1. New Groundswell Festival, until December 10. Nightwood’s annual festival of contemporary women’s theatre is actually a venerable one, but the company has reimagined and expanded it into a more elaborate event. 2. Robber’s holiday sale, Thursday, December 1. The Queen West boutique begins its seasonal deals – trunk sale of fall/winter Diepo items, discounts on everything else in the store – with a little party. Free beer! 3. Shame advance screening, Thursday, December 1. The new Steve McQueen film is unspooling for free at Innis Town Hall tonight, enabling you to be depressed by Michael Fassbender’s sex addiction a day early. 4. Ghostface Killah, Friday, December 2. Enter the Wu-Tang recently attained voting age (you are so old), and while Ghost has claimed that the Clan will release another album next summer, don’t start camping for concert tickets yet. Anyway, why dream of Masta Killa when you can go see Tony Starks right now? 5. Mantler reissue show, Friday, December 2. A white-jacketed stage persona of Chris Cummings and maker of gorgeously downbeat pop, Mantler is finally reissuing his 2000 debut album (on CD-R!) after many years out of print. 6. Curtain Show, Friday, December 2. Double Double Land launches a new performance/installation series where the audience sits onstage as artists prepare the space on the other side of the curtain. “No late Larrys.” 7. Wavelength #530, Saturday, December 3. Wavelength spotlights Toronto’s DIY scene with a show at the Soybomb HQ, featuring Ell V Gore and the Soupcans. 8. Attawapiskat relief drive, Sunday, December 4. Ossington gallery Xpace is collecting donations to help alleviate the state of emergency at the imperiled native reserve Attawapiskat. 9. Trampoline Hall, Monday, December 5. A trio of lectures by non-expert Torontonians: Daniel DeSouza explaining/describing/???ing good roads, David Balzer on aging actress and Aleesa Cohene talking about her security blanket. 10. “Transit City is Dead: Now What?”, Wednesday, December 7. Transit expert Steve Munro leads a discussion on the state of public transportation under Rob Ford (“mildly pessimistic” may be the best-case scenario).
