Top Toronto event picks for THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19th, 2009:

ART OPENING | 44 Oz's Group Show
Coinciding with Obama's visit to Canada, 44 Oz celebrates with an open-format group art show illustrating "the drunken hope that President Obama brings" with this visit. (hic) Exhibition runs to Feb 28.
Barbershop Gallery, 1718 Queen Street W. (416) 535-2157.
730-11pm / FREE / website

COMEDY | Impromptu Splendor: Brechtian Splendor
The Impromptu Splendor gang creates a full-length improvised play, this week in the style of modernist Bertolt Brecht, laced with a Kurt Weill-esque score. Actress and playwright Maja Ardal and pianist Ted Dykstra make a guest appearance.
Comedy Bar, 945 Bloor West. (647) 898-5324.
830pm / PWYC / website

FILM | Next: A Primer on Urban Painting
The Institute of Contemporary Culture presents Pablo Aravena's Next: A Primer on Urban Painting, a Canadian feature on street art.
Royal Ontario Museum - Signy and Cleophee Eaton Theatre, 100 Queen's Park Circle.
7pm / $10 general, $8 students & seniors, $6 Friends of ICC / website

LECTURE | Know More Lectures: WWI and WWII
If you skipped grade 10 history class or just don't remember much about WWI and WWII, high school teacher Peter Stevens can shed some light on the subject (and remind you that learning can be really fun).
46 Noble Street, Unit 102.
8-930pm / $5 / website

MUSIC | Silenced: A Benefit Concert Series
Basia Lyjak, Monday Rose, Sixes & Sevens, and Captive Grove play in support of Silenced, Future Aces and UNITY, initiatives to stop youth violence.
Phoenix Concert Theatre, 410 Sherbourne Street. (416) 323-1251.
9pm / $15 advance, $20 at the door / website

PARTY | Modern Problems with Mike Simonetti
Disco DJ Mike Simonetti of Italians Do It Better joins residents DJ Mikey Apples and Steve Yanko for a Thursday night dance fest.
Drake Underground, 1150 Queen Street West. (416) 531-5042
10pm / $5 / website

STAGE | The Jungle-ish Book: A British Pantomime
A loose and playful adaptation of the Rudyard Kipling classic, incorporating pantomime and live performance with audience interaction. Costumes! Special Effects! And a whole lotta PG-13 wow. And here I thought pantomime was just about getting out of a box.
Tranzac. 292 Brunswick Avenue, (416) 923-8137.
8pm show / $18 / website

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Photo: "Ghostly Parking" by diffuseeee_//X:)), member of the blogTO Flickr pool.