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.
Toronto celebrates Portugal Week this week, and the bulk of it is happening right here. Do you want to listen to some live music, see a parade? You can do that this weekend just near Dundas and Ossington.
We found a website with all the details on Portugal Week in Toronto, but here are some of the highlights:
This Friday night, June 10, and all day Saturday and Sunday, the Dundas end of Trinity Bellwoods will be taken over with music and celebrations. We went last year and, in addition to the musical stage, there were also rides and games for kids, and folk dancing.
Saturday is also the day of the parade. The Portuguese parades are always popular, so if you want a seat, get to Dundas St W. early. If you want to drive cross-town, use an alternate route! The parade is scheduled to start at 11am, starting at Dundas and Lansdowne, and ending in Trinity Bellwoods Park.
Here’s to nice weather this weekend, and maybe we’ll see you at the park!
It’s June in Toronto, so time for the annual music, film and interactive whirlwind called North By Northeast, or NXNE for short. This year’s fest runs June 13-19 and passes and individual tickets are on sale.
As in previous years, the organizers of NXNE haven’t mastered good web servers or set-ups, so it’s difficult to search the schedule right now, but I recommend looking by date and venue, then you can see who’s playing at each venue on each day. When NXNE launches, you’ll be able to get a program and printed schedules in the free weeklies.
As more music venues pop up in our neighborhood, so do more opportunities for us to see NXNE acts. Remember to check our calendar for these and all event listings!
For those of you who haven’t experienced NXNE before, here are a few notes and tips:
* Shows start on time. The band scheduled to play at 8PM will most likely be off stage by 8:50PM and the next artist will start playing at 9PM. Stick to the schedule, because the bands and venues will.
* Wear comfortable shoes
* If there is a band or artist you really want to see, get to that venue as early as you possibly can. For more well-known and/or smaller venues (ie, the Dakota Tavern) and for well known or hyped bands, there will be a line-up and you might not get in
* Have a back-up plan. You may not get in to see your first choice
Anyway, on to the shows! As always, The Dakota Tavern is open every night with full sets of performers: Wednesday from 9PM – 2AM, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 8PM – 3AM. Horse Feathers out of Portland, ORE, plays Saturday at 11PM.
The Garrison, at 1197 Dundas, has shows Wednesday 9P-2A, Thursday, Friday and Saturday 9P-3A, and Sunday night 10P-12A. Performers include Canada’s own Handsome Furs Saturday night at 1AM as part of the You Look Death.ly showcase
There are NXNE shows at The Painted Lady Wednesday-Friday 8P-2A, and Saturday til 3A.
Trinity Bellwoods Park is even a venue for several afternoons, so let’s hope it doesn’t rain! Called the Live in Bellwoods series, the concerts run every day starting Thursday, June 16 from 2p-5p, with stripped down acoustic sets every half hour. The shows are happening just west and north of the kids park (D5, D6 of the map). These shows are free, so bring a blanket and a picnic and listen to some tunes in the park.
The Juno Awards ceremony is in Toronto this year, and 2011 marks the 10th anniversary of Juno Fest, which is a showcase of Canadian music. Like most other music festivals in Toronto, this one has a presence on Ossington. The 2011 Juno Fest hits Toronto Friday, March 25-Saturday March 26 at venues across the city, including a few in and around Ossington.
The Dakota and The Garrison are two of the local spots hosting musical performances, including Juno nominee Julie Doiron, at The Garrison Saturday, March 26.
All shows are $17.50 a ticket, or wristbands will get you into all venues both nights and cost $30. They are only advertising them as available through Ticketmaster, but if you don’t want to pay those fees, check out Rotate This and Soundscapes.
2011′s Canadian Music Fest is a hot ticket, with lots of top-name bands featured this year, and some of these performers are scheduled to play right in our backyard. Involved venues include The Painted Lady, The Dakota and The Garrison.
With big names like Melissa Etheridge and Janet Jackson, and a Big Sugar reunion, the CMF is a industry event. But it’s not all name brand entertainment – you will also be able to hear some new and undiscovered, or just barely discovered, talent too, especially in the local vicinity.
I browsed briefly through the schedule, and, as of now, The Painted Lady offers 2 nights of CMW music, The Garrison 4 nights, including a Manitoba music showcase, and the Dakota offers 4 nights of a “Factor Breakthrough Series” headlined twice by The Schomberg Fair.
Other spots in our extended neighborhood also featuring CMF bands include The Great Hall, The Mod Club and The Gladstone. Dates are Wednesday, March 9 – Sunday, March 13. You can buy wristbands to access most shows, or individual tickets are also available.
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 Demon Richard Underhill, but who knows where it will go from there?
