Bless the good souls at the Toronto Transit Commission. They’re providing all of us art-lovers with free rides this weekend.
TTC will run two buses this weekend every half hour, between the Distillery District and the Harbourfront Centre, with a stop at Union Station in between.
So, you just checked out Carnivalissima and you’re ready to head to the Luminato Poetry Slam Semi-Finals at the Distillery? Hop on the Luminato Express at Queen’s Quay West. You just learned how to breakdance at the Distillery’s Breakdance Workshop and now you want to get your masque on at Carnivalissima’s opening Masquerade Ball? Head to the Mill Street Entrance of the Distillery and be on your way.
The buses will run tonight from 6 p.m. to midnight, Saturday, June 9 from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Sunday, June 10 from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
And just like all of the events at Carnivalissima and Luminato at the Distillery, the buses are absolutely free of charge.
Categories: carnivalissima · celebrations · dance · distillery · luminato · music
Earlier this week, the Young Centre for the Performing Arts in the Distillery District played host to a free performance of fado, the traditional music of Toronto’s Portuguese community. A three-piece band — featuring a guitar, a Portuguese guitar and an upright bass — accompanied two vocalists, who sang songs of love and loss, and of the joy of making music together. In the darkened Tank House Theater, for an hour, it was impossible not to imagine yourself on a sidewalk cafe in Lisbon.
Fado music is back tonight, with the fado duo “15″ will appear at the Young Centre at 9 p.m. Tickets are free.
Categories: distillery · international · music
This weekend Luminato is providing boatloads of free entertainment. And of course, plenty of photo opportunities. So make sure your camera’s memory card is as empty as your wallet, and head to either the Distillery District or Harbourfront Centre. Here are just a few of the things you’ll catch:
Canadian Idol Eva Avila getting a makeover. Head to the Distillery’s Fermenting Center at about 7 p.m. Friday night. Free makeovers will also be available to the public.
The Grand Masquerade Ball. Mysterious costumes. Mardi Gras beads. Tarot card readings. All at the Harbourfront Centre, starting at 8 p.m. Friday.
New Orleans is back, and it kicks. It would be enough for us to say that swamp-music master Buckwheat Zydeco is appearing at Harbourfront Centre Friday night. You’d say “Buckwheat Zydeco? Where do I get tickets to that?” (You don’t. It’s free.) But we’re feeling good, so we’ll let you know that The Dirty Dozen Brass Band is also going to be there. Put on your dancing pants — bands appear at 8 p.m. and 9:30, respectively.
Don’t forget — if you’re at either the Distillery or the Harbourfront, and you need to get to whichever of those places you’re not, take L’Art Boat — it runs back and forth between the two locations all day.
Categories: distillery · harbourfront · international · music
At 9 PM Sunday night, the Lula Libre stage in the Distillery District in the throes of the Descarga All-Star Afro-Cuban Jam.
The band is calling out to the crowd in Spanish; most people answer in Spanish. One man grabs a woman he doesn’t know and begins dancing with her. She agrees cheerfully. Elsewhere on the dance floor, a crowd of women — ranging in age from about 25 to mid-60s — dances together in formation, doing a kind of salsa line dance. It might be Havana, if not for the Canadian rail transit soaring by, made silent by the roaring music, in the background.
Suddenly one of the singers — tall and skinny, with dreadlocks masking his face — grabs a mike and starts rapping. All the instruments stop except the drum and bass. The dreadlocked guy has mad flow.
The music plays on into the night, conquering the rain and wind. Nobody, at any point, stops smiling.
Categories: distillery · music
