Radar: Toronto Bourbon Week, Burgerama Caravan of Stars Tour, BookThug, ShakesBeer

Toronto events on October 1st, 2013

FOOD | Toronto Bourbon Week

Did you know that we were smack in the middle of Toronto Bourbon Week? Since Friday, this festival, celebrating the great American corn-based, distilled spirit, has been holding an event a day at various locales, with each event featuring a different bourbon and theme. Tonight, barVolo is the place to be for "Bourbon and Barrel Beers". You will have the opportunity to try bourbon from three different distilleries: Woodford Reserve, Buffalo Trace, and Colonel EH Taylor. These guys are doing some experimental things with bourbon that will take you to some new flavour locales with rice, oats, and other notes in play. Beers featured include Dieu du Ciel and Les Trois Mousquetaires. There is no entry fee, as tasting is à la carte. Bottoms up!

barVolo (587 Yonge Street) 8PM

MUSIC | Burgerama Caravan Of Stars Tour: The Growlers, Cosmonauts, Gap Dream, Pangea and others

The Burgerama Caravan Of Stars Tour hits TO tonight! As some of you might have guessed, this has been put together by Burger Records, an independent label based out of Fullerton, California that also exists as a record store. This is a hipster institution that also exhibits a profound respect for old school musical aesthetics and paraphernalia, with many releases coming out on cassette featuring the work of neo-garage, neo-psychedelic and power pop bands such as Ty Segall, Black Lips, MMOSS, Thee Oh Sees, Quilt, and even a cassette by the Brian Jonestown Massacre. Tonight's show features Burger bands The Growlers, Cosmonauts, Gap Dream, Pangea, and locals Sam Coffey And The Iron Lungs. Should be groovy.

Lee's Palace (529 Bloor Street West) 7 pm, $15.50

BOOKS & LIT | BookThug Fall Launch

BookThug is a Toronto publisher, founded by poet and editor Jay Millar, that aims to advance and push the envelope of contemporary literature. Tonight, BookThug sets up shop at Supermarket in Kensington Market to launch their Fall releases. There will be short readings by Andre Alexis, Ron Silliman, Michael Blouin, David B. Goldstein, Sandra Ridley, Julie Joosten, and others. The work of all of these authors will be available for purchase, and this is a great way to support you local literary community. If you're an up and coming writer yourself, here's an opportunity to schmooze with a publisher and a host of established writers as well.

Supermarket (268 Augusta Avenue) 7:30PM

THEATRE | ShakesBeer

The Classical Theatre Project presents a theatrical event that will also engage your tastebuds.... ShakesBeer! This troupe's version of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, an engaging comedy about Viola, a young lady who disguises herself and sets off a series of hilarious events, was nominated for a Dora Award. Nothing goes better with Elizabethan comedy than beer, and to that end several brewers including Denison's will be serving up pints. This event is an attempt to recreate the way theatre existed in Shakespeare's time: informal and fun, with drinks! ShakesBeer also happens on October 3rd.

Artscape Wychwood Barns (601 Christie Street) 6:30PM & 9:30PM showings $33.00

CONTINUING

Toronto Palestine Film Festival

One of Toronto's fastest growing festivals opens this Saturday with the award-winning Annemarie Jacir film When I Saw You, the story of a young boy in 1967 Jordan searching for freedom. The Toronto Palestine Film Festival features a large program of features and shorts packed into one week with additional talks, panels, director Q&As and art shows littered throughout the festival. Discover Palestinian filmmaking at this cultural festival by purchasing tickets through the TPFF website.

Various locations, September 28-October 4, 2013 6:30PM

Festival Of Images And Words

Tonight marks the opening of the Festival Of Images And Words. This event, which began in 2005, is devoted to Latin American and Caribbean literature and culture in Canada, and is run by Antares Publishing, a trilingual press specializing in Spanish, English and French literature. The festival will have film screenings, literary events, lectures, and more. This evening's festival opening is an art exhibition. The Festival Of Images And Words runs until November 9th.

Glendon Gallery, Glendon College (2275 Bayview Avenue) 6:30PM

See Also

• 20 must-see fall concerts in Toronto


• 50 things to do this fall in Toronto

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

by Jason Steidman via blogTO

First Canadian Place redux

Photo by Jack Landau in the blogTO Flickr pool.

by Derek Flack via blogTO

5 highlights from TEDxToronto 2013

TEDxToronto was back in town last week at the Royal Conservatory of Music for their 5th annual conference. Celebrated as one of the largest TEDx independently organized events across the globe, the organizers selected roughly 1000 people from their long list of delegate applications. The theme for 2013 was "The Choices We Make", providing a platform for speakers to discuss and highlight issues that affect Torontonians. With millions of online views from previous years, and multiple local speakers featured on www.TED.com, Toronto has become a catalyst for ideas and positive change around the world.

Here are some of the highlights from TEDxToronto 2013:

Rodolphe el-Khoury

El-Khoury has spent his life trying to combine architecture and information technology. By combining two historically disparate industries, Rodolphe hopes to bring sustainability and responsiveness into the cities and buildings of the future. Rodolphe's flagship idea, called "Im Blanky" is a blanket packed with sensors that can help track your sleep patterns. In his futuristic view of Blanky, he pictures a world where the blanket sends a signal to your intelligent blinds, which slowly allow light to shine in, waking you once you have had the ideal amount of REM sleep. In this new interconnected world, the alarm clocks days are numbered.

Darrell Bricker

Having spent his previous years as the Director of Research for the Prime Minister's office, Bricker has always tried to use numbers to tell the story behind the scenes. He spoke at length about the manner in which power is shifting from the 416 to the 905, which is redefining both our city and the GTA as a whole. Another key subject he discussed was the shrinking Canadian birth rate, which is going to make it extremely tough to support the aging population.

Joel MacCharles

MacCharles has been helping to foster the farmer's market movement in Toronto. By teaching people the benefits of preserving food and eating locally, Joel has altered kitchens around Toronto with some of his 1,700 articles on food-related topics. He's also trying to raise awareness to change aesthetic value system in place in the grocery store industry, where as much as 30% of our harvests can go to waste because the produce isn't "pretty enough." As if life wasn't already tough enough being an ugly carrot.

Steve Mann

The "father of the wearable computer" is viewed as one of the first international cyborgs. A modern-day da Vinci figure, Mann has multiple inventions under his name, including HDR images and the EyeBorg camera, which existed long before Google Glass became a household name. Mann is a believer in wearing personal cameras to ensure his own safety in what he calls sousveillance. Mann combined his discussion on safety with the shooting of Sammy Yatim, stating that videos taken by people outside the streetcar were a strong factor leading to the officer being charged. He also believes everyone should be able to record their entire life, because if buildings and businesses are allowed to record us at all times, why aren't we allowed to record them in return?

Stephanie Guthrie

Stephanie Guthrie is a local feminist advocate and community manager talked about misogyny on the Internet. Back in 2012, Anita Sarkeesian, a fellow female rights advocate, launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise awareness about the prejudicial characterization of women in video game. Shortly after, Bendilin Spurr, a 25 year old male from Sault Ste. Marie created an online game called "Punch Anita Sarkeesian In The Face" in which players could click on a picture of Anita and physically abuse her. Guthrie took to social media to challenge Bendilin and the overall lackadaisical enforcement of misogyny on the Internet. The game was removed and the discussion of women being treated unfairly on the Internet was launched onto the front page. Since then, Guthrie has furthered the discussion by taking aim at Internet "trolls." She wants to ensure that the web and social media aren't places that lacks consequence for slanderous behaviour.

From a flash mob-esque encounter by Project Ukelele Gangsterism in the morning to Matthew Good singing Strange Days to wrap up the conference, TEDxToronto once again showed us just how productive a room full of people willing to make a difference can be. The main intro video from this year's conference has been posted (see below), and the first individual talks will come online over the next few days.

Lead photo by Andrew Williamson

by Jonathon Muzychka via blogTO

Nuit Blanche exhibits start to pop up around Toronto

While 2013's Nuit Blanche doesn't officially take over Toronto until Saturday evening, some exhibits are already popping up around the city due in part to the amount of time required to build the installations, such as Ai Weiwei's Forever Bicycles at Nathan Phillips Square. As much attention as that piece is getting, so far a second huge installation is making waves downtown: an amphitheatre or beehive-like structure assembled out of stacked chairs, benches and garden furniture outside of Metropolitan United Church just west of Queen and Church streets.

This is Tadashi Kawamata's Garden Tower , which is part of Nuit Blanche's Off to a Flying Start zone. Working with materials that gesture to Marcel Duchamp's readymades, the Japanese artist has constructed a visually arresting sculpture that's sure to prove one of the most talked about at this year's event. Inspired by the idea of a utopian Tower of Babel, the installation provides a space for gathering and is meant to act as a home for discussion. As the exhibit is currently fenced off, it remains to be seen how exactly it will be used on the big night, but one suspects that it may host performances of some sort (impromptu or otherwise). Let's just hope some drunk bro doesn't knock the whole thing over.

As the week goes on, expect more and more sightings of curious artworks to pop up around Toronto. Let us know what you've seen so far in the comments.

by Aubrey Jax via blogTO

The top 10 poutine from Toronto food trucks

Toronto food trucks may be in tough to compete against their south of the border and west coast counterparts when it comes to tacos and Philly cheesesteaks but there's no denying that Toronto rules the road when it comes to poutine (sorry Montreal). From the gravy and cheese curd classic to creative interpretations featuring chicken, pulled pork and brisket, the poutine on this list functions as both the perfect lunch indulgence and the ideal 2am snack.

Check out our photo gallery of the top 10 poutine from Toronto food trucks.

by Staff via blogTO

Rush singer pleads to save Sam the Record Man sign

Geddy Lee's singing voice may be high but the Rush frontman apparently speaks like an ordinary guy, and he has something to say about Ryerson University's impending failure to reinstate the iconic Sam the Record Man sign as promised.

A letter the singer wrote to City Hall late last week has surfaced via the SOS: Save our Sam Facebook page, in which Lee is clearly super bummed about Toronto's loss of Sam the Record Man, and pleads with the city to take up the case of the historic neon sign on behalf of Toronto's cultural landscape.

The letter reads:

It's a touching gesture from one of the city's cultural icons who rose to prominence during a time when Sam's signs burned at their most bright, but who knows if it'll have any influence on the final vote at city council. While it looks like an array of problems will prevent the sign from staying, public outcry has been intense, and the 4479 coalition is also on board. You can get involved (or watch the drama) via the SOS Facebook page.

by Aubrey Jax via blogTO

Check out what's happening across town this week:

Check out what's happening across town this week:





What's On: This Week in Toronto

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Our top picks for all the best concerts, live theatre and amazing events happening in Toronto this week!

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Transitions: Immigrant Narratives

Begins: 23 October 2013 at 2:00 PM Ends: 23 October 2013 at 4:00 PM Where: 157 King Street East Organized by: Working Skills Centre

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Free Toronto Networking Events

Ghent Workgroup Seminars October 2013, Toronto Canada

Begins: 23 October 2013 at 9:00 AM Ends: 23 October 2013 at 5:00 PM Where: 55 Gould St Organized by: Ghent Workgroup

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Free Toronto Networking Events

Fall 2013 VolunteerPath Mixer

Begins: 3 October 2013 at 6:30 PM Ends: 3 October 2013 at 10:30 PM Where: 220 Bloor St W Organized by: L4NP

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Free Toronto Networking Events

The Eaton Centre gets a new 400-seat eatery and market

The Eaton Centre continues to upgrade its edible offerings with the addition of this new, fully licensed 400-seat eatery that boasts 11 different, organic food concepts. In addition to the market-style restaurants, the new concept situated next to the Queen subway station also includes an organic mini-mart making it a convenient spot for mall-goers and commuters to pick-up quick made-to-order eats and ready-to-grab-and-go ingredients and prepared foods.

Read my profile of Richtree Natural Market in the restaurants section.

by Liora Ipsum via blogTO

New CityPlace restaurant serves one outrageous Caesar

CityPlace condo dwellers have a new destination for brunch, lunch and dinner. This restaurant and bar comes from the same team behind Williams Landing and is now open on Fort York Boulevard. While the food passes the test, it's the outlandish Caesar that's the real showstopper.

Read my profile of Hunters Landing in the restaurants section.

by Liora Ipsum via blogTO