NOW_2015-02-05

NEWS

Linda McQuaig on who’s paying off Stephen Harper p. 10

MALCOLM X VS MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. p. 12 SCREWS GETTING SCREWED? p. 14 MUSIC Grandmaster Flash on the state of hip-hop p. 42 STAGE Experimental theatre makes Progress p. 45

THINKFREE

T.O.’S TOP ROMANTIC RESTOS

FEBRUARY 5–11 2015 • ISSUE 1723 VOL. 34 NO.22 MORE ONLINE @ nowtoronto.com 33 INDEPENDENT YEARS

VALENTINE’S DAY SPECIAL PLUS! TONS OF HOT EVENTS p. 22

ROXANE GAY BADASS BLOGGER AND NOVELIST MAKES FEMINISM COOL AGAIN p. 50

FEBRUARY 5–11

CONTENTS

ONLINE This week’s top five most-read posts on nowtoronto.com

32 MUSIC

D

32 The Scene Marilyn Manson, Beams, Fred P, Owen Pallett 34 Club & concert listings 36 Interview Ron Hawkins 38 Interview Keita Juma 41 T.O. Notes 42 Interview Grandmaster Flash 44 Album reviews

45 STAGE

Photo by Jennifer Silverberg

NEWSFRONT 50 COVER STORY

50 Roxane Gay The blogger, prof and now novelist is turning into the most important black writer working in America. Plus, other black writers who are changing the conversation.

9 News briefs Safe injection sites for 12 Malcolm X Why his legacy remains T.O.?; We’re number one (maybe) as vital as Martin Luther King’s 10 Harper secrets Have PM’s radical 14 Prison breakdown Jail guards politics been influenced by Big mobilize for strike Money?

17 DAILY EVENTS 20 LIFE&STYLE 20 Ecoholic How to invest ethically, monarch butterflies make a comeback, and more 21 Astrology

22 VALENTINE’S SPECIAL

Michael Hollett

EDITOR/CEO

Alice Klein Art

Senior Entertainment Editor Susan G. Cole Senior News Editor Enzo DiMatteo Associate Entertainment Editor/Stage & Film Glenn Sumi Music Editor Carla Gillis Fashion and Design Writer Sabrina Maddeaux Senior Writers Jon Kaplan (Theatre), Norman Wilner (Film) On-line News Writer Ben Spurr Staff News Writer Jonathan Goldsbie Contributors Elizabeth Bromstein, Andrew Dowler, David Jager, Ellie Kirzner, Sarah Parniak, Kevin Ritchie, Wayne Roberts, Adria Vasil Entertainment Administrator Desiree D’Lima Copy Editing/Proofreading Francie Wyland, Fran Schechter, Julia Hoecke, Katarina Ristic

VP, Creative Director Troy Beyer Art Director Stephen Chester Graphic/Web Designer Michelle Wong Photo Coordinator Jeanette Forsythe

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nowtoronto.com Online and Social Media Manager Kate Robertson Interactive Producer Leah Herrera

FEBRUARY 5-11 2015 NOW

THE WEEK IN TWEETS

54 Director retrospective Neon Nights: The Films Of Michael Mann 56 Reviews The Backward Class; Love, Rosie; The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water; Dogs On The Inside; Outcast 57 Also opening Seventh Son; Jupiter Ascending 58 Playing this week 63 Film times 64 Film festival spotlight Toronto Black Film Festival

“John Baird is bombastic, mean spirited, vicious, eloquent, generous, smart, cantankerous, hardworking, ingratiating, effective, human.” @BOBRAE48 on the resignation of

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird

“Guys I think my acid just kicked in,*” @ANNAKENDRICK47 on Katy Perry’s

Super Bowl XLIX halftime show featuring a psychedelic backup troupe of dancing sharks.

66 CLASSIFIED 66 66 68

GENERAL MANAGER

Pam Stephen

Marketing/Advertising Sales

Phone 416-364-1300 X381 or email advertising@nowtoronto.com Director, Display Advertising Sales Gary Olesinski Research Analyst/Sales Operations Manager Rhonda Loubert Senior Marketing Executives Bill Malcolm, Janice Copeland, Barbara Hefler Marketing Representatives Laura LaBella, Bonte Minnema, Briony Douglas, Elspeth Staniland, Edite Martins Marketing Coordinators Joanne Begg, Stacy Reardon, Jane Stockwell

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69 79

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Business

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Circulation Supervisor Jill Mather Circulation Assistant Tim Vesely Drivers Ron Duffy, Jennifer Gillmor, Conny Nowe, Dean Crawford, Paul Dakota, Patrick Slimmon, Chris Malcolm, Jason Paris Hoppers Rachel Melas, Lucas Martin, Steve Godbout, Jason Gallop, Ernesto Savini, Scott Bradshaw

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NOW is Toronto’s weekly news and entertainment voice, published every Thursday. Entire contents are © 2014 by NOW Communications Inc. NOW and NOW Magazine and the NOW design are protected through trademark registration.

NOW is available free of charge in the city of Toronto and selected locations throughout the GTA, limited to one copy per reader. NOW may be distributed only by NOW Communications’ authorized distributors or news agents.

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NEWS

per hen Har off Step ED? paying whose S GETTING SCREWtheatre makes progress uaig on SCREW Experimental X VS MLK Linda McQ hip-hop MALCOLM aster Flash Grandm

on the state

i=of

THINKFREE

Editorial

Review The Unfinished Conversation Must-see galleries and museums

54 MOVIES

189 Church Street, Toronto, ON M5B 1Y7, tel 416-364-1300.

EDITOR/PUBLISHER

53 ART

FOLLOW NOW ON TWITTER

22 Take 5 Anti-V-Day gifts Valentine’s Day events 25 Haute topic Love yourself 26 T.O.’s best romantic restos 30 Drink up!

2

52 BOOKS Readings

8 NEWSFRONT

Contact NOW

45 Festival preview Progress’s Michael Rubenfeld Theatre listings 46 Theatre reviews Melancholy Play; Die Walküre; Dance listings 47 Theatre preview Twisted’s Ngabo Nabea and Susanna Fournier 49 Comedy listings

1. One team’s loss... is another man’s gain. How Steve “Dangle” Glynn made a broadcast career out of blogging the Leafs’ excruciatingly awful games.

2. For the love of Norm From his tendency to tell over-long jokes to his unique ability to insult and charm simultaneously, we highlight our favourite Norm Macdonald moments of all time.

3. Surf’s up! Really A Mexican who recently moved to Toronto says winter surfing in Lake Ontario can be more fun than surfing in the sun and sand.

4. Free Toronto Still paying off holiday debts? We dug up a free activity – from gallery-hopping to hitting the toboggan slopes – for each day until winter is officially over.

5. Rooftop arrest Three men were charged after they were allegedly found on top of one of the Commerce Court buildings snapping photos.

TINE’S VALEN AL DAY SPECI

E R OX AYN GA ELIST R AND NOV BLOGGE COOL AGAIN M BADASS FEMINIS MAKES

EAT YOUR

NOW Readers Valentines’ Deal: Free Cannibal ticket* and save on dinner at Brownstone Bistro

T

he best lovers have a sense of humour, and Cupid likes a deal. Trey Parker’s killer comedy Cannibal! the Musical has 3 shows on Valentine’s Day. Score a sweet deal on the 10:30 pm show with the Buy1Get1Free promo code NOW241 for premium front orchestra or orchestra/front balcony seats.

Dinner is on the menu before the show at

nearby Brownstone Bistro. Take 15% off your meal* on Valentine’s when you show your Cannibal! tickets.

Make sure to get a table — call for reservations at (416) 920-6288 and look forward to awesome Mediterranean flavour.

Trey Parker’s killer comedy Cannibal! the Musical starts performances Feb 10th for a limited 4 week run including 3 shows

FREE TICKET OFFER

New show co-written by the creator of South Park and the monster musical hit The Book Of Mormon

H

ow do you adapt a cult film classic for the stage?

If you’re writer/director Christopher Bond and writer/performer Trevor Martin, you do it with an eye to milking the original’s laughs and songs and adding more of your own.

And to ensure that it all works, you add a major dash of Trey Parker and Matt Stone (South Park, The Book Of Mormon).

Their latest, Cannibal! The Musical, co-created with Aaron Eyre, is based on the first film that Parker and Stone shot, made on a shoestring budget after they graduated from the University of Colorado.

Based on the true tale of Alferd Packer, the only person ever convicted of cannibalism in America, it follows the adventures of Packer and five miners, lost in the Rockies during a major storm.

Bond and Martin have tackled cult movies before; they were major forces behind stage shows Evil Dead – The Musical and Night Of The Living Dead.

“South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut was a major influence on Evil Dead,” recalls Bond. “I love South Park’s comedic lyrics, which are cutting, sharp, silly and funny. If you’re a fan of South Park in any of its forms, you’re gonna discover Cannibal! at some point and be taken by it, too.”

The Sound of Music’s Elicia MacKenzie & Triple Sensation’s Liam Tobin bite into juicy parts.

“We’ve kept the spirit and soul of the movie intact, though. The result is still campy, a parody of old-time musicals like Oklahoma with a sprinkle of Friday The 13th.”

They’ve cast potent musical theatre and comedy performers, including Elicia MacKenzie (The Sound Of Music) and Liam Tobin (Triple Sensation) and strong comedic talents, including Marty Adams, Mike “Nug” Nahrgang and Mark Andrada.

“At its centre,” says Bond, “this show is about the journey of the six central figures, Packer and the miners. It’s an ensemble comedy show, a tale about friendship and adversity.

“It just so happens that at the end people get eaten.” 3 Trey Parker’s Cannibal! The Musical plays February 10 to March 1 at the Panasonic (651 Yonge). Tickets from $29.95.

416-872-1212, mirvish.com

OUT!

on Valentine’s Day; matinee 2pm, 7pm (sold out) and 10:30pm. 3

Trey Parker co-wrote the Cannibal! The Musical movie before South Park.

Brownstone Bistro at the corner of Yonge and Gloucester, brownstonebistro.ca *Offer applicable to food purchases only

Tickets to Cannibal through Mirvish.com

LOCAL TEAM SINKS THEIR Comedy Cannibals Second City stars are about TEETH INTO CANNIBAL The Sound Of Music’s Elicia MacKenzie and Triple Sensation’s Liam Tobin bite into juicy parts.

*

to make Cannibal! The Musical hilarious Mike “Nug” Nahrgang

Nug is one of the city’s most visible and hard-working comics. Whether he’s doing improv or sketch at Bad Dog Theatre or Comedy Bar, performing in Evil Dead: The Musical and Night Of The Living Dead Live! or talking about another one of his passions, pro wrestling, on TV, he always goes all out.

Marty Adams

Mainstage alumni, Adams has great pipes and an onstage sweetness that’s rare in the biz.

His resumé includes a bit of campy horror that’s fitting for this new gig: he was in one of the creepy Saw movies and has a recurring role in TV’s Hemlock Grove.

Trevor Martin

Sketch veteran Martin has performed sketch and improv all over North America. Like Nug, he’s starred in Evil Dead: The Musical and Night Of The Living Dead Live. And he also has the distinction of being in the Canadian national tour of Stephen Harper: The Musical.

We

Trey Parker

It’s hard to think of a more revolutionary – not to mention hilarious – new Broadway show than The Book Of Mormon, Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone’s 2011 look at a group of Mormon missionaries trying to spread their religion to poverty – and AIDSstricken villagers in Uganda. In its original Tony Award-winning Broadway run, demand was so high at one point that people paid nearly $500 a ticket for premium seats. Two national tours, a sitdown production in Chicago and in London’s West End have done equally well.

But of course, Parker and Stone – the creators of South Park – weren’t musical novices when they wrote BoM. They showed the same irreverence in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, which bagged them an Oscar nomination for the song Blame Canada.

And let’s not forget Everyone Has AIDS, the Rent-parody song near the opening of Team America: World Police, arguably funnier than that graphic sex sequence between two dolls.

It all began in 1993, however, when Parker, still studying at the University of Colorado, wrote, directed, produced and starred in the indie film Cannibal! The Musical.

Now, with this production, you get to see Cannibal! live, with five new songs that expand on Parker’s black humour and catchy riffs.

Get ready to eat it up, folks.

FREE SONGS

Exclusive downloads of 3 songs from Cannibal! The Musical

1. Shpadoinkle Day 2. This Side Of Me 3. Meat My Destiny

Download songs from: nowtoronto.com/stage/cannibal

GIVE THEM SOMETHING TO NIBBLE ON…

FREE TICKET WITH VALENTINE'S CODE* : NOW241

STARTS FEB. 10 • 4 WEEKS ONLY • MIRVISH.COM *TERMS AND CONDITIONS: All prices are in Canadian dollars and include 13% HST and $3.25 CIF. Not valid on previously purchased tickets and may not be combined with any other offer. Offer may be terminated at any time.

No refunds or exchanges. Service charges apply. E.O.&E. * This offer of Free ticket requires purchase of a second full price ticket. Tickets must be purchased in multiples of 2. Valid on Feb 14 10:30pm performance only. sponsored content

NOW february 5-11 2015

3

BLACK HISTORY KICKOFF GALA

From Griot to Hip Hop: The Music IS the Story Music isn’t only entertainment it is also a way to tell stories, news and philosophy. Join us for a concert featuring stories and music from Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso, the Caribbean and Canada. Five Great Artists share their stories drawn from the musical traditions of Africa and from the urban experiences of Toronto’s black and Caribbean communities.

With Roger Gibbs, Amado Kienne, Tich Maredza, Tiki Mercury-Clarke and Hip Hop with Rasselas Asfaw.

FRI. FEB. 6, 6:30PM

Toronto, Reference, Atrium torontopubliclibrary.ca/blackhistorymonth

TICKETS ON SALE ONSITE AT 7 PM DANCE | DRINK | EXPLORE

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Now’s The Time, the first Canadian retrospective for the groundbreaking artist and Andy Warhol pal, who died of an overdose at 27 in 1988, opens at the Art Gallery of Ontario February 7. In shockingly intense, confident paintings and drawings employing elements of street art, comics, symbols and words, Basquiat delivered an original and potent commentary on race and class. Local artists and writers testify in wall text and on audio to his continuing relevance. $16.50-$25, discounts Wednesday after 6 pm. ago.net.

To May 10.

This week February 5–11

PRESENTED BY

Thursday 5

The New Pornographers The connoisseurs of bright, shiny power pop hit the Danforth Music Hall with fiery Operators. Not to miss. Doors 7 pm. $24.50$34.50. rotate.com, soundscapesmusic.com, ticketmaster.ca.

Book Lover’s Ball After-party among the stacks at the Reference Library follows the fundraising gala. $100-$150 (Toronto Public Library Foundation). 9 pm. RSVP eventbrite.ca. 789 Yonge.

Feb 6

Friday 6

ENCORE: CARNIVAL FNL heats up your February Friday DJs

PERFORMANCE

DR JAY DE SOCA PRINCE

COMEDIAN MARC TRINIDAD SUGACAYNE DESIGNS

DAVEE KI JASON PALMA

SEBASTIEN HEINS THE BAHAMIAN JUNKANOO LEGENDS

LIVE MUSIC LADY SON SALMON CUPID LUANDA JONES SUPPOrtinG SPOnSOrS

Saturday 7

Roxane Gay Outspoken African-American author presents her novel, An Untamed State, as part of Kuumba at Harbourfront Centre. 4:30 pm. $18. harbourfrontcentre.com. See cover story, page 50.

Stanzie Tooth The painter’s alt-landscape show at General Hardware Contemporary closes today. Free. 416-821-3060.

Sunday 8

Public Animal Toronto loud-rockers try out new material at the second week of their February Dakota residency. Two sets; doors open at 9 pm. $10 at the door.

Borderless plague CBC’s Carol Off moderates a talk on Ebola’s global ramifications, with doctors James Maskalyk and James Orbinski. Free. 1:30 pm. 789 Yonge.

Monday 9

Asaf Avidan The Israeli singer/songwriter who’s shared stages with Robert Plant and Lou Reed brings his solo project to the Opera House. Doors 8 pm. $20. rotate.com, soundscapesmusic.com, ticketfly.com.

Snow Angel Celebrate the snow with Nikki Loach’s show told

Media Partner

#FNLROM Adults only 19+ (with photo ID) Adults $12. Students $10.

Members FREE.

The ROM is an agency of the Government of Ontario

february 5-11 2015 NOW

PatientsCanada.ca at Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Doors 8 pm, all ages. $30-$100. rotate.com, soundscapesmusic.com, ticketfly.com.

Tuesday 10

ROM.ON.CA /FNL

4

Rufus & Loudon Wainwright Father and son play a benefit for

without dialogue, starting a 10-day run today. At Young People’s Theatre. Various times. $15-$30. 416-862-2222.

R-E-B-E-C-C-A Sara Farb’s autobiographical show about her relationship with her sister opens at Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace. 7:30 pm. To March 1. $17-$33. 416-504-7529.

Wednesday 11

Helen Humphreys The award-winning author launches her beautiful World War II novel The Evening Chorus at Another Story. 6 pm. Free.

416-462-1104.

Next week February 12–18

Blithe Spirit Legendary actor Angela Lansbury stars in this revival of the Noel Coward comedy. February 11 to March 15. 8 pm. Princess of Wales. $35-$175. 416-872-1212.

Stars Three nights with the Montreal soft rockers at the Danforth Music Hall. Doors 7 pm, all ages. $35.50$40.50. rotate.com, soundscapesmusic.com, ticketmaster.ca. February 12-14.

The Last Five Years Terrific adaptation of Jason Robert Brown’s musical about love and heartbreak, with Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan, opens February 13.

Winterfolk Blues, folk, roots and more (plus related workshops) take over five Danforth venues. winterfolk.com. February 1315.

Father John Misty His album just earned a perfect NOW score. Danforth Music Hall. Doors 7 pm. $19.50$22.50. ticketmaster.com, rotate.com, soundscapesmusic.com. February 18.

Book now

These will sell out fast

Marc Maron The brilliant writer, stand-up comic and podcast host plays one night at the Bluma Appel as part of his Maronation Tour. April 19 at 7:30 pm. $32.50. 416-366-7723, hahaha.com/maron.

Death Cab for Cutie Ben Gibbard brings his popular American indie pop band to soft-seat Sony Centre.

Doors 7 pm, all ages. $49.50-$63.50. May 7. ticketmaster.ca.

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email letters@nowtoronto.com What’s the real story on homeless deaths?

I appreciated seeing such significant space given to the story Gimme Safe Shelter (NOW, January 29-February 4). But the statement that four homeless people froze to death on the streets of Toronto in January is not technically correct.

Although we can assume the first man (who died in a west-end van) and the second man (who died in the bus shelter at Dundas and Yonge) succumbed to the cold, the coroner’s report has not been released. The third man died indoors, albeit in the

lobby of the city’s referral centre waiting for a shelter bed. It’s possible cold was a factor. For sure, the issue of no shelter bed was part of the reality for him. The fourth man died in a fire in a Scarborough shed where he was relying on propane.

Most importantly, the community reacted with vigils and outrage. And the city responded: Mayor John Tory opened warming centres. And motel rooms (only 20) were provided for families to free up more shelter space for singles. How is that working?

That’s the real story.

Cathy Crowe Toronto

“One of today’s most important film artists.”

—Phillip Lopate, The New York Times

“... arguably the greatest narrative filmmaker of the past several decades.”

—J. Hoberman, The Village Voice

ON NOW UNTIL MAR 1 UPCOMING SCREENINGS: GOOD MEN, GOOD WOMEN February 7 5:30pm

CAFÉ LUMIÈRE February 8 6:30pm

get your tickets tiff.net/hou 416 599 tiff TIFF prefers Visa.

This internationally touring retrospective is organized by Richard I. Suchenski (Director, Center for Moving Image Arts at Bard College) in collaboration with Amber Wu (Taipei Cultural Center, NY), Teresa Huang (Taiwan Film Institute), and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of China (Taiwan). TM Toronto International Film Festival Inc.

6

february 5-11 2015 NOW

Students mobilize for sleeping bags project

I was struck by Gimme Safe Shelter, and specifically the work of Out of the Cold. City of Sleeping Bags is a much smaller project run by a team of Ryerson and University of Toronto students who hope to mobilize students in the downtown area while also raising funds to distribute sleeping bags and other cold-weather amenities to the homeless.

You can learn more at cityofsleepingbags.com, where you can find our Indiegogo campaign.

Brendan Hills City of Sleeping Bags Toronto

Don’t believe all you hear about Superjail

Parks trying to ban free winter fun

Regarding the city signs warning it’s not safe to skate on Grenadier and other ponds (NOW, January 29-February 4).

Maybe the Parks Department could test the ice (like they used to) and put up meaningful warnings when warranted.

To ban skating altogether is a lost great opportunity for free, healthy winter fun and exercise.

Or maybe we should all stay inside and play a video simulation of pond skating? Is it that insurance companies rule? They also seem to be informing the city’s curtailing of tobogganing hills.

Barbara Sternberg Toronto

I work at the Central East Correctional Centre (NOW, January 29-February 4) and can tell you the treatment all The Newsfront item Je Suis Juif inmates receive there is top-notch.

(NOW, January 29-February 4) reYes, there are lockdowns just like any other jail for various reasons, quires comment. The item refers to mainly security, that require time to a French report issued ahead of search units for contraband I nt e r n at i o n a l and, more often lately, due H Holocaust Reto shortage of staff to com- CAS CRUNCH? BITE BACK membrance plete daily routines.

WITH THE Day labelling As far as immigration deFrance the tainees go, yes, it is inmost dangerconvenient for many of ous country in them to follow the jail routhe world for tine with curfews and rules.

E SU IS Jews, and goes But they eat better than most who live on the outside of on to indicate these walls, [are] given clean that inciADVENTURES AND NTS EVE SHOWS, A DIME E WON’T COST YOU bedding and blankets and TH dents of antiTOP 51 THAT have access to phones most of Semitism increased in both France and the time.

Canada during Israel’s 2014 attack I have 25 years in this business and on Gaza. There are repeated attempts can tell you not to believe everything by our government to conflate critiyou hear about jails.

Stephen Benko cism of Israel with anti-Semitism in From nowtoronto.com both France and Canada, while other racialized minorities are targeted by policing and surveillance, likely to become much worse under Harper’s I find Robert Smol’s writing offennew anti-terrorism bill. Freedom of sive, not the province’s plans for sex speech? During Israel’s vicious war on ed (NOW, January 26). Sexual health Gaza, France prohibited all demonneeds to stop being taboo in school. strations and protests against Israel.

Students should be learning about Judith Deutsch their bodies, relationships and reToronto spect as early as they learn to read.

Questioning anti-Semitism

THINKFREE

Y 4 2015 • ISSUE JANUARY 29–FEBRUAR nowtoronto.com MORE ONLINE @ YEARS 33 INDEPENDE NT

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Time to stop tiptoeing around sex ed for kids

Thanks to curricula being too restrictive, we still have high rates of STD transmission among teens, unplanned pregnancy and kids thinking they’re going to hell for masturbating. Once we stop tiptoeing around sex, we’ll start seeing healthier attitudes toward a natural, pleasurable, sexual self-image.

SJF Barnett From nowtoronto.com

NOW welcomes reader mail. Address letters to: NOW, Letters to the Editor, 189 Church, Toronto, ON M5B 1Y7. Send e-mail to letters@nowtoronto.com and faxes to 416-364-1166. All correspondence must include your name, address and daytime phone number. Letters may be edited for length.

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No hate-on for cops at Ryerson event

Thanks for choosing as a top pick our event, Hands UP: Artists/Activists Discuss State & Police Violence, the inaugural event of the Studio for Media Activism & Critical Thought at Ryerson (NOW, January 22-28). Your headline read, Hate And Police Violence, which is close (given the government we have), but not quite what we had in mind.

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NOW FEBRUARY 5-11 2015

7

newsfront

Slush-happy cyclists

Martin reis

What Cycle Toronto’s Coldest Day Of The Year Ride When 11:45 am, Saturday, January 31, from Trinity Bellwoods to Metro Hall Why To celebrate the fact that winter cycling is not only doable but also fun, of course.

Photo gallery at nowtoronto.com

Baird jumps sinking ship

among the highlights of John tory’s first budget (aside from that $86 million hole) was an eye-popping $433.2 million increase in funding to speed up repairs to the Gardiner expressway, which nearly doubles the 10-year budget to $970 million. But even that big figure doesn’t tell the whole story. not even close. the work of rehabilitating the entire highway, including its 7-kilometre groundlevel western section, is expected to take 25 years and cost a whopping $1.9 billion, almost twice the cost of building the entire sheppard Lrt. Does it make sense to invest so much money in a waterfront expressway when other cities are tearing theirs down?

Councillor Paula Fletcher suggests keeping it up will mean a toll to pay for its long-term maintenance.

8

February 5-11 2015 NOW

ethan eisenBerG

Cityscape

When news filtered out Monday night, February 2, that Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird would be gettin’ out while the gettin’ is good, resigning his seat forthwith (perhaps for a plum job in the private sector), #goodriddance immediately started trending on Twitter. Baird made it official on Tuesday, attracting unlikely accolades from political foes for his (alleged) bipartisanship and support for gay rights, which will come as a shock to those familiar with his role as Harper’s attack dog and his token criticism of Russia’s anti-gay laws in the lead-up to the Sochi Olympics. To friends of the gay community who called him out on the latter, including NDP MPP Cheri Di Novo, Baird has been living in a glass closet, so to speak.

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A GOOD-NEWS SHELTER STORY (FOR A CHANGE) The first clients moved into the YMCA’s new shelter for homeless youth on Vanauley January 29, replacing the homeless shelter operated around the corner on Queen West by the YMCA for nearly 30 years. Unfortunately, the move represents a net loss of space for Toronto’s crowded shelter system: the new facility has 40 beds compared to 45 at the old location. But that’s more than offset, says general manager Louise Smith, by the fact that the Y can now bring services together under a single roof, including an employment program, housing support, substance abuse counselling and drop-in services with access to showers, food and laundry.

ICYMI full story at nowtoronto.com.

SAFE INJECTION SITE(S) FOR T.O.?

Former Toronto mayors David Crombie and John Sewell are behind an effort to bring one or more safe drug injection sites to Toronto. A letter signed by the two and sent to several dozen community leaders notes that a 2012 study by the Centre for Research and Inner City Health at St. Michael’s Hospital advocated setting up several sites. That report says the initiative would save lives, prevent the spread of disease and reduce health care costs.

In 2011, Vancouver’s Insite successfully challenged the federal government at the Supreme Court of Canada to provide funding for safe injection sites.

FEDERAL NDP RELOADS FOR ELECTION The federal NDP has announced it’s handing more shadow cabinet responsibilities to MPs from the Toronto area, which figures to be a key battleground for the party. Those getting promotions: Andrew Cash (Davenport), who’ll handle consumer protection issues, Matthew Kellway (Beaches-East York), who’ll tackle infrastructure and communities, and Rathika Sitsabaiesan (Scarborough-Rouge River), who becomes deputy heritage critic.

DOLLARS VERSUS DEMOCRACY Almost 1,000 Number of lobbyists currently registered to represent the 60 biggest companies on the Toronto Stock Exchange in the corridors of power in Ottawa and seven provinces that publish a registry, according to a report released last week by the Vancouver-based Shareholder Association for Research & Education.

1,829 Number of meetings initiated with senior federal officials by TSX lobbyists last year alone.

STEPHEN HARPER DECLARES JIHAD ON JIHADISTS “Violent jihadism is not just a danger somewhere else. It seeks to harm us here in Canada, in our cities and in our neighbourhoods.”

The PM amps up the pre-election rhetoric in a Richmond Hill speech announcing new, farther-reaching anti-terror laws. Meanwhile, the NDP has asked the Speaker to investigate whether the PM deliberately misled the House when he committed troops to fight ISIS in Iraq. The resolution that passed the House explicitly ruled out ground combat. But now the feds say our military role has “evolved” after it was reported that troops exchanged fire with ISIS fighters last week.

LANCET URGES LEGAL SEX WORK Medical journal The Lancet has called on lawmakers to “accept and embrace” sex work, arguing that decriminalization would help avert future HIV infections.

WE’RE NUMBER ONE (MAYBE) In other news from prestigious Brit mags, The Economist has rated Toronto best in the world in a ranking of 36 cities. But a closer look reveals that we didn’t finish first in any of the categories, including food security and cost of living. Toronto has much to offer, no doubt, but given our growing gap between rich and poor and the crisis in homelessness, The Economist’s recommendation may be directed at its sizable audience of corporate types looking for a place to set up shop, not at regular people concerned with livability.

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Compiled by NOW staff with files from Ben Spurr.

NOW February 5-11 2015

9

POLITICS

WHO OWNS STEPHEN HARPER?

A

s the renowned Republican backroom operator Mark Hanna noted back in the late 19th century, “There are two things that matter in politics.

One is money, and I can’t remember the other.”

Indeed, the fantastically wealthy Koch brothers proved in the recent U.S. congressional vote that organizing billionaires to buy elections is a lot easier than herding cats.

The Kochs raised $290 million from America’s mega-rich to win control of Congress, and are now raising a further $889 million in a bid to buy the Oval Office.

Here in Canada, we have tougher rules restricting the role of money in politics. But the Boy Scout aura surrounding our election financing laws appears to have lulled us into a bit of a coma.

With a federal election looming, two pressing questions involving the role of money in Canadian politics are attracting surprisingly little media attention.

The first: who owns Stephen Harper?

This isn’t a philosophical enquiry.

It’s a straightforward question about the identity of the secret donors who paid the bill for Harper’s rise to power, first as leader of the Canadian Alliance and then the Conservative party.

Donors contributed more than $2 million to the prime minister’s two leadership bids, but the identities of some of the major donors have never been publicly disclosed, according to Ottawa-based corporate responsibility advocacy group Democracy Watch.

The group notes that there was nothing illegal about the donations under the election laws of the time.

But anyone who believes that those secret donors don’t have a favoured place in Harper’s heart (such as it is) probably also believes that Mike Duffy has always lived in a little cottage in PEI. In the 2002 Canadian Alliance leader ship race, Harper disclosed some of his donors but kept secret 10 of the major ones. A list of donors to

10

february 5-11 2015 NOW

Harper’s Con servative party leadership race two years later was at one point posted on the party’s website but has since been removed.

At the time of those races, it was legal for leadership contenders to receive unlimited donations from corporations, including foreign-owned businesses operating in Canada.

“Big business and [its] executives could have given Harper hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations,” says Democracy Watch co-founder Duff Conacher, who is currently a visiting professor at the University of Ottawa’s School of Political Studies.

Although there’s no legal requirement for disclosure, Conacher argues that Harper should divulge the names of his donors for the same reasons of ethics and transparency that he so loudly trumpeted in his first election campaign.

Shouldn’t Canadians know, for instance, if Harper’s early leadership bids were significantly bankrolled by, say, the Koch brothers, who are among the largest lease-holders of Alberta’s tar sands and therefore have a huge financial stake in prevent ing Canada from limiting greenhouse gas emissions?

Have Harper’s radical policy departures in areas like energy, the environment and the Middle East been unduly influenced by large donors?

And if not, why the secrecy?

On another election financing front, there’s been little outrage over the fact that the Harper government just eliminated a key law that was aimed at countering the power of Big Money in Canadian politics.

The law – under which Ottawa paid political parties a small $2 subsidy for every vote they received – was widely recognized as by far the most democratic aspect of our election financing framework, since it ensured that every vote cast in a federal election had some impact. Even if someone voted for a party that didn’t win, that voter managed to direct a small government subsidy to his or her chosen party. These subsidies added up to millions of dollars and were a key source of political funding, having the effect of giving equal weight to

Have Harper’s radical policy departures been unduly influenced by large donors?

And if not, why the secrecy? every vote no matter how rich or poor the person casting it.

So, naturally, Harper scrapped it.

The next federal election (expected in the spring or fall) will be the first in which this quintessentially democratic aspect of our election financing laws no longer applies.

Of course, poorer folks still have the full legal right to take advantage of other government subsidies in our election financing system – except that they lack the money necessary to do so.

Individuals making contributions to political parties receive generous government subsidies through the

Stephen harper: ShutterStock

MORE THAN $2 MILLION WAS DONATED TO THE PRIME MINISTER’S TWO LEADERSHIP BIDS, BUT THE IDENTITIES OF HIS MAJOR BACKERS HAVE NEVER BEEN PUBLICLY DISCLOSED By LINDA McQUAIG

tax system. An individual donating $400, for example, gets $300 back in tax savings. But you have to have a spare $400 in order to play this game.

That’s why only 2 per cent of Canadians make political donations. Not surprisingly, most of these contributors are in the upper income brackets.

So the bulk of the tax subsidies – which totalled $20 million in the 2009 election – go to this wealthier group, which enables them to increase their influence over our elections.

In fact, all aspects of our election financing system involve government subsidies. But only one – the now-removed pay-per-vote subsidy – distributed the subsidy in a way that didn’t favour the wealthy.

And Harper has also just increased the subsidy for wealthier Canadians by raising the limit on political donations from $2,400 to $3,000 a year ($4,500 in an election year). The new rules also hike the amount candidates can donate to their own campaigns from $1,200 to $5,000, and allow leadership candidates to donate $25,000 to their own campaigns.

Of course, the wealthy are able to influence the political process in

other ways, too, most notably by shaping the public debate through their ownership of the media and by threatening to withdraw their capital from the economy if laws they don’t like are enacted.

In the recent U.S. congressional elections, the Koch brothers helped secure the victory of an unlikely band of far-right extremists who control both the House and Senate.

Among some 3 million political ads for both parties, there wasn’t a single mention of the issue of income inequality – either for it or against it, says Sam Pizzigati, editor of a newsletter on inequality at the Washington-based Institute for Policy Studies.

The rich have effectively declared that subject – and the implication that they should face higher taxes – out of bounds. Given the extraordinary grip of the wealthy on so many aspects of society, why on earth wouldn’t we want to hold onto a law that, at least in one small way, gave a homeless person the same political power as a billionaire?

3 Linda McQuaig is an author and journalist. She ran for the nDp in the toronto centre by-election in 2013, and plans to seek the nomination again for the upcoming federal election. news@nowtoronto.com | @nowtoronto

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NOW february 5-11 2015

11

MALCOLM X: A REAL CHAMPION OF THE OPPRESSED

IN THE CONTEXT OF FERGUSON – AND TORONTO’S OWN POLICE-MINORITY DIVIDE – HIS LESSONS ON BLACK EMPOWERMENT REMAIN AS VITAL AS KING’S By GEORGE ELLIOTT CLARKE

T

he legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. is easily grasped and justly celebrated, more so this Black History Month marking the 50th anniversary of the seminal march from Selma to Montgomery that helped change the course of the civil rights movement.

King’s effect risked no misinterpre­ tation: “Freedom now,” an end to Dixie apartheid and the employment of Gandhi’s tactics of mass mobiliza­ tion and non­violent resistance (or civil disobedience) as the means to achieve liberation – clear policies that united Americans of every race, religion and creed. He focused on abolishing infringements to equal rights for African Americans and, somewhat less so, for the poor.

(Some conservatives quote the line from King’s 1963 Dream speech about folks being judged not by their skin colour but by “the content of their character” as proof that he opposed affirmative action, thus mischiev­ ously ignoring his critique of colour­ conscious class stratification.)

The legacy of King’s contemporary El­Hajj Malik El­Shabazz, or Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little), is less recog­ nized but just as vital.

Not only did Malcolm’s teaching (and preaching) catalyze a radical shift in black consciousness and self­ image – and inspire black arts and black power movements in the 1960s in America and Canada. It also influ­ enced cultural icons as diverse as Miles Davis and Muhammad Ali, Spike Lee and Angela Davis, Public Enemy and Amiri Baraka.

King freed bodies; Malcolm freed minds. And in the context of Fer­ guson and 2014’s spate of suspect po­ lice shootings of unarmed young Af­ rican Americans, his lessons arguably remain more relevant 50 years after his February 21, 1965, assassination.

In his April 3, 1964, speech, The Ballot or The Bullet, Malcolm told his Cleveland, ohio, audience that “the government has failed you.” one glaring example he cited was the 1955 case of Emmett Till, a 14­year­ old black youth brutally murdered by two white men in Mississippi for allegedly having whistled at a white woman. His assailants were tried and acquitted by an all­white jury.

12

february 5-11 2015 NOW

Responding to such injustices, Mal­ colm advocated that African Amer­ icans arm themselves, an idea that led in 1966 to the founding of the Black Panther Party for Self­Defense.

FBI director J. Edgar Hoover called the group the greatest threat to the security of the United States. Long viewed as a militant black nationalist organization bent on armed revolu­ tion, the Panthers defended the com­ munity against police brutality by as­ serting their constitutional right to bear arms. The group also delivered community health and social pro­ grams. Those ideas don’t seem all that radical in the current firmament of police­minority relations stateside.

The Panthers’ purpose was to keep white­dominated police forces from instituting what Malcolm labelled “a police state” in black communities. In the same speech, on May 5, 1962, he attacked police “Gestapo tactics” such as stopping and interfering with the civil liberties of black men on the street. He could have been talking about today, and not just in Ferguson.

Indeed, it’s vital that we recognize here in Canada the over­policing and over­incarceration of African­Cana­ dian and indigenous people. Consid­ er also the late, unlamented Toronto Police Service practice of carding and you can understand why Malcolm’s 50­year­old speeches may earn ap­ plause here. Truly, his analysis of po­ lice­minority relations bears think­ ing through.

Depending on circumstances, provably over­policed communities might want to consider remedies like class­action suits in respect to viola­ tions of rights protected by the Char­ ter of Rights And Freedoms. or they could petition municipalities to transfer police funds to community jurisdiction for community­led poli­ cing as well as social services.

The Ballot or The Bullet speech also voiced Malcolm’s idea that the U.S. is ill­equipped to address issues of racism against blacks. He believed conditions of blacks in the U.S. were a “violation of human rights” (beyond the ability, or willingness, of the gov­ ernment to solve) and advocated that African Americans “take the [U.S.] government to the World Court [UN] and accuse it of genocide.”

This suggestion was ultra­radical in the Cold War context. The U.S. gov­ ernment would have hated losing

face in a propaganda showdown with the tyrannous USSR. The tactic has been adopted today.

Native Americans from South Amer­ ica to Manitoba, weary of official shilly­shallying and naysayers, are taking threats to their traditional way of life to the United Nations.

And they’re demanding a higher

King freed bodies; Malcolm’s teachings catalyzed a radical shift in the black self-image.

share of the revenues and wealth their “native land” generates. Cana­ dian governments have also found themselves answering to world bod­ ies for policies that have left indigen­ ous children the poorest Canadians and those most prone to disease. Not to mention the shame of missing and murdered indigenous women.

Another still­urgent Malcolm speech, Message To The Grass Roots, delivered on November 10, 1963, pointed out that “of all our studies, history is best qualified to reward all research.”

He explained that colonization of the Third World by the former Euro­ pean empires gave rise to racism and thus to the present­day predicament of the “so­called Negro,” who suffers from self­hatred and remains ignor­ ant of African civilizations and the crime against humanity that was transatlantic slavery.

Characteristically fearless, Mal­ colm adopted the language of social­ ism, referring to “the black masses” and “the grass roots.” Wielding the diction of black nationalism, he transformed “negroes” and “col­ oureds” (as I was called as a boy in 1960s Nova Scotia) into blacks and Afro­Americans and thus African Americans and African Canadians.

Surveying world affairs in 1964, Malcolm stated categorically that America and old­line European im­ perialists could never win another major ground war, pointing to the UN stalemate armistice in Korea in 1953 and the French defeats at Dien

Bien Phu, Vietnam, in 1954 and Al­ geria in 1962.

He reasoned that military super­ iority could never in the long term defeat “rice­eaters” with “heart” or sneakered guerrillas with “blades.”

Yes, the “coalition of the willing” crushed Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in 2003. But that “victory” spawned the current ISIS insurgency.

Though backward on gender and sexual orientation, integration (at first) and non­violence, Malcolm remains vital for his insistence that the op­ pressed of every stripe must practise “political maturity” and undertake political analyses. That would result in acts reflecting enlightened self­inter­ est, not sentimental folderol.

As he said in a 1965 appearance in Toronto on CBC’s Front Page Chal­ lenge a little more than a month be­ fore his assassination: “I don’t in any way encourage black people to initi­ ate acts of aggression indiscriminate­ ly against whites. But I do believe that the black man in the United States, and any human anywhere, is well within his right to do whatever is necessary, by any means neces­ sary, to protect his life and property, especially in a country where the federal government itself has proven that it is either unable or unwilling to protect the lives and property of those human beings.” That’s his deathless importance.

3 george elliott clarke is the poet laureate of Toronto and teaches african-canadian literature at the University of Toronto. His latest book is Traverse (exile, 2014), an autobiographical poem. news@nowtoronto.com | @nowtoronto

Malcolm X (right) in his first and only meeting with Martin Luther King Jr. at the Senate’s debate on the civil rights bill in Washington, DC, March 26, 1964.

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NOW february 5-11 2015

13

ZACH RUITER

ON THE SCENE

JAILHOUSE SHOCK

A day with Local 582 prison guards in the midst of labour strife By ZACH RUITER

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@nowtoronto 14

FEBRUARY 5-11 2015 NOW

“Welcome to the East, the belly of the beast,” says a balaclava-and-sunglasses-clad corrections officer (CO) warming his hands over a fire burning in a barrel at a sunrise picket outside the maximum-security Toronto East Detention Centre on Civic Road in Scarborough.

He’s one of dozens of Local 582 members from the East taking part in an Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) day of action on January 20. OPSEU has organized a number of protests since the new year in support of ongoing bargaining efforts in the face of what it says is the Ontario government’s refusal to sign a fair collective agreement.

The two sides seem to have reached an impasse.

Outside the East, CO Jim Steenson says his job is getting more dangerous. “We’ve got edge weapons in here – knives, shanks, absolutely.” Later in the week, a prisoner with a ceramic paring knife blade lodged in his lower jaw is taken from the facility to a nearby hospital in serious condition.

“It’s a very violent place to work,” says Liz Appleton, holding a cigarette in one hand and a maple-glazed donut in the other.

After a couple of hours, the fires in the barrels are doused and everyone boards a bus to meet with hundreds of other corrections workers from across Ontario outside the Sheraton Hotel, where negotiations with the province are taking place.

The clutch of police officers outside makes way as the protesters flood inside on a mission to find the room where bargaining is reportedly taking place. After roaming three floors – and a few comical yet phy-

sically charged interactions with hotel security – it’s clear the government’s bargaining team must have bailed out the back.

What’s on the table Cuts to drug benefits, a wage freeze and a 5 per cent wage reduction for new government employees are the hot buttons.

Wages for the most common classification of CO start at $25.81 an hour and top out at $32.64 an hour. Many of the COs interviewed for this article are on the “sunshine list” of government employees earning more than $100,000 a year. Somehow, though, given the overtime involved, “sunshine” doesn’t seem like the best way to describe the re-

muneration of those voluntarily spending much of their lives inside an Ontario prison.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services seems to be preparing for a strike. Recent renovations to correctional facilities include sleeping quarters, showers and laundry facilities for managers who will be required to stay 24/7 in the event of a lockout or strike.

The view from inside The violence of life inside Ontario’s prisons is reflected in statistics for the past year: more than 3,000 inmate-on-inmate assaults and 855 assaults on corrections employees at the province’s 32 facilities, according to the ministry.

“The system is broken and in a state of crisis,” says Windsor-West NDP MPP Lisa Gretzky, who cites understaffing and overcrowding at prison facilities and lack of training for dealing with offenders with mental health issues as particular concerns.

The infirmary and a 26-bed mental health unit at the Toronto South Detention Centre are currently empty, although the facility opened in early 2014. According to a spokesperson for OPSEU Local 5112, “Solitary confinement is still recognized by the employer as the first choice for housing offenders that would in most cases be placed in health care, infirmary or mental health and assessment units.”

Speaking to NOW after a press conference on January 26 announcing a new placement policy for trans inmates, Community Safety and Correctional Services Minister Yasir Naqvi explains that qualified mental health experts have yet to be hired to look after people with complex needs.

He refuses to comment on the contents of an as-yet-to-be-released report completed by the government showing long wait times for inmates seeking psychiatric treatment.

“My guess is that they don’t want to release the report because it’s not favourable to them” says Gretzky. continued on page 16 œ

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15

Zach RuiteR

JAILHOUSE SHOCK

“You spend your career getting spit on and having urine, feces and semen thrown at you.”

of the detainees are getting masks, and they are being forced to clean the mould.”

A union divided The 5,000 members of OPSEU’s Corrections Division, which has historically been a militant wing of the union, is at odds with OPSEU higher-ups after they put the kibosh on a move to create a stand-alone Corrections bargaining unit last October.

“I continue to hear how we are destroying and ripping apart OPSEU for even asking for this,” writes James Nowe, a CO at the Kenora Jail and president of OPSEU Local 719. “Yes I know we are big bad thugs and bullies, but you spend your career getting assaulted, spit on, having urine, feces and semen thrown at you.”

The Corrections Division was also seeking to include other jail staff in the unit, such as nurses and maintenance workers.

Says Autumn Butsch, a nurse at the Central East Correctional Centre, “If you are inside the fences, you’re inside Corrections.”

œcontinued from page 14

“It’s going to potentially solidify what those who work in the facilities have been saying – that those with mental health issues are not being serviced in a timely manner.”

An epidemic of mould “Many Ontario corrections institutions have mould problems, and the [problems happen] because our buildings are not maintained properly,” says Tammy Carson, OPSEU’s corrections health and safety cochair. “Nothing is done until they get a report or an order from an inspector, and what happens in many jails is [mould] filtrates through ventilation through all parts of the facility and it’s hard to contain.”

The mould is getting worse at the Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay, Ontario, where federal immigration detainees are held, says Mina Ramos of the End Immigration Detention Network. “While guards are wearing masks and also complaining, none

February Specials

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Friday Feb 27th 2015

Customer Appreciation Day

A Wynne win situation While being firm on the issue of a wage freeze, Premier Kathleen Wynne has behaved with impressive graciousness. When OPSEU crashed her New Year’s levee with a comically oversized Kathleen Wynne protest puppet, the Premier hosted an impromptu private meeting with bargaining team members.

But the likelihood of a strike seems to be increasing with OPSEU is making plans to step up its efforts across the province, culminating in a mass protest at Queen’s Park on February 17, when MPPs return to the legislative assembly.

Back in October at the Good Jobs Summit, the premier argued that the “adversarial model” of labour relations isn’t working and that each side needs to see the other as “partners.”

She added, “We will sometimes disagree about where to take a turn to the right and where to take a turn to the left.” But this standoff seems more fundamental than that.

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16

february 5-11 2015 NOW

daily events meetings • benefits How to find a listing

Daily events appear by date, then alphabetically by the name of the event.

Bindicates Black History Month events r indicates kid-friendly events indicates queer-friendly events

5

How to place a listing

All listings are free. Send to: events@nowtoronto.com, fax to 416-​364-​1168 or mail to Daily​Events,​NOW​Magazine,​189​ Church,​Toronto​M5B​1Y7. Include a brief description of the event, date, time, price, venue name and address and a contact phone number, e-mail or website address for the event. Listings may be edited for length. Deadline is the Thursday before publication at 5 pm.

If your free listing requires a correction, send info to: fixevents@nowtoronto.com.

For Black History Month listings, see this page. For Valentine’s Day-related events, see page 22.

Thursday, February 5

Benefits

bOOK lOvEr’s ball aFtEr darK This after-

party in the stacks follows the fundraising gala and features live music, cocktails and more. 9 pm. $100-$150 (Toronto Public Library Fdn). RSVP. Reference Library, 789 Yonge. eventbrite.ca/e/7995856823.

Events

thE art hustlE Established artists talk about

the ups and downs of building a viable artistic career. 7-9 pm. $15-$20. Artscape Youngplace, 180 Shaw. eventbrite.ca/e/13871677561. thE bOOK rEvuE: gOnE girl Screening of the film adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s book followed by a discussion on gender politics with Steph Guthrie and Kiva Reardon. 6:30-9:30 pm. $11, stu/srs $8. Revue Cinema, 400 Roncesvalles. 416-531-9959, revuecinema.ca.

citizEnshiP EducatiOn mEntOring circlE

Weekly meeting for newcomers to study for the test, practice English and more. 6-8:30 pm.

Free. Burrows Hall Library, 1081 Progress. 416588-6288 ext 231, culturelink.ca/citizenship. cOmmunity Quilt grOuP Learning and sharing get-together. 6-8 pm. All welcome. Free.

Gibson House, 5172 Yonge. 416-395-7432.

Eating disOrdEr awarEnEss wEEK sPOKEn wOrd EvEnt National Eating Disorder Infor-

mation Centre celebration of natural size through spoken word, poetry and music. 7 pm (open-mic sign-up 6:30 pm). $10, stu $5.

Round Venue, 152A Augusta. 416-340-4156.

festivals • expos • sports etc.

Festivals this week

5 FEstival OF Original thEatrE 2015:

QuEEr(ing) PErFOrmancE The festival/ conference brings together performance, film, art, activism and scholarship in a bid to queer traditional understandings of theatre and performance studies. Various U of T venues, see website for locations and program schedule. Free/pwyc. foot2015.wordpress.com.

Feb 5 to 7 hillsidE insidE Alex Cuba, Jennifer Castle, Kid Koala, Hey Rosetta, Badbadnotgood, bizZarh, Oliver Mtukudzi & The Black Spirits, Stars, Owen Pallett and many others perform. Some free workshops and more.

River Run Centre, 35 Woolwch St (Guelph). hillsidefestival.ca.

Feb 6 to 8 BrKuumba The festival of black culture features visual arts, theatre, dance workshops, film screenings, comedy, panel discussions and more. See website for schedule details. Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W. 416-973-4000, harbourfrontcentre.com/kuumba.

Feb 6 to 8 thE hEalthy hEart Talk on natural agents to lower blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar and concerns regarding common medications. 7 pm. Free. The Big Carrot, 348 Danforth. thebigcarrot.ca. mOrE than hOcKEy: canada’s ExPanding sPOrts mEdia landscaPE Sports media per-

sonalities Bruce Arthur, Stephen Brunt and Brenda Irving talk about sport trends. 6:30-8 pm. $20-$25, stu $15. TMX Broadcast Centre, Exchange Tower, 130 King W. cjf-fjc.ca. tOrOntO sPOrtsmEn’s shOw Showcase for fishing, hunting and outdoors enthusiasts with a birds of prey show, chainsaw carving demo, vendors and more. To Feb 8, Thu-Sat 10 am-8 pm, Sun 10 am-6 pm. $13-$19, kids under 6 free. Direct Energy Centre, 100 Princes Blvd, Exhibition Place. 905-361-2677, torontosportshow.ca. walK FOr hEalth & wEll-bEing Meet at the library with good shoes and a bottle of water for a 60 min outdoors walk. 1:30 pm. Free.

Deer Park Library, 40 St Clair E. stevensjason0926@yahoo.com.

listings index Live music Theatre Dance

34 45 46

Comedy Readings Art galleries

BtOrOntO blacK Film FEstival Showcase of films by and about black people everywhere in the world, their realities and perspectives. Events also at Isabel Bader Theatre, AGO and other venues (see website). $10, pass $99. Carlton Cinema, 20 Carlton. torontoblackfilm.com.

Feb 10 to 15

Benefits

aPPlEgrOvE yOga-thOn Beat the winter

blues with 108 sun salutations led by pro instructors alongside live music. 1-3:30 pm. $20 or pwyc (benefits Applegrove Community Complex). Duke of Connaught Public School, 70 Woodfield. 416-461-8143, applegrovecc.ca.

FEstival OF thE bOdy Panel discussions,

video screenings and exhibitions on the body in art and science, with a focus on the PanAm/ParaPan Am Games. See website for schedule details. Free. OCAD U, 100 McCaul. 416-977-6000 ext 330, www2.ocadu.ca/node/6589.

To Feb 5

bE my valEntinE: rOsEs, chOcOlatEs & diamOnds Fundraising event with raffle prizes, a

Caribbean buffet, music by Jennifer Sohan and more. Doors 6 pm. $45 (benefits the Caribbean Children Foundation). Elite Banquet Halls, 1850 Albion. tccfangels.com.

PrOgrEss: intErnatiOnal FEstival OF PErFOrmancE and idEas

cOmPassiOnatE hEarts valEntinE dinnEr & dancE Wine tasting, dinner, live music and a

Performances, workshops and conversations featuring six international shows, six languages and five free artist workshops and talks.

Opens Feb 4 and runs to Feb 15, see website for schedule. $15-$30, some free events. Theatre Centre, 1115 Queen W. thisisprogress.ca.

To Feb 15

Friday, February 6

Benefits

mOtiOnball: glitz & graFFiti gala Music by

Andria Simone, Bellwoods and others, a silent auction and mingling with young professionals and celebrity guests. 7 pm. $150 (benefits Special Olympics Canada). Liberty Grand, 25 British Columbia. motionball.com.

ruFus wainwright, lOudOn wainwright, chaim tannEnbaum Benefit concert for

PatientsCanada.ca. Doors 8 pm, all ages. $30-

$100. Queen Elizabeth Theatre, 190 Princes’ Blvd. ticketfly.com. tOKEns4changE Students and volunteers perform and create art installations throughout the underground PATH to raise funds for Youth Without Shelter. 7 am to 7 pm. Pwyc/ donations. Various venues, see website for info. facebook.com/tokens4change.

Events

EcOnOmic warFarE in vEnEzuEla: undErstanding u.s. imPErialism FrOm PalEstinE tO chilE Talk on U.S. efforts to undermine the Bolivarian government and economic sanction tactics around the world with speakers Martha Pardo, Santiago Escobar and others.

6:30 pm. Free. Beit Zatoun, 612 Markham. venezuelasolidarity.ca.

EngagEmEnt Organizing – a training wOrKshOP FOr EngOs 9 am-4:30 pm. $75.

Pre-register. Centre for Social Innovation, 215 Spadina. sustainabilitynetwork.ca.

sOcial PErmaculturE: thE clEan dirt On cOmmunity currEnciEs & rE-lOcalizing Our EcOnOmy Presentation, group activities

black history month events Thursday, February 5 First thursday Installations and art talks in-

spired by the Jean Michel-Basquiat exhibit.

Music by Grandmaster Flash and Bonjay, panel discussion presented with Black Lives Matter Toronto Coalition, and more. 7-11:30 pm. $15, adv $12. Art Gallery of Ontario, 317 Dundas W. ago.net/firstthursdays.

FrEEdOm city: uncOvEring tOrOntO’s blacK histOry Paintings, photographs, manuscripts

and more with contributions from Afua Cooper and Karolyn Smardz Frost. Runs to Mar 28.

Reference Library, 789 Yonge. 416-395-5577. huE: a mattEr OF cOlOur Film screening. 5 pm at Centennial Library (578 Finch W); 6 pm at Agincourt Library (155 Bonis). Free. torontopubliclibrary.ca. thrOugh gEnEratiOns Group art show that explores past, present and future narratives of black consciousness in the African Diaspora.

Feb 5-Mar 1. Daniels Spectrum, 585 Dundas. danielsspectrum.ca. undEr thE starry sKy Screening of the Dyana Gaye film. French w/ English subtitles.

7 pm. Free. Alliance Française, 24 Spadina Rd. alliance-francaise.ca.

thE unFinishEd cOnvErsatiOn: EncOding/ dEcOding Visual art grounded in the work of

cultural theorist Stuart Hall. To May 18. Power Plant, 231 Queens Quay W. 416-973-4949.

Friday, February 6 curatOrs OF hiP-hOP Screening of the film

that looks at the next generation of artists.

8-9:30 pm. Free. Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W. harbourfrontcentre.com. dwaynE mOrgan Meet the motivational speaker and spoken word artist. 9:30 am.

Free. Amesbury Park Library, 1565 Lawrence W. torontopubliclibrary.ca.

FrOm griOt tO hiP-hOP: thE music is thE stOry Concert featuring stories and music

from Africa, the Caribbean and Canada. Roger Gibbs, Amado Kienne, Tich Maredza and others, 6:30 pm. Free. Reference Library, 789 Yonge. torontopubliclibrary.ca.

KabarEt KaraïbE Quebecois storyteller of Caribbean tradition Franck Sylvestre. 8 pm. $15. Alliance Française, 24 Spadina Rd. alliance-francaise.ca.

Kuumba The festival of black culture features visual arts, theatre, films, comedy, dance workshops, panel discussions and more. Feb 6-8,

see website for full schedule. Free and ticketed events. Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W. harbourfrontcentre.com/kuumba.

QuEEns calling Celebration of sisterhood by eight diverse female choreographers. To Feb 7, Fri-Sat 8 pm, mat Sat 1 pm. $25-$30, stu $15. Harbourfront Centre Theatre, 231 Queens Quay W. danceimmersion.ca. wE gOt nExt! music shOwcasE Live music by Pierre Kwenders, Keita Juma and Shi Wisdom. 9 pm. Free. Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W. harbourfrontcentre.com.

Saturday, February 7 5 FingErs, 1 Fist: lOOKing tO thE FuturE Young artists honour freedom fighters through spoken word performances. 2 pm. Free. Harbourfront Centre Studio Theatre, 235 Queens

Electric​Roots:​The​Detroit​Sound​ Project​screens​at​ Harbourfront​on​ February​7.

58 63

Saturday, February 7

continuing

Business meeting at 7:30 pm, talk by Neil Brochu of the City of Toronto’s Collections & Conservation Centre at 8:15 pm. Free. Annette Library, 145 Annette. wtjhs.ca. wintEr FarmErs marKEt Local goods at this indoor market. 3-6:30 pm. Artisans At Work, 2071 Danforth. artisans-at-work.com. zEulEr lima Llecture hosted by Ryerson Dept of Architecture. 6:30 pm. Free. Ryerson Architectural Science, 325 Church. arch.ryerson.ca.

Movie reviews Movie times

and discussion on how to establish a sustainable ecological system while increasing social stability and well-being in communities. 6:308 pm. Free. York Lanes room 305. York University, 4700 Keele. 416-736-2100 ext 31520, facebook.com/events/1563921053855089. tOrOntO swing dancE sOciEty dancE Dance to all styles of swing. No experience or partner required. 7:30 pm. $15. Lithuanian House, 1573 Bloor W. torontoswingdancesociety.ca.

Belle​Jumelles​co-hosts​QueerNote​ Cabaret​at​the​Gladstone​to​launch​ the​Festival​of​Original​Theatre.

wEst tOrOntO JunctiOn histOrical sOciEty

49 52 53

Quay W. harbourfrontcentre.com. aFrOFuturism: thE mOvEmEnt Panel discussion exploring the roots of Afrofuturuism as a creative movement. 5 pm. Free.

Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W. 416-9734000.

aim2imPact: richmOnd bOnsu Bonsu gives the history and geography of his musical instruments. 2 pm.

Free. Fairview Library, 35 Fairview Mall. torontopubliclibrary.ca.

a is FOr aFrOFuturism – FuturE stOrytEllErs Collaborate to

invent new narratives through games, play, sound and imagination as part of Kuumba.

Sat & Sun

silent auction. 5:30 pm. $175-$199 (Evangel Hall Mission Dental Clinic). Palais Royale, 1601 Lake Shore W. evangelhall.ca. giFt FrOm thE hEart On this day independent dental hygienists provide oral health care services at no cost to those in need. Dental X Smile Centres, 500 Sheppard E, unit 106, and other locations, see website for details. 416225-2555, giftfromtheheart.ca.

Knitting mOnth wOrKshOPs Consult experienced docents and knitters for your knitting issues, plus tea and a museum tour. Saturdays in Feb, 11:30 am, 1 and 2:30 pm. $15 (benefits the Community History Project). Pre-register.

Tollkeeper’s Cottage Museum, 750 Davenport. tollkeeperscottage@gmail.com.

middlE EastErn drum lEssOn & Jam sEssiOn

Beginner lesson noon-1 pm, open drum and jam session 1-3 pm. $10-$15 sugg donation (all proceeds go to a music program for kids in Burj Al Barajneh refugee camp in Lebanon).

Beit Zatoun, 612 Markham. beitzatoun.org.

Ola childrEn’s PrOJEct FundraisEr A silent auction, snacks and more to support projects in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. 7-11 pm. $20. Signs Restaurant, 558 Yonge. facebook. com/OlaChildrensProject. sPirits & sPicE Soirée featuring Caribbean dishes created by celebrity chef La-Toya. 5:309:30 pm. $35 (Caribbean Scholarship Foundation). At the Marché restaurant in Brookfield Place, 181 Bay. spiritsandspice.com.

continued on page 18 œ

at 1 pm. Free. Miss Lou’s Room at Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W. harbourfrontcentre.com.

a is FOr aFrOFuturism – Futuristic lEnsEs/ KalEidOscOPE Children create art based on

stories they have heard and created as part of Kuumba. Sat & Sun, noon. Free. Miss Lou’s Room at Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W. harbourfrontcentre.com. aFrican triPlE FEaturE Screening of 100% Dakar, Electric Roots: The Detroit Sound Project and Fantastic Man. 7:30-9:30 pm. Free.

Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W. harbourfrontcentre.com. bEat bOx 101 Workshop for teens with poet Eddy Daoriginalone on making music without instruments. 2 pm. Free (pre-register). Richview Library, 1806 Islington. 416-394-5120. bOb marlEy birthday tributE Live music by House of David Gang, The Human Rights, Fugitive Minds and Pressure Drop Crew. 9 pm. $15, $10 adv or w/ donation to Parkdale Food Bank. Lee’s Palace, 529 Bloor W. nufunk.ca. in cOnvErsatiOn with rOxanE gay Gay talks about her novel An Untamed State with Siri Agrell as part of Kummba (see cover story, page 50). 4:30 pm. $18. Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W. harbourfrontcentre.com.

music aFrica’s blacK histOry mOnth cOncErt sEriEs Young Stars De Montreal perform.

9 pm. Free. Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen W. afrofest.ca.

continued on page 18 œ

NOW february 5-11 2015

17

black history month events œcontinued from page 17

NfB cElEBraTEs BlacK hisTory moNTh for Kids Short films about past generations of

activists, fighters, survivors and people who make up Afro-Canada’s rich history. Feb 7-8, 1 & 2 pm. Free. Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W. harbourfrontcentre.com.

NuBiaNs oN ThE WaTErfroNT comEdy shoW

Kuumba Festival presents Aisha Alfa, Arthur Simeon, Big Norm, Kenny Robinson & others.

7 and 10 pm. $18. Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W. harbourfrontcentre.com.

rrogEr giBBs islaNd iN ThE suN: BarBados iN soNg Concert of Barbadian folk songs and calypsos from the 1800s to the present. 2 pm.

Free. Palmerston Library, 560 Palmerston. torontopubliclibrary.ca. sKa iN ThE sTacKs Ska band The Arsenals perform. 2 pm. Free. Deer Park Library, 40 St Clair E. torotopubliclibrary.ca. socacizE daNcE WorKshoPs 2-3 pm and 3:30-4:30 pm. Free. Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W. harbourfrontcentre.com. sPiriTs & sPicE Soirée featuring Caribbean dishes created by celebrity chef La-Toya. 5:309:30 pm. $35 (benefits Caribbean Scholarship Foundation). At the Marché in Brookfield Place, 181 Bay. spiritsandspice.com.

suN ra: a Joyful NoisE Screening of the film

by Rob Mugge about the musician and pioneer of the Afrofuturism movement. 7 pm.

Free. Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W. harbourfrontcentre.com.

TriBuTE To BoB marlEy & ThE lEgENds of rEggaE Live music by Odel Johnson, Jah Beng,

Fujahtive, Chester Miller, Jahsmin Dalley, Jeff Holdip. 9:30 pm. $20-$35. Mod Club, 722 College. odeljohnson.com. zayo! EsiE mENsah’s BlacK sTars Kuumba Festival presents African and Caribbean dance fused with contemporary hip-hop and house forms. Feb 7 at 8 pm, Feb 8 at 4 pm. Free.

Harbourfront Centre Theatre, 231 Queens Quay W. 416-973-4000.

Sunday, February 8 afrofuTurism: ThE PracTicE Artists relate

their personal experiences of the philosophy and how it affects their work. 1 pm. Free.

Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W. harbourfrontcentre.com.

BlacK sTars daNcE WorKshoP With choreographer Esie Mensah. 2-2:45 pm. Free.

Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W. harbourfrontcentre.com. comiNg BacK for morE Screening of the film

HE BELIEVED

THING AWANSYPOS SIBLE. AND

IT WAS.

OPENS SATURDAY BASQUIATNOW.com

Supported by the Government of Canada/ Avec l’appui du gouvernement du Canada.

18

thology of contemporary African Canadian Poetry with readings by Lillian Allen, George Elliott Clarke, Afua Cooper, Kevan Anthony Cameron, Dwayne Morgan and others. 3:30 pm. Free. Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W. harbourfrontcentre.com.

Word•souNd•PoWEr Open mic and community networking forum, with DJ BlackLotus. 7 pm. Free. Harlem, 67 Richmond E. harlemrestaurant.com

Monday, February 9 arT housE moNday: BlacK is BEauTiful

Works by Hollis Baptiste, Sandra Brewster & Carl Cassell, Feb 9; Trudi Ferguson, Ricardo McRae & Carl Cassell, Feb 16 & 23. 8 pm.

Studio C, 745 Queen W. facebook.com/ events/769778163102038.

Tuesday, February 10 aNdrEa ThomPsoN The spoken word artist

shares her jazz-infused poetics and reads from her debut novel, Over Our Heads. 7 pm.

Free. Spadina Road Library, 10 Spadina Rd. torontopubiclibrary.ca. michEl mPamBara The African-Canadian performer presents a solo show in French. 7 pm. $20-$25. Alliance Française, 24 Spadina Rd. theatrefrancais.com.

ToroNTo BlacK film fEsTival Films by and about black people everywhere in the world, their realities and perspectives. Feb 10-15. $10, pass $99. Carlton Cinema, 20 Carlton (Also at Isabel Bader Theatre, AGO and other venues, see website). torontoblackfilm.com.

Wednesday, February 11 rsToriEs of aNaNsi Storyteller Phyllis Walker tells tales of this Afro-Caribbean trickster and hero. 1:30 pm. Free. Parkdale Library, 1303 Queen W. torontopubliclibrary.ca.

Thursday, February 12 BEaT Box 101 Workshop for teens. 4:30 pm.

Free. Brentwood Library, 36 Brentwood N. torontopubliclibrary.ca. duaNE giBsoN Meet the writer, speaker and freestyle artist. 10 am. Free. Albion Library, 1515 Albion. torontopubliclibrary.ca.

3

WychWood Trivia NighT Test your knowledge and support your community. 7-10 pm. $25 (benefits Wychwood Open Door). Artscape Wychwood Barns, 601 Christie. wychwoodopendoor.org.

Events

aN EvENiNg of iNTErfaiTh PErformiNg arTs

Music, dance, skits and more by individuals and groups of diverse faith backgrounds as part of World Interfaith Harmony Week. 7 pm. $5. Noor Cultural Centre, 123 Wynford. noorculturalcentre.ca.

BuryiNg NuclEar WasTE iN oNTario?

Discussion with frontline voices who oppose the creation and burial of nuclear waste, with Brennain Lloyd, Lorraine Rekmans, Angela Bischoff and others. 1-5 pm. Free. Saint Stephen-in-the-Fields Church, 103 Bellevue. facebook.com/events/572832252851041. chiNEsE Brush PaiNTiNg Celebrate Chinese New Year with an introductory workshop for adults and teens. Materials supplied. 3-4:30 pm. Free. Reserve. Barbara Frum Library, 20 Covington. 416-395-5440.

daNcE as mETaPhor, laNguagE aNd lENs

Talk with dance artists Aharona Israel, Meher Awachri and Zoja Smutny. 5 pm. Free. Theatre Centre, 1115 Queen W. thisisprogress.ca. iNTroducTory mEdiTaTioN Class at 2:30 pm.

Free. Eastminster United Church, 310 Danforth. 416-539-0234, meditationtoronto.com.

KiNdErmorNiNg Info on the kindergarten program. 9:30-11:30 pm. Free. Waldorf Academy, 250 Madison. waldorfacademy.org. max ThE muTT oPEN housE Learn about the school’s diploma programs and workshops and hear industry professionals talk about career opportunities. 10 am-3 pm. Free. Max the Mutt College of Animation, Art and Design, 2944 Danforth. maxthemutt.com. murdEr aT ThE rom Scavenger hunt for adults. 1-3:30 pm. $35. Pre-register. Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen’s Park. 416-8952378, urbancapers.com.

PuNK sWaP #1 Swap or sell records, shirts, old VHS, zines, tapes and more. Noon-4 pm. Pwyc admission, table $15. S.H.I.B.G.B’s, 225 Geary. facebook.com/events/1429996163958623. soca oN icE Dr Jay de Soca Prince. 8 to 11 pm.

Free. Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W. 416-973-4000.

ToroNTo salsa PracTicE No lesson, beginners to pros, no partner required. 3:30-5:30 pm or 5:30-8 pm. $5. Trinity St. Paul’s Church, 427 Bloor W. torontosalsapractice.com.

Sunday, February 8 aN ENchaNTEd EvENiNg Group meditation, live music and a vegetarian meal. 6-8 pm. Free, pwyc donation for meal. Trinity St. Paul’s Church, 427 Bloor W. 416-539-0234, meditationtoronto.com. aNNEx flEa Vintage and handmade goods. 11 am-6 pm. Free. Centre for Social Innovation Annex, 720 Bathurst. annexflea.com.

BETTEr mEdicarE: ProvidiNg PharmacarE & iNsuriNg ThE uNiNsurEd Talk by physician/

activist Ritika Goel. 10:10 am. Free. St Clement’s Church, 70 St Clement’s. 416-483-6664.

ThE BordErlEss PlaguE Conversation about Ebola and its global ramifications with doctors James Maskalyk and James Orbinski and moderator Carol Off. 1:30 pm. Free (ticket required). Appel Salon. Reference Library, 789 Yonge. eventbrite.ca/e/14943697000.

crEaTiNg my mEmoirs: a WorK iN ProgrEss

Ulyssean Society presentation with York U prof Virginia Rock. 2 pm. Free. Knox College, 59 St George. 416-410-1892. graNTs for ThE grassrooTs? Wavelength Music Festival panel discussion on Ontario music funding. 3 pm. Free. HuntClub Studios, 709 College St. wavelengthtoronto.com.

ThE hisToric vicTory of grEEK lEfT: WhaT NoW? Socialist Project forum with Leo Panitch and Peter Bratsis. 2:30 pm. Free. Beit Zatoun, 612 Markham. socialistproject.ca/events.

ThE lasT grEaT gifT Michael Power HS students talk about visiting the University of Guelph’s hands-on Human Anatomy Program.

10:30 am. Free. Unitarian Fellowship of Northwest Toronto, 55 St Phillips. ufnwt.com.

5lgBT daNcE classEs Queer and trans salsa classes. To Mar 29, Sun from 3 to 5 pm (beginner to advanced). $15 drop-in, course $45-$90 (pre-register). Multifaith Centre, 569 Spadina. lgbtdance.com.

losT ExPlorErs: ThE archaEology of JohN fraNKliN’s lasT ExPEdiTioN Lecture by Rob-

ert W Park. 2-3:30 pm. Free. Macleod Auditorium. Medical Sciences Bldg, 1 King’s College Circle. royalcanadianinstitute.org. murdEr aT ThE rom Scavenger hunt for adults. 1-3:30 pm. $35. Pre-register. Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen’s Park. 416-8952378, urbancapers.com.

saloN WEsT afTErNooN TEa WiTh ThE NaTioNal BallET of caNada Chat with ballet

master Lindsay Fischer and a look at three classic works. 4-6:30 pm. Women’s Art Association, 23 Prince Arthur. salonwestto.org.

Friday, July 24, 2015 @TOBeerFestival Bandshell Park Exhibition Place

Get Tickets Now! beerfestival.ca

Robert Harding

Hotel Partner

february 5-11 2015 NOW

gramming at the Art Gallery of Ontario is supported by

ThE grEaT BlacK NorTh: aN afTErNooN of PoETry Kuumba and IFOA launch of the an-

œcontinued from page 17

SPECIAL FRIDAY NIGHT OPENINGS: FEB 13, 20, AND 27

Lead Supporter

Generously Supported by

by William Alkema about his search for Sly Stone as part of the Kuumba Festival. 4-5:30 pm. Free. Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W. harbourfrontcentre.com.

events

rToTsaPalooza 7 Celebration of the DIYspirit in kid culture, featuring performances by indie bands and picture book authors and interactive activities. 1-3 pm. $18, kids $12.

Revival, 783 College. smallprinttoronto.org.

use code 'NOW' for $5 off regular tickets.

big 3 1

NOW editors pick a trio of this week’s can’t-miss events

ONTARIO GETTING NUKE DUMP?

A plan to bury low- and intermediate-level nuclear waste next to Lake Huron has sparked massive local opposition. Now the nuclear industry is looking for a place to bury a bigger problem: its high-level nuclear waste. At last count, some 13 communities in Ontario (including one northwest of Toronto) and Saskatchewan have shown interest in the $20 billion construction project to bury 4.6 million used fuel bundles. St. Stephen-in-the-Fields hosts a discussion with frontline activists opposing the project, including Angela Bischoff of the Ontario Clean Air Alliance and Brennain Lloyd of Northwatch on Saturday (February 7) at 1 pm. Free. 103 Bellevue. angela@ cleanairalliance.org.

2

SPORTS MEDIA MONOPOLY

The mega-bucks sports media landscape is the focus of a discussion entitled More Than Hockey: Canada’s Expanding Sports Media Landscape with Toronto Star sports columnist Bruce Arthur and Sportsnet analyst Stephen Brunt at the TMX Broadcast Centre in the Exchange Tower, 130 King West, Thursday (February 5) at 6:30 pm. $20-$25, students $15. cjf-fjc.ca.

3

Angela Bischoff of the Ontario Clean Air Alliance tells us why burying used fuel bundles is a bad idea on February 7.

THE CLEAN DIRT ON LOCAL ECONOMIES

Community currencies and building “social permaculture” through local economies are the subjects of a meeting on Friday (February 6), 6:30 pm, at York University, where a presentation will be followed by brainstorming and activities. Free. 4700 Keele, York Lanes room 305. 416-736-2100 ext 31520.

Cha Cha Workshop Toronto Swing Dance

Society class. 7:30 pm. $25. Lithuanian House, 1573 Bloor W. torontoswingdancesociety.ca.

experimental DanCe: histories, politiCs & presenCe Panel discussion. 7-8 pm. Free.

(Shuttle bus from OCAD U available, 6 pm).

Doris McCarthy Gallery, 1265 Military Trail. utsc.utoronto.ca/dmg.

groWnups reaD things they Wrote as kiDs

Open mic evening of book reports, poetry, diary entries and letters from camp. 8-10 pm. $10. The Garrison, 1197 Dundas W. facebook. com/events/746916325363420. introDuCtory meDitation Learn three easy techniques. 7 pm. Free. College/Shaw Library, 766 College. meditationtoronto.com.

sister rosemary nyirumBe: seWing hope in uganDa The Ugandan activist talks about defying Joseph Kony and helping survivors of violence in Uganda. 7:30 pm. $59-$90. Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe. masseyhall.com. toronto teCh meetup Social mixer and networking event with speakers, food and more.

6-8:30 pm. $10-$20. PwC Tower, 18 York. meetup.com/torontotech.

Tuesday, February 10 CanaDian Citizenship test preparation Discussion with a rep from the Toronto District School Board. Bring your permanent resident card. 7-8 pm. Free. Register. North York Central Library, 5120 Yonge. 416-395-5660. exerCise & Fall prevention For seniors 65+

Weekly class to Apr 28. Bring indoor shoes and OHIP card. 10:30 am. Free. Pre-register. Lillian H Smith Library, 239 College. 416-393-7746.

hashtags, selFies & iCe-BuCkets: the myth oF slaCktivism Jennifer Hollett looks at how digital activism compliments or empowers traditional activism. 7 pm. Free. Hart House Theatre, 7 Hart House Circle. harthouse.ca.

Next 36 Debate with Daniel Debow, Susan McArthur, Rebecca McDonald, Richard Powers and moderator Claudia Hepburn. 6:30-8 pm. $15. Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, 111 Queen’s Park. gardinermuseum.on.ca.

the emerging revolution in the gloBal response to Climate Change School of the En-

vironment seminar. 4:10 pm. Free. Rm 140 (basement). University College, 15 King’s College Circle. environment.utoronto.ca. heart health: hypertension Talk on the risks of high blood pressure and natural ways to lower it. 6-7 pm. Free. Living City Health, 120 Eglinton E. livingcityhealth.com. okstupiD Live reading of the best worst online dating conversations. 7-9 pm. Pwyc. Handlebar, 159 Augusta. thehandlebar.ca. single, separateD & DivorCeD DaDs Q&A and support group weekly meeting. Women welcome. 7-9 pm. Free. Room A5. Eastminster United Church, 310 Danforth. father.org. star talks: alBert sChultz The actor/director and Soulpepper Artistic Director talks with Richard Ouzounian. 7 pm. Free (ticket required). Appel Salon. Reference Library, 789 Yonge. eventbrite.ca/e/14608389085.

this nuClear age: proliFeration anD Control issues Lecture about the nuclear age

with Cesar Jaramillo of Project Ploughshares.

4-6 pm. Free. Room 179. University College, 15 King’s College Circle. scienceforpeace.ca.

Winter Farmers market Indoor market with local farmers. 2-6 pm. Free. Montgomery’s Inn, 4709 Dundas W. 416-394-8113.

upcoming

@home: arChiteCture insiDe out Authors Richard McGuire and Danielle Aubert discuss the architecture of domesticity and depictions of the home. 6:30-8 pm. Free (preregister). Isabel Bader Theatre, 93 Charles W. eventbrite.ca/e/15403644716.

Can green spaCe support Cooler Cleaner, more equitaBle urBan Communities?

School of the Environment seminar. A report of the David Suzuki Foundation. 4:10 pm.

Free. University College, 15 King’s College Circle, room 179. environment.utoronto.ca.

eFFeCtive naturopathiC approaChes to improving Fertility & helping Couples ConCeive Seminar. 7 pm. Free. The Big Carrot, 348 Danforth. thebigcarrot.ca.

5glaD Day’s teaCher talks: inClusive Books in the CurriCulum Night for teach-

ers and librarians to exchange ideas about LGBTQ-inclusive books for the classroom. 5-7 pm. Free. Glad Day Bookshop, 598 Yonge. facebook.com/events/357579904435218.

5outWrites Writing group to support and promote writers from the LGBTQ community and their allies. Bring copies of your work for critique. 8 pm. Free. 519 Church Street Community Centre. outwrites.wordpress.com. tetris: the Chamionship iii Single-round elimination tourney on Playstation 3. 9 pm.

Free. Handlebar, 159 Augusta. facebook.com/ events/397248327108776.

3

Thursday, February 12

Flowers die.

Stainless steel is forever.

Native Canadian Centre of Toronto

Valentine's Day Craft Sale Saturday February 14th,2015 10:00am-4:00pm NA

N CE N TR EO DIA

RONTO TO

of tax havens. 1-3 pm. Free. Reference Library, 789 Yonge. torontopubliclibrary.ca. norman DoiDge The doctor/author talks about his new book, The Brain’s Way Of Healing. 7 pm. Free (ticketed). Reference Library, 789 Yonge. eventbrite.ca/e/14631917459. oCCupy eConomiCs Workshop Topic: Political and economic power in the digital age.

6:30-8:30 pm. Free. Steelworkers Hall, 25 Cecil. info@occupyeconomics.ca. to Be or not to Be a JeWish state? Peter Larson talks about Benjamin Netanyahu’s drive

Be it resolveD that Women entrepreneurs are DisaDvantageD in toDay’s soCiety The

Events

F

hoW oFFshore tax havens Destroy governments Bruce Livesey explores the impact

Wednesday, February 11

$15 (email barulife@gmail.com). Lula Lounge, 1585 Dundas W. lula.ca.

CA

Monday, February 9

to enshrine the concept of the Jewish State in Israeli constitutional law. 7 pm. $5. Beit Zatoun, 612 Markham. beitzatoun.org.

Waiting For spring Scarborough Garden & Horticultural Society talk with Alan Millikin.

7:30 pm. Free. Scarborough Village Community Centre, 3600 Kingston. gardenontario.org.

NATIVE

Winter tree iD: BuDs, Bark & tWigs Learn to identify trees and hike on lesser-known trails.

1-5 pm. $50. High Park Nature Centre, 440 Parkside. highparknaturecentre.com.

Benefits

5piCColo Diavolo Cocktail reception and

art sale featuring the photography of Mark MacKillop and Drasko Bogdanovic. 6:30-8:30 pm. $30 (supports the 519’s programs and services). 519 Church St Community Centre. the519.formstack.com/forms/piccolodiavolo. yuka & los moralitos Funk and Latin music concert to support Baru Life, which gives music workshops to at-risk youth. 10 pm. $10-

Authentic Aboriginal Craft Items 20 + Local Vendors Draws, Raffles & Indian Tacos 16 Spadina Road (Bloor & Spadina)

416-964-9087 http://ncct.on.ca

WWW.COME AS YOU ARE.COM/NJOY 493 QUEEN STREET WEST 416.504.7934 |

NOW february 5-11 2015

19

ecoholic

When you’re addicted to the planet By ADRIA VASIL

IMPACT INVESTING: THE GREENER GUIDE TO RRSPs

RESPONSIBLE INVESTING HAS GROWN A STAGGERING 68 PER CENT IN CANADA OVER THE LAST TWO YEARS, ACCORDING TO A NEW REPORT. BUT NOT ALL ETHICAL RETIREMENT SAVINGS PLANS ARE PLANET-FOCUSED. WHAT’S YOUR GREENEST BET?

TE ST L

NEI ETHICAL FUNDS/MERITAS

AGF CLEAN ENVIRONMENT FUNDS

Most standard ethical funds screen out nukes, tobacco and weapons makers but still invest in oil and gas or mining.

Many use what’s called the “best in sector” approach, going for, say, Suncor over Esso and working from within to pressure companies to up enviro, social and governance performance. NEI along with Meritas and Inhance are said to be the most vocal critics of the status quo (not so if you invest in funds from big banks or companies like Fidelity). Still, you’ll have some money sunk in the oil sands, and even the World Bank has called on the investment community to divest from oil, gas and coal ASAP. You can often minimize fossil fuel investments by choosing their global or U.S. equity fund options.

SCORE: NN

AGF’s (Acuity) Clean Environment Funds are said to be the greenest mutual funds Canada’s got. Unlike most ethical funds, their focus is energy and energy efficiency, water/water solutions, pollution control and health and safety. Companies have to “fit the fund’s environmental concept of sustainable development.” A couple of this fund’s holdings are in “greener” oil and gas service providers like Secure Energy Services, which is known for cleaning up oil industry waste, though it also offers drilling and pipeline construction. Their angle is “let’s help oil and gas be as clean as possible,” but what’s coal-plant owning AltaGas doing here? Still, it’s better than Desjardins’ Environment Fund.

SCORE: NNN

nature notes ROUGE PARK PROTECTION PROBLEMS The feds issued celebratory press releases last week heralding the passage of an act that would transform the rouge into Canada’s first national urban park. Except the province and a coalition of nature groups say transferring the land to the feds under this act would leave the 40-square-kilometre swath of forests and wetlands east of Toronto significantly underprotected. environmentalists first saw the concept of designating the Rouge to

green

DIRECTORY

become a national park as a way to beef up ecosystem protection and put an end to poaching and dumping in North America’s largest natural urban park. In a press release last week, federal environment minister Leona Aglukkaq promised as much, saying stiff fines and year-round patrols would be put in place to uphold a ban against hunting, mining, dumping, poaching and more.

The thing is, the province and a coalition of environmental groups including environmental Defence, the Suzuki Foundation, Sierra Club and Ontario Nature aren’t buying it, noting the feds’ failure to establish nature conservation as the park’s top priority.

They say national park standards have

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february 5-11 2015 Now

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POWERSHARES/MARKET VECTORS ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES Fossil-free mutual funds don’t exist in Canada, though I’m told that will change later this year. In the meantime, you can sink your cash into these U.S.-based exchange-traded funds, but you have to get a broker or one of the certified responsible investors listed at ricanada.ca to set it up for you.

Sustainable economist Tim Nash recommends a couple, including PowerShares clean tech portfolio and recycling-heavy Market Vector Environmental Services ETF. FYI, iShares Global Water Index ETF may be fossilfree but gets thumbs-down from Council of Canadians’ Maude Barlow since it sinks cash in dodgy waterprivatization corps.

SCORE: NNNN been effectively watered down in the Rouge’s case so that prioritizing ecological protection is more of a suggestion than an imperative.

The wording loophole could leave room for questionable development in the future.

Ontario Infrastructure minister Brad Duguid has sent the feds numerous letters threatening to stop the transfer of provincial ownership of the Rouge unless the act is strengthened to “meet or exceed” existing Greenbelt and Rouge Park Plan protections. Now that the act has passed in the House of Commons, Duguid has gone on record saying, “They’ve blown it.”

The act is awaiting final approval in the Senate. If the feds go ahead without the province on board, Rouge National Park would be less than half its current size and wouldn’t actually include the Rouge valley system. Activists say the Rouge would be “a park in name only.”

AB

OIKOCREDIT GIC

SOLAR BONDS

Want to see your money make a real difference in the world? The Mennonite Savings and Credit Union has teamed up with OikoCredit Canada to offer a guaranteed investment that helps lift people out of poverty. For 40 years now, Netherlands-headquartered Oikocredit has been one of the world’s largest private backers of micro-financing institutions, fair trade cooperatives and small and mediumsized businesses in the developing world. You can now support their work by buying 12-month GICs at 1.3 per cent, just a little below what regular GICs offer. It’s less about making big returns than about putting your money where your mouth is and funding global change. No fossil fuel, pharma or mining companies funded here.

SCORE: NNNNN

What if I told you there was a beautiful way to invest in greening your community and make a nice return?

SolarShare’s solar bonds are now rrSPeligible and totally greenwash-free.

Buy a minimum of $1,000 in bonds and you get a 5 per cent fixed rate paid out semi-annually. So far the nonprofit co-op behind the bonds has funded over 3.5 million kilowatt hours of clean, community-based solar electricity. But you’ll have to apply ASAP if you want to meet this year’s rrSP deadline. The Centre for Social Innovation also offers feel-good community bonds that are rrSP-eligible at 3 to 4.5 per cent, communitybonds.ca.

SCORE: NNNNN

MONARCHS MAKING A COMEBACK?

According to a new survey by the World Wildlife Fund and Mexico’s National Commission of Protected Natural Areas, there has been a 69 per cent increase in the size of monarch butterflies’ hibernating area in Mexico over the last year. Good news for nature lovers and the environment, although the WWF notes that “this is still the second-smallest area occupied by these butterflies in Mexican sanctuaries since 1993.” The group warns that North America needs to stop the herbicide use and land conversion that are destroying the milkweed monarchs depend on for survival.

ecoholic pick

quote OF THE WEEK “Their abundance in our lives is leading to the destruction of the rainforest, the deaths of chimpanzees and other wildlife, as well as immense hardship for people.”

ecoholic@nowtoronto.com | @ecoholicnation

Get your copy of Adria Vasil’s latest book, Ecoholic Body: Your Ultimate EarthFriendly Guide To Living Healthy And Looking Good – in bookstores everywhere!

Jane Goodall calls on the public to recycle old cellphones to reduce the need for more mining in the Congo Basin’s endangered species habitat. Goodall launched the firstever International Day For Mobile Phone recycling on January 27.

astrology freewill

by Rob Brezsny

Aries Mar 21 | Apr 19 In 1979, Monty Python comedian John Cleese helped direct a four-night extravaganza, The Secret Policeman’s Ball. It was a benefit to raise money for the human rights organization Amnesty International. The musicians known as Sting, Bono and Peter Gabriel later testified that the show was a key factor in igniting their own social activism. I see the potential of a comparable stimulus in your near future, Aries.

Imminent developments could amp up your passion for a good cause that transcends your immediate self-interest.

TAurus Apr 20 | May 20 In the film Kill Bill: Vol-

ume 1, Taurus actress Uma Thurman plays a martial artist who has exceptional skill at wielding a samurai sword. At one point, her sword-maker tests her reflexes by hurling a baseball in her direction. With a masterful swoop, she slices the ball in half before it reaches her. I suggest you seek out similar tests in the coming days, Taurus. Check up on the current status of your top skills. Are any of them rusty? Should you update them? Are they still of maximum practical use to you? Do whatever’s necessary to ensure they are as strong and sharp as ever.

GeMini May 21 | Jun 20 French Impressionist

painter Claude Monet loved to paint the rock formations near the beach at Étretat, a village in Normandy. In the summer of 1886, he worked serially on six separate canvases, moving from one to another through his workday to capture the light and shadows as they changed with the weather and the position of the sun. He focused intently on one painting at a time. He didn’t have a brush in each hand and one in his mouth, simultaneously applying paint to various canvases. His specific approach to multitasking would generate good results for you in the coming weeks, Gemini. (PS: The other kind of multitasking – where you do several different things at the same time – will yield mostly mediocre results.)

CAnCer Jun 21 | Jul 22 In 1849, author Edgar Allen

Poe died in his hometown of Baltimore. A century later, a mysterious admirer began a new tradition.

Every January 19, on the anniversary of Poe’s birth, this cloaked visitor appeared at his grave in the early morning hours and left behind three roses and a bottle of cognac. I invite you, Cancerian, to initiate a comparable ritual. Can you imagine paying periodic tribute to an important influence in your own life – someone who has given you much and touched you deeply? Don’t do it for nostalgia’s sake, but rather as a way to affirm that the gifts you’ve received from this evocative influence will continue to evolve within you. Keep them everfresh.

Leo Jul 23 | Aug 22 “What happens to a dream de-

ferred?” asked Langston Hughes in his poem Harlem. “Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore – And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over – like a syrupy sweet?” As your soul’s cheerleader and coach, Leo, I hope you won’t explore the answer to Hughes’ questions. If you have a dream, don’t defer it. If you have been deferring your dream, take at least one dramatic step to stop deferring it.

VirGo Aug 23 | sep 22 Virgo author John Creasey

struggled in his early efforts at getting published.

For a time he had to support himself with jobs as a salesman and clerk. Before his first book was published, he’d gathered 743 rejection slips. Eventually, though, he broke through and achieved monumental success. He wrote more than 550 novels, several of which were made into movies.

He won two prestigious awards and sold 80 million books. I’m not promising that your own frustrations will ultimately pave the way for a prodigious triumph like his. But in the coming months, I do expect significant progress toward a gritty accomplishment. For best results, work for your own satisfaction more than for the approval of others.

LibrA sep 23 | oct 22 Hall of Fame basketball

player Hakeem Olajuwon had a signature set of

02 | 05

2015

fancy moves that were collec tively known as the Dream Shake. It consisted of spins and fakes and moves that could be combined in various ways to outfox his opponents and score points. The coming weeks would be an excellent time for you to work on your equivalent of the Dream Shake, Libra. You’re at the peak of your ability to figure out how to coordinate and synergize your several talents.

sCorpio oct 23 | nov 21 In 1837, Victoria became Queen of England following the death of her uncle, King William IV. She was 18 years old. Her first royal act was to move her bed out of the room she had long shared with her meddling, overbearing mother. I propose that you use this as one of your guiding metaphors in the immediate future. Even if your parents are saints, and even if you haven’t lived with them for years, I suspect you would benefit by upgrading your independence from their influence. Are you still a bit inhibited by the nagging of their voices in your head?

Does your desire to avoid hurting them thwart you from rising to a higher level of authority and authenticity? Be a good-natured rebel. sAGiTTArius nov 22 | Dec 21 The crookedest

street in the world is a one-way, block-long span of San Francisco’s Lombard Street. It consists of eight hairpin turns down a very steep hill. The recommended top speed for a car is five miles per hour. So on the one hand, you’ve got to proceed with caution. On the other hand, the quaint, brickpaved road is lined with flower beds, and creeping along its wacky route is a whimsical amusement. I suspect you will soon encounter experiences that have metaphorical resemblances to Lombard Street, Sagittarius. In fact, I urge you to seek them out.

CApriCorn Dec 22 | Jan 19 In the baseball film

The Natural, the hero, Roy Hobbs, has a special bat he calls Wonderboy. Carved from a tree that was split by a lightning bolt, it seems to give Hobbs extraordinary skill at hitting a baseball. There’s a similar theme at work in the Australian musical instrument known as the didgeridoo. It’s created from a eucalyptus tree whose inner wood has been eaten away by termites. Both Wonderboy and the didgeridoo are the products of natural forces that could be seen as adverse but are actually useful. Is there a comparable situation in your own life, Capricorn? I’m guessing there is. If you have not yet discovered what it is, now is a good time to do so.

AquArius Jan 20 | Feb 18 In 1753, Benjamin

Franklin published helpful instructions on how to avoid being struck by lightning during stormy weather. Wear a lightning rod in your hat, he said, and attach it to a long, thin metal ribbon that trails behind you as you walk. In response to his article, a fashion fad erupted. Taking his advice, fancy ladies in Europe actually wore such hats.

From a metaphorical perspective, it would make sense for you Aquarians to don similar head-wear in the coming weeks. Bolts of inspiration will be arriving on a regular basis. To ensure you are able to integrate and use them – not just be titillated and agitated – you will have to be well grounded.

pisCes Feb 19 | Mar 20 According to the Bible, Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Author David Foster Wallace added a caveat. “The truth will set you free,” he wrote, “but not until it is finished with you.” All this is apropos for the current phase of your journey, Pisces. By my estimation, you will soon discover an important truth that you have never before been ready to grasp. Once that magic transpires, however, you will have to wait a while until the truth is fully finished with you. Only then will it set you free. But it will set you free. And I suspect that you will ultimately be grateful that it took its sweet time.

Homework: What’s the best possible mess you could stir up – a healing mess that would help liberate you?

Testify at FreeWillAstrology.com.

NOW february 5-11 2015

21

Valentine’s specia Screw Cupid

Get sex and cuddles all in one cute package with this clever Hide-A-Vibe Collection Cat ($34.95, Rolo, 24 Bellair, 416-920-0100, rolostore.com).

No sappy Valentines or sickly sweet candy hearts here. Show a newly single friend some love with one of these gifts and a big ol’ bottle of hard liquor.

By SABRINA MADDEAUX

These made-in-Toronto breakup and divorce greeting cards say it all ($5 each, Trenchcoat Press trenchcoatpress.ca).

Valentine’s events

Not everyone’s feeling so bitter about romance. If you’re one of those people looking to celebrate love and all its possibilities, here are 50-plus events to check out – many of them foodrelated, some at the clubs, some designed just to turn you on.

Compiled by JULIA HOECKE and KATARINA RISTIC 22

FEBRUARY 5-11 2015 NOW

Thursday, February 5 THE HEART SHOW Group art show, Jan 28-Feb 15. Gerrard Art Space, 1475 Gerrard E. gerrardartspace.

KINK 101 Canadian Leatherman Paul C hosts a night for BDSM novices. All genders welcome. 9 pm. Free. Black Eagle, 457 Church. 416-413-1219, blackeagletoronto.com.

LOVE FOR LOVE George Brown College School of Performing Arts presents William Congreve’s Restoration comedy about a nobleman’s son who must choose between love or money. To Feb 14, Tue-Sat 7:30 pm, mat Sat 1:30 pm (and Feb 11). $20, srs $15, stu $8. Young Centre for the Performing Arts, 50 Tank House Lane. 416-8668666, youngcentre.ca.

Friday, February 6 SEX AND THE SINGLE PARENT VALENTINES

SHOW Comedy w/ Dan Bingham, Mark DeBonis, Chris Robinson, headliner Kate Davis and hosts Precious Chong & Melissa Story. 9:30 pm. $15. Underground Cafe, 670 Queen E. sexandthesingleparent.com.

Saturday, February 7 A MEXICAN LOVE STORY Group art show, 8 to 11:45 pm.

Rose Will Studio, 1630 Dundas W. 416-897-8057.

BE MY VALENTINE: ROSES, CHOCOLATES & DIAMONDS Fundraising

(benefits Evangel Hall Mission Dental Clinic). Palais Royale, 1601 Lake Shore W. evangelhall. ca.

TRAVELLING GYPSY MARKET VALENTINE’S EDITION Market with local

artisans, hand-made items, vintage, records and more. Feb 7-8 from 11 am-6 pm. Sublime Cafe, 219 Augusta. greatspiritdesigns. weebly.com.

Sunday, February 8 CANTAUTORE VALENTINO Peter Donato performs

event with raffle prizes, a Caribbean buffet, music by Jennifer Sohan and more. Doors 6 pm. $45 (benefits the Caribbean Children Foundation). Elite Banquet Halls, 1850 Albion. tccfangels.com.

with David F Gluck and Michael Skinner. 7:30 pm. The Flying Beaver Pubaret, 488 Parliament. 647-347-6567, pubaret. com.

COMPASSIONATE HEARTS VALENTINE DINNER & DANCE Wine tasting,

LOVE LETTERS CABARET: SMOKE Pastel Supernova pre-

dinner, live music and a silent auction. 5:30 pm. $175-$199

Wednesday, February 11 sents a dance/theatre show where cigar factory workers in the 50s daydream about love

affairs, secrets and desires. Also features spoken word artist Dwayne Morgan. 8 and 10:30 pm. $25-$45. Lula Lounge, 1585 Dundas W. lula.ca.

RETRO RADIO HOUR –

ROMANCE! Bygone Theatre presents oldies music, old radio plays, magic and more with Matt McGrath, Astrid Atherly, Emily Dix and others. 8 pm. $5.

The Social Capital Theatre, 154 Danforth, 2nd fl. bygonetheatre. com.

VEGAN HOT CHOCOLATE & TRUFFLE MAKING WORKSHOP Learn to make

tasty and healthy treats. 7-9 pm. $45. Schecter Dental, 930 St Clair W. schecterdental.com.

Thursday, February 12 CLOSER TO THE HEART

Concert with performers David Clayton-Thomas, Anne Douris, Stephen Stanley, David Diamond, Justin Rutledge, Chris Tait, Kathryn Rose, Thompson

al

Who needs diamonds when you have handcrafted 24K gold rolling papers made with the finest edible gold ($24 for pack of two sheets, I Have a Crush on You, 51 Jefferson, suite 201, 416880-6369, ihaveacrushonyou.ca)?

Pole Dance • Lap Dance Coyote Ugly • Burlesque

Wear your soundtrack on your sleeve with this Sad Songs two-tone T that’s screen-printed by hand in Montreal ($27, Stay Home Club, stayhomeclub.com).

Bitter? Who’s bitter? Introducing the The Ex 5-piece knife set ($237.27, eBay, eBay.ca).

Egbo and others. Doors 7 pm, RPSM recital at 6 pm. $30 or pwyc (Regent Park School of Music benefit). Daniels Spectrum, 585 Dundas E. rpmusic. org.

DOWN WITH CUPID Musicians Steve York, Katey Morely, Sharon Katz and Alan Pardo Torres. 9:30 pm. The Central, 603 Markham.

DUCTION Bring your most

THE ELEANOR MCCAIN QUARTET The Jazz Side Of

AMANDA MARTINEZ Latin

Love. 8 pm. $35-$40. Hugh’s Room, 2261 Dundas W. hughsroom.com.

JUNE GARBER & THE MARK KIESWETTER TRIO

Valentine’s Weekend, 9 pm. $15-$20. Jazz Bistro, 251 Victoria. jazzbistro.ca.

PUP NIGHT Intro to animal role play and dom/sub/control role play, open to all regardless of experience or gender. 9 pm.

Free. Black Eagle, 457 Church.

416-413-1219.

TURN OFF THE LIGHTS: NIGHT OF POETIC SE-

passionate, erotic, panty-dropping poems to share, or just come to listen. 9 pm. $5 (proceeds to Words by the Water Program). Placebo Space, 2877 Lake Shore W. RSVP 647-2276614. facebook.com/ events/152 2 142 28 4732 517.

Friday, February 13 jazz/soul concert, 8 pm. $20, under 12 free. Kingston Road United Church, 975 Kingston Rd. kruc.ca/concerts.

ANTI-VALENTINE’S MIXER Come alone or bring

friends, frenemies or (in)significant others. The DJ will spin anything but love songs. 4-8 pm. At A La Carte at the Gardiner Bistro, Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, 111 Queen’s Park. 416-506-4945, alacartebistro.com.

BE MEIN VALENTINE! Skin Tight Outta Sight & Boylesque T.O. present a burlesque show

in the tradition of Weimar Republic Berlin featuring sexual outlaws, ladies of ill repute and men of gender ambiguity. Feb 13-14 at 9:30 pm. $25-$50.

Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen W. bemeinvalentine2015.eventbrite.ca.

THE EROS CABARET Sion Irwin-Childs presents interdisciplinary performances connected by epic themes of love, death, sex and the avant-garde.

7:30 pm. $10-$15. Round Venue, 152A Augusta. facebook.com/theeroscabaret.

JUNE GARBER & THE MARK KIESWETTER TRIO

Valentine’s Weekend, 9 pm. $15-$20. Jazz Bistro, 251 Victoria. jazzbistro.ca.

LEND YOUR LOVE CHAR-

ITY GALA Valentine party with entertainment, dinner and a raffle. $85-$90 (benefits Big Brothers Big Sisters of Toronto). Crystal Foundation Banquet Halls, 60 McDowell Gate. memoryboxevents.ca/lendyourlove. > PAGE 24

580 King St. West. Toronto, ON 416.920.1400 | toronto@flirtygirlfitness.com www.FlirtyGirlFitnessToronto.com NOW FEBRUARY 5-11 2015

23

Valentine’s special

We want

Canadian Broadway star Mark MacKillop’s new homoerotic coffee table book

It’s hard to get too down about spending Valentine’s Day alone when you have something as beautiful and, yes, sexy as rm. XiV by Mark MacKillop.

The Vancouver-born Broadway star launches his book in Canada with a party dubbed piccolo Diavolo at the 519 church community centre on February 12 ($30 tix available at the519.formstack. com/forms/piccolodiavolo, with proceeds benefiting the 519).

Turns out Kim Kardashian isn’t the only one who can release a book of selfies – Rm. XIV is a collection of self-portraits shot by MacKillop in 14 hotel rooms when he was on the road for an international tour of West Side Story. $65, shop.markmackillop.net. sM

Style news Green love

Local reclaimed fashion label preloved celebrates 20 years (practically two lifetimes in the fickle Canadian fashion scene) by taking its annual warehouse sale online at getpreloved. com. The sale runs from midnight on Thursday (February 5) to 11:59 pm on Monday (February 9) and includes a mix of current and past items, none costing more than $70.

Get carded at Holts

One of our favourite local fashion illustrators, Monica smiley of eighty seventh ST., can be found at Holt renfrew yorkdale (3401 Dufferin, 416-789-5377, holtrenfrew.com) on Saturday (February 7) and February 14 for a Valentine’s Day pop-up shop.

Shop her chic fashion cards and prints and receive a personalized illustration with any purchase over $40.

One small step for Saks

Sometimes mass amounts of public pressure (and likely realizing you’re on the wrong side of the law) works.

The shit hit the fan a couple weeks ago when saks Fifth avenue, which is owned by Hudson’s bay, filed its defence against a workplace discrimination lawsuit brought by a trans former employee. Saks asserted that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act does not cover transgender people. Since then, the department store has reversed its position and has withdrawn its claim that transgender people aren’t covered by existing federal anti-discrimination laws in the States. However, the company says it will continue to fight the case on the merits of the plaintiff’s case alone. Progress! sM

< page 23

Lunacy cabaret: VaLentine’s Day Massacre

This vaudeville-style cabaret of circus, sketch comedy, songs and more features a carnage of clowns, broken hearts and bloody chainsaws. 9 pm. $20$25. The Circus Academy East, 1300 Gerrard E. lunacycabaret. com.

Massage For coupLes

Learn basic massage therapy to make your loved ones feel better. 7-8:30 pm. $79. Living City Health, 120 Eglinton E. Preregister livingcityhealth.com.

Men are FroM Mars – WoMen are FroM Venus LiVe! Comedian John Frusciante performs a solo theatrical comedy based on the book by John Gray. Feb 13-15, Fri 8 pm, Sat 2, 7 and 9:30 pm, Sun 2 pm. $29.95-$79.95. Randolph Theatre, 736 Bathurst. ticketfly.com.

oLDies 990’s VaLentine’s Day sock Hop 50s

and 60s rock ‘n’ roll party. 10 pm. Gladstone HotelMelody Bar, 1214 Queen W. gladstonehotel.com.

stiFF Joints Disco: VaLentine’s eDition DJ

Bobb Cobb spins disco/funk/ garage jams. 10 pm. The Steady

24

february 5-11 2015 NOW

Cafe & Bar, 1051 Bloor W. thesteadycafe.com. stiLetto FLats Almost Valentine’s Day Party, with the live band. 9 pm. Drums N Flats, 1980 Avenue Rd. 647-347-9474.

tHe VaLentine rag bag cabaret on roncy

Comedy, burlesque, circus, magic and more with Cheryl White, Paul Hutcheson, Cleve Jones and others. Feb 13-14 at 8 pm. $20-$25. The Village Healing Centre, 240 Roncesvalles. crowningmonkey.com.

VaLentine’s Day kensington kraWL Walking

tour with six tastings and a drink. Feb 13-15, 11:30 am-3 pm. $65. Pre-register. Augusta south of College area. savourtoronto.com.

saturday, February 14 be Mine Three-course dinner and red velvet cake dessert.

Live funk, soul, R&B, disco and more by Lady Kane and DJ Chad starts at 9:30 pm. $60.

Alleycatz, 2409 Yonge. alleycatz.ca.

best canaDian poetry antHoLogy VaLentine’s Day reaDing Readers include Michael Fraser, Maureen Hynes, Jim Johnstone,

Aaron Kreuter, Anita Lahey, Kateri Lanthier, Sonnet L’Abbe and others. 2 pm. Free. Ben McNally Books, 366 Bay. tightropebooks.com.

big tobacco & tHe pickers Valentine’s Day

country music. 6-8 pm. Cameron House, 408 Queen W. thecameron.com.

burlesque revue. Doors 9 pm. $20. Lee’s Palace, 529 Bloor W. ticketfly.com.

cabaret VaLtaire: an eVening oF surreaL LoVe The Scandelles reunite

ceLebrate VaLentine’s Day at casa LoMa Three-

after a five-year hiatus for a

course dinner in the romantic elegance of the castle. Seatings at 6 and 8 pm. $120. Reserve.

Casa Loma, 1 Austin Terrace.

416-923-1171, casaloma.ca.

FiresiDe tea Fireside talk on meals and food customs in Jane Austen’s time and a sampling of historical treats. 1-3 pm.

Reserve. $20. Toronto’s First Post Office Museum, 260 Adelaide E. janeaustendancing.ca.

June garber & tHe Mark kiesWetter trio

Valentine’s Weekend, 9 pm. $15-$20. Jazz Bistro, 251 Victoria. jazzbistro.ca.

LoVe at WinterFoLk

Laura Fernandez, Ken Whiteley, HOTCHA!, Wendell Ferguson, Tony Quarrington, Swamperella, doors 7 pm. Black Swan, 154 Danforth. winterfolk.com.

MasqueraDe baLL on VaLentine’s nigHt Live

music by Kaminari, a dance workshop, chocolate fondue, art and more at this costumed party. 8 pm. $20-$40. Lucsculpture, 663 Greenwood. eventbrite.ca/e/15204110905.

pLays in caFés Shadowpath Theatre presents three short romantic comedies staged alongside a 3-course dinner followed by live music and dancing. 7-11 pm. $60.

Whistler’s Grille, 995 Broadview. shadowpaththeatre.ca. rob MaDe, sean roMan, nicey, coseLLa, bosno, Doug engLisH, ross regs Sleazy Valentines DJ party, doors 10 pm. $20-$25. Ryze, 423 College. ryzeoncollege.com.

subspace VaLentines FetisH baLL DJ Saucy Miso,

DJ Warmuffin and DJ Osaze spin the tunes. Mandatory fetish dress code. Doors 10 pm. $20$40. Opera House, 735 Queen E. facebook.com/ events/825302567541399, subspace@live.ca.

sWeets & cHocoLates tour Guided walking tour in-

cludes the history of sweets on Valentine’s Day, and samples at six stores. Sat 11 am, 1:30 & 4 pm, Sun 11 am. $35. Ding Dong Pastries, 321 Spadina. tastytourstoronto.com. tHai yoga Massage Valentine’s couples workshop includes relaxation, massage and champagne. 3-3:30 pm. $50.

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There’s always a lot of talk about what we need to complete ourselves, be it a loving and doting life partner or ripped abs and the fitness discipline of a professional athlete. We’ve railed against the unhealthy messages associated with Fitspiration before, and we’re thrilled to see some new marketing campaigns that take the focus off so-called “ideal” bodies in favour of loving physical activity for the fun, challenges and, yes, the shit-ton of sweat that goes with it. sport england just launched their newest campaign, titled #Thisgirlcan (thisgirlcan.co.uk). It aims to support women of all shapes, ages and abilities in the quest to be more active. The bodypositive messaging is hugely inspiring, with slogans like “I swim because I love my body. Not because I hate it,” and videos of women who look like women you actually know getting their workout on –

jiggles, cellulite, love handles and all.

Toronto director claire edmondson just released a powerful new “I’m a boxer” commercial for everlast that features a young female boxer training to follow in the footsteps of Muhammad Ali. “I imagine a world where it doesn’t matter whether you’re a boy or a girl– what matters is how well you play,” she says in the spot’s voice-over. “So don’t call me a female boxer. I’m a boxer.” This, in stark contrast to tennis player Eugenie Bouchard being asked to twirl and show off her outfit by an on-court presenter at the Australian Open.

So as Valentine’s Day and, eventually, swimsuit season rolls around, do yourself a favour. Stop looking for superficial paths to self-fulfillment and love your body for what it is. You don’t need prince charming, and you sure as hell don’t need to be a size six. sm

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rTogeTherness – Family naTure Walk

Celebrate Valentine’s Day with a hike that looks at symbiotic relationships, mutualism and reproduction. 1:30-3 pm. $2. High Park Nature Centre, 440 Parkside. highparknaturecentre. com.

Trade: ValenTine’s

PuriTy Ball DJ Scooter McCreight, Aeryn Pfaff at this party, doors 10 pm. Black Eagle, 457 Church. 416-4131219. rValenTine Pom Pom monsTers Craft activity for

kids ages 6-12. 2-3 pm. Free.

Pre-register. Lillian H Smith Library, 239 College. 416-3937746.

ValenTine’s Big Band dance Glenn Chipkar and the

18-piece Swing Shift Big Band Orchestra, Larisa Renee, Trio Bella, Vivianna Castell, DJ Ralph & Theresa Yuan, doors 7 pm. $50, dinner and dance $100.

Palais Royale, 1601 Lake Shore W. ticketweb.ca.

ValenTine’s day aT signs Unique dining experi-

ence with an introduction to deaf culture and an opportunity

to learn some sign language.

Three-course romantic meal offered. $40. Reserve. Signs Restaurant, 558 Yonge. 647-3497446, signsrestaurant.ca.

party. 8 to 11 pm. Harbourfront Centre Natrel Rink, 235 Queens Quay W. 416-973-4000.

ValenTine’s day romance Tango ensemble Pay-

BeVerly TaFT, ZeBulun BarnoW, marcel aucoin, VicTor BaTeman, nicole coWard, roBin dann, Tania gill, Fred sPek & oThers The Love Hangover

adora at 6-8:30 pm, salsa dance lesson and performance with Yani Borrell after 9 pm.

Special menu offered. Reserve.

Lula Lounge, 1585 Dundas W. 416-588-0307, lula.ca.

ValenTine’s dinner

Candlelight dinner and entertainment by jazz musician Bill Katsioutis and David McFadgen. 7 pm. $25, $45 per couple.

Owls’ Army, Navy, Airforce Unit 306, 847 Dovercourt. 416-2783548.

The Way To a man’s hearT Cook off by The Real

Single Ladies of Toronto and community event honoring Black History Month and supporting Push Community Empowerment Society. Live band Black Liquorice and spoken word by Dwayne Morgan.

Doors 8 pm. $20-$45. Ellesmere Community Centre, 20 Canadian. therealsingleladie. wix.com/rslcookoff.

yes yes y’all ValenTines DJ crew spins hip-hop,

sunday, February 15

concert, 7 to 10 pm. $10.

Chalkers Pub, 247 Marlee. 416789-2531. george eVans Down With Love: A Post-Valentine’s Cabaret, 7 pm. $15. Jazz Bistro, 251 Victoria. jazzbistro.ca.

We Asked. You Answered.

We’ve got the Love & Sex Survey results in the February 12 issue.

ValenTine’s day chocolaTe WorkshoP Learn

to add a liquid to chocolate, try the art of rolling truffles, chocolate tasting and goodies to take home. 4 pm. $49. Odile Chocolat, 829 Dundas W. tastytourstoronto.com.

Wednesday, February 18 The sex shoW Art exhibit.

Feb 18-Mar 1, reception 8 pm Feb 19. Gallery 1313, 1313 Queen W. g1313.org.

3

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NOW february 5-11 2015

25

Valentine’s special

DAVID LAURENCE

Food

10 romantic restaurants for Valentine’s Day Treating your sweetie to a nice dinner this Valentine’s Day? Whether you’re just feeling obligated to celebrate the greeting-card holiday or going out with friends as an act of defiance to flaunt your singledom – from the ritzy to the casual and the downright fun – we’ve got you covered. BY KArON LIU 26

february 5-11 2015 NOW

For the un-romantics

For the trend haters

If you just started dating someone and don’t want to go full on in the romance department – or just want to hang out with friends because being single is awesome – take the pressure off on an affordable but fun group date at Snakes & Lattes or its sister pub, Snakes & Lagers (488 College, it has beer!). Suggestions for relationship-building games: Cards Against Humanity (obvious), Settlers Of Catan (is this the person you can build a civilization with?) and Jenga (nimble fingers are important... very important).

600 Bloor West, 647342-9229, snakesandlattes.com, @SnakesAndLattes

Chef Tom Thai’s Foxley was on Ossington long before it became the gentrified hipster hub it is now, and was (and still is) serv-

SNAKES & LATTES

FOXLEY

Check out For the Parisian ambience

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to go for an all-in-one-place kind For something different of evening, especially if you don’t JANUARY 30 - FEBRUARY 12, 2015 feel like braving the winterout our online Check out our o Check our online weather.

The menu leans toward For less conventional Valentine’s familiar Canadian ingredients like Day fare, try chef Rudy Boquila’s wild sockeye with butternut take on the Filipino dishes he ate squash and Brussels sprouts, growing up: chicken adobo with braised rabbit and gnocchi, veniSearch by rating, genre, price, a side of perfumy garlic rice, son loin, and seared scallops with neighbourhood, review & more! large plates of lechon kawali curried cauliflower, so it’s a good (deep fried pork belly) ,and bet if your date isn’t too advenwhole roasted chicken stuffed turous in the food department. with Filipino sausage and boiled Luma offers a prix fixe menu on eggs; and for dessert, purple V-Day but I’d stick to the à la CULINARY EVENT SERIES flan. The atmosphere might Check out ouryam online carte menu for the best value.

Check out our online 15 ticketed culinary experiences that offer some of not be romantic, but if you want What’s playing at the Lightbox something more than the stanToronto’s most diverse cuisine, notable Search chefs and by rating, g on Valentine’s Day? Appropriatedard prix fixe, head here. price, neighbourh ly, Moonrise Kingdom and (yes!) unique venues.

ON SALE NOW! 669 Queen West, 647-346-2377, the ultra-quotable Heathers. review & more lamesafilipinokitchen.com, 350 King West, 647-288-4715, @LamesaTO oliverbonacini.com/luma PRIX FIXE PROGRAM

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The absinthe and oysters flow freely at this seafood-centric restaurant with a belle époque vibe. The mint green walls warmed by candlelight make this date spot sexy, and it’s just loud enough to give you an excuse to lean in closer. For Valentine’s Day, a fivecourse $65 tasting menu (plus an extra $65 for booze pairings) includes delectable dishes like Acadian sturgeon ceviche and seared foie gras with smoked duck breast, and For the homebodies for dessert, a chocolate eclair More than 200 of Toronto’s top restaurants For ultra-cool vibes and truffles. Absinthe and offer 3-course prix fixe menus. oysters are a must-try pairing, Chefs Lynn Crawford and Lora Search by rating, Thegenre, third-floor Daisho with its but also check out cocktails BOOK YOUR RESERVATIONS TODAY! Kirk’s Leslieville restaurant has a nowtoronto.com/ Searchgives by rating, floor-to-ceiling windows a price, neighbourhood, with names like Midnight In homy, rustic vibe: exposed brick, pretty view of bustling University genre, price, review & more!

Paris, The Courtesan, Cigadark woods and pantry shelves Avenue below and exudes a hip, neighbourhood, rettes & Smiles and Parisienne stocked with preserves and Le C h Murder e c k ino u t o u r o n l i n eFor young vibe. (It is a Momofuku Dessert Milk Punch. review Creuset ware. This is perfect for restaurant, after all.) February 13 1564 Queen West, 647-352Casablanca Dinner cuddling couples who want a & more! to 15, the restaurant offers a Val8815, geraldinetoronto.com, Mysteriously Yours Arcadian Studio low-key, home-cooking-style entine’s Day prix fixe ($65 for @GeraldineResto meal rather than something fanDinner Theatre February 9 three courses, $95 for four), with nowtoronto.com/food cier. A set menu, great for the February 6 plates like fluke paired with blood chronically indecisive, is created orange and black rice, or lobster night. Spend a reasonable Bees & Honey: Check out oureach online Street Market with grits and bacon.

Dessert’s $49 and you’ll leave full. Think From Flower Spice Route included, but be sure to save slow-roasted meats, hearty salto Table room for some extra sweets February 8 ads with a citrus zing and desGlobe Bistro when you visit the little Milk Bar serts of cheese with aromatic nowtoronto.com/food shop downstairs. Hey, nothing February 10 & 11 honey to warm you up for the says romance like a slice of crack evening. pie. There’s also a Valentine’s Day 730 Queen East, 416-465-0100, Online à la carte brunch with a large rubywatchco.ca, @RubyWatchco RE S TAU R ANT menu that includes fried chicken GUIDE with kohlrabi slaw, spicy tripe salFor a low-key night RESTAURANTS! LiciousTO nowtoronto.com/food ad and eggs Benedict with king nowtoronto.com/food crab.

This Maritime-themed seafood 190 University, 647-253-6227, spot in the east end hits all the momofuku.com/toronto/daisho right notes for a ronlin Jake drinks a O Ramos GineFizz mantic For the laid-back boozers ® Interac and the Interac logo are registered OM: Official Mark trademarked O n lbut ine and Zoe hoists the Courtesan trade-marks of Interac Inc. Used under license. by the City of Toronto casual night nowtoronto.com/food Cocktail at Geraldine. out: comIf making reservations isn’t your forting fathing and you just want to meet vourites like up for rummy cocktails and share ing some of the city’s best ceskate schnitsome accra (fried salt cod) and viche before the Latin wave hit. zel, grilled patties, make your way to the There’s an understated confioctopus and Black Hoof’s outHaitian ouroffshoot. online dence to the tapas-style menu Check fried calamari, The chill island party – delicious food best described cute but not vibe, as well as the as modern Asian but without the cartoonish nude pin-up pretension and smoke and mirnautical sketches (men rors usually associated with fudecor, and and women!) in sion cuisine. If your date loves a neighthe washtrying something different but bourhoodCheck out our online rooms, will get despises foodie-ism, come here vibe that your mind raand split some sticky short ribs > page 28 cing throughout and kale salad.

Raise money for FoodShare programs that excite the the evening. If the 207 Ossington, 416-534-8520 conversation heats up, next generation of healthy eaters, growers & sharers. cross the street to the For a dinner and Hoof’s Cocktail Bar for FEBRUARY 26 movie combo some post-dinner ST. LAWRENCE MARKET drinks.

926 Dundas West, TICKETS $150 The upstairs, fancier (than 647-346-9356, Canteen) restaurant inside the WWW.FOODSHARE.NET rhumcorner.com, TIFF Bell Lightbox is the way @TheBlackHoof

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Mark shares a laugh with Nathaniel while playing a game of Hedbanz at Snakes & Lattes board game café.

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makes Eastside a place to go in jeans and a sweater rather than Casanova regalia. The place strikes the right balance between special occasion and easygoing night out.

1008 Queen East, 416-461-5663, eastsidesocial.ca, @Eastside_Social

For classic Italian

NoCe

This is the place for the oldschool experience, complete with tables topped with white linen, tapered candles and multiple wine glasses. Start the evening with a bottle of white, some olives and cured Italian meats, then move on to ravioli stuffed with mushrooms and tossed with white truffle butter. Then perhaps a grilled 34-ounce porterhouse for two before splitting a tiramisu over coffee. If it’s warm enough, go for a walk in Trinity Bellwoods Park across the street and end the night with a kiss.

875 Queen West, 416-504-3463, nocerestaurant.ca open since 1984

Fresh Dish

Screw restaurants – we’re getting takeout

Opening

Since closing their first restaurant, Swish by Han, brothers Leemo and Leeto Han have moved on to their next project, a Japanese-style izakaya called Hanmoto at 2 Lakeview (at Ossington) just a short distance from their other restaurant, Oddseoul, on the Ossington strip. At just-opened Hanmoto: snacks like steamed enoki with miso butter, don katsu made from panko-crusted pork belly and chef Leemo’s take on Lunchables.

The mystery behind the renovations at the iconic Peter Pan Bistro (373 Queen West, at Peter) is close to being solved. New owner and chef Noah Goldberg has a new site up and running at peterpanbistro.ca. While the restaurant isn’t open yet, the site describes a noseto-tail approach with nods to classic European cooking and some cheeky touches similar to what Goldberg did back when he was at six-month pop-up the Feasting Room.

Also on Queen West, taking over the space that once housed the short-lived Social Bar Café (though most people probably know it as the former Chococrepe space), is Del Ray So-Cal Cantina (620 Queen West, at Markham). Day of the Dead iconography, micheladas, $2 Taco Tuesdays, chili, nachos, quesadillas – ya dig?

Having trouble devising the perfect v-Day plan?

You can always take out and eat at home – anything can happen there.

SukHotHai This northern Thai restaurant helped Toronto discover real Thai food and get beyond the generic pan-Asian joints. The flavours are spicy, bold, definitely not for those born to be mild. Snuggle up on the couch with Netflix, a pad thai, a chicken khao soi and a side of shrimp chips with the bursting-with- umami tamarind dip. Live near the east-side locations? They deliver.

52 Wellington East, 647-351-4612; 274 Parliament, 416-913-8846; 1442 Dundas West, 416-792-2432; sukhothaifood.ca

tHe BuRGeR’S PRieSt Okay, so burgers and fries are probably the last thing you think of when it comes to Valentine’s Day dining, but when you’re staying in on a Saturday night, perhaps after

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595 Markham St,Bathurst Subway 416•536•3211 southernaccent.com

some rigorous sinful activity, you want to just sit back with a High Priest (the BP’s version of the Big Mac), some fries and a beer or three.

The Queen West one delivers via Hurrier. Just remember to put some clothes on when you answer the door.

463 Queen West, 647-748-8108; 3397 Yonge, 416-488-3510; 1636 Queen East, 647-346-0617; theburgerspriest.com; @BurgersPriest

Closings

MaGiC oveN Can’t go wrong with pizza, wine and a few Blu-rays or board games, whether you’re just having a bunch of friends over or spending a quiet night with your darling. Magic Oven offers delivery and pickup and has it all: gluten-free options, whole-grain crusts, standard toppings and unusual ones like tofu, coconut, seared salmon, kale and mango. In case you need some starter tips, we’re partial to the Charcuterie Magic (pepperoni, prosciutto, salami, hot sausage) and the Mediterranean Magic (garlic spinach, roasted peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, feta, olives).

127 Jefferson; 270 Dupont; 6 Wellesley West; 360 Queen East; 798 Danforth; 302 Eglinton West; 347 Keele; 416-8686836; magicoven.com; @magicoven

After more than 50 years in operation, Moe Pancer’s Deli has closed. A notice on the door cites non-payment of rent, leaving the city with one less classic Jewish restaurant. We may have newer places like Caplansky’s and Fat Pasha, but it’s the end of an era for old-school delicatessens for sure.

Events

MICHAEL WATIER

Valentine’s special

By now you’ve probably abandoned your resolution to eat healthier, so catch the last half of La Poutine Week, when restaurants across the city offer a $10-or-less poutine special. Participants include Holy Chuck, Rock Lobster and the Pie Commission. Visit lapoutineweek.com for more info.

Know of any openings, closings or whether proposing in a restaurant on Valentine’s Day is sweet or gauche? Email food@nowtoronto.com.

FAMOUS TRADITIONAL PIZZA WHEN YOU WANT IT! FROM 4PM TO 4AM Special Valentine’s Menu.

Free dessert with purchase of an entrée.

ORANTE

T PIZZA RIS

AUTHENTIC ITALIAN FARE TAKE-OUT • DELIVERY

www.amicospizza.com

1648 Queen St W (E of Roncesvalles) • 416-537-2222 Open 6 days a week (Closed on Tuesdays) 28

february 5-11 2015 NOW

Book your pickup by email:

valet@bestlaundry.ca

Parkdale is for Lovers We are here for your Valentine Emergencies

1338 Queen Street West www.madeyoulook.ca

Valentine’s Day at Far niente.

For loVe. anD For the loVe oF FooD.

Join us on February 14th, 2015 for a special Valentine’s Day Menu.

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FOR RESERVATIONS PLEASE CALL (416) 214-9922 NOW february 5-11 2015

29

drinkup

By SARAH PARNIAK drinks@nowtoronto.com | @s_parns

WHERE TO DRINK RIGHT NOW!

Featherstone Black Sheep Riesling 2013

Furlough’s Lee-Metford Mark II, an adaptation of the Negroni, contains gin, Campari, Akvavit, maple bitters and rosewater, garnished with cucumber, salt and pink peppercorns.

Having a shitty week? Riesling is your remedy. Killing it so far this Feb? Pat yourself on the back with a glass of riesling.

Mediocrity prevails? Pep things up with some riesling.

Featherstone’s latest Black Sheep release – named for the benevolent woolly creatures that nibble away at its leafy vineyards, WHAT exposing the fruit to the ripening sunshine WE’RE – is an example of the goodness Ontario RINKING D has to offer.

TONIGHT Price 750 ml/$16.95 Availability Vintages 80234

Go on Furlough

Go on, be shellfish

These whites were born to couple with the finned, gilled and bivalved

Furlough

924 Queen West, 647-348-2525, furloughtoronto.com, @FurloughToronto

You’d think that when Barchef, with its devotion to contemporary cocktails, set up in the former Ursa, known for its focus on local, avant-garde cuisine, the result would be hyper-modern.

Nope. Furlough is just the opposite, dishing classic cocktails and hearty but elevated bistro fare.

The brand new bar and bistro from Frankie Solarik and Brent VanderVeen is dim, polished and cozy, the sophisticated man cave of an affluent uncle.

Lacquered tabletops with bistro seats, a gallery wall of old paintings and vintage photos, tin ceilings and a fully loaded bar built from heavy wood all beckon in the glow of dozens of candles.

The cocktail list, divided into classic and house recipes, highlights traditional drinks like the Last Word (gin, lime, Chartreuse, maraschino liqueur, $14), the Brandy Crusta (brandy, orange curaçao, lemon juice and Angostura bitters with a sugared rim, $14) and the

Toronto (rye, fernet, simple syrup, $14).

Signature drinks range from the Manhattan-esque Furlough cocktail (Backwoods-infused bourbon, sweet vermouth, patchouli syrup, cacao bitters and cigar essence, $14) to a tasty house riff on the Negroni, the LeeMetford Mark II (gin, Campari, Akvavit, maple bitters and rosewater garnished with cucumber, salt and pink peppercorns, $16).

There’s a brief wine list and obligatory craft beer selection if you’d prefer to sip something less spiritous with your foie and caramelized apples on pain au lait ($17).

Quietly opened two weeks ago, Furlough brings something that feels familiar but previously didn’t exist to a neighbourhood we thought had it all.

Hours: Tuesday to Sunday 6 pm till late. Closed Mondays.

Weekend brunch is in the works.

Access: two steps at the door, washrooms downstairs.

Duquesa De Valladolid Verdejo 2013

Ormarine Carte Noire Picpoul De Pinet 2013

Rating: NNN Why I don’t know if it’s my obsession with Spain, but Verdejo (from Rueda in northwestern España) has been filling my glass a lot lately. Full of ripe fruit (papaya, peach, passionfruit) with a shimmering, dry finish, this wine doesn’t have to be limited to fish.

Price 750 ml/$13.95 Availability Vintages 391649

Rating: NNN Why A high-acid, hyperlemony oyster wine, Picpoul de Pinet’s grape is one of the oldest, hailing from an eponymous subappellation of the Languedoc. A Mediterranean wine built for Mediterranean fare, especially if it comes from the sea.

Price 750 ml/$12.95 Availability Vintages 525287

TASTING NOTES Bartenders unite!

Calling all hospitality workers: check out the newly formed Toronto Bartender’s Guild (facebook.com/TorontoBartendersGuild), a non-profit organization devoted to the community and support of local bar staff. TBG is now seeking mem-

bers, so reach out and get involved.

AAA doubles up

Anselmann Edesheimer Ordensgut Weissburgunder Kabinett Trocken 2012 Rating: NNN Why This svelt and tangy Pfalz Weissburgunder (aka Pinot Blanc en français) is the kind of white you should keep kicking around the fridge for impromptu dinner parties, especially those showcasing fruits of the sea and cheese – always cheese.

Price 750 ml/$13.95 Availability Vintages 394122

AAA Bar (tripleabar.ca), purveyors of whiskey and badass Texas-style BBQ, are opening up a second shop in Leslieville. It should be ready to go by the end of the month.

RESTAUR ANT

C’EST WHAT? 67 Front St. E. (at Church) | cestwhat.ca Since 1988 Toronto’s cultural ambassador has offered a diverse menu of comfort food made from scratch with St. Lawrence Market fresh ingredients and an unsurpassed selection of local craft beer, wine, and original music.

February Featured Brewery TORONTO’S LOCAL

FAV O U R I T E S : L a m b u r g e r, J a m b a l a y a , F a l a f e l , R o t i , B u t t e r C h i c k e n , M o r o c c a n S t e w B E E R : 4 2 o n t a p a n d c a s k W I N E : 1 2 V Q A b y t h e g l a s s W H I S K Y: 3 4 i n t e r n a t i o n a l 30

FEBRUARY 5-11 2015 NOW

Ñ

= Critics’ Pick NNNNN = Ambrosial NNNN = Dangerously drinkable NNN = Palate pleaser NN = Sensory snooze N = Tongue trauma

YOUR HOME FOR GREAT MOVIES Complete line-up at chch.com

® CHCH and associated marks are the property of Channel Zero Inc. which may be used under license. © 2015 Channel Zero Inc. All rights reserved. ®

NOW february 5-11 2015

31

music

more online

nowtoronto.com/music Audio clips from interview with Grandmaster Flash + Video from Live In The NOW Lounge with the Devin Cuddy Band + Updates on the Silver Dollar and the Matador + Searchable upcoming listings

NIC POULIOT

MARILYN MANSON at Sound Academy, Monday, February 2.

Rating: NNN Twenty years into his career, Marilyn Manson still draws a crowd – an enthusiastic one.

He walked onstage at Sound Academy to fanfare befitting a dark dictator. Much of his appeal stems from his back catalogue, which has aged well, and his new album, The Pale Emperor, is his best in years.

Manson stood flanked by his past and present. To his left was bassist Twiggy Ramirez, a mainstay since the band’s early days. To his right was guitarist Tyler Bates, Manson’s current writing partner. The set was just as balanced, with newer, bluesier songs like Deep Six sitting neatly alongside classic industrial goth anthems like Disposable Teens.

Early on he struggled to keep up vocally, sounding out of breath during the pauses between songs. No two songs were played in immediate succession, impeding any sense of momentum the band had worked to build.

Those breaks from the chaos were likely for the audience’s benefit as much as for the musicians themselves, who make up Manson’s strongest live band in recent memory. Flaws and all, the set was visceral and engaging from start to finish.

the scene

MICHAEL RANCIC

Shows that rocked Toronto last week

BEAMS, LOON CHOIR and JOSE CONTRERAS at the Horseshoe, Thursday, January 29. Rating: NNN

So bands aren’t getting smaller after all. At the Horseshoe for Beams’ 7-inch release party, the local act had seven members onstage, while Ottawa’s Loon Choir right before them had nine. In both cases, less would have been more. Jose Contreras’s (By Divine Right) opening solo set – simple, charming, effective – was evidence of that.

Beams’ use of banjo, lap steel and singing saw helps them stand out from the indie folk pack, and co-frontwomen Anna Mernieks and Heather Mazhar’s intertwined vocals gel so exceptionally well that they often sound as if they’re coming from one source rather than two. The mix of bluegrass instrumentation, noir folk stories, robust songwriting and indie pop was worth braving the snow for.

Sandwiched between, Loon Choir’s Derek Atkinson emoted, bellowed and orated. He talked

32

FEBRUARY 5-11 2015 NOW

into an invisible phone, pulled at his hair, frequently checked an imaginary watch and swung an imaginary baseball bat. Behind him, a coterie of band members offset his tortured persona with synth rock so upbeat and theatrical, it was like watching a high school play. Just when you’d decided that two violinists and two keyboardists were the ultimate in overkill, bagpipes appeared.

CARLA GILLIS

FRED P at Cabal, Friday, January 30.

Rating: NNN NYC DJ/producer Fred P (aka Black Jazz Consortium) is by no means a newcomer, but it’s only in the last five years that his sound has started to find a wider audience. Cabal was packed by the time he took over the decks, and while a badly skipping final record by openers Late Nite Sun DJ collective made for an awkward entrance, once Fred P started playing, all was butter-smooth for the rest of the night.

He specializes in very tasteful deep house, with occasional detours into melodic techno territory,

expertly mixed and tweaked. Maybe it was the aromatic coffee being delivered to his DJ booth in a steady stream, but the overall feel seemed classier and more elegant than the average peak-time house music set.

Too bad the club’s sound system strained to keep up at times, affecting the energy level on the dance floor. Prior noise complaints mean the owners need to do some serious soundproofing before they can start piling up bass bins.

BENJAMIN BOLES

OWEN PALLETT and JENNIFER

ñCASTLE at Lee’s Palace, Saturday, January 31.

Rating: NNNNN In contrast to Jennifer Castle’s bare-bones (yet powerful) opening set, Owen Pallett offered a flashy take on smoke and mirrors at his intimate Lee’s Palace 19-plus show. A mirrored backdrop glimmered like a crystal, and dry ice wafted across the room. Building up layers with looping pedals, Pallett barely needs a band to flesh out his richly textured songs. Still, his trio with Les

Ñ

Mouches collaborators Rob Gordon and Matt Smith brought a welcome muscularity to the live performance.

The three powered through material from Pallett’s four albums, locked into a heavy, rhythmic groove. Pallett jokingly took questions from the crowd and appeared to enjoy himself, in contrast to some previous hometown gigs where tech issues got in the way. From his soaring choirboy vocals to his mastery of the strings, there was rarely a misstep or wasted moment. A stark piano take on The Passions allowed his evocative storytelling to stand on its own. A dark, ferocious The Riverbed closed with a thundering, massive finish.

When two old favourites, The CN Tower Belongs To The Dead and This Is The Dream Of Win And Regine, showed up in the encore, the room exploded. For a second encore, Pallett did a playful spin on Mariah Carey’s Fantasy before concluding with a hushed, perfect turn on Better Than Worse. To watch Owen Pallett play is to reTABASSUM SIDDIQUI member that music is magic.

= Critics’ Pick NNNNN = Perfect NNNN = Great NNN = Good NN = Bad N = Horrible

The Corporation of Massey Hall ; 11.25 in; 533728; 5cols

MASSEY HALL JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER ORCHESTRA WITH

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NOW february 5-11 2015

33

clubs&concerts

Olivia this week Chaney

hot

FIRST THURSDAY w/ Grandmaster Flash and Bonjay Art Gallery of Ontario (317 Dundas West), Thursday (February 5) See preview, page 42.

THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS, OPERATORS Danforth Music Hall (147 Danforth), Thursday (February 5) Increasingly super supergroup.

RON HAWKINS & THE DO GOOD ASSASSINS, BOBBY WISEMAN Drake Hotel (1150 Queen West), Thursday to Saturday (February 5-7) See preview, page 36.

WE GOT NEXT! MUSIC SHOWCASE w/ Pierre Kwenders, Keita Juma, Shi Wisdom Harbourfront Centre (235 Queens Quay West), Friday (February 6) See Keita Juma preview, page 38.

RUFUS WAINWRIGHT, LOUDON WAINWRIGHT Queen Elizabeth Theatre (190 Princes’), Friday (February 6) Benefit show for PatientsCanada.ca.

HILLSIDE INSIDE w/ Stars, Hey Rosetta, Jennifer Castle, Owen Pallett, Badbadnotgood & others Various venues (Guelph), Friday to Sunday (February 6-8) Music fest puts the “indie” in indoors.

MONOMYTH, WHIMM, CHASTITY, PUBE FLORAL

Silver Dollar (486 Spadina), Friday (February 6) Halifax psych-pop.

GIRAFFAGE, POMO, TEEN DAZE The Hoxton (69 Bathurst), Friday (February 6) Futuristic R&B remixer.

FAIZA, DJ HUSTLE GIRL, ADRIA KAIN, JENNAH B, BERETTA Rivoli (332 Queen West), Friday (February 6) Local R&B up-and-comer.

PHIFE, SEPTO, ROCHESTER, JUST JOHN, JAE ARI AND OTHERS Tattoo (40 Bay), Friday (February 6) A Tribe Called Quest MC flies solo.

ZAP MAMA & ANTIBALAS Koerner Hall (273 Bloor West), Saturday (February 7) Polyphonic Afro-pop.

KING OF THE DOT X OVO: BLACKOUT 5 RAP BATTLE w/ T-Rex, Shuyffle T, J-Pro, Charron, Arsonal, Dayly T, Kid Twist and others Queen Elizabeth Theatre (190 Princes’), Saturday (February 7) Battle league teams with Drake’s OVO. WHISKEY JACK, MICKEY ANDREWS, MARY MCINTYRE, WENDELL FERGUSON Cadillac Lounge (1296 Queen West), Saturday (February 7) Stompin’ Tom bday tribute show.

SINKANE, BEN STEVENSON Drake Underground (1150 Queen West), Sunday (February 8) Synth-funk and pop romance.

tickets

How to find a listing

Florence-born, London, England-based singer/songwriter (and Jarvis Cocker co-sign) Olivia Chaney is making her Toronto live debut at the Dakota this week, just over a month before her first album comes out via Nonesuch on March 24.

Chaney has become a rising concern on the folk fest circuit, especially in her native UK, thanks to the technical skill and striking clarity she brings to her balladry. She combines elements of early Renaissance, baroque, traditional British and Irish music and pop, generally performing solo and moving between the guitar, piano and harmonium.

While it’s tempting to align her music with the folk classics of the 1970s, her repertoire reaches back much further, to Rudyard Kipling, Henry Purcell and Claudio Monteverdi.

Tuesday (February 10) at the Dakota (249 Ossington), doors 6:30 pm. $13.50. rotate.com, soundscapesmusic.com, ticketfly.com.

Just announced

DEAD TIRED, DARLENE SHRUGG, LIDS, NAUTILUSS, CROSSS, MEKELE, HERMANS 99 Sudbury Long Winter Fair,

6 pm, all ages. Pwyc ($20 adv). torontolongwinter.com. February 13.

ZEUS, PROFESSOR H & THE BANDITS, GOODBYE HONOLULU, JACK THE LADS, YOYO COMAY, ART THE BAND

Opera House Johnnyland all ages show, 7 pm. $25, $22 adv. johnnyland.ca. February 27.

ULTIMATE PAINTING, ARMY GIRLS, BAMBOO, DELILUH Silver Dollar doors 9

pm. $10. northerntickets.com, rotate.com, soundscapesmusic.com. March 6.

YOUNG THUG, TRAVIS SCOTT Danforth Music Hall 7 pm. $28.50-$32. March 10.

CANCER BATS Phoenix Concert Theatre doors 8 pm. $25 adv. March 12.

PENNYWISE, A WILHELM SCREAM, TEENAGE BOTTLEROCKET Danforth Music Hall 7 pm. $25-$30. March 21.

TYCHO Danforth Music Hall doors 7 pm.

$27.50. March 28.

DAVID CHOI Opera House doors 7 pm. $19 adv. ticketfly.com, soundscapesmusic.com, rotate.com. April 8.

TEENAGE KICKS Horseshoe doors 9 pm. $10. rotate.com, soundscapesmusic.com, horseshoetavern.com. April 11 and May 23.

THE USED, MARMOZETS, EVERY TIME I DIE, THE EERIES Danforth Music Hall 7 pm. $32.50. soundscapesmusic.com. April 19.

THE MAVERICKS Phoenix Concert Theatre

doors 8 pm. $34.50. soundscapesmusic.com, rotate.com, ticketfly.com. April 24.

THE SONICS, CATL Lee’s Palace doors 8 pm. $33.50 adv. ticketfly.com, rotate.com, soundscapesmusic.com. April 26.

34

February 5-11 2015 NOW

JAMES BAY Mod Club doors 8 pm. $20. ticketmaster.ca. April 27.

CANADIAN MUSIC WEEK W/ THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN, KIESZA, GOLDLINK, LIGHTS, BILLY TALENT, NOEL GALLAGHER’S HIGH FLYING BIRDS, KING TUFF, FIDLAR, DANIEL LANOIS, CLOUD NOTHINGS & OTHERS Various venues wristbands $75$200. May 1-10.

SUFJAN STEVENS Massey Hall doors 7:15

pm, all ages. $45.50 adv. April 29.

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE The Garrison 8 pm. $15. rotate.com, soundscapesmusic.com.

May 1.

TORO Y MOI, VINYL WILLIAMS

Danforth Music Hall doors 7 pm. $25. rotate. com, ticketmaster.ca, soundscapesmusic.com.

May 5.

DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE Sony Centre for the Performing Arts doors 7 pm, all ages. $49.50-$63.50. ticketmaster.ca. May 7.

DR. JOHN COOPER CLARKE Rivoli 9 pm. $20 adv. rotate.com, ticketweb. com. May 15-16.

KAISER CHIEFS Phoenix Concert Theatre doors 8 pm. $25 adv. soundscapes.com, rotate.com. May 17.

GERARD WAY Danforth Music Hall doors 6 pm, all ages. $35-$45. May 20.

TORRES The Garrison doors 8:30 pm. rotate.com, soundscapesmusic.com. $13.50.

May 23.

DARIUS RUCKER, BRETT ELDREDGE, BROTHERS OSBORNE, A THOUSAND HORSES Molson Amphitheatre Country

Megaticket, details TBA. megaticket.com.

June 6.

KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD Adelaide Music Hall doors 8 pm. $12.

Music listings appear by day, then by genre, then alphabetically by venue. Event names are in italics.

See Venue Index, online at nowtoronto.com, for venue address and phone number. = Critics’ pick (highly recommended) ñ 5= Queer night

B = Black History Month event V = Valentine’s Day-related event How to place a listing

All listings are free. Send to: events@nowtoronto.com, fax to 416-364-1168 or mail to Music, NOW Magazine, 189 Church, Toronto M5B 1Y7. Include artist(s)/band(s), genre of music, event name (if any), venue name and address, time, ticket price and contact phone number or website. Deadline is the Thursday before publication at 5 pm. Weekly events must confirm their listing once a month.

If your free listing requires a correction, send info to: fixevents@nowtoronto.com.

Thursday, February 5 PoP/Rock/HiP-HoP/Soul

AlleycAtz Mark Brathwaite Trio (soul), 9 pm.

BArt GAllery of ontArio Grandmaster Flash and Bonjay, First Thursday ñ 7 to 11:30 pm. See preview, page 42.

cAmeron House Ferraro, Alright Alright 10 pm. cAvern BAr Somersaulter, Daisy, Heavy Hearts, Hindsight, River Groves (grunge/ screamo/punk/garage) doors 8 pm. tHe DAnfortH music HAll The New Pornographers, Operators doors 7 pm.

DrAke Hotel Ron Hawkins & the Do Good Assassins, Bobby Wiseman Album & documentary release, 7 pm.

See preview, page 36. free times cAfe postmoderndisco, these lights, Bekah vs Missy (ambient/ trip hop), EP release party, 8 pm.

ñ ñ

GrossmAn’s tAv-

ern Bard From The Club 10 pm.

HAwAii BAr Luke Vajsar (solo bass), 9:30 pm.

HorsesHoe Dorsia, Golden Gate Graves, Stolen Owners, The Auras, Year of Glad doors 8:30 pm.

northerntickets.com, soundscapesmusic.com, rotate.com. June 16.

LADY ANTEBELLUM, HUNTER HAYES, SAM HUNT Molson Amphitheatre Country

Megaticket, details TBA. megaticket.com.

June 18.

THE BLACK LIPS Horseshoe doors 8:30 pm. $22.50. horseshoetavern.com, rotate.com, soundscapesmusic.com.

July 9 and 10.

INTERPOL Danforth Music Hall doors 7 pm. $28.50-$35. ticketmaster.ca, rotate.com, soundscapesmusic.com. July 14-15.

HuntcluB stuDios Saltland, Nick Kuepñ fer, Khora Invocation TO

& Wavelength Music Festival, A Constellation Records Soirée, 8 pm. Wavelength Past, Present And Future Pop-Up Gallery.

TIM MCGRAW, BILLY CURRINGTON, CHASE BRYANT Molson

kArlA’s roADHouse

Amphitheatre Country Megaticket, details TBA. megaticket.com. July 16.

SLIPKNOT, LAMB OF GOD, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE, MOTIONLESS IN WHITE Molson Amphitheatre 8 pm. $30-

$70. August 8.

RASCAL FLATTS, RAELYNN, SCOTTY MCCREERY Molson Amphitheatre

Country Megaticket, details TBA. megaticket.com. August 27.

ñ

JASON ALDEAN, COLE SWINDELL, TYLER FARR

Molson Amphitheatre Country Megaticket, details TBA. megaticket.com. September 17.

MARK KNOPFLER

Massey Hall 8 pm. $75$145. October 6.

Tommy Rocker 9:30 pm. kensinGton loDGe Derek Mok 7 pm. lee’s PAlAce Psychotic Authority, Skrou, Hollywood Sins, Aliens Ashore doors 8:30 pm. linsmore tAvern Tim Bradford 9 pm. mercer union Miracle Fortress, Ken Park Platform, doors 8 pm. moD cluB Alestorm, Swashbuckle, The Dreadcrew Of Oddwood 7:30 pm.

PArts & lABour NLP, Replicons, Godstopper, Live Amps (punk/metal), 9 pm [The Shop].

PAuPer’s PuB Mike Barnes Jam, 10:30 pm. tHe Piston Isabel & the Uncommons, Rattlesnake Choir, Living Daylight Stringband 9 pm.

Kiesza

continued on page 36 œ

LIVE NATION CANADA; 11.25 in; 538213; 5cols

ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10AM NOW february 5-11 2015

35

clubs&concerts œcontinued from page 34

MuSIDEuM Mark Martyre (folk/blues), 8 pm.

NATIvE CANADIAN CENTRE Big Drum Social

ST lAWRENCE CENTRE fOR THE ARTS Adam

THE pAINTED lADY Angie Gunn, Lori Yates, Rus-

danCe musiC/dJ/lounge

6:30 pm.

sell deCarle Flohil’s Playhouse, doors 8:30 pm.

TRANzAC SOuTHERN CROSS Houndstooth Bluegrass Thursdays, 7:30 pm, Will Melville (bluegrass/pop), 10 pm.

RIvOlI Jon and Roy (folk-rock/reggae), doors

Jazz/ClassiCal/experimental

THE ROSE AND CROWN Circle 5 (reggae), 9 pm.

SIlvER DOllAR Selfoss, Grey//Water, TV Sets,

blues), Nightbird Vocal Jazz Jam, 9:30 pm.

EMMET RAY BAR John-Wayne Swingtet (jazz/ gypsy/swing) 9 pm.

SMIlING BuDDHA Heavy Hearts.

SOuTHSIDE JOHNNY’S Skip Tracer (rock/top

fOuR SEASONS CENTRE fOR THE pERfORMING ARTS Emanuel Ax, Pavel Koleñ snikov, Orion Weiss Opera Transcriptions For

8 pm.

YoYo Comay doors 8:30 pm.

40), 9:30 pm.

STuDIO BAR Belonging, MC Fubb, Noyz, The Responsables, DJ Xplisit EP release, doors 8 pm.

Folk/Blues/Country/World

ASpETTA CAffE Open Mic 8 pm.

CAMERON HOuSE Corin Raymond 6 pm.

ñ

Ryan McNally, The Ever Lovin’ Jug Band (blues/roots), 9:30 pm [Backroom].

CASTRO’S lOuNGE Jerry Leger & The Situation (folk rock), 8:30 pm. fIRST CANADIAN plACE Parsonfield The Heart Of Robin Hood, preview concert of the upcoming stage production (indie folk), 12:15 & 1:15 pm. lOCAl GEST Open Mic With Porter 9 pm.

MONARCHS puB The Swingin’ Blackjacks (rockabilly-blues), 8 pm.

PRESENTS

THE CAGE 292 Kalya Ramu Quintet (jazz/

Piano, noon to 1 pm [Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre].

GATE 403 Hylia 9 pm.

JAzz BISTRO Mark McLean (jazz/pop/R&B) 9 pm.

KAMA Mike Murley (saxophone), Thursdays At Five, 5 to 8 pm.

OlD MIll INN Luanda Jones Quartet (jazz) 7:30 pm. [Home Smith Bar].

THE pASSENGER The J-Train Jazz In The Junction, 9:30 pm.

THE REx Matt Wilson Quartet 9:30 pm, Worst Pop Band Ever 6:30 pm.

ROY THOMSON HAll Emanuel Ax, Pavel Kolesnikov, Toronto Symphony Orchestra Piano Extravaganza. 8 pm.

SEvEN44 Mega City Swing Band 7:30 pm.

ñ

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Sherkin (piano), Chopin: Poetic Jest, noon [Bluma Appel Lobby].

ClINTON’S Throwback Thursdays (90s hip-

hop/pop).

CluB 120 5DJ Todd Klinck T-Girl Party, 10 pm.

HARlEM uNDERGROuND DJ Keith Hamilton

(Motown), Supreme Thursday, 7 to 11 pm. vElvET uNDERGROuND That Hip Hop S#*! DJ Heights hosts, doors 9:30 pm.

WEST BAR DJ Dennis Rojas (80s/90s/R&B/hip-hop/house), 10 pm.

Friday, February 6 pop/roCk/Hip-Hop/soul

BOvINE SEx CluB The Brains, Evil Elvis, Rehab For Quitters, The Anti Queens.

CASTRO’S lOuNGE The Straight Eights (50s style rockabilly), 6 pm.

CAvERN BAR Reliving, Downturns, Man

Simply Is, Yesterday’s Finest, Mosheh Taffe doors 8 pm.

DRAKE HOTEl Ron Hawkins & the Do Good Assassins, Bobby Wiseman Album & documentary release, 7 pm. See preview, this page.

DuffY’S TAvERN Deadmouth, Filthy Slate, The Sofistifucks, Wired Shut, Stray Sheep Punk Out The Wazoo 2, doors 9 pm.

THE GARRISON Hollowphonic, [MP.G], The

ñ

continued on page 38 œ

UPCOMING

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MAY 28 THE SCRIPT

MASSEY HALL

THE DANFORTH MUSIC HALL FEB 20

KONGOS W/ SIR SLY & COLONY HOUSE

FEB 27

RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE: BATTLE OF THE SEASONS

FEB 28

SILVERSTEIN

MAR 28

TYCHO

APR 16/17

SWEATER BEATS FEB 27 :: THE HOXTON

STUDIO BAR

KODALINE

MAY 16 LAIBACH MAY 18 MATT AND KIM

THE HOXTON FEB 06

GIRAFFAGE w/ POMO & TEEN DAZE

FEB 07

SAM FELDT

FEB 13

VICEROY w/ NTRL ANML

KASTLE

FEB 14

MIKE MAGO

FEB 15

BRODINSKI w/ MYD

FEB 28 :: STUDIO BAR

FEB 20

SLANDER

FEB 21

MATOMA & SOLIDISCO

FEB 27

SWEATER BEATZ w/ TORY LANEZ + HRMXNY

FEB 28

NO NEON w/ CHOCOLATE PUMA & HUNTER SIEGEL

MAR 7

KLANGKARUSSELL

MAR 13 ALVIN RISK MAR 20 BROODS w/ ERIK HASSLE MAR 21 MATOMA w/ SOLIDISCO

MAR 21 :: METRO TORONTO CONVENTION CENTER

MAR 26 GORGON CITY LIVE APR 04

BAKERMAT

APR 16

SHLOHMO (LIVE)

CODA

FLIGHT

DANKO JONES

FACILITIES MAR 06 :: THE DANFORTH

w/ SAY YES MAR 21 :: THE DANFORTH

APR 24 :: THE DANFORTH

FEB 14

DJ TENNIS

FEB 20

TIGA + MATTHIAS MEYER

FEB 28

CHRIS LIEBING

MAR 8

CASHMERE CAT w/ PUSHER, OBESON & HRMXNY

MAR 12 HYPERDUB TOUR w/ KODE9 & IKONIKA

TICKETS AVAILABLE AT WWW.TICKETWEB.CA/EMBRACE - ROTATE THIS & SOUNDSCAPES APR 09 NOSAJ THING & CLARK w/ RIVAL CONSOLES FOR INFO VISIT WWW.EMBRACEPRESENTS.COM. APR 10 JOHN TALABOT (DJ SET) w/ PIONAL

36

February 5-11 2015 NOW

Ron Hawkins COUNTRY-SOUL

Live-off-the-floor new record’s got mojo in spades By CARLA GILLIS

RON HAWKINS AND THE DO GOOD ASSASSINS and BOBBY WISEMAN at the Drake Hotel (1150 Queen West), Thursday to Saturday (February 5 to 7), 7 pm. $20. thedrakehotel.ca.

Ron Hawkins does not own a cellphone. I reach him on a land line with crystal-clear reception to talk about Garden Songs (Pheromone), his 13th album. It was recorded live over half a dozen days.

Those two facts – the land line, the recording approach à la a Stones album from 1965 – make me wonder whether he’s averse to new methods and practices.

“I’m not a Luddite by any means,” says Hawkins, who shot to fame as frontman for 90s alt-rockers Lowest of the Low. “I pride myself on being present in my life. I see my friends distracted by the technology they’re carrying around all the time.

“And I spend enough time on the computer and social media and using software. I’ve given up enough of my life to that.”

The reason for the off-the-floor recording approach is less philosophical. He was given a free day of tracking at super-pro, analog-heavy Revolution Recording, and it gave him a chance to see just how capable his current band, the Do Good Assassins, are at stirring up mojo and handling whatever he throws their way.

“Also, I’m old enough to have worked with tape machines, so in my

brain I’d always thought I must have done that [live approach],” Hawkins says. “But when I think about it, every record I’ve ever made has had bed tracks and overdubs except for one Lowest of the Low live record. This one’s got vibe and mojo in spades.”

Hawkins’s DGAs are one part country soul and another part leftist punk rock. Garden Songs, a collection of four new ballads and six older ones, sticks with the former, giving him a chance to let out his softer side before he hunkers down to record his next album – a rocker for which he’s already written 20 tunes.

Garden Songs’ gentle, pared-down quality keeps the focus on his exceptional, introspective lyrics and familiar vocals that sometimes bring to mind early (i.e., less over-the-top) Elvis Costello. Though it’s a left turn, it’s not as big a change as it could’ve been.

“When I started the band in 2012, I thought, ‘What would be the most obnoxious thing we could do?’ So our debut record was a double record. And then there was a documentary made about us [Luck’s Hard, screening at all three Drake shows].

“And then I thought, ‘Let’s follow it up with a triple record.’ I’ve got so much stuff behind me already. If people think it’s stupid or pretentious or whatever, I can just flip the bird and go, ‘I don’t give a shit. I’m making records for me.’”

He adds with a laugh, “But then this much more sensible idea came up.” 3 carlag@nowtoronto.com | @carlagillis

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NOW february 5-11 2015

37

clubs&concerts œcontinued from page 36

­Disraelis,­Ida­Diana doors 9 pm.

CENTRE We Got Next! Music Showcase Pierre­Kwenders,­ ñ Keita­Juma­and­Shi­Wisdom. 9 pm. See Keita BHARbOURfRONT

Juma preview, this page.

HORSESHOE doors 9 pm. ñDwayne­Gretzky HUNTClUb STUDIOS Anamai,­Shawn­ Clarke Wavelength Music Festival/ ñ Steam Whistle Unsigned, 8 pm.

INDUSTRIAL RAP

Keita Juma

ñ ñ ñ

On 2014 being a hard year, especially for black people By JORDAN SOWUNMI KEITA JUMA with SHI WISDOM and PIERRE KWENDERS as part of Kuumba at Harbourfront Centre’s Brigantine Room (235 Queens Quay), Friday (February 6), 9 pm. Free. harbourfrontcentre.com.

“I always start with drums,” 27-yearold rapper/producer Keita Juma says of the way he builds the complex productions he once dubbed “industrial rap.”

Juma’s on the phone, one night removed from a DJ set at neo-soul R&B songstress Shi Wisdom’s S I X T Y M I N U T E S multidisciplinary

event at Studio Bar. “I sit down and kind of start bouncing in the chair to the drums in my head.”

Those drums propel songs whose influences are as disparate as electro, industrial rock and R&B. UK-born, Mississauga-bred emcee Juma is fresh off the release of a well-received 10-song EP, Chaos Theory, and just premiered its first video, for Come Over, a spare electro-rap earworm assisted by former high school classmate and long-time collaborator Brendan Philip. The video features several creative pals – photographers, music managers, artists – dancing in a pool of water.

lEE’S PAlACE Second­Pass,­On­the­Verge,­ ­Russian­Roulette,­Reed­Effect doors 9 pm. lINSMORE TAvERN Mark­T­Band (Jerry Garcia tribute). 9:30 pm.

OlD NICK Stiletto­Flats (rock) 9 pm. Free.

OPERA HOUSE Periphery,­Nothing­More,­ Wovenwar,­Thank­You­Scientists doors 6 pm.

QUEEN ElIzAbETH THEATRE Rufus­ ­Wainwright,­Loudon­Wainwright,­ Chaim­Tannenbaum PatientsCanada.ca benefit concert. Doors 8 pm, all ages.

RATIO Peter­Evans,­Germaine­Liu,­Brian­ Ruryk 8 pm, all ages RIvER RUN CENTRE Hillside Inside Festival Alex­Cuba,­Hey­Rosetta,­Jennifer­Castle,­ Kid­Koala,­bizZarh,­Badbadnotgood,­Oliver­ Mtukudzi­&­The­Black­Spirits,­Operators,­ Owen­Pallett,­Stars and many others.

RIvOlI Faiza,­DJ­Hustle­Girl,­Adria­Kain,­ Jennah­B,­Beretta doors 9 pm.

THE ROSE AND CROWN Universal­Boogie­Band (pop/classic rock), 10 pm.

SEvEN44 Hell­&­Black (AC/DC tribute) 9:30 pm.

SIlvER DOllAR Monomyth,­WHIMM,­ ­Chastity,­Pube­Floral doors 9 pm.

SMIlINg bUDDHA No­Hands,­Worst­Gift,­Girl­ Arm,­Walk­North doors 9 pm.

SOUND ACADEMy Morgan­Heritage,­Romain­ Virgo­and­others (reggae), Redemption XV: 15-Year Anniversary, doors 10 pm.

SOUTHSIDE JOHNNy’S Modern­LP (rock), 10 pm.

TATTOO Phife,­Septo,­Just­John,­Rochester,­ Jae­Ari,­Andrew­Tripple­A,­Dustin­Wareham,­Maloney Big Ticket, (hip-hop), 10 pm.

“All credit goes to [director] Sammy [Rawal]. It was a battle, though. I was in Lake Ontario for five or six hours by myself,” he says, laughing. “I got the stomach flu after it.”

The song crystallizes something Juma excels at: flipping a familiar conceit into something entirely his own, a skill picked up during a lifetime of obsessive music listening.

“I realized that it’s all about learning the rules and breaking them. You have to push in whatever way works for you, because that’s what makes you distinct,” he says, citing mid-tolate 90s Timbaland and Busta

Rhymes as inspirations.

For his performance at Harbourfront’s We Got Next! showcase, a series dedicated to celebrating the next generation of black music, Juma will be in familiar company alongside Wisdom and Afro-electro performer Pierre Kwenders.

“I see a deep takeover happening,” Juma says. “There’s a cultural shift in terms of what people want to hear. I feel like 2014 was a hard year, especially for black people – a reminder of what we’re up against.

And that’s being represented in the music now.”

3 music@nowtoronto.com

ñ ñ

ñ

Folk/Blues/Country/World

ASPETTA CAffE Open Mic 8 pm.

CAMERON HOUSE David­Celia 6 pm. Kayla­

Howran (blues) 10 pm. Patrick­Brealey 8 pm.

Steve­Mahabir 9:30 pm [Backroom]. continued on page 40 œ

GRANDMASTER FLASH

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WED MAR 18 • PHOENIX • $22.00 ADV

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FRIDAY APRIL 24 • PHOENIX CONCERT THEATRE • $34.50 ADV

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MON APR 6 • PHOENIX • $20.00 ADV

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• LEE’S PALACE •

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Adv Tickets @ ROTATE THIS TICKETFLY.COM SOUNDSCAPES TICKETMASTER.COM H-SHOE FRONT BAR

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MON APR 13

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FRI MAR 20 HARD LUCK $13.50 ADV

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MON MAR 9 • LEE’S PALACE • $30.00 ADV

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www.collectiveconcerts.com TUE JUL 14 & WED JUL 15 • DANFORTH M.H. • $28.50-35.00 ADV

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THU FEB 12 • $22.50 Adv WED FEB 18 • $12.00 Adv TUE MAR 3 • $17.50 Adv

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HOUSE OF

NTH POWER TO THE

SHOELESS MONDAYS

KELSI JEAN BOND GIRLS

JACK NAME PUBLIC ACCESS T.V. TUE FEB 10 • DAKOTA • $13.50 ADV

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FRI FEB 20 • PHOENIX • $25.50 ADV

SWANS XYLOUIRS WHITE

• THE DRAKE • ORLA GARTLAND IBEYI SALES MAX JURY MARCH 9 • $ 15.00 adv

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APRIL 14 • $ 12.00 adv

CHADWICK FATHER MURPHY THE INDEPENDENTS TORCHE STOKES FEB 6 • QUEEN ELIZABETH • HORSESHOE TAVERN • DILANA (ROCKSTAR SUPERNOVA) ANDREW JACKSON JIHAD FRI THEATRE • $30 - $100 ADV BRIGHT LIGHTS SOCIAL HOUR MARCH 6 • 17.50 adv THE BARR BROTHERS THE SLACKERS RUSTY POKEY LAFARGE RESTORATIONS KNAPSACK POP GROUP BENJAMIN BOOKER WAINWRIGHT WAINWRIGHT HELMET HANNI EL KHATIB LOUDON THE REAL McKENZIES THE BLACK LIPS CHAIM TANNENBAUM FEBRUARY 28 •

$ 10.50

adv

MARCH 21 • $ 17.50 adv

MARCH 6 • $ 18.50 adv

OLIVIA CHANEY

MARCH 24 • $ 20.50 adv

MARCH 12 • $ 20.00 adv

MARCH 14 • $ 29.50 adv

MARCH 18 • $ 22.50 adv

MARCH 28 • $ 26.50 adv

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APRIL 4 • $ 15.50 adv

APRIL 20 • $ 10.00 adv

APRIL 15 • $ 11.50 adv

BENEFIT FOR PATIENTS CANADA

RUFUS

$

MAY 10 • $ 18.50 adv

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MAY 16 • $ 20.00 adv

MARCH 26 • $ 12.50 adv

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NOW february 5-11 2015

39

clubs&concerts œcontinued from page 38

The DanforTh Music hall Alan Doyle Doors

7 pm, all ages.

GaTe 403 Fraser Melvin Blues Band 9 pm.

GrossMan’s Tavern Sandi Marie 6 to 9 pm.

Koerner hall Pavlo (Mediterranean fusion) 8 pm.

MusiDeuM Natasha Nouveau & Andrew Long (singer/songwriters), 8 pm.

Breference library From Griot To Hip-Hop: The Music Is The Story. Roger Gibbs, Amado Kienne, Tich Maredza, Tiki Mercury-Clarke and Rasselas Asfaw (music from Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso, the Caribbean and Canada) 6:30 pm.

The rex The Jivebombers (jump/blues), 6:30 pm.

Tranzac The Foolish Things (folk), 5 pm.

WhiTe elephanT Arthur Renwick 6 to 9 pm.

ñ

Jazz/ClassiCal/ExpErimEntal

DesoTos Anthony Abbatangeli Jazz Jam, 8 pm. eDWarD Johnson builDinG U of T

Symphony Orchestra, U of T Women’s Chamber Choir 7:30 pm.

GaTe 403 Kathleen Gorman Group 5 to 8 pm.

GrossMan’s Tavern Combo Royale 10 pm. harleM David Hutchinson Jazz & Blues Band 7:30 pm.

Jazz bisTro Mark McLean (jazz/pop/R&B) 9 pm. lula lounGe Changui Havana, DJ Suave

(salsa/merengue/cumbia/bachata), 10:30 pm.

Laura Fernandez World/Jazz Fridays, 7:30 pm. olD Mill inn James Brown Trio (jazz), 7:30 pm. [Home Smith Bar]. placebo space David Steinmetz Quintet 8 pm.

The rex Atomic (Scandinavian collective), 9:30 pm. Atomic Toybot (jazz). Hogtown Syncopators 4 pm. roy ThoMson hall Emanuel Ax Piano Extravaganza-Beethoven Piano Concerto 4. 7:30 pm.

Tranzac Tania Gill, Ryan Driver, Andrew Wedman, BC3000 Bass Piano III, doors 7 pm [Tiki Room].

TriniTy sT. paul’s church The Toronto Consort, Lucas Harris (theorbist & orchestra), Splendours Of The Emperor’s Chapel, 8 pm.

ñ ñ

DanCE musiC/DJ/loungE

blacK eaGle 5DJ B-Tech Bearcode, doors 10 pm. carDinal rule 5Nitty Gritty: (ho)motown

night (vintage soul/R&B/funk), 9 pm. casTro’s lounGe DJ I Hate You Rob (soul/ funk/R&B/punk rock/pop/rockabilly) 10 pm. club 120 5DJ KLR Cream, 10 pm. coDa The Junkies, Chris Larsen, Ricky Syfer, Leo Franco The Residency Night Launch Party, doors 10 pm.

DeTour bar Johnny Nobody, Mikey Palermo,

cherry cola’s rocK ’n’ rolla cabareT anD lounGe Outbread Inlaws, Morgan, The Cola

Saturday, February 7

ñ

ñ

pop/roCk/Hip-Hop/soul

bovine sex club Flying Fortress, Cross Dog,

Python Album release show, 9 pm. casTro’s lounGe The Cosmotones (rockabilly), 6 pm. cavern bar Triple Gangers, Silver Pools, Akage No Anne, Underwater Landslides

COME TO

MONTREAL AND ENJOY WINTER

AT ITS BEST! FEBRUARY 19 TO MARCH 1 16th EDITION

ARTS AND SHOWS

During 11 days, you can choose from all disciplines: theatre, dance, music, circus arts and everything in between!

FREE OUTDOOR SITE IN DOWNTOWN MONTREAL

The outdoor site will be bursting with free activities— braziers, shows, activities for children, the giant slide, projections, etc.—and will glimmer and dazzle with artistic lighting and projections, in a wonderfully festive ambience that perfectly captures the renowned joie de vivre of Montrealers. It’s magical!

GASTRONOMY

SWITZERLAND IN THE SPOTLIGHT!

Fifteen chefs, including the renowned Pierre-André Ayer, who will serve as honorary president of the gastronomy program, along with leading figures from Swiss viticulture will be received by the festival’s Finest Tables.

NUIT BLANCHE IN MONTREAL

ON SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28

Montreal’s wildest night with over 200 activities mostly free linked by a free shuttle service!

Dance | Exhibitions | Film | Flights of fancy | Games Laughs | Lights | Music | Sports | Visual arts | Words

JOIN US IN MONTREAL! Head to our website and book your Via Rail train ticket for travel to Montreal during the festival, and get your MONTRÉAL EN LUMIÈRE festival-goer fun pack for free!

Details: montrealenlumiere.com/train

I N F O R M AT I O N : 514 288-9955 • 1 85LUMIERES facebook.com/montrealenlumiere

40

February 5-11 2015 NOW

twitter.com/mtlenlumiere

doors 9 pm.

Cole Burns, SL.Y Friends With Benefits, vol.8, 10:30 pm. eMMeT ray bar DJ Cosmonauts (hip-hop/electronic/indie/soul/reggae), Exploration, 10 pm. hanDlebar Soul Skank DJs (reggae/ dance hall/Motown) doors 10 pm. harleM unDerGrounD DJ Hitmon, Glitch (hip-hop/reggae/waybacks/trap), Foreplay Fridays, 11 pm.

The hoxTon Giraffage, Pomo, Teen Daze 10 pm.

KensinGTon loDGe DJ Ron Jon The Amethyst Birthday Jam, 8 pm.

Marquis of Granby 5DJ Producer Barry Harris 10:30 pm.

The pisTon Wedding Night (guilty pleasures dance party) 10 pm. velveT unDerGrounD DJs Sara Dopstar, Audi Étoffe, Atheria (psytrance/techno), Fireflies In February, 10 pm.

WesT bar DJ Nine (current/classic hits from the 90s to today), 10 pm.

Heads A Punk Rock Hoedown, doors 9 pm.

The DanforTh Music hall Big Sugar The Acoustical Sounds Of Big Sugar, 8 pm, all ages.

BDeer parK library Ska In The Stacks The Arsenals. 2 pm.

DraKe hoTel Ron Hawkins & the Do Good Assassins, Bobby Wiseman Album & documentary release, 7 pm. See preview, page 36. eTon house The LoneStars (rock & roll), 8 pm.

GraffiTi’s Erika Werry & The Alphabet 4 to 7 pm. harleM Madette (pop/soul), 7:30 pm. horseshoe The Honeyrunners, The Damn Truth, The Mandevilles, Dead Projectionists 9:30 pm. hunTclub sTuDios Hellenica, The Sulks Wavelength Music Festival, 8 pm.

Johnny JacKson Sailboats Are White, Poster Boy, Tyburn Fields (post punk/noise), doors 9 pm.

Koerner hall Zap Mama & Antibalas (Afrobeat/Afro-pop/jazz), A Salute To The Big Bands, 8 pm.

Blee’s palace House of David Gang, The Human Rights, Fugitive Minds, Pressure Drop Crew Bob Marley Birthday Tribute, 9 pm. linsMore Tavern The Dylan Tree (Bob Dylan tribute), 9:30 pm.

BMoD club Odel Johnson, Fujahtive, Jah Beng, Chester Miller, Jahsmin Dalley, Jeff Holdip (roots/rock/reggae), Tribute To Bob Marley & The Legends Of Reggae, 9:30 pm.

The paDDocK Sarah Burton, Jennifer Foster, Bluebelle doors 9:30 pm. pearl lounGe Prime Time Band 9 pm. phoenix concerT TheaTre Saga 8 pm. queen elizabeTh TheaTre King Of The Dot X OVO: Blackout 5 Rap Battle T-Rex, Shuyffle T, J-Pro, Charron, Arsonal, Dayly T, Kid Twist and others.

The rex Danny Marks noon. rocKpile The 3Tards, Ruthless Ones doors 8 pm.

The rose anD croWn Universal Boogie Band (pop/classic rock), 10 pm. seven44 Community Soul Project (rock n’ soul), 9 pm. silver Dollar The Almighty Rhombus, Do Tell, Goodbye Honolulu, So Young doors 9 pm. sMilinG buDDha Girls Rock Camp Toronto CD Release & Covers Show 7 pm, all ages. souThsiDe Johnny’s The Bear Band (rock/ blues), 4 to 8 pm. Kick Back (rock/top 40), 10 pm.

ñ ñ

ñ

ñ

Folk/BluEs/Country/WorlD

The asseMbly hall Karen Jewels Live album

recording (urban soul/inspirational), 7 pm. caDillac lounGe Whiskey Jack, Mickey Andrews, Mary McIntyre, Wendell Ferguson Stompin’ Tom Birthday Tribute, 8 pm. caMeron house Bill Pond, June In The Fields (folk/alternative/ambient), 9 pm [Backroom]. The Devin Cuddy Band 10 pm.

Rattlesnake Choir 6 pm.

DaKoTa Tavern The Rizdales 9 pm.

Dora KeoGh The Swingin’ Blackjacks (rockabilly-blues), 9 pm. free TiMes cafe Calum Graham, Dylan Hennessy, Jack Connolly Acoustic Addiction, 7:30 pm.

GaTe 403 Bill Heffernan (folk/country/blues), 5 to 8 pm.

BGlaDsTone hoTel Young Stars De Montreal Music Africa’s Black History Month Concert Series, 9 pm.

GrossMan’s Tavern The Happy Pals 4:30 pm. Laura Hubert 10 pm. huGh’s rooM Fathead w/ Jackie Richardson, Chuck Jackson, Ken Whiteley, Carlos del Junco and others John Mays Benefit, 8:30 pm. huMble beGinninGs Prescilla Una (singer/ songwriter), 2:30 to 4:30 pm. lula lounGe Conjunto Lacalu, DJ Gio (salsa dura), 10:30 pm. sT nicholas anGlican church Trent Severn, Shawna Caspi Acoustic Harvest, 8 pm.

Tranzac Bob Cohen, Orit Shimoni 10 pm, Abigail Lapell 7:30 pm, Jamzac 3 pm. vino rosso Glen Hornblast, Glen Gary, Harpin’ Norm Lucien Words & Music Salon, 1:30-4:30 pm.

ñ ñ

Jazz/ClassiCal/ExpErimEntal

alliance française Spectrum Music Starry

montrealenlumiere.com

Night, 8 pm.

array space Array Session #30 Nabil

Amarshi, Alan Penner, Nate Robertson, Neil D Retke, Rick Sacks (improvised), 8 pm. chalKers pub Lorne Lofsky (jazz) 6-9 pm.

The flyinG beaver pubareT Natalie Kulesza w/ Donovan LeNabat Boys, Booze & Buddha Cabaret, 7 pm.

GaTe 403 John Deehan Jazz Band 9 pm. habiTs GasTropub The Entanglement Quartet (jazz), 9 pm.

Jazz bisTro Mark McLean (jazz/R&B) 9 pm.

MusiDeuM Steve Koven (jazz/improvised solo piano), 8 pm. olD Mill inn Lou Pomanti Trio (jazz), 7:30 pm.

[Home Smith Bar].

The rex Dave Young Quintet 9:45 pm. Nick Teehan Group 7:30 pm. Laura Hubert Band 3:30 pm. roy ThoMson hall National Arts Centre Orchestra Piano Extravaganza. Pinchas Zukerman, Yefim Bronfam and others. 8 pm. Emanuel Ax, Pavel Kolesnikov, Patricia Krueger, David Briggs and others Pianorama Young People’s Concert, 2 & 4 pm. royal conservaTory of Music Taylor Academy Showcase Concert 4:30 pm [Mazzoleni Hall].

TriniTy sT. paul’s church The Toronto Consort, Lucas Harris (theorbist & orchestra), Splendours Of The Emperor’s Chapel, 8 pm.

ñ ñ

DanCE musiC/DJ/loungE

bassline Music bar Toronto Hustle & Ali Black Let There Be House, 10 pm. beaver DJs Produzentin, Kevin Ritchie, Jaime Sin Love Saves The Day (house/ disco), 11 pm. clinTon’s Bangs & Blush (60s soul/rock & roll), Shake, Rattle & Roll, 10 pm. club 120 DJ Saucy Miso, DJ Warmuffin Subspace Metal Mayhem: Metallica Spotlight, doors 10 pm.

DraKe hoTel Big Jacks, DJ Numeric, DJ Dalia (classic hip-hop/R&B), Never Forgive Action, 11 pm [Underground]. eMMeT ray bar DJ Sawtay 10 pm.

The Garrison A Man Called Warwick, Fred Lavik (tropical dancefloor session), Turning Point, doors 10 pm. hanDlebar Nyssa, Sexy Merlin Mystic Triangle Video Party, 10 pm. harbourfronT cenTre Soca On Ice Dr Jay de Soca Prince. 8 to 11 pm. Free. harleM unDerGrounD DJ Chocolate, Xixgon International Sound, Noble Works Irie Nights, 11 pm.

The hoxTon Sam Feldt doors 10 pm.

The pisTon With It (mod/Northern soul dance party) 10 pm. placebo space DJs Vespa & The Devil’s Son-in-Law (funk/soul/jazz/down tempo/trip hop), Still Life, 9 pm. revival Joi Cardwell, Kevin Williams, Nick Holder, Ron Allen, Groove Institute 90s House Music Tribute Party, doors 10 pm. sounD acaDeMy Ding Dong, APlus, Street Team, Infamous, Soca Sweetness, Alexx Frass, DJ Tyrone Shampoo: The Capricorn & Aquarius Gala, 10 pm. superMarKeT DJ John Kong & MC Abdominal (funk/soul/boogie), Do Right Saturdays! 10 pm.

WesT bar DJ Dave Campbell, Kazen Media (R&B/hip-hop/house/top 40), 10 pm.

ñ

5

ñ ñ

Sunday, February 8 pop/roCk/Hip-Hop/soul

The caGe 292 DJ Dick Jones BTBH Hip-Hop Karaoke, 8 pm.

DaKoTa Tavern Public Animal, Half Measures, The Mercy Now 10 pm.

DraKe hoTel unDerGrounD Sinkane, Ben Stevenson (soul), 8 pm. The Monkey Bunch (kids’ musical entertainers), Family Febu-Hairy Series, 3 pm.

GlaDsTone hoTel Alexandro Segade & Mateo Segade, DJ Mary Mack, DJ Diarrhea (theatrical concert), Liberation & Perspiration: Boy Band Audition, 8 pm [Ballroom]. hanDlebar Snaggle (jazz/funk/fusion), 9 pm. linsMore Tavern Pat Perez & John Dickie Band (blues/R&B/funk), 5 to 9 pm. lula lounGe Joe Driscoll & Sekou Kouyate (hip-hop/funk/African grooves/soulful rock/ reggae), 8 pm.

The pisTon Celia Palli, Francois Klark, DJ Gramera 9 pm.

The scarborouGh JuncTion Tommy Rocker (classic rock) 8 pm. souThsiDe Johnny’s Rebecca Matiesen & Phoenix (pop/rock), Open Jam, 9:30 pm.

Tranzac Jadea Kelly Bachelor / Bachelorette Musical Auction benefit, doors 8 pm.

ñ ñ

ñ

Folk/BluEs/Country/WorlD

blacK bear pub SNAFU Jam, 4 to 8 pm.

The caGe 292 Phill Hood Jam, 10 pm.

Cameron House J Swinnerton 10 pm.

Meredith Shaw 6 pm.

Castro’s Lounge Cash On Demand (country) 4-7 pm.

Cavern Bar Open Mic doors 8 pm. emmet ray Bar Haig Ashod Beylerian FOLKnMIC, 8 pm.

FLato markHam tHeatre The Sarod Project (classical Indian music) 8 pm.

Free times CaFe The Horables (jazz/klezmer/

gypsy), Jewish Brunch Buffett, 11:45 am. grossman’s tavern Brian Cober (double slide guitar), Open Blues Jam, 10 pm.

BHarLem Word•Sound•Power Open Mic & Forum, w/ DJ Black Lotus 7 pm.

Hirut Fine etHiopian Cuisine Nicola Vaughan Jam, 3 to 6:30 pm.

HugH’s room Brian Taheny, Chris Coole, Arnie Naiman, Chris Quinn 15th Annual Banjo Special, 8:30 pm. $20-$22.50.

LuLa Lounge Jorge Maza Sunday Salsa Brunch, 11 am. mCgradies tap and griLL Dan Walek Open Jam, 6 to 10 pm. reLisH Bar & griLL David MacMichael & Paul Brennan Stir It Up Sundays Open Mic, 9 pm.

VtranzaC soutHern Cross Max Layton, Robert Priest (folk), 5 pm. Sue & Dwight, Dave Lang (folk), 3 pm.

ñ

Jazz/ClassiCal/ExpErimEntal

array spaCe Nick Buligan + Body Help (improvised), 8 pm.

edward JoHnson BuiLding Erika Raum,

Scott St John, Sharon Wei, Thomas Wiebe A Classical Canadian Collaboration (violinists) 3:15 pm [Walter Hall].

VtHe FLying Beaver puBaret Peter Donato w/ David F Gluck, Michael Skinner Cantautore Valentino, 7:30 pm. gate 403 Cat Bernardi Quartet 5 to 8 pm. Julia Cleveland Jazz Band 9 pm. grossman’s tavern New Orleans Connection (all-star jazz band) 4:30-9 pm.

Jazz Bistro Eli Pasic Sunday Brunch, noon to 3 pm. koerner HaLL Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, Robi Botos, Anagnoson & Kinton Pianopalooza, 1 to 5 pm. morgans on tHe danFortH Allyson Morris, Mark Kieswetter & Ross MacIntyre (jazz) 2 to 5 pm. musideum Bruce Chapman (jazz), 3 pm.

Storyville Project Trio (jazz/Latin), 8 pm. tHe rex Excelsior Dixieland Jazz noon. Nick Scott Quartet 9:30 pm. Autobahn 7 pm. Red Hot Ramble 3:30 pm. sCarBorougH CiviC Centre Metropolitan Silver Band Sunday Concert Series, 2 to 4 pm. seven44 Robbie Lane & the Disciples 5 pm. tranzaC soutHern Cross The Lina Allemano Four (jazz), 10 pm. Toronto Improvisers Orchestra 1 pm.

ñ

DJ SKRATCH BASTID

SNEAKY DEE’S BIG JOHN PASSES AWAY

It was a tough weekend for staff and patrons at College Street institution Sneaky Dee’s. The restaurant and indie music venue’s beloved door man and head of security, Big John, died following a battle with cancer.

“His love reached farther and wider than all of ours combined,” read a post on Sneaky Dee’s website.

“He showed strength and positivity in the trickiest moments. He bent over backwards to be a good person even when it wasn’t convenient.”

T.O. Music NOTes

Sneaky Dee’s has extended an open invitation to customers to attend Big John’s funeral on Thursday (February 5) at 10 am the Heritage Funeral Centre (50 Overlea).

RUSH MAKE GOOD

Local prog gods Rush are the recipients of this year’s Allan Waters Humanitarian Award, which recognizes philanthropic contributions made by Canadian musicians. The band will pick up the honour during the 2015 Juno gala in Hamilton on March 14.

Over the past four decades, the group has supported charities such as the Toronto Food Bank, Doctors Without Borders, amfAR, Little Kids

Rock and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, among many others.

MATADOR REOPENS Neighbours in the Dovercourt and College area got a chance to peek inside the newly reno’d Matador Ballroom, which has morphed from after-hours dive to “high-end, mature and elegant” events space under new owner Paul McCaughey.

NOW also scoped out the joint. See the feature and photos at nowtoronto.com/news.

TSO TO PLAY JONNY GREENWOOD On March 12, 2016, the Toronto

Symphony Orchestra hosts the Canadian premiere of Water, a piece Radiohead guitarist/keyboardist Jonny Greenwood composed for strings, piano and tambura in collaboration with the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

The performance is part of the TSO’s New Creations Festival, cocurated by musical director Peter Oundjian and Australian composer Brett Dean, and runs March 5-12.

The TSO also commissioned local spinner DJ Skratch Bastid to remix four pieces written for the Afiara String Quartet. That will debut on March 5, 2016.

DanCE musiC/DJ/loungE

CLuB 120 5DJ Sexypants Roughhouse, 1 to 5 pm.

HuntCLuB studios Exquisite Beat Theatre

Wavelength Music Festival (futuristic tribal rhythms) Slowpitch, Pursuit Groove, Libydo.

8 pm.

LoFt 404 Box of Kittens, alienInFlux Sunday Afternoon Social, 3 pm.

ñ

Monday, February 9 pop/roCk/Hip-Hop/soul

grossman’s tavern No Band Required 10 pm. kitCH Luke Vajsar Hypnotic Lounge Series, 9:30 pm.

Folk/BluEs/Country/WorlD

Cameron House Autumn Portrait 10 pm. The Conductors 6 pm.

Castro’s Lounge Fraser And Daley (folk), 8:30 pm.

dora keogH Open Stage Arthur Renwick and

host Julian Taylor, 8 pm.

Free times CaFe Open Stage Mondays (folk/ songwriters). 7:30 pm. gate 403 Clela Errington Duo (root music), 5 to 8 pm. mCgradies tap and griLL Dan Walek Acoustic Jam, 8 to 11 pm. oLd niCk Alanna Matty,Kelvin Wetherell, Lucio Agostini M-Factor Mondays (singer/ songwriters), 7:30 pm. opera House Asaf Avidan doors 8 pm. tranzaC Tranzac Open Stage 10 pm.

Jazz/ClassiCal/ExpErimEntal

edward JoHnson BuiLding Russell Braun, Monich Whicher, Carolyn Maule & Steven Philcox Monday Evening concert, 7 pm. continued on page 42 œ

NOW February 5-11 2015

41

OLD-SCHOOL HIP-HOP

Grandmaster flash No such thing as “real hip-hop,” says rap legend By BENJAMIN BOLES GRANDMASTER FLASH , BONJAY and DJ ANDYCAPP in the Art Gallery of Ontario’s Walker Court (317 Dundas West), Thursday (February 5), 7 pm. Sold out. ago.net.

Hip-hop pioneer Grandmaster Flash has no idea what he’s going to play tonight at the AGO’s First Thursdays launch party for the Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibit.

However, that’s perfectly normal for the veteran DJ, who prefers to go into each performance with a blank slate.

“I look at the people in front of me and they just give me a feeling,” Flash says as he prepares to board a plane to the UK. “It’s kind of hard to explain. I just go off the vibe I get from the audience, which is pretty much how I’ve played for decades now.”

That freewheeling approach has helped set him apart from the generations of turntablists he inspired with his groundbreaking approach to DJing and work as Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.

But while he’s proud of his legacy – despite preferring not to discuss FF or 1982’s iconic single (and video for) The Message – he also sees contemporary hip-hop DJs losing touch with the roots of the style.

“A hip-hop DJ set is pop, rock, jazz, blues, funk, disco, R&B, alternative and Caribbean. It’s about finding the breaks in these songs. Today there are some misperceptions about that, but when I play that way, people sincerely enjoy it – like they’ve never heard it before. People need to know where hip-hop comes from, and it comes from all the greatest genres of all time.”

Similarly, Flash also has no interest in the ongoing angry debates about what “real hip-hop” is, and sees such a question as antithetical to what’s made the genre so wildly popular.

“You can’t put your finger on what real hip-hop is because everyone wakes up differently and has their own perspective on what great music is and what a great lyric is.

A person in California will see it differently than a person in the Bronx, and a person in the Philippines will see it differently than a person in Japan or Germany or Belgium.

“When you start trying to pinpoint what this is, you limit it. So I don’t know what it means when people say ‘real hiphop.’”

3 benjaminb@nowtoronto.com | @BenjaminBoles

clubs&concerts œcontinued from page 41

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5 PRESENTED BY INERTIA ENTERTAINMENT EMMET RAY BAR Anthony Szczachor Trio (jazz), 9 pm. Max Senitt Trio (jazz), 7 pm.

ALESTORM’S PIRATEFEST

FOuR SEASONS CENTRE FOR TH E PERFORMiNG ARTS COC Ensemble Studio artists (arias), The

Christina & Louis Quilico Awards, 5:30 pm [Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre].

GATE 403 Chris Staig Trio 9 pm.

H ARLEM uNDERGROuND Neil Brathwaite (jazz), 8 to 11 pm.

TH E REx Humber College Student Jazz Ensembles 9:30 pm. University Of Toronto Student Jazz Ensembles 6:30 pm.

SEvEN44 Bob Cary Big Band 7:30 pm.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6

OZIMOZIS EVENTS SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7

Dance Music/DJ/Lounge

H ANDLEBAR Brandon Miller Rotation, 10 pm.

ROOTS REGGAE LIVE & IN CONCERT WITH

Tuesday, February 10 PoP/Rock/HiP-HoP/souL

CAMERON H OuSE Johnson Crook 6 pm.

DAkOTA TAvERN Olivia Chaney doors

ODEL JOHNSON, FUJAHTIVE, DJ SESSIONS & OTHERS

6:30 pm. ñ H ANDLEBAR Faster (jazz/punk/improv), 9 pm.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10 PRESENTED BY LIVE NATION

H ORSESH OE Sleeping Lies, The Dead Bees, Graeme Kennedy, Alter Kakers Nu Music Nite, doors 8:30 pm.

MOD CLuB Joshua Radin, Rachel Yamagata, Cary Brothers doors 6:30 pm, all ages.

MuSiDEuM Zack Werner (pop/R&B), Idol School, 8 pm.

TH E PAiNTED LADY Dave Quanbery, Ozgoode, Within, Noon to Noon doors 8:45 pm.

RivOLi Le Barron, Gen Why, Greg Mashinter Indie Night, doors 8 pm.

JOSHUA RADIN

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13

THE BIG SOUND

722 COLLEGE STREET

themodclub.com 42

February 5-11 2015 NOW

Follow us on Twitter NOW

@nowtoronto

FoLk/BLues/countRy/WoRLD

CAMERON H OuSE Sinners Choir 10 pm.

TH E DukE LivE.COM Frank Wilks Open Jam,

8:30 pm.

FREE TiMES CAFE Stephen Lewis & Josh Mckinley (folk), 8 pm.

Gate 403 Ryan Carr Blues Trio 9 pm.

Grossman’s tavern Django Gypsy Jam 8 pm.

HuGH’s room JoJo Worthington, Benjamin

Rogers, Nefe & Annie Sumi Discoveries Series.

8:30 pm.

Jazz Bistro Julian Fauth (barrelhouse blues/ boogie woogie), 8 pm.

THE OSSINGTON

Four seasons centre For tHe perForminG arts Jane Archibald (soprano), Songs Of Love

MARMALADE & BUTTAHFINGAZ

tion #27.1 (improvised music), 8 pm. castro’s LounGe Carlos Lopes (jazz), 8:30 pm.

And Longing, noon to 1 pm [Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre].

Gate 403 Thom Mason Jazz Trio 5 to 8 pm. tHe rex Chris Gale (sax), Classic Rex Jazz Jam, 9:30 pm. Trevor Giancola Trio 6:30 pm. saLty DoG Jazz Tuesdays 7 pm. tranzac Stop Time (jazz), 10 pm. [Southern Cross].

Wednesday, February 11 pop/roCk/Hip-Hop/soul

cameron House Corinna Rose, Kashka,

ñTwin Voices doors 7 pm [Backroom].

Dave Quanbury 10 pm. Jay Pollock 8 pm.

FRI 6

Hip hop, soul, RnB, reggae. party jams...

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SANDI MARIE UNDER THE BUS 6:30pm-9pm COMBO ROYALE 10pm-2am

SAT 7 Glam positive, mega blowout dance party...

SUN 8

w/Famous Kirk Hero. Prizes, pals. knowledge...

COMEDY AT OSS

MON 9 Open mic night...

FAKE COPS

TUE 10 Extreme improv comedy...

SOPHISTICATED BOOM BOOM

Strangers doors 6 pm.

HorsesHoe Helsynki, Ladyface, Sofa King

Addicted doors 8:30 pm.

Jazz Bistro George Olliver (soul), 8 pm. meLanGe Van Leer Open stage, 6-11 pm. smiLinG BuDDHa Punx Can’t Laugh Selby Nixon, Dave Burke, Jonesin’ and others (punk rock/stand-up comedy show). 9 pm. unicorn puB The B-Sides 9:30 pm.

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 5

BARD FROM THE CLUB 10pm-2am

WED 11

tHe Garrison Bad Suns, Coasts, Maudlin

LEGENDARY HOME OF THE BLUES SINCE 1943

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array space The Element Choir Audiopollina-

THU 5 w/ DJ Big Jimmy Mills... Spinning oldschool hip hop, dancehall and beyond...

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Performance, poetry and rawk....

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FRIDAY FEBRUARY 6

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 7

THE HAPPY PALS 4:30pm-8pm LAURA HUBERT 10pm-2am

PM

9PM

Sat Feb 7 6PM

ALL STAR JAZZ BAND 4:30-9pm

THE NATIONAL, BLUES JAM w/BRIAN COBER 10pm-2am MONDAY FEBRUARY 9

ALISTAIR CHRISTL

10 BLUEGRASS BRUNCH RYAN O’REILLY w/ NICK ROSE AM

9PM

Sun Feb 8 9PM

Tue Feb 10

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 8

NEW ORLEANS CONNECTION

PM

THE RIZDALES

10AM

BLUEGRASS BRUNCH

PUBLIC ANIMAL

+ MERCY NOW

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OLIVIA CHANEY 9 REDSTEPS PM

Wed Feb 11

w/ ADA DAHLI & THE PALLBEARERS 9PM

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NO BAND REQUIRED 10pm-2am TUESDAY FEBRUARY 10

DJANGO GYPSY 9:30pm-1am

Folk/BluEs/Country/World

DeL ray so-caL cantina Open Stage 9 pm. emmet ray Bar Peter Boyd & The Mutant

WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 11

BRUCE DOMONEY 10pm-2am

Mariachis (blues/country/folk/roots), 9 pm.

Gate 403 Julian Fauth Blues Night. 9 pm.

Michelle Rumball 5 to 8 pm.

Grossman’s tavern Bruce Domoney 9:30 pm.

Kramer’s Open Stage, 8 to 11 pm. tranzac Arnd Jurgensen 7:30 pm. [Southern Cross]. Comhaltas Irish Slow Session 6 pm.

[Tiki Room].

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castro’s LounGe Pat Perez (jazz), 8:30 pm. cHaLKers puB Lisa Particelli Girl’s Night Out

Tour, 8 pm.

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Four seasons centre For tHe perForminG arts CaneFire (Latin/steelpan jazz), Pande-

UPCOMING THURSDAY FEBRUARY 5

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danCE musiC/dJ/loungE

crawForD Connected Reggae Party 9 pm.

HanDLeBar Greasy Listening (vinyl spun by

REVI EWS , LISTI NGS, CONTESTS

AND MOR E

SNEAKY DEE’S CUSTOMER APPRECIATION NIGHT

ISABEL S, & THE UNCOMMONS REVIEW THE RATTLESNAKE CHOIR Thu BEN ING SURESS, Feb 5 LIST CONTESTS

RSVP ON FACEBOOK!

E MOR GUILTY PLEASURES DANCE PARTY AND Fri Feb 6 DJS A DIGITAL NEEDLE

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monium, 5:30 pm [Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre]. massey HaLL Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra w/ Wynton Marsalis 8 pm. nawLins Jazz Bar Jim Heineman Trio (jazz), 7 to 11 pm. onLy caFé Lazersuzan (groove-based space jazz), 8 to 10 pm. tHe rex The Juhas Brothers 6:30 pm. Mike Milligan Quartet 9:30 pm. roy tHomson HaLL Emanuel Ax, Jan Lisiecki Piano Extravaganza-The Carnival Of The Animals. 8 pm. tranzac Aldcroft, Oswald, Milchem, Davison, Liu (jazz), 10 pm. trinity st. pauL’s cHurcH Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra & Chamber Choir (Baroque concert w/ narration & projected images), House Of Dreams, 7 pm.

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43

album reviews Pop/Rock

ñBOB DYLAN

album of the week JOHN MISTY ñFATHER NNNNN

I Love You, Honeybear (Sub Pop) Rating: Father John Misty is Josh Tillman, former Fleet Fox and folk rocker turned sentimental crooner. Or rather, Josh Tillman is Father John Misty, the hallucinating Casanova doused in sentimentality and hooky melodies. His second album blends these two personas, exploring Tillman’s past salacious exploits – maybe autobiographical, maybe not – and his discovery of love and marriage.

The lyrics are brilliant and subtle.

Choice excerpts from the title track: “I brought my mother’s depression, you’ve got your father’s scorn and wayward aunt’s schizophrenia… don’t

give in to despair, cuz I love you, Honeybear.” He’s equally talented at writing heartfelt acoustic guitar riffs or quiet piano tunes, adding the ideal dose of strings and lush backing vocals.

Even the oddball True Affection, an R&B electro number with drum machine solos, somehow makes sense in FJM’s weird world. Tillman’s vocals, which range from howlin’ to soulful, are also his strongest yet. I could say something about how he’s “finally found his voice,” but that would make him cringe.

Top track: The Night Josh Tillman Came To Our Apartment Father John Misty plays the Danforth Music Hall February 18.

SAMANTHA EDWARDS

Baroque Orchestra

DIRECTED BY JEANNE LAMON

Feb 11-15

HOUSE OF DREAMS A multimedia concert experience – selling fast!

416.964.6337 tafelmusik.org 44

FEBRUARY 5-11 2015 NOW

TAFELSCENE PRESENTED BY

Shadows In The Night (Columbia) Rating: NNNN Bob Dylan is an amazing singer. He always has been, but his voice, like so many things in this life, isn’t for everyone. With recent Bootleg Series releases for SelfPortrait and The Basement Tapes, Dylan’s camp has been re-focusing attention on the one-in-a-million lyricist’s gifts as an interpreter of other people’s ideas.

Of late Dylan’s own songs have never been harsher: “I pay in blood / But not my own,” he lashed out in a punk-infused rasp on 2012’s biting Tempest. Conversely, this collection of deeper cuts that Frank Sinatra recorded is a romantic respite from Dylan’s edgy workingman’s blues, and it prompts him to actually croon.

In his unparalleled phrasing, he reverently calls out to the Chairman, singing sweetly, seriously and strongly, while his crack band, bolstered by horns, lays down rubbery, mellow textures in raw takes. It’s intimate, too; you can hear Dylan’s lips smack and nostrils whistle as he concentrates on the task of inhabiting his favourite American singer. The music means the world to him, and it’s wonderful.

Top track: Full Moon And Empty Arms VISH KHANNA

DAVE RAVE & THE GOVERNORS Sweet American Music (RaeBeat)

Rating: NNN The name Dave Rave will mean a lot to anyone versed in Canadian rock and roll history, particularly the first wave of Canadian punk. He played rhythm guitar and sang, post-Frankie Venom, in Hamilton’s Teenage Head before becoming a session player with Big Star’s Alex Chilton, Daniel Lanois and former Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham.

The title track and first song on Sweet American Music, recorded in Minnesota with the Governors, is the perfect distillation of everything Rave must have learned from classic pop songwriting geniuses.

Embodying its name, it bops and glimmers and delivers hook after hook, evoking Shoes, the best pub rock and energetic, early Nick Lowe. Nothing that follows comes close to its perfection, though there is still much to admire, like the Kinksian Pullman, Washington, and the snottier Night School.

A pleasant addition to your power pop album collection.

Top track: Sweet American Music Dave Rave hosts an album listening party at the Strathcona in Hamilton on February 17.

CARLA GILLIS

cate fingerpicking and soft vocals, but also makes for a somewhat monotonous listen over nine similar tracks. Whether you take to Pratt’s reedy, quavering vocals (think Vashti Bunyan or Joanna Newsom) is purely subjective, but the way she changes up her register to suit a song’s vibe helps bring colour to a fairly flat palette (which only includes the odd dab of organ and clavinet). Multi-tracked vocals add richness to the Van Dyke Parks sway of I’ve Got A Feeling, while the quiet lilt of the title track captures Pratt’s pastoral retrofolk style with a whisper of Nick Drake tenderness.

Top track: On Your Own Love Again TABASSUM SIDDIQUI

R&B NNNN ñDAWN RICHARD

Blackheart (Our Dawn) Rating: Dawn Richard has straddled the mainstream pop and indie worlds as a member of the Diddy-convened R&B group Danity Kane and as a solo act with a taste for high-concept, sci-fi flavoured R&B. Danity Kane came to an acrimonious end last year, leaving Richard to indulge the latter side on her second solo album.

Whereas past releases filtered her traditional, melismatic R&B runs through a Peter Gabrielesque worldly surrealism, Blackheart is refreshingly unbeholden to the convention that requires R&B singers to balladeer non-stop at top volume.

Instead, working with producer Noisecastle III, Richard searches for a sound more uniquely “her.” Her imaginative, frozen planet of bloopy, contrasting sounds and irregular, crystalline rhythms are as prominent as her vocals – if not more so. Not that there aren’t any showstopping moments, but her intuitive approach feels at one with the album’s dreamy, cosmic consciousness and nicely underscores the personal bent of the lyrics.

Top track: Swim Free KEVIN RITCHIE

Singer/songwriter Electronic

35 & Under?

Tafelscene discount tickets start at $20 SEASON PRESENTING SPONSOR

JESSICA PRATT On Your Own Love

EGYPTRIXX Transfer Of Energy

Again (Drag City) Rating: NNN Singer/songwriter Jessica Pratt’s second album was born of a move from San Francisco to Los Angeles following the loss of her mother and a long-time relationship, and its starkness and minor tonality give it a hushed, contemplative feel. Pratt, who made her debut in 2012 after Tim Presley (White Fence) founded Birth Records to release her work, has distilled her acoustic-guitar-and-voice approach down to its very essence, recording solo to four-track.

That lo-fi method showcases her deli-

[Feelings Of Power] (Halocine Trance) Rating: NNN The third album by Toronto electronic producer Egyptrixx (aka David Psutka) is not much fun, but that seems completely intentional. His work has grown increasingly bleak since his 2011 debut album, Bible Eyes, and now seems more influenced by doom metal and experimental music than escapist dance beats. Still, Transfer Of Energy [Feelings Of Power] is exceptionally brutal even within that context. Only brief, melancholy melodies give relief

Ñ

from the oppressive darkness.

There aren’t many times in the average person’s life when this would be the first choice of soundtrack, unless you spend a lot of time in German S&M dungeons or prefer your acid trips to be nightmare experiences. The term “power ambient” has been tossed around lately to describe similarly grim electronic albums, but can anyone say that without laughing? Besides, the rhythmic elements put it closer to techno and industrial music, especially the clanging metallic percussion noises, which sound like someone angrily hitting a piece of sheet metal with a baseball bat. Interesting, but not for the faint of heart.

Top track: Discipline 1982 BENJAMIN BOLES

JOHN TEJADA Signs Under Test (Kompakt) Rating: NNN For his 10th album, Austrian-born, California-based DJ/producer John Tejada focuses on his collection of vintage synths, drum machines and tape echo machines in search of warmth and unpredictability.

Rather than revisit the electronic music sounds of the 70s and 80s, he’s applied the equipment to the melodic tech house with which he’s long been associated.

While that musical direction won’t surprise fans, the overall feel of Signs Under Test is distinctly different from what’s currently filling the dance charts.

The mood is mostly mellow and dreamy, but still closer to dance music than ambient. Tejada goes for unique tones and avoids trends, though many moments are reminiscent of big-room progressive tunes of the early 00s, which sound dated at times. Nevertheless, there are also plenty of undeniably pretty melodies, thick tones and pleasingly warm textures, not to mention impressive flashes of innovation and creativity.

Top track: Meadow BB

Punk

ñRETOX

Beneath California (Epitaph) Rating: NNNN Retox’s third album gets in and then out like a bandit in the night. The San Diego/ L.A. punk band is ferocious and pissed off about big data, backstabbing, societal fucked-upness, death, the apocalypse.

They convey their rage through brief songs (mostly under two minutes) featuring Justin Pearson’s furious scream-singing and noise riffs that dazzle while splitting an anvil over your head.

The guitars take the tunes beyond typical punk rock straightforwardness. The lead often takes flight away from blocky power chords and toward swirling, anxious noise rock. The charging Disappointing Grade plays with time signatures while still maintaining a catchy groove.

Final song Strong Wrong Opinion gets doomier than they ever have been. They simplified on their last album, but go for stylistic playfulness on this one.

The four members have spent time in countless other projects – the Locust, Head Wound City, All Leather, Swing Kids, Kill the Capulets, etc – but with Retox they deliver an intensity and focus few bands could maintain for a 12-song album, let alone a three-album career.

Top track: Let’s Not Keep In Touch Retox play the Cave on February 25.

CG

= Critics’ Pick NNNNN = Perfect NNNN = Great NNN = Good NN = Bad N = Horrible

stage

more online nowtoronto.com/stage Audio clips from interview with PROGRESS’S MICHAEL RUBENFELD • Interview with HOW DO I LOVE THEE?’S FLORENCE GIBSON MACDONALD • Scenes on FOOTSTEPS IN CAMPBELL HOUSE Fully searchable listings with venue maps nowtoronto.com/listings

THEATRE FESTIVAL PREVIEW

Progress report

Inaugural fest unites local and international indie artists By JON KAPLAN Marathon involves three actors who run eight kilometres as the work unfolds.

PROGRESS: INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF PERFORMANCES AND IDEAS presented by SummerWorks in partnership with the Theatre Centre (1115 Queen West). Runs to February 15. Free-$30. 416-538-0988, thisisprogress.ca.

Molly Parker, photo by Matt Tamaro

Making progress relies on a diversity of opinions.

That’s what SummerWorks artistic producer Michael Rubenfeld learned

when he started to plan Progress, an international festival that offers something different from the annual August fest, whose focus is on local and Canadian works.

“The Theatre Centre’s Franco Boni suggested we sit down with Toronto artists who make striking choices as presenters and creators and discuss what ‘progress’ meant to them in terms of the city’s performance ecology,” recalls Rubenfeld.

“Everyone had a different idea or perspective. What was intriguing was that people kept coming to meetings. One day we realized that the only thing we agreed on was the necessity of sitting around a table and respectfully disagreeing.”

Progress is curated by a varied group that includes Buddies in Bad Times, Dancemakers, FADO Performance Art Centre, the National Arts Centre English Theatre, Videofag, Volcano Theatre and Why Not Theatre. The

event includes seven shows as well as workshops and discussions.

“What’s nice about a small festival like this is that we can encourage a more rigorous conversation, where each work is supported by a breath of space. That’s not possible in a larger event like SummerWorks, where you often can’t process what you’ve seen until after the festival.”

One of the highlights will be the Israeli show Marathon, conceived and directed by Aharona Israel (who will also offer workshops on her creative process techniques), which involves three actors who run eight kilometres as the work unfolds.

“It’s a metaphor for the contemporary Israeli experience,” explains Rubenfeld, who curated the show.

“I’ve been engaged in a number of projects and conversations about Israel, and while we hear a lot from the Jewish diaspora, one of the missing elements is the thoughts of Israelis about a country they love but are in conflict with.”

Rubenfeld sees a counterpart to Marathon in D-Sisyphe (Décisif), Tunisian writer/performer Meher Awachri’s solo show about a man meditating on his ruined life.

“It’s rare to see a play from the Arab world, but it’s fascinating to see two shows, both of which combine text and movement, that use the myth of Sisyphus to talk about their contemporary cultures.”

Language is a key element in the organization of the festival, both in terms of the metaphoric vocabulary artists use to create their work and the words spoken in performance. A few shows will be presented in their original language, with English surtitles or performances in English on other days.

Polish performer Janek Turkowski’s Margarete is based on a series of 8-mm films he discovered at a flea market; he’s constructed a show about the woman pictured in them. Cine Monstro is a Portuguese version by Brazil’s Enrique Diaz of Daniel MacIvor’s 1998 show Monster, complete with a video component; MacIvor will be part of a post-show talk on February 13.

Adding a twist to the importance of language in festival programming is Silent Dinner, a free Irish/Canadian co-pro involving deaf, CODA (children of deaf adults) and hearing actors. The eight-hour durational work revolves around assembling and eating a meal in silence.

Rounding out the schedule are The Messiah Complex 5.0, a look at the history of religiosity by Canadian Michael Dudeck, shaman-in-residence during Marina Abramovic’s 2010 MoMA exhibition, and a reading of Novorossiya: No One’s Land, an autobiographical look at the Ukrainian conflict created by Pavel Yurov and Anastasiya Kasilova, Progress’s artists in residence.

“I’m curious about every show,” smiles Rubenfeld. “That’s the lovely thing about having many curators.

I’m excited not only about being a producer, but also about experiencing the festival as a whole.”

3 jonkap@nowtoronto.com

harper regan

MORE ONLINE

Interview clips at nowtoronto.com

bY

Simon Stephens directed bY

Matthew Jocelyn

theatre listings How to find a listing

Theatre listings are comprehensive and appear alphabetically by title. Reviews are by Glenn Sumi (GS) and Jon Kaplan (JK).

The rating system is as follows: NNNNN Standing ovation NNNN Sustained applause NNN Recommended, memorable scenes NN Seriously flawed N Get out the hook

ñ= Critics’ pick (highly recommended) How to place a listing

All listings are free. Send to: events@nowtoronto.com, fax to 416-364-1168 or mail to Theatre, NOW Magazine, 189 Church, Toronto M5B 1Y7. Include title, author, producer/ company, brief synopsis, times, range of ticket prices, venue name and address, and box office/ info phone number or website. Listings may be edited for space. Deadline is the Thursday before publication at 5 pm.

If your free listing requires a correction, send info to: fixevents@nowtoronto.com.

New this week 300 TO 1 & MONKEY POET by Matt Panesh

(Rock’n’Role Theatre). A mashup of the film 300 and WWI poetry plus a unique stand-up poetry show make up this double bill. Feb 6-7 at 8 pm. $20, stu/srs $15. Red Sandcastle Theatre, 922 Queen E. 416-845-9411.

ABYSS by Maria Milisavljevic (Tarragon Theatre). A woman goes missing and her family looks to her lover from a troubled region for answers. In previews, opens Feb 11 and runs to Mar 15, Tue-Sat 8 pm, Sun 2:30 pm. $29$55, previews $23-$27. Extraspace. 30 Bridgman. 416-531-1827, tarragontheatre.com.

ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF AN ANARCHIST by Dario Fo (Soulpepper). An man arrested after a bombing falls from the 4th floor of the police station in this satire. Opens Feb 5 and runs to Feb 21, see website for times. $29.50-$89.

Young Centre for the Performing Arts, 50 Tank House Lane. 416-866-8666, soulpepper.ca.

ALL OUR HAPPY DAYS ARE STUPID by Sheila Heti and Dan Bejar (Suburban Beast/Harbourfront World Stage). Two families on permanent vacation search for contentment and authenticity. Opens Feb 11 and runs to Feb 14, Wed-Sat 8 pm. $25-$30.

Harbourfront Centre Theatre, 231 Queens Quay W. harbourfrontcentre.com.

ANTIGONE by Jean Anouilh (UTM Drama Club).

Antigone defies the ruler of Thebes to defend her slain brother’s honour. Feb 5-7 at 7:30 pm. $15, stu $10. MiST Theatre, CCT Bldg. U of T Mississauga Campus, 3359 Mississauga Rd N. facebook.com/events/1022876001062901.

BEYOND BELIEF by Burke Campbell (1000 Monkeys). A Hollywood bad-boy hopes to redeem his image by playing Jesus in a film, but brings

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bluma appel theatre MAR 1 - 22 an epic voyage of discovery starring Molly Parker from House of Cards

Production Sponsor

tickets 416.368.3110

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45

theatre listings œcontinued from page 45

Courtenay Stevens and Eva Barrie (front) get Melancholy.

theatre review

Sad Sarah MELANCHOLY PLAY by Sarah Ruhl (The Empty Room). At the Collective Space (221 Sterling, unit 5). Runs to February 8. $15-$23. empty-room.com. See Continuing, page 48. Rating: NNN

Sarah Ruhl subtitles Melancholy Play a farce; her blend of comedy and depression is an unusual one.

Its central character, Tilly (Eva Barrie), a bank teller who’s being treated for melancholy by her therapist, Lorenzo (Patric Masurkevitch), can’t shake her feelings of sadness. Still, that doesn’t stop the four other characters from falling in love with her: Lorenzo; a tailor named Frank (Courtenay Stevens); and a lesbian couple, Frances (Rose Napoli) and Joan (Suzanne Roberts Smith).

The relationships move in a seesaw fashion. When Tilly is melancholy and admits she hates happy people, the quartet is excitedly, sometimes giddily, drawn to her; when her mood improves and her wardrobe becomes more colourful, they fall into their own types of despair.

The whimsical play, in which children are deserted at birth and people turn into nuts, requires a lightness of touch that director Jeffrey Pufahl

doesn’t always bring to the material.

The physical posturing he assigns the actors is often unnecessarily fussy.

The best scenes involve Napoli and Smith, who play all sorts of levels, from humorous to deadly serious, that define the vibrant, unpredictable Frances/Joan relationship. Their flirting with Tilly and vying for her favour give a lift to Barrie’s performance, especially at the afternoon tea party where Tilly meets Joan.

Stevens has some good moments, too, notably in a scene where Frank reminisces about the sister he hasn’t seen in years. Just as importantly, the tailor’s passion for Tilly has just the right balance of silliness and intensity.

One of the production’s highlights is the design, which gives the action a suitably Alice In Wonderland unreality.

Set and costume designer Karyn McCallum dresses the characters mostly in whites and neutrals and defines their world with empty window and picture frames, allowing them to peer or reach into other parts of the action, as if eavesdropping or looking for help.

Mikael Kangas lights the all-white set with a range of vibrant colours that reflect the characters’ moods.

Michael Roth’s score, played onstage by cellist Cory Latkovich, also nicely captures the characters’ moods.

JON kAPLAN

his vices to the set. Opens Feb 11 and runs to Feb 15, Wed-Sat 8 pm, Sun 2 pm. $20, stu/srs $15. Red Sandcastle Theatre, 922 Queen E. 416-845-9411.

BLitHE SPirit by Noel Coward (Mirvish). The spirit of his first wife pesters an author and his new spouse in this comedy. Opens Feb 11 and runs to Mar 15, Tue-Sat 8 pm, mat Wed and Sat-Sun 2 pm. $35-$175. Princess of Wales Theatre, 300 King W. mirvish.com. tHE BriCk BrOS. CirCuS by Puppetmongers (Solar Stage Children’s Theatre). Trained bricks performing in a one-ring circus in this all-ages puppet play. Feb 7-8 at 11 am & 2 pm. $16.

4950 Yonge. 416-368-8031, solarstage.on.ca.

CANNiBAL! tHE MuSiCAL by Trey Parker (Starvox Entertainment). This musical tells the (mostly) true story of Alferd Packer, the only person convicted of cannibalism in America.

Previews from Feb 10, opens Feb 17 and runs to Mar 8, Tue-Sun 7 pm, mat Sat 2 pm, Sun 2:30 pm. $30-$110. Panasonic Theatre, 651 Yonge. mirvish.com.

D-SiSYPHE by Meher Awachri (Progress Festival/ Volcano Theatre). This adaptation of the myth of Sisyphus explores contemporary Arab society through spoken word and choreography.

Feb 6 at 9 pm, Feb 7 at 2 pm. $15-$18. Theatre Centre, 1115 Queen W. thisisprogress.ca.

DANgErOuS LiAiSONS by Christopher Hampton (Red One Theatre Collective). Two aristocrats amuse themselves by compromising women of virtue in pre-Revolutionary France.

Opens Feb 11 and runs to Feb 21, Wed-Sun 8 pm, mat Sat 2 pm. $25. The Storefront Theatre, 955 Bloor W. secureaseat.com. tHE DiNiNg rOOM by AR Gurney (Soulpepper).

A series of vignettes over 50 years satirize the family life of bourgeois America. Preview Feb 5-11, opens Feb 12 and runs to Mar 7, see website for times. $29.50-$89. Young Centre for the Performing Arts, 50 Tank House Lane.

416-866-8666, soulpepper.ca.

DON giOvANNi & uN BALLO iN MASCHErA by Mozart/Verdi (Toronto City Opera). Two Italian operas are performed on alternating days. Opens Feb 11 and runs to Mar 1, Wed, Fri-Sat 7:30 pm, Sun 2 pm (see website for exact schedule). $28, srs $20, stu $15.

Bickford Centre Theatre, 777 Bloor W. uofttix.ca.

FEAr AND trEMBLiNg by Layla Metssitane (Théâtre des Hommes). Theatrical adaptation of Amélie Nothomb’s novel performed in French with English subtitles. Feb 11 at 8 pm. $15-$30. Alliance Française, 24 Spadina Rd. alliance-francaise.ca.

FiDDLEr ON tHE rOOF by Joseph Stein, Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick (St Michael’s College Troubadours). A Jewish patriarch in Russia clings to tradition in a changing world in this musical. Feb 5-7, Thu-Sat 8 pm, mat Sat 2 pm. $20, stu/srs $12. Hart House Theatre, 7 Hart House Circle.

416-978-8849, uofttix.ca.

HOw DO i LOvE tHEE? by Florence Gibson MacDonald (Canadian Rep Theatre). This play explores addiction and artistic inspiration in the love story of poets Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning.

Opens Feb 5 and runs to Feb 22, Tue-Sat 8 pm, Sun 2 pm. $35-$40, $15 rush Sun. Berkeley Street Theatre, 26 Berkeley. 416-368-3110, canadianrep.ca.

MArAtHON by Aharona Israel (Koffler Centre/ Progress Festival). The autobiographical stories of the performers reflect a state of constant emergency in this dance/theatre work.

Feb 4-6 at 7:30 pm. $20-$30. Theatre Centre, 1115 Queen W. thisisprogress.ca.

MArgArEtE by Janek Turkowski (SummerWorks/Progress Festival). Turkowski recalls his experience with found footage of a woman from 50s East Germany in this theatrical lecture. Feb 12-15, Thu 4 & 7 pm, Fri 7 & 9:30 pm, Sat 2 & 6 pm, Sun 5:30 & 7 pm. $15-$18. Theatre Centre, 1115 Queen W. thisisprogress.ca.

MAriLYN: FOrEvEr BLONDE by Greg Thompson (NuMu Production). The story of Marilyn Monroe is told in her own words and music in this show based on research. Opens Feb 11 and runs to Feb 15, Wed-Sat 7:30 pm, mat Sat-Sun 2 pm. $47-$108. Winter Garden Theatre, 189 Yonge. marilynforeverblonde.com. tHE MESSiAH COMPLEx 5.0 by Michael Dudeck (Videofag/Progress Festival). Inspired by a 1930s primate experiment, this performance explores concepts of religious evolution. Feb 5 at 9 pm. $15-$18. Theatre Centre, 1115 Queen W. thisisprogress.ca.

ONCE by Enda Walsh, Markéta Irglová and Glen Hansard (Mirvish). An Irish musician and a Czech immigrant are drawn together by their love of music. Previews Feb 10-21, opens Feb 22 and runs to May 31, TueSat 8 pm, Sat-Sun and Wed 2 pm. $29-$130. Ed Mirvish Theatre, 244 Victoria. mirvish.com.

PLAYgrOuND (Theatre @ York). Student-produced fest of original works and works-inprogress. Feb 11-13, see website for schedule. $7. Joseph G Green Studio Theatre. York University, 4700 Keele. theatre.finearts. yorku.ca.

ñ

tHE QuEErNOtE CABArEt (Festival of

Original Theatre/ Centre for

New this week

BEgiNNiNgS & ENDiNgS The York Dance En-

semble presents its annual production. Opens Feb 11 and runs to Feb 13, Wed-Fri 7:30 pm, mat Thu 2 pm. $12-$18. York University, 4700 Keele. 416-736-5888, dance.finearts.yorku.ca.

BOLLYwOOD DANCE COMPEtitiON 2015 Filmifusion dance competition featuring teams from the U.S. and Canada. Feb 7 at 4 pm. $25.

Rose Theatre, 1 Theatre Lane (Brampton). bollywooddancecanada.eventbrite.ca.

LOvE LEttErS CABArEt: SMOkE Pastel Supernova presents a dance/theatre show where cigar factory workers in the 50s daydream about love affairs, secrets and desires. Feb 11 at 8 and 10:30 pm. $25-$45. Lula Lounge, 1585 Dundas W. lula.ca.

MAkE. MAkE PuBLiC. Dancemakers and the

46

february 5-11 2015 NOW

Ñ

= Critics’ Pick

NNNNN = Standing ovation

NNNN = Sustained applause

ñ

ñ

Continuing

Becky Johnson goes swimsuit shopping in All Our Happy Days Are Stupid.

dance listings B = Black History Month event

Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, U of T). Burlesque, drag, spoken word and performance art that is queer in methodology and content. Feb 5 at 8 pm. Pwyc. Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen W. foot2015.wordpress. com. r-E-B-E-C-C-A by Sara Farb (Theatre Passe Muraille). A girl with developmental disabilities due to premature birth interacts with an alternate self in this solo piece. Previews Feb 5-8, opens Feb 10 and runs to Mar 1, see website for schedule. $17-$33. TPM Backspace. 16 Ryerson. 416-504-7529, passemuraille.ca. rEtrO rADiO HOur – rOMANCE! (Bygone Theatre). This evening features oldies music, old radio plays, magic and more with Emily Dix, Matt McGrath, Astrid Atherly and others. Feb 11 at 8 pm. $5. 2nd fl. The Social Capital Theatre, 154 Danforth. bygonetheatre.com. rHuBArB FEStivAL (Buddies in Bad Times Theatre). The 36th edition of the new works festival features plays, dance, performance art and more. Opens Feb 11 and runs to Feb 22, see website for schedule. $20 evening passes, some events pwyc. 12 Alexander. buddiesinbadtimes.com.

SNOw ANgEL by Nikki Loach and Peter Balkwill (Quest Theatre/YPT). The magic of winter and the ripple effect of kindness is explored in this play for ages 4 and up. Opens Feb 10 and runs to Feb 19, see website for schedule. $15-$30. Young People’s Theatre, 165 Front E. youngpeoplestheatre.ca.

SPriNg AwAkENiNg by Frank Wedekind (Lower Ossington Theatre). Teens explore sex and deal with the consequences in 19th-century Germany. Opens Feb 5 and runs to Mar 1, ThuSat 8 pm, Sun 4 pm, mat Sat 2 pm. $50-$60.

100A Ossington. lowerossingtontheatre.com. tALES FrOM tHE viENNA wOODS by Ödön von Horváth (Ryerson Theatre School). This satire about the deception and brutality of the petite bourgeoisie is set in 1930s Austria. Opens Feb 5 and runs to Feb 11, daily at 7 pm (no show Sun). $20, stu/srs $15. Ryerson Theatre, 43 Gerrard E. 416-979-5118. twiStED by Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman and Joseph Jomo Pierre (b current/Factory Theatre). Ollie and Nance struggle to survive on the streets of Toronto in this modern version of Oliver Twist (see story, page 47).

Opens Feb 5 and runs to Feb 22, Tue-Sat 8 pm, Sun 2 pm. $23-$45. 125 Bathurst. 416-5049971, factorytheatre.ca. tHE wOrLD gOES ‘rOuND (Scarborough Music Theatre). This show features the music and lyrics of John Kander and Fred Ebb including songs from Cabaret, Chicago and more.

Opens Feb 5 and runs to Feb 21, Thu-Sat 8 pm, Sun (and Feb 21) at 2 pm. $25-$27. Scarborough Village Theatre, 3600 Kingston Rd. 416267-9292, theatrescarborough.com.

Progress Festival use a collaborative, dancederived process to create a performance with members of the public. Feb 8, workshop 10 am-5 pm, performance 7 pm. Free (pre-register for workshop on eventbrite.ca).

Theatre Centre, 1115 Queen W. thisisprogress.ca.

OLD StOriES Danceworks CoWorks presents choreography by Maxine Heppner that reveals public myths shared by a community of storytellers and the private world of a woman living amongst them. Feb 5-8, ThuSat 8 pm, mat Sun 3 pm. $20-$30. Scotiabank Theatre. Pia Bouman School for Ballet, 6 Noble. 416-204-1082, oldstories.brownpapertickets.com.

BQuEENS CALLiNg dance Immersion presents a celebration of sisterhood by eight diverse female choreographers. Feb 6-7 at 8 pm, mat Sat 1 pm. $25-$30, stu $15.

Harbourfront Centre Theatre, 231 Queens

NNN = Recommended, memorable scenes

BLOOD rELAtiONS by Sharon Pollock (Alumnae Theatre). This psychological journey looks at the real-life case of suspected axe murderer Lizzie Borden. To Feb 7, Wed-Sat 8 pm, Sun 2 pm. $20, Wed $10, Sun pwyc. 70 Berkeley. 416-364-4170, alumnaetheatre.com.

DiE wALkürE by Richard Wagner (Canadian Opera Company). A warrior goddess risks everything to preserve the future (see review, page 48). To Feb 22, see website for schedule. $22-$424. Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen W. 416363-8231, coc.ca. NNNNN (GS) DON giOvANNi by WA Mozart (Canadian

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Quay W. 416-973-4000, danceimmersion.ca.

SOCiAL Toronto Dance Project presents a performance exploring the influences of social media. Feb 5 at 7:30 and 9:30 pm. $25.

Lula Lounge, 1585 Dundas W. lula.ca.

BZAYO! ESiE MENSAH’S BLACk StArS Kuumba Festival presents African and Caribbean dance fused with contemporary hip-hop and house dance forms. Feb 7 at 8 pm, Feb 8 at 4 pm. Free. Harbourfront Centre Theatre, 231 Queens Quay W. 416-973-4000.

Continuing

BrAZiL, tHE LAND OF tEArS AND SOuL Newton Moraes Dance Theatre presents dance that portrays the soulful complexity of contemporary Brazilian culture. To Feb 7, Thu-Sat 8 pm. $25, stu/srs $20. Winchester Street Theatre, 80 Winchester. coc.ca.

PrOgrESS: iNtErNAtiONAL FEStivAL OF PErFOrMANCE AND iDEAS SummerWorks and

Theatre Centre present performances, workshops and conversations featuring international shows in various languages (see story, page 45). To Feb 15, see website for schedule. $15-$30, some free events. Theatre Centre, 1115 Queen W. thisisprogress.ca. 3

NN = Seriously flawed

N = Get out the hook

Waiting Room

Ngabo Nabea and Susanna Fournier get ready to phone it in, via text messages.

a world premiere

by Diane Flacks directed by Richard Gleenblatt

Jan 6–Feb 15, 2015 Mainspace “Beautifully acted”– Toronto Star “Deeply personal”– Globe & Mail

RaCheal MCCaig

“Totally honest and touching”– NOW Magazine

30 Bridgman Ave · 416.531.1827 · tarragontheatre.com season sponsor

theatre preview

Twist ’n’ shout Dickens classic gets an edgy update By JON KAPLAN and Joseph Jomo Pierre, directed by Nigel Shawn Williams, with Susanna Fournier and Ngabo Nabea. Presented by Factory Theatre and b current at Factory (125 Bathurst). Opens Thursday (February 5) and runs to February 22, Tuesday-Saturday 8 pm, matinee Sunday 2 pm. $23-$45, some Sunday pwyc, stu/srs discounts.

416-504-9971, factorytheatre.ca.

Using a cellphone is part of most peo­ ple’s everyday lives.

For Oliver and Nancy, the two characters in Twisted, their cells are lifelines to each other.

If those names and the play’s title suggest a certain novel by Dickens, that’s exactly what writers Charlotte Corbeil­Coleman and Joseph Jomo Pierre had in mind. They’ve given the Victorian novelist’s Oliver Twist a modern update, setting it on the streets of Toronto.

“Like the original, this Oliver is an orphan,” says Ngabo Nabea, who plays the role. “He’s been passed from shel­ ter to foster homes and only known abusive relationships, especially with women, who let him down constantly.

Only when he meets Nancy does he find some safety.”

As in the book, Nancy is under the control of Sykes, here a pimp who keeps young girls and has them strip online.

“Like anyone who grew up in a small town, Nancy dreams of going somewhere else,” smiles actor Susan­ na Fournier. “She finds escape on the internet and thinks that by moving to the city her life will improve. Ironic­ ally, she’s totally isolated in the city, even lonelier than at home, and she has to armour herself.”

Both Oliver and Nancy, in fact, have hard shells and use language de­ fensively. He’s a poet, clever with words, while she “insists on being the author of all the stories of her life,”

jonkap@nowtoronto.com

Michelle Monteith, Jordan Pettle; photo by Cylla von Tiedemann

down with b current

Twisted Charles Dickens’ classic — reimagined.

T WISTED Written by Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman & Joseph Jomo Pierre

Now – February 22, 2015

Photo of Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman & Joseph Jomo Pierre by Bronwen Sharp Design by lightupthesky.ca

TWISTED by Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman

notes Fournier. “She’s funny, witty and sassy.”

The creative process for the script was an unusual one. Though both Corbeil­Coleman (Scratch) and Pierre (Born Ready, Shakespeare’s Nigga) are established playwrights, their styles are quite different. She wrote most of Nancy’s lines, while he, with a back­ ground in hip­hop, devised Oliver’s poetic text.

As a result, the characters have two different storytelling voices but share a reliance on text messages to con­ nect with each other and with people in their lives whom we don’t see.

Over the course of the show, Oliver and Nancy spend only five minutes face to face, but that scene is rich with emotion they don’t express to each other but relate in monologues.

“Oliver’s 17 and Nancy’s 23, and it’s kind of like Romeo and Juliet, love at first sight,” say Nabea. “It’s crazy how that one meeting defines their rela­ tionship, with Oliver trying to act all suave and cool while inside he’s freak­ ing out, playing that game of how to be sure he gets the girl’s number, which is always the big dating ques­ tion.”

“It’s their cells that allow them to keep connected in a surprisingly real way,” adds Fournier, a playwright her­ self (Stencilboy And Other Portraits and, later this month at Rhubarb, All The Ways You Scare Me). “Texting opens up ways to build some distance, and therefore safety, into intimacy.

Both Oliver and Nancy are good with words, expressive in a way that allows them to find freedom.

“They may be marginalized, shut off from much of the world, but they can tell their stories in a smart, hu­ man, personalized way. With cell­ phones and texting, they have access to a written language that offers them a world freer than that in which they physically live.”

3

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Call 416.504.9971 or visit factorytheatre.ca

CONTENT ADVISORY: SEX, DRUGS, AND CELLPHONES. | #TWISTED THE PLURALISM

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FUND

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theatre listings œcontinued from page 46

Photo of Sara Farb by Michael Cooper | design by BFdesign

“All it takes is something on a microscopic level to define a person’s entire existence.”

GEttING HItcHED! AN ENGAGEmENt PARty DIREctED By ALfRED HItcHmocK by Birgitte

Solem and Brian Caws (Mysteriously Yours Dinner Theatre). Comedy whodunit set in a world where the Bates Motel meets Mad Men. To Mar 28, Fri-Sat dinner 6:30 pm, show 8 pm.

See website for more times. $45-$87. 2026 Yonge. mysteriouslyyours.com.

HAmLEt by William Shakespeare (Unit 102 Actors Company/the Fresh Mint Project). The classic tragedy is presented in film noir style with suits, bourbon and fedoras. To Feb 7, ThuSat 8 pm. $20-$25. The Theatre Machine, 376 Dufferin. unit102theatrecompany.com. tHE HEARt of RoBIN HooD by David Farr (Mirvish). A laidback, hipster feel suffuses this uneven take on the Robin Hood story, which comes complete with a feminist subplot, scruffy acrobats as Robin’s merry men and the enjoyable harmonies of neo-bluegrass/folk group Parsonsfield to back up the action. The show has energy and a couple of good sight gags – including many on the remarkable set – but the characters are thin and the performers don’t get to show off their musical chops.

ñ

PRoGREss: INtERNAtIoNAL fEstIvAL of PERfoRmANcE AND IDEAs (SummerWorks/The-

atre Centre). Performances, workshops and conversations featuring six international

shows, six languages and five free artist workshops and talks (see story, page 45). To Feb 15, see website for schedule. $15-$30, some free events. Theatre Centre, 1115 Queen W. thisisprogress.ca. sABRINA fAIR by Samuel Taylor (Amicus Productions). A chauffeur’s daughter returns from Paris profoundly changed and captures the eye of his employer’s son. To Feb 7, Thu-Sat 8 pm, mat Sat 2 pm. $22, stu/srs $20. Papermill Theatre, 67 Pottery. amicustickets.ca. tHE sEAGULL by Anton Chekhov (Crows Theatre/Canadian Stage). Working with a superb cast of actors, director Chris Abraham brings to vivid life Chekhov’s characters, who invariably fall in love with the wrong people and ignore those who are enamoured of them. Breaking the fourth wall, the production captures the comedy as well as the heartache of the all-too-human men and women who populate this world. To Feb 8, Thu and Sat 8 pm, Fri 7 pm, mat Sat-Sun 1 pm. $22$49. Berkeley Street Theatre, 26 Berkeley. canadianstage.com. NNNN (JK) sLEEPING BEAUty (Nags Players). The fairy tale is presented as a traditional English panto. To Feb 7, Thu-Sat 7:30 pm, mat Sat 1:30 pm. $12$20. Tranzac, 292 Brunswick. nagsplayers.com.

WAItING Room by Diane Flacks (Tarragon Theatre). Flacks blends two stories, one involving a young couple whose infant daughter is diagnosed with a brain tumour and the other about physicians working on a risky trial for early-onset Alzheimer’s; the former is the stronger narrative. The playwright leavens the tragedy inherent in both tales with a welcome dash of comedy, and her cast is a strong one. To Feb 15, Tue-Sat 8 pm, Sun 2:30 pm. $29-$55. 30 Bridgman. 416-531-1827, tarragontheatre.com. NNN (JK) 3

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opera review

FEBRUARY 5 » MARCH 1, 2015

Grab this Ring

A THEATRE PASSE MURAILLE PRODUCTION

By Sara Farb | Directed by Richard Greenblatt | Starring Sara Farb

O

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Opera Company). Dmitri Tcherniakov places Mozart’s opera in a contemporary family setting, the title character a dishevelled, sad outsider who attracts women despite his lack of charisma. Russell Braun is excellent as the don, and there are other fine performances, but the director’s choices are sometimes striking and sometimes just plain silly. To Feb 21, see website for schedule. $22-$424. Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen W. 416-363-8231, coc.ca. NNN (JK)

To Mar 29, Tue-Sat 7:30 pm, mat Sat-Sun and Wed 1:30 pm. $35-$130. Royal Alexandra Theatre, 260 King W. mirvish.com. NNN (GS) LovE foR LovE by William Congreve (George Brown College School of Performing Arts). A nobleman’s son must choose between love or money. To Feb 14, Tue-Sat 7:30 pm, mat Sat 1:30 pm (and Feb 11). $20, srs $15, stu $8.

Young Centre for the Performing Arts, 50 Tank House Lane. 416-866-8666, youngcentre.ca. mELANcHoLy PLAy by Sarah Ruhl (The Empty Room). A girl admired for her “beautiful sadness” becomes happy, disappointing her followers (see review, page 46). To Feb 8, Thu-Sun 8 pm. $20-$23, stu $15-$18. The Collective Space, 221 Sterling, unit 5. empty-room.com.

NNN (JK) otHER DEsERt cItIEs by Jon Robin Baitz (Markham Little Theatre). An author returns home for Christmas and announces that her new book will reveal secrets from the family’s past.

To Feb 7, Thu-Sat 8 pm. $24-$26. Flato Markham Theatre, 171 Town Centre Blvd. 905-3057469, markhamlittletheatre.ca. tHE otHER PLAcE by Sharr White (Canadian Stage). White’s acclaimed psychological thriller about dementia is boosted by a standout performance from Tamsin Kelsey as a successful neuroscientist whose increasing forgetfulness and delusions strains her relationship with her oncologist husband, and reopens a decade old mystery about their missing daughter. To Feb 7, Tue-Thu and Sat 8 pm, Fri 7 pm, mat Sat-Sun 1 pm. $30-$99. Bluma Appel Theatre, 27 Front E. 416-368-3110, canadianstage.com. NNNN (Jordan Bimm)

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DIE WALKÜRE by Richard Wagner

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(Canadian Opera Company). At the Four Seasons Centre (145 Queen West).

Runs to February 22. $22-$424. 416-3638231, coc.ca. See Continuing, page 46.

Rating: NNNNN

If Wagner’s Ring Cycle is the Mount Everest of opera, Die Walküre – the second of the cycle’s four works – is the most popular part of the climb. It features the best known “numbers,” including the immortal Ride Of The Valkyries, and the fewest slow patches.

Sure, it takes a while to scale – four hours and 45 minutes, including two intervals – but the Canadian Opera Company’s revival is a thrilling musical drama.

That’s evident from the first notes, when conductor Johannes Debus and the 110-piece COC orchestra confidently and precisely attack the score to evoke a trek through a forest, which will eventually lead to incest between twins (twincest?), a fight to the death, a marital squabble and a very moving scene between a Norse god and his fierce warrior daughter.

This production, directed by filmmaker Atom Egoyan and designed by Michael Levine, needs to be seen in the context of the entire Ring to be Michael Hollett fully appreciated.

(Next season the COC’s remounting the third work, Sieg@m_hollett fried.) But you can glean ideas about change, theAlice move from the stuffiness Klein and constraints of the Victorian era – @aliceklein represented by restrictive bustles and grand white doors that represent the Susan G. Cole old guard, Valhalla – to the twisted jumble of@susangcole iron and metal of postindustrial-age warfare.

Enzo DiMatteo Wagner’s epic drama deals with @enzodimatteo archetypes, and there are plenty of symbols that need no explaining: Norm Wilner swords removed from trees, fire that

Dimitry Ivashchenko and Heidi Melton lustily bite into their roles in Die Walküre.

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Michael Hollett .....................................................................................@m_hollett Alice Klein .................................................................................................@aliceklein Susan G. Cole .......................................................................................@susangcole Enzo DiMatteo ..........................................................................@enzodimatteo nowtoronto.com/newsletters Norm Wilner ....................................................................................@normwilner Glenn Sumi ............................................................................................@glennsumi Kate Robertson.....................................................................................@katernow Sarah Parniak ..............................................................................................@s_parns Ben Spurr ..................................................................................................... @benspurr Jonathan Goldsbie ..............................................................................@goldsbie Adria Vasil .................................................................................@ecoholicnation Sabrina Maddeaux ................................................@SabrinaMaddeaux NOW Promotions ...............................................@NOWTorontoPromo

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48

february 5-11 2015 NOW

Ñ

= Critics’ Pick

NNNNN = Standing ovation

Newsletter

@normwilner

NNNN = Sustained applause

Glenn Sumi @glennsumi Kate Robertson

only the true hero can cross and a ring as all-powerful as the one found by Frodo. These things are directed with clarity so general audience members will feel them in their gut. I’d forgotten how powerful a bit of staging involving fire near the end was; it works on a narrative and emotional level.

And recurring leitmotifs in the score – did I mention how great the orchestra sounds? – tell you a lot about what’s going on.

Then there’s the singing. You need stamina, power and authority to ride over those rich, complex harmonies and make these characters come fully alive. In the masterpiece of a first act, Clifton Forbis, Heidi Melton and Dimitry Ivashchenko bring Game Of

NNN = Recommended, memorable scenes

Thrones-worthy earthiness to their dangerous love triangle, the passions clear and palpable.

Janina Baechle and Johan Reuter make the struggles of their battling couple, Fricka and Wotan, funny and effectively cringeworthy. And Wotan’s fierce warrior brood, the Valkyries, are lively and characterful, their voices meshing in an unbelievable swirl of sound.

But it’s Christine Goerke’s Brünnhilde who emerges most triumphant.

With her silvery voice, flashing-eyed dramatic instincts and reserves of power, she’s an ideal Wagnerian soprano. After she’s done singing, it’s a surprise to discover the Four Seasons GLENN sUmI roof is still there.

NN = Seriously flawed

N = Get out the hook

comedy listings How to find a listing

Arthur​Simeon​ joins​hot​​ Nubians​On​​ The​​ Waterfront​ lineup​​ February​7.

Comedy listings appear chronologically, and alphabetically by title or venue.

B = Black History Month event

ñ

= Critics’ pick (highly recommended)

How to place a listing

All listings are free. Send to: events@nowtoronto.com, fax 416-​364-​1168 or mail to Comedy,​NOW​Magazine,​189​Church,​ Toronto​M5B​1Y7. Include title, producer, comics, brief synopsis, days, times, prices, venue name and address and box office/info phone number/ website. Listings may be edited for space. Deadline is the Thursday before publication at 5 pm.

If your free listing requires a correction, send info to: fixevents@nowtoronto.com.

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seConD CiTy sprinG 2015 mainsTaGe revue

Previews of the upcoming collection of sketches, songs and improvisations. In previews to Feb 18, Tue-Thu 8 pm, Fri-Sun 7:30 pm, plus Sat 10 pm. $25-$45, stu $16-$18. Second City, 51 Mercer. 416-343-0011, secondcity.com. sToneD up ComeDy Amanda Day presents a weekly stand-up show. 7 pm. $5. Hot Box Puff Lounge, 204 Augusta. 416-203-6990.

TraCey maCDonalD Stand-up show.

Feb 4-8, Wed-Thu and Sun 8 pm, Fri 9 pm, Sat 8 & 10:30 pm. $13-$22. Yuk Yuk’s, 224 Richmond W. yukyuks.com.

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Friday, February 6 The BesT of The seConD CiTy Classic and ori-

ginal sketch and improvisation. 10:30 pm. $30-$45, stu $18. Second City, 51 Mercer. secondcity.com.

CaTCh23 Weekly improv pit fight. 8 pm. $10.

Comedy Bar, 945 Bloor W. comedybar.ca.

ComeDy kapow! Stand-up, improv & sketch with a pro headliner. 8:30 pm. Free. 120 Diner, 120 Church. facebook.com/comedykapow.

Deanne smiTh See Thu 5.

fro one niGhT only he saiD vs she saiD Couples’ comedy battle w/ Jordan

ñ Foisy, Brian Ward & Matt O’Brien vs Amanda

Brooke Perrin, Cassandra Sansosti & Kathleen Phillips-Locke, and featuring Phil Luzy & Sandra Battaglini. 8 pm. $10. Comedy Bar, 945 Bloor W. comedybar.ca.

GloBeheaD 2015 Teams engage in a singleelimination Theatresports tournament with scenes scored by the audience and a series of guest judges. Feb 6-28, Fri-Sat 8 pm. $12, stu $10. Bad Dog Comedy Theatre, 875 Bloor W. baddogtheatre.com/globehead-2015. improv Game show Weekly Whose Lineinspired competition. 8 pm. $5. 3rd fl. The Social Capital Theatre, 154 Danforth. socap.ca.

JunCTion ComeDy friDays Headliner Daniel Woodrow and host Billy Wiegand. 8 pm.

Pwyc. Magic Oven Keele, 347 Keele. facebook. com/JunctionComedyFridays.

seConD CiTy sprinG 2015 mainsTaGe revue

See Thu 5.

sex & The sinGle parenT valenTines show Chris Robinson, Mark DeBonis,

ñ Dan Bingham, headliner Kate Davis and hosts Precious Chong & Melissa Story. 9:30 pm. $15. Underground Cafe, 670 Queen E. sexandthesingleparent.com.

DEBRA FRIEDMAN

comedic variety show dedicated to cheeseflavoured tortilla chips (includes Doritos). 8 pm. $5. Comedy Bar, 945 Bloor W. facebook. com/events/625942980866160.

The Danny show Weekly comedy showcase from 7 pm, open-mic comedy party from 10 pm, karaoke from 11 pm. Free. 120 Diner, 120 Church. 120diner.com.

Deanne smiTh Headlining w/ Ryan Long, Kyle Brownrigg & host Ben Mathai. Feb 5-8, Thu 8:30 pm, Fri 9 pm, Sat 8 & 10:45 pm, Sun 8 pm. $10-$15. Absolute Comedy, 2335 Yonge. 416-486-7700, absolutecomedy.ca. hey ’90s kiDs, you’re olD This sketch comedy show blends 90s pop culture with the present. 8 pm. $10. Bad Dog Comedy Theatre, 875 Bloor W. hey90skids.com. kiTCh komeDy Weekly pro/am show hosted

by Dean Young. 9 pm. Free. Kitch, 229 Geary. kitchbar.com. saffron & GolD ComeDy Weekly show w/ host Elaine Gold and guest comics. 8:30 pm.

Pwyc. Christie Pits Pub, 814 Bloor W. facebook.com/saffrongoldcomedy.

TraCey maCDonalD See Thu 5. war porsChe Bold storytelling and dynamic

W! ON STAGE NO N

e Toronto Premier

N N N azine NOW Mag

improv w/ Hayley Kellet, Lara Johnson, Allie Price, Mike Kellet and Ben Beauchemin. 8 pm. $8. Comedy Bar, 945 Bloor W. comedybar.ca.

«««ar« Toronto St

Monday, February 9 alTDoT ComeDy lounGe Nick Beaton, Aisha Alfa, Jordan Foisy, Mark Little, ñ Andrew Johnson, Rhiannon Archer, Ryan Long, Nick Martinello, MC Julia Hladkowicz and others. 9 pm. $5. Rivoli, 332 Queen W. altdotcomedylounge.com.

The BesT of The seConD CiTy Classic and original sketch and improvisation. 8 pm. $14.

Second City, 51 Mercer. secondcity.com.

son MacDonald

by Florence Gib ass G directed by Ken

Cameron house ComeDy: relaTionship fail

Thursday, February 5 Consensual snaCks Cassie Moes hosts a

seConD CiTy sprinG 2015 mainsTaGe revue

See Thu 5.

TraCey maCDonalD See Thu 5.

Saturday, February 7 BeGGar’s Canyon: love arrows Geeky

sketch comedy from Beggar’s Canyon (Peter Hill, Ian MacIntyre) w/ guests the Weaker Vessels and Joel Buxton. 10 pm. $8. Comedy Bar, 945 Bloor W. comedybar.ca.

ComeDy unCovereD: live! Stand-up and sketch w/ headliner Monty Scott, Kathleen Phillips, Natasha Boomer and host Jay Freeborn. 9 pm. $10-$12. Comedy Bar, 945 Bloor W. comedybar.ca.

Darrin rose: my DaD’s oTher son Just for Laughs presents Rose in a stand-up solo show. 8 pm. $27.50. Winter Garden Theatre, 189 Yonge. ticketmaster.ca.

Deanne smiTh See Thu 5.

GloBeheaD 2015 See Thu 5.

Guess who’s CominG To improv Pairs of improvisers are selected out of a hat to perform 5 minute scenes. 8 pm. $5. Comedy Bar, 945 Bloor W. comedybar.ca. laTin live! Sketch, stand-up comedy and music with a Latin touch. 7 pm. Free. 120 Diner, 120 Church. 120diner.com. lol in The norTh ComeDy series High Octane Entertainment presents Faizon Love, Capone, Rob Stapleton, Jay Martin and Trixx.

7:30 pm. $45-$75. John Bassett Theatre, 255 Front W. ticketwindow.ca. marilla wex: This muCh i know The actor/comic performs a stand-up show.

9 pm. $20-$25. The Flying Beaver Pubaret, 488 Parliament. pubaret.com.

ñ ñ

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BnuBians on The waTerfronT ComeDy show Kuumba Festival pre-

ñ sents Aisha Alfa, Arthur Simeon, Big Norm,

Kenny Robinson and others. 7 and 10 pm. $18. Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W. harbourfrontcentre.com/kuumba.

The pen 15 CluB presenTs no resoluTion

Chantel Marostica, Chris Robinson, Jesse Owens, headliner Chris Locke and host Calwyn Shurgold. 10 pm. $5. Tequila Bookworm, 512 Queen W. pen15club.ca. perfeCT 10 ComeDy: feBruary eDiTion Chris Robinson, JJ Liberman, Andre Arruda, Sandra Battaglini and others. 10:30 pm. $15-$20.

Comedy Bar, 945 Bloor W. comedybar.ca.

seConD CiTy sprinG 2015 mainsTaGe revue

See Thu 5.

TraCey maCDonalD See Thu 5. wesT enD Girls Monthly showcase of female

stand-up w/ Kate Davis, Rhiannon Archer, Natalie Norman and others. 7 pm. $10-$15.

Comedy Bar, 945 Bloor W. westendgirls.ca.

Sunday, February 8 Deanne smiTh See Thu 5. happy hour ComeDy Courtney Gilmour, Ber-

nard Higgins, David Lucchese, Brandon Sobel, Liam Duignan and host Jennifer McAuliffe. 8 pm. Free. Ein-Stein, 229 College. ein-stein.ca.

The playGrounD Stand-up comics followed by an open mic w/ hosts Melissa Story and Kris Siddiqi. 8:30 pm. Pwyc. 3rd fl. The Social Capital Theatre, 154 Danforth. 416-903-5388. real Jokes With Dion Arnold & Scott Belford.

8 pm. Free. Placebo Space, 2877 Lake Shore W. facebook.com/events/1490828984532340.

Stand-up comedy w/ hosts Dena Jackson & Jen Sakato. 8 pm. Pwyc. 408 Queen W. cameronhousecomedy@gmail.com.

Cheap lauGhs Weekly open mic w/ Russell Roy and guests. 9:30 pm. Free. PJ O’Briens Irish Pub, 39 Colborne. 416-815-7562. panCake monDays Comedy + pancakes. 7:30 pm. $5. Smiling Buddha, 961 College. facebook.com/groups/PancakeMondays.

This is The worsT! share The love! Fully improvised musical comedy w/ This Is the Worst and guests Attack of the Heart. 9:30 pm. $10.

Bad Dog Comedy Theatre, 875 Bloor W. 416491-3115, thisistheworstcomedy.com.

TouGh love improv The Dandies present a show that puts performers through their paces to shake of rust and break bad habits. 8 pm. $2/pwyc. The Social Capital Theatre, 154 Danforth. improvdandies.wordpress.com.

200% voDka Weekly improv hosted by Matt McCready. 8 pm. Pwyc. 2nd floor. The Social Capital Theatre, 154 Danforth. socap.ca.

Tuesday, February 10 a lauGh a minuTe Open-mic stand-up w/

host Mandy Goodhandy. 10 pm. Free. 120 Diner, 120 Church. 120diner.com. fake Cops ComeDy: The DisasTer Monthly showcase to give comics 5 minutes to take risks and try out outside-the-box comedy routines. 8:30 pm. Free. The Ossington, 61 Ossington. fakecopscomedy@gmail.com. les improBaBles Competitive improv en français. 7:30 pm. $5. Supermarket, 268 Augusta. ligueimprotoronto@gmail.com.

BmiChel mpamBara The African-Canadian performer presents a solo show in French. 7 pm. $20-$25. Alliance Française, 24 Spadina Rd. theatrefrancais.com.

seConD CiTy sprinG 2015 mainsTaGe revue

See Thu 5.

The skin of my nuTs Open mic w/ host Vandad Kardar and others. 7:30 pm. Free. Sonic Cafe, 60 Cecil. facebook.com/skinofmynuts. sTuDenT BoDies Weekly improv showcasing the teams and players from the Social Capital Rep Players and House Teams. 8 pm. Pwyc.

2nd floor. The Social Capital Theatre, 154 Danforth. 416-903-5388, socap.ca. yuk yuk’s new TalenT TuesDays The Humber School of Comedy at 7:30 pm, New Talent Showcase at 9:30 pm. $4/show. Yuk Yuk’s, 224 Richmond W. yukyuks.com.

“Pomegranates.

That’s what we need.“ featuring Matthew Edison, Nora McLellan, Irene Poole and David Schurmann

Jan 31 – Feb 22 Berkeley Street Theatre Upstairs Tickets online: www.canadianrep.ca Phone: 416.368.3110

CONTESTS

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THIS WEEK

MUSIC

ANTI FLAG

Win a pair of tickets to see Anti Flag on February 12th at The Horseshoe Tavern!

Wednesday, February 11 aC pro-am niGhT Chad Gibson, Christina Markham, Dave Healey, Patrick Stewart, Steve Thorpe, Tyler Forbes, headliner Andy Pitz and host Brendan McKeigan. 8:30 pm. $6. Absolute Comedy, 2335 Yonge. 416-486-7700, absolutecomedy.ca.

ComeDy niGhT aT musiDeum Weekly standup, improv and sketch. 8 pm. $5. Musideum, 401 Richmond W. musideum.com.

CorkTown ComeDy Neil Rhodes, Tim Golden, Nisha Alcorn, host Brian Coughlin and others.

9 pm. Free. Betty’s, 240 King E. 416-988-2675, corktowncomedy.com. punx Can’T lauGh Punk rock/stand-up comedy show hybrid w/ Selby Nixon, Dave Burke, Ryan Long, Billy Wiegand and others. 9 pm.

Pwyc. Smiling Buddha, 961 College. facebook. com/events/647368605386647. sCoTT faulConBriDGe Stand-up show. Feb 11-15, Wed-Thu and Sun 8 pm, Fri 9 pm, Sat 8 & 10:30 pm. $13-$22. Yuk Yuk’s, 224 Richmond W. yukyuks.com.

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Win a pair of tickets to see Stars and Hey Rosetta on February 13th at The Danforth Music Hall!

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Win a pair of tickets to see Ariel Pink on February 19th at Pheonix Concert Theatre!

seConD CiTy sprinG 2015 mainsTaGe revue

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siren’s ComeDy Open-mic stand-up w/ host Jesse Donato and headliner Jhanelle Dennis.

8:30 pm. Free. Celt’s Pub, 2872 Dundas W. 416-767-3339. spiriTs ComeDy niGhT Weekly open mic. 9 pm. Free. Spirits Bar & Grill, 642 Church. 416967-0001, spiritsbarandgrill.com.

3

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NOW february 5-11 2015

49

ROXA GAY R

oxane Gay is a bona fide academic, but reading her stuff you’d never know it.

The creative writing teacher at Indiana’s Purdue University is a Twitter fanatic – she’s got 52,500 followers – and a prolific blogger. She tweets on everything from The Bachelor to the weather and has released a collection of mostly playful essays bearing the purposefully provocative title Bad Feminist ($19.99, Harper Perennial).

Pop culture is her theme, but rarely has everything from Scrabble (she’s a competitive player) to reality TV to 12 Years A Slave been assessed and analyzed with her combination of wit, outrage and trenchant political analysis. She’s also, not incidentally, helped make feminism relevant to a new generation.

To call her outspoken is to understate her edge. On the subject of Beyoncé? “Amazing feminist.” About the rise in black activism: “There’s something new going on. Black people have absolutely had enough.” On Oscar’s snub of the Martin Luther King pic Selma: “Same shit, different day.”

She’s not the kind of writer who struggles to adjust her writing style from academic to mainstream. In fact, she says, it’s the other way around.

“I want to make my academic writing more accessible so that it actually gets read, instead of being like all too much academic writing,” she says from her car in Boca Raton, where she’s a visiting writer at Florida Atlantic University. “By that I mean written by us, for us, without acknowledging the world around us.”

50

february 5-11 2015 NOW

“Look how many people want to give Bill Cosby a pass. People don’t want to face themselves and the way they might be complicit.“

No one starts a blog and scores tens of thounovel, An Untamed State, with Siri sands of Twitter followAgrell Saturday (February 7), 4:30 pm, ers out of the blue. Gay at Harbourfront Centre’s Brigantine burst on the scene last Room (235 Queens Quay West). $18. spring with her power416-973-4000, ifoa.org. ful debut novel, An Untamed State, which she discusses onstage at Harbourfront Centre on Saturday (February 7). It’s about Mireille, the American daughter of a powerful Haitian industrialist, who on a visit to the island is kidnapped for ransom. While captive she endures a series of brutal sexual assaults.

The tone here isn’t that of her breezy blog, but that’s one of the things that makes Gay so compelling as a writer: she can deliver both humour and heft.

She’s also not afraid to get personal. It’s doubtful she would have written An Untamed State had she not herself been gangraped when she was in high school, something it took her years to even talk about, let alone tackle in a novel. She says she often had to take a break from writing, literally step away from the desk to pull herself together so she could continue. But what stayed constant was her passion to finish.

She received literary and thematic inspiration from Emma Donoghue’s novel Room.

“Room was one of the books that most influenced me,” she says while driving and trying to stay focused. “Donoghue

ROXANE GAY discussing her

XANE KICK-ASS BLOGGER AND INVENTIVE CREATIVE WRITING PROF DELIVERS AN INCENDIARY FIRST NOVEL AND REINVENTS RADICAL POLITICS FOR THE MILLENNIAL GENERATION

By SUSAN G. COLE

Jennifer Silverberg

showed us a new way of writing about trauma by mediating it through the character of the young boy.

“There was no such mediation in my novel.”

No kidding. Gay does, however, adopt a specific strategy designed to encourage readers to keep turning the pages even as the novel grows more harrowing. In the very first few paragraphs, the first-person narrator discloses that she was captive for 13 days. She does get away.

“I do that forecasting to let readers know that something terrible happens to this woman, but there’s a beginning and an end, and it goes on for a finite amount of time.”

Gay captures the extent to which sexual assault survivors disassociate while weathering the attacks. But there’s another plot line that Gay says was even more unbearable: the fact that Mireille’s father won’t pay the ransom.

“What is the most horrible thing I could imagine?” she recalls. “It’s not what happens to her, it’s that someone who loves you doesn’t save you. I was really interested in exploring that kind of betrayal. To me it’s unfathomable.”

A powerful section of the book deals with Mireille’s recovery, specifically how her mothercontinued on page 52 œ

NOW february 5-11 2015

51

ROXANE GAY œcontinued from page 51

in-law is able to nurse her through her post-traumatic anxiety. Gay herself wasn’t lucky enough to get that kind of support.

“I didn’t trust anyone in my life to be that person. I did have that person. I just didn’t know I could turn to them. I wasn’t in a place where I could open up. I kept myself closed off for some time.”

Today, the outing of Bill Cosby and various gang-raping high school football teams notwithstanding, there is still powerful resistance to the idea that we live in a rape culture.

Usually quick to give a strong opinion, Gay expresses some ambivalence about people’s unwillingness to accept reality.

“It’s frustrating to see how many people want to give Bill Cosby a pass.

It’s really disheartening. But it’s also horrifying to face the reality that so many people experience sexual assault, that humans can be so terrible.

Who wants to believe that? I don’t.

People don’t want to face themselves and the way they might be complicit.

It’s horrible – but almost understandable.”

She also feels ambivalent when it comes to pop culture. She’s a sucker for it but also critiques the hell out of it.

“We love it and we know it’s bad for us, but it doesn’t always have to be. We should demand that creators make pop culture that’s better for us but still enjoyable and not like penicillin.

How do we make pop culture more human and something that takes into account more experience?”

When she talks about “more experience,” she means something other than whatever happens to white people.

“There isn’t visibility for any people of colour. It’s bad for black people, but the lack of representation of Asians is also appalling, and Latinos and Latinase. It’s really frustrating that there’s only one person included in pop culture. We need to be able to count on more than one hand representations of women of colour.”

She likes the idea of Black History Month as a way to increase recognition of black social contributions to our world, but adds, “This kind of recognition should take place year round, the same way we should recognize how people from all races and ethnicities contribute to the world we live in.”

Gay demands that inclusiveness in mainstream feminism, too, which is why she calls herself a bad feminist. She doesn’t confuse accepting that label with watering down feminism’s definition.

“Calling myself a bad feminist is tongue-in-cheek, you know, saying that I’m not that good at feminism but I am a feminist, I do believe in the equality of women and I’m going to fight for that. But the term ‘bad feminist’ also represents a rejection of mainstream feminism that only concerns itself with the needs and wants of white middle-class women.

If being a good feminist means continuing to ignore transgender women, women of colour, queer women, working-class women, then, yes, I’m a bad feminist.

“Embracing a more inclusive feminism is not the same as watering down feminism. Beyoncé is an amazing feminist. People want to be able to critique the way she projects her image, and that’s totally fine. Let’s do that. But we can still say she’s an empowered feminist.”

3

THE NEXT WAVE

Toni Morrison, Alice Walker and Dionne Brand blazed the trail for Roxane Gay and a new generation writers who’ve put their own spin on the way that issues of race, gender and power intersect – all without being ideologically rigid. Here are four black women writers you’ve gotta read.

Zadie Smith

She’s hardly an up-and-comer, so call her the grand dame of the new wave.

Her 2000 debut novel, White Teeth, a meditation on race and identity about two war buddies, shook up the literary establishment, if only because Smith was only 24 when it was released. She’s been reinventing herself ever since. Influenced by the notoriety generated by her debut, she wrote her follow-up, The Autograph Man, about a celebrity hound. Her third novel, On Beauty, about teaching at an Ivy League school, won the Orange Prize. Her fourth, 2012’s NW, told a story of race and class in a fugue of four voices, busting format and proving she’s more relevant than ever.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Good thing this gifted Nigerian writer decided to abandon medicine for writing. She has a talent for creating absorbing, sweeping stories and complex characters in exhilarating fiction brimming with ideas. Her novel, Purple Hibiscus, was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and her second, Half Of A Yellow Sun won it – both are about power and class in Nigeria.

And Americanah, already a mega-seller, is destined for blockbuster status when the film starring David Oyelowo and Lupita Nyong’o hits the screen. Her recently published TED Talk, We Should All Be Feminists, makes its case in clear-eyed prose, taking on Gay’s challenge to develop an inclusive movement.

Esi Edugyan

Edugyan’s Giller Prize-winning Half Blood Blues brought race into Holocaust literature in unique ways, tracking the story of black jazz musicians trying to survive physically and artistically in Nazi-occupied Paris. She followed that up with the poignant non-fiction Dreaming Of Elsewhere, about identity and the places we call home. There’s a lot riding on her next fiction release, but given the skill she showed in Blues, I’m betting the house that she’s no a flash in the pan.

Helen Oyeyemi

The Nigerian-born, London, UK-based Oyeymi is only 30 but has released five stellar novels, many tinged with magic realism and riffing on wellknown myths and stories. Mr. Fox, for example, is inspired by the Bluebeard tale. Her most recent, Boy, Snow, Bird, is a radical retelling of the Snow White story, where the word “white” has a racial resonance. She was called precocious when she released her first novel, The Icarus Girl, while still in college. Five books later, we refer to her as just brilliant.

SGC

susanc@nowtoronto.com | @susangcole

readings this week B indicates Black History Month event

Thursday, February 5 A Midwinter diAlogue: new work By Anne MichAels with songs By dAvid seredA

Author Michaels and musician Sereda present a multidisciplinary performance. 6-8 pm. Free (RSVP required). Croft Chapter House, University College, 15 King’s College Circle. uc.utoronto.ca/midwinterdialogue.

PlAtforM reAding series Alexandra Leggat and Paul Vermeersch headline plus readings

by Areeba Faraz, Aileen Santos, Jake Skakun and more. 7:30 pm. Pwyc. The Social Capital Theatre, 154 Danforth. paulvermeersch.ca.

Queer confessions: of love And other deMons LGBTQ memoir reading series featuring

Anne Hofland, Haley Paylor, Robert Delaney and others. 8 pm. $5/pwyc. 519 Church Street Community Centre. queerconfessions.com. suzAnne sutherlAnd Launching her novel Something Wiki. 6:30 pm. Free. Another Story Bookshop, 315 Roncesvalles. anotherstory.ca.

Friday, February 6 nAzilA fAthi The former NYT correspondent

reads from and signs copies of The Lonely

52

february 5-11 2015 NOW

War: One Woman’s Account Of The Struggle For Modern Iran. 6 pm. Free. Bloor/Gladstone Library, 1101 Bloor W. torontopubliclibrary.ca.

Saturday, February 7 B5 fingers, 1 fist: looking to the future

Young artists spread the message to honor freedom fighters through spoken word performances as part of Kuumba. 2 pm. Free. Studio Theatre. Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W. harbourfrontcentre.com.

BA is for AfrofuturisM – future storytellers Audience and storytellers collaborate

to invent new narratives through games, play, gesture, sound and imagination as part of Kuumba. Sat & Sun at noon. Free. Harbourfront Centre, Miss Lou’s Room,235 Queens Quay W. harbourfrontcentre.com.

BA is for AfrofuturisM – futuristic lenses/kAleidoscoPe Children of all ages create

pieces of art through literal lenses of the stories they have heard and created further propelling the Afrofuturism movement as part of Kuumba. Sat & Sun, noon. Free. Harbourfront Centre, Miss Lou’s Room, 235 Queens Quay W. harbourfrontcentre.com.

eMerging voices creAtive writers’ conference Young writers 17-24 can meet and inter-

act with a variety of professionals, students and peers, and to celebrate the diversity of Toronto’s writing community. 9 am-4:30 pm.

Free. Pre-register. Reference Library, 789 Yonge. emergingvoicesconference.com.

conversAtion with roxAne gAy Gay presents her novel An Untamed ñ State. Siri Agrell hosts this event as part of Bin

Kuumba (see cover story, page 50). 4:30 pm. $18. Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W. harbourfrontcentre.com.

Phoenix Poetry workshoP Read your poem for feedback and provide feedback for others or listen and share your impressions. 2:304:30 pm. Free. College/Shaw Library, 766 College. phoenixpoetryworkshop.ca. totsAPAloozA 7 Celebration of the DIY-spirit in kid culture, featuring performances by indie bands and picture book authors and interactive activities. 1-3 pm. $18, kids $12. Revival, 783 College. smallprinttoronto.org. words & Music sAlon Poetry by Norman Cristofoli, Charlene Jones, Max Layton, August Henry and storyteller Diz Altschul plus

musicians. 1:30-4:30 pm. Free. Vino Rosso, 995 Bay. 416-926-1800.

Sunday, February 8 Bthe greAt BlAck north: An Afternoon

of Poetry Kuumba and IFOA launch of the anthology of contemporary African Canadian Poetry with readings by Lillian Allen, George Elliott Clarke, Afua Cooper, Kevan Anthony Cameron, Dwayne Morgan and others. 3:30 pm. Free. Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W. harbourfrontcentre.com. toM BABin Launch for Frostbike, a look at the history of biking in cold, snow and ice and more. 7 pm. Free. Type Books, 883 Queen W. 416-366-8973.

Monday, February 9 toronto Poetry slAM Spoken word competition with guest Sabrina Benaim. 8 pm. $5.

Drake Hotel, 1150 Queen W. 416-312-3865, torontopoetryslam.com.

Tuesday, February 10 BAndreA thoMPson The spoken word artist shares her jazz-infused poetics and reads from her debut novel, Over Our Heads. 7 pm.

Free. Spadina Road Library, 10 Spadina Rd. torontopubiclibrary.ca. ghost sick Launch of Emily Pohl-Weary’s second poetry collection with readings by Lillian Allen, Irfan Ali, Dante King, Pohl-Weary and others. 7 pm. Free. The Tenant of Parkdale, 1267 Queen W. tightropebooks.com. norMAn doidge The doctor/author talks about his new book, The Brain’s Way Of Healing. 7 pm. Free (ticket required). Appel Salon.

Reference Library, 789 Yonge. eventbrite. ca/e/14631917459.

Wednesday, February 11 christinA crook Launching her book The Joy Of Missing Out. 6-8 pm. Free. John Street entrance. CBC Broadcasting Centre, 250 Front W. newsociety.com. helen huMPhreys Launching her novel The Evening Chorus. 6-8 pm. Free. Another Story Bookshop, 315 Roncesvalles. anotherstory.ca.

JohAnn hAri The author launches his book Chasing The Scream: The First And Last Days Of The War On Drugs and talks to author/activist Naomi Klein. 6-8 pm. Free. Ben McNally Books, 366 Bay. chasingthescream.com. 3

art

MUST-SEE SHOWS ANGELL Steve Driscoll (painting), to Feb 14.

12 Ossington. 416-530-0444.

A SPACE GALLERY Tings Chak and Sheena

Hoszko (installation), to Mar 14. 401 Richmond W. 416-979-9633.

BARBARA EDWARDS CONTEMPORARY

Medrie MacPhee (painting), Feb 6-Mar 14, reception 6-9 pm Feb 6; artist talk 2 pm Feb 7. 1069 Bathurst. 647-348-5110.

BAU-XI Bratsa Bonifacho (painting), Feb 7-21, reception 2-4 pm Feb 7. 340 Dundas W. 416-977-0600.

BEN NAVAEE GALLERY Malinda Prud’homme (painting), to Feb 12. 1107 Queen E. 416999-1030.

BMO PROJECT ROOM Kent Monkman, to Nov 27, Fri afternoon by appt only. 100 King W, 68th fl. 416-867-5290.

BULTHAUP Richard Johnson (photos), to Apr 18. 280 King E. 416-361-9005.

CHRISTOPHER CUTTS Director’s Choice group show, to Feb 25. 21 Morrow. 416-532-5566.

CLINT ROENISCH Niall McClelland (painting), to Feb 28. 190 St Helens.

416-516-8593.

COOPER COLE GALLERY Anders Oinonen and Jennie Jieun Lee, to Feb 14. 1161 Dundas W. 647-347-3316.

CRAFT ONTARIO GALLERY 1/16: Sheridan furniture students, to Feb 28. 990 Queen W. 416-925-4222.

BDANIELS SPECTRUM Through Generations group show, Feb 5-Mar 1. 585 Dundas E. 416-238-2453.

DIVISION GALLERY Brendan Flanagan (painting), to Feb 28. NEXT group show, to Feb 15.

45 Ernest. 647-346-9082.

EDWARD DAY GALLERY John Climenhage (painting), to Feb 28. 952 Queen W. 416921-6540.

FEHELEY FINE ARTS Lucy Tasseor (sculpture), to Feb 21. 65 George. 416-323-1373.

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Steve McQueen’s video End Credits scrolls through the FBI files on communist actor Paul Robeson, part of The Unfinished Conversation.

VIDEO

Black history turns left

Semiotics giant Stuart Hall inspires potent Power Plant show By FRAN SCHECHTER THE UNFINISHED CONVERSATION: ENCODING/DECODING at the Power

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Plant (231 Queens Quay West), to May 18.

416-973-4949. Rating: NNNNN

The Power Plant’s Gaëtane Verna and Autograph ABP’s Mark Sealy, who curated Ryerson Image Centre’s excellent Human Rights Human Wrongs in 2013, have put together this dense exhibit of videos exploring black and post-colonial history.

It’s inspired by the ideas of Jamaican-born British cultural theorist Stuart Hall. In Encoding And Decoding In The Television Discourse, Hall used semiotics to explain the process by which marginalized people can reject or negotiate with the messages encoded by producers of culture. However, The Unfinished Conversation remains engrossing even for those of us unfamiliar with semiotics.

Giving the show its title is John

Akomfrah’s three-channel work about Hall, tracing his life from his Jamaican youth through his education in 1950s UK and career as a leftist intellectual. Akomfrah conjures the passions of the man and his times through a poetic stream of images of class struggle in postwar Britain, the Suez Crisis, peace marches, the Korean and Vietnam Wars and jazz music.

End Credits by 12 Years A Slave director Steve McQueen takes more than five hours to scroll through the FBI’s voluminous files on Paul Robeson, the black communist actor whose career was effectively ended by the bureau and the Un-American Activities Committee. Sculptor/ musician Terry Adkins sets a soundtrack of Martin Luther King’s speech opposing the Vietnam War and Jimi Hendrix’s music to visuals of vintage photographs of balloons and zeppelins that vibrate ominously. (Ad-

kins and Hall both died last year.)

Sven Augustijnen’s documentary follows a Belgian former bureaucrat who served in the Congo and is researching the murder of Patrice Lumumba, visiting scenes and participants in the 1960s drama. It’s a dispassionate look at a ruling-class man who may or may not be addressing his complicity. Zineb Sedira also takes an oblique approach to post-colonial history in her poignant interview with an Algerian photographer’s elderly widow, who speaks about her efforts to preserve his politically engaged images of the 60s struggle for independence.

All are illuminating works with substantial run times, so plan on repeat visits to take in everything.

They leave us pondering how our own lives affect our experiences of these astute artworks.

3 art@nowtoronto.com

ñGENERAL HARDWARE CONTEMPORARY

Stanzie Tooth (painting), to Feb 7. 1520 Queen W. 416-821-3060.

GLADSTONE HOTEL Tyrone Lebon (photos/ video), to Feb 28. 1214 Queen W. 416-5314635.

HASHTAG GALLERY Inhabitance: Nest Collective, Feb 5-15, reception 7-9 pm Feb 6.

801 Dundas W. 416-861-1866.

JULIE M. GALLERY Ivan Capote, Yoan Capote & Omar Gámez, Feb 5-Mar 16, reception 6-9 pm Feb 5. 15 Mill, bldg 37. 416-603-2626.

KOFFLER GALLERY Kristiina Lahde, to Mar 29.

180 Shaw. 647-925-0643.

LOOP GALLERY Gareth Bate and Carolyn Dinsmore, to Feb 22. 1273 Dundas W. 416516-2581.

MARKET GALLERY Harry Joy, Doug Hemmy and Andy Brooks (photos), to May 9. 95 Front E. 416-392-7604.

MIRA GODARD Stu Oxley (painting/prints), to Feb 14. 22 Hazelton. 416-964-8197.

NEUBACHER SHOR CONTEMPORARY David Spriggs, Feb 6-28, reception 6-9 pm Feb 6. 5 Brock. 416-546-3683.

O’BORN CONTEMPORARY Strayed Representation, to Feb 21. 131 Ossington. 416-4139555.

Works by Kristiina Lahde, including Slide Rule, are at the Koffler Gallery.

OLGA KORPER GALLERY Reinhard Reitzen-

stein, to Feb 21. 17 Morrow. 416-588-8220.

OPEN STUDIO GALLERY Joani Tremblay, To-

bias Williams and Carlina Chen (drawing/ prints), to Feb 21. 401 Richmond W #104.

416-504-8238.

PAUL PETRO Fastwürms and Andrew Harwood, to Feb 14. 980 Queen W. 416-9797874.

PIERRE LÉON GALLERY Antoine Bruneau (photos), to Feb 26. 24 Spadina Road. 416922-2014.

P|M GALLERY Otino Corsano, to Feb 28, reception 6-9 pm Feb 5. 1518 Dundas W. 416937-3862.

PREFIX ICA Myriam Yates, Feb 5-Mar 28, reception 7-10 pm Feb 5. 401 Richmond W #124. 416-591-0357.

PROJECT GALLERY Kristyn Watterworth and Faith Patrick (paintings), to Feb 11, reception 7-11 pm Feb 5. 1109 Queen E. 416-8905051.

SCRAP METAL Somebody, Everybody, Nobody group show, to Mar 28. 11 Dublin.

416-588-2442. Fri-Sat noon-5 pm.

BREFERENCE LIBRARY Freedom City: Uncovering Toronto’s Black History, to Mar 28.

789 Yonge. 416-395-5577.

ROBERT KANANAJ GALLERY Oscar Figueroa, to Feb 9. 172 St Helens. 416-289-8855.

TEODORAART GALLERY Betty White (painting), Feb 5-28, reception 4-8 pm Feb 5. 214 Avenue Rd. 647-340-5832.

THEATRE CENTRE Silent Dinner: FADO/ Progress Festival performance 1-9 pm, Q&A 9-10 pm Feb 7. Free. Witkacy (photos), Feb 4-15, reception 6:30 pm Feb 9. 1115 Queen W. 416-538-0988.

TYPOLOGY PROJECTS Mary Hambleton and Sara MacLean (painting/video), to Feb 22.

Artscape Youngplace, 180 Shaw.

URBANSPACE GALLERY Mapped Ground: Representing The Urban Imaginary, to Mar 8. 401 Richmond W. 416-595-5900.

WHIPPERSNAPPER GALLERY sidewalkscreening.GIF group show, to Feb 15. 594 Dundas W. YELLOW HOUSE GALLERY The Sword And The Brush group show, Jan 22-Feb 7. 921 Kingston Rd. 416-792-8460.

YYZ Jade Rude and Scott Rogers ,to Mar 7.

401 Richmond W, #140. 416-598-4546.

THIS WEEK IN THE MUSEUMS ñBTHE POWER PLANT AGA KHAN MUSEUM The Lost Dhow: A Discovery From The Maritime Silk Route, to ñ Apr 26. 77 Wynford. 416-646-4677. $15- $20.

ART GALLERY OF MISSISSAUGA Visual Arts Mis-

sissauga, to Feb 14. 300 City Centre. 905-8965088.

AGO Art Spiegelman, to Mar 14. Suzy Lake, to Mar 22. Henryk Ross, to Jun 14.

B Jean-Michel Basquiat Feb 7-May 10 ($16.50$25). Mohamed Bourouissa, to Feb 8. 317 Dundas W. 416-979-6648. $11-$19.50, free Wed 6-8:30 pm (special exhibits excluded).

ART GALLERY OF YORK U Biding Time: The Collection Strikes Back, to Mar 15. 4700 Keele, Accolade E bldg. 416-736-5169.

BATA SHOE MUSEUM Fashion Victims: Pleasures And Perils Of Dress In The 19th Century, to Jun 30, 2016. 327 Bloor W. 416-979-7799. $8-$14.

BLACKWOOD GALLERY Inside, to Mar 2. 3359 Mississauga N. 905-828-3789.

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DORIS McCARTHY GALLERY Temperamental, to Feb 14. 1265 Military Trail. 416-287-7007.

FORT YORK Art And The Great War; Charles Pachter, to Sep 1. 250 Fort York Blvd. 416-3926907.

GARDINER MUSEUM OF CERAMIC ART Women, Art & Social Change: The Newcomb Pottery Enterprise, Feb 5-May 18. 111 Queen’s Park.

416-586-8080. $9-$15; Fri 4-9 pm half-price.

HARBOURFRONT CENTRE Darren Rigo; Deep Woods; Stopping By Woods; Lasting Effect; Every So Often; REWILD, to Jun 14. 235 Queens Quay W. 416-973-4000.

JUSTINA M. BARNICKE Sign, Sign, Everywhere A Sign, to Mar 7. 7 Hart House. 416-978-8398.

MOCCA Douglas Coupland; Store/Fronts, to Apr 19. 952 Queen W. 416-395-0067. .

OAKVILLE GALLERIES Depth Of Perception, to Mar 15. 1306 Lakeshore E, 120 Navy (Oakville). 905-844-4402.

The Unfinished Conversation: Encoding/Decoding, to May 18. 231 Queens Quay W. 416-973-4949.

ROM Bernice Eisenstein, to Feb 8.

Douglas Coupland, to Apr 26. Wildlife Photographer Of The Year, to Mar 23. 100 Queen’s Park. 416-586-8000. $14.50- $16; Fri 4:30-8:30 discounts.

RYERSON IMAGE CENTRE Burn With Desire; AntiGlamour: Portraits Of Women, to Apr 5. Zinnia Naqvi, to Feb 22. 33 Gould. 416-979-5164.

TEXTILE MUSEUM OF CANADA From Ashgabat To Istanbul: Oriental Rugs, to Apr 15. 55 Centre. 416-599-5321. $6-$15; pwyc Wed 5-8 pm.

U OF T ART CENTRE The Story Of Canadian Art: As Told By Hart House Collection; Sign, Sign, Everywhere A Sign, to Mar 7. 15 King’s College Circle. 416-978-1838.

VARLEY ART GALLERY Alma Duncan, to May 3.

216 Main (Markham). 905-477-9511. $4-$5.

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MORE ONLINE

Sunday, Feb. 8, 3:30pm

IFOA WEEKLY & KUUMBA present

Brigantine Room 235 Queens Quay West, Toronto

feat. Lillian Allen, Kevan Anthony Cameron, George Elliott Clarke, Afua Cooper, Sankofa Juba, Valerie Mason-John and Dwayne Morgan

Box Office/Info: 416-973-4000 ifoa.org This is a FREE event.

The Great Black North: An Afternoon of Poetry

Kuumba is part of the TD Then & Now Black History Month Series

Complete art listings at nowtoronto.com/listings

= Critics’ Pick NNNNN = This could change your life NNNN = Brain candy NNN = Solid, sometimes inspirational NN = Not quite there N = Are we at the mall?

NOW FEBRUARY 5-11 2015

53

movies more online nowtoronto.com/movies

SUNDANCE FEST WRAP-UP • Reviews TOP 5 MICHAEL MANN MOMENTS • Reviews of JUPITER ASCENDING and SEVENTH SON • and more

Thief, starring James Caan (left), and The Insider, with Russell Crowe, are among the highlights of TIFF Cinematheque’s series.

MEASURE OF THE MANN If you forget about Michael Mann’s last decade, he’s a pretty decent filmmaker By NORMAN WILNER NEON NIGHTS: THE FILMS OF MICHAEL MANN from Thursday

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(February 5) to March 26 at TIFF Cinematheque (350 King West). tiff.net/mann.

Rating: NNNN

It’s sure handy that Michael Mann’s Blackhat straight-up bombed in its theatrical release last month. My case against the filmmaker is that he’s spent the last decade burrowing ever deeper into his own fetishes and interests, and now he’s finally managed to alienate the audience that was willing to tolerate Miami Vice and Public Enemies.

When Mann is on his game, he’s the best there is.

Just look at most of the movies screening in this near-complete retrospective of

his work. Thief, Manhunter (the first screen adaptation of Thomas Harris’s Red Dragon, and still the best), Heat, The Insider and Collateral are things of beauty, their narratives pulsing with suspense and tension, populated by charismatic, hyper-competent antiheroes who are, mostly, positive forces in their worlds.

And consider the respective focal points of Thief and Heat: James Caan’s Frank and Robert De Niro’s Neil McCauley might be criminals, but they’re honourable criminals in a world of scumbags. The line is a little less blurry in The Insider: Russell Crowe’s Jeffery Wigand may work for a cigarette company, but as soon as he recognizes his complicity in the industry’s elaborate coverup of its product’s toxicity, he goes straight to 60 Minutes.

Mann is obsessed with morally compromised heroes who

DIRECTOR RETROSPECTIVE

MICHAEL MANN

54

FEBRUARY 5-11 2015 NOW

are The Best At What They Do despite the consequences. Thief’s Frank is an old-school safecracker risking his hard-won freedom for one last score.

Manhunter’s Will Graham (William Petersen), an FBI profiler whose ability to empathize with serial killers has unlocked his own darkness and endangered his family, is drawn back into the game to catch a familyslaughtering predator. And Heat doubles down by casting De Niro and Al Pacino as a professional bank robber and the loose-cannon LAPD detective determined to bring him down.

In these three films, Mann infuses intensely detailed procedurals with vivid performances and a distinctive visual aesthetic. Thief is pulsing neon; Manhunter is shrieking DayGlo; Heat is all cobalt blue and concrete grey. But they also contain the seeds of Mann’s artistic implosion – emotional distance, questionable dramatic judgment, a tendency toward visual overkill.

The Insider, which followed Heat, finds Mann still clicking along in top form, telling a complex story from the perspective of two top pros – Crowe’s justifiably paranoid Wigand and Pacino’s cynical CBS producer, Lowell Bergman – at a pace and intensity that belie its long running time. Nominated for seven Oscars, it

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lost every one of them – mostly to American Beauty, which probably still wakes Mann up at night.

The Insider takes place outside of the crime-drama genre, making it as much of a departure as The Last Of The Mohicans or Ali, but its clear moral dilemma gives it a better shape than either of those films, both of which drift into a kind of alpha-male trance state about halfway through.

Collateral returns to men with guns – specifically Tom Cruise’s super-confident hit man, who conscripts cab driver Jamie Foxx into a rampage across Los Angeles – but it also finds him embracing digital video, a choice that undermines the rest of his late-period output.

Collateral works because Mann is still shooting cinematically. In Miami Vice and Public Enemies, he jams his tiny cameras into the actors’ faces, rendering physical space incoherent (especially in Public Enemies) and making action scenes look like behind-the-scenes footage.

I know those movies have their defenders – as does Blackhat, inexplicably enough – but I can’t get on board.

Yes, Mann is unquestionably an artist and he’s pursuing his vision. It’s also obvious that the vision is a lot blurrier than it used to be. I wish that were just a metaphor.

3 normw@nowtoronto.com | @normwilner

Top 5

MICHAEL MANN MOMENTS

Visual fetishist. Exacting craftsman. Engineer of intensity. Michael Mann is all these things, able to make a conversation as suspenseful as a shootout. Here are his five most effective scenes.

1. Street fight, Heat (1995) 2. Dr. Lecktor makes a call, Manhunter (1986) 3. Everything goes to hell, Collateral (2004) 4. Raising the stakes, The Insider (1999) 5. Let’s talk, Heat (1995) See full story at nowtoronto.com/movies.

= Critic’s Pick NNNNN = Top ten of the year NNNN = Honourable mention NNN = Entertaining NN = Mediocre N = Bomb

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NOW february 5-11 2015

55

Documentary

Inside scoop DogS oN THE INSIDE (Brean Cunningham, Douglas Seirup). 67 minutes. Opens Friday (February 6). For venues and times, see Movies, page 58. Rating: NNN

Full disclosure: I am a sucker for footage of a happy dog, and Dogs On The Inside has a lot of happy dogs in it – specifically, dogs that have been saved from awful situations and shown kindness and love, possibly for the first time in their lives. So, yeah – bias declared.

Dogs On The Inside looks at the Don’t Throw Us Away program, which pairs rescued dogs with inmates at the minimum-security North Central Correctional Institution in Gardiner, Massachusetts, for mutually beneficial rehabilitation.

The program is great, and worth

This doc about students from India’s former untouchables caste makes the grade.

Documentary

Class gets an A THE BACKWARD CLASS (Madeleine

ñ

Grant). 91 minutes. Some subtitles.

Opens Friday (February 6) at the Bloor Hot Docs Theatre. See Times, page 63.

Rating: NNNN

Despite its premise, The Backward Class, Audience Choice winner at last year’s Hot Docs, isn’t your average underdogs-beat-the-odds documentary. Former untouchables, while still at the bottom of India’s social hierarchy, are studying at Shanti Bhavan

School to pass college entrance exams.

There’s lots of tension. Will these teens, hoping to lift their families out of extreme poverty (scenes where they’re back home are both moving and devastating) score high enough to change their lives?

Before she answers that question, director Madeleine Grant introduces nuanced characters, focusing on three of the 15 students in the graduating class. Vijay is the class star and knows it. Anith is the class clown, which could wreck his chances. Mala isn’t a natural scholar and struggles to keep up.

They’re committed to their goals but also to each other, so much so that during a trial test they help each other

– it’s not cheating – in ways that use up too much of their time, thus dragging down their scores. Principal Lalita Law has to instruct them to be selfish.

Law herself is a beacon of light, a gifted teacher who has deep and complex relationships with all her students.

The sequence in which the kids say goodbye to her is deeply emotional.

But the most fascinating and elusive character is Abraham George, founder of the Shanti Bhavan schools. He won’t be satisfied if the students pass; he’ll settle for nothing short of prime ministerships and Nobel Prizes.

Fortunately, principal Law has more SuSAN g. CoLE realistic goals.

Antonio Banderas and friends take part in the film’s one birdbrained sequence.

Inmate Phil pats his furry friend in irresistible doc.

rom-com

No Love lost LovE, RoSIE (Christian Ditter). 103 minutes. Opens Friday (February 6). For venues and times, see Movies, page 58.

Rating: N We all know from Harry, Sally and that adorable couple in last year’s The F Word that it’s impossible for attractive straight people to be best friends. Alas, Love, Rosie attempts to prove this point yet again, but with none of the charm of its predecessors.

Brits Rosie (Lily Collins) and Alex (Sam Claflin) have been besties since the age of five. But a drunken teenage kiss – and the inevitable misunderstood reactions – sends them reeling apart, resulting in years of pining, bad relationship choices and reams of passive-aggressive text messages.

Alex goes off to Harvard Medical

animateD comeDy

Spongy fun THE SpoNgEBoB MovIE: SpoNgE ouT of WATER (Paul Tibbitt). 93 minutes. Opens Friday (February 6). For venues and times, see Movies, page 58. Rating: NNN

Even the derivative market-dictated packaging of his latest movie can’t dry up SpongeBob’s charms.

In his second big-screen outing, Sponge Out Of Water, Nickelodeon’s daft deep-sea burger flipper in square pants can be seen (as the title promises) on the shore in CG and 3D, playing

56

February 5-11 2015 NOW

superhero in a live-action environment opposite a mugging Antonio Banderas as a villainous pirate.

Thankfully, these unimaginative enhancements are limited to the final act and are even credited to a separate director. The bulk of Sponge Out Of Water stays submerged, hand-drawn and Banderas-free, still delivering the coy wit, surrealism and absurdity that come hand-in-hand with SpongeBob’s frivolous, childish whimsy.

The typically loosey-goosey plot involves SpongeBob (voiced by Tom Kenny) teaming up with his nemesis, Plankton (Mr. Lawrence), on a time-

travelling adventure to retrieve the vanished secret recipe for the Krabby Patty, a burger that keeps their underwater town, Bikini Bottom, sane. The disappearance makes everyone go Mad Max. In addition to the George Miller classic, the movie also throws in comic references to Sergio Leone and (in a particularly psychedelic sequence) Stanley Kubrick. These gags are clearly aimed at older audiences, and maybe even stoners, but the genius of SpongeBob is that those same bits still amuse children. SpongeBob ostracizes no one until that uncharacteristic last act.

RADHEYAN SIMoNpILLAI

Ñ

supporting, and the testimonials from prisoners who’ve been allowed to connect with their “best selves” by caring for an abused or abandoned animal are genuinely moving. But this is more a feature-length promotional video than a documentary.

That would be okay, too, if the filmmaking were more graceful or at least seamless. Brean Cunningham and Douglas Seirup appear to have made Dogs On The Inside on a shoestring: they’re credited as directors, writers, producers, cinematographers and music supervisors. And they clearly had limited access to the program they’re documenting, which means a relatively small amount of usable footage is stretched over the entire feature.

Most of it is of dogs being adorable or attentive, so that may not be a dealbreaker for you. But it’s hard to overlook such an obvious crutch in a movie NoRMAN WILNER as short as this.

School, where he appears to do nothing but date Katherine Heigl clone Tamsin Egerton, while Rosie, pregnant by a disastrous (but hot) prom date, decides to raise the child and put her dreams of becoming a hotelier on hold.

Even by the low standards of the genre, the film is a mess, full of eyerolling coincidences, secondary characters from a Richard Curtis film and so many trans-Atlantic trips it appears that London is a 30-minute commute from Boston (which is played by Toronto anyway).

The two leads have absolutely no chemistry. Claflin (The Hunger Games) has Hugh Grant’s chiselled jaw but none of his comic flair, while Collins comes across as yet another doe-eyed English rose.

But it’s not like director Christian Ditter or writer Juliett Towhidi (adapting a Cecelia Ahern novel) give them anything original to do or say. gLENN SuMI

Lily Collins (left) and Jaime Winstone have more fun than you will.

= Critic’s Pick NNNNN = Top ten of the year NNNN = Honourable mention NNN = Entertaining NN = Mediocre N = Bomb

Nicolas Cage clearly got his hair done at the Battlefield Earth salon.

ACADEMY AWARD® NOMINEE BEST ACTRESS · JULIANNE MOORE GOLDEN GLOBE ® WINNER (DRAMA)

BEST ACTRESS JULIANNE MOORE © H F PA

SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS® WINNER BEST ACTRESS · JULIANNE MOORE

action

Cast this out Outcast (Nick Powell). 100 minutes.

Opens Friday (February 6). For venues and times, see Movies, page 58. Rating: N

For an action movie, Outcast is really boring.

And not just during the dialogue scenes, which are pretty dull even with Nicolas Cage and Hayden Christensen yelling at each other in ridiculous accents as disillusioned Crusaders who find themselves in the middle of a Chinese succession crisis. There are long stretches of actual action, too, and they’re just dull as dirt.

Right, the plot. It’s the 12th century, and three years after massacring a lot of brown people, Christensen’s worldweary, disillusioned Jacob winds up

protecting the teenage heir to the Chinese throne (Bill Su Jiahang) and his sister (Yifei Liu) from their usurper brother (Andy On), who’s sent legions of warriors after them to solidify his power.

After a lot of running and fighting, they find an ally in Cage’s Gallain, who’s even more disillusioned and world-weary than Jacob, though much more shouty. And then there’s more fighting, none of it interesting.

Those looking for an engaging action movie will be disappointed, and those hoping for a juicy Cage performance will be even more disappointed.

He’s doing the same surly, self-serious thing he did in his last ex-Crusader project, Season Of The Witch.

Outcast isn’t even the kind of bad that’s fun to write about. I think you NOrmaN WilNer can tell.

HHHHH (HIGHEST RATING)

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Julianne Moore dons some awesome fetish gear in Seventh Son.

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also opening Seventh Son (D: Sergey Bodrov, 102 min) Oscar front-runner Julianne Moore obviously isn’t worried this genre pic will ruin her chances of taking home the big statue. Here she plays a villain called Mother Malkin who escapes confinement to pursue a young evil-spirit-fighter (Ben Barnes).

Jupiter Ascending

(D: Andy and Lana Wachowski, 127 min) The Wachowski siblings direct a sci-fi fantasy about a caretaker (Mila Kunis) and a genetically engineered warrior (Channing Tatum) who battle an evil tyrant (Eddie Redmayne).

Both open Friday (February 6). Screened after press time – see reviews February 6 at nowtoronto.com/movies.

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Rob Brezsny’s Free Will

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57

Playing this week How to find a listing

Movie listings are comprehensive and organized alphabetically. Listings include name of film, director’s name in brackets, a review, running time and a rating.

Reviews are by Norman Wilner (NW), Susan G. Cole (SGC), Glenn Sumi (GS), and Radheyan Simonpillai (RS) unless otherwise specified.

The rating system is as follows: NNNNN Top 10 of the year NNNN Honourable mention NNN Entertaining NN Mediocre N Bomb

Ñ= Critics’ pick (highly recommended)

Movie theatres are listed at the end and can be cross-referenced to our film times on page 63.

AMERICAN SNIPER (Clint Eastwood) turns the alpha-male autobiography of Navy SEAL turned Iraq War sniper turned rightwing poster boy Chris Kyle into a dull, bythe-numbers war drama. A bulked-up, bearded Bradley Cooper does a fine job of showing us how deeply uncomfortable Kyle is stateside, but Eastwood’s disconnected direction means we spend the entire movie with a man in stasis. At 84, he’s earned the right to coast – but we don’t have to pretend he’s still making good movies. 132 min. NN (NW) 401 & Morningside, Beach Cinemas, Carlton Cinema, Cineplex Cinemas Empress Walk, Cineplex VIP Cinemas Don Mills, Coliseum Scarborough, Colossus, Eglinton Town Centre, Grande - Steeles, Humber Cinemas, Queensway, Rainbow Market Square, Rainbow Promenade, Rainbow Woodbine, Scotiabank Theatre, SilverCity Fairview, SilverCity Yonge, SilverCity Yorkdale, Yonge & Dundas 24 ANNIE (Will Gluck) is a hip-hop and R&B

influenced adaptation of the Broadway musical about an orphan searching for her parents and being taken in by a wealthy

tycoon. The writing and direction are execrable. This is a cynical, heartless ode to greed. 119 min. N (GS) Canada Square, Colossus, Queensway

ANTARCTICA: A YEAR ON ICE (Anthony

Powell) aims to show what life is actually like on an Antarctic research station. Powell only allows himself a few minutes for any one aspect or anecdote, but overall this is a charming personal documentary.

91 min. NNN (NW) Bloor Hot Docs Cinema

AWAKE: THE LIFE OF YOGANANDA (Paola di Florio, Lisa Leeman) is the kind of hagiography you’d expect to find in a gift shop at a New Age store. With serene talking heads, plenty of sitar plucking but not much tension, it tells the story of Paramahansa Yogananda, who brought Eastern religion to the West. 87 min. NN (GS) Kingsway Theatre THE BACKWARD CLASS ñ NNNN

(Madeleine Grant) 91 min. See review, page 56.

(SGC) Opens Feb 6 at Bloor Hot Docs Cinema

BIG EYES (Tim Burton) reunites the director with Ed Wood screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski for the story of Margaret Keane (Amy Adams), who obsessively painted sad-eyed children, and her husband (Christoph Waltz), who became a minor celebrity by selling her art as his own. It’s stronger and more interesting than Alice In Wonderland or Dark Shadows, but Burton can’t or won’t engage honestly with the tale’s darker turns. 106 min. NNN (NW) Carlton Cinema

ñBIG HERO 6

(Don Hall, Chris Williams) centres on 14-year-old robotics genius Hiro Hamada (voiced by Ryan Potter), who “upgrades” himself and four college-aged scientists to battle an emerging super-villain. Directors Hall and Williams find new angles on the required action beats, but their real focus is on Hiro’s bond with his initial subject, a marshmallowy medical droid called Baymax (30 Rock’s Scott Adsit). The world in which it all takes place is a production designer’s dream. 108 min. NNNN (NW) Fox, Kingsway Theatre

BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE) (Alejandro González

Iñárritu) is a near-total fiasco from a filmmaker bent on impressing the world with

Flick Finder

NOW picks your kind of movie CRIME

DOC

FOREIGN

FAMILY

Sheila Vand (right) sinks her teeth into the terrific A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night.

his prodigious talent, a show-offy drama about a former superhero actor (Michael Keaton) making his Broadway debut by writing, directing and starring in a drama based on the stories of Raymond Carver.

It’s a godawful mess. 119 min. NN (NW) Canada Square, Cineplex VIP Cinemas Don Mills, Colossus, Fox, Kingsway Theatre, Regent Theatre, Varsity, Yonge & Dundas 24

BLACK OR WHITE (Mike Binder) is about as edgy as Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner meets Kramer Vs. Kramer. High-powered attorney Elliot (Kevin Costner) has just lost his wife (Jennifer Ehle, in unfortunate flashbacks) in a car accident. That leaves him as sole caregiver for their mixed-race granddaughter, Eloise (Jillian Estell), whose mother died giving birth to her. Her deadbeat druggie dad, Reggie (André Holland), is MIA, but soon her paternal grandmother, Rowena (Octavia Spencer), comes a-knocking and asking to share custody, saying Reggie’s cleaned up his act. When Elliot, an alcoholic, says no, Rowena (or Wee Wee, as she’s annoyingly called) brings in her lawyer brother (Anthony Mackie). This is movie-of-the-week material, pitting salt-of-the-earth Rowena and her warm, loving extended family (including her lesbian daughter and her partner who live across the street) against Elliot’s sterile WASPness. Only Costner’s salty, unselfconscious turn as a cranky codger makes the film almost bearable.

121 min. NN (GS) Coliseum Scarborough, Colossus, Eglinton Town Centre, Queensway, Yonge & Dundas 24 BLACKHAT (Michael Mann) is a typically

A MOST VIOLENT RED ARMY YEAR A pleasantly offOscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain star in this moody character study about an entrepreneur who tries to keep his heating oil business afloat amidst NYC corruption.

58

LEVIATHAN

A property dispute centre look at the between a Soviet Union’s hotheaded family pursuit of hockey man and the superiority, which corrupt local mayor culminated in the of a Russian fishing so-called Red Army village leads to team of the 80s. tragedy in this There’s lots of bleak winner of the great archival Golden Globe for material and player foreign-language stories. pic.

FEBRUARY 5-11 2015 NOW

PADDINGTON

The best-reviewed film of 2015 is Paul King’s delightful adaptation of the children’s books. A lost bear (voiced

by Ben Whishaw) from Darkest Peru finds a new family in London and a place to belong. A perfect film.

brooding and self-serious Mann thriller in which Chris Hemsworth plays a computer whiz sprung from maximum-security prison to find the mysterious cyberfiend behind attacks on Wall Street and a Chinese nuclear plant. But it isn’t until the home stretch, when Mann strips away all the cyber-nonsense and narrows his focus down to his trademark conflict between evenly matched professionals, that Blackhat finally feels like a movie. Some subtitles. 127 min. NN (NW) Scotiabank Theatre

THE BOY NEXT DOOR (Rob Cohen) is a latenight W Network slot filler in which Jennifer Lopez’s high school teacher is

seduced and then stalked by her student.

Everyone involved in this piss-poor Fatal Attraction-style thriller seems confident that they’re making a terrible movie, so the actors adjust their performances for camp, while director Cohen slyly shoots his reveals from the most unexpected places so audiences can stifle laughs instead of shrieks. 90 min. N (RS) 401 & Morningside, Beach Cinemas, Cineplex Cinemas Empress Walk, Coliseum Scarborough, Colossus, Eglinton Town Centre, Grande - Steeles, Queensway, Rainbow Market Square, Rainbow Promenade, Rainbow Woodbine, SilverCity Fairview, SilverCity Yonge, SilverCity Yorkdale, Yonge & Dundas 24

ñBOYHOOD

(Richard Linklater) is the best American movie I’ve seen in years – and one of the very best movies about America ever made, capturing the maturation of Texas kid Mason (Ellar Coltrane) from first grade through leaving for college. If I see another movie more ambitious, more honest or more illuminating this year, I’ll be stunned. 164 min.

NNNNN (NW) Carlton Cinema, Fox, Kingsway Theatre, Mt Pleasant, Yonge & Dundas 24

CAKE (Daniel Barnz) stars Jennifer Aniston as a deeply damaged woman who becomes fixated on understanding the suicide of a woman in her chronic-pain group (Anna Kendrick, wasted). Aniston is terrific, but director Barnz surrounds her with stereotypes, cheap psychological gimmickry and at least two of the plot lines from 2010’s far more successful Rabbit Hole. 102 min. NNN (NW) Canada Square, Kingsway Theatre

ñCITIZENFOUR

(Laura Poitras) chronicles the eight days Edward Snowden spent in a Hong Kong hotel room with filmmaker Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald, where he blew the whistle on America’s secret data-collection programs and the complicity of foreign governments in those efforts. It’s as unnerving as any espionage thriller. Some subtitles. 114 min. NNNN (NW) Revue

DOGS ON THE INSIDE (Brean Cunningham,

Douglas Seirup) 67 min. See review, page 56. NNN (NW) Opens Feb 6 at Bloor Hot Docs Cinema

ESCOBAR: PARADISE LOST (Andrea Di Stefano) doesn’t have enough Benicio Del Toro. He commands the screen as Pablo Escobar with mythical aplomb. However, the focus here is Josh Hutcherson’s bland Canadian surfer boy Nick, who hooks up with the drug lord’s niece and becomes an unwitting pawn in a generic gangland thriller. Filtering Escobar through Nick’s perspective is like brewing dark roast Colombian coffee at Tim Hortons. 120 min. NN (RS) Carlton Cinema

ñTHE 50 YEAR ARGUMENT

(Martin Scorsese, David Tedeschi) is a documentary about the New York Review of Books, which celebrated a half-century of publication in 2013. It’s a bracing film about the value of radical ideas and the importance of being courageous enough to consider them. 118 min. NNNN (NW) Bloor Hot Docs Cinema

ñFORCE MAJEURE

(Ruben Östlund) follows a picture-perfect Swedish family’s skiing vacation in the French Alps, where the father (Johannes Kuhnke) panics in a moment of potential crisis, destroying his standing as benevolent patriarch and sending him into a spiral of self-justification. The deeper he digs, the funnier Force Majeure gets, and the more perceptive and uncomfortable it becomes.

Some subtitles. 118 min. NNNN (NW) Kingsway Theatre, Mt Pleasant, Royal

FOXCATCHER (Bennett Miller) finds director Miller returning to the chilly tone of his debut feature Capote for another real-life tale of interpersonal tensions and murder.

All three leads wear distracting prosthetics, which work against Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo’s naturalistic performances and make Steve Carell’s precise, creepy turn as the self-absorbed, deluded John du Pont seem far too obviously unhinged. 134 min. NNN (NW) Carlton Cinema, Kingsway Theatre, Royal GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT ñANIGHT

(Ana Lily Amirpour) follows a vampire (Sheila Vand) as she cruises the streets of a fictional Iranian city inviting men to chat her up, make a move, bring her home. Shooting in black-and-white widescreen, writer/director Amirpour has built a marvellous world that shares its

continued on page 60 œ

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(JeanLuc Godard) is not a masterpiece (in truth, it’s pretty much a mess), but it’s the work of a master who’s willing to reinvent the way we perceive narrative. Godard being Godard, he does this mostly in the service of banal conversations in which lovers in various states of undress yammer about philosophy and cultural theory in that uniquely French mode of intellectual exhaustion. Subtitled. 70 min. NNNN (NW) Royal

ñthe GraNd budapest hoteL

(Wes Anderson) finds director/co-writer Anderson building a magnificent playhouse, populating it with actors he knows and trusts – among them Ralph Fiennes, Adrien Brody, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Jeff Goldblum and Edward Norton – and running riot. And when moments of genuine emotion pierce that perfectly constructed artifice, they hit as powerfully as ever. 100 min. NNNN (NW) Mt Pleasant, Yonge & Dundas 24

the hobbit: the battLe of the five armies (Peter Jackson) is the climax of

the director’s gargantuan adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s slender prequel to The Lord Of The Rings, and most viewers will be struggling with Middle-earth fatigue. At two hours and 24 minutes it’s the shortest of the trilogy, but it still feels longer than it needs to be, especially since the Smaugrelated cliffhanger is resolved 15 minutes in. Some subtitles. 144 min. NN (NW) 401 & Morningside, Coliseum Scarborough, Colossus, Eglinton Town Centre, Grande Steeles, Queensway, Revue, Scotiabank Theatre, SilverCity Fairview, SilverCity Yorkdale

PICK OF THE WEEK

the huNGer Games: mockiNGjay – part 1 (Francis Lawrence) keeps the fran-

chise in a holding pattern, focusing on Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) while she wrestles with whether she wants to be the Mockingjay, the public face of the rebellion against the Capitol and evil President Snow (Donald Sutherland). It’s very well made and Lawrence is riveting, as usual, but it’s all just set-up for the grand finale. 123 min. NNN (SGC) Scotiabank Theatre

ñthe imitatioN Game

TIMBUKTU Following the recent jihadist takeover of northern Mali, a proud cattle herder comes into fateful conflict with the fundamentalist rulers of the provincial capital, in this luminous, lyrical and poetic drama from the great African filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako.

Official Selection, 2014 Toronto International Film Festival Opens February 13 at TIFF Bell Lightbox!

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february 5-11 2015 NOW

Love, rosie (Christian Ditter) 103 min.

See review, page 56. N (GS) Opens Feb 6 at Carlton Cinema

œcontinued from page 58

(Morten Tyldum) stars Benedict Cumberbatch as mathematician and cryptanalyst Alan Turing, who’s hired by the British government to crack the Germans’ Enigma code during the Second World War. He must collaborate with a team of misfit geniuses and keep their work a secret.

Also secret is his homosexuality. The film explores fascinating moral issues, and Cumberbatch is revelatory as Turing.

114 min. NNNN (GS) 401 & Morningside, Beach Cinemas, Cineplex Cinemas Empress Walk, Cineplex VIP Cinemas Don Mills, Colossus, Eglinton Town Centre, Queensway, Rainbow Market Square, Rainbow Promenade, SilverCity Fairview, SilverCity Yonge, SilverCity Yorkdale, Varsity, Yonge & Dundas 24

vice ñiNhereNt

(Paul Thomas Anderson) is a giddy adaptation of

Ñ

Thomas Pynchon’s detective novel about a sometime detective (Joaquin Phoenix) fumbling further and further into an elaborate (and frankly insane) conspiracy in 1970 L.A. Phoenix makes an excellent tour guide to the Pynchon/Anderson funhouse, and the director’s casual mastery of image and sound is here to be admired, as always. It’s a fantastically dense movie worthy of repeat viewings. 149 min. NNNN (NW) Carlton Cinema, Scotiabank Theatre, Varsity

iNtersteLLar (Christopher Nolan) is a stunning visual accomplishment in service of a story that’s pretty dopey if you think about it for even a microsecond. Matthew McConaughey plays an astronaut-turnedcorn-farmer who pilots a mission into a wormhole in hopes of finding a new home for the human race, but director/co-writer Nolan undercuts the hard-SF premise with a weirdly goopy reliance on primal concepts like destiny and the power of love.

169 min. NNN (NW) Kingsway Theatre, Scotiabank Theatre iNto the Woods (Rob Marshall) is an awkward adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s witty and profound musical mashup of fairy tales. Sondheim’s musicals are constructed for the theatre. His clever wordplay, complex rhythms and harmonies, the way his stories intersect and unfold – none of these things translates easily to film. There’s poignant material here about parents and children, loss, commitment and forgiveness, but in Marshall’s film, the plot seems convoluted and the language laboured. The less time spent in these woods the better. 125 min.

NN (GS) Canada Square, Carlton Cinema, Coliseum Scarborough, Colossus, Eglinton Town Centre, Queensway, SilverCity Yorkdale, Yonge & Dundas 24 jupiter asceNdiNG (Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski) 127 min. See Also Opening, page 57.

Opens Feb 6 at 401 & Morningside, Beach Cinemas, Carlton Cinema, Cineplex Cinemas Empress Walk, Coliseum Scarborough, Colossus, Eglinton Town Centre, Grande - Steeles, Humber Cinemas, Queensway, Rainbow Market Square, Rainbow Promenade, Rainbow Woodbine, SilverCity Fairview, SilverCity Yonge, SilverCity Yorkdale, Yonge & Dundas 24

ñLeviathaN

(Andrey Zvyagintsev) is an epic drama set in a small Russian town where a property dispute between a hotheaded family man (Alexey Serebryakov) and the venal local mayor (Roman Madyanov) leads to a series of escalating confrontations. And it plays equally well as slowmotion domestic tragedy and a study of the internalized corruption of postSoviet Russia.

Tim Pigott-Smith gets all dolled up for Jupiter Ascending.

the metropoLitaN opera – die meistersiNGer voN NürNberG eNcore

is a high-def production of Wagner’s comic opera about a group of Renaissance master singers competing in a contest, conducted by James Levine. 370 min.

Feb 7, noon, at Cineplex Cinemas Empress Walk, Eglinton Town Centre, Queensway, Scotiabank Theatre, SilverCity Yonge

mortdecai (David Koepp) is a godawful caper picture that continually reminds you how godawful it is every moment that its star is on screen. Johnny Depp has lost himself in annoying characters before, but what he does here is unparalleled in its self-indulgence and wrong-headedness.

God knows I’ve seen worse films, but I’m not sure I’ve seen a worse performance.

107 min. N (NW) 401 & Morningside, Beach Cinemas, Colossus, Eglinton Town Centre, Grande - Steeles, Queensway, Scotiabank Theatre, SilverCity Yonge, SilverCity Yorkdale

ña most vioLeNt year

(J.C. Chandor) is a moody character study of Abel Morales (Oscar Isaac), an entrepreneur who spends a month in the winter of 1981 trying to put his heating-oil business on a solid financial footing. There’s only one problem: someone keeps hijacking his trucks in broad daylight. Chandor uses Abel’s predicament as a window on the corruption and lawlessness of pre-comeback New York City; it bears comparison to Lumet’s Dog Day Afternoon and Prince Of The City for its sense of place and time, and to Coppola’s first Godfather for its depiction of a man who places himself at a moral crossroads in defence of his family. I do not make these comparisons lightly, nor does Chandor, who deliberately styles Isaac as a doppelgänger for the young Michael Corleone. Jessica Chastain, however, gets to do her own ferocious thing as Abel’s wife, Anna, defining her character’s prickly impatience with the first word she utters on screen. Some subtitles. 124 min. NNNN (NW) Cineplex Cinemas Empress Walk, Cineplex VIP Cinemas Don Mills, Colossus, Eglinton Town Centre, Queensway, Scotiabank Theatre, SilverCity Yonge, Varsity

ñmr. turNer

(Mike Leigh) stars Cannes best actor winner Timothy Spall as painter J.M.W. Turner at the peak of his fame. Dick Pope shoots the landscapes that inspired the paintings spectacularly, but writer/director Leigh also conveys the impact of reality – slave ships, the rise of the steam engine – on the artist’s otherworldly masterpieces. An art film in every sense of the word. 150 min.

NNNNN (SGC) Fox, Kingsway Theatre, TIFF Bell Lightbox, Varsity

my oLd Lady (Israel Horovitz) stars Kevin Kline as a penniless, middle-aged loser who travels to Paris to claim a sprawling apartment in the Marais bequeathed him by his dad. But under the viager system, the previous owner (Maggie Smith) and her daughter (Kristin Scott Thomas) can still live there. The plot’s telegraphed in the first 10 minutes, but the stars are watchable. 107 min. NN (GS) Kingsway Theatre

NiGht at the museum: secret of the tomb (Shawn Levy) occasionally amuses

thanks Ben Stiller and his cohorts, who manage to be funny despite the lazy screenplay. In the franchise finale, Stiller’s night watchman and his crew head to the UK to battle more reanimated relics.

For all the CGI whizz-bang and encyclopedia of historical figures, director Levy still hasn’t figured out how to make the proceedings exciting. 98 min. NN (RS) Colossus, Eglinton Town

= Critics’ Pick nnnnn = Top ten of the year nnnn = Honourable mention nnn = Entertaining nn = Mediocre n = Bomb

Centre, Queensway, Rainbow Woodbine, Revue, SilverCity Fairview, Yonge & Dundas 24

outcAst­(Nick Powell )­100­min.­See­ r­ eview,­page­57.­N­(NW) Opens Feb 6 at Carlton Cinema PAddiNgtoN­(Paul King)­is­perfect.­

ñ

Writer/director­King’s­remarkable­ adaptation­of­Michael­Bond’s­beloved­ children’s­books­spins­the­story­of­the­lost­ little­bear­from­Darkest­Peru­into­a­ thoughtful­and­genuinely­moving­metaphor­for­the­immigrant­experience.­It’s­ cartoonish­in­precisely­the­right­way,­situating­its­talking,­marmalade-loving,­tragically­accident-prone­protagonist­(voiced­ by­Ben­Whishaw)­in­a­lush,­just­slightly­ e­xaggerated­universe­of­delightful­British­ actors.­I’d­have­loved­this­when­I­was­a­kid.­ Hell,­I­love­it­now.­95­min.­NNNNN­(NW) 401 & Morningside, Beach Cinemas, Carlton Cinema, Cineplex Cinemas Empress Walk, Coliseum Scarborough, Colossus, Eglinton Town Centre, Grande - Steeles, Humber Cinemas, Queensway, Rainbow Market Square, Rainbow Promenade, Rainbow Woodbine, SilverCity Fairview, SilverCity Yonge, SilverCity Yorkdale, Yonge & Dundas 24

ñPride

­(Matthew Warchus)­is­an­excellently­played­crowd-pleaser­based­ on­the­true­story­of­a­London­gay­and­

l­ esbian­grassroots­organization­that­offers­ to­support­striking­mineworkers­against­ Margaret­Thatcher’s­vicious­regime.­It­ gets­a­bit­too­warm­and­fuzzy­–­bordering­ on­manipulative­–­at­the­end,­but­this­is­an­ important­story­proving­that­activists­ with­ingenuity­can­build­improbable­ ­political­coalitions.­119­min.­NNNN­(SGC) Kingsway Theatre

Project AlmANAc­(Dean Israelite)­tries­to­

do­for­the­time­travel­movie­what­Josh­ Trank’s­Chronicle­did­for­superheroes,­ adopting­the­found-footage­gimmick,­ while­slapping­a­backpack­on­the­genre­ and­adding­plenty­of­teen­hormones­and­ angst.­The­disorderly­and­often­derivative­ space-time­frolic­never­reaches­Chronicle’s­ heights­but­still­manages­to­have­fun.­ Along­with­his­dorky­friends,­Jonny­Weston’s­David­discovers­how­to­rewind­the­ clock­by­days,­then­weeks­and­so­on.­The­ secret­is­in­the­Xbox.­Being­teens,­they­ hopscotch­through­time­to­cheat­on­a­test,­ get­payback­against­a­bully,­win­the­lottery­and­hit­up­Lollapalooza.­These­juvenile­antics­are­genuinely­comic,­particularly­ because­David­and­company­keep­messing­ up­and­having­to­try­over;­the­laughs­come­ with­the­repetition.­Things­get­overly­serious­and­preposterous­when­each­jump­ causes­devastating­ripple­effects,­but­dircontinued on page 62 œ

FROM THE CRE ATOR OF ‘FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS’

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EXCLUSIVE ENGAGEMENT STARTS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13 Check theatre directory for showtimes

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MATURE THEME, LANGUAGE MAY OFFEND, TOBACCO USE

AIM_NOW_FEB5_HPG_GAME.pdf Volunteer Opportunities of the Week Allied Integrated Marketing • Youth Career Mentor - Access Alliance Multicultural & Community Services NOW TORONTO • Seniors “Lively Lunch” Serving Volunteer - The Yonge Street Mission • IT/Audio Support - Our Place Community of Hope • Board of Directors - The Four Villages Community Health Centre See this week’s Classified section for more info or visit volunteertoronto.ca Everything Toronto. 416 364 3444 • nowtoronto.com/classifieds

Classifieds NOW february 5-11 2015

61

œcontinued from page 61

ector Israelite amps up the chaos so the swirling confusion keeps us enthralled, if not convinced. 106 min. NNN (RS) 401 & Morningside, Canada Square, Carlton Cinema, Cineplex Cinemas Empress Walk, Coliseum Scarborough, Colossus, Eglinton Town Centre, Grande - Steeles, Queensway, Rainbow Market Square, Rainbow Promenade, Rainbow Woodbine, Scotiabank Theatre, SilverCity Fairview, SilverCity Yonge, SilverCity Yorkdale, Yonge & Dundas 24

ñRed ARmy

(Gabe Polsky) is a pleasantly off-centre look at the Soviet Union’s fanatical pursuit of ice hockey superiority, which culminated in the socalled Red Army team of the 80s. Soviet coach Anatoli Tarasov favoured a cooperative strategy and a refined passing game, which stood in beautiful contrast to the goon-driven NHL. Polsky – a veteran producer making his first documentary – has fun with the archival material (much of it drawn from Canadian media sources, as

you might expect) and tells some compelling stories about Soviet stars like Vladislav Tretiak and Slava Fetisov and how they balanced their beautiful game with the insane political situation back home.

Some subtitles. 85 min. NNNN (NW) Yonge & Dundas 24

ñRosewAteR

(Jon Stewart) finds first-time filmmaker Stewart tackling the story of Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari, whose appearance in a Daily Show segment about the 2009 Iranian election was a factor in his subsequent arrest, detention and torture by the Ahmadinejad government. It’s an assured, thoughtful and very moving debut, with fine performances by Gael García Bernal as Bahari and Danish actor Kim Bodnia (Pusher) as his interrogator. 103 min. NNNN (NW) Royal

ñselmA

(Ava DuVernay) traces key moments in the movement for black voting rights in 60s America and comes at

a time when racist killings have galvanized activism all over the U.S. David Oyelowo’s superb performance as King and DuVernay’s skill directing both the massive set pieces and intimate details would make this a powerful film even without its current political resonance. 128 min.

NNNN (SGC) 401 & Morningside, Canada Square, Colossus, Eglinton Town Centre, Humber Cinemas, Queensway, Rainbow Market Square, Rainbow Promenade, SilverCity Yorkdale, Varsity, Yonge & Dundas 24

seveNth soN (Sergei Bodrov) 102 min.

See Also Opening, page 57.

Opens Feb 6 at 401 & Morningside, Carlton Cinema, Cineplex Cinemas Empress Walk, Coliseum Scarborough, Colossus, Eglinton Town Centre, Grande - Steeles, Queensway, Rainbow Woodbine, Scotiabank Theatre, SilverCity Fairview, SilverCity Yonge, SilverCity Yorkdale soNg of the seA (Tomm Moore) draws

from Gaelic folklore to tell the story of young children discovering magic and peril. The animation is imaginative and rich, but the sluggish plot and characters left me wanting a bit more Pixar-brand pizzazz. Though the adventure drags along, it features some of the most artistic designs outside of Studio Ghibli. 93 min.

NNN (RS)

Carlton Cinema, Kingsway Theatre

soNg oNe (Kate Barker-Froyland) stars

Anne Hathaway as a grad student who comes home to New York after her brother is hit by a cab and falls for a British singer/songwriter (Clouds Of Sils Maria’s Johnny Flynn). If you’re a huge Hathaway fan, this will be worth your time; she’s in every scene, and builds a convincingly tense relationship with screen mom Mary Steenburgen. But if you’re looking for the next Once, well, this isn’t it. 88 min. NN (NW) Kingsway Theatre

the spoNgeBoB movie: spoNge out of wAteR (Paul Tibbitt) 93 min. See review,

page 56. NNN (RS) Opens Feb 6 at 401 & Morningside, Beach Cinemas, Carlton Cinema, Cineplex Cinemas Empress Walk, Coliseum Scarborough, Colossus, Eglinton Town Centre, Grande - Steeles, Humber Cinemas, Queensway, Rainbow Market Square, Rainbow Promenade, Rainbow Woodbine, SilverCity Fairview, SilverCity Yonge, SilverCity Yorkdale, Yonge & Dundas 24

still Alice (Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland) follows a woman slowly losing her mind to early Alzheimer’s. It’s not easy to give that premise much texture, but

Still Alice succeeds because the script focuses less on Alice’s (Julianne Moore) relationships with family, including her husband (Alec Baldwin), and more on the ingenious strategies she uses to keep the ravages of her disease at bay. Moore gives a powerful performance (no surprise there), Baldwin’s sensitive turn goes against type, and Kristen Stewart, as one of Alice’s kids, proves she can show a pulse if given the chance. The film does have a predictable trajectory – how could it not?

– but it’s certainly not movie-of-the-week fare. 99 min. NNN (SGC) Queensway, Varsity

stRANge mAgic (Gary Rydstrom) is a CGanimated take on A Midsummer Night’s Dream about elves, fairies and bog monsters who all fall in love with each other while singing dad-rock standards. It doesn’t make a lick of sense. 99 min. NN (NW) 401 & Morningside, Canada Square, Cineplex Cinemas Empress Walk, Coliseum Scarborough, Colossus, Eglinton Town Centre, Grande - Steeles, Humber Cinemas, Queensway, Rainbow Promenade, Rainbow Woodbine, SilverCity Fairview, SilverCity Yorkdale, Yonge & Dundas 24 tAkeN 3 (Olivier Megaton) forces Liam Neeson’s glowering security expert Bryan Mills into a clumsy reworking of The Fugitive. Director Megaton can’t cut an action scene coherently, screenwriters Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen seem to have assembled this script by cutting and pasting from the previous ones, and Dougray Scott is so embarrassingly miscast that he might as well have been digitally superimposed from old Mission: Impossible II footage. Some subtitles. 109 min. N (NW) 401 & Morningside, Cineplex Cinemas Empress Walk, Coliseum Scarborough, Colossus, Eglinton Town Centre, Grande Steeles, Queensway, Rainbow Woodbine, Scotiabank Theatre, SilverCity Fairview, SilverCity Yorkdale, Yonge & Dundas 24 the theoRy of eveRythiNg (James

Marsh) takes the remarkable, complex story of theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking and imprisons it in the inspirational treacle of a disease-of-the-week movie about a young couple struggling with life-altering illness. Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones make it worth watching, but Anthony McCarten’s script sees them only as noble sufferers waiting for the next challenge. 123 min. NNN (NW) Eglinton Town Centre, Fox, Humber Cinemas, Queensway, Rainbow Market Square, Regent Theatre, Royal, SilverCity Yonge, Varsity, Yonge & Dundas 24

#1 AUDIENCE FAVOURITE HOT DOCS 2014

THE BOND BETWEEN MAN AND DOG

THE BACKWARD CLASS

DOGS ON THE INSIDE

Directed by Madeleine Grant

Directed by Brean Cunningham and Douglas Seirup

FRI, FEB 6–16, select dates and times

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inmates.

tRu love (Kate Johnston, Shauna MacDonald) follows commitment-phobe Tru (co-director/co-writer MacDonald), who meets Alice (Kate Trotter) – the mom of Suzanne (Christine Horne), one of her onenight stands – and is shocked to discover herself falling for the older woman. Tru Love has a seriously soapy quality, and scenes between Alice and the ghost of her husband definitely get in the way. And why would Suzanne, who is so upset with Tru, have her meet her mother in the first place? But the performances are exceptional. Horne is all twitchy intensity, and Trotter, with that great voice of hers, is delightful as a woman discovering new possibilities. You can see what’s turning Tru on. But it’s MacDonald, winning as the title character, who makes you care about what happens. She’s infinitely watchable.

87 min. NNN (SGC) Carlton Cinema, Kingsway Theatre

ñtwo dAys, oNe Night

(Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne) is another excellent working-class drama from the Dardenne brothers, starring the magnificent Marion Cotillard as a depressed woman whose co-workers voted to eliminate her factory job to save their bonus.

Cotillard’s quivering face and resigned posture beautifully convey her fight against mental illness and to keep her job.

It’s a powerful, minimalist film about rallying self-worth in a dehumanizing economy. Subtitled. 92 min. NNNNN (RS) Revue, TIFF Bell Lightbox

= Critics’ Pick nnnnn = Top ten of the year nnnn = Honourable mention nnn = Entertaining nn = Mediocre n = Bomb

UNBROKEN (Angelina Jolie) tells the story of how Louis Zamperini (Jack O’Connell) survived a Japanese prison camp during World War II, where he was unremittingly brutalized by the camp commander (Takamasa Ishihara, who’s excellent). But there’s no point here, beyond measuring Zamperini’s endurance. Strictly for sadists.

137 min. NN (SGC) Revue UNDER THE SEA (Howard Hall) is a daz-

zling travelogue airily narrated by Jim Carrey, an alternative for those of us who can’t afford to go scuba diving off southern Australia. The mere 40-minute run time might make it a waste for those who have to travel just as long to see it. 40 min.

NNN (RS) Ontario Science Centre OMNIMAX

THE WEDDING RINGER (Jeremy Garelick) gives Kevin Hart material to work with, unlike those movies that simply drop him in a scene, pull the string on his back and let him loose. Jimmy, who pinch hits as a best man for friendless grooms, is an emotive character with some decent punchlines instead of the usual hot air of Hart’s act. As the groom who hires his services, Josh Gad also clicks as Hart’s straight man, making it easy to overlook how lazy, predictable and mildly offensive The Wedding Ringer often is. 101 min. NN (RS) 401 & Morningside, Canada Square, Carlton Cinema, Cineplex Cinemas Empress Walk, Coliseum Scarborough, Colossus, Eglinton Town Centre, Grande - Steeles, Queensway, Rainbow Woodbine, SilverCity Fairview, SilverCity Yonge, SilverCity Yorkdale, Yonge & Dundas 24 WHIPLASH (Damien Chazelle) is a battle of

wills between a drummer (Miles Teller) who challenges a monstrous conductor (J.K. Simmons) for a potentially life-changing spot in his school’s jazz orchestra. Teller and Simmons commit completely, but Chazelle’s plot twists grow increasingly ridiculous – to the point where the final act has the feel of a fever dream. I just couldn’t go with it. 106 min. NN (NW) Canada Square, Carlton Cinema, Colossus, Fox, Kingsway Theatre

ñWILD

(Jean-Marc Vallée) stars Reese Witherspoon as Cheryl Strayed, who walked 1,100 miles solo along the Pacific Crest Trail in 1995. What could have been a mawkish and sentimental true-life story plays as intelligent drama thanks to the sure hand of director Vallée, and Witherspoon is entirely credible as the worndown Strayed. 115 min. NNNN (NW) Beach Cinemas, Canada Square, Rainbow Promenade, Varsity, Yonge & Dundas 24

WILD CARD (Simon West) finds star Jason

Statham reuniting with The Mechanic director for another surprisingly decent remake of a vintage thriller. In this new edition of Burt Reynolds’s forgotten 1986 vehicle, Heat (retitled to avoid confusion with Michael Mann’s 1995 neo-noir classic), Statham’s nicely suited to the role of a grumpy Las Vegas chaperone whose code of honour winds up pitting him against a mobbed-up rapist (Milo Ventimiglia). It’s more about tension than action, but the handful of fight scenes are fantastic – and they ought to be, since they were choreographed by Statham’s Transporter collaborator Corey Yuen. And the character stuff isn’t bad either –William Goldman’s barely reworked screenplay offers plum opportunities for Jason Alexander and Stanley Tucci. It ain’t anything new, but it’s entertaining. 92 min. NNN (NW) Carlton Cinema

movie times complete first-run, independent, repertory and festivals Online expanded Film Times

Aurora Cinemas • Cine Starz • Coliseum Mississagua • Courtney Park 16 • Elgin Mills 10 • Empire Studio 10 • First Markham Place • 5 DriveIn Oakville • SilverCity Newmarket • SilverCity Richmond Hill • SilverCity Oakville • Winston Churchill 24 nowtoronto.com/movies

(CE)..............Cineplex Entertainment (ET).......................Empire Theatres (AA)......................Alliance Atlantis (AMC)..................... AMC Theatres (I)..............................Independent

Wed 12:25, 2:30, 4:45, 6:55 PROJECT ALMANAC (PG) Thu 12:50, 3:50, 7:05, 9:20 FriWed 3:35, 9:40 SELMA (PG) Thu 3:15 Fri-Wed 12:30, 7:05 THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER (G) Fri-Wed 12:35, 2:40, 4:50, 7:10, 9:20 THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING (PG) Thu 12:30 Fri-Wed 9:15

lndividual theatres may change showtimes after NOW’s press time. For updates, go online at www.nowtoronto.com or phone theatres.

463 BATHURST ST., 416-603-6643

Available for selected films: RWC (Rear Window Captioning) and DVS (Descriptive Video Service)

Downtown BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA (I) 506 BLOOR ST. W., 416-637-3123

ANTARCTICA: A YEAR ON ICE (G) Sun 1:00 Tue 3:15 THE BACKWARD CLASS Fri, Mon 8:30 Sat 1:30, 6:00 Sun 3:30, 8:15 Tue 6:45 Wed 4:00, 8:30 DOGS ON THE INSIDE Fri, Mon, Wed 6:30 Sat 4:00, 8:30 Sun 6:00 Tue 9:00 THE 50 YEAR ARGUMENT Thu 9:30 Fri 4:00 THE SEARCH FOR GENERAL TSO Thu 6:45

CARLTON CINEMA (I) 20 CARLTON, 416-494-9371

AMERICAN SNIPER (14A) 1:15, 4:00, 6:45, 9:30 BACKSTREET BOYS: SHOW ‘EM WHAT YOU’RE MADE OF Thu 1:30, 4:00, 6:45, 9:00 BIG EYES (PG) Thu 9:10 BOYHOOD (14A) Thu 1:15 Fri-Wed 2:00 ESCOBAR: PARADISE LOST (14A) Thu 9:25 FOXCATCHER (14A) Thu 3:55 9:35 Fri-Wed 4:15, 9:35 A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT (14A) 1:45, 7:15 Wedno 7:15 INHERENT VICE (14A) Fri-Wed 3:55, 9:20 INTO THE WOODS (PG) Thu 1:20, 6:55 JUPITER ASCENDING (PG) Fri-Wed 1:20, 4:00, 6:50, 9:30 LOVE, ROSIE Fri-Wed 7:05 OUTCAST Fri-Wed 9:20 PADDINGTON (G) Thu 1:30, 3:55, 6:35 Fri-Wed 1:50, 4:20 PROJECT ALMANAC (PG) Thu 1:25 4:05 6:40 9:15 Fri-Wed 1:25, 4:05, 6:40, 9:05 SEVENTH SON (PG) Fri-Wed 1:30, 3:50, 6:55, 9:15 SONG OF THE SEA (PG) Thu 4:35, 6:50 THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER (G) Fri-Wed 1:40, 4:10, 6:45, 9:00 TORONTO BLACK FILM FESTIVAL Wed 5:00, 7:00, 9:00 TRU LOVE (14A) Thu 2:00, 7:00 THE WEDDING RINGER (14A) Thu 1:40, 4:15, 7:15, 9:40 WHIPLASH (14A) Thu 4:15, 9:20 Fri-Wed 1:35, 7:00 WILD CARD (14A) Thu 1:35, 3:45, 7:05, 9:15 Fri-Wed 7:10, 9:25

RAINBOW MARKET SQUARE (I) MARKET SQUARE, 80 FRONT ST E, 416-494-9371

AMERICAN SNIPER (14A) 12:45, 3:45, 6:45, 9:25 Sat, Tue 11:10 late THE BOY NEXT DOOR (14A) Thu 12:35, 2:35, 4:35, 7:10, 9:15 Fri-Wed 9:00 THE IMITATION GAME (PG) 12:40, 3:40, 6:50 Thu 9:35 late JUPITER ASCENDING (PG) Thu 7:00, 9:30 Fri, Sun-Mon, Wed 12:50, 3:50, 7:00, 9:35 Sat, Tue 12:50, 3:50, 7:00, 9:35, 10:50 PADDINGTON (G) Thu 12:25, 2:30, 4:45, 7:00, 9:05 Fri-

REG HARTT CINEFORUM (I) THE LAST POGO JUMPS AGAIN (14A) Thu-Sat 7:00 METROPOLIS Sun 7:00

ROYAL (I)

608 COLLEGE ST, 416-466-4400 THE BLIND STIGMA Sat 7:30 ERNEST & CELESTINE (PG) Sat-Sun 2:00 FORCE MAJEURE (14A) Mon 6:45 FOXCATCHER (14A) Fri, Tue-Wed 8:45 Sat 9:30 Sun 4:00, 8:45 Mon 9:00 GOODBYE TO LANGUAGE 3D (14A) Fri, Sun, Tue-Wed 6:45 ROSEWATER (14A) Thu 9:20 THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING (PG) Thu 7:00

SCOTIABANK THEATRE (CE) 259 RICHMOND ST W, 416-368-5600

ALIEN Thu 7:40 ALIENS (R) Thu 9:55 AMERICAN SNIPER (14A) Thu 2:10, 3:25, 5:10, 6:30, 8:30, 9:25 Fri-Sat 1:15, 3:20, 4:20, 6:40, 7:30, 9:40, 10:30 Sun 1:15, 3:15, 4:20, 6:30, 7:15, 9:30, 10:10 Mon-Tue 1:15, 3:15, 4:20, 6:35, 7:25, 9:30, 10:20 Wed 12:45, 3:15, 3:50, 6:30, 7:20, 9:30, 10:30 AMERICAN SNIPER: THE IMAX EXPERIENCE (14A) Thu 1:10, 4:10 BLACKHAT (14A) Thu 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 9:55 Fri-Sat 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 10:00 Sun 1:00, 4:00, 6:50, 9:50 Mon-Tue 1:05, 3:55, 6:45, 9:50 Wed 12:45, 3:35, 9:50 HELLBOY (14A) Thu 2:25 THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES 3D (PG) Thu 3:50, 6:55, 10:00 Fri-Sat 3:30, 7:00, 10:10 Sun 3:00, 6:10, 9:20 Mon-Wed 4:00, 7:00, 10:10 THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES (PG) Thu 12:45 Fri-Sat 12:30 Sun 12:00 Mon-Wed 1:00 THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY – PART 1 (PG) Thu 12:40, 3:30, 6:40, 9:35 Fri 12:40, 3:30, 6:20, 9:10 Sat 12:20, 3:10, 6:20, 9:10 Sun 12:20, 3:10, 6:00, 8:50 Mon-Tue 12:55, 3:40, 6:30, 9:20 Wed 12:40, 3:25, 6:20, 9:15 INHERENT VICE (14A) Thu 12:40, 3:55, 7:10, 10:20 Fri 12:30, 3:40, 6:50, 10:10 Sat 12:10, 3:40, 6:50, 10:10 Sun 12:10, 3:25, 6:40, 9:55 Mon-Tue 12:55, 4:05, 7:15, 10:30 Wed 12:55, 4:05, 7:15, 10:40 INTERSTELLAR (PG) Thu 2:40, 6:10, 9:45 Fri 2:20, 5:50, 9:30 Sat 11:30, 2:20, 5:50, 9:30 Sun 11:40, 2:00, 5:35, 9:10 Mon-Tue 2:00, 5:35, 9:10 Wed 12:25, 3:55, 10:15 THE METROPOLITAN OPERA – DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG ENCORE Sat 12:00 MORTDECAI (14A) Thu 1:10, 2:00, 3:45, 4:45, 6:20, 7:30, 9:15, 10:10 Fri 12:50, 2:10, 3:50, 4:50, 6:30, 7:50, 9:20, 10:30 Sat 12:45, 3:50, 6:30, 7:50, 9:20, 10:30 Sun 12:45, 1:50, 3:40, 4:40, 6:20, 7:40, 9:00, 10:10 Mon 1:05, 1:50, 3:35, 4:40, 7:40, 9:30, 10:10 Tue 1:05, 1:50, 3:35, 4:40, 6:20, 7:40, 9:00, 10:10 Wed 1:05, 1:50, 3:35, 4:40, 6:10, 9:00, 10:20 A MOST VIOLENT YEAR (14A) Thu 12:30, 1:20, 4:15, 7:05, 9:55 Fri-Sat 1:30, 4:30, 7:20, 10:20 Sun-Wed 1:30, 4:20, 7:10, 10:00 PAN’S LABYRINTH (14A) Thu 12:15 PROJECT ALMANAC (PG) Thu 12:25, 2:50, 5:20, 8:00, 10:30 Fri, Mon 2:30, 5:00, 7:40, 10:20 Sat 11:40, 2:30, 5:00, 7:40, 10:20 Sun 12:00, 2:35, 5:00, 7:30, 10:00 Tue 2:20, 4:50, 7:30, 10:00 Wed 2:20, 4:50, 7:40, 10:10 SEVENTH SON 3D (PG) Fri-Sat 1:40, 4:10, 7:10, 9:50 Sun 1:40, 4:10, 7:00, 9:40 Mon-Tue 1:40, 4:10, 6:50, 9:40 Wed 1:40, 4:10, 6:40, 9:40

SEVENTH SON: AN IMAX 3D EXPERIENCE (PG) Thu 7:10, 10:00 Fri 2:40, 5:20, 8:00, 10:40 Sat 11:30, 2:10, 5:10, 8:00, 10:40 Sun 11:40, 2:20, 5:00, 7:40, 10:20 Mon-Tue 2:10, 5:00, 7:40, 10:20 Wed 2:10, 5:00, 7:50, 10:30 TAKEN 3 (14A) Thu 2:25, 5:00, 7:45, 10:30 Fri 12:40, 2:50, 5:30, 8:10, 10:40 Sat 11:50, 2:45, 5:30, 8:10, 10:40 Sun 11:50, 2:25, 5:10, 7:50, 10:20 Mon-Tue 2:30, 5:15, 8:00, 10:30 Wed 2:30, 5:15, 8:10, 10:40 X-MEN (PG) Thu 5:05

TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX (I) 350 KING ST W, 416-599-8433

THE ANATOMY OF BURLESQUE (14A) Sun 12:15 CAFÉ LUMIÈRE (14A) Sun 6:30 FLOWERS OF TAIPEI: TAIWAN NEW CINEMA (14A) Thu 6:15 A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT (14A) Thu 3:10, 9:30 Fri 1:20, 3:50, 9:30 Sat 12:15, 2:40, 9:30 Sun 3:10, 7:00, 9:30 Mon 9:00 Tue 3:30, 7:00, 9:30 Wed 2:15, 4:45, 7:10, 9:30 GOOD MEN, GOOD WOMEN (14A) Sat 5:30 GORDON’S WAR (R) Tue 9:15 LEVIATHAN (14A) Thu 12:20, 3:20, 6:05, 9:20 Fri 12:20,

3:20, 6:20, 9:20 Sat 12:10, 3:10, 6:05, 9:00 Sun 12:25, 3:20, 6:20, 9:20 Mon 6:20, 9:20 Tue 12:20, 3:10, 6:20, 9:20 Wed 12:10, 3:10, 6:20, 9:20 MANHUNTER (R) Fri 9:00 MR. TURNER (14A) Thu 12:00 NIGHT NURSE (PG) Sat 3:30 THE OSCAR NOMINATED SHORT FILMS 2015: ANIMATED (PG) Thu 12:10, 6:30 Fri 2:40, 6:50 Sat 12:00, 4:35, 9:10 Sun 2:40, 5:40, 7:15 Mon 9:10 Tue 2:40, 7:15 Wed 12:00, 3:20, 4:35, 9:10 THE OSCAR NOMINATED SHORT FILMS 2015: LIVE ACTION (14A) Thu 2:10, 9:10 Fri, Sun, Tue 12:00, 4:35, 9:10 Sat 1:55, 6:30 Mon 6:30 Wed 12:20, 1:55, 6:30 THE OXFORD MURDERS (14A) Sun 9:00 PERDITA DURANGO (18A) Sat 8:30 SHOCK TREATMENT (14A) Sat 1:00 STELLA DALLAS (G) Sun 3:45 THIEF (R) Thu 9:00 THREE TIMES (18A) Tue 6:30 TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT (PG) Thu 12:45, 3:00, 7:40, 9:50 Fri 12:45, 3:00, 7:10 Sat 12:45, 3:00, 5:00, 7:10 Sun 12:45, 3:30, 7:35, 9:45 Mon 6:45 Tue 12:45, 3:20, 7:40, 9:50 Wed continued on page 64 œ

Special Screenings B = Black History Month event

Thursday, February 5 AGE OF PANIC Screening of the Justine Triet

film, in French w/ English subtitles. 7 pm.

Free. Alliance Française, 24 Spadina Rd. 416922-2014, alliance-francaise.ca.

THE BOOK REVUE: GONE GIRL Screening of the film adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s book followed by a discussion on gender politics with Steph Guthrie and Kiva Reardon. 6:309:30 pm. $11, stu/srs $8. Revue Cinema, 400 Roncesvalles. 416-531-9959, revuecinema. ca.

BHUE: A MATTER OF COLOUR Screening of the NFB film by Vic Sarin. Free. 5 pm at Centennial Library, 578 Finch W; 6 pm at Agincourt Library, 155 Bonis. torontopubliclibrary.ca.

LE PATIN LIBRE Film about former figure skaters reinventing dancing on ice. Feb 5-19, Sun-Thu 7 pm. Cineforum, 463 Bathurst.

416-603-6643, reghartt.ca/cineforum.

BUNDER THE STARRY SKY Screening of the Dyana Gaye film as part of the Toronto Black Film Festival. In French w/ English subtitles.

7 pm. Free. Alliance Française, 24 Spadina Rd. 416-922-2014, alliance-francaise.ca.

Friday, February 6 BCURATORS OF HIP-HOP Screening of the film that looks at the next generation of artists forging a path in the community. 8-9:30 pm. Free. Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W. harbourfrontcentre.com.

EXPOSURE VOL. II Screening of the film about five young climbers redefining the limits of difficulty in their sport. 7:30 pm. $10. Auditorium. Riverdale Collegiate Institute, 1094 Gerrard E. rockoasis.com.

THE STIRRING OF A THOUSAND BELLS Screening of a visual and musical tour of life in Indonesia by Matt Dunning. 8 pm. $10.

Small World Music Centre, 180 Shaw, studio 101. smallworldmusic.com.

Saturday, February 7 BAFRICAN TRIPLE FEATURE Screening of 100% Dakar, Electric Roots: The Detroit

Sound Project and Fantastic Man. 7:309:30 pm. Free. Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W. harbourfrontcentre.com.

CINEFORUM SATURDAYS The Salvador Dali Film Fest, 7 pm. The Sex & Violence Cartoon Fest, 9 pm. Cineforum, 463 Bathurst.

416-603-6643, reghartt.ca/cineforum.

BNFB CELEBRATES BLACK HISTORY MONTH FOR KIDS Short films about past genera-

tions of activists, fighters, survivors and people who make up Afro-Canada’s rich history. Feb 7-8, 1 & 2 pm. Free. Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W. harbourfrontcentre.com.

BSUN RA: A JOYFUL NOISE Screening of the film by Rob Mugge about the musician and pioneer of the Afrofuturism movement. 7 pm. Free. Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W. harbourfrontcentre.com.

Sunday, February 8 BCOMING BACK FOR MORE Screening of William Alkema’s film about his search for Sly Stone. 4 pm. Free. Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W. harbourfrontcentre. com.

Tuesday, February 10 EASY LIKE WATER: DESIGNING A FUTURE THAT FLOATS Screening of Glenn Baker’s

film about one man’s quest to fight the effects of climate change in rural Bangladesh. Discussion to follow with guest speaker Dewan Afzal. 6:15 pm. Free. Annette Library, 145 Annette. green13toronto.org.

film festivals BTORONTO BLACK FILM FESTIVAL Showcase of films by and about black people everywhere in the world, their realities and perspectives. $10, pass $99. Carlton Cinema, 20 Carlton (Events also at Isabel Bader Theatre, AGO and other venues, see website). torontoblackfilm.com.

Feb 10 to 15

ñWINTER SLEEP

(Nuri Bilge Ceylan) is set at an exclusive Turkish hotel owned by retired actor Aydin (Haluk Bilginer), who chats with his guests and maintains some neighbouring properties.

A charged confrontation with a tenant in one of those properties forces Aydin to reflect on his life. Not much happens, but Ceylan understands the power of setting and the subtle shifts that happen when complex people bump up against each other. Subtitled. 196 min. NNNNN (GS) TIFF Bell Lightbox 3 NOW FEBRUARY 5-11 2015

63

movie times œcontinued from page 63

12:45, 3:00, 6:45, 9:00 WinTer SLeep (14A) Thu 5:30

varSiTy (Ce)

55 Bloor ST w, 416-961-6304 BirdMan or (The unexpecTed virTue of ignorance) (14A) Thu-Fri, Sun 1:00, 3:50, 6:50, 9:40 Sat 1:00, 3:50, 6:50, 9:35 Mon-Tue 12:50, 3:40, 6:45, 9:35 wed 12:30, 3:20, 10:15 The iMiTaTion gaMe (PG) Thu, Mon-wed 12:30, 3:15, 6:40, 9:30 Fri-Sun 12:20, 3:10, 6:40, 9:30 a MoST vioLenT year (14A) Thu, Mon-Tue 1:15, 4:10, 7:10, 10:05 Fri, Sun 1:10, 4:10, 7:10, 10:10 Sat 1:10, 4:10, 7:10, 10:05 wed 1:25, 4:15, 7:10, 10:05 Mr. Turner (14A) Thu 3:00, 6:25, 9:55 Fri, Sun 12:05, 3:20, 6:35, 9:55 Sat 12:00, 3:20, 6:35, 9:55 Mon-wed 3:00, 6:25, 9:50 SeLMa (PG) Thu, Sat, Mon-Tue 1:25, 4:20, 7:20, 10:15 Fri, Sun 1:25, 4:20, 7:20, 10:20 wed 1:20, 4:20, 7:20, 10:15 STiLL aLice (PG) Thu, Sat 12:45, 3:40, 7:00, 9:45 Fri, Sun 12:00, 2:30, 5:05, 7:45, 10:30 Mon-Tue 1:30, 4:00, 7:00, 9:40 wed 1:10, 4:00, 7:00, 9:40 The Theory of everyThing (PG) Thu 12:35, 3:30, 6:20, 9:20 Fri-Sun 12:35, 3:25, 6:20, 9:20 Mon-wed 12:35, 3:25, 6:20, 9:15 WiLd (18A) Thu 1:05, 4:30, 7:25, 10:10 Fri, Sun 12:50, 4:00, 7:00, 10:00 Sat 12:10, 3:15, 6:10, 9:10 Mon-Tue 1:10, 4:30, 7:25, 10:10 wed 1:40, 4:30, 7:25, 10:10

VIP SCREENINGS

BirdMan or (The unexpecTed virTue of ignorance) (14A) Thu 1:10, 4:15, 7:10, 10:00 Fri-Sun 12:00, 3:00, 6:00, 9:00 Mon-Tue 1:30, 4:15, 7:10, 10:00 wed 1:30, 7:10, 10:00 The iMiTaTion gaMe (PG) Thu 12:50, 3:45, 6:30, 9:20 Fri, Sun 1:00, 4:05, 7:30, 10:30 Sat 1:00, 4:05, 7:30, 10:10 Mon-wed 1:00, 3:45, 6:30, 9:20 inherenT vice (14A) Thu 2:30, 6:00, 9:40 a MoST vioLenT year (14A) Thu 12:30, 3:30, 6:50, 10:15 Fri, Sun 12:30, 3:30, 6:30, 9:30 Sat 12:30, 3:30, 6:30, 9:20 Mon-Tue 12:30, 3:30, 6:50, 9:40 wed 4:15, 6:50, 9:40 STiLL aLice (PG) Fri, Sun 1:30, 4:25, 7:00, 10:00 Sat 1:30, 4:25, 7:00, 9:40 Mon-wed 12:45, 3:15, 6:10, 9:00

yonge & dundaS 24 (Ce) 10 dundaS ST e, 416-977-9262

20 once again Thu 1:35, 4:45, 7:40, 10:35 Fri 1:50, 4:45, 7:40, 10:35 Sat-Sun 11:55, 3:35, 6:40, 9:45 Mon-wed 3:35, 6:40, 9:40 aMerican Sniper (14A) Thu 3:00, 6:30, 9:40 Fri 3:40, 7:00, 10:40 Sat 12:00, 3:40, 7:00, 10:40 Sun 12:00, 3:40, 7:00, 10:25 Mon-wed 3:00, 6:15, 9:30 BirdMan or (The unexpecTed virTue of ignorance) (14A) Thu 7:35, 10:40 Fri 2:05, 4:50, 7:50, 10:50 Sat 11:20, 2:05, 4:50, 7:50, 10:50 Sun 11:20, 2:05, 4:50, 7:55, 10:40 Mon-wed 7:55, 10:40 BLack or WhiTe Thu 4:50, 7:10, 10:10 Fri-Sun 1:35, 4:20, 7:10, 10:10 Mon-wed 1:35, 4:25, 7:10, 10:10 The Boy nexT door (14A) Thu 2:45, 4:15, 4:40, 5:10, 6:45, 8:00, 9:15, 10:25, 10:50 Fri 2:30, 4:55, 5:00, 7:35, 8:00, 9:50, 11:00 Sat 2:00, 2:30, 4:55, 5:00, 7:35, 8:00, 9:50, 11:00 Sun 2:00, 2:30, 4:55, 5:00, 7:35, 7:50, 9:50, 10:50 Mon-wed 2:45, 4:40, 5:15, 7:45, 7:50, 10:15, 10:50 Boyhood (14A) Thu-Fri 2:00, 7:30 Sat 3:15, 9:00 Sun 6:00 Mon 6:45 Tue 2:00 wed 3:45 dog day afTernoon Sun 12:55, 9:30 Mon 4:15 Tue 5:15, 10:15 wed 7:00, 9:45 doLLy ki doLi (PG) Thu 1:45, 4:25, 6:55, 9:35 gaMe of ThroneS: The iMax experience (SeaSon 4, epiSodeS 9 and 10) (18A) Thu 1:50, 4:40, 7:30, 10:20 The grand BudapeST hoTeL (14A) Thu-Fri 5:15, 10:45 Sat 1:00, 6:45 Sun 3:45 Mon 2:00, 10:00 Tue 8:00 The iMiTaTion gaMe (PG) Thu 2:15, 3:20, 5:00, 6:50, 7:50, 9:50, 10:45 Fri 1:55, 3:20, 4:35, 6:30, 7:40, 9:30, 10:35 Sat 12:30, 1:55, 3:20, 4:35, 6:30, 7:40, 9:30, 10:35 Sun 12:30, 1:55, 3:20, 4:35, 6:20, 7:40, 9:30, 10:35 Monwed 1:55, 3:25, 4:35, 6:35, 7:40, 9:50, 10:35 inTo The WoodS (PG) Thu 10:35 Fri 2:20, 5:10, 8:05, 10:55 Sat-Sun 11:25, 2:20, 5:10, 8:05, 10:55 Mon-wed 8:05, 10:55 jupiTer aScending (PG) Fri, Mon-wed 1:20, 7:05 SatSun 1:00, 7:05 jupiTer aScending 3d (PG) Thu 7:00, 10:00 Fri, Monwed 4:05, 10:00 Sat-Sun 4:00, 10:00 jupiTer aScending: an iMax 3d experience (PG) Friwed 2:00, 5:00, 8:00, 11:00 nighT aT The MuSeuM: SecreT of The ToMB (PG) Thu 1:35 paddingTon (G) Thu 7:40, 10:15 Fri 1:40, 4:10, 6:50, 9:25 Sat-Sun 11:20, 1:40, 4:10, 6:50, 9:25 Mon-wed 6:50, 9:25 projecT aLManac (PG) Thu 4:20, 7:10, 10:10 Fri 4:30, 7:30, 10:20 Sat 1:30, 4:30, 7:30, 10:20 Sun 1:30, 4:30, 7:20, 10:05 Mon-wed 4:20, 7:20, 10:30 red arMy (PG) Thu 1:55, 4:10, 6:25, 8:50 Fri 2:35, 5:50, 8:15, 10:30 Sat 12:10, 2:35, 5:50, 8:15, 10:30 Sun 12:10, 2:35, 5:45, 8:15, 10:30 Mon-wed 2:35, 5:45, 8:15, 10:25 running Man (PG) Thu 2:10, 4:35, 7:25, 9:40 Fri 2:55, 5:05, 7:20, 10:25 Sat 12:25, 2:55, 5:05, 7:20, 10:25 Sun 12:25, 2:55, 5:05, 7:30, 10:20 Mon-wed 2:55, 5:05, 7:30, 10:20 SeLMa (PG) Thu 10:05 Fri-Sun 3:50, 6:55, 9:55 Mon-wed 6:55, 9:55 ShaMiTaBh Fri 1:25, 3:25, 6:45, 10:05 Sat-Sun 12:05, 3:25, 6:45, 10:05 Mon-Tue 3:20, 6:45, 10:05 wed 3:20, 7:10, 10:20 The SpongeBoB Movie: Sponge ouT of WaTer 3d (G) Thu 7:00, 9:30 Fri 2:30, 4:55, 7:35, 9:50 Sat 12:00, 2:30, 4:55, 7:35, 10:00 Sun 12:00, 2:30, 4:55, 7:35, 9:50 Monwed 2:30, 4:55, 7:35, 10:00 The SpongeBoB Movie: Sponge ouT of WaTer (G) Fri 1:45, 3:55 Sat-Sun 1:25, 3:55 Mon-wed 1:30, 4:00 STrange Magic (PG) Thu 1:40, 4:05, 6:40, 9:45 Fri 1:30 Sat-Sun 1:05 Taken 3 (14A) Thu 3:40, 10:40 Fri 3:00, 6:00, 9:00 Sat

64

february 5-11 2015 NOW

12:15, 3:00, 6:00, 9:00 Sun 12:15, 3:00, 5:50, 9:00 Monwed 3:50, 7:00, 10:10 The Theory of everyThing (PG) Fri 4:40, 7:25, 10:05 Sat-Sun 11:50, 3:10, 6:05, 9:05 Mon-wed 6:30, 9:45 The Wedding ringer (14A) Thu 6:30, 9:00 Fri 3:15, 5:55, 8:20, 10:45 Sat-Sun 12:20, 3:15, 5:55, 8:20, 10:45 Monwed 8:20, 10:45 WiLd (18A) Thu 4:00 Fri-Sun 6:20, 9:15 Mon-Tue 7:10, 9:50 wed 10:25

Midtown Canada SQuare (Ce) 2200 yonge ST, 416-646-0444

The aMazing prayBeyT BenjaMin (PG) Thu, Mon-wed 5:00, 7:30 Fri 4:30, 7:00, 9:30 Sat-Sun 2:00, 4:30, 7:00, 9:30 annie (PG) Thu 5:05 BirdMan or (The unexpecTed virTue of ignorance) (14A) Thu 8:20 cake (14A) Thu, Mon-wed 5:20, 8:25 Fri 4:45, 7:15, 9:45 Sat-Sun 2:15, 4:45, 7:15, 9:45 inTo The WoodS (PG) Thu, Mon-wed 5:10, 8:15 Fri 3:40, 6:35, 9:40 Sat-Sun 12:50, 3:40, 6:35, 9:40 projecT aLManac (PG) Fri 4:00, 6:40, 9:15 Sat-Sun 1:20, 4:00, 6:40, 9:15 Mon-wed 5:45, 8:30 SeLMa (PG) Thu, Mon-wed 5:30, 7:50 Fri 3:50, 7:00, 9:55 Sat-Sun 12:45, 3:50, 7:00, 9:55 STrange Magic (PG) Thu 5:45, 8:10 The Wedding ringer (14A) Fri 4:20, 6:50, 9:25 Sat-Sun 1:45, 4:20, 6:50, 9:25 Mon-wed 6:00, 8:40 WhipLaSh (14A) Thu 5:40, 8:30 Fri 4:50, 7:30, 10:00 SatSun 2:10, 4:50, 7:30, 10:00 Mon-wed 5:40, 8:20 WiLd (18A) Fri 4:00, 6:45, 9:40 Sat-Sun 1:10, 4:00, 6:45, 9:40 Mon-wed 5:15, 8:00

MT pleaSanT (i)

675 MT pleaSanT rd, 416-489-8484 Boyhood (14A) Thu, Tue 6:45 Fri-Sat 6:15 Sun 4:00 force Majeure (14A) Fri 9:30 Sat 3:40 Sun 1:30 wed 7:00 The grand BudapeST hoTeL (14A) Sat 9:35 Sun 7:15

regenT TheaTre (i) 551 MT pleaSanT rd, 416-480-9884

BirdMan or (The unexpecTed virTue of ignorance) (14A) Thu 7:00 Fri 9:00 Sat 4:00, 9:00 Sun 4:00 Tue 8:50 wed 6:30 The Theory of everyThing (PG) Fri, Tue 6:30 Sat-Sun 1:30, 6:30 wed 8:50

SilverCiTy yonge (Ce) 2300 yonge ST, 416-544-1236

aMerican Sniper (14A) Thu 1:05, 4:00, 7:00, 10:00 Fri 1:00, 3:55, 7:00, 10:10 Sat 12:30, 4:30, 7:05, 10:10 Sun 12:50, 4:00, 7:10, 10:10 Mon-Tue 1:00, 3:55, 7:00, 10:00 wed 3:55, 6:50, 10:00 The Boy nexT door (14A) Thu 1:45, 4:50, 7:35, 9:50 Fri 2:00, 4:50, 7:40, 10:00 Sat 1:20, 7:55, 10:15 Sun 1:50, 4:55, 7:40, 10:00 Mon-Tue 2:00, 4:50, 7:40, 9:55 wed 1:30, 4:10, 9:55 The iMiTaTion gaMe (PG) Thu 1:00, 3:45, 6:50, 9:40 Fri, Mon-Tue 1:10, 4:00, 6:50, 9:50 Sat 12:55, 3:50, 6:50, 9:50 Sun 1:10, 4:15, 7:20, 10:10 wed 12:50, 3:35, 6:30, 10:15 jupiTer aScending 3d (PG) Fri 1:20, 4:20, 7:20, 10:20 Sat 1:05, 4:10, 7:25, 10:30 Sun 12:30, 3:30, 6:50, 9:55 Monwed 1:20, 4:20, 7:20, 10:15 The MeTropoLiTan opera – die MeiSTerSinger von nürnBerg encore Sat 12:00 MorTdecai (14A) Thu 1:35, 4:30, 7:15, 9:55 a MoST vioLenT year (14A) Thu 1:20, 4:10, 7:10, 10:05 Fri, Mon-Tue 12:50, 3:40, 6:40, 9:35 Sat 12:20, 3:25, 6:40, 9:35 Sun 12:40, 3:40, 6:40, 9:45 wed 3:50, 6:40, 9:35 paddingTon (G) Thu 1:25, 3:55, 6:25, 9:10 Fri 2:10, 5:00, 7:50, 10:20 Sat 12:10, 2:40, 5:10, 7:45, 10:05 Sun 1:35, 4:30, 7:00, 9:35 Mon-wed 2:10, 5:00, 7:50, 10:10 projecT aLManac (PG) Thu 2:00, 4:40, 7:25, 10:05 SevenTh Son 3d (PG) Fri 1:50, 4:40, 7:30, 10:15 Sat 12:00, 2:30, 5:00, 7:35, 10:25 Sun 2:00, 4:45, 7:30, 10:05 MonTue 1:50, 4:40, 7:30, 10:05 wed 1:30, 4:40, 7:30, 10:05 The SpongeBoB Movie: Sponge ouT of WaTer 3d (G) Fri, Mon-wed 4:30, 7:10, 9:40 Sat 3:05, 5:30, 8:05, 10:30 Sun 3:50, 6:20, 9:10 The SpongeBoB Movie: Sponge ouT of WaTer (G) Fri, Mon-wed 1:40 Sat 12:40 Sun 1:20 The Theory of everyThing (PG) Thu 1:00, 3:45, 6:35, 9:30 Fri 12:50, 3:45, 6:30, 9:25 Sat 3:35, 6:30, 9:25 Sun 12:30, 3:20, 6:30, 9:25 Mon-Tue 12:50, 3:35, 6:30, 9:25 wed 12:50, 3:35, 9:45 The Wedding ringer (14A) Thu 1:50, 4:20, 6:45, 9:20

Metro West End huMBer CineMaS (i) 2442 Bloor ST. weST, 416-769-2442

aMerican Sniper (14A) Thu 3:30, 6:40, 9:35 Sat-Sun 12:45, 3:30, 6:40, 8:45 Mon-wed 3:30, 6:40, 8:45 jupiTer aScending (PG) 4:00, 6:50, 9:35 Sat-Mon 1:00 mat paddingTon (G) Thu 3:50, 6:30 Fri, Tue-wed 3:40 SatMon 1:15, 3:40 SeLMa (PG) Thu 9:15 Fri-wed 9:45

The SpongeBoB Movie: Sponge ouT of WaTer (G) 3:50, 6:30, 9:25 Sat-Mon 1:30 mat STrange Magic (PG) Thu 4:00, 7:00 The Theory of everyThing (PG) Thu 8:45 Fri-Mon 7:00

KingSway TheaTre (i) 3030 Bloor ST w, 416-232-1939

aWake: The Life of yogananda (G) Thu 11:00 Fri, Sun, Tue 11:15 Big hero 6 (PG) Sun 11:15 BirdMan or (The unexpecTed virTue of ignorance) (14A) Thu 7:20 Fri-wed 1:00, 7:25 Boyhood (14A) Thu 9:15 Fri, Sun, Tue 1:00 Sat, Mon, wed 1:00, 9:15 cake (14A) Fri-wed 7:35 eLSa & fred (PG) Thu 12:35 Sat, Mon, wed 11:15 fiTzWiLLy Thu 11:00 Fri 11:15 force Majeure (14A) Sat, Mon, wed 5:30 foxcaTcher (14A) Fri, Sun, Tue 9:15 inTerSTeLLar (PG) Thu 9:25 Fri-wed 9:30 Mr. Turner (14A) Thu 4:40 Fri-wed 3:05 My oLd Lady (PG) Thu 2:10 Fri-wed 3:45 pride (14A) Thu-Fri, Sun, Tue 5:30 Song of The neW earTh Tue 11:25 Song of The Sea (PG) Thu 12:40 Sat, Mon, wed 11:25 Song one (14A) Thu 3:55 Tru Love (14A) Thu 7:35 WhipLaSh (14A) Thu 2:25 Fri-wed 5:40

QueenSway (Ce)

1025 The QueenSway, Qew & iSlingTon, 416-503-0424 aMerican Sniper (14A) Thu 1:10, 4:15, 7:30, 10:35, 10:50 Fri 12:45, 3:50, 4:15, 7:00, 7:30, 10:10, 10:50 Sat 11:30, 12:40, 1:00, 3:50, 4:15, 7:00, 7:30, 10:10, 10:50 Sun 12:15, 1:00, 3:30, 4:00, 6:40, 7:15, 9:45, 10:30 Mon-wed 12:35, 3:35, 4:00, 6:40, 7:15, 9:45, 10:30 annie (PG) Thu 1:40 Big MiracLe Sat 11:00 BLack or WhiTe Thu 12:45, 3:40, 6:50, 9:45 Fri 12:35, 3:25, 6:20 Sat 12:30, 3:30, 6:20 Sun 12:05, 2:50, 6:00 Mon, wed 12:30, 3:00, 6:00 Tue 12:25, 3:00, 6:00 The Boy nexT door (14A) Thu 2:40, 5:00, 8:00, 10:25 Fri 1:10, 3:30, 6:00, 8:30, 10:55 Sat 11:40, 2:20, 8:30, 10:55 Sun 12:40, 3:10, 5:40, 8:10, 10:30 Mon 3:20, 5:40, 8:10, 10:30 Tue 3:15, 5:40, 8:10, 10:30 wed 12:45, 3:20, 5:40, 8:10, 10:30 dog day afTernoon Sun 12:55 wed 7:00 The hoBBiT: The BaTTLe of The five arMieS 3d (PG) Fri-Sat 6:10, 9:30 Sun-Tue 5:50, 9:10 wed 9:25 The hoBBiT: The BaTTLe of The five arMieS (PG) Thu 4:05 Fri 3:00 Sun-Tue 2:30 wed 3:10 The iMiTaTion gaMe (PG) Thu 12:40, 3:20, 3:45, 6:20, 7:00, 9:15, 10:20 Fri 1:00, 3:45, 4:00, 6:50, 7:00, 9:50, 10:20 Sat 12:30, 1:00, 3:45, 4:00, 6:50, 7:00, 9:50, 10:20 Sun 12:30, 1:40, 3:40, 6:30, 6:50, 9:25, 10:00 Mon-Tue 12:50, 1:40, 3:40, 6:30, 6:50, 9:25, 10:00 wed 1:20, 3:40, 4:10, 6:30, 6:50, 9:40, 10:00 inTo The WoodS (PG) Thu 4:30 jupiTer aScending 3d (PG) Thu 7:20, 10:20 Fri 1:20, 4:20, 7:30, 10:35 Sat 11:10, 1:15, 4:20, 7:30, 10:35 Sun-Tue 1:00, 4:00, 7:10, 10:10 wed 1:10, 4:00, 7:10, 10:10 The MeTropoLiTan opera – die MeiSTerSinger von nürnBerg encore Sat 12:00 MorTdecai (14A) Thu 12:30, 3:10, 6:10, 8:55 Fri-Sat 10:00 Sun-wed 9:35 a MoST vioLenT year (14A) Thu 1:00, 2:45, 4:00, 6:00, 7:10, 9:20, 10:10 Fri 12:20, 2:45, 3:10, 6:00, 6:30, 9:20, 9:25 Sat 11:40, 12:10, 2:45, 3:10, 6:00, 6:30, 9:20, 9:25 Sun 11:40, 12:20, 2:45, 3:15, 6:00, 6:10, 9:05, 9:10 Mon, wed 12:30, 2:45, 3:20, 6:00, 6:10, 9:05, 9:10 Tue 12:25, 2:45, 3:20, 6:00, 6:10, 9:05, 9:10 nighT aT The MuSeuM: SecreT of The ToMB (PG) Thu 1:20 paddingTon (G) Thu 1:30, 3:55, 6:40, 9:10 Fri 2:05, 4:40, 7:10, 9:40 Sat 11:20, 2:00, 4:35, 7:10, 9:40 Sun-wed 1:50, 4:20, 6:50, 9:20 projecT aLManac (PG) Thu, Sat 2:30, 5:10, 7:50, 10:30 Fri 2:35, 5:10, 7:50, 10:30 Sun-wed 2:10, 4:50, 7:30, 10:05 SeLMa (PG) Thu 12:55, 3:50 Fri 12:40, 3:40, 6:40, 9:35 Sat 12:35, 3:40, 6:40, 9:35 Sun 12:25, 3:20, 6:20, 9:15 Monwed 12:30, 3:25, 6:20, 9:15 SevenTh Son 3d (PG) Thu 7:40, 10:15 Fri 12:15, 2:40, 5:20, 8:00, 10:40 Sat 12:00, 2:40, 5:20, 8:00, 10:40 Sun 11:50, 2:20, 5:00, 7:40, 10:15 Mon-wed 2:20, 5:00, 7:40, 10:15 The SpongeBoB Movie: Sponge ouT of WaTer 3d (G) Thu 7:00, 9:25 Fri-Sat 12:50, 3:20, 5:50, 8:20, 10:45 Sun 12:30, 3:00, 5:30, 8:00, 10:20 Mon-wed 2:50, 5:30, 8:00, 10:20 The SpongeBoB Movie: Sponge ouT of WaTer (G) Fri 2:15, 4:50, 7:20 Sat 11:50, 2:10, 4:50, 7:20 Sun-Tue 2:00, 4:30, 7:00 wed 4:30, 7:00 STiLL aLice (PG) Thu 12:30, 3:00, 6:00, 8:35 Fri 12:25, 2:25, 5:00, 7:40, 10:20 Sat 3:00, 5:00, 7:40, 10:20 Sun 12:00, 4:40, 7:20, 9:55 Mon-wed 4:40, 7:20, 9:55 STrange Magic (PG) Thu 1:50, 4:20, 6:55, 9:30 Fri, Tue 12:30 Sat 12:20 Sun 11:55 Mon, wed 12:40 Taken 3 (14A) Thu 12:50, 3:30, 6:30, 9:20 Fri-Sat 9:15 Sunwed 8:55 The Theory of everyThing (PG) Thu-Fri 3:15, 6:30, 9:50 Sat 12:00, 3:15, 6:30, 9:50 Sun 12:00, 3:10, 6:30, 9:40 Mon-wed 3:10, 6:30, 9:40 The Wedding ringer (14A) Thu 2:45, 2:50, 5:20, 6:00, 8:00, 8:50, 10:35 Fri 2:45, 2:50, 5:30, 6:00, 8:10, 8:50, 10:50 Sat 12:00, 2:45, 2:50, 5:30, 6:00, 8:10, 8:50, 10:50 Sun 12:00, 2:40, 2:45, 5:10, 6:00, 7:50, 8:45, 10:25 Monwed 2:40, 2:45, 5:10, 6:00, 7:50, 8:45, 10:25

rainBow woodBine (i)

woodBine CenTre, 500 rexdale Blvd, 416-213-1998 aMerican Sniper (14A) 12:45, 3:40, 6:35, 9:30 The Boy nexT door (14A) Thu 1:10 4:10 7:05 9:40 Friwed 1:05, 4:10, 7:05, 9:45 jupiTer aScending (PG) Thu 7:00, 9:45 Fri-wed 12:50, 3:45, 6:40, 9:35 nighT aT The MuSeuM: SecreT of The ToMB (PG) Thu 12:50 paddingTon (G) Thu 1:15, 4:00, 6:55, 9:20 Fri-wed 1:10, 4:05 projecT aLManac (PG) Thu 12:55, 3:55, 7:00, 9:35 Friwed 6:45, 9:15 SevenTh Son (PG) Fri-wed 12:55, 3:55, 7:00, 9:40 The SpongeBoB Movie: Sponge ouT of WaTer (G)

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Fri-wed 1:00, 4:00, 6:55, 9:20 STrange Magic (PG) Thu 1:00, 4:05, 6:45, 9:15 Fri-wed 1:15, 3:50 Taken 3 (14A) Thu 3:45 The Wedding ringer (14A) Thu 1:05, 3:50, 6:40, 9:25 Fri-wed 6:50, 9:25

revue (i)

400 ronCeSvalleS ave, 416-531-9959 ciTizenfour (PG) wed 7:00 The hoBBiT: The BaTTLe of The five arMieS (PG) FriSat, Tue 6:30 Sun 9:00 nighT aT The MuSeuM: SecreT of The ToMB (PG) Sat 2:00, 4:00 Sun 2:00 Mon 7:00 no evidence of diSeaSe Thu 10:00 TWo dayS, one nighT (PG) Sun 7:00 Mon 9:00 wed 2:00, 9:30 unBroken (14A) Fri-Sat, Tue 9:30 Sun 4:00

East End BeaCh CineMaS (aa) 1651 Queen ST e, 416-699-1327

aMerican Sniper (14A) Thu 7:00, 10:00 Fri 4:20, 7:20, 10:10 Sat-Sun 1:20, 4:20, 7:20, 10:10 Mon-wed 7:20, 10:10 The Boy nexT door (14A) Thu 7:20, 9:40 The iMiTaTion gaMe (PG) Thu 6:40, 9:30 Fri 3:50, 6:50, 9:40 Sat-Sun 1:10, 3:50, 6:50, 9:40 Mon-wed 6:50, 9:40 jupiTer aScending 3d (PG) 7:00, 10:00 Fri 3:40 mat Sat-Sun 12:40, 3:40 mat MorTdecai (14A) Thu 7:10, 9:50 Fri-wed 9:30 paddingTon (G) Thu 6:50, 9:10 Fri 4:30, 7:10 Sat-Sun 12:15, 2:30, 4:45, 7:10 Mon-wed 7:10 The SpongeBoB Movie: Sponge ouT of WaTer 3d (G) Fri 4:10, 6:30, 8:50 Sat-Sun 2:50, 5:10, 7:30, 9:50 Mon-

wed 6:30, 8:50 The SpongeBoB Movie: Sponge ouT of WaTer (G) Sat-Sun 12:30 WiLd (18A) Thu 7:30, 10:10 Fri 4:00, 6:40, 9:20 Sat-Sun 1:00, 4:00, 6:40, 9:20 Mon-wed 6:40, 9:20

Fox (i)

2236 Queen ST e, 416-691-7330 Big hero 6 3d (PG) Sat-Sun 2:00 BirdMan or (The unexpecTed virTue of ignorance) (14A) Thu 9:45 Boyhood (14A) Thu 6:30 Mr. Turner (14A) Mon-Tue 6:30 wed 9:10 The Theory of everyThing (PG) Fri-Sun 7:00 Mon 9:30 WhipLaSh (14A) Fri, Tue 9:30 Sat-Sun 4:00, 9:30 wed 7:00

North York Cineplex CineMaS eMpreSS walK (Ce) 5095 yonge ST., 416-847-0087

aMerican Sniper (14A) Thu 6:45, 9:50 Fri 3:55, 7:10, 10:25 Sat 12:40, 3:55, 7:10, 10:25 Sun 12:40, 3:55, 7:10, 10:15 Mon-wed 3:55, 7:10, 10:15 aMerican Sniper: The iMax experience (14A) Thu 3:30 The Boy nexT door (14A) Thu 4:30, 7:35, 9:55 Fri-wed 9:30 The iMiTaTion gaMe (PG) Thu 3:50, 7:20, 10:15 Fri, Monwed 3:35, 6:45, 9:45 Sat 12:30, 3:35, 6:45, 9:45 Sun 12:45, 3:35, 6:45, 9:45 jupiTer aScending 3d (PG) Fri 4:30, 7:30, 10:30 Sat 1:30, 4:30, 7:30, 10:30 Sun 12:30, 3:50, 7:00, 10:05 Mon-wed 3:40, 7:00, 10:05 LeviaThan (14A) Thu 3:45, 6:55, 10:05 Fri-Sat, Mon-wed 6:35 Sun 12:30, 6:35

film festival spotlight

Black Film faves ToronTo BLack fiLM feSTivaL

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Tuesday (February 10) through February 15 at various locations. torontoblackfilm.com. Rating: nnnn

The 2015 edition of the Toronto Black Film Festival arrives with a few features and shorts and a remarkably strong documentary slate – one that rivals the Human Rights Watch fest for its unflinching, confrontational selection.

This is a good thing, as these are movies that might not otherwise have made it to Toronto screens.

You just need to know what you’re in for.

John Cork’s You Belong To Me (Wednesday, 7 pm, Carlton) takes a long, uncomfortable look at the 1952 shooting of Clifford LeRoy Adams, a white doctor, by Ruby McCollum, a well-off black woman in the Florida town of Live Oak. It’s a case whose implications reached through the entire social structure of the Jim Crow South. The stately presentation of talking heads and file photos serves to highlight the ugliness of both the case and the further injustices McCollum endured during her trial.

Sound Of Torture (February 15, 7 pm, Carlton) is a one-hour profile of Meron Estefanos, a Stockholm talk-radio host of Eritrean descent who uses her program to raise awareness of the plight of Eritrean refugees abducted by Bedouins in the Sinai desert. It’s a virtual industry in that part of Egypt – the kidnapped are held in torture camps, the better to encourage their families to pay the ransom – and the doc doesn’t hold back on the awful discoveries Estefanos makes as she follows the story to

Denise Durette plays Ruby McCollum in the powerful You Belong To Me.

some very dark places.

Perhaps as an antidote to these grim documentaries, the festival is also giving itself things to celebrate.

Actor Bill Cobbs receives the festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award on Valentine’s Day (6:30 pm, Jackman Hall), followed by a screening of Una Vida: A Fable Of Music And The Mind. And action star Fred “The Hammer” Williamson is honoured with the inaugural Pioneer Award at Jackman Hall (February 13, 6:30 pm), followed by a screening of his 1975 hit, Boss.

In the same vein, the festival’s closing-night shindig (February 15, 9 pm at Revival) will be a Blaxploitation Party, with attendees encouraged to go full 70s in “costumes, wigs, heels, accessories and/or colourful outfits.” That should be therapeutic, too. norMan WiLner

= Critics’ Pick nnnnn = Top ten of the year nnnn = Honourable mention nnn = Entertaining nn = Mediocre n = Bomb

The MeTropoliTan opera – Die MeisTersinger von nürnberg encore Sat 12:00 a MosT violenT Year (14A) Thu 4:20, 7:10, 10:05 Fri, Mon-Wed 3:30, 6:55, 9:55 Sat 12:10, 3:35, 6:55, 9:55 Sun 12:35, 3:25, 6:55, 9:55 oDe To MY FaTher Thu 3:40, 6:50, 10:00 Fri 4:10, 7:20, 10:15 Sat 1:10, 4:10, 7:20, 10:15 Sun 1:10, 4:10, 7:20, 10:10 Mon-Wed 4:10, 7:20, 10:10 paDDingTon (G) Thu 3:55, 6:40, 9:40 Fri 3:40, 6:25 SatSun 12:50, 3:15, 6:25 Mon-Wed 3:50, 6:25 projecT alManac (PG) Thu 4:10, 7:30, 10:10 Fri 4:40, 7:50, 10:20 Sat 1:40, 4:40, 7:50, 10:20 Sun 1:40, 4:40, 7:50, 10:15 Mon-Wed 4:40, 7:50, 10:15 sevenTh son: an iMaX 3D eXperience (PG) Thu 7:00, 9:45 Fri 4:00, 7:00, 10:00 Sat 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 10:00 Sun 1:00, 4:00, 7:30, 10:00 Mon-Wed 4:00, 7:30, 10:00 The spongebob Movie: sponge ouT oF WaTer 3D (G) 4:20, 7:40, 10:10 Sat only 3:45 7:40 10:10 The spongebob Movie: sponge ouT oF WaTer (G) Sat-Sun 1:20 sTrange Magic (PG) Thu 3:35, 6:30 Taken 3 (14A) Thu 9:30 The WeDDing ringer (14A) Thu 4:00 Fri, Sun-Wed 3:45, 10:05 Sat 10:05

Cineplex Vip CineMaS Don MillS (Ce) 12 Marie labaTTe roaD, 416-644-0660

aMerican sniper (14A) Thu 2:30, 4:00, 5:30, 7:00, 8:40 Fri 2:30, 4:30, 5:45, 7:45, 9:00, 11:20 Sat 1:30, 2:30, 4:30, 5:45, 7:45, 9:00, 11:00 Sun 12:00, 1:30, 3:00, 4:30, 6:00, 8:00, 9:15 Mon-Wed 3:00, 4:30, 6:00, 8:00, 9:15 birDMan or (The uneXpecTeD virTue oF ignorance) (14A) Thu 2:00, 5:00, 8:00 Fri 3:30, 6:45, 10:00 Sat 12:30, 3:30, 6:45, 10:00 Sun 12:30, 3:30, 6:30, 9:45 Mon-Wed 3:30, 6:30, 9:45 Dog DaY aFTernoon Sun 12:55 Wed 7:00 The iMiTaTion gaMe (PG) Thu 3:30, 6:30, 9:40 Fri 3:00, 6:15, 9:30 Sat 12:00, 3:00, 6:15, 9:30 Sun-Wed 2:30, 5:30, 8:30 a MosT violenT Year (14A) Thu 3:00, 6:00, 9:10 Fri 4:00, 7:15, 10:30 Sat 1:00, 4:00, 7:15, 10:30 Sun-Tue 4:00, 7:00, 10:15 Wed 4:00, 10:15

onTario SCienCe CenTre oMniMax (i) 770 Don MillS rD., 416-429-4100

greaT WhiTe shark Sat-Sun 12:00 hubble Fri, Mon, Wed 1:00 Sat-Sun 2:00 The huMan boDY 12:00 Thu, Tue 1:00 mat islanD oF leMurs: MaDagascar (G) Thu-Fri, MonWed 11:00, 2:00 Sat-Sun 11:00, 4:00 rockY MounTain eXpress Sat-Sun 3:00 unDer The sea Sat-Sun 1:00

SilVerCiTy FairVieW (Ce)

FairVieW Mall, 1800 ShepparD aVe e, 416-644-7746 aMerican sniper (14A) Thu 1:30, 3:55, 6:55, 9:55 FriWed 1:20, 4:10, 7:10, 10:10 big Miracle Sat 11:00 The boY neXT Door (14A) Thu 2:00, 4:20, 6:40, 9:00 Fri, Mon-Tue 2:20, 4:40, 7:05, 9:40 Sat 11:50, 2:20, 4:40, 7:05, 9:40 Sun 4:40, 7:05, 9:40 Wed 2:20, 4:40, 9:40 Dog DaY aFTernoon Sun 12:55 Wed 7:00 The hobbiT: The baTTle oF The Five arMies 3D (PG) Thu 10:00 The hobbiT: The baTTle oF The Five arMies (PG) Thu 4:00, 7:00 The iMiTaTion gaMe (PG) Thu 2:05, 4:35, 7:20, 9:50 Fri, Sun-Tue 1:10, 3:50, 6:40, 9:30 Sat 1:30, 4:05, 6:40, 9:30 Wed 3:50, 6:40, 9:30 jupiTer ascenDing 3D (PG) Fri-Wed 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 10:00 nighT aT The MuseuM: secreT oF The ToMb (PG) Thu 1:40 paDDingTon (G) Thu 1:35, 4:40, 7:05, 9:30 Fri, Sun-Wed 1:40, 4:20, 6:50, 9:20 Sat 11:20, 1:40, 4:20, 6:50, 9:20 projecT alManac (PG) Thu 1:55, 4:30, 7:10, 9:40 Fri, Sun-Tue 2:10, 4:50, 7:30, 10:05 Sat 11:40, 2:10, 4:50, 7:30, 10:05 Wed 4:50, 7:30, 10:05 sevenTh son 3D (PG) 2:00, 4:30, 7:15, 9:50 Sat 11:30 mat The spongebob Movie: sponge ouT oF WaTer 3D (G) Fri-Wed 5:00, 7:25, 9:55 The spongebob Movie: sponge ouT oF WaTer (G) 2:30 Sat 11:05, 12:00 mat sTrange Magic (PG) Thu 1:50, 4:10, 6:45, 9:10 Taken 3 (14A) Thu 2:10, 4:45, 7:15, 9:45 The WeDDing ringer (14A) Thu 1:45, 4:15, 6:50, 9:15 Fri, SunWed 2:40, 5:10, 7:40, 10:15 Sat 12:10, 2:40, 5:10, 7:40, 10:15

SilVerCiTy yorkDale (Ce) 3401 DuFFerin ST, 416-787-2052

aMerican sniper (14A) Thu 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 10:10 Fri 1:00, 3:50, 7:00, 10:00 Sat 12:45, 3:50, 7:00, 10:00 Sun 12:45, 3:50, 6:45, 9:50 Mon-Wed 1:00, 3:50, 6:50, 9:50 big Miracle Sat 11:00 The boY neXT Door (14A) Thu 2:15, 4:40, 7:30, 10:10 Fri 2:10, 4:50, 7:20, 9:50 Sat 11:45, 2:15, 4:50, 7:20, 9:50 Sun 12:15, 2:45, 5:00, 7:20, 9:40 Mon-Wed 2:45, 5:00, 7:20, 9:40 The hobbiT: The baTTle oF The Five arMies 3D (PG) Thu 9:40 The iMiTaTion gaMe (PG) Thu 1:20, 4:00, 6:55 Fri-Sat 9:40 Sun 9:15 Mon-Wed 9:00 inTo The WooDs (PG) Thu 1:00, 6:40 jupiTer ascenDing 3D (PG) Fri 1:10, 4:20, 7:30, 10:30 Sat 1:00, 4:20, 7:30, 10:30 Sun 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 10:05 MonWed 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 10:00 MorTDecai (14A) Thu 1:40, 4:30, 7:10, 9:50 Fri-Sat 9:20 Sun-Wed 9:30 paDDingTon (G) Thu 1:50, 4:20, 6:50, 9:20 Fri 1:40, 4:10, 6:40 Sat 11:15, 1:45, 4:10, 6:40 Sun 12:00, 2:00, 4:30, 6:55 Mon-Wed 1:50, 4:30, 6:55 projecT alManac (PG) Thu 2:00, 4:50, 7:40, 10:15 Fri 1:30, 4:00, 6:50, 9:30 Sat 12:30, 4:00, 6:50, 9:30 Sun 2:15, 4:50, 7:40, 10:15 Mon-Wed 2:15, 4:50, 7:45, 10:15 selMa (PG) Thu 3:50, 9:30 sevenTh son 3D (PG) Fri 2:30, 5:20, 8:00, 10:45 Sat 12:00, 2:40, 5:20, 8:00, 10:45 Sun 12:00, 2:30, 5:10, 7:50,

Virginia Gardner (left), Sam Lerner, Allen Evangelista, Sofia Black-D’Elia and Jonny Weston strike it rich in Project Almanac.

10:20 Mon-Wed 2:30, 5:10, 7:40, 10:15 The spongebob Movie: sponge ouT oF WaTer 3D (G) Fri-Sat 3:40, 6:00, 8:20, 10:40 Sun 5:30, 8:00, 10:20 MonWed 4:10, 6:40, 9:10 The spongebob Movie: sponge ouT oF WaTer (G) Fri 1:20 Sat 11:00, 1:20 Sun 12:30, 3:00 Mon-Wed 1:30 sTrange Magic (PG) Thu 1:10, 3:40, 6:30, 9:00 Fri 2:00, 4:30, 7:10 Sat 11:30, 2:00, 4:30, 7:10 Sun-Wed 1:15, 3:40, 6:30 Taken 3 (14A) Thu 1:30, 4:10, 7:20, 10:05 Fri 1:50, 4:40, 7:40, 10:15 Sat 1:30, 4:40, 7:40, 10:15 Sun 1:45, 4:40, 7:30, 10:10 Mon-Wed 2:00, 4:40, 7:30, 10:05 The WeDDing ringer (14A) Thu 2:30, 5:00, 7:50, 10:15 Fri 2:20, 5:00, 7:50, 10:20 Sat 12:10, 2:30, 5:00, 7:50, 10:20 Sun 1:30, 4:15, 7:10, 10:00 Mon-Wed 1:40, 4:20, 7:10, 9:45

Scarborough 401 & MorningSiDe (Ce) 785 Milner aVe, SCarborough, 416-281-2226

aMerican sniper (14A) Thu 5:00, 8:00 Fri, Tue 3:55, 7:00, 9:55 Sat-Sun 1:00, 3:55, 7:00, 9:55 Mon, Wed 5:00, 7:55 big Miracle Sat 11:00 The boY neXT Door (14A) Thu, Mon, Wed 5:50, 8:10 Fri, Tue 5:55, 8:00, 10:15 Sat 3:15, 5:30, 8:00, 10:15 Sun 3:15, 5:30, 7:45, 10:00 The hobbiT: The baTTle oF The Five arMies 3D (PG) Thu 8:05 The hobbiT: The baTTle oF The Five arMies (PG) Thu 5:00 Fri, Tue 6:40 Sat-Sun 12:50, 6:40 Mon, Wed 7:40 The iMiTaTion gaMe (PG) Thu 5:20, 7:50 Fri, Tue 4:20, 6:55, 9:35 Sat 1:45, 4:20, 6:55, 9:35 Sun 1:45, 4:20, 6:55, 9:30 Mon, Wed 5:30, 8:05 jupiTer ascenDing 3D (PG) Fri, Tue 4:10, 7:10, 10:10 Sat 11:30, 1:10, 4:10, 7:10, 10:10 Sun 1:10, 4:10, 7:10, 10:00 Mon, Wed 5:05, 8:05 MorTDecai (14A) Thu 5:45, 8:20 Fri-Sat, Tue 9:50 Sun 9:45 Mon, Wed 8:20 paDDingTon (G) Thu 5:05, 7:30 Fri, Tue 5:00, 7:25 Sat 11:45, 2:20, 5:00, 7:25 Sun 2:20, 5:00, 7:25 Mon, Wed 5:45 projecT alManac (PG) Thu 5:30, 7:55 Fri, Tue 4:50, 7:50, 10:20 Sat 2:10, 4:50, 7:50, 10:20 Sun 1:50, 4:30, 7:05, 9:35 Mon, Wed 5:40, 8:15 selMa (PG) Thu, Mon, Wed 5:10, 8:00 Fri, Tue 3:50, 6:50, 9:45 Sat 3:45, 6:50, 9:45 Sun 3:45, 6:50, 9:40 sevenTh son 3D (PG) Fri, Tue 5:05, 7:45, 10:15 Sat 12:00, 2:30, 5:05, 7:45, 10:15 Sun 2:30, 5:05, 7:30, 9:55 Mon, Wed 5:05, 7:45 The spongebob Movie: sponge ouT oF WaTer 3D (G) Fri, Tue 5:20, 7:35, 10:00 Sat 3:00, 5:20, 7:35, 10:00 Sun 3:00, 5:20, 7:35, 9:50 Mon, Wed 7:35 The spongebob Movie: sponge ouT oF WaTer (G) Fri, Tue 3:45 Sat 11:15, 12:40, 2:00 Sun 12:40, 2:00 Mon, Wed 5:20 sTrange Magic (PG) Thu 5:15, 7:40 Sat-Sun 1:20 Taken 3 (14A) Thu 5:40, 8:15 Fri-Sat, Tue 4:05, 10:05 Sun 4:05, 9:50 Mon, Wed 5:10 The WeDDing ringer (14A) Thu, Mon, Wed 6:00, 8:20 Fri, Tue 5:10, 7:55, 10:20 Sat 12:45, 5:10, 7:55, 10:20 Sun 12:45, 5:10, 7:35, 10:00

ColiSeuM SCarborough (Ce) SCarborough ToWn CenTre, 416-290-5217

alien Thu 7:40 aliens (R) Thu 9:55 The aMazing praYbeYT benjaMin (PG) Thu 2:15, 4:55, 7:35, 10:15 Fri-Sun 2:05, 4:45, 7:25, 10:05 Mon-Wed 1:50, 4:30, 7:10, 9:50 aMerican sniper (14A) Thu 12:55, 3:55, 7:05, 10:20 Fri-Sun 12:55, 4:00, 7:10, 10:20 Mon-Wed 12:50, 3:50, 6:55, 10:05 big Miracle Sat 11:00 black or WhiTe Thu 1:00, 4:00, 7:10, 10:05 Fri-Sun 7:15, 10:10 Mon-Wed 7:00, 9:55 The boY neXT Door (14A) Thu 2:30, 5:00, 7:30, 10:10 Fri, Sun 3:20, 5:45, 8:10, 10:35 Sat 1:00, 3:20, 5:45, 8:10, 10:35 Mon-Wed 3:00, 5:25, 7:55, 10:20 hellboY (14A) Thu 2:25 The hobbiT: The baTTle oF The Five arMies 3D (PG) Thu 10:00 inTo The WooDs (PG) Thu 1:10, 4:05, 7:00 jupiTer ascenDing 3D (PG) Fri-Sun 1:30, 4:30, 7:30, 10:30 Mon-Wed 1:15, 4:15, 7:15, 10:15 paDDingTon (G) Thu 1:50, 4:25, 6:55, 9:30 Fri, Sun 1:40, 4:25, 6:55, 9:30 Sat 11:10, 1:40, 4:25, 6:55, 9:30 Mon-Wed 1:25, 4:10, 6:40, 9:30 pan’s labYrinTh (14A) Thu 12:15 projecT alManac (PG) Thu 2:25, 5:05, 7:45, 10:25 Fri-Sun 2:00, 4:40, 7:20, 10:00 Mon-Wed 1:45, 4:25, 7:05, 9:45 sevenTh son 3D (PG) Fri, Sun 2:40, 5:20, 8:00, 10:50 Sat 12:00, 2:40, 5:20, 8:00, 10:50 Mon-Wed 2:25, 5:05, 7:45, 10:30 The spongebob Movie: sponge ouT oF WaTer 3D (G) Fri, Sun 3:35, 6:00, 8:25, 10:45 Sat 3:25, 5:55, 8:20, 10:45 Mon-Wed 5:35, 8:00, 10:25 The spongebob Movie: sponge ouT oF WaTer (G) Fri, Sun 1:10 Sat 11:40, 12:50 Mon-Wed 3:10 sTrange Magic (PG) Thu 2:10, 4:45, 7:15, 9:50 Fri, Sun

1:50, 4:35 Sat 11:20, 1:50, 4:35 Mon-Wed 1:30, 4:20 Taken 3 (14A) Thu 2:05, 4:50, 7:45, 10:25 Fri, Sun 2:10, 4:50, 7:35, 10:15 Sat 11:30, 2:10, 4:50, 7:35, 10:15 Mon-Wed 1:55, 4:35, 7:20, 10:00 The WeDDing ringer (14A) Thu 2:55, 5:25, 8:00, 10:30 Fri, Sun 2:35, 5:15, 7:50, 10:25 Sat 11:50, 2:35, 5:15, 7:50, 10:25 Mon-Wed 2:20, 5:00, 7:35, 10:10 X-Men: FirsT class (PG) Thu 5:05

eglinTon ToWn CenTre (Ce) 1901 eglinTon aVe e, 416-752-4494

aMerican sniper (14A) Thu 4:10, 7:15, 10:20 Fri 12:45, 3:50, 6:50, 10:00 Sat 11:45, 2:50, 7:00, 10:10 Sun 12:45, 3:50, 7:00, 10:10 Mon-Wed 3:50, 7:00, 10:10 big Miracle Sat 11:00 black or WhiTe Thu 3:50, 6:45, 9:40 Fri 1:20, 4:15, 7:00, 9:50 Sat 1:20, 4:15, 7:05, 10:00 Sun 1:20, 4:15, 7:05, 9:55 Mon-Wed 4:00, 6:50, 9:45 The boY neXT Door (14A) Thu 2:20, 4:45, 7:40, 10:00 Fri-Sat 1:10, 3:30, 5:50, 8:10, 10:35 Sun 3:00, 5:20, 7:45, 10:15 Mon-Wed 5:20, 7:45, 10:15 Dog DaY aFTernoon Sun 12:55 Wed 7:00 The hobbiT: The baTTle oF The Five arMies 3D (PG) Fri 4:00, 7:15, 10:40 Sat 6:40, 9:55 Sun-Wed 3:55, 7:10, 10:25 The hobbiT: The baTTle oF The Five arMies (PG) Thu 3:15 Fri 12:45 Sat 12:30 Sun 12:40 The iMiTaTion gaMe (PG) Thu 3:45, 6:30, 9:15 Fri 1:00, 3:45, 6:35, 9:20 Sat 3:50, 4:10, 6:55, 9:40 Sun-Wed 3:45, 6:35, 9:20 inTo The WooDs (PG) Thu 9:00 jupiTer ascenDing 3D (PG) Thu 7:00, 10:05 Fri-Sat 1:25, 4:25, 7:25, 10:30 Sun 1:05, 4:10, 7:15, 10:20 Mon-Wed 4:10, 7:15, 10:20 The MeTropoliTan opera – Die MeisTersinger von nürnberg encore Sat 12:00 MorTDecai (14A) Thu 4:40, 7:45, 10:30 Fri-Sun 9:45 Mon-Wed 9:50 a MosT violenT Year (14A) Thu 4:00, 6:55, 9:55 Fri-Wed 3:30, 6:30, 9:25 nighT aT The MuseuM: secreT oF The ToMb (PG) Thu 2:35, 5:05 Fri 1:00 Sat 11:10, 1:40 Sun 12:50 paDDingTon (G) Thu 2:15, 4:40, 7:05, 9:30 Fri, Sun 2:10, 4:40, 7:10 Sat 11:40, 2:10, 4:40, 7:10 Mon-Wed 4:40, 7:10 projecT alManac (PG) Thu 2:25, 5:10, 7:50, 10:30 Fri 2:35, 5:10, 7:50, 10:30 Sat 12:15, 2:50, 5:30, 8:05, 10:45 Sun 2:25, 5:05, 7:40, 10:20 Mon-Wed 5:05, 7:40, 10:20 selMa (PG) Thu 3:40, 6:50, 9:50 sevenTh son 3D (PG) Thu 7:30, 10:10 Fri 2:40, 5:20, 8:00, 10:45 Sat 12:00, 2:40, 5:20, 8:00, 10:45 Sun 2:20, 4:55, 7:40, 10:25 Mon-Wed 5:15, 7:50, 10:30 shaMiTabh Fri 3:15, 6:45, 10:15 Sat 3:00, 6:20, 9:50 Sun 1:00, 4:30, 8:30 Mon-Wed 4:30, 8:30 The spongebob Movie: sponge ouT oF WaTer 3D (G) Thu 7:10, 9:35 Fri 4:25, 6:55, 9:30 Sat 4:30, 5:55, 8:20, 10:40 Sun 4:30, 6:55, 9:30 Mon-Wed 4:35, 6:55, 9:30 The spongebob Movie: sponge ouT oF WaTer (G) Fri 12:50, 1:55 Sat 11:05, 11:30, 2:00 Sun 12:30, 2:00 sTrange Magic (PG) Thu 3:55, 6:25 Fri 2:15, 4:50, 7:20 Sat 11:55, 2:35, 5:10, 7:40 Sun 2:15, 4:50, 7:25 Mon-Tue 4:50, 7:25 Wed 4:15 Taken 3 (14A) Thu 4:50 Fri 9:55 Sat 10:25 Sun-Wed 10:00 The TheorY oF everYThing (PG) Thu 3:25, 6:35, 9:30 Fri 1:15, 4:10, 7:05, 10:05 Sat 1:30, 4:25, 7:20, 10:15 Sun 12:50, 3:40, 6:40, 9:40 Mon-Tue 3:40, 6:40, 9:40 Wed 3:40, 6:45, 9:40 The WeDDing ringer (14A) Thu 2:45, 5:15, 7:50, 10:25 Fri 2:45, 5:15, 7:45, 10:20 Sat 12:10, 2:45, 5:15, 7:45, 10:20 Sun 2:30, 5:00, 7:30, 10:05 Mon-Wed 5:00, 7:30, 10:05

(14A) Thu 3:35, 6:25, 9:15 Fri 1:05, 3:50, 6:35, 9:25 Sat 12:30, 3:15, 6:15, 9:00 Sun 12:55, 3:55, 6:45, 9:35 MonWed 3:55, 6:45, 9:35 black or WhiTe Thu 4:30, 6:00, 9:30 Fri 2:15, 5:05, 7:50, 10:35 Sat 11:10, 2:15, 5:05, 7:50, 10:35 Sun 12:50, 3:35, 6:25, 9:20 Mon-Wed 3:35, 6:25, 9:20 The boY neXT Door (14A) Thu 5:05, 7:20, 9:40 Fri-Sat 1:45, 4:05, 6:25, 8:40, 11:00 Sun 12:40, 3:10, 5:30, 7:45, 10:00 Mon-Wed 5:30, 7:45, 10:00 The hobbiT: The baTTle oF The Five arMies 3D (PG) Fri-Sat 7:20, 10:30 Sun-Wed 6:50, 10:00 The hobbiT: The baTTle oF The Five arMies (PG) Thu 3:30 Fri-Sat 1:00, 4:10 Sun 12:30, 3:40 Mon-Wed 3:40 The iMiTaTion gaMe (PG) Thu 3:45, 6:15, 8:55 Fri-Sat 1:35, 4:40, 7:25, 10:10 Sun 12:45, 3:25, 6:20, 9:05 MonWed 3:50, 6:30, 9:25 inTo The WooDs (PG) Thu 3:50, 6:40, 9:35 Fri 3:30, 6:20, 9:15 Sat 3:00, 6:20, 9:25 Sun 3:00, 6:05, 8:55 Mon-Wed 4:00, 6:55, 9:40 jupiTer ascenDing 3D (PG) Thu 7:00, 9:55 Fri-Sat 1:30, 4:30, 7:40, 10:50 Sun 1:10, 4:10, 7:10, 10:05 Mon-Wed 4:10, 7:10, 10:05 jupiTer ascenDing: an iMaX 3D eXperience (PG) Fri 3:45, 9:30 Sat 12:45, 6:50 Sun 3:30, 9:00 Mon, Wed 6:20 Tue 3:30, 9:30 MorTDecai (14A) Thu 4:05, 6:35, 9:10 Fri-Sat 10:05 SunWed 9:10 a MosT violenT Year (14A) Thu 4:10, 7:05, 9:50 Fri-Sat 4:00, 6:55, 10:00 Sun 3:20, 6:15, 9:15 Mon-Wed 3:30, 6:15, 9:15 nighT aT The MuseuM: secreT oF The ToMb (PG) Thu 3:40 Fri 1:00 Sat 12:10 Sun 12:35 paDDingTon (G) Thu 4:35, 6:50, 9:05 Fri 1:55, 4:25, 6:45, 9:05 Sat 11:20, 1:55, 4:25, 6:45, 9:05 Sun 1:30, 3:50, 6:10, 8:30 Mon-Wed 3:50, 6:10, 8:30 projecT alManac (PG) Thu 5:15, 7:45, 10:15 Fri 2:50, 5:30, 8:10, 11:00 Sat 12:20, 2:50, 5:30, 8:10, 11:00 Sun 2:20, 4:55, 7:20, 9:50 Mon-Wed 4:55, 7:20, 9:50 selMa (PG) Thu 3:55 sevenTh son 3D (PG) Thu 7:00, 9:45 Fri 2:40, 5:20, 8:00, 10:55 Sat 12:00, 2:40, 5:20, 8:00, 10:55 Sun 1:50, 4:30, 7:00, 9:45 Mon-Wed 4:30, 7:00, 9:45 sevenTh son: an iMaX 3D eXperience (PG) Fri 1:15, 7:00 Sat 3:45, 9:40 Sun 1:00, 6:30 Mon, Wed 4:00, 9:05 Tue 6:30 The spongebob Movie: sponge ouT oF WaTer 3D (G) Thu 7:00, 9:15 Fri-Sat 1:20, 3:40, 6:00, 8:20, 10:40 Sun 12:30, 2:50, 5:10, 7:30, 9:50 Mon-Wed 4:45, 7:30, 9:50 The spongebob Movie: sponge ouT oF WaTer (G) Fri 2:10, 5:00, 7:45 Sat 11:05, 11:35, 12:05, 2:10, 5:00, 7:45 Sun 1:40, 4:20, 6:40 Mon-Wed 4:20, 6:40 sTrange Magic (PG) Thu 4:00, 6:45, 9:25 Fri-Sat 1:40, 4:15 Sun 1:20, 3:45 Mon-Wed 3:45 Taken 3 (14A) Thu 4:50, 7:30, 10:05 Fri 2:00, 4:35, 7:10, 9:45 Sat 11:25, 2:00, 4:35, 7:10, 9:45 Sun 2:15, 4:50, 7:25, 9:55 Mon-Wed 4:50, 7:25, 9:55 The WeDDing ringer (14A) Thu 5:10, 7:35, 10:00 Fri 2:20, 5:10, 7:55, 10:20 Sat 11:55, 2:20, 5:10, 7:55, 10:20 Sun 2:45, 5:25, 7:50, 10:10 Mon-Wed 5:25, 7:50, 10:10 Whiplash (14A) Thu 4:25, 6:55, 9:20 Fri-Sat 6:40, 9:10 Sun-Wed 6:35, 9:30

rainboW proMenaDe (i)

proMenaDe Mall, hWy 7 & baThurST, 416-494-9371 aMerican sniper (14A) 12:50, 3:45, 6:40, 9:30 The boY neXT Door (14A) 1:15, 4:00, 7:10, 9:35 The iMiTaTion gaMe (PG) Thu 3:55, 9:25 jupiTer ascenDing (PG) Fri-Wed 12:55, 3:50, 6:50, 9:40 paDDingTon (G) 1:10, 4:05, 7:05, 9:15 projecT alManac (PG) Thu 1:05, 4:10, 7:00, 9:40 FriWed 4:10, 9:45 selMa (PG) Thu 12:55, 6:45 Fri-Sun, Tue-Wed 1:00, 6:45 Mon 6:45 The spongebob Movie: sponge ouT oF WaTer (G) Fri-Wed 1:05, 4:00, 7:00, 9:15 sTrange Magic (PG) Thu 1:00, 3:55, 6:50 WilD (18A) Thu 9:20

West granDe - STeeleS (Ce) hWy 410 & STeeleS, 905-455-1590

The aMazing praYbeYT benjaMin (PG) Thu 5:50, 8:25 Fri 5:20, 7:50, 10:20 Sat 12:20, 2:50, 5:20, 7:50, 10:20 Sun 1:00, 3:30, 6:30, 9:15 Mon-Wed 5:35, 8:05 aMerican sniper (14A) Thu 5:30, 8:30 Fri 4:20, 7:15, 10:20 Sat 12:45, 3:50, 7:15, 10:20 Sun 12:45, 3:50, 7:10, 10:00 Mon-Wed 5:15, 8:00 The boY neXT Door (14A) Thu 5:45, 8:15 Fri 5:00, 7:20, 9:40 Sat-Sun 12:10, 2:40, 5:00, 7:20, 9:40 Mon-Wed 5:25, 7:40 The hobbiT: The baTTle oF The Five arMies 3D (PG) Thu 8:30 The hobbiT: The baTTle oF The Five arMies (PG) Thu 5:15 Fri-Sat 10:10 Sun 10:00 Mon-Wed 7:50 jupiTer ascenDing 3D (PG) Fri 4:00, 7:00, 10:00 Sat 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 10:00 Sun 12:35, 3:45, 6:50, 9:45 MonWed 5:15, 8:15 MorTDecai (14A) Thu 5:35, 8:10 paDDingTon (G) Thu 5:20, 8:00 Fri 5:10, 7:35 Sat-Sun 12:15, 2:45, 5:10, 7:35 Mon-Wed 5:20 projecT alManac (PG) Thu 5:15, 7:50 Fri 4:10, 7:05, 9:35 Sat-Sun 1:10, 4:10, 7:05, 9:35 Mon-Wed 5:50, 8:25 sevenTh son 3D (PG) Fri 5:05, 7:40, 10:15 Sat 12:00, 2:30, 5:05, 7:40, 10:15 Sun 12:00, 2:30, 5:05, 7:30, 9:55 MonWed 5:45, 8:20 The spongebob Movie: sponge ouT oF WaTer 3D (G) Fri 7:25, 9:50 Sat 7:10, 9:50 Sun 7:10, 9:30 Mon-Wed 8:25 The spongebob Movie: sponge ouT oF WaTer (G) Fri 4:50 Sat-Sun 12:00, 2:25, 4:50 Mon-Wed 5:30 sTrange Magic (PG) Thu 5:25, 7:45 Fri 7:30 Sat 2:00, 7:30 Sun 2:00, 7:15 Mon-Wed 5:40 Taken 3 (14A) Thu 5:25, 8:20 Fri-Sat 4:30, 10:05 Sun 4:30, 9:50 Mon-Wed 8:10 The WeDDing ringer (14A) Thu 5:40, 8:05 Fri 4:55, 7:45, 10:10 Sat 12:05, 2:25, 4:55, 7:45, 10:10 Sun 12:05, 2:25, 4:55, 7:30, 9:50 Mon-Wed 5:55, 8:30 3

WooDSiDe CineMaS (i) 1571 SanDhurST CirCle, 416-299-3456

aaMbala (PG) Thu 4:00, 7:15, 10:30 babY (PG) Thu 3:30, 6:15, 9:30 DollY ki Doli (PG) Thu 3:30 haWaizaaDa Thu 6:30, 9:30 Fri-Wed 1:00 shaMiTabh Fri-Wed 3:45, 6:45, 9:45 Yennai arinDhaal Fri-Wed 1:00, 3:30, 6:00, 7:00, 10:00, 10:30

GTA Regions North ColoSSuS (Ce)

S TRE HEA

hWy 400 & 7, 905-851-1001

aMerican sniper (14A) Thu 3:30, 6:30, 9:30 Fri-Sat 1:10, 4:20, 7:30, 10:45 Sun 1:15, 4:15, 7:15, 10:15 Mon-Wed 4:15, 7:15, 10:15 aMerican sniper: The iMaX eXperience (14A) Thu 4:20, 7:10, 10:10 annie (PG) Fri-Sat 1:05 Sun 12:35 big Miracle Sat 11:00 birDMan or (The uneXpecTeD virTue oF ignorance)

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26 Get in

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;___ Can Cookâ&#x20AC;?

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FEBRUARY 5-11 2015 NOW

ASSISTANT PROPERTY MANAGER The Assistant Property Manager, under the direction of the Property Manager, is responsible for coordinating all aspects of apartment community operations and to act as main point of contact in the absence of the Property Manager.

The right candidate must be a team player with a positive can-do attitude. Send Resume to: brandybhatt@outlook.com Post available for F/T and P/T Tel.: 647-609-1926

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Research Studies Participants Needed for Heart Function Research Study STUDY PURPOSE:

The purpose of this study is to understand why differences exist between men and women in terms of their heart function at baseline and during exercise, which changes heart rate and the filling status of the heart (how much blood is inside the heart).

POSITION FILLED.

Source: PMB Fall 2013, National 18+

Research Studies Do you want to quit using MARIJUANA? We are looking for participants for a RESEARCH STUDY ON TREATMENT FOR MARIJUANA DEPENDENCE! In this study, we aim to determine whether a medication containing similar ingredients as cannabis, in addition to weekly therapy sessions with a psychologist, are effective for treating marijuana. Compensation for time and travel are provided if you participate in this study.

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Financial compensation provided. If you are interested please call 416-535-8501 x 30595 REB # 082-2012

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WHO IS ELIGIBLE:

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WHAT THE STUDY REQUIRES:

The study requires a total of 2 visits. The first visit is for screening purposes and familiarization with the procedures and will take approximately ~1 hour. The second visit is the only study visit in which assessment of your heart function will be performed. Through the skin of your left arm and using local freezing, a catheter (a long, thin hollow plastic tube that can measure pressure) will be placed, which enables us to measure pressures of your heart. Subsequently, pictures of your heart will be taken using ultrasound technology to assess heart structure and function. These measurements will be performed at rest and during exercise. This visit will last approximately -3 hours.

THE BENEFITS TO PARTICIPATING:

Information learned from this study may help further our understanding of the gender differences in the way that men and women are affected by and respond to cardiovascular diseases. Detailed assessments of your heart function will be made during the study visit. These measures will give you a rare look at the state of your heart health.

COMPENSATION:

ATTENTION RECRUITERS! Buy a recruitment ad in NOW ClassiďŹ eds and receive a Contact your NOW ClassiďŹ ed Sales Rep @ 416.364.3444 nowtoronto.com/classiďŹ eds FREE posting on TorontoJobs.ca â&#x20AC;&#x201C; The Greater Toronto Areaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading recruitment source.

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You will be compensated $250 Location: Mount Sinai Hospital

Eligible participants must be: â&#x20AC;˘ Experiencing worry and anxiety â&#x20AC;˘ At least 18 years of age All study-related medical care and study drugs will be received at no cost.

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To find out what professions are needed, contact volunteer@accessalliance.ca or call 416-699-7920 ext 403.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY

SENIORS “LIVELY LUNCH” SERVING VOLUNTEER THE YONGE STREET MISSION Enjoy a meal with a senior and learn from their stories and wisdom. 3-4 volunteers are needed to help serve meals and clean up at Lively Lunch events on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Shifts are from 12:15pm-2:00pm. Friendly, outgoing and patient people who enjoy working with others are preferred.

Please contact Krisitin Hersey at khersey@ysm.ca for more information.

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Help propose systems and software updates to improve existing computer systems. Review audio sound system and suggest purchases and improvements that could be made. Orientation session provide. Police Record check needed.

Call 416-598-2919 for more information.

Volunteer Toronto connects people to thousands of volunteer opportunities and provides support to Toronto’s non-profit organizations. Find these and other opportunities at volunteertoronto.ca

BOARD OF DIRECTORS THE FOUR VILLAGES COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTRE Four Villages is seeking individuals for its Board of Directors who share in the fulfillment of the Four Village’s vision, can help shape strategy and will contribute to the fulfillment of governance responsibilities including oversight of financial processes, risk management, quality of service and regulatory compliance. Skills in finance and fundraising are an asset. If interested, please attend an info session on March 4 from 7-8pm at 1700 Bloor St. W. Register in advance at fourvillages@4villages.on.ca.

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NOW FEBRUARY 5-11 2015

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Savage Love

By Dan Savage

Open up to cheating My husband and I are a straIght

couple in our early 50s, and we’ve been married for more than 30 years. We were raised to wait for sex till we got married – this was back in the early 80s – and we did. Our wedding night was pretty disappointing since neither of us knew what we were doing. He got off, but I didn’t. We both assumed that there was something wrong with me, because he didn’t have any problem coming, right? We were both raised to believe that sex was something men took from women, that it was difficult for women to orgasm and that no woman wanted sex as much as a man did. We read books, we went to counselling, but nothing changed. This went on for a couple of decades.

He’s a great guy – funny, loyal, faithful, great dad to our kids – so I figured I was lousy in bed and I was lucky he put up with me.

Recently, I got my hands on a vibrator. OH. MY. GOD. There’s nothing wrong with me!

Now I think my libido might actually be stronger than his. But even with what I now know about my sexuality, we have been unable to figure out how to get me to orgasm when we are together. I’ve suggested some milder forms of kink, but he isn’t interested.

I suspect we’re just incompatible in bed, which has made me a fairly vocal opponent of the “waiting for marriage” garbage, much to my husband’s consternation. He thinks it’s so sweet that neither of us has ever had sex with someone else. So you can probably see my dilemma. Neither of us has ever been unfaithful, and neither of us is okay with being unfaithful – I know he isn’t.

Even though I’m intrigued by the idea, I don’t think I could pull off the lying and deceit required to do it behind his back. We also live in a small town where it would be nearly impossible to have a discreet affair.

I don’t really want a divorce, because it means losing the entire life we’ve built together, which is no small thing. But when I think about never having good sex in my entire life, I can hardly stand it. What would you do?

Bored In Bed For An Unbearably Long Time What would I do? I would be unfaithful, BIBFAULT. And since there’s no guarantee that I would click sexually with the first guy I fucked other than my husband – or the second guy or the third guy or the fourth guy – I would go right on fucking other guys until I fucked a guy who was spectacular in bed. (Please note: While “spectacular in bed” sounds like some sort of objective standard, it’s actually a highly subjective and personal experience.

One person’s spectacular sex partner is another person’s meh-to-traumatizing sex partner. So while BIBFAULT and her husband aren’t a match – clearly – he has matches out there, and so does she.)

I’m not telling you what to do, BIBFAULT, I’m just answering the question you posed: “What would you do?” If I were in your shoes, if I had suffered through three decades of subjectively lousy sex, if I were staring down the possibility of going to my grave without ever having experienced good-togreat sex (not even once!), I would cheat on my husband of 30 years. I would’ve cheated on him already, past tense, a decade or two ago and probably at regular intervals. (I also would’ve sued all those counsellors who failed to suggest buying a vibrator when I complained about my difficulty achieving orgasm.)

But that’s me, BIBFAULT. What should you do? I really couldn’t tell you.

That’s not true. I could tell you what to do.

Telling people what to do is pretty much my fucking job. But in all honesty, I’m not sure what you should do. You say you’re not okay with cheating, and I almost believe you – you wouldn’t have written if you weren’t okay with cheating on some level and/or seeking permission to cheat – and cheating

us on r NOW

oronto

oronto

would be logistically complicated, given your circumstances, and it would put everything you have with your husband, who you genuinely love, at risk. So I’m not going to tell you to cheat.

But I will tell you this: You may have an easier time not cheating – an easier time not going out there and actively seeking out sex with other men, an easier time not seizing the first opportunity to cheat that comes your way – if you give yourself permission to cheat if an opportunity to cheat discreetly and with minimal deceit comes along. Telling yourself it will never happen, that you’ll never have good sex, means living in despair, and despair isn’t good for individuals or marriages. But telling yourself that it might happen – but only if the planets have all aligned perfectly (you’re out of town, it’s someone you trust, you won’t have to actively lie) – means living in hope, and hope is good for individuals and marriages.

And knowing that you can cheat when the right opportunity presents itself will make it easier for you to resist cheating – to resist doing something reckless – when the wrong opportunities present themselves.

You wife knows consent

ones at the same time when I was 15 –and I regard that encounter as consensual and I wasn’t traumatized by it. So you can take this question to some other advice columnist, TUT, or you can stop policing your wife’s feelings about her own sexual history.

Hubby’s well, now what?

I’M a MerrIly MarrIed straIght

woman with an amazing husband and what was once a thriving sex life.

Recently, my husband had what was supposed to have been a routine surgical procedure. He ended up having basically every complication possible short of dismemberment and death. I had no problem being his caregiver during this time, but I’m now having trouble mentally reigniting the erotic spark. He’s recovered and interested, and I want to be intimate again, but I find myself thinking that he looks pale or that position X might be too much for him, and it’s very difficult to get in the mood and remain in the mood for sex. How do I turn

off caregiver mode and get back to being a sexual partner?

Missing My Sex Life The next time you’re having sex and that little voice in your head says, “This position might be tough on him,” MMSL, ignore it and power through. It may not be particularly fulfilling sex for you – you may not be fully present and in the moment – but the quickest way to prove to yourself that your husband isn’t too fragile for sex (or too pale for it) is to have sex a few times. After you’ve seen with your own eyes that sex didn’t break him (and may have brought some colour back to his skin!), that little voice in your head – the voice of the caretaker he needed when he was sick but doesn’t need now – should fade away.

On the Lovecast, Dan and gay evangelical Christian author Matthew Vines scrap it up: savagelovecast.com. mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage on Twitter

I AM YOGA; 1.7361 in; 535920; 2cols FREE! Enjoy your first class See web for details.

My wIfe, who Is 35, had sex wIth a

25-year-old neighbour when she was barely 15 years old. (It was two days after her 15th birthday.) I should say “was raped by,” not “had sex with.” She insists it was consensual, claims she wasn’t traumatized by it and is actually Facebook friends with the man who raped her. I think this is unhealthy. How do I get through to her?

Totally Unacknowledged Trauma I had sex with someone in their mid-20s when I was 15 – I had sex with two mid-20s some-

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