Blair and I went to the Dream in High Park last night! So, maybe we were not as organized as we would have liked, but we did end up having a great picnic and the show was awesome! Lots of Drama!!!!! Check it out!
Archive
pressrelease
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 14, 2008
Contact:
Blair Francey or Katherine Grainger
nightintoronto[at]gmail.com
http://nightinto.wordpress.com
New Video Blog Brings Toronto Culture to the Mainstream
TORONTO, ON - Blair Francey and Katherine Grainger announced today, August 14, 2008, the official launch of a new online project, That Night In Toronto (TNIT), a video blog (or vlog - http://nightinto.wordpress.com) which puts culture in Toronto front and centre. TNIT was created to show Torontonians how easily accessible culture is in their city, both financially and geographically. All we have to do is walk out our door.
Both Blair and Katherine have worked with a variety of cultural organizations in Toronto both as artists and administrators. The idea for the vlog was born out of their love of the diversity of arts and culture available in their city.
In each episode of TNIT, Blair and Katherine will showcase another neighbourhood or activity. Viewers will be given advice on how to make the most of their night with as little effort as possible. They will shed light on a particular artist/company/gallery that even they might not have known before. The whole goal is that the viewer gets a deeper connection to the cultural event and in doing so, a deeper connection to their community.
One of the goals of TNIT is to engage the community by submitting ideas to Blair and Katherine about upcoming events that might be covered. “We’re looking for events that neither of us know about,” says Blair. “What has been so exciting so far is that we have already discovered new galleries, artists and attractions, and we’ve only just begun! We thought we knew so much, but this city is already teaching us that we are just at the tip of the iceburg.”
“We really want the community to help drive the vlog. We want to make it a show about Toronto for Torontonians, by Torontonians,” says Katherine. “Think of us as the travel guides, guided by the citizens of the city. And not just those in the downtown core. We’d love to hear about events happening in communities like Scarborough or North York, for example.”
Not only is TNIT looking for potential events to see and record, it’s also looking for up and coming photographers and musicians to help shape the creative side of the video. Photographers with interesting shots of Toronto at night are encouraged to submit their photos as well as local musicians are encouraged to submit samples of their music to be used in the opening and closing credits of the vlog. Along with a mention in the blog itself, they will also have a feature on the TNIT Facebook Page.
Visitors wanting to know where Blair and Katherine will be next can visit the blog and check out their calendar to see what upcoming events they’ll be visiting. Fans of TNIT can join the official That Night In Toronto Fan Page on Facebook and receive updates as well as submit ideas for future episodes. On the blog itself, visitors are encouraged to comment on the episodes and provide feedback or tips on locations we’ve visited. Visitors can even subscribe to the TNIT RSS Feed to receive updates via e.mail or through many of the popular RSS aggregators such as Google Reader, Yahoo or Bloglines.
To submit ideas for future TNIT episodes, photos or music, e.mail Blair and Katherine at nightintoronto[at]gmail.com.
- 30 -
Have you missed us Toronto?! While it seems like forever since we’ve been on the air (well, it does for us) - we’re back! Katherine has moved into her new abode in the West end and I’m … well, still here. I was in Montreal for a few days over the long weekend, but I digress.
Last night we took to Queen St. West to partake in this years Summerworks Festival. We began our night at the Gladstone Hotel with 7 mini shows (we saw 3 of them) - all of which are under 15 minutes max. The shows take place in some of the rooms on the 2nd floor of the Gladstone which makes for some very intimate and interesting theatre - definitely worth checking out, in my opinion. AND, it’s PWYC (Pay-What-You-Can) … so for only $5 you could go see some really great new Canadian work!
Our next stop took us to the Factory Theatre where we took in the opening performance of Until June by Jane Maggs - a gritty new work about the relationship between two sisters. A great performance by the cast and wonderful writing by the relatively new Maggs.
Starving, Katherine and I headed west along Queen and grabbed a bite to eat at one of our favourite restaurants - Fresh, by Juice for Life. We gobbled down some delicious vegetarian food before heading over to our final destination of the night - The Theatre Centre - to take in some music and talk to Michael Rubenfeld, the Artistic Producer of the Summerworks Festival.
New to the festival this year is the Music Series - nightly performances by some great indie artists in Toronto including Matthew Barber, The Bicycles, Claire Jenkins as well as the two performers we saw, Julie Fader and Peter Elkas. Both performed great sets which we enjoyed thorougly. Sarah Harmer even made an appearance playing drums for Julie and we saw Ron Sexsmith in the audience!
At about 12:50am, we decided to call it quits as we were both exhausted and full to the brim of culture! It was an excellent evening. And thankfully, you too can still check out some of Summerworks as it’s on until August 17 (this coming Sunday)! Check out their website for more information on upcoming events …
Follow our journeys through the following ways:
What we talked about in this episode:
- Summerworks Festival
- Gladstone Hotel
- Factory Theatre
- Fresh
- The Theatre Centre
- Julie Fader
- Peter Elkas
Photo taken of traffic on Queen St. West and Dovercourt by Katherine Grainger.
Formats available:MPEG-4 Video (.m4v), Flash Video (.flv)
There was a small error in Episode 7 … bit of an oversight. Can you figure out what it is? 
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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