There was a small error in Episode 7 … bit of an oversight. Can you figure out what it is? 
Monthly Archive for July, 2008
Katherine’s leaving the east end for the west end of the city and in homage to her tenure as an east ender, That Night In Toronto takes you through some of her favourite spots along Queen St East between Broadview and Logan Ave.
The night started off at the Dark Horse Espress Bar (not Café as Blair keeps referring to it), located at 682 Queen St. East (just west of Broadview). It’s a great place to meet up and have a coffee or tea. The atmosphere is relaxing and inviting. The large communal table with all the daily and weekly papers is one of our favourite reasons for visiting. And they display local artists’ work on the walls.
Speaking of art, Queen St. East has a great network of artists called the Artists’ Network of Riverdale (due to suspicious activity, Google has advised against visiting the site as it may harm your computer … we’re not sure what’s wrong - but hopefully the problem will be remedied soon). One of the galleries we walked by is the Hangman Gallery which is a great space to visit and support your local artists.
One of Katherine’s hang outs is Kubo Radio (894 Queen St. East) - a great restaurant sharing the joy of Asian cuisine. The vibe is cool and funky, the food is delicious and the $5 martini’s on Wednesdays is a REAL treat to get over the mid-week blues (the martini’s are made with sake … mmm mmm good!).
Our evening ended off at The Opera House where we took in a performance of She & Him - the group formed by actress Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward. A quick and quirky bio on the group:
The She & Him story begins when in 2006 , renowned one man band M. Ward, recorded a duet with a girl named Zooey Deschanel. A delightful recording session, the experience lead to a dialogue between the two about collaborating further. This, in turn, led to Deschanel admitting to secretly making dozens and dozens of home demos and hoarding them like acorns for the winter. Sick and tired of being stingy and secretive about music, Deschanel realized that if songs were acorns then this was indeed her wintertime: she sent the recordings to Ward and these demos became the basis for their first record, entitled Volume One.
Here’s a little sample of their music (and music video)
The concert was fantstic! We had a great time chillin’ and hanging with some friends we saw at the concert. Overall it was a very good night.
Katherine had one last surprise to show Blair before they left for the evening … to find out what it was, watch the video. 
Follow our journeys through the following ways:
What we talked about in this episode:
Photo taken of the Toronto skyline by Blair Francey.
Formats available:MPEG-4 Video (.m4v), Flash Video (.flv)
On a beautiful Tuesday night, Katherine and Blair find themselves strolling through the cobble stone streets of Toronto’s historic Distillery District. Full of galleries, restaurants, and boutique shops, micro-breweries - the Distillery has a plethora to offer the culture vulture. It’s also a great hub of music.
A brief history of The Distillery (from their website):
Founded in 1832 by Brothers-in-law William Gooderham and James Worts, the Gooderham and Worts Distillery eventually became the largest distillery in the British empire. Set on 13 acres in downtown Toronto, the forty plus buildings constitute the largest and best preserved collection of Victorian Industrial Architecture in North America. The Distillery District is a national historic site.
The Distillery is a hub of creativity housing some of Toronto’s outstanding performing arts companies. One of the crown jewels of the entire site is the Young Centre for the Performing Arts, a multi-venue theatre, home of Soulpepper Theatre Company and George Brown College’s Theatre Program. Katherine and Blair took in a performance of The Way of the World at Soulpepper before heading over to the Mill Street Brew Pub for a bite to eat and a sip of beer.
Follow our journeys through the following ways:
What we talked about in this episode:
- The Distillery Historic District
- Soulpepper Theatre Company
- Mill Street Brew Pub
- Balzac’s Coffee Shop
- T.O.TIX, Toronto’s One-Stop Ticket Shop
Photo taken of the Gooderham & Worts Building in the Distillery by Katherine Grainger.
Formats available:MPEG-4 Video (.m4v), Flash Video (.flv)
July always starts with a bang in Toronto due largely in part to the Toronto Fringe Festival - the annual tradition when thousands of people descend upon the Annex Neighbourhood and surrounding areas. Hundreds of artists vie for your attention with flyers, posters, costumes, PR stunts and more. And for only $10, you could see the next big hit to grace the stages of Toronto. The Drowsy Chaperone is probably the best and most quoted example of the little Fringe show that could - making its way from its humble beginnings here in Toronto to the bright lights of Broadway and beyond!
Both Katherine and I have a history with the Fringe. I used to tech for a couple of years at a few of the University of Toronto venues while Katherine has produced one of the hit Fringe shows a few years ago and is back at it again this year with The Three Magic Wishes, a Cow Over Moon Children’s Theatre Company production.
Day 2 of the Fringe and we hit up the Fringe text to say hi to some friends, grab a beer and see some great improvisation.
Follow our journeys through the following ways:
What we talked about in this episode:
- The Fringe of Toronto Theatre Festival
- About An Hour
- Cow Over Moon Children’s Theatre
- The Three Magic Wishes
Photo taken of Future’s Bakery at Bloor and Brunswick by Blair Francey
Formats available:MPEG-4 Video (.m4v), Flash Video (.flv)
Once a year, the theatre, dance and opera community come together to celebrate their achievements over the past year at the Dora Mavor Moore Awards. Produced by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA), the Dora Awards have been celebrating excellence on Toronto’s stages for the past 29 years!
In episode 4, Katherine and Blair take you behind the scenes of this years award show from the VIP reception to the after party to talk to the nominees and winners.
It was a long day … but it was worth it.
Follow our journeys through the following ways:
What we talked about in this episode:
Photo taken from the CN Tower by Blair Francey
Formats available:MPEG-4 Video (.m4v), Flash Video (.flv)
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