Mr. Toronto

Groovin’ on a sunny afternoon here in Toronto. And the festivals continue….

Just coming off of Indy weekend, where I actually got to ride around in the pre-race parade with other sponsors, VIPs and drivers, and wave like the Queen to the stands surrounding the track. Also got to meet Gene Simmons, who was the parade Grand Marshall. Was never a huge Kiss fan, but you gotta admire the guy for what he has accomplished musically and as a marketing genius….

And now we’re heading into the Just for Laughs festival…had to turn down tickets to see Sarah Silverman, one of my faves, but there is plenty of other stuff on tap – including John Cleese and a huge free outdoor gig by Russell Peters, a native son who has just been listed as one of the top 10 wealthiest stand-up comics (guess he’s having the last laugh…)

Yesterday also marked the kick-off of ten days of Caribana festivities, always a wild and crazy time in the City…good time to be opening a new reggae musical, which Mirvish Productions is doing next week – The Harder They Come. Not sure how this 70’s cult movie is gonna translate to a play, but will let you know! (or better yet, come find out for yourself!)

Last blog I mentioned our city’s great outdoor patios…this time I want to mention that there are some dynamite gelato places (seems like everyone wants gelato nowadays – ice cream ain’t good enough any more…) in some very cool areas of the City. Check out one of the two “Little Italys” we have here – at College St. or St. Clair Ave.; La Paloma on St. Clair is one of the oldest and well know gelaterias in Toronto…or head over to Hollywood Gelato, located on a cool strip packed with great restaurants and bars, on Bayview Ave. just south of Eglinton.

And come catch a Jays game before we all lose hope for yet another season! I’ll be there Sunday against the Red Sox…

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