Here’s a picture I snapped from the front end of the front room of Accordion City’s notorious watering hole, the Bovine Sex Club. While the picture won’t win any photography awards, I think it captures the chatty vibe the bar had going between band sets.
For those of you who will be in the vicinty of Accordion City this evening, my BodyPump
class (bench presses to Alien Ant Farm, shoulder lifts to MC Hammer,
sit-ups and push-ups to AC/DC) will be having a “BodyPump night out”
tonight at 7:00 p.m. at Tortilla Flats (Queen Street, just east of Spadina) after today’s workout.
Why am I announcing this? Because:
Photos tomorrow.
Tonight at the Drake Hotel (1150 Queen Street West, two blocks east of Dufferin) my friend Diana Galligan will be performing a one-woman comedic play she wrote called Viva Vivi! Here’s her synopsis:
The show starts at 9:30. I’ll be there a little beforehand to mingle
with the crowd, enjoy a pint of the darkest beer they have on tap, say
hello to my fellow members of the Thirsty People of Toronto and make sure I get a good seat.
If you’ve been on the Secret Swing in Accordion City, you can put this button on your blog:
It was created by David “This Boy is Toast” Petite of the GTABloggers.
Start swingin’!
Jim Munroe, author of many great reads including Flyboy Action Hero Comes With Gasmask, Angry Young Spaceman, Everyone in Silico and now An Opening Act of Unspeakable Evil, poses for Rannie on the Secret Swing, Accordion City’s hippest photo shoot location.
(By the bye, Rannie hits the big three-oh this Wednesday at C’est What.)
You may have read in BoingBoing that Accordion City’s very own Jim Munroe, author of the cool off-beat sci-fi novels Flyboy Action Hero Comes With Gasmask, Angry Young Spaceman and Everyone in Silico (I have yet to read that one), has a new book titled An Opening Act of Unspeakable Evil and is serializing it on his blog.
Pages Bookstore, an excellent
indie bookstore located stumbling distance from my house, has a
storefront display that they dress up for current books or literary
events. They’ve just dressed it up using Munroe’s latest book as the
theme, and here’s what it looks like:
I took these photos while out for a walk late Sunday evening.
That’s a little goblet beside the pentagram. An eeeeevil goblet!
“Thanks,
ladies and gentlemen, you’ve been a diabolical audience. I’m here all
week, try the roasted baby, and remember not to tip your server.”
“Hey, Joey,” said my coworker Kim, “wanna come to the Beer Festival?”
And hence this morning’s slightly pasty mouth. Last night was the opening night of the annual Toronto Festival of Beer, which takes place all weekend at Historic Fort York.
Beer companies both large and small showcase their beers their at very
reasonable prices: $1 for a 4-ounce sample or “half-order”, $2 for 8
ounces or a “full”.
Here’s a little tidbit of useful information: when you first enter the
Festival, you’re given a glass that you keep for the stay and use for
the beer you’re served. Always order the half-order.
The beer servers are quite generous and alway overpour the 4-ounce
servings, but the laws of physics prevent them from pouring anything
more than the full glass.
It was a lovely evening of booze-soaked merriment, and I managed to get a few snapshots which I posted. You can view them in photo album or slideshow form.
Here are a couple of samples:
“Thank you, Giant Beer!” My coworker Greg and I make friends with an anthropomorphic Guinness.
“Hey, baby, what shay you and meeeee go shomeplashe quiet?” Darryl finds his one true love.