Photo: Live! One Love... by Proliphic, member of the blogTO Flickr Pool.

Events on Toronto's Radar for MONDAY SEPTEMBER 28, 2009... lovingly handpicked from blogTO's events calendar.

THEATRE | Sondheim in September
The first installment of Sondheim in September garnered rave reviews from audiences, which isn't surprising because this show is a lock if you're a fan of music theatre. For the second of three consecutive Mondays, some of the city's best talent is performing Stephen Sondheim's most well-known pieces. Tonight's performance includes selections from Follies, A Little Night Music, and that creepy Sweeney Todd. The series won an Ovation Award when it was first produced in Vancouver in 2005, and performers include Elicia Mackenzie, winner of CBC's reality show How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?
Metropolitan Community Church, 115 Simpson Ave., $25, 8 pm

MUSIC | The Rifles w/ Young Rival and Invasions
Young Rival have some pretty strong credentials. They've worked with producer Emery Dobyns (who's also made records with Patti Smith and Antony and the Johnsons), and last year won a Hamilton Music Award for best Alt/Indie recording. The band brings their energetic garage-rock chops to the Horseshoe tonight, where they're opening for British band the Rifles. Carrying an endorsement from Brit rock legend Paul Weller, the Strokes-esque Rifles are looking to crack North America after playing in some of Europe's premiere festivals. Local band Invasions opens.
The Horseshoe Tavern, 368 Queen St. W., $9, 9 pm

BOOKS AND LIT | This Is Not a Reading Series with Lisa Pasold
Las Vegas: the town of Vince Vaughn's Swingers, Brad Pitt's Ocean's Eleven, and yes even Elizabeth Berkley's Showgirls. But before all the glitz and glam and pasties, Sin City was a fledgling desert town drawing card sharps like rats to a block of cheese. Lisa Pasold paints a vivid picture of Depression-era Vegas in her debut novel Rats of Vegas, which tells the story of a female poker player navigating her way through high-stakes male-dominated games in backrooms, train cars and casinos. She appears at tonight's This Is Not a Reading Series, which will be celebrating her book's themes with a live jazz band and a Vegas-style burlesque show by top notch troupe Skin Tight Outta Sight.
Gladstone Hotel Ballroom, 1214 Queen St. W., $15, 7:30 pm

BOOKS AND LIT | Q&A and Book Signing with Shinan Govani
Shinan Govani spends his days writing a gossip column for the National Post, and his new novel reads like a tattler blog writ large. Name dropping and not-so-subtle innuendos are Govani's weapons of choice, with famous characters popping up all over the book. He's Canadian though, so the A-list he's trolling consists of Bob Rae, Michael Ignatieff, and Conrad Black, rather than Paris Hilton and Brangelina. Apparently the book caused quite a stir in some circles, with many of the city's celeb-watchers trying to figure out who the thinly-disguised characters that populate the novel actually are. Govani makes an appearance at Indigo Books tonight with one of the biggest stars of Canadian music in Measha Brueggergosman.
Indigo Books, Eaton Centre, Free, 7 pm

PANEL DISCUSSION | Not Your Harem Girl
The theme for this year's Toronto Palestine Film Festival has been "non-stereotypical cinema," and this panel discussion seeks to examine how Arab women have historically been portrayed in film. It's no secret that Arabs have been misrepresented in the movies, serving as stock villains in Hollywood action flicks for decades. Some leading lights in the fields of equity and Arab studies will look to reframe the debate tonight, focusing on stereotypes of Arab women including the ubiquitous harem girl. It should be an enlightening and engaging evening.
William Doo Auditorium, 45 Willcocks Street, Free, 4 pm

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