Soon-to-open new restaurant The Grove, next to Churchill on Dundas at Lakeview, is already getting preview attention for its English menu.
The local art scene is also getting some coverage, starting with a story about art which mentions some street art on Queen near Ossington. It’s a cool picture – definitely want to check it out!
It’s only a few weeks away, and you still don’t have plans for New Year’s? No matter how cold it is, at least on Ossington you know you’ll find a cab home! Here are some great ways to celebrate the start of 2012.
Bohmer Restaurant is holding a Speakeasy New Year’s Eve, with a 5 course tasting menu with a glass of bubbly, for $75 pp.
At this year’s Dakota Tavern New Year’s party, CATL will have everyone dancing with a show starting at 10PM.
The Painted Lady sticks to what it does best, with music by Salazar and burlesque from Anastasia Burlesque.
The Ossington is planning an 80s boogie funk New Year with “Love Handle NYE Edition” with DJs starting at 10PM.
Opera Bob’s is hosting their 3rd Annual New Year’s Eve-Stravaganza, with live music from The Unknown Culprits and guests. Admission is $20 but go buy tickets in advance as they sold out well before the big night last year.
The Garrison‘s Annual New Year’s Eve party features Chronologic and Shit la Merde and tickets are available at Soundscapes and Rotate This for $20.
Lower Ossington Theatre‘s new event space, LOT, is hosting a New Year’s party for $10 with dancing all night. Tickets on sale now and the party starts at 10p.
UPDATE: Fishbar has announced their dinner menu for New Year’s (scroll down) and for $55 pp they are offering a 4 course meal, drinks not included.
People will be dancing at Levack Block. Featuring DJ Dougie Boom in the backroom with special guests in the front. Entry is $20 in advance, $30 at the door, plus there’s a $40 VIP wristband = entry to second floor & champagne toast at midnite. Doors open @ 10pm, serving till 3AM.
Tickets available at the bar from Thursday to Saturday from 5pm or through PayPal via levackblock@yahoo.com
We’ll keep updating this post as we learn of more happenings in the neighborhood.
This Saturday afternoon, head over to Trinity Bellwoods Park for the free, licensed Queen West Music Fest. If you like parks, sunshine, bands, beer and BBQ, this is the event for you.
The concert starts Saturday, August 20 at 1PM. Admission is free, but you may want to donate, or buy some beers, as it’s a fundraiser for Toronto General and Western Hospital Foundation. Since 2009, they’ve raised over $22,000 for local hospitals. For twitter updates, follow @qwmf
Saturday is supposed to be a nice day so enjoy the outdoors while you can! Summer is still here!
The Ossington neighbourhood is full of a diverse group of people from traditional Portuguese families, to artists, to young professionals. The neighbourhood got together this Sunday afternoon for the first Ossington Village Alleyway party, hosted by local Michael Louis Johnson, the singing, horn-playing bartender from the Communist’s Daughter. The event took place in the alleyway between Foxley and Argyle just to the west of Ossington. There were bands, games, lots of food, dancing, rain, and everything necessary for a great event.
Next Sunday afternoon, Michael Louis Johnson, the man behind the Ossington Blackout Party, and the regular Saturday afternoon Gypsy Jazz Matinee, is hosting an Ossington Village Alleyway Party. In the laneway between Argyle and Foxley, just west of Ossington, between 3pm and 9pM, there will be a party with music, street games, painting of garage doors, and much more. There will be the music of Rambunctious, Maria Bonita and the Band, The Lemon Bucket Orkestra and more.
Neighbours and locals are invited to bring out their barbeques, some food and drink, street hockey sticks, and anything else to make the party fun.
The celebration of Cuban food, art, music and drinks is returning to Ossington Avenue this August. Havana Cultura runs August 18-21 and is sponsored by Havana Club Rum. Events will be held at many of the busiest venues around the neighborhood, including Reposado, Sweaty Bettys, Watusi, Delux, Crooked Star, Lower Ossington Theatre, Painted Lady, and, of course, Julie’s Cuban.
The sneak preview happened today at Reposado where they showcased some of the talent – from musicians to cigar rollers. They also allowed us to taste some authentic Cuban food and drink, including a new rum they are launching this year during the festival, Havana Club Selección de Maestros.
Some of the highlights of this year’s event include a Rumba party at The Ossington on Friday August 19th with IYÁ IRÉ Dance Company, and the Latinada Band from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Also on Friday, local Latin artists Son Aché will be performing upbeat Latin dance music at Watusi.
On Saturday afternoon, you can take a master class in rum drinks and the origins of Cuban rum, the secrets of rum production and learn how to mix a few classic Cuban cocktails at a special Havana Club Master Class at LeVack Block from 2 to 3pm. Even the Lower Ossington Theatre is involved with some Cuban films including “Eso Que Anda”and “Lisanka”.
And once again the wall of Levack Block will be painted during the festival by local grafitti artist Angel Carrillo.
The festival is a great fit for Ossington, taking great advantage of the diversity of businesses and individuals in the neighbourhood. Keep an eye on our calendar for a full line-up of events as the date approaches.
August brings us Summerworks again, at least for this year, and again this year we see the Lower Ossington Theatre as a major venue. The Summerworks Festival runs August 4-14 in Toronto, and the LOT is the host for the majority of the music performances, and is a theatre venue.
Tickets for each music night are $10 and are available in advance at Soundscapes and Rotate This.
We won’t publish the entire music series schedule, as it is already there for you on the site. We’ll point out that there is a lot of Canadian talent playing at the LOT during those 10 days in August. Highlights include Bruce Peninsula and Hooded Fang, but they are all highlights! In addition to the concerts, there are two nights of Musical Nights in Concert, on August 8th and 9th. The music series runs Friday, August 5 – Saturday, August 13, 2011.
Just around the corner on Queen West at the MOCCA/Edward Day Gallery outdoor courtyard, will be the Summerworks Art Bar and late night music series HQ. They’re launching with a free outdoor concert on Thursday, August 4.
The Painted Lady has quietly launched The First Annual Jazz on Oz Fringe Festival, running at the same time as the Toronto Jazz Festival and the Toronto Fringe Festival. In reaction to the corporate sponsored, expensive and staid concerts provided by the city jazz festival, they are hoping to attract some of the best and brightest from the festival to extend their nights in a more free-form style. During this time, The Painted Lady will be open, serving, and offering live jazz until 4am. As most of the venues at the official event end around 10pm, it will be just enough time for the musicians to grab dinner, and head out to do what jazz musicians do best: improvise and interact in a comfortable late-night venue. The sets will include (or start with) musicians like Great Bob Scott, Chris Gartner, and Shuffle DemonRichard Underhill, but who knows where it will go from there?
The great jazz musicians – Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie among many others- honed their chops and gave audiences wild and random shows late nights in the clubs in New York, so the Painted Lady is hoping to get musician musicians down to Ossington to keep our neighbourhood in the forefront of the arts in Toronto.
We think there’s room for at least a few more venues to join in on this fun. How about Reposado, The Port on Dundas, Dakota Tavern or Bunda Lounge? Let’s get a few more venues going and be the place in the city where the real fun and creativity happens.
This weekend was NXNE, and many great venues on Ossington hosted many great acts from across Canada and around the world. We had a chance to check out a number of the shows both in the Ossington area as well as venues such as the Rivoli, Mod Club, the Gladstone and the Music Gallery. We’ve posted pictures of a few of the highlights here. (excuse the dark-light iPhone/Blackberry shots)
Thursday
Among a few other bands we saw on Thursday, a highlight was Paper Thick Walls, a 5 piece band from Chicago which played at the Painted Lady.
Friday
Early on Friday night we again stopped by and saw Haunted Hearts, from Charlottown, PEI.
Saturday
Through the magic of Twitter, we managed to catch a secret Stars show down at Edward Day Gallery near the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art at 12:30pm on Saturday. With an audience of just over 100 people, (most NXNEers still aren’t awake at this early hour) it was an intimate setting to see such a great band.
We then moved over to Reposado, who held an impromptu, rogue NXNE show with Chains of Love, Hot Kid and Modern Superstitions, generously sponsored by Steamwhistle and Rdio in the north lounge of the bar. The heat in the room was offset by free ice cream offered by the sponsors.
After some recovery we strolled over to the Dakota Tavern for great sets from Chris Velan, Bellewoods, and Portland, Oregon’s Horse Feathers.
Sunday
On Sunday we wandered over to Trinity Bellwoods Park to watch a NXNE showcase played out among the trees in the park.
This weekend our neighborhood celebrated Portugal with live music, dance, costumes and a parade. Here are some photos from the parade on Dundas West and the concerts in Trinity Bellwoods Park.
It’s time for a recap of press coverage of Ossington area businesses.
