Release of a study about the pandemic’s impact on Toronto’s live music scene coincided with the city announcing property tax relief for those venues, which have also faced challenges getting their liability insurance renewed. The benefits don’t extend to shuttered strip clubs, but the Zanzibar Tavern appeared to pivot to bikinis.
The last call on Blue Jays Way
As second-wave restrictions loomed for indoor Toronto restaurants and bars, Wayne Gretzky’s had its final day of business before the buzzer—stirring memories of what 99 Blue Jays Way signified in simpler times. Along with its adjacent Second City theatre, Gretzky’s is slated to be replaced with a 47-storey condo to match the rest of that strip.
The author who’s boycotting his own book. Adam Pottle wrote The Most Awesome Character In The World after a publisher invited him to submit a story inspired by his own life as a deaf person. Learning that its illustrations feature an Asian character in a kimono, with hair styled in buns, led the Saskatoon author to ask people to not buy it.
Toronto but with all the stuff
A week after Rick Moranis was sucker punched while walking near Central Park, the search for the suspect continues. The reclusive legend was spotted going to Trader Joe’s after recovering. But the attention was such that an actress coincidentally filming around Moranis’s hometown got a real estate transaction reported on with this headline:
Tory Lanez has been charged with felony assault related to the shooting involving Megan Thee Stallion. The two counts mean the Canadian rapper faces up to 22 years and eight months in prison related to the alleged July incident in the Hollywood Hills. Since then, Megan’s stardom has ascended, while he made an album disputing the story.
Finally, a golden jubilee daddy
David Foster is due to have children whose ages span over 50 years now that his wife, Katharine McPhee, has announced her pregnancy. The pianist and producer from Victoria seems to savour the reality-show life, having previously been adjacent to the Kardashian, Jenner and Hadid families. So, it’s not like he’s ready to retire from all this:
