Toronto Life articles from January 2002

Toronto Life archives from January 2002

Expert: Janice Gross Stein.
January 1, 2002... Janice Gross Stein gives me the phone numbers for her home, her office, her assistant and, after she digs around in her purse to make sure she has it right, her cell. But if I really want to catch her, she says, call at quarter to eight in the...

Upwardly mobile: (John Hunkin, CEO of CIBC moves to a penthouse in the Queen West area).
January 1, 2002... While Queen West has long been the address of choice for filmmakers, designers and other artsy types, the high-finance guys rarely venture west of University. So imagine our surprise when we learned that CIBC head honcho John Hunkin was...

And you are? (Jennifer Love Hewitt).
January 1, 2002... Doe-eyed former Party of Five It girl Jennifer Love Hewitt, in town to shoot The Tuxedo with action guru Jackie Chan, was as ubiquitous in Yorkville as the season's super-trendy black stiletto boot. The freshly scrubbed Neutrogena queen was...

Pumped: (ad agency Cossette's employee, Misa Kim, is the face of new campaign for Roots and Petro-Canada).
January 1, 2002... Recession or no, corporate synergies are alive and well. Roots and Petro-Canada have teamed up to sell a line of toques and scarfs pretentiously tagged the Podium Collection (some profits will go to the Canadian Olympic Association). The...

Ice storm: (strip club, Filmores, sponsor Ryerson intramural hockey team).
January 1, 2002... Just when you thought campus political correctness had gone the way of acid-washed jeans, the folks at Ryerson have proven everybody wrong. It all started when a cash-strapped intramural hockey team arranged to be sponsored by Filmores, the...

Hindsight: (Harper's Bazaar editorial director Michele Lavery leaves her glasses in a westend after-hours booze can).
January 1, 2002... Following a cocktail party hosted by writer David Layton and his hotel exec wife, Ann, a gang of late-night prowlers--including deposed Post gossip guru Shinan Govani, MuchMusic's David Hyde and visiting Harper's Bazaar editorial director...

Bummer: (Doubleday Canada publisher Maya Mavjee).
January 1, 2002... Trust Rebecca Eckler to bring out the sorority sister in even the most polished and poised. After the launch of Consuelo Jackman's book of erotic poetry at the downtown lounge Red Drink Boutique, the author's boyfriend, Post reporter Patrick...

Gimme shelter: new bus shelters.
January 1, 2002... Brand spanking new transit shelters are popping up everywhere, so slick and confident you'd never suspect the city was in a financial crisis. How can a cash-strapped TTC afford such state-of-the-art luxuries, you ask? Well, it can't: from...

Faceoff: Ernie (Eves) vs. Ernie (the Muppet).
January 1, 2002... Ernie vs. Ernie First, ex-finance minister Ernie Eves said he had no interest in the Tory leadership. Then, a few weeks later, he announced plans to quit his cushy bank gig and run for the job. This led MPP Morley Kells to grouse that "the...

Rock of ages.
January 1, 2002... On a misty November evening, Geddy Lee, of the prog-rock institution Rush, ascended a temporary stage near the perpetual construction pit of Dundas Square. As heavily bronzed Q107 DJ John Derringer bellowed "five-four-three-two-one," Lee yanked...

This issue.
January 1, 2002... YOU DON'T HAVE TO LOOK FAR THESE DAYS TO FIND A REASON to feel depressed. Not least of the awful consequences of the event we refer to as September 11 has been its effect on the public mood. But for Torontonians, it's been an especially bad...

This month (in Toronto): theatre.
January 1, 2002... OPENINGS The Bush-Ladies. The pioneer ladies in this affectionate piece of Canadiana are considerably more genteel than Dubya's hard-drinking daughters. Director Molly Thom adapted the prose of Canada's earliest female authors--Susanna...

This month (in Toronto): classical music.
January 1, 2002... ORCHESTRAL Salute to Vienna brings the Vienna Philharmonic's joyous concert back to the concrete palace for the seventh consecutive year as a reminder that you can celebrate New Year's Day with more than Advil. Dancers from the Hungarian...

This month (in Toronto): dance.
January 1, 2002... Ache Brasil: Capoeira and Other Dances From Brazil. Long associated with the kiddie set, the Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People is broadening its horizons with this exhilarating Vancouver-based Brazilian-Canadian troupe. Artistic director...

This month (in Toronto): art.
January 1, 2002... FREE Catherine Widgery. Best known for her large-scale public art commissions, the Montreal-born artist brings the outdoors in, appealing to that in us which is childlike, wondering and sense driven. Particularly engaging is her room of...

This month (in Toronto): nightlife.
January 1, 2002... CLUBS Done Right Inn. Remember when you hungered to get out into the world, and you dreamed of a place where everything would be cool, in a seedy, vaguely menacing way? Well, the fantasy's been minted by this Queen West mecca for Tom Waits...

This month (in Toronto): jazz and standards.
January 1, 2002... CONCERTS B.B. King. For over 50 years, the scotch- and satin-voiced Beale Street Blues Boy has proven that elegance and emotional directness are perfectly compatible. King's signature guitar style, patterned after Ellington saxophonist...

This month (in Toronto): kids' events.
January 1, 2002... Cushion Concerts. Barbara Budd of CBC's As It Happens reads from her original story The Crooked Waltz. The foot-stompin' musical whirlwind features fiddle queen Anne Lederman, who draws from a wide-reaching Metis, French-Canadian, Irish,...

This month (in Toronto): diversions.
January 1, 2002... Doc Soup. Hot Docs' winter showcase series presents the Toronto premiere of Children Underground, a feature-length doc about Romanian street kids that won the Special Jury Prize at Sundance. Director Edet Belzberg follows five of the estimated...

Man with the plan: can the city encourage much-needed growth without giving developers carte blanche? Paul Bedford, Toronto's chief planner, thinks so ...
January 1, 2002... THE MEDIA ADVISORY THAT went out on Canada News-Wire was brief and to the point. On Tuesday, October 9, Mayor Mel Lastman and Joe Pantalone, chair of council's powerful planning and transportation committee, would launch a draft of the city's...

News flash: two years in, nakednews.com - produced in a nondescript bunker in the east end - is reaching some six million viewers a month in 178 countries ...
January 1, 2002... LUCAS TYLER HAS THE MOST EXPRESSIVE testicles in the world of broadcast journalism. Large, pendulous, smooth (he shaves), they do so much more than just, well, hang there. They provide a running commentary of their own. Just watch: as Tyler...

Man: Vince Carter, master of the double-pump 580-degree spin-and-reverse two-handed dunk, prays for forgiveness - but for what?
January 1, 2002... IT'S EARLY, 40 MINUTES BEFORE GAME TIME. HALF A DOZEN PLAYERS ARE shooting hoops on the floor. Four clusters of 48 Bose speakers are on 85-decibel sonic overblast. "Boom, boom" the man sitting beside me says, laughing to himself. "Being here is...

Treasure hunt: (the British Antiques Roadshow visits Toronto).
January 1, 2002... By mid-morning, the queue stretches from Casa Loma down to Dupont, and one local parking lot is charging $50 for the day. In the garden, underneath Sir Henry Pellatt's ersatz turrets, people cradle awkward bundles, haul suitcases, push...

My life as a pimp: from the day he started up the escort agency, he knew things were going to get ugly ...
January 1, 2002... YOU REMEMBER GILDA RADNER on Saturday Night Live as Rosanne Rosannadanna? That's what Destiny's hair was like. I can still see her, walking toward my car. She was a tall black woman, at least six foot four Good body, but built like a brick...

Watch tower: (Toronto Fire Department No. 8 - clock tower).
January 1, 2002... Revellers see it from the wrong side of sunrise. Having half-boogied, half-tumbled out of the Matador, they fall into tomorrow morning propelled by an unwholesome mixture of country tonk and alcoholic vapour. East along College toward Spadina,...

King of the grill: he was our first celebrity chef, creator of Canada's most prestigious steak house and consummate host to a famous clientele... Harry Barberian made dining out in Toronto fun.
January 1, 2002... THE STEAKS ARE SUPERB, THE WINE, A 1990 VOLNAY, PERFECTLY chosen. All through lunch and late into the afternoon at Barberian's, our conversation turns upon anecdotes and remembrances told with much love and laughter. Harry Barberian would have...

Posh wash and a bread spread.
January 1, 2002... Public display of affection The latest traffic stopper to command the window at Material Matters, this Bizou Bizou light sculpture appeals both to fans of tic-tac-toe and those fascinated by esoteric art. A charming composition of cast...

Safe house: a hit with architectural juries, Robertson house is the gold standard for city shelters, melding forward design with creature comforts ...
January 1, 2002... A FEW YEARS AGO, A WOMAN GAVE BIRTH IN the once elegant front hall of John Ross Robertson's house on Sherbourne Street, just below Gerrard. "My babies come fast," she said calmly while waiting for an ambulance. At the end of the 20th century,...

Photo finished: Jane Corkin.
January 1, 2002... Photo gallery owner Jane Corkin has curated herself a wardrobe as uncluttered as the walls of her eponymous space. A lover of snappy black suits and, as she describes it, her embarrassingly large collection of eyeglasses, she aims to deflect...

Tasting notes.
January 1, 2002... Sack it up For sherry, as for so many things, age is a mixed blessing. Long associated with spinster aunts and wizened gentlemen, the fortified wine has been overlooked by younger drinkers, with the happy result that it's one of the best...

Restaurants.
January 1, 2002... Restaurants are rated on a five-star system by A LA MODE Sarkis *** With owner Sarkis Tossounian and manager Dali Chehimi reunited as hosts, the service glows with suave confidence, attracting artsy regulars with deep wallets....

Sam the Record Man, 1961-2001.
January 1, 2002... Shabby, vulgar, gaudy and idiosyncratic. And that was just the sign over the main entrance. Walking into Sam's was like stepping through a portal into some alternative marketing universe, one where none of the rules of modern retailing...