NXNE... Here at last!

The time has come. Starting tonight.. 3 nights of mayhem with 500 bands to choose from spread across 50 venues. I hope you've done your homework. If not, grab today's NOW and get busy! Or just wing it! Buy a wrist band and go with the flow. With so much great talent in town, you're sure to find some groups that will really get you pumped up, even with a random club crawl.

If you're lucky enough to find a good lineup at a single club for the eveneing, that's great. Get there early and establish your turf for the night. If you want to stretch a bit and do some modest club hopping without cabs or street cars, consider what's playing at these clusters of clubs that are within acceptable walking distance of each other in the 15-20 minutes you have between gigs....

• Queen W/Spadina - The Horseshoe, The Rivoli, The Cameron, Black Bull
  
• Queen W/Bathurst - Bovine Sex Club, Reverb, Holy Joe's, Kathedral, Tattoo, Funhaus
  
• College/Spadina - El Mocambo, Ranch Relaxo, Silver Dollar, Free Times Cafe, Neutral Lounge
  
• Bloor/Bathurst/College - Lee's Palace, Sneaky Dee's, Clinton's
• Queen/College (really) West - Dakota, Gladstone, Drake, Cadillac Lounge

If you check out our club map, it'll be really easy to spot these groupings.

The great thing about NXNE is that most clubs are really strict about timing. Each new act starts on the hour every hour. That way you're never disappointed because someone has gone on too long or started too early.

ENJOY EVERYONE!!!

Canadian Music Week - March 5-8, 2008

It's coming up fast so be prepared for it.

Canadian Music Week brings together 500 Canadian and international srtists, who will play at roughly 40 venues (mostly in the downtown core). Get your wrist-band for $30 + tax. It's the only way to take in as many performances as you can. Use this TICKETBREAK link to order online. You'll still need to pick up your wristbands in person, but the convenience of ordering online will make it worth it. Here's a map to their location for pick=up...




All the details for CMW are at http://cmw.net . Sadly, the organizers once again make it difficult to go through the performers list online. You either have to search for bands that you hope might be there, or spend ages bring up band lists for every letter of the alphabet. When will they ever learn.

Attending an event like this requires a handy pocket-guide, which could easily be made available as a .PDF file for printing. Where is it?

And, as for finding the venues, you're still better off using our Clubs page with its interactive map.

Hopefully, next week's EYE and NOW will have extensive coverage of what they recommend and how to make the most of this mini-festival.

Unlike North X Northeast in June, it could be chilly, so dress for it. We personally like to see several different bands in different venues each night in order to make the most of the event, so that means a fair bit of walking unless you don't mind running up cab fares.

But, in some cases, venues will keep a common theme for the performers booked there for the evening, so you may find one or two that will do the trick for you.