The problem with a city like Toronto now is that with amalgamation of the 
five Boroughs in 1997, there is no suburbs anymore. The Greater Toronto Area 
(GTA) is now a sprawling, unfocused piece of scattered real estate 
containing 5 million conjoined and disparate people with no entertainment 
epicentre outside the downtown core. And even the core district has moved 
its previous coolness locale from the '80s chic of Queen Street West to the 
upper middle class hotbed of College Street where small bistros, theatres 
and jazz/worldbeat clubs now dominate the nightlife for suburbanites 
hellbent on seeing or being seen.

There are only about a dozen clubs in Toronto focusing on original/popular 
live music now: Healey's, The Reverb/Kathedral, The Drake Hotel, The 
Vatikan, The Orbit Room & The Mod Club (both in the aforementioned College 
area), Club 279, and old standbys like the reconstituted El Mocambo, The 
Horseshoe, The Rivoli, and Lee's Palace. Occasionally, there will be large 
attractions at The Opera House, The Palais Royale, The Guvernment, and the 
Phoenix (where the Stones just played with The Trews).

I find myself very fortunate to be able to still make calls and place any of 
my acts in these rooms, but I feel badly for the up-and-comers because it 
usually means sharing a bill with 6 other acts just to get a gig in this 
town.

If any of you are in town this Friday, Bullseye's 2nd 20th Anniversary party 
happens at Healey's (178 Bathurst St.) starting at 9PM -- featured guests 
are The First Time (formerly Soap Opera), The Kings....and yours truly 
performing with IPO-friendly Maureen Leeson :-)

Jaimie Vernon,
President, Bullseye Records
"Not Suing Our Customers Since 1985!!"
http://www.bullseyecanada.com
Author, Canadian Pop Music Encyclopedia
http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Pop_Encyclopedia/