Mike Crisolago RSS
12 Comments
Let me tell you a little something about the TTC: they’re kind of like Big Tobacco.
What other two industries can lure you in at an early age, offer their customers a product with little to no regard to the quality of said product, laugh off their detractors, raise their prices and arrogantly pat itself on the back for its public service, all without any major financial and corporate repercussions?
(More …)
No Comments
1 image
Experimental filmmaker Philip Hoffman makes that type of movie – you know, the ones that question the norm, provide distorted senses of reality and (gasp!) make you think. Mainstream society: beware.
“As an experimental filmmaker, the mainstream feeds me because I can steal their images and use them in my experimental film,” Hoffman said. “And I think we, the experimental filmmakers, feed the mainstream because we’re sort of research and development.”
No Comments
1 image
Dylan Reibling is a tease. That’s right. I said it.
Proof? Check out Record, the Toronto filmmaker’s latest offering, fresh off a run as part of the Short Cuts Canada program at the Toronto International Film Festival. Reibling’s film – his first at TIFF – runs just five minutes long and the only dialogue is in Russian. It features a Soviet-era marching song and takes place at a used-record sale in Kensington Market. It’s funny and strange and just when you’re hooked (and his film will hook you), it’s over. You’re left sitting there, staring at a black screen.
No Comments
9 images
The man in black stood, slightly hunched, at the front of the stage. His remarkably steady hand held a folded piece of paper, his sober tone intermittently threatened by the ambush of tears.
“Today I cleared out my office. There’s dust, and broken tables, and empty bookcases everywhere. Ghosts are emerging from the walls. Our time has passed – bookshops and repertory cinemas and record shops – gone forever, your local cultural pub.”
Many in attendance, overflowing from the Gladstone Hotel ballroom, burst into tears as owner Marc Glassman spoke candidly about his final days at Pages Books and Magazines, eulogizing the store he opened 30 years ago as well as the cultural significance and artistic freedom that it and, indeed, the neighbourhood, once represented.
No Comments
9 images
On Monday, August 31, 2009, MuchMusic will celebrate its 25th anniversary. Across the street, another Queen West institution will go out of business after 30 years.
Perched behind the sales counter at Pages Books and Magazines, Chris Reed repeatedly and politely answers the same questions from a parade of customers.
Yes, Pages is closing. No, it’s not re-opening anytime soon. No, it’s not because business is bad. The rent has doubled (from $235,000 to $400,000 annually).
Yes, it is sad.
2 Comments
4 images
The lights dimmed on stage as the neatly dressed man took his place behind the lectern. Bathed in a single spotlight, he placed his notes in front of him and looked up to address his fellow theatregoers.
“I trust I’m not the only one who finds speeches at a silent film screening counter-intuitive,” announced Mike Forrester, an executive with Dancap Productions. With a burst of laughter, the audience applauded.
No Comments
2 images
As fans filed into the arena, my four companions totaled the injuries they’d suffered over the last few years: a separated shoulder, multiple concussions, knee problems, broken noses and a dislocated vertebrae. And that’s just the ring crew.
Jorge Morillas, Benoit Chalifoux, Alexandre Canuel and Roxanne Paris, prepared Ted Reeve Arena to host last weekend’s Ring of Honor Death Before Dishonor VIII shows.
No Comments
11 images
Standing in a near-empty Ted Reeve Arena, surrounded by rows of black folding chairs, Ring of Honor owner Cary Silkin’s eyes lit up while describing a “wonderful moment” he experienced during a morning jog in Toronto.
“I looked up and it was Maple Leaf Gardens,” Silkin said. “This was a monument. Toronto has a rich wrestling history and I’m glad ROH can contribute to the legacy of that.”
On Friday, before the first of two Ring of Honor shows at the arena, Silkin recalled greats such as The Sheik and Bruno Sammartino gracing the ring at the Gardens.
“Wrestling and history are two words that, unfortunately, don’t go together,” Silkin said. “But [Toronto] is a smart and knowledgeable crowd.”
1 Comment
2 images
Two of pro wrestling’s greatest legends and arguably the best independent wrestling promotion in the world will descend on Toronto this weekend, and fans are getting excited.
On Friday, July 24th and Saturday, July 25th, American wrestling promotion Ring of Honor presents “Death Before Dishonor VII” at the Ted Reeve Arena, featuring Canadian wrestling icon Bret “Hitman” Hart, with “Nature Boy” Ric Flair making special appearances.
1 Comment
3 images
Seated in a small booth in the furthest corner of Cameron House’s back room, comedy show organiser Michelle Budden noted the talent of one of the performers preparing to take the stage.
“Dylan always makes everybody laugh more than anybody else,” he said.
Then she looked directly to her left where her close friend Sarah Donaldson, the evening’s headliner, stared back at her.
“Sorry.”
3 Comments
3 images
(Continued from part one)
The sketch duo
“It’s like a chess club. Everyone shows up if there’s a lot of people watching, or if there’s nobody watching,” Dylan Gott, the evening’s host, said of Toronto’s comedy scene.
Gott and sketch partner Bryn Pottie sat at the back of Cameron House discussing their latest show Dylan & Bobby & Ladystache v.s. Comedy, their friendship with Budden and their comic principles.
2 Comments
11 images
Hundreds of children, adults and even elderly women chanted “Demon! Demon! Demon!” as they rushed toward the wrestling ring where Blue Demon Jr., a Mexican Lucha Libre legend, celebrated a well-earned victory this past weekend at the Harbourfront Centre.
At the same time, local wrestler El Sombre crawled on the ground alongside the ring apron, battered and beaten, before stumbling back to the dressing room.
Life isn’t always easy for a Canadian Luchador.
1 Comment
2 images
In many ways, Sara Hennessey Town bares a striking resemblance to the city of Toronto. And there’s a reason for that.
“A lot of comedy comes from being disgruntled and being unimpressed with something,” Hennessey, the writer and star of the Fringe Festival comedy, said. “And I walk around and there’s so many things that can piss you off in a day – whether it’s slow walkers or the smells or anything.”
Sara Hennessey Town, the follow-up to the hit 2008 Fringe hit Sara Hennessey Time, is a bit of a departure for the 25-year old Aurora-born comedian. While Time provided a showcase for Hennessey’s stand-up, Town is a one-woman sketch show featuring a variety of characters served up with an innovative and intelligent presentation.
1 Comment
2 images
Frank Wilks never set out to become Neil Young. In fact, for his first musical gig, at the old Chalet Steakhouse on Queen Street East, the 19-year old had another persona prepared.
“I used to have a fedora and I called myself the Lonely Man Frank Wilks, because I was a solo act.”
The moniker didn’t last long.
“Right from my very first performance everyone said, ‘Man, you sound so much like Neil Young.’” Wilks said. “So it started right then, this Neil Young thing.”
No Comments
2 images
Frank Wilks was incredibly calm for a man about to take to the stage and willingly reveal the great highs and, yes, terrible lows of his own life.
Falling onto a couch next to me, minutes before the start of his one-man show I Am Not Neil Young, the musical, Wilks responded to my question about whether he’s nervous performing without a band.
“Nah. I’ve got the band in a box,” he said, referring to the musical backing tracks he plays along with.
Then he grinned.
“I think I’ll sit here and watch the show.”
