WEDNESDAY

9 pm White Out @ Boutique Bar, 506 Church St. Featuring celebrity bartenders Mike Chalut (TV and radio personality) and Shawn Hewson (Bustle Clothing) + music by DJ Jeff Kirkwood. Guests are invited to wear their best winter white attire, with a percentage of the proceeds going to the Wear White 4 Windfall campaign.

THURSDAY

5:30 pm “The City Limits” Opening Reception @ 44 Wide Gallery, 171 East Liberty St., Unit 122. Featuring the work of Ryan Emond, Javin Lau, Neil Ta, Brandon Tarek, and Ronnie Yip. See your city like you’ve never seen it before! Until 8:30 pm. Exhibition runs until February 10th.

5:30 pm “Scene Otherwise” Opening Reception @ Toronto Free Gallery, 1277 Bloor St. W. “Scene Otherwise takes a number of artistic conventions and images and re-imagines them in terms of contemporary concerns. Included in the exhibition are works on the four elements: The Fall of Water (the global politics of water based on a painting by Bruegel), Salt of the Earth (a black and white series produced in collaboration with migrant farm workers), UnderFire (a studio portrait of Greenpeace activists) and Airwave (a 7.5 minute video based on Michael Snow’s Wavelength). Other works include The Plague (a portrait of the 2008 financial crisis), Liberty Lost (a response to the G20 police actions in Toronto), and Multiple Exposures (a series depicting a single landscape that changes over 600 years). Until 8:30 pm. Exhibition runs until February 26th.

10 pm The Reception @ The Ossington, 61 Ossington Ave. Imagine all your favourite weddings, bat mitzvahs and semi-formals all had sex and made a ridiculously awesome baby! The Reception is that love child minus your pervy drunk uncle. AC/DC to Aretha Franklin, DMX to Donna Summer, Ella Fitzgerald to Eminem.

10 pm Dada Life @ The Hoxton, 69 Bathurst St. Stockholm’s Dada Life stop by as part of Embrace’s Do the Dada Tour Canada. $30 advanced tickets available at Rotate This, Soundscapes, Play De Record and online.

10 pm Back In The Day @ Crawford, 718 College St. DJ Law on the 1s and 2s rocking classic video mixing all night!

10 pm Ape Sodom @ Unlovable, 1415-B Dundas St. W. DJ Mark Sultan plays you some vinyl of his liking: early rock n’ roll, R&B, doo-wop, punk, psych, garage, noise, jazz, country, avant garde, electronica, etc.

FRIDAY

9 pm The Little Red Umbrella’s Variety Spectacular @ Holy Oak, 1241 Bloor St. W. Author Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall reads from his novel, Ghosted. Toronto indie rockers Blood Rexdale & the Walls are Blonde play shoegazey songs. Magician James Alan defies the laws of physics and reason right before your very eyes. Tour Guys’ tour guy Jason Kucherawy tells stories about the history of Toronto. Stand-up comedian Desiree Lavoy-Dorsh tells her very funny jokes. DJ Flex Rock plays songs you could dance around your apartment to into the wee hours of the morning. Plus a little red umbrella photo booth, buttons for sale, and maybe a bunch of other stuff. No cover and 10% of bar sales going to the AIDS Committee of Toronto.

10 pm High Holy Disco Mass @ The Garrison, 1197 Dundas St. W. DJ Andycapp of Bang the Party plays disco, cosmic afro, weird 80’s business and slo-mo house.

10 pm Pure Gold @ The Red Light, 1185 Dundas St. W. DJ Renee Crawford plays no nonsense hip-hop. Just straight beaterz and bangerz!

10 pm Swift Ones @ Crawford (upstairs), 718 College St. Hip-hop, pop, punk, UK pop and guilty pleasures! Oh yeah, and free swag courtesy of Peter Says Denim all night. Free before 11:30 pm, $5 after.

10 pm White Girl @ The Shop under Parts & Labour, 1566 Queen St. W. Rap from 1993-2012 with DJs Patrick McGuire and Josh McIntyre + guest DJ Thursday Friday. Free before 11 pm, $5 after.

10 pm Girl & Boy 90s Dance Party @ Clinton’s, 693 Bloor St. W. RnB, hip-hop, pop and 90’s dance music from North America and Europe. Only one rule: no Pearl Jam. Free before 11 pm with student ID, $5 otherwise.

10 pm Hip-Hop Karaoke: Round #60 @ Revival, 783 College St. HHK kicks off the new year with a heavy dose of hip-hop classics, performed live on stage! With hosts Abdominal and More Or Les, and DJs Numeric and Ted Dancin’. $5 before 11 pm, $10 after.

10 pm That Shit Cray @ 751, 751 Queen St. W. DJs Mensa and Amy Traphouse play current south bangers, classic regional hits from all over and anthems about material wealth and possession, all at 75 BPM. $5.

10 pm SoulSkank @ The Piston, 937 Bloor St. W. DJs Double K and G-Spot play ska, soul, funk, stax, Motown and dancehall + live horns brought to you by Gramera and Dennis P.

SATURDAY

10:30 am Uber-SWAP @ Queen Street East Presbyterian Church. 947 Queen St. E. A used and vintage clothing exchange! Expect a thrift shop-style swap boasting a tempting stash of gently used, vintage and even some new clothing, accessories and footwear. Please bring a bag (8-10 items) of your gently-used cast-offs by Friday for sorting. $6 in advance, $10 at the door.

8 pm “Affordalecaffeine” Opening Reception @ ARE Gallery, 1581 Dundas St. W. …because we’ve all spent too much time being broke and ingesting coffee. Featuring a main floor gallery and performances in the basement by Jules Verne, The Non-Stop Girls, Never Trust A Wizard and Wolfcow. Main floor gallery is free, $5 for basement bands. Exhibition runs until January 28th.

10 pm Jukebox @ The Drake Underground, 1150 Queen St. W. A rock and soul dance party with DJs Circle Research and The Gillespie Bros. $10.

10 pm Strictly Business @ The Red Light, 1185 Dundas St. W. Choice hip-hop and R&B classics all night long while you drink, dance and mack. Soundtrack for the evening is provided by track masters DJ Serious and Numeric.

10 pm Happy Endings @ Forestview Restaurant, 466 Dundas St. W. With DJs French Fries, Bambounou, Meati and Wenzell. $3 beers before midnight and $5 drinks all night long, $5 dim sum platters and free birthday lobsters. $10 advanced tickets at Rotate This, Soundscapes, Play De Record and online. For $10 reduced guestlist (subject to capacity), e-mail names to guestlist@themansioninc.com.

10 pm Shake, Rattle & Roll @ Clinton’s, 693 Bloor St. W. Spend the night together with the ladies of Bangs & Blush! 60’s pop, soul and rock n’ roll. $5.

10 pm Hot Blooded @ The Piston, 937 Bloor St. W. DJs Dylan and John spin sweet disco hits for you to get down to.

10 pm Friendship @ The Ossington, 61 Ossington Ave. Have you ever fallen in love with a dance floor? Do you want to? Can you imagine? And what if you could imagine? Friendship will turn your imagination into reality.

10 pm Vanglorious @ Margret, 2952 Dundas St. W. DJ Taiza invites you to keep on truckin’ to the sounds of bhangra fever, salsational disco delight, supreme clientele, digital rub-a-dub dancehall style, shmoove flavour funk and NYC 1981 AD.

10 pm Shit Fun @ The 460, 460 Spadina Ave. Noisey dance music and dancey noise music with DJs Jubal Brown and Infinity Dose, and performances by Huren and Hinde. $5.

10 pm The Retro Roadshow: All-Request Night @ The Dovercourt House, 805 Dovercourt Rd. DJ Thomas Hall plays all your requests for 80’s/early 90’s videos! Post your video requests on the Facebook wall or stop by the DJ booth all night to make requests. $10.

SUNDAY

2:30 pm Rob Ford: The Opera @ Macmillan Theatre in the Faculty of Music’s Edward Johnson Building (U of T), 80 Queen’s Park. “A surrealist fantasy based loosely upon the personality of Toronto’s current and much discussed Mayor.” Featuring the GamUT ensemble and singers from the Faculty of Music’s distinguished Opera Division, including Andrew Haji as Rob Ford and Rosanna Murphy as Margaret Atwood. Free!

~ Caitlyn Holroyd

(For event submissions, email caitlyn_holroyd@hotmail.com)