Leave it to CanStage to somehow, in the midst of extreme internal upheaval what is maybe their darkest financial hour, be simultaneously running two of their strongest shows by far in recent memory. In fact, Palace of the End (which closes tomorrow night) and The Clean House (which runs until March 8) aren't just good shows for CanStage, they would be amazing shows for anywhere. Hopefully, they can win the audiences they deserve, but......

Photo of d’bi.young.anitafrika and her son, Moon, courtesy of Women’s Press. Last week’s literary listings featured a number of events celebrating one man (Michael Redhill, who is likely exhausted and has since gone back to Narbonne, France) and One Book (Consolation). This week the obvious literary picks are two very talented, very different women. Recent winner of the Toronto Arts Council Foundation Emerging Artist award and one of Canada’s most celebrated young performers, d’bi.young.anitafrika......

After reading today's ad, Torontoist is certain of one thing—modesty was not a key element of the "Yorkville style," especially when it came to attracting dancing queens and boogie kings looking for a place to strut their stuff. The neighbourhood had a cluster of disco floors waiting for John Travolta wannabes to demonstrate their dance skills and soak in the attitude. One might have been lucky enough to see celebrities like Sonny Bono indulge......

'Tis the season for gift certificates. Whether you're scratching your head trying to figure out what to give to an impossible recipient or selecting your loved one's favourite store or service, the selection of certificates, cards and vouchers seems unlimited. More than a few local sports woke up on Christmas morning three decades ago to find one of today's passes for the Blue Jays' second campaign as a stocking stuffer. The Jays finished their......

A longtime staple of the holiday season is a special visit from jolly old St. Nick to the nearest shopping mall or department store. Kids relish the opportunity to tell Santa that they want the latest hot toy, peace on Earth or an official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model air rifle, while retailers hope these gift lists translate into sales. If the establishment has hired their Santa carefully, kids will not need to......

With Halloween almost upon us, the mind turns to the dark side. Though today's ad seems innocent enough on the surface, its evil intentions are evident from its most prominently displayed sale price. While humans usually sell their soul to demons for wealth, power or self-sacrifice, all your eternal fate will earn you at Towers is a pair of cheap polyester pants. Halloween items were likely among the products on sale when Towers opened......

CityPulse. The New Music. Baby Blue Movies. City Lights. Fashion Television. Speaker's Corner. These programs are among the innovative shows that have aired on CityTV since it officially launched way up the dial 35 years ago this evening. CityTV had a short gestation period after the CRTC approved its license in November 1971. Key figures in the station's early ownership included president Edgar Cowan, vice-president Phyllis Switzer, lawyer Jerry Grafstein and managing director/former CBC......

The Toronto Star published a good article Sunday revealing that "the city's Waterfront Secretariat is now reviewing the recommendations and cost estimates of recent waterfront task forces on the fate of the Gardiner." Torontoist hears you asking, wasn't this the whole point of the Gardiner Report released last September? Now that the city has all but canned plans to tear down the elevated highway due to lack of funds, however, discussions are focussing on......

You may be aware that there are no plans to release the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters in Canada, as reported by The Toronto Star, Dose, Twitch Film, and, of course, us, in our film column last week. If, like us, you're saddened by such news, there's not much you can do to make yourself feel better about it, other than, I suppose, continuing to watch it on The Detour......

It was the audition tape that has every struggling actor quaking with jealousy. As we revealed on Wednesday, the YouTube bride-from-hell was actually local actress Jodi Behan, who participated in what was later found to be a brilliant viral marketing campaign for Sunsilk hair products orchestrated by Toronto marketing agency Capital C. Our contacts were suspiciously cagey once the cover was blown while the fake wedding party continued to play their parts. We now......

If you happened to read The Toronto Star on Sunday, you may have seen a short excerpt from novelist, historian, and journalist Lawrence Hill’s new novel, The Book of Negroes. Tonight, This Is Not A Reading Series invites you to the Gladstone Hotel to celebrate the book’s launch. The novel concerns Aminata Diallo, who is sent to South Carolina to work as a slave, eventually wins her freedom – signing her name in the Book......

When Torontoist joined forces with blogTO, Reading Toronto, and Spacing and asked our readers for feedback on the TTC's website at the beginning of this month, we had absolutely no idea that we would get such an enormous response. We'd like to thank you all again for participating, and we've taken each and every one of the ideas that we received to heart. Now, it's time to move forward. The Editors and Publishers of......

When you go through the doors of City Hall, one of the first things you'll probably see (especially if you're headed to the café, library, or washrooms) is "Metropolis" to your immediate right, an expansive "mural" made out of 100 000 nails, their blunt ends jutting out in patterns of concentric circles. And you won't be able to resist running your hand along it, no matter how late you are for your meeting or......

As the countdown to Christmas kicks into high gear (only seven more days to go!), it's easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the season. Between shopping for presents, visiting with friends and family, and waging a pathetic battle over pine trees, many of us forget to consider those in need. While donations and contributions are needed year-round, many charities and non-profit organizations rely on generosity shown during the holiday season......

The Raptors took the Cleveland Cavaliers 91-90 last night in a game that saw fresh faces fill in for injured key starters. Leading candidates in the election thingy debated crime, transit and garbage as usual last night for the co-sponsored benefit of The Toronto Star and CityTV, and maybe for voters, too. Quoth The Star: "The debate got so scrappy on so many issues that at one point Miller and Pitfield even disagreed on what......

In Rome, at least 1 person has died, and 10 more have been seriously injured in a subway collision involving two trains. It has been over 10 years since the Russel Hill incident here in Toronto. The Toronto Star's editor-in-chief Giles Gherson and publisher Michael Goldbloom resigned on Monday. Goldbloom wrote about the declining newspaper industry in his resignation letter. Canada's prison system is systemically discriminatory against aboriginals, according to the ombudsman for inmates. Also,......

A coalition of Ontario municipalities created to fight Toronto's garbage may collapse, writes the London Free Press. Police have found one man dead and another wounded in an East York housing complex near O'Connor Drive and Eglinton East. Over at Flemingdon Park, a woman was shot and a security guard escaped injury when the shooter's gun jammed. The Toronto Star is gathering opinions on our public toilets. Peter Nadorvolgyi writes, "Some of the public washrooms......

Uh-oh. It seems that today's issues of Now Magazine and Eye Weekly have both run cover stories on the same event- the first time it's happened in, well, three weeks. But the double-coverage on Sept. 7 coincided with the Toronto International Film Festival (see here and here). Where as TIFF is said to be the most important film festival in the world, this time the publicist's wet dream is over... Nuit Blanche? Apparently it's......

The Toronto Star has reported that filmmaker and executive director of the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto, Roberto Ariganello, drowned while swimming in Halifax this past Sunday, where he had brought donated editing equipment, and was to show two of his most recent films, Contrafacta and Non-Zymase Pentathlon. He was 45. Image taken from the Images Festival website.......

Who Is DJ Cyber-Rap? Depending what circles you run with, this question may have been nagging you for quite some time. If you’re a member of Stillepost, the message board that plays hosts to almost all of Toronto’s scenesters, you’ve known about DJ Cyber-Rap since 2005. That’s when the 59 year-old widower (born Robert “Ronald” Marie MacDougall) first started posting in the Toronto forum of Stillepost from internet cafes, using painfully effortful internet jargon in......

Billionaire Kenneth Thomson, Canada's richest person, has died at age 82. He was ranked ninth on the Forbes magazine list of the world's wealthiest individuals with an estimated fortune of $19.6 billion. His family began their fortune through small radio stations in northern Ontario. After serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War, Thomson attended Cambridge University and later joined his father in the newspaper business, becoming a newspaper mogul,......

The Toronto Star runs a profile on Rita Davies, Toronto's culture czar (actually the executive director of culture for the city) and touts her work as one of the reasons why Toronto's culture scene isn't just surviving but arguably thriving today. Inspiringly Davies also asks us to compare ourselves to other great cities like San Francisco, Milan and Chicago. Over the last decades Davies has fought for the arts and even created a 10-year......

Victoria BC native Steve Nash has been awarded the Lou Marsh Award as Canadian Athlete of the Year for 2005. The Toronto Star and the elected voting panel awarded Nash the distinction in a unanimous decision announced Thursday in Toronto. The Phoenix Suns point guard was named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player last season after leading his team to the Western Conference Championship. He finished the 2004-05 season with just under 200 assists more than......

Bar none, the most anticipated show of the coming week, at least to this Torontoist-er, is the return of eternally youthful Scotsmen Teenage Fanclub to Hogtown on Monday night for a show at the Mod Club. Anyone who was at their last show at the Opera House four years ago knows what a treat they were - you'll not hear more note-perfect harmonies anywhere, guaranteed. They're touring in support of Man-Made, their first album since......

Of all the 80s reunions littering the concert circuit these days, the one featuring the original Dinosaur Jr lineup has to rank as one of the unlikeliest. Anyone who's read Michael Azerrad's tome on the 80s underground scene, Our Band Could Be Your Life, knows that the acrimony between J Mascis and Lou Barlow was legendary. The fact that they were able to record three albums before fracturing (in a famously jerk-eriffic move, Mascis told......

After the live music orgy that was NxNE last weekend, the upcoming week shows a considerably lighter concert calendar. The can't-miss show of the next seven days is Sleater-Kinney at the Phoenix on Saturday, promoting their new speaker-destroying rock opus The Woods. After producing two relatively pop and accessible albums with All Hands On The Bad One and One Beat, they opted for some sonic reinvention at the hands of uber-producer Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips,......

The biggest event going on this week, obviously, is NxNE. While not as epic in scope as the Austin-based music fest from which it gets its name, NxNE usually offers up a broad musical buffet for local punters to pick from. This year's lineup seems to be a little bit lighter on the big name acts than year's past, but that doesn't mean there isn't anything worth your attention. Here's some Torontoist-approved picks for the......

This Torontoist couldn’t make a flower grow on the sunniest and wettest day of the year, in a jungle. Does that even make sense? While we don’t know anything about gardening, a lot of other people do, like the people running this year’s Canada Blooms, the Toronto Flower & Garden Show. The Canada Blooms event includes about 200 retailers who know all about growing plants and making gardens. The show is expected to attract nearly......