Mondoville Daily Scroll: December 7

Today on the Scroll: gentrification takes the form of condo-friendly furniture; recalling when sketch comedy was Toronto’s answer to grunge rock; sketch comedian beats back grim reaper; Abrahamic mission shifts from intersections to internet; and winning rock doc shocks the Hollywood voting block.

Queen Street West to lose another music venue [Globe and Mail]: The Big Bop, a multi-room complex that drew nightlife lineups around the blighted Queen and Bathurst block in the 1980s, lumbered along for the past 15 years split into three: goth dungeon Kathedral, rock stage Reverb and folkie nook Holy Joe’s. Sold in 2006, the racket will stop after New Year’s Eve, rumoured to be the Toronto location for CB2 — the urban housewares spin-off of Crate and Barrel that seems especially partial to day-glo furnishings.

Back in the Hall [Adam Sternbergh, The Walrus]: A flashback to the pre-CB2 era of Queen West, tied to the forthcoming CBC reunion mini-series from Kids in the Hall, written by a member of one of several local sketch troupes who tried basking in their early-1990s glow. Where did it all go? “YouTube made sketch comedy suddenly seem not only obsolete but faintly musty, endearingly quaint, like forming a barbershop quartet. Maybe people still do it, but it’s not where the action is.”

Scott free [Maclean's]: From the set of Death Comes to Town, Scott Thompson talks about his brush with cancer, now zapped away: “If Saku Koivu can come back and play hard, then I can joke hard.”

Inside the world of T.O.’s infamous Peace Lady [Michelle Mandel, Toronto Sun]: Who isn’t a social media expert these days? Pauline Davis, who has lived in a suburban ravine for over a quarter-century while donning her white robe to bless the traffic, hosts her own YouTube videos at thepeacelady.com. But a turf war is being waged with a fellow tent dweller, whose presence now threatens them both, yet the 67-year-old realizes she can’t rationalize this Godly mission forever: “One of the greatest inventions man ever made was hot water coming out of a tap,” Davis sighs.

Rock Doc Anvil! a Big Hit at IDA Awards [The Wrap]: Snubbed by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, the International Documentary Association considered The Story of Anvil worthy of their top prize overall, along with top nod in the music category. So, instead of an Oscar, they emerged triumphant at the kind of awards show that is hosted by Ira Glass.

… and more all day today @mondoville and dailystream@mondoville.com.

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