Deep Dish: Dec 11, 2014

Bloor Street Entertains Tues, Nov 25 @ The ROM

A long time ago, dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Tonight their bones soar above us at the Royal Ontario Museum for the 18th annual Bloor Street Entertains afterparty, Crash the Crystal. Hopefully, sometime in the near future AIDS, too, will be a thing of the past. Until that time, organizations like CANFAR are necessary to spearhead research. One way of funding this important group is by attending the annual $1,000-a-plate charity dinner created by renowned chefs like Momofuku’s Sam Gelman, Table 17’s John Sinopoli, Buca’s Rob Gentile and The Harbord Room’s Cory Vitiello at more than 20 upscale Bloor-Yorkville venues, including Boss, Bur-berry, Harry Rosen, Mulberry, Tiffany & Co and Roots. To date, CANFAR and the hundreds who attend have raised more than $18 million. One such diner is Olympian Mark Tewksbury, who, even though he and his partner, Rob Mabee, are mingling with the masses, makes a video greeting on a big screen erected in the main hall as guests — including philanthropist Salah Bachir, designer Glenn Dixon, TV personality David Dixon, fashion industry icon Jeanne Beker, designer duo Jim Searle and Chris Tyrell, TD’s Al Ramsay and partner Michael Daniels, Eatertainment’s Sebastien Centner and wife Sheila, Bustle design couple Shawn Hewson and Ruth Promislow — listen, drinks in hand. A live band has feet tapping to swing music before a DJ takes over and moves us forward several decades to get the crowd going. And going they get. Two guys throw themselves at each other wildly as they pretend the dancefloor is a mosh pit, two other guys grind up against each other thinking perhaps they’re on the dancefloor of Fly nightclub, and two tuxedoed elderly gay men record all of it on a camera phone. The night has erupted into a sight from which not even the bones of a Tyrannosaurus rex can distract.

Classic House Sat, Oct 11 & Fri, Nov 14 @ House-Maison

Not so long ago, the 120-year-old Victorian at 580 Church St housed two businesses. Now that Renda Abdo has taken over both sides, the two halves have been smartly renovated and reunited as House-Maison. With three restaurants within walking distance of each other in the Village under her ownership (Wish, Smith and now House-Maison), Abdo is like the Donald Trump of the Village, except with much more hair (tonight she has a gorgeous blonde named Nadia on her arm). Known for trying out new venues, Gairy Brown has jumped at the opportunity to throw a Prism party in House-Maison. Classic House brings back the tracks many who are here tonight cut our teeth on when we first ventured into the gay club scene. Former actor/drag performer and now home-renovation expert Alexander Chapman (aka Titi Galore) is enjoying the old-school beats of DJ Cory Activate alongside ex-Fly nightclub co-owner Ian Malcolm, Guvernment lighting technician Alex Korittko and Pink Panther party boy Charles Pavia. It’s mature yet fresh, manly yet swishy. Unfortunately, the crowd isn’t quite big enough to open the second half of the second floor. And not even the welcome sight of Brown in his trademark “sunglasses at night look” can distract from this fact.