Tag Archive for Gate 403

A Marquee Saturday for Bill Heffernan in his new Saturday home | TorontoMoon.ca 181006Sa | Shows for Saturday, October 06, 2021

October 6, 2021

\ TO WEST \ I’m happy to report that Roots-Rock balladeer and host of a Saturday showcase series that features special guests each week, Bill Heffernan, has found a new home for his Saturday Sessions series —and practically next door to where it was taking place for many years on Roncesvalles Ave. Indeed we’ve written…

April 28, 2022

\ TO WEST \ April has been a sad month for live music in west TO as not one but two longstanding venues with several nights a week of live music have either already ceased live music operation or will be dark after the end of the month. We already reported a couple of weeks…

April 15, 2022

UPDATE: The Mike McKenna birthday show has been rescheduled to next Sunday due to the weather. Other show cancellations have also been received since this was posted. If you want to check a show’s status, click the link in the club’s address field to go to Google Maps, where address listings also usually include phone…

April 14, 2022

\ TO WEST \ It’s the end of an era for Roots-Rock fans who’ve been gathering Saturday afternoons for the past 13 years at Gate 403 on the Roncesvalles strip of west TO for the weekly 5-8 show hosed by affable songwriter Bill Heffernan. The club has been sold and closes after tomorrow’s finale performance,…

September 6, 2021

\ TO WEST \ It appears that Gate 403 Jazz/Blues and Roots restaurant on Roncesvalles Avenue is scaling back on its live music for three of the seven days a week it has been presenting two shows per day for several years. For over 23 years now, as we described in an article in 2015,…

June 17, 2021

\ TO WEST \ It’s a busy day and evening with some truly great musical offerings all across Toronto and the GTA and surrounding areas. But nowhere will it be any more diverse, absorbing or gratifying than what you can find this afternoon on Roncesvalles Avenue in TO’s west end area. The strip between Queen…

April 29, 2022

\ TO WEST \ I had no idea until today that veteran violin virtuoso Shelley Coopersmith —whom I’ve seen accompanying a slew of top-shelf Roots-Rock, Folk and Jazz/Blues type artists over many, many years— is also a songwriter! But apparently that is the case, as wily Roots patriarch Bill Heffernan already knew, based on his…

September 3, 2021

\ TO WEST \ It’s been well over a year since we last told you about the return to gigging by engaging and often witty Country duo The McDales and in that time, while Herb Dale and Fran McCann have frequently been spotted at open stages and done several special guest appearances, they haven’t really…

July 24, 2021

\ TO WEST \ Versatile and vibrant, Toronto native and long-time U.K. resident Steve Payne is back in his birth city and, as he usually does when he makes the hop across the pond every couple of years or so, he’s doing shows in rooms where he’s got a strong following for his Roots/Blues original…

May 28, 2022

\ TO WEST \ West Toronto has become the pulsing heart of a live music scene that truly reflects the depth, breadth and variety of talents who actually live in Toronto more than almost any other part of the city. That leads to an interesting intermingling of styles and genres aptly demonstrated by the lineups…

April 27, 2022

For some reason Wednesdays have recently seen some new Blues events happening in TO’s central and west areas, and they’re featuring some major talents. For the past two years, of course, Wednesday evenings at Gate 403 on Roncesvalles Ave. have belonged to Juno-winning songwriter Julian Fauth since his return to action following a medical sabbatical…

February 26, 2022

\ TO DOWNTOWN \ It’s usually on a Saturday when we write about Rootsabilly songwriter and show host Bill Heffernan, since for over 11 years now he’s been the host of a weekly Saturday matinee at Gate 403 that showcases diverse talents week in and week out. (Tomorrow he welcomes Roots songwriter Jon Brooks as…

March 9, 2022

\ TORONTO WEST \ It’s been over 21 years now that funky Gate 403 on Roncesvalles at the number in its name has been offering a substantial repast of live music to go along with its fairly upscale but affordable menu. Located a stone’s throw south of Howard Park/College St., it was one of the…

June 14, 2021

/TORONTO WEST/ As I’ve written about before on several occasions, Roncesvalles Ave. on Saturday afternoons is a special place to be for live music pretty much any weekend of the year. But today it’s extra-special as the local Business Improvement Area and community-oriented residents in the area put on the 5th annual Roncy Rocks…

June 4, 2022

A Wed. Roncesvalles stroll in June may feel like time travel /TORONTO WEST/ One of the things that attracts so many artistic types to live in the west end of Toronto in areas like the Junction and south-east of it around Roncesvalles Ave. and Parkdale, I’m certain —even if they’re not consciously aware of it…

May 17, 2022

Gladstone’s Saturday Swan Sessions wrap for summer today /TORONTO EAST/ Although it’s still a very new event, the weekly Saturday Sessions at the Swan 2 p.m. acoustic open mic/jam at Black Swan (not to be confused with the Saturday Sessions hosted for many moons by Bill Heffernan at Gate 403) is getting ready to hold…

May 10, 2022

Just call it “Julian Fauth Day” in TO’s Junction area /TORONTO WEST/ I told you last month about the travails that Juno-winning Blues songwriter and piano player Julian Fauth has been through over the past couple of years. He lost seven months of work after breaking a hand before leaving for a major tour in…

April 20, 2022

The Lemonbeat sound will be part of this Easter show /// I have never met and had never heard of young Nikki Lemonbeat until a couple of nights ago when a new subscriber to the magazine, who happens to be doing an afternoon show today, told me that this intriguing second-generation musical talent would be…

April 19, 2022

“No Show”s don’t have to mean your day lays an egg /// I’m not sure why some bar owners decide to cancel otherwise regular live music events that fall on the day before or the day after a religious holiday like Easter, but that still happens even in our non-denominational secular bar culture. (What slays…

April 8, 2022

Marks and Fraser are back in business weekly >>> For many years, stretching back well before I came on the scene in 1992 with the first issue of the progenitor of this publication (a twice-monthly ‘zine about open mics and jams known as The Open Season) and continuing for another ten years after the publication’s…

April 1, 2022

How long has it been since Juno-winning Blues songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Julian Fauth has been away from his weekly gigs at Axis Grill on Sundays for brunch and at Gate 403 doing a Blues night? Well, when I called the club last night to see if it were true that starting tonight he’s back in…

February 25, 2022

*5-8> Piano Jazz @ Sauce, 1376 Danforth Ave., TO E. ~Jazz 5-8> Jim Amar Trio @ Gate 403, 403 Roncesvalles Ave., TO W. ~Jazz 6> Kristen Bussandri @ Cameron House (front), 408 Queen St. W., TO *6:30-11> open acoustic jam with Don Niblett & Frank Zochodne @ Simcoe Blues & Jazz, 926 Simcoe St. N.,…