Results tagged “hummingbirdcentre”

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 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.

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.

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 approved the deal in a closed session.

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.

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.

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 is very 80's expressionless, played with such irony, although his voice is weak. It doesn't really matter 'cause the music is so loud. Of course it's all on tape, but no one will find out.

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.

Looking to check out some live music this week? Here's your listing of what's happening around the city between August 7-13.

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.

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

We own the TTC. We paid for it with tax dollars and at the farebox. But this month the city had to PAY Viacom Outdoor Ltd for permission to promote the "Live with Culture" campaign on the TTC because Viacom has exclusive rights to all advertising on the transit system. Essentially, tax dollars were spent to buy back space we already own.

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.

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.

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.

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.