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Rex
Make a bee-bop beeline for The Rex, which, courtesy of a three million dollar makeover, has risen from its pugilistic, blue-collared past to become an outstanding jazz and blues venue. Over a dozen different Dixieland, experimental and other local and international acts knock over the joint each week. Drinks are cheap, and the cover affordable.
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Rivoli
The everlovin' Rivoli offers a lot to the city, with nightly live music (rock, indie and solo singer-songwriters), weekly stand-up comedy and monthly hip-hop nights. CD launches and art shows and Saturday night DJs complete a very renaissance picture. There's also an upstairs pool hall, and the food is fabulous!
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Silver Dollar Room
Crankin' electric blues and southern acoustic slide guitar reign supreme at the legendary Silver Dollar. Big-name touring acts from down south (Detroit, New Orleans, Chicago, etc) kick up ticket prices, sometimes above around C$30 on weekends, but there's no cover for mid-week bluegrass jams and Saturday afternoon shows.
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Sneaky Dee's
Spangled with graffiti on the prominent Bathurst St/College St corner, Sneaky Dee's isn't so sneaky-looking. The downstairs bar has battered booths with skeletons painted on them; upstairs is a darkened breeding ground for new T.O. rock talent.
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Supermarket
It looks like it probably once was a supermarket, but they ain't selling groceries any more. Instead, fill your shopping trolley with jazzy hip-hop DJs, themed costume parties (Rocky Horror, Casual Sex, Halloween, etc), occasional live bands and Asian-fusion dinners. Kensington Market at its kookiest.
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Top O' The Senator
Upstairs in a historic building just east o' the Eaton Centre, the sassy jazz standards drifting from the Senator's stage are seductive and hypnotic. Musicians and bartenders fill patrons' dreams and martini glasses every night except Monday. Serious hepcats like Branford Marsalis play here when they're in town.
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Toronto Symphony Orchestra
A range of classics, Cole Porter-era pops and new music from around the world are presented by the TSO at Roy Thomson Hall, Massey Hall and the Toronto Centre for the Arts. Consult their website or printed matter for the answers to such questions as, 'What if I need to cough?' and, 'Should I clap yet?'
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Trinity-St Paul's Centre
The world-renowned Tafelmusik ( www.tafelmusik.org ) baroque orchestra and chamber choir performs most of the time at atmospheric Trinity-St Paul's United Church (tickets around C$22 -77). So too does the excellent Toronto Consort ( www.torontoconsort.org with early medieval and renaissance music (tickets around C$14 -48). Check schedules for family matinees, meet-the-musician nights and the annual holiday sing-along to Handel's Messiah at Massey Hall.
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Underground Garage
Trying valiantly to keep it real in the otherwise skin-deep Entertainment District, this urban rock bar is down a steep staircase lined with Led Zeppelin, Willie Nelson and John Lennon posters. Wailing guitars, cold beer and good times - just as it should be. It doesn't usually get going until .
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University of Toronto Faculty of Music
U of T's scholarly and professional music faculty presents a series of concerts - orchestral, chamber, wind ensembles, jazz and new music - at various venues around the university's St George campus. An afternoon of tea and opera at the MacMillan Theatre costs less than around C$30 . Vocal performance classes and select concerts at Walter Hall are free.
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