It’s already mid-September, and we’re still dealing with our TIFF hangover. The scene’s got no sympathy though, and there’s a slew of happenings this weekend that are calling us to toss on the fancy shoes and hit the town.
Festivals
Like to laugh? Good. (We’d be concerned otherwise and wouldn’t consider you notable.) In any case, we’re gettin’ a dose of happy thanks to JFL42. Forty-two acts across 10 days including headliners like Sarah Silverman, the cast of Family Guy, and our fave, Aziz Ansari. Get your festival passes and pull up the Depends. JFL42 runs tonight through the 28th.
The Junction Music Festival takes over (shockingly) the Junction this Saturday. A multitude of bands and acts will perform at a multitude of restaurants and bars throughout the West End neighbourhood. The Junction is the coolest place to hang, and everything’s better with music… so we’re guessing this’ll be a pretty rad event.
Oktoberfest gets the Toronto strip down with a couple events this week. (We only stay ‘strip down’ because of the lack of lederhosen in this city.) Steam Whistle plays host to the biggest (on Saturday), with a special shindig that’ll see 1L beer steins. ‘Nuff said. The Shops at Don Mills hosts Oktoberfest in the City from tonight through Sunday. Again, steins are involved, so we’re definitely down.
South African food and culture is finally shown some prominence this weekend with the inaugural Canada Braai Day in the Distillery District. Canada Braai Day will feature live entertainment, memorable prizes and traditional braai fare, like some of the best wineries in the world.
Awards
Know who needs a freakin’ award? Food trucks. We’re assuming that was sort of the inceptor to awesTRUCK, the Food Truck Awards, happening Saturday over at Garrison Common (Fort York). About 50 meals-on-wheels will be in attendance at this “show” that celebrates Canada’s greatest food trucks.
Parties
Two of the coolest parties go down this weekend. To start, why not break a world record? Know how you do that? You join hundreds of others over at 99 Sudbury with Tequila Tromba and try to make September 19th the day that the Guinness Book of World Records World’s Largest Tequila Tasting record is broken. There’ll be tacos, tequila, and tons of bodacious babes and boys. Drink “responsibly.”
Artbound‘s bringing the ’90s and 90210 to the T-dot. The annual The pARTy (you’ll wanna tweet this while there: #ThepARTy2013) is back, bringing the whole Peach Pit memory situation into daylight. Yes, relive your glory days while grooving out to Naughty by Nature (they’ll actually perform, FYI) while helping an organization that supports Free the Children. Worth the ticket cost just for that…
Happy Birthday to… SPiN Toronto! That’s right, our fave ping pong spot (maybe even our only ping pong spot) is turning two on Friday night, with 11 artists painting custom pong tables, sampler passports (try a few things at the joint, get a stamp for each sample), and more.
Top photo by Jeff Rogers Next Level Photography