WORDS: The new season of the Toronto Poetry Slam kicks off Friday. Amateurs sign up half an hour before the show, and are given a chance to showcase their talents. Afterward, there will be a performance from musician Mark Berube and The Patriotic Few. For more information, check out the Toronto Poetry Slam website. The Drake Hotel Underground (1150 Queen Street West), 8 p.m. (sign-up at 7:30 p.m.), $5.
Results tagged “edmirvish”
What Honest Ed’s lacks in architectural artistry compared to more high-brow institutions, it makes up for in self-promotional bombast. From its "quirky hand-painted signage" to the low-price Toronto souvenirs, badly painted Elvis busts, and abandoned theatre props, Honest Ed’s is a museum of kitsch. Now a local illustrator, Christopher Hutsul, has designed a stationery set paying tribute his neighbourhood’s "foremost local architectural landmark."
Every weekday morning, bright and early, we feature a photo (or two) from a photographer in the Torontoist Flickr Pool. It's our way of giving the many excellent photographers in our pool the attention that they deserve.
Canadian Bar Association demands that Stephen Harper negotiate with the United States to return Omar Khadr to Canada. The country's largest legal organization (and Khadr's own American military lawyer, for that matter) states that Khadr will not get a fair trial in the United States, which is obvious. Also obvious: the likelihood of Harper doing exactly dick about it.
Stage Struck: 100 Years At The Royal Alex, a free exhibition commemorating the Royal Alexandra Theatre's centennial, opened yesterday at the Toronto Reference Library. Torontoist was at the opening to oggle at the rare playbills, posters and other paraphernalia that would make any theatre geek weak in the knees.
Bluma Appel, philanthropist and patron of the arts, died last night in a Toronto hospital from complications of cancer. She was 86.
Chicago prosecutors expected to ask that the book be thrown at Conrad Black. HA HA HA ROT IN JAIL YOU UNKIND GENTLEMAN [Needless to say, the previous two words originally read...uh...differently. They were swears!—Ed.]. Sorry, that was not very objective. Please amend the previous sentence to read "hee hee hee rot in jail you freaking aardvark." In other news, he may also go bankrupt, making this officially the best news story of the year so far.
Three elephants from the Garden Brothers circus escaped their handlers and took a brief tour of a residential neighbourhood in Newmarket last night. The elephants aren’t kept in cages but do have a rope around their foot to keep them from wandering, which doesn’t work. Local residents said that after initial alarm they were delighted with the unexpected early morning zaniness.

Toronto legend Edwin "Honest Ed" Mirvish has died. He was 92.
This Sunday, July 8 from 12 to 9 p.m., Mirvish Village will host the first Pedestrian Sunday outside of Kensington Market. The neighbourhood is home to the landmark discount store Honest Ed’s and is a collection of boutiques, studios and restaurants, founded and named for the Mirvish family in recognition of Toronto’s retail show biz entrepreneur Ed Mirvish.
Torontoist's online HQ has been all a-twitter and a-quiver this afternoon with the delicious (if a little startling) news from Mirvish Productions. Below, Paige shares a top-priority emergency dispatch from her 9-5 outpost.
Ed Mirvish: theatre tycoon, city hero and...turkey giveaway guru? People lined up overnight outside Honest Ed's for the 19th Annual Turkey Giveaway on Sunday. Now approaching age 93, Ed himself was sadly not in attendance, but son David Mirvish took over greeting duties.
He was known for his tales of Old Hollywood as much as his ever-present hairpiece, and Toronto just became way more boring without him.
Jane Pitfield is opening a campaign office in the Junction area, close to Mayor Miller's High Park home. Both campaigns are gearing up for the fall and raising money. Mayor Miller is going grassroots and offering anyone who puts up raises $100 for his campaign an "I <3 David Miller T-Shirt." Oh we want one of those.
An observant reader let us know that The New York Times Travel section has a piece on Toronto's revitalization as a travel destination, which means somebody at Tourism Toronto has been doing their job.

Newsstand: November 19, 2009