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hermaneutics

The Wounded Wonder of J.D. Salinger

by Herman Goodden

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ike most adolescents of the last three or four generations who were not averse to picking up a book and pondering the meaning of existence, my first encounter with The Catcher in The Rye (1951), the only novel so far published by J.D. Salinger (1919-2010), was momentous. Driven by the pitch-perfect and miraculously timeless vernacular of

www.londonyodeller.ca Publisher Bruce Monck bruce@londonyodeller.ca Editor Herman Goodden editor@londonyodeller.ca Layout Kirtley Jarvis EVENTS Alysha Monck info@londonyodeller.ca Contributors Paula Adamick / Ciara Allen Anna Blair / Susan Cassan Dave Clarke / Joseph Couture Nida Home Doherty Adam Corrigan Holowitz / Andrew Lawton Menno Meijer / Robert Pegg Jason Rip / Jeffrey Schiller /Sean Twist David Warren / Barry Wells Advertising & Marketing

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519-858-1770 / 888-879-6085 Published Bi-Weekly Next issue: May 12, 2016 Printed in Bracebridge, ON © 2016

MEGAN ARNOLD: SECRET SELFIE Watercolour and ink on paper, 9”x7”, 2014

Portraits on view at The ARTS Project

Ting Comic and Graphic Arts Festival April 26 — May 21, 2016 www.artsproject.ca www.shhhmeganarnold.wordpress.com

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its American adolescent narrator – 16 year-old Holden Caulfield – the novel movingly depicts the struggles of a bright and defensively caustic upper class kid who thinks he might be going crazy as he comes to recognize his inability to fulfill the deepest longing of his heart to align himself with any cause or person that isn’t fundamentally “phony”.

Unlike a few of my friends who were equally thrilled by Salinger’s short story collections that primarily chronicled the existential travails of the impossibly precocious Glass family, Nine Stories (1953), Franny and Zooey (1961) and Raise High the Roof Beams, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction (1963), I found these alternately precious and cynical tales to be pretty thin gruel. And it was sobering to re-read The Catcher in The Rye as an adult when my kids were falling under its spell. While I still marveled at Salinger’s accomplishment in capturing that voice, I now found I was impatient with and repelled by the book’s over all message that it isn’t possible to become an adult and maintain your integrity.

I’ve just finished reading David Shields’ and Shane Salerno’s Salinger (2013), a 700 page tome which was published as a complement to Salerno’s two-hour documentary of the same title.

It goes a long way to explaining how its subject got so stuck as an artist – he stopped publishing altogether in 1965 – and as a human being. Salinger married three times and had at least twice that many dalliances; always with young girls on the cusp of womanhood who’d then be rejected. David Shields writes: “The same pattern recurs throughout his life: innocence admired, innocence seduced, innocence abandoned. Salinger is obsessed with girls at the edge of their bloom. He wants to help them bloom.

Then he blames them for blooming.”

Born to a taciturn Jewish father who was convicted of price-fixing in his meat importing business (including verboten hams) one can see where he developed the idea that adulthood innately entailed corruption. A smothering Catholic mother in whose eyes he could do no wrong trained him to take the support of women for granted. And when the first real love of his life, Oona O’Neill (daughter of the playwright Eugene), broke off their engagement to marry the considerably older Charlie Chaplin, he also learned

not to trust them. And then there was his participation in five of the bloodiest battles of World War II – his initiation to the world of combat was D-Day, landing on Utah Beach – capped off in the spring of 1945 when he was one of the first Americans to enter one of the Nazi death camps and confront the full horror of what grown men can do.

Though he stopped publishing Salinger always claimed that he kept writing

and the posthumous publication of material from Salinger’s vault was supposed to commence sometime between 2015 and 2020 with a collection of more stories about the Glass family. Almost a year and a half into that period, we’re still waiting for that long anticipated flood to get underway. I for one won’t be terribly surprised if the great Hemingway biographer, A.E. Hotchner, had it right when he joked: “What if after all these years when Jerry’s been in his block house and allegedly writing all this stuff that’s too good for people to see because they’re going to distort it; what if when Jerry dies and they go into his vault and they open up his alleged treasure trove, what if there’s nothing there? . . . It would be a divine ploy, wouldn’t it?”

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don’t know if any of our readers have chanced to check out the Canadian Association of Journalists’ list of awards finalists for Outstanding Investigative Journalism in 2015. In the Community Media category, Joseph Couture is up for the prize for his series of articles on homelessness, drug addiction and mental illness

which ran in The London Yodeller. If he was guaranteed a win, Joseph would just about be able to cover his air fare to fly out to the awards ceremony in Edmonton on May 28 and chow down on the rubber chicken with other writers and broadcasters from all across the country. But hey, it isn’t about the bucks; it’s about the honour and the prestige and as the only London media outlet with a horse in this race, we couldn’t be prouder.

I’m regularly surprised when editing each new edition of the Yodeller by the spontaneous harmonies and counterpoints that can emerge between otherwise unrelated essays. Sometimes two columnists will come at the same subject or theme from different angles; other times it’s just an unusual word that I can’t remember any of our writers marshaling before and all of a sudden it shows up in two or three different pieces at once.

This week there are two particularly pronounced examples of thematic synchronicity going on involving four of our regular columnists.

Two of our apartment dwelling writers, Joseph Couture in London and David Warren in his High Doganate in the Greater Parkdale area of Toronto, independently penned thoughtful essays about the birds who make a habit of visiting their upper story balconies. ‘Uh oh, aviarian overkill’, I thought at first, bracing myself to ask one of them to submit something else for this issue. But after a close reading of each contribution, I realized that no, these two columns couldn’t be more different if their subjects had been poverty and pomegranates. One is end-of-theworld apocalyptic; the other is a hymn to continuity and tradition. And taken together in a two page spread (graced with Beth Stewart’s new drawing of a purple finch) , I consider them a perfect illustration of the Yodeller’s commitment to publish great writing, regardless of where it falls on the ideological spectrum.

The other is a far more deliberate overlapping of subject – indeed, they’ve called it a ‘mashup’ – as Sounds Razor’s Sean Twist and Dispatches from Dystopia’s Ciara Allen (long admirers of one another’s work) have decided to join forces in a oneoff Razorian Dispatch or Sounds Dystopic in which a highly surreal dialogue about the plight of writers in London, Ontario takes place in the trunk of a car about to plunge off Blackfriars Bridge. I think it’s worthy of an award too though it’s hard to imagine the Canadian Association of Journalists coming up with a category in which to nominate it.

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e d i t o r @ l o ndo ny o del le r. c a and democracy. But that seems a stretch. Another possibility is these attacks are reactions to hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths due to sanctions and military interventions by western countries. Isn’t that far more likely?

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Herman Goodden — The power and the pathos, the wonder and the waste – drawing a new bead on J.D. Salinger ESSAYS IN IDLENESS David Warren — Watching the finches and seeing the march of continuity and tradition

ALL THAT I SURVEY Joseph Couture — Watching the sparrows and worrying about the end of the world YODELLING IN THE CANYON Barry Wells — Councillor Bill Armstrong’s 3.5 million dollar defamation lawsuit backfires nicely as past details get dredged up again LAYING DOWN THE LAWTON Andrew Lawton — That dreamy Omar Khadr plights his troth.

Will Peter Mansbridge officiate at the ceremony?

DAPPLED THINGS Paula Adamick — Why so glum, snowflake? Trigger warnings and safe spaces can’t do a thing to mollify miserable millenials THEN PLAY ON Dave Clarke — Around Town: Sloan at the London Music Hall, Smales Pace Reunion at Aeolian, Break out your blue suede hiking boots for the London Rock n’ Roll Walking Tour / Mondo Phono: Kumano – London’s disco king / Shortlisted: Five awful rock managers

PEGG’S WORLD Bob Pegg — If you want to know which are the great James Taylor albums, check out his shirt on the cover UNCLE BRUCE Advice Column — In his showdown with London Police, could Mayor Brown finally be showing evidence of a spine?

FOREST CITY FOLK Menno Meijer— Pull up a ringside seat or strap on the gloves and go a round at Boomerz Boxing Club GALLERY PREVIEW Anna Blair — The third annual Ting Festival gives comics and graphic arts the respect they deserve

THEATRE REVIEW Susan Cassan & Herman Goodden — Oh Boy, indeed – Zachary Stevenson’s portrayal of Buddy Holly at the Grand is electrifyingly good LOOK AT THIS Nida Home Doherty — Catherine Morrisey’s exhibition at Westland Gallery presents a landscape of fluidity and simplicity

PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS Jeffrey Schiller — Abruzzi Ristorante – Italian food prepared with subtlety, nuance and attention to detail THEATRE SPACE Adam Corrigan Holowitz — Glenn Grainger’s new play, Manuel, throws the spotlight on a too often overlooked member of The Band

23 RIPLASH 24

Jason Rip — Perhaps you’ve never had cause to wonder, ‘Did Jesse James almost settle in Princeton, Ontario?’

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EVENTS LISTINGS

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SOUNDS DYSTOPIC Sean Twist & Ciara Allen — Two Yodeller writers tied together in the trunk of a 1977 Buick Lesabre with five sticks of dynamite.

Regrets? They’ve had a few

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— Jeff Culbert

IS IT UNPROVOKED HATRED OR RETALIATION? [Re: Je Suis Tired of This, Laying Down the Lawton, Mar. 31, Andrew Lawton] Why would

a person with roots in the Middle East want to commit an act of terrorism in a western country?

According to Andrew Lawton, they simply detest our values of freedom

AN ARGUMENT CLOUDED

BY EMOTION AND RELIGIOUS BELIEF Paula Adamick’s The Road to Genteel Genocide [Dappled Things, Mar. 17] was a somewhat overwrought article. I always enjoy Adamick’s articles and usually mirror her point of view. However, on euthanasia, I respectfully disagree. I do agree that doctors or anyone else for that matter should not have to participate if they

don’t want to — just as the afflicted need not participate if they don’t want to. I also agree that the harvesting of organs, without explicit consent, should never be done and if anyone does do this they should feel the full weight of the law.

As for palliative care, we all know that the provincial Liberals have plundered the coffers and sent us into unparalleled debt, hence no money for health care. That is of course unless you are a CEO making 4.5 million dollars a year courtesy of the long suffering taxpayer. The Hitler reference was not in keeping with Adamick’s usual high standard of debate. Hitler disposed of people, without their

consent, primarily based on religion and ethnicity not on disability. It was a murderous genocide and I’m sure Adamick knows the difference. Euthanasia is being considered for people with incurable debilitating conditions who make the request to die sooner than later; it is not for people with disabilities. The conditions of eligibility, I’m sure, will be stringent enough so that even the skeptics won’t go into hysterics.

The financial burden, not only to the system but to the families, is horrendous when a family member is in this situation. If you cannot be cared for at home and have to go to one of the ‘holding tanks’ until your ultimate demise, you will find out just how deplorable, troubling and costly they can be — and all resulting in the patient’s death. I do agree that a doctor’s job is to heal but when they cannot heal a patient, when there is no cure and there will only be debilitation and pain, a patient should have the right to die before they are paralyzed, can’t go to the bathroom, communicate or even eat. There is nothing dignified about having strangers do these things for you.

For the record, I’m not a zealot. I am one of many compassionate, loving people who struggle with their loved one’s request to end the suffering and to die in peace. There are problems far more serious in this world to worry about then someone choosing to die with dignity. I expected a more enlightened debate from the more than capable Adamick. I believe that on this subject, Adamick’s intellectual objectivity is hindered by her emotions and religious beliefs.

— Sandra Barker

NOT IMPRESSED WITH IGNORANCE [Re: So Whatever Happened to Bad Luck? Hermaneutics, Apr. 14, Herman Goodden] We

picked up our first copy of The London Yodeller last week mainly because the crane on the cover caught our attention, our son absolutely loves them.

We brought it home to show him, and then sat to read through the paper.

Only to find that the first article I read, by editor arts — news — attitude

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this city. Can you imagine a stack of turtle mascots?

Wouldn’t it be a blast spotting Ban Dams stacked on the dock at the forks, up the stairs, all the way to the splash pad and so on; or catching them fumbling around at a Frisbee match or flanking the streets of town or scattered rocking the park or on the stage at the Victoria Park band shell?

— Candice Kowalchuk

REPORT OF ANOTHER LONDON SIGHTING OF WALT DISNEY [Re: Walt Disney Slept Here, London Lore, Mar. 17, Dan Mailer]

Bernice Vincent: Summer 2007, Sitting on Lawn, Museum London near Rhino, Changing City Series #3, Collection Museum London

Herman Goodden, shows lack of respect, labels our son and others with the “R” word as well as a disrespectful attitude to persons that are different than him. I can’t say much more other than I have no tolerance for this kind of ignorance and will pass the article around within our circles, community and neighbours.

Needless to say it’ll be the last time we pick up this paper or read it on line. I have forwarded the article to Community Living London, Salvation Army and CPRI.

— Shawn Brittan

A VOTE FOR JEAN-CLAUDE BAN DAM (Re: Forest City Furry — London Needs a Mascot Animal, Riplash, March 31, Jason Rip) If London

were to vote for a Mascot animal, Jean-Claude Ban Dam would have my hand risen. We would need more than one spiny softshell turtle backin’

My grandma talked of Walt Disney being in London as well and this would have been around the same time as this article. She said he was visiting/staying with family on Princess Ave. She lived on Elias. Until this article and story on CTV news, we have never heard anyone else speak of Disney and family being in London; only Goderich.

— Lisa Colling

A WOMAN OF WISE COUNSEL [Re: The Musical Dilemma of Faking It, Hermaneutics, Mar. 31, Herman Goodden] Your wife

sounds pretty smart. You should really listen to her more. Her request is spot on with your (alter) ego. I bet she really does know the best approach in regards with what you should do with your socks.

— Ed

IT WAS A GOOD TIME TO BE ALIVE [Re: So Whatever Happened to Bad Luck? Hermaneutics, Apr. 14, Herman Goodden] Loved

Herman’s latest column.

I was fortunately alive during the carefree days that he described . . . They changed so quickly.

— Jason Goncalves 04.28.16

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essa ys in i d l e n e s s

Obedience to Tradition

by David Warren

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erhaps I have already confessed to gentle reader the mischievous tricks I play on animals. On the purple finches, and finchesses, now accustomed to free lunch on the balconata of the High Doganate — or rather, early breakfast, then snacks throughout the day — I have played a good one.

Formerly, I was feeding them from a tray at some distance from my writing station; but now I arrange their preferred sunflower seeds along the outside ledge of my window. A screen alone separates the little one, just now crackling and gobbling, from your Idleposter, typing inside.

I am no ornithologist, able to judge the age of a bird at one glance, but am sure this fellow is young, quite young.

Young, and therefore fearless, or rather, poorly informed. Even my more sudden movements do not drive him away. Catch him young and, I speculate, one might tame him. They are melodious creatures, and my motive for luring them along the ledge to the screen was not only to see, but to hear them at close quarters: to learn, if it were possible, a little of the language in which they poetically delight, and the choral arrangements for the sing-

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Beth Stewart: The Visitor (Purple Finch), coloured pencil on museum board, 6”x 6”, 2016

ing of their Hours, starting with Lauds about five in the morning.

Much is explained by circumstance.

Just earlier, an older finch alone on my railing was chirping earnestly to unseen companions. It was easy to follow. In English translation, his soliloquy went like this: “I want to crackle and gobble some seeds, but I’m not up to risking it alone. There’s a fresh lot here that The Monster has put out. Are any of you birds hungry? I need five or six for safety. Is

Tommy the Guardsman there?”

Normally they feed in groups, and I have noticed one of the group — usually tall Tommy — will stretch himself up to his fullest standing height, and stare through the screen at me directly. He will tolerate me sitting still, but at the first sign of movement, he shrills, and all fly off instantly. The little one (who has taken his fill, and now flown at his leisure), would flee, too, if he heard the alarm. But he doesn’t because there is no adult to

sound it. He would if I came suddenly out the door: he’d flap off in wild agitation.

But for the moment my body language is lost on him. He isn’t looking for it.

He will learn, as he grows, from obedience. Eventually the penny will drop for him; all the pennies — why the elders do as they do. And later, how to sound the various alarms, when he has his own hatchlings. A liberal or other evolutionist would say the little one is smarter. By ignoring my movements, he got his fill.

An adult, landing solo, would have taken one seed, to eat elsewhere. Then perhaps returned, for one more. He would do this from his mature calculation of the risks and benefits. The old should learn from the young, the liberal would say. The birds should have a debate, and pass legislation, henceforth to ignore the peril. And then they can all eat, until they are very fat.

But no, my children, preserve the ancient ways. You do not know the buzzard, which also alights sometimes on my balconata railing. You only know from trust the language of the elders; that you must intently listen and obey. For the language of alarm among these finches is complex and crisp but subtle. Humbly, they must learn. When I move, inside the window, they fly off as one flock, all in the same direction. But as the buzzard is spied approaching, they fly off every which way. This is not mere panic. By doing so they confuse him and provide such a choice of targets, that he must waste the moment in deciding which to pursue.

They’ll be each under cover by the time he can react.

And the buzzard knows that, too. He merely lands on the rail, conserving his great dignity, as if nabbing a juicy morsel of finch-flesh were the farthest thing from his mind. For he is a proud animal, who’d rather starve than be made a fool of. He won’t give my tiny finches the sweet satisfaction of being chased, and getting away. My beloved finches (and finchesses) know the game; they know the difference between The Monster and The Buzzard. From joyful play and long practice they know their signals, which are old and wise.

al l t h a t I s u r v e y

Photo: Joseph Couture

Confession of a Terrible Planetary Roommate

If it is the same pair of sparrows, I guess they deserve to be called birdbrains . . . .

by Joseph Couture

It

looks like spring is finally here and with it returns the annual urban warfare between man and beast. You probably haven’t paid much attention, but it’s a fight to the death. Last year, as soon as the weather warmed up a bit I resumed my habit of drinking excessive numbers of martinis on the balcony (stirred, not shaken — we’re all civilized here.)

It happened the very first day I was out. Two sparrows would sit on the edge of my neighbour’s balcony and squawk.

I quickly realized this was personal. They were yelling at me to go away.

I couldn’t figure out what their problem was.

The longer I sat out there the louder and more intense their screaming grew. They were clearly telling me off and to go away, but why? A few min-

utes later, when I’d gone inside and they thought I wasn’t around, I looked out the window and saw the answer. They were making repeated trips to the neighbour’s balcony with twigs and pieces of cloth. Ah ha, now I got it. They were building a nest. But where exactly?

Our two balconies are adjoining but separated by a partition. I went back outside, stuck my head around and took a look.

There appeared to be no nest.

I was baffled. But then a tiny little piece of fluff fell out from the underside of the barbeque.

They thought the inside of this thing made for perfect shelter and were busy making it home.

Every time I sat outside, they stopped bringing materials and just sat there having a fit. They didn’t want me to see what they were doing and were trying to chase me away.

Fine, I thought. I’ll go. You obviously won’t let me

have my drink in peace.

But I did spy on them out the window sometimes and watched their determined efforts to get the nest built before the female needed to lay her eggs. There was just one flaw in their plan: Conner.

It was his barbeque and it was obvious from all the yelling and swearing when he found the nest that he wasn’t inclined to share it with them. In a few minutes, Conner had torn the nest apart and thrown it over the balcony in a million pieces. The two sparrows were witnessing this from the tree down below. They were silent.

This left the birds in a difficult situation. Time was running out. Soon the female would lay her eggs regardless of whether or not she had a proper place to do it. If they emerged with no nest, the eggs would be destroyed and the offspring would be lost. Then the sparrows did something incredible.

Instead of taking a hint and finding a new home, they frantically returned to rebuild the nest in exactly the same place. They worked feverishly against the clock to get it done.

Time was against them.

It looked like they would make it — until Conner came out with a steak.

He found the new nest and melted down again. I heard him ask his roommate if he could buy some poison somewhere to kill the birds. Then he tore the

nest apart once more and cooked his dinner.

It was game over for the birds this time. I saw them sitting on the edge of the balcony several times, but instead of an angry chirping, it was more like the female was crying. All was lost, and they seemed to know it.

After a couple of days they disappeared.

Now it’s warm again and I’ve got a fresh bottle of vodka and the sunshine to enjoy. And guess what? The birds are back, too. Maybe it’s the same two, maybe not. But the building has begun once again, right back in Conner’s barbeque. If it is the same pair of sparrows, I guess they deserve to be called birdbrains. But it doesn’t make it any less unfortunate because they’ll be discovered soon enough and we’ll be right back where we started.

It is important not to miss the big picture

here. Humans are a plague upon the Earth. We destroy nearly everything we touch, including much of the natural environment. Those two birds and many other creatures are losing habitat at an unprecedented rate.

I’ve read that the loss of natural breeding grounds is causing extinction of species faster than at any other time in Earth’s history. Those birds don’t have many good places to build anymore, and neither do the lions and tigers and apes and monkeys have good homes anymore. Many of these animals will no longer exist in the wild within twenty years. We grew up together in this world, and we were meant to share it with all of God’s creatures. But the fact is we make terrible roommates. It seems we won’t understand the consequences of our destructive ways until it’s far too late. p

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y od el l i ng i n t h e c a n y o n

Armstrong’s $3.5M defamation suit likely more trouble than it’s worth The Councillor’s lawsuit has drawn far more media attention to his past legal troubles than he’d like

by Barry Wells

As

bombshells go, it had a resounding bang, but the resulting blood spatter was different than expected: Ward 2 Councillor Bill Armstrong was re-elected to his seventh council term in 2014, challenger Nancy McSloy

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was the Ward 2 runner-up and Corus Entertainment, AM980’s parent company, and McSloy were subsequently named as co-defendants (along with three others) in a $3.5M defamation suit currently before the Superior Court of Justice.

AM980’s September 5, 2014 online news story titled, Bombshell in Ward 2 Council Race (it’s still online), about Armstrong’s 1987 criminal conviction for sexual assault was based on a McSloy media release, a 1987 newspaper clipping and a follow-up interview with candidate Nancy McSloy, a 2014 elec-

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tion rival of Armstrong’s in Ward 2. The on-air interview, online story and subsequent social media comments prompted London’s longest-

ANCIENT NEWS AM980’s so-called bombshell story of September 5, 2014 was not only ancient news to me, but also several other local media veter-

also been told by Ward 2 residents with Armstrong re-election signs on their front lawn during previous election campaigns that they’d received a photo-

it up to the Doctrine of Unintended Consequences where everyone in the vicinity gets hit by shrapnel from bombshells perceived by some as “dirty politics.”

serving city councillor to file an unusual $3.5M defamation suit with the courts three months later on December 4, 2014, just days after Armstrong was sworn into office for another four years.

Whether Armstrong’s lawsuit proceeds to trial after the April 13 motion to dismiss it remains to be seen, but already it’s drawn far more media attention to Armstrong’s past legal troubles than he’d like, legal troubles for which he received a criminal records pardon years ago. Sometimes it’s best for public figures to take their sugar lumps in the media and let sleeping dogs lie ‘cause when you disturb them they get snarly.

For example, the April 14 Free Press story on Armstrong’s defamation suit reported some new information: “He [Armstrong] was twice convicted of drunk drivingrelated charges in the early 1980s, court heard Wednesday [April 13], when he would have been in his early 20s. Armstrong long ago received pardons for all three convictions.”

ans, political insiders and even some Ward 2 voters.

Why? Because photocopies of the January 1987 London Free Press news story, London tenant activist jailed for sex assault, by (now-retired) reporter Chip Martin detailing Armstrong’s criminal conviction, had been widely distributed prior to every municipal election (six in total) dating back to 1997.

I’d received my copy in an envelope with my name on it when I was news editor at SCENE magazine 19 years ago in 1997 and after some investigation, decided to respect the fact Armstrong had received a criminal records pardon erasing the conviction (the Harper Tories subsequently amended the federal Criminal Records Act to “suspend” not erase criminal convictions). The reporters at the Freeps obviously took the same approach since Armstrong’s 1987 criminal conviction was never specifically mentioned in the paper again until August 4, 2015 — eight months after Armstrong’s $3.5M defamation action was filed with the courts.

In 2006 and 2010, I’d

copy of the 1987 newspaper clipping in their mail box, in addition to it being distributed anonymously during all-candidate meetings in the east-end ward.

As a result, it was surprising to hear Ward 2 candidate and east-London community activist Nancy McSloy state on the radio on September 5, 2014 she’d only learned of Armstrong’s criminal conviction from an anonymous tip while campaigning during the summer leading up to the October 27 municipal election. Who knows?

Maybe she just wasn’t plugged into the city’s political jungle drums during previous elections as most community activists are.

Even though Bill Armstrong’s 1987 conviction was one of the worst-kept secrets in town, he was re-elected to city council in 1997, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2010 and 2014. So Armstrong was obviously doing something right by his constituents with many Ward 2 voters apparently unconcerned with his stale-dated legal difficulties. Ironically, McSloy’s role in resurrecting Armstrong’s past legal troubles may have hurt her at the polls in 2014. Chalk

Other issues which may impact Armstrong’s lawsuit relate to the time limitations for commencing an action as set out in sections 5(1) and 6 of Ontario’s Libel and Slander Act and whether or not Ontario’s Protection of Public Participation Act, proclaimed into law in October 2015, applies retroactively to Armstrong defamation action filed with the courts in December 2014.

OTHER RADIO NEWS

Veteran radio personality Steve (Dr. Love) Garrison is now a regular Monday roundtable guest on The Pulse with Devon Peacock, 12 noon to 1 p.m. on AM980. Garrison, you may remember, was fired without cause after 40 years with 1290-CJBKAM (now owned by Bell Media) in a major shakeup last November. Garrison tells your devoted scribe that he “promises not to start anything” too ugly or controversial during his new stint as a roundtable guest. Garrison, born and raised in London, knows more people and more scuttlebutt about the city’s affairs than anyone I know, including man-about-town Sonny Drysdale.

layi ng down t h e l a wt on

Wedding Bells Ring for Omar Khadr

by Andrew Lawton

As

someone who will be walking down the aisle later this year, I suppose it’s expected of me to celebrate love and marriage wherever they can be found. But I must confess that I’m finding that difficult to do with the impending nuptials of Omar Khadr. Khadr, 29, is the convicted murderer and terrorist currently living in Edmonton, Alberta while on bail pending appeal of his United States military court conviction.

The contentious Casanova is also the future husband of 26-year old Muna Abougoush, a human rights activist who, it would seem, has idolized Khadr for quite some time.

It’s unclear when their romantic relationship began, but Abougoush and Khadr became acquainted when the young lady started sending him fan mail as he served time behind bars.

When he was transferred to an Alberta prison from the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center in Cuba, she began to visit him in person. Meanwhile, she also helped in the campaign for his release.

When that finally happened, well, love was apparently in the air.

What it is that makes a woman fall for a man behind bars, I don’t know.

While I’m fortunate enough to have found the love of my life, I’m not sure how well I would have responded during my bachelor years to the idea that, while I was watching Netflix alone on a Friday night, a terrorist killer had found his Mrs.

Right. Such a phenomenon isn’t all that unprecedented. Even Paul Bernardo, who is in prison for the first degree murders of Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French, was reportedly betrothed to a London, Ontario woman, according

Despite Omar Khadr’s boyish grin, he was raised by a terrorist and became a terrorist himself

to a London Free Press/ Toronto Sun investigative report in 2014.

There is, in fact, an entire website devoted to helping Canadians behind bars find love. Scrolling through the personal ads on CanadianInmatesConnect. com, I didn’t see anyone listed who’s in for a terrorist offense, so that’s one way to stand out from the underachieving armed robbers and murderers, I suppose. In the case of Bernardo, however, the fiancée’s family intervened, prompting the relationship to come to a swift end. Abougoush’s father, on the other hand, gave Khadr the ring to secure the engagement, and has since sung his praises to the Toronto Star, which, in turn, has sung his praises to the rest of the country.

I can’t fault Khadr — whose interactions for much of his life have been limited to prison guards and fellow terrorists — for falling for the young,

attractive Abougoush, but the reciprocation raises some questions. When my fiancée and I started dating, I imagine she had to describe me at least a couple of times to curious friends and family. “He’s a radio host, he’s a reality television reject, he thinks he’s really funny,” etc. were no doubt uttered.

Despite my own flaws, “He killed an American army medic while fighting alongside terrorists,” hasn’t made it into my description. Then again, who hasn’t done that, really?

The media’s response, as well as that of much of the left, to the Khadr engagement — which will no doubt be the closest thing Canadians have to a royal wedding — has been sickening. The day the news broke, best wishes from all corners of the country were being sent the way of the couple, resulting in people beaming with pride that Little Omar was able to find love after all that those evil Americans put him through. I’m sure that CBC has already cleared a primetime spot for Khadr: The Love Story in its fall line-up, though I’m far more partial to Looking for Love in Confined Places.

Heck, maybe Peter Mansbridge can even officiate the ceremony.

Despite Khadr’s boyish grin, he is a man raised by a terrorist, who became a terrorist himself, who is surrounded by terror-supporting friends and family members, and who has never renounced terrorism. In February, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee shared a photo of himself and Khadr communicating via FaceTime,

celebrating their “Gitmo 14 year anniversary.”

That man was Moazzam Begg, who now lives in the United Kingdom and is an avowed jihad supporter who attended two different terrorist training camps in Afghanistan while working for Al Qaida.

That Khadr would have befriended people during his detention is not unreasonable, nor is it surprising, but for a man whose entire legal defense is rooted in us believing that he is pure and innocent and that his only crime was being born into the wrong family, this presents a very damning contradiction. Unfortu-

nately, it would seem that Khadr is also surrounded by a whipped media that seems unwilling to chal-

I’m sure CBC has already cleared a primetime spot for Khadr: The Love Story

in its fall line-up.

Heck, maybe Peter Mansbridge can officiate the ceremony lenge him on any of those points. It doesn’t help that he is closely guarded by his lawyer-turned-public relations manager Dennis

Edney, with whom he is presently living.

Though a young Khadr ruined the marriage of Tabitha Speer when he threw the grenade that killed Sgt. Christopher Speer — according to his own confession, I add — his upcoming marriage is being celebrated. I wouldn’t be surprised if CBC foots the bill of the wedding in exchange for exclusive access. Though surely Khadr and his wifeto-be can save a few bucks by having a destination wedding, as most of their guests are invariably on the no-fly list. Actually, why not host it in Cuba for old time’s sake?

Have you ever really looked at Tom Benner’s Rhino at Museum London? It’s GORGEOUS. Enjoy your city !

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d ap p l ed t h i n g s

Behold the Sheer Terror of ‘The Chalkening’

by Paula Adamick

“ In World War II our sons landed on the beaches of Normandy.

Today, they’re afraid of chalk …”

L

ast month, a group of student activists at Emory University in Atlanta staged a public tantrum over how proDonald Trump chalk markings on their campus were striking terror into their hearts. Please make it stop, they seemed to be saying … as if imprisoned in Edvard Munch’s expressionist painting The Scream. “You are not listening!” they screeched at school president James Wagner. “Come speak to us, we are in pain!”

Which Wagner did when he learned how “very upset” they were by the “violent action” committed by Trump supporters who’d tagged a stairwell and some sidewalks in chalk with “Trump 2016”. Wagner also soothed their fears by reassuring them that the university would review the security camera footage to identify the

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culprits and bring them to justice, thus legitimizing the students’ claims that the chalkings had actually “traumatized” the students who, by the way, were mostly Bernie Sanders supporters who conveniently forgot that just weeks earlier they themselves had tagged sidewalks around campus with pro-Sanders chalkings. Oops!

Since such experiences were meant to be shared, however, the phenomenon — now known as “The Chalkening” — has spread to other campuses across the U.S. as well, including Ohio University, University of California-Santa Barbara, DePaul, Tulane, University of Illinois, Michigan, Kansas, Connecticut and College of William and Mary, signifying the real danger such a mindset represents and how widespread it is. The simple

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fact is that Sanders’ passionate socialism has been seducing so many ideologically indoctrinated millennials that their parents and fellow citizens should be worried. Why? Because it’s so hard to persuade them of the truth of what socialism really is, and the nefarious means, as defined by the Italian communist Antonio Gramsci, required to achieve its objectives: the eradication of the traditional family, of private property and of organized religion, primarily Christianity.

Nor do the radical professors indoctrinating these millennials ever seem aware of the national, financial and personal destruction socialism invariably delivers, because it cannot do otherwise. Take Venezuela where the latest reports confirm what some Venezuelan Canadians told me recently. Their homeland is in ruins with dirty air, polluted water, widespread power outages and chronic shortages of everything from toilet paper to lightbulbs and

Trump chalk: Despite all the coddling and parental indulgence, millennials are more miserable than ever medications. And the misery continues to worsen as the socialist utopia of the late Hugo Chavez descends ever further into violent crime, a lack of public order, darkness due to power outages, declining national health, destitution, drought, plummeting oil prices on which Venezuela depends and a fractious government obsessed with achieving “equality”; Which they now have: the equality of misery.

This is not what Bernie Sanders or his supporters intend, of course. It never is with socialists who ignore its ruthless and relentless pathology while promising a micromanaged paradise on earth, once they’re in control.

Which may be why it appeals so strongly to today’s millennials, many of whom have been micromanaged since birth by “helicopter” parents who are so frightened and so controlling that their children can be forgiven for not fleeing the nest at the usual time, unlike earlier generations who couldn’t wait to leave home.

Still, despite all the coddling and parental indulgence, millennials are more miserable than ever, says Dr. Jean Twenge, professor of psychology at San Diego State University. Accord-

ing to her research, millennials really are different from the twenty-somethings who went before them. They’re angrier too which, she says, is somewhat justified because everyone always told them they were special. They were special in school.

They were special at home. They were special everywhere.

B

ut then, when they go out into the real world and discover they’re not, it’s a huge shock. A shock for a generation that got trophies for waking up, trophies for showing up, trophies for losing. “Told they could be anything they wanted to be, they now face widespread unemployment,” says Twenge.

“Raised on dreams of material wealth, more than a third live with their parents well into their 20s. And after a childhood of optimism and high expectations, reality hits them like a smack in the face. And they feel offended.”

Who’s to blame? Blame goes to the ‘self-esteem’ movement and to the Leftist thinking that insists on making everyone equal and with equal life outcomes, justifying the elimination of all competition. Which is key. Blame also goes to the cultural adoption of secularist

morality which has been so successful in recent decades that nearly all millennials share a lockstep belief in Climate Change, gay marriage and in the right, even the duty, to abortion and euthanasia. Which brings us to the Culture of Death now so manifest in their thinking.

And yes, the millennial generation is a special generation, in that it differs enormously in attitude from their grandparents’ generation which was forced into adulthood early by fighting the Second World War. Or as one disgusted senior tweeted recently after the “chalkening” at Emory: “In World War II, our sons landed on the beaches of Normandy. Today, they’re afraid of chalk …”

They also walk around, cycle around, drive around, text and facebook around in a desperate search for meaning and purpose in a world whose mysteries have been largely demystified, particularly those related to authentic love which they still long for. And reminiscent of the Lost Generation of the 1920s anguished by the loss of loved ones who died on the battlefields of World War I, today’s twenty-somethings walk in the shadow of unseen and unknown brothers, sisters, neighbours and friends.

They don’t know they’re haunted.

But they are. They don’t know why they’re so special. But they are. But not for the reasons Twenge and other experts think. Today’s millennials are the survivors of a human holocaust, a cull larger than that of two world wars – nearly 60 million in North America alone since abortion was legalized.

And yet it’s rarely if ever spoken of, leaving them in the dark.

Could it be that they are missing brothers and sisters and friends they will never know but who’ve left a vacuum? And that, although they may never know this absence intellectually, their souls know it? Feel it?

They are special – very special – because they made it into this world.

And perhaps, like a soldier who feels guilty for surviving a machinegun attack that decimated the rest of his platoon, they feel guilty. A guilt that may never be identified or properly named but may show itself somehow and somewhere possibly, as psychiatrists tell us, in acute anxiety. Or irrational obsessions. Like chalk perhaps? It’s a grim thought, I know. But it should give you pause. As it does me. p

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then play on

AROUND TOWN

The London Rock n’ Roll Walking Tour

by Dave Clarke

Sloan Tuesday, May 10th London Music Hall

S

Saturday, April 30th

porting four talented songwriters and great harmonies, Sloan has become one of Canada’s premier power pop bands. They burst onto the music scene with their debut album Smeared, but it was their second album Twice Removed, that was voted best Canadian album of all time in a 1996 Chart magazine reader’s poll, a pretty impressive showing for a relatively new band. Their next release One Chord to Another would become their key release, winning the Juno Award for Best

Alternative Album and featuring some of their most beloved songs, including The Good in Everyone, Everything You’ve Done Wrong and The Lives You Amend, all featuring memorable videos that were in high rotation on Much Music. To commemorate that LP’s 20th anniversary, Sloan will take the stage of the London Music Hall to perform that album in its entirety, as well as a second set of their other hits and favourites.

Tickets are $19.50 and the show gets underway at 8 pm.

Get

some exercise and learn all the poop about London’s 70’s and 80’s music and arts scene as Paul Wootton Harlow, a veteran of the scene as a member of The Sinners, Spiral Scratch and the Crawlin’ Kingsnakes, takes you on a Rock n’ Roll Walking Tour of downtown London. There will be lots of cool stories, gossip and remembrances of the clubs and the incidents that shaped a vibrant underground arts scene. This unique adventure takes place on Saturday April 30th at 1 p.m. Tickets are $25 and you can pick them up and get more info at Grooves Records.

Smales Pace & Change of Pace Reunion R

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MONDO PHONO

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Aeolian Hall on Friday, May 6th

ecapture the glory days of London’s folk scene as the 6th Smales Pace/Change of Pace Reunion takes the stage of the Aeolian Hall. Smales was London’s premier folk club showcasing the cream of the Canadian folk scene and the spot where many local artists launched their careers.

Headlining reunion #6 will be Marie Lynn Hammond, founding member of Stringband and Marie Lynn Hammond a renowned solo artist, multi-instrumentalist Tom Leighton and Scott Merritt whose 1986 album Gravity is Mutual featured the hit single Overworked and Underprivileged. The local scene will be represented by Lisa Garber, Doug McArthur, Paul Langille, Rick Taylor and David Woodhead.

Advance tickets are $30 or $35 at the door and the show gets underway at 8 p.m.

London’s Disco Secret Kumano Kumano Prelude Records (1980)

London was known for its early

70’s folk scene and its later 70s punk rock scene, but there was a time in the mid-70s when disco was dominating the radio charts.

Danskin-clad girls and vest-suited guys were heading to clubs like The Noodle Factory (that sported a lighted dance floor just like in Saturday Night Fever), Mingles and The Bavarian to shake their booties and get down tonight.

London also provided a rare and somewhat acclaimed disco album Kumano, masterminded by G.A. Wheable alumnus Randy Kumano and featuring other local musicians like guitarist Jon Zaslow and the late Sue Sorenson on backing vocals.

Recorded at Hamilton’s famed Grant Avenue Studios and engineered by Dan Lanois, the album was recorded to be released here on Quality Records, but somehow in the U.S.A. on one of the most famous New York disco labels, Prelude Records – home of such famous remixers, as Francois K, Larry Levan and Shep Pettibone. The album contained a minor disco single I’ll Cry for You and other danceable numbers like the funky You Got It and for those romantic slow dances, the ballad Angel Eyes. Disco was pretty much an afterthought when this was released and there was no more Kumano output, though the album is now sought out for sampling and remixes. Randy continued his career in the film industry working as a production co-ordinator for such flicks as Good Will Hunting and Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

SHORTLISTED

Five Management Villains

1Colonel Tom Parker

He was called ‘Colonel’ but the closest he got to that rank was selling popcorn at the carnival, though his carny roots came in handy in promoting the King of Rock n Roll. He was known for hawking “I Love Elvis” Tshirts as well as “I Hate Elvis” T’s, thus taking advantage of both sides of public opinion regarding Elvis. Besides getting a healthy percentage of Elvis’ loot, he kept Elvis from touring outside of North America, fearing his own illegal immigrant status would prevent him from re-entering

Allen Klein and George Harrison

the States. He also insisted that Elvis make a series of mediocre but lucrative teen flicks and turn down prestige roles in movies like Sweet Bird of Youth and West Side Story.

2 Allen Klein

His goal was to manage the two biggest bands of the 60’s – the Beatles and the Rolling Stones – and that he did, doing both bands not a lot of good. When Paul McCartney was outvoted by the other

Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis Presley

Beatles about Klein taking over their management (McCartney wanted to go with Lee Eastman, the father of then girlfriend and future wife Linda), the bad feeling would be a major reason for McCartney’s exit and the breaking up of the Beatles.

Meanwhile through some shrewd financial and legal maneuvers Klein managed to gain control of the Rolling Stones’ music catalogue up to the year 1971, releasing huge selling albums like Hot Rocks, Hot Rocks II and Metamorphosis against the Rolling Stones’ wishes.

3 Don Arden

Don Arden who managed such bands as The Small Faces, The Move and ELO, was known for his aggressive management tactics and employed a small army of goons to make sure people saw things his way. The most famous Arden story involved Robert Stigwood head of RSO records and manager of the Bee Gees who found himself being hung out a window by some of Arden’s hired lads for attempting to sign The Small Faces to his management group.

and his previous career as a wrestler and bouncer, to get what he wanted. Grant was not fond of music bootleggers and broke the arm of one of them and also beat the living daylights out of some poor technician who was only taking decibel readings for one of Zep’s concerts.

But his most famous incident was an all-out brawl with some of concert promoter Bill Graham’s security staff that sent one poor fellow to hospital and ended with a 2 million dollar lawsuit and suspended jail sentences.

5 Morris Levy

An indictment for the beating of an off duty police officer was just the tip of the problems facing Roulette Records founder Morris Levy. Levy was part of the FBI investigation into organized crime’s involvement in the music industry, and was finally convicted on two counts of trying to extort, but died before having to serve a 12 year prison term. Tommy James (of the Shondells fame) has left a fascinating account of what it was like for an Peter Grant artist to try to conduct a career while under this Led Zeppelin’s manager Peter ogre’s thumb in his 2010 Grant was a notorious bully memoir, Me, The Mob, and known for using his 6’5’’ size The Music.

4

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P e g g ’s w o r l d

James Taylor and the Importance of Fashion …

by Robert Pegg

On

the plastic wrap to James Taylor’s new CD Before This World – his first collection of original songs in 13 years – there is a sticker to recommend its purchase with a quote from a Rolling Stone review which assures long time fans of Sweet Baby James that the music inside is “… reminiscent of Taylor’s most enduring work from the 1970s.”

As opposed to what?

His gangsta rap period during the ‘90s? Actually the critics said the same thing about Taylor’s previous CD – 2002’s October Road. And of course, us fans wouldn’t have it any other way. That said, I’m always leery of any review using the term ‘reminiscent of.’ It just seems an uninspired form of journalistic short-hand for saying “I can’t be bothered coming up with an accurate description for this music.” Lord knows, I’ve used it many times myself before deciding not to be so lazy. Heck, why not say “It reminds me of …” instead? Why say something with one word when

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you can just as easily say it with three? I get paid by the word and every one of them counts. And words like ‘the’ and ‘and’ are just gravy. And you can take that to the bank.

But I didn’t need any reassurance from Rolling Stone or any other critics to let me know that the new CD represented a return to form for JT. I knew it before I even put it on the turntable. Just by looking at the cover photo. And seeing that shirt. Think about it, on the album covers of his “most enduring work from the 1970s” — Sweet Baby James, Mudslide Slim and the Blue Horizon and One Man Dog (his first three records for Warners) — James is wearing a blue denim shirt. Possibly the same one. And dang if he ain’t wearing one again on Before This World.

Now, I can already hear the diehard fans out there – “But Bob, what about his first LP, the self-titled James Taylor album? He ain’t wearing blue denim there.” And true enough. But that very fine record (it’s possibly my favorite of them all) wasn’t recorded in the 1970s. It was recorded in

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London, England for the Beatles’ Apple Records in 1968. And the suit and tie which James is wearing on the fold-out album cover is either Carnaby Street hip or thrift-shop hep. It’s also representative of the man’s fashion sense. Who the hell wears blue jeans in swingin’ London in the 1960s? And to his credit, young James – he was all of 20 years old at the time, wasn’t dressing like his peers. No hippie duds for him. A nice suit and tie. And that’s consistent with the rest of his career.

When he began losing his feathers, unlike most of his musical contemporaries, no wig or hairtransplants for James, he aged naturally. And no ponytail! Heck, he often even forgoes a hat.

A

nd not just looking older than his years in 1968, but sounding like them too. This is what Peter Asher who produced that debut record and many of Taylor’s albums to follow – said about the young songwriter: “James had been through so much by the time he was twenty that he had so much to express in his

James Taylor: Sweet Baby James (1970)

music. Other young artists of his age whom I worked with sang about how good or bad life was but really had no idea what they were singing about. James was already singing with the conviction of a singer much older than himself.

Everything that he had already been through was evident in his songwriting.”

Back then, that was one of the things that distinguished Taylor as a songwriter. How else do you explain the maturity behind songs like Something’s Wrong or Something in the Way She Moves, from a debut album written by someone just out of their teens? George Harrison was so impressed with the latter song that he stole it almost verbatim as his own tune Something. Or the hard times lived with heroin addiction, depression and lengthy stays in mental institutions as expressed in Knockin’ Round the Zoo from that first record or Watchin’ Over Me from the new one. Taylor’s songwriting hasn’t really matured too much because it didn’t have to – he came into the business that way.

His later and new stuff has grown but as someone now in his late sixties, it’s more a matter of coming from a different perspective as do many things with age.

But back to those shirts. I have a theory that Taylor’s musical

James Taylor: Before This World (2015)

style changed during the recording of One Man Dog in 1972. His previous records were the perfect soundtrack for Saturday morning self-pity sessions. Along with Neil Young’s After the Goldrush.

But something changed that year – he fell in love and married Carly Simon.

And the music reflected the change in his state of mind. It was happy, it was often upbeat and joyful.

I knew what to expect as soon as I saw the LP cover.

He was still wearing the blue denim shirt. But it was buttoned at the collar.

Because he was wearing a tie. Even worse, he had gotten his hair cut. He never again wore a shirt of blue denim on a cover till this new one.

That long hair was one of his best features as a pop star and the cover of Sweet Baby James is

iconic. When it came out, Time magazine put him on their cover and called him “the sad-eyed poet of the forlorn.” He was cast in the 1971 movie Two Lane Blacktop directed by young maverick director Monte Hellman, just because the producer saw the album and thought it captured the essence of the lead character ‘The Driver.’ It’s a good movie.

Co-starring Beach Boy drummer Dennis Wilson and Warren Oates it has one of those ‘What – that’s it?!’ endings reminiscent of many art-house flicks of the ‘70s. And dang, if Taylor ain’t wearing a blue denim shirt in it at times while behind the wheel.

James Taylor will be bringing his All-Star Band (and possibly a blue-denim shirt) when he performs at the Budweiser Gardens in London on Tuesday, May 10th.

Advice by

Uncle Bruce SUBMIT YOUR QUESTIONS TO

info@londonyodeller.ca

Dear Uncle Bruce — Has Mayor Matt Brown lost his mind? What can he be thinking in trying to deny the London Police even a fraction of their requested budget increase? Doesn’t he realize that these brave men and women put their lives on the line for us every day? I say anything these honourable public servants ask for should be granted, no questions asked.

— Cops are Tops

Dear Cops are Tops — Gosh, have you been getting together with Councillor Bill Armstrong for Kool-Aid parties? In spite of the fact that ten per cent of all City spending now goes to the cops, that policing costs in Ontario are the highest in the country and that for the last 15 years regular increases to London Police have been coming in at more than double the rate of inflation, Armstrong is down on the public record as saying, “I don’t think they were asking for anything that was unwarranted. We’re not supporting our police and I think that’s wrong . . . I supported the police budget as presented.” Of course, as presented, the Police requested $400 million over the next four years or $100 million per annum, and Brown and City Council snubbed them utterly by only agreeing to $396 million over four years or $99 million per annum. Outraged and offended by a 1% shortfall, the Police have launched an appeal to the Ontario Civilian Police Commission in the hope that the City can be legally compelled to cough up every last penny of their bloated request.

They urgently need that money, they say, so they can hire five more police officers and one civilian. Right, so that would work out to a starting salary for each of those six new hires of $166,660 with forty bucks left over to tip into the United Way. And hey, everybody knows civilians don’t cost as much as fully trained and accredited cops, so let’s give him or her $50,000 to start and then the new coppers can each pull down $190,000. That’s more like it, eh? This wild disparity between police and civilian wages is why Mayor Brown is seeking to have security companies and mental health professionals step in to cover off some police functions which hardly require front line officers. So to answer your question — no, I don’t think Matt Brown’s lost his mind but I do begin to hope that perhaps he has finally located something resembling a spine.

— Sincerely, Uncle Bruce

n Dear Uncle Bruce — Way to go on maligning women in your column last issue with that fantasy about your cousin Osbert being beat up by his wife Lucretia. Everybody knows that women aren’t violent like men. You should be ashamed of yourself. — Stop the Hating Dear Stop the Hating — Of course, you’re right. And that street brawl in Soho last Saturday night where up to 12 women set upon each other with knives and one ended up in critical condition and another was charged with aggravated assault? Probably just a consortium of transitioning gentlemen who went on a rampage when they were denied admission to the ladies’ room at Tim Horton’s. Men are such bastards.

— Sincerely, Uncle Bruce

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Gym of Champs Lawrence Boom [LEFT] has everyone from recreational boxers to professional and champion boxers training in his second floor gym, Boomerz Boxing Club, on Richmond Street in downtown London. With three of his boxers competing professionally, and professional coaching staff, he has a wide range of Londoners from graduate students to children coming to the gym to work out and refine their skills.

Faustino Gonzales, three-time international lightheavyweight champion [ABOVE], training Brendan Buggy. Gonzales has been coaching amateur and professional boxers at Boomerz for nine years.

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But boxers are not the only ones training here with Faustino. Gina Beer [opposite top] is a track and field athlete who is in training for international competition, with a first-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do who also takes ballet lessons in London.

When she gets home at night, she puts on the tunes and starts dancing. What the champs all have going for them is that they can’t stop moving and all are driven to be the best they can be.

[ABOVE]

Two of Faustino Gonzales’ championship belts.

Courtney Martin [LEFT] always wanted to box, she says. She trains at Boomerz Boxing Club in London with Faustino Gonzales, three-time International light-heavyweight champion.

Forest City Folk is an ongoing documentary of contemporary life in London

by London Photojournalist Menno Meijer 04.28.16

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g a l l ery p revi ew

Megan Arnold

Cartoonists and illustrators showcased at Ting Festival

by Anna Blair

The

ARTS Project, London’s arts incubator, is hosting the Third Annual Ting Comic and Graphic Arts Festival. This four-week event runs April 26 to May 21, and showcases the works of local and regional comic and graphic artists, writers and filmmakers.

Appropriately enough this exhibition is

Tingfest provides a forum for artists to present diverse works not normally accessible through regular commercial channels

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dedicated to editorial cartoonist Merle Tingley (94 this year) – known by his friends and colleagues simply as ‘Ting.’

As the editorial cartoonist for The London Free Press from 1948 to 1986, Ting’s work made him an influential voice for the city. His wry depictions of the culture of the time and observant socio-political commentaries inspired generations of artists with a jaunty style and endearing usage of his signature mascot, ‘Luke Worm,’ a cheerful, pipesmoking invertebrate. The Western University Archives have generously provided a selection of these cartoons from their Merle Tingley Collection that will be on display for the duration of the festival, with extended gallery hours running from noon-6pm.

Providing a forum for artists to present diverse works not normally accessible through regular commercial channels

and to a large audience, Tingfest will also feature guest speakers and panel discussions, publishing and comic book creation workshops and a pop-up shop as well as free programming for children and adults. One could only hope to stumble across Maureen Riley’s Koktail Kids and Megan Arnold’s Nihilist Dog hanging together (literally or figuratively) somewhere within the space.

One of the highlights of the festival, Brahm Wiseman of Heroes will host a comic book signing where you’ll have the opportunity to meet Bryan Lee O’Malley, award-winning Canadian cartoonist (and L.A. Transplant) best known for his Scott Pilgrim series, adapted for film by Universal Pictures and his graphic novel Seconds, released by Ballantine Books. Another solid choice will be, Animation Night, an evening of film shorts directed by local filmmaker Sarah Legault, whose stop-motion animation Dear Love was awarded Best Animated Short Film at the 2014 Toronto Independent Film Festival, featuring The Lady ParaNorma, narrated by the Godfather of Goth, Peter Murphy as well as Vincent Marcone’s Firefly, a stop-motion animated short that explores isolation and unsoundness of mind.

The Comic and Graphic artists featured in this exhibition include: Aidan Urquhart, Bryan Lee O’Malley, Christopher Runciman, Doug Rogers, James Kirkpatrick, Levins & Young, Lucky Unlucky, Maureen Riley, Megan Arnold (this week’s Yodeller cover artist and designer of Luke Worm [see above] for this year’s festival), Merle “Ting” Tingley and Sarah Scope. All participating artists hail

Katie, the main protagonist in Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novel Seconds

from, or have a strong relationship with Southwestern Ontario, demonstrating the depth of talent we have in our own backyard. Attend the opening reception on Saturday, April 30 from 6 to 8 pm, to meet the artists.

Not only a fond homage, Tingfest is an assessment and celebration of the contemporary status of comics in their breadth and scope, drawing recognition to this popular genre that is finding its own remarkable inclusion within the current art world paradigm.

Ting Comic and Graphic Arts Festival April 26 – May 21, 2016 Opening Reception: Saturday April 30, 6-8pm The ARTS Project www.artsproject.ca

t he a t re re v i e w

Oh Boy, Indeed

Zachary Stevenson in his second skin

by Susan Cassan and Herman Goodden

In

the final mainstage production of her 15 year reign as artistic director, Susan Ferley is going out with a bang.

The Grand Theatre is presenting a dynamic and utterly charming musical production of Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story, starring Zachary Stevenson who captures the boyish and driven quality of the bespectacled nerd who expanded the whole world’s definition of cool and blazed a number of new trails in mid-20th century pop music. Holly’s tragically short career started to take off with the release of his first record in the summer of 1957 and crashed to a halt 18 months later in an Iowa cornfield on February 3rd of 1959 in a light airplane accident that also claimed the lives of Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper.

At the time of his death Holly was a newlywed puppy of 22 and left behind a surprisingly large body of work. He had seven top 40 hits in his lifetime and those and a number of others have since become standards like That’ll Be The Day, Peggy Sue, Every Day, Oh Boy, Not Fade Away, Rave On, True Love Ways, Maybe Baby and Learning the Game. Arriving on the scene at the dawn of the rock and roll era, Holly and his band, The Crickets, established the classic two guitars, one bass

Photo: Claus Andersen

The show is punctuated with flawless musical performances and there are two big sequences that just about blow the roof off the Grand

and drums as the core of a rock band and also set the template for groups that generate all their own material. The Crickets drew on gospel, country, rhythm and blues and the rock style of Elvis – who Holly opened for a few times before he became a headliner in his own right.

An early adapter of music technology, Holly played one of the first Fender Stratocasters on the planet and boldly experimented with double tracking, reverberation, and vocal variations like the characteristic hiccup and falsetto, which became so much a part of rock.

There is a kind of innocence in Holly’s love songs and an infectious enthusiasm in the rockers, all of which came before the protest songs of the 60’s and the crudity and hostility of rap. An amazing number of major musicians acknowledge Holly’s influence to this day. Bob Dylan has always cited him as an inspiration and recalled attending a performance in Duluth two nights before the fatal crash, saying, “I was three feet away from him . . . and he looked at me.” Mick Jagger saw Holly perform in England and his guitar stylings were formative for Keith Richards. One of the first tracks the Rolling Stones recorded was Not Fade Away. The Beatles, of course, contrived their name in homage to The Crickets, early on recorded a cover version of Words of Love and McCartney today is the owner of the publishing rights to the Holly catalogue. And

perhaps most monumentally, the nervy, wiry genius from Lubbock, Texas has been memorialized in Don MacLean’s American Pie, his tribute to the glory days of American Rock.

This is the 11th time Zachary Stevenson has played this role since 2006 and he recently reflected that he has spent more time playing and exploring this music than Holly himself ever did. In his facial expressions and body language, his speaking voice, his singing voice and his manipulations of that Stratocaster, Stevenson now wears Buddy Holly like a second skin.

This is a big and splashy show with a 13-member cast of actors, most of whom are equally accomplished musicians. The show is punctuated throughout with flawless musical performances but there are two big sequences in particular – one in each act – that just about blow the roof off the Grand.

The first is a recreation of the Crickets’ early performance at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem where they were booked in that pre-digital media era because the manager innocently assumed they were black.

Peggy Sue might sound a little poppy for that venue but the Bo Diddley-esque Not Fade Away goes down a romping, stomping treat. The Crickets are nervous as kittens when they first hit the stage, having to follow Olivia Sinclair-Brisbane’s (as Marlena Madison) incendiary rendition of the Isley Brothers’ Shout in which she is not so much

accompanied as goaded onto a whole new level by Michael Clarke (as Tyrone Jones) on saxophone.

The second big sequence recreates that final jamboree show at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa and here the secondary performers who step forward and drive the energy up several more octaves are Kevin Aichele as the preposterously entertaining Big Bopper and former Londoner (and High School Project alumni) Oscar Moreno who puts some kind of crazy hot sauce on his impersonation of Ritchie Valens.

The melancholy sense of loss that was felt when a planeload of young performers went down in a winter field is expressed here.

It was a magic time in America

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and in the lives of that generation and worthy of commemoration. If there was anything apt about Holly’s early death at the first fresh blossom of his career, perhaps it is as A.E. Housman wrote in, To an Athlete Dying Young:

Now you will not swell the rout Of lads that wore their honours out, Runners whom renown outran And the name died before the man.

Be assured, these sober thoughts will not spoil your enjoyment of a rocking and rolling musical celebrating the giddy thrill of young artists discovering just how far they can take this unruly gift that is itching to be expressed. Go see it!

Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story is on at the Grand until May 7, 2016

www.londonyodeller.ca 19

lo o k at t h i s

by Nida Home Doherty

C

CATHERINE MORRISEY: Irises at Gairloch Gardens, Oil on canvas, 48”x48”

ould it be that an image hovering in the background of your day-to-day existence, such as a Chinese landscape screen painting hanging in the living room in your childhood home, rests in your subconscious, and later, much later, becomes so intensely present in your mind that it permeates not only the form and content of your painting but also the underlying

theoretical approach?

Such appears to be the case for Catherine Morrisey. The elements of similarity of Morrisey’s paintings, in both her dream-like atmospheric landscapes and bold flower garden paintings, which are currently on exhibit at the Westland Gallery in Old South, to traditional Chinese painting go beyond a mere surface comparison, touching on the existential and a way of being.

Landscape paintings dominate the exhibi-

The world knows beauty as beauty, So there is then ugliness.

The world knows good as good, So there is then the bad.

As is and is-not create each other, The hard and easy define each other, The long and short delimit each other, The high and low depend on each other, Voice and music harmonize with each other, Last and next follow each other.

So the wise adhere to action through non-action, And communicate the teaching without words.

From the Way come the myriad creatures Yet it imposes no authority.

It gives them life without possession.

It benefits them but asks no thanks.

It does its work but claims no merit.

Because it claims no merit Merit is never lacking in it

— Lao Tzu from The Book of the Way and its Virtue

20 the london yodeller

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tion. Just as in traditional Chinese painting, Morrisey places background and foreground in these landscape pieces in strong contrast, creating a dialogue of opposites. The removed is placed against the immediate, the vague against the detailed, the unobtainable against the obtainable. In Morrisey’s work we see distant peaks rise beyond clouds and mist, high into the picture plane, as in Glacier Watch.

Mountainous shapes, often textured with vague rounded forms created through blurred outlines, are thinly-painted in muted colours and accentuated by flat pastel coloured sky and lightly floating cloud shapes.

The foregrounds, in contrast, are painted in tilted picture planes, with strong colours and clear stylized shapes. In traditional Chinese painting, the foreground might hold thick and bent trunks and branches of trees, surrounded by heavy shapes of foliage. In Morrissey’s work the shapes of the trees and foliage are taken from her local environment, her own backyard.

A forest on the hillside is created, and leaves and fruit tree blooms are singularly dabbed in. As in oriental painting, where the human element is diminished, in Morrisey’s work clusters or individual simplistic huts merely suggest community and human activity (See The Rise and Fall of Poets in the Woods).

In both classic Chinese paintings and in Morrisey’s work the effect on the viewer is the same — a shift seems to take place.

As you look out onto the scenic environments

Catherine Morrisey: The Village of Poets, Oil on canvas, 30”x30"

Landscapes and Gardens

The Rise and Fall of Poets in the Woods There are no poems in the fridge. I checked.

But there was spinach so I made a Walt Whitman smoothie and remembered lines from Supermarket in California.

I believe there was a refrigerator in the poem.

So my question is If you put this question in the fridge will you find a poem next time you look?

Fridge in the woods = rocks in the stream.

— Catherine Morrisey

imbued with elements of harmony and serenity, you move into a landscape of fluidity and simplicity. At this point, a sense of release comes over you. The immediate and the dayto-day become objectified and distant. A contemplative moment settles in and a sense of being fully present occurs, freeing creative thought. We are reminded in this moment that in the Chinese tradition of landscape painting poetic verse would often run alongside the paintings matching the theme and mood of the work.

But just as in the yang and yin of classic Chinese painting, Morrisey’s contrived flower garden paintings sit in

contrast to the natural of her landscape work. Much busier, more detailed, and with much more vivid colours, the flower garden paintings rest on a steeply tilted picture plane. The distant background is practically non-existent, and robust blooms and foliage stand against flat areas of sky and cloud, as in Floral. These paintings are more intimate than the landscapes, yet movement and depth remain strong within them.

In traditional classical Chinese painting the focus was not on outward appearance. Painters of that

time often tried to capture the inner spirit of their subject while at the same time expressing their own feelings, adding a vitality to the work. Energy would flow from subject to artist, and then to the art. Character and mood are undeniable elements of Morrissey’s paintings, suggesting an artist who at the time of painting gives herself over to the work and becomes lost in the process. But Morrisey adds to this spirit another unique dimension. As she struggles with painting for the viewer or painting for the self, often the work seems unfinished or underdeveloped in areas.

Forms are not clearly defined and edges of paintings appear incomplete. In the end Morrisey refrains from giving over completely to the world of the viewer in wanting to hold on to the realm of painting that belongs to only her, the not yet.

Catherine Morrisey: RIVERGARDEN To May 7 at the Westland Gallery, 156 Wortley Rd., London, ON 519-601-4420 http://www.westlandgallery.ca/

t he p ur s ui t o f h a p p i n e s s

This ain’t your Nonna’s Italian restaurant and that’s okay

by Jeffrey Schiller

there is a scene

in The Godfather where Clemenza teaches Michael how to make spaghetti sauce. “You never know when you will have to feed ten men,” he cautions. “You start off with a little water . . . fry some garlic . . . Ya tro in some tomatoes . . . add a little wine”. Clemenza wears a dirty kitchen apron as the sauce bubbles and splatters as he tosses in sausage and meatballs. This is what I think of when I think of Italian food. I want it to be messy. I want huge platters of food. I want bread and noise and I want to see Clemenza or Nonna in the kitchen. Yup, I want the entire experience that is Italian food.

I was raised in the country. Meat and potatoes were the fare at every meal. Pasta? Olive Oil? Lasagna? What was this?

Who wanted spaghetti when you could roast 15 pounds of beef, boil several pounds of potatoes and fry something? It wasn’t until we were married and my wife, after putting up with what I considered a good meal for way too long, convinced me that it was okay to eat pasta. She taught me that olive oil was a real thing and that you could in fact eat pasta as an entire meal — not just as a side dish. What kind of madness was this?

That night she made a lasagne for dinner, she served it with just enough of a mess, fresh bread and olive oil and bang, I fell in love. Oh, don’t get me wrong, my wife already had my heart but now she

had competition. I knew I could never go back.

Not being of Italian heritage herself, my wife had the enviable luck of living next to Nonna Roberto — her real name — and yes, she was the “Nonna”. Didn’t speak a word of English but she managed to teach my wife not only how to make great Italian food but how to love it. My wife taught me. That’s where my love affair with Italian food began. With a mangacake from Niagara Falls (with some influence from The Godfather).

M

ove forward twenty, years. I still love my wife, she is still a better cook and we both still love Italian food. Enter, Abruzzi Ristorante. Abruzzi is downtown near the Market and their mission is simple: “To serve delicious, Italian cuisine made from the very best fresh, local ingredients in a gracious, friendly setting” — as the wording on their website so accurately states. At first glance I

have to admit, I am skeptical. There is no mess, no noise. Things are neat and tidy, open and airy. I like the look — it’s both inviting and modern and yet somehow still cozy — but I remain apprehensive as I don’t see Clemenza, Nonna or a dirty apron anywhere.

The menu is small and, as I have mentioned in the past, I like that. No need to offer everything to everyone here. I start off with the “beef carpaccio”, served with a truffle aioli, organic sorrel, quail egg, pecorino and some Tuscan olive oil. Joanne, well, she opts for a salad. The first thing you note when looking over the menu is the attention to detail.

With food, I often say, it is the little things that make the biggest difference.

There are plenty of really good chefs in London but they do not all pay attention to the little things.

Little things like toasted pistachios, “Tuscan” olive oil and Mountain Oak Farmstead gouda. I appreciate that the Chef cared enough to focus on these little details. If they care that much, then you know there is a bunch of good just waiting to happen.

Appetizers are in the range of $15.00 to about $20.00. Expensive?

Maybe but I personally don’t think so. This is not just food on a plate; this is truly the culmination of someone’s love of food, creativity and attention to detail.

For a main course I try the braised venison and goat cheese ravioli.

Joanne decides to close in on the “Italian” portion of the meal and goes

with the whole wheat angel hair pasta served with jumbo prawns, PEI little neck clams, mussels, tomatoes, chilies, basil, white wine, garlic olive oil and pecorino.

Whole wheat pasta always sounds good but often falls short so there was some risk here. Personally I would have felt better if it was just angel hair pasta and the words “whole wheat” never appeared.

Up to now as I mentioned I was skeptical.

My error was in thinking Abruzzi was about authentic Italian. I was so busy looking for Nonna, I missed the point. Exactly what I missed was the fact

that Abruzzi serves up incredible Italian-inspired cuisine. A subtle, yet significant detail.

There is no “insalate” or “carne e pesce” on their menu. They serve salad and fish and chicken. They serve “appetizers” spelled out in simple plain old boring English. The menu choices don’t necessarily scream “Italian”, the décor, certainly not. Yet, somewhere in the background, somewhere in the flavours, in the nuance of the ingredients, in the attention to detail, in the garlic and shallots and the Tuscan olive oil, somewhere, ever so subtle, it’s all there, right where it

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should be. I’m not sure if Michael Corleone learned anything about cooking Italian food but I know this; someone at Abruzzi was paying attention.

If you go, be sure to try any of the desserts. It is refreshing to see a restaurant give this section of the menu some respect.

Too often dessert is an afterthought rather than an extension of the menu.

Abruzzi Ristorante, their ambiance, their menu, their desserts, all make me happy.

Abruzzi Ristorante 519.675.9995 info@abruzzi.ca 119 King Street, London ON

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t h e a t re s p a c e

Manuel Light Comes from Darkness

by Adam Corrigan Holowitz

In

1986 Glenn Grainger was in his middle school music class when his teacher was called out to cover the class of a fellow teacher, Al Manuel. Al had just heard the news that his brother Richard had killed himself. Richard Manuel was of course the piano player and singer with The Band — a brilliant musician who also struggled with substance abuse during his life.

Grainger remembers that as children, “We didn’t know what happened but we knew something had happened” that day.

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Grainger grew up in Elmira Ontario, the hometown of the Manuel family, and was childhood friends with Al Manuel’s daughter Krista. In 2008 Glenn asked Krista if she thought her dad would be willing to talk to him about his brother. Glenn also wanted to know if Al would be agreeable to him writing a play about Richard’s life. Glenn waited anxiously for a few days to hear from Al and was given the go-ahead on both fronts.

Glenn flew out west to Al’s current home in British

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Columbia and during the visits Al would play music and share stories about Richard.

The result of these interviews, dozens of drafts and seven years of writing, is the world premiere of Manuel on this week at the Paul Davenport Theatre. It is a Pacheco Theatre production directed by John Pacheco. The play is as much story about Al remembering Richard as it is about Richard himself. Al will also be present to see the play in performance.

For Glenn the appeal of telling Richard Manuel’s story is that it provides “a portal into things the world does not know about these songs”. The play explores in depth the lyrics that Manuel wrote and shares the stories behind the songs. A musician himself and a selfconfessed “music geek,” Grainger appreciates the technique employed in the songs by Manuel and The Band and describes Manuel as “a play about the music, motivations and private life of a great musician who was deeply troubled.”

Grainger feels that Richard Manuel is not always as appreciated for his song-writing as some of the other members of The Band (not mentioning any names, Robbie Robertson). Grainger finds that “an exciting part of this play is that it proudly holds up Manuel’s music.”

Grainger believes that “a trait of Richard’s music is that it is deeply reflected in nature. There is depth to it.” As well Manuel had a unique voice, compared

Richard Manuel, piano player and singer with The Band

by some to Ray Charles’.

Glenn hopes this play will introduce the music of Richard Manuel and The Band to a new generation.

He notes his delight that many of the younger members of the large cast were unfamiliar with Manuel and The Band before the production, yet they have fully embraced the music.

Manuel is Grainger’s debut as a playwright.

Over the writing process of many years and drafts Grainger says he has grown in experience as a writer. What initially surprised him was “the sheer length of what I wrote.”

One of the best pieces of advice he received early on in the writing process was to “just tell the story.”

Grainger said that he wanted to do justice to

the story so he included a large amount of detail in the early drafts which came in around 120 pages. The next piece of advice he got was that in a play you can only include about ten percent of the story. The writing process then involved carving and cutting the story to its bare and essential form.

With every draft Glenn would send a copy to Al Manuel for fact checking and accuracy inspections.

A mutual friend introduced Glenn to director John Pacheco. Pacheco brought the ideal background and resources to direct this play. Glenn has worked with Jeff Culbert as a dramaturge of the play. Culbert led workshop readings while the play was in development.

Glenn has been at most of the rehearsals and been able to further sharpen the play by talking with the actors during the process. Along with creating the play Glenn Grainger has established The Richard G. Manuel Music Award, a scholarship that is given to a current student of the Don Wright Faculty of Music. The foundation came from the proceeds of concerts that Grainger organized in preparation for the premiere of the play.

Grainger encapsulates the play by saying, “There is a tragic element to Richard Manuel’s story. There is no getting around that.

But there is light as well.”

For Grainger the light came from Al Manuel. “Not just listening to the stories Al told me. But seeing how he has coped over the years with the loss of Richard.

For me, that is where the light comes from.”

Manuel

by Glenn William Grainger Directed by John Pacheco

April 27, 28, 29, 30 at 8 p.m. and April 30, May 1 at 2 p.m.

Paul Davenport Theatre (Western University) Tickets: $30 519.672.8800 or www.grandtheatre

ripl as h

Outlaw Out of Water Did Jesse James visit Princeton, Ontario?

by Jason Rip

“ I am generally where people least expect me.”

— Jesse James

A

town has to be pretty small not to have at least one local legend.

Here in London, it’s well known that you can ride Dundas Street a long way: eventually it becomes Highway 2, formerly known as Governor’s Road. If you take a left about half-way between Woodstock and Paris, you will find the town of Princeton — just one main street, really, with a big graveyard and a brand new library. I found myself prowling around that graveyard recently, scanning epitaphs for character names for my new play.

Princeton is a community of around 500 people. Aside from their one big legend, which has been passed on from generation to generation since the late nineteenth century, Princeton has had occasional sightings of a unique cryptid: a jackrabbit with antlers. Famous citizens include Walter Gretzky and Thomas Wilson, the inventor of the Carbide lamp, the patent on which was eventually sold to Union Carbide (I bet you remember their claim to fame: the devastation of Bhopal, India).

What is this one big legend of which we speak? It is rumoured that the infamous American outlaw Jesse James not only visited Princeton but stayed awhile.

Here’s what the History of Princeton (published 1967) has to say: “An attractive, unknown young man named Richardson showed up at the Strode Hotel one day and seemed ready to settle down in Princeton. He purchased a horse and buggy and formed many friendships. Two such people, the druggist, Alfred A. Gissing and Jim Smiley, took him out to do some shooting and were amazed at his skill. Mr. Richardson courted and became engaged to local lovely, Miss Rutherford, and they planned to take up farming. The affianced fellow chose a farm on the highway and made a payment on it. With early spring wedding plans in place, Richardson unaccountably vanished from the area, leaving no address. No

locals ever knew much about him or his Valley area. A posse might have come family connections. Some years later, after him in Princeton with a shootout when Jesse James was shot, his picture occurring in the nearby village of Canwas in every newspaper. The long-lost ning. There’s even talk of buried gold Richardson and the outlaw Jesse in Mulmur Township where James looked so alike that James may have planted a those who knew Richard45-gallon barrel of booty son were sure their amitopped with a large able friend and crack flat stone. The pretty rifle shooter was Jeshorse is a constant se James.” as James invested In April of a lot in his eques1882, Jesse James trian companions. was shot in the Jesse James back by “that dirty was a man who little coward” Robused a lot of aliert Ford while ases, Mr. Howard Jesse was hanging being the best a picture of a faknown. It’s envourite racehorse tirely possible that on the wall. History this Mr. Richardson often presents James was the bad man as a Robin Hood type, himself, fleeing in the giving the money of caraftermath of a botched petbaggers and railroad train robbery at Turkey tycoons to the poor. Like so Creek, Iowa. He may have much about the Old West, leghad relatives in the area and Chris McAuley end has surpassed fact. What I Canada, of course, was a counas Jesse James find interesting about James is try where American law enthat, after indulging a taste for bloodforcement (including the Pinkerton Deshed and war crimes in the American tective Agency) would have a hard time Civil War, he was simply not allowed to finding him. James had a $1000 bounty rest. Although a very young man, James on him, the largest reward ever offered was a member of Bloody Bill Anderson’s in a manhunt up to that time. wing of Quantrill’s Raiders, “massacre Why do we still talk about this man men” who were responsible for some Jesse James? Why does Cher sing about fairly heinous atrocities. There was no way he was going to be allowed to escape punishment for the deeds he did in the Hell of war — and so he robbed trains and banks, not vindictively, but as a way to earn a living. He killed about six men that we know of in his career as an outlaw and ultimately died in his boots.

My new play Mr. Richardson was Jesse James tells the story of an outlaw’s vacation, the possibility that he enjoyed friendship and flirtation in an unlikely Southwestern Ontario oasis.

There are other scraps of anecdotal evidence to be added in to the mix. In Guelph Township, a toll keeper was given a $20 American gold coin by a handsome man on a pretty horse. Jim Gow may have hired James to work at his logging operation in the Luther and Grand

how he goes down? Why do we pretend he was some great public benefactor when he was just an opportunistic thug who would kill you dead if you crossed him? As his brother and partner-incrime Frank James brags in the play, “We was never in handcuffs — not once.” Apparently the “or alive” portion of the wanted poster didn’t mean much because no member of the James Gang would ever consider surrendering. Quite simply, they were tough hombres made of an entirely different substance than the modern milquetoast.

So what was I doing in the Princeton graveyard? Finding names for the supporting characters. I am in talks to bring this play to Princeton’s local library after it finishes its run at the London Fringe Festival. Mr. Richardson Was Jesse James stars Chris McAuley as Jesse James and Rob Faust as Frank James. The rest of the cast includes Sarah Abbott, Matthew Stewart, John Palmer, Nathaniel Keith, and Bryson Martin.

Is it possible that the real Jesse James never even heard of Princeton, Ontario? Most local historians think that it is not only possible, but likely. I choose to believe otherwise and am happy to breathe life into this thin shadow of a legend. We need legends. What does it matter if they’re true or not?

Photo Credit: Echo Gardiner

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Yodeller Columnists Perched on the Edge of Fame and Fortune in Gruesome Mashup ! ! !

writer in London can go, writing for The Yodeller. And I even had a letter in the Free Press once.

What else is there? But I really wanted to read your books, Ciara. (shuffles to face Ciara).

God knows I’ve heard you go on about them enough.

special to the london yodeller

by Sean Twist & Ciara Allen

(A cold spring night, the bells of St. Paul’s just ringing the midnight hour. A baby blue 1977 Buick Lesabre is on Blackfriars Bridge. Well, teetering is perhaps a more appropriate word, since the front wheels are hanging over the edge. Voices can be heard from the trunk. Inside, two Yodeller writers are bound with rope. Five sticks of dynamite wired around a Mickey Mouse alarm clock lie between them.

This is their story.)

SEAN You just had to take that picture of Vladimir Putin from the Mayor’s office, didn’t you?

CIARA Look, a man who is ruthless, shirtless and looks good on horseback is hard to find. That picture is all I have. Had. SEAN We were having such a nice night. “Let’s go out tonight, Sean. We can talk about Skyrim and Star Wars. Have a few laughs. Catch up. Then let me get a few coffees in you and convince you breaking into the Mayor’s office and stealing that picture he keeps behind black curtains in his bathroom is a super idea.”

CIARA What’s the point of hassling me about it now, anyway?

24 the london yodeller

Here we both are and I don’t see you helping. (Kicks bound feet feebly at inside of trunk) SEAN At least tell me you’re good with knots. Please.

CIARA Are you serious? I can’t even untie my shoes. I did them up once and I’ve just been slipping them on and off for three goddamn years. Aren’t men supposed to know about these things? Don’t you all learn your knots in Scouts or something?

SEAN All I remember was my Scout leader saying Princess Leia could turn his pants into a tent anytime. Still not sure that was appropriate, or entirely accurate.

CIARA All I learned about in Girl Guides was sharing and glitter application. They didn’t even teach us how to whittle. God, I’m too young to have this many regrets.

SEAN Well, look on the bright side, at least we won’t have time for any more regrets. And just think what this will do for our careers!

(The car shifts, sending the two writers — and time bomb —

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rolling against the back of the trunk.)

SEAN I think that’s your elbow in my face.

CIARA And that’s your knee in my . . . (cough).

(SEAN realizes the Mickey Mouse dynamite alarm clock is beside his head.)

SEAN Figures. I swear, my luck never changes.

CIARA Shhhhhh. (pats Sean)

CIARA Maybe not books, because I’m as directionless as I am un-enthused. Screenplays.

Because I might write comedy well, I think. I really like jokingly comparing my career — or lack thereof — to Lena Dunham’s because for some reason Judd Apatow thought she was funny.

Now she gets a TV show and acting gigs and a book without being particularly interesting, funny or nice, even.

SEAN You’re at least one of those things. I’d always hoped you’d write that story about that elf who went to the Slipknot concert and got powers.

CIARA Sure, whatever. I just

STOLEN FROM MAYOR’S OFFICE !!!

SEAN Sorry.

CIARA I don’t want to be found like this. I always knew I’d die dramatically but I figured it’d be like drowning myself in a bucket or being gored by a wild boar.

SEAN Oddly enough, I always thought I’d die like this, but I was hoping it was the back of a DeLorean and Anne Hathaway was somehow involved.

CIARA I just wanted a dignified obituary and a book or two under my belt before it happened.

SEAN Thanks.

(The car creaks menacingly. The clock ticks. Somewhere in the distance a bro shouts ‘Woooo!’ over on Richmond Row) SEAN You know I don’t mind embracing death. I’ve had my career. I’ve risen as far as a

thought that if I adopted a drinking habit and had some exploits that might be enough to get me started. But I didn’t ingratiate myself into the local scene enough and now everyone has bands and zines and I just sit at home writing articles in the dark and then falling asleep to video games.

SEAN And you wonder why we’re friends.

(Suddenly, a lurch is felt as the car is dragged back over the bridge’s edge.

The trunk pops open and a broad, shirtless figure astride a horse appears, backlit by the moon.)

FIGURE Illyana . . . I have found you.

CIARA Vladimir! How did you know I was here?

putin Our mutual friend, Mr. Mayor, let his anger get the best of him when you removed my token of affection from his office. . .

(Sean looks quizzically at Ciara. Ciara shrugs)

CIARA It’s sort of a triangle.

It’s weird. Let’s not get into it now. putin (continues) But I have ways of getting people to tell me what I want to know. He sent me here, to you and your . . . (peers into the trunk ) . . . accomplice.

SEAN I just wanted coffee.

CIARA Oh, sure, sorry for getting you out of the house. Sorry for living.

putin Enough of this, we must go. (Putin reaches into the trunk and pulls Ciara out onto his shoulder, tugging loose her bonds and lifting her onto the horse in one fluid movement, his biceps rippling) SEAN Wow. I think I get your thing with this guy, now. Is he going to make it look that good when he rescues me?

CIARA You? Jesus . . . Look, Sean. It’s like you said, you’ve had your life, right? Your career. You gave me a lot to think

about while we were in that trunk together and I wouldn’t want to risk complicating anything, you know? I don’t really want to split the profits when I write my screenplay about this. And there’s only room on this horse for two because of Vlad’s broad, taut body.

You understand, don’t you?

SEAN Wow. I mean, I want to be mad, but this plays into the Anne Hathaway/ Delorean thing a bit so . . . I get it but I’ll never forgive you. I can’t believe you made me pay for all the coffees.

(A final spring bazoings from the clock, catching him in the eye.)

SEAN Seriously?

(Then the car explodes.)

THREE MONTHS LATER:

(Sean lies in traction at Victoria Hospital.

Machines whirr and beep around his heavily bandaged figure. A nurse slips in to the room) NURSE Hi Sean, how are we feeling today?

SEAN (Gurgles unintelligibly)

CIARA Yeah, that was pretty lame of me. Hahah, I’m such an unlikeable character. Just like Hannah from GIRLS! It all begins here!

(Putin closes the trunk and Sean feels another lurch, this time as Putin’s stallion pushes the Buick back over the edge of the bridge.

Ciara’s voice is heard, muffled through the walls of the vehicle)

NURSE Great! Well guess who has a phone call?

Maybe tell someone else about it for once.

CIARA Dasvidaniya, Sean! I’ll send flowers to your grave from Russia!

CIARA Look, I never made it to Russia. As soon as I stepped on the plane I just started screaming uncontrollably due to my fear of flying, which Vladimir found very unattractive so he of course left me in the airfield. Such a tempestuous man. I stole the photo of his shih tzu Raffi that he keeps in his wallet, so I should be hearing from him again.

(The clopping of hooves recedes into the distance, just as the car begins its final, grinding slide over the edge) SEAN Well, here goes. No one’s listening to my final words so at least the pressure is off. What does one say?

(The car drops suddenly, landing belly up in the unseasonably low river. The Mickey Mouse dynamite clock’s ticking stops. Sean squeezes his eyes shut, preparing for the blast, when the entire clock bursts apart in a shower of springs and plastic.)

SEAN Wow, that was anticlimactic.

(The nurse holds the phone to Sean’s ear. On the other line, a sigh, and then . . .)

CIARA Hey buddy, how you doing? Don’t answer that.

SEAN Urgh a burgle!

SEAN Rrraugh.

NURSE Can we wrap this up, champ? I got rounds and shit.

CIARA Anyway, I feel so bad about all this, especially since it didn’t work out for me . . . But let’s not do this over the phone.

Once you’re feeling better, how about a coffee? I’ll buy this time. p

04.28.16

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SJOSTRAND DESIGNS helping you create empowered environments

BRENDA STRAND | 519-636-7056 Master Feng Shui & Metaphysical Consultant brenda.sjostranddesigns@gmail.com SAVE THE DATE! Brenda will be having a ‘Pick your Topic’ talk on May 28th!

Want to know how Feng Shui can support your career goals, family relations, health or bring romance? Email Brenda your wish list of what you want the most support or information about. She will be speaking on the Year of the Fire Monkey energies in each sector as well and how this related to the different areas of one’s life. A Q & A will follow. Tickets $5.

Specific details TBA on website and the May Now & Zen Newsletter.

·

I BUY YOUR CLUTTER

ENTIRE ESTATES · ALL ANTIQUES LP RECORDS · PAIN TINGS · ETC

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music & c lu b s 28 APRIL THURSDAY BISHOP CRONYN PLACE El Sistema Aeolian Spring Concert, Doors: 6pm CALL THE OFFICE Shock Stock Afterparty, 9pm, 19+ FOX & FIDDLE Three Penny Piece, 9pm LONDON MUSIC CLUB Project G Force: The G-Force Awakens, 7pm, $12 adv, $15 door / Soulstack, 9pm, $10 adv, $15 door THE WORTLEY Ken Thorne, 10pm 29 APRIL FRIDAY EASTSIDE BAR & GRILL Geoff Masse, 9pm FOX & FIDDLE Karaoke w Adrian, 9pm LONDON MUSIC CLUB Project G Force: The G-Force Awakens, Doors: 7pm, $12 adv, $15 door / Monthly Irish Ceili, 8pm, FREE LONDON MUSIC HALL Highs/ Glass Face/ Trading Alaska, 8pm, $10 / Lowest of the Low/ The Weathered, 8pm, $21.50, 19+ NORMA JEAN'S Def Bombs, FREE THE WORTLEY Rumblefish, 10pm YUK YUK'S Derek Seguin, 8pm & 10:30pm, $19.92, 19+ 30 APRIL SATURDAY AEOLIAN HALL Nobuntu, 7pm, $25 adv, $30 door EASTSIDE BAR & GRILL Wednesdays Engine, 10pm FOX & FIDDLE Screaming Viking, 9pm LONDON MUSIC CLUB Project G Force: The G-Force Awakens, 7pm, $12 adv, $15 door NORMA JEAN'S Shelly Rastin, $4 THE WORTLEY Rumblefish, 10pm YUK YUK'S Derek Seguin, 8pm & 10:30pm, $19.92, 19+ 01 MAY SUNDAY THE WORTLEY Benefit for Chris & Geoff Dahl w Doug Varty, Chris Murphy, Ron Walker & guests, 1- 3:30pm / Brant Parker w The Village Blues Band 4-8pm 02 MAY MONDAY LONDON MUSIC HALL Collective Soul/ Royal Tusk 7pm, $29.50 - 135, 19+ 03 MAY TUESDAY CALL THE OFFICE Royal Canoe / Hannah Epperson 8pm, $7 04 MAY WEDNESDAY CENTENNIAL HALL George Thorogood & The Destroyers 8pm, $66.50 LONDON MUSIC HALL Death From Above w/ Eagles of Death Metal 7pm, $46.50 adv, 19+ 05 MAY THURSDAY FOX & FIDDLE Three Penny Piece 9pm LONDON MUSIC CLUB Michael Schatte Band 7pm, $10 adv, $15 door / Alex Mason w Greg Mashinter & Deni Gauthier 8:30pm, $10 LONDON MUSIC HALL Motel Raphael & The Wet Secrets/ Waterbaby/ Old East 8pm, $7 06 MAY FRIDAY AEOLIAN HALL Smales Pace/Change of Pace Reunion Concert 7pm, $30 adv, $35 door FOX & FIDDLE Karaoke w Adrian 9pm

EASTSIDE BAR & GRILL Christina Leroux 10pm LIFESPIN Ukellettes Concert 7-9pm, PWYC. Free refreshments LONDON MUSIC CLUB Shut The Front Door Improv 6:30pm & 9:30pm, $17.50 / Ben Heffernan & Justin Maki 7:30pm, $10 adv, $12 door NORMA JEAN'S Highway Jones $4 THE WORTLEY Wrif Wraf 10pm YUK YUK'S Jay Brown 8pm, $19.92, 19+ 07 MAY SATURDAY AEOLIAN HALL De Temps Antan 7pm, $25 adv, $30 door EASTSIDE BAR & GRILL Squeeler 10pm INGERSOLL THEATRE OF PERFORMING ARTS Handbell Spectacular, featuring Bells Ablaze, Bellissima Ringers, and Thamesford Handbell Choir 7:30pm, $20, for tickets call 519-485-3070 or online at itopa.ca NORMA JEAN'S Crush $5 DUNDAS ST CENTRE UNITED CHURCH Dynamic Duos, a Country Music Tribute Show performed by Marie Bottrell and Southbound. 8pm, $25 THE WORTLEY Wrif Wraf 10pm YUK YUK'S Jay Brown 8pm, $19.92, 19+ 08 MAY SUNDAY AEOLIAN HALL Johnny Cash: From Memphis to Folsom 2pm, $35 LONDON MUSIC HALL Suicide Girls Blackheart Burlesque 8pm, $32.50 132.50, 19+ THE WORTLEY Chuck Jackson with The Village Blues Band 4 - 8pm 10 MAY TUESDAY BUDWEISER GARDENS James Taylor and his All-Star Band 7pm, $71.50 99.50 LONDON MUSIC HALL Sloan 7pm, $19.50, 19+

classical

29 APR FRIDAY BARRY USHER 7pm, $25, St Aidan's Church 30 APR SATURDAY NOTES ON LOVE 7:30pm, $30, students $25, First St Andrews United Church

t h e at r e AYLMER THEATRE KNICKERS The paper mill that long propped up the economy of Elliston Falls has been shut down, sending the town spiralling into an economic depression. When a chipper but overwhelmed tourism officer arrives to lend a hand, she discovers an unlikely business partnership in the three brassy friends that make up the local chapter of Weight Watchers. 2pm & 8pm, $18, $10 student, May 5 - 14 GRAND THEATRE BUDDY: THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY Celebrates the astonishing legacy of the young man with glasses whose musical career spanned an all‐too‐brief period during the golden days of rock n’ roll.

Various times, $29.95 - 81.50, Til May 7

MCMANUS STUDIO RALPH + LINA Real life husband and wife Dan Watson and Christina Serra take the stage, directed by award winning artist Michele Smith, to tell the very Canadian story of Serra’s grandparents and their struggle to make a better life together in a new country. 8pm, $16.95 - 22.60, Until Apr 30 / HEATHERS: THE MUSICAL Sometimes high school can feel like life and death, and for Veronica Sawyer it is no different. At Westerburg High it is a clash of the cliques, with no group more worshipped or feared than the infamous plastic paragons The Heathers. But what happens when shy and studious Veronica joins up with this group of vapid and vicious trend setters at the top of the high school food chain?

2pm & 8pm, $25, May 6 - 14 ORIGINAL KIDS THEATRE WIZARD SCHOOL DROP OUT Quentin, a new student, arrives at Slugbutts School of Wizardy, in this parody of the beloved Harry Potter series. When not being trampled by hordes of students or teachers, he meets hard luck Buck O’Fyfe, wizard school dropout, his goading goblin sidekick, Gobbyknuckle, disgustingly perfect Larry Porter The Perfect One and all the bizarre collection of Slugbutts people. While they await the feared arrival of Darth Vadermort — He Whose Name is Often Forgotten — they compete at Quiffleball and attend the annual Ball, in a play that will keep you in stitches for days! Various times, $11 - 16, Til Apr 30 STRATFORD FESTIVAL THEATRE A CHORUS LINE On stage, they move as one. But each member of that glittering line has a unique history of hope and heartbreak, revealed in the life stories they share in this inspiring musical masterpiece. 2pm, $25 - 139.05, Til Oct 30 / SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE A young playwright named Will Shakespeare comes down with writer’s block – until he finds a muse. Art mirrors life in a hilarious and passionate tale of romance and backstage fun. 2pm & 8pm, $20 - 97.34 , Apr 29 – Oct 16 / MACBETH Surrender to a haunting story of ambition and its dark consequences, as a military hero and his wife conspire to seize the throne of Scotland 2pm, 7:30pm, & 8pm, $20 - $139.05, May 3 – Oct 23 VICTORIA PLAYHOUSE PETROLIA SCOTLAND SINGS With glorious songs, the grandeur of the bagpipe, toe-tapping music of the fiddle, and the reels of Highland fun and frolic, this show will transplant you into the heart of Scotland…without the airfare.

2pm & 8pm, Starting at $34, May 4 - 20

ga ller i es & museums

THE ART EMPORIUM Featured Artists for May: Jacqueline Kinsey, Debra Baker, Edser Thomas, Randy Bloye, Nathan Hiller, Debra Kubu. Reception is May 15, 2-4pm,

The Art Emporium Artists. Enjoy the company of our featured artists and the opportunity to learn about their art, techniques, motivations and stories.

Refreshments and parking are free.

Open 11-5 pm, Closed Tues, 177 Main St. Port Stanley THE ARTS PROJECT TING COMIC AND GRAPHIC ARTS FESTIVAL This four week celebration showcases the artwork of 11 comic and graphic artists from London and the greater Southwestern Ontario area.

Reception: Apr 30, 6 - 9pm, free, Til May 21 AYLMER MUSEUM AYLMER REMEMBERS WW1, Learn about the people, their experiences, and their lives 100 years later. Til May 27 DNA ARTSPACE NEGATIVE RAKE by Patrick Cull. The show’s title, Negative Rake, a technical term borrowed from woodworking and machining, foregrounds the cutting processes used to create this work.

The woodcuts are engraved with chisels, and in turn the application of paint cuts out and delineates shapes.

Reception: Sat Apr 30, 7 - 10pm, Apr 30 - Jun 4

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TUESDAY to FRIDAY 1 PM – 5 PM SATURDAY 11 AM – 5 PM

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thur APR IL 28 to w e d MAy 11 Send us your lis ting (25 words m a x ): info@london yodeller.c a

D e a d l i n e f o r m a y 1 2 – m a y 2 5 i ss u e i s W e d NE S DAY m a y 4

ELDON HOUSE FAMILY PHOTOS: THE HARRISES AT HOME Western Archives holds a huge collection of photographs attributed to the Harris family who lived at Eldon House. An intimate view of the family, their home and their gardens. Throughout 2016 / THE LOST ART OF BOBBIN LACE Generations of women, such as those in the Harris family of Eldon House were “brought up to the pillow” creating intricate pieces of handmade lace that were soon replaced with machine-made products at the end of the Victorian era.

As the first in a series on “women’s work”, this exhibit explores the rise and fall of an elaborate art form and illustrates the complicated process of creating bobbin lace. Til Jul, Interpretive Centre / TEDDY: A MILITARY GENTLEMAN The exhibition is the second in a three-part series that explores the life of Edward Montgomery Harris. Beginning in 1900, after leaving school and joining the Commonwealth Armed Forces, this exhibition explores “Teddy’s” travels, through Britain, India and Canada and observes the life changes wrought by the loss of his mother and his marriage in the era leading up to the outbreak of World War I. Second Floor, Til Jul / THE FENIAN CONNECTION An illustration of how the “Fenian Raids” impacted those living in Upper Canada, through the diaries and letters of the Harris Family, while highlighting their own involvement in the defence of the empire. Til Sept FOREST CITY GALLERY ARCHAELOGICAL INFRASTRUCTURE / JEN AITKEN & ARYEN HOEKSTRA

Unearths the apparitional architecture of an imagined city. To mould a cityscape into a mimetic image of its ruling class is an exhaustive venture, yet because of this expense it covers the odds of outliving its investors. Til Jun 3 FRINGE CUSTOM FRAMING & GALLERY Inviting all artists to submit unique original artwork of all mediums to be rotated in the gallery for this 4 month summer showing period. Artists may submit multiple pieces that will be available for this time period, or a portion of this time period. Apr to Jul ILLUMINE GALLERY AWAKE Celebrate the end of the season of snows with bright colours and lively themes. Til May 21, St Thomas LAMBETH GALLERY PENCIL CRAYONS...BREAKING BARRIERS AND MISCONCEPTIONS: Christine Johnson .Portraits, endangered animal drawings, nature and spiritual works! Reception May 9, 6 - 9pm, May 5 - 30 LUCAN AREA HERITAGE AND DONNELLY MUSEUM Open May - Oct, $5, Family (2 adults 2 children) $15, 171 Main St MCINTOSH GALLERY ANY DREAM WILL DO: Kim Moodie This exhibition will be the first time audiences will see these startling new perspectives on themes he has explored previously only in painting and drawing.

Til May 14 / LEADING THE WAY: Early Canadian Women Artists During the late nineteenth and early twentieth

s p ot l ight

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Museum Strathroy-Caradoc is accepting submissions for an upcoming group exhibition

Collagism: A Survey of Contemporary Collage Collage art of any medium will be considered for the exhibition which will run from July 1 to August 1 at The Art Space, 34 Frank Street, Strathroy, ON

SUBMISSION DEADLINE — June 17, 2016 www.strathroymuseum.ca 519.245.0492

centuries, women artists encountered many obstacles in the pursuit of their artistic careers. As a result, they frequently chose subjects based on personal experience such as landscape, portraiture and still life and their work was consequently considered outside mainstream trends and attracted little attention. Til May 14 MICHAEL GIBSON GALLERY HEAVENLY BODIES AGAIN with Gathie Falk, Til Apr 30 / FEEDER BOARDS with Aganetha Dyck, Til Apr 30 / THE CUMULATIVE EFFECT by Roly Fenwick The sources of nature and inner spirit of the Canadian landscape. Reception: May 7, 2 - 4pm, May 6 - 28 MUSEUM OF ONTARIO ARCHAEOLOGY SOUTHWESTERN ONTARIO: 13 000 YEARS IN THE MAKING Explore what life would have been like 13 000 years ago in Southwestern Ontario. Take the journey from the end of the ice age to contact with the European settlers.

MUSEUM LONDON PLAY TIME This exhibition will take visitors back to another time and remind us about the messages toys communicate.

Til Aug 7 / A RIPPLE EFFECT: CANADIANS AND FRESH WATER A Ripple Effect examines the larger story of Canadians’ relationship with fresh water by focusing on the Thames, Speed, and Eramosa rivers. To Aug 14 / CANADA AT PLAY: 100 YEARS OF GAMES, TOYS, AND SPORTS In the dead of winter or the heat of summer, outside or inside, Canadian children have always worked hard to have fun! Favourite games and toys over the past 130 years.

Til May 15 / FREE PLAY the work of contemporary artists who borrow from play and games to reveal social, philosophical, and cultural issues. Til May 8 / CHRONOLOGUES Issues of memory and time, through personal narratives and larger, shared histories. Works in diverse media re-visualize specific experiences or invite viewers to construct their own associations. Reception: May 13, 8pm, May 7 - Aug 21 MUSEUM STRATHROY CARADOC CHARLOTTE RAPLEY The new Charlotte Rapley Gallery hosts a semi-permanant local history exhibition detailing the history of Strathroy-Caradoc and its communities.

Mon - Fri: 10am - 8:30pm, Sat: 10am - 4pm, Sun: Closed, free, suggested $2 donation for guided tours, 34 Frank Street, Strathroy PETER ROBSON STUDIOS Renowned artist Peter Robson and custom framing centre.

In the historic village of Sparta. 7 days a week. 519-775-2522 e-mail: robsonstudios@rogers.com www. peterrobsonstudios.com ROYAL CANADIAN REGIMENT MUSEUM 701 Oxford St. E. Enter the base off Oxford at Elliot St. and turn right at the stop sign. Tues–Fri: 10am–4pm / Thurs to 8pm, Sat & Sun Noon–4pm, closed

Mondays and statutory holidays. Free admission & parking. 519-660-5275 ext. 5102 ST THOMAS ART CENTRE COLOUR THEORY The blending of colours are a delight to the eye as your gaze moves from one artwork to the next. Colours have a language of their own, and just as humans have relationships with one another, the same is true for colours.

May 7 - Jun 11 THIELSEN GALLERY REGIONAL HISTORIC EXHIBITION Featuring 28 watercolours by William St Thomas Smith. Apr 28 - May 28 WESTLAND GALLERY RIVERGARDEN by Catherine Morrisey Artist Talk: May 3, 7:30pm, Til May 7 / JAMIE JARDINE & SHANE NORRIE May 10 - 28 WOODSTOCK ART GALLERY LASTING IMPRESSIONS: HISTORICAL EUROPEAN PRINTS A strong overview of the practice and skill of printmaking over the last 200 years. Til June / JOE LIMA AND WALTER REDINGER: UNLIMITED POSSIBILITIES Til Jul 2 / JOANNE VEGSON EXPLORATION WITH STILL LIFE Artist Walk & Talk: Saturday May 7, 2pm, Closing Reception: Jun 29, 5pm, Til Jul 2

special events EVERY MONDAY MONDAY NIGHT PINBALL Everyone is welcome at our weekly pinball tournament approved by the International Flipper Pinball Association. 8 - 11pm, Free. Bring $ for pinball, Call the Office EVERY WEDNESDAY EUCHRE 1:15pm, Prizes, Everyone Welcome, Royal Canadian Air Force Association, 2755 Crumlin Rd. N. FREEBALL Unlimited play on our wall of pinball machines and classic arcade vids, for only $5. Guest DJs and drink specials each week too! 9pm, 19+, Call the Office 30 APRIL SATURDAY ELIZABETH'S NIGHT Get in the mood by attending in costume as a wench, country squire, lord or lady. Consider coming as a troubadour, court jester or archer perhaps. If not please feel free to attend in head to toe “Actor’s Black.” Silent and Live Auctions, Draw Prizes and entertainment abound 6:30pm, $40, Palace Theatre 01 MAY SUNDAY DRAWING IN THE GALLERIES Adults and teens, drop-in and sketch from 04.28.16

objects and images in our galleries.

All ranges of drawing experience are welcome, including visitors who are picking up a sketchbook for the first time. Bring your own drawing materials, or experiment with some of ours! Gallery locations change each month, so check signage or the Front Desk for class locations. 1 - 3pm, free, registration not required, May 1, Museum London 07-08 MAY SATURDAY & SUNDAY MOTHER'S DAY BRUNCH Treat your mother to a delicious buffet in the Pioneer Village Cafe featuring baked ham, roast chicken seasonal vegetables and fresh pie! Sittings at 12pm & 2pm, $16.50, Children: $8, Reservation required. Fanshawe Pioneer Village 08 MAY SUNDAY STARS ON ICE Canada's premier figure skating tour, 4pm, $26.75 121.75, Budweiser Gardens MOTHER'S DAY TEA Experience an afternoon tea and an abundant 19th century menu of savouries and sweets as you listen to live entertainment and spend a delightful afternoon with your mother. 1pm, $35, Children: $15, By reservation only, 519-661-5169, Eldon House

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