Mr. Toronto

Been a busy week in the entertainment capital of the world (well, North America, anyway…OK, OK – Canada for sure!!). Fleetwood Mac at the Air Canada Centre last Tuesday – they’re all looking a little older, but hey- so am I. And they can still rock. Never realized what a phenomenal guitar player Lindsay Buckingham is…ACC is not my favourite concert venue in the City- would rather catch anything at Massey Hall, The Music Hall or the Phoenix. Even Celine Dion would be tolerable.

Wednesday night, went to the opening of Spring Awakening, the latest Mirvish offering at the Canon Theatre. Not quite as sharp as the Broadway production, but a really interesting premise, and some decent toons for a musical…$25 student tickets available day of show!

Thursday night, caught 3 hot sets of Blues at Monarchs Pub at the Delta Chelsea Hotel. I think I mentioned this last week – Jerome Godboo and Jack de Keyzer, 2 of Canada’s most renowned musicians (harmonica and guitar, respectively) – are playing there every Thursday night through April – for FREE! Awesome.

Saturday night, caught a flick at the Rainbow Cinema. Pretty unmemorable movie, but wanted to let you know about the Rainbow, cuz it’s the cheapest first-run theatre in Toronto. Located down on Front Street across from the St. Lawrence food market (a must-see as well); most expensive ticket is 8 bucks, and it goes down from there depending on when you go…

Sunday, was back at the ACC, this time for a Toronto Raptors basketball game. Whether you enjoy watching sporting events or not, Raptors games are a hoot. Lots of loud music, on-court antics, and…cheerleading. The Raptors even won this one, a rare added bonus. They even scored 100 points, which meant the whole arena got a free slice of pizza. Great time to see the Raptors, until the season ends in a month or so – lots of empty seats, which means lots of scalpers parting with tickets for way below cost…

And now I’m off to another play, the opening of Shirley Valentine (remember the movie?) at the CanStage Theatre. This show- and theatre company- are a great break from the usual mega-musicals that can kind of get to you after a while…dinner first at a great Moroccan restaurant next door – The Sultan’s Tent. Too bad I don’t have time for the belly dancing show (really!)

Concerts, clubs, plays (both big and small), major league sports, good eats – Phew! I’m exhausted just writing about the week of excitement I’ve had in T.O.

Talk to you again soon-
Mr. Toronto

Welcome to my first ever blog entry.  If you had told me twenty five years ago – when I was living in the USA and flunking out of my college Fortran course (the only “basic” computer course you could take) – that I would one day be living in Canada and sharing my thoughts on Toronto with an “electronic” audience, I’d have thought that too many games of “Pong” had warped your brain.  Yet here I am sitting in front of the screen in my newly-adopted hometown, wanting to share with you some nuggets on what I now think is truly one of the greatest cities in the world.  We may not have the excitement of New York, or the history of Rome, or the cafes of Paris, but we have bits of each of those, and a whole lot more – unrivalled ethnic diversity, an awesome indie music scene, incredible restaurants on every street…and Tim Horton’s.

In these weekly blogs I hope to turn you on to some of my favourite haunts and let you in on some of my Toronto secrets.  I’ll tell you about events you may not know about (for instance, baseball fans, I just went to the USA vs. Venezuela game of the World Baseball Classic at the Rogers Centre last weekend!), give you the heads up on upcoming shows in advance of the general public (U2 on September 16; tix on sale end of the month!).  My first hot music tip involves my very own Delta Chelsea Hotel downtown (where I work): every Thursday night in March and April, our bar, Monarchs, is bringing together a band including 2 of the city’s hottest blues musicians – Jack de Keyzer on guitar and Jerome Godboo on harmonica – for 3 sets of incredible toons.

Let me know the kinds of things you’re interested in, and I’ll get to them in future blogs.  Thanks for checking in and look forward to chatting with you!  – Mr.Toronto