The wait for audiences being allowed to gather in nightclubs will continue this spring, as Canadian Music Week in Toronto is going exclusively virtual. But the Opera House venue has been further retooled as a studio for online influencers. And while Ontario added new supports for the music industry, the overall arts scene is feeling left behind.
True tales from the third wave
The uncertainty about where pandemic restrictions head next for Toronto coincides with the province expanding vaccine eligibility, but also varied views on renewed lockdowns. Ontario confirmed a third wave of COVID-19 amid MPP Roman Baber’s lawsuit over restrictions on outdoor gatherings, and a sex shop fighting the fines.
“I told him he has to be very mindful.” Doug Ford explained his attitude toward Ontario PC MPP Sam Oosterhoff speaking at an online event whose organizer compared abortions to the Holocaust, which proceeded as originally planned. Meanwhile, the provincial government is getting more progressive about ditching fax machines.
The antenna exports scorecard
American networks plugging schedule holes with Canadian series worked well for Transplant on NBC, if not so much for the infamous Nurses. The CW adding Burden of Truth didn’t stop CBC from cancelling it, and a similar deal ended along with Trickster. But despite lousy premiere ratings, Fox has placed its faith in a future for this handyman:
Malcolm Gladwell has a few questions for Condé Nast HR. The New Yorker’s most famous Canadian awoke to ask if Alexi McCammond parting ways with the company that hired her to run Teen Vogue means they don’t distinguish between adolescence and adulthood. Gladwell also thinks the situation symbolizes the state of racism in America.
Finally, it’s Justice vs. Justin
Justin Bieber unveiling a pandemic album called Justice was preceded by French dance music duo Justice sending a cease-and-desist over rendering the lower-case “t” as a cross similar to their own logo. The songwriting credits include one for Martin Luther King Jr., while Toronto singer Daniel Caesar shares a spotlight on the single: