Pie 2 by Pie Magazine

CAREER FASHION

GETS A SLEEK NEW LOOK

‘Wear Love’

Toronto Fashion Week Amazon Albinos Career Exclusives

MATT BARNES

Behind the Lens

JASON ROUSE

Provocative Funny Guy

ROZ WESTON ET Canada

DREAM ROCKWELL Dancing Dilettante

JENNIFER ROBINSON Full Circle Olympic Host

Stepping out as a solo artist

Afie Jurvanen Black Crowes Our Lady Peace Diggin Roots

Lincoln MKT as a Mobile Office? Geek Chic Tweaks Straightforward Streetwear Mallets on the Mall What is a Raw Food Diet?

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Chauffeured luxury sedan and stretch limousine transportation for business and pleasure.

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Y O G A 8

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W E A R

Naturally Inspired

Photography Lindsey Maier MUA Jen Mcdonald

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Photography Kelly Stacey model Christopher Thompson

JOHN MCNABB

C 10

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15 Dunlop St W. Barrie, ON

Georgian Mall offers the perfect collection of fashion and lifestyle stores in a resort setting so close to home!

Stephanie, blazer/Tristan, Grey “Abbey” by Avril Lavigne blazer/Boathouse, sweater, scarf and mittens/H&M, boyfriend jeans/Boathouse, Hot tights/H&M, Nike shoes, Billabong purse/ Boathouse Amanda, blazer/Tristan, cardigan/H&M, sweater/H&M, boyfriend jeans/Boathouse, bag and scarf/H&M, hat, shoes/Boathouse, feathers/H&M Anastasia, White shirt, blazer/ Tristan, Red “Abbey” by Avril Lavigne t-shirt/ Boathouse, boyfriend jeans, shoes, Roxy purse, hat/Boathouse PIE MAGAZINE

Barrieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Fashion Resort! Choose fashion and lifestyle from over 170 retailers.

Amanda skirt, top, scarf/Cassis, Canadian heart necklace, stud earrings, diamond bangle, diamond ring/Ben Moss Stephanie dress, wrap sweater, black leather bow belt/ Tristan, diamond earrings/Ben Moss Anastasia jump suit/Cassis, diamond watch, hoop earrings/Ben Moss

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www.georgianmall.ca

From the hottest colours to the latest looks, the Cadillac Fairview e-newsletter has everything that’s needed to make this your most stylish season ever. Download the latest fashion guide at www.georgianmall.ca

Photography Martin Goldie Hair L’attitudes Anastasia - Luc ornsby, Amanda - Heidi Matthews, Stephanie - Diana Cooper MUA Jen Mcdonald Stylist Assistant Michelle Valencourt Stylist Photo’s taken on location at Georgian Mall

Amanda dress, bangles, rings, coat, purse/Melanie-Lyne, Lace leggings/Boathouse, Boots/H&M Anastasia pants, Holmes coat/Zack’s, ascot blouse/Melanie Lyne, black cat heel/H&M, amethyst ring, diamond ring/Ben Moss Stephanie pants, jacket, white wire-neck blouse, purse/Melanie-Lyne, chain necklace/Cassis, boots/H&M PIE MAGAZINE

EDITORS

PART

LETTER

Dear Reader: Pie Magazine is all about you - real people and style - who seek to qualify their own identity and merge a unique vision within this collective, those who dare to take that extra step into the unknown and visionaries who inspire others by actually touching the untouchable. To you we tip our hat in appreciation for your divine inspiration. It is within this collective diversity of passion that we seek our inspiration. A place in which the creative drive and vibrant content of our magazine is engendered. A city wherein that vibrancy yearns to overflow with each dream and dare shared. The result forged by integrating these numerous visions, imaginations and careers, while encouraging new ones and defining ours in the process. The concept of careers is the central theme of this issue, exploring contemporary and collaborative agendas with which we can all identify. The careers showcased herein exemplify diversity as sparked by motivation, passion, drive, actualization, and personal best. Through serendipitous pursuits and defining uncertainties, their drive inspired individual approaches that ultimately shaped their path. Their artistic collectivism is adored and is self-organized by a constituent team allied by a shared agenda - much like the Pie. As founder, I breathe daily the humility required to bring this vision to fruition and I give thanks for the support that seemingly abounds to make this reality occur. From its inception as creative director, to its distribution as publisher … with the need to also play periodic hairstylist, videographer, publicist, and ad sales woman with a new creative approach … with the necessity to inspire and task a pool of supporting talent … I find myself wearing many hats, each of which has accurately reflected my vision and inadvertently defined my career as a visionary who seeks to inspire others. This issue’s cover is submitted by Asia’s top design stylist of the stars, Paris Libby. It is a radically chic and fashionable editorial. Inspired and flattered by the stubborn nature of this luxury lifestyle magazine, Paris elected to showcase Alexander, Iraq’s top male model … thank you Paris! Pie contains a myriad of ingredients to inspire our readership: dispatches on food and travel, art and finance, fashion and life, and a roster of other articles that combine far reaching curiosity about the world within which we seek such inspiration, with an appreciation of the kind of style that emanates from pride of accomplishment and value of substance. We are all social creatures and long to be a part of something … perhaps a career driven by passion and the desire for tangibility … or a career that motivates and inspires … or one defined by the contributions of others who are elevated to find their purpose. Whatever the stimulus or focus, I strive to provide a platform for accessible realization and definition and I invite you to also share the Pie, my vision and our home.

Photography Tara Leigh

In loving memory of Mr. Stan Sinton

Thank you to my best friend Chris for a decade of love and laughter, my beautiful mother, family and friends

Sandra Roberts Editor-in-Chief To advertise in Pie Magazine or on PieMagazine.TV contact info@Piemagazine.tv

We aim to reach our audience by building a global urban arts community that is simultaneously channeled to PieMagazine.TV

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Pie is published in Barrie, ON. Distribution by Disticor Magazine Distribution services.

Printed by Mi5 Print and digital communications inc.

No part of Pie magazine may be reproduced in any form without prior written consent from Editor in Chief/Publisher Sandra Roberts. Pie Magazine@gmail.com

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PIE MAGAZINE

CONTENTS 126

COVER STORY

THE 4 FEMMES

FEATURES

138

THE CAREER’S

Stylist Paris Libby and the Animal Prince Iraq - Hong Kong - Barrie Visionary Babak

AMAZON ALBINOS The Adventures of voyageur Dean Karr

MALLETS ON THE MALL

ROZ WESTON

144

Lucas Lanthier and a croquet exposition in Five parts Pie interview’s ET Canada interviewer all you have to do is ask

TORONTO FASHION WEEK Our Pie Magazine correspondent Josh Shier doesn’t leave his seat

MATT BARNES

DREAM ROCKWELL

The man with the eye!

JASON ROUSE

77 76

JENNIFER ROBINSON

KENT SMITH

80 65 64

JEFF BRAIN

DR. BARB

JOHN MCNABB

Jester from Hell

Hosts the Olympics

SARAH JACKSON

The career model does it her way food Nazi

Award winning Taxidermist

CHRIS SRIGLEY An expeditionist

DR. DICKIE

Plastic Surgery Chic shares her routine on men’s fashion

creativity is the core of her nature

BEAUTIFUL FASHION

106 120 102 25 112 114

20 JUSTIN HYTE

captivates and charms

STRAIGHTFORWARD STREETWEAR

SAVORING

THE BADLANDS Effortless Opulence BABAK STYLES W BALLOONS

38 35 36 33

DUDE LOOKS LIKE A LADY ATTENTION RECESSIONISTAS FANCY YOUR FEET

THE TEA SPOT THE RAW FOODIST THE HAPPY BAKER FOOD AND WINE PAIRING

MOTORING MORE

92 96 IMAGOZINE: CO-OP 91 UTOPIAN HEALTH CARE 100 MARK THOMSON 97 gets the job 94 FINANCIAL PLANING 2010 99 RYAN LITTER Ringside world champ 97

86 ANOTHER NEW GADGET 147 39 27 85 89

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MUSIC AFIE JURVANEN OUR LADY PEACE DIGGIN ROOTS RIK EMMETT SASS JORDAN CRASH KARMA BRETT CASWELL BLACK CROWES

83 THE LINCOLN MKT ECOBOOST a cross over SUV that has probly never been closer to a limo

82 THE NISSAN CUBE A vehicle w accessories

34 EATING ON THE RUN TRAVELING

35 CANNES

Steve Mifsud is The Wayward Traveler

136 KINGS LANDING A step back in time

Photography Steve Locke

Sarah Lunn Britton Ronan

Sales Representative

ExperienceSold.com 1.877.435.4336 RONAN REALTY BROKERAGE ÂŠ2009. An independently owned and operated broker member of Prudential Real Estate Affiliates, Inc., a Prudential company.

PIE MAGAZINE and Prudential are service marks of the Prudential insurance Company of America and used herein under license.

CONTRIBUTORS TIM WILSON

Art Director Creativity is a unknown language that everyone understands.

KELLY STACEY Photo Editor/ Photographer

“Can it still be called ‘work’ when you love to do it so much?”

ELYSE MAYO

Copy Editor “Without just one nest A bird can call the world home. Life is your career.”

SEAN MACDONALD

Writer lives above a store in Toronto and does odd jobs to pay the rent.

BABAK

Photographer “I don’t know why, but thank god for this rock band keeping the beat in my head while I’m shooting!”

RATUL DEBNATH Video Production piemagazine.tv Takes you behind the scenes to see the creative forces at work.

Thank you 18

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IAN JAMES HOPKINS Photographer

Contemporary photographer based out of Barrie who specializes in people and portraiture. Heavily influenced by August Sander, Amy Stein and other young photographers like himself.

STEVE LOCKE

photographer Discovered his passion of photography shortly after majoring in fine arts.

JOSH SHIER LG Fashion Week Correspondent

“Delivering you the gospel when it comes to what’s hot, and what’s not, my coverage of LG Toronto Fashion Week will leave little to be desired.”

DEAN KARR

CHRIS O’DISCOLL Photographer

An Irish native living in Barrie, Chris has been photographing for the past 17 years in a career spanning media, portrait, commercial photography and much more in Ireland, UK and Canada.

NATE & JULIE GATES

Photographer and model Nate and Julie Gates are a dream team from St. John’s, Newfoundland. Nate is the hottest photographer in town, specializing in wedding, portrait and fine art photography.

IAN COMPTON Photographer

Graduate of Humber College Photography and has been shooting for 11 years. Loves fashion, food, portraits and horses! Just turned 40, and hates it. ;)

JIM BARBER

Photographer I’m never more happy than shooting while I travel to strange and wonderful places. Whether I’m diving with Great White Sharks in Mexico or photographing glue huffers in Cambodia, it’s always something memorable and life altering!

Music Editor

JUSTIN PRITCHARD

STEVE NOSEWORTHY

He brings 16 years of journalistic experience to Pie Magazine.

Automotive Journalist One of Canada’s youngest professional auto experts, his wide-reaching stories will appear in every issue of Pie magazine.

Photo journalist Nature and travel photographer who enjoys exploring new places and sharing his stories.

MARC ANDREW SMITH

STEVE MIFSUD

Writer

“it’s all make believe, isn’t it?”

Contributors listed here and throughout the magazine

Photographer After 15 years touring in bands he considers his suitcase home. A published songwriter, that has now entered into film and television, his interest in fascinating places and interesting people fuel his passion

SHANNON LEONE

JEN MCDONALD

Raw Foodist is just your everyday, all-round mother, lover, raw-foodist, writer, artist, goddess who fears nothing but fear itself and once waited in line for 8 hours to bungee jump and has travelled the world solo for a year after a boring weekend.

ROLAND WILHELM

Photographer mannequinmedia.com has been photographing, filming fashion, music and celebrities for 6 years.

BRITTON RONAN

MUA

Make-up creations that are as sweet as candy.

LYNSIE ROBERTS Photographer

She love high colour saturation, reality distortion and models who look like dolls.

PETER FINNIE

STEPH SCHMIT

Model Writer/Model/ Student/Human.

ROWELL PHOTOGRAPHY

Erika and Ryan specialize in commercial portraitures and weddings. They Live in Barrie and travel the globe photographing awesome people.

KIRA BUCCA Photographer

Her usage of unique forms of available light is her signature style, but she is loves all types of light.

SKYE WOOLSTON

KRYSTIE ASSIVERO

Assisting today’s buyer or seller in their real estate transaction.

Photographer

CARLEIGH AIKINS

MARTIN GOLDIE

MAEE KROFT

JULIA DICKENS

KEVIN LAMB

ANASTASIA ANDRANOV

JAY HARDWICK

LIND SEY MAIER

Writer Continues to persevere in the business of the artistic pursuit - and hopes you want to be a part of that team Music Photographer

He is passionate about creating with impact and love the energy of live events.

Photographer

An award winning, freelance photo journalist who specializes in Music and event photography.

Model “I can’t even begin to explain how much the pie family means to me.”

HEATHER VALENTINE

DARREN JACOB

Writer

CHRIS PRICE Wine Geek

is a lover of all things epicurean.

CHRISTOPHER THOMPSON Model This Pie just tastes good.

Aspiring writer, parttime anthropologist, full-time.....

BRUCE JOSEPH

Finance Writer I look forward to bringing interesting and informative articles to Pie Magazine.

Writer Shifting the face of divorce from chaos to catalyst.

MUA Complections Academy grad with a deep love of the fashion industry

MUA I want to bring a fresh trendy and fun look.

Illustrator Aspiring Illustrator and Fine artist.

Long Time Corporate Technical GURU and Gadgetnista.

Photographer/ Digital Artist She tackles each assignment with passion, intensity and a sense of fun!

MARK THOMSON

LUCAS LANTHIER

MICHELLE VALENCOURT

DARREN FERNANDES

Observationist A cantankerous git and a commuter with sharp elbows, Mark offers insight into London life.

Model Model turned politician. Never say never. Dreams really do come true!

Writer Writer and musician living in New York City and Los Angeles.

Fashion Writer He is a enthusiast of provocative and intelligent fashion journalism.

MEL ROSE Sometimes you just need to sit back in your chair and listen, not just with your ears but with your entire body and soul.

Thanks

timothy switzer & babak

For your contribution in the premier issue PIE MAGAZINE

captivating Justin Hyte >

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Mat Velvet + Foundation Star Powder in 926 on eyes Glossy Full Couleur in 08

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Mat Velvet + Foundation in 15 Waterproof Eyebrow Kit in 00 Iridescent Eyeshadow in 007 Matte Eyeshadow in 098 Lengthening Mascara in 01 Super Lip Gloss in 25

Photography Justin Hyte MUA Roshar for Make Up Forever Hair Shlomie Mor Model Kara at Basic

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Grace

Make Up Forever UV Prime HD Foundation in 110 Star Powder in 920 on eyes Lengthening Mascara in 01 Glossy Full Couleur in 01

Winsome

Diamond Cream in 01 for skin Eyebrow Pencil in 04 Matte Eyeshadow in 98 Pearly Lipstick in 309

Elegance

Flash Color 07 on eyes Pearly Lipstick in 307

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2 Against The North

Photography Chris O’Driscoll Wardrobe Tropical North

· features ·

Pure Organic Lager 24

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w w w. 2 a t n . c o m

F A

dude looks like a lady Traditionally masculine fashion, conceived from ideas of power and practicality, has become a mainstay in womenswear. This look was introduced by two of the greatest designers, Coco Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent, with inspiration from the two Great wars. After WWI, the Edwardian corsetry of the Belle Époque gave way to the Garçonne look of the 1920s flapper with her short hair, flattened breasts, and a de-emphasized waist. Inspired by World War I, Coco Chanel helped to create clothing for the modern woman that was both simple and practical, introducing a utilitarian air in to the fashion scene with trousers and suits for women. The 1920s and 1930s saw the rise of the House of Chanel with its iconic Chanel suit. “I gave them back their bodies,” Chanel explained, “bodies that were drenched in sweat, due to fashion’s finery, lace, corsets, underclothes, padding.” Chanel’s nonconformist style has transferred over to the everyday woman’s closet of today. Perhaps of even greater influence is Yves Saint Laurent, who created new silhouettes by reworking traditional men’s clothing to fit a feminine shape. Noted designer Michael Kors commented that “every woman in the world, sometimes without even knowing it, has something in her closet inspired by Yves Saint Laurent.” Inspired by the women’s liberation movement, Saint Laurent introduced the first tuxedo for women called “Le Smoking” in 1966. This suit became a forerunner for future stylish pantsuits such as the 80’s power suit. Items such as the trench coat and safari jacket “are indelibly associated with him [Saint Laurent] because of the spin he gave them for the modern woman,” said Valerie Steele of FIT. The use of men’s clothing in womenswear is showing definite presence on the catwalks for Fall2009/Winter2010 with the following key trends: Post-Le Smoking Suiting: Accredited with the introduction of the power suit, Ralph Lauren is pushing for three-piece suits in tweed with belted high waists and heavy heeled boots. JeanPaul Gaultier shows a more androgynous look, including three-piece suits with cargo-detailed bottoms, bowties, and Doc Martens boots. Similarly, 3.1 Philip Lim pairs deconstructed cropped suit jackets

>Darren Fernandes

with voluminous ruffled blouses and heavy heeled boots. Statement bottoms inspired by the Orient: Balenciaga, known for changing up waistlines, presents interesting wrapping illusions for their pants and skirts this season, taking inspiration from the traditional Indian men’s garment called the dhoti. Etro continues to encourage wide-legged cropped and harem droppedcrotch pants with a clean-cut boyfriend jackets. For a more defined feminine look, pair the statement bottom with a simple cropped blazer and cinched at the waist by a belted or sash. Statement shoulders circa 1983: As can be seen above, blazers are an important staple for the upcoming season and with those blazers have come the revival of the 1980’s shoulders. Before horrific flashbacks of shoulder pads, peaked shoulders, and boned shoulders reappear, the new shoulder invasion offers a much more sleek and chic visual that is flattering to the female form. Designer Christophe Decarnin at Balmain has emphasized statement shoulder for years and it seems to have caught on as a major trend for the colder months. Trenchcoats sans the Nixon Mask: Burberry Prorsum has become synonymous with fine coats and is focusing on trench coats this season in light neutral shades. The trench coat offers a professional but relaxed overcoat to the Le Smoking suit and is ideal for fall weather in Canada. Whether it’s sporting the tie-and-tee combination or mixing tutus with combat boots, womenswear has a lot more freedom to cross gender barriers and to borrow from elements of menswear. For the upcoming season, as always, there should be consideration of a unified outfit from top to bottom. This is being seen from head to toe with Doc Marteens and heavier heeled boots making a return as well as shorter haircuts like bobs. Proportions should balance out overall with cropped lengths and cinching where needed. Colours should be light, neutral, and used in monotones. Interplay between constructed and deconstructed items will add interest and avoid a harsh or sloppy visual. If well-tailored and considerate of the female form, the fusion of men’s clothing in womenswear can stimulate a look that is both power and sexy.

Photography mannequinmedia Hair L’attitudes Wardrobe Tristan PIE MAGAZINE

Photography Steve Locke

The intimate in casual fine dining

W W W. M I C H A E L A N D M A R I O N S. C O M 26

705.721.1188 PIE MAGAZINE

89 Bayfield Street,

Barrie

ACROSS ThePOND

Mark Thomson

“MARK THOMSON ON THE PITFALLS OF BRITISH INTERVIEWS, AND HIS SEMI-MASTERY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.”

I can’t stop staring at his teeth. They are like a row of bombed out houses. His mouth is set in a forced, expectant grin. Expectant, because I am in a job interview and have just been asked a question. I adopt a pensive expression to convey the sense that I am putting together the final touches to a brilliant answer. But I wish he would stop with the smile. The interview is not going well, and I have been rendered mute by the yellow film encasing his teeth. This is my first job interview since arriving in London a month ago. I arrive slightly rumpled, as if I had travelled to the interview by suitcase. Though not quite yet in possession of a job, this morning I joined the ranks of London’s workforce and squeezed my way onto the Tube. This was my first experience of the underground at rush hour. My time in London has so far been spent inside pubs talking rubbish, an activity not well suited to the fledgling hours of the day. My knowledge of the Tube is therefore limited to late night trains full of wobbly legged drunkards. Rush hour in London therefore takes me by surprise. The carriage is so full that I can count the blackheads on the nose of the man into whom I am uncomfortably pressed. There is a smell of stale sweat and thwarted ambition. No one speaks or makes eye contact, which is impressive given how intimately we are all squashed together. Even more impressive is that people appear to somehow be reading newspapers. They are folded into three-inch origami cubes. A single additional fold unfurls unread paper. I glimpse a headline: “Tube temperatures too hot for transporting cattle, says EU law”. Yet everyone is wearing dark suits, jackets buttoned. Faces are set in expressions of steely determination, as if to say: “If I can just hold on for three more stops, I might avoid the social mortification of showing that I’m slightly uncomfortable”. Last week, to help prepare for interviews, I attended a briefing seminar on the British workplace. It was run by a small business aimed at North Americans who were new to London and hadn’t a clue. People like me. The young woman who led the seminar (whose teeth were also notably dire) advised us to respect ‘British Reserve’ during interviews. I wasn’t quite sure what this meant. Would the interviews in this city be so formal that I had to bow in between

answers? Would maintaining a stiff upper lip be one of the tests? She also advised us not to rely on the supposed novelty of our accents. In a cosmopolitan city in which 250 languages were spoken, no one would be impressed. Whatever, I thought, I’ll give them something to think aboot. Securing an interview hadn’t been difficult. This was boom time London, and I had set my sights appropriately low. I was interviewing for the post of Clerical Assistant in some anodyne office. The main duty, I would discover later, was photocopying on an industrial scale. In fact, there would come a point where I worried that the gamma rays leaked by the ancient machine might be incrementally sterilising me. “Have you done it before?” he repeats in a plummy accent. The spell has been broken, and I look quickly away from his fuzzy teeth to the dilapidated photocopier to which he’s pointing. He is asking whether I have made double-sided copies using this model before. I look back to him, searching his face (though avoiding the mouth area) for any hint that the question is genuine. I suspect that this is actually a deeper test about my fitness to work in a British office; about whether I will be an amiable colleague who will appreciate innuendo and double entendre, the hallmarks of the British sense of humour. “Oh I’ve double-sided before, plenty of times,” I venture. I add a wink for good measure. My interviewer’s eyes momentarily widen, and there is an audible intake of breath. I have quite clearly overstepped the line marked ‘British Reserve’. The interview fizzles out, and I am asked to take a seat outside. Moments later I am recalled and offered the post. It seems that my accent has won the day, after all. The interviewer explains that, somewhat implausibly, the only other person he saw was a French Canadian woman. He could barely understand a word she said. I get the job because I had conducted the interview mostly in English. Mark Thomson has lived in London for ten years. He works at a university and lied at his interview. No bowing was involved.

PIE MAGAZINE

mallets on the mall

By Lucas Lanthier

- A CROQUET EXPOSITION IN FIVE PARTS

Its origins are vaguely French and Irish, with a debatable smattering of Scottish and English. (A heritage that many of us North American mongrels can instantly relate to.) And also like us, it demands heart and soul, blood sacrifices, oaths to higher spiritual authorities and often enough, the lives of our first born children. Or is that just how I play it? Regardless, letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s get started on our Croquet Exposition so that you can all form your own Sunday societies, replete with knowledge, guidelines for behavior and the proper drink recipes. After all, with croquet you could just muck about, but ideally you should do so in an educated manner.

Russ, wardrobe/Fred Perry, Shoes/John Fluevogs, Croquet set/courtesy of Darryl Weeks Chris, sweater, shirt, tie, bag/Fred Perry, Dirty Denim/imago boutique, socks Calvin Klein/Winners, shoes/John Fluevogs Kyle, wardrobe/H&M, shoes/John Fluevogs â&#x20AC;˘ Picnic/Cravings fine food, Glassware & picnic basket/Zest, Pimms/LCBO

Photography Ian James Hopkins Assistant Ratul Debnath & Kayla Welsh

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| Stylist

First A Brief Word or Two From Some Actual Enthusiasts I checked with two factions, one on either coast, about their croquet activities. My very good friend Matt P. plays croquet every Sunday in Echo Park, Los Angeles. And on the east coast we find the Hellfire Mallets Club who play every chance they get in Central Park, New York City, and here represented by Theodore and Lawrence, the founders. I asked them about their formats. Matt: For starters I’m always the black ball and when we’re playing teams our team name is always “Once You Go Black…” It’s usually an excuse to hang out and drink. By the end of the game people are cheating, there’s vomiting… Our crowd is mostly musicians and artists. Although there’s this ten year old French kid who’s been coming back the last few times with his mom. Hellfire Mallets Club: We have a set that allows us to play English rules [9 wickets], however, playing in Central Park, where you’re technically not allowed to set up anything on the grass, it can be dodgy. There can also be space constraints so we usually end up playing Wee English/ Colonial rules [American rules, 6 wickets].

Russ, wardrobe/Fred Perry, Shoes/John Fluevogs, Kenneth Cole/Winners

Lanthier: Beverage of choice? M: Old Grandad whiskey. That might be why there’s vomiting. H.M.C.: Well, the most fitting beverage is Pimm’s Cup… L: Matt, does the pond there in Echo Park ever become a water trap? M: We’ve had some instances where the balls came pretty close to being submerged, but usually there is enough foot traffic so you can ask someone to stop it before it rolls in. L: Are the mallets ever misused? M: The only thing that happens with the mallets that isn’t standard, is chucking it angrily when you miss. L: Theo and Lawrence, does the H.M.C. have a dress Code? T: Usually it’s Edwardian, but we’ve varied it a little bit. We have some lady members who dress from Victorian through 1920’s.

Rules and Regulations There are, indeed, reasons to play croquet on anything but a perfectly manicured lawn, but those reasons will be disclosed in the next section. Let us assume, then, that everything, including the weather and the temperaments of the participants, is perfect. I’m going to go through this quickly, so do try to keep up. The regulation court is 35 by 28 yards, but use whatever space is available. Mark corners and boundaries with stakes, string, small, immobilized animals, nonparticipants, discarded undergarments and so forth, if one chooses to use boundaries at all. Each player or team gets their own ball to handle. The fabrication and deployment of double entendre, as you might have guessed, is, at all times, strongly encouraged, as is the skillful, and lawful, manipulation of one’s mallet. Regarding the mallet, it may go against instinct, but only the head is used for making contact, never the sides. Now we take turns striking our balls through the nine wickets. Of course there is a correct order, but do whatever’s fun. (All right, all right, here it is from an overhead view: Start at the bottom, go out, to the bottom right, to the

Chris, Penquin hat/Winners, shirt, tie, pants/Fred Perry, plaid vest/ Imago boutique,Tommy Hilfiger vest/Winners, boots/John Fluevogs

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Croquet Cocktails You’ve seen it on the shelf at the liquor store, usually in the same section they put all the obscure, unclassifiable and/or boutique liqueurs, but this one bottle, shadowy with history and proud in bearing, will comprise the base for our indispensable croquet cocktail. Pimm’s no.1, a gin-based liqueur, was established as a potation in 1840 (a year that nestles it nicely between Nicholas Nickleby and Barnaby Rudge) by James Pimm. The recipe is allegedly guarded so closely that only six people know what the stuff is truly made of at any given time. Suffice to say, it is gin blended with fruit extracts and other liqueurs. And what do we do with it? Why, we concoct the “Pimm’s Cup”, a famous punch incorporating James’ patented libation with sundry refreshing ingredients to keep us cool and jolly during the afternoon’s recreation. The Pimm’s Cup is famous in old Blighty for lubricating sporting festivities like cricket, tennis, and horse racing so there should be no question as to its usefulness when a throng of mallet-wielding flibbertygibbets require something for their parched throats. There are a multitude of Pimm’s Cup recipes, but here, for the first time in print, is the finest.

Lanthier’s Pimm’s Cup Pimm’s No.1 Ginger beer (Something quality! Kyle, Penquin hat/Winners, glasses/Ray bans, turtleneck/H&M, Vest/Imago boutique, Tight-ass levi’s/Winners, boots/John Fluevogs

middle, to the upper right, to the top, back out of the top, to the upper left, to the middle, to the bottom left and back through the bottom. This operation, repeated over and over again, working up a good sweat and incorporating wild vocal exclamations and arcane gesticulations, should satisfy even the most demanding enthusiast.) Each turn, or performance, culminates in one shot. There are, of course, exceptions; if a player manages to get their ball through a wicket, they get an extra poke at their own ball. If a player’s ball strikes another ball, call it what you will, but in this case the official term is “roquet”. The player then gets two extra pokes at their own ball. The first poke is called a “croquet” in which the balls are placed next to each other and the performer strikes his ball so that they both move, or, placing his foot on his own ball, whacks it so only the other ball reacts to the pounding. The second bonus thrust should then be a conventional one. A player may only manipulate the other participants’ balls once between wickets. If a new wicket is scored, a whole fresh round of ball swatting may then ensue. If a ball ever somehow manages to find itself out of bounds, as will sometimes happen, simply cajole it back within the realm of play at the nearest point at which it wandered out. Sexual Politics For bachelors of the sporting fraternity, it is often preferable to eschew the standard croquet format described above for an unorthodox and rebellious off road, cross-country croquet obstacle course. This will guarantee an uneven terrain and insure that any member of the fair sex that happens to be involved in the match will be forced to commit to an exposé of her dainty ankles whilst negotiating the stubborn wicket arrangement. The Picnic and What It Should Have See “Croquet Cocktails” below. Anything else is superfluous and at the discretion of the combatants. I mean, players.

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I used Reed’s all natural Jamaican style ginger beer to great effect.)

Cucumber slices and spears Lemon juice and wheels Mint leaves To keep things simple, we’ll do a batch that will serve 4 people. Get hold of your Boston shaker and combine 8 cucumber slices, 2 ounces of fresh squeezed lemon juice and 8 mint leaves. Muddle these together, ensuring that the mint leaves are bruised and that the cucumber is in a chaotic, yet fragrant, mush. Next, combine 8 ounces of Pimm’s with your lovely, muddled mess. Add plenty of ice, and shake the hell out of it. When the shaker is good and frosty, you’re ready to fine/double strain it into 4 medium rocks glasses (or plastic picnic cups) that are all filled with ice, a cucumber spear and a lemon wheel. Top each glass off with ginger beer and you are ready to start whacking balls about the greensward with hedonistic abandon.

cfcpix.com Illustrations Julia Dickens

Migrant Ontario Wedding Photographer 705.730.9458 PIE MAGAZINE

Photography Chris Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Driscoll

Cravings, the tantalizing talk of the town, provides diverse delicatessen cuisine and cordial catering. The masterful creations of their diligent chefs never ceases to please any inner-gormandizer. Utilizing organic, seasonal and local ingredients, and interacting closely with the needs of their customers and community, Cravings can bring the intimate, familial love of food to any table.

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516 Bryne Drive, Unit A Barrie, ON

www.cravingsfinefood.ca

f watch/Bill LeBoeu

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Photography Mann

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WINE PA I R I N G

food The most common question I am asked has got to be, “what and d attende s seminar , reading much After wine?” what goes with it classes taken, I still have no real answer. The one truth when with comes to wine and food pairing is this: the best wine to pair are your meal is the one you like the best. That being said, there I subject. tricky this to comes it when ions suggest and hints many re medioc a make can pairing personally feel that the proper wine dish. dish taste wonderful, but if incorrect, it can also spoil a great are five The rules of thumb are many in regards to pairing. Here key points to consider: with I. Weight: Match the richness of the food you’re serving dish seafood a serving were you if So, wine. the of the body like scallops in a rich cream and butter sauce you would want to pair a wine that was its match in terms of body. A big, oaky a Californian Chardonnay would be more appropriate than t couldn’ you that say to not It’s Grigio. Pinot Italian acidic light, by mented comple better be drink the Pinot, but the dish would Chardonnay. the II. Intensity: Match the flavour intensity of the food and the r conside to is e guidelin this follow to way easy An wine. a raw method of preparation for the food. If you agree that that g, poachin g, steamin by followed , delicate most the is tion prepara pan searing, frying, grilling, then braising being the most intense ngly. style of preparation, then you can match the wine accordi Delicate white wine varietals can include Riesling and Pinot Grigio, medium intensity can be Sauvignon Blanc, and high e red intensity can be Chardonnay or Gewurztraminer. Delicat might y intensit medium Gamay, or Noir Pinot be could s varietal et be Grenache or Merlot, and high intensity could be Cabern Shiraz. Syrah/ or on Sauvign III. Acidity: Match acidic food with a high-acid wine. The easiest way to describe this is to look to Italy. The wines of that northern Italy are typically medium-bodied, high-acid wines Italian An own. their on enjoyed when ‘rustic’ call one might c meal may typically include acidic food (tomatoes, citrus, balsami perfect The oil. olive of richness the with ed combin ) vinegar cutting wine is one that matches the foods’ inherent acidity while and red both with true be can This oil. olive the of the richness white wines from the region. Soave and Pinot Grigio are medium

to high acidity, while most Valpolicella and Chianti also show prominent acidity. IV. Sweetness: Match sweet foods with sweet wines. Dry foods wines can seem tart and over-acidic when consumed with the that have a degree of sweetness. The rule of thumb is this: most is This be. to needs wine the sweeter sweeter the food, the with applicable to dessert, where you might pair a crème brûlée with well as work also can It e. Ice-win or a late harvest Riesling your something like mild Lamb Korma or Butter Chicken from wine red big a that imagine can You nt. favorite Indian restaura would seem overly tart and mouth-drying when paired with or a sweet and mild curry, but an off-dry to medium Riesling Gewurztraminer would be perfect. V. Salty foods: id Another suggestion is to pair salty foods with sweet or high-ac blue Stilton classic the is sweet with salty of e wines. An exampl is cheese with Port. A good example of salty with high-acid Blanc. on Sauvign or agne oysters with Champ now After taking all of these guidelines into consideration you thing great The r. produce wine the t have to take into accoun e. about wine is the varieties of flavours and intensities availabl ion express truest the give to is kers winema The goal of most of of the grape variety while still honouring the characteristics on ing depend that is means this What . each particular varietal is resources, location, quality of harvest and weather each wine Grigio Pinot say simply can’t we why is which going to be unique, same. tastes exactly like this, or that all Cabernet Sauvignon is the , pairings wine and food ng practici time After spending much sed both at home and at work, I’ve come up with my own conden do to try I What you. for works hope I that method of pairing is is to determine what the most dominant flavour in the food having you’re because Just that. to wine the pair going to be, then lamb doesn’t necessarily mean you should have a young tannic a spicy Cabernet Sauvignon or Shiraz with it. If it happens to be and lamb curry, then the spice would be the predominate flavour r. tramine Gewurz or Riesling a with I would match that of So, in conclusion, there is no right answer! You can take all you’re what if but pairing, when ration these points into conside drinking right now tastes good with what you’re eating then you’ve already made the right choice. PIE MAGAZINE

CONCERNED ABOUT

DROWSINESS AT THE WHEEL? Some planning for meals and beverages can help keep your focus and attention on high-alert. Justin Pritchard asks Naturopath Dr. Jennifer Strong for the scoop on what not to eat when planning an hours-long roadtrip this fall.

Justin: Driving requires one to be alert and energetic-- not tired or drowsy. If you’re planning a 9-hour drive in a single day, are there certain foods to avoid eating? What about certain ingredients? Dr. Strong: Foods to avoid would be anything that is hard to digest, or anything high in simple sugars. This includes greasy, fatty meals, which take a lot of effort to digest. These can leave you feeling in need of a nap afterwards, so you body can focus its efforts on digestion. High sugar foods are good for an immediate sugar rush, so they’re ok for an hour road trip. These are foods such as candy, chocolate, slushies, donuts, and so on. Afterwards, you’ll have a ‘sugar crash’, and feel even more tired than before. Additionally, tryptophan, which is found in most meat and dairy products, is an amino acid known to make you feel a little drowsy if consumed in large quantities. For that reason, avoid gobbling down multiple double-cheeseburgers on the go. Justin: If some foods should be avoided in the name of driver alertness, are there certain foods or ingredients that can promote alertness and focus?

EATING ON THE

Dr. Strong: Nothing substitutes for a good night’s rest the evening before. Aim to get enough sleep-- and then the right foods on the road will help you maintain alertness. The goal on the road should be to maintain a normal blood sugar level-- therefore foods that have adequate amounts of complex carbohydrates and natural sugars are ideal. These include nuts and dried fruit, trail-mix, granola, fresh fruit, whole grain cereals for munching, low fat string cheese, and veggie slices. Justin: What about eating habits- for instance, the timing of eating a meal before or during a drive?

RUN rd Justin Pritcha

Dr. Strong: You’ll be is a seated, sedentary position, so not many calories will be exerted. Therefore, small snacks every 3 hours or so are ideal to maintain normal blood-sugar levels. Plan ahead and pack your food in a cooler, as opposed to being stuck with fast-food. Planning meals and snacks ahead of time allows people to more easily make healthy choices. Plus, your snacks are available to you at all times without waiting. Lastly, don’t hold back on the fluids. It may be tempting to drink less on the road to reduce bathroom stops, but it’s important to be hydrated in order to remain alert and avoid headaches. Hunger pains can often be ‘thirst pains’-- so before you reach for the snack, take a drink of water and wait a few minutes to see if that satisfies you. Justin: I worked late last night and had trouble sleeping. I’m pretty sure I’ll be tired for my trip. Should I stock up on those flashy energy drinks to help keep me awake? Dr. Strong: The main ingredient in those drinks is the caffeine. Is it ‘healthier’ than a coffee? Typically not by much. You may need a little extra caffeine, but more important is maintaining mental health. Make more frequent stops where you can stretch and walk around, try to keep blood sugar levels normal, and stay stimulated with some upbeat music or comedy CDs.

Justin: I can barely drive by a Timmies without stopping to perk up on delicious coffee. Is this ok?

Photography Nate Gates Model Katie O’Connell Outfit from Ballistic in St. John’s

Dr. Strong: Occasionally, but coffee is a diuretic-- so you may find yourself stopping more often, and feeling dehydrated. Coffee also inhibits B-vitamin absorption, which is needed for energy levels and digestion. You may feel yourself needing more and more coffee to keep you alert instead as you build a tolerance to the caffeine, too. In the long run, coffee is not a good solution to drowsiness. Dr. Jennifer Strong, BSc, ND, is a Naturopathic Doctor and owner of the Harmony Health & Wellness Centre in Windsor, Ontario.

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WHAT IS A RAW

FOOD DIET?

It’s not what you think! When people find out I am a ‘raw foodist’, they are curious, suspicious, and puzzled! Then I add ‘nudist Buddhist’ and really freak them out- haha! What exactly is a raw diet? It’s not “rabbit food.” It’s raw food. I’m always getting asked about this latest and greatest health trend. As someone who has converted her entire family to a high-raw diet, I can tell you, it is an incredible way to eat. Even my Italian husband loves it. I hesitate to use the word diet, because eating raw foods isn’t really a diet, it’s more of a “liveit”! This isn’t about deprivation but abundance! Did you know there are over 3000 varieties of apples, 500 avocados, 400 different bananas...How many have you had? DID YOU KNOW MOST PEOPLE ALL AROUND THE WORLD EAT THE SAME THING? That is strange but true. The fact is, nearly everyone on the planet eats the same food as everyone else, and eats the same things over and over again. The top 15 foods include: soy, rice, corn, wheat, barley, orange, potato, chicken, coffee, beef, and dairy from cow and goat coconut and chocolate. When you get on to raw food nutrition, it is something completely different! You start eating seaweed, algae, sprouts. You start eating fruits you never

heard of before, like jackfruit (this is the flavor of juicy fruit gum) rambutan, lychee, durian, persimmon, starfruit, dragon fruit, mangosteen...

seeds, spicy lime-chili almonds, goji berries, trail mix, etc

And what happens next is that as your body clears out the goo and gunk of a SAD (Standard American Diet) simple plantbased food actually tastes DELICIOUS. More delish than a cardboard slice of greasy, moldy, gastro-disastro pizza!

DESSERT: chocolate pudding, lemon poppy-seed cheesecake, bliss balls, peppermint fudge, etc

And, get ready and willing to feel good all the time and to be optimistic. To laugh. To have fun. To be in love with everything. To appreciate beauty and to live your purpose! All the highs, and no hang-over! If you’re clever or motivated, and salads are becoming a bore, you can even create gourmet dishes that mimic your fave cooked versions such as, pasta, ice cream, cookies, pies, burritos, pizza, soups and even rice and meat dishesALL out of just fruit, veggies, nuts, seeds, seaweeds, herbs, flowers. Just about any cooked favorite can be replaced by a raw dish that tastes just as good or better. Better still, raw foods are free of dairy, gluten and sugar, and require no cooking. HERE IS A SAMPLE MENU OF A DAY-INTHE-LIFE-OF-RAW: BREAKFAST: Ultimate power smoothie, applesauce, berrilicious porridge, fresh fruit salad with cinnamon and lime, g’raw’nola with sliced bananas and fresh almond mylk, etc LUNCH: soup, salad, sandwich, flax crackers, dips, etc SNACK: candied pumpkin

DINNER: burritos, pizza, pasta, stir-unfry, veggie-burgers, etc

BEDTIME SNACK: cashewhempseed apple-raisin cookies NOW I ASK YOU, DOES THIS LOOK LIKE A DIET TO YOU? AND IT IS ALL MADE WITHOUT GLUTEN, DAIRY, TRANS-FATS, MEAT, EGGS, OR COOKING! So don’t be afraid to try something new. Switching to a raw food diet isn’t about depriving yourself of taste of the foods you love or staying hungry. The raw food way is about abundance, freshness and festivity. By adding more raw food to your diet you’ll enjoy the side-effect of looking and feeling BLISS-tastic!

Shannon ‘Shakaya Breeze’ Leone is an artist and writer who does consultations and teaches recipe classes, and has written The Healthy Lunch Box with tons of the easiest, fastest and tastiest raw food treats on the planet! www.Rawmom.com

Photography Nate Gates ‘beet generation salad’/The Sprout Restaurant - St. John’s

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Shanny’s

PUMPKIN Pie

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THIS AMAZING PIE IS ALL RAW, NO BAKING REQUIRED!

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“SEX AND THE CITY” “GRANDMA’S COOKIE JAR” For those with a sweet tooth and sore heart, Erin Bolger brings the comfort of country cooking to the bleeding hearts of the big city in this yummy selfpublished memoir. Erin, moved to Toronto from the small town of Blyth, Ontario with an open mind and a handful of mom’s recipes. When she met with heartbreak in the big city, then began the baking frenzy! Hoping to share her wholesome home-makings and achy anecdotes with fellow daters, she set out to create this therapeutic addition to every kitchen. Despite the financial risk, Miss. Independent wanted to keep creative control and get her book out immediately, so she cut out the middleman publishers. Go girl! Now relishing in international acclaim, available in bookstores and feeding fair ex-lovers everywhere, her book is a must-have and it gift for every modern chick. So ladies, (and gentlemen who yearn to express their domestic side) quit crying and take out your frustration on clanking baking pans. Tell ‘em, “you can kiss my triple-decker cheesecake!” by Elyse Mayo

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Professional maternity, children and fantasy portraits that have a distinctive style and elegance.

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the tea spot

Mel Rose

With the brisk air in our midst, this is the perfect time to reward yourself with a cup of tea. Tea time is definitely becoming more popular and trendy but has been an important tradition for centuries, in many different countries. I would like to introduce you to a new way to enjoy a cup of herbal tea. It’s something I like to call the three R’s: Reserve, Renew and Respect. Reserve a quiet moment from this fast paced world; whether it’s 10 minutes you can squeeze in or an hour after work, it’s very important to take some time for yourself. This quiet time can help you reflect, regroup and retain all the information and knowledge you’ve consumed that day! Renew your body’s health and serve it an abundance of healthy vitamins and minerals. With just one cup of tea a day and that quiet moment away from everyday stresses, you can improve your lifestyle. The third and final R is Respect. By following the first two R’s you are respecting your body, mind and soul. It’s very important for everybody to respect their bodies, but it is especially important for women because a woman’s body is so complex. By choosing the right herbs you can create a transformational tea combination that can be the difference between having an average day or an exceptional day. One moment that I cherish with my son Carter is Tea Time. This is a time when Carter and I play make-believe and pretend that we are scientists, creators of everything and anything. It’s a lasting memory when I see my son so passionate about creating a special tea, with an end result that is so delicious and rewarding for your body. That is exactly how I became so passionate about the herbal tea lifestyle. Carter and I set out intentions for each herbal tea that we create, whether it’s to make the sun come out or to help us smile. If Carter has a tummy ache or maybe he’s having a hard time sleeping, it goes to show you that no intention is too big or too small. Every tea made with intent will serve the purpose you set out for it. By creating herbal teas with his mommy Carter learns the power of intention. When you decide to take initiative there are rewards that can help achieve your goals. It’s endless, the joys of allowing your child the independence of crafting something so special. My son’s first tea combination was very random and the intention was simple: he wanted anyone who drank this tea to be happy. It consisted of liquorice root, German chamomile, rosebuds and lavender. It was brilliant in color, had a fragrant Photography Nate Gates | Model Juliex bouquet and the taste says it all. When you allow your child the freedom to be creative and give positive encouragement it builds confidence, fosters independence, develops imagination and ignites passion. For the record, mom is always there to pour the boiling water. In conclusion, happiness was automatic to anyone sharing Carter’s herbal tea combination. For more information about tea combinations and herbal supplies please check out my blog at www.theteaspot.ca Thanks for reading, until next time...

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Share my

VISION

“UTOPIAN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM”

PROFESSIONALS EXCEL IN THEIR FIELD OF EXPERTISE AND WORKS TOGETHER TO PROVIDE EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE TO THEIR PATIENTS.

Let’s take a closer look at the players in our current system, starting with the most predominant , the GP or family doctor. GP’s are highly trained professionals that are exceptional at their jobs. However, it is important that you understand what EXACTLY their job entails. Family doctors are trained in pharmaceutical sciences (drugs). They assess your situation; determine if they can address it with medications or if you require further testing and/or a specialist. Yet, I hear the same complaint on a daily basis from my patients; “My family doctor does not care and only wants to give me ‘meds’”. Let me recap the scenario for you: You go to them with a problem; they listen, open their tool box in the hopes of finding a solution. Unfortunately that “tool” is frequently medication. Don’t get me wrong, pharmaceuticals are not the problem. It is the overuse of medications, especially for conditions that might benefit from other, non-pharmaceutical therapies, that has created the problem. You need to ask yourself what you are looking for from your health care professional. If you want a quick fix, symptomatic relief and you are not willing to be an active participant in your own health, stick to the ‘meds’. If you are looking for a more holistic approach that addresses the cause of illness you need to investigate alternative or complimentary professions. For joint pain, you can take an anti-inflammatory but should also consult a physiotherapist or chiropractor to decrease pain and teach you exercises to prevent recurrence. If you are a diabetic or have cardiovascular disease, a naturopathic physician can help you treat your condition and prevent future complications. Not simply masking symptoms with medication. Here is the problem, as I see it. Too many health care professionals, alternative and conventional, are closed minded and feel that it’s their way or the highway. MDs are

Photography Nate Gates

hesitant to refer to alternative practitioners, and frankly who can blame them. From ridiculous claims of curing cancer to overpriced therapies without scientific backing, complementary practitioners have created an image that conventional medicine has difficulty supporting. Conversely, I know alternative practitioners who feel pharmaceuticals are evil and should NEVER be used. What a ridiculous concept when ,next to sanitation, the development of medications like antibiotics have increased our average lifespan by 30 years in the past century! We all have our place in the system and let me assure you, if I get hit by a bus I do not want to see my naturopath, physiotherapist or chiropractor until I have had every test, x-ray, MRI, and powerful pain medication known to Western society. However, if I was diagnosed with a life threatening illness, I would utilize the knowledge of every competent practitioner I could find in the hopes they could work together towards a common goal; to improve both the physical and emotional health of their

mutual patient using every tool in their respective toolboxes. What is standing in the way of my utopian system? Certainly a lack of education on the part of patients and physicians as to the merits of a holistic approach plays a part. As well, practitioners need to put aside their egos and understand that their way may not ALWAYS be the best way. So what can you do as a patient to get the most out of currently flawed system? Take responsibility for you own health, utilize all health care resources available to you and ensure they are working together in your best interest. Ask questions. After all, the word “doctor” means “teacher”, although some days I think that we are the ones who have the most to learn.

Dr. Michelle O’neill ND, Naturopathic medicine • Acupuncture & Lifestyle Councelling for inquiries call 705.737.4711

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Artist Pursuit the

ARTIST ADAM JOHNS FOLLOWS THE RIGHT PATH Some of us are destined to be an engineer, a lawyer, welder or doctor. Others find they want to work with children or the elderly, or start their own business. And some feel they are called to paint, draw, print, sculpt, act, sing or dance; a pursuit that in today’s world could be deemed a fruitless effort. For those whose passions lay here, a clear-cut path may not be directly laid out when choosing the unconventional career of an independent artist. For artist Adam Johns, this was not always the path that compelled him. A brilliant student growing up, it may have seemed practical to obtain a post-secondary education in sciences or business. Johns had an incredible skill that was, at the time, more of a hobby to him; that of drawing impeccable realism. It took a little push to awake the true artist within him, and it became clear to him which road he should pursue. Johns was inspired by an OAC Art Class at St.Peter’s High School in Barrie Ontario in

which he was asked to create a collection of pieces based on an artistic thesis. Johns, who was suffering from insomnia at the time, began creating strikingly haunting pieces depicting the dark world of unrest. His teacher and classmates were awe-inspired by his skill and encouraged him to continue to nurture his natural and outstanding gift. Johns decided to move to Toronto and obtain his degree from the Ontario College of Art and Design. He received a Bachelors of Fine Arts, and majored in Drawing and Painting. During his time at OCAD he was hired to do some installation work, which later qualified him for a position at the prestigious Mira Godard Gallery in Yorkville, which he applied for straight out of college. Two years later Johns maintains his position at the Mira Gallery; a career in the art field, which is something any artist might dream of. Johns holds the position of Registrar for the Gallery, which is celebrating its 50th

ing. k n i r D e v i Posit itive Thinking. Pos N

Photography Chris O’Driscoll

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anniversary in the next two years. It represents some of Canada’s top artists such as Alex Colville and Christopher Pratt. Johns is in charge of handling pieces, installation of exhibitions as well as shipping collections, and handles archiving, photographing the work and maintaining the database. His position allows this artist to be submersed in the business of art, while drawing inspiration and continuing to hone his own craft “Nobody really goes to OCAD thinking they’ll come out of it with a job.’” Johns says of his good fortune,“I just wanted to go to school to do what I love, and if it led to a job, then great. If it didn’t I’d figure something else out.” It seems Johns has it all figured out on his own. He lives happily with his new wife in Toronto, where they have a home studio for Johns to continue creating stunning works of art. These said works can be viewed at his website, www.adamkjohns.com. by Carliegh Aikins

Parting ways So here you sit…at the bottom of a seemingly endless abyss of confusion and heartbreak. You fumble in the darkness to find that pack of matches in your pocket and feel fleeting relief when the light comes in fits and spurts. Where the hell are you? Faces in the shadows seem vaguely familiar and the flashback of recent events begins to dapple your consciousness. Aha…so this is what divorce looks like. Where do you go from here? Whether you are the leaver or the leavee, the bitch or the bastard, divorce is never pretty. Someone’s always right, wrong or indifferent and the world which you have come to know and expect has been ripped from your grasp. Opening your eyes to a new day can be daunting, let alone trying to function as a stranger in a once familiar land. As you attempt to camouflage the wounds from the mental, spiritual and often physical pain that you continuously endure, the mundane routine for surviving through another day brings transitory comfort. Work and the boundless expectations of your fellow colleagues await you. With downcast eyes, they pass you in the hall, unsure of how to deal with you and your burden. Like a Siamese twin, your personal life has become inseparable from the ‘you’ they used to know. So how do you function in your vocational environment when divorce threatens to unravel the intricate networks, relationships and hard work that you’ve spent so long to carefully craft? No matter how strong you are (or think you are), the effects of divorce will stalk you until it feels that it has shaken you beyond

repair. You may feel like a failure and your new lack of confidence and fairly incomprehensible aerial view of your life’s choices make it difficult to focus on your daily bread. Add some new things to agonize over such as spousal or child support, moving, the best interests of your children and of course who you are and what you want from this day forward and that can result in the perfect formula for disaster or for life-enhancing change. The secret to your own happy ending from this point onward? It’s all about attitude baby. No one’s going to swoop in and save your skin. That’s up to you. With the right attitude, you can choose to acknowledge that it’s only ‘you against you’ every day. You decide who wins… the bright you or the dark you. You have some major choices to make while you pause at this junction. A transition has been dealt that is comparable only to death, and you must move forward according to the life you want to build for yourself. If you are going to keep your existing job, then immerse yourself in it and give it your all. The mental stimulation will give you strength and rebuild your confidence, and goodness knows you’ll need the money. Volunteer for new roles and tasks as new experiences can offset the turmoil of divorce. Most importantly, ask for help when you need it. Or perhaps your divorce is just the catalyst you’ve been waiting for to make the changes you’ve always dreamt of making. Are you actually a teacher who’s been trapped behind the guise of an insurance salesman? This is your chance to hit the ‘reset’ button on your life. Are you stuck and simply can’t decide which way you should go? Look within…deep, deep

down you’ll find a glimmering spark for a future that awaits you. Begin with writing out a list of things you LOVE to do and think of how many professions overlap with your inner longing. You might surprise yourself that hidden below the surface is a soul that’s just been waiting to be liberated from a life of should’ve and would’ve. Seek your bright side, find your spark and shine on!

Photography Kelly Stacey Article Skye

Flowers for Feelings

Photography Chris O’D

ald riscoll MUA Jen Mcdon

Flowers are remarkable things, when you think about it. They burst from the ground like little poems. They are intoxicating collaborations of earth, sun, and water. Their colour, pattern, and scent mesmerize us. They are peace offerings from Nature to her most obnoxious creation: mankind. Also, to her second most obnoxious creation: bees. If you are feeling blue, a lovely bouquet made with care can work wonders to lift your spirits. We should keep this in mind when we see others in the dumps. Flowers, accompanied by a short supportive note, is just about the best gesture around for any situation that arises from misunderstanding or wounded pride. Gentlemen should take note: There is no diamond, no shopping spree, no serotonin reuptake inhibitor, that can calm the waters of a ruffled heart, like a flower. Jazmine Johnson is a floral artist whose arrangements blossom beyond the boundaries of the imagination. Floral art is her passion, and you can see it in her the atmosphere of excitement, wonder, and beauty her work evokes. Beautiful roses in rich orange hues, cradling red berries, falling like lace. The Flower Factory

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Start with an open mind

then... surround yourself with things you love. It will all make sense together as your space evolves into a true reflection of your personal style. ~ Amanda

For a private design consult contact Amanda Stanley @ 705.715.6698 42

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Photography Chris O’Driscoll

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big sexy hair

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hair decor

flirty beautiful

rockinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; big waves

flow nt lots of e m e v o lots of m

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rosy cheeks |

Photography Rowell Photography Hair & MUA Kristie Assivero Location The Side Door

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516 Bryne Drive 792-2363 barriesouth@thebso.com 411 bayfield street 792-6607 barrienorth@thebso.com

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Photography Chris O’Driscoll

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52b Bayfield Street, Barrie, Ontario t. 705.737.0522 46

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Photography Steve Locke

Regional Cuisine

ind behind, pavement afoot, shining horizon ahead. The car and the road are an extension of you and your life. Are you going the right way, punctually? Or are you running away, getting lost? Challenging space and time, the highway winds, the highway reminds: The importance of journey over destiny. On the move and at a standstill, highway hypnosis brings us to a supernal state. The car seat can be your lotus pose, to transcend and transpose. On the move, baggage has no weight, feelings canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t follow. Trivial mental cluttering fall away through the open window of the rushing vehicle...spaceship, time machine, submarine to the subconscious. Every new turn is reincarnation, every passing sign is liberation. Zooming towards rising and setting suns and moons. Following Kerouacâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s beat, the rhythm of the spinning Earth mimicked by spinning wheels. As you meditate, the metaphysical-mobile accelerates, up hills, down valleys, past gritty underpasses, over benevolent bridges and beyond.

Marie-Line, scarf/Alexander McQueen

Mussing by Elyse Mayo

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Rowell Photography

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MUA Jen Mcdonald

Marie-Line, Stacey’s necklace/ Tiffany’s, slip dresses, stockings/ Imago boutique, shoes/Coach from Holt Renfrew, Limousine/Sinton Transportation

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Photographer Babak 09 Hair Timothy Switzer MUA Elena Pacienza Styling Laura DiMarcantonio

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F A

4 femmes

the

I. Sir Fancy Face the Ho-Wrangler: His immaculate demeanour, manicured mannerisms and killer coif - a jolting juxtaposition to his weasely ways and heart black as coal. He was motivated only by vanity, lust, gold and firewater. The poor girls, fresh from their cradles easily trusted his porcelain-like doll face and princely charm. The no good rascal of a man, he herded lost girls in town while decent men herded cattle on the ranches. He sold ‘em short and kept ‘em nicely bruised, the dastardly old galoot. II. Cindy Hella She, a starry-eyed farmgirl from farther East, trekked into town one afternoon to hock the last of her wildstock. Cold breeze brushed her boots, seeping chills into the holes in her socks and slacks. Her young brows furrowed with despair at her financial state of affairs. Even if she was lucky enough to sell off all her stock, she’d hardly have enough cash to make it through the winter. Sir Fancyface approached her at sundown, the chickens screaming bositerously in their stillcrowded cages. He offered her a bag of coins and a promise. Years later he would offer her a ring for her last finger. III. The Axed-Husband: Smelling sour, the turpentine whiskey breath bastard hollered feverishly, “Cindy, I’ll snap ‘yer bones if ya ain’t gon bring me that there bottle a ‘ol demons!” Wincing, she quietly stowed the bottle out of sight and fled to the refuge in the alleyway. He was reeking rage, drunkenly slobbering threats all over their hovel as she sat waiting for him to pass out. She mused to herself, “I wish the hell forsaken halfwit would forget to wake up this time.” She sat there in hope-stricken While awestruck daydreams, as the stench of manure by their anthem, enveloped the falling dusk on the Cindy rea l i zed old town. Until suddenly she was t h e se wayward jostled by wild clatter, gunshots and women were malicious squeals. These sounds of none other than t h e chaos sang liberty, which echoed i n f a m o u s “Violent throughout the outstretched fields Femmes,” the feared of night. Amazon warriors of IIII. The Violent Femmes: the West. Cindy peeked inside as a gaggle of gun-toten’ gals H e a r i n g C i n dy ’s lack danced manically around Sir of sneakiness, they Fancyface’s corpse singing turned to her defensively. merrily, “ladies three, to When they immediately conquer thee, violence and recognized the strength robbery, we’ll stay forever in her jaw and the murky fancy-free, us and our sorrow in her eyes, they took ladies three. Tearin’ trains pity on the woeful whore. offa tracks, with soot n’ That evening, four maidens sleet on our backs. We’re on horseback rode glazed in out to rule the West, and moonlight towards a glorious look the hot...est.” history. by Elyse Mayo

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>BEHIND THE LENS

“These days, photographers are a dime a dozen, they are here there and everywhere. Photography seems to be a trendy thing to pursue these days. But like in any over saturated market, there are always a few people that stand out. In this case Matt Barnes is definitely one of those people. His use of sexuality, masculinity and his imagination all help to create these provocative, yet tasteful images we all love. He tends to push the envelope in every sense of the word.”

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So before we dive right into it, tell the readers a little bit about Matt Barnes. I was born over in the south of England, but emigrated with my family when I was still a little boy; so you could say I was cultivated Canadian. I spent my youth lost in a world of my own creation and I was constantly acting on my adventurous nature, something I have retained. That’s still very reflective of me today - I just have the resources to carry out my adventures!

when I was about fifteen. I have also always appreciated finding out how things work which mostly resulted in angering my father, as I would pull apart a lot of his gadgets and machinery, trying to get a peek at its innards and discovering what each little piece was there for, before, not always correctly, putting it back together. I had it in my mind that I could be an inventor, building overly elaborate machines, like a giant dinosaur for my friends to live in. Now I have to settle for building a world photographically for me and those close to me to live in.

So growing up, you had an artsy side to you, have long have you been interested in photography, and is it what you have always wanted to be? I’ve always had a very strong artistic nature, and got my first camera

Do you remember what your first camera was? You don’t forget your first, now do you? In fact I still have it. It belonged to my father, a Minolta x700, who entrusted it to me to take on a trip. I believe it was the last he saw of it though, as it had found a new owner.

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4) So what got you into photography in the first place? It’s really a direct result of my father giving me my first camera, and his passion for taking all our family photos. He always had the most wonderful cameras, and although it wasn’t always with his permission, it allowed me to use resources far beyond my youthful means. I had always loved playing the cad in front of the camera, and still do, but soon enough I stepped behind the lens and felt quite comfortable there. 5) As a young photographer, did you look up to anyone in particular, and how did you really get started? In all honesty, I didn’t have much time for the work of the photographic aristocracy when I was a youth. I was most directly impacted by two photographers who ran a wedding and portraiture studio in my hometown of Port Dover, Canada, when I did a co-op placement with them in high-school. They really allowed me to take my creativity and run with it, even letting me build my own studio in their basement. It was here I discovered Photoshop, and my fascination with it begun.

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6) How about now, who do you admire in the photography world? I was fortunate enough to meet one of favorite contemporary photographers not too long ago, an Englishman called John Stoddart. He is something of a dandy, a photo-graphical libertine, with a really neat style and look about him. He does a lot of celebrity portraiture, and has the likes of the Rolling Stones amongst his regular clients. Naturally who couldn’t be intrigued by Annie Leibovitz, who has such a presence behind the lens. Her approach to dealing with her subject has really influenced me and allowed me to come out of my shell, when dealing with the people I shoot. There is also a man called Cecil Beaton whose work I love, who shot a lot of English high-society types as well as Hollywood celebrities of his time, and was also frequently commissioned by Vogue and Vanity Fair. He was also something of a libertine, maintaining relations with men and women alike, claiming to have slept with both Greta Garbo and Gary Cooper! 7) What particular style of photography do you like to look at in other people’s work? I’m most drawn to photography from the 1950s and 1960s. From old band photos to shots of teenagers and hot-rods, I like the style and feel of it all. I’m very drawn to that culture in particular, and am something of a collector of rock-a-billy and 60’s clothes and artifacts. I even get my haircut by a barber who, despite his relative youth, captures the essence of that culture perfectly.

8) Who is your favorite 50’s/60’s icon? This may seem like a strange choice, but for style alone I’d say Edward VIII, better known as the Duke of Windsor. By the 1950s and 60s he and his wife were less of Royal figures and more like the modern celebrities we know today, being photographed as part of the cafe society of that time, which was really when the idea of the paparazzi first came to life. He could be quite possibly the most stylish man of all time, and in every photograph he seems comprehensively put together. He managed to look as good in something meant to be leisure-wear, like a tweed golf suit, as he did in his more refined military garb. 9) Hard question i know, but how would you describe the style of the photos you take? That isn’t an easy question and I would hate to be pigeonholed into one particular look or style. I would hope that people looking at my photographs find them well-styled and cool, and they envy those who get to be caught inside the scene that’s been created. I think there are genuine elements of masculinity in my work and I’m obviously very forthright when it comes to my usage of sexuality.

10) If you could bring one thing, and only one thing with you on a deserted island, what would it be? Well that’s the easiest question so far, and doesn’t require a long-winded answer. My beautiful wife, Shelley. 11) What is your most memorable shoot to date? My most exciting set had to be the shots I was commissioned to shoot for the Fair Trade Jewelry Company. The first of the two was a scene on a large boat, of sailors who have just pulled into port, complete with the women they’ve purchased after a long stretch at sea. There was such a good atmosphere aboard the ship that day and the actors and models I used all seemed to really get into character. The second shot for the same company was something out of the imagination of the Marquis de Sade, with a group of aristocrats sat down to dinner. This was full of interesting characters, from a chef who had prepared a human roast, to a drag queen and her royal husband. We shot in a fabulous old manor home just outside of Toronto, which has played home to all sorts of movies, notably the house of Adam Sandler, in the film Billy Madison.

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matt barnes

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So you have made a big big impact on the photography industry in Canada, now Directing? I think it’s a natural progression, from directing people for still images to directing for moving pictures. It was always the interaction between myself and my subject that I found particularly captivating, and this is the same just on a much grander scale. I completed my first short recently, as director, entitled Vaude-a-Villians, which follows a group of rapscallions who loot theater halls in the 1930s. It was the most exciting thing I’ve done, and can’t wait to pursue it more. In fact, I’m working on a project right now with my creative partner, Dylan-Thomas Childs, which is currently still in development.

It’s a feature-length film, rather stylistically and culturally driven, along the lines of “Stand By Me”, but a lot rougher. Can’t wait! So you live in Toronto now, how do you like it? I have built such a strong connection with this city and it’s people. I love the diversity and the amount of resources I have here for my work are incredible. I’ve spent the last 8 years or so here, and despite my best intentions, haven’t discovered every nook and cranny quite yet. I travel a lot as well, and it always feels so relaxing coming back here, which is a good sign that it’s home.

What is your favorite camera? I love my Hasselblad 503cm. It has a waist level finder on it, so it lets me keep eye contact with models as I shoot. It gives me complete control and allows me to interact with everyone involved very simply. So I was on your website and you seem to do a ton of creatives, any reason? I would say about seventy percent of what I shoot is done for my own creativity. They keep my mind racing and i let off a lot of steam when I don’t have any creative limitations or restraints. It’s such a wonderful feeling to have something that appeared only in my head, plucked out of my mind and physically exist as an image in front of me. I’m not always allowed complete creative control, so its very important I keep shooting for myself. How do you go about doing a creative shoot? It starts with a concept, just a thought that pops into my head. Then comes the task of hunting down people who look like my idea, which often tends to be real people, not models, from friends to a stranger I spot on the street, before I scour the city for props and wardrobe, which I can often go overboard on. I’d much

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rather have a few friends over to my studio on a weekend, get some mai-tais together, and play photographer then go out to a bar or a club, every time. If you were given the opportunity to do any photo shoot, regardless of budget or location, what would it be? I would love to play off my Americana fascination and create an old Western bar scene, probably mid-brawl. I’d go all out with the saloon, complete it with cabaret and a brothel, and then fill the scene with the whole cast of characters, from the whores to the rugged cowboy-types and the town drunk! I’m not sure I’d ever leave; this sounds like heaven!

matt barnes

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What are some of your future goals with your career? I’m driven to following this film idea through to the big screen. It would be so satisfying to be able to see my work presented in the grandiose arena that is the modern cinema. I’d also love to take a trip to Tokyo, which seems like a

surrealists fantasy, and photograph the world of the sex hotel. It’s just such a foreign idea, and would really take me out of my comfort zone, in terms of the city. I’m sure I would still feel comfortable with with subject matter, considering I’ve spent the last 3 years shooting nudes in motels! Whats some advice you can give to other photographers? There isn’t a secret to success; just shoot all of the time. Use the resources you have around you, as they are unique to only you. Shoot your friends, your girlfriend, whom and whatever you have in front of you. It’s really about getting comfortable and knowledgeable, and figuring out your shtick. I have to ask, Beatles or The Rolling Stones? John, Paul, George and Ringo. No contest.

By Marc Andrew Smith

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plastic surgery chic considered an outcast in his village”, says Dr. Dickie, “an orphaned boy living in a remote village who was horribly burned, with unsightly scarring, and whose chin and one arm were fused to his chest.” Today, the boy is leading a normal and active life. ROYAL CENTRE OF PLASTIC SURGERY The daily schedule at Barrie’s Royal Centre of Plastic Surgery is typically less dramatic, but equally gratifying. As Director of the Centre, Dr. Dickie and his staff routinely help patients change

CHIC IS NOW AFFORDABLE A generation ago, such procedures came at a significant cost and were available for only a select few. The changes have been dramatic, according to Dr. Dickie. “Top-quality work is now available at a fraction of the cost,” he says, “since our clinic conveniently offers low-cost financing to those of modest means … chic is now affordable to everyone!” His client list is substantial, with satisfied patients from all walks of life traveling from different parts of the world to use his services. BALANCED BY PHILANTHROPY “Philanthropy is important to me,” says Dr. Dickie. “I’m always thrilled to be involved with someone who has no hope of a normal life … to somehow make a difference for them, no matter how small.” Dr. Dickie and a team of Doctors brought a horribly scarred and deformed 6 year old boy from Haiti to Canada to perform three months of free plastic surgery and treatment. “He was

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the way they perceive themselves. By way of examples … the case of a 36 year old woman, whose sagging breasts made her feel old and unattractive after breast-feeding her three children. Or a 45 year old female patient not quite ready for a facelift, but excited about her instant results after receiving the latest injectable fillers to temporarily restore her youthful look. Or the 52 year old male patient, whose physique

looks 10 years younger following successful liposuction and contouring. EXPERIENCE & ELEGANCE Upon arrival at the Royal Centre of Plastic Surgery, patients are welcomed in a luxurious and highly professional setting. Greeted by Shawnie Dickie, the clinic’s Office Administrator and Patient Care Coordinator, everyone is made to feel special and pampered. “We do our best to make the patient feel at ease,” says Mrs. Dickie. “Some people are apprehensive about undertaking any procedure, so we educate them thoroughly in our private setting and in a manner that is very relaxed.” The Royal Centre of Plastic Surgery is complimented by its associate medical facility, the Lakeview Surgery Centre, where aesthetic patients receive state-ofthe-art surgery and care by Dr. Dickie in a pristine and private environment overlooking Lake Simcoe. For those patients who wish to have their surgery and recovery in a tropical setting, Dr. Dickie and his wife have established a successful private practice over the past eight years, on the beautiful resort island of Grand Bahama, where he also served as Vice President of the Grand Bahama Medical Association. TREATING THE WHOLE PERSON Whatever geographical setting patients choose to have their surgery performed by Dr. Dickie - in Barrie or Bahamas - the clinic’s mission is to always exceed expectations. “Our philosophy,” says Dr. Dickie, “is to treat the whole person, not just parts of their body.” With a focus finely balanced between chic elegance and practical results, the Royal Centre of Plastic Surgery, adds Dr. Dickie, “is uniquely positioned to meet a wide variety of patient needs … making the most of their natural beauty by emphasizing health and well being.” Royal Center of plastic surgery 705.726.2800

Photography Steve Locke

Dr. Kenneth Dickie is one of Canada’s leading plastic and reconstructive surgeons. He recently established a private cosmetic surgery practice in Barrie in order to meet a burgeoning demand for his unique services in southern and central Ontario. Dr. Dickie still travels to the Bahamas where he has an ongoing patient clientele from the United States, Canada and the Bahamian Islands. A Board Certified Plastic Surgeon, Dr. Dickie is a qualified member of the Canadian and American Societies of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, and is a long-term associate of the Canadian and American Societies of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. For 25 years Dr. Dickie has developed a specialty in cosmetic surgery, incorporating procedures for facial rejuvenation, breast and abdominal surgery, liposuction, and other techniques that include both surgical and non-surgical treatments.

chris srigley

LIFE AS A NATURALIST IN THE EXPEDITION INDUSTRY.

Photography Chris Srigley PIE MAGAZINE

chris srigley In the past year, I’ve spent hours watching Blue Whales swim alongside of the Prince Albert II and thousands of Longbeaked Common Dolphins jump and spin off the Baha Peninsula. On Akpatok Island, in the Canadian Arctic, I spotted twenty-one polar bears in four hours, and in the Antarctic Peninsula humpback whales breached within fifty feet of my Zodiac schooner this season. These are just a few of the things I am privileged enough to encounter on a daily basis in my career as a naturalist in the expedition industry.

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INDEED, THE WORLD IS MY CLASSROOM

Born in Toronto, I was raised in a family that left the pavement behind every weekend and holiday during the year. My parents, both teachers, came from two different worlds: my mother the city, and my father the country. Nevertheless, as a family we spent every available moment on the family farm in Minesing, a small community northwest of Barrie, Ontario, or, when the crops or livestock did not demand attention, in Georgian Bay at a remote family cabin. In these places, I escaped to nature and learned about its pleasures and its challenges, living in deep silences, navigating stormy and unpredictable waters, identifying animals and plants, and harvesting crops. These

experiences what I do

helped make today possible.

In 2005 I had the fortune of starting as a naturalist and Zodiac driver on the M/S Explorer, known fondly around the world as “the little red ship” it was the forerunner in the expedition industry. I was privileged to work onboard and be part of the Explorer family for over three years before its sinking in November of 2007 in the Antarctic. Today I spend seven to eight months of the year aboard two different expedition ships, the Prince Albert II and the Minerva. Here I am part of an amazing group of lecturers and naturalists who immerse and

educate travelers in the natural history of Antarctica, South Georgia, Norway, Svalbard, Iceland, Greenland, the Canadian Arctic and Western Central and South America. During each expedition, we spend several hours ashore hiking and exploring, Zodiac cruising along the shores or amongst towering icebergs. Each day has something new and exciting to offer. Recently, in the Svalbard region, we had seventy people onshore when a polar bear was spotted nearby. We quickly brought everyone back to the Zodiacs where we watched the polar bear, now standing at our landing site sniffing at our footprints. We followed it off shore as it made its way across the craggy landscape

Photography Chris Srigley

in search of its next meal. Aside from offering exciting (and safe!) encounters with nature, as a naturalist I educate travelers on the flora and fauna of the region and, perhaps most importantly, raise awareness of our effect on the wildlife and their environment. It is a privilege to meet people from around the world and share my knowledge and experiences. No picture or description can replicate the emotion of passing an iceberg the size of your local school, or the battering your senses take while standing next to a group of walrus hauled out onshore, or the sound of a hundred thousand King Penguins going about their business, ignoring your presence altogether.

Our days are long; there are no days off. Onboard it is go, go, go from the moment you arrive until the day you leave. There are sacrifices we all make in our personal lives to be able to do this, but in the end if you ask any of us if it is worth it you will find the answer is always â&#x20AC;&#x153;yes.â&#x20AC;? Every year I meet hundreds of people from every corner of the globe and all walks of life. It is their enthusiasm and interest for these remote places on Earth that allow us to return time after time, to become as familiar with these remote places as we are with the streets we grew up on. Indeed, the world is my classroom; I am first a student and then a teacher.

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Day in the Life of

PAT R I C K B ROW N

It’s 10:15 am and I am sitting in the rotunda of Barrie’s City Hall among about 80 unfamiliar faces. A young Asian girl swings on the bannister that leads up the staircase to the council chambers. Her head quickly turns towards a woman who firmly addresses her in a language unknown to my ears. The little girl quickly runs to the centre of the rotunda to meet her new friends of what look to be African and Mexican descent. Sitting directly across from me is a family of four, sorting through papers, smiling and talking amongst themselves in Polish. As I look around, it’s the same scene across the room. Excitement seems to be building. From the staircase a woman announces “All those here for the citizenship ceremony, please follow me to the councils’ chamber.” These soon-tobe Canadians rush up the stairs and a mix of excited accents from all over the world fill the hallways. The only familiar face I recognize is that of Patrick Brown MP who is chatting with an elderly Italian man about how he once lived on the same street. After shaking hands with the new citizens, Brown admits, “I really believe that it is an incredible day. I love the enthusiasm on new Canadian faces. I know why people are so proud to wear a Canadian flag on their backpacks.” At 11:30 we head back to the office to quickly check up on emails. If you have never been in Brown’s office at 299 Lakeshore Boulevard in Barrie, then you know what I mean when I say that his working environment is a scrapbook of our community. It is mainly run by volunteers, and summer students. A gallery of photos lines the walls from what could be every major event Brown has attended in Barrie and abroad. From images captured at volunteer events, Hockey Night in Barrie, the time he met Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the

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Dalai Lama (whom he says is the most interesting person he has ever met) to pancake breakfasts, and his first election. It’s a collection of moments showcased in a way that can only be compared to that of a home. At noon Brown is in a rush to get to a private meeting with Charlie Carswell, the head organizer of Kiwanis Music Festival Barrie, who won the chance to lunch with the MP at a Kempenfest Charity Auction. As Brown walks through the entrance at the Side Door Cafe he is greeted with many smiles from staff and the owner of Michael and Marion’s. They immediately inform Brown that his guest has arrived and that his table is ready. While Brown is being ushered to his table I can’t help but notice an excited couple eating lunch, talking in excited low voices about how they can’t believe they are “eating at the same restaurant as MP Patrick Brown”. There is a little bit of celebrity around him. Barrie has watched and rooted for Brown for quite a few years. At as young as 17 years old, Brown served under MPP Toni Skarica as a Special Assistant to the Ministry of Finance from 1995-2000. And at the age of 20 served on the National Council of the PC Party of Canada from 1998-2003. Brown knew from a young age that he wanted to do this job, and hold a position that gave him the opportunity to help people in any way he could. Brown is extremely determined to live this goal. He admits, “I always knew I would work within the community. I am doing exactly what I want to be doing” One hour later we are back in the car, it’s 1:30 pm and Brown is already

texting the office letting them know his ETA. The afternoon is full of back to back meetings with locals looking for help on various things. From passport issues, to permanent residency applicants, or business owners and residents wishing to share their opinions with Brown. We rush into the office and before he even has a chance to sit down Brown takes three phone calls, back-to-back, all regarding dump site 41. “I thought this was a North of Barrie issue, but I am going to put my foot in and draft a letter today”, Brown tells a concerned Barrie resident over the phone. Brown, for the next 10 minutes bustles around the office, approving his newsletter “The Brown Report”, and preparing gifts for A Channel sponsors of Hockey Night in Barrie. Moments later, an elderly Jamaican woman floats into the office looking for information on passports. Brown’s offices helps to process over 100 passports per week. What is most likely a task for Brown’s reception clerks, is quickly taken over by Brown himself. Brown introduces himself, and they chat about Jamaica. Brown tells her about a trip he made as a young boy and they laugh and smile and like a mother she straightens up his collar, as if she has known him for years.

his driveway. A great end to an inspiring day. As residents of Barrie we can all sit at home and question, criticize, and applaud the work of Patrick Brown and his office. It is our right and obligation as citizens to do so. After spending a 9-5 with Brown, I realize more than ever the amount of work and care that goes into the position we have voted him into. Brown and his staff are personal and helpful. They listen to everyone’s story, and look them in the eyes when they are speaking to them. They are truly taking care of the residents of Barrie who come into the office. It is a very respectful and amicable atmosphere. It takes a person of compassion, a person with a childlike eagerness and strong morals to carry on the position of MP in Barrie. It is really no wonder why this city respects and supports him as much as they do. by Erika Hanchar

“I ALWAYS KNEW I WOULD WORK WITHIN THE COMMUN ITY. I AM DOING EXACTLY WHAT I WA NT TO BE DOING”

In the later afternoon Brown makes a stop over at A Channel News, where he presents volunteers of Hockey Night in Barrie with signed jersey’s and hats. The staff at A Channel embraces him with ‘hellos’ and hugs from every office we pass on our walk through the station. Brown knows almost every person who works there, with his recent petition to save local television, he is pretty much a household name at the A Channel studio. We arrive at the editing room where Brown gets to see a commercial from Hockey Night in Barrie. With this years massive success raising $121,000 for Royal Victoria Hospitals phase one expansion fund. Brown promises that next years Hockey Night in Barrie is going to be huge. To end off the night Brown invites us to his house for his annual volunteers’ BBQ. About 30 people lounge around the pool as Brown and staff cook up burgers and hotdogs on a BBQ that takes up half of

Rowell Photography PIE MAGAZINE

CELEBRITY TALK TALK

ROZ WESTON HOSTS ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT CANADA AND THE ROZ & MOCHA SHOW. THE REMARKABLE STORY OF HIS DRAMATIC ASCENT REVEALS HIS UNIQUE PHILOSOPHY IN THIS SURPRISINGLY CANDID INTERVIEW.

When Roz Weston was a senior in high-school in Acton, Ontario, he spent every Saturday night with an older woman. When all the other kids were going out getting drunk and getting into trouble, Roz Weston knew exactly what he wanted and exactly where to get it. I’m referring, of course, to volunteering at a Toronto radio station in order to get work experience. I don’t know what you were thinking. I was talking about a stand-up kid with direction and talent and gusto.

somehow acquired F Scott Fitzgerald’s thesaurus for use in that letter, but was unable to confirm the rumor. Needless to say, interning on the Howard Stern show got his foot in the door, and he got a job writing and producing at a stage in his career when “I was really really young, and I wound up learning from great people and I never knew how dumb I was until I worked with incredibly smart people, like I could write but I really couldn’t write”. I think we can allow him this vulgar little outburst of humility, and assume that he was a remarkable writer even back then. This show he wrote for and produced, won awards, but of course, didn’t earn him enough money to quit his telemarketing job. After working for several years behind-the-scenes in radio, Roz was offered a job as host on a late night TV show called Last Call. He was conflicted. In his words: “I had never done anything like that before in my life and I didn’t want to be on there. I hated on-air people, I hated everything else, I thought they all did shitty interviews, I thought they were all idiots and it drove me crazy. but then when somebody asks you to do it and you say no then I could no longer make fun of them, you know what I mean? I would lose my ability to make fun of them. So I went down for the interview and got hired, then I did that show, then I did another entertainment show called the A-List, and then that entire crew went over to Entertainment Tonight Canada. So since then, I’ve only done on-air work. ET Canada has been on the air five years now, and this month I get to a call to go and host the morning show on KiSS 92.5, which was crazy.” If that sounds like a crazy meteoric rise for a guy from Acton who kind of thought the whole scene was bullshit, you are not alone. But then again, the Universe seems to roll out the carpets for incredibly talented, attractive people. Err, scratch that, I don’t want to call another man “attractive”. He might get the wrong idea. Rather, let’s use the word “hunky”. If you ever wondered what passed for professional ethics on Celebrity Talk Shows, chew on this: “In this business... it’s not about information anymore, it’s about perspective. If you don’t have perspective on something then its not worth talking about. It’s about how you feel about it... it’s about how your audience feels about it... I’ll never give up precious time on air just bullshitting something I read on Perez Hilton. Some shows do that kind of thing because they’re lazy. And I just refuse to do that kind of show”.

Don’t worry. Roz Weston wasn’t a complete nerd. In fact, he had a pretty sophisticated understanding of his situation: “Growing up in a small town, if you ever want to get laid, you either have to play hockey or play guitar”. After the tryst with the radio lady, Roz moved on to Humber College, and then, with lightening speed, moved on to intern on the Howard Stern Show. To put this into perspective, the guy was not even able to grow a convincing goatee, yet he was interning on the biggest radio show in the western hemisphere. What devious machinations did he unleash, what privileged levers of power did he manipulate in order to get that gig? He wrote them a letter, stating “I’d like to intern on your show”. Go figure. He must have used some pretty killer adjectives. Best in the business. I am told that he

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Come to think of it, as a people, we need ethics on Celebrity Talk Shows, perhaps more than anything else. If, as a society, we have any pathologies, it might be said they are manifested in such things as throwing virgins down volcanoes, or turning them into pop stars. Weston’s perspective on young celebrities: “...the one thing... you only clue into it when you sit down and talk to them is that not one of these kids ever saw a day of grade eight, and it’s not about sitting in Math and English, it’s about growing with people your own age. They took these kids at a young age and put them in a very adult world. When you look at rock stars, if you want to make a human bomb, something that is going to explode, give an 18 year old kid a million dollars and put an him in a world where no one will ever say no to him. And watch what happens. When you get these rock stars, you get these kids with more money than they know what to do with and anything they want in the world somebody will get for them. That’s messed up.”

Roz

weston

Interview

| Story Sean Mcdonald | Photography Lee Weston

That’s Roz Weston, a guy who gets up at 3:30 AM to do the radio show “The Roz & Mocha Show”, and who finally comes home 13 hours later to chill with his girl. He is a man involved in a very culturally charged enterprise, who does his job with dignity and principles. A man who has met all the stars but chooses not to be hypnotized by them. As he puts it, “I’ve never had an interesting conversation with my girlfriend that started off on the basis of talking about somebody famous”. If anyone should be responsible for bringing 18-40 year-old females their entertainment news, it should be Roz Weston. PIE MAGAZINE

R Photography Steve Locke

Jason rouse By Sean Macdonald

Upon seeing Jason Rouse’s comedy, which the man himself has described as “not so much of a comedy show as a hostage situation”, I have to ask myself, is this comedy? In order to answer that question, i must ask: what is comedy? Steve Martin tells us “Comedy is the art of making people laugh without making them puke”; yet, it is precisely at that moment when i am on the floor, laughing and puking simultaneously, that i know i am enjoying the Jason Rouse show in the way it was meant to be enjoyed. James Thurber, on the other hand says “The only rules comedy can tolerate are those of taste, and the only limitations those of libel.”. Mr Rouse’s work flouts both. You might say that his comedy tolerates no rules or limitations whatsoever. His act is so saucy, he’s had to hire a lawyer: “I hired my lawyer on the basis that he said ‘fuck’ during the interview... he said “fuckin’ blah blah blah”... he’s a sixty year old jewish guy... and I’m like good for you, you old bastard. Done. Deal.”. I didn’t have the heart to tell Jason that ALL 60 year-old entertainment lawyers swear constantly. Actually, I was scared to contradict him. The man towers over you with a crazy intensity. He’s got tattoos, a shaved head, piercing. His job is to tell stories about murder and rape. On the subject of murder in comedy, Woody Allen says: “Why does man kill? He kills for food. And not only food: frequently there must be a beverage.” One thing is for sure, the art of Jason Rouse and his ilk are signalling the end of civilization as we know it. What nobody can agree on, is whether

that’s a good, or bad thing. Perhaps that’s irrelevant, because the guy is here to stay, and his freedom of expression has been guaranteed by the Charter Of Rights And Freedoms. Also by his publicist. For the curious, Section 2b of The Charter Of Rights And Freedom: “Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms: freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication” We are moving, from a bible-belt, protestant, modern age, to a neoliberal, information age. Moral Relativism is the new mode. God is OUT. At least that’s what the philosophers are saying. If that’s the case, Jason Rouse is an enemy of the Old Order, and a Knight of the

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New Order. If it is only through vulgarity that we are able to confront ourselves, to really see what we are capable of, what we are made of, then to be crass is to be heroic. And to be squeamish in the face of vulgarity equates to cowardice. On the other hand, Peter Ustinov says “Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious”. But we cannot explore the inner deviant that Rouse allows us to explore, sans humour, without turning into either sadists or clinicians. If you could somehow boil out the funny from Rouse’s act but keep the message, it might look something like this: “I can barely cope, and i’m scared”, or “I’m so lonely I want to die”, or “We are savages, deeply in denial of our true nature, and it is killing us”. Little wonder, then, that this disenchanted Hamiltonion chose comedy as his vehicle. In his words: “I ended up in Vancouver, and hung out with a lot of bands, just kind of being a student, wrote, performed, realized that I didn’t want to work with anyone else or be dependent on somebody to do what I want to do creatively. So the I put all my energy into stand-up and then got into hosting events with these bands at these after hours clubs. I would be MC of the evening, which would mean gaining some stage presence and the experience without having to deal with the main stream yuk-yuks audience. Then went on to do an amateur night in 96, came off stage, and I was like, ‘This is my outlet for finding joy in my life’, and it’s just been 100 percent ever since. I’ve been living like a gypsy for ten years now and I couldn’t be happier.” So go ahead, check out Jason Rouse. Laugh. Barf. Get offended. And if you find yourself pointing your finger at him, remember the words of humourist Will Self: “In a world where all are mad and none are bad, we all know the finger points backwards”

Performance Photography Kevin Lamb Interview Sandra, Marie Line, Steve Locke

Kent

SIMPLE THINGS

By William Moore

It’s late August and it’s Paris. People on the streets are sensing the end of summer. They’re devouring the last of the summer heat, café heat really. Street-side eating in Paris is as much an art as the food itself. Parisians take their food seriously. They expect good food. They expect that their food tell the story of its freshness, of its ingredients, and of the relationship between the choices made – the chef ’s choices. They might not even notice the food unless its balance, its story, is wrong. Sometimes noticing the food is a bad thing. Kent Smith is eating in the afternoon Paris sunshine. Kent does notice the food, he loves the food. His café fare is lamb stew, “It’s simple; some roasted lamb, perfectly braised. At the most it probably has only three ingredients, some red wine, salt and pepper, maybe a little sage. A simple small salad with olive oil and vinegar and perfect little baked potatoes. It doesn’t get complicated by adding any tomato, or cucumbers or pine nuts... just simple and pure, seriously simple.” Einstein said, “Things should be made as simple as possible, but not any simpler.” Kent believes in simple, simple is in his roots, “Growing up in Halifax, food was a big deal. My French Acadian grandmother was important in developing my cooking fundamentals. We were dead poor but she would make us the most fantastic food and I would help. We ate fresh fish, blueberry crumble, boiled lobster and fried clams. You know, we ate like Maritimers.” Simplicity in cooking is the elimination of anything unnecessary. That’s exactly what is important to Kent Smith, “If you can eliminate what is unessential in a dish, what’s left is absolutely important, pure. That’s where I want to be. The goal is to say only what’s truly important – nothing more.” Then what is “pure” for Kent? “Well it is not like the way we buy our groceries. In North America we just fill our fridges to capacity and pick at it for a few weeks – definitely not pure. I go grocery shopping at least three times a week. Food must be fresh and cooked right away. I like to go directly to the farmers and have been in their houses and fields. Around here our farmers are a huge asset to our restaurants downtown. With them it is pure; it’s where it begins, in the dirt, taking care of their product. When you see a farmer with dirt under their nails, you know they’ve put hard work and love into it.”

FOOD NAZIS

For Kent local is important, but there is a line, “I try to do the 100 miles menu as much as I can, but you can’t get olive oil in a hundred miles, or calamari, so you have to step out of those boundaries, but with simple, with pure in mind. I want to cook what people want to eat.” Moving from Halifax in his early teens to Ottawa he was always drawn to food, “I always knew I was going to be a chef. When I was fourteen I worked in a little restaurant in Richmond. The pressure was insane. This Swiss guy named John Kunz ran the restaurant and he had a huge knowledge of French cuisine. I was a porter and I washed dishes – bottom of the food chain. Even though it was a modest place, Kunz would not accept anything but perfect. That meant everyone was committed to perfect or suffered the consequences. Believe me I earned every bit of my $2.00 an hour and still learned a lot.” Kent was a ‘C’ student in high-school but always had his sites set on cooking, “Right after I was done grade twelve I went to cooking school. I was eighteen in Ottawa going to Algonquin College, and I was the youngest guy there. In the end I was number two in my graduating class.” From there Kent headed for Barrie, “After college I realized I needed more education. In 1985, that brought me to Georgian College to study business for three years.” In Barrie in 1985, the fine-dining restaurant of choice was La Fayette. Its owner was Mustapha Amrani and Kent got a job with him. Kent says, “Mustapha was my first understanding of how to be hospitable. He was brilliant, a great host and great restaurateur. He understood hospitality and that was partly because he could read people. Mustapha knew what people wanted and when they wanted it. He

knew when to talk to them and when to leave them alone. His eye took in the restaurant without ever appearing to be watching. I learned a lot from him, huge really.” If the restaurant and the service had the La Fayette calm confidence, the kitchen didn’t. Kent remembers, “In there you would pay big-time if something was not to Mustapha’s liking. Sometimes he would get a bucket out and turn it upside-down, stand on it to watch the orders marching out, his critical eye ready to pounce on any mistake.” In April of 1990, Kent Smith bought Michael & Marion’s, determined to take what he had learned about cooking, people, business and service and translate it into the perfect small restaurant. His goal was to combine great service and great food in a comfortable place, a people place. “The front end is as important as the kitchen, maybe more?” says Kent. “Servers, it’s not always about their experience. I look for my servers to be keen, awake and interested in what’s going on. I want them to be excited about their work, people who want to add to the dining experience and even entertain you. I look for people who are interesting, keen, sophisticated, and calm. I want them to be real.” For Kent Smith simplicity is the opposite of complexity and it’s the simple things that the customer comes to expect. Care in service and pure in the food offerings are at the core of his philosophy. Sometimes, behind the scenes, that Food-Nazi has to appear to keep it all on track. It works because Michael & Marion’s/Side Door has more than its share of regulars – people come back, and have been coming back for 19 years. Kent believes, “It’s about being there for them, and many are my friends. I try to be the doorman, opening the door for my customers. After all we’re here to serve, we are the hosts. I always say — we don’t pick them, they pick us.” William Moore is a writer, communications strategist and the president of Solutions ink Kent Smith

Photography Ian James Hopkins PIE MAGAZINE

john mcnabb SHOW A MAN THE DIFFERENCE GOOD TAILORING CAN MAKE.

Photography Kelly Stacey

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Knowing the trends, knowing your customers, knowing the business has been key to success of John McNabb Clothiers. They’re young. They are confident in their own sense of style. They have cash. They have the desire to look cool, confident and sexy, and they know what they want. And terms like ‘metrosexual’ have opened doors for mens styling. They are the new audience for John McNabb clothier, and any fashion retailer looking to catch and ride the next fashion tsunami. “I’m intrigued by how creative the GenY customer is getting in how they dress. They will be important demos to watch.” Twenty to 35-year-old men will soon rule the roost, setting the fashion agenda for the next decade or more, according to Trevor McNabb. “They are the guys that are either young in their career, haven’t built a family yet. Maybe they are married, but don’t have kids. They have a larger disposable income, , they are early in their career, they have to look the best,” said McNabb, who works with his father, a veteran of five decades serving men’s clothing and fashion needs in the central Ontario city of Barrie. “This age group is what is pushing trends all over the place, because they are coming in and we have got a specific look, and they are taking that look and tearing it apart and putting it together with something new. “Traditionally, you wear a formal jacket with a dress pant, a shirt and a tie. Now, you are wearing it with a t-shirt and a pair of jeans, and it looks great. the younger clientele guides us.” John McNabb Clothiers has been catering to the discriminating man in downtown Barrie for more than 20 years, and to stay in business for that long means a keen understanding of who their customers are and what they want. The main focus is excellent customer service – service that caters to a broad range of outfitting and tailoring needs in house. “We are doing everything imaginable for the customer to make them happy. We do tailoring on site done by our master tailor,” said Trevor. “The other thing too is that you can’t be a leader in fashion and leave the basic guy in the dust. So when you walk in the door, don’t only price point, but look and fit.”

He said recent experience has show that the younger man is looking for something trim and form fitting, with some flair and flash, while the older gentleman was something more conservative, and tailored. Those in the fashion world catering to women know that branding, brand recognition and brand reputation is key. At this point in time, more than any other, the young male demographic is as conscious about brand as these men are about price and fit. Trevor said Hugo Boss is the big name, but there are others, such as Coppley, which is manufactured in Hamilton. In fact, there are only five Canadian suiting manufacturers left,” said Trevor. “Then there are sportswear labels like Lacoste - the brand that is pulling in 16 year olds – Hugo Boss, Alberto, Bugatchi and a new line from Europe, all designed in Venice, called Marco 28.” Trevor speaks admiringly of his father John, who has had a flair for fashion since he was a child. “It goes back to the times when he was very young. He had a paper route and he was buying suits to wear to school … or to wear out to wherever they were going. When he was 14 years old, he would have his friends wanting to borrow his jacket to go out. He has worked all the way up in the industry from back then,” he said. “He has been the part time guy in a store where you have to do all the Joe jobs, and slowly worked his way up.” Trevor said what sets his dad apart, and what sets the business apart today, is that John McNabb seems to have an innate sense of style and fashion. “It’s not something that you can go to school to learn. The fashion that you learn at school is more how to make it rather than how to understand the intricacies of it, and it comes down to that you either really understand it or you really don’t. There is no happy medium in fashion. Guys, unfortunately, aren’t blessed with the best eyes for matching colours.” He added that the staff is also mentored by leading designers such as Hugo Boss and Coppley. Providing the best lines, the best service is only part of the deal for being a successful clothing retailer. Being able to know your customer is key, and that comes from listening to them, Trevor asserts. “It’s very important to understand what the customer wishes to convey and show them the entire package that you offer in what he wants. Also, sometimes go outside the box too, and show him something that you perceive that he might also like. The bottom line is, you need to know how to read people.” And that bottom line has been helping John McNabb Clothiers’ bottom line for more than 20 years, and made it a success story to be envied and copied.

By Sandra & Jim Barber

dr. barb “She’s one the most recognizable faces in the industry. Doctor, entrepreneur, philanthropist, wife and mother, Dr. Barb Loiskandl is an inspiration to busy working mothers ...” Her day begins early, just after 5 a.m. on most days. She gets up before the rest of her family so that she can fit in a workout and a healthy breakfast before helping her children get ready for school. Two days a week Dr. Barb works out of her Laser Health Works Barrie office and the remainder of her week at her Midland location. The days she works in Barrie allow her a little extra time in the morning with her son who attends a treatment centre for autistic children. Since having a special needs child, Dr. Barb has become painfully familiar with the lack of services available to parents of these children. “There are not enough resources to help at home or at school,” she feels. “We find it tremendously difficult to find caregivers for him.” Sometimes this hectic schedule can be a challenge, even for a seasoned, organized professional like Dr. Barb. “I have to ask myself, ‘how important is it?’ to ensure I am giving proper priority to a task. I try to live a day at a time - stay in the moment as much as I can. I like to be fully present for my patients and staff. People are always a priority. Planning and organization helps but I try to carve out time to enjoy life and not get caught up in endless busyness. We would all like the luxury of more time and sometimes I do wish there were eight days in the week or 30 hours in a day but I find that I just have to accept it. I love what I do, it keep me fresh to enjoy what the day brings.” One of the ways she has learned to stay focused is by delegating certain tasks to her wonderful family and staff. She feels that 22 years of practicing medicine has taught her how to effectively manage her time. She, like many busy women, has a natural ability to multi-task and prioritize. Her husband and children always come first “without question” she states. “I am not a ‘perfect’ Mom but my children know they are loved and I do the best I can. And I am usually the last Mom there to pick up their kids.... but nine times out of 10 I remember them... just kidding. By being a business woman I believe I can set examples for my children, especially my three daughters. I try to let them know there is a way to problem solve almost any situation”. Dr. Barb is a strong supporter of women in business and feels that women should network specifically with one another as well as with the broader business community. “Absolutely, it is what I refer to as ‘soft’ marketing...The conversations that happen anywhere, grocery line ups, exercise time are often valuable from a business perspective. I do a

lot of ‘appearances’ and support different events in order to get to have one on one face time with people. This also allows me to meet with many different organizations that then open new business opportunities. I would have never thought that my career would land me on CP24 or A Channel, but all of that just evolved part by happenstance and mostly through being open to opportunities”. So what advice does Dr. Barb have for other women who strive to be entrepreneurs? “Work hard, learn lots! That is a phrase you would hear in my household on a daily basis. I have three great girls..the first is now 21 and in fourth year university studying biomedical electrical engineering, number 2 is in first year university studying her bachelor of science in nursing, number 3 is in grade 11 doing every sport known to mankind... okay..I exaggerate on that one, but she leaves the house at 6:15 for morning practices and then dances till the evening. They have all had jobs and the older two pay for half of their own university. I believe that having a job increases your self confidence and teaches you so many things that sometimes your family members can’t teach you. And again, I try to show them that there are solutions to almost any problem. It is just a matter of taking a rationale approach and problem-solving. Set your goals high, be flexible, and believe in yourself ”. After all this, how does she still find time to keep spark in her almost 24 year marriage? “We make time for each other” she says. “A small moment, a lunch on Thursdays always, time at dinner meetings that we try to turn into dates....We have family dinners as often as possible even if they happen late in the day. We are fortunate to have a successful marriage of almost 24 years. Rainer and I respect each other and still find things to talk about. Our big challenge is to not talk business during our romantic times!” As for her chosen vocation, Dr. Barb likes the arc her career path is on. “ I very much enjoy the mixture of Cosmetic Medicine, Family Medicine and working in the media. I am fortunate enough to work with a wide variety of people who make life interesting, stimulating and fun. Where this leads to next is always part of the big adventure of life,” she said.

By Michelle O’neill

Rowell Photography PIE MAGAZINE

By Elyse Mayo

THIS LOCAL BOMBSHELL IS TAKING LENSES BY STORM EVERYWHERE, AN OVATION IS OWED AS SHE IS TAKING ON THE INTERNATIONAL FRONT.

“I started modelling when I was around 14. My father took me to see Elmer Olsen in Toronto. From there I was off to New York by 16 with Elite, competed in Elite’s look of the year contest in 1994 and modelled until I was about 18 when I decided it was time for a break and to go onto college.” Winning the Fabulous 5 model search competition on ‘Deal or No Deal’ got her back into modelling when she was discovered by the Toronto agency, ‘Chantale Nadeau.’ Soon she landed a New York campaign which earned her six figures in her first month, was the face of a Shoppers Drug Mart Christmas campaign and is now breaking through to the big screen. She explained that when she met the director on the ‘Deal or No Deal’ show, it was a segue to the world of acting. Her debut role in the film “Dogfather,” the tale of a hound that escapes the mafia, will be on screen in over 100 countries. G-rated on set, clad in lingerie in the studio she’s a lady and a vamp. Now a more mature model she divulges her secrets to staying sexy. She raves that the new DHC skincare line from Japan is her covert weapon in keeping her skin “looking 20 years old.” She also offers the simple advice of getting lots of sleep, water and unprocessed food but to “never deny yourself a good glass of wine.” She also gushes that the local Skinsational Spa has “the best facials in the world.” “Every successful model has made their mark being unique in their own way. I’d like to think I have a different look.” With Italian and French Canadian heritage, she has “been labelled ethnically ambiguous since I fit into so many different categories.” In regards to her work ethic, she explains, “I look at modelling as a job, you leave it at the door when you come home from work. It doesn’t define who you are, nor should it consume you. Keeping a healthy mind and body are the key to success in front of the camera and overall well being. I believe I’ve found the secret to balancing work and my personal life.” A testament to juggling a busy career while maintaining a healthy relationship she reveals that her “career always comes second to relationships” She balances her incredible career with a grounded attitude. “I know women in their 50’s still working it. I hope to ride the wave as long as I can and just see where it takes me. If it all ended tomorrow I’d be thrilled with what I’ve accomplished.” Now, about to be married she says her and her man are “definitely ready” for kids and that she is excited to get into maternity modelling.

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Photo by Ian James Hopkins

Born to an NHL family in the dead of December, she’s bred to be a winter princess. Jennifer Robinson is a star on ice and on-air. She is a local legend of Ontario, born in Goderich and now residing in Barrie. Her flight feet have flitted on Olympic ice, and done stunts for Disney. Her voice is on your TV and radio - she’s everywhere! Jennifer explains that, “Barrie is a fantastic community for figure skaters chasing their dream. You have a community that is very supportive and so many families open up their homes to young athletes from all around the world. The local schools work with Mariposa to find a balance between academics and sport and we have great leaders in the rink.” Jennifer herself is no stranger to success, with six national medals under her belt. “When I won my first National title, I was beyond ecstatic. It was all so unexpected. When I won my sixth title, I was very proud. I knew that it was a modern day record for the number of Canadian championship titles. That sixth title was also the one that qualified me to become a member of the Canadian winter Olympic Games, which was my lifelong sporting dream.” Not content with Olympic standing and a mere six National Championship awards, Jennifer is active in several other vocations. “On TV, I am the co-host of ‘Daytime’ on Rogers TV. It is a live one hour general news interest show.” On the radio, she occasionally fills in for Tara Winstone of the Jamie and Tara show on Barrie’s B101. On the Disney channel, she appeared in the 2005 family comedy, Ice Princess. “I was one of four stunt doubles the lead actress, Michelle Tractenburg.” Humbly, she claims that she is not “naturally gifted” and reveals some of her biggest career challenges as “having to work really hard to be able to do the tricks and having so many people doubt me, which I think is pretty common for athletes. Just look at the Leafs’ goaltending situation! I got through it by just knowing that I had to train really hard which made every trick I learned that much more special. The doubts from people, made me want to prove them wrong.” Another inspiring secret to her success is to keep a winning attitude. She divulges that, “when I lost my title in the last Canadian championships I finished my skate and knew before I got off the ice that it wasn’t enough to defend my title. I sat in the ‘kiss and cry’ with my husband while I got my marks. I saw that I finished, third maybe, I can’t remember. I went over to Cythia Phanuef, who had just won her first title, congratulated her and gave her a big hug. It was almost the same scene as when I won my first title. Then they pulled back the big curtain almost everyone I had ever skated with, against; coaches, friends, judges and Skate Canada staff were there to congratulate me... I have never felt so much love in one moment.” Jennifer also teaches skating and develops choreography. She explains that, “what I love about performing is creating a moment for the audience that takes them away from their lives and brings them into mine. When I’m

jennifer robinson >IS EVERYWHERE

By Sean Macdonald and Elyse Mayo

Photography Kelly Stacey

choreographing for young skaters, I like to create something that is personal for them, but more importantly, letting them discover who they are.” In regards to the art of skating, Jennifer poetically describes it as, “taking a dance and giving it momentum.” With bright eyes for the future, Jennifer says, “I hope that my Olympic commentary experience grows into something that becomes a permanent position within the television industry. I hope that I can continue to teach kids self-confidence through performing. Shane and I are expecting our first child two weeks after the Olympics, so raising a family is definitely in the plans as well.” Though driven, Mrs. Jennifer Robinson definitely has a strong dedication to friends and family; a perfect balance. She admits that one of the highlights of her career was “standing on the Olympic ice having just seen my parents and husband in the stands waving their Canadian flags. I looked up at the JumboTron and they flashed a picture of Brian Orser, who is a World champion and Olympic silver medalist from ‘88. He is a good friend, and I flashed back to me as a little kid watching him have his Olympic moment. I loved that he was now watching me have mine. Full circle kind of stuff.”

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The story of

Photography Aaron Gautchi

“I would believe only in a god who could dance. And when I saw my devil I found him serious, thorough, profound, and solemn; it was the spirit of gravity -- through him all things fall. Not by wrath does one kill but by laughter. Come let us kill the spirit of gravity. I have learned to walk: ever since, I let myself run. I have learned to fly. Now I am light, now I fly, now I see myself beneath myself, now a god dances through me.” --Friedrich Nietzsche

Chapter1

THE GIRL WITH A FIRE IN HER BONES

There are certain places on our fair planet, known as Paranormal Hot Spots, or Magical Vortexes, where an a lot of strange, unexplained things happen. Things that defy our understanding of the physical world. The kinds of things that makes children terrified, scientists incredulous, and the rest of us intrigued. The town of Hunstsville, Ontario, population 18,000, is one such place. Spirits, touched by madness and art, continue to express themselves, long after their bodies become cold and stiff. It was there, 20 something years ago, deep in the heart of Muskoka Country, a young girl was born with a fire in her bones. This young girl’s name was Dream, and the fire took her, at the tender age of 16, to the Big City of Toronto, to attend The Claude Watson School of Performing Arts, where a group of very dedicated, caring teachers sat down and attempted to address, in a calm and reasonable manner, the very urgent problem plaguing Dream.

“We should attempt to extinguish the fire, obviously,” said Professor Obviously. “But if we extinguish the fire, we’ll extinguish the girl,” said Professor Doth Protest. “We could teach her to hate the fire,” said Professor Wrong. “We could teach her to love the fire,” said Professor Right. “We are arguing, while the girl burns from within,” reminded Professor Obviously. Nobody is really sure what became of Professor Right or Professor Wrong, Obviously or Doth Protest. One thing is for sure: Dream Rockwell learned to love the fire, and she loved it so uniquely and creatively that thousands now love it too. And what precisely is this fire? It is undeniable and riveting talent, that can come out in the form of modern dance performed for troops stationed with the United Nations and Multi-National Force and Observers, for instance, or it could come out in the form of comedy skits on Late Night With Conan O’Brien. In fact, unbridled, unadulterated, cathartic energy can even come out in random acts of theatrical relief work in developing, or simply by hanging out with Madonna inspiring her couture, or by doing choreography work for Aerosmith or Motley Crue. That’s the thing with fire: It accepts no limits. It burns through walls. It transforms and excites everything it touches. When fire blazes like Rockwell’s career was blazing at this point, it is truly a spectacle of light. In Lucent Dossier, a dance troupe she founded and of which you are about to learn more, she found her creative zenith. Nothing can describe it’s philosophy better than it’s Vision Statement:

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“Creativity is at the core of our nature, yet in the course of our lives our creative desires are lost in the abyss of “impossible dreams.”

Photography Aaron Geiser

Chapter2

It now falls to us to rediscover our magical inspirations and release their free-flowing expressions. It is our destiny to make all things possible. We must shed the spells society has accidentally cast upon us and find out, for ourselves, who we really are and what we want from this incredible world of possibilities. We must find the strength to believe in ourselves and create our dreams into reality. Lucent Dossier is, at its very core, a playground for the innovative genius child in all of us. It is a collective based on magic and inspiration, living by the ancient wisdom of choosing confidence over doubt, joy over pain and love over fear. In short we are here to inspire unique thinking by being outrageous in our desire to spread joy and light. by SEAN MACDONALD

THE CIRCUITS OF THE CIRCUS by ELYSE MAYO

Dancer and muse extraordinaire Dream Rockwell was acquainted with artist Brent ‘Shrine’ Spears, maestro of over a hundred interactive murals, interior orchestrator of the first five House of Blues Clubs and the man who made trash into temples at Burning Man ’08. Conceived in their twinkling eyes, the lurid legend of the burlesque performance art troupe known as Lucent Dossier Vaudeville Cirque was born! Dream and Shrine planned a spirited soiree of entertainers, adorned in immaculate white garbs like shooting stars in celebration of the 2005th New Year. From there, they formed a community of cordial comrades in candid choreography for the love of expression and creative liberty. Though they are known simply as Lucent Dossier, their infrastructure is mercurial thereby breeding a complex definition. It seems as though their only bounds are their own imaginations! They are a visceral audio-ocular overload in any space they inhabit, they are sculptors of smiles and gaping jaws, and they are also becoming quite infamous worldwide! The year after the troupe was founded, a little band called Panic at the Disco commissioned the gang to create an atmosphere for a music video. The song, “I Write Sins Not Tragedies,” was a hit heard everywhere and the following year was bestowed the 2006 MTV Video of the Year Award. Things were gaining momentum fast for Lucent Dossier, and soon after they were travelling abroad with the band, accompanied by The Dresden Dolls and OKGO. Since then, Dream Rockwell’s artistic direction and wanderlust has led the troupe to international ovation. Lucent Dossier has performed at Summer Sonic in Japan, Electric Picnic in Ireland, Alive in Portugal, at private and public events in Italy, London and all over the U.S. In downtown L.A. their circus antics have sold out shows at the historic Edison Lounge for the past year. They have received critical acclaim in various publications such as, SPIN, VOGUE Italia, L’UOMO, Los Angeles Times, Hollywood Reporter, IMAGOzine, Variety, KERRANG!, FlavorPill. Scaling the globe and selling out shows, but they aren’t just doing this for kicks. Dream Rockwell, optimist and humanist that she is, recently founded what is so adorably known as the ‘Cuddle the World Foundation.’ She and some of the other members of the crew take their talents trekking out to needy nations to spread joy, inspiration and teddy bears to children. Lucent Dossier truly are “spectacles of human light.”

Photography Roger Fojas

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Photography Matt Barnes

Jeff Brain

>TAXIDERMIST

By Sean Macdonald

Experienced hunters and fishermen in Ontario, when they make a great kill, and want to honour their adversary and commemorate the experience, would be well advised to take their animals to Jeff Brain. He is an award winning taxidermist based in Orillia, Ontario, who cherishes the quality of work and customer satisfaction above all else. He confesses, “I have not advertised in 8-9 years. I have got enough work to keep me going, and I do not want to be too busy to keep up with orders. I like to do a higher quality job with less numbers, and keep everybody happy.” Mr Brain is now a seasoned pro with 23 years of experience, and is about to open a school. He has done work for Paul Coffee (best known for kicking ass all over the place for the Oilers) and Jason Allison (Bruins, Maple Leafs, L.A Kings). He started his education in taxidermy like many masters of their field: very young and propelled solely by a passion for the art. He explains, “I had some pieces done when i was a kid, and i didn’t think they were that great and i just started reading up on them. i had a fascination with wide life from a very young age. i really wanted to become a biologist. Kind of changed that in high school and all the friends i associated with all hunted and fished, so i just started practicing, after school and i just got better. and they told two friends and the word spread henceforth. i had a real job for a couple of years, and i quit that to get into this full time.” Taxidermy is a profession unfairly mired in disrepute. In the 1800’s, hunters began bringing their trophies to upholstery shops where the upholsterers would actually sew up the animal skins and stuff them with rags and cotton. The term “stuffing” or a “stuffed animal” evolved from this crude form of taxidermy. It is easy, for those of us not accustomed to it, to think that trophy hunting is cruel and irresponsible. Some of us have a harder time seeing that death is a part of a healthy cycle, that it is possible to deprive a creature of life without depriving it of dignity. In fact, taxidermy today is an art that demands utmost reverence to God’s creatures and the His engineering. There is no shame in death. There are worse fates than death. Ted Nugent puts it beautifully in his advice to mankind: “A quality of life upgrade is available to each and every one of you, which means no drugs, no alcohol, no fast food - unless, of course, it’s a mallard.”

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Co-op

Through the Imago co-op experience one is welcomed into the real world of work...

Photography 1. Revolver Photography 2. Matt Trotter 3. & 4. Mannequinmedia 5.kelly stacey 6. steve locke 7. morpheal productions 8. creative visions.ca

A career in the world of fashion; IMAGOzine Boutique a fun, funky, fresh hidden secret. Imago is a twisted childhood fantasy that comes to life. Having a co-op experience creating diverse collections, bold statements, and fashion trends set a career of amazing dreams into reality for me. Going through the day by day rituals of setting up the store to making my dreams come true as designer in the Wanderlust show, gave me the opportunity to surprise the world! In the fashion world there is only one way to survive... and that is to fight! Making this my number one lesson. Those who do not fight get swept up and fall into the crowd of want-a-be’s. This career is cruel but worth the fight. Following Evan Biddell, Project Runway Canada winner in a fashion show made me a little nervous. Rebecca Hardy, Canada’s Next Top Model Winner of Season Two wearing a piece of my collection set me in awe. Dressed in the Nervous Breakthrough(Imago’s own co - op inspired line we have all designed under) Wanderlust Collection, This was one of the most fulfilling adventures of being in the Imago team! My fingers trembled as I assisted from behind the scenes in what was my very first designing appearance on the runway. Working together to create a white and black plaid vision, showed me how much one can be inspired by those who even do not sew. The Imago store is an inspirational place that makes fashion dreams sing as the sewing machine echoes buzz throughout the rooms of the store! The co-op journey was a remarkable experience that taught me a great amount at the age of only seventeen. Imago’s creative mind is outgoing, unique, and thought provoking! Imago has inspired me to reach new heights through having passion and the love for fashion. Imago shows society how to make a fashion statement and stand out from the crowd. It is loud, proud, and a born leader and that is why I want to pursue my dream of becoming a fashion designer. Imago has taught me to dream big and to always continue to dream even bigger! Going from a store cleaner to a designer and even having pieces in Toronto Alternative Fashion Week proved that one can transform dreams into reality. So listen up and take note… the fashion world is an utopian world to those who make it and a slave trade for those who just fade away… don’t be invisible. Always remember… you can be anyone you want to be! Nicole Marchioni I started my co-op adventure with Imago in January 2008, and the minute I started I was shown the ropes of the industry, the high demands and deadly deadlines. While I work there I was involved with several photo shoots and fashion shows, as well as client alterations. Imago gave me the opportunity to show a few pieces of my work at The Bedtime Stories fashion show at CiRCA in Toronto. After seeing my design on the runway I was in awe that I had accomplished one of my goals at such a young age. Co-op is meant to help teenagers with the very complicated and overwhelming stress of what to do after high school. Imago’s co-op program made me realize that I would be successful within the Fashion Industry. Amanda Casey

“ I spent three semesters as a co-op student at Imago and loved every minute of it. The opportunities and creative outlet that is Imago are outstanding for high school students hoping to one day enter the fashion realm. I was able to work with different designers, photographers, stylists, models and coordinators. I even had the experience of being a lead designer in one of Imago’s many fashion shows and Imago had my my designs spotted on Fashion TV on model Andi Muse. Imago helped me push myself, to only strive for the best, to keep a good work ethic, and to think nothing is too big. I am now a graduate of George Brown College with a diploma in Fashion Techniques and Design and I have Imago to thank for being my driving force and helping me figure out who and what I want to be. I recommend co-op programs in high school to all of those with a fire and passion for fashion and if I could do it all over again I would. “ Kyra Ness PIE MAGAZINE

nissan

ODD NEW CUBE GETS JAW-DROPPING LOOKS, SURPRISING HANDLING AND HEADROOM GALORE It’s hard to think of another car that matches the odd-looking Nissan cube in pure eyeball-grabbing power. The Honda Element and Kia Soul come close, as does the Toyota Scion xB—but it’s arguably the latest from Nissan that delivers the most gawk for the buck. After causing quite the stir at the auto show circuit earlier this year, the 2010 Nissan cube is on sale now. Away from the lights and crowds of the Auto Shows and on the streets of downtown Toronto Ontario, cube’s strange, asymmetrical shape looks intentionally out of whack with its surroundings. It invites stares and comments without hesitation from everyone near it.

SOME GOOD, SOME BAD. A police officer at a traffic light asked all about it. Some passersby wanted to know the price. Others curled up their lips and pointed out the ‘weird’ looking little ride to their nearby friends. A concept-car shape like the cube’s doesn’t normally make it into production with such exaggerated proportions—though this model has been hugely popular in Japan for years. It’s a car that Nissan’s gearing towards a younger generation of shoppers who value uniqueness, utility and customizability. Cube’s rounded, blocky body conceals enough space for 5 passengers and some gear, plenty of storage spaces, and a unique, dynamic and youthful atmosphere. Textures inside are mainly familiar-- except for the unique rippleeffect ceiling liner and speaker covers. As one of Nissan’s designers put it, these are all part of efforts to create a harmonious interior that occupants can ‘chillax’ in. No surprises with cabin plastics and assembly quality. These are right on par with the price range.

BUT THERE ARE SURPRISES. First, the interior space. Cube’s short body, tall roof and ample windows generate a very commanding view of the road ahead with a striking amount of headroom. Even if your height is considerably above average, you’ll probably be thrilled with the vertical proportions. Cube feels more spacious inside than most will expect. In fact, the driving position and spaciousness almost border on SUV territory. Next, the handling. Given the exterior proportions, simply having the cube stay wheels-down when thrown into a corner may seem impressive. It goes beyond, though-- cornering flatly and taking direction through an energetic and sporty steering system. Plain and simple, this is a machine that’s considerably more fun to drive than it looks.

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cube

Justin Pritchard

Quick Drive: 2010

Powering it all up is Nissan’s 1.8 litre four cylinder engine. This is the most modern four-cylinder power plant in the automaker’s lineup, and it delivers acceleration on par with comparable models and smooth operation, even when pushed. The engine gets things moving nicely, but it’s extensively tuned to deliver clean emissions and low fuel consumption. Hit the highway and keep your speed in check, and you’ll go 100 km on about $6.50 in gas. Shifting is handled by a standard six-speed manual transmission, and a Continually Variable Transmission (CVT) is available optionally. With no gears to shift, the CVT delivers fully automatic operation and a smooth, uninterrupted flow of power. Like tunes? Check out the available Rockford Fosgate stereo system with subwoofer. Cube can also be fitted with a Bluetooth phone interface automatic climate control to help keep drivers connected and comfortable on the go. Safe, too. Side airbags, side curtain airbags and stability control are standard on every model. Cube is on sale now, priced from just under $17,000. Head to your local Nissan dealer or click www.nissan.ca for a closer look.

CUSTOMIZE YOUR CUBE! Considering the cube? Consider some customization, too. Nissan is offering a comprehensive selection of genuine accessories to help owners tailor the cube to their exact tastes. After all, who wants to blend in? Be sure to check out cube’s Aero Kit, which includes side-skirts, bumper lips and a spoiler for a sportier and even more exciting look. A hood-lip, grille accent and window visors can also be added too, as can fog lamps. Inside, available accessories include special bungee cords that fit to the armrest on each front door to strap your favorite small items in place. These are perfect for gum, tickets, cards and phone numbers scribbled on napkins. Cube’s shag dashboard topper is an excellent conversation starter that doubles as a holder for delicate items, a funny hat, and a rag in case of an accidental mishap with your favorite beverage. Want to take the atmosphere of your favorite club with you on the go? Opt for Cube’s optional LED lighting system alongside the upgraded stereo to light the cabin in your choice of purple, green, blue or red. The color and shade can be adjusted with the turn of a knob.

lincoln MKT ecoboost

If you’re looking for advanced performance For decades, the ‘twin-turbo’ engine was revered as the and convenience technologies from a familiar and well-known brand, be sure to ultimate go-fast weapon for motivating exotic performance book a test-drive of the MKT. It’s hitting dealer lots now, and comes priced from cars. It would have once been blasphemous to market twinaround $53,000 with EcoBoost power and all wheel drive. turbo charging as a fuel-saving technology—much less one available in a comfort-oriented people hauler like the new Using your MKT as a mobile office? Be sure to check out Lincoln MKT. Ford Sync. The premise of the EcoBoost twin turbo engine is fairly easy Drivers are expecting more functionality from their vehicles than ever—and to sum up: it delivers the fuel economy of a smaller powerplant Ford’s Sync system is designed to deliver. The new technology allows drivers alongside the performance of a much bigger one. to take advantage of today’s latest Bluetooth-equipped wireless products If you’re into numbers, the direct-injected 3.5 liter V6 belts out through a centralized interface. Sync is a fully integrated, voice-activated 355 horsepower and nearly as much torque. If you’re not into communications and entertainment system which is unique to Ford and their numbers, suffice it to say that the MKT EcoBoost goes like all luxury division, Lincoln. It’s available in the MKT and nearly every other heck when you jab the throttle. Passing power comes in heaps, product in the automaker’s lineup. and it’ll push the heads of all 6 occupants to their seatbacks on Applications are numerous. For instance, Sync can wirelessly link to a command. cellular phone, allowing drivers to dial by simply saying their contact’s Of course, that’s when you give it the boots. Drive gently, and name. For text messaging addicts, Sync can read incoming messages the engine quiets right down and adopts a docile and laid-back aloud and even decompress standard abbreviations like “LOL” (Laugh attitude. Full power remains on standby at all times-- though fuel Out Loud). The anemic sounding voice can be humorous, though it’s mileage is kept reasonably well in check. generally easy to understand. In fact, my overall test mileage averaged just under 13L / 100 km Rather than pulling over to reply to a text, drivers can select from a list in real-world driving conditions. That’s about the same as a typical of pre-defined responses. Sync can also play ring-tune schemes, and it crossover model with a lot less power. automatically retrieves cell phone address books to load into the system All wheel drive (AWD) is standard with the EcoBoost engine in the via the Bluetooth connection. MKT—meaning fuss-free traction is available in any season with no It all works without wires, and without taking one’s eyes off the road or second guessing. The MKT’s AWD system works entirely on its own, hands off the wheel. If you’re planning to use your MKT as a mobile so there’s no driver action required to engage it. office from 9 to 5, you’ll definitely want to give Sync a test-drive. As such, you and five friends are free to confidently sit back and enjoy the THX-certified audio system, heated and air conditioned seats and For audiophiles, Sync works with a multitude of comprehensive infotainment system—regardless of the weather. digital music players, too. If an accommodating, flexible and very high-luxury interior are priorities “Sync is what today’s generation and today’s drivers demand in for you, you’ll definitely want to check the MKT out. Rear-seat passengers connectivity,” says Derrick Kuzak, VP of product development loved the ambient mood lighting, dual-pane glass sunroof and window at Ford. “Not only does it offer hands-free phone operation and blinds. There’s even a built in mini-freezer between the rear seats. iPod®, Zune or MP3 player connectivity, it’s built on a software A crossover SUV has probably never been closer to a limousine. All seats platform that is upgradable and will allow us to offer new features offer tremendous comfort, and the MKT’s upbeat and sophisticated cabin by simply upgrading the software.” atmosphere encourages those on board to relax and socialize. Ford’s Sync system was even called the “Best new Technology” Poor rearward visibility was the largest complaint. Drivers will need to by the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC). exercise care when reversing or changing lanes thanks to the narrow rear window and blind spots. An electronic blind-spot monitor and backup camera system are available to compensate. Justin Pritchard | Photo Pace News staff Additionally, some will find the MKT rides on the stiff side with 20-inch wheels bolted on-- though it does stay surprisingly flat during cornering.

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Remodel your

KITCHEN& BATH WITHOUT BREAKING THE BANK

It’s not surprising that two of the most popular rooms for home makeovers are the kitchen and bathroom. When potential homebuyers are searching for homes, they generally are more attracted to homes with updated kitchens and baths. These same rooms rank high in return on remodeling investment at resale, according to Remodeling Magazine’s Cost-vs-Value 2008-09 Study. However, both can be pricey ventures. According to the same study, the national average for minor kitchen remodel was $21,246. A sample remodel at this cost includes replacing cabinet fronts, flooring, laminate countertops and oven and cooktop; installing mid-priced sink and faucet, adding wall cover and repainting trim. The national average for a midrange bathroom remodel was $15,899, which included replacing fixtures, installing a porcelain-onsteel tub, new shower and ceramic tile flooring. If you’re like many consumers today, you are more budget conscious and may not be able to afford thousands of dollars on a remodeling project. Here are some alternatives that will give your kitchen and bathroom a fresh, modern look without breaking your piggy bank.

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Kitchen

Bathroom

Cabinets—Give your cabinets a fresh look by either refinishing or refacing the fronts at a more economical cost than buying new ones. You can even take the center face out and install a glass front. Hardware—Replacing your cabinet knobs and drawer pulls, can give your kitchen an entirely new look. Paint—A fresh coat of paint is always a sure bet. It is one of the least expensive ways to give a room a makeover. To further transform the room, choose more modern hues, such as a warm yellow or deep red. Countertops—The price of natural quartz or stone countertops can quickly eat away your kitchen remodeling budget. Less expensive, yet still attractive alternatives are solid surface materials such as Silestone® or granite and ceramic tiles. An even more affordable choice is laminate, which is easy to install yourself and comes in a variety of colors and styles. Faucets and Sinks—Add a fresh new look by replacing your sink and faucet with a high-arched spout in an updated finish, such as brushed nickel, brushed chrome or stainless steel. Backsplash—Another option to modernize your kitchen’s look is adding a backsplash. But rather than having ceramic tiles, consider creating a mosaic with ceramic or glass or install a faux backsplash panel. Window Treatments—Switch out older valances with options that let the natural light in. Lighting—By adding under cabinet lights or even track lighting, you can add a dramatic look for your kitchen.

Paint—As with the kitchen, a new coat of paint is a low-cost way to renew a room’s look. Choose a warm color to give the room an intimate feel. Showerheads—Change out old showerheads with a new rain showerhead. Shower Doors – If you still use shower curtains for your bathtub, you can update the look by installing glass doors. Frameless doors are preferable. However, if the walls aren’t flush to the tub area, framed doors will still give you the modernized look you’re seeking. Hardware—Just as with the kitchen, replacing the knobs and handles can give your vanity a fresh new appearance. Lighting and Mirrors—In addition to the vanity, the lighting and mirrors above that area can combine to make the perfect focal piece for your bathroom. If changing the vanity is not in your budget, consider swapping out your unframed glass for a more decorative mirror and add a new lighting fixture. You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars to add pizzazz to your kitchen or bath. Just changing one or two elements can make a huge difference in its appeal to you and a potential buyer down the road.

Britton Ronan Experiencesold.com

FINANCIAL PLANNING IN

2010

According to a research report from Laurentian Bank CEO Carlos Leitao issued on September 9th of this year, aggressive interest rate hikes are expected.

The key points: • Rates will most likely increase in the third quarter of 2010 • This will occur after the jobless rate has peaked but before target inflation hits 2% • The rate increase will be aggressive as rates are currently extremely low. • A slow pace is not enough to normalize rates when the starting point is close to 0 (The overnight lending rate given to the Chartered Banks by the Bank of Canada) • In summation the report suggests rates could jump 3% or more in the next few years beginning near the end of 2010. Biffspandex Photography

Some real-estate market analysts believe the Bank of Canada is playing Russian roulette with rates being so low. They argue that low rates can be just as damaging as high rates over the long term. In the last year the Canadian real-estate market has outperformed predictions by increasing 11% according to CREA Statistics. This gain has been largely driven by low interest rates. A couple of concerns arising out of the current situation are: • The Canadian real-estate market would no longer have low interest rates to inflate demand for housing. Coupled with rising interest rates the current gains in housing prices may decrease quickly.

• Home owners who have a high loan to value (LTV) may be in trouble when their mortgages come up for renewal.

The Problem A drop in home equity due to falling demand along with higher interest rates on renewal will leave many Canadians in a financially untenable situation. Borrowers may not even be able to qualify to remortgage due to low equity and bad debt servicing. The Solution Sound financial planning and the right mortgage and debt allocation. Have your debt and mortgage reviewed by a qualified Mortgage Broker who can review your current mortgage and your plans for the future. By having the right term and amortization in place now, along with having enough flexibility and sufficient cash flow you will be well positioned to weather any challenges the rising interest rates may cause.

Bruce Joseph - President - Verico Annteam Mortgage Services

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geek chic tweaks ANOTHER NEW DAY ANOTHER NEW GADGET Just as soon as you get your new phone or wedge, enter Bigger, Faster, Stronger, But not always KEWLER… You are so excited you tear open the box and revel in your shining new device. But days later you find yourself already bored with its bare industrial look. Like pimpin your ride, a Whip, you can pimp your Laptop, a Wedge. Why just settle for your Best Buy standard laptop, phone or PC from the manufacturer. Trick out your Wedge with stickers, colourful laminates and pre formed casings.

If creating your own image is too much for your busy schedule, check out companies that do it for you. Skinit.com provides a fun and easy way to trick your wedge, phone or almost any device. Create custom designs or choose from a selection of pre made graphics. They will mack out your MAC BOOK for $29.95 US.

Another popular site offers removable and reusable decals so you can keep it fresh is Laptopdecals.com. For a small fee of 20 bucks they will send you a Van Gogh and be a part of the Art Collectors community. Remember to keep your style in mind. Even the entire IPOD family is coming with custom colors out of the box.

For those who have the time and artistic ability, try using your own ideas and supplies to customise your device. Take this HTC TOUCH PRO II smart phone from Bell. Out of the box it comes with all the bells and whistles inside, running windows Mobile 6, WIFI and a 3.2 mp camera, it is all but stylish. Check out what a little ingenuity, a 3 dollar sticker from a skate shop and a lighter can do.

With iPhone sales set to break an unfathomable 80 million units by 2012 worldwide, and 22 million netbooks in 2009 just in the US, you are going to want to stand out in a crowd. Some even take their tweaks to the extreme, this collection of random wedges are definitely original.. thanks for the inspiration.

If after market is not your style, than why not check out what Manufacturer’s are doing. Recent releases of new hardware from Dell, Apple and others, come Funky Fresh out of the box. Its about time really. Gone are the days of the white plastic PC’s that turn a Dirty like yellow resembling something from a garage sale. Here is base model Dell Studio 15 Laptop (starting at $699.00CDN) that offers several different premade color designs to help keep you looking unique and creative. See more at Dell.ca

A little tweak can say allot about your personality and help you stand out from the rest… Looking good is not just how your wear your threads anymore, but how you rock your gadgets too. Read more killer Gadget reviews coming in the next issues of PIE Magazine.

Jay Hardwick

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705.797.VIBE (8423) 62 Commerce Park Drive Unit L Barrie

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Photography Kelly Stacey

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Squash • Kickboxing • Fitness • Social Club • Personal Trainers • Executive Facility For Men And Women www.barrieathleticclub.com 565 Bryne Drive 705.722.4792

Inter vie

Photography w Marcel Savage |

Steve Locke

NDS LD5’9 141 POU O S R A E Y 1 3 OUTS RYAN LITTLER EFEATED IN 6 B D N U T H IG E W JR WELTER

Ryan Littler 2009 RINGSIDE

THE FINE ART OF GETTING YOUR HEAD BASHED IN Athletes dream about winning championships their whole lives. Mr Ryan Littler accomplished this on August 8th, 2009, almost by accident, while daydreaming about food. “I was going to be in Kansas City for a work related event the same weekend of the Ringside Tournament. I entered not believing I could win, but I figured I would go give my best try anyways. I was going back and forth from work to boxing. At the end all my colleagues where there watching and were ecstatic for me… but all I had on my mind was getting some chicken wings.” The boxing championship in Kansas City is the largest amateur boxing tournament in the world, with 1500 contenders. At this fight, Ryan was able to learn uncommonly technical details about his fight. “The local University set up a computer scoring system that measured the velocity of the punch and how they landed. Kinda felt like I was the star of my own video game. I boxed four hard bouts that weekend, won the first by K.O. and at the end I was the

Patrick Brown

WORLD CHAMPION

2009 Ringside World Champ.” Littler’s beginning was both auspicious and humble. “The first gym I joined was in Orangeville, I was about 10 years old. George Orwell owned it, when he passed away I left the sport I didn’t join back up till I was about 15 or 16 years old at the Bramalea.” When asked who he would fight out of any pro boxer out there, Ryan responds strategically, “I think it would have to be Peter Buckley, he was a ‘fella who Boxed out of London, England he had 300 professional bouts and won only about 30 so I think my odds are good of winning that one,” and then he chuckles. So where does the champ train? Uptown Boxing. “The team atmosphere is incredible the workouts are second to none, a lot of respect and big up’s to the Uptown Club. When asked about the most effective punch combination, Ryan Littler responds sagely, “the one that lands.”

Delivering Record Cultural Investment Our MP Stands up for Culture in Barrie

• 2.5 million for a New Downtown Theatre • 540 million increase Nationally in last Two Years in Arts and Culture • Fighting to Save the A Channel from Closure

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servingbarrie .com ~ 705.726.5959 ~

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Photography Kelly Stacey

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42 Dunlop St East, Barrie www.tropicalnorth.ca

M With an eclectic combination of musical styles and grooves, Digging Roots is one of the most original recording and performing acts to come along in quite some time. Centred on the dynamic musical duo of ShoShona Kish and Raven Kanatakta, the group recently released its second full-length CD, We Are, a blend of traditional native music with a real bluesy, sometimes urban flair that is hard to categorize, but also hard to ignore. “It’s difficult for us to sort of pin it down to one specific thing. I think, we’re essentially blues based, because everything seems to have a blues inflection to it, but that’s popular music anyways,” Kish said, adding that there is always pressure to try and change the band’s sound to fit into a particular categorization or genre. “You don’t want to extract things for the point of trying to homogenize it in some way. And there has been some pressure on us to stick with a particular style, or put it into something that is a little more tangible and definable. But I think it is important for us as artists to continue to struggle to find our own sounds, rather

digging

roots

people, but also who we are as a global community. My intention with that song is really about unity and knowing what we are capable of together, which I think is important. I think it’s an important time to celebrate and be aware how powerful our voices can be if we raise them together,” Kish said. “And that’s not a racial, cultural thing. I think we should be celebrating the things that make us unique and then standing on all of the common ground that we have, which is so vast because, essentially, people are just people.” Many of the songs talk about the significance of the land, both directly and metaphorically, and Kish said the natural landscape itself played a significant part of the song writing process for We Are, not just lyrically and musically, but also structurally. “I think there is a subtext to this album, and maybe to our work in general, but specifically on this album, because part of the process that we did was directly related to the land,” she said. “We did this whole back project where I had heard about one of the traditional ways that we compose music as Anishinabe people is to take inspiration from the contours of the tree lines and the horizon lines. And that sort of rise and fall that you would see on the horizon line would inform the rise and fall of the melody and the rhythm, and you can kind

than try to make it sound like something. She said some of that pressure comes from within the native community, as some people are critical that Digging Roots may not sound native enough for their liking. “I am certainly not going to play that up for how somebody things it should be. I think there is a strong cultural content in what we do. But I think, too, a lot of those things are universal ideas that we are dealing with and thinking about. “I think as natives we have this particular window on the world. This is the viewpoint that I have. I grew up in the city [Toronto] but my mother is a very traditional woman, and I feel really grateful that I have this cultural heritage to stand on, that I have these teachings to draw on. The album’s title track, We Are, is an example of how Digging Roots’ music speaks to the native community about coming together and working together towards a better world, as well as having a similar message for broader humankind. “I think it comes right down to who we are as

DIGGING ROOTS IS ONE OF THE MOST ORIGINAL

RECORDING AND PERFORMING ACTS TO COME ALONG IN QUITE SOME TIME

of imagine what that sounds like when you think of traditional native music. So all the songs on the record are actually related to the contour of a horizon line somewhere that we travelled.” Kish’s vocals can move from powerful, to emotive, to bluesy and sultry from song to song and sometimes within songs, while the guitar playing of Berklee College of Musictrained Kanatakta is sublime, sometimes sounding jazzy, sometimes sounding like he is channelling Stevie Ray Vaughan. Born on a reserve at Winneway, Quebec, Kanatakta grew up listening to First Nations music, traditional pow wow music, but also country and gospel music. But he also tapped into guitar legends such as Son House and Jimi Hendrix, and actually earned his degree from Berklee in jazz composition. Kish is no less accomplished, studying creative writing at the university level, and also studying music, including courses in ethnomusicology, at Carleton University in Ottawa. The pair began collaborating together at the 1997 Ottawa Folk Festival, and have been calling themselves Digging Roots since 2002. The band has performed concerts and at festivals across Canada, as well as in the United States and even France. On their current tour, in support of We Are,

photos Kevin Lamb

Kish said they are trying to play in more clubs. “I think there’s a dynamic range in what we do. I think we’re a roots band, but there’s a really strong rock element to the live performance, so it’s nice to get into a club and play loud sometimes,” she said. To that effect, and to give a more urban feel to the live performances, the band has enlisted the aid of an onstage DJ, DJ Jesus Parlange. Dynamic is also be used to describe the overall career arc of Kish, Kanatakta and Digging Roots. For more information, visit www.diggingrootsmusic.com, or on myspace.com.

By Jim Barber

PIE MAGAZINE

afie jurvanen STEPS OUT INTO THE WORLD AS A SOLO ARTIST By CARLEIGH AIKINS

Many people start their careers out by working under others, and while most are driven by the chance to climb the corporate ladder or gain seniority, there are those who deny working for someone else; those who decide to embrace the chance to step out into the world and work for no one but themselves. As scary as this transition may be in a so-called “conventional career,” it may seem far more intimidating to do so when in the business of music. Attempting to stand out alone in a sea of thousands upon thousands of other musicians is no easy task, even if you are a gifted songwriter. (Talent may not even be a requirement to make big money, which becomes more apparent every time Nickleback sells a record). And even while you may have been earning your bread by contributing to the works of other successful artists, deciding to begin your own solo career doesn’t guarantee you will be able to bring home the bacon. Afie Jurvanen is one of Canada’s shining examples of such a talent who found success playing for others, but decided it was time to “go it alone.” After touring the world as a guitarist for Canadian artists such as Jason Collett, Great Lake Swimmers, and most recently Feist, Jurvanen was adventurous enough to decide to move on to a solo career. As a boy growing up in small-town Barrie, Ontario, Jurvanen found a calling to music at an early age and began saving up his babysitting funds to buy his first guitar. “I wanted to be Tom Petty,” he says. “Before that I fancied

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myself a drummer, except I had no drums.” Eventually, he did own a rose-coloured Fender Stratocaster, which inspired the title for his first solo album, called Pink Strat, which was released July 21st 2009 on Nevado Records, under his new moniker Bahamas. The Bahamas project was recorded when Afie returned home to Toronto in 2008 after nearly two years on the road with Feist’s The Reminder tour. With an arsenal of short little love songs he’d accumulated over the years, he settled into a home studio and went straight to work recording them. “For a lot of people, this is their first introduction to my music,” he says, “so in a way I suppose it’s a chance to start over.” Starting over could have seemed like an arduous task for Jurvanen, especially after having made a comfortable career for himself playing on hard-hitting Canadian records with artists such as The Stills, Hayden, Jason Collett, Feist and many others. Lending his sweet licks to such recordings lead him to play on some of the world’s biggest stages, such as The Hollywood Bowl, Royal Albert Music Hall, Saturday Night Live, the Grammys, Massey Hall and the Ryman Auditorium. But Jurvanen has yet to be discouraged by stepping out on his own to start anew. In his words he is “really proud to have been a part of all those bands and records. I’m happy to talk about my contribution to those things, but at the same time, right now it’s about my own songs. I’m happy to be playing Bahamas shows, traveling around and just meeting people in a different context. Everyone has a past, and those things are a part of mine. The future reeks of potential good times.” Jurvanen’s career made its roots in Barrie Ontario, where he grew up with many of the musicians he is still inspired by and making music with to this day (namely some of the members of Zeus, a band newly signed to the Arts & Crafts powerhouse label). “Since I can remember I’ve always been involved in other people’s music as well as my own. In Barrie I was playing in a band called The 68’s, and at the same time writing songs.” It was with friends from the 68’s and other musicians around Barrie that Jurvanen made the move to Toronto, later forming the band Paso

Mino. Shortly thereafter, Paso Mino became the backing band for Arts & Crafts artist Jason Collett, which began a long stretch of touring around North America. ‘We all just really enjoyed touring,’ he says. “It was a real boys club, so it seemed logical to just stay on the road until other commitments brought us home. Touring begets more touring.” And that was certainly true of this artist. It was his hard work on the road that got Afie noticed by one of Canada’s finest female singer-songwriters, Leslie Feist, and it wasn’t long before he was living out his Tom Petty dreams and travelling the world as her guitarist and keyboardist. “When I moved to Toronto, I just gravitated towards people that were doing something that I could relate to, whether it was my own tunes or someone else’s. The music community here is pretty small too, [ much like Barrie ] so it didn’t take long to find people that liked the same Neil Young records as I did.” Although modest about his achievements, Jurvanen has become one of the Barrie music scene’s greatest success stories. When asked about what it was like starting out in Barrie, he recalls, “There wasn’t much of what’s really considered a scene. I’m sure it’s not unlike any other suburban small town in that regard. The music community was very small, so we would do shows with our friends’ bands. It was largely our friends and family that would come to hear us play, which was pretty amazing in and of itself.” Jurvanen can accredit a lot of his success to the encouragement of his family, mainly his mother, who was always supportive of his artistic ambitions. “I didn’t have to really do any convincing,” he says of relaying his plans to her about wanting to be a musician. “She just saw what made me happiest and said, ‘Son, use the basement as a jam cave.’ She has the most adventuring spirit, and I think I get that from her.” Today Afie is embarking on a new adventure in his own story as a solo artist; but flying solo may not feel

like the ‘boys club’ it once did for Jurvanen as a member of Mino and the other bands he’s travelled with. Bahamas songs are performed with nothing but his guitar and an old vintage amplifier while accompanied by a drummer, yet it is this vulnerability that makes the Bahamas sound so unique. “There are times when I wish I had someone to take the wheel (literally),” he says of his current days on the road. “On the other hand, I’ve really been enjoying playing as a duo. There’s a certain amount of sonic freedom that comes with just guitar and drums.” Bahamas seems to be on a healthy track to success, with Pink Strat already gaining critical acclaim, a busy summer of playing noteworthy festivals such as Wolfe Island, Hillside and the Winnipeg Folk Festival, and a Canadian/US tour with Arts & Crafts artist Amy Millan in the fall. When asked what his personal idea of success was, Jurvanen answered, “Waking up every day and not knowing where the day is gonna take me makes me feel successful. There’s so much freedom in accepting

the unknown and I’m glad I gave in to it a long time ago.” So it seems, although his new project has yet to see him flying to stages around the world as he once did while playing for others, Jurvanen is content to allow the Bahamas success story unfold as it will. Pink Strat is a hauntingly simple and satisfying taste of twelve ditties which mythologize love and heartache while hinting at a touch of Jurvanen’s own love story, and his intimate and outstanding songwriting abilities are sure to emerge as some of the greatest this country has to offer. Bahamas Pink Strat is now available worldwide (digitally) and in stores across Canada, and it is only a matter of time before Afie Jurvanen graces the same world-renowned stages he once did as the guitarist for someone else’s band. Only this time his name will be in lights on the big marquee.

| Photography Dave Gillespie PIE MAGAZINE

ROYALTY OF 1990S CANADIAN ROCK SCENE LAUNCHES NEW

SUPERGROUP

By Jim Barber Peace, and if we were playing together, Mike and I would hand out. Ed’s been pretty much everyone’s friend, and he’s played with the Tea Party,” he said. “So in sort of a roundabout way, Amir put it together or at least put it on the table for us to think about.” Burrows and Edwin both said they thought long | Photography Richard Beland and hard about what it would take to put a band Jeff Burrows and Edwin are hoping the sum is together, as well as what others in the industry even greater than the parts that make up their and in the broader fan base might think and new band, Crash Karma. expect of such and enterprise, both positive Burrows, a founding member and drummer and negative. for the now-defunct rock band The Tea “I’ve develop this leather skin over 15 years Party, and Edwin, a successful solo artist, and with the Tea Party. I am sure I can handle a former vocalist for Canadian alternative-rock little bit of flak,” said Burrows. darlings, I Mother Earth, recently joined “We realize that it’s a double-edged sword. forces with former Our Lady Peace guitarist/ We are using our past fame to get people to songwriter and Zygote bassist Amir Epstein pay attention to the band, but at the same to form what can’t help but be described as a time, people are always going to compare Canuck version of a rock supergroup – Crash it, in quality at least, to what we’ve done in Karma. the past, and I think we’re all pretty proud of And both Burrows and Edwin give a great what we’ve done in the past,” added Edwin. deal of the credit for the formation of this “I don’t think anybody puts more pressure on new musical powerhouse to Epstein. us than we do ourselves anyhow. We all want “Amir wanted to hook up with me just to ask to go out there and shine, and be at our very me if we could write some songs together for best, and not let the other guys in the band my next solo record. So, through a mutual down.” friend we hooked up on the patio of a coffee Crash Karma began working on songs from shop one day. And as we were talking, he the outset and began recording as soon as kind of started talking and said, ‘you know they could, with Turner twiddling the knobs, what would be really cool, if it was you and acting as producer and engineer. Jeff and Mike, and we had a band, and we Fans of the former bands will hear elements went out there and kicked ass,’” Edwin told of Our Lady Peace, Tea Party and I Mother Pie Magazine. “And I was like, ‘yeah, yeah, Earth/Edwin, but the music also sounds like nice dream. I don’t think that’s going to its own unique entity. happen.’” “I think the songs are good. I think it’s a But it did. combination of all of our styles and influences. Burrows said although he didn’t know Epstein Jeff Burrows is an awesome drummer. He has that well, he did know Turner and Edwin always been one of my favourite drummers from years in the same business, travelling a in the country, You’ve got Mike with his great lot of the same highways and byways. guitar textures and my voice that people “I knew Mike when he was in Our Lady

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seem to gravitate to at all times. And the combination really works, and also the songs are really strong,” said Edwin. While Epstein’s band never scaled the same heights of success of his bandmates, both Burrows and Edwin said the entire Crash Karma project has been ego-free thus far with each member playing an equal part. “Even in the Tea Party, everybody thought (vocalist/guitarist) Jeff Martin had a huge ego, and to be honest, Jeff doesn’t. He’s confident in what he can do, and he can do it, plain and simple. And with the Crash Karma guys, there’s zero ego as well. My thinking is if you can back it up, you can shoot your mouth off all you ant. There’s zero ego with this project. It’s kind of an interesting chemistry,” said Burrows. With an album’s worth of material recorded, Crash Karma members knew the real litmus test would be how the material – and the band itself – would be received by a live audience. Both Edwin and Burrows said the response has been tremendous, even though fans were seeing a one our set of almost all new, neverbefore-heard songs. “It’s hard to play 11 songs that people haven’t heard before and keep their interest. But we have been really blessed by the fact that the crowds that have not heard the music before were right into the set, and were right into what they were hearing. So it really gives the band a life and helps us be even better,” said Edwin. “There was a concern. First, we didn’t know how the songs would translate live. In the rehearsal room is one thing, but being out on the stage is a whole other ball game. We were pretty worried about that, and playing a bunch of songs that people didn’t know. But the crowds quickly helped us get over that.” Crash Karma’s debut album was set to come out in the fall, and live dates are expected to follow. Visit the band’s website at www.crashkarma.com, or at their myspace site. www.myspace.com/crashkarma

sassjordan By Jim Barber

It’s pretty hard not to like Sass Jordan. The woman is overflowing with energy, humour and charm, and is about the most down-to-earth and engaging rock star one could ever hope to meet. It is this natural ease and grace that also inhabits Jordan’s latest CD, From Dusk ‘Til Dawn, which was released to the world digitally earlier this year, and hit stores in September. The album came together after Jordan’s other main gig for the past six years, as a judge on Canadian Idol, came to an end when the series went on hiatus, freeing up more time to concentrate on making music. “It was really difficult to get the focus together to make music and do what I really do when I was doing that TV show. I mean, I did manage to do some, and I do like when I did, but I am glad that it is done with, it frees me a lot to focus more. I would say this record actually made in about three months from start to finish, which is really quick,” Jordan told Pie Magazine. “We [Jordan and husband/producer Derek Sharp] wrote the songs in about a month. We were actually working on another project and it fell through and never happened, that would have involved having a record ready. So that’s why we were in such a rush to get it all done properly.” Jordan discovered that she actually like the short burst of creative energy and focus that it took to pull together From Dusk ‘Til Dawn. “It was so intense and so focussed that I would prefer to do it that way all the time. It makes way more sense to me. I am definitely a proponent of that kind of an approach at this time. It was wonderful. And that’s what I am going to do with the next one. Believe it or not, I already have that going on in my head. I want to make a heavy blues rock record.” The heavier sort of blues rock is what really but Jordan on the music map in the early 1990s. Her debut album, 1988s Tell Somebody, spawned a number of hit singles, including the title track and So Hard. But it was her second, harder edged album in 1992, Racine that really generated a serious buzz in the popular consciousness. Rockers like Make You A Believer and Goin’ Back again were combined with bluesy ballads like You Don’t

Have to Remind Me for a potent combination, one that carried through to Rats, which came out in 1994, and featured the hit singles, High Road Easy and Sun’s Gonna Rise. She then released albums in 1998 (Present), Hot Gossip (2000), and the rootsy Get What You Give in 2006. From Dusk ‘Til Dawn also has a organic vibe to it from the ballsy lead-off track What I Need, to the uplifting Stronger, to the moody Home Again. “What I need, we were talking about The Who, and you know that song Magic Bus, we were sort of trying to get a feel like that with the drums,” she said, adding that there is also a peaceful easy California feeling to the record, which in large part is due to the many years she spent living there. “The cover shot, that coyote, that’s Laurel Canyon in 1971, and it’s taken by the same guy who took the shot that’s on the cover of Hotel California, so the album is very much that 1970s California feeling, because I lived there for a long time, and you soak up the vibrations in a lot of ways. It’s awesome.” Jordan was somewhat reticent to talk about her time in California, as it was sort of a mixed bag of experiences, some great, some not so great. Jordan said it’s part of the job of being an artist to bring to light both the good and bad experiences of life. “It’s not so much to be a technically great singer as to be someone that awakens, or is capable of awakening the emotion in other people. Because emotion is what motivates and what activates, inspires, instigates. That’s what makes people do something about things, is the depth of emotion that they feel,” she said. Jordan spent six years as a judge on Canadian Idol and said that while she had a great time, she has put it in the past and is moving on. “I have to admit, I have never watched those shows, other than

live in the studio when I had to because I was in it,” she said. “To me, what you’ve got to understand is that it was a TV show, end of story. Some people managed to pervade the exposure that they got from that TV show into a genuine, bona fide career. But all those people would never be the kind of artist that I would have been or been interesting in being. They’re more in the Celine Dion category,” she said. “I have no idea what I would have done if I had been starting to do what I do when this existed. I always think I would never have done it, but I don’t know what the hell I would have done.” What Jordan is doing is touring in support of From Dusk ‘Til Dawn, and as she said, beginning preliminary work on the next record. She said the key to her happiness, her energy, and her positive outlook on like is to love life. “I love life, and I think that helps. And I hang out with other people who love life, and people who have a youthful attitude.

“I JUST LOV AND I THINKE LIFE, PROBABLY THAT IT SHOWS.”

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our lady peace

by JIM BARBER

GOES BACK TO BASICS WITH NEW CD > BURN BURN There was a time, during the recording of their 2005 record Healthy in Paranoid Times, that things were far from healthy in the world of Canadian alternative rockers, Our Lady Peace. Record company turmoil and an excessively long and expensive recording process led to mounting frustration. So the band that brought the world such classic tunes as Somewhere Out There, Naveed, Superman’s Dead and Starseed, essentially took a break from one another for about a year and a half. But when they reconvened, it was back to work, with a refreshed attitude, greater perspective and a desire to want to recapture the simply joys of creating music together. The result is Burn Burn, the seventh studio

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release for Our Lady Peace, and the first on the band’s own label. Coalition Records. It presents a more straightforward approach to both songwriting and recording, thanks mostly to the methodology the band used to capture the energy they were all feeling about being back working together after their short break. “We spend two and a half years in the studio, on and off. We would go down to Raine’s place (vocalist Raine Maida) and basically get a skeletal arrangement of a song down, and as soon as we have that, we would record it. So we would usually get together with three or four ideas, track them in about a week and then take a month or two in between, and then get together again and track another three or four ideas, and we kind of did that about six times, and that’s what’s on the record,” said

OLP drummer Jeremy Taggart. “We sat back, and we never listened to songs in between these sessions. So some of the stuff we hadn’t heard for a year and a half. We would track it, we would finish it and then put it away. And at the end we just listened to everything we had recorded and the ten songs for the album kind of spoke for themselves, they picked themselves.” Maida acted as the de facto producer of the record, doing most of the recording, but said the entire production of the CD was very collaborative. No outside producer or engineer was needed because all the members of the band acted as the producers, vetting and improving the material when they listened to it. “Our producer was that perspective in between, the time off. On this record we knew how to get the sounds. Raine was nice enough to let us use his studio. He has a great board, and everything is super accessible and quick to get the sounds. It was really easy for us, to be honest, to track. Because it was all right there, and the songs had enough feeling for us to keep moving,” said Taggart. “We evaluated everything as a band. And sometimes (bassist) Duncan (Coutts) was at the board recording Steve (guitarist Steve Mazur), and sometimes Steve was at the board recording Raine. It was really using the studio a hundred per cent as a tool, and all of our experience from the past, working together to make this record.”

Taggart said the band had drifted away from the approach that had worked so successfully on earlier albums such as Naveed and Gravity, one that focussed on the live audience as much as anything else. Many critics have called Burn Burn a return to the past for Our Lady Peace, that the band has gone back to recapture the sort of energy and grit of their earlier albums. “On this record we were thinking, for one, about the live show, which is what we definitely did for Naveed. On our last couple of records that was not the case. We were just making a record and we would have to try to live up to that record, which was almost impossible in terms of how much was going on with the guitar tracks and extra keyboard sounds,” Taggart said. “On this record, we just looked at these songs and said, ‘okay, this is what they’re going to be like live. Because we tracked them live off the floor, and added a few things here and there, but the things that we added aren’t necessarily needed live.” Taggart said he and his bandmates are in a much happier place than they were three or four years ago. The band, through Coalition, control all aspects of Burn Burn, with Sony Music doing the distribution. Coalition handles all the marketing, promotions and publicity, meaning it is easier

for Our Lady Peace to know where there hard earned dollars are being spent. Working as a band on a major label, was not a fun experience for the band, especially in the early 2000’s. “Things were tense in just the business side of things. Our record company crumbled underneath our feet while our record was about to come out … and, I think for us as a band, it was hard to make that record. It took a long time. It took three years [to make Healthy in Paranoid Times] and we spent boatloads of money, and it was just excessive and disgusting in terms of how far we were going with no end in sight,” he said. “There was no hatred towards each other, or animosity towards someone doing something. It was nothing like that. It was just like, ‘man, we need to get the hell out of here for a second, and rethink what it is that our band is. What is this? What are we doing? It was just a very paranoid kind of state,” Taggart said. All but Mazur have wives and kids at home, so Taggart said family became the focus of the individual band members, as well as working on non OLP projects. “And by doing a little bit off on our own, but the time we got back together, it just was fine. Because as soon as we started making music again, that was the whole point, that is what we were, and the songs started flowing.

“We’re inspired by each other. We’re all kind of really serious in terms of what we want to do. We’re only interested in things that interest us. And that includes playing music and then getting inspired by it.” Burn Burn was released in July. The first single, All You Did Was Save My Life, received loads of radio airplay, as did the video for it. Live, the band tries to incorporate at least four songs from the new album into their shows. Taggart said the new material is being received well by the live audiences they have encountered. “We’re doing songs like Monkey Brains. We’re doing Paper Moon, All You Did Was Save My Life, The End is Where We Begin, Dreamland … they are the ones we kind of have up and running in the live show. Every song on the record really has a good feeling to perform live. And they’re fun to play, as are all the older songs that we’re playing on this tour right now too. We are playing at least four new songs, and people seem to be really into it. The energy of the set doesn’t drop off.” Taggart said he expects Our Lady Peace to be touring throughout the fall and winter. You can check out tour dates, or get more information at www.ourladypeace.com.

blackcrowes STILL MAKING MUSIC THEIR WAY by JIM BARBER

There was a time, in the very early years of the 20th century, that the Black Crowes almost packed it in. If they had done so, it would have brought an end to one of the most remarkable success stories in rock music – a band that, over the span of nearly two decades, had produced a string of critically acclaimed albums that sold millions of copies, without pandering, without sell out, without buying in too deeply to the corporate machinery that is the music industry these days. Songs like Twice As Hard, She Talks to Angels. Remedy, and Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around have become classic rock staples, and the Black Crowes worked hard to earn a reputation as one of the best live bands on the circuit. Original member Steve Gorman felt worn out by 2002, after 12 years of near relentless touring and recording, and decided to leave the band. Brothers Chris and Rich Robinson, the founders of The Black Crowes also decided to pack it in. But the hiatus lasted only three years, time enough to recharge the batteries, and get the creative juices flowing again. And boy have the juices been flowing. After touring for a year, they began work on a new album, Warpaint, which was released in 2008. Less than a year later, a live album and DVD based on that tour was also released, all the while the band was working

| Photography Kevin Lamb PIE MAGAZINE

on new material. Instead of waiting for a couple of years or more between records, like many artists do, the Crowes threw convention to the wind and began working hard at getting a record out for the fall of 2009. The Black Crowes have always been a little unconventional, and have always done things their way. The philosophy extends to their latest album, Before the Frost …, which is actually a double album. If you purchase Before the Frost, you get an access code which enables you to download an entire second album … Until the Freeze “We knew we had enough for a double album, but we thought you can’t ask people to pay for a double album right now when the economy’s in the toilet. So how do we get all these songs out? Then it was like, wait a minute, why don’t we starting thanking people for 20 years of support now,” said Gorman, who said the band realized that 2010 will be the 20th anniversary of the Black Crowes smash debut album, Shake Your Money Maker. The Robinson brothers write all the songs, and according to Gorman, the process of pulling songs from the idea stage, to the recorded stage is a well rehearsed, yet still spontaneous one. “We work on things on the road all the time. Rich has a million ideas. Like, in sound check, he’ll just be playing through his ideas and we’ll all jump on it and just try to talk about it,” Gorman said. “For the record that just came out, Rich and Chris got together for about 10 days before the band showed up, and they both have a lot of ideas. And they sat in a room with our producer Paul Stacey, and they started putting songs together, so that when the rest of the band shows up, they’re like, ‘here’s a song that goes like this.’” Gorman said they prefer it when Chris and Rich had the basic framework of a song in place, then when the band gets together, they know what parts need to be filled in. “Songwriting is a process, and then arranging and working out the song as a band is another process. You don’t want to put the cart in front of the horse … I definitely prefer the songs to be written in a stripped down sense. And then you know the bones are there, and the structure is great, and then the rest is just dressing it up how you want it to feel.” For the Crowes, it’s all about the music. There is no outside interference on the types of songs to be written recorded, how the videos are to be made or how the tracks are laid down. The two albums, Before The Frost … and ….Until The Freeze, were recorded in an almost hybrid live/studio manor. Chris Robinson decided it would be a good idea to record in Levon Helm’s (The Band) performance space, essentially a converted barn in Woodstock, New York, that had been transformed into a hall and a recording space. “It’s actually an entirely live album. We had 200 people with us in a studio and we played all new music, and the whole album - both albums - is from those sessions. It was great. We were up at a barn in the middle of winter in the woods, for three weeks, and we would work during the week at putting the songs together, and on the weekend nights, we would have 200 people come in and they would sit and down and we’d say, ‘okay, we’re really not sure what we were doing, but we hope you enjoy it,’” Gorman said. “And then we would just start doing takes, and we would stop a take if somebody broke a string, or of somebody forgot the arrangement …and once we would get a really good take, then we would move on to the next tune. And it turned out to be a pretty special thing because it was pretty much an experiment … When all as said and done, we had five nights of recordings and listening back to all of these songs, it was pretty apparent that we had a record. It was really something.” Before the records were released, the band and already hit the road, making one of its few Canadian stops at Casino Rama in mid-September. Known for not being afraid to play a lot of material or for creating extensive jams onstage, Gorman said the new material was well received by fans. “When you’re in a band, you just assume everyone knows everything about you, and you forget to look at it from the outside perspective. Every time we put out a record, that’s just sort of where we are, and I guess I always expect people to kind of get that by now,” said Gorman. “You know, we’re only still here after this long because people have been very respectful of us, and given us the space to do this, and it’s nice to know that’s still going on … there’s nothing that’s going to make us feel better than knowing our audience gives us a lot of space to do what we want.” What they want has been working now for 20 years.

PIE MAGAZINE

searching BALANCE M

FOR A NEW by DARREN C. JACOB

| Photography Anton Volek Nestled in the ever growing community of Barrie, Ontario, lives a young multifather, titled Elevator Man.” instrumentalist destined for musical greatness. His name - Brett Caswell. For Brett the song was emotionally draining, and At the ripe young age of eleven, Brett first picked up a guitar and started to mimic it will always be emotionally difficult to play. Brett’s his peers; painfully learning scales and chords. Entering high school a few years later, father was by far his biggest fan. Never missing a show, he started playing with some friends and that’s when he got his first taste of playing and always snapping pictures of his son flailing about music live in front of an audience. After this one momentous event, everything in the stage! Elevator Man just may be one of the strongest his life changed. songs on the album and is a perfect memorial to his late “Growing up I really wanted to be a professional hockey player, but after my first great father. live show I quickly hung up my skates and did everything rock’n’roll!” Brett says A high part of recording A New Balance for Brett was the with a sinister smile. opportunity to get into the studio with his many talented Throughout the last fifteen years, Brett has played in numerous bands covering friends. Members of local acts like Fox Jaws, and Sonora every genre, which in turn has honed his skills a musician and as a song writer. Aero Club, trumpet player Steve Dyte, local fiddle players He is now encouraging, as well as influencing the next generation of rock stars Nicolle Clappison and Sarah Morano, and some amazing by operating a music school named R&B’s School of Music(in cohorts with his pedal steel courtesy of Dale Murray of Cuff the Duke all peer and business partner Rob Drake). He is teaching kids to have fun with helped Brett’s vision of this album come to life. music, “because if they aren’t having fun then they are playing music for all “I’m extremely lucky to have friends who donate their time. the wrong reasons.” Friends who just make my songs sound so much better!” Now an older, mature Brett is ready to release his highly anticipated new Brett’s live shows are a sight to see - full of charisma and album titled A New Balance. For the greater part of 2009, Brett has been passion. The cheering crowds fuel his energy, making him act in keeping busy in a quiet studio hidden in the foot hills of Mono Mills, creating unexpected ways. These are traits that have seemed to vanish as an album which he hopes everyone will treasure for years to come. of late with rock bands. “I want people leaving my show hungry “The new record has a light and dark feel to it. There is something for for more! It seems that most of the time there are four or five everyone to enjoy.” dudes just standing on stage playing their instruments with no A New Balance is a ten song LP, full of top notch melodies that will have enthusiasm.” This is far from the case with Brett, but if you want to any listener tapping their feet, singing along, or maybe even shedding a see a mellower Brett, just playing an acoustic guitar, you can catch tear here or there. The album is chock full of harmonies, gang vocals him playing solo any night of the week – paying the bills by playing (Brett rounded up a bunch of his young music students to help him the Barrie bar circuit singing covers and some originals – but that’s out), horns, and fiddles, as well as the essentials that make up any good not rock’n’roll! “When this album is done, I’m going to play my ass rock’n’roll record. off. There isn’t one town I don’t want to play in. I want everyone see “My songs in the past were all about love. I love you; she loves me; my live show and hear my album!” The band he has formed to play love, love, love. I’m bored with love. I’m not saying I’ll never write live shows with consists of good friends borrowed from other local acts. another love song, but for now my direction has changed for this Brandyn Aikins (Fox Jaws) on drums, Dave Murray (Sonora Aero Club) album. My songs now seem to question life; question peoples on guitar, vocals, and keys, Lincoln Hamlyn (Sonora Aero Club) on bass actions and motives, and of course my own personal tragedies.” and vocals, and last but not least, the lovely Nicolle Clappison on fiddle. 2008 wasn’t a great year by any means for Brett. His life was A New Balance is scheduled for release sometime in November or riddled with tragedy, which included a near death experience (he early December of 2009. The album will be sold at HMV and Sunrise was on vacation in Nicaragua and fell off a deck landing face Records across Canada, as well as in the electronic world of iTunes. first on a fence post, breaking his jaw and most of his teeth), and For more information about Brett Caswell, including current tour the passing of his father, Bob Caswell. dates, music video’s, and some sneak peaks of his upcoming album, visit “The hardest song I wrote for this album was a song about my www.myspace.com/bcaswell

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Rik emmett For more than three decades, Rik Emmett has been known as one of Canada’s most gifted and versatile guitarists and vocalists, as well as a prolific and productive songwriter. Throughout the late 1970’s and 1980’s, he was an integral part of the power trio Triumph, leaving that band in 1988 to embark on a solo career. During the twists and turns of his career a as a solo performer, Emmett has written, performed and recorded music crossing over a dizzying array of genres – classical, jazz, blues rock, and in the introspective singer/songwriter vein. He has also embarked on a number of collaborations including a hard rock project with Mike Shotten called Airtime, and his continuing work as on half of the Strung Out Troubadours. The Troubs, as they are now known, features Emmett, along with his long-time sideman Dave Dunlop, who is a brilliant and similarly versatile guitarist and songwriter in his own right. As the Troubs, Emmett and Dunlop have released three CDs, the most recent, Push and Pull, came out in May. The act’s self-titled debut release in 2006 copped the pair two Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards for Album of the year and group/duo of the year. The second CD featured the Strung Out Troubadours performing live at the famous Hugh’s Room in Toronto. Whereas the first CD focused more on the two-guitar, acoustic slant, Push and Pull sees the pair incorporate more of an electrified full-band approach. Dunlop and Emmett play together a lot: as the Troubs, in Emmett’s various solo shows, which feature his hard rockin’ Triumph repertoire as well as special Eric Clapton tribute shows that Emmett also does. Dunlop also played with Emmett, Mike Levine and Gil Moore in a series of concerts with a re-formed Triumph last year. “So when you take all those four things, and then you sort of say, ‘okay, what’s the common denominator?’ And if you were trying

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EMMETT GETS STRUNG OUT WITH

JAZZY SIDE PROJECT

to evolve the Troubadours towards something that made more sense from a common denominator point of view, it just seems logical that it would start to take on a little bit more of the electric energy, a little bit more of the electric guitars playing, - solos together over rhythm tracks, and a rhythm section, that kind of stuff,” Emmett told Pie Magazine, adding that while smooth jazz seems to be the label smacked on the first Troubadours CD, it is proving much harder for music critics, fans, and even Emmett himself to put a label on Push and Pull. “I can’t concern myself too much with that when I’m trying to creating and make music for a living. I am just going to try and make a good record and put it out, and wait and see what happens … to me, music is a very organic, spiritual kind of pursuit. So it has to be self-defining. It has to come from the inside out. It can’t be from the outside it.” All the recording, engineering, and mixing of Push and Pull was done at Dunlop’s Room 9 home studio. Dunlop said working with Emmett as the CD’s producer was a very positive experience. “He is very easy going. He comes in, and he lays down his parts and that’s it. Because it’s my studio and I am there all the time, he lays them down and then he trusts me to just mix it and finish it,” Dunlop said. “Not to say that he doesn’t have his opinions. Of course he does. I welcome his opinions. He will do his parts, and in this day and age, you’re sending MP3s back and forth.” And it’s a collaboration that is approaching the 20 year mark, far longer than Emmett was in Triumph (1975 to 1988). Dunlop was part of the teaching faculty in the

music department at Toronto’s Humber College, and in 1990, Emmett was a special guest instructor. “He was a sort of younger rocking kind of dude. But he had the right attitude, in that he had gone to Humber College himself, and so he had the right kind of chops and the right kind of head on his shoulders that he was the kind of guy that would appeal to me. Because you see rockin’ dudes all the time, where they don’t have that sort of intellectual capacity to grasp reality very well. They all think it’s about hot chicks, and having parties. From a character and a personality point of view, Dave appealed to me as the right kind of guy,” Emmett said. He first hired Dunlop for his backing band as an emergency fill in. That broadened into something semi-permanent and then permanent. And it went from Dunlop simply being a sideman, to a full collaborator, who has taken on a more prominent role in the live shows. “From a temperament point of view, personality and character wise, Dave suits me pretty good. I don’t think he’s as much of a showbiz, show-off kind of guy as I am. I am more of a frontman singer, right from when I first started when I was a teenaged kid … So in Dave’s case, he never really saw himself as a singer, and I don’t think he really saw himself as an entertainer,” Emmett said. “But that has been one of the coolest things about his relationship with me, is that, over time, I’ve been saying, ‘come on, get your ass out to the front of the stage and entertain those people, show off a little bit buddy … entertain them with the high quality stuff that you are capable of doing.’” The partnership has grown and flourished over the last 19 years because of both partners’ musical virtuosity, as well as their willingness to work together on new musical adventures, strolling from stage to stages, sometimes as a duo, or trio, quartet and quintet, sometimes even as part of the legendary Triumph. Just like the Troubadours of ages past. by JIM BARBER

VOLUME 1

By Darren Shan

On October 23rd of this fall, the movie ‘Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant’ will be in theatres. It’s based on the manga comic book series known as the ‘Vampire Blood’ trilogy, the first of four trilogies in the saga. The author himself is the main character of the same name. Right off the bat an eerie atmosphere falls over a seemingly normal everyday community, bringing with it a dark yet intriguing presence - a circus. A group of friends all compete for the last two tickets available for the show. Darren and his best friend, Steve, prevail. Both boys are big fans of horror and all things weird, Darren having a special interest/obsession with spiders. Darren is captivated after witnessing the impressive performances including, a hypnotized wolf man, a strikingly beautiful bearded lady, the masterful Mr. Crepsley and his agile spider, named Madam Octa. Dar-

ren longs for a powerful pet spider and makes it his goal to acquire Madame Octa. His friend, Steve, on the other hand, recognizes Mr. Crepsley from a painting he saw in a monster book from the early 1900’s and catches on that he is really the fiendish Vur Horston – a vampire. Willing to give up an unloving mother and his best friend, Steve stays behind to convince the vampire to transform him. But when Vur Horston tastes his ‘bad blood’ and turns him down and sends him home, things begin to change between the classmates. After Darren succeeds in abducting Madam Octa, he does some training and is fascinated by her. While proudly presenting the accomplished arachnid, Steve is accidentally attacked and is near death; Darren becomes aware in a panic that he must get his hands on the anti-

SUCCULENT

Illustrations Julia Dic kens

dote. While confronting and imploring the Count Vur Horsdon for the antitoxin, a deal is struck. Steve’s life will be saved only if Darren agrees to give himself to Vur Horston. He will be revamped into a vamp - an assistant. Once Steve recovers from his hospital interlude he learns of the agreement and is rather displeased. He misunderstands how and why it came to be and vows revenge on his once best buddy. Darren then begins his depressing and lonely journey with his new villainous professor.

by Heather Valentine

PREY

A virus that prompts an uncontrollable urge to kill and consume humans brings to mind zombies, but this novel revolves around a living, breathing person. There are few things, however, that make Joe Miles human. This monster is a classic case of victim turned predator. Surviving a brutal attack at the hands of a teenager when he was a child, Joe’s impulses come to a head while in college. Not being able to be in the presence of certain women (plump and ‘meaty’) without becoming excited and ravenous, he propels himself into a dark, twisted and intensely sexually arousing world of torture and cannibalism. When he sweeps the woman of his dreams off her feet in a sex club, Joe wants her so badly it takes every warm drop of perverted blood within his carnivorous veins not to sink his teeth into her and digest her entirely. Instead, he tortures her in ways that turn her on and confuse her at the same time. She loves him, and hates him. Loathes him for what he does to her but is in a complete euphoric state while he’s doing it. She blames both him and herself while slowly becoming a victim to a garden variety case of Stockholm syndrome. When he realizes that he cannot go on like this and is convinced that the only way to reverse this ‘curse’ is to confront and destroy the source, the creator of his blood thirsty ways, he takes his captive/consenting lover and embarks on a road trip to track down his prey. Right after they start out, he pauses for a delicious rotisserie in a park, fulfilling a fellow long pig’s last wish. After leaving a gruesome trail of flesh, various body parts and organs, Joe finds himself still infected with what he truly believes is a virus. With two college professors and the police two steps behind him, he ties up all possible loose ends. Later, he returns to his love, Alicia, who welcomes him with open arms even though the last time they were together he gnawed a sizable hole in her chest and nearly killed s Julia Dicken Illustrations her. Her last want is for him to take her, to consume every morsel of her so they can be one. “What is love but the desire to unite with the love object? That’s why people get married, to make two souls into one. But of course that’s merely symbolic, imperfect. Marriage is an illusion of a true union. Cannibalism is the real deal. It could be the ultimate expression of love.” An enjoyable read if you are looking for something repugnant, gory and sexy all at once so long as cannibalism doesn’t bother you. This is the first of Mr. White’s books I’ve read and would be quite willing to read another. Known for his explicit detailing and ability to paint a graphic picture in your mind’s eye, Wrath James White is an author to add to your wonderfully twisted collection. by Heather Valentine PIE MAGAZINE

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babak

The clothing for this shoot was inspired by me seeing different objects and seeing how we can make dresses out of fabrics and objects that are not meant for clothing. After testing many objects with my clothing stylist, Laura Di Marcantonio, we came up with balloons! Balloons are fun, sexy and when used in quantity make a great texture to photograph. The balloons were glued to the skirts and outfits that laura had made, she also incorporated some fashion accessories and regular nondesrcript clothing to balance the balloons and make it more believable and not clownish. I lit the set with old style movie lights and made the bottom half of the images out of focus using tilt lens to bring some attention to the faces and the detail work without making the whole thing look too “real”. The execution of conceptual work is very important in conveying the feeling to the audience.

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Photography Babak Hair Dimitrios Tsioumas MUA John Simpson Styling Laura DiMarcantonio

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straightforward streetwear

Stephanie, sweater, boyfriend shirt, skirt, tights, feathers, boots/H&M, leather vest, bracelets, earVolcom socks/Boathouse PIE MAGAZINE 106rings/Tristan,

Ana, boyfriend blouse/Cassis, leather jacket/ Tristan, chain necklace/Cassis, zipper leggings/ Boathouse, boots/H&M

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Amanda, blouse, carnival vest/ Tristan, acid wash leggings/H&M PIE MAGAZINE

Amanda, Sweater, acid wash leggings, boots/H&M, blazer, chain bracelets/Cassis, leather bow belt/Tristan PIE MAGAZINE

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Photography Chris O’Driscoll

desigual it’s not the same

Recently, I travelled to two of the world’s most amazing cities - New York City and Paris, France. I always look forward to travelling for the obvious reasons: change of scenery, lack of routine, great food, new experiences but most of all, fashion and culture trends. These trips didn’t disappoint. While strolling the neighborhoods of these great cities, I continuously kept seeing stand-out clothing on the people around me and in the boutiques. What was it? Easy to find out but how could I get it into The Red Tulip? Well I did. Introducing Desigual - a line with concepts of colour and form, that just happens to be my favorite line this season. Desigual is designed and manufactured by a group of artists from Spain with a special philosophy. Specializing in cute tops and fantastic coats, the incredible mix of colour, texture and fabrics makes these works of art something only an artist could create. A true pleasure to wear now and for years to come, calling to eclecticism, spontaneity and breaking moulds, the very traits that have fuelled its powerful, original personality. Its spirit is light hearted, improvised and spontaneous, but with an ever-growing, perceptible element of style and fashion From black tie to jeans, wear it, flaunt it, showcase it. Desigual is designed to be one-of-a-kind-Be the one. Available exclusively at The Red Tulip.

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Dress/H&M, blazer/Artizia

Attention Recessionistas! Forget that drab old autumn humdrum and throw some colour into your fall wardrobe. Layers and accessories swaying in the breeze, bright like falling leaves.

Photography IAN COMPTON MUA & Hair Maee Kroft Styling Lynsie Roberts

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| Model Maddy from Elite Models

Dress, belt, bag/H&M

a la mode for every mood

Jacket/Gap

Dress, bracelet, tights, shoes/H&M Dress, necklace/H&M Cropped Blouse, tank top/Aritizia, tights, necklace H&M

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Photography Lynsie Roberts

Fluevog

$295

PUMPS

MAKE THE MAN KILLER INNER-CITY STREET THRILLER

Michael Kors $158

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Aldo $13

Man Fashionaola Blahnik/ bly Yours $400

fa n c y yo ur fe

WHERE WILL YOUR SHOES TAKE YOU? WHAT DO YOUR SHOES SAY ABOUT YOU? WHAT WOULD FOREST GUMP GUSH ABOUT YOUR

FOOTWEAR?

Strapped Su Alejandro in pra/Stolen Riches $1 80 gelino/Fash ionably your s $400 PIE MAGAZINE

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F A

Dress/Guess, tights/The Bay

Scarf, dress/Banana Republic, gloves/Mango

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WHAT KILLED ROMANCE? If for but one moment the light of the evening, as the stars cascade their brilliant aura, were to be with you, I would covet it. I would hold you as though the moon was but my last embrace and I were orbiting you. My heart would beat at each moment yours would as though they caress externally. My eyes glazed with thoughts of you. Kissing throughout the star filled sky. Each moment the embrace thrusts my mind into a whimsical displacement for a solidarity only that evening could bring. Seeing your face so glowing and beautiful. Your eyes supple like your skin make me wonder of how I could be with you. Thoughts stir belligerently and forth right with passion as I see your eyes change color from the dawn of light. Our passionate embraces as tender and yearned for as we kissed the night away. Not one thought in mind of anything more then telling you how I feel and caressing our lips with an embrace, explosive! The sun striking across your youthful glow, desire for you unheard of. What happened to romance? Why must it always succumb to nothing more than the frivolous need of instinct and reproduction? Encountering romance, I hope it possible. Billy Johnson

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Photography Kira Bucca Stylist Olga Siniakov Model sarah J from spot 6 Management jewelry Esther K Hair and MUA Pierce Ree

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F A

Scarf/Club Monaco, shoes/Aldo, dress/Club Monaco, gloves/Mango

Aldo shoes, sweater/Mango, headband/Club Monaco

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kelly stacey

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>BADLANDS

Michelle, crea sweater, silk blouse, gloves/Simmons

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Christopher, vest, pants/Imago Boutique Michelle, cashmere sweater, shorts/Simmons, coco Chanel glasses, pearls/Sandraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

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Christopher, suit, jacket, boots/Imago Boutique, Volcom shirt/Tropical North

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Christopher, Hurley sweater, denim/Tropical North Michelle, gloves, dress, scarf/Simmons

MUA Jen Mcdonald Stylist

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| MODEL Michelle V and Chris Thompson

In recent years there has been a massive movement in preserving our environment and sustainable energy. The focus of teaching has shifted to the younger generation, as they are the ones who will inherit this earth from us when we’re gone. For example, grade 2 students are building outdoor classrooms where they help in the early development stages of plants. Lessons about protecting the ozone and Polar Regions are being given in these outdoor classrooms. We felt inspired by the land of our beautiful province of Ontario and the new green movement for our editorial fashion shoot. For this shoot we went to the “Badlands”. “Badlands” is a geologic term for an area of soft rock devoid of vegetation and soil cover that has formed over time into a rolling landscape of deep red slopes and hills. These lands are very rare in Ontario and this is one of the best examples. The narrow greenish bands that can be seen throughout the rolling red hills are due to the change of red iron oxide (iron III) to green iron oxide (iron II) brought on by the circulating groundwater. This site was acquired by the Ontario Heritage Foundation in 2000 and is near the villages of Inglewood and Cheltenham Ontario. The “Badlands” are an Earth Science Area of Natural and Scientific Interest (ANSI), managed by the Bruce Trail Conservancy. We took nothing but photographs and we left nothing but our thanks. PIE MAGAZINE

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Alexander, Suit/Moods of Norway, Shirt/Dolce&Gabbana

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THE MONKEY ON HIS BACK

IRAQ’S HOT MODEL!

by PARIS LIBBY

Victor, Bowtie/Dries Van Noten, Jeans,Belt/Diesel, Blazer, Vest, Shirt/Ungaro Cherif, Suit/Moods of Norway, Shirt/Gucci Tie/G. Armani

Actor-Model Alexander Satar Farsi has a monkey on his back, literally, as seen on this month’s cover shoot by famed Hong Kongbased photographer Olaf Mueller, but also figuratively, as I found out during my Skype conversation with him for Pie Magazine. Most of the time, we only care about how models look and walk in designer wares. It’s not often we get to know much about them, other then the few supermodels we all know by one name, Kate, Naomi, Tyra, Cindy, Linda, even Tyson. What was there to talk about to a model about the modeling business that I didn’t already know? So I readied myself to discover something interesting about Alexander. Evening in Hong Kong, it’s 11pm and I am sitting with my cup of tea when Alexander calls. It is morning for him in L.A. At 8am he sits at his kitchen table, sleepy eyed and says hello through a morning yawn. He is dressed in an athletic soccer shirt Alexander played semi professional soccer for a few years but that story is for another time. When did you first discover you wanted to be a model? “Well I never thought about it actually. From an early age when I first came to America and saw television for the first time, the people in the little box captivated me.” He laughs. “That is where the dream of being an actor started. Modeling just happened.” “A photographer, while living in Phoenix, Arizona, scouted me. He took a couple of pictures of me and soon I was signed to an agency in Phoenix. I started working for local ads and events. It wasn’t until I moved to Los Angeles that I started taking it more serious. I got signed to the Wilhelmina Agency the same week I arrived in LA. After being there for three weeks, I got a modeling job in Hong Kong, China. Let’s go back a bit. Tell me about your background. You mentioned you moved to America at an early age. “Well, I was born in 1985 in Iraq. In 1990 after the first Gulf War began, I was 5 years old. My family members and I escaped to a refugee camp in Saudi Arabia. I spent 2 ½ years there. In 1993, the United Nations helped place my family in America. I lived in Seattle, Washington until 2007 before moving to Phoenix, Arizona. Now I live in Los Angeles.” “we all have a story to tell.” Do you think that experience as a child is something that holds you back or has it motivated you in the life and in the career you have chosen? “My early childhood was spent looking at war so of course it has shaped part or who I am. But since 9/11, it’s really changed who I am and affects my dreams and goals as an actor and a model. Being Arab now comes with unfair scrutiny. The images we see in the media of Middle Eastern people are by and large images of terrorism. In one day, a stereotype was placed on all Arab people. Sadly, nearly 10 years later that stereotype hasn’t faded but continues PIE MAGAZINE

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Victor, Suit, Shirt/Emanuel Ungaro, Bowtie/Dries Van Noten PIE MAGAZINE

to grow in the media. I mean, it isn’t just terrorist roles that are being offered to Middle Eastern talent; it’s now roles that characters are described as mean or intimidating looking. It’s sad to see. The balance of the scale is so off now.” Have you been offered roles to play a terrorist? “If you are an actor and you are of Arabic decent, trust me you have been asked to audition for a role like that. I always decline the offer. I won’t portray my community this way. I understand the need for it to be seen and I get why actors do it. However, there is much more to Middle Eastern people and there is more room for different roles that show us in the way most all of us really live. I hope to break down some of the stereotypes with the roles I agree to audition for. I want to be recognized as a talented actor. I won’t be able to change everyone’s impression of Arab people but I hope to change at least some.”

Victor, Tuxedo/Ermengeldo Zegna, Shirt and Shoe/Gucci

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Cherif, Suit, Kilt/Dressed To Kilt PIE MAGAZINE

Do you see similar struggles as a model? “Modeling for the most part is based on looks. When a client asks to see me they do so because they like my look. Sure, I suspect I haven’t been requested for some castings because of the color of my skin but I don’t spend time on that. I am grateful for every modeling opportunity that comes my way that gives me an opportunity to show other Arab kids they can dream big too.” So let’s talk about the shoot featured in this issue. You worked with a monkey and two elephants. How was that? “AMAZING. I love animals to begin with but it was incredible to experience something like this. It was remarkable to stand next to such large creatures and yet feel totally safe. They were so gentle. The monkey was full of energy. It was hard to not laugh during the shoot because the monkey just did what ever she wanted. At times she was sitting on my shoulder, the next minute she was sitting on top of my head. She was playful and a lot of fun to work with.” How would you describe yourself in a couple of sentences? “I’m just a guy with big dreams like most. I have the firm belief that all things are for a reason, much of the reasons are to give us an opportunity to learn and do well by the experiences. I am also a person who tries my best to be optimistic. Sure my childhood was tough but it is mine to own, mine to decide how to live the rest of my life. I know I make mistakes and will make many more but at least dreaming big to make a change helps keep me focused on the bigger picture.” Quite literally the monkey on his back is heavy, I find myself inviting that monkey over to sit awhile on my shoulders as I take a look at my own place in this business and how we select models and what looks we seek to help sell those designer threads. I also can’t help but hope that, along with those top one-name supermodels, we will one day soon celebrate three more names: ALEXANDER SATAR FARSI.

Alexander, Jacket/Moods Of Norway, Shirt/Dolce & Gabbana, Pant/BoZega Veneta

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Cherif, Tuxedo, Shirt, Shoe/Salvatore Ferragamo

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Photographer Olaf Mueller Creative Direction/Styling PARIS LIBBY GROOMING KAREN BAKER MODELS ALEXANDER FARSI FOR Wilhelmenia MODELS LA, CHERIF A. NDIAYA and VICTOR ROSS 11 FOR LA. MODELS

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Photography Ratul Debnath

The scandalous adventures of wayward traveler, Steven Mifsud

C A N N E S

The scandalous adventures of wayward traveler, Steven Mifsud… Drinking and driving, stupid. Drinking and flying VERY STUPID. So after consuming the bottle of Red, and two or three additional glasses, on my Air France flight en route to Cannes, for MIDEM, the largest music conference on the planet, it was time to get this party started, 30,000 feet in the air. After consuming 750ml of great French wine on a plane, being light headed is an understatement. I can tell you where all the blood went, yep, it was time to procure an enthusiastic partner to partake in the ever exciting admittance into the mile-high club. Surveying the possible candidates aboard flight 329 was no easy endeavour. The maneuvering up and down the isle, protecting my glass of wine was something circ d’soleil would have been envious of. What’s with all the predominately middleaged male passengers, the only female was this beautiful young middle-eastern girl that I’m sure was a princess. She was encircled by excessively large men in dark suits with absolutely no sense of humour that did nothing except glare at me every time I chanced a look in her general direction. She was a possibility, but a difficult one to say the least. Why

struggle when there are numerous other fish in the barrel imprisoned behind me? So armed with charm and my glass of merlot I decided to venture into coach, ha ha, can’t stop me, I’m on a mission from god. And let me tell you the big guy’s presence was felt in a large way on this trip. Upon entering coach, I was hit with a vision of heaven, oh my god, to my surprise, row after row of habits as far as the eye could see. A plane full of nuns, no freaking’ way this is happening. This was not my vision of heaven. This is a cruel joke. They say you are judged in life on the decisions you make. Oh oh, judgment time. Who will it be, a foot soldier of god, or the captive Arabian princess? After careful deliberation, I was thinking, which is difficult to do when you’re intoxicated, and something I seldom do. I roll by gut instinct. I decided that considering my close proximity, no need in pissing off the big guy, or getting my ass kicked by the Arabian secret police. My choice was to go for the sure thing, the easy target, and the experienced one. You know her by airline hostess, I know her by air tart. You know, the one already equipped with the stripper’s outfit and vast knowledge of milehigh protocol. I must have said it out loud, realizing the looks on everyone’s face after the

last syllable left what I thought was my head, but apparently was my mouth. Oh shit! The army of god, and the Arabian secret police I believe I could handle, but a sorority of pissed off air tarts is something you never want to do battle with? It was precisely at that moment the wine devil appeared uttering in my ear loud enough for the entire plane to hear, “since when did you ever fear a challenge Pussy?” “Pussy, I said, again out loud?” I can’t believe he called me out in front of all the passengers, and pussy to boot. Ok, game on! I never back down from a challenge, so my only obstacles were, four 300 plus pound goliaths holding the princess prisoner behind me, the crusading regiment of religion in front of me, and the approaching mile-high hall of famers cursing at me in French. To be continued… So off to Italy I go. Welcome to Italy, “say hello to Pepe our narcotics dog, and please step out of your car” (said in Italian, by a stone faced customs officer.

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kings Landing IN THE NEW BRUNSWICK TOWN OF PRINCE WILLIAM, JUST A SHORT DRIVE FROM FREDERICTON, IS A SPECIAL PLACE WHERE ONE CAN GO TO STEP BACK IN TIME, RELAX AND ENJOY OLD TIME COUNTRY LIFE FOR A DAY OR TWO.

Arriving at the Kings Landing reception centre I am greeted by friendly staff members at the desk that are very pleasant to talk to and happy to answer any questions I may have. The reception centre is clean, open and airy, with a restaurant and a gift shop that has many local arts and crafts. The doors open at 10am, and as I walk through them leaving the reception centre behind, I step back in time. Kings Landing represents life in the central St. John River valley in the 19th century. In the settlement are about 70 buildings, all restored and furnished with artefacts from the era. Each building represents a different time during the 1800’s and this allows the visitors to see the progress made during those years. The costumed staff are all highly trained

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and immersed in the 19th century to provide visitors with a truly authentic and unique experience. Interaction with the costumed staff is always informative, educational and friendly. The gravel road beneath my feet stirs dust as I walk along toward the river. Off in the distance I can see a large farmhouse, barns and smaller outbuildings. I can see children run toward the farmhouse dressed in period costume; they seem excited about something. I decide that I will see what all the commotion is about and make my way down the dusty road. Glancing to my map I see this place is called the “Joslin Farm”. Inside the Joslin’s home are several other members of the Joslin household. They are

sitting in the kitchen, chatting about day-today issues and enjoying each other’s company. Laughter rings throughout the house. I feel almost as if I am intruding as I step into the kitchen. “Good morning!” says the young man standing against the cupboard. “Welcome to the Joslin farm!” Everyone smiles and I apologize for interrupting their conversation. I ask if I may take some photographs and they happily agree. A seat is offered to me and I sit, make photographs and listen. One of the ladies in the kitchen tells me the history of this 1860 farmhouse and the family who lived there. Like many of the homesteads here in Kings Landing, the Joslins were Loyalists who came

to Canada to escape persecution for being loyal to Britain, during the American Revolution. The farm was originally built in 1790, but is now represented how it would have looked in 1860. Conversation begins to make its way back to their day-to-day life at Kings Landing, and I discover that the children are excited about a new litter of kittens out in the barn. Every room in this house is recreated with painstaking detail, to how it would have looked in 1860. It is a grand old farmhouse filled with treasures. I spend the rest of the morning strolling through the settlement, visiting the beautiful homes and talking to the interpreters. I find each home to be a separate “snap-shot” of life during the 1800’s. Each has its own character, charm and beauty. I am constantly amazed at the attention to detail in the homes and the knowledge level of the staff. They are truly world-class and they bring Kings Landing to life. As I approach the river, I can hear in the distance, water splashing and the sound of machinery moving. As I cross a wooden bridge, I look off to my right. It’s the sawmill making all the noise. The waterwheel is spinning away and inside I can hear the loud powerful saw blade doing its work on some piece of timber. I make my way up to the mill, passing the grist mill on my way there. A small tributary of the St. John River feeds the mill with the water it needs to function. The 48 buckets on the wheel hold five gallons each and they are running at about 50% capacity, as far as I can see. I step inside the mill and the sound is incredible. I can feel her shake and tremble as she works through a rather large timber. She’s a grand recreation of a 1800’s saw mill, and she is without a doubt “alive.” Sawdust hangs in the air, and the sights, sounds and smells amaze me. The two sawyers explain that at full speed she can rip through a timber in about three minutes! The timber currently being worked on is about 12 to 14 feet long and easily 18 inches thick. The blade is huge and is propelled up and down by the gears and pulleys that are powered by the waterwheel. The speed of the saw is significantly reduced and they will take most of the day to make this one cut. I think it is loud now, but the sawyers explain that at full speed it is deafening, and the entire structure shakes and rattles as though she may come apart. I thank them for their time and make my way to the bottom floor of the mill where I can see the mechanism at work. Wheels, belts, pulleys and gears all work in unison to get the job done as the saw blade appears and disappears in the ceiling above. Sawdust covers everything down here and I can’t help but to be in awe of the entire operation. I make my way to the King’s Head Inn, which is just a short walk from the sawmill, for lunch. I am greeted at the door by Malcolm Storr. He’s the barkeep in the taproom here. He asks if he can get me a drink, and I enquire about food. He directs me upstairs to the restaurant and I tell him I’ll be back for a drink later. I make my way up the stairs to the restaurant and am promptly seated. As with the rest of Kings Landing, the restaurant is set within the 1800’s and is accordingly decorated. The menu is full of fare from the mid 19th century. It all looks so good, and is very reasonably priced. Amanda Neal, from Crabbe Mountain NB, is my server. Dressed in period attire, she is very friendly and pleasant to speak with. I order the “Ploughman’s Lunch.” I start my lunch with a cool glass of apple cider. It’s sweet, a little tart and oh so refreshing. Before too long, lunch arrives at my table. On my plate is a small bread loaf with

seasoned ground-pork cooked inside, garden salad with a hard-boiled egg, some pickles and a slice of cheddar. Also included is brown bread in a basket. The meal is absolutely delicious and the portion size is perfect. The fresh brown bread melts in my mouth and has a hint of molasses - it is heavenly. As I finish my lunch I am offered a dessert menu, but I decline as I am already full. I thank Amanda for the lovely lunch and make my way down to the taproom to talk to Malcolm. The taproom here has custom-made ale that is served. “Simeon Jones River Valley Amber Ale” pours from the tap here. Simeon Jones lived in the “Jones House” here at Kings Landing before he moved to Saint John NB. In Saint John, he established a brewery which became well known throughout the Maritimes for its fantastic amber ale. The recipe today is based on the original recipe from the 1800’s. I thank Malcolm for the drink and make my way back outside to continue on my journey. Today the “Rattle on the Stovepipe Music Festival” is going on here at the settlement. Various activities to do with music are happening throughout the day. Period musical instruments, ancient musical instruments, sing-alongs, and a barn dance workshop are all features of the festival. The “Kings Landing Dramatic Lyceum Music and Theatre Troop” are the stars of the festival, and they do a fantastic job of performing and getting visitors involved in the activities. The barn dance is particularly exciting with music, laughter and the sounds of dancing feet filling the air. I leave the barn and make my way back toward the reception centre. It’s 5pm and the day has flown by. I haven’t managed to visit all of the houses on this trip, and this leaves me a little disappointed. I will be back again sometime and I will be sure to visit the places missed on this trip. I think back to the wonderful sites, great conversations and memorable events throughout the day. Kings Landing has once again left me wanting to return. There never seems enough time in the day to fully experience all that is offered here. This place is a gem, it is a treasure. New Brunswick and indeed all of the Maritimes, are fortunate to have Kings Landing. This place provides an escape from the modern day hustle and bustle, and brings you back to a time when things were simpler. If you need to slow down for a spell, relax and enjoy life in the country as it was 150 years ago, there is no better place than Kings Landing. story and photos by Steve Noseworthy

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VOYAGES OF

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Dean Karr

A shaman acts as an intermediary between this world and the spirit realm – the dead, metaphysical and unknown. In Amazonian culture, the jaguar is representative of the mystical life that a shaman leads. The jaguar can roam freely on land, under water and in the trees just as a shaman’s soul exists in the conscious, subconscious and celestial planes.

The New Age movement of spirituality has modernized the techniques and mediums used to fulfill traditional sacred practices. In the same way that a shaman acts as a spirit guide to show his tribal community dimensions beyond their scope of reality, an artist such as Dean Karr also reveals to contemporary society regions that would otherwise be left unexplored – regions beyond knowledge and imagination. PIE MAGAZINE

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www.deankarr.com

The camera is therefore a neoshamanic tool acting as an omnipresent all-seeing-eye, as a medium through which other worlds are captured, transported and portrayed. Wielding his camera like the wand of a shaman, Dean Karr is capable of magic. Shamanistic practice dates back to the beginning of humanity in the Palaeolithic era. The surviving primitive tribes in the Amazon offer a portal back in time, to the roots mankind. Rushing half-heartedly to the future of the Electric Age, a glimpse to the past through the eye of this lens is crucial to our spiritual health as a society. Another duty of the shaman is to act as a spiritual and psychological healer of his peoples. Dean Karr, in his transient photographic expeditions shows us the raw reality of existence outside of our protective cocoons thereby diagnosing our anxieties in a synthetic society.

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Photography Lindsey Maier Photography MannequinMedia

Tristan • Sterling Shoes • Naturalizer • Garage • Suzy Shier • Cassis • Zacks • Boathouse • Melanie Lyne

Event Planner & Director/Sandra • Sound and Light/Chris Kaplinski • Performance/LS • DJ Styliss • Hair/L’attitudes • MC/Christopher Thompson & Kayla Welsh

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Toronto

FASHION WEEK ‘WEAR LOVE’ may have been the official theme chosen for the corporate circus that is LG Fashion Week, but it was clear the real theme this season was an overall sense of change in Canada’s fashion coterie. The Fashion Design Council of Canada’s (FDCC) announcement of the massive venue change from the traditional tents in Nathan Phillip’s Square, to a drastically larger space on King Street West in Toronto’s hip Liberty Village was the first signal to Canada’s fashionistas that the turning of a new leaf was in progress. Along with their choice of including even more internet bloggers as accredited media, increasing show seating by 300%, and racking up a huge roster of young and fresh Canadian design talent on the runway, the FDCC was opening it’s arms to a new generation and looking to the future. In a perfect cocktail consisting of some of our nation’s top designers, to collections being shown by international talent from New York to Brazil, there was absolutely no style deficit this season. One of the week’s highlights was the multiple model cameos from likes of Rick

SPRING/SUMMER

> 2010

Mercer, MP Oliva Chow, Keith Richard’s model daughter Theodora, and top international girls Amanda Laine and Tara Gill. Although the on-site events offered more than enough to satisfy one’s fashion taste buds, there were some designers noticeably missing from the week’s schedule of shows. Some of Canada’s real true design talent opted out of participating in LG Fashion Week due to an array of different opinions. Names like Greta Constantine, Phillip Sparks, Jeremy Laing (who now shows in New York) and Project Runway alum Carlie Wong all were absent from the tents this season. Always on the pulse, Pie Magazine was there to deliver you the best of the Spring/Summer 2010 season. Meeting backstage with designers, going the extra mile to cover off-site events and having an inside edge on the industry, Joshua Shier, our exclusive LG Fashion Week correspondent, brings you his selections of who to watch, and what to wear in the new year.

Photography George Pimentel Designer David Dixon

DAVID DIXON

Inspired by the ancient world wonder, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, David Dixon’s interpretation of this was represented beautifully in his choices of colour scheme, technique and texture throughout the entire collection. Beginning with a stunning A-line ruffled chartreuse dress and sticking to a clever story arch in colours that moved gracefully from bright greens and yellows, to sultry combinations of blacks, blues and whites and finally returning to the fresh, botanical shades, there was continuity on all fronts from this talented designer. Pushing the concept even further, Dixon created petal-like pleats and folds on many of the skirts and included dynamic silk scallop-covered dresses that seemed to be in constant motion. Soft draping and frothy floral details in appliqued chiffon found on skirts and in a dramatic jacket option, added even more texture and depth. Very much a collection of solids, there were a few nods to spring’s pattern trend with spirograph prints on skirts and dresses as well as a stylized, handdrawn flower on the shoulder that spiced up a few of the luxurious blouses. Teaming up with Canada’s go-to jewelry designer, Rita Tesolin, the look was completed with sparkling crystals, silvers and diamond necklaces and bracelets. Pushing the envelope this season with a shocking marriage of material, Dixon used aluminum sequins to embellish a skirt, and then surprised all when an entire dress covered in these rectangular silver shards clinked and clanked as it walked down the runway. Showing to a completely packed runway room, and consecutively presenting his Barbie by David Dixon line, the industry was treated to the full scope of Dixon’s creative work this S/S 2010 season.

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Photography George Pimentel Designer Pink Tartan

PINK TARTAN

One of the week’s best representation of this season’s luxury-sportswear mega trend came from the chick half of Canada’s purported “fashion royalty”, Kimberly Newport-Mimran and her always striking high-end label, Pink Tartan. A front row littered with the best of our nation’s highsociety created the perfect backdrop as Kim presented a collection with all the right stuff in all the right places. From the first look consisting of a perfectly tailored boustier dress, accented with breton-esque striped straps, the tone was set for the rest of the show. Combining a variety of smartly cut and cropped trenches (from bolero to A-line), sheer tanks and low-cut, pleated peg leg trousers in a glittery midnight black, the collection spoke of a certain ‘parisian-safari’ chicness. Various structural details found on the cuffs and shoulders of multiple garments, and some very sexy micro-mini skirts, all were reminiscent of work by the designer Karl Lagerfeld. Providing the recession-friendly idea of wearing separates was obvious in the many takes on the referenced breton-stripe popped up throughout the collection in dolman sequinned tops, Although the show was somewhat light on the styling of accessories, Pink Tartan served up a series of looks all paired with a care-free thin leather belt tied around the waist that definitely hit the spot. Expect to see much of this in stores this upcoming season as there is no doubt this one was a buyer-favourite at the tents this season.

TRAVIS TADDEO

Showing for his second season at LGFW, Travis presented one of the strongest collections of the week. Teaming up with super-brand Nike, he made a clear sportswear statement and followed through on every level with his designs. In line with the international collections and their recurring theme of sportswear being the new luxury, Travis’ flawless execution of the high-end take on a jeans and t-shirt look cemented his spot as one of the top designers of the week. The collection consisted of a variety of jersey and tri-blend cotton shirts of all lengths paired up with denim shorts, extremely high-cut and revealing one-piece bathing suits and dresses that resembled a tank top/t-shirt hybrid. Adding detail and quirkiness by using leather to line pockets on the denim shorts, create shoulder panels and an abstract cut-out on one men’s t-shirt, all in primary colours proved the whole thing was fun and edgy. Consistency, ease, modernity and youth are all trademarks of this talented Calgary-born designer. Creating a wardrobe for the hip, urban artist, Travis may start finding himself being compared to New York’s ever-popular Alexander Wang.

Photography George Pimentel Designer Travis Taddeo

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HOAX COUTURE and THE STEPHEN LEWIS FOUNDATION present

‘DARE TO WEAR LOVE’

Closing this season’s edition of LGFW, was an inspiring collaboration between various designers, the FDCC, Toronto’s own Hoax Couture and the Stephen Lewis Foundation (SLF) for HIV/AIDS. The goal was to create a fashion-forward, cause-driven and meaningful closing night show, with Canada’s top design talent at the forefront. In an effort to raise funds and awareness for the SLF, as it works to support communities that are affected by the AIDS pandemic in Africa, attention was given from on all sides of the spectrum. More than 25 top designers, including Lida Baday, Brian Bailey, Wayne Clark, Evan Biddell, Greta Constantine, Lucian Matis and many more, committed to Hoax Couture’s dare to create luxe gowns made of rich, eye-catching fabrics sourced from African communities who work with the SLF. Not coming as much of a surprise, these fantastic, talented designers all rose to the challenge creating exquisite pieces of fashion that had a little bit more than just normal thread holding them together. The entire night was an inspirational affair - from the celebrity studded runway, a traditional African choral performance opener, and a relaxed approachable feel to the entire event - making us feel the need to donate to those in need and appreciate the luxuries we are afforded in North America. This celebration of art, charity and awareness was the perfect heart-warming closing of yet another fashion season.

Photography George Pimentel Designer Nada

Photography Brian Summers Designer Jason Meyers

Photography Brian Summers Designer Ross Mayer

Photography Brian Summers Designer Evan Biddell

As Robin Kay, president of the FDCC said this week, “Fashion weeks all over the world are jaded because they have been doing it for so many years. Here in Canada, it is a challenge for us each and every time. Creating an exciting opportunity to help push designers is what we’re [the FDCC] all about.”

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Photography Kelly Stacey MUA Steven Kennedy

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Head Quarters Styling prĂŞt-Ă -porter, vintage and haute couture from around the world By Appointment only

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Kempenfelt Bay School (KBS) is an independent, non-profit, coeducational, JK to Grade 8 School.

• Challenge at KBS our goal is to provide a challenging curriculum for children to reach their full potential. As a candidate school with the renowned International Baccalaureate (IB) program we provide a world-class education for our middle school students.

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• Inspire As a small school, KBS is able to foster a spirit of community and instil the values of character education in each child. Studies have shown that small school environments are better able to engage the intellectual and emotional lives of students and improve academic performance. Parents are able to interact daily with their child’s teacher.

• Engage Our comprehensive curriculum offers students a full range of art, vocal and instrumental music, physical education, as well as many extra-curricular sports and clubs. Learning the Arts in school improves motivation, concentration, confidence, and teamwork. Specifically, instruction in Music has been linked on a very deep level to increased brain function, memory and learning.

• Achieve Every KBS student is motivated and inspired by our motto “I Can I Will”. KBS currently ranks, nationally, in the 93rd percentile on the Canadian Achievement Test (CAT).

I Can, I Will

Please visit our website kempenfeltbayschool.ca or call for a tour of our campus 705.739.4731

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