Omar Thomas Large Ensemble took the stage at Berklee Performance Center on July 25th to a packed house. This was Thomas’s second concert at BPC with his 18 piece jazz ensemble since becoming a faculty member at Berklee College of Music in 2008 at the age of 23- making him one of the youngest professors […]
Encore Entertainment’s concert production, Songs in the Key of Stephen, was a joyous evening of entertainment. Their stirring production of The Laramie Project had featured a mixed bag of talent, so I was a little worried that they might not attract the kind of voices they needed to pull off an evening of Sondheim and […]
Nowadays, it’s really easy to get lost on the Internet. Days can go by before you realize you haven’t left that blue glow and you’re still wrapped in the towel you showered in from Tuesday morning. It happens to the best of us; I know from personal experience. And don’t get me wrong – the […]
A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of seeing one of my favourite singer/songwriters live. I first fell in love with Dar Williams’ quirky lyrics and sweet, folksy guitar melodies back in the days when I used to go to summer arts camp. During something called “unit hour”, my counsellor would pull out her guitar […]
The last weekend in October was one of the coolest weekends I’ve ever spent in my beloved Toronto. Downtown, in the heart of the ever-gorgeous Distillery District, sits the city’s most valuable performance space: The Young Centre for the Performing Arts. The beautifully designed venue sports a spacious lobby with a bar that serves everything […]
I’ve never had more fun at a concert than I have whenever I see The Elastocitizens. In my opinion, the off-beat funk band creates the most memorable live music experience available in Toronto. Frontman Steven McCarthy leads the audience down the rabbit hole of insane and joyous dance tunes in full Freddy Mercury-esque splendour as […]
A couple times a year, one of young Toronto’s more engaging performers steps out from behind the piano where he spends most of his time accompanying other acts (like Sharron Matthews) or playing at Statlers Piano Bar (every Tuesday night) and assembles a crazy cast of characters to accompany him to the cabaret stage (usually […]
Dave Grohl, the Foo Fighters frontman who won hearts in his endearing SNL appearance this year, won minds on Tuesday when he kicked a fan out of his concert for fighting. Pissed off, he stopped in the middle of a song, laid down a few choice words like the soon-to-be classic “You don’t come to […]