Since initiating the new “Vault” section for Moon subscribers on the www.torontomoon.ca website a few weeks ago I’ve found myself quite naturally gravitating to recalling bands and rooms from my history over the past 22 years, since I started covering the GTA music scene full-time with the launch of this magazine project.

One of the places I spent a lot of time at in the late nineties and through almost all of the naughties is a seven-nights-a-week music emporium and cult hangout by the name of the Orbit Room.

For about four years, some will recall, I I did most of the promotion work for the second floor room at 580 College St. in the heart of TO. That included doing a monthly newsletter through which we built an email database of fans to whom I also sent regular email updates about what acts were coming up.  One of my big frustrations while doing all that was how far out of date the club’s www.orbitroom.ca website always seemed to be —this was at a time when the last of the technophobe holdouts were finally all getting online themselves and we were very much feeling our way in that area of communications.

The site has continued to be a problem ever since —but apparently no longer! Driven by nostalgia to see if incredibly gifted Steely Dan tribute Pretzel Logic was still doing its monthly “last Thursday” show there tonight, I checked out the site and was delightedly surprised to see a fully functional and up-t0-date calendar of which bands are playing every night this month including, yes, Pretzel Logic tonight.

The bigger bonus is for Moon readers, who have already known about some of the regular weekly shows that happen in the room via the Show Listings posts. But since now that I know the club has a reliable source of listings info, I’ll happily include every night’s roster in my listings, since this is a room that always has Grade AAA music (whether by stars or unknowns) from a variety of genres on offer.

-Gary 17

LISTINGS:

*5-8> Nelson Denis @ Frank’s Pasta, 42 King Street E., Cobourg ~eclectic mix (Folk, Jazz, soft Rock, Latin)

5-8> Joshua Goodman Band @ Gate 403, 403 Roncesvalles Ave., TO W. ~Jazz

6> RV @ Cameron House (front), 408 Queen St. W., TO

6:30> Fabio Rangelli Trio @ The Rex, 194 Queen St. W., TO ~Jazz

7-9> Julia Tynes @ Relish, 2152 Danforth Ave., TO E. ~songwriter

7> Elmer Ferrer Band @ Timothy’s Pub, 344 Brown’s Line, Etob. S. ~Pop Rock

*7:30-12> open mic with K.M. Smith @ Molly Bloom’s Guelph, 91 Wyndham St. N., Guelph

*7:30-9:30> Bluegrass Thursdays with Houndstooth @ Tranzac Lounge (Southern Cross), 292 Brunswick Ave., TO

*8-12> jam with Tommy Rocker Band @ Karla’s Roadhouse, 4630 Kingston Rd., Scarborough

*8> open mic with Anthony Abbatangeli & Ken Foster @ DeSotos, 1079 St. Clair Ave. W., TO West

8-12> David Leask @ Fionn MacCool’s Ajax, 32 Kingston Rd. E. Ajax

8> JP Saxe 4^th annual birthday show with Christian Bridges @ Supermarket, 268 Augusta Ave., TO ~indie

*8-12> open mic & jam @ Black Swan Pub Burlington, 4040 Palladium Way, Burlington

8:30> Ron Hynes @ Moonshine Café, 137 Kerr St. Oakville ~East Coast Roots songwriter; $25

8:30> Catherine MacLellan album preview @ Hugh’s Room, 2261 Dundas St. W., TO West ~Roots-Pop; $25

8:30> Larysa Musick @ Free Times Café, 320 College St. TO

*9-1:30> open stage @ Dave’s On St. Clair, 730 St. Clair West, TO W. ~eclectic

9> The Dragonflys @ Linsmore Tavern, 1298 Danforth Ave., TO E. ~Rock

*9> jam with Ted Rusk @ The Sauble Dunes, 11 Southampton Parkway, Sauble Beach

*9> jam @ The Wee Pub, 371 Wilson Rd. South, Oshawa

9-12> Annie Bonsignore @ Gate 403, 403 Roncesvalles Ave., TO W. ~Jazz

9> Bouffant Babies with Bangs & Blush @ The Painted Lady, 218 Ossington Ave., TO W.

9> Rye & Fairy Tales @ The Local, 396 Roncesvalles Ave., TO W. ~contemporary Bluegrass

9-1> Kayla Howran @ Dakota Tavern, 249 Ossington Ave., TO West ~Country

9-1> Fat Tony @ Black Dog Pub, 87 Island Rd., Scarb. ~Pop Rock

9-1> Jack de Keyzer Band @ Monarchs Pub (Eaton Chelsea Hotel), 33 Gerrard St. W., TO ~Blues

9-12> Broadsway feat. Julie Michels @ Jazz Bistro, 251 Victoria St., TO ~Jazz; $20

*9-2> karaoke with Joe @ Tudor Rose, 700 Harwood Ave. S., Ajax

*9:30> karaoke with The English Rose & The Mad Scotsman @ Coyote Jack’s, 64 Harwood Ave. S., Ajax

*9:30> karaoke with Kiki @ Relish, 2152 Danforth Ave., TO E.

*9:30-2> Skip Tracer @ Southside Johnny’s, 3653 Lakeshore Blvd., Etobicoke S. ~Rock/Pop

9:30> Mark Eisenman Quintet @ The Rex, 194 Queen St. W., TO ~Jazz

9:30> Alistair Christl Trio @ The Emmet Ray, 924 College St., TO ~Rockabilly

*9:30> jam with Jack B Nimble @ Abbey Road Pub, 3200 Erin Mills Parkway, Mississauga

9:30> D’arcy Wickham; The Marrieds @ C’est What, 67 Front St. E., TO ~songwriters; $6

*10> Salt & Pepper karaoke with Josh & Danish @ St. Louis Ajax. 11 Harwood Ave. S., Ajax

*10> open jam @ The Red Garnet, 231 Hunter St. W. Peterborough

10> John Southworth @ Tranzac Lounge (Southern Cross), 292 Brunswick Ave., TO

10> The Tonkas @ Roc’n Doc’s, 105 Lakeshore Rd. E., Port Credit ~Blues

10> Jane’s Party @ Cameron House (front), 408 Queen St. W., TO ~Roots-Rock

10> Pretzel Logic @ Orbit Room, 480 College St. TO ~Steely Dan tribute ~Steely Dan tribute

10:30> Maps @ The Hideout, 484 Queen St. W., TO ~indie Rock

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