Toronto Pride: A Look Back
Virtual Pride: June 26-28, 2020… say what???!!! As we all know, COVID-19 has squatted over Toronto Pride this summer of 2020 and taken a huge dump. When it was announced that all large events – or any event for that matter – in the City of Toronto would be cancelled this year, including my beloved Pride, I was crushed beyond measure. Toronto Pride will be celebrated this year with “Virtual…
When Insults Had Class
This is an oldie which has been travelling around the Internet for a while, but is worth preserving here. These glorious insults are from an era that valued cleverness with words; an era when the leaders of society didn’t need to use profanity or the middle finger to make their point. He had delusions of adequacy -Walter Kerr He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices…
I Couldn’t Agree More
Seen on an abandoned building on my way to work one day (look to the left of the window): No comment… that would be waaaaaay too easy…
70s Canadian Rock
The other day I was doing a little food shopping at Rabba. The store had its sound system tuned to Toronto’s retro station Boom 97.3, and they were playing Spaceship Superstar by Prism. Prism!!… whoa…. the memories started flooding back. Ahh… Canadian rock in the early 70s… it was great. If you were a teen in the 1970s growing up in Canada, AM radio’s pop and rock music was most…
A Smile During the Pandemic
It had been a busy and hectic day at work last Friday. Walking home I suddenly spotted something unusual coming toward me in the distance. At first I thought I was seeing things courtesy of my fatigued state, but as it drew closer I see it was… Pikachu to the rescue!! Thank you, Pikachu! It was great to have a smile and laugh during our troubled COVID times.
Scratchings From The Past – #2
The Life and Work of Kenneth Anger Angels exist. Nature provides an inexhaustible flood of beauties. It is up to the poet, with his personal vision, to ‘capture’ them.1 Those words, written by a twenty-one year old avant-garde filmmaker, close his essay Modestie et Art du Film, published in the fifth issue of Cahiers du Cinema, September, 1951. Perhaps no other artist in the experimental/avant-garde film genre has contributed as…
Carol’s Retirement
Goodbye Tension, Hello Pension! After spending 30 long and busy years working for the City of Toronto, my good friend Carol finally retired. The IT Service Desk gave her a little send-off, and I was there (of course) to grab a few shots. Here’s how it all went down:
Halloween Clientele
Going for a lunch hour burger at Hero’s on Church Street, I found these dubious customers waiting for me: Happy Halloween!
Jasper T-Shirts
I saw these two t-shirts through a store window while vacationing in Jasper, Alberta. Wonderfully sacrilegious… 🙂
My City, My Six: Toronto’s Stories Told in Six Words
In celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday in 2017, the City of Toronto launched a public art project called My City, My Six. From May to August that year, the public were invited to submit something about themselves and Toronto, consisting of only 6 words. The best submissions were judged, then posted in the Civic Centres of Toronto. I was working at the East York Civic Centre at the time, and…
Toronto Chinatown Festival 2019
Here’s some shots from this past weekend’s Chinatown Festival in Toronto. The festival stretched along several blocks of Spadina Avenue, and there was lots of colour, food and costumes.
Monday Morning Rainbow
As I stumbled bleary-eyed from my bed this morning, I was greeted by a rainbow over the city: It’s rare we have a rainbow over the city but even rarer when it’s a double one such as this. All too soon it was gone. The rainbow was followed by some unusual light and threatening skies: And then it all gave way to rain…
“Last Man Dancing”
I’ve had this article on my hard drive for many years. I can’t recall exactly where or when I found the essay but I do know who the author is – it’s written by a man named Patrick Runkle. I couldn’t find too much about him on the Internet, other than he is a music producer/composer from the U.S. and is a founder of Cohaagen Music. He is also a…
I Am Canadian!!!
“I Am Canadian” was the slogan of Molson Canadian beer from 1994 to 2005. As part of their campaign, Molson released Joe’s “I Am Canadian” TV rant in March 2000. I had long forgotten about this great clip until I came upon it in YouTube the other day. “Joe”, by the way, is actor Jeff Douglas who, because of the clip’s success, was mobbed everywhere he went for years. After…
“Dancer From The Dance”
First published in 1978, Dancer From The Dance is Andrew Holleran’s highly acclaimed first novel. The title is taken from the last few lines of W.B. Yeats’s Among School Children: O chestnut-tree, great-rooted blossomer,Are you the leaf, the blossom or the bole?O body swayed to music, O brightening glance,How can we know the dancer from the dance? Widely considered a gay classic and must-read, it’s been reissued yet again, this…
A Wet Ghost Walk Through The Distillery District
We’d been wanting to do a ghost walk of Toronto’s Distillery District for some time so we bought our tickets for the night of July 6th. One figures with a historic place like the Distillery District there’s bound to be some hauntings and a few lost souls lingering about. The company hosting the walk was The Haunted Walk. They also have offices in Ottawa and Kingston and we have taken…
“Dear Mama”
One of the most moving moments in Armistead Maupin’s brilliant Tales of the City, is when one of the main characters, Michael, comes out to his mother in a letter. His coming out at this point in the narrative is prompted by the news that his mother has joined Anita Bryant’s hateful and anti-gay “Save The Children” campaign, which was launched in the late 1970s. This is an incredibly moving…
To My Departed Friend, Mari-es
Dear Mari-es: Although you left us in 2014 my heart still aches when I think of you; your departure was far too soon and far too sudden. If it were only possible to talk to you again, even for a few precious minutes, this is what I’d say: I must honestly say that the seven or so years we shared at Canada Life were the best I’ve ever had in…