FESTIVAL | SummerWorks Theatre and Art Festival
For the next 11 days the SummerWorks festival will bring Torontonians the best in new Canadian theatre. Aside from the dozens of plays being staged, there's also a kick-ass lineup of concerts from the likes of the Hidden Cameras, Diamond Rings, Maylee Todd, and Snowblink, as well as a series of guided walks through the Bathurst theatre district and a multi-media art installation designed to transport you back to childhood. You can check out our recommendations for the festival here. Runs til August 15. Happy festing!
Various venues, $10 per play, 3-play pass $25, 7-play pass $55, 10-day pass $75, Summerwalks pass $12

GALLERY | Being Scene
From Beethoven to Van Gogh to Daniel Johnston, great art and mental illness have always been intertwined. A joint project of Workman Arts and the CAMH Being Scene showcases the work of Canadian artists who have battled addiction and mental health issues, but this is more than an exercise in demonstrating that marginalized people have things to contribute to society. The show is juried, which means that the calibre of art on display is very high, and since its inception in 2000 works from the show have hung in such auspicious places as the Lieutenant Governor's suite at Queen's Park. Runs til September 19.
Gladstone Hotel, 3rd and 4th floor galleries, 1214 Queen Street West, Opening reception tonight, free, 6 pm - 9 pm

MUSIC | Metric Free Show at Union Square Plaza
Summer is the season for outdoor concerts, but while bands rock out in Yonge-Dundas Square or on the island with regularity, as far as I know this is the first time anyone's dared bring the noise to Union Station. The whole south side of the city will be tied up tonight when indie royalty Metric play a free show outside Toronto's transportation hub. I can already picture the faces of those poor late-working businessmen who'll show up only to discover thousands of hipsters between them and their train home.
Union Square Plaza, Free, 7 pm

CONTEST ALERT: Thanks to Samsung Mobile Canada, we're giving away two VIP double passes to today's Metric concert. For a chance to win, follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook where we'll be posting details later today how they can be yours.

BOOKS AND LIT | Steven Adler of Guns 'n Roses
Fans of Celebrity Rehab will recognize Steven Adler as the continuously relapsing drug addict whose antics on the show earned him a place at the bottom of a very rotten barrel filled with troubled stars. But for a generation of music fans, he holds legendary status as one the original members of Guns 'n Roses, a position he lost when the other members kicked him out of the band for his inability to stay sober. After two drug-induced strokes, three suicide attempts, and an astounding 28 overdoses, Adler is reportedly clean for the first time in nearly three decades, and credits his sobriety to the therapeutic act of writing his memoir, My Appetite for Destruction. He comes to Chapters today to discuss the book and his ongoing struggles.
Chapters Festival Hall, 142 John Street, Free, 7 pm

MUSIC | The Black Keys at the Kool Haus
The Black Keys began the century playing Ohio's underground club circuit, and now the blues rock duo from Akron finds themselves battling out Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber for top spot on the Billboard chart (the band's 2010 release Brothers peaked at number 3). With the rare ability to sound both hip and timeless simultaneously, the band's won legions of fans north of the American border as well and a second show had to be added to their Toronto tour stop. Both are sold out, so if you want to catch a glimpse of one of the hottest acts going right now you're gonna have to get scalped. San Francisco's the Morning Benders open.
Kool Haus, 132 Queens Quay East, $30 original, 9 pm

FILM | Ocean's 11 Double Bill in Dundas Square
Before Clooney, Pitt and Damon hunked it up on the big screen, Sinatra, Martin and Davis Jr. were the only guys cool enough to play the ultimate Sin City heisters in the original Ocean's 11. If you've ever wondered the Rat Pack cast compares to its modern remake, now's your chance. Yonge-Dundas Square is screening both films back to back tonight, and the weather is looking cooperative so grab a blanket and a flask of something and settle down for a good old fashioned caper. The gaudy lights of the square will even have you believing you're walking the Vegas strip.
Yonge-Dundas Square, Free, first film 6:30 pm, second at 9 pm

Well the second last long weekend of the summer is upon us, and I suggest you use it wisely. 'Cause pretty soon we'll be knee deep in snow and you'll be wishing you were dead. Given that Simcoe Day is a civic rather than provincial or federal holiday, a bunch of things that are usually closed on long weekends are open: select LCBO's and Beer Stores will be running on reduced hours, and the AGO (usually closed on Mondays) is staying open. Banks, government offices, libraries and post offices will be closed, and the TTC is running on its holiday schedule. Major attractions like the Toronto Zoo, the ROM and Canada's Wonderland are all open.

I would recommend you spend the day lazing in the park with some friends and a couple of tall boys, but if you're looking for some more structured/less alcoholic activities there are a few things on tap.

FESTIVAL | Island Soul Festival
If the big Caribana parade this weekend didn't satisfy your thirst for West Indian culture, don't worry; the Island Soul Festival still has one day to go. It'll be steelpan, steelpan, and more steelpan today as Afropan, Toronto's oldest steelpan group, takes to the stage at 3 pm, and throughout the day Pan in the Park will recreate Trinidad's famous pan yard jams. Sample Chef Washington's famous oxtail dumplings, or take a look at the region through the cinematic lens at the CaribbeanTales Film Festival.
Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queen's Quay West, Free,12 pm - 6:30 pm

FESTIVAL | Irie Music Festival
Another satellite festival of Caribana, the Irie Music Festival wraps up today with an afternoon of music and family-friendly activities. From 1 pm - 8:30 pm the Irie Farmers Market will take over Queen's Park, and from 1 pm - 6 pm the Taste of the Tropics will offer up delicious Caribbean cuisine. Later in the afternoon, homegrown reggae stars Ibadan will spread their musical message, followed by Fredlocks Asher and the Fab 5.
Queen's Park, Free, 1 pm - 8:30 pm

Saturday, July 31:

CARIBANA | Caribana Parade 2010
It's a Caribbean carnival on Toronto's lakefront today as the annual Caribana Parade dances its way along Lakeshore Boulevard. Over a million people are expected to attend the event, which is so big it takes close to six hours for the whole procession to pass you by. It's a spectacle that really is indescribable if you've never seen it: outrageously lavish costumes, even more outrageously sexy men and women and relentless steel-drumming. The whole thing kicks off inside Exhibition Stadium, but if you'd rather not pay the $20 for the privilege of a front row seat just park yourself on the side of the road and let the carnival sweep you away.
Begins at Exhibition Place, moving East along Lakeshore Boulevard, Free, 10 am - 6 pm

GALLERY | Will Munro: Total Eclipse
We all know that Will Munro's legacy is indelibly marked on the Queen West community, but it's testimony to how important he was to this city that even the rarified culture of the AGO has been touched by his passing. Today the gallery opens a posthumous retrospective of his art that includes multidisciplinary work like quilts, silk screens, and hand made copies of posters he made to promote the many events he threw over the years. The show will be on display until September 26 in the Young Gallery, the AGO's free exhibit space, and opens next Saturday night with (what else) a party.
AGO, 317 Dundas Street West, Free

STAR WARS RE-ENACTMENT | LED Lightsaber Battle
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... wait, wait, I can't. I can't do this, I'm sorry. It's too nerdy. I'll spare you all the references to Tatooine and the midi-chlorians and just tell you that tonight in front of the ROM people are going to be pretending to fight each other with lightsabers. For, like, hours. It's too late to reserve yourself a lightsaber from organizers, but if you're even remotely interested in going I assume you already own one. What? There are 700 people attending this thing already? Unbelievable.
ROM, 100 Queen's Park, Free, 9 pm

VISUAL ART | I Hate You More than the Devil Hates Me: New Work by Jesi the Elder
Animator Jesi the Elder has made some seriously whacked out videos for the likes of DDMMYYY, Final Fantasy, and Katie Stelmanis, so she's the perfect person to inaugurate Sonic Boom's new artists' wall. We'll get our first glimpse of her new work at an opening reception and unveiling of the wall tonight, and after that the weirdness that is her cartoons will be on display til September 1.
Sonic Boom, 512 Bloor Street West, Free, 7 pm - 10 pm

MUSIC | Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
Edward Sharpe and his band are like those hippies from Guelph you run into every once and a while. They're overly cute and really annoying until you realize how completely sincere they are, and then all of a sudden you can't stop thinking about them, especially that arty girl in the back who no one seems able to get to... Anyway, the band released the catchiest single in indie-dom last year with Home, and it's been more than enough to propel them to national fame, including a performance on the Late Show.
Phoenix Concert Theatre, 410 Sherbourne Street, $19, 8 pm

CONVENTION | Official Twilight Convention
Okay so Kristen Stewart and that really dreamy guy aren't going to be there, but from what I understand people really go nuts for this Twilight stuff so I assume someone is excited about the Toronto stop of the traveling Twilight Convention. The top-billed actor attending is Chaske Spencer who plays Sam Uley in the movies, followed by Julia Jones (Leah Clearwater), Alex Meraz (werewolf named Paul), and some others. Take some pictures, add them to your scrap book. But don't ask any of these guys for Pattinson's number...they don't like it. Runs til Sunday.
Westin Harbour Castle, 1 Harbour Square, $25 daily, Friday 12 pm - 7 pm, Saturday 11 am - 7 pm, Sunday 11:30 am - 6 pm