OK. It may have started as a one-glass-of-wine-too-many rant; tapping that well of middle-age-white-guy anger about how the-world-is-going-to-hell-in-a-hand-basket. In this case the subject was the metric system. Is it possible to mount a class-action suit against the arrogant dickheads who foisted this monstrosity on us and sucked all of the poetry out of our lives? Discuss....
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Songwriting is an interesting pursuit. What is it about a certain arrangement of notes and pauses that makes you know that it's right? I believe that you don't write a song as much as discover it. And the listener feels that it has always been there, even when they hear it for the first time. They feel: "I have always liked this song." I know this sounds a bit esoteric but trust me; I am a very practical guy. Since I have to do it, I accept it and embrace it. ...
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At Centennial Park in Beaconsfield on Friday, Aug. 20, from 5 until 10:30 p.m.  there will be a lot of entertainment. Including yours truly. This is the way “Contact Beaconsfield’, the city magazine describes it: “What’s hot and what’s not? Our youth can best answer that! Everyone is welcome, but this event is geared to teens and adults. Let’s heat things up one last time before school starts and the cold sets in.” ...
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Screen writer William Goldman summed it up: In the entertainment industry, "nobody knows anything."This is noticeable, particularly in criticism. Especially with regard to comedies. I wish we had critics who understood the appeal of comedies. Instead, we seem to have an endless array of stern school mistresses disapprovingly wagging their fingers....
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The Hudson Village Theatre is a treasure for so many reasons. It’s a place you can see real intimate live theatre close to the West Island. So close you don’t have to fight traffic and the parking is free. And the roads don’t close at 11.The other day I caught their current offering: Celebrity. It has a great story. The acting is wonderful. And in two hours and ten minutes (including intermission) it’s over. Don Anderson is particularly good in the lead role. He...
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Although Air Canada allows you one checked bag gratis when you fly to the U.S., most of the American airlines charge you for each bag. So carrying two bags each way can add up to 50 per cent again on top of your basic fare.This makes no sense to me. By charging for checked bags they are actually encouraging passengers to put all their stuff in a carry-on. And have you seen the size of the bags people now take into the cabin?...
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Wednesday night I saw Brad Garret channel Don Rickles at the Just for Laughs Relationship Gala. He was practicing a style of humor known as “Insult”, by picking on people in the audience because of their age, their perceived sexual orientation or their ethnicity.On the surface it is wrong for so many reasons. It is what our society tells us we are not supposed to say or even think. These days it is so outlawed that the mere hint of it from any public figure can produce scandal and...
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A couple of nights ago I saw Young@Heart at Place des Arts. It was part of the Just for Laughs festival. The place was packed. And I would guess that more than half of the audience was francophone, the average age about 70.Maybe you haven’t heard of Young@Heart. They are a choir from Massachusetts. But they don’t sing hymns. Or even Cole Porter. They sing Jimmy Hendrix, The Jefferson Airplane, Talking Heads, Sonic...
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With the current state of the world so many people are feeling guilty. I wouldn’t mind that so much, but they think everyone else should feel guilty, too.I understand where they are coming from. I am sympathetic. They are merely reacting to all the fashionable apocalyptic scenarios. So they ask me: “Don’t you feel guilty?” I say: “No. Am I supposed to feel guilty?”“Yes,” they insist. “Why don’t you feel guilty?”...
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Last weekend Bowser and Blue played the Lancaster Park Outdoor Resort. It is an RV park just across the border in Lancaster, Ont., about 30 minutes from the West Island.The park is on the lake, where the St. Lawrence opens up to Lake St. Francis. This is a lake very much like Lake St. Louis. It’s wide and shallow. The park is like a little town much like small town in the U.S. were depicted in old movies. It’s a safe and friendly community. With kids riding bicycles with...
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