock from Oakland, CA
1:00 AM Odonis Odonis - Local Torontonians play guitar heavy rock with feedback
2:00 AM Special Guest
The Dakota Tavern: This showcase features several acts from Ching Music, including owner and member of The Tragically Hip, Paul Langlois
9:00 PM Jim Tidman - Canadian singer-songwriter with a classic country voice and sound 10:00 PM Greg Ball - Alt-country
11:00 PM Paul Langlois - Tragically Hip member and record label owner plays his label’s showcase
12:00 AM Tin Star Orphans - Country with extras like horns and strings, and great musicianship
2:00 AM Big Tobacco & The Pickers - Dakota regulars play traditional honky-tonk style country
Jordan Foisy 8:10 PM
Danny Polishchuk 8:20 PM
Diana Love 8:30 PM
Deborah Robinson 8:40 PM
Ben Miner 8:50 PM
Tim Golden 9:00 PM
DJ Demers 10:10 PM
Aisha Alfa 10:20 PM
Patrick Hakeem 10:30 PM
Monty Scott 10:40 PM
Sarah Donaldson 10:50 PM
Ali Hassan 11:00 PM
Dave Merheje 11:10
Here’s our Thursday guide for locals who want to check out some of the great music and comedy happening at NXNE in our immediate area. Within a short walk there’s also more great music at The Great Hall, The Drake Hotel, The Gladstone Hotel and the Mod Club. Check out the NXNE guide for more details.
Hopefully the rain will let up because free music is available daily starting today at Trinity Bellwoods Park. Bands participating in the official NXNE festival are also playing unplugged at Live In Bellwoods: The Great Heart Festival. Bring a blanket to sit on, and maybe some snacks and enjoy some free music al fresco!
4:00pm: Olenka and the Autumn Lovers - Moody, ethereal music and singing
4:30pm: Maylee Todd - Upbeat pop with disco, bossa nova and jazz influences
5:00pm: Kalle Mattson - Singer-songwriter with mellow songs and a band full of horns and strings. Decemberists sound
5:30pm: Jay McCarrol - Piano melodies, singer-songwriter
6:00pm: Alright Alright - Catchy melody rock songs – (which should be interesting played acoustic)
9:00 PM William Tyler – Thoughtful, rich solo guitar
10:00 PM US Girls – Rich sounds, minimalist also, mixed coolness 11:00 PMRoomrunner - Grungy lo-fi, garage rock from Baltimore, MD 12:00 AM Destruction Unit – Three guitars, reckless noise-punk.
1:00 AM Milk Music – Lo-fi, melodic, grungy sounds from Olympia, WA
8:00 PM The Rucksack Willies – Old style country/bluegrass with Canadiana style original songs
9:00 PM Animal Parts – Pop country, minimalist songwriters
10:00 PM Willhorse – Southern style rock/blues – Black Crows, Alman Bros, Lynard Skynard
11:00 PM Jason Plumb and The Willing – Country style rock/pop with clever pop-style songs
12:00 AM Lindy Vopnfjord – Songs of love and loss in an alt-pop setting.
1:00 AM Graydon James & the Young Novelists – Roots rock/folk – think Wilco/Blue Rodeo styles
2:00 AM Pistol George Warren – Eight piece country/motown/funk/grooves
8:00 PM Modern Primitive – Crisp, modern, new-wave, punk.
10:00 PM Dance Movie – Danceable Pop music – Lyrics reminiscent of Regina Spector/Jenny Lewis
11:00 PM Loopsy Dazy – Violin, guitar synth, and a lot of loops.
12:00 AM Sunrise and Good People – Experimental, tribal, melodic, and really interesting.
1:00 AM PARALLELS Synthy girl pop
2:00 AM Pick A Piper – World music, dance DJ
8:00 PM Monty Scott
8:10 PM Brian Coughlin
8:20 PM Dave Tsonos
8:30 PM Andrew Chapman
8:40 PM Barry Taylor
8:50 PM Mark Bennett
9:00 PM Nile Seguin
9:10 PM Arthur Simeon
10:10 PM Amanda Brooke Perrin
10:20 PM Barry Taylor
10:30 PM Tom Henry
10:40 PM Michael Kolberg
10:50 PM Sara Hennessey
11:00 PM Monty Scott
11:10 PM Deborah Robinson
Here’s our daily guide for locals who want to check out some of the great music and comedy happening at NXNE in our immediate area – each with a bit of description of what you’re going to expect to find. Within a short walk there’s also more great music at The Great Hall, The Drake Hotel, The Gladstone Hotel and the Mod Club. Check out the NXNE guide for more details.
9:00 PM Ben Boles – One man (with an opinion on Ossington), one guitar, one pedal looper, a drum machine. What more do you want?
10:00 PM PROGRAM – Dark, 80s style, with heavy bass. Think Joy Division.
12:00 PM Special Guest – Who knows? Will the National show up?
8:00 PM Nick Faye and the Deputies – Think Ryan Adams fronting a prairie-based Arcade Fire
9:00 PM Hartwell Littlejohn – Raw Americana alt-country on 20 years of wanderlust, relationships, and restaurant jobs
10:00 PM Trevor Alguire – Nashville sounds – country sweetness, but he’s from northern Ontario.
11:00 PM Tommy Brunett – He’s got a song called “I like Beer” (that’s made right here) – he’s not talking about Bellwoods though. Country fun.
12:00 AM Todd May – Steve Earle, Tom Petty style vocals, Ryan Adams-ish lyrics. Big alt-country sounds.
1:00 AM The North – Pure Canadiana – with pretty female vocals.
8:00 PM Star & Micey – Melodic country-stylings from Memphis, TN
9:00 PM Fine Canadian Forces – Loop pedals, guitars, cool lyrics, and many layers of sound.
10:00 PM Bravery Cat (Carlo Meriano) – Quirky country/folk/pop with pretty vocals
11:00 PM Golden Bloom -Danceable Pop-rock sounds from Montclair, NJ.
12:00 AM Girlfriends and Boyfriends – Dark, fast punky 80s style rock from Vancouver, BC
1:00 AM The Weak Need – Alt-rock – pop, but slightly dark.
If you live in this neighbourhood or visit her often one of the great annual events that brings together the entire Portuguese community to the area is the Portugal Day Parade. It happened this morning and for over two hours groups of patriot Portuguese streamed along Dundas full of national pride, many dressed in traditional clothes. Many of the major Portuguese owned companies sponsored elaborate floats, some of which even included live animals.
Erin Hatfield of the Parkdale Villager wrote a longer history of Toronto’s Portugal Day here, which is well worth reading.
Tens of thousands turned out yesterday for Toronto’s first Dundas West Fest, a street fair stretching from Roxton Road all the way to Lansdowne. The restaurants had tables out in the street, and vendors and onlookers alike were enjoying the great weather all day. Stages were set up along the whole stretch of the festival including in the Beer Store parking lot.
Here are a few pictures we collected from yesterday’s festivities but these were just a small snapshot of an enormous festival. We’re looking forward to this festival again next year. A huge thanks and congratulations has to go out to to the Dundas West BIA for putting together a fantastic day.
The Garrison had windows wide open and a big crowd gathered to enjoy the scene:
The Japanese Paper Place (a local business on Brock Street) organized a collage table where kids and adults got to be crafty with paper:
The garden centre on the south side of Dundas just east of Dovercourt was turned into an actual beer garden, hosted by Bambi’s (a popular late night basement bar on the corner of Dovercourt and Dundas if you haven’t seen it) and Beau’s Beer. DJs played the entire afternoon and into the evening.
The Beer Store parking lot had a stage with plenty of great bands:
Churchill and The Grove moved their business outdoors for the day:
This week brought another new storefront to Ossington in the form of Hero Heroine – a salon serving both men and women. Following on a whole string of new style and beauty shops including Annie Aime and PopUp 120, the new owners of 216 Ossington have spruced up the old space where Cantadora was as well as taken over both downstairs and upstairs of the building so they could have a massage room, a colouring salon upstairs plus a men’s lounge downstairs.
The salon is the brainchild of Niko Liberio and Anthony Filipetto, who owned a salon together called Purple Hearts when they were in their early 20s on Queen West – back when Queen West meant John street, and the feeling of the neighbourhood was a bit like Ossington today. And like Queen West itself, Niko and Anthony moved on to other ventures including working in film and TV for some of the biggest celebrities, and opening an award winning hotel in Costa Rica. Recently they both ended up back in Toronto and decided to get back into business together again, this time in our neighbourhood.
They discovered the location while back in Toronto walking around various neighbourhoods and decided this was the spot. They are still putting the final touches on the design including purchasing a video game console for the men’s lounge downstairs and putting a turntable coffee table in the main room where they plan to play vinyl on Friday nights between 5-10 pm for those customers that want a little old school music with their hair styling.
They are also very committed to the safe treatment of animals. Nico created a line of ECO and PETA friendly hair products called “Hair Hero”, and they have devoted part of their profits and build awareness for WSPA, the World Society for the Protection of Animals.
We are used to seeing a few celebrities on the street, but expect to see more coming in and out of their stylish shop. Their client list includes many names we’ve all heard of including Justin Timberlake, Eminem, Robert Wagner (you remember him, right?), and many many more.
Follow their adventures now on their Facebook page, and I’m sure we’ll see them more on other social media platforms soon as their business evolves.
For those who can’t get there soon, here’s a few shots of the interior:
The North by Northeast Festival (NXNE), one of Toronto’s best music fests, is back next week. NXNE runs June 10th-16th with a schedule of music and film now enhanced with art and comedy. As usual, our area has lots of music and now we have NXNE comedy too!
The week of NXNE also has loads of unofficial showcases, where beer and alcohol companies sponsor afternoon showcases at different venues, art galleries and bars. So keep your eye on twitter, download the NXNE app, and enjoy the shows!
All the neighborhood events are in our calendar, and we’ll keep updating as more information becomes available.
For the first time ever Dundas Street West will host a party of food, art, music and more on Saturday, June 8th. The street will be closed down from Landsdowne Avenue to Roxton Road for the Dundas West Fest from 11AM to 10PM.
There will be plenty to do and experience and this festival, which is hosted by the Dundas West BIA in participation with local councillors Ana Bailao and Mike Layton. Kids will be kept busy with activities like art making and two kids’ zones. Adults will enjoy musical performances by Portuguese bands, and Toronto bands like Rambunctious and Run With The Kittens, plus food from all the great local restaurants like Lakeview and This End Up, comedy at Full of Beans, and buskers all around the street.
As this neighbourhood has developed and changed over the last few years, more of a diverse community has developed and the Dundas business association is finally bringing it all together in a day long celebration of all the business, arts and culture of the street. A lot of people are volunteering their time to make it a success.
Go out and enjoy the day. A full list of all the activities and participants is here. To catch instant updates, follow their twitter feed @DundasWestFest or follow them on Facebook
Here are some of their recent announcements on twitter:
#RedHouseMusicAcademy (1108 Dundas West) will share sidewalk space with BMO at Roxton to showcase the talent of its students and faculty!
Get Well Bar on Dundas has been serving up great craft beer for a full year. This week, they’ll be celebrating their first anniversary and joining in on Ontario Craft Beer Week. This week is OCB Week all across the province, with lots of opportunities to taste some of Homer Simpson’s favorite beverages as crafted locally. 
The craft beer week events have already begun, and the festivities at Get Well start on MOnday with a Neustadt Beer Tasting and Tap Take-over. Starting at 6PM, reps from Neustadt will be in-house to talk about the beers and give out free samples.
Here’s our Saturday guide for music and comedy lovers who want to check out some of the great NXNE action in our immediate area. Within a short walk there’s also more great music at The Great Hall, 
If you live in this neighbourhood or visit her often one of the great annual events that brings together the entire Portuguese community to the area is the Portugal Day Parade. It happened this morning and for over two hours groups of patriot Portuguese streamed along Dundas full of national pride, many dressed in traditional clothes. Many of the major Portuguese owned companies sponsored elaborate floats, some of which even included live animals.
Tens of thousands turned out yesterday for Toronto’s first 
This week brought another new storefront to Ossington in the form of Hero Heroine – a salon serving both men and women. Following on a whole string of new style and beauty shops including 
For the first time ever Dundas Street West will host a party of food, art, music and more on Saturday, June 8th. The street will be closed down from Landsdowne Avenue to Roxton Road for the 