Cover Story
Cage Rage
BARRETT HOOPER
It’s been called human cockfighting, so why is the province making ultimate fighting even more dangerous by forcing it underground? NOW goes inside the world of mixed martial arts – from the …
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Consensus-builder Miller is brave enough to ride herd over rudderless bureaucracy.
News
Power of one
Let mayor take clout he wants from province
Mike Smith
Councillor Adam Vaughan believes there's a simple answer to the question of whether Toronto's mayor should have more power. "If you want a strong mayor," he shrugs, "elect one." For the record, he …
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The Spot is just one example of youthful dynamism in Jane-Finch.
Photo By Cheol Joon Baek
News
Jane alive at Finch
'Hood most downtowners never visit would have pleased urban guru Jane Jacobs no end
Andrew Cash
Apart from sharing a first name, Jane Jacobs and Jane-Finch aren't usually associated with each other. The late urban guru championed high-density, mixed-use, walkable neighbourhoods, not …
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Scalping may be illegal, but don’t look to the feds to rein in Ticketmaster’s lucrative ticket reselling set-up.
R. Jeanette Martin
News Feature
Ticketmaster tick-off
Blame "Internet robots" for hyper-inflated Radiohead tix
Paul Terefenko
It's small consolation for Radiohead fans who find themselves without tickets for the Amphitheatre show – unless, that is, they want to drop $188 each for cheap seats (more on that later). But …
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Kelvin Swaby
Music Feature
Heavy hitting
Bath bruisers dwell on funk’s darkside
Tim Perlich
If your bandmates are weedy tossers from Bath, you don’t go around calling yourselves the Heavy unless you can deliver the wall-shaking goods. Confrontationally charismatic frontman Kelvin Swaby …
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Talking Toronto
Elizabeth Shepherd
Elizabeth Shepherd launches her new disc, Parkdale, with a show at the Gladstone on Friday (May 9). $15, advance $10. Doors 9 pm. 416-?586-?0380. What Toronto restaurant do you like to eat at …
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Zanzibar Soccer Queens scores major points as Canadian Sport Film Fest’s closing gala.
Rep Cinema Feature
Zanzibar Soccer Queens
Susan G. Cole
In this relatively short but powerful documentary, soccer becomes a medium of liberation and creativity for scores of women in Zanzibar. In a series of interviews, some of them talk about how their …
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Bill Milner (left) and Will Poulter get the last laughs in First Blood takeoff Son Of Rambow.
Movie Reviews
The Son also rises
Son Of Rambow celebrates the power of film – and it’s hilarious
NORMAN WILNER
Son of Rambow is the movie Be Kind Rewind desperately wanted to be – a joyful celebration of the ridiculous, liberating power of cinema on the human imagination. And it’s really, really funny. Set in …
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Joe Cobden and Jenny Young sift through sibling rivalry in The Eco Show
Photo By Steve Payne
Theatre Preview
Recycling the family
Daniel Brooks’s The Eco Show provides fertile ground for creative growth
Jon Kaplan
So you recycle your bottles and try not to run the water when you’re brushing your teeth. Is that enough to save the planet? Hardly, though we know that personal acts add up globally. But what …
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Robert Mapplethrope’s portrait of Lisa Lyon demonstrates his amazing chops. // © Mapplethorpe Foundation. Used by Permission
Art Feature
Picture all this
NOW’s ongoing coverage of the massive Contact photo fest tips the must-see shows
David Jager,Fran Schechter and Leah Sandals
Robert Mapplethorpe WHAT: Aufhebung at Olga Korper Gallery (17 Morrow, 416-?538-?8220), to May 31. WHY: These actual Mapplethorpe prints – a diverse sampling of archival prints personally curated by …
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La Tortilleria owners Axel Arvizu and Juan Roman make their own tortillas on-site.
Photo By David Laurence
Food & Drink
Kensington goes taco loco
Tiny La Tortilleria’s tasty tacos spice up the scene in Kensington Market
Steven Davey
Is any other word in the culinary lexicon more overworked than “authentic”? From jerk chicken to Southern bar­becue, foodies are always on the look­out for the real McCoy. Authenticity is their …
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Letters to the Editor
Letters
TTC sucks and drags Mike Smith, the writer of Losing Service Was A Drag, But... (NOW, May 1-7), should realize that the people the TTC's strike hit the hardest are the ones who have to work …
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News
Why Did the (Zimbabwean) Chicken Cross the Road?
Gwynne Dyer
As the delay in announcing the results of Zimbabwe's presidential election stretched out endlessly, the political jokes proliferated across southern Africa. The best ones were based on the old "Why …
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Grassroots
Bring out your bikes
Toronto Bicycle Network kicks off the cycling season with an info session, activities, games and a free hearty breakfast. Bikeless inline skaters are encouraged to join up, too. Breakfast starts at 9 …
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Hot Tickets
This week’s must-see Toronto shows
Crowded House Music Hall (147 Danforth), tonight (Thursday, May 8) If you missed Wednesday’s show, you’ve got one last chance to get an up-?close-?and-?personal preview of the long awaited new …
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Astrology
Freewill Astrology
Week of May 8th
Rob Brezsny
ARIES Mar 21 | Apr 19 For many Aries, independence is a virtue that flows in abundance – so much so that it’s sometimes on the verge of becoming excessive and turning into a vice. That’s why I’m …
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Savage Love
Dan Savage
I’m 16 and gay. I recently got into an argument with my parents over whether HIV is spread by saliva, or if you can be infected during oral sex. I thought that you were safe kissing and that it’s …
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SUNDAY | MAY | 11 | 2008
Everything Toronto through NOW's lens.
Today's Hot Tickets

NEWSBird Migration hike at Tommy Thompson Park. 7 am and 1:30 pm. Free. Foot of Leslie south of Lakeshore. 416-661-6600 ext 5660.

MUSICJim White at The Horseshoe, 370 Queen West. 416-598-4226.

MOVIESTORONTO JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL The annual fest of Jewish films from around the world closes today. Various venues and times. www.tjff.com. SEE MORE HERE

ARTGladstone Exposed: Depictions, Discoveries, Discussions & Debate, to May 25. Angela Del Buono and Derek Shapton, to May 31. Henrieta Haniskova, to May 31. 1214 Queen W. 416-531-4635.

BOOKSImage Wars And The Ethics Of Looking Ulyssean Soc talk by author and art historian Carol Zemel. 2 pm. Free. Hart House, 7 Hart House Circle. 416-239-3410.

STAGECROSSCURRENTS The festival of works by playwrights of colour concludes tonight at the Factory Theatre, 125 Bathurst. 504-9971. SEE MORE HERE

what: Freedom Festival and Global Marijuana March where: Queen's Park North when: Saturday, May 3, 4:20 pm
Photo By R. Jeanette Martin
Up Front
UpFront
"The Department of National Defence doesn't make policy. Only the government does that." Peter MacKay squashes efforts by military higher-ups keen on starting talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan. …
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Ecoholic
Slow your mow with eco-friendly grass seed
Adria Vasil
Q: What’s up with those no-mow lawns? Are they genetically modified? A: Up there with inheriting a million-dollar cottage and getting two months’ paid vacation, never having to mow the lawn again …
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Alt.Health
Easing seasonal sneezes
Tame pollen overload with fish oil and probiotics
Elizabeth Bromstein
As daffodils wave their petals in the wind, seasonal allergies have folks sneezing, itching and keeling over in exhaustion. My downstairs neighbour has them something awful. The poor thing has a …
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Sweet Deals
Notes & Deals
The week’s news, views and deals
Andrew Sardone
FLUFed Trinity Bell­woods cushion boutique FLUF (881 Queen West, 416-362-3583, www.fluf-design.com) is closing its doors at the end of May to focus on its booming wholesale business, and pillows are …
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Photo By David Hawe
Take 5
Earthy baubles
Andrew Sardone
Flora, fauna and other all natural forms are giving jewellery a lush, organic look this spring 1. A cast-maple key swings from Into the Woods’ silver necklace ($75, Distill, 55 Mill, building 47, …
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Photo By Kathryn Gaitens
Store of the Week
The Mercantile
Andrew Sardone
THE MERCANTILE, 297 Roncesvalles, 416-531-7563, www.themercantile.ca. College Street’s favourite gourmet general store has left club-clogged Little Italy and made the move to foodie-friendly …
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Mark Steyn
WEB JAM
Point not taken
What's spreading around the Internet this week
Joshua Errett
Online debate can be a natural, zesty enterprise, but rarely is it a fair fight. Case in point: the brutal and ongoing takedown of the Ontario Human Rights Commission by just about anyone with an IP …
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The memorial’s waist-high blocks create a maze that make a visitor feel trapped.
Photo By Jaime Woo
Travel
Haunting Holocaust
Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial looks innocuous, but a sense of unease soon sets in
Jaime Woo
Berlin – The Holocaust memorial wasn’t on my to-do list when I arrived. Although suggested by my friend Rohit, it wasn’t listed in my guidebook (which, I believed, was a comment on the quality of the …
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Perlich's Picks
Perlich’s picks
A weekly dig through the crates for the stuff you really­ need to hear.
Tim Perlich
Freaky Gal Recorded just months after Gal Costa’s strong-selling eponymous solo debut in 1969, the Gal album – reissued by Dusty Groove’s in-house label – is light years away sonically and …
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Shoegeezers Richard Ashcroft (front) and Peter Salisbury sweated to the Verve’s oldies at the Ricoh Coliseum Thursday.
Nic Pouliot
The Scene
Shows that rocked Toronto last week
Wed, Apr 30 YELLE at the Opera House, Rating: NNNN No record on North American store shelves, singing completely in French: these appear to be very minor obsta­cles in the story of Yelle’s rising …
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