When the velvet rope comes to your door
It doesn’t always mean getting in
Complaints about reduced media access to the Toronto International Film Festival met with an official response about how security concerns from filmmakers and film companies were the reason. The mostly virtual approach inspired a different international framing for TIFF, while the events guide is significantly downsized.
No country for Rolling Stones
Michael Wekerle announced his renovated El Mocambo would finally open on April 1, with of cover charges of up to $1,000 at the storied Toronto nightclub, until the coronavirus came along. As a result, area rock band Big Wreck will be the first to grace its stage, putting Wekerle’s investment in wiring it up for streaming to the test.
Bryan Adams will have to wait to play that soccer stadium in Düsseldorf. After selling 7,000 tickets, the concert called Give Live a Chance was called off from September 4 due to the COVID-19 resurgence in Germany. Meanwhile, an outbreak has been linked to the Sturgis, South Dakota, motorcycle rally that the Guess Who helped headline.
Breaking through the rules
The flights with passengers infected with COVID-19 keep on coming, while WestJet will soon remove unmasked guests and ban them for a year. But an investor presentation revealed that Air Canada is now working with the Greater Toronto Airports Authority to soon introduce a testing regimen that may overcome hunkering down for 14 days:
Brampton’s house party hosts are now facing six-figure fines. Ontario’s capital of social distancing rule making and breaking issued a summons to each of 13 people alleged to be behind four busted bashes, with a potential $100,000 penalty, rather than the initial $880 ticket in July. COVID-19 cases were recently on the rise in Brampton.
Finally, sound of a half-century
Beverly Glenn-Copeland was set for a lucrative world tour in 2020, only to end up without a place to live until fans came through with donations, allowing the Mr. Dressup sidekick to wait things out. Now he’s released a surprise live album ahead of a career retrospective that outlines how it took 50 years to become such a cult figure: