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Urban Planner: July 14, 2009
Urban Planner is Torontoist’s daily guide to what’s on in Toronto, published every morning. If you have an event you’d like considered, email all of its details—as well as images, if you’ve got any—to [email protected].
MUSIC: Neko Case—of New Pornographers notoriety—is back in town after a couple of stellar shows last April. Case’s Middle Cyclone is easily one of the best CDs out this year, and she puts on a great show. At the time of writing there were still tickets available, so pick them up if you can! Massey Hall (178 Victoria Street); 8 p.m.; tickets $29.50, $35.50, or $40.50.
MUSIC: You could see Neko Case…or, you could earn some major indie-cred by seeing up-and-comers Micachu and The Shapes as they perform at the El Mocambo tonight. Lead by twenty-two-year-old Mica Levi, the group is touring in support of their debut album, Jewellery, which has garnered great reviews from almost every major music hub. Their live shows have gotten mixed reviews in the past, but an experimental folk-pop group that lists a miniature guitar and a vacuum cleaner as some of their main instruments may be an acquired taste on stage. El Mocambo (464 Spadina Avenue), 9 p.m., $12.
FESTIVAL: The official launch of the Caribana Festival is today. There will be some speeches from the minister of tourism, officials from the federal government, and others, and then the party will start with a performance from the the cast of the musical The Harder They Come, calypso music, mas costumes and steel pan performances. The launch also outlines the other events leading up to the legendary parade on August 1 as Caribana takes over Toronto for the forty-second year running. Yonge-Dundas Square (2 Dundas Street East), 12–2 p.m., FREE.
COMEDY: Tonight, actor, comedian, writer, and producer John Leguizamo starts his five-night stint at the Berkeley Street Theatre as part of the Toronto Just For Laughs Comedy Festival. An energetic performer, Leguizamo is well known for his one-man shows (including the 2002 show for HBO, Sexaholix: A Love Story). These shows will be full of all-new material, but they’re likely to involve some form of dancing and witty observations on the nuances between Puerto Rican and Columbian girls. Berkeley Street Theatre (26 Berkeley Street), 8 p.m., $45.50.
ART: The Repository Project is a collective of current students and recent graduates of York University’s visual arts program. They’ve been displaying some of their mixed-media work around town for a while (including a fundraising kegger last June at the Oxford Hotel), and today their newest exhibition, Parting, will open at the Board of Directors, with a reception to follow this Friday. The projects showcased will explore the deconstruction of form and the consequences of parting with one’s own work. The show will run until July 26. Board of Directors (1080 Queen Street West), 11 a.m.–6 p.m., FREE.