Xtra Toronto #762

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#762 JAN 9–22, 2014

TORONTO’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

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LGBTQ FAMILY PLANNING COURSES WINTER AND SPRING 2014 Dykes Planning Tykes Daddies & Papas 2B >LKULZKH` ,]LUPUNZ February 19 - May 7, 2014 7:00 - 9:30pm at The 519

Still Trying LGBTQ Fertility Support Monday, January 27, 2014 6:30-8:30pm at Sherbourne Health Centre

Contact parentingresources@sherbourne.on.ca or 416-324-4100 x 5276 or visit lgbtqpn.ca/familyplanning for more information and registration.

Registration is also available at The 519 front desk.

MATURE TRANS SISTERS

MTS is a weekly drop-in group for Mature Trans Women who are 45 years and older to meet, learn, plan, HUK ZOHYL L_WLYPLUJLZ [VNL[OLY PU H ZHML ZWHJL ;OL NYV\W PZ MHJPSP[H[LK I` Z[HŃ&#x153; HUK JVSSLJ[P]LS` Y\U I` WHY[PJPWHU[Z ^OV KLJPKL VU NYV\W HJ[P]P[PLZ ;OL KYVW PU PZ VWLU [V VSKLY [YHUZ ^VTLU VM HSS [`WLZ VM gendered experiences and expressions. For more information, including dates/times and access/ ability needs, contact Ander Negrazis at 416-324-4100 x 5230 or email mts@sherbourne.on.ca. :\WWVY[PUN 6\Y @V\[O :6@ ZLLRZ [V PTWYV]L [OL X\HSP[` VM SPML MVY 3.); `V\[O \W [V [OYV\NO [OL HJ[P]L PU]VS]LTLU[ VM HK\S[Z ^VYRPUN [VNL[OLY ^P[O `V\[O >VYRPUN ^P[OPU HU HU[P VWWYLZZPVU MYHTL^VYR :6@ KL]LSVWZ PUP[PH[P]LZ [OH[ I\PSK ZRPSSZ HUK JHWHJP[PLZ WYV]PKL TLU[VYPUN HUK Z\WWVY[ HUK U\Y[\YL H ZLUZL VM PKLU[P[` HUK ILSVUNPUN

EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE

Diego Armand, Natasha Barsotti, Jamo Best, Drasko Bogdanovic, Kyle Burton, Rolyn Chambers, Michael-Oliver Harding, Jennifer Hollett, SeraďŹ n LaRiviere, Michael Lyons, Karen Roze, Rob Salerno, Tanja-Tiziana, Jeremy Willard, Eric Williams ART & PRODUCTION CREATIVE DIRECTOR Lucinda Wallace GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Darryl Mabey,

Bryce Stuart, Landon Whittaker

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Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the beef Hogtownâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best butchers E13â&#x20AC;&#x201C;19

Protein prix ďŹ xe When youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d rather eat out E20 Sea change Catching up with Torontoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ďŹ shmongers E22

Faking it Vegetarian-style meat eating E23 Butchering fashion The history of the meat dress E24 Style Life Tightening the apron strings E25

SAME-SEX LEGAL ISSUES Editorial Hogtown meat

By Phil Villeneuve E6

Out in the City

Feedback E6 Xcetera E7

Arts roundup Queer comedy 101 E27

Upfront Accessibility and Torontoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Church-Wellesley Village Can you party, shop and play in the Village if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re gay and in a wheelchair? E9 History Boys NYCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Meatpacking Districtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sexy queer history

By Jeremy Willard E10 Local news Hundreds turn out for Christopher Peloso memorial E11 MORE AT DAILYXTRA.COM

Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s On E28

online at dailyxtra.com

Club Scene E29

E The two solitudes

Deep Dish

By Rolyn Chambers E30

E La Cubana is a

Daily Xtra Travel Boysâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; weekend in Vegas Party like a rock star in the city of sin E32

of two-spirit

JANICE P. WARREN BARRISTER & SOLICITOR

416-323-7767 jwarren@tcn.net Immigration: Same-Sex Sponsorship Applications from Canada & Overseas U.S. Work Permits

marvellous new eatery on Roncesvalles

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E Reimagining The Barn

416-964-0900 cbw@cbwarrenlaw.com Domestic Matters: Domestic Agreements Real Estate: Purchase, Sale & Mortgages: Estate Planning: Wills and Powers of Attorney

E TIFFâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top Canadian

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Xtra Living E35

E Calgaryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shrinking

ClassiďŹ eds E36 Xtra Hot

By Drasko Bogdanovic E37

gay-club scene

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Comment

Phil Villeneuve is Xtra’s arts editor.

The outcome that we seek is this — gay and lesbian people daring together to set love free.

Xtra is published by Pink Triangle Press, at 2 Carlton St, Ste 1600, Toronto, M5B 1J3.

6 JAN 9–22, 2014 XTRA!

SAMUEL DANIEL TORONTO, ON

The new Barn This new pub on the old Barn property is a perfect example of the Village’s gay decline [“Reimagining the Barn, dailyxtra.com, Dec 26]. I will never go there because they painted over the gay cowboys, and for that they don’t deserve the business of any gay man in the Village. They could have painted over the Molson signage and left the original image. Instead they replaced it with a ridiculous androgyny theme just like they’ve done with Crews & Tangos, which is even tackier. I knew this “mural project” was going to be a disaster, and sure enough it is. White gay men aren’t welcome in the Village anymore.

There are no gay businesses left on Wellesley Street, so saying “Church and Wellesley” to denote the gay village is inaccurate. We have Woody’s, the Eagle, Steamworks and the pubs at Church and Maitland — that’s it. Once they’re gone there will be no more Village.

RYAN TORONTO, ON

I think this column summarizes the current status of Church Street as declining gay venue. The Barn (a gay male sex venue) has been replaced with a pub that caters primarily to straights. A mural on the property that celebrated gay male sexuality has been replaced by a mural that features trans themes. I think we will be seeing more of this.

MARATI TORONTO, ON

Christopher Karas This kid is a hero [“Student Barred from Using Harvey Milk Quote Not Satisfied with Board’s Statement,” dailyxtra.com, Jan 1]. I’m amazed that

[RE: TWO-SPIRIT IDENTITY CONFLICT]

SEX WORK RULING E 11

#761 DEC 26, 2013–JAN 8, 2014

TORONTO’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

DIVERSIFYING VIDEO GAMES E 14

need to go deep down inside ourselves and question who we are as a rainbow community and how we make a difference to our community and the world.

Bitterness says more about the person than the issue.

PAULA KEY TORONTO, ON

@dailyxtra

Trinity would be homophobic if they banned only same-sex intimacy [“Fighting Trinity Western,” Xtra #761, Dec 26]. They actually ban oppositesex intimacy outside of marriage (premarital sex and adultery) as well, so they are more sexophobic than homophobic. Different cultures tend to have different beliefs. If gay people don’t want their culture to change, why do they expect Christians to change their culture? Live and let live.

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One sunny, summer day around lunchtime, I skipped out of work, hopped on my bike and bolted over to Sanagan’s Meat Locker in Kensington to get something barbecue-able for dinner. When I got back to the office I plopped into my chair and exclaimed, “Woof! I’m so hot and bothered!” A co-worker turned around and asked, “Is it that hot today?” It was hot out (remember summer?), but more importantly it was the hunky butchers at Sanagan’s who’d really raised my body temperature.

If you’ve ever been, you know exactly what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, do yourself a favour and visit the shop as soon as possible.

The 5,000-square-foot storefront is packed with not only some of the best carnivorous fare in the city, but also possibly the most handsome men and women ever found behind a meat counter.

And so we sat around and gushed about who the cutest butcher was, wishing we had baseball-card versions of them to trade and centrefolds to pin up. As the conversation continued, other office folk piped in to let us know where their favourite butcher worked.

We ended up with an impressive list and decided to dedicate an entire issue to meat, its vendors, its restaurants, its alternatives and its fashion.

I was lucky enough to join photographer Jamo Best on a day-long shoot to capture three of the best-looking butcher shops in Toronto. All three (Sanagan’s, Côte de Boeuf and The Meat Dept) had some key elements in common.

First, they are all decked out in barn wood. Ever-changing chalk boards are also the norm and all offer various accoutrements, such as rubs, sauces and charcuterie. There’s a warm feel-

ing when walking into any of these locations. The barn vibe helps, but it’s also because all three are staffed with experienced butchers who love what they do. A rejuvenated desire to work with the hands, share one’s knowledge and carve out a “farmland in the city” sounds idealistic and over the top, but it’s all true.

I spoke with Steve O’Brien (you can see a video of our conversation at dailyxtra.com) at Sanagan’s. It was hard — his dimples stare you right in the face and dare you to look away.

While he couldn’t explain the oddly high number of very good-looking butchers in the shop, he did talk about the idea of living a more authentic life.

People in the city are craving a less manufactured experience — they now want to meet the person who chopped their chicken and who picked it up from a farm near the city.

For the boys at The Meat Dept on the Danforth, the shop is all about community. Sure, their local meat is good, but Big Jim and his small team know pretty much everyone who walks in the door and can tell them when the aged beef they put on hold will be ready 11 months down the road.

Perhaps the handsomest in all the land is Teo Paul at Côte de Boeuf. Paul and his team, all in custom-made Klaxon Howl shirts, take their time preparing meat. The slowed-down pace of this butcher shop is never an issue because they’re super hot, but also because of the obvious care that goes into prep, display and packaging.

Why rush the meat when it took its time getting there?

Their skilled hands are busier than ever, thanks to a new love of local meat in the city. The passion these butchers display in one conversation is inspiring, and the killer good looks they provide is a delicious bonus.

Trinity Western editorial

Bitterness says more about the person than the issue.

dailyxtra.com

EDITORIAL PHIL VILLENEUVE

FEEDBACK

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Catholic school boards are still actively fighting GSAs. They are completely missing the point of Christianity.

(I’m no fan, but even I get the basic message.)

DAVID CHURCH TORONTO, ON

Sex work ruling I read the Supreme Court ruling, and it seems that it is gender neutral [“Sex Workers Celebrate Supreme Court Ruling,” dailyxtra.com, Dec 20]. While three females put forth the original application to the court, it seems to apply to all. Finally, the Charter prohibits discrimination and differential treatment on the basis of sex and would overrule an unfair law.

CAELAN TORONTO, ON

Mark Zmuda resignation We really need to have one school board [“US: Catholic School Students Protest Gay Vice-Principal’s Resignation,” dailyxtra.com, Dec 19]. It’s a pretty gross inequality for one faith to have their own schools, not to mention they are contravening employment law in this instance.

EARL COUSINS (FACEBOOK) TORONTO, ON

Calgary Village gentrification As in Toronto and most other places, even in the US, the gay village is also disappearing in Montreal [“Calgary’s Shrinking Gay-Club Scene,” dailyxtra. com, Dec 28]. Gentrification is the obvious cause. Behind the scenes there is much more: we live in a political world chock full of equal rights where some are more equal than others. If you remove a wildlife habitat, let’s say to build a condo, the wildlife disappears.

ZACK TORONTO, ON

U of T prof apology Barf! I can’t believe some of these statements [“‘I’m Sorry,’ Says U of T Prof Who Provided False Information on HIV,” Xtra #761, Dec 26]. Even within his quotes he is stigmatizing.

He has been teaching this shit for 30 years? So much unlearning to do.

JACQUIE JAGUAR TORONTO, ON

Two-spirit identity conflict If I mention Russia, Uganda, Saudi Arabia — and add LGBTI issues — you get the idea that these countries and many others are divided against us. Now, I read these comments and we, the LGBTI community, divide brother/sister against one another. We

The Vatican and Uganda He lost me at “conversion” [“Uganda: Vatican Rep Caught Off-Guard by AntiGay Bill’s Passage,” dailyxtra.com, Dec 30]. It’s still bullshit, more of that “learn to be straight”–type therapy that really just messes people up. Why is it so hard for people to understand that if we weren’t “healed” or “counselled” straight before, there is nothing they could provide us with to make that magically happen. We have tried it all.

MARIO JOHNOVITECH (FACEBOOK) TORONTO, ON

It’s nice to see the Catholic Church making these small steps towards being less of a despicable organization.

ALAN KING (FACEBOOK) RED DEER, AB

TORONTO’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

XCETERA

Sushi A BIWEEKLY Y HELPING OF POP CULTURE, LTURE,, SERVED À LA CARTE

FROM THE PTP ARCHIVES 3 YEARS AGO

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XTRA #709, DEC 29, 2011

Also on offe at the offer high-en high-end store.

“I’m a lesbian. I paid a woman for sex and it was the best I’ve ever had in my life,” Jessica Walden writes. Her story explores the feeling of connection she experienced and how paying for it didn’t change that it was “mind-blowing sex.”

Sam Gund Gundy Co-owner of Olliffe.

Co-ow Male Sex of chicken Gundy says customers prefer buying to avoid high levels of naturally occurring hormones.

OUT ON THE STREET BY KYLE BURTON

What was the last piece of meat you ate?

6 Number of hormones approved for beef production in the US.

For a hot beef injection, turn to page 13.

1,200–1,400 lbs Typical weight of a cow when it’s sent to a processing facility.

Processed meat A market expected to yield worldwide revenues of almost $800 million by 2018.

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www.growingheart.ca TORONTOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

Upfront

It’s going to be easier for us to say Chris suffered from depression and he committed suicide, and there’s no shame in that. Reno Peloso E11

Accessibility and Toronto’s Church-Wellesley Village Can you party, shop and play in the Village if you’re gay and in a wheelchair?

COMMUNITY NEWS ROB SALERNO

One of the defining features of Toronto’s gay village is its Victorian heritage architecture, with narrow walkup or below-ground storefronts. For many, this type of building is a hallmark of the neighbourhood and a point of pride in a rapidly changing city. But if you’re in a wheelchair, all those stairs can seem like a barrier to being part of the community.

“It’s mostly not accessible,” says Andrew Morrison-Gurza, a gay disability activist and blogger who lives in Richmond Hill. “I don’t think the bar owners are trying to exclude anybody, openly, but by not having access, that’s what’s happening. By having access it would allow people with disabilities who are queer to meet other people and for other people to see them there.”

But the accessibility issue is complex.

Under Ontario law, all businesses must make some accommodation for disabled customers who want to access their premises, whether that includes physical changes to their buildings or simpler case-by-case accommodations, such as having an employee help a customer into the premises.

Since January 2012, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act has required all businesses to create an accessibility plan and train their staff on it. Businesses employing more than 20 people are also required to file their plans with the Ministry of Community and Social Services and post them where customers can read them.

The Ontario Building Code also requires building owners to make accessibility improvements whenever a property undergoes significant renovaMORE AT DAILYXTRA.COM

tions or changes its purpose. But owners can get around these requirements where accessibility improvements would be impossible or damage heritage or cultural elements of a building. Many Village businesses are not required to install improvements for these reasons.

Still, many businesses on Church Street are fully accessible. In a recent survey of businesses in the ChurchWellesley neighbourhood, Xtra found that 46 out of 94 businesses had barrierfree front entrances — although few had buttons to open their doors and not all had accessible bathrooms. Many of these businesses are located in relatively new buildings or have been recently renovated for a chain business, like Second Cup or TD Canada Trust.

Some businesses have devised other solutions to their accessibility barriers.

Both Woody’s and Flash will welcome disabled patrons through the back entrance off the Alexander Place alley.

Woody’s will also allow disabled patrons to access the staff washroom on its main floor, although they can’t officially call it accessible because the washroom’s door is too narrow for most wheelchairs.

Woody’s manager Dean Odorico acknowledges it’s an imperfect solution.

The rear entrance isn’t manned, so first a patron has to let the bouncer at the front know he’s coming or call ahead.

The alley is also poorly maintained, full of potholes and has no sidewalk, so guests must manoeuvre around trucks and cars using the lane; it’s where businesses store their trash, and there are no signs in the back. “It isn’t glamorous, and we can’t say it’s accessible,” Odorico says. “The biggest thing is that our staff are trained to help the customers.”

Black Eagle owner Carlos Fileti says

The owner of Fuel Plus says disabled customers can phone in their orders and his staff will meet them outside.

his disabled patrons prefer to be carried in through the front doors. Some patrons think it’s less dignified to be sent to the back entrance, which is also an option, he says. “We accommodate anyone who comes. We can’t install a ramp, but we can bring anyone inside,” he says.

Fileti says he’d like to see the city and the owners improve Alexander Place so that it’s safer and easier for patrons to use it as an accessible entrance to the businesses.

For businesses where the store itself is incidental to the service, owners are finding other ways to serve disabled customers. Chester Wong, who co-owns the

health food and coffee shop Fuel Plus, says he encourages disabled patrons to phone in their orders and a staff member will meet them in front of the store with their order and a wireless credit/debit card reader to pay. “We’re very healthconscious, and we want to serve the community,” Wong says, noting that his storefront is a grandfathered heritage building with no room to install a ramp or lift. “We believe it goes beyond movement and accessibility. We always ask, ‘How do we get you what you need?’”

But Morrison-Gurza says businesses should be more proactive about indicating that they are accessible to the

DAVID OWEN

disabled. He was unaware that Woody’s and Flash even had rear entrances, and Woody’s Yelp page says it is not wheelchair accessible.

While many disabled people are aware that the law requires businesses to serve them, many are not, and newcomers and visitors to Ontario shouldn’t be expected to know, Morrison-Gurza says. Having signs outside a business that explain what accessibility options are available would be helpful. Because many disabled people have had their needs overlooked, they often expect others to be unaccommodating unless otherwise indicated, he says.

XTRA! JAN 9–22, 2014 9

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All sperms forgotten NYC’s Meatpacking District’s queer history might be lost in a sea of boutiques and lattes HISTORY BOYS JEREMY WILLARD

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I had my first orgasm in about 1998. I was sitting in a creaky, 1970s green chair in my grandma’s basement. It was unexpected, confusing and glorious, and while I would have further orgasms (especially that summer, all summer), this particular one is very important. If that chair were to be preserved somehow — as part of an unlikely tribute to my grandma’s house, for instance — it would go on existing, and people would look at it and think, “What an ugly ’70s chair,” but its significance to my life would be lost on them. I could go and put a sign next to it that says, “Here is the site of Jeremy’s terrifying inaugural splooge,” and people would understand, but if I didn’t, then the chair would exist only as a monument to ugly chairs and the generations of Willard asses that had occupied it. The chair’s history would be, in a sense, tidied up, with all my messy sperms forgotten and only the tamer, more socially acceptable history of the chair preserved. Many a sperm shed in New York City’s Meatpacking District is being forgotten as well.

The Meatpacking District is an area of Manhattan bordered by West 14th Street in the north, Gansevoort Street in the south, the Hudson River on the west side and Hudson Street on the east. Industrialization took hold of the area in the mid-19th century, when Fort Gansevoort was replaced by freight yards and other industry sprang up in the area, including iron works, lumber yards and granite works.

By 1900, there were about 250 slaughterhouses and meatpacking plants in the area, and by the 1920s the focus was almost exclusively on meat-related industry. Warehouses, shedlike market buildings, huge slabs of meat hanging on hooks, and workers sporting bloodspattered aprons became the scenery of the district.

A decline in the meatpacking industry in the 1960s meant that through the 1970s and 1980s the area was a hotspot for gay nightclubs. With its uninhabited warehouses and poorly policed streets, the district became a haunt for gays, transgender people, sex workers and other “sexual deviants” looking for a place

Despite all the preservation going on in New York’s Meatpacking District, its deviant past is in danger of being wiped from history. ERIC WILLIAMS

where they could be themselves and fuck. A plethora of fetishes and the spectrum of BDSM delights were the focus of such nightclubs as The Zoo, Mineshaft, Assterick, Anvil, Cell Block and Manhole. For many, the freedom of the Meatpacking District was their way of combating society’s ideas about sexual morality.

With AIDS in full swing, the city closed down the Mineshaft in 1985.

In the 1990s, Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s “clean-up” efforts wiped out much of what remained of the queer scene in the district. The area’s edge has been dulled by gentrification, and now the most common sight in the region is probably Sarah Jessica Parker lookalikes blithering in high-end restaurants or trotting along West 14 Street and double-fisting lattes while browsing clothing labels like Alexander McQueen and Diane Von Fürstenberg.

The success of the High Line project — the conversion of the abandoned elevated railway that runs through the Meatpacking District into a public park — has spurred rent increases and real estate development in the region. New York magazine has called

the Meatpacking District “New York’s most fashionable neighbourhood.”

Meanwhile, quite a lot of preservation is going on. In 2003 Gansevoort Market District was designated a historic site, and then in 2007 the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation announced that New York State Parks was going to make the entire Meatpacking District historic. Restrictions have been placed on development in the area, but what is really being preserved?

So far, I haven’t read that any trace of the memory of the queer scene of the 1970s and ’80s is being maintained.

Some of the buildings may continue to stand, but without anything to indicate what those buildings mean to the queer community, they’re just charming old industrial buildings to titillate rich people who love all things vintage. And like the green chair in the hypothetical tribute to my grandma’s house, the district’s history might end up “tidied up” as a result, all sperms lost to history. Without some greater effort to maintain the messy, kinky and sexually deviant past of the district, that part of its history may be lost.

TORONTO’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

Hundreds turn out for Peloso memorial ‘A man has taken his life because the pain in his brain was unrelenting’: Smitherman NEWS ROB SALERNO

More than 500 people gathered at the Wellesley Community Centre on Jan 3 to pay tribute to former deputy premier George Smitherman’s husband, Christopher Peloso, who was found dead Dec 30 after being reported missing the previous day.

Set to a soundtrack of jovial pop music taken from Peloso’s playlists, the celebration of his life drew many friends and family members, who openly shared happy stories of better times without shying away from the fact that Peloso died by suicide.

Christopher’s father, Reno Peloso, praised former premier and MP Bob Rae for writing a guest column in The Globe and Mail that called on the government to create a national suicide prevention plan in response to his son’s death.

“It’s going to be easier for us to say Chris suffered from depression and he committed suicide, and there’s no shame in that,” Peloso said.

Peloso revealed that his son “struggled with his sexuality” in his teens and admitted that he was “ill-informed and unprepared” to help him. He says

Christopher later took him to Sudbury’s only gay bar during a Christmas visit.

“It opened up my eyes to see who he really was,” Peloso said.

Smitherman spoke mostly off-thecuff, eschewing the notes he said he’d need his new glasses to read. Many of his remarks touched on his gratitude for the support of the gay community and the Village neighbourhood where he and Peloso met. “We really liked this building [the Wellesley Community Centre],” Smitherman said. “It’s not where we live now, but it is our neighbourhood.”

Smitherman choked back tears as he recounted the horrible day when he learned that his husband was gone and he had to tell their children, aged five and two.

“Michael ran to the bathroom and brought me some tissues and said, ‘Don’t be sad,’” Smitherman said. “Then the circumstances went through his mind and he asked, ‘Who’s gonna make me dinner?’

“It’s an indication of what a five-yearold mind can process and a sense of the deep shit I’m in,” Smitherman said with slight chuckle. “That kid can identify four different types of mushroom and eat them with relish.”

Michael’s refined palate is just part of the legacy Peloso leaves his children.

“His legacy is a four-year-old who knows which guests should be greeted with ‘As-salaam alaikum,’” Smitherman said, noting with self-deprecating irony, “My greatest legacy is helping to create Rob Ford.”

Though Ford did not attend, numerous political figures did, including current and former premiers Kathleen Wynne and Dalton McGuinty and Toronto Centre MPP Glen Murray.

Ontario Human Rights Commissioner

Barbara Hall, a long-time family friend whom Smitherman worked for when she was mayor of pre-amalgamation Toronto, spoke of the difficulties Peloso faced as a gay father and as a man suffering from mental illness.

“Christopher was proud of who he was and his family, but sometimes societal attitudes got in the way,” Hall said. “He was challenged by community services that seemed just for moms, or moms and dads, but not [for dads alone].

“In recent months, he talked often

of the stigmas and fears about his condition,” Hall said. “As we gather and celebrate to say goodbye, let us accept the challenge to create a legacy for Christopher — a society without stigma and stereotypes.”

Smitherman said his experience of coming out as a gay man leads him to believe that being honest — including about Peloso’s illness — is best.

“There is no hiding the reality of what we face. A man has taken his life because the pain in his brain was unrelenting,” he said.

George Smitherman pays tribute to his late husband, Christopher Peloso, with their children, Michael and Kayla, and Peloso’s daughter, Morgan Morrow, at Peloso’s memorial Jan 3. ROB SALERNO

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TORONTO’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

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Let us consider the cow.

Regal, elegant and inspiring as it strides purposefully over our hallowed prairie lands, the true epitome of grace and perspicacity. Plus, it goes just awesome with fries and a milkshake.

All right, so even the most ardent of animal activists surely admit that the cow is just about the dumbest creature ever to trod sod (despite stellar efforts by the brothers Ford in this category). I’m not saying they deserve to die but also can’t muster much outrage that poor Bessie’s lifespan is generally determined by the Canadian Beef Grading System. Then there’s that whole fries and milkshake thing.

And we love beef — at least most of us do. The average Canadian will consume more than 30 kilograms of beef every year, never mind the 60-odd kilograms of other meats and poultry that we manage to choke back with joyful abandon. Whether it be organic, processed, slow-cooked or deep-fried, it’s clear that we Canucks are not about to embrace vegetarianism any time soon.

Living in a foodie city like Toronto, the options for meat lovers are nearly endless. Our thriving multicultural communities offer a rich variety of ways to prepare and serve all sorts of animals, while restaurants have become bolder in both responding to customers’ curiosity and challenging their culinary boundaries. We even experience the changes in our grocery baskets, as recent years have seen meat produce taken to a whole new level by an adventurous new breed of butcher. We’ve become smarter consumers, increasing the demand for what was previously the sole domain of specialty shops; it’s quite common now to find organic, sustainable and freerange products at even the largest grocery chains.

Perhaps it’s the ubiquitous presence of TV cooking shows, magazines and websites, always looking for something new (and sometimes controversial) to fill airtime and page space. Either way, with things like bone marrow, charcuterie and even horse meat hitting Hogtown menus, there’s never been a better time to put down that Big Mac and take an adventure in some of Toronto’s most exciting and captivating temples to all things feathered and hooved.

A rack of aged steaks at Côte de Boeuf. JAMO BEST

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BY SERAFIN LARIVIERE XTRA! JAN 9–22, 2014 13

14 JAN 9–22, 2014 XTRA!

TORONTO’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

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More and more people are looking for responsibly raised, perfectly aged meat.

A proper butcher is really the best option.

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Côte de Boeuf

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130 Ossington Ave

Ossington Avenue is one of those classic Toronto neighbourhoods in transition. While perhaps best known as home to the Queen Street Mental Health Centre (previously the Ontario Provincial Lunatic Asylum and now operating as CAMH), Ossington has in recent years become more of a hipster hangout: still a bit scruffy but dotted with interesting shops, bars and restaurants.

Of course, it’s only a matter of time before developers cut their inevitable swath through this still-affordable area, but at the moment there are plenty of heritage storefronts giving a glimpse into the area’s rich history. Walking through the old-fashioned glass doors of Côte de Boeuf certainly feels like a step back in time. Weathered hardwood floors, rustic shelving and a country-store feel are a nice echo from the stockyards that used to populate the avenue, as are the artisanal charcuterie, cheeses and meats on display.

It’s a pleasing and evocative design shared by the butcher shop’s sister establishment, the much-celebrated Union Restaurant.

Both places are the brainchild of Teo Paul, who partnered with his brother Chasen Gillies to open Côte de Boeuf earlier this year. The inspiration for each establishment came from Paul’s five-year stint living in France’s famous City of Light.

“Teo wanted to recreate a little bit of that time he spent in Paris,” says Chris Mathias, a friend and colleague who now works in the butcher shop.

“Both the restaurant and the shop reflect that and a more European feel.”

The stock is decidedly not what you’d find at your local Loblaws. There’s Scotch Mountain beef, sheep-milk yogurt, heritage chickens, some vegetable produce and a respectable artisanal soft-cheese selection. “We butcher everything on-site,” Mathias says. “Plus, we make our own terrines and confit, quince jelly and charcuterie.”

Herbs are grown at Paul’s farm outside the city, where they also smoke the duck, chicken and paprika they sell. It’s all very hands-on while still being affordable, a combination that’s becoming more prevalent downtown.

“I actually lived here before,” Mathias says. “None of this stuff was available back then. I returned after 12 years, and things had really changed. It’s definitely spearheaded by the chefs and cooks in restaurants. And I think people are travelling more and educating themselves. They want quality.” E

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1. Côte de Boeuf coowner Teo Paul in the meat locker.

2. Bikes parked outside the Parisianinfluenced butcher shop.

3. David Ridge serves up some freshly made hamand-cheese sandwiches.

ALL PHOTOS

BY JAMO BEST

XTRA! JAN 9–22, 2014 15

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Sanagan’s Meat Locker

176 Baldwin St

Kensington Market has long been a go-to destination for ethnic foods, with its eclectic patchwork of spice shops, cheese vendors, fishmongers and butchers. Even now the quirky enclave resists the wave of gentrification washing over other downtown neighbourhoods (witness the current battle to keep Walmart from setting down at the Market’s entrance), keeping its multicultural/hippie/anarchist vibe not only surviving, but thriving. How perfect that the marketplace once home to European immigrant merchants still features some of the best artisanal offerings found in the city.

Sanagan’s Meat Locker opened its doors back in 2009, taking over a father-andson butcher shop that had been serving the market for five decades. Owner Peter Sanagan, a chef by trade, was looking for a way to bring the locally produced meats he had been cooking in rural restaurants to downtown Toronto shoppers. “As a chef I’ve always been passionate about working directly with farmers,” Sanagan says.

“There are so many interesting products, like game meats, traditional meats, fruits and vegetables. It’s all about bringing the best flavour profile to the plate.”

Working at the Falls Inn in Walters Falls, Sanagan had the opportunity to work closely with independent farmers and brought these sources with him when taking the plunge into retail meat. It was a welcome partnership, giving the local producers a chance to make further inroads into the big-city marketplace. “When you’re working with small farmers, it’s a very different scale,” Sanagan points out. “Because they’re smaller operations, restaurants are expected to purchase whole animals, which is difficult because you can’t always use all the parts on your menu. As a butcher, I can use everything from the nose to the tail.”

Sanagan’s has since made a move from its modest beginnings, taking over the old European Meats store a few doors down from the original location. The new space is several times larger, offering more scope for its owner’s personal vision. “At first I was a little bit hesitant,” admits Sanagan, who finally decided to jump into the new venture whole hog. “The first few months of operation in the big store were pretty strange,” he says. “Before, I had four employees, and now I have 32, so watching my cost of labour go from $7,000 every two weeks up to $25,000 was a little daunting.”

The move proved a big success. The raw-meat counter still stocks the familiar, along with such offerings as oxtail or large shanks. Fans of the butcher’s amazing handmade sausages will be happy to see an expanded range. But now there’s room for a charcuterie section, featuring terrines, patés and confit, all made in-store.

There’s even a maple bacon doughnut (yes, I ate one, and it was outrageously good).

Also popular is the new lunch counter, featuring some of the shop’s delectable items, sizzling away and further whetting the appetite. A newly launched wholesale sideline to restaurants and hotels is ticking along nicely, building on Sanagan’s original vision of responsible food production.

“I enjoy working with smaller producers who raise their animals in a sustainable nature,” he says. “This is with zero hormone use and antibiotic use only if the animal is sick. The animals are well fed and well taken care of, not factory farmed. That’s always going to be my focus.” E 16 JAN 9–22, 2014 XTRA!

6 TORONTO’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

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1. The charcuterie menu at Sanagan’s.

2. Head butcher Lisa Giraldi.

3. In-house meat expert Steve O’Brien.

4. Steven Pierre-Noel preps behind the scenes.

5. Baker Mike Merenda readies meat pies.

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6. Claire restocks the counter.

ALL PHOTOS BY JAMO BEST

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5 MORE AT DAILYXTRA.COM

XTRA! JAN 9–22, 2014 17

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The Meat Dept

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18 JAN 9–22, 2014 XTRA!

207 Danforth Ave

There is something undeniably sexy about being handed a pork tenderloin by a guy wearing a Darth Vader mask. Maybe it’s the geek in me, or maybe it’s the fact that the men who work at The Meat Dept on the Danforth are so freakin’ hot. The place is a dream come true for het guys, too, with manly cuts of steak and ribs perfect for noshing while watching a football game — and, the day I visit, one is playing overhead on a giant LCD television screen. The shelves are packed with an impressive selection of pickled goods, accented here and there with vintage action figures and other memorabilia. It’s kind of like visiting a super-cool uncle who kept all the stuff from his childhood and just happens to also stock a mouthwatering selection of beef, lamb, pork and poultry.

Zach Davidson put a lot of thought into the design and concept of his butcher shop when it opened in 2010. Back then it was known as The Friendly Butcher, but after he bought out his partner two years ago it was rebranded under the new name.

“I wish I had a better analogy, but when I’d daydream about the sort of business I could run one day, it was like something in the movies,” Davidson says. “You’d see those places and think, man, it would be great if life was really like that. A laid-back environment, where you’re supposed to have fun doing your job, fun working with everybody else there. Where you’re encouraged to just be yourself.”

Certainly the place is full of personality, but it’s also full of interesting products and knowledgeable staff. And as passionate as Davidson is about creating a fun and professional atmosphere, he’s even more committed to the wares he offers. “We’re trying to be different and to just tell the truth to the customers,” he says. “Part of that is reeducating the customer when it comes to the choices they’re faced with when it comes to meat.

“A perfect example of this is the whole grass-fed thing. The problem is that you’ve got a lot of unprepared retailers who have given customers the misrepresentation of how the industry works. The truth is that an exclusively grass-fed animal takes almost three times as long to develop the weight and marbling that customers want in their meat. So if you want to support your local farmer who does that, you’re looking at triple the price.”

So, how do we ensure that our favourite hunk of sirloin isn’t super tough, without coming from a massive complex of mechanically induced torture and chemical cocktails or paying through the nose?

“The only way you can support your local small farmer is if they participate in the supplementation program, where the animal is finished on oats and grain and corn after eating grass for most of their lives. Corn is hard on the animal’s digestion if they’re a young animal, but if you’re giving them corn at the last stage before the slaughterhouse, you get great marbling from the sugar.”

Davidson also points out that an organic label may not always mean what the public thinks it does and eschews labelling his products as such.

“Organic only applies to the food, not the conditions of the animals during their lifetimes. The organic section is the fastest-growing segment in the supermarket, and a supermarket’s driving force is to never be out of product. Think of the strain that it’s putting on the organic community itself.

You now have these massive organic farms that are doing the same things as the others. It’s like the animals are in prison. They get maybe an hour a day outside, and that’s considered free-run.”

Despite these concerns, Davidson isn’t saying that all organic produce is bad and occasionally has it in his cooler.

“If organic happens to be the best product available, we absolutely sell it.

I just won’t market it as organic. I only sell the best possible product, and if that’s it, then we have it.”

The stock certainly is impressive. Davidson has 11 kinds of ground meat, countless cuts of dry-aged beef, sausages made in-store, and even fun stuff like ostrich, bison and a turducken burger — all of it prepared by a group of guys who appear to love their jobs and respect the products they carry.

“For me, it’s truly about honour,” Davidson says. “We are humbled every day because animals gave up their lives for this. If you respect that and pay homage to that, then that’s where this profession finds its honour.”

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Prime Pick

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1. Tenderloin on display at The Meat Dept.

PHIL CLOWATER

2. The Meat Dept also carries pantry staples made by local Mennonites.

3. Fat Chohe cleans chickens in the back room.

4. Big Jim and PJ are meat educators as well as butchers.

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5. Hawaiian bobble dolls add to The Meat Dept’s kitschy décor.

ALL PHOTOS BY JAMO BEST

St Jamestown Steak & Chops 516 Parliament St

This butcher shop features one-stop shopping when it comes to meals. The meat selection is solid, with friendly advice about cuts and cooking times, but there are also fresh breads, desserts and seasonal vegetables to accompany the protein portion of your dinner. It’s particularly fortunate for Cabbagetown residents to have this venerable institution still going strong after several decades, given that the nearest alternative is a particularly dismal No Frills just down the street. The store is also home to some of the biggest prawns you will ever see, and they’re always fresh.

MMMORE Cumbrae’s 481 Church St

A neighbourhood staple, this third-generation butcher shop was serving fine meats sourced from local farmers long before it was hip and trendy. I’ve never seen the place with fewer than six people behind the counter, all fully versed in the cuts of meat, along with serving suggestions and cooking times. There’s a great heat-andserve counter for last-minute meals and a freezer full of more exotic or seasonal items. Their “farm to fork” philosophy includes participation in the Grey County cattle program, a network of breeders and farmers committed to raising cattle in a sustainable, humane fashion.

The Healthy Butcher 565 Queen St W

This Fashion District butcher shop features a variety of organic meats and prepared foods, sourced from animals that are raised “as nature intended.” Their food activism is refreshingly optimistic.

The Healthy Butcher eschews mass-produced beef in favour of organically raised cattle that can roam grassy pastures and eat natural foods before ending up on our plates. Special orders are welcomed, sourced from reliable farmers and offering documentation that can trace your meat back to the organic farm where it was grown. They also offer butchering and cooking classes, as well as gift boxes like The Sausage Sampler and The Perfect Steak Box.

Bloor Meat Market 2283 Bloor St W

This Old World–style butcher shop has a reliable selection of beef, pork, poultry and fish. It’s known for great service, with a friendly “hello” greeting customers as they arrive. There are organic and grass-fed options available, as well as regular meats that are several steps up from anything you’ll find in a grocery store. The Irish salmon is to die for, rich and flavourful.

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XTRA! JAN 9–22, 2014 19

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đ ] Sizzling, charred, rare or even raw: a good restaurant knows how to cook quality meats to perfection.

Barque Smokehouse If you’ve done much travelling south of the border — and I mean really south — you’ve probably tasted Southern barbecue, the impossibly tender pork, beef or chicken that positively melts in your mouth. Mind you, this isn’t the backyard type of grilling we’re accustomed to above the 49th parallel: these joints of meat are cooked for 24 hours or so, until even the toughest old pig becomes delicate and tasty.

Having successfully avoided much of the Deep South’s influence when it comes to things like public lynchings and rampant racism, it’s still a shame that some of their more interesting culinary practices haven’t migrated north. Barbecue restaurants in Toronto are few and far between, but one of the most interesting and successful has to be Barque, a cool little place located in the heart of Roncesvalles.

The owner is Dave Neinstein, a hunky bearded bloke who has brought his own version of barbecue to the city. “I call it authentic southern Ontario barbecue,” Neinstein says.

“Which actually doesn’t exist.”

It may not officially exist, but if the crowds flocking to Barque every night are anything to go by, it darn well should. Unlike some Southern barbecue, Neinstein focuses on 20 JAN 9–22, 2014 XTRA!

299 Roncesvalles Ave

enhancing the meat’s flavour with a dry rub that goes on before the cooking process, as opposed to the heavy sauces added afterward that one often finds in the States. He blends these spices himself, gearing each batch toward the type and cuts of meat being loaded into the restaurant’s massive smoker. This selftaught chef is quick to point out that his recipes are nearly all the fruits of simple trial and error.

“I’m not a classically trained chef,” says Neinstein, formerly a marketing expert. “When I decided to open this restaurant, I was methodical about it. I went down to a small town in Oklahoma and worked in a barbecue restaurant. Then it was basically me working to get each dish right to my own satisfaction.”

Barque proved a near instant success. Certainly it was helped by the famously loyal residents of Roncie, always eager to support their local independent businesses, but the novelty of delicious barbecue served in a cool urban setting has proven a winner with non-residents as well. Neinstein opened the place with a skeleton crew, taking on most of the kitchen duties himself. Now there’s a staff of 40 or so, specially trained to produce his creations.

“Aside from myself, all of the other

chefs are classically trained,” Neinstein says. “So our food is classic pit barbecue meets modern classically trained chef.

“We push the refined barbecue experience. There are no squeeze bottles; we put brushes at every place setting instead. We try to elevate barbecue and include some nontraditional items, such as our beefcheek-stuffed sushi rice balls.”

Um, what?

Neinstein laughs. “Beef cheeks are amazing. They don’t taste gamey. It’s just like a really tender piece of meat that we smoke, then braise and wrap around sushi rice with a little miso glaze.” And how did he come up with this creation? “I like sushi rice and I like beef cheeks,” he says with a grin.

“Simple.”

Another element in raising the posh factor is Barque’s impressive wine list, chosen by the restaurant’s operations manager and certified sommelier Gerardo Diaz.

“I like the way wine can change and enhance a meal,” Diaz says. “And each bottle has its own story, depending on the environment where the grape was grown, the type of season and the growing conditions.”

Diaz has spent most of his professional life working in restaurants and has even tried his hand at creat-

1 2

ing signature cocktails for Barque’s drinks menu. Among the less successful of these was a summer concoction named after our illustrious mayor.

But, as Diaz dryly points out, “Nobody wants the taste of Rob Ford in their mouth.”

Barque also offers fish and vegetarian options and, in keeping with Roncesvalle’s family-centric vibe, welcomes children with open arms.

While their parents are enjoying the

restaurant’s signature pecan pie with ginger gelato, the kids are offered the chance to decorate their own cookies.

There are even toys and games to occupy the little darlings.

“This neighbourhood is all about kids,” Neinstein says. “I love it here.

My partner and I have since moved to the area. His kids go to school here, and I’m happy to work here. So it’s important to us that we bring something good to our neighbours.”

TORONTO’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

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Farmhouse Tavern 1627 Dupont St

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La Palette

Like its country of origin, French cuisine is a study in contrasts. Of course, there’s the glossy veneer lent

by Parisian sophisticates, but underneath those fancy sauces lurks a whole world of snails, liver and green amphibian amputees. Once North Americans got past the initial squeamishness, these delicacies rightly found their way into our hearts. But there’s one French staple that seems to elude popularity — indeed, that seems to cause havoc whenever it rears its majestic, maned head.

“In English-speaking North America, horse meat is anathema to people,” says Shamez Amlani, owner of La Palette, a popular French bistro in Toronto. “It’s a deep and interesting controversy.”

When Amlani opened his restaurant 13 years ago, the presence of this controversial dish was a secret shared only with select customers, a sort of wink-wink, nudge-nudge that created a cult following.

“Horse wasn’t listed on the menu,” Amlani says. “We would surmise that a table wasn’t going to be squeamish MORE AT DAILYXTRA.COM

1. A wall of mouthwatering products at Barque.

492 Queen St W

and then let them know that we served it. When we finally came out of the closet, so to speak, it really raised some people’s ire.”

To put it mildly. Animal rights activists and horse lovers picketed La Palette for months, protesting the restaurant’s serving of their friend Flicka and often getting into heated confrontations with the restaurateur. Like any good marketer, Amlani viewed these protests as free publicity.

“It was endless hours of talking and fun,” he says. “They would be out front picketing, and my bar business would actually pick up. I turned it into some crypto-advertising campaign: Free horse tartar during protests!

Horse happy hour!”

As the city’s tastes evolved and broadened, La Palette’s reputation for authentic French cuisine grew.

There’s still the occasional protest about chowing down on poor Trigger, but it’s lost in a sea of great reviews and customer loyalty. And if Amlani’s establishment has a hint of notoriety about it, the menu is anything but one-note.

“Aside from the horse, there are things here you wouldn’t normally see in a restaurant,” Amlani says. “We have quadruple-A beef steaks from Alberta, and we bring in things like farmed wild boar from Manitoba and muskox from Banks Island in the Northwest Territories. Only the Innu are allowed to hunt it.”

Popular items on the menu are smoked duck hearts, foie gras and, of course, the horse. “The cut that we’re serving is the tenderloin. It’s like the best filet mignon you’ve ever had.

It’s like beef but silkier and a little sweeter. We have an entrée called the Quack and Track, which is duck confit served with the horse tenderloin. It’s very popular.”

But one of Amlani’s favourite dishes is also one that perfectly represents his mischievous and infectious sense of humour. “I love the duck neck sausage,” he says impishly. “The neck is used as the sausage casing and then we place a confit duck head on it. You can crack his beak open and eat the cheeks. Watch out — he’s got a tongue!”

TANJA-TIZIANA

2. Barque boys: Owner Dave Neinstein with Gerardo Diaz, his manager and sommelier.

TANJA TIZIANA

3. La Palette’s cozy dining room.

COURTESY OF LA PALETTE

Great rustic place in the heart of The Junction. The chairs are a homey hodgepodge of colours and styles, and the décor is a comfortable mix of antique farm tools and country kitsch. The menu emphasizes local, seasonal produce, along with a meat selection that is sinfully drippy and delicious. You can’t go wrong with one of their massive burgers, piled high with things like goat cheese, pork belly and fried duck eggs. Portions are generous, and the staff is friendly.

The Stockyards 699 St Clair Ave W

A modern interpretation of the family diner and barbecue joint. Favourites include such comfort food as Southern-fried chicken served on a waffle, wood-smoked Carolina-style barbecue, and burgers with toppings that include marrow, blue cheese and red-wine butter. Small and homey; be sure to try the ginger iced tea.

Copacabana Brazilian Steakhouse 150 Eglinton Ave E

Serves authentic Brazilian rodizio, a prix-fixe menu where diners choose from a selection of items. Prime rib infused with white cheddar cheese, chimichurri skirt steak and a selection of sausages are not to be missed.

The roasted pineapple is delicious, and the live entertainment gives a nice party atmosphere. Perfect for large groups looking for a fun night with great food.

XTRA! JAN 9–22, 2014 21

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G N CHȽ There’s a chance that our fine finned friends might feel left out of all this meat worship.

Far be it from us to neglect the dazzling purveyors of fresh fish this city has to offer.

Hooked

1 206 Baldwin St & 888 Queen St E

Kensington Market has a history of being a bit hit-and-miss when it comes to fishmongers. It was generally easy to tell which ones to avoid in days past: the cut-rate prices, the filthy floors and a pong so strong that you rushed out, eyes streaming and gasping for fresh air. But as newer shops like Sanagan’s Meat Locker set a high standard for hygiene and variety, other like-minded places are beginning to take hold.

In fact, the first thing I notice about Hooked when I enter is the lack of a fishy smell. It’s a small space, with an old-fashioned cooler window and vintage-wood floors — in fact, the very space that Sanagan’s started out in before moving to larger premises a few doors down. The next thing I notice is a sign stating the shop’s unusual philosophical approach to selling their wares. Sales associate Mikhail Williams explains: “Everything here is ethically caught, using no-troll methods. The farmed fish are from low-population communities, and there are no antibiotics used.”

These concepts are frankly new to me, but a little research shows there is quite a movement among fishers and vendors to ensure sustainable and responsible practices within the profession. Small boats are favoured, with direct relationships encouraged between suppliers and consumers.

Hooked’s produce follows these guidelines, without seeming much more expensive than Loblaws or Metro. Plus, it looks and smells a whole lot more appetizing. Along with staples like steelhead trout and wild salmon, Hooked offers baseball-sized chunks of ahi tuna and a variety of oysters.

You can also place special orders for exotic items like arctic char pastrami or chow down on their ready-made crab cakes.

Judging by the stream of customers, people are willing to pay a little more for products that support independent fishermen as well as the fish schools themselves. “I think more people are moving in this direction,” Williams says. “People care about what they eat and where it comes from.”

1. Tuna and shrimp on ice at Hooked. JAMO BEST 2. Hooked co-owner Kristin Donovan shows off her wares. JAMO BEST 3. Cam Cash is happy to help at De La Mer. ADAM COISH

22 JAN 9–22, 2014 XTRA!

2 TORONTO’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

De La Mer Fresh Fish Market 291 Roncesvalles Ave & 1543 Bayview Ave

It’s kind of hard to miss this fish market when you’re walking down Roncesvalles, with its front window a veritable wall of racing water bubbles.

I half expect a little red lobster to start singing about life under the sea when I walk through the door but am greeted by a perfectly ordinary, friendly human. There’s a large selection of fresh fish and seafood, from regular cod fillets to succulent-looking scallops. De La Mer also stocks house-smoked trout and a variety of sauces and marinades. They do special orders and offer smoked salmon platters, shrimp rings and other party favourites.

Bill’s Lobster Fish Market 599 Gerrard St E

Like the sign says, this place sells a lot of lobsters, along with a respectable selection of other fish and seafood.

I have to admit I’m never crazy about seeing the poor buggers swimming around their little tanks in stores or restaurants, but then I remember there’s a reason they have to tie elastic bands around their wicked claws. Cuddly and kind they’re not.

Still, I can’t face boiling one of them alive, so instead I walk out with a bag of scallops that prove to be among the freshest and sweetest I’ve ever cooked. The owner and his wife are happy to advise when it comes to selection and recipes, and it’s obvious why this neighbourhood favourite has been around for more than 10 years.

St Lawrence Market 92 Front St E

3 MORE AT DAILYXTRA.COM

It’s difficult to profile just one fishmonger at the market, as they all seem to specialize in different things, depending on stock and availability.

That being said, it’s hard to go wrong picking up fish and seafood at this historic marketplace. How they manage to cram so much seafood into one area without it stinking to high heaven, I will probably never know.

But they do, and the St Lawrence Market remains one of the prime destinations for fresh fish and seafood in the city.

FAKING IT, VEGGIE STYLE

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How do you find a vegan at a dinner party? Don’t worry, they’ll let you know.

That’s funny, even to us vegetarians and vegans, because that is what we do. It also steps up the typical eye-rollers we receive at the dinner table. Like, “Salad? That’s what food eats!”

While being vegetarian is easier than ever before, with celebs like Beyoncé and Jay Z trying on a vegan diet for size, there’s still a lot of curiosity and confusion that comes with the diet, the biggest one being fake meat.

Why would someone who doesn’t eat meat want to eat fake meat?

In high school, after reading up on animal cruelty, I decided to go vegetarian. Having a positive impact on the environment kept me vegetarian, and the health benefits were a big fat bonus. But it was difficult at first, because I loved meat. Like most vegetarians and vegans, the decision wasn’t about the taste of meat, but rather ethical concerns.

At the time I worked at Arby’s and ate bacon-and-cheddar deluxe burgers four times a week (hey, we got 50 percent off). I remember desperately missing ham submarines and pepperoni pizza in the early days.

At first I gave up red meat, then chicken, then fish. Nearly 20 years later, I don’t miss it, because I have fake meat, fake chicken and fake fish. The texture and taste reminds me of the meals I miss.

And you don’t need to be a vegetarian to eat fake meat. Next time you’re making a meal, throw some fake Ground Round into pasta sauce or chili.

Then, don’t say anything. You’ll be surprised: most people at the table won’t even notice.

Toronto is an incredible city for vegetarian food, hands down the best in Canada and perhaps in the top three in North America. In addition to a variety of international vegetarian-friendly cuisines, from Ethiopia to India, dedicated vegetarian restaurants like Fresh are always packed and expanding (hello, Yonge/Eglinton). But my favourite spots I’ve discovered by word of mouth. And they’re some of Toronto’s best-kept secrets.

The top restaurants in the city for mock meat are Asian fusion: east-end Green Earth (385 Broadview Ave) and west-end King’s Café (192 Augusta Ave). Hogtown Vegan (834 Bloor St W) is a hipster hangout with North

Vegan nachos at Hogtown Vegan. MADELEINE FOOTE

American childhood faves turned vegan, and Rancho Relaxo (300 College St) will make their Mexican meat dishes vegan. I also go out of my way to support veg offerings from fast-food chains like Lick’s (best veggie burger around) and fake pepperoni at Panago Pizza.

Until then, while cooking at home, a simple brick of extra-firm tofu can go a long way; just deep fry and add curry or even hot sauce. There are also a variety of meat substitutes by Yves and Gardein, and Tofurky now offers products like pizza, hot dogs and sausages. Nelakee (200 Silver Star Blvd) in Scarborough is a fake-meat Costco, selling everything from fake shrimp to duck.

Scientists are also getting closer to the first lab-grown hamburger. This sci-fi innovation from synthesized animal tissue or plant material could help address issues like population growth, factory farming and climate change. I should probably start crafting a party joke now. — Jennifer Hollett

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BUTCHERING FASHION The history of the meat dress

BY MICHAEL-OLIVER HARDING

Lady Gaga in meat at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards.

24 JAN 9–22, 2014 XTRA!

Those hoping that Lady Gaga’s infamously decaying meat dress had gobbled up its full 15 minutes in the spotlight by now should probably find another pop culture phenom to harp on, as the fleshy, subversive slab of fashion — voted by Time magazine as the top fashion statement of 2010 — isn’t going anywhere soon. Gaga herself spoofed the dangly bits of raw flank steak, first donned to much public condemnation at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, in a Saturday Night Live promo late last year. Dissertations expounding on said flesh dress’s feminist, anti-fashion or antifactory-farming readings have been emerging from university and college campuses across America ever since.

Designed by Franc Fernandez and styled by Nicola Formichetti, the bacon, steak and pork chop–assembled dress has amassed its fair share of devout fans and detractors: the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame went out of its way to dry, paint and preserve the dress, touring it as part of a national exhibit about pioneering women in rock and roll.

Gaga, responding to widespread public indignation from animal rights groups such as PETA — which argued the performer had callously paraded around wearing “the decomposing flesh of a tormented animal who didn’t want to die” — told Ellen DeGeneres back in 2010 that her aim was to make a statement about equality and condemn the US government’s much-maligned, now-repealed Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. “If we don’t stand up for what we believe in and don’t fight for our rights,” she warned viewers, “we’re going to have as much rights as the meat on our bones. And I am not a piece of meat.”

New Wave punker Linder Sterling wore a meat dress onstage in 1982.

What’s interesting is that Gaga and her Haus of Gaga style team’s stab at raw-meat couture (complete with meat purse and shoes) is only the latest in a long line of transgressive females stitching together meat, gender and fashion in the name of attention-grabbing art and incisive social commentary.

British New Wave punkster (and good friend of Morrissey) Linder Sterling, frontwoman of the experimental band Ludus, famously performed outfitted in a meat dress — with a massive black dildo to boot — to a crowd of Manchester patrons in 1982 to rail against men who liken the female body to meat cuts.

The most high-profile incarnation of the “flesh dress” leading up to Gaga’s appropriation is attributed to Montreal-based conceptual artist Jana Sterbak, whose Vanitas: Flesh Dress for an Albino Anorectic sculpture (1987) comprised 50 pounds and $260 worth of raw steak, stitched together and pre-salted to prevent rotting during its six weeks of gallery life. A framed photograph of a model wearing the dress was mounted on the nearest wall. Sterbak’s meditation on vanity, aging and human decay ignited quite the uproar in 1991 when

it was included as part of an exhibition at Ottawa’s National Gallery, with some 200 people mailing in food scraps in protest and MPs campaigning to donate the meat . . . to nearby food banks.

“The protest was about government spending on the arts, closely following the purchase of Barnett Newman’s Voice of Fire by the National Gallery for over a million dollars,” Sterbak told Xtra in an email exchange. “The media got hold of it as a result of an intern working for the Ottawa paper, who called a shelter for homeless men to ask if they could make better use of the material . . . During the relative news

silence due to Easter, other media took up the subject.”

More than 25 years after Sterbak laid bare the novel, not-quiteedible garment, this now-iconic piece has been reproduced and reimagined countless times, consistently igniting the ire of the same targets (animal rights organizations, rightwing anti-art curmudgeons and certain anti-poverty activists), serving to remind us that those issues remain just as relevant today. One can only imagine that the innumerable possibilities of lean red meat will strike a chord with the next generation of subversive artists with a bone to pick.

Jana Sterbak's “flesh dress” comprises 50 pounds of raw steak.

TORONTO’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

PHOTOS BY KAREN ROZE

Tie me up Tightening the apron strings

BY DIEGO ARMAND

Lately I’ve been obsessed with aprons. As a wardrobe stylist, I like being able to keep my clothes clean and have pockets for my tools. Combine an apron with underlayering and you have the ideal fashion/function relationship. Here’s a variety of aprons (locally made, for the most part) that will get you through a messy day in style.

1. ROLL OUT “The Original” apron, by Bluntroll, is made especially for chefs and also doubles as a knife roll. (Knives are not meant to be put in this way, but Jamie likes to live dangerously.) $140. thebluntroll.com

2. NICE AND EASY The Jersey apron, by JM&Sons.

These canvas and leather aprons are handcrafted in Quebec by co-founder Junior’s mother. $105. jmandsons.com

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3. BLUE JAMIE Denim apron, made from vintage overalls. $50–175.

A Homerun, 165 Augusta Ave.

4. KITCHEN MASTER Bluntroll’s made-to-order leather “Outlaw” apron. $280. thebluntroll.com

5. THE MINIMALIST Jamie’s own, by Japanese design company Muji. muji.com Modelled by Jamie, who not only makes intricate, avant-garde accessories, but is known by his friends as a great chef. All other clothes are Jamie’s own.

MORE AT DAILYXTRA.COM

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XTRA! JAN 9–22, 2014 25

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TORONTOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

OutintheCity

If we don’t stand up for what we believe in and don’t fight for our rights, we’re going to have as much rights as the meat on our bones. And I am not ot a piece of meat. La Lady Gaga E24

Paul Bellini, teacher.

QUEER COMEDY 101

The many faces of The 519’s Green Space parties for Pride 2014.

Is it Pride yet?

Every year, the 519 Church Street Community Centre kicks off Pride season early with a big bang by revealing the lineup for its outdoor Green Space party.

Xtra got the inside scoop on what the party will look like, and it’s going to be the festival’s biggest year yet. “Seven years ago, we only had one party,” says Mathieu Chantelois, honorary chair of the Green Space. “This summer, we will have six!

We’re now the destination of more than 50,000 partygoers while still being one of the biggest fundraising efforts of the community centre.”

This year, The 519 has added another party to its lineup and it’s a doozy. On Saturday, June 28, Green Space will host Main Event, a 12-hour dance marathon at the Ryerson Quad, since last year’s Sunday party was so successful.

“We built a very strong relationship with the Ryerson team last summer, so this year for WorldPride we will be hosting two events at the quad,” MORE AT DAILYXTRA.COM

says Chantelois, who promises that a much larger team of speedy bartenders will be in place to avoid a repeat of last year’s long lineups.

Also new this year, organizers will request a $10 donation at the quad entrance, while donations will remain voluntary at all events in Cawthra Square Park. Celebrations in the park will include the signature Starry Night event, with the theme once again Love Is in the Hair, for which OUTtv will import the most fabulous queens of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 6, airing next month. Infamous Montreal queen and self-proclaimed “clown extraordinaire” Mado Lamotte will be behind the decks. The organizers are counting on her to bring la joie de vivre and, as always, some handsome guys from La Belle Province.

And remember, Pride is only 20 party weeks away. —Phil Villeneuve

Never has one man in a towel done so much for so many. Comedy writer, standup comedian and all-around local hero Paul Bellini is taking on a whole new stage when he launches an LGBT comedy-writing course this January at Humber College. The hilarious alumnus of the Kids in the Hall TV show (both as writer and a mute character dressed only in a white bath towel) is no stranger to education, having taught several classes through the Second City training program, but never one specifically geared toward queer folks.

“We have a training centre in Chicago that had something like it,” Bellini says. “There’s a gay man named Andy Eninger who advertised that he was doing an LGBT comedy workshop, so I figured if he can do it, I can too. I took it to the head of Second City in Toronto, and his eyes lit up. We did it just before Pride.”

The workshop proved a success, prompting Bellini to eye a more in-depth program that would examine the history of LGBT comedy and help students build acts that embrace their orientation.

“Second City is wonderful, but it’s a training program,” Bellini points out. “Humber College has one of the best comedy courses in the country, but they’ve never had an LGBT one. I figured it could be an interesting niche market.”

So what does this creator and performer hope to impart to wide-eyed supplicants ready to sup at the Bellini font of knowledge?

“I do a history reel of gay comedy, but there’s very little,” he says. “It’s mostly William Haines and Paul Lynde. I talk about my experiences on Kids in the Hall and the rise of gay standup in the ’90s, with people like Elvira Kurt. Then I have exercises that I give them, like writing a gay version of a big movie. Someone did Jaws where the shark was giving blowjobs.”

Bellini will also encourage students to be upfront about their sexuality, as he and Scott Thompson were when they started on KITH more than 20 years ago. — Serafin LaRiviere The LGBT Comedy Workshop runs eight weeks at Humber College, starting Thurs, Jan 23. Contact Hilary Higgins at hilaryhiggins@humber.ca for more information.

greenspaceto.org XTRA! JAN 9–22, 2014 27

WHAT'S ON

PLAYS & MUSICALS Next Stage Theatre Festival Next Stage’s diverse offerings include pieces performed at previous Fringe festivals and new works by established Fringe artists.

Runs until Sun, Jan 19, various showtimes. Factory Theatre, 125 Bathurst St. $10–15. fringetoronto.com

FOR MORE EVENT LISTINGS, GO TO DAILYXTRA.COM

COMEDY & CABARET

HEALTH & SUPPORT

Kristen Becker’s Dykes of Hazard Comedy Hour

The 519 Legal Clinic

The inaugural night of a new monthly showcase of up-andcoming queer comics. Sat, Jan 11, 7pm. The Flying Beaver, 488 Parliament St. $10 advance, $15 door. pubaret.com

Singular Sensation: A Musical-Theatre Open Mic Jennifer Walls invites amateur crooners to perform their favourite songs accompanied by a live band.

Every Monday, 9:30pm–12:30am.

Statlers, 487 Church St. No cover. statlers.ca

Hypnotixxx: A Slightly Naughty Comedy Hypnosis Show Brandon the Hypnotist takes audience volunteers on a risqué and slightly rude jaunt into the subconscious. Wed, Jan 15, 7:30pm.

The Flying Beaver, 488 Parliament St. $10 advance, $15 door. pubaret.com

Queer as Fuck: Comedy Open-Mic Catherine McCormick, the creator of Laughs at Slack’s, presents a twice-monthly comedy night in the west end, featuring a rotating lineup of queer and queer-friendly comics.

Wed, Jan 15, 9:30pm. The Steady Café, 1051 Bloor St W. PWYC. thesteadycafe.com

Chris Tsujiuchi: Back in the Saddle After his successful three-night holiday run at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, the cabaret marvel returns to the Pubaret with guests Scott Christian, Matt Marcoccia, Robin Claxton and Sophie Dushko. Sun, Jan 26, 8pm. The Flying Beaver, 488 Parliament St. $10 advance, $15 door. pubaret.com

A free, accessible service for lowincome people. Volunteer lawyers provide legal advice, referrals and help with forms and letters. The confidential and private visits are first-come, first-served. Bring any necessary documents. Every Thursday; registration 6–6:30pm.

The 519 Community Centre, 519 Church St. Free. the519.org

SOY Monday Night Drop-In Queer youth aged 14 to 29 gather to watch movies, participate in art projects and special workshops, and seek the support of Supporting Our Youth’s community mentors.

For more info, contact jcaffery@ sherbourne.on.ca. Every Monday, 5:30–8pm. Sherbourne Health Centre, 2nd floor, 333 Sherbourne St. Free. soytoronto.org

LGBTQ Peer Support Drop-In Group Queer people with mood disorders drop in for support and discussion. If the building door is locked, press the button under the intercom near the wheelchair entrance. Wed, Jan 15, 7–9pm. Mood Disorders Association of Ontario, 36 Eglinton Ave W, Ste 602. Free. mooddisorders.ca

FTM Support Group Trans men share their experiences in a supportive environment. Takes place the first and third Friday of each month. For more information, contact ftmtoronto@yahoo.ca. Fri,

Flirtation 101 — Good for Her, Fri, Jan 17 Jan 17, 7:30pm. The 519 Community Centre, 519 Church St. Free. the519.org

Positive Routes to Recovery A peer-led support group for gay men working through substance abuse issues. Takes place the first and third Tuesday of each month.

Tues, Jan 21, 6–8pm. The 519 Community Centre, 519 Church St. Free. pr2r.org

LEISURE & PLEASURE I Am Divine A documentary about the statusquo-smashing Divine, aka Harris Glenn Milstead, who through his collaborations with filmmaker John Waters became an internationally recognized drag superstar. Runs Fri, Jan 10–Thurs, Jan 16, various times.

Bloor Hot Docs Cinema, 506 Bloor St W. bloorcinema.com

The Diva-Off Series: Destiny’s Child Vs Spice Girls Nerd Girl Burlesque and A Platinum Production team up for a burlesque tribute to harmonized vocals and girl power. Sat, Jan 11, 10pm. Club120, 120 Church St. $10. club120.ca

Ovarian Cysters: Punk Women on Film Jimmy Weaver presents a fourday screening series focused on the work of David Markey, Susan Seidelman and Penelope Spheeris. The series concludes with the Canadian premiere of Jon Moritsugu’s latest film, Pig Death Machine. Runs Thurs, Jan 16–Sat, Jan 18, various times. Videofag, 187 Augusta Ave. PWYC. videofag.com

Out and Out Club New Members’ Night

Dykes of Hazard — Flying Beaver, Sat, Jan 11 MICHAEL WALLINE

28 JAN 9–22, 2014 XTRA!

Trade — Black Eagle, Sat, Jan 11 INKED KENNY

Manon, Sandra and the Virgin Mary

LEGIT Legal counsel for same-sex couples immigrating to Canada. Tap into the community and access useful resources. Takes place the second Thursday of each month. Thurs, Jan 9, 7–10pm. The 519 Community Centre, 519 Church St. Free, donations appreciated. legit.ca

CLUBSCENE

The queer social club introduces potential members to its broad range of activities. Sessions are held the third Tuesday of each month. Tues, Jan 21, 7–8pm. The 519 Community Centre, 519 Church St. Free. outandout.ca

In parallel monologues, the pious Manon contemplates her purchase of an extravagant new rosary, while Sandra, an irreverent drag queen, tries to decide what she will wear tonight. Runs Sat, Jan 11–Sun, Feb 2, various showtimes. Buddies in Bad Times, 12 Alexander St. PWYC–$32. buddiesinbadtimes.com

Unintentionally Depressing Children’s Tales If you’re looking for a fable to make you feel better about life, this isn’t it. Erin Fleck hosts three workshop performances of shadow puppetry, projections and stop-motion storytelling. Runs Mon, Jan 13– Wed, Jan 15, various showtimes.

Videofag, 187 Augusta Ave. PWYC. videofag.com

SEX & WHATNOT Depicted in Human Form An evening of music and discussion related to Mirra Kardonne’s photographic narrative on power imbalance and objectification in sex. Sat, Jan 11, 6–9pm.

Communication Art Gallery, 209 Harbord St. $20, $15 students and arts workers. mirrakardonne.com

Naked Yoga for Men Gregory Saliba hosts a gathering for yoga enthusiasts who prefer their downward dogs in the buff. For more info and to register, contact phillip@phillipcoupal.ca. Tues, Jan 14 and Tues, Jan 21, 8–9:30pm.

Awaken Studio, 270 Carlaw Ave, Unit 102. $20. phillipcoupal.ca

more. 10pm. WAYLA, 996 Queen St E. No cover. waylabar.com

Thurs, Jan 9 Pup Night Argo hosts pups, handlers and spectators at an evening of fetish puppy play. Some gear available to borrow, but bring your own hoods, collars, leashes and squeaky toys. No dress code.

9:30pm. Black Eagle, 457 Church St. No cover. blackeagletoronto.com

Smirnoff Best Chest Contest

Tynomi Banks hosts the shirtless boys as Lena Over gets them onstage, with DJ Mark Falco on decks and $300 in cash prizes.

Midnight. Woody’s, 467 Church St. No cover. woodystoronto.com

Random Play DJ Dwayne Minard and guest spin ’70s and ’80s disco, yacht rock, new wave and

Fri, Jan 10 That Time of the Month DJs Alex and Devon spin feminine soul and R&B. 10pm. Henhouse, 1532 Dundas St W. No cover. henhousetoronto.com Pop Friday DJ Sumation spins top 40 and dance faves on the main floor. 10pm. Fly, 8 Gloucester St. No cover before midnight, $4 after. flynightclub.com Back to Church A hot new girl party, with DJs Delicious and KLR spinning house, hip hop and top 40.

10pm. Church, 504 Church St. $10. churchonchurch.com

Flirtation 101 Lorraine Hewitt hosts a workshop where people of all genders learn the ins and outs of friendly and romantic flirting. Fri, Jan 17, 7–9:30pm. Good for Her, 175 Harbord St. $33. goodforher.com

Her DJs John Caffery, Cozmic Cat and omgblog.com spin house and disco tracks, while host Nancy Bocock helps attendees find their inner v-her-gins. 10:30pm. La Perla, 783 Queen St W, upstairs. $5. herherher.com

Sapphic Aquatica: Anniversary Party In addition to the usual amenities, women and trans people enjoy the music of DJ Nix, artwork by Anne Moto and a performance by drag duo Jasai and Chocolate.

Oasis is also collecting donations for Supporting Our Youth.

Tues, Jan 28, 8pm–2am. Oasis Aqualounge, 231 Mutual St. $20. oasisaqualounge.com

Cub Camp: Sweatpants, No Underwear DJs Scooter McCreight and Shane McKinnon on the turntables for the men going commando. 11pm–2:30am.

The Beaver, 1192 Queen St W. $7. beavertoronto.ca, facebook.com/ cubcamp

Odyssey Mag release party — Remington’s, Thurs, Jan 16

Sat, Jan 11 Bush Beat DJs Shoegayz and Pony are on decks for the westend ladies’ dance party. 10pm.

TORONTO’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

Henhouse, 1532 Dundas St W. No cover. henhousetoronto.com Fly Saturday DJs Shawn Riker and Mark Falco spin house and tech beats for the boys on the dancefloor.

10pm. Fly, 8 Gloucester St. No cover before midnight. flynightclub.com Business Woman’s Special DJs Sammy and Kevin Ritchie spin pop and R&B for the unofficial Drag Race tour afterparty at the former Augusta House locale. 10pm. Round, 152 Augusta Ave. $6.

Trade DJs David Picard and Scooter McCreight spin deep, tech house for the frisky lads and bearded bad boys; hosted by Pup Wolf. 10pm.

Black Eagle, 457 Church St. $5. blackeagletoronto.com, facebook. com/getsometrade

Sun, Jan 12 Spectra Talent Contest Group A Quarterfinal Bell Media picks up the Spectra Talent Contest as a TV series, made available through Fibe TV’s videos-ondemand service. Erica Fox and Paul Bellini host live to air. 1pm.

Bishop Marrocco Auditorium, 1515 Bloor St W. No cover; $2 per vote. spectrashowcase.com

and Katinka Kature, at 9pm; Dirty Monday, with Devine Darlin and Daytona Bitch, at 11pm. Crews & Tangos, 508 Church St. No cover. crewsandtangos.com Singular Sensation: A MusicalTheatre Open Mic Amateur crooners perform their favourite show tunes with a live band every Monday night. Hosted by Jennifer Walls. 10pm–1am. Statlers, 487 Church St. No cover. statlers.ca

Tues, Jan 14 Play Again Allysin Chaynes hosts the classic board-gamers event, with a performance at 11pm and DJ Kid Sis spinning oldies. 8pm.

Henhouse, 1532 Dundas St W. No cover. henhousetoronto.com Varsity Tuesday Sofonda Cox hosts the amateur So You Think You Can Strip? competition, with a $100 cash prize. 11pm. Remington’s, 379 Yonge St. $5; no cover with student ID before 11pm, $2 after. remingtons.com

Wed, Jan 15 Crews & Tangos Wednesday Soul Sistas, with Michelle Ross and Jada Hudson, at 9pm; Foreplay, with Devine Darlin and guest, at 11:30pm.

Crews & Tangos, 508 Church St. No cover. crewsandtangos.com

Woody’s Sunday Hollywoody Broadway Show, at 6pm; Old School, hosted by Georgie Girl, with Michelle Ross and Jada Hudson, at 9pm; Five Smokin’ Hot Divas, hosted

by Georgie Girl, with DJ Blue Peter on decks, at 11 pm. Woody’s, 467 Church St. No cover. woodystoronto.com

Toronto Drag Kings The misters take the stage for the weekly dragking show. 11pm. Zipperz/Cellblock, 72 Carlton St. No cover. facebook. com/zipperz

Mon, Jan 13

Thurs, Jan 16

Crews & Tangos Monday Glitz & Glam, with Carlotta Carlisle

Odyssey Magazine January Release Party Recording artist

Business Woman’s Special — Sat, Jan 11 MAY TRUONG

Tristan Jackson performs live and fundraises for the relief effort in the Philippines. 8pm–2am.

Remington’s, 379 Yonge St. No cover before 8pm, $5 before 11pm, $7 after. remingtons.com

Jockstrap DJ Deko-ze on decks for the bulging boys, while Chris Munro and Dale C host the monthly men’s jockstrap party. 11pm–3am. Marquis of Granby, 418 Church St. $10. facebook.com/jockpartyto

Naked Night A diverse group of men take it all off and mingle at the popular monthly event. Separate area for clothed folks. 10pm.

Black Eagle, 457 Church St. No cover, $2 clothes check. blackeagletoronto.com

Sun, Jan 19

The Dirty Hustle DJ Blackcat spins old- and nu-school hip hop and R&B every Thursday. 10pm. The Steady, 1051 Bloor St W. No cover. facebook.com/thesteadycafebar

Fri, Jan 17 Pop Asia DJ Sumation spins K-pop, J-pop, top 40 and dance faves for this new Asian party, with Cassandra Moore and guest performing. 10pm. Fly, 8 Gloucester St. No cover before 11pm. flynightclub.com Were-House DJs Aeryn Pfaff and Jeff Kirkwood spin deep tech house.

10pm. Church, 504 Church St. $5. churchonchurch.com

Crews & Tangos Sunday By Request, with Michelle Ross and Carlotta Carlisle, at 6:30pm; Sexy Sunday, with Devine Darlin and guest, at 9pm; Sultry Sunday, with Farra N Hyte and Jada Hudson, at 11pm. Crews & Tangos, 508 Church St. No cover. crewsandtangos.com O’Grady’s Karaoke Hosted by Chris and Amanda Jean, with everyday divas belting out tunes from the broad song selection. 10pm.

O’Grady’s, 518 Church St. No cover. ogradyschurch.ca

Mon, Jan 20 WAYLA ’90s Trivia Night Kaleb Robertson and Miss Fluffy Soufflé test the audience’s ’90s knowledge, covering topics that include television, music and dance moves.

7pm. WAYLA, 996 Queen St E. No cover. waylabar.com

Tues, Jan 21 Woody’s Tuesday DJ Chris Steinbach spins for the peeps taking advantage of super-low day prices — at night.

8pm. Woody’s, 467 Church St. No cover. woodystoronto.com

Wed, Jan 22 TMI Tales Monthly reading series with selected storytellers giving too much information.

Followed by an open-mic segment. 7:30–10pm.

Henhouse, 1532 Dundas St W. No cover. henhousetoronto.com

Glitz & Glam — Crews & Tangos, Mon, Jan 13 DAVID HAWE

Submit your event listing to listings@dailyxtra.com.

Deadline for the Jan 23 issue is Wed, Jan 15.

Bearcode DJ Cory Activate spins house and top 40 for the rough men and their admireres.10pm. Zipperz/ Cellblock, 72 Carlton St. No cover. facebook.com/zipperz El Convento Rico Friday Fabulous Russella and Mr Rico play the early show games, with prizes at 11:30pm; Devine Darlin and Xtacy Love perform at 1am. El Convento Rico, 750 College St. $10. elconventorico.com Cruiseline’s Best Men’s Ass Contest Georgie Girl hosts the boys showing their behinds, with Brooke Lynn Hytes recruiting them to the stage for $300 in cash prizes. DJ Chris Steinbach on decks. Midnight.

Woody’s, 467 Church St. No cover. woodystoronto.com

Sat, Jan 18 Cherry Bomb DJs Cozmic Cat and Denise Benson spin house, hip hop, disco and dance faves for queer women, trans folks and all their friends. 9pm–3am. Andy Poolhall, 489 College St. No cover before 10pm, $7 after. facebook.com/ cherrybombtoronto Barbershop DJ Michael K and guests on decks for the monthly event for dudes who like dudes.

10pm. Henhouse, 1532 Dundas St W. No cover before 11pm, $5 after. henhousetoronto.com Fly Saturday DJ Kevin Bailey spins house and circuit beats. 10pm. Fly, 8 Gloucester St. No cover before midnight. flynightclub.com Shish-Ca-Dog Meet the Toronto puppy community as Victoria Windsor and Pup Ego host the special HOTF (Heart of the Flag Federation) bar night and the step-down party for Pup Ego (Toronto Puppy 2013). 10pm. Black Eagle, 457 Church St. No cover. blackeagletoronto.com Fit A winter warm-up for sporty boys, with DJs Kris Steeves and Phil V. 10:30pm. The Beaver, 1192 Queen St W. $5. beavertoronto.ca

MORE AT DAILYXTRA.COM

Her — La Perla, Fri, Jan 10 FRANK GRIGGS

XTRA! JAN 9–22, 2014 29

DEEP DISH

1

ROLYN CHAMBERS

The Beaver TUES, DEC 31, 11PM

Dear new year, this year instead of voguing for the homeless when they ask for money, I resolve to dig in my pockets and give them whatever I grab. On my way to The Beaver for its unnamed, unthemed (who needs labels?)

NYE party, some lucky beggar is pleased with a pack of gum, a few toonies and some prescription pills. I’m generous like that. The Beaver’s already almost full, a sign of either a really bad year ending or a really great year beginning.

I debate this with hosts Igby Lizzard and Judy Virago, both gloriously glam in formal outfits. “This year I plan to finish and produce my three-person play. It’s about love, sex work and psycho people on the subway,” Virago says. “And to have tits for summer.” In contrast, DJ/host Boy Pussy (who makes my girl cock crow) and DJ Regina the Gentlelady give full sensory overload in hot-pink satin numbers. But it’s Scooter in his Donald Duck hat and beaverfur wrap, waddling in with Miss Squirts from NYC, who looks like a reincarnated Amy Winehouse, who make me do a double take before downing a triple shot. Cheers.

1E Judy Virago & Igby Lizzard 2E Scooter & Miss Squirts 3E Mikaela & DJs Boy Pussy & Regina the Gentlelady

Black & White Ball @ Fly TUES, DEC 31, 11:45PM

Dear new year, this year I resolve to join a gym and gain back the weight I lost by partying too much. On my way to Fly I pick up a 12-pack of chicken nuggets to eat on the dancefloor. I like to multitask. It’s a circus of guys, some dressed up in button-down shirts and ties and others in unbuttoned tops and unzipped flies.

It’s surprising how respectably formal a go-go guy can look just by adding a bow tie to a pair of assless Andrew Christian underwear.

Sofonda stands centre-stage, with

a set of huge angelic wings spread wide behind her, giving the countdown courtesy of her cellphone.

Complimentary bubbly is passed out, and as each second is counted down and yelled out by the men around me, I pop a greasy nugget in my mouth. Ten, nine, eight . . .

“Happy New Year,” Sofonda shouts. Shit — I still have two left.

Streamers shower down, confetti flies, sparklers are lit and boys look around for someone to kiss . . . or at least grind up on. Cheers.

2

4E Criscian, Carlnon, Hubert & Marco 5E Ryan, Ike & Danne 6E Mikko, Josiah, John & Lawrence

6

Pitbull: Red Light District @ The Phoenix WED, JAN 1, 12:20AM

Dear new year, I resolve to stop worshipping myself and to find God. Stumbling over to Pitbull’s Red Light District party, I trip over an abandoned leash in a snow bank. I take it with me. If I can’t find God, I plan to bring home a dog. Hopefully one of the smaller breeds: shorthaired and obedient and able to lick his own balls. I’m very lazy. As DJ John Caffery fist-pumps the audience, DJ Brian Maier tweaks his knobs. Go-go dance cages contain go-go-guy convicts, while huge, oversized red metallic pendants and red mirror balls hang over the room, reflecting the frenzied action of the dancefloor below.

I’ve seen these somewhere before.

Perhaps Fly’s attic of goodies?

Decoration should be shared, passed around and used, like a greedy power-bottom. Separated from the pack in the darkened side room, DJ Sumation spins.

“My resolution is to become more international,” he says between tracks. “I’ve got my eyes set on Italy.” And I’ve got my eyes set on a Canadian who looks a bit like a street person who works out.

Or Jesus Christ in a harness.

4 5

7

8

9

10

7E Biko & Jeremy 8E John Caffery 9E Jesse & Nick 10E Jail bait 11E Pitbull boys

Deep Dish appears in every other issue of Xtra. For this week’s Xposed column, by Anna Pournikova, visit dailyxtra.com.

30 JAN 9–22, 2014 XTRA!

3

11 TORONTO’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

WITH

DHARMA FRIENDS

Body break

GLBT Buddhist Meditation Group Invites you to a January Open House

INTRODUCTION TO BUDDHIST MEDITATION

Checking in with Jeremy Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m pear shaped. If I were to fall, IÂ would, like a bowling pin, spin round and round, my head in the centre and my wider end on the outside. With any luck that will never happen, or if it does, I hope itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not in a crowded room â&#x20AC;&#x201D; my little arms hopelessly trying to gain purchase on a table leg to stop my spinning, while everyone laughs and claps.

What Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m saying is that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m chubby.

And while I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t hate my body â&#x20AC;&#x201D; I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think my chubbiness makes me inferior in any way, and I certainly have no strong opinions on the chubbiness of others â&#x20AC;&#x201D; I would like to lose some weight and gain a bit of muscle and flexibility. To that end, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m beginning a four-month ďŹ tness campaign with Evolution Fitness at 101 Yorkville Ave. One recent snowy afternoon I trudged over to the gym for my initial consultation with Evolution owner Conor Kelly. I was braced for the usual Yorkville snobbery, but Kelly was very personable and down-to-earth.

We discussed my sedentary lifestyle â&#x20AC;&#x201D; IÂ spend most of my time writing; Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m one of Xtraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s two History Boys columnists â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and the distressing pear shape it has created, and he outlined what I should expect in the coming months with Evolution.

Not only will I have unfettered gym

January 8, 15 & 22, 2014, 7:00 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 7:30 Regular meditation session, 7:30 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 9:00 Beginners are welcome.

All are invited!

177 Mutual Street, Community Room For information call Robert at 416-929-5205 or email Jacqui at: qdharma@web.ca Find us online at dharmafriends.weebly.com or at facebook.com/dharmafriends

Jeremyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first consultation with Evolution founder Conor Kelly. EVOLUTION FITNESS

access, but Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll have two sessions with a personal trainer every week (Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m particularly looking forward to she whom they call the Mistress of Pain) and time with a nutritionist (the aptly named Dr Abs). Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll have to get used to preparing food in advance so that I have the ingredients to a good meal sitting in the fridge (to help me avoid quick, unhealthy snacks), visiting the gym at least three times a week, and varying my workouts so that I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t plateau.

I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t usually take myself very se-

riously, and with the help of this odd cast of characters Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m planning on having some fun getting into shape and will be reporting on my experiences regularly in Xtra. With any luck, by the end of this project Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be a different kind of fruit.

ISRAEL

GAY PRIDE

Follow Jeremyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s progress for the next four months in Xtra. For more information about Evolution Fitness and their team of experts, visit personaltrainerstoronto.com.

June 9 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 17, 2014

2QWDULR 5HJ

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A world of gay adventure

Travel

Boys’ weekend in Vegas Party like a rock star in the city of sin

BY DANNY GLENWRIGHT

Las Vegas is not for pussies. It’s the kind of town where you can get married on your first date, sign your name with dollar signs and strip down with random floozies in a plush hotel room — right, Prince Harry?

Everything is big, Sweetie, huge. Lacroix, Chanel, Wynn! Wolfgang, Darling, Wolfgang! When Celine builds a dressing room in Vegas, she creates a replica of her real home, which is only minutes away from the Caesars Palace theatre that was also constructed for La Dion on the famed Vegas “strip.” When they make burgers in Vegas, they fly in the beef from Japan and top it with French truffles and foie gras; when they run out of water, they steal it from Arizona; and when they create ice sculptures, they carve them from cubes previously used to freeze Walt Disney (okay, that last one might not be true).

If you want to make it in Vegas you’d better have big tits, big tigers or big talent. The saying goes “Don’t mess with Texas,” but it’s Las Vegas that’s really something to be reckoned with. “Lost wages,” as the city is so tenderly known by locals (and there are so many ways to lose yours), is also gayer than Steel Magnolias. It’s the city of Liberace, Siegfried & Roy, Elton, Barry Manilow, David Copperfield and Frank Marino.

And those are just the divas.

It’s also a city flush with the best and worst of everything American — which means it’s a perfect place for a dynamite quick-and-dirty weekend getaway that you won’t soon forget (depending on 32 JAN 9–22, 2014 XTRA!

how much you drink). This intrepid journalist took one for the team and got wasted like Britney for the sake of the story — and, of course, in order to suss out the best Vegas has on offer. Here are some suggestions for an excess-ful gay weekend in Nevada’s finest oasis.

Arrival Grab a quick beer while you acclimatize at the McCarran International Airport — named after Pat McCarran, a Las Vegas senator from 1933 to 1954. McCarran was a Communist-hating politician who spent many years trying to restrict immigration to the United States and Nevada. It didn’t work, and the senator is surely rolling in his grave: one fifth of those who live in Nevada today were born in another country, making it one of the most diverse states. The airport has several bars and slot machines where you can drink to McCarran’s failed policies and whet your appetite for the weekend ahead. Better to enjoy the airport’s booze and blackjack at the beginning of your trip because you’ll likely retch at the sight of both on the way out.

Regroup and explore your mini bar Now is not the time to stop and rest.

Check into your hotel (the city has dozens to choose from, including six of the world’s 10 largest), have a quick whore’s bath and pack the necessities for a night out: gum, cologne, condom, deodorant, p-p-p-poker face, check! Don’t forget a cheeky shot from the mini bar and you’re on your way.

ALEX HILL

Above, Bellagio. Right, the Luxor hotel’s Temptation Sunday is where all the cute boys of Vegas play in the afternoon sunshine.

Dinner on the strip The infamous Vegas “strip” is like a Monopoly board, with as many pitfalls as opportunities. Please don’t end up in jail.

Depending on where you start, the strip can seem either daunting or mesmerizing. If you’re planning a big Friday night out, better to save your energy and head

straight for one of its glitzy restaurants.

Try a light dinner at Andrea’s at Wynn, where chef Joseph Elevado’s sharing plates are just right for a group. Elevado spent almost a decade working under celebrity chef Nobu Matsuhisa (whose Las Vegas spot, Nobu, is also a mustvisit for dinner), and his modern Asian TORONTO’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

ALEX HILL

Left, the buffet at Simon Restaurant at The Palms includes everything from French toast to sushi.

Above, Roman guards (and gods) abound at Caesars Palace.

LAS VEGAS TOURISM

dishes show off what he learned. Our group especially loved Andrea’s wagyu beef tataki with ginger and green onion and the scallop sashimi with salsa verde.

Round one Las Vegas has dozens of nightclubs, including several gay spots. The safe bet for a Friday night is Share, a two-storey nightclub, bar and lounge that offers VIP cabanas for groups that want to party like rock stars. For those looking for something more traditional, Share provides private rooms, and its website suggests customers “ask shot boys how you can receive special treatment and make your experience a little more Sharable.” Nothing says slutty vacation like an anonymous backroom hookup with a hot cocktail waiter.

ment. The Bathhouse’s dark and cavernous clothing-optional hot tub and sauna area also allows for a full recharge before heading back into the bright lights of Vegas. And its cute pool boys will help you get other systems back up and running.

Before leaving Mandalay Bay, grab lunch at Border Grill, where famous lezzie chef Susan Feniger — of cooking show Too Hot Tamales — and business partner Mary Sue Milliken have created a hot and spicy Mexican menu that’ll guarantee the previous evening’s booze continues to evacuate your pores. We couldn’t get enough of their Peruvian ceviche and Yucatan slow-roasted pork in banana leaves. If you’re ready to start drinking again, Border Grill’s flavoured margaritas are a very good place to start.

Sweat it out

Glut, guzzle and gamble

If you completed day one following the above instructions, you’ll be feeling a little worse for wear Saturday morning. That’s what you get for waking up in Vegas! Best to follow Katy Perry’s lead, shake the glitter off your clothes and sweat out your hangover at one of Vegas’s many luxury spas. The Bathhouse (not that kind!) at Mandalay Bay’s THEhotel offers spa packages that include everything from hot stone treatments to “soufflé” scrubs. My throbbing head thanked me for the spa’s gorgeous deep-conditioning scalp treat-

Spend Saturday afternoon like any selfrespecting Las Vegas tourist: walk the strip, gamble, spend money you don’t have, eat lots of bad food and drink slushy piña coladas from guitar-shaped plastic glasses. Remember that casinos offer free drinks to customers who gamble, so it’s a great way to get soused without the fuss of reaching for your wallet. I recommend the MGM Grand, where wait staff always made sure I had a bevvy so long as I was shifting cash from my bank account into the hotel’s

flashing appliances. Once you’re bored from not winning, jump on the handy Vegas Monorail and head back to your hotel to freshen up for an evening show.

It’s all coming back to me now It’s not a trip to Las Vegas without a show.

And boy, did my group of boys put on a show as we walked drunkenly down the street on the way to see Celine. “There were nights when your cock was so hard,” we sang (well, shouted and squealed), so excited were we to see Canada’s most popular export. Celine didn’t disappoint, but of course, if you’re not into Ms Dion (don’t admit to that in Vegas), there are plenty of other options. Cirque du Soleil usually has a handful of shows on the go (give Zarkana a miss, see O if you can) or check out magicians Penn & Teller or one of the many celebrities always on hand.

Pre-clubbing drinks If Vegas were a zoo, The Cosmopolitan hotel would be the panda enclosure. Take yourself there Saturday night when you’re still somewhat fresh and classy and a few drinks away from “Work Bitch.” (Britney’s new video, by the way, was filmed in Vegas.) Head for The Chandelier bar, a three-storey affair surrounded by two million crystals that feels a bit like Studio continued next page E

LAS VEGAS TOURISM

MORE AT DAILYXTRA.COM

XTRA! JAN 9–22, 2014 33

E continued from previous page

54 meets The Ritz. The Cosmopolitan is known for its mixology program that includes more than 150 cocktails. Your mouth will hopefully be filled with all kinds of wonderful things during a Vegas weekend but likely none more unique than The Verbena cocktail, also known as the Szechuan Button. The tequila-based potion is garnished with the bud of an Acmella oleracea plant, native to Brazil, which, when chewed, releases mouthnumbing chemicals. It intensifies everything you taste for the next few minutes, including the citrus cocktail it garnishes.

Adventurous types may want to grab a few extra Acmella buttons for later.

ALEX HILL

Above, the scenic Red Rock Canyon is 20 minutes from the Strip. Right, the Bathhouse at Mandalay Bay has a clothing-optional hot tub and sauna area.

Round two

Lather, rinse, repeat

Krave Massive, Las Vegas’s newest gay club, should be somewhere on your agenda. Not to be outdone by the other superlatives floating around Vegas, Krave bills itself as the country’s largest gay club. While it doesn’t yet have the energy of an established space like Share, Krave is worth a visit. If you get there early, stop in for a drink where there’s plenty of vibe at Drink & Drag, a drag-queen bowlingalley bar in the same complex as Krave.

Warning: the Las Vegas City Council recently denied both bars liquor licences, so be sure to check online to see if they’re up and running again before you go.

You’ll be all fear and loathing when you look at yourself in the mirror Sunday morning. But you still have plenty to discover, so swig back a quick hair of the dog from the mini bar — or down a coffee if your stomach’s not there just yet — and get back out there. Start with a buffet brunch at Simon Restaurant at The Palms hotel. There’s something deliciously trashy about a Vegas buffet — but that said, it’s best to get your buffet fetish out of the way at brunch so you can reserve your evenings for the city’s best dining spots. The team at Simon knows their clientele, and the all-you-can-eat

Sunday brunch includes sushi, paninis, peel-and-eat shrimp and an all-youcan-drink Bloody Mary bar complete with every possible garnish, from spicy beans to Mexican hot sauce. I drank my way through several of my group’s drink combinations because I’m a journalist who likes to get to the bottom of things.

Sunbathe like an Egyptian The Luxor hotel’s Temptation Sunday is the Don Juan of Vegas’s gay party scene — a poolside event that’ll have the pants off any lad still wearing them. This is where all the cute boys come to play, and

MANDALAY BAY

it’s a refreshing homo vibe compared to many of the strip’s family-friendly or ultra-macho pool areas. Rent a cabana, order a bucket of beer or a pitcher of margarita, get into a tiny swimsuit and kick back and enjoy the sunshine.

Leaving Las Vegas It’s always hard to wrap up a vacation, but something about the debauchery that is Vegas makes it a particularly easy city to leave. It could be the sunburn or the scabies, or possibly that big hole in your bank account. It’s not that you didn’t have fun — of course

you had fun — but gosh, there’s only so much fun you can have before you collapse into an airplane seat and think, “I can’t wait to get home.” But beyond the slot machines, there’s something rather addictive about the city. And just like Celine before you, a new day will come and you’ll likely head back there again. For now, settle back into your seat, order a cocktail from the flight attendant and, whatever you do, don’t post any of your photos until you’ve had a chance to sober up. There’s a certain saying about allowing some things to stay in Vegas.

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The city that never sleeps Pride in Tel Aviv and opera in Masada Tel Aviv, known as “the city that never sleeps” and the “white city,” is considered by many to be the most cosmopolitan city in the Middle East. You can saunter down almost any street and find café-goers, joggers and dog walkers.

With its prime position on the Mediterranean coast, Tel Aviv is known for its sea, sun and surf. This fun-loving city never stops. There is always something to do or see, whether it be entertainment, art, shopping or visiting picturesque artists’ quarters.

Visitors can also enjoy a rich nightlife, shopping and international cuisine. Tel Aviv is considered a gayfriendly city, where anyone is free to live, love, work and play.

A specially designed tour to Israel for the LGTB community led by Colin Sines, president of Travel Gay Canada, is being offered by Aufgang Travel

(based in Toronto) from June 9 to 17.

The tour will put you in Tel Aviv just in time to celebrate Pride Day on June 13 with thousands of others who descend on the city each year for the festivities.

The tour will then continue to Masada, where you’ll enjoy a spectacular performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera La Traviata on June 16 (after you float in the Dead Sea).

Competing with all the gay capitals around the world, this experience of Israel encompasses both celebration and culture. In addition to visiting Israel’s regular attractions, more than 50 special events take place during Pride Week, culminating in La Traviata.

Above, Gay Pride Tel Aviv. Below, La Traviata at Masada. YYZ TRAVEL GROUP

TORONTO’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

E indexdirectory.ca

Pharmacies Pace Pharmacy and Compounding Experts 416-515-7223 The Village Pharmacy 416-967-9221

Psychotherapy

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Ms Hema Murdock, CA 416-696-6653 Susan Calverley MBA, MSc, CMA 416-605-1553

Automotive Sales & Leasing Ken Shaw Lexus 416-776-0055

Bars & Clubs Fly Nightclub 416-410-5426

Butchers St Jamestown Steak & Chops 416-925-7665

Cheese Shops Leslieville Cheese Market 416-465-7143

Newbright Construction 416-985-8639

Contracting & Renovations G J MacRae Foundation Repair Service – Since 1975 905-824-2557

Counselling Change4U2 416-827-7578 David Moulton, MEd Canadian Certified Counsellor 647-525-8268 David W Routledge (MSW, RSW) Psychotherapist 416-944-1291

Chiropractors

Phillip Coupal Counselling 416-557-7312

gesund 416-913-5170

Dental Services

Churches

Adelaide Dental 416-429-0150

Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto 416-406-6228

Coffee Shops

Broadview Dental Clinic 416-466-6400

Health & Fitness Evolution Fitness 416-220-7883

Health Foods & Nutrition The Big Carrot 416-466-2129

Home Improvement & Repairs Basement Waterproofing G J MacRae Foundation Repair 905-824-2557 Bryant Renovations 416-260-0818 G J MacRae Foundation Repair Service – Since 1975 905-824-2557 Newbright Construction 416-985-8639

Insurance Kenton Waterman – Investors Group Financial Services 416-860-1668

Investment Services

Fuel Plus 647-352-8807

Dr Kevin Russelo & Associates 416-966-0117

Community Groups & Services

Galleria Dental, Dr Iudita Costache 416-534-9991

Enterprise Toronto 416-392-6646

Dog & Cat Grooming

Juice Box 416-924-4671

Computer Sales & Service

Tailspin Dog Spa 416-920-7387

Lawyers

Contemporary Computers ccomp.ca

The Reading Salon thereadingsalon.ca

Concierges As You Wish Concierge 647-208-2884

Concrete – Contractors Basement Waterproofing G J MacRae Foundation Repair 905-824-2557 G J MacRae Foundation Repair Service – Since 1975 905-824-2557

Construction G J MacRae Foundation Repair Service – Since 1975 905-824-2557

Entertainment

Kenton Waterman – Investors Group Financial Services 416-860-1668

Juice Bars

Harvey L Hamburg 416-968-9054

Fashion

Ivan Steele Law Office 647-342-0568

Take a Walk on the Wildside TM 416-921-6112

Law Office of El-Farouk Khaki 416-925-7227

Florists

Paul T Willis – Barrister & Solicitor, Notary Public 416-926-9806

Astra Florists 416-787-1415

Foundation Repairs Basement Waterproofing G J MacRae Foundation Repair 905-824-2557 G J MacRae Foundation Repair Service – Since 1975 905-824-2557

Gardening Davenport Garden Centre 416-929-7222

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Robert G Coates 416-925-6490 Timothy E Leahy – Forefront Migration Ltd 416-226-9889

Legal Services Craig Penney, Toronto Criminal Defence Lawyer 416-410-2266

Lighting Living Lighting on King 416-364-9099

Massage – Certified/ Registered gesund 416-913-5170 Japanese Male RMT 416-804-9248 The Power of Touch 647-330ALEX(2539)

Nick Mulé, PhD, RSW Psychotherapist 416-926-9135

Radio Stations

Real Estate

Investors Group Financial Services – Kenton Waterman 416-860-1668 Linda Rudolph at The Mortgage Centre 416-282-1677

The Blake House 416-975-1867

Xtra 416-925-6665

St Jamestown Steak & Chops 416-925-7665

Mortgages

The 8th Deadly Sin 416-960-3473

Pink Triangle Press 416-925-6665

Proud FM 416-213-1035

C’est What?

Brew/Vin Pub Restaurant 416-867-9499

Hair of the Dog 416-964-2708

Publications

Meats & Delicatessens

Restaurants & Cafés

Cora Breakfast & Lunch 27 Carlton St 416-340-1350 277 Wellington St W 416-598-2672

The Churchmouse & Firkin 416-927-1735

Sex Shops Bed Time Toys bedtimetoys.ca

Nicholas Bohr – RE/MAX Hallmark Realty Ltd, Brokerage 416-465-7850

Condom Shack 416-596-7515

Tax Services CJH Tax Services 647-270-8057

Philip Kocev – Sales Representative 416-364-2036

Telecommunications

RE/MAX Baywatch Ltd, Brokerage 705-756-7629

Acanac 416-849-8530 Buddies in Bad Times Theatre 416-975-8555

Naturopathy

Theresa Forget, Sales Representative RE/MAX First Realty, Brokerage 905-686-3800

gesund 416-913-5170

Real Estate Agents

Painting

Nicholas Banks iPro Realty 877-306-4776

Moving & Storage Agility Moving & Storage Ltd 416-654-5029

Newbright Painting 416-985-8639

Personal Trainers Evolution Fitness 416-220-7883

Pet Care Tailspin Dog Spa 416-920-7387

Pet Stores & Supplies Helmutt’s Pet Supply 416-504-1265

Renovations & Restorations

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Blue Cross Animal Hospital 416-469-1121 Basement Waterproofing G J MacRae Foundation Repair 905-824-2557

Roy Runions, Sales Representative RE/MAX Hallmark Realty Ltd, Brokerage 416-465-7850

Bryant Renovations 416-260-0818

Veterinarians

Waterproofing

Gaelen Patrick – Sutton Group Realty Systems Inc 416-801-9265

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Bruce M Small, MSc Psychotherapist 416-598-4888

Newbright Construction 416-985-8639

G J MacRae Foundation Repair Service – Since 1975 905-824-2557

Websites dailyxtra.com 416-925-6665 Squirt.org squirt.org

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ANNOUNCEMENTS IN MEMORIAM Loved & missed

HEALTH & FITNESS

<<HEADER>> GROUPS

Married, Separated or Divorced Gay Father?

Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re here to support you on your journey.

Our meetings are informal, FRQĂ&#x20AC;GHQWLDO DQG KHOSIXO Gay Fathers meet the second and fourth Thursday of every month at 8pm at the 519 Church Street Community Centre.

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PROUD LIVES Commemorate those who have recently passed away.

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ROOMS TO RENT

KEVIN SHORTT MASSAGE and Yoga Therapy: sensual, intimate bodywork with stretching. $15 oďŹ&#x20AC; First Time Clients! Check out my website: www3.sympatico.ca/kshortt 416-961-8064

LESBIAN MANSION

THIS ANNEX NEIGHBOURHOOD house is a long-established lesbian positive feminist space. At the moment we have four unfurnished rooms available now. Room prices range from $600. - $875. inclusive. No pets, nonsmoking, drug free. We are a group of community minded individuals that are looking for quiet, mature roommates to share the large kitchen and common areas of the house and backyard. We work collectively to ensure basic chores around the house are maintained. If this sounds like a good ďŹ t for you, please provide a brief written statement about yourself and why you feel youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re a good candidate. echelon5@ica.net

RELAXATION Massage BuďŹ&#x20AC;et Massage: traditional, anal/prostate, & Taoist Erotic.

Breath orgasms. Sex and Life Coach. Paul Barber 647-821-3131 canadian bodyworker.com

4SEASONS MASSAGE THERAPY & WAXING Charles Guo, RMT Registered Massages, Waxing Hair Removal. Receipt for massage insurance. First Time Client 20% oďŹ&#x20AC; waxing.

40 Wellesley St E, Ste 201.

By appointment 416-944-3784 4seasonsmassage.ca

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For appointment or info call 416-473-0065.

PERSONAL Japanese Male RMT 416-804-9248

Deep tissue to relaxation massage by a professionally trained RMT (Japanese Male).

Covered by extended health plans for massage treatment.

Sanji Masunaga

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Weekend Touch Explorations Full-Day Erotic Experiments Afternoon Touch Exchanges Explore & Experience Erotic Sensual Touch Group or Individual Sessions

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EMPLOYMENT GENERAL Seeking full-time Registered Pharmacy technician(R.PH.T) for Rexall in Guelph. Contact us for full job description or apply directly. Phone: 519822-5921, fax: 519-8220714, email: 1081rx@rexall.ca Att: Chief Pharmacist.

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES CLEANERS HOME, CONDO & OFFICE CLEANERS call Tomas - 416.878.9527 email: info@ecoscleaning.com FULLY BONDED AND INSURED visit: www.ecoscleaning.com SQUEAKY CLEAN Housework never killed anyone... but why take a chance?

Home and condo cleaning services. Call Mark.

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COUNSELLING DAVID W. ROUTLEDGE MSW, RSW PSYCHOTHERAPIST ...helping you become the person you have always wanted to be droutledge@rogers.com www.dwroutledge.com (416) 944-1291 downtown location - affordable rates

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HAIR/SKIN & BEAUTY WWW.GANYMEDE.CA Professional hair removal by certiďŹ ed specialist. Waxing, electrolysis and laser. Clean, private, downtown location. By appointment only. Call Darcy at 416-979-8801.

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XTRA HOT

DRASKO BOGDANOVIC

NAME: SHAZAD AGE: 30 SIGN: LIBRA

By day, he’s a mild-mannered AIDS service worker for the Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention (ASAAP), and by night he’s a Bollywood go-godancing star. On a date, Shazad likes to grab a coffee, go for a walk and chat.

“I’d rather do that than go to a dinner and awkwardly try to slam food in my face while attempting to sound articulate.” Watch for the next Rangeela, billed as Canada’s “biggest queer South Asian dance party,” on Saturday, Feb 8 at Club120, where Shazad will continue to rally behind those fighting the Indian Supreme Court’s decision to re-criminalize homosexuality. facebook.ca/rangeelato, facebook.ca/shazfitness Twitter: @shazadhai, Instagram: shazadhai To comment on or become an Xtra Hot guy or gal, email Drasko at xtrahot@dailyxtra.com.

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Exploring: never stop Single Tablet Regimens (one pill, once a day) are a step forward in HIV treatment.

Explore more at exploreHIV.ca

While they’re not a cure, these treatment options are designed to be effective and convenient. If you’ve been exploring different HIV treatments, talk to your doctor about Single Tablet Regimens too. It’s good to know what is out there.