Weekend To Do's - Art and Miusic Edition

Music, Music, Music. Art, Art, Art.  This is Toronto, so of course, everything in between is happening  as well.  

Plans after work today?  Skip out a little early to take part in a pub crawl (part of Toronto Beer Week).  There are events all weekend ranging from Beer Commercial viewing to a femALE only beer and cheese pairing.  The events are all over the city, most at small local pubs and brewpubs. Support your local businesses!  

Building? Renovating? The Fall Home Show is on at the Ex Grounds all weekend.  Huge show, many vendors.  You'll find everything from Kitchen and Bath to roofers.  If you can't find someone here to do your job, it probably can't be done.  

Feeling like something Random, Rough, and a little on the wild side?  

There is a Roller Derby in Toronto.  Firstly, I didn't know Toronto had a Roller Derby. Secondly I didn't know there was a championship on Saturday night! How much fun is this!  Writing this feature has opened my eyes to all kinds of events in our fair city.

The music this weekend is varied, both in venue and style.  K'nann is playing Massey Hall (Friday night), Jann Arden is playing Massey Saturday night, and Slash is playing Sound Academy on Sunday. If that's not enough variety for you, the East End Rockabilly Weekend #4 runs all weekend too.   

For the art lovers on the east end, the Beach Guild of Fine Art has their annual show and sale, Art Down By The Bay.  On the west end of the city? There is a juried art show at Sunnyside beach. If you can't make it out to anything this weekend but still want some art in your life, there is a 6 week long show titled, oddly enough, Six Weeks Of Iranian Art beginning on the 21st and ending Nov 2nd.

If you need to get away and out of the city, the Niagara Wine Festival is a brilliant weekend getaway.

One last thing to note, and it's not even for this weekend, but for next.  Mark it on your calendar.  The King East Design District is holding a sort-of open house for folks of all stripes. Public welcome, designers welcome.  Many businesses are taking part, (BoConcept, Andrew Richard Designs) and all are worth a visit.

Have a good weekend whatever you get up to. On a side note: How nice are the bills for the above events? I love that  old school poster design. See you Monday. 

Bill
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Weekend To Do's - Taste of The Danforth!

A couple of great events happening around town this weekend.  The one I'm the most excited for? Taste of The Danforth! Get your favourite eats from the 10th to the 12th! 

Some stats for you.

• One of the highest concentrations of restaurants in the world per km
• 19th year of the event
• Hellenic food kicks ass

Check it out and eat some souvlaki!

(though, don't let me stereotype, there is soooo much more)

The Toronto Queer Arts and Culture festival begins running this weekend as well, with Events running from the 10th to the 18th.  Their goal is to "produce performing arts festivals for the purposes of educating and advancing the public’s understanding and appreciation of performing arts and to educate artists through participation in such festivals and related workshops." Sounds like a worthy and entertaining goal to me. 

One Art Opening caught my eye at the Julie M. Gallery.  Its a group show bringing together different artist who blur the line between traditional forms of "art".  

The Jays have a big weekend of home games against the Yankees.  I don't know if any tickets are left, but snatch them up while you can.

Family? Friends? Running around on your own? Whatever you get up to, have a great time this weekend.

Bill

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Weekend To Do's - July 6,7,8

You know that time you started a blog, and you got into the swing of things.  You were feeling a bit cocky, right?  You wrote your weekly blog, and even had one or two reoccurring, weekly or monthly posts.  Easy right?  

Then you forgot to write one.  And it happened to be your "Weekend To Do's" post, and it happened to be Canada Day weekend.  A long weekend.  So. Much. To. Do.  

My bad.

Now onwards.

On the plus side, this is a great weekend to be in Toronto!  So. Much. To. Do. Ha!

Let's start off with Friday night.  If you haven't been out to the theatre in a while, go, and check out Warhorse.  It plays at 7:30 and it's fantastic. Check out the video links on the site for a really good idea of what it is all about. 

On Saturday, head over to the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition.  I went last year and was blown away by the variety and amount of uniqueness present at the show.  Such a cool annual event.  Runs all weekend, 6, 7, and 8th down at Nathan Phillips Square.

My recommendation for Sunday is to enjoy some Summerlicious eats.  Try out 7 Numbers on the Danforth, they haven't let me down yet.  Or try somewhere totally new, there are so many restaurants involved this year.

One last thing, and don't worry, it's a quicky.  One our readers (Hi Kay!) in the Forest City has issued a formal request this weekend, what is there to do in London Ontario?  Well there is something happening, Sunfest.  

Seriously. Most of the bands you've never heard of, world music and jazz mostly(not that either of those are a bad thing!).  But, if you have the time, go see Delhi 2 Dublin.  Really cool band, mixing all kinds of sounds and influences.

Thats it, thats all.  Have a good weekend, enjoy the sunny weather (fingers crossed!).

Bill

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Design Destination - Design Republic - UPDATED

UPDATED- New links, head to the bottom!

 As I mentioned in my post earlier this week, I was all over Toronto this weekend.  

We went east, we went west, downtown and back north.  

While we were out and enjoying the sun on Queen west, I spotted Design Republic. 

This was my first time walking through and what a great find.  It turned out to be a huge store, with tonnes of design ideas and products.  I posted a pick earlier to my pinterest boards of one of the pics below if you want to have a look.

 

You really can't miss the storefront. No, really. You can't miss it. Gigantic red flags let you know you're in the right place.

 

As you can see, the store is large, 2 levels.  The top floor is worth exploring, take the back steps and head up. Pretty cool steps actually, and look above your head as well. I don't have  a picutre, but I loved how they were clad.

 

On the 2nd floor, you'll find more furniture, and get a much closer look at many of the carpets and original artwork.

They make a huge part of their inventory in house.  What they don't make is largely 

(though not all) sourced from local manufacturers.  

To you, this means a relatively green footprint and huge customization options.  

Who doesn't want a piece they've had a hand in designing for their own home?

This pillow is such cool Canadiana.  

You have the queen, the outdoors, and good, warm wool

This lime bench and bed, with a hint of tufted UK was one of my favourite finds here.  I love the faux alligator texture, paired with that industrial feeling headboard.  

 If you're near by, stop in, this is a Design Destination. Well worth the visit.  You'll find inspiration and maybe, just maybe, your next sofa.

UPDATE

Hey folks, I was recently contacted by Terry Edward Briceland to let me know this last pic, with the amazing green bench, and union jack headboard were his. He has a store within a store at Design Republic - Teb Interiors.  Check out their site for all kinds (one of  a kinds) of couture furniture, bedding, pillows, cool silkscreens etc.  Its some "awesome crap for your home".

Bill

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Comical Art

I Love when art evokes an emotion or a response. I had this happen to me when I came across the work of Gary Taxali.  Not only does his illustrations make me smile but they make me giggle.  They are the perfect combination of vintage, whimsy and comedy. 

 "Totally Repugnant"

 "Bad Haircut/ Stupid Haircut"

 "Riesling Pigato"

 "Nebbio/Barbera"

 "Sangiovese"

 "The Nose"

 "Lost Tooth"

 "The Year That Was"

"Black Eye"

I think Steven Miller got it right when he said....

"Gary Taxali visually blends now with then.  His style, inspired by vintage comics and advertising art, is repurposed with the goal of communicating the ironies and comical essence of popular culture. His work is at once alluring and endearing."

Stephanie

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A Day in the life...

Artist Peter Crawley is the genius behind these stitched illustrations.   All pieces are hand stitched on various stocks of paper with a needle and cotton thread.  I can just hear the needle puncturing the paper, it reminds me of my childhood!

This piece is titled by the song A day in the life and each line represents 1min of audio. 

I love all of the pieces he has completed but when I realized he also did architectural pieces...well he had me at 

The Empire State Building!!

Beautiful right?  The attention to detail is just amazing.

The 3/4 british in me is so proud of him lol.  Those Brits know how to do it up right.

keri

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