Image courtesy Navaboo on Flickr
Welcome to another edition of the weekend roundup, y’all. I’ll be filling in for Karen as she’s in England for the next few weeks. One can only assume she’s heading overseas to get some fascinator tips directly from the source.
Bluesfest is heading into the homestretch, and festival organizers have saved some of the best acts for last. On Saturday, Lebreton Flats will morph into a sea of skinny jeans and Chuck Taylors as Death From Above 1979 bring their much-anticipated reunion tour to the nation’s capital. Sunday night will certainly attract the aging-hipsters-who-just-took-out-their-first-mortgage-and-hey-honey-maybe-it’s-time-we-talked-about-having-kids? crowd as Washington’s Death Cab for Cutie close out the festival. There’s also a long list of musicians over the next few days who won’t remind you of your own mortality; take your pick from Hannah Georgas, Classified, Cuff the Duke, Mother Mother, Polaris shortlisters Braids, and local boys Amos the Transparent.
If you want to escape the madness of the roaring Bluesfest crowds, though, we wouldn’t blame you. How does a nice Quebec retreat sound? We suggest taking a trip up to scenic Wakefield Friday night to catch the rollickin’ alt-country of United Steelworkers of Montreal. And then, after a relaxing Saturday along the river, head back to Gatineau Sunday to check out Piknic Elektronik.
The withdrawal of federal funding for Toronto’s SummerWorks festival has been big news, and on Friday night a few local independent theatre companies will be reading Catherine Frid’s Homegrown at the GCTC as part of a nationwide show of support. (We’ll actually have a post on this coming up, so stay tuned!) Also on the theatrical front: Cube Gallery is hosting England, an “experimental play specifically written to be performed in art galleries” according to David Bernstein, who’s staging the performance Friday night (with additional shows later in the week). And at Arts Court – which just got its $36-million expansion approved, by the way – it’s the first weekend for Kathleen Clark’s play Secrets of a Soccer Mom, which runs until July 30.
Moving from theatre to film, on Thursday the New Zealand flick Boy will be shown for free at the National Gallery of Canada. The screening’s in conjunction with the current exhibition Don’t Stop Me Now, and curator Daina Warren is giving a tour beforehand. On Friday it’s Divergence Movie Night in the capital, and this month’s edition of the not-for-profit queer movie series will see East/West shown at Raw Sugar and Stand Together at the Shanghai. And hey, if you’re in the mood for one rockin’ GLBTQ-themed weekend, you might as well swing by Rockalily Burlesque’s fourth annual No Pants Dance Party, complete with music from Street Meat and cupcakes from Auntie Loo’s Treats.
There’s also the finals of the Urban Legends Poetry Slam, the Bywords Quarterly Journal’s summer reading, and much more, I’m sure. What else have we missed? Leave us a comment!
