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Urban Planner: July 16, 2010
Urban Planner is Torontoist’s guide to what’s on in Toronto, published every weekday morning, and in a weekend edition Friday afternoons. 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].
Brooklyn chamber pop sextet The Loom headline at the El Mocambo tonight, with strong support from local acts Gravity Wave, Entire Cities, and Mathemagic. Photo by Sarahana Shrethsa.
In today’s Urban Planner, the city buzzes with The Honda Indy; the Best of the Fringe is remounted (plus a new show previews at the Panasonic); Lobsterfest goes nautical; and The Loom spin new tunes at the El Mocambo, with a strong backing bill.
VROOM: It’s that time of summer again when the angry hornet sound will echo from Parkdale to Cabbagetown. Yes, the Honda Indy is back in town, and since you’ll be hearing the cars racing around the track anyway, why not head down to watch them in person? The Indy is throwing the gates open to one and all, today only, to curry some goodwill—and whether you decide to attend or not, a good set of earplugs might be a prudent purchase this weekend. Exhibition Place (100 Princes’ Boulevard), 7:30 a.m.–6:30 p.m., FREE.
THEATRE: The Toronto Fringe Festival may have wrapped up last weekend, but just three days later, the Best of The Fringe began, giving audiences a second chance to see some of the hits of the massive festival. There are two venues this year: an uptown showcase series at the Toronto Centre For the Arts, and a downtown series at Canstage Berkeley Theatre. For our money, the better double bill this evening is at the Berkeley, featuring [sic] and Short Story Long (both shows ranked among our “gems of the Fringe”). Canstage Berkeley Theatre (26 Berkeley Street), 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., $17 each show.
FOOD: We’ve sung the praises of Summerlicious lately, but it’s not the only food festival in town this month. The Toronto Lobster Festival runs all through July, and one of the most highly touted events takes place tonight, when the Tabasco VIP Lobster Cruise will take to the water aboard the Empress of Canada. Live music from The Cobra Kings will complement the cruise’s full lobster-themed buffet. (As the event listing notes, “persons with seafood allergies should not attend.”) Empress of Canada at berth (11 Polson Street), 8 p.m. boarding, $93.24 ($175.24 for couples).
THEATRE: Nora and Delia Ephron’s Drama Desk–winning show about how women associate strong memories with clothing and accessories, Love, Loss, and What I Wore, has been racking numbers up on Broadway with the help of all-star casts, and Toronto’s rotating cast looks to be of a similar (Canadian) calibre. The show opens in previews tonight with Andrea Martin, Louise Pitre, Sharron Matthews, and Mary Walsh on stage. (A second cast cycle in August will include Margot Kidder, Cynthia Dale, Wendy Crewson, and more.) Panasonic Theatre (651 Yonge Street), 8 p.m., $35–$65.
MUSIC: Brooklyn’s The Loom, who played a sold-out show recently at NYC’s Mercury Lounge with popular Toronto band The Rural Alberta Advantage, will make their Toronto debut tonight, and we suspect they got some advice from the RAA on strong local openers; the backing bill includes Guelph’s Mathemagic, Entire Cities, and Gravity Wave (those last two acts in particular have strong ties to everyone’s favourite Canadian road trip mix tape selection). El Mocambo (464 Spadina Avenue), doors at 8 p.m., Gravity Wave starts at 9:15 p.m., $8.