August 4th-14th SummerWorks Festival @ various locations. Toronto’s indie theatre and arts festival! www.summerworks.ca/2011/home.php 

WEDNESDAY 

7 pm Easy Tiger Records Presents: Art @ Steam Whistle Brewery, 255 Bremner Blvd. Artists featured are Ben Sellick, Dean Povinsky, Brad Leitch, Mikaal Naik and Kyle Micheal Murray. With musical accompaniment by DJ Le Freak C’est Keek. Until 11 pm.  

8 pm Drake Trivia @ The Drake Lounge, 1150 Queen St. W. A friendly game of trivia! Teams of 4 or less put their random knowledge to the test as host Terrance Balazo fires off questions ranging from sporting records and celebrity scandals to geographic discoveries and culinary lingo. Winning table gets an $80 Drake gift card (and bragging rights). $2. 

8:30 pm BBQ Wednesdays @ Double Deuce Saloon, 1168 Queen St. W. Cheap drinks, BBQ on the back patio and DJs HJ and Dread McGriff playing all your favourite hip-hop, pop and dance tunes. $10 for BBQ (hamburgers, sausages, wing​s and salad) and a beer until 10:30 pm! 

9 pm Comedy @ The Ossington, 61 Ossington Ave. Hosted by Sara Hennessey, Greg Alsop, Jeremy Mersereau and Steph Kaliner, with fabulous guests Ennis Esmer, Matt O’Brien, Aaron Eves, Dan Ramos, Amanda Day and improv with Hannah and Tess. Come at 8 pm sharp to sign up for a mystery guest spot and show off your comedy skills. PWYC.  

10 pm Legoblocks @ Unlovable, 1415-B Dundas St. W. DJs Linus Booth, Brandon Sek and Dougie Boom play robojamz.  

THURSDAY 

4 pm SummerWorks 2011 Opening Party @ MOCCA, 952 Queen St. W. Being outside + bands + theatre + shmoozing + food + good times + cheap booze x FREE = SummerWorks! With bands Raoul and the Big Time, The Elwins, Patti Cake, Modern Superstitions, Light Fires and Choir! Choir! Choir!, and food provided by The Lakeview. Until 1 am.  

6 pm WORN Journal Mending Night @ Freedom Clothing Collective, 939 Bloor St. W. Wornettes will be on-hand to frantically fix your glorious garments! For those who live their life in pristine elegance and have never torn a seam, they will have supplies for an easy craft. 

10 pm Songs: A Dance Party @ The Drake Underground, 1150 Queen St. W. Beirut’s Paul B Collins will be manning the decks and playing “an eclectic mix of hip-hop, Brazilian, synth-pop, world music, motown, etc.” $5 (or free to the first 50 people with ticket stubs from the show). 

FRIDAY 

7 pm Junction Design Crawl @ various locations. Organized by a bunch of independent businesses from Keele and Dundas West to Pacific Avenue in the Junction. All businesses who are participating on the evening will have white lights strung up outside of their shops, making it easy to navigate the evening. http://junctiondesigncrawl.com 

7 pm Carnival @ Narwhal Art Projects, 2988 Dundas St. W. A celebration for The Storefront, a new window installation by Joele Walinga and Alicia Nauta. As part of the Junction Design Crawl, they will be holding festivities in the back courtyard including a psychic in a tent, fire with marshmallows and hot dogs (and customized roasting sticks), the musical stylings of Joele and Alicia, drinks (including their cruise ship mix drink) signs, flags, curtains, neon things! Until 11 pm. 

9 pm Tiny Danza Album Release @ The Horseshoe, 370 Queen St. W. Celebrate the release of Tiny Danza’s debut album, You Could Have it All! With special guests Inner City Grooves, BenHur and Lincoln Blanche. $10.  

10 pm Whatevs @ 751 (downstairs), 751 Queen St. W. A 90’s hip-hop and gangsta rap party with Steve Rock playing all your golden era favourites. Loose morals and $10 mini pitchers of bar rail in effect.  

10 pm Shindig! @ Crawford, 718 College St. The best rhythm and blues music from the 50’s and 60’s with resident 45 selectors General Eclectic, Splattermonkey and Double K! Free before 11:30 pm, $5.00 after. 

10 pm Night Crawlers @ Naco Gallery, 1665 Dundas St. W. DJs Nik Red and San Fran present a hot night of dirty disco classics, freedom house, emancipating dub and an earful of treats to celebrate liberation, emancipation and da goodness that is summer. 

10 pm Fuck Dance, Let’s Drink @ The Red Light, 1185 Dundas St. W. DJs Booth, Graham Zilla, Dougie Boom and ghettogoldmatt kindly share their favourite music they don’t often get to play out. 

10 pm Sweat Pants @ The Ossington, 61 Ossington Ave. DJ Coolin Cregg plays sweet, sexy, sweaty tunes for you to rock, bump and wind too. 

10 pm Neat, Neat, Neat! @ The Piston, 937 Bloor St. W. Punk, Brit-pop, new wave, shoegaze and Mod revival tunes.  

10 pm Second Hand Love @ The Henhouse, 1532 Dundas St. W. A sweaty funky punky disco dance party with DJ Keith playing vinyl for you to get down to.  

10 pm The Return Of Steamboat @ The Shop under Parts & Labour, 1566 Queen St. W. DJs Maylee Todd and Mantler will be playing records all night for your enjoyment!  

10 pm LCBO Soundsystem @ Stella, 1261 Bloor St. W. An evening of crushing jams and future damage barrels, including stuff like Gang Gang Dance, Summer Camp, Animal Collective, Gold Panda, Tennis, The Weeknd, Youth Lagoon and so much more.  

10 pm Hip-Hop vs. House @ Revival, 783 College St. A musical-heavyweight battle! DJ Starting From Scratch vs. DJ Jason Palma. $10 before midnight, $20 after (ladies half-off all night).  

10 pm Yacht Rock @ The Boat, 158 Augusta Ave. A night of dancing to the smoothest music you’ve ever heard in your life. $5 to step aboard.  

10 pm Girl & Boy 90s Dance Party @ Clinton’s, 693 Bloor St. W. RnB, hip-hop, pop and North American and European dance music from the 90’s. Free before 11 pm with student ID, $5 otherwise. 

11 pm Never Forgive Action @ The Drake Underground, 1150 Queen St. W. A heavy dose of classic hip-hop and R&B with special guest DJ Serious and residents Numeric and Ted Dancin’. $10.  

SATURDAY 

1 pm “By Hooker By Crook” Opening @ 345 Harbord St. Jeremy Jansen shows new work from his exhibit “By Hooker By Crook”, which consists of photographs, sculptures and free ’zines. Teenanger will be performing in the alleyway at 2:30 pm. Until 4 pm.  

3 pm The Dirt Picnic @ Royal Canadian Legion Branch 344, 1395 Lakeshore Blvd. W. Bands, DJs, beers, burgers! Performances (beginning at 8 pm) by Anagram, The Holy Cobras, The Ultimatemost High, Teenager, No No Zero and Ell V Gore. Afternoon DJ sets by Fro & Stewie (old school hip-hop), RPM (rap), Redda & Grateful Dread (dancehall and reggae), Lab On The Fly Live (trip-hop) and Meowmix & Led (dubstep). BBQ in the afternoon. $10.  

4 pm Doing The Same @ The Red Light, 1185 Dundas St. W. Weekly BBQ jam! All smooth West Coast sounds (electro, boogie, jheri curl funk, g-funk, rap and R&B), all free BBQ (while it lasts), all day long cheap beers and mixed drinks ($12 Mill Street pitchers) from 4-8 pm every Saturday on the patio. Music by Ghetto Gold Matt and guests, BBQ by Vladimir Kato. 

10 pm STD @ The Shop under Parts & Labour, 1566 Queen St. W. An open-format party with DJs Isosceles and Innez Da Future. Drink specials until 11:30 pm. Free before 11:30 pm, $5 after.  

10 pm There Goes The Neighbourhood: Amy Winehouse Tribute Party @ The Barn, 418 Church St. Remixes, music videos and more! Featuring DJ ViVi Diamond and an Amy-inspired performance by Heroine Marks. $2 drinks before 11:30 pm. Free before midnight, $5 after.  

10 pm Reality Bytes @ Augusta House, 152-A Augusta Ave. Plug in your dial-up modems, lace up your docs, grab your chain wallets, turn off Friends on your TV, dust off your 90’s records, grab your disc-man and get ready to relive the 90’s! Drink specials before 11 pm.

10 pm The Hoxton Opening Night @ The Hoxton, 69 Bathurst St. Longtime business partners Jesse Girard and Richard Lambert (of The Social and Parts & Labour) have teamed up with comedian Kenny Hotz to launch a major project: The Hoxton, an 8,000 square foot music and entertainment venue with Parts & Labour as the in-house catering partner. Opening night party will feature The Twelves and Kissette. $15 advanced tickets available at Rotate This, Soundscapes, Play De Record and online. 

10 pm Motown Party @ 751, 751 Queen St. W. Motown, northern soul and remixes with DJs Fawn BC and Caff upstairs, and an all-vinyl set with DJs Brett Millius and Reverend Throwdown downstairs. $11 pitchers and cheap bar rails all night. $5 before midnight, $10 after.  

10 pm Shake, Rattle & Roll @ Clinton’s, 693 Bloor St. W. The ladies of Bangs & Blush are throwing another sexy, sweaty dance party! 60’s pop, soul and rock n’ roll. $5. 

10 pm Standards @ The Piston, 937 Bloor St. W. Special huest DJs Imran Haniff and Colin Bowers of The Holiday Crowd are dusting some wax for your listening pleasure, with DJs Davy Love and Linda Noelle bringing you a steamy night of soul, mod, ska, punk, C86, new wave, garage and good times. 

11 pm Shake A Tail @ Sneaky Dee’s, 431 College St. 60’s pop, rock, soul, funk, garage, ska, ANYTHING! Always humid. $5. 

SUNDAY 

3 pm Ossington Village Alleyway Party @ Alleyway between Foxley and Argyle. Music courtesy of Rambunctious, Maria Bonita and The Band, The Lemon Bucket Orkestra and more, street games, garage door painting and more! Bring a BBQ, food and drink, sticks for street hockey and anything else you think will add to the fun! Until 9 pm.  

7 pm Movies In The Mess Hall @ The Drake Underground, 1150 Queen St. W. A screening of the French crime fantasy Mic Macs hosted by Richard Crouse. $5 or $15 with dinner (foot-long veal cheese dog with your choice of 2 sides + a sprinkle doughnut). Call 416-531-5042 ex. 249 to reserve your spot.