A ONCE-A-WEEK (or so) LIST OF WHAT I GIVE A DAMN ABOUT. WITH 10 = MOST IMPORTANT; AND 1 = NOT SO MUCH
QQ = 10 : BODY AND SOUL
The duet with Tony Bennet is touching. More so, to see Tony, so masterful, so
in control and so at ease. What a great song!
Amy Winehouse - so sad.
But then again, check Billie Holiday do the same tune, for real in another time,
another dimension and another sad.
QQ = 9 : TORONTO
I thought Toronto and I were lovers once. Perhaps it was just a brief
affair, even a one night stand for a year or two. Although Toronto has
shown me some kindness and consideration, I have fallen out of love.
Every now and then, on a summer's night, on a patio, a glimmer of
warmth returns, just for an instant, but then its gone, back to another
time when Toronto was “Toronto the good.” It is good no more.
QQ = 8 : HARPER, HUDAK & FORD
Canada deserves 'em.
We are not American. In America, there is a concept called “oversight.”
In Canada we do not confront our demons. We do the British thing. We
sweep the dirt under the rug and pretend it isn't there.
We hide our SARS, our OMB, our filthy air, our police corruption and our
corporate monopolies under the cultural veneer of “Nice”. We're all just
nice people getting along. If you think that the Tea Party has some
extreme positions, wait and wonder what mischief H.H. & F will get up to
QQ = 7 : OH, OH CANADA
We are the Tar sands
We are Asbestos
We give you SARS and Walkerton and even MS
We wait for surgeons
We jail our Indians
Our peaceful right to assemble, just an arbitrary notion
We are Canadian
QQ = 6 : URBAN DESIGN
St Clair Avenue Toronto. A multitude of failure upon failure upon failure.
Did anything go right? Traffic snarls, cyclists risk their lives, nowhere to
park, businesses going under and traffic lights uncoordinated.
It must have been designed by Daniel Libeskind. I think he has a grudge
against this city and is terrorizing it using “ugly and impractical” as a
weapon.
Or, he is leading a new revolution in architecture and design where form
and function are separate but equal. A sort of design apartheid.
I could go on, and I will. What the hell is Toronto International Airport
Terminal 4 doing at the corner of Dundas and McCaul? Even Gehry doesn’t
get this town.
QQ = 5 : GREECE
I am told that a public servant can, if he chooses, retire at age 45.
Perhaps, taxing the rich is not the only solution.
QQ = 4 : NAFTA
I guess music and musicians were excluded. They are such a threat.
Free trade without melody is rough trade
QQ = 3 : CULTURE
What on earth is the ghost of Andy Warhol doing in Nashville TN?
QQ = 2 : HEALTH
Mad wheat disease as a result of genetic modification. When Monsanto
fucks with our daily bread, we have a problem.
QQ = 1 : THERE WAS A TIME
Ray Charles and Quincy 1961. “Genius Plus Soul = Jazz” changed my life.
The organ solo on“One Mint Julep” is iconic. Check it out.
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