It baffles me, in this day and age, that certain commercial outlets choose to blatantly waste power right in the face of consumers. Having an open door with an air conditioner running is a complete waste of energy, and it also places unnecessary strain on our maxed-out power grid. It's like that blast of cold air as I walk past the door is a punch in the face, saying 'We don't give a damn about how our store policies affect the environment'.

As a friend and I were cooling off on our balcony (relying on the nightly wind, the old-fashioned way), we decided to perform a survey of two adjacent neighbourhoods: The Annex and Bloor-Yorkville. What follows may come as no surprise, and though the numbers are crude, awareness is the best leverage for the savvy consumer.

A deluge of indie music awaits the avid concert-goer in Toronto this summer. To our good fortune, there are guiding hands to help sift through the flotsam. The Two Way Monologues Showcase is a sapling among local mainstays like Wavelength, All Caps, and Pitter Patter. With just 1 show under his belt, I spoke with TWN founder Dan Wolovick to explore the rewards and hazards of promoting independent shows in Toronto.

K: Can you tell me a briefly about the history of Two Way Monologues, and how it spawned the TWM Showcase series?

D: I started writing TWM as a blog in London, at a time where I was spending ridiculous amounts of money on music and I wanted a forum to speak about it. I'd just bought the Sondre Lerche record, and that song was stuck in my brain, so when I needed a name it just fit. After a while, other people wanted to participate and the blog format didn't fit what we were doing. So a few of my friends helped put together the site you see now, which allowed TWM to grow. We have 11 people writing for the site, with daily updates, more features and other neat things in the pipeline.

As for the Showcase series: we were covering CMW, and I was spending too much time covering music by bands--largely American bands--that are just never going to play here. There is value there, but while I was covering those artists I was missing out on tons of high-quality local stuff. So I decided to start the series. It's an amazing way to get the word out about TWM while bringing attention to some of my favourite local bands, and I think it really adds a new dimension to what we are doing at the site. I've always been that guy who could ramble on for hours about what new bands my friends need to check out; this is just an extension--albeit a large one--of that.

Over the course of my musical meanderings around Toronto, I had the pleasure of meeting danielle duval. She's a down-to-Earth gal who writes, produces, and plays her own brand of rock & roll. Put it this way: she's not just the front-woman for the band (a common phenomenon in Canadian indie rock), she is the entire reason the band exists.

Her new EP, L'etranger, launches on the 19th. They're also throwing a free release party this Thursday at the Supermarket.

I recently spoke with her about her experiences moving to Toronto. After all, didn't everyone else in Canada look down on TO, especially someone like danielle who was born and raised in Montreal? It turns out she's got nothing but good things to say about this city (except for the smog), and she's even explored our neighbourhoods enough to recommend a few favourites.

Keep reading for a brief interview and details of the CD release.

Under the category of bands that kicked my ass at NXNE '06, the Hot Springs got things going in the murky bowels of the infamous Comfort Zone last night... de-sketching things a bit from the usual CoZo tip with their "first sober show ever!".

I start my NXNE journey outside the Boat at 9:00 PM, only to find that the venue is at capacity for the opening set. The doorman is doing a hell of a job manning the gates against the horde of people who think they have a leg up on the others like me who stand patiently in line (kudos, dude). After Mother Mother finishes, some people leave and I was allowed in. So it begins.

It irks me whenever I see local media fall into cheap rhetoric and sensationalism to move a story--especially at a grieving family's expense. Case in point: Saturday morning's deadly car crash that claimed the lives of 3 Toronto teens during a high-speed police pursuit. Let's have a look at how the different news outlets (mis)handled the story for their own agendas.