When the velvet rope comes to your door

It doesn’t always mean getting in

Aug 28, 2020

TIFF is thrilled to welcome 500 accredited media to #TIFF20, but in this exceptional year we’ve had to adjust many things. We normally have 1600 accredited journalists at TIFF and understand the disappointment and frustrations that many of you share.

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

NOW Magazine @nowtoronto

A Big Wreck concert will officially relaunch the renovated El Mocambo on September 10:

ow.lyThe El Mocambo is reopening with a Big Wreck concert in SeptemberLong-running CanRock band Big Wreck will play the first official livestream at the El Mocambo, which has been closed since 2014.

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:

Simple Flying @simple_flying

Air Canada Hopes COVID-19 Test Could End Canadian Quarantine

simpleflying.comAir Canada Hopes COVID-19 Test Could End Canadian Quarantine - Simple FlyingAir Canada wants to run its own voluntary COVID-19 testing program to encourage the unwinding of onerous border…

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: