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Category: Culture

Alex Cuba hits town on the heels of Grammy Award nomination

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Alex Cuba was born into a musical family in Artemis, Cuba, just outside of Havana. He played percussion on TV as a child and remembers the feeling well. It’s the one he still gets just before he goes onstage. Hot on the heels of a recent Grammy Award nomination for Best Latin Pop Album and with a growing legion of fans, Cuba is no longer a kid taking his first performance steps. He’s a hot commodity around the world with a huge Next Big Thing sign stuck in his sizable, trademark Afro.

Chomsky vs. Chimpsky: comparing a famous professor — speaking in Toronto tonight — and a famous chimpanzee

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Noam Chomsky, famed MIT professor of linguistics and outspoken political activist, is speaking at the University of Toronto tonight and tomorrow. Nim Chimpsky, the first chimpanzee to be taught American sign language, is the subject of Project Nim, a film screening at the upcoming Hot Docs. Going by DNA alone, Chomsky and Chimpsky are 98.7 per cent identical, but we thought it would be a good time to compare legacies.

Bash-ful broads: T.O.'s biggest roller derby event hits Downsview Park this weekend

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If you’re a sports fan who’s never been to a Toronto Roller Derby game, it’s a great time to get your feet wet. Toronto’s biggest roller derby event of the year is going down this weekend at Downsview Park as Toronto’s all-star team, CN Power, hosts teams from Kitchener-Waterloo, Ottawa and Montreal in a two-day tournament. We asked CN Power co-captain Lady Scorcher to fill us in on this weekend’s events.

Rival ex-mayors and other reps cleared

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A judge recently tossed out 40 charges for alleged violations of the Municipal Elections Act faced by former Vaughan mayor, Linda Jackson, due to ambiguity in the legislation. On these grounds, remaining charges against regional councillor Michael Di Biase and councillor Bernie DiVona would also likely be dismissed, the City of Vaughan said in a statement.

Richmond Hill students make safe return from Japan

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A handful of local parents can rest easy now that 43 students from Richmond Hill’s Holy Trinity School have returned home safely from Japan. The teens, accompanied by four teachers, were in flight when the Asian country was ravaged by a monstrous 8.9 earthquake.

Shops on Steeles deal would see 1,235 units

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York Region; the Town of Markham; the German Mills Residents’ Association (GMRA); and the developer, Bayview Summit, recently agreed to a settlement on the developer’s controversial Shops on Steeles proposal. The counter-offer, put forward by the local residents’ group, permits 1,235 units. Bayview Summit had previously appealed an application to build 1,787 units across five high-rise towers to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB). The revised plans would translate into a reduction in the heights of the three tallest towers — from 30, 32 and 28 storeys to 24, 24 and 25 storeys, respectively.