Concert: New Bomb Turks
It’s been a while since these boozy garage punks (named after Robert Wuhl’s character in the forgotten 1980 comedy “The Hollywood Knights”) brought their supersonic ram-a-lam-a to Toronto. Birthed in Columbus, Ohio, they’ve been at this sort of thing on and off for 35 years, perfecting a righteous hybrid of the Stooges and Australia’s late, great Saints. They’ll be ripping apart the Horseshoe Tavern (370 Queen St. W.) on Tuesday night with openers the Drowns and Fluffio. Shout for the head-banging, toe-tapping “Veronica Lake.” They’ll definitely play it. —Doug Brod
Movie: ‘American Fiction’
Now streaming on Crave, 2023’s “American Fiction” has a great high-concept conceit: a stuffy but struggling novelist, cranky that the only Black fiction being celebrated is inner-city caricature, writes his own as a joke — only to find that people love it. But the twist here is not what happens when he must keep up the ruse; the twist is that the movie is funny, yes, but actually about something much softer and sweeter and sadder. It’s a touching portrait of an average family that must deal with all the average things families must deal with: death, sibling rivalry, weddings, real estate, aging. Despite being recognized with a handful of Oscar noms, it was criminally under-recognized by the public. Featuring wonderful performances by Jeffrey Wright, Tracee Ellis Ross and Sterling K. Brown. —Briony Smith
Theatre: ‘Six String: A History of the Guitar’
Soulpepper’s docu-concerts never disappoint and are always among the highlights of the Toronto theatre company’s season. These semi-staged productions mix documentary-style storytelling with performances of classic songs, presented in new arrangements. The latest, “Six String: A History of the Guitar,” runs until Sunday (at 50 Tank House Lane) and features an ensemble that includes Dora winner Beau Dixon and Juno nominee SATE. This particular docu-concert charts how the guitar shaped culture through the 20th century, influencing the development of jazz, folk, blues and rock. —Joshua Chong
TV: ‘Washington Black’
This adaptation of Canadian author Esi Edugyan’s Giller Prize-winning novel — all eight episodes are now on Disney Plus — puts a spotlight on Nova Scotia’s historic Black community. Nineteenth-century Halifax is where we first meet George Washington Black (Ernest Kingsley Junior), formerly enslaved on a Barbados sugar plantation, now living under an assumed name. The series boasts veteran actors like Sterling K. Brown and Rupert Graves, but newcomers Kingsley, Iola Evans (as his mixed-race love interest, Tanna) and Eddie Karanja as young Wash are the ones who command attention. —Debra Yeo
