MAY 2021
VOLUME 1, ISSUE 9
WOMEN AT RISK
The danger in doing ordinary things
MOOSE NAMED MARIANNE She was ready for her close-up
THE SIDEONE PHOTO ESSAY
Santorini – the ancient island that’s rugged and beautiful
CONSPIRACY’S GREATEST HITS
THE KIDS ARE AT HOME – ALL THE TIME A real life look at online learning
ISSN 2563-9005
Roswell, the Cold War and a surprising connection
IN THIS ISSUE... WELCOME TO SIDEONE. PG.03
An introduction and an explanation.
WOMEN AT RISK. PG.04
The danger of ordinary routines.
SENSIBLE DOLLARS. PG.34
Could your investments be more concentrated than you think?
COMING UP. PG.39
A sampling of next month’s stories.
A MILLENNIAL’S POV. PG.08
Online learning while working from home – not so simple.
A MOOSE NAMED MARIANNE. PG.12
Batting eyelashes and a kiss to remember.
THE PHOTO ESSAY. PG.16
Santorini – the beauty of this ancient and rugged island explored.
NEW MUSIC FROM NEW PLACES. PG.21
Grab a beverage and tune up on some new music.
CONSPIRACY’S GREATEST HITS. PG.27
Roswell and Area 51 – the conspiracy that just won’t go away.
NOT EVERYONE KNOWS THIS… PG.31
Henry II of England, the First battle of Pueblo and more in this month’s edition.
02
SIDEONE MAY 2021
FOR THE GENERATION THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING. Editor and publisher: Kevin Gilligan Contact Email: sideone@gilligangroup.net Mail: PO Box 43503 Leaside Toronto, ON M4G 3B0 Phone: 416-489-9257 SideOne Magazine is published monthly online @ www.sideonemagazine.ca SideOne Magazine is a division of The Gilligan Group Inc.
WELCOME TO ISSUE #9
FOR THE GENERATION THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING. Kevin Gilligan is the editor and publisher of SideOne Magazine. After years in marketing and advertising, he decided to do something he truly loves.
If this is your first time reading SideOne, welcome! If it’s not, thank you for returning.
A MOOSE NAMED MARIANNE
SideOne was an idea that came from a simple observation. I just wasn’t enjoying the magazines I used to read. They no longer held my interest or that of my friends. The magazines had moved on to younger readers and left us behind.
CONSPIRACY’S GREAT HITS RETURNS
With that in mind, my goal was to create a magazine with stories of particular to readers of the baby boom generation. A human interest magazine that wasn’t all about retirement and aging. Here are a few highlights from this month that I hope you’ll find of interest.
WOMEN AT RISK
This story filled with personal experiences show the challenges that women face just leading their daily lives. Challenges to the security of person that no one should have to face, especially when just going about ordinary routines or returning home at the end of a day’s work.
NOT EVERYONE KNOWS THIS…
This monthly feature is becoming a true favourite of our readers. I can assure that this month’s edition will not let any of its faithful fans down.
The story of Marianne, the kissing moose, is not a love story. More of an infatuation…
Back this month is this continuing series and reader favourite. Conspiracies fascinate all of us, but some just a bit more than the rest of us. This time our writer dives into the murkiness surrounding Roswell and Area 51 with some surprising results.
TRAVEL TO SANTORINI
While we can’t go there for real, we can enjoy the sights and imagine. Take a quick trip there through the lens of our world travelling photographer.
ONLINE LEARNING – A SIMPLE SOLUTION?
Maybe not so much. Get a real perspective from a mom who’s juggling working from home and two young, energetic boys. Yikes! And again, the answer to the question of “Why SideOne?” Side one is where the hits were and it’s something only boomers will remember. Remember?
SIDEONE MAY 2021
03
WOMEN AT RISK
SHE WAS JUST LIVING HER LIFE… 04
In March, a woman was attacked in her car, at 11:30
I taught in that school, I know many of the teachers.
a.m., west of Toronto, by a man who opened the car
I have walked to my car, parked in the dark lot, after
door and tried to drag her out. As directed by her
parent-teacher meetings. I would feel fear until I
school board, she was eating her lunch in her car
locked the door and left the lot. The area is not a
in the parking lot of the school where she teaches.
dangerous one. However, every parking lot can spell
Teachers were told it was not safe to eat inside
danger for women. This situation is one that is well
schools, because of Covid spread, so they should
known to women who walk, run, drive cars, merely
have lunch in their cars – alone. The new rules, after
trying to live their lives. The “Me Too” movement
the attack, are to lock your car door. Security guards
reminded society that many women don’t feel safe or
were then posted to the parking lot.
supported as they go about their daily routines.
SIDEONE MAY 2021
By Elizabeth MacGregor Elizabeth MacGregor is a former educator and a regular contributor to SideOne.
HIDDEN THREATS As a young woman living alone in Montreal, I experienced the attention of men who were too old for me, whom I had no interest in, and who should have known better. One such person, a business associate 25 years older than me, married, who harassed me for months, later became a Canadian
shopping and queried me about whether I was married or had a boyfriend. He later tried his luck by inviting me to his home on a Friday mid-afternoon, while his wife was away, to sign a business contract. The vice-president of the company I worked for saved me from a most difficult situation by coming with me. The man’s anger was palpable when we
celebrity lauded as an adoring husband.
entered the his home.
Once in my local grocery store, he came upon me
As a young teacher, I worked in a school with an
SIDEONE MAY 2021
04
As a young woman living alone in Montreal, I experienced the attention of men who were too old for me, whom I had no interest in, and who should have known better.
06
interior staircase, closed off to the rest of the school
home by a cabbie so high on something that he ran
by steel doors. A vice-principal passed by me on the
every red light and almost killed me. All the while, I
stairs one day, and tried to lean over and kiss me. As
had to look outside as he kept trying to catch my
I leaned back he snickered, not embarrassed by his
eyes in the rear-view mirror, while asking me about
actions, just part of the chase for him.
my personal life. Keys as weapons, carried between fingers, rape
FINDING SAFE SPACES
whistles on keychains, crossing the street repeatedly
When I moved to Toronto, I naively travelled alone
to be sure you are not followed, walking on “safe”
on the subway late in the evening, feeling quite
streets only, wearing flat shoes in case you have to
safe. I didn’t know any better until I was told it was
run, not taking public transit after a certain hour,
something I shouldn’t do. Taxis didn’t feel safer,
texting a friend the license number of your Uber
though. Being alone in a car with an unknown male
driver – just in case, checking the back seat of your
was not always a good choice. Once, I was driven
car before sitting in it. Don’t run at night, don’t wear
SIDEONE MAY 2021
headphones. This is the advice given women who
a world to her generation that would include real
are just living their lives.
equality. Women deserve to move through their lives
We never know when we have unwittingly attracted the attention of a man who will be unreasonable, who may follow us, stalk us, attack us.
with the knowledge that they can wear what they want, look like what they want, and enjoy the cities and towns they inhabit.
According to Statistics Canada, 94 per cent of sexual
PERSONAL SAFETY – A RIGHT
assaults are committed by males. Most men are
Safety of each person, no matter what gender, sexual
bigger, stronger. Some be lieve women are property
persuasion, or skin colour should be a given. Women
for their use and erupt when they don’t get their
should be able to go to doctors, male or female,
own way. Incidents such as the van attack in Toronto,
without fear. They should be able to go to gyms
the killing of women at work in Atlanta, the murder
without being bothered, go to bars unafraid, have
of Sarah Everard (who was just walking home) in
the same freedom of movement that men enjoy.
England, the long-ago slaughter of female engineers
We never know when we have unwittingly attracted the attention of a man who will be unreasonable, who may follow us, stalk us, attack us.
at Polytechnique Montréal, all have one thing in common, a male who resented and hated women.
A GROWING RISK The pandemic has greatly increased the number of domestic attacks on women. A women’s helpline in Toronto fielded 55,000 calls between March and September 2020. They would have received
It is not our clothes, our makeup, our body type, our
approximately half that usually. An additional 12,000
way of walking that makes us victims of unwanted
calls did not get through or were dropped when on
attention and sexual violence. Men need to be taught
hold. A home, which should be a safe haven, can
to treat all humans with kindness. They need to
become a battleground.
check their attitudes and those of their friends, when
There are those who say men are victims of violence as well. However, one in three women will experience sexual violence in their lifetime, whereas one in six men will. More than 90 per cent of violent deaths of women and girls in 2020 were caused by men,
misogynistic comments are traded. Disrespecting others is not humorous. They need to speak up and defend the right of females to share equally in life. Teaching men that women are not their property would go a long way to fixing this problem.
and there were 160 of them, according to a report published by the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability at the University of Guelph. Eight per cent of assailants are friends and family of the victim. I have a brand new great-niece. I had truly hoped that the misogyny and the effects I’ve lived through, that my daughter and nieces experience, would be dealt with by now. I had dreamed of passing on
SIDEONE MAY 2021
15
Some days my son blows me away with his fully completed school work, others he shows me that he spent 15 minutes during math class drawing a self-portrait of himself as a teenager with braces.
A MILLENNIAL’S POV
ONLINE LEARNING WHILE WORKING FROM HOME – WORRY, GUILT, LAUGHTER AND LOVE By Kimberly Elliot Kimberly Elliot is an associate with a Toronto-based marketing agency. I can be a fretful mother. I hide it really well, but I fret
worry. So when I was faced with the supremely tough
over everything to do with my kids. I fret about their
decision of whether or not to send my first-grader to
futures, their health, or when they climb to places
in-person learning in September, my natural reaction
I can’t reach. I fret when my husband feeds them
was to worry.
Kraft Dinner (any food that glows like that has got to be toxic). Worrying is, on some level, molecular in mothers. From the time you learn you are pregnant
WOULD SCHOOL BE SAFE? If we chose to send him to school, I worried about
until, I anticipate, the day you die; it is only a matter
what school looked like with masked teachers and
of learning to compartmentalize the worry and hide
peers. I worried that if he fell and hurt himself,
it from your children.
people might back away instead of lending a hand
It’s not my kids’ job to worry, it’s mine. I bottle it all up and let my kids be free. But this past year and learning to live alongside a global pandemic while raising my two young boys – who love people, neighbours, friends, family and their company above all else – has been a constant exercise in coping with
to help him up. I worried about him catching the virus and getting sick, or struggling to concentrate in class in the midst of constant mask adjustments or discomfort. I worried about the lack of stability that school closures and lockdowns could bring. Learning at home served a heap of other worries
SIDEONE MAY 2021
09
– about how isolation from the school community would affect him mentally, socially and emotionally. I worried that he wouldn’t be engaged in learning
SCHOOL COMES HOME Online learning is, for lack of a better word, interesting. Each day brings new surprises. Some
through a computer and that he might “fall behind”
days we make it to class right on time and others,
(whatever that means) and that eventually a
we are upwards of 15 minutes late. Some days my
reintroduction to in-person school might present
son blows me away with his fully completed school
challenges that otherwise may not have existed.
work, others he shows me that he spent 15 minutes
A TOUGH DECISION
during math class drawing a self-portrait of himself as a teenager with braces. There are wonderful days
The decision compounded the entire year’s worries
when our breaks are spent outside playing basketball
and there was no way to make everyone, or even
or, through the winter months, skating on our
anyone, happy. Ultimately, it was about choosing the
backyard rink. Other days, we argue about what’s for
avenue that would provide the most stability and
snack.
consistency for best coping with the worry.
We enjoy our fair share of technical difficulties,
We chose online learning for our six-year old and
meltdowns when breaks are over too soon, and the
opted not to send our three-year old back to daycare.
constant distraction of a rather adorable three-year-
There is a second state of feeling that is inherent in
while I listen to the banter of first-graders returning
motherhood – guilt. If life before this decision was
from lunch with such games as “guess what’s in my
consumed by worry, life after would be consumed by
hand” and “guess what song I’m thinking about,”
guilt. For obvious reasons, I feel guilty that my boys
I take calls amid gym class when the jumping and
have missed out on a year of finding belonging in
rolling in my living room sounds as though the roof is
places and with people outside of their home.
about to cave in.
old that we are obsessed with. I try to focus on work
CHASING A HALF-NAKED TODDLER I clean up forts made in the den that were part of the social science project of the day. I chase after a half-naked toddler who has raced to join in on the “GoNoodle” dance breaks his brother’s class partakes in. And I take many a break to snuggle both my boys whether they’re happy or sad, read a book whenever they ask, eat some lunch, play “Avengers” or help with a school journal entry.
There is a second state of feeling that is inherent in motherhood – guilt. If life before this decision was consumed by worry, life after would be consumed by guilt. And I get a day’s work in while I’m at it. It’s a beautiful mess that is equal parts stressful and rewarding – a common theme I’m finding in parenthood. Some days I pat myself on the back and others I hang my head for raising my voice too often and being too quick to turn on the TV to get alone time. But I do all this because I am extremely privileged to even have the choice of whether to send my son to school, or keep him home with me. I have a choice in how I manage my worries about the world around us. And that is something to be incredibly and eternally grateful for.
KIDS WILL BE ALL RIGHT I wonder if I will look back on these days and laugh about the chaos; forgetting the acuteness of the
another in brand new ways. I have gained an entire window into my son’s learning that I wouldn’t have had otherwise; and in doing so learned that he is just
stress and the worry. I wonder if I’m in the midst of
all-ways-round an incredible and resilient person.
traumatizing both my kids. (Wonder? No, I worry.) I
The experience has been a gift. If I could go back
wouldn’t go back and change my decision, though.
and tell 2020-me anything; as I prepared for the
Despite a year without peers and community, my
school year ahead, anticipating technical difficulties,
sons are thriving. They are finding all the love and
exhausting days, stress and guilt over everything my
sense of belonging they need in each other. We are
boys might be missing out on; I’d tell myself not to
soaking up the time together and getting to know one
worry at all. The kids will be all right.
SIDEONE MAY 2021
11
THE KISS
Meeting the moose named Marianne
By Lloyd Walton 12
SIDEONE MAY 2021
Lloyd Walton is a multi-award-winning Canadian director and cinematographer. A Moose Named Marianne is abridged from his historiography, Chasing the Muse: Canada. The book is available on Amazon, Kindle, Chapters, Indigo and Barnes and Noble.
Many years ago when I was shooting and directing a lighthearted film called In search of the Perfect Campsite, the script called for the newlywed hero to take his bride on a camping honeymoon. One scene required the couple to be interrupted in a tender moment in their canoe by a nearby moose standing in the water watching them. It became a challenge to get a wild animal to walk in on cue for that scene. I spent my evenings stalking locations where a moose might walk into the dramatic moment. We eventually accomplished the scene and I got to meet one moose up close. He walked out of the water, came right up to me and looked me in the eye. There seemed to be a connectedness of spirit, a meeting of minds. I later drew a clumsy sketch of him asking me to someday put him in a movie.
THE MOOSE SKETCH That sketch kept turning up in my sketchbook as a reminder of that request, then it happened. The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources Wildlife Branch had instituted a new practice for hunting moose in the province – hunters were given tags for hunting only bulls, or calves, or cows in a lottery system. It was an idea proven elsewhere to increase the size of the herds. But how was a novice hunter to know the differences? I was enlisted to make a movie to show how to distinguish between bull, calf, and cow moose. As a bonus to this new policy, Ontario’s herd was expected to grow by 20,000 animals. It seemed like an
TALK TO THEM He said, “Talk to them. Tell them what you are doing. Your voice indicates that you mean them no harm. They look you straight in the eye… those animals look you straight in the eye and if your voice may not be lying, but then your eyes can be lying—so there are two ways that they can evaluate you.”
Immediately I heard a loud “snort,” behind me, directly over my shoulder. A big black bull moose was standing hip-deep in the water and breathing down my neck. A large wildlife research compound near Thunder Bay was my destination for the first day of the shoot. Hiking down an overgrown old bush road, I came across a cow moose sitting in the grass, dappled in the warm light of a sunny June afternoon. I put down the gear I was carrying, smiled, and said, “Hello, I’m Lloyd. I’m making a movie. You look so beautiful sitting there. I will just set up this low tripod called Baby Legs, mount the camera, and begin.” When I told her how beautiful she looked, she batted her long brown eyelashes at me. I was on my knees panning left, then right, and zooming in and out until I felt that I had her covered. I opened my arms and said, “Thank you, sweetheart. I’m going to make you
onerous job, but I said I’d do it.
a star.”
I went to my Ojibway teacher/mentor, Fred Wheatley,
She awkwardly got up on her feet. I turned the
and asked for advice about working close to moose. At the time, I was working with Aboriginal elders making a film about ancient pictographs and petroglyphs. I was learning another approach to nature outside the lexicon of wildlife scientists. Fred
camera back on. She walked slowly towards me, bent down, kissed the lens, then turned her head, and slowly walked away. I think she went ahead to pass the word on to a few others,
told me my voice would tell them that I meant no
“This guy is OK. He has some contraption that
harm and my eyes would tell them the same.
won’t hurt you.”
SIDEONE MAY 2021
13
I set up by the pond where a bull moose was
language, the moose had spread the word that it was
swimming. I kept the camera rolling as the huge
Lloyd’s last shooting day for his film.
creature slowly got out of the water and circled me to check me out.
“Hey gang, it’s your last chance to star.” Moose upon moose were literally pouring out of the
THE ROCKING BEFORE THE CHARGE
woods. I paddled out of the sunrise with the movie
Moose are not always docile creatures. In the
camera mounted near the prow and a start-stop
autumn, the males get supercharged and dopey with
switch wired to my paddle hand. As one bull put his
testosterone. So, all they want to do is round up
head underwater to eat the aquatic vegetation,
as many females as they can for their own private
I would paddle closer with the sun at my back.
harem and kill or maim any male who might threaten
When he lifted his head, I froze motionless while the
his private orgy. That season, I was rescued by an
camera observed him chewing his sopping, dripping
alert farmer who watched a big bull moose doing
breakfast. To him, I could have been a floating log.
the rocking-the-head before the charge. Through my
Mom-moose played with their kids and I filmed one
camera eyepiece, it looked terrific. Knowing moose
female that looked like she was dangling a cigarette
behaviour, which was new to me, the farmer drove
out of her mouth.
his tractor directly at the charging moose, stopping it in its stride. Thankfully.
SECRET INDIAN MOOSE CALL
I returned before Christmas to the Thunder Bay
By 10 o’clock I figured I had all of the footage I
wildlife compound where a female moose not only
needed to complete the film and opened my pack to
allowed me to film her but also sketch her. Perhaps
have a snack. I recalled a story that my friend, Archie
it was the same demure female who snuck me a kiss
Cheechoo (while acting as a Cree hunting guide),
on my first day. When I canoed into the interior of
told me about a very noisy hunting party that stayed
Algonquin Park, it was as if, through some secret
up late shouting and laughing and consequently
scared the game away. They approached him to ask
was used in the film The Teaching Rocks, with the
if he had any “secret Indian moose call” that would
Ojibway elder’s voice saying, “Talk to them, your
call in the animal? Archie looked to the sky then
voice means that you mean them no harm.”
asked them to gather around him. He bent over, pinched his nose, threw his head back and screamed, “HERE MOOSIE, MOOSIE, MOOSIE!” Snack time over and feeling very self-congratulatory I figured, “What the hell?” I pinched my nose and let
A friend, a moose biologist from Thunder Bay, was getting married and I decided as a wedding gift to do a painting of the moose I sketched in the snow. When he opened the package he said, “Oh, it’s Marianne.”
fly, “HERE MOOSIE, MOOSIE, MOOSIE!” Immediately I heard a loud “snort,” behind me, directly over my shoulder. A big black bull moose was standing hip-deep in the water and breathing down my neck. A gentle puff of wind blew my canoe in a sideways motion, creating a tracking shot with the bow of the canoe, the purring camera, and Bullwinkle moving in unison. Spread out over a year, it was only nine days of filming, but the movie illustrated the yearly life cycle
That had to be Marianne whom I first met on that
of moose, and the body changes the bulls, calves,
June afternoon. She obviously had her way with men.
and cows go through in each season. The tender
It had to be Marianne who batted her big brown
kissing scene from my first-day shooting did not
eyelashes at me, bent over to give a gentle kiss, then
appear in the movie we titled, Of Moose and Man. It
sauntered off into the bushes.
SIDEONE MAY 2021
15
THE PHOTO ESSAY
SANTORINI
By Michael Doherty Michael Doherty is a film and television editor based in Toronto. He is also an avid traveller with a keen eye.
AN ERUPTION OF HISTORY AND BEAUTY I have visited the Greek island of Santorini three times – in 1994, 2011, and 2019.
Santorini, part
of the Cyclades group of islands, is located in the Aegean Sea southeast of Athens and can be reached by ferry and air. It is a geologically spectacular place, having formed from various volcanic eruptions during the last 22,000 years. One of the largest and most violent outbursts in recorded history was the Minoan eruption, about 1600 BC, which buried the town of Akrotiri, on the southern tip of Santorini, and wiped out the Minoan civilization on Crete.
FIRÁ The main town of Firá sits on the edge of the volcanic caldera (the large depression formed when a volcano erupts and collapses), offering beautiful views of the now circular archipelago and its magnificent sunsets. Oia, on the northern tip of the island, is a charming town that fills with visitors at sunset. It can be reached by bus from Firá – or, for the adventurous, by a four-hour walk along the caldera.
18
SIDEONE MAY 2021
AKROTIRI The buried town of Akrotiri was rediscovered in 1867 and has been very well preserved. I was able to walk through the open-air town in 1994. A roof structure was built in the early 2000s to help preserve the site. In 2011, I stayed at the Dream Island Hotel, a lovely family-run place in Firá. Rossetos and Georgia, the husband and wife who operated the site, made me feel most welcome, inviting me to share breakfast with them each morning and treating me like a member of the family.
SIDEONE MAY 2021
19
They brought me to visit their chicken farm up in the hills, and to a wonderful seaside fish restaurant that was owned by their cousin. We became good friends, and I promised I’d be back to visit. Eight years later I made it, and was able to join them in celebrating Rossetos’s birthday at their hotel on a beautiful, warm Greek summer evening.
20
SIDEONE MAY 2021
NEW MUSIC FROM NEW PLACES
GRAB A FRESH BREWED ICED TEA, ADD A LITTLE BOURBON AND DIG RIGHT IN
Dolls, books, television shows – these were just
some of the cultural artifacts that were missing or
difficult to find 30 years ago, when my children were
small, so hardly anything had changed since my own childhood.
THEIR OWN STORIES
As my girls grew up, I made a decision to surround our family with black images in our home, despite
the challenges in acquiring these items. I knew the
majority culture existed just beyond our front door and my children would absorb it by osmosis, so
my duty as a black parent was clear: Teach, guide,
seek out, and listen to information on black culture. Present my kids with their own racial stories.
I became even more intent on supplying my girls with positive role models to reinforce their racial identity. Now that my children are adults, the task of finding black culture in the wider society is no longer
By Terry Paquet
Terry Paquet is an award-winning copywriter with more than 20 years’ experience. He is a regular contributor to SideOne.
It’s May. By now restrictions are hopefully a little
year. And ”easy” is something we all could enjoy a lot
less restrictive. Lockdowns are a little less confining.
more of right now.
And masks, well, they might still be here for a little while. The good news is, we’re one month closer to summer, which means you can finally kick off your shoes. Show a bit more skin. And get more of that glorious, healing sunshine. Because, if you’re one of the lucky ones, living gets a little easier this time of
This month, we’ve compiled four artists from the worlds of rock/country, reggae, jazz and one sound that’s hard to nail down. So, pour yourself a glass of fresh brewed iced tea, add a little bourbon and dig right in.
TO LISTEN WHILE YOU READ, CHECK OUT THIS MONTH’S SIDEONE SPOTIFY PLAYLIST: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Tq9nDmfJHSahotRHzTTX5?si=d90033f8489d4e70 SIDEONE MAY 2021
21
GRACE POTTER (AND THE NOCTURNALS) Grace Potter started out in a band she formed in college when she met drummer (and future husband) Matt Burr. The pair’s late-night jams gave them plenty of material and a mighty cool band name. Buoyed by the success of their debut album, Grace Potter and The Nocturnals released Nothing But Water in 2005, hitting it out of the park with a vibey mix of swamp rock, Southern blues and gospel. Four years later, the band released a self-titled album featuring Paris (Ooh la la), which had a noticeably different sound. Tracks were raunchier, glossier and sexier than some fans wanted. To Potter’s amusement, it split camps into those that loved the overtly sexual overtones and those that hated it. “I think it’s fascinating that with a woman, that’s something that everyone notices,” said Potter. “But if Mick Jagger, Steven Tyler, Robert Plant or Rod Stewart decide to amp up their look for the night, it’s not like they’ll get an inbox full of complaints.” Not long after, Potter and Burr divorced, prompting the Vermont native to embark on a solo career in which she has already sung with the Stones, had duets with Kenny Chesney, and received two Grammy nominations. Potter’s magic lies in her voice, which is at times soft, at times raspy, comfortably sitting in that Bonnie Raitt, Lucinda Williams, Norah Jones range. In short, it’s easy on the ears no matter how you slice it.
22
SIDEONE MAY 2021
TRACKS TO CHECK OUT • Paris (Ooh la la) Self-titled (2009) • 2:22 Nothing but Water (2004) • Big White Gate This is Somewhere (2006) • Empty Heart Empty heart (2015) • I’d Rather Go Blind w/ Muscle Shoals Single (2018)
CHRONIXX The story of Chronixx (a.k.a. Jamar Rolando McNaughton) begins with his Dad, a popular Jamaican singer who goes by the name of Chronicle. When Jamar was a young tyke, his father would bring him into the studio. That’s where he would see how records were made and meet reggae singers like Burro Banton and Gregory Issacs. Those early days clearly had an influence on him because, by the age of 14, Chronixx was recording and producing his own songs. At 20, he was touring
TRACKS TO CHECK OUT • Skankin’ Sweet Chronology (2017) • Eternal Light Free Nationals (2019) • Here Comes Trouble Dread and Terrible (2014) • Same Prayer Single (2020) • Spanish Town Rockin’ Chronology (2017)
the world with hits like Here Comes Trouble and Spanish Town Rockin’, an ode to the place he grew up. “Living in Spanish Town, you don’t have much outlook, but you become an avid dreamer just so you can make it through the day,” said McNaughton. His hometown also happens to be the birthplace of Grace Jones – the iconic singer who pushed a few envelopes back in the ‘80s. Like Jones, Chronixx is well on his way to breaking a few barriers of his own. In the studio, he takes a little bit of reggae, roots, ska, EDM (electronic dance music) plus a ton of other influences and rolls it all into a catchy sound that is identifiably his own. The result is fresh, yet familiar, and has been described as the best thing to happen to reggae music in a long time.
SIDEONE MAY 2021
23
KANDACE SPRINGS Kandace Springs is a singer, songwriter and hypertalented keyboardist from Nashville known for her sultry fusion of soul, jazz, and contemporary pop. After hearing her debut album (Soul Eyes – 2016), the one and only Prince invited her to perform at Paisley Park for the 30th anniversary of Purple Rain. And there’s been no turning back ever since. Anyone who gets the stamp of approval from Prince is worthy of our attention. Her 2018 album Indigo is a smouldering collection of original material and bold reinterpretations. The album is without duds from start to finish, but standout tracks include Piece of Me, a Sadesounding tale of love gone wrong, and Fix Me, which features a coy reference to Prince himself. On her most recent album, The Women Who Raised Me, Springs veers back to traditional jazz with a cover album that pays tribute to the female artists who have inspired her over the years like Dusty Springfield, Roberta Flack, and Carmen McCrae. I Put A Spell On You (the R&B classic) earns creative kudos for its inventive musical bed using Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata and Astrud Gilberto’s Gentle Rain. It’s an unexpected mash-up that works on so many levels. And it’s indicative of Springs’ deep love for music of all kinds.
24
SIDEONE MAY 2021
TRACKS TO CHECK OUT • Fix Me Indigo (2018) • Piece of Me Indigo (2018) • I Put A Spell On You The Women Who Raised Me (2020) • Killing Me Softly With His Song The Women Who Raised Me (2020) • Thought It Would Be Easier Soul Eyes (2016)
SLIGHTLY STOOPID This band’s been cranking out tunes for almost 25 years, so they don’t actually qualify as new. But, if you haven’t heard them before, then we’re legally good to go. Their self-titled debut album from 1996 and the follow-up effort (1998’s The Longest Barrel Ride) were a dub rock/heavy punk collection of tunes that is worlds away from what they’ve evolved into. Since 2003’s Everything You Need, their sound has matured (or chilled?) into a happy fusion of reggae,
TRACKS TO CHECK OUT • Stay The Same (Prayer For You) Everyday Life, Everyday People (2018) • The Prophet Meanwhile… Back at the Lab (2015) • Top of the World Title track (2012) • This Joint Closer To The Sun (2005) • Collie Man Everything You Need (2003)
hip-hop, folk, dub rock ditties minus the anger. Their songs are the essential soundtrack to any summer day by the pool. Not so surprising when you realize the band was discovered by Bradley Nowell from Sublime, the original king of California beach vibes. With nine studio albums under their belt, you’d think they’d be content to play the hits on tour for the rest of their lives. Lucky for us, that’s not in their plans. Their most recent album, Everyday Life, Everyday People, still shows that there’s plenty of fire in their hearts. Last year, they even tackled a version of Kenny Rogers’ hit, The Gambler. It’s an odd choice for a band that spent the better part of their careers eschewing the glories of reefer and sunshine but, in some weird way, it works.
SIDEONE MAY 2021
25
CONSPIRACY’S GREATEST HITS
ROSWELL, AREA 51, COMMUNISTS, AND
THE CONSPIRACY THAT JUST WON’T GO AWAY By Jacques Daviault Jacques Daviault is a Montreal-based writer and art director with a curiosity that knows few bounds. I was only seven years old, eight tops, when I saw
lights in a triangular formation flew high overhead,
what I thought was my first UFO, outside Saint
silently. At 17, I knew the night sky and had a nerd’s
John, New Brunswick. The incident was a snapshot
obsession with aviation and space exploration. Even
in time, as clear and focused as if it had occurred
so, my first conclusion was not that this UFO was in
this morning. I was sure I’d seen, out of the corner
any way connected to an alien visitation.
of my eye, a long cylindrical object several miles away, just over the tree line. Eventually, the object sank beneath my line of sight and was gone. It was a UFO, but only inasmuch as it appeared airborne and wasn’t identifiable.
I WANTED TO BELIEVE I still have no idea what I witnessed either time. I am sure they weren’t alien spacecraft, but I can’t disprove it, either. Society, media, and the
Then, at age 17 on Montreal’s South Shore, literally
curiosity of youth had me hardwired to prefer the
300 feet from where I am writing this article, I saw my
unexplainable. Hollywood convinced me that Earth
second. One summer evening about 10 o’clock, three
was teeming with aliens hiding in plain sight.
SIDEONE MAY 2021
27
In July 1947, the Roswell Daily Record and the Sacramento Bee ran frontpage headlines claiming the Air Force had captured a flying saucer. I really wanted to believe we weren’t alone. My
32
THE AREA 51 MYSTIQUE The Defence Department has never denied its existence, nor has it allowed media access. Workers, who fly into the site every day from Las Vegas aboard unmarked jetliners, aren’t singing, either. Area 51’s mystique arose soon after 1947’s infamous Roswell Incident – another example of ignoring the ancient principle of Occam’s Razor: The simplest explanation is almost always the right one.
slightly conspiratorial side thought that information
To understand the incident, one has to go back
might have been kept from us by a well-meaning
to 1947 and the birth of Cold War hysteria. It was
government intent on protecting us from our
also the time of Hollywood’s preoccupation with
own fears. I didn’t think I’d actually seen an alien
sci-fi aliens (often used as a metaphor for Soviet
spacecraft, yet at the same time I do believe other
infiltration), and mounting reports of unidentified
intelligent life exists beyond our solar system.
flying objects. While these dots had no real
They may even know of our existence. But that’s all
connection, they all came together to form what we
speculation.
know as the Roswell Incident.
No place has garnered more attention from ufologists
In short, the U.S. government was testing radiation-
and the intensely skeptical than Homey Airport
detection weather balloons. Called Project Mogul,
– adjacent to Nevada’s Groom Lake salt flat. It’s a
the program was set up to monitor nascent Soviet
highly classified U.S. Department of Defence site with
nuclear blasts – still two years away but very much
a tightly guarded perimeter. It is located on DoD land
of concern to the U.S. One Project Mogul flight
commonly called Area 51.
went terribly awry, and the apparatus crashed. The
SIDEONE MAY 2021
mishap took place in Roswell, New Mexico, and the
on Cold War hysteria, were looking for enemies
incident was witnessed by several people who saw
under the floorboards and in the cupboards.
their opportunity for a moment in the limelight.
Brilliant. Stupid. It was an accident of astronomical
Roswell was not a well-known or active place, so the
proportions waiting to happen.
temptation to make news was palpable. According to the conspiracists, the debris from the
MAKING HEADLINES In July 1947, the Roswell Daily Record and the Sacramento Bee ran front-page headlines claiming
crash was taken to a secret hangar at Homey Airport in Area 51 and remains there to this day.
the Air Force had captured a flying saucer. Once the
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
speculation began, it was unstoppable. Somehow, an
The Roswell Incident assumed its place in the mosaic
alien spacecraft had managed to travel to Earth from
of alien cover-up conspiracies. By the 1990s, it was
a solar system light years away – only to crash-land
no longer front-page material, having been relegated
on arrival. Not a promising prospect for a superior
to conversations in roadside diners among people
intelligence. The newspapers ran with it. The public, hyped up
who knew people who knew other people who’d met someone whose uncle had seen it all. Then, interest
SIDEONE MAY 2021
29
found a new spark and grew like a cancer with the
Department of Defence preferred rumours of an alien
release of the infamous film Alien Autopsy.
crash-landing to the truth: They were monitoring
In 1995, Fox Television ran an exclusive premiere of
potential Soviet nuclear tests. Revealing that would
Alien Autopsy, a 17-minute black-and-white movie. Although I missed the original showing, I did see
like watching someone who doesn’t know they’re
it years later. It was laughable. You really would
being watched.
have to have wanted to believe it to be fooled by
The public, hyped up on Cold War hysteria, were looking for enemies under the floorboards and in the cupboards.
this amateurish production. The bait, however, was eagerly swallowed by those Americans mistrusting government after the Oklahoma City bombing, the rise of fringe right-wing elements, and the growth of the militia movement.
A LITTLE DISINFORMATION CAN GO A LONG WAY The U.S. government still keeps a tight lid on anything connected to Area 51, but was more forthcoming in a 1994 published account that
The Roswell Incident was a cover-up, but not of aliens. That suited a paranoid U.S. government that would in a few short years see Senator Joseph McCarthy’s infamous communist witch-hunt.
supported a more down-to-earth explanation.
The United States was in a state of hyper-vigilance.
So why didn’t they come clean earlier? Their silence
And if there were commies hiding in government,
all but assured a cottage industry in alien cover-ups
who was to say aliens pulled from the Roswell wreck
would emerge. And it did.
weren’t being kept in cold storage at Area 51?
While no one has admitted the government’s
Totally plausible.
motivation for allowing the conspiracy to grow, there can be only one reasonable justification – the
30
confirm they could, in fact, do so. There’s nothing
SIDEONE MAY 2021
Not.
NOT EVERYONE KNOWS THIS…
By John Chaput John Chaput, born and raised in Montreal, eventually morphed into a Westerner. A retired writer and editor. he occupies much of his time as president of the Regina Little Theatre.
ILLUSTRATIONS BY KATE JOHANSEN
MAY 18, 1152 Eleanor of Aquitaine marries King Henry II of
MAY 17, 1692
England, thus setting in motion a most spirited and
John Roberts, who would change his first name to
protracted marital quarrel between two of the most
Bartholomew, is born in Little Newcastle, England, and
headstrong people of the Middle Ages. Their 37-year
is destined to become the most prolific, daring and
love/hate relationship is magnificently portrayed in
feared pirate in history. Not everyone who watched
the 1968 movie The Lion in Winter, wherein Henry
The Princess Bride knows this, but there really was a
keeps Eleanor under house arrest in the company
“Dread Pirate Roberts,” and he was the inspiration
of their three children and Henry’s mistress. Their
for the movie character. In fact, he even drew up an
offspring include the future King Richard the
11-article Pirate Code, which was a real thing (and
Lionheart and King John I, whose rule would be
not everyone who watched Pirates of the Caribbean
marked by a rebellion of the nobility that produced
knows that). Bartholomew Roberts had a benevolent
the Magna Carta. Not everyone knows this, but many
side as a ship’s captain but also a ruthless streak that
women identify with the character Eleanor (played
left dozens upon dozens of dead men in his wake. So,
by Katherine Hepburn), especially in these times,
when Fezzik bellows, “The Dwed Piwut Wobuhts has
when she sarcastically observes, “I’m locked up with
come for yoh SOOOOOOULS,” the guards are running
my sons. What mother doesn’t dream of that?”
away as much from fear of Roberts’ reputation as from
(This first portion of Not Everyone Knows This is
the sight of an oncoming, burning, thoroughly soused
sponsored by Hooked on a Ceiling, the most trusted
colossus. Now you know.
name in professional chandelier installation.)
(Brought to you by Hell Toupee wig liquidators.)
SIDEONE MAY 2021
31
32
MAY 5, 1862
MAY 25, 1939
Mexican forces defending their home turf defeat the
Sir Ian McKellen is born in Burnley, England and sets
French army in the First Battle of Puebla and set
upon a thespian path. Not everyone knows this, but
off what would become Mexico’s annual national
McKellen’s middle name is Murray, and we thank
festival. Not everyone knows this, but the Mexicans,
him and/or his parents for going with “Ian,” because
despite being considerably outnumbered and ill-
“Murray McKellen” just doesn’t have that touch of
equipped, prevailed under the inspired leadership of
gravitas you’d expect from a Richard III, Gandalf, or
General Ignacio Zaragosa and enjoyed a tremendous
even Magneto. Gandalf’s most iconic moment in the
boost in morale in the midst of the French-Mexican
Lord of the Rings trilogy comes when he vanquishes
War. So, celebrate Cinco de Mayo by popping open a
the Balrog, steadfastly insisting “YOU SHALL NOT
Corona (the beer, not the virus) if you’re so inclined,
PASS!” Not everyone knows this, either, but when
but bear in mind: Within a year, Zaragosa was dead,
you’re in a public place during a pandemic, and some
the reinforced French won the rematch in the Second
aggressive maskless person is bearing down on you,
Battle of Puebla and overran Mexico City. Moral: If
you are entitled to strike the ground with your staff
you celebrate winning the battles while the war is
and propel him into a pit several miles deep. Just try
still on, karma will bite you in the butt. Keep that in
not to plummet down with him.
mind during your next pandemic lockdown.
(Brought to you by Low Commotion, the app that
(A message from Takeout to the Limit, the only food
simulates general workplace hubbub, specially
delivery service that uses Eagles to bring dinner to
designed for those who have felt awkward working
your door.)
from home.)
SIDEONE MAY 2021
MAY 29, 1953 Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay become the first people to stand atop Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth at 8,848 metres. Hillary, a 33-year-old
MAY 13, 2013
New Zealander, and Norgay, a 39-year-old Nepalese
Chris Hadfield – the coolest guy in Canada, without
Sherpa, are part of a 400-man team that includes
a doubt – returns to Earth after spending nearly
20 Sherpa guides and a handful of professional
six months, the last two as commander, aboard the
mountaineers. Hillary and Norgay make their
International Space Station. Hadfield serves as an
final ascent only after another tandem had failed
example for adapting to exceptional circumstances
to conquer the final thousand metres a few days
and maintaining a positive attitude. Look, most of us
earlier. The successful duo remain at the summit
have been at least semi-isolated for the past year;
for 15 minutes and during descent make a pact not
how many David Bowie songs have you learned?
to reveal which of them first reached the top, but
Anyway, that experience of spending long periods of
Norgay will eventually disclose in an autobiography
time in close quarters with a small number of people
that it was Hillary. Not everyone knows this, but
has served him in good stead as he waits out the
Norgay didn’t know his precise date of birth, only
pandemic in his Ontario home with Helene, his wife
that the weather and state of the crops suggested
of 39 years, their daughter-in-law and a five-year-old
late May. After conquering Everest, Norgay decided
granddaughter. Not everyone knows this, but he ain’t
thereafter to celebrate his birth on May 29. If
commander of anything in that locale ...
anyone ever earned the right to pick his own
(Nothing to do at the end of the day? Visit Shoot the
birthday, he did.
Moon, the pistol range that’s open all night.)
SIDEONE MAY 2021
33
A basic tenet of investing is that too many eggs in
Let’s say you opt for a mix of 60% stocks, 30% bonds,
one basket could be too risky. For example, if all your
and 10% cash, a fairly common allocation. Drill a bit
money is invested in a single stock or industry and
further. Your stock investments should be spread
it crashes, your financial well-being will fall, too. But
across many companies, industries and economic
you might not be aware of how many of your eggs are
sectors, like technology, health care, financial
actually in the same or a similar basket, especially
stocks, and energy stocks. That’s because there are
when it comes to Canadian stocks. There are many aspects to diversification. By far the
34
times when one sector might do poorly but another performs well, balancing one another.
most important consideration is broad asset-class
INSTANT DIVERSIFICATION
allocation -- a fancy way of saying your mix of stocks,
One quick and easy way to diversify into many
bonds, and cash.
stocks is through mutual funds or exchange-traded
SIDEONE MAY 2021
By Allan Kunigis
SENSIBLE DOLLARS
Allan Kunigis is a Canadian-born freelance financial writer based in Shelburne, Vermont. He has written about personal finance for more than two decades. He is the author of A Kid’s Activity Book on Money and Finance: Teach Children About Saving, Borrowing, and Planning for the Future, published in September 2020.
ARE YOUR INVESTMENTS MORE CONCENTRATED THAN YOU THINK?
funds (ETFs). Rather than buying shares of stocks in
costly research, trades, and taxes incurred in those
dozens of companies, you simply purchase shares in
transactions.
a mutual fund whose professional managers invest in many different stocks in a variety of industries and
That’s great in principle. But now let’s see what it
sectors.
really looks like and how much diversification it
A popular and cost-effective way to “buy the market” is through a broad stock index fund. Instead of
achieves.
trying to “beat the market” or outperform it by
TSX OR NOT TSX?
picking stocks, as an actively managed mutual fund
The big stock index considered as representative of
would, an index fund simply seeks to match the
the Canadian stock market is the S&P/TSX Composite
performance of an index by buying a basket of all its
Index. It tracks the stocks of roughly 250 of Canada’s
stocks and holding on to them. That does away with
largest companies. Consider it Canada’s equivalent of
SIDEONE MAY 2021
35
the S&P 500 Index in the United States.
BANKS HAVE DONE WELL
The S&P/TSX isn’t a bad way to quickly capture the
In fairness, I need to admit that over the past
Canadian stock market. But the problem is that the
few decades, these Canadian financial giants
TSX and the Canadian stock market are not that
have performed incredibly well. For example, an
diversified. To begin with, the TSX is made up only
investment in Royal Bank (RBC) in May 1996 would
of the largest Canadian companies. Second, almost one-third of it consists of the financial services industry, which is dominated by five giant banks. The
invested in 1996 would be worth roughly $300,000 now -- a true success story.
fortunes of those five banks will heavily influence
But consider a tale of failure: Nortel. At one point,
your financial fortune. If they do well, you will. If they
during the dot-com boom, it dominated the entire
don’t do as well, you won’t, either. I don’t really call that diversification.
36
be worth 30 times as much today. So, $10,000
SIDEONE MAY 2021
Canadian stock market, accounting for more than one-third of the valuation of all companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. A decade later, it
filed for bankruptcy and its stock price tumbled 79%. Another eight years later, it had settled all its bankruptcy proceedings, leaving a lot of former employees, pensioners, and shareholders with enormous, painful losses. Neither story -- the glowing success nor the painful failure -- could truly have been predicted decades earlier. That’s why we diversify.
THINK SMALL One way to wean yourself from too much reliance on Canada’s big banks is to put some of your investment dollars into a fund that captures the performance of the TSX SmallCap Index, which tracks Canada’s smaller company stocks. Not only are its constituents much smaller, they’re also in a greater
The S&P/TSX isn’t a bad way to quickly capture the Canadian stock market. But the problem is that the TSX and the Canadian stock market are not that diversified. I swear I didn’t cherry pick these. I selected them as examples because they were in the top 10 holdings of the S&P/TSX SmallCap Index and I had never heard of them.
variety of sectors: They include materials (24.8% of
Granted, the period from April 2020 to April 2021
the index), energy (13.9%), industrials (12.9%), and
was an incredible one for stocks, as they recovered
real estate (10.4%). So, it’s more diversified.
from a brief crash in March 2020 and were propelled
To complement your exposure to Canada’s big
by favourable financial conditions, thanks to central
banks plus the stock of railway and transportation
banks doing everything they could to save the
giants CN and CP and e-commerce giant Shopify
financial system from the impact of Covid lockdowns.
-- all of which dominate the S&P/TSX index -- with the TSX SmallCap Index, you’d own shares of a
In fairness, these are the comparable returns for the
bunch of companies you’ve probably never heard of,
same one-year period for the four largest stocks in
including:
the S&P/TSX Composite Index:
• North West Co., a multinational grocery and
• Royal Bank: + 53%
retailer, which returned 56% from April 20, 2020,
• Shopify: +82%
to April 19, 2021.
• TD Bank: +63%
• Intertape Polymer Group, which makes various tapes used for sealing boxes and repairing plumbing. Its stock price returned 184% over the past year. • Enerplus Corp., a Canadian independent oil and gas producer. Its stock gained 187% over the past 12 months. • Russel Metals, a large metal distribution firm. It gained “only” 117% since May 2020.
• CN: +51%
CHOOSE BOTH The point isn’t the performance of large stocks vs. small stocks in any one year. It’s simply: Variety. Diversity. Less concentrated risk. In terms of performance, in any given year, largecompany stocks might outperform smaller company stocks, or vice-versa. Here’s how they performed in the past five calendar years:
SIDEONE MAY 2021
37
PERFORMANCE GAP – SMALL VS. LARGE Year
2016
2017
2018
2019
of exposure to U.S. stocks, which make up roughly 2020
TSX Composite (large)
25.42% 16.77% -16.41% 29.42% 7.49%
TSX SmallCap
38.48% 2.75% -18.17% 15.84% 12.87
Performance gap +13.06% -14.02% -1.76% -13.58% +5.38% Small vs. large
The idea isn’t to choose one or the other. Instead, invest in large-company and small-company stock for more diversity and less overall risk.
TRAVEL BEYOND THE BORDER (REMEMBER THAT?)
globally. Even if there are still restrictions on your international travel, don’t quarantine your money! And go beyond North America: Invest in funds that include European and Asian stocks, and both largecompany and small-company stocks. Invest in stocks in developed markets (Germany, United Kingdom, Japan, etc.) and emerging markets (China, Brazil, India, Russia, South Africa, etc.). Remember those eggs in that basket? You want them in many baskets that will perform differently in various economic and political situations. That could
In addition, as mentioned at the top, having a
lower your risks and help you achieve better risk-
good mix of bonds/bond funds as well as stocks/
adjusted returns, which means earning more for any
stock funds will add essential diversification. Also,
given level of risk exposure.
understand that Canadian stocks make up only a tiny
38
half of all stock market capitalization (total value)
fraction of all stocks in the world. For that reason,
Okay, class dismissed! I hope you didn’t lose your
Canadian investors should seriously consider a lot
concentration but I hope your investments do!
SIDEONE MAY 2021
COMING UP:
A sampling of next month’s stories PEER PRESSURE.
NOT EVERYONE KNOWS THIS…
drive our behaviour.
something in common.
NOT SEEING MUCH OF THEIR FRIENDS.
NEW MUSIC FROM NEW PLACES.
The impact of reduced socialization on children.
go unnoticed.
HAVING A THIRD BOY AND THAT’S OK.
SENSIBLE DOLLARS.
How the fear of being left out can
Don’t feel sorry for this mom. And no they weren’t trying for a girl.
RACE RELATIONS.
The experience of inter-racial relationships.
THE PHOTO ESSAY NEW YORK, NEW YORK.
As Letterman used to say, “The place so nice, they named it twice.”
Peter the Great and Laura Secord now have
Discover some great music that might otherwise
More investing advice from our financial writer.
MAY 2021
