It used to be that as sure as you could count on awkward conversations at the office Christmas party and a stocking full of clementines on Christmas morning, you could count on being able to turn your TV to channel 11 on Christmas Eve to see a certain Bing Crosby vehicle featuring the best-selling single of all time: White Christmas. While channel 11 (it's certainly not CHCH anymore...what is it?) has given up its......

As Torontoist reported yesterday, the Hummingbird Centre is changing its name to the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, marking the second change in corporate naming rights during the venue's half-century existence. Support of the site has ranged from a philanthropic brewer (O'Keefe Brewing head E.P. Taylor) to a multinational media company. As today's ad promised, Yonge and Front has seen a wide range of performances since the O'Keefe Centre officially rolled out the......

As of Friday, it's no longer the Hummingbird Centre, but instead the Sony Centre. You know what? All performing arts venues should be renamed so that they sound like something you would find at your local mall. It gives the whole experience more delicious corporate flavour. Stephen Harper says there will be no vote on the mission in Afghanistan anytime soon unless it is to "finish the job." And if that sounded like, "Hey, I......

If you have ever driven up Yonge Street towards Richmond Hill, you probably couldn't help but notice the Vishnu Mandir Hindu temple and its landmark statue of Mahatma Gandhi. Alongside the temple is the unique Canadian Museum of Hindu Civilization, which is presenting an ambitious Festival of India this weekend. The festival promises to be an authentic expression of Indian culture, with innumerable local artists performaning alongside many that are being imported from the......

The Toronto Star revealed Tuesday that the Hummingbird Centre has sold its naming rights to Sony for $3 million for a term of ten years. Sony has the option of buying themselves ten more years for an additional $2 million. Even though the Hummingbird Centre is a public institution, the public had no say in this matter, as the identity of the high bidder was kept secret until City Council's Executive Committee had already......

In a recent argument in favour of the heritage value of the Sam's sign, the billboards in Yonge-Dundas Square were compared to "banner ad slots on a Web page" due to their ephemeral nature. Well, the same could be said of our cultural institutions. The agenda of the June 25th meeting of City Council's Executive Committee [PDF] contains a report recommending that the naming rights of the Hummingbird Centre be resold [PDF]: The financial......

It seems to be the week of Alexisonfire, who are playing just about every venue in the city over the next 7 days, starting on Thursday. We predict a few bruised ribs and black eyes just in time for Christmas...so kids, if you're going to the show(s), be a little gentler to each other knowing that your parents will be pissed if you're posing for the holiday photos with a shiner. This public service......

At left: Jennrock's sign says it best. (Photo by B-Mom Marta van Eerdewijk) Top right: the familiar set. Bottom right: stage door throngs in Buffalo. Last month, ever dedicated Torontoist undertook a special mission to Buffalo with b-girl crew, Shebang!, to preview the touring road show of So You Think You Can Dance before today's Toronto performance at the Hummingbird Centre. Truth be known, we could not get tickets for the Toronto date. That......

Compared to the past few weeks, this one's a bit quieter in the live music world, but there are still some decent shows to check out. Of note, Beck brings his two turntables and a mic to the Ricoh Coliseum tonight (too bad about the location), you can get Comfortably Numb (in a few ways, we're sure) at the Opera House or check out the moustachiod Killers at the Kool Haus on Friday, and......

The Pet Shop Boys (Yes they're still around. They never left, actually) come to the Hummingbird Centre tonight, 8pm (some seats still available), bringing their campy, more politically-charged pop tunes to the colonies (who knew I'm With Stupid was about Tony Blair's love affair with GW Bush?). Judging by the various bootleg Youtube cell phone videos out there, the show is more militaristic and yet not as over the top as their "Very" tour. Neil......

Hoooo boy! Looks like somebody fed us way too much turkey this weekend. We've just come out of our tryptophan-induced comas and realized we lost an entire day. Not only do we have to deal with our tardiness, but also figure out what to do with that permanent dent in the couch. If you can manage to roll out of the house after stuffing your face all weekend, you can burn off some of......

Tsk, tsk. Late two weeks in a row. Someone needs a good spanking. Next week we'll get our act together and put Torontoist before busy schedules and get this puppy out on time. Pinky swear. As always, let us know in the comments section if you're heading to any good shows that we missed. Particularly for this Thursday...we need some hot action that night. Recently Announced Sept. 11 - M Ward @ Mod Club, $16.50......

Looking to check out some live music this week? Here's your listing of what's happening around the city between August 7-13. If you know of any good shows this week that we missed below, let us know in the comments. Feel free to also let us know about upcoming shows that would be worth checking out. Recently Announced Aug. 12 – OXFAM Music 4 Change Fundraiser feat. The Diableros, The Coast, These Electric Lives......

Legendary musician Etta James brought her soulful voice to the Hummingbird Centre last night, as part of the Downtown Toronto Jazz Festival. The festival runs until July 2nd, so there's still time to catch plenty of great acts.......

Last night was the first of two sold out shows Radiohead are playing at the Hummingbird Centre, and it didn't disappoint. To those of you with tickets to tonight's show, have a really great time! If they play Fake Plastic Trees, I just may have to cry in my beer for not being there.......

Council voted 39-2 in support of the City's 2015 Expo Bid. The next step involves courting the Provincial and Federal governments for funding. Queen's Park and Ottawa are expected to foot a huge chunk of the bill, including $2.8 billion for cleaning up contaminated soil near the lakefront, and a possible $700 million deficit after the event. The TTC is still running despite edicts from the union not to enforce fare collection it seems that......

Those folks at the Hummingbird Centre really know how to spin a catchy tag line, don't they?......

Things have heated up over at the St. Clair Pro-ROW site, as the anti-transit group SOS (which is an acronym for Destroy Our City) have caught wind of it. Transit guru James Bow, editor of Transit Toronto, is pushing for calm heads and civil debate. What could be the future of Toronto's streetcars will be on display at the Toronto Hummingbird Centre, 1 Front Street East this Monday, October 24th from noon until 5 p.m.......

Streeter liked its foray into the written word so much that we've decided to wrap up the week with another one, this time courtesy of camera-less informant Ann on the Street. Sign backstage at the Hummingbird Centre: Cigarette girls - more lipstick, PLEASE!......

Vancouver-born crooner Michael Buble rode Valentine's Day sales to a #1 spot on Canadian album charts this week, beating The Game (a three-week numero uno), Green Day and the 2005 Grammy nominations album. That's not all: Buble's second disk "It's Time" also landed in the number 7 position on the Billboard Charts in the republic to the south and his self-titled debut reentered the Canadian charts at number 18. Perhaps the key to the jazzy......

Selon le chercheur américain Richard Florida, Toronto arrive en première position pour l'importance de son noyau créatif, qui regroupe les emplois liés à la technologie et à la culture. Toronto est suivi de très près par Montréal. Et parlant de fusions municipales et créatrices, un directeur artistique montréalais joint les forces créatives torontoise pour mettre sur pied l'opéra de Siegfried. Comme quoi la créativité vient avec la collaboration. L'opéra jouera encore le 2, 5, 8......

Most metropolitan cities around the world would be lucky to have one, maybe two buildings designed by superstar architects. Toronto is about to get another, adding to our collection of world-class architecture, which has grown significantly over the past few years....