One of my birthday gifts a few weeks ago was a pair of tickets to the gala premiere of SARSical. As the name implies, it’s a musical based on those fun-filled halcyon days of Spring 2003 when dear old Toronto was made an international pariah for our dalliance with the SARS virus.

It originally debuted at last year’s Fringe Festival and was a big enough hit that it’s being restaged for a three-week run at the Factory Theatre. Brimming with song and dance and wit to spare, it was a hell of a lot of fun and I don’t think I stopped laughing for almost the entire duration. While it follows a few storylines, the main target of the satire is the media’s coverage of our fair city during the crisis and how our then-mayor, Mel Lastman, handled/bungled the whole thing. I don’t know how well it would translate outside of Toronto as you really have to have lived through that time to truly appreciate it, but for me it was a blast. I don’t remember the last time I had this much fun at the theatre – granted, I don’t remember the last time I was AT the theatre, but whenever that was, I think this was better.

The show has gotten a fair bit of local and national coverage with pieces in Macleans, NOW, CBC and The Toronto Star. And I could help but be reminded of this tasty treat I saw in a vending machine in Taipei a couple months ago. Mm mmm good!

Mars Needs Guitars offers up a list of his top ten shoegaze songs. Only one I don’t have/haven’t heard is Loop’s “Arc-Lite (Sonar)”. Motel De Moka also has a two part tribute to shoegazing. It’s apparently the meme of the week.

And speaking of old-school British music, YouTube has House Of Love videos! That shirt in “I Don’t Know Why I Love You”? That, Guy Chadwick, is why you guys were never big. I admit I am a little concerned about the total lack of news from the House Of Love camp since November – generally not good news for a band that rather famously imploded the first time around. It’d be a shame if they’d packed it in again – Days Run Away wasn’t a total triumph but it was solid enough to prove there might still be some gas left in the tank. Or, it appears, not.

Video: The House Of Love – “I Don’t Know Why I Love You” (YouTube)
Video: The House Of Love – “Shine On” (YouTube)
Video: The House Of Love – “Christine” (YouTube)

Bradley’s Almanac has got the recording of Film School’s recent show in Boston all nicely MP3-ed for your enjoyment to go along with the Margot & The Nuclear So And Sos set from the same show he posted last week. The Tripwire has a live acoustic video of a percentage of the band performing “Jen Is Bringin The Drugs” while The Nashville City Paper has a chat with lead Margot Richard Edwards. And hey look – the band has a Flickr account which apparently confirms “MNSS” as the official band acronym. Duly noted.

Stylus ponders magical moments from the Mountain Goats. Their new one Get Lonely is out August 22.

Dose – dead as a print publication but carrying on in a zombie online form – talks a bit with Mogwai’s Barry Burns.

Concretes drummer Lisa Milberg gives Chart some Q&A action.

Mates Of State gives Paste a five-point guide to being in a band with your spouse. Harp gets some baby talk.

So thanks to everyone who entered the Mission Of Burma contest over the past week – it’s closed now and I’ll sort out the winners in the next couple days. I’ve got the eight 12″s I’m to give away as prizes and let me tell you, they’re something else. Whoever gets these is a lucky pup. Next up in the freebies queue is a Tilly & The Wall prize pack. I’ve got three pairs of tickets to the band’s June 11 show at the Mod Club as well as copies of their new album Bottom Of Barrels, which came out last week. Because the tickets and the CDs go together, this’ll only be for locals or people willing to come to Toronto to see/get em. More info here.

np – Sonic Youth / Rather Ripped