Rahul Gupta RSS
No Comments
1 image
The number two man in the McGuinty government declared his intention to become Toronto’s top dog.
Monday morning at Queen’s Park, George Smitherman officially joined the 2010 race to replace David Miller as Toronto’s mayor. In his statement to the media, the former provincial health minister said he’s the ideal candidate to lead the city through a difficult period.
No Comments
1 image
It wasn’t until the police officer tapped on the window of his Cadillac Escalade that Blaine Thurier remembered the gun lying in full view on the vehicle’s dashboard.
In addition to the realistic looking toy, Thurier and the five individuals squeezed into the midnight black SUV were in possession of a fake bag of cocaine and $5,000 in cash. To make matters worse, the Vancouver street where Thurier and his crew were shooting A Gun to the Head had been the location of several recent gang shootings.
No Comments
7 images
The tree on Bloor Street near Avenue Road serves as a modest memorial for cyclist Darcy Allan Sheppard. Duct-taped to its trunk are bouquets of sunflowers and courier receipts with messages of condolence and recrimination. Lit candles were placed at its base.
The tree’s branches peek towards a sliver of uneven pavement where cars, bicycles and pedestrians constantly vie for space. It is here that Sheppard lost his life.
A day after Sheppard’s tragic death, cyclists gathered at his memorial to pay their respects and to wonder why a seemingly minor traffic incident suddenly mushroomed into such a tragically violent event.
No Comments
10 images
Turn out the lights, unplug the amps and pack the instruments away. The Virgin Music Festival is over for another year.
Following a last-minute change to the Molson Amphitheatre – from Burl’s Creek Park near Orillia – this year’s edition of the festival featured over 30 bands on three stages over a blustery weekend at the Ontario Place concert venue August 29 to 30.
While fans turned out en masse for the performances of Sunday night headliners the Pet Shop Boys and Nine Inch Nails, for much of the weekend the venue was barely half-full. In the seating sections, row after row of empty blue seats abound.
No Comments
1 image
Following the defeat of a controversial bylaw that would have given municipal politicians the right to sue members of the public with taxpayers’ money, a majority of Toronto councilors opted to support one of their own.
On the second day of its monthly meeting, city council voted 26-2 against giving councillors the right to sue their critics with public money. Then, by a count of 25-5, council voted to reimburse Sandra Bussin for costs incurred from a libel lawsuit she had recently launched.
No Comments
1 image
Following years of planning and debate, there will finally be a face lift for Union Station.
Members of council voted overwhelmingly on the first day of council meetings to approve the five year revitalization of the storied transportation hub, scheduled to begin in 2010. The project will restore the building’s crumbling Great Hall, as well as add a retail concourse level underneath the station. (More …)
No Comments
9 images
Even for a city paralyzed by a month-long garbage strike, the mood was festive as the Caribana festival kicked off with a launch party in front of a packed and blustery Yonge-Dundas Square
Organizers, politicians and dancers festooned with feathers joined Caribana chair Joe Halstead on stage to celebrate the kick-off of North America’s largest Caribbean festival, now in its 42nd year. And despite the change in locale to Yonge and Dundas from Nathan Phillips Square, thanks to the civic workers strike, Halstead went out of his way to assure everyone gathered that it was business as usual.
No Comments
1 image
Relations between the city and its striking workers took a turn for the worse this afternoon when union leaders gathered at a Scarborough hotel to lambaste Mayor David Miller for taking negotiations public.
Earlier in the day, the mayor released to the media a detailed settlement offer to end the city-wide strike, now in its 18th day. The Canadian Union of Public Employees says the act crossed the line when it comes to honest negotiating.
1 Comment
12 images
What is it with Toronto’s fixation with breaking world records?
A few weeks after a failed attempt to have the most guitarists play the same song, hundreds of saxophonists gathered on Canada Day to try to break yet another Guinness benchmark.
1 Comment
9 images
All weekend, North by Northeast featured high-profile performances by bands and artists.
Broken Social Scene played an ultra-exclusive set at the Courthouse, Black Lips and the GZA packed Yonge-Dundas Square with showcase performances, and King Khan, the Where’s Waldo of the weekend, was everywhere.
No Comments
11 images
At eight pm, a live music venue is usually deserted.
Not so for Matt & Kim’s eagerly-awaited set at Whippersnapper Gallery.
For 35 minutes, the Brooklyn duo, keyboardist Matt Johnson and drummer Kim Schifino, offered up tasty nuggests of indie dance rock to approximately 75 lucky souls who squeezed into the undersized venue.
No Comments
8 images
For part one of our NXNE day two recap, click here
The Dead Science from Seattle is known to perform with subdued intensity, but the band’s slow burning avant-garde jazz numbers almost put the crowd at Lee’s Palace into comas.
The comics-loving trio’s set picked up slightly the towards the end, but by then it was too late to be impressed by their tightly controlled dynamics. Not to mention singer Sam Micken’s throaty falsetto, which grated at times. Underwhelming.
No Comments
3 images
‘Tis the season for lineups, wristbands and cheap beer. For bar crawls, sound checks, and after parties. For collapsing in an heap close to dawn exhausted from watching band after band perform into the wee hours. And then doing it all over again the next day.
The 2009 North by Northeast music festival hits music venues starting with a 6 PM set tonight by Spiral Beach at Yonge-Dundas Square. Music fans will be able to choose from 500 bands over this weekend, a film festival and panel discussions featuring industry voices. That’s in addition to the after parties, free shows and barbecues (weather permitting) from now until Sunday. (More …)
No Comments
1 image
Peter Morgan considers himself to be a healthy man, but he’s increasingly short of breath these days.
Each morning, as the resident of Roncesvalles travels to his job, he notices how the commuter trains travelling north along the Georgetown rail corridor from Union Station affect his neighbourhood’s air quality. He breathes in as little of the noxious metallic fumes emanating from their diesel engines as possible and wonders what’s going into his body. (More …)
No Comments
10 images
“We’re completely sold out,” chef Marco Santaguida of Santaguida Fine Foods told a disappointed customer hoping for the last of his 600 grilled chicken and Brie sandwiches.
Santaguida and helpers sold all of their popular sandwiches, served on a toasted baguette and garnished with fire-roasted red pepper, in only three hours. They were one of the countless local restaurateurs and caterers offering affordable eats on a sunny afternoon on the waterfront during President’s Choice 1000 Tastes of Toronto, which took place on the final weekend of the Luminato festival.
