Toronto: Holy Fuck, Broken Social Scene Play Free All Ages Shows at Harbourfront Centre Next Weekend

I know that many of you are headed to Windsor this Saturday for the Radio 3 Phog Phest but for those of you staying in Toronto, Harbourfront totally has your back.

On Friday Night the show starts at 8:00 PM with Montreal's Winter Gloves, followed by Phog Phest headliners, "the Larry Bird's moustache of indie rock" Holy Fuck at 9:30. If you decide to linger after that you'll see DD/MM/YYYY at 11 and Styrofoam Ones to close out the night.

Holy Fuck - Lovely Allen



Then on Saturday at 8 PM (from what I can tell with no opening act and no one to follow) - Toronto mega-collective Broken Social Scene are on.

All of this is all ages and free:

Broken Social Scene - 7/4 Shoreline

Hey Ocean! plays free concert

Via a Facebook update, Vancouver-based Hey Ocean! announced a free concert in their hometown for Car Free Day. That's this Sunday, June 14th, at 6:45pm. The concert will take place in the middle of the street around the intersection of Main St. @ 16th St.

The band also announced that this will be drummer Dan Klenner's last performance with the band. As for who will be taking his place, no word yet.

On another note, they're still looking for entries for their T-shirt design contest.

Free Said the Whale in store at NXNE

Vancouver's Said the Whale are coming to NXNE, playing the Reverb on June 20 - but if you can't make that show (or even if you can) they are also doing a free instore at Criminal Records (493 Queen St West) at 6 pm on the 19th! A full list of tour dates are below. You can also catch the premeire of their new single "The Magician aka Camilo" on CBC Radio 3 Podcast #208!

Said the Whale - the Light is You



Tour Dates

June 12th - Lethbridge, AB - The Slice
June 13th - Calgary, AB - The #1 Legion
June 18th - London, ON - Call The Office
June 20th - Toronto, ON - Reverb (NXNE)
June 23th - Windsor, ON - Phog Lounge
June 24th - Peterborough, ON - Red Dog
June 25th - Hamilton, ON- The Casbah
June 26th - Sarnia, ON - Patty Flaherty's
June 28th - St Catherines, ON - SCENE FEST
July 8th - Winnipeg, MB - Lo Pub
July 9th - Saskatoon, SK - Amigo's
July 10th - Edmonton, AB - The Pawn Shop
July 11th - Kelowna, BC - The Habitat

Edmonton: K-Os Storms W.E.M with Free Beats

Waiting in line from as early as 2 P.M. (as this cash-strapped student blogger did) for doors at 8, an opener at 9, and the headliner not until 10 can be a brutal experience. Lucky for all those in attendance at the Edmonton Event Center (Ed's, to locals) in West Edmonton Mall's "pay what you want" show last night, the wait was well worth it.

The schtick of Toronto rapper/rocker/crooner K-Os's entire Yes!Karma Tour is that the shows are not ticketed and entry is on a first come, first served basis. Everyone who made a donation to the David Suzuki Foundation was also thanked with a copy of the aptly titled It's Yours! CD, which includes fan-remixes off of his latest album Yes!.

Regina, Saskatchewan openers Library Voices certainly brought the party, but Edmonton crowds can be fickle, and the party remained onstage. All 9 members of the upbeat indie-rock collective looked to be having a fantastic time, but the crowd was largely unmoved by their loud attempts to get everyone rocking.

When K-Os finally hit the stage however, the crowd was 100% with him. Oldies like 'Crabbuckit' and 'Heaven Only Knows' had the older fans singing along to every word, while new tracks such as 'I Wish I Knew Natalie Portman', lifted from the Phantom Planet song, and O.C. theme song 'California' rocked the fans both new and old.

To catch K-Os in a city near you, check here for upcoming tour dates:

Sebastian Grainger + Dinosaur Bones May 21 in Toronto

Thursday, May 21 at the Whippersnapper Gallery in Toronto (587A College Street) Dinosaur Bones and Sebastian Granger and the Mountains are playing a free all ages show. The show doesn't start until 11 pm though so 'All Ages' doesn't necessarily mean 'All Ages.' It's an 'All Ages that can stay out until 2 in the morning' show. But it is free.

On Edit: I had originally posted that this show was free - it's not, it's $10 bucks, I don't know where I got the free from, but $10 isn't too bad.

Facebook Event Page is Here.

Speaking of Sebastian Granger though - check out the 20th Edition of Colin Medley's Soundcheck:

Soundcheck #20: Sebastien Grainger

Betty Burke at This Ain't the Rosedale Libary Apr. 29

Maggie MacDonald has a new music project and there is a free show coming up. That is the gist of what I needed to say but it will take me a minute to get there. If the name sounds familiar (or even if it doesn't) read on. Maggie MacDonald is easly one of the most impressive people in Toronto.

Starting in Cornwall, Ontario as a teenager she put on live shows and ran a fanzine called Saucy while serving as a student trustee on her local schoolboard. While attending the U of T in 1999 she ran as a NDP candidate for MPP. The next year her second play A Clockwork Gorbachev won the Hart House Plawriting Award and the Robertson Davies Award For Playwriting.

Her first novel Kill the Robot was pubslished in 2005 and her play Rat King the Rock Opera (with music from Bob Wiseman and Laura Barrett) played the New York International Fringe Festival in 2007.

So we've covered her career as a politician, playwright and author but this is a music blog right? So what about the music?

So far she has been a regular member of the Barcelona Pavilion, the Hidden Cameras, she was the founder of the Dating Service and the Grand Pubah of the Republic of Safety. (Imagine what she might do after she turns 30??)

Anyway, back to where I started. Maggie MacDonald's new musical project Betty Burke which features "Singer/guitarist Holly Andruchuk is known for her band with the Brothers Elliot, and the Buffalo Builders. Stephanie Markowitz is a filmmaker who directed and produced 'The Rat King.' Finally, Shaun Brodie is the busiest musician among us, playing with AC Newman, The Hidden Cameras, Hayden, Veda Hille, Duplex, and many more." are playing a free show with Brian Joseph Davis at This Ain't the Rosedale Libary (86 Nassau Street, Kensington Market, Toronto) at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, April 29.

The Facebook Event Page is here!

Hidden Cameras - Smells Like Happiness (Hillside - 2005)



Republic of Safety - Disposable World (last ROS Show ever)

Record Store Day in Vancouver!

Saturday April 18 - Neptoon Records @ 3561 Main Street in Vancouver is having their Record Store Day with live bands in store from 1pm until 7pm. A list of bands is as follows with possibly other bands playing as well:

Midnight Dragon, Thee Manipulators, Spitfires, Captain Dust, Green Hour Band and Bleeding Horse Express.

Admission is FREE so no excuse for not being there! I'll be there taking photos of some of the bands so stop me and say hello! :)

Neptoon Records (and Red Cat as well) will have tons of sales on all things music. So head on down and enjoy the afternoon on Main Street. The store is located between E 19th and 20th Ave.

Just sayin' you should try to check it out if you can. FREE ADMISSION.

You can also check out Zulu Records on w4th and Burrard and also Danelion Records on Broadway at Main Street. Give them a call to find out what live music they have or music sales or both!

Did I mention its FREE ADMISSION?