Besides making up a veritable trifecta of Toronto cultural institutions, they’re all collaborating with Narwhal Art Projects, the tiny eclectic gallery and publishing house attached to Magic Pony art boutique on Queen Street West.

The gallery and shop have evolved into something of a mini art empire, bringing their offbeat stable of artists to some of Toronto’s most well-respected venues.

Things you’ll find at Magic Pony: a porcelain squirrel candleholder, a rainbow bench decorated with a smiley face, a watercolour painting of a three-headed dog, and hundreds of other multifarious arty items.

“When we opened in 2003, there was a huge trend in Asia of cross-pollination between graphic design, fashion and illustration, and toys were the common canvas,” says Steve Cober, co-owner of the shop and gallery.

He and business partner Kristen Weckworth started Magic Pony as a tiny second-floor design boutique that sold those toys and other Asian inspired art objects.

They’ve since expanded into a larger shop and exhibition space across the street, and will open a Narwhal gallery space in the Junction neighbourhood in April.

The duo also publishes art books and produces prints of works by local and international artists under the Narwhal imprint, and have contributed to the success of some of Canada’s riskier up-and-coming artists.

“Team Macho is a great example of how we’ve developed,” says Weckworth of the five-man Toronto artist collective. “They used to be our customers when they were still art school students. They’d come around and show us the puppets and stuff they were making.”

Weckworth and Cogan decided to show their witty collaborative paintings and drawings at Magic Pony.

Narwhal published their first book, Fancy Action Now, and the quintet currently has a large-scale installation, “Axis Mundi”, showing at the AGO.

Narwhal will release their second book, The Merlin Years, this March 22.

“We always wanted to be a multifaceted art centre that publishes, supports and partners,” says Cober.
With upcoming collaborations with the National Ballet of Canada (their artists will design tutus) and TIFF Bell Lightbox (they’ll co-host a show called Comics vs. Video Games) and half a dozen in-house exhibitions on the horizon, this little art shop can safely say mission accomplished.

That’s why they’re volunteering for the brand new City Youth Council of Toronto, a volunteer organization that this fall will elect 44 city youth councillors to advocate for the 310,000 young people that call Toronto home.

“A lot of youth feel frustrated and disengaged,” says Kyriakos over lattes at Dark Horse Espresso Bar on Spadina. He’s a grade 10 student at Ursula Franklin Academy near High Park, and says that often politicians fail to take young people seriously.  “Youth are rallied at election time, there will be lots of excitement, and then once the election is over – silence.”  Ahmed, who is in grade 11 at Wolborn Collegiate Institute in East Scarborough, agrees: “We feel disregarded, and there are a lot of decisions being made that really affect us.”  She references the recent TTC high drama, as well as the Drummond Report’s potential effect on public education in Ontario. “These policies will shape our future.”

The CYCTO aims to give Toronto’s youth a collective voice in municipal politics. Though there have been previous youth councils in Toronto, this one is unique in that it is completely independent from City Hall. “Students can be as outspoken as they want,” says Ahmed with a grin.

Elected youth council members will meet in the Toronto City Hall facilities, and will interact with City Hall to advocate for real change. Though elections aren’t until October, candidate registration launches on March 1, and any youth between the ages of 14 and 24 interested in running for the council are encouraged to visit Thecyc.ca. The team organizing the election is hoping to have at least two candidates competing in each of the city’s 44 wards, and is expecting a minimum of 8000 voters.

As the co-directors of communications and public affairs for the CYCTO, Kyriakos and Ahmed have already been inundated with emails from students interested in running. “I see the Arab Spring and youth fighting for democracy, and I hear people saying that young people here don’t care,” says Kyriakos, “but we do care, we just need the chance to be heard.”

Then she struts down to Bar 751 on Queen Street West and goes head-to-head and arm-to-arm with other brave broads in the Women’s Arm Wrestling for Charity competition.

“I’ve won twice,” says Flinn, who adopts her sassy persona specifically for the charity tournaments, which are held every two to three months and attract about 250 spectators. The raucous show of female strength is the brainchild of musician Scotty B. Goode and promoter Steve Rock, and will take over 751 this coming Saturday. 

“We were hanging at Ted’s Collision, and these women at the next table were arm wrestling,” says Goode. “We thought, imagine if this was a night?” And soon it was, complete with a mouthy host (Goode), shredding rock ‘n’ roll theme music, 16 female competitors – each with a cheering entourage – and some of the most outrageous costumes since ‘80s WWF.

Rock says he’s heard of ladies wrestling competitions in the U.S., but nothing quite like this. “Theirs will be from 7 to 9 in a diner with florescent lighting somewhere in North Carolina,” says Rock.

And while 751′s $10 pitchers help make the night a party, it’s important to remember that it’s all in the name of a good cause. Proceeds from the evening (it’s $5 to watch, $2 to compete) go to a different charity each event. This week it’s Plan Canada’s BecauseIamagirl.ca campaign, in support of girls in the developing world.

“Use your muscle to help other women find their strength,” says Rock.

Thinking of competing? While there is a stable of regular and spectacularly costumed regulars, walk-ins are always welcome, provided there’s space.

If you can’t make this weekend’s showdown, there’s another event planned for April 28. Women’s Arm Wrestling for Charity has grown so popular that the gang is taking the show on the road, with competitions planned for Montreal and New York this spring.

For more information, visit Toronto-charities.ca/womens-arm-wrestling-charity.

“You need to tell everything – boom – with one image.” Today, Kirk will be teaching the aspiring comic artists in attendance about cover illustration.

He pauses, then tosses another descriptive simile at his rapt audience: “It’s like a movie trailer – you have to pick the most exciting parts without giving away the climax.”

“I would say that Toronto is one of the meccas for comic book writers and artists,” says Sean Menard. “There is an unbelievable amount of talent working for the majors publishers.” He’s a co-founder of the two-year-old Toronto Cartoonist Workshop, an art school that specializes in comic book art instruction. The school was started by Menard and his friend Walter Dickinson, a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design, and is the only art school of its kind in Canada.

Dickinson had always been interested in drawing comics, but couldn’t find the classes he was hoping to take. So he sought out local working professionals in the comic and illustration field, and created a curriculum. Today, Kirk is just one of an impressive roster of comic industry professionals teaching classes like writing, penciling, inking, storytelling, lettering, colouring and web comics.

The school is not accredited by the Ontario government, but Menard points out that the close connection with industry insiders can provide students with both knowledge and access to potential employment that an accredited art school like OCAD just can’t match. He emphasizes that there are no promises of work, but also says some students have gone on to create artwork for major publishers like Marvel and DC Comics.

And Kirk, for his part, is doing everything he can to help his students achieve that goal. “I did a cover for Supergirl once with a scene where it was raining toads, and I had a couple of toads hanging off the logo,” says Kirk with a chuckle. “You can work that in there sometimes.” It’s the sort of awesomely nerdy insider scoop that you’d be hard pressed to find anywhere else in Canada.

“We’re Brazilophiles,” says Bordokas. Both men are native Torontonians; Rothman is Jewish and Bordokas is of Greek descent. They both discovered the rhythmic music through Capoeira, a Brazilian blend of martial arts and dance that is accompanied by drumming and singing. Each visited Brazil for the first time close to a decade ago, and both have been hooked ever since.

“There’s this neighbourhood called Lapa,” says Bordokas of a particularly vibrant part of Rio. “It’s where scoundrels, artists and intellectuals – every type of individual – come together. It’s a powder keg of culture. These different cultural manifestations are exploding all around, and this is what were trying to bring to Uma Nota.”

Along with DJ Jason Sanders, the pair have been throwing parties under the Uma Nota name every two months at the Gladstone Hotel since 2007. These raucous performances feature at least one live, typically percussion-heavy act, including many of the city’s Brazilian troupes, and one guest DJ playing groove-based tunes in various genres.

Many of those playing and attending the shows are local Brazilians, but just as many – like Rothman and Bordokas – are people from around the world that have simply chosen to embrace the vibrant musical culture. “We keep growing and it keeps working,” says Rothman. “We thought, ‘Where do we go next?’”

This festival builds on the success of those events and will also include film screenings, workshops, talks, and traditional Brazilian food and drink. Friday night’s live music showcase will feature Samba Elégua in collaboration with a host of other musicians. The percussion band features up to 30 drummers, and pounds out the tropical beat Uma Nota has become known for. Montreal’s MC Boogat headlines Saturday’s world electro dance party, and Sunday features a more rootsy vibe, with Maria Bonita and the Band and Tropicalia.

“Whatever we do, there’s Afro-Brazilian swing in the mix,” says Bordokas. He smiles: “It’s got that swing, that groove, that raw feeling. Close your eyes and imagine that warm kiss at the end of the best night. That’s Uma Nota.”

Software developer Alex Barrotti thinks he can put an end to server stress, and he’s using an unlikely tool: the iPad. Barrotti has created an app called TouchBistro Pro Edition that allows servers to tap orders onto an iPad and then wirelessly transmit them directly to the kitchen while remaining tableside. 

“The main goal is to increase the speed of service,” says the Torontonian of his invention, which is either strapped to the wrist or tucked into an apron pocket. The new system is debuting this week at The Harvest Grill restaurant inside the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, on until Sunday at Exhibition Place.

“I can be standing here still talking to you, meanwhile your salad is being made,” says Harvest Grill manager Bruce Macklin, who describes the app as “pretty slick.”

When customers at the swanky restaurant want something, the server simply taps the menu items on the screen and hits send. The order is immediately sent directly to the kitchen, leaving the server free to continue chatting or go wait on other tables.

Can’t decide if you want the fish or the rib-eye steak? Servers can pull up full screen photos of all the dishes, so diners never have to ponder what a meal will look like when it actually appears.

And the servers seem to like it, though it takes some getting used to. “There’s definitely a learning curve,” says Harvest Grill server Leslie Lindsay, who doesn’t use a cellphone and is used to the pen and paper method.

Barrotti acknowledges it’s a new concept, but one he claims is already catching on. He says TouchBistro’s original app, which is used to place orders on stationary iPads, has already been downloaded more than 3,000 times in countries around the world and is used in about 30 restaurants just in Toronto. “It won’t be long,” he says, “before servers toting iPads are everywhere.”

But descend the flight of stairs at 945 Bloor West and you’ll enter a lively bar, packed with comedy lovers sipping pints and waiting for the next show of the evening, in which a dozen of Toronto’s funniest comedians will battle one another in rhyming hip-hop verse.

Such was the scene this past Wednesday at The Comedy Bar, a combined pub and theatre that has become a hub for the comedy community in Toronto since opening three years ago.

“There was nowhere in town where comedy was a first priority,” says comedian and co-owner Gary Rideout Jr. of the impetus for opening the joint. Unlike the old Toronto mainstays like Yuk Yuk’s and Second City, the Comedy Bar doesn’t cater to one specific comedic form: they feature sketch, improv and stand-up, and with an average of 14 different shows a week, Rideout Jr. says there’s likely something to offer to suit every taste.

The ten o’clock show on this particular Wednesday is Rap Battles, a well attended affair that sees comedians adopt absurd rapper personas – “Frankenstein-atra”, Actual Dracula”, and “Universal Dad,” to name just three -and then square off to see who can drop the most creatively insulting rhymes.

The concept for Rap Battles came out of the Festival of New Formats, one of several showcases the venue hosts that serve to foster creativity in the Toronto comedy community.

It’s free to attend and take part in the January festival, and all shows must take a different and new format. The best – like Rap Battles – go on to become regular Comedy Bar events.

And it’s not just for locals. Since opening, the little venue has drawn some pretty big names: Kevin Sorbo, Andy Kindler and Tim Meadows have all graced the stage, and Canadian improv legend Colin Mochrie drops in regularly. Rideout Jr. says they’ve been bringing in more talent from places like New York and Chicago on the weekends, and yet it’s still the local favourites, like the Sketchersons Sunday Night Live that consistently bring out the biggest crowds.

“Comedy is really thriving in this city,” says Rideout Jr. And now, thanks to the Comedy Bar, it finally has a home.

“If you buy a Fresh City Farm box, you could actually be getting food delivered that was pulled out of the ground that morning,” explains Ran Goel. He’s seated at a muddy picnic table in the Downsview Park greenhouse that serves as headquarters of Fresh City Farms. Behind him, rows of spinach, lettuce, arugula and mustard greens sprout from planters, waiting to become salad mix.

The 32-year-old Torontonian took a leave of absence from his job as a corporate lawyer last September to co-found this urban farming business with the help of his friend, sustainable landscape architect Phillip Collins.

The concept of the enterprise is unique: Toronto residents who want to become urban farmers contact Fresh City Farms and receive training and advice about growing food in the city. Next, the farmer canvasses his or her neighbourhood for homeowners willing to give up their lawn space. The farmer then plants and harvests on the homeowner’s property, providing the owner with ten percent of the yield in exchange for the use of their land and water.

“It’s a win-win for the homeowners, says Goel of the twenty or so downtown Toronto lawns the company has harvested. “They get landscaping, free produce, and a microgarden.”

The rest of the produce is then sold to Fresh City Farms, where it is packed into old wooden wine crates lined with recycled burlap sacks and delivered to whoever has ordered it ($49.99 for a two week trial; $30.99 per week onwards). Boxes usually contain eight to 10 varieties of produce, and the contents are supplemented with food grown at the two-acre Downsview Park farm, as well from other local organic sources when necessary.

At its core, the fundamental purpose of Fresh City Farms is to reduce the barriers to starting an urban farming business. But ask Goel, and he’ll tell you it does much more than that. “One of the byproducts has been the subversive public education aspect,” says Goel. “We’re farming in people’s yards, and in the communities of people who might not otherwise be environmentalists.

These young people are learning how to farm, but they’re also teaching others about food, and changing our food production systems could be the answer to a good chunk of our planet’s environmental issues.”
http://www.freshcityfarms.com

This freedom and inclusiveness, many said, was the point of the movement. And while the changes being championed were diverse, a common thread among nearly all in attendance was the call for a more equal and just society, and the desire to be heard.

I spent the day asking protestors why they had decided to join the occupation. Here is what five of them had to say:

“Just ask me about my student loan. It’s kind of like a game of Monopoly: someone wins and everyone else loses.” – Liz Farge, 35, art gallery employee
    
“I’m here because I have three sons. They’ve worked their entire lives for companies, without taking unemployment insurance, welfare, or anything from the people. And yet they still can’t buy a house. There’s something wrong in a system when men work for 20 to 30 years and they can’t buy a house. It’s a fundamental right of Canadians.” – Shari Drinkwater, 65, retired journalist

“I’ve seen a lot of my friends – university educated people – desperately looking for work for a long time now. People have gone $20,000 into student debt for nothing, for a job waiting tables.” – Eric Brauer, 30, ESL instructor

“I believe in the power of community. I think the way our society has gone, we’ve allowed the power of our decisions to be given to hierarchical structures that don’t reflect the majority of people. I think this movement is showing that we can, from a place of non-hierarchical consensus, create really powerful protests against the current system.” –- Lara Hollway, 24, student

“The library creates room and space, so that rather than just shout angrily, people can become informed about the more complex issues that are the stimuli of this entire movement.”– Orest Pazuniak, 22, student, and an organizer of the Occupy Toronto library

This is Tampon Tuesday, a once-a-month networking event that helps women meet women, while also helping disadvantaged women with a very basic need.

On the fourth Tuesday of every month, women are invited to gather at Jack Astor’s and enjoy each other’s company in a relaxed post-work networking event while munching on free food courtesy of the restaurant. Why Tampon Tuesdays? The entrance fee is a box of sanitary supplies, and all donations are passed on to Toronto’s Daily Bread Food Bank.

Mandi Fields started the first Tampon Tuesday three years ago in London, Ont. While touring the London Food Bank, she noticed a complete lack of sanitary supplies. “Where are the tampons?” She asked, and learnt that it just didn’t occur to people to donate them.

So she started organizing. Jack Astor’s was immediately on board, and though there were only a dozen people at the first event, it quickly grew. Today, as many as 140 people regularly attend. “The Tampon Tuesday name puts it on the radar, because it’s so provocative,” says Fields with a grin.

When Gutierrez caught wind of the concept, she immediately set to work bringing it to Toronto.

“We don’t want there to be a mother out there who has to decide between buying milk for her kids and buying sanitary supplies,” says Gutierrez. And she also finds it fun: “At networking events people can be so pushy. Here, everyone is relaxed.”

Both women say one of the biggest draws is the ambassadorship program. Every Tampon Tuesday, two speakers address the group. One is a woman in a high profile position, and the other is a small business owner or entrepreneur. In London, ambassadors have included a judge, the mayor, and even the provincial minister of health.

The turnout at the inaugural Toronto event was about 30 women and a couple of men, and it’s only expected to grow as word spreads. “It turns the issue of women in poverty into a community,” says Fields. “Everybody wins.”