TONIGHT, AGAIN!

TONIGHT!

Bo, Clinton's signature sound guy for more than two decades, has seen (and heard) it all within the walls of the long-standing tavern. He's seen unknown local bands become stars, celebrities make surprise appearances and all other sorts of incredible to bizarre things that you could assume comes along with building the history of a bar/restaurant/venue open since 1937. Aside from Bo being an incredibly skilled and experienced sound and audio man, he's also got his fair share of some incredible tales from working within Clintons and abroad. We tapped Bo's brain for a juicy story, and we ended up with a story better than we ever could've imagined.

The Ghost Of Clintons

"So, it's around late 1989, early 1990. Clintons had opened a small lounge on the second floor that was called The Laura Palmer Lounge; there was a small stage for bands or other acts, and many little cafe-style tables with chairs and glass ashtrays on every table top. We used to call it "Twin Peeks" because it looked like an old log cabin up there. 

Anyways, it's the end of the night; a folk act had been playing that night, everyone had left and I was doing the routine stage clean up. It was pretty late, because I remember there specifically being no one left in the entire building except for me. I'm wrapping some wires or something with my back to the seating and I then heard what sounded like a glass ashtray on one of the table tops about eight feet away slowly start to slide across and then eventually fall of the edge of the table, falling to the ground. The TTC subway line is right under the building, and if you're there late at night in complete silence sometimes you can hear one of the "cleaner" subway cars roll by. I picked it up and put it back on the table. I was startled, but I didn't think much of it afterwards. 

 I go back to wrapping my cables, and then I hear it again; the glass ashtray slides across the table top and hits the ground, only it sounded faster and a little more aggressive this time. At this point, I've got the willies. I looked around, called out for anyone to answer me if they were there, picked up the ashtray once again and put it back. I go back to my cable wrapping, only I'm doing it about ten times faster so that I can hurry up and get the hell out of there.

 Finally, for a third and terrifying time, the ashtray starts to slide off the table but then launches itself into the air with such force that it hit the solid metal base of a table next to it, then making it smash apart. Luckily my bladder wasn't full, because I said out loud, "Ok, I'm gone," dropped the cables, and headed to the exit. I swear to god, as I was scurrying out I could hear the chairs at the tables sliding across the wood floor behind me. My heart was pounding so fast, and I was so terrified, that I literally cannot remember actually leaving the room, running down the stairs and scrambling into my parked car outside as fast as I could. All I remember is pulling out of the drive way and shaking like a leaf the entire way home."

How terrifying is that? Everyone at Clintons has their own ghost stories, but Bo's really takes the cake! Come back to the Clintons Blog for a monthly Story Time With Bo update!

THIS SUNDAY!

And now, a message from the Girl&Boy 90's Dance Party Dj's:

This Friday night: Girl and Boy: 90s Dance Party is Toronto's longest running 90s themed party! Revel in the ironic sounds of 90s most elitist pop, while you groove to the sincerest sounds of the 90s most vibalicious pop. Brit Pop, Hip Hop, RnB, Reggae, Alternative, Dance Dance Dance!

If you like Blackstreet and you like Elastica and you like S Club 7, and you like Jay Z, and you like Snap! then enjoy your life here with us; so what if school is back and you'll have to read books again!

If you come as a group of 5, dressed as 90's icons, you will get in for FREE:  BACK TO SCHOOL BONUS!

$5_10PM

Girl and Boy: 90's Dance Party!

On today's very first Trivia Monday's with Clinton's Quiz Night's Terrance Balazo feature, we're re-posting an oldie but a goodie; a gem of an article where Metro Toronto's Lia Grainger interviewed Balazo about his very special quiz themed nights that he's been hosting for years!

The Man With The Questions

by Lia Grainger, Metro News, July 03, 2011 

It’s 9 p.m. on a Monday at Clinton’s Tavern on Bloor Street West, and the back room is packed with unusually quiet patrons. They sit huddled in groups and speak in hushed whispers. On the stage usually reserved for boisterous bands and DJs stands actor Terrance Balazo, reading from the screen of his laptop.
“Yeomen Warders at the Tower of London are commonly known by what other name?” Balazo asks. The crowd ponders the British tradition and then each team scribbles down an answer.
After a minute, Balazo strikes again: “What is the smallest bone in the body?”
It’s pub quiz night and, in Toronto, Balazo is the unofficial king. What started as a part-time gig to supplement his work as an actor and children’s-theatre director has become much more than that. Each week, he personally composes some 160 questions for the three nights he hosts around the city. The longest running is Tuesdays at The Fox and Fiddle, where he has been dealing out stumpers to crowds of up to 150 for more than five years.
“It’s a real community,” Balazo says of his many regulars. “People like to go drinking and they also like to show how smart they are.” It’s a mixed crowd: Everyone from college kids to Bay Street lawyers comes to play. George Stroumboulopoulos even shows up occasionally. (He’s pretty good.)
A British phenomenon that has found a home in this commonwealth country, Balazo says the popularity of pub quizzes has exploded since he started hosting — he estimates there are now 10 to 15 quiz events a week in Toronto.
And his all-time favourite question? “Which famous fashion designer made the Nazi SS uniforms?” He grins while I ponder the answer.
“Hugo Boss.” He shakes his head. “Crazy, right?”
Balazo admits that one of the side-effects of writing thousands of questions is that he sometimes loses his sense of what’s easy and what’s hard. “You want the crowd to go ‘Ah!’ and breathe a sigh of recognition when they hear the answer,” Balazo says.
So, in the interest of scratching that itch, here are the answers to those two Clinton’s questions: “Beefeaters” and “the stirrup” (it’s in the ear). Now go ahead and breathe that sigh.

Tune back in every other Monday for the Quiz Night feature on the Clinton's Blog! Trivia questions, articles written by Terrance himself and more!