Live at the Free Times Cafe tonight

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I’m playing a couple of sets tonight (Friday, August 25) at the Free Times Cafe in Toronto, with The Canaries and Ainsley McNeaney. From Ainsley’s email:

THIS FRIDAY!  Check us out @ the Free Times Cafe for a full evening of live music…  The show starts at 8:30pm and will feature members of Toronto indie band The Canaries to open, and – of course – the musical talents of my wonderful ensemble: Dean Pomeroy, Dan Misener, Tricia Mangat, Miguel Malaco, Kristine Grey and Cait Boyle.

They have really amazing Canadian Jewish cuisine, so bring your appetite.  Cover is $5.  320 College St (between Spadina & Bathurst).

My Secret City

In my inbox today, an announcement about “My Secret City,” which is a part of Toronto’s Nuit Blanche “all night contemporary art thing.” It starts at sunset at 7:01 p.m. on September 30 and runs until sunrise at 7:15 a.m. on October 1, 2006.

I’d never heard of this before, and I really like the idea, both of the Nuit Blanche, and of the “My Secret City” component:

Uncover secrets concealed by or revealed within the 20 My Secret City artworks by Toronto artists, many of them the driving forces behind the younger cultural movements in the city. Impromptu community is created by sharing secrets in the public sphere. The city as open forum is a site of revelation, my secret city.

It’s a great idea. Stay up all night, and travel around the city, participating in stuff like this:

Darren O’Donnell, Ballroom Dancing. An all-ages dance party DJ-ed by kids, Ballroom Dancing is a public forum for children and adults to play together all night long in a Community Centre gymnasium filled with thousands of rubber balls.

I can’t wait.

New Kicks

Spy Lab in Toronto has a sale on Dunnits. Since I recently discovered a hole in my left sneaker, I picked up new pair last night for $25.

How did I know they were on sale? Jenna told me.

How does Jenna manage to monitor sneaker prices along the entire length of Queen Street? I have no idea.

Thai food central

It seems as though Church and Richmond has become the new little Thailand in Toronto. This evening as Jenna and I walked back from the grocery store, we noticed that the ground level of the building that used to house the Rockit (and the the Speakeasy) is now a Spring Rolls.

If you ask me, it’s a pretty dumb place to open a chain Thai restaurant, what with the incredible Golden Thai directly across the street, and Young Thailand just south. Not to mention an almost identical Spring Rolls restaurant half a kilometer away.

Weird.

I hate phones

But after moving this past weekend, I realized that I need some kind of telephone. And prices the way they are, the convenience of a cell seemed worth the premium over a land line.

But cell phone companies are evil. They rope you into 2 or 3 year contracts with the lure of cheap or “free” phones. And mostly, their “free” phones suck. I had a 2 year contract with Bell Mobility that ended in the Spring. It was nothing but headaches, and I resolved to never give them any of my money ever again. Ever.

So I did some research, and figured it out something I’m pretty happy with:

I picked up an unlocked Hong Kong version of the Motorola SLVR from Canada Computers at College and Spadina for $219. The same phone, locked to Rogers Wireless, would cost $389.99 without a contract.

Then I walked into Fido at the Eaton Centre, signed up for the recently announced $30/month Urban plan, and ponied up $30 for a Fido SIM card.

So: an unlocked GSM phone, a monthly plan I can change or cancel anytime, and no dealings with Satan Bell. Not too bad.

Cell phones suck. Cell phone companies will always rip you off. But this way, I feel like I’m getting ripped of the least.