Weekend Rundown

If you were in Toronto this weekend and wanted to get out – you definitely had some options. Here’s a rundown of my picks.

Thursday night I went down to Circa and attended the, “Give Money, Make Change” fundraiser benefiting The Remix Project. For those unfamiliar, The Remix Project is an arts, cultural and life skills incubator serving young people located in the heart of Toronto that works to help some of the most gifted but vulnerable young people in the city to realize their own creative and business-minded potential.






The “Give Money, Make Change” event was an effort to raise funds for Remix and help save the program. With a live performance by some of its former participants, a display of artwork from those who have come through the program, a host of sponsors and a silent auction they were able to generate some serious support.

Slakah The Beatchild also held his album release party marking the release of “Soul Movement: Volume 1”. It was a full house at The Revival that night a great line of guest artists including: Tona, Ayah Yousef, Divine Brown, Ray Robinson, D.O., and Melanie D. joined Slakah on stage. If you missed it, you can watch the full show On Demand at www.toflo.com/tv.

Friday night, KRS-One graced The Opera House in an event held by The Wildcore. As expected, KRS brought the house down rocking classics like, “My Philosophy”, “The Sound of the Police”, and “Love’s Gonna Get You”. Professor D, The Wildcore, and Scott Jackson performed. Michie Mee was also in attendance.

On Saturday, my family and I made it over to “Woofstock” - the largest outdoor festival for dogs in all of North America. Woofstock is the go-to event of the year for dogs and the people who love them. More than 200 companies offered the latest in every conceivable doggie indulgence - pooch paraphernalia from food, fashion and furnishings, to toys, gadgets and unique pet services.

Honey Jam – the all-female HYPE talent showcase produced by PhemPhat featuring Canadian based dj's and artists of varied cultural backgrounds and musical genres held its auditions on Sunday at The Mod Club. Over 60 acts crossed the stage hoping to make it to the Honey Jam concert in Augusthip hop, jazz, gospel, pop, dancehall, opera, blues, r&b, rock and even country were some of the genres represented during the auditions. The next Honey Jam showcase takes place August 16, 2009 at the Mod Club - 722 College Street. See www.honeyjam.com for info on tickets and artists performing. To see some of the auditions, check out the On Demand Concert folder at www.toflo.com/tv.

Until next weekend PEACE!

Via: Beanpie

Weekend Run Down!

Whoa what a weekend. Coming off of MTL celebrations for New Year's only to get back into the thick of it for the first official 2009 weekend in Toronto.

Word on the street Wayne Warner's event at Lobby Friday night was a nice vibe. A lot of beautiful looking people (as per quota) and Obama poster posting. For all those who follow you know what I am talking about (wink).

I actually made it out to Toika for Junior's FREE post-New Year's gathering with Starting from Scratch. Felt like I was back in MTL again (which just so happens to be Scratch's home town). Not too many people, but if you stuff them in a 500 square-foot room it makes for quite an evening to move around. Too much house music for me, but one thing's for sure Scratch is one ver-sa-tile baddddd ummm hmmm.

After, tried to make it out to Ashley Barnes Low-Key Birthday Soiree at Dragon-I. It was about 1:30 am and still the venue was at capacity. We were told by the bouncer that if we wanted to wait around then we could. -15 whattt??? Umm hell no! Sorry girl I tried.

Now Saturday, one of the most anticipated events of the new year Ian Espinet's The One Birthday Celebration at 6 Degrees. Reached there with the crew at 12:00 am. The line-up was CRAZY. Weaving in and out of the club's covered garage all up Yonge Street. Felt like I was waiting in line to ride the Behemoth. Yeah it was like that! Once we got in though, the place was packed to the rim. I seen people literally hanging off the railings of the stair case. A few blips through out the night, one fine young man thought it would be cool to throw his bucket of ice cubes on some chick right in the middle of the dance floor. Seriously, who does that? Straight ignorance!

Due to capacity issues line-ups were common for all services... dance floor, bar, washroom, coat check, 1st floor, 2nd floor... I think you get the picture. The urgency of just trying to get from the bar to the dance floor when "your" song comes on, took a good 15 minutes of pushing through herds of people... just HILARIOUS! The DJ line-up was covered by all genres from Hip-Hop to R&B, to Soca then Reggae and even the W/P-music. Lindo P threw on the Pink and it was over. A lot of familiar faces in the crowd (I love all my Toronto people). The party hands down was off-the-hook... Happy Birthday Ian! You deserve it.

Yuk Yuk's All Black Sunday

Over the holidays I was able to catch the All Black Sunday Comedy Show at Yuk Yuk's (downtown TO - happens every last Sunday of the month). The night's events were hosted by long-standing comedic legend Kenny Robinson. There were some familiar faces in the crowd, Subliminal, Trixx, Jay Martin and Marc Trinidad to name a few.

Something different from the regular club night... ah YEAH! If you haven't been I am highly recommending that you do. I swear laughing for a good 2 hours straight has to do something for the mind and soul. At the very least, give you a sore face and an achy belly. The venue, wellll if anyone would have said that the place smelled like 3-day old wet socks I wouldn't believe them. And somehow, someone found the formula to get the right scent up in there. Other than that, the evening was the ultimate gut-buster. Perfect for a first date or any date for that matter.

To check the schedule for next month or reserve your seat visit YukYuks.com.

WWW's Literary Journey

This weekend was the first ever sold-out What Women Want "Literary Journey" event. And for someone who doesn't enjoying reading, much to my surprise the book "Something Borrowed" by Emily Giffin was a real page-turner and the follow-up book discussion / lunch-on was a huge success.

The Rundown

The venue 1 King West was very classy and made for a very intimate and cozy experience.

The food was decadent, starting with a fresh garden salad to a healthy and satisfying serving of baked chicken breast with potatoes and vegetables. Then to end off they served a not-too-sweet apple crumble (that could have used a side of vanilla ice cream) but you know was delicious nonetheless.

The guests made for a very interesting discussion of the book which was lead by Shannae Ingleton, Yvonne Kai, Rachel Hale, Christa Jea and Catriona Smart. At one point it got a little heated with one guest telling another "to cool it down..." and "how about you take it down a notch..." in regards to a disagreement in the way the novel's characters were behaving. Jerry Springer like? Not so much, but did add a little excitement to the afternoon.

View pics from Sunday's event below:

Weekend Run Down

Alright so there was a hundred and one things going on this past long weekend.

The first Love & Lust at EMPIRE for Original Concept's James' birthday celebration. Great concept that was followed through to the "T", music was on point but I have to wonder where the crowd was. I mean - the ones that can appreciate good music. The place was well attended and there was still enough room to dance around comfortably. I just don't understand how people show up to this type of party and not shake one leg to Stevie Wonder??? It's Stevie come on man! *Plus the 6-month pregnant woman didn't make for a pretty scene. Birthday or no birthday, it's NO place for a momsie-to-be.

Next up Maxwell concert. The ticket link didn't come through, so I have no real concert review for y'all (I am so sorry!). And I was really looking forward to that show. If anyone has details, please feel free to comment.

Last but not least, making its reappearance on the party scene everybody's favorite 90's jam Nostalgia played host to being the unofficial Maxwell after party who made an appearance in the VIP. Good looking Duane et al. - I heard the party was off-the-hook! I also heard that at 11:30 they had to lock down the doors - and there was about 1,000 people standing outside. Eeeks!

Happy thanksgiving? I think so! Here's to being thankful for everything!