Three years ago, during Canadian Music Week, a tiny little girl named Feist took the Music Gallery — a Toronto cathedral–concert hall — by storm. She had crazy, complex vocals and an acoustic guitar. I sat in the front row, on a church pew, and literally floated out of my body. I’d already been a die-hard Feist fan for four or five years, so watching her drop her soon-to-be Grammy-nominated record The Reminder for a private press show had me in quite the music-lover tizzy high. These are the shows that dreams are made of. And it’s exactly the kind of event that will be going down all weekend long during this year’s Canadian Music Fest.
This weekend’s musical extravaganza, featuring 700 artists in 45 venues across Toronto, is part of Canadian Music Week, which kicked off on Wednesday and ends on Sunday. The week comprises the music festival, four different awards shows, a comprehensive music business conference and a film festival. While there will be some law talk at the conference with heavy hitters like lawyer Donald Passman and identical twin music licensing gods Jeff and Todd Brabec scheduled as speakers, I’m steering clear of legalese and heading straight for the movies and tunes.
In terms of flicks, Saturday’s slate is chock-full of Canadian film premieres, all taking place at the newly resuscitated Royal Cinema on College Street. The two most hyped premieres are When You’re Strange, the Doors documentary narrated by Johnny Depp, showing at 7 p.m., and the already critically acclaimed Nowhere Boy, the feature film about John Lennon and his foray into Beatlemania, running at 9 p.m.
But the weekend should really be about the music. I’ve cherry-picked the shows I’m most excited about, but if you’re feeling adventurous, take a chance and try something new. The complete schedule is available here, and tickets for individual shows can be purchased online at the Canadian Music Fest ticketing website. So go ahead — get your very own festival-dizzy music high with these weekend cherries:
Friday:
- Dan Mangan at the Courthouse at 11 p.m. (Music BC Showcase)
- Handsome Furs at the El Mocambo at 1 a.m. (Sirius Salutes Quebec)
- The Dudes, Melissa Auf Der Maur and Hot Hot Heat at the Horseshoe from 9:20 p.m. to 1:20 a.m. (CHARTattack Showcase)
- Sally Seltmann at the Rivoli at 10 p.m. (The Aussie BBQ presented by One Movement)
Saturday:
- Electric Six w/ Sweet Thing, Hot Panda and more at Lee’s Palace at 10 p.m.
- Joel Plaskett at the Mod Club at 7:30 p.m. (Sirius Songwriter’s Café)
- Two Hours Traffic at the Horseshoe at 12:10 a.m. (CHARTattack Showcase)
- A-Trak and Skratch Bastid at Sound Academy at 9 p.m. (Redbull Thr3e Style)
Sunday:
- Born Ruffians (pictured above) at The Phoenix at 10
Leanne Milech is a lawyer turned freelance writer. She reviews theatre, publishes children’s books and spends her free time hunting for Toronto’s best cultural escapes. Her column appears every Friday here on lawandstyle.ca.
Photo by Sam Saunders