April 21-24 Gro Op Exhibition @ The Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St. W. Grow Op is not your typical garden show. This four-day festival will transform the hotel’s second floor with 30+ immersive installations that take on urbanism, environmental sustainability, landscape design and contemporary art. Think Allan Gardens meets Come Up to My Room! $10 advance tickets available online.
WEDNESDAY
7 pm Music Bingo @ The Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St. W. A FREE weekly event combining the love of music with the traditional bingo format. Each player receives a Music Bingo card which consists of an assortment of songs. Instead of calling out numbers, they play the music! Singing along encouraged.
8 pm Meow Meow: A Queer Social @ Holy Oak, 1241 Bloor St. W. This isn’t a loud dance party. It’s a change of pace, and a chance to converse. Meant for queers to meet, hang, and conspire with other queers (awesome allies are welcome too)! Kevin Hegge will be selecting tunes to lube your social behaviour.
THURSDAY
5 pm Vintage Crawl Toronto @ various locations. Crawl your way through the best vintage Toronto has to offer! Participating stores extend their hours into the evening so you can shop from DuWest to Gerrard St. E. and beyond. Until 11 pm.
10 pm Be Bad Forever @ The Beaver, 1192 Queen St. W. A tribute to all bad woman and queer folks everywhere! DJs No Cops and Ali$ha playing the dirty jamz all night.
10 pm Get Lo @ Clinton’s, 693 Bloor St. W. Bangs & Blush bring you the ULTIMATE ’90s til now dance party, GET LO! They’ll be playing all the shit you wanna hear from the ’90s to today.
FRIDAY
5 pm Gro Op Colouring @ The Gladstone Hotel Melody Bar, 1214 Queen St. W. Grab some green pencil crayons and a local brew at Gladstone Colouring Nights, featuring outlines by Grow Op artists Michael Rennick, Becky Lauzon, and Nomadic Vision Studio. Until 10 pm.
8 pm The Pancakes & Booze Art Show @ The Opera House, 783 Queen St. E. North America’s largest pop-up underground art show is returning to Toronto! Featuring over 100 artists on display, live audio and visual performances, live body painting, and – best of all – free pancakes. $13 VIP skip-the-line passes available online, $10 at the door.
10 pm Essence Brown @ The Steady, 1051 Bloor St. W. Sexy, smooth, seductive hip-hop, R&B, and dancehall with your hosts: Teej Mahal, Hoiking, and Sims. $5.
10 pm Simple Reception @ Bambi’s, 1265 Dundas St. W. Straight-up house music all night long brought to you by local talents DJ Dirty Dale, DJ Zenta, Cosmic JD, and Aaron Santos from Hypnotic Mindscapes.
10 pm All That @ The Boat, 158 Augusta Ave. A ’90s night like no other! DJs Streets and LK play mostly hip-hop, dirty R&B, and club kid jams. $5.
10 pm Fuck It @ Clinton’s, 693 Bloor St. W. Fuck It is back for another round! Drake, Hanson, Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, Missy Elliot, Venga Boys, Will Smith, Spice Girls, and more! $5 with student ID, $10 without.
10 pm Straight Cash Homie @ Handlebar, Augusta Ave. A new monthly from the boys that brought you The Art Of… Rap, pop, rap, R&B, rap, house, rap, indie, rap, dancehall, rap.
10 pm Get Buck @ The Ossington, 61 Ossington Ave. Hip-hop, soul, RnB, soca, dancehall, and deep grooves with DJ Nino Brown.
10 pm Stones Place Friday Nights @ Stones Place, 1255 Queen St. W. Friday night party with DJ Blush! Dance all night to the best of ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s rock ‘n’ roll, soul, and pop at one of Toronto’s most legendary dance venues in the city of Toronto. Bring those dancing shoes – you’ll be sure to leave sweaty and smiling. $5.
10 pm Mojiganga @ Lucky Shrike, 850 Dundas St. W. A night of rock, reggae, and way beyond with DJs HumbleBrag, Norman the Wax Conquistador, and Vinyl Prince Callejero.
10 pm Beam Me Up Disco: Édition Spéciale @ The Piston, 937 Bloor St. W. Celebrating the best of the global disco spectrum with caribbean grooves, afro-disco, mediterranean boogie, sovetik sleaze, japanese jazz-funk, and brazilian breaks soundtracking the soirée. Residents A Digital Needle and Cyclist take the reins on this planet-spanning party.
10 pm Good Enough Live Karaoke @ The Rivoli, 332 Queen St. W. Channel your inner rock star at Good Enough Live Karaoke! Guests can pick from hundreds of songs and become the lead singer of a real-life four-piece backing band. You sing. They play. $8.
10 pm F*CK Y*U D!E @ The Shop under Parts & Labour, 1566 Queen St. W. DJs Brains4brkfst and Death Cohen. $5.
10 pm Wildest Dreams: A Taylor Swift Dance Party @ Studio Bar, 824 Dundas St. W. A Taylor Swift dance party like no other! Dance floor experts Dolo Rock and ForEvaEva are sure to keep the dance floor bumping with a stream of all your favourite Taylor Swift bangers and other hits. They’ll be taking Polaroid shots, so come dressed in your best 1989 style apparel. $10 advance tickets available online.
11 pm Racks & Bands @ The Drake Underground, 1150 Queen St. W. Racks & Bands is a monthly party focused on one thing and one thing only: bringing booty back to the Underground. Turn up with resident DJs Johnny Hockin and Vanity Muscles as they motivate the winin’ and grindin’, playing only the hottest in current rap and RnB. $10.
SATURDAY
10 am Gladstone Flea Goes Green @ The Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St. W. The Gladstone Flea curates the market to help save you from the thrift store itch. Peruse goods from local, ethical, and environmentally sustainable makers. Until 4 pm.
7 pm To Each Her Own @ Milk Glass, 1247 Dundas St. W. A photography series that aims to define the elusive female gaze through the diverse perspectives of 10 individuals. Themes of self-image, self-love, personal expression, strength, empowerment, and pleasure shape the collection and showcase the multifaceted nature of the feminine narrative. Until 10 pm.
10 pm 69 Sides of Love @ Lucky Shrike, 850 Dundas St. W. A freaky night of soul, funk, dance, and disco with D.A. Tyson. Motown masters, smokin’ southern soul, hidden-gem heroes, and heavyweight hits from Chic, Parliament, James Brown, Ike and Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin, Sly & The Family Stone, Otis Redding, The Supremes, Jackson 5, and lots more.
10 pm Fam Jam @ The Piston, 937 Bloor St. W. The Piston’s top parties join forces to bring you the most eclectic music mix of any party in the city! Expect to hear everything from new wave, synthpop, italo disco,’80s, and classic rock to hip-hop, soul, Motown, funk, ’50s R&B, reggae, and dancehall. With DJs representing Juicebox (Tweed), Rebel Hop (Gramera and Dennis P), With It (Nico), Synthesexer (Arp 2600), Beam Me Up (A Digital Needle), and Shindig! (General Eclectic) $10.
10 pm Prince-fluence @ The Red Light, 1185 Dundas St. W. To honor one of the greatest musicians of all time, James Rathbone and Marko Orlic are throwing a party that pays tribute to the incredible influence he had on contemporary artists. From D’Angelo to Kendrick, R. Kelly to Future, Outkast to Miguel, plus many, many more. They’ll also be playing a huge amount of the man’s work as well.
10 pm Wimmin @ The Beaver, 1192 Queen St. W. A raging queer dance party, playing music from all and only female rock goddesses. This time, it’s DJs Mary Mack and Lesbian Menace pairing up for duty. Expect: Patti Smith, Grace Slick, PJ Harvey, Heart, Blondie, Hole, Janis Joplin, Alanis, Joan Jett, Le Tigre, and so much more! PWYC ($5 suggested).
10 pm F’unreal @ The Boat, 158 Augusta Ave. Music for your dancing pleasure with pals Well Said, Slater, L-Sos, Kek, and Ty. $5.
10 pm Grippin’ Grain @ The Shop under Parts & Labour, 1566 Queen St. W. DJs Co-op, Lonnie Ce, and Footwerk playing strictly club rap. $5.
10 pm Shake, Rattle & Roll @ Clinton’s, 693 Bloor St. W. The Bangs & Blush ladies roll out
all the hip shakers and baby makers from the ’50s and ’60s for you to drink, dance, and get messy to. $5.
10 pm In Touch @ The Ossington, 61 Ossington Ave. Get in touch with your party self. DJ Andrea Winkler spinning everything guaranteed to move your ass.
10 pm Stones Place Saturday Nights @ Stones Place, 1255 Queen St. W. Saturday night party with DJ Blush! Dance all night to the best of ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s rock ‘n’ roll, soul, and pop at one of Toronto’s most legendary dance venues in the city of Toronto. Bring those dancing shoes – you’ll be sure to leave sweaty and smiling. $5.
10:30 pm Rock Steady: Yacht Rock Edition @ The Steady, 1051 Bloor St. W. Yacht rock night! Think: Unbuttoned hawaiian shirts, white shorts, boat shoes, captain hats, gold chains, chest hair, bikinis, big sunglasses, sarongs, thongs, beach towels, and bronzer. DJ Kash ’N Karry on the decks. $5 Captain and Cokes all night.
11 pm Shake A Tail @ Sneaky Dee’s, 431 College St. ’60s pop, rock, soul, funk, garage, ska, ANYTHING! Always humid. $5.
11 pm Diggy The DJ @ The Drake Underground, 1150 Queen St. W. Diggy The DJ (Down With Webster) plays all your favourite hip-hop bangers. $10.
SUNDAY
7 pm Brass Facts Trivia @ The Ossington, 61 Ossington Ave. Test your knowledge and win prizes! Hosted by Famous Kirk Hero. Until 10 pm.
~ For event submissions, email Caitlyn Holroyd at caitlyn_holroyd@hotmail.com