Last week’s fire on Queen West didn’t only destroy some of the neighbourhood’s best stores; it also put the dozens of people who lived in apartments above the shops out of a home. Some of these folks didn’t have insurance and lost most of their possessions. Many of the artists who lived in the buildings lost their work, and thus their source of income. It’s great to see a neighbourhood—and Toronto as a whole—come......

From left to right: Ox, Morning Gothic: New and Selected Poems, The Mechanical Bird, and Sympathy for the Couriers. On Monday October 29, more books will be heading into town via Véhicule Press. The Montréal-based publishing house will be kicking back in Toronto, boasting four new poetry titles: The Mechanical Bird by Asa Boxer, Morning Gothic: New and Selected Poems by George Ellenbogen, Sympathy for the Couriers by Peter Richardson, and Christopher Patton's Ox.......

When trying to solve the problem of the lack of affordable housing, the thinkers and planners and innovators and design enthusiasts come up with some pretty creative ideas. Like the IKEA House, for example, or the notion of shipping container architecture. A group of Toronto activists are proposing a "use it or lose it" bylaw "that would see vacant and underutilized buildings and spaces expropriated by the City and redeveloped as badly needed affordable......

Photo by marco 2000. On Monday night, the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) hosted a members-only event to provide an inside look at its ongoing renovations before it shuts its doors to the public for its last phase (to be completed sometime in 2008). Dubbed “Transformation AGO,” and overseen by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry, the AGO is one of the final buildings to be completed as part of Toronto’s “Cultural Renaissance". Perhaps people are feeling......

On Monday, the TTC unveiled a survey that, in lieu of other public consultation, would be used to help the organization determine what cuts it may need to make this year. (For more on the TTC's potential budget shortfall, see our interview with Adam Giambrone, the TTC's documentation included with the survey, and Steve Munro's excellent summary of the situation.) The problem is, the survey really isn't that great: it's too vague, too incomplete,......

On Monday and Tuesday nights, the Toronto Public Space Committee will be holding its third Art Attack event. The first, in 2002, had people meet up at the Tranzac to make art and then tape it over outdoor advertisements in the Annex. Last summer, the art-making took place at the Gladstone Hotel and the ad-jamming occurred mostly in the West Queen West area (with one excursion to King and Strachan to hit the Monster......

On Monday, April 16, some of Toronto's finest slam poets walked into the John & Richmond Chapters-Indigo and performed sans mic, sans stage, sans everything. The poets included David Silverberg, who tipped us off to the vid; Electric Jon; Truth Is; Tomy Bewick; and Boona. The collective has uploaded one video so far of the event (more are on their way; we'll update the post when they're up), and it provides a little piece of......

On Monday, we sent Torontoist reader Roger Cullman (a.k.a. Wordfreak on Flickr) on special assignment for us to Scrabble With the Stars 2007. He kindly sends us a quick write-up, and his terrific photos, both after the fold.......

Each week, Torontoist chooses the most interesting cases from the Toronto Police Service crime blotter. All charges are alleged until proven under law. When the police weren't busy trying to manage opening and closing the Gardiner a bunch of times after the Great CN Tower Ice Incident of 2007, they had their hands full with some skeezy characters this week. • The Fraud Squad is in full-effect these days with yet another charity fraud arrest.......

The urban sprawl in Toronto is a continual point of debate on Torontoist (see, for instance, our interview with Brad Lamb), but tomorrow you will get a chance to share your opinions on the matter outside of our sullied comment threads. On Monday, 7pm to 9pm at the Parkdale branch of the Toronto Public Library, fourth year students from Ryerson University will present their study of gentrification in Parkdale, followed by a moderated panel......

The Gallerist is Torontoist's new bi-weekly arts listings. Starting January 31st, check back every other Wednesday for a new batch of events. Last Thursday local painter Colin Druhan hosted a busy and boozy reception at Katharine Mulherin's secondary space on Queen West. His work (see 'Hail Satan' at right) features mainly portraits of fashionable men and sinister women, but there are a few friendly looking dog portraits scattered within the small space. Sharing the gallery......

Danish band Mew will be breezing through town this upcoming week for a few shows. On Monday they'll be headlining at the Mod Club, while on Wednesday supporting Kasabian at The Phoenix. Want to go? We have a pair of tickets to give away to the Mew/Kasabian show on Wed., Sept. 27, along with an autographed copy of their latest cd, courtesy of Filter. To enter, send an email to carrie [at] torontoist.com, with......

Ok, so the city is in the grip of full-blown festival mania. Red carpets, Gala screenings, and celebrity sightings are all great, but so are poetry readings, right? Right? Anyone??? Tonight at 8pm, head north to Zemra Lounge – 778 St. Clair W. – for this month’s installment of the Diamond Cherry reading series. Stephen Humphries and former director of the Art Bar, Allan Briesmster (The Other Seasons), will be reading. It’s free, and you......

The Diamond Cherry Reading Series – run by local poets and small-press publishers Devon Gallant and Julie Cameron Gray – kicks-off the week with performances by audio poet Hilary Peach (Poems Only Dogs Can Hear) and singer/songwriter/poet Nik Beat. The series takes place each month at the Zemra Lounge – 778 St. Clair West – and starts at 8pm. It’s free, too, so you have no excuse not to go. On Monday, head down to......

On Monday night most NDPers were pretty happy. The party got more seats, more votes and Olivia Chow was elected. One let down was Marilyn Churley's defeat in the Beaches to Liberal incumbent Maria Minna. Churley had given up her seat at Queens Park to run federally and now her political career is in doubt. We expect Churley to be a little bit upset but threatening to run against the mayor as reported in......

On Monday, Torontoist finally took in Body Worlds 2 at the Science Centre, and we're still having nightmares about plastinated zombies. Body Worlds 2 lies somewhere in the area where the realms of science and art overlap. Much of the exhibit has the feel of a creatively designed anatomy lesson - a number of table cases simply contain various body parts (including the lungs of a smoker and those of a non-smoker lying side by......

When tipsters aren't writing in to tell us that local weekly editors were spotted eating burritos, they write in to tell us even more mundane things - On Monday David MacFarlane was seen walking down College Street, possibly exiting a dry cleaning shop. But fresh on the heels of Zoilus' announcement that a NYTimeser was in town to do a piece on this town's musical lights, we get word that a certain Vanity Fair writer......

On Monday, a recent documentary entitled Les Chiefs, the debut film from local theatre director Jason Gileno, will be screening at the Pilot Tavern in Yorkville. It follows the semi-pro Laval Chiefs as they bash their way through a season in the rumblefish League d'hockey Semi-Professionnel de Quebec. Along the way, a group of feisty players like Mike Bajurny (whose penalty minutes-to-goals ratio in his three seasons with the Chiefs ran at 100:1) come in......

Conservative leader Stephen Harper may have suggested Canada look at Belgium as a role model for government, but PM Paul Martin seems to have his sights set on Amsterdam. On Monday, Martin and the federal Liberals asked everybody to just chill out over the country's current marijuana possession laws. Martin's minority government is attempting to re-introduce the marijuana decriminalization bill, which would make possession of marijuana only a fineable offence. For holding 15 grams or......