Oct 18 2021 — David Friend, The Canadian Press — The Canadian Press — TORONTO — The Weeknd is refunding tickets for his already postponed world tour, telling fans he wants to invest in "something bigger" rather than move forward with the planned shows. The Toronto pop superstar was scheduled to begin a massive tour for his "After Hours" album starting with two nights in Vancouver on Jan. 14 […]
Oct 15 2021 — David Friend, The Canadian Press — The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Indoor concerts are slowly coming back to life in Ontario, but venue owners say the latest COVID-19 guidelines will dampen any significant return to live music in the coming months. At first glance, new rules that lifted capacity limits in "select settings" last weekend seemed to allow 100 per cent capacity at all […]
Oct 15 2021 — David Friend, The Canadian Press — The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Indoor concerts are slowly coming back to life in Ontario, but venue owners say the latest COVID-19 guidelines will dampen any significant return to live music in the coming months. At first glance, new rules that lifted capacity limits in "select settings" last weekend seemed to allow 100 per cent capacity at all […]
Oct 14 2021 — David Friend, The Canadian Press — The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Neil Young and Crazy Horse are coming out with "Barn," a new studio album they made while cooped up during the COVID-19 pandemic. The legendary folk singer-songwriter says the 10-track release will arrive on Dec. 10 after being written and recorded over the past year. Young debuted the first single, "Song of the […]
Oct 12 2021 — David Friend, The Canadian Press — The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Gordon Lightfoot is postponing a number of tour dates in Western Canada until late 2022 as COVID-19 infection rates soar in the region. The changes affect seven venues across Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia that were supposed to take place this November. Six shows have been moved to October 2022, but a stop […]
Oct 12 2021 — David Friend, The Canadian Press — The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Discovery Plus is coming to Canada next week. The newly minted streaming platform, which specializes in non-fiction programming, says it will launch Oct. 19 for Canadian subscribers. With it comes more than 200 exclusive and original series as well as 60,000 episodes of programming from its library of cable TV networks, including HGTV, […]
Oct 8 2021 — David Friend, The Canadian Press — The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Latin superstars Ricky Martin and Enrique Iglesias brought flair and spectacle to Toronto's Scotiabank Arena on Thursday as the venue welcomed its first concert since the start of the pandemic. Operators of the arena say it had been 580 days since a live music event played the indoor space, as local COVID-19 precautions […]
Oct 5 2021 — David Friend, The Canadian Press — The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Alanis Obomsawin shared hope for the future of Indigenous Peoples as she accepted the Glenn Gould Prize on Monday for her lifetime contribution to the arts. Nearly one year after the 89-year-old documentary filmmaker was named by an international jury of her peers, she appeared at an in-person ceremony for the $100,000 honour. […]
Oct 4 2021 — David Friend, The Canadian Press — The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Arkells are charting a course for Canada and beyond with plans to return to their road routine next year. The enduring Canadian rock touring act says it's locked down nine stops across the country on their Blink Once tour, which will be supported by Toronto rapper Haviah Mighty. The dates follow a three-night […]
Oct 4 2021 — David Friend, The Canadian Press — The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Jann Arden can't wipe the COVID-19 pandemic from the planet, but she can at least erase it from the world of her television series. And that's exactly what the Calgary singer-songwriter did last year when she met with the writers' room of her comedy "Jann" and decided that everything unpleasant about the pandemic […]
Sep 29 2021 — David Friend, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Joana Vicente is leaving the Toronto International Film Festival after three years as its co-head and executive director. Organizers at TIFF, which operates one of the world’s largest film festivals as well as year-round events at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto, say Vicente will exit her role on Oct. 31 and move […]
Sep 29 2021 — David Friend, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — A comedic novel by celebrated Manitoba-bred author Miriam Toews is among the finalists for the Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust fiction prize. "Fight Night," published by Knopf Canada and told from the perspective of a nine-year-old living with her pregnant mother, joins a short list of five books vying for the $60,000 award. They […]
Sep 27 2021 — David Friend, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Cadence Weapon has won the 2021 Polaris Music Prize for his album "Parallel World." The Edmonton-raised rapper's project — which fuses hip-hop, electronic and grime music — was selected by an 11-member grand jury as the best Canadian album of the year, based on its artistic merit. The 35-year-old musician's win, announced Monday, […]
Sep 23 2021 — David Friend, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Shawn Mendes is plotting his return to Canadian concert stages as part of a massive 2022 world tour. The Pickering, Ont.-born pop singer raised the curtain Thursday on plans for a 64-date arena tour of North America, the United Kingdom and Europe that includes stops in Vancouver, Edmonton and Montreal. Wonder: The World […]
Sep 16 2021 — David Friend, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Jaime Rebanal felt something different in the air at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival the moment he heard the "yarrrrr" at one his first screenings. The enthusiastic pirate's cry is a reliable barometer of TIFF audience excitement that goes off when the anti-piracy warning appears before each film. But last week at […]