Issue 90

thescope

THE SCOPE | free eVERY OTHER THURSDAY | september 24 - October 8, 2009 | Volume 4, Number 17 | Issue 90 | www.thescope.ca

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thescope’s

best of st. john’s fourth

annual

{Reader

s’ Survey }

online no at thescopew .ca

cbc vs. ntv s evening new

deathmatch g better who’s farinlo with the np.g7 er format?

Murray Premises • 739-8444 www.grandtime.ca Open Tuesday to Saturday

children's books We are closing at the end of the month after 23 grand years.

In lieu of official launches, we have ordered a limited number of the four new titles to arrive in the store Monday September 21st.

CELEBRATING

Queen of Paradise’s Garden

by Andy Jones, illustrated

by Darka Erdelji Bella’s Tree by Janet Russel, illustrated by Jirina Marton Road to Bliss by Joan Clark Dragon Seer by Janet McNaughton

thescope

Photo by Jonathan Kennedy (theghostsofgiants.deviantart.com)

COVER ART

issue 90, vol 4, num 17, sept 24 - oct 8, 2009

E-mail: inbox@thescope.ca Online: www.thescope.ca Listings: listings@thescope.ca Mail: The Scope PO Box 1044, St. John’s, NL, A1C 5M3 Phone: 709-726-8466 Ad sales: 709-693-5028 Fax: 709-726-7682 Publisher/Listings Editor/Distro Manager: Bryhanna Greenough (publisher@thescope. ca) Editor: Elling Lien (editor@thescope.ca) Advertising Diva: Lesley Marie Reade (sales@thescope.ca) Distribution team: Barry Ross, Phil Coates, Rachel Jean Harding, Bryhanna Greenough and Elling Lien Bottom Line Editor: Adam Clarke (adam@thescope.ca) Contributors: Shawn Hayward, Sydney Blackmore, Adam Clarke, David Keating, Patrick Canning, Kerri Breen, Bryhanna Greenough, Andreae Prozesky, Bryan Melanson, Andrew Power, Jennifer Barrett, Andrew Wickens, Ray Denty, Ricky King, and Tara Fleming.

Also contributing: Dan Savage and Rob Brezsny.

The Scope is St. John’s arts and entertainment newspaper, published by Scope Media Inc. 14,000 copies of The Scope are printed fortnightly and distributed throughout the metro area. The Scope seeks to publish a newspaper that will entertain, inform, and foster cultural development in the St. John’s metropolitan area. The Scope claims absolutely no responsibility for some dude breaking into our office and choosing to steal a camera, laptop and digital projector instead of, say, our electric paper shredder.

Paper shredders have feelings too you know.

Free issues of The Scope are limited to one copy per reader. All rights reserved. © 2009 Proudly independent and locally owned.

Founded in 2006.

LISTINGS

SECTIONS

10 Music 17 Movies 21 Community Events 19 On Stage 17 Visual Arts and Museums 22 Classifieds

4 City 5 Hot Ticket Calendar 6 Storefront 15 Food Nerd 18 Field Notes 16 On Display 19 Music Reviews 20 100% Local Comics 20 Free Will Astrology 24 Savage Love

inbox

was well respected as one of the most effective members. To say that Shannie has been there for a long time is a very weak argument for her removal.

Reverend Wallace Ryan: I really

hope Keith Coombs wins!!! Shanny has been around much too long and I hope this year, we see a bit of house cleaning when it comes to City Council.

Dave Lane: Ted Kennedy was in the

US senate for almost 50 years and

moo’s

about who wins the position of Deputy Mayor, but I am curious as to why you feel Keith Coombs should win? Mr Coombs may do a good job, but I don’t see why he should be elected just because he’s fresh meat. That is ridiculous. Vote on the issues, not because you want to see new faces.

Shawn Pendergast: Just wanted to say thanks for the Election Questionnaires section, I found it very informative and it helped me decide where to place my votes. Keep up the good work.

Those that did not respond to the questionnaire did not get my vote.

cna update your alumni page

Correction In our St. John’s city council roundup from last issue (“Decision ‘09”, Sept 10-24) we incorrectly stated that incumbent Ward 4 candidate Debbie Hanlon was president of Jesperson Publishing and “owner and president of Coldwell Baker Hanlon... the ones with the ubiquitous blue and white For Sale signs.” In fact, Hanlon sold Jesperson three years ago, and while she is president of the company Hanlon Realty, whose signs are purple and green, she has taken an extended leave of absense since last year to work full time as councilor for Ward 4. The Scope regrets these errors.

fortnight:

cookies & cream thescope.ca

Sharon P: I am mostly ambivalent

Ward Two. Seems Candidates have little understanding about heritage regulations. We’ll all be lucky if we can see the harbour in the next four years. Oh yeah, maybe from The Rooms. If you pay the entrance fee.

moo feature

voting by mail

Alison Dyer: I feel grave concern for

2 Bates Hill • 739-9233

ice cream

Circuit board from an old-school TV (iStockphoto)

We sent a detailed questionnaire to each of the candidates running in the 2009 St. John’s municipal election and posted their responses online at thescope.ca/election From online comments:

Congratulations and many thanks to Andy, Darka, Janet, Joan and Janet for giving us such gems!

88 Kings Road 753-3046 september 10 - 24, 2009

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city

Town away from town St. John’s isn’t the only municipality holding an election on September 29. Citizens will be electing or re-electing their mayors and councillors in over 140 towns and cities across the province, including Mount Pearl, Paradise, Conception Bay South, and Torbay.

Development is a critical issue in the elections of these rapidlyexpanding communities, and candidates have conflicting views on how to manage growth.

Shawn Hayward follows the campaign trail.

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he rumble of excavators and pounding of hammers reverberate throughout the communities bordering St. John’s. As the economy of the northeast Avalon expands, so too does the demand for housing and recreation. With ample land at a relatively affordable price, towns surrounding the capital city have grown rapidly in the past decade while most communities in Newfoundland and Labrador have shrunk.

Growth means a greater tax base but it also poses challenges for municipal governments. Many of the candidates in the upcoming municipal election have focused their rhetoric on development, each presenting a different vision of how it should unfold in their respective communities.

Paradise Two men are running for mayor in Paradise: Ralph Wiseman, who has been the town’s mayor since 2005 and a resident for 36 years, and Kurtis Coombs, a 19-year-old political science major who has lived in Paradise most of his life.

“As usual with a growing town, it’s infrastructure,” says Wiseman, when asked what’s the major issue in Paradise today. Wiseman says water, sewer, and recreation facilities are being strained by the town’s status as the fastest growing municipality in Atlantic Canada.

Wiseman says the lack of recreation is covered by a five-year plan that includes 256 acres for open space recreation.

“This will probably be one of the largest parks in the metro area,” says Wiseman, who added he also will work on getting a sports arena for Paradise.

Driving in Paradise can take a long time during rush hour, and Wiseman says he plans to improve it with a $50,000 traffic study. Topsail Road has become a busy commuter’s route between Conception Bay South, Paradise, Mount Pearl, and St. John’s, but Wiseman says the road hasn’t been upgraded to accommodate the increased traffic.

“Trying to make a left hand turn on Topsail Road during peak periods is sometimes virtually impossible,” he says. “That causes a bottleneck for traffic.”

Coombs says Wiseman hasn’t

Kanye ruins St. John’s moment. Photo illustration by Elling Lien.

done enough to deal with development during his four years as mayor. Many of the problems he witnessed in Paradise as a boy are still affecting people there today.

“The services haven’t met the demand,” he says. “You just have to look around the municipality to see people are unhappy. We need to start advocating to the government for proper recreational services and funding.”

When asked how voters react to his age, the 19-year-old Coombs says people are looking for a new, younger face.

“The face of Paradise has changed drastically,” he says.

“What a lot of people I’ve talked to door-to-door are saying is that there needs to be fresh blood in council.

I thought age might be something I’d have to combat on the campaign trail, but it actually is playing to my benefit. People are very receptive to see someone of my age running.”

“I respect Mr. Coombs and I’m impressed with him taking on the challenge,” says Wiseman, “It’s fine to say we have problems, that doesn’t fix the problem. You have to have a plan to fix the problems.”

Conception Bay South With no one to run against, Woodrow French has become mayor of CBS by acclamation.

Seven people are running for four councillor at large seats, and another six are running for three ward seats.

In the west part of town, CBS still hasn’t provided water and sewer services to some homes, according to French, which he says is unacceptable.

“We have houses 30 kilometres from the Confederation Building still without basic services like water and sewer,” says French, who has been mayor since 2005.

French says there are many young families who have recently built

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september 10 - 24, 2009

homes in the east end of town, and they’re looking for parks and sports fields for their children.

“The needs down there are for recreational facilities, which is something we have in our five-year plan to the government,” he says.

French says he concerned about the lack of municipal participation by new comers to his rapidlyexpanding community.

“I’m surprised actually. I thought there would be a lot of younger people involved in this election,” he says, noting only one person running in this election hasn’t sat on council before.

Mount Pearl Like French, Mount Pearl’s mayor, Randy Simms, has won a new term by acclamation. Only two people, Rose Clarke and Dave Aker, are challenging the incumbents for their council seats.

Mount Pearl isn’t growing as fast as Paradise, and Clarke says services like snow clearing and garbage collection are excellent. She’s more interested in how the town is being run.

“What I’m hearing is we don’t have a council that’s open to the public,” says Clarke, who is from Miami, Florida, and has lived in Mount Pearl for 31 years. “In other words, when people go to open council meetings, there’s no place for people to get up and speak.

Everything is rubber stamped.

They’re looking for a time, a place where they can meet the six councillors and the mayor.”

Clarke says it’s difficult challenging incumbents for a seat, because voters generally support people who have already elected.

Aker couldn’t be reached for comment.

Torbay The mayoral race in Torbay puts the incumbent, Bob Codner, against

the present deputy mayor, Mary Thorne-Gosse.

Torbay’s population grew 36.9 per cent between 2001 and 2006, and continues to expand. Codner says it’s his goal, if he wins his third term as mayor, to catch up with the development boom.

The town needs to expand its municipal depot and community centre, and build more sidewalks, according to Codner.

As the demand to live in Torbay goes up, so does the value of land, and the taxes people pay on their property. Codner says he expects property values to go up 30 per cent next year.

“That translates into a big burden on tax payers,” he says, adding that he plans to encourage industrial and commercial development, to lessen the tax burden on home owners.

Thorne-Gosse says the town has to manage development more carefully to maintain Torbay’s smalltown atmosphere.

“A lot of the residents would prefer to see Torbay as a rural area, and keep the culture we currently have,” she says. “At the current time we don’t have a lot of recreation programs or amenities we would like to see.”

Thorne-Gosse says Codner hasn’t applied for provincial and federal funding programs that could have been used to pay for new recreation buildings and parks, and improve quality of life for young families who have recently moved to Torbay.

If you have opinions on how your community deals with development, or any other issue, you should probably, like, vote. Anyone 18 or older who is a Canadian citizen can cast their ballot. Check your community’s town website to find polling stations.

Respond to this article online at

thescope.ca/election

Sunday

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music

music

music

Tonight kicks off the weekend-long celebration of local alternative rock.

Tonight catch shows at CBTGs and The Ship. Five bucks to get in.

Likely the only hip-hop artist who can loop some accordion in a track and get away with it. The crew from Half Life Records will join him at the Breezeway.

Tickets are $25. Starts at 8pm.

Kick back and listen

Singer-songwriter John Lennox hits the stage with an offering of soulful country. Opening act: local folk group Les Domestics at The Ship.

Rock Can Roll Fest

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more music

reading

history

music

music

Two larger than life bands hit the stage at the Rock House on this Friday night.

The Women’s Film Fest is turning 20 with style. Janet Cull and Kelly Ann Evans perform their Tribute to the Women of Motown.

Tickets $20/$30 at The Majestic, 8pm start. Break out your sequined dresses, your flashy suits, and your dance shoes.

Golden Rock Awards

Rock Can Roll’s Golden Rock Awards Gala begins at 9pm, then Mercy, The Sexton hit the stage. Not bad for a Sunday night at The Ship. Five bucks gets you in the door.

Seán Virgo

Welta’q CD Release

Former sheep farmer, logger, well witcher, and not to mention prize-winning poet and fiction writer will read from selected works.

Starts at 7pm at The Ship.

Help launch a disc of Mi’kmaq powwow drum, fiddle tunes, hymns and anthems from historic recordings at the MMaP Gallery in the Arts & Culture Centre. Starts at 4:30pm.

Free and open to all.

Seán Virgo

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music

books

Guelph jazz singer/guitarist musician Kate Schutt and local gypsy-jazzmeets-NF trad musician Duane Andrews at The Ship. He played on her latest album, self-produced, Telephone Game.

Cantankerous. Fuzzyhaired. Sharp as a tack. ...And discussing his new book Canada and Other Matters of Opinion. Free at DF Cook Recital Hall at 7:30pm. Must pre-register by e-mailing jharron@ mun.ca

Kate Schutt

Rex Murphy

Saturday, October 3 The Blessing of the Animals. Every dog, cat, donkey and goat has its day...Bring your pets to the Anglican Cathedral to be blessed in the name of St. Francis of Assisi. 2pm. Everyone/ thing welcome.

Kate Schutt

8 theatre

Rocking the Cradle

RCA Theatre Co brings renowned writer Des Walsh’s play to the stage.

An unhappy marriage wrapped in a cappella ballads set in 1960s Newfoundland. Oct 8 to Sun Oct 18 (except Mondays) at MUN Reid Theatre.

Novaks + Matt Hornell and the Diamond Minds

WFF turns XX

Saturday, September 26 The day of the Ken Proudfoot Potato Festival. That’s right, a festival in honour the humble spud, named after a great local credited with developing strains of disease-resistant potatoes.

Displays, demos, veggie stands, jigg’s dinner, good times. MUN Botanical Garden from 10am-4pm.

Saturday, October 10th, 2009 Inco Innovation Centre, MUN Doors Open at 6:30pm.

Show Starts at 7:00pm.

Tickets $15 in advance, $17 at the door.

Tickets available at

Alpine Country Lodge Free Ride Mountain Sports Wallnuts Climbing Gym More info and previews: www.ucs.mun.ca/~outdoor

september 10 - 24, 2009

thescope 5

storefront local biz news

t-shirt designers

In a fog

St. John’s, Newfoundland is the foggiest city in the country. That’s 118.96 days of inspiration for Chris Evans, Mike Grouchy and Matt Barnable, the guys behind up-andcoming clothing label, Fogtown.

“We grew up playing in hardcore bands together and were using ‘Fogtown’ on apparel and demo tapes all the while,” explains Matt.

The designs incorporate local themes, says Chris.

“Fogtown is for people who want to celebrate the scenes they are part of and the people they know, not fictitious crab shacks or beaches they’ve never Sydney been to.”

Blackmore

Casesydney@thescope.ca in-point: Their best selling t-shirt, “Hell-Raiser” depicts a lion’s head statue—a nod to the St. John’s war memorial site.

Fogtown is happy with streetlevel success but ultimately aims to transition into a recognizable label.

Future plans include designing attire beyond t-shirts and creating a line specifically for women.

“Fogtown is in the early stages, so keep your eyes peeled,” says Matt.

To follow them, check out their blog at fogtown.wordpress.com.

salon

Karma Chameleon Karma Hair Salon is the second new salon to pop up on the east end of Water Street this fall.

Owners Tonya Pottle and Jane Matthews were hair stylist and make-up artist, respectively, to former hair and piercing salon, Tectonics Hair Studio. Karma is actually one floor below another Tectonic alumnus, Dave Munro of Trouble Bound Tattoo. How’s that for good karma?

Karma carries only eco-friendly products at their salon, like Biolage, a fair-trade haircare product that uses recycled packaging. Jane Matthews says, “That’s how we live our lives, so we’re just bringing ourselves into the store.”

Karma operates Tuesday to Saturday and to book an appointment, call 722-5217 or e-mail karmahairsalondowntown@ gmail.com

dance studio

Let’s dance

Going by the number of new dance studios opening across town, it’s obvious people are getting in the groove.

Two new ones opened recently...

First, The Dance Academy at 75 Airport Road is a dance centre targeting folks in Airport Heights, Portugal Cove and beyond. Owners and instructors Lisa MacDonald and Ashley Knee teach ballet, hip hop, modern, jazz and stepdancing.

Programs that promote movement and dance to children with autism spectrum disorders are also in the works, explains Lisa.

“Ashley has Applied Behavioral Analysis training and we’ve been asked by the home school program to offer some dance programs to individuals with Aspergers and Autism.”

To contact The Dance Academy, phone 237-7007 or visit their website at www.thedanceacademy. ca.

Next, there’s Wild Lily Dance Centre which has filled the former Neighbourhood Strays studio at 163 Water Street. Wild Lily offers non-Western forms of dance and is headed by one-time Strays students Vanessa Paddock and Lori Savory.

“We teach Bellydance, Bollywood, Flamenco, Yoga and Hula Hooping,” explains Lori.

“We’re an alternative for dancers in the city and want to expose people to different ideas of dance and alternative cultures.”

The centre has an on-site shop called Jingles that sells bellydancing costumes, accessories and customized hula hoops

by Hot Hoops. To check out Wild Lily’s dance schedules or inquire about Jingles, visit www. wildlilydancecentre.com or dial

ANNOUNCEMENT

753-5232.

new gallery

Art Heritage

The Historic Sites Association is piloting the Heritage Shop Gallery at 309 Water Street where local art is on display and up for sale.

“The idea is to provide history and culture through local arts and crafts,” explains supervisor Amber Ledrew.

The exhibit Transmission & Defence: Images of Signal Hill runs until October 3rd, Monday-Friday, noon to 6pm.

For information on submission requirements, contact Amber at 739-7994 or wsheritageshop@ nf.aibn.com.

renovations

At a junction

Junctions at 208 Water has been closed since the beginning of September but will be back in business come October 4th. “‘We did do a few small renovations.

We moved a few booths and got a new sound board area,” says owner Luke Viau. Info on the bar’s upcoming events, like the NL debut of hardcore metal band Silverstein, can be found at www.junctionsclub. com and the Junctions Facebook group.

Send your fresh business news to storefront@thescope.ca

theindex

employment numbers Percentage change of non-residents visiting the province in the past year: +0.7 Percentage change of camping units registered at provincial parks in Newfoundland and Labrador: +18 Percentage change in non-resident traffic on Marine Atlantic: +4.4 Percentage change in residents exiting the province on Marine Atlantic: -1 Percentage change of visits to the provincial government tourism website: +29 Number of cruise ship passengers scheduled to visit St. John’s in October: 7305 Percentage change in Airport traffic into and out of airports in Newfoundland and Labrador as of July 2009 -2.9 Sources linked online at

thescope.ca/index

Nooks&Crannies Red cliff radar site Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove

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Dr. Melanie McLeod Dr. Robert Quigley, 257 LeMarchant Road, is pleased to announce that Dr. Melanie McLeod, B.Sc., D.D.S., a 2009 graduate of Dalhousie University’s Faculty of Dentistry has joined him as a full time associate in the practice of Dentistry.

We welcome new patients.

For appointments please call 579-2115.

6 thescope

september 10 - 24, 2009

he Americans left long ago, but the radar site at Red Cliff is ideal for people with an interest in history or those who just want to shoot their friends with paintballs.

Red Cliff was home to a battery of coastal defence guns during World War II. In 1951, when the Cold War made air defence from Soviet bombers a priority, the site was chosen as a radar base for North East Air Command, as part of a North American early warning system. About 250 American servicemen and local employees worked at the site until it was closed in 1961.

Today, only ruins remain of the barracks, storage facilities, and mess hall, but that doesn’t stop people from making their way to the Town of Logy Bay-Middle CoveOuter Cove to see the debris.

“It’s a pretty fantastic site,” says Erin Chafe, who ended her trek along the East Coast Trial by

exploring the site about a month ago. “You can go into the buildings and the lookout and walk around, which we did of course.”

The top of the radar building allows a great view of the Atlantic ocean, and also a good place to shoot your enemies… if you’re into paintball.

“The buildings are broken and falling down, and the stairs are practically non-existent,” says Chafe. “They’re full of graffiti and paintball splatter. It does suit the paintball scene perfectly I would imagine. It makes for a pretty sweet spot to poke around.”

People who visit the radar station should watch where they step though. It is a ruin after all, with rusting jagged metal lying around and decaying concrete steps ready to disintegrate under your feet.

You can get there via Logy Bay Road or by following the East Coast Trial.

— Shawn Hayward

september 10 - 24, 2009

thescope 7

onscreen

Recently, CBC-TV and NTV have moved their six o'clock newscasts to 5:30 and extended them to ninety minutes. knowing a battle when we smell one, we asked our opinionated movie/pop culture/everything critic Adam Clarke to keep tabs on the two shows and offer up his evaluation.

Whose newscast will reign supreme? Who will survive the rumble in the supper-time jungle? These questions shall be answered in the battle of broadcasts that clarke has christened...

the evening news

deathmatch illustration by ricky king

disagree? weigh in on the debate online at thescope.ca

W

hen I was a kid, all joy seemed to evaporate around the supper hour.

Every evening at six o’clock, in every house across the province, families switched on to the local newscast of their choice. It didn’t matter if you were watching cartoons or out playing street hockey. You were going to gather with the family ‘round the table and eat the lukewarm, offbrand macaroni and cheese while waiting patiently for the weather.

And maybe some news.

You can’t buy those kinds of memories.

At the risk of sounding like Jim Furlong, that was a long time ago.

Lately, I’ve been sitting on a couch with the CBC exploding pizza to the left of me and Captain Atlantis on my right, each one wanting me to be my friend.

That’s what it felt like to watch two ninety minute news shows every night for the past month.

Yes, dear readers, both Here & Now and The NTV Evening News Hour have changed. Sort of. Rather than expand the competing newscasts, CBC and NTV have each created a supplemental half-hour news program to precede the six o’clock news on both stations.

Sounds like a radical experiment, right? Not when you look at the big picture.

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september 10 - 24, 2009

“I can remember when people thought they were being wacky to start at 6,” recalls Susan Newhook, who has been keeping a keen eye on the CBC newscasts following the announcement.

Newhook is an assistant professor at the King’s College School of Journalism and a veteran journalist. She has worked with the CBC in Halifax, Edmonton and on Here & Now in Newfoundland.

“For years, the news started at 6:30 on both stations,” she says. That radical change became a tradition for decades.

And so, yet another radical change has come!

To spoil some of the surprise right now, I’ll say though occasionally awkward, the extra half our is a worthwhile addition that serves to amplify the strengths and weaknesses of both newscasts.

So the only way to evaluate them was to do so comparatively, in the guise of two combatants entering the Thunderdome. Plus it’s more fun that way.

Let the Deathmatch begin!

round 1: the first week

NTV made the change when First

Edition premiered on August 24th.

CBC’s Here & Now: Early Edition hit the airwaves the following Monday.

The two half-hour newscasts follow the same formula, concisely skimming the main events of the news day while promising more elaborate and detailed coverage in the news hour to come. NTV packaged this new addition as a separate program with its own anchor—Glen Carter.

Carter will be familiar to viewers as a regular figure on the NTV Evening News Hour and I think he does a fine job as First Edition’s sole anchor.

It does, however, seem a bit odd to have a thirty minute program of news highlights followed by an hour-long newscast. Doesn’t that reduce First Edition to a half-hour preview for the news at six? When I spoke to NTV news director Fred Hutton, he says the shorter program was built on an undying love for local news.

“With so many channels offering national and international news, you’d think that the audience wouldn’t be there,” Hutton said.

“But the opposite is true. People want local news.”

But wasn’t this just a naked attempt to keep up with the competition?

The answer is a resounding maybe. Kinda.

“Yes, I would say that competition is a factor,” Hutton says, “but this is something we’ve considered doing for some time... Outside of Newfoundland, a ninety minute newscast is nothing new. In Halifax, they have a program called Live At Five which offers just that”.

Soooo... ongoing competition... lead to an already-discussed idea... to give people the news they crave according to the viewing figures.

It’s a reasonable explanation.

At least the folks at NTV gave the program its own anchor and its own identity, if only to prevent the News Hour hosts from burning out.

But over at the CBC, there are seemingly no new bodies to helm their Early Edition. And no extra publicity.

Is this really just a means to stretch out resources? And so soon after the lay-offs the CBC instituted earlier this year? As far as I know, there are no new jobs, and I’m fairly certain there was no increase in Here & Now’s budget. Does this just come down to making money for the network?

Susan Newhook, recalling a comment from former CBC producer Joan Donaldson, says extra time should never be turned down. You can only try to use it to your advantage.

Still, she says, it’s a challenge.

“The six o’clock segment doesn’t

look all that different to me as far as style or content goes,” says Newhook. “But it’s a lot more to take on without a lot more resources to throw at it. You don’t need the same kinds of resources you needed ten or fifteen years ago, but you still need bodies”.

The strain of adding that extra half-hour was obvious in CBC’s first week. Far too much time was used up with Jonathan Crowe repeatedly asking viewers to comment on stories. It happened often enough that I wouldn’t have been surprised to see the camera cut back to a despondent-looking Crowe holding up a cardboard sign with “Will Dance For Viewer Feedback” scrawled on it in Sharpie.

So in this first week, CBC’s Early Edition seemed to lack structure, and the on-air talent were struggling to adjust.

Their debut week seemed cursed with flubs.

One particularly low point came at the end of one newscast, following a brief on bus drivers penalizing foul-smelling passengers, where Jonathan Crowe signed off by wishing viewers “a malodorous day.”

Then he paused, turned to Debbie and said “wait, that’s the opposite of what I...um...”Then the screen faded to black.

It’s no “keep plucking that chicken,” but I still wish I hadn’t erased

that tape.

Granted, Here & Now was still a source of dependable stories, but it looked like it was stretched by the added half-hour. With their more polished delivery and relaxed atmosphere, NTV had the upper hand.

Round 1 Winner: NTV

round 2: personality

It’s no secret that CBC have been routinely getting beaten in the ratings by NTV ever since Here & Now was cut down to a meager thirty minutes in the early 2000s and paired with Canada Now, a national news show. The CBC made a pretty gross error in judgment there, downplaying one of its most beloved local programs in favor of yet another national newscast. It didn’t need fixing.

The local news you trust is one that should remain in place. The affection you hold for it is, as Susan Newhook describes, not unlike how you feel about “your Mom’s macaroni ‘n cheese.”

The reason for this is personality.

It is the personalities of any newscast that is one of the driving factors in getting viewers to tune in every day.

NTV’s main strength here is that its main news team has remained unchanged for many years. If you grew up with anchors Fred Hutton and Lynne Burry, you can still see

Cat’

it’s political

them on The NTV Evening News tonight.

Looking at them with fresh eyes, you can’t help but see why people choose to watch NTV. Fred and Lynne are still doing good work and so, too, is entertainment reporter Toni-Marie Wiseman.

Now, some doubtlessly read about Toni-Marie Wiseman and roll their eyes. It’s their loss. Despite being a popular TV personality, Wiseman has been on the receiving end of far too many jokes and false gossip over the years. It’s a shame, as she’s a very likeable presence on the show, and has most definitely earned an esteemed place in local broadcasting. I’m thinking of doing up a few “Free Toni-Marie” tees and selling them at the mall flea market.

Solidarity, people.

Moving down the dial, CBC was at a bit of a loss here, in my opinion. In fact, I think they’ve lost it when they lost the loveable, Charlie Brown-like Glenn Tilley. Sure, it’s been a while, but that guy was Here & Now to me. Fortunately, Debbie Cooper is still on the program and is still a top-notch anchor. Co-anchor Jonathan Crowe and reporter Azzo Rezzori, too, are ideal figures in the newscast.

That said, hands down the best recent addition to the CBC line-up is Ryan Snoddon as the new weatherman. Snoddon is knowledgeable and ridiculously enthusiastic about delivering the weather.

Round 2 Winner: It’d be very tempting to call it a tie, but I have to give

e

i feel a strange pain. what is the / source of this strange pain?

de

CBC the edge for Ryan Snoddon.

He’s definitely a worthy heir to the weatherman throne that Karl Wells once occupied, and there is a tender place in the hearts of nans everywhere for the two of them.

round 3: content

Week three.

Here & Now was making an impressive rebound.

The team and the 5:30pm leadin bolstered a renewed sense of focus. Their coverage of the Jim Walsh fraud case, the drug trade in Labrador West and the sinking of the Sea Gypsy were second to none.

Melanie Nagy’s interview with Sea Gypsy survivor Jimmy Kavanagh was remarkable—one of the most compellingly told news stories I’ve heard all year.

Here & Now’s municipal elections coverage deserves special mention here too. Flexing its Internet muscle, CBC encouraged candidates to upload their own videos and info to the CBC website. The Mothercorp’s radio, television and online news divisions are become increasingly connected, seeing this gives me faith Here & Now will thrive with its increased airtime.

On NTV, it was business as usual.

Which is what they do really well.

While Fred Hutton, Lynn Bury, Toni-Marie Wiseman were as strong as ever, and Michael Connors’ report

before i go on, i’d like to say this pain is most certainly because of you.

/

de

on the Walsh trial was strong, they couldn’t match Here & Now. Some stories suffered with oversimplified writing—as in when a reporter paused for much too long to explain what a cornea was.

Here & Now seemed able to handle late-breaking stories, while NTV’s Newshour didn’t touch them until the following night, as with the Mount Pearl flagman who’d been hit by a car. While these items were being brought to viewers attention on Here & Now, NTV would offer something like Places To Go. Nothing wrong with that.

When both supper-hour newscasts were lengthened, it seemed like NTV would benefit from having so many recurring “lite” segments.

What better way to balance out the airtime? Ultimately, this could and should be the strength of The NTV Evening News Hour. If they’re operating on a lower-budget than the CBC, they can’t always compete when it comes to breaking stories.

What they can do is create pieces with a focus on Newfoundland in a way that promotes community.

While that certainly seems to be the intent of Places To Go, the segment routinely runs too long, making the whole affair seem like a naked advertorial. What is needed is for NTV to edit, revise and even eliminate some of these features to revitalize the News Hour. Change is good.

That’s why the ninety minute format can succeed.

In my opinion, most of NTV’s segments in need of pruning are Today In History and Snook’s Stuff About

yeah, or maybe your underwear is too tight \

de

/

i’m not wearing any underwear

Stuff. For the former, I can appreciate Jim Furlong’s interests, but isn’t it enough that he has a whole halfhour to do this sort of thing on ntv. ca (the show, not the website)? As for Snook... I’m not a fan of Snook, to put it lightly. It was bad enough when the CBC was airing his segments in the nineties. Now Snook’s just another unfunny Newfie joke.

ROUND 3 WINNER: CBC. Though the debate has raged on for years about the merits of each newscast, with many pointing to NTV’s superior ratings as the final word on the matter, Here & Now is the victor in this humble critic’s Newscast-Thunderdome.

While I can appreciate their focus on building community, NTV needs to rethink their program if they hope to match the CBC. After recovering from the disastrous Canada Now experiment in the early aughts and a shaky start with its Early Edition, it seems like Here & Now has returned stronger than ever in its current format.

WINNER OF THE MATCH: CBC. Here is where we look despondently at the camera holding a sign that reads, “WILL DANCE FOR READER FEEDBACK.” Comment online at

thescope.ca

de

*fart* /

september 10 - 24, 2009

d thescope 9

comedy sundays

(8pm. 2 bucks cover + great specials)

tuesdays

open mic w/ tim

dodge

(9pm. Prizes awarded for best performer)

music listings send us your show info Email: listings@thescope.ca Online: thescope.ca Event listings are free. Hi-res photos are welcome and encouraged.

14,000 copies of The Scope are available at 300+ locations across St. John’s, Mount Pearl, Paradise, Torbay and CBS.

Next deadline for listings: 5pm Sunday, October 4th.

THURSDAY, SEPT 24 Classic Rock Thursday: Terry Mack, Jace Hardcack, no cover, Loft 709

wednesdays

Songwriters Showcase

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w/

John Feltham (9pm. no Cover)

thursday to saturday: the best local acts the city has to offer.

For info and bookings call Gene at 746-4942

Craig Young (solo acoustic) no cover, Fat Cat Blues Bar

Dave Panting, Erin’s Pub Fergus O’Byrne (7pm); Acoustic Punters (10:30pm), O’Reilly’s Irish Pub

Fred Jorgenson & Arthur O’Brien, Kelly’s Pub

Ian Foster (singer-songwriter) Bull & Barrel Jason Simms & John Barela, Bridie Molloy’s

John Lennox (country), Les Domestics (folk), The Ship

Kill The Shepherd ((hardcore), Endometrium (metal), Johnny said HI (metal), Distortion

MacLovin, Dusk Ultra Lounge Matthew Byrne (7pm), Middle Tickle (10:30pm), Shamrock City Pub

Rockin’ Thursdays, The Levee Scott Conway, Whalen’s Pub Steve Edwards, Trapper John’s Striped White, CBTGs The Insiders (acoustic) 10:30pm, Martini Bar Tropical Thursdays: DJ Chamba, Turkey Joe’s

Twins, 9:30pm-1:30am, Lower Path Bar Unlisted, Green Sleeves

FRIDAY, SEPT 25

Rock House The

on George Street

L i v e

b a n d s

All Request, Lottie’s Blackie O’Leary (5:30pm); Rob Cook (10pm), Kelly’s Pub

Bob Macdonald, 6pm-10pm, The Republic Chris Hennessey (5pm); Fergus O’Byrne (8:15pm), O’Reilly’s Irish Pub

Clean Sheets, Trapper John’s Colin Harris, 9:30pm-12:30am, Lower Path Bar

D’arcy Broderick & Ron Kelly (5pm); Barry Kenny & Glen Harvey (8:30pm), Shamrock City Pub

Darrell Cooper (6:30pm-9:30pm), Ron Hynes Band (folk country), Fat Cat Blues Bar Dave Reardon, 5pm-9pm, no cover, Station Lounge

DJ Mikey B, DJ Steve Murray, DJ Electro, $5 till 1:30am, Liquid Night Club

DJ OTG, 1am, Dusk Ultralounge Filthy Fridays: DJ Lex, Turkey Joe’s For Her Pleasure: DJ Mayeham & Scott

fri, Oct 2nd

the novaks with special guests

matthew Hornell & The Diamond Minds

Conweay, Loft 709

Foster & Allen, 8pm, $41, Holy Heart Theatre Funktastic Friday w/ DJs Leo van Ulden & Rob Taylor, 12am-5am, $5 (no cover before 1am), Spin

Heartland, Tol’s Time Out Lounge Ian Foster (singer-songwriter) Bull & Barrel Janeil Lynch, Whalen’s Pub Noel Worthman (7pm-10pm), Hag Down (10:30pm), Bridie Molloy’s

One Day in Feburary (punk), Kill The Sheppard (hardcore), Sacrosanct, 10pm, The Levee

Phantom 4, The Dock Rock Can Roll Fest: This is Distorted (8:45pm); Cara Lee Coleman (11:15pm); Quiet Elephant (12:30am); The Wolves (1:45am), $5, Distortion

Rock Can Roll Fest: Geinus (11:15pm); Monsterbator (12:30am); Local Tough (1:45am), $5, CBTGs Rock Can Roll Fest: Lizband (11:15pm); Dogmeat BBQ (12:30am); At Ship’s End (1:45am), $5, The Ship Rock for the Cure (CIBC Run for the Cure) 6:30pm-10pm, $5, The Breezeway Steve Colburne, 6pm-9pm, Cafe Wedge-

10 thescope

september 10 - 24, 2009

music

Our punk rock heritage It was 29 years ago that Newfoundland’s first punk rock band, Da Slyme, first spraypainted their name on record sleeves like Mr. Dressup, Carlton Showband and The Bell Jubilee Sound and slipped a copy of their double LP inside. It’s been 31 years since their first show.

Punk hit Newfoundland hard and it hit early. Da Slyme were certainly the first, but they weren’t the last.

This year the Rock Can Roll Festival is digging through the past with a closing night conference entitled “Preserving our Punk Rock Heritage.”

David Keating caught up with Liz Solo and Mike Kean to ask them about it.

“T

hey’re talking on TV about our heritage and where we come from,” says Kean. “They don’t know what my fucking heritage is.”

The first story of Newfoundland punk goes way back.

Rock Can Roll festival organizer Liz Solo points to the stories of the “primordial” group Da Slyme in the late 70s as the beginning of the entire movement. Their legendary first show happened on February 3, 1978 in the movie room—a student lounge on the second floor of MUN’s Thompson Student Centre.

“They had their costumes and their personas, but nobody knew what to do. I think it ended up with them breaking beer bottles and the singer cutting himself really badly and I think he had to leave early to go to the hospital.”

“Then the audience didn’t quite know what to do either, so people started throwing things,” she says.

Over 40 years since Da Slyme first hit the stage in St. John’s, punk has been a continuous thread in the local music scene. In conjunction with Rock Can Roll’s Fifth Annual Music Festival, the Independent Artist Co-Op is organizing the closing night conference entitled “Preserving Our Punk Rock Heritage.”

Featuring presentations with members of groups like Dog Meat BBQ, Da Slyme, and Potmaster, the conference is part of a larger ongoing effort to catalogue the history of punk in the province,

especially for younger bands who don’t know.

“We want to make people understand that there’s a whole history here that’s decades old— and we want to document that,” says Solo. “Many bands come and go and didn’t record, but that’s changing… We want to create awareness and content to help people understand where the roots of all this are.”

Highlights of the collection that will debut at the conference include hundreds of show posters from every decade of music, as well as early album art. Bios of bands and all of the images will be available to online in a gallery that traces the origins of groups through the members that have spanned the decades.

For Solo and Kean, the story of local punk history is the story of all the grassroots movements in music that have occurred in the half a century of history in the city.

“Ages ago it was all the same scene. It wasn’t so factionalized,” say Solo. “The reggae band played with the punk band. There were shows with just hardcore punk, but a lot of the shows were much more shared… There were fewer venues, and fewer bands. We were all discovering this stuff together and figuring it out together.”

Despite the strides punk has made in audience popularity, number of bands and performance venues, the struggle to make a living in the arts hasn’t changed over the years.

“Musicians are probably the most exploited of all artists here because

wood

VDJ Fox, $5, Junctions

Stolen Goods (MUN Music) Tuba player Karen Bulmer & pianist Timothy Steeves draw from the worlds of jazz, tango & techno, 8pm, DF Cook Recital Hall

SATURDAY, SEPT 26

That Time of the Month: Drag Show

Whalen’s Pub

Musical with Doris & friends, no cover before 12am, Zone 216

The Mountains & The Trees (folk), The Repartee, Bird & Bear (folk), Rose & Thistle

The Tequila Rockingbirds (rock) Green Sleeves

Traditional Session: Graham Wells, Erin’s

Classified (Halifax hip hop), Half Life Crew, 8pm, $25, The Breezeway Dave Whitty & Simon Hiscock (7pm10pm), Hag Down (10:30pm), Bridie Molloy’s

DJ Mark Power, DJ Skitch, Loft 709 DJ Mikey B, DJ Steve Murray, DJ Electro, $5 till 1:30am, Liquid Night Club

they are continuously being asked to do everything for free. Nobody wants to pay them. It’s a problem.

We have all these amazing working artists struggling with issues of survival,” says Solo.

Along the way, it’s not only the artists that have struggled to survive.

Both Kean and Solo mourn the loss of another music festival, the PeaceA-Chord.

Held annually in Bannerman Park, the free community festival with a focus that hovered between social justice and local music faced opposition from others in the community.

“It’s becoming all about greed and property now, “ says Pickard.

“The houses around the park, the value skyrocketed so now these people, they say ‘we don’t like this’ and a 25-year festival is cast out.”

Meanwhile, The Folk Festival— louder in decibel level, but not in style—was permitted to continue in the same Bannerman Park location.

As property values and the prosperity of the Have era continue to change the nature of the city, both Kean and Solo see a greater need to hold onto the values and punk heritage that have marked the A1C area code as fertile artistic territory.

“Remember that we have a past... and you don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. So let’s not lose that ‘we’re all in this together’ thing—which I think we do still have.”

fair trade recycled materials biodegradable substances

175 water street. st john’s, nl 709 722 6004 mon/tues/wed 10-6 thurs 10-8 fri/sat 10-6 sun 12-5

twistedsistersboutik.blogspot.com

The Rock Can Roll Music and Media Festival runs from Friday, September 25th to Sunday, September 27th. Visit rockcanrollrecords. com for full details.

Comment on this article online at

thescope.ca

DJ OTG, 1am, Dusk Ultralounge Foster & Allen, 8pm, $41, Holy Heart Theatre Heartland, Tol’s Time Out Lounge Hugh Scott (4:30pm); Bob Taylor & Carl Peters (8pm); Navigators (11pm), Shamrock City Pub

Jeff Lewis, Lottie’s Place Maggie Meyer (singer-songwriter), Ilia Nicholl (singer-songwriter), 10:30pm, $5, Rose & Thistle

Mike Bursey, Trapper John’s Nimmons ‘n’ Braid (MUN Music) Phil Nimmons & David Braid in a concert of spontaneous music, 8pm, DF Cook Recital Hall

Andrew Wickens

Pub

Andrew Ledrew & Kalem Mahony,

Show poster for Da Slyme’s first show. See a larger version online at stjohnspunkrockarchives. blogspot.com

september 10 - 24, 2009

thescope 11

Phantom 4, The Dock Rick Lambe Band, 10pm, The Levee Rob Cook (4pm); Fergus O’Byrne (8pm), O’Reilly’s Irish Pub

Rob Cook, 10pm, Kelly’s Pub Rock Can Roll Fest: This is Distorted (8:45pm); Danielle Trouble (11:15pm); The Black Bags (12:30am); The Mudflowers (1:45am), $5, Distortion

Rock Can Roll Fest: Danny Keating (11:15pm); The Blackened Lungs (12:30am); Colonel Craze & The Hunch (1:45am), $5, CBTGs Rock Can Roll Fest: The Crocaducks (11:15pm); The Reluctant Showmen (12:30am); The Pathological Lovers (1:45am), $5, The Ship Ron Hynes Band (folk country) Fat Cat Blues Bar

Seamless Saturday: DJ Mike The Tailor, 11pm-5am, $5 (no cover before 1am), Spin

Sexual Saturdays: DJ Jaycee, Turkey Joe’s The Tequila Rockingbirds, Green Sleeves VJ Eric & DJ Slayer, 11pm, $5/$7 after 1:30pm, Zone 216

SUNDAY, SEPT 27 Acoustic A Go Go, 10pm, no cover, Distortion

Blackie O’Leary (5:30pm); Fred Jorgenson (9:30pm), Kelly’s Pub

Chris Henessey (5:30pm); Arthur O’Brien & Johnny Graham (9:30pm), Navigators (11pm), Shamrock City Pub

Irish Session: Graham Wells & Billy Sutton, Mike Hanrahan (8:30pm), Bridie Molloy’s

Mike Hanrahan & Ron Kelly (2pm), Damian Follett (10:30pm), Green Sleeves

Retro Sunday: DJ Lex, Turkey Joe’s Rock Can Roll Fest: Conference with John Fisher, Craig Squires, Gerard Van Herk, Liz Solo, Darryl Bennett, Jody Richardson & host Kevin Hehir (7pm); Third Annual Golden Rock Awards with Gerard Van Herk, Jen Skywalker & Jody Richardson (9pm); Closing party with Mercy, The Sexton (10pm), $5, The Ship

Song Session: Allan Byrne (7pm), Best Kind (10:30pm), O’Reilly’s Irish Pub The Racket, George Street Beer Market

music venue

directory Anchorage Coffee House, 106 Water St, 726-0388 Arts & Culture Centre, Prince Philip Dr, 729-3900 The Attic, 2 George St, 579-9632 Bar None, 164 Water St, 579-2110 Bella Vista, 26 Torbay Rd, 753-2352 Big Ben’s, 55 Rowan St, 753-8212 Black Dog Pub, 318 Water St, 726-6015 Bull & Barrel, Holdsworth Court, 579-7077 Bull & Finch, Torbay Rd, 738-7007 The Breezeway, MUN Campus, 737-4743 Bridie Molloy’s, 5 George St, 576-5990 Brownings Pub, Hotel Mount Pearl, 364-7725 CBTG’s, Holdsworth Court, 722-2284 Christine’s Place, 210 Lemarchant Rd, 722-6400 Club One, George St, 753-7822 Crow’s Nest (Officer’s Club), 88 Water St (by War Memorial), 753-6927 D.F. Cook Recital Hall, Memorial University 737-4700 Corner Stone Sports Bar, 16 Queen St, 754-4263 Darnell’s Pub, 1570 Topsail Rd 782-2440 Distortion, Holdsworth Court, 738-8833 The Dock, 17 George St, 726-0353 Dusk ULTRA LOUNGE, George St Erin’s Pub, 186 Water St, 722-1916 Fat Cat Blues Bar, George St 739-5554 George Street Beer Market, George St, 753-7822 Georgetown Pub, 754-6151 Green sleeves PUB, 14 George St, 579-1070 The Grapevine, Water St, 754-8463 Grumpy Stump, Torbay Rd, 7532337 Holy Heart Theatre, 55 Bonaventure Ave, 579-4424 Junctions, 208 Water St, 5792557 Karaoke Kops Party Bar, 10 George St, 726-8202 Kelly’s Pub, 25 George St, 753-5300 Kruger’s Bar, 986 Conception Bay Hwy, Kelligrews The Last Drop, 193 Water St, 726-3767 THE LEVEE, Holdsworth Court Liquid NIGHT CLUB, 186B Water St, 754-5455 Loft 709, 371 Duckworth St 351-2183 Lottie’s Place, 3 George St, 754-3020 Lower Path Grill & Bar, 312 Water St 5791717 LSPU HAll, 3 Victoria St, 753-4531 Majestic Theatre, 390 Duckworth St Marg’s Place, Kelligrews Martini Bar (Above Peddler’s On George) 739-9180 Masonic Temple, 6 Cathedral St, 579-3023 Mickey Quinn’s, 120 New Gower St, 739-6404 Mile One Centre, 50 New Gower St, 576-7657 MUN MUSIC, 737-4455 Mrs Liddy’s, Torbay 437-6005 The Old Mill, 271 Brookfield Rd, 368-1334 O’Reilly’s Irish Pub, 15 George St, 722-3735 Peddler’s On George, George St, 739-9180 Peter Easton Pub, Cookstown Road Petro-Canada Hall, Memorial University Players Cue, 50 Commonwealth Ave-Mt Pearl 368-2500 Republic, Duckworth St, 753-1012 THE Rockhouse, George St, 579-6832 rose & Thistle, 208 Water St, 579-6662 Shamrock City Pub, 340 Water St, 758-5483 Ship Pub, 265 Duckworth St, 753-3870 Spin, 2 George St Sharky’s Pub, Manuels 834-5636 The Sprout, 364 Duckworth St, 579-5485 SS Meigle Lounge, Seal Cove 7441212 Stanley’s Pub, 26 Torbay Rd, 754-0930 Station Lounge, 7 Hutchings St Steller Club, Henry St, 753-8222 Stetson Lounge, 260 Water St, 753-8138 Sundance, George St, 753-7822 Tol's Time-Out Lounge, 74 Old Placentia Rd 745-8657 Topsail Breeze Tavern, Topsail 7810010 Trapper John’s PUB, 2 George St, 579-9630 Trinity Pub, George St, 579-5558 Trip in Lounge, Kelligrews 834-4002 victory tavern, 164 Water St, 738-2100 The Well, 14 George St 2nd level Green Sleeves Whalen’s Pub, 32 George St 722-4900 Whiskey On George, 15 George St, 579-9475 Zone 216, 216 Water St, 754-2492 Do you host live music or DJs at your spot? Joining our directory is free. E-mail: listings@ thescope.ca

Hip Hop Tuesday: Paddy Greene & Shawn

The Drunks Rule This Place, CBTGs Wacky Wednesdays: Dave White, 10pm,

Goldz, no cover, Loft 709

MONDAY, SEPT 28

Hugh Scott (6:30pm), Connemara, 10pm,

Damian Follett, Green Sleeves Dave White, 9:30pm, MexiCali Rosa’s DJ Diamond, no cover, Loft 709 Hugh Scott (6:30pm); Anthony MacDonald &

Neil Conway, 10pm, no cover, The Grapevine Ron Hynes (folk country) The Ship Tuesdays with Whitty, 10pm, no cover,

Ronnie Power, 10pm, Shamrock City Pub

Larry Foley & Patrick Moran, 9pm, O’Reilly’s Irish Pub

The Levee

WEDNESDAY, SEPT 30

& The Hunch (rock), Dead of Winter, The Levee

Manic Mondays, Turkey Joe’s

Chris (10pm), Shamrock City Pub

TUESDAY, SEPT 29 Andrew Ledrew (solo acoustic rock) 9:30pm-1am, no cover, Fat Cat Blues Bar

Anthony MacDonald, Bridie Molloy’s Carl Peters & Dave White, Turkey Joe’s Chris Hennessey (5pm); Open Mic with Gary

Epic Wednesdays: Adam Baxter, 10pm, $5, Distortion

Folk Night: Solid Ground, 9pm, $5, The Ship Jim Feehan, Bridie Molloy’s Kronik, Green Sleeves Matt Byrne (7pm); The Bishops (10:30pm), Red Light Green Light, Junctions Scott Goudie (acoustic blues) no cover, Fat Cat Blues Bar

Damian Follett & Gary Gambin, Green

Songwriters Showcase:

Dan Trouble, Andrew Mast & Friends, CBTGs Danielle Tobin, Andrew Mast & Friends, CBTGs

Kean, 11pm, $5, Rose & Thistle

What You Got Wednesday: DJ battle, no cover before 12am, Loft 709

THURSDAY, OCT 1 Alice in Chains Cover Band, 10pm, $5, Distortion

Classic Rock Thursday: Terry Mack, Jace Hardcack, no cover, Loft 709

Craig Young (solo acoustic) no cover, Fat Cat Blues Bar

Dave Panting, Erin’s Pub Fergus O’Byrne (7pm); Acoustic Punters (10:30pm), O’Reilly’s Irish Pub

O’Reilly’s Irish Pub

Foley & Robert Moran(10pm); Rob Cook & Larry Foley (12am), O’Reilly’s Irish Pub Sleeves

Wednesday Night Flush: With host Derm

Wild Wednesdays: DJ Fox, Junctions

Anthony McDonald, Erin’s Pub Blackie O’Leary (6:30pm); Arthur, Fred &

Madcowboys (Calgary punk), Colonel Craze

Turkey Joe’s

Shamrock City Pub

Hosted by John Feltham, 9:30pm, no cover, The Levee

Tarahan, George Street Beer Market

Fred Jorgenson & Arthur O’Brien, Kelly’s Pub Heartland Band, 9:30pm-

ST FIND THE MOSTINGS LI up-TO-DATE E AT ONLIN

thescope.ca

1:30am, Lower Path Bar

MacLovin, Dusk Ultra Lounge Matthew Byrne (7pm), Middle Tickle (10:30pm), Shamrock City Pub

Rockin’ Thursdays, The Levee

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Toya International Market, 107 Long’s Hill

12 thescope

september 10 - 24, 2009

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Scott Goudie (acoustic blues) no cover, The Ship

Songwriter Showcase: John Feltham, Patrick Ballatyne (Toronto), Steve Colbourne, Jeremy Rice, Tim Barnes, 9:30pm, no cover, The Levee

SUNDAY, OCT 4 Acoustic A Go Go, 10pm, no cover, Distortion

Blackie O’Leary (5:30pm); Fred Jorgenson (9:30pm), Kelly’s Pub

Striped White, CBTGs The Insiders (acoustic) 10:30pm, Martini Bar Trevor Kelly, Whalen’s Pub Tropical Thursdays: DJ Chamba, Turkey

Chris Henessey (5:30pm); Arthur O’Brien & Johnny Graham (9:30pm), Shamrock City Pub

Joe’s

(gypsy jazz meets NF trad) , The Ship

Unlisted, Green Sleeves

FRIDAY, OCT 2 All Request, Lottie’s Blackie O’Leary (5:30pm); Rob Cook (10pm), Kelly’s Pub

Bob Macdonald, 6pm-10pm, The Republic Chasers, Tol’s Time Out Lounge Chris Hennessey (5pm); Fergus O’Byrne (8:15pm), O’Reilly’s Irish Pub

Colin Harris, 9:30pm-12:30am, Lower Path Bar

D’arcy Broderick & Ron Kelly (5pm); Barry Kenny & Glen Harvey (8:30pm), Shamrock City Pub

Darrell Cooper (6:30pm-9:30pm) no cover, Fat Cat Blues Bar

Dave Reardon, 5pm-9pm, no cover, Station Lounge

Des Gambin, Whalen’s Pub DJ Fabian, Zone 216 DJ Mikey B, DJ Steve Murray, DJ Electro, $5 till 1:30am, Liquid Night Club

DJ OTG, 1am, Dusk Ultralounge Filthy Fridays: DJ Lex, Turkey Joe’s For Her Pleasure: DJ Mayeham & Scott

Irish Session: Graham Wells & Billy Sutton, Mike Hanrahan (8:30pm), Bridie Molloy’s

Kate Schutt (Guelph jazz), Duane Andrews Retro Sunday: DJ Lex, Turkey Joe’s Silverstein (Ontario post-hardcore), Weapon (rock), Articuno (prog), $20, Junctions Club

Song Session: Allan Byrne (7pm), Best Kind (10:30pm), O’Reilly’s Irish Pub The Racket, George Street Beer Market

MONDAY, OCT 5 Dave White, 9:30pm, MexiCali Rosa’s DJ Diamond, no cover, Loft 709 Hugh Scott (6:30pm); Anthony MacDonald & Ronnie Power, 10pm, Shamrock City Pub

Larry Foley & Patrick Moran, 9pm,

Andrew Ledrew (solo acoustic rock) 9:30pm-1am, no cover, Fat Cat Blues Bar

Carl Peters & Dave White, Turkey Joe’s Chris Hennessey (5pm); Open Mic with Gary Foley & Robert Moran(10pm); Rob Cook & Larry Foley (12am), O’Reilly’s Irish Pub

Dan Trouble, Andrew Mast & Friends, CBTGs Hip Hop Tuesday: Paddy Greene & Shawn

before 1am), Spin

Tuesdays with Whitty, 10pm, no cover,

Shamrock City Pub The Levee

WEDNESDAY, OCT 7

Physical Graffiti (The Little Play That Could

Anthony McDonald, Erin’s Pub Blackie O’Leary (6:30pm); Arthur, Fred &

fundraiser) Led Zeppelin Tribute with Reluctant Showmen & Tim Barnes, 10pm, The Levee

Epic Wednesdays: Adam Baxter, 10pm, $5,

The Novaks (rock), Matthew Hornell & The Diamond Minds (folk), Rock House

The Nuthouse, CBTGs Traditional Session: Graham Wells, Erin’s Pub

VDJ Fox, $5, Junctions

Scott Goudie (acoustic blues) no cover, Fat Cat Blues Bar

Songwriter Showcase: John Feltham, Stuart Jones, Terry Rielly, 9:30pm, no cover, The Levee

Turkey Joe’s Kean, 11pm, $5, Rose & Thistle

What You Got Wednesday: DJ battle, no cover before 12am, Loft 709

DJ OTG, 1am, Dusk Ultralounge Hugh Scott (4:30pm); Bob Taylor & Carl

Wild Wednesdays: DJ Fox, Junctions

Peters (8pm), Shamrock City Pub

Jeff Dyer Bill Brennan Duo, 9:30pm,

THURSDAY, OCT 8

$10, Bianca’s Bar

Alex Dinn Band, 9:30pm-1:30am, Lower

O’Reilly’s Irish Pub

Rob Cook, 10pm, Kelly’s Pub Seamless Saturday: DJ Mike The Tailor,

Path Bar

Carolyn Mark, The Ship Classic Rock Thursday: Terry Mack, Jace Hardcack, no cover, Loft 709

Craig Young (solo acoustic) no cover, Fat Cat

(10:30pm), O’Reilly’s Irish Pub Kelly’s Pub

Vivaldi & Astor Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, a set of tangos. Solo violin Mark Fewer, 8pm, $27/$32, DF Cook Recital Hall 722-4441

The Pathological Lovers (rock), Mercy, The Sexton (pop), Texas Chainsaw (rockabilly), CBTGs

The Sellouts (rock), The Reluctant Showmen (rock), Colonel Craze & The Hunch (rock), The Ship

The Supreme Champagne Birthday (Women’s Film Fest 20th birthday) Tribute to the Women of Motown by Janet Cull & Kelly Ann Evans, Lynn Panting dance & auction. Break out your sequins, $20/$30, The Majestic 754-3141

VJ Eric & DJ Slayer, 11pm, $5/$7 after 1:30pm, Zone 216

Tol’s Time Out Lounge (9pm); West Side CharliesTorbay Rd

Fridays: Brownings Pub-Hotel Mount Pearl at 9:30pm; Karoke Kops Party Bar (10pm); Stanley’s Pub (10pm); Tol’s Time Out Lounge (7pm); West Side Charlies-Paradise

fair trade recycled materials biodegradable substances

Saturdays: Brownings Pub-Hotel Mount Pearl at 9:30pm; Darnell’s Pub; Karoke Kops Party Bar (10pm); Stanley’s Pub(10pm); Tol’s Time Out Lounge (6pm) Sundays: Grumpy Stump; Tol’s Time Out Lounge (6pm)

Find the most up-to-date listings at

thescope.ca/events

175 water street. st john’s, nl 709 722 6004 mon/tues/wed 10-6 thurs 10-8 fri/sat 10-6 sun 12-5

twistedsistersboutik.blogspot.com

discount electronics, accessories & more retail liquidation overstock surplus we Buy and Sell

2639 Topsail Rd Chamberlains 834-1198

productx.ca@gmail.com

Dave Panting (folk country) Erin’s Pub Fergus O’Byrne (7pm); Acoustic Punters

11pm-5am, $5 (no cover before 1am), Spin

The Four Seasons (NSO Sinfonia) Antonio

Party Bar (10pm); Stanley’s Pub (10pm); Tol’s Time Out Lounge (9pm)

Blues Bar

Sexual Saturdays: DJ Jaycee, Turkey Joe’s Smiley Ralph (alt), Pelago (rock), 10pm, The Levee

karaoke

O’Reilly’s Irish Pub

Wednesday Night Flush: With host Derm

Jeff Lewis, Lottie’s Place MacLovin, Whalen’s Pub Mick Davis, The Skinny Jims, Rock House Over the Top (punk) 10pm, $5, Distortion Rob Cook (4pm); Fergus O’Byrne (8pm),

Sundays: Country Music Café at St Augustine’s Church Hall-Westerland Rd (8pm); Natalie Noseworthy at Hava Java (8pm); Shawn Beresford at Fat Cat Blues Bar; Young Musicians at Shamrock City Pub (2pm); Young Performers at O’Reilly’s Irish Pub (3pm)

Distortion

Chasers, Tol’s Time Out Lounge Dance League Saturday: Paddy Greene, 1:30am, Liquid Night Club

Saturdays: Old Country, Bluegrass, NF, Irish & Gospel at All Saints Parish Hall-CBS (2nd Saturday of month at 8pm)

Folk Night: Ian Foster, 9pm, $5, The Ship Matt Byrne (7pm); The Bishops (10:30pm),

Tarahan, George Street Beer Market Wacky Wednesdays: Dave White, 10pm,

DJ Mikey B, DJ Steve Murray, DJ Electro, $5 till

Rock House; Steven Green at Whiskey on George; Vance Clarke at West Side Charlie’s-Kenmount Rd

Chris (10pm), Shamrock City Pub

SATURDAY, OCT 3 Loft 709

Shamrock City Pub (9:30pm); Rose & Thistle

Thursdays: Open Decks at Liquid Night Club;

Thursdays: Karoke Kops Party Bar (10pm);

Goldz, no cover, Loft 709

wood

Wednesdays: Chris Ryan & Ronnie Power at

TUESDAY, OCT 6

Hugh Scott (6:30pm), Connemara, 10pm,

Steve Colburne, 6pm-9pm, Cafe Wedge-

Irish Pub (10pm)

Tuesdays: Grumpy Stump Wednesdays: Grumpy Stump; Karoke Kops

O’Reilly’s Irish Pub

Conweay, Loft 709

rites from composers Bach, Colgrass & Vaughan Williams, 8pm, DF Cook Recital Hall

Mondays: Grumpy Stump Tuesdays: Gary Foley & Rob Moran at O’Reilly’s

Manic Mondays, Turkey Joe’s

Funktastic Friday w/ DJs Leo van Ulden & Rob Taylor, 12am-5am, $5 (no cover Funky Dory (funk) The Ship Jackie Sullivan, 7pm-10pm, Bridie Molloy’s MUN Wind Ensemble (MUN Music) Favou-

openmic

Fred Jorgenson & Arthur O’Brien, MacLovin, Dusk Ultra Lounge Matthew Byrne (7pm), Middle Tickle (10:30pm), Shamrock City Pub

Rockin’ Thursdays, The Levee Striped White, CBTGs Todd Scott, Whalen’s Pub The Insiders (acoustic) 10:30pm, Martini Bar Tropical Thursdays: DJ Chamba, Turkey Joe’s

allages Sunday October 4 Silverstein (Ontario post-hardcore), Weapon (metal), Over The Top (punk), King Sized Kids (punk), $20, Junctions Club

september 10 - 24, 2009

thescope 13

s a t a p Za Restaurant Mexicano

Offering the finest Mexican cuisine north of the border!

reader restaurant reviews Restaurant reviews from thescope.ca

Enjoy lunch Monday to Friday, 12 noon - 2pm Dinner Sunday to Thursday, 4:30pm - 10:30pm Friday and Saturday, 4:30pm - 12:00 midnight Corporate bookings and private parties available!

Ta k e - o u t • g i f t c e r t i f i c at e s c at e r i n g • A i r c o n d i t i o n e d

Reservations 576-MEXX 8-10 Bates hill, St. John’s

2 1 6 W at e r S t r e e t

hava sandwich

www.quidividibrewery.ca

www.zapatasmexicanrestaurant.com

City Light 450 Topsail Road

 Reviewed by Jenn

Only buffet place that serves authentic Chinese food! And we love the take-out buffet option, for when you’re craving a real meal and you dont have much time.

Four tables of food, such great variety! And who else serves all you can eat sushi? Oh, and 8 different types of ice cream?! Definitely not for closed-minded people, as this place serves dishes you can’t get anywhere else in St. John’s.

Avg rating

Mr. Jim’s Pizza 21 Commonwealth Avenue, 368-9021

 Reviewed by Robert Tucker

Probably the best pizza in St. John’s/Mount Pearl with a couple of caveats: 1) Stay away from the mushrooms. You will get canned pieces and stems! 2) It’s wayyyy better when Andy (I think that’s his name) makes it.

Avg rating

"Afternoon Tea should be provided, fresh supplies, with thin bread-and-butter, fancy pastries, cakes, etc., being brought in as other guests arrive." ~ Mrs. Beeton The Book of Household Management

We have new supplies of Mrs. Bridges jams, chutneys and marmalades. Lots of new selections.

6pm to 6am wednesday-sunday

specials on wednesdays & sundays $5 pints Keiths 2 f o r 1 p i n k b u b b ly $3 jager shots

½ (based on 7 reviews)



(based on 2 reviews)

Yellow Belly Brewery 288 Water Street, 757-3784

India Gate Fine Indian Cuisine

Gateway to superb

Dining

Indian

 Reviewed by C

If you are going out for a few pints I would give Yellowbelly a 5/5. Their beers are great and well priced.

Try the sampler : 4 mini-pints, one of each of the 4 microbrews. The food however, is overpriced and not great. Stick to the beer and you will have a great experience... The atmosphere is amazing and I found the staff to be polite and fun.

Avg rating

½

Folly

All you can eat LUNCHEON BUFFET Monday - Friday 11:30 - 2pm

Fine DINING

Monday - Sunday 5pm - 10:30pm

TAKE OUT AVAILABLE Telephone: 753.6006 286 Duckworth Street www.indiagate.250x.com

(based on 24 reviews)

5 Bates Hill,738-0008

 Reviewed by Christine

Visited late one Frday evening recently and had a burger and beer.

GREAT burger. Am still thinking about it. Not so keen on the decor but I was hung over and maybe it was just too harsh on the ailing eyeballs. The food and service, however, was excellent.

Avg rating

 (based on 9 reviews)

Disagree? Write your own damn restaurant reviews at

thescope.ca/Scoff

14 thescope

september 10 - 24, 2009

foodnerd back yarden gardens

A

few weeks back, I waxed on about the magical world I inhabit in my mind, where our agricultural staples are grown right here in Newfoundland, and taste of the salty, capelin-enriched soil of backyard gardens and community veggie plots and small, diverse farms. I’m not saying we have to live without olive oil and chocolate and coffee and peanut butter. I’m not completely insane. But because I love food, and because I love Newfoundland, I really want to find a way to get as much of my food as possible from somewhere I could get to without havAndreae ing to board Prozesky dreae@thescope.ca a plane or a ferry.

While I was writing that column, having just returned from my interview with the exuberant Andrea Maunder, I received an e-mail from my editor about the Eat Atlantic Challenge. Then, while I was still feverishly typing, I got a phone call from CBC Radio, asking if I would like to talk about local food on Crosstalk the next week.

I could hardly say no, could I? I listen to Radio Noon a lot, usually while making lunch myself. I love that it’s open to callers from all over the province. Sure, it may

be a fairly narrow demographic— people who are near both a radio and a telephone in the middle of the day—but it’s an interesting demographic. Some real characters come out whenever you want to talk about food.

There was the townie contingent, the individuals who work hard on committees and boards to help put community gardening back into the consciousness of the average city dweller. Sadly, but truly, many of us on this side of the overpass are complete novices when it comes to tossing a few seeds in the ground and eating what comes up.

We don’t know what’s edible and what’s not along the paths and in the vacant lots, and we’ve shagged our soil up to such a degree with our lead paint and whatnot that it’s not fit to play in, let alone to grow a row of peas. We are, in many ways, stunned.

But the same cannot be said for the rest of the island.

One call I got on Crosstalk was from a man in a community of 180 people, who had a pantry the likes of which I dream about: bottled and frozen vegetables and fruit of all description, potatoes, turnips, beets, bottled moose and rabbit, fresh and salt fish. Another was eating homemade seafood chowder and a shrimp sandwich on his own homemade bread, all from fish he

had caught or bought in his own community.

“All you have to do is just go down to the wharf and see what they’ve got down there,” he offered by way of advice.

Sadly, for those of us in town, there’s not much wharf action going on. So if you’re reading this around the bay, eat some mackerel for me, would you?

Here in St. John’s, we’re pretty much limited to what we can grow in bins and greenhouses. Last weekend, I took a little tour of a few gardens on the map published on the FEASt (that’s Food Education Action St. John’s) website. Open garden day? Yessir, even in the chilly drizzle.

My mom, my daughter and I set out on foot to take in five gardens in our neighbourhood, and was it everinspiring.

None of these five little gardens were being tended by award-winning veggie growers, and none of them were going to feed a family of four over a long St. John’s winter, but they were chugging along, providing greens and herbs and a few roots for the gardens’ devoted stewards.

There was one raised bed in a front yard, and there were two in a back yard that was all but hidden by killer raspberry canes. One garden was in shared space behind a school, and another was a borrowed tangle of roses and gooseberries and tomatoes behind a house owned by a chef.

And one was perched on a deck, in handmade cedar and glass cold

Spuds in a barrel I’ve been reading a lot about maximizing your growing space, and one technique that’s come up is growing potatoes in barrels. Apparently, people do this in Britain a fair bit, where the space you have for growing your veggies is fairly limited. I also found a paper online exploring the suitability of this technique for growing potatoes in certain parts of Africa.

What you do is plant your seed potatoes in compost-rich soil at the bottom of a barrel (or large plastic garbage bin, or wooden structure you’ve constructed for this purpose). When they start to grow, you cover them with more soil, and on and on until your plant bursts out the top, and there is no more room for dirt.

The theory is that, at every level where you’ve added more soil, the plant will have sent out more tubers. What you end up with, then, is a potato plant on top and about four feet of potatoes below.

Now, I haven’t tried this, but I’m planning to do it next year. Have any of you readers done it, or even heard of it, before? Anyone else want to grow potatoes in a barrel next summer and compare notes? Drop me a line at dreae@thescope.ca

frames flanking a square-foot garden made from shipping palettes.

What a lovely space that was. The recycled window panes shimmering with mist and the seedlings of the year’s last lettuce crop covering the black, wet soil. The cold frames were newly built over the summer, and the smell of the cedar was so lovely, I would have stayed all afternoon if my daughter hadn’t been threatening to eat all of our host’s otherworldly cookies.

I know this is meant to be a food column and not a gardening one, but when you think locally, you can’t really separate the two. Fall is in full swing, and this is harvest

time, but for those of us who didn’t get a garden in this year, it’s time to take inspiration where we find it, and start planning for next time around. There’s a lot of garden downtime ahead, perfect for building window boxes and wooden bins, and dreaming of what you’ll have for dinner this time next year.

As for right now, I’m cramming as many local veggies as I can into my freezer and my pantry, and eating the last of the turnip greens before they’re only a memory.

Comment online at

thescope.ca/foodnerd

september 10 - 24, 2009

thescope 15

ondisplay

at things, taking photographs, and then I just assume an imaginary viewpoint.

After I’ve done enough reconnaissance of a place, all the different parts fall together and I can say, “okay, this is what it would look like from up there. You’ll see the Basilica, you’ll see The Rooms, you’ll see the Battery... All that.”

John Hartman. Photo courtesy the Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto.

John Hartman, The Southside Hills, St. John’s, 2004, Oil on Linen, Nicolas Metivier Gallery, Toronto

Painting the town Looking at a painting by Ontario expressionistic painter John Hartman, you know cities mean more to him than a simple collection of buildings and roads on a landscape. They live, they breathe, they’re things with history and personality.

His exhibit Cities is coming to The Rooms’ art gallery this month, and Elling Lien caught Hartman en route.

You have a painting in this exhibit of St. John’s so I know you’ve been here before...

When did you come here first?

I was invited to be a guest artist at St. Michael’s. That was a month-long stay in the middle of the winter in 1996, which was pretty interesting. I fell in love with the place. The coast of Newfoundland is a lot like where I live, except it’s it’s much bigger in every respect. I live in Georgian Bay, on Lake Huron in Ontario.

The sea is bigger than Georgian Bay, the rock hills are bigger in Newfoundland, but the landscapes are sort of similar. The Wesleyville area is a lot like it. It’s a granite landscape.

Where did the desire to paint cities come from?

Well, it was a gradual evolution.

When I would paint Georgian Bay and Newfoundland I was always interested in the communities. I

16 thescope

september 10 - 24, 2009

never painted a pure wildernesstype landscape. Then I became increasingly interested in the kinds of infrastructure in the communities—roads, bridges, that kind of thing. I found myself slowly gravitating toward larger and larger spots as I developed a kind of working method for representing all this stuff that we make cities out of. It slowly evolved from about 2003, and by the time I got to 2006 I was doing almost exclusively cities—and much larger cities than when I started.

What is it about cities that appealed to you?

I’ve always been interested in places that are on the water. Really they are sites that I think would have been interesting even if there were no city there. They’re very beautiful landscapes. There’s a really nice quality of light, because light over water is so much richer than it is over land.

Then with all of the buildings,

bridges, and roads, I get to add more and more layers of things.

I’ve always been interested in the history of places. When I was doing paintings of Newfoundland I would often put little vignettes in the skies.

I think this is just another way to explore the relationship that people have with landscape.

Tell me about the St. John’s painting that’s in the Cities exhibit: “The Southside Hills”.

That’s the one from Waterford Creek looking out over the dry docks with the Southside Hills on the right? The hills are a chocolaty brown colour?

Yes. That’s the view you see when you come in on the Trans Canada Extension, coming to the bottom of the harbour.

You can’t stop a car to make a sketch or take a photo, and you only see that view for an instant, so I had

to construct it from memory.

I recognised the angle immediately, but it’s true, every time I’ve seen it I’ve been hurtling along at 100 kilometers an hour.

I tried to find a place other than the highway that had that particular view. I’ve taken the car, I’ve exited, I’ve gone up to Shea Heights... I tried walking out where Irving has those oil tanks... I couldn’t get the view from any spot other than that one spot on the highway.

So you did it from memory?

Well I did take a few snapshots out my window, but mostly it’s from a memory of what’s there.

It does look like more of a memory.

Yeah, a lot of my work is done that way, where I spend a lot of time sketching, walking around, looking

How did that painting go? Do you remember?

The paintings are very slow to come.

Like I said, to start there’s a lot of collecting information.

I would have done a watercolour study ahead of time to figure out the composition. Then I put the composition on the canvas—draw it on with red paint. Then the execution is very fast, because it’s very juicy, thick paint that brushes very heavily on the canvas. It doesn’t leave you much room for changing things.

So you have to commit yourself to what’s there. So it’s a slow process that speeds up and is frenetic and manic at the end.

I read something that when you were younger you’d imagine yourself flying over landscapes and imagining them that way.

Is there a connection between flying in your dreams and making these paintings?

I don’t know. It was a wonderful feeling, to be able to fly around. I don’t have those dreams anymore, so maybe I’m just trying to reach out to that feeling by painting.

Some people are lucky and do it all the time. But mine sort of stopped.

To make the paintings is the same process. You’ve got something you’re familiar with and you’re imagining it from a viewpoint above it. I’m sure that’s how the dreams work.

An opening reception for John Hartman’s Cities will be held at the Rooms Provincial Art Gallery on Friday, September 25 at 7:30 pm. A gallery tour of the exhibition with Hartman will take place Sunday, September 27 at 2:30 pm.

Comment on this article online at

thescope.ca

on display galleries • museums

Ochre Gallery-96 Duckworth St 726-6422

Jean Claude Roy: New Paintings, Emma Butler Gallery-111 George St W 739-711

Maurice Cullen and His Circle: Nearly forty oil paintings on loan from the National Gallery. Works by Maurice Cullen, alongside his contemporaries James Wilson Maurice and William Brymner as well as Robert Pilot and AY Jackson, The Rooms-9 Bonaventure Ave 757-8000

New Works: New mixed media paintings & original prints, Christine Koch Studio-177 Water Street, by appt 576-0841

galleries

Open Tuning (Wave Up): A kinetic sound in-

OPENING

Resolved Component: An exhibition by the Class of 2009, Visual Arts Department, Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, curated by Charlotte Morgan, First Space Gallery-QEII Library

Cities: John Hartman: Known for large-scale expressionistic landscape paintings animated with the imagery of local historic events and personal narratives, The Rooms-9 Bonaventure Ave 7578000 (Opens Fri Sep 25)

Mindscapes: Open Windows Studio, formerly the Waterford Art Program is supporting 10 local artists exhibiting 18 pieces of work, free, The Rogue Gallery-72 Harbour Dr 739-1882 (From Fri Oct 2 at 5pm- Wed Oct 7) Waterford, Ireland: Consultations and Observations: An exhibition of 25 photographs of Waterford by photographic artist Michael Durrand, who spent a year travelling throughout the city and country of his birth, recording the length and bredth of the country, its people and places, free, St John’s City Hall (Opens Mon Sep 28)

ONGOING 400: Juried group exhibition of contemporary craft that reflects the 400th anniversary of Cupids, Craft Council-59 Duckworth St 753-2749

stallation by Stephen Kelly (NS) that translocates a remote ocean environment, in real-time, to an urban gallery space, Eastern Edge Gallery-72 Harbour Dr 739-1882

Salt Concentrates: Will Gill and Annette Manning: Human flotsam and jetsam (tampon applicators, clay dolls, plastic bullet shells, toys…) is crystallized and hangs, floats and entangles, A1C Gallery-8 Clift’s-Baird’s Cove 237-0427

LAST CHANCE Discovering Bartlett: An Archival Exploration: Marking the 100th anniversary of the 1909 expedition to the North Pole, this exhibition of archival records relates to the life and career of Captain Robert Abram (Bob) Bartlett, The Rooms-9 Bonaventure Ave 757-8000 (Ends Sep 25)

George Horan: A Vision of Newfoundland: Over 24 new water-colors of the Newfoundland landscape, Gerald Squires Gallery-52 Prescott St 722-2207 (Ends Oct 4)

Groundwork : Photographs from Terra Nova National Park - A solo exhibit by John Haney, Leyton Gallery-Clift’s-Baird’s Cove 7227177 (Ends Oct 3)

Artisan Gallery: Carvings, paintings & prints by various NL artisans, Heritage Shop-2nd Floor, 309 Water St

Land and Water: Soft pastels by Colette

Breaking Point: Chainmaille-inspired creations that investigate our social links by Jason Holley, Craft Council-59 Duckworth St 753-2749

New Paintings: By Terri Leonard, Five Island

Cape Spear: Will Gill’s video documents translucent “snowballs” made out of fibreglass and resin launched at Cape Spear with high intensity glow sticks, Eastern Edge Gallery-72 Harbour Dr 739-1882

artisan Albert Biles in soapstone, antler, whale bone, baleen & ivory, Wild Things-124 Water St (Ends Sep 30)

Downtown Charcoals by Peter Lewis: City-scape charcoals capture the colourful spirit of St John’s in black & white, Peter Lewis Gallery-5 Church Hill 722-6009

Introducing Two Artists: Textile works

by Hilary Rice & landscapes by Lucy Bause, Red

movies Thursday Sep 24 at 7pm Tulpan (MUN Cinema) Kazakhstani sheepherders are the focus of this acclaimed comedy, only this time it’s not an outsider mocking them.

Arrive early. No one will be seated during the ten-minute animal birthing scene. Directed by Sergei Dvortsevoy (KZH 2008) $9/$10, Empire Theatres-Avalon Mall

Tuesday Oct 29 at 7pm La Haine (Global Cinema) When Abdel, an Arab man, is injured during a police interrogation, three friends make a pact to avenge Abdel in the event of his death. Directed by Matthew Kassovitz (FRA 1995) $8, Inco Innovation Centre, MUN

Thursday Oct 1 at 7pm Adoration (MUN Cinema) High school was an awkward time, was it? Simon knows the better than most, since his class assignment is to explain why his Mom might have tried to blow up a plane. Directed by Atom Egoyan (CAN 2008) $9/$10, Empire Theatres-Avalon Mall

Sunday Oct 4 at 7pm Waterwalker Film Festival (NL Paddle) $10/$12, Inco Centre 745-6482

Thursday Oct 8 at 7pm Cold Souls (MUN Cinema) We all know that nothing is better than a cool, delicious soul. All except Paul Giamatti, who decides to have his frozen and stored. Being called “Pig Vomit” must still sting. Directed by Sophie Barthes (USA-FRA 2009) $9/$10, Empire Theatres-Avalon Mall

MUN Botanical Garden-306 Mt Scio Rd 737-8590 (Ends Sep 27)

Nap, The Rogue Gallery-72 Harbour Dr 739-1882 (Ends Sep 25) Art Gallery-Tors Cove (Ends Sep 30)

The Labrador Gallery: Work by resident

Transmission & Defence: Images of Signal Hill, The Heritage Shop Art Gallery-309 Water St, 2nd Fl 739-7994 (Ends Oct 3) Two Painters: Iakov Afanassiev and Louise Sutton, Leyton Gallery-Clift’s-Baird’s Cove 7227177 (Ends Oct 3)

museums

Considering ...Selling your home?

A Tour de Fort: Interpretive panels tell the

...Buying a new home? ...An investment property?

Call me for a free consultation.

story of Fort Townsend, the 18th century symbol of England’s domination over the fishery, The Rooms-9 Bonaventure Ave 757-8000

Admiralty House Museum: 1915 navy wireless station now communications museum, 23 Old Placentia Rd-Mt Pearl 748-1124

Jason Kearsey

Connections: This Place and Its Early Peoples: Polar bears on tundra, carnivorous plants in a bog, seabirds, sea mammals, sea life plus the people who made their lives here, The Rooms-9 Bonaventure Ave 757-8000

690-7673

Encountering Grenfell: A Life and Legacy: Providing medical care, education & skills in craft, agriculture & animal husbandry Wilfred Grenfell sought to improve conditions in NF, The Rooms-9 Bonaventure Ave 757-8000 Ice Age Mammals: See creatures that became extinct the last time the climate changed, The Rooms-9 Bonaventure Ave 757-8000 Johnson Geo Centre & Park: See Signal Hill’s 550 million year old geology & specimens of NF rocks, minerals & botanical park, 175 Signal Hill Rd 737-7880 MUN Botanical Garden: Trails, gift shop & tearoom, 306 Mt Scio Rd 737-8590 (Free first Friday of month) Railway Coastal Museum: St. John’s Dockyard exhibit of model ship hulls, shipbuilding, dockyard history plus the story of Newfoundland’s railway boat service & 1940’s train diorama, 495 Water St W 724-5929 Signal Hill National Historic Site: Military & communications history, meet Signalman, watch film, interactive exhibits, Visitor Centre 772-5367

The Fluvarium: A panoramic water view under the surface of Nagle’s Hill Brook. Spot fish, insects & plants in natural habitat plus interactive exhibits, 5 Nagle’s Place 754-3474 Archival Mysteries: Where Is It? Featuring unidentified photographs from the archives which although are beautiful, remain a mystery in terms of their geographical location within NL, The Rooms-9 Bonaventure Ave 757-8000 (Ends Sep 30)

WARD 2

email: jasonkearsey@goldstonerealestate.com WEB: www.goldstonerealestate.com

RE-ELECT Frank Galgay Ward 2

Tel (709) 579-8801 E-mail frgalgay@nl.rogers.com

Find up-to-date listings online at

thescope.ca/on-display

Where My Brush Takes Me: Featuring work produced by Margaret Best’s art group,

DAILY SHOWINGS

call For times and prices Avalon Mall’s Empire Studio 12 722-5775 Mount Pearl Shopping Centre Empire Cinemas 364-8527

9: A group of living dolls are all that is left after the apocalypse. Together they live happily ever after. Just kidding. They fight terrifying mechanical monsters. (Avalon Mall) 500 Days Of Summer: Oooh! A “non-linear” comedy! Must. Repress. Printed. Excitement. So, what’s it about? Basically, Joseph Gordon-Levitt lives, loves and loses. Except the filmmakers messed with the narrative. (Mt Pearl) All About Steve: Sandra Bullock is crazy and she wants to date you! She writes crossword puzzles and generally behaves like a braying idiot.

This is love in the 21st century. (Avalon Mall)

Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs: The children’s book is adapted into a featurelength, 3D cartoon. With the creators of Clone High writing and Bruce Campbell in a prominent role, what more do you need? (Avalon Mall) Fame: I’m going to live forever, ‘cause I’m a nostalgia piece! Yes, everything old is new again and a story about young dancers finding themselves seemed ripe for remaking. (Avalon Mall)

Final Destination: Death Trip: While Tony Todd may not be reprising his role as Crazy Ralph, kids everywhere are going to be getting loads of shrapnel in the face. Just as you, the public, demanded. (Avalon Mall)

G-Force: Guinea pigs, known in the the animal kingdom as the hamster’s syphilis-ridden, redheaded step-child, save the world from an evil billionaire. Meanwhile, Will Arnett waits patiently for the Arrested Development movie to start filming. (Mt Pearl)

escope.ca

Gamer: Gerard Butler, the devolved man’s Brian Blessed, goes toe-to-toe against Michael C Hall because the latter invented a deadly video game.

Sure to be The Wizard of its time. (Mt Pearl)

Inglourious Basterds: One subject that’s

bound to have fresh material to be found is World War II! Quentin Tarantino offers vigilante

Jews and the most outrageous southern accent this side of The Ladykillers. (Avalon Mall)

Jennifer’s Body: Juno scribe Diablo Cody and Maxim cover-girl and sometime actress Megan Fox team up for a movie that no one is seeing.

Jennifer (Fox) is a man-eating monster. She fights a nerd. (Avalon Mall) Love Happens: In this wack-tacular movie, a self-help guru actually needs some help finding love and peace in his life. Zany! I hope this is accomplished via a quirky love interest. (Avalon Mall) Pandorum: In space, no one can hear you scream. Wait, that was a rip-off of Alien. Two astronauts awaken with no memory inside a cube, er, spaceship, surrounded by the sinister.

(Mt Pearl)

Ponyo: Director Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli have come out of retirement yet again.

The story this time? A goldfish yearns to become human while hanging out with a young boy.

(Avalon Mall)

Sorority Row: When cabby, young, airheaded super-ditzes accidentally kill one of their pals, they do the right thing: hide the body and pretend nothing happened. Naturally, a killer starts picking them off. (Mt Pearl)

Surrogates: In the future, nobody goes outside anymore. They all live vicariously through synthetic “surrogates” who function as avatars while they lounge. Kinda like MMORPGers. No, it’s just like MMORPGERS. (Avalon Mall)

The Informant!: Matt Damon dons a fake mustache and goes the “Hollywood star gains weight” route to play a schlubby whistle-blower in this serio-comedy from Steven Soderbergh.

Based on a true story. (Avalon Mall) The Ugly Truth: Kids come a-runnin’ for the great taste of Katherine Heigl. Can she resist the charms of the swarthy Gerard Butler and his vibrating underoos? (Mt Pearl) Trailer Park 2: Countdown to Liquor Day: The nefarious Bubbles and co. are back in a movie that’s sure to prove to be the mother of all Trailer Park Boys sequels. Anyhoo, Ricky and the boys are out on parole again. Hijinks ensue. (Avalon Mall & Mt Pearl)

WhiteOut: When a murderer hides in the darkness, a US Marshall figures he can wait til sun-up to best find the killer. Only it’s Antartica and sun-up is five months away. OOPS! (Avalon Mall)

september 10 - 24, 2009

thescope 17

fieldnotes local culture books

Gone fishing Paul Michael White has written the first Newfoundland-centric selfhelp book.

Fishing for Reality is a self-published guide to selfdevelopment based on the philosophies of his grandfather and mentor, Skipper Bruce.

“Skipper Bruce said the real ship you’re leading is the ship called yourself,” White says.

The book encourages people to find their natural talents—the things they were good at as children—and gain fulfillment from them Kerri Breen once again. kerri@thescope.ca

“Now’s the time to take your life into your hands and do what you want with it,” White says.

White believes in the power of motivational speaking and self-help because it worked for him. He got into the gurus like Tony Robbins during a rocky time in his life and says with some work he became a better person.

Fishing for Reality is being launched at the Inco Centre at MUN on Oct. 6 from 7:30 to 9:30 pm.

politics

Candidates talk arts It was supposed to be a consultation session between mayoral and deputy mayoral hopefuls and the arts community, but just two candidates showed up.

Shannie Duff and Mark Wilson (running for deputy mayor and mayor, respectively) showed up to the Rabbittown Theatre to discuss the city’s role in the arts.

Duff told the artists present, which represented various associations in theatre, writing, and visual arts, that she’s always “fighting an uphill battle” with council.

She also said the city has

provided lots of support in the way of art procurement and festival support that the arts community may not be aware of. The city also provides a dollar per citizen in direct grants.

Duff said the city is especially interested in funding the artistic projects that have a larger community benefit in addition to benefiting the artist.

Wilson, who supports increasing the municipal contribution to the arts, told the crowd that their art is a great tool to speak out against a lack of funding and support for artists.

There was also discussion about finding a way to align development with growth in the arts. One possibility, in place in other cities, is to ask developers to donate a small percentage of their project budgets in support of some sort of community benefit.

Wilson suggested the formation of a citywide arts association to unite the voices of artists in lobbying the municipal government.

money

Local reacts to arts cut The Canadian Music Fund got a boost last summer, but not without controversy.

An increase of $9.85 million annually for four years was announced—along with the axing of two programs some artists say are important.

The Canadian Musical Diversity program, which was administered through the Canada Council for the Arts, provided support to artists working in less commercially viable genres, like world and aboriginal music, folk, and jazz.

Local pianist Bill Brennan says the production of specialized music depends on this kind of dedicated funding.

“It’s money that helps them put out and record their original music,” he says. “Very few major labels are supporting specialized music.”

Thousands have signed a petition against the cut, which is set to come into effect in April of next year.

Government’s response to the criticism has been that the restructuring of the Canadian Music Fund was done with the input of the music industry.

Brennan says while the industry was consulted on the restructuring as a whole, he doesn’t believe government did a good job of consultation before eliminating this particular fund.

Comment online at

The Ken Proudfoot

thescope.ca/fieldnotes

Potato Festival Presented by MUN Botanical Gardens & The Community Food Sharing Assoc

Sat Sept 26, 2009, 10 - 4

thescope.

306 Mount Scio Road Admission by donation or nonperishable food item

Call 737 8590 for more details

18 thescope

september 10 - 24, 2009

musicreviews

The Hidden Cameras Origin: Orphan (Arts & Crafts)

Wax Mannequin Saxon (Zunior)

A solo offering of Tyler Lovell (bass player of local prog weirdos the AE Bridger band) YAIC is a brief but very potent EP of abrasive experimental rock music. local The EP runs heavily on hypnotic rhythms and angular, menacing, repetitive lines which function as a trance-inducer, while more and more disconcerting and discordant ingredients are poured on top and shift in and out of the mix. The sounds are all heavily manipulated and very densely layered in a way that recalls either old school krautrock pioneers Can at their most aggressive, or early This Heat with piercing guitar lines. There’s a cinematic quality to the music, but it wouldn’t be a movie you’d bring grandma to see. This is not music for everyone—or even most people—but if you are someone who has a need for challenging but rewarding music and is not afraid of a little intentional ugliness, you should seek this out.

His website is vicar.bandcamp.com — Patrick Canning

One could be forgiven for shoving Canadian indie pop sensations The Hidden Cameras into that league of performers like Bon Jovi or Bob Dylan—those who basically spent their whole careers writing the same song over and over and over again. Previously, one could only notice the CD track changed when the chorus would switch from “Ahwooo-ah” to “doo-doo-doo”. But you had to admit it was all pretty damn catchy. On their latest album though, the band has summoned the bravery to change things a bit. The arrangements have a lot more variety, with keyboards and orchestras featured prominently.

The tempos shift and slow down occasionally. Lots more genres and styles are explored. While it’s admirable they moved away from their signature sound, there’s nothing on this album near as catchy and enjoyable as their best early material. Unfortunately, you either tread the same water or move on to different areas you aren’t as well adapted to. But I think it’s a step in the right direction.

— Patrick Canning

In a world so filled to the brim, over-saturated and sick to death with acoustic guitar playing singersongwriter dudes, it’s hard to find a character as original as Hamilton Ontario’s Wax Mannequin. The gruff-voiced balladeer’s new disc isn’t much of a departure from his previous albums— maybe sparser and more restrained than usual, but it is a further refinement of his TomWaits-psychedelic-folk-by-way-ofForeigner sound. Every song bounces to a strange, jaunty beat, and he sings about greedy volcano gods, oil barons, and seems to have an obsession with drowning. The album suffers a bit from a draggy middle section, even with the hidden Cyndi Lauper quotes. But in the final third, Mannequin really shines with some strong fist-shakin’ boot-stompers that run his coarse voice ragged.

It’s a stirring collection from a truly unique Canadian character.

— Patrick Canning

Seussical The Musical (Etcetera Productions) Based on the works of Dr Seuss this musical is a story about the imagination, $7.50/$25, Arts & Culture Centre 729-3900 (Wed Sep 23 – Sat Sep 26)

Reading: Seán Virgo, The Ship (Mon Sep 28

on stage theatre • dance & burlesque spoken & written • comedy

theatre Anne of Green Gables: Musical adaptation of the family classic tells the poignant and funny story of a freckle-faced, red-haired orphan named Anne Shirley, $7/$23, Arts & Culture Centre 7293900 (Wed Oct 7-Sat Oct 10 at 9:30pm / Matinee Wed Oct 7 at 9:30am)

Our Celtic Spirit...in Crayon (Spirit of Newfoundland) A frazzled teacher and a less than ideal group of students discover what it means to be a Newfoundlander when they compete in a provincial cultural heritage fair competition in this musical comedy, $57.50+ (meal & show), Masonic Temple-6 Cathedral St 579-3023 (Fri Oct 2 & Sun Oct 4) Rocking the Cradle (RCA Theatre) Joan desperately desires motherhood while in a troubled marriage. Adapted from Lorca’s Yerma and set in rural pre-moratorium Newfoundland.

Adapted by Des Walsh, directed by Richard Rose, and featuring Ruth Lawrence, Jane Dingle, Darryl Avalon Hopkins, Didi Gillard-Rowlings, Greg King, Monica Walsh & Kate Corbett, MUN Reid Theatre (Thu Oct 8-Sun Oct 18(except Mondays); Preview Tue Oct 6 & Wed Oct 7) Stucco In The 80’s (Spirit of Newfoundland) Big Hair, Big Shoulder Pads & Big Hits: A musical comedy review from the time when Madonna, Tina Turner & Dirty Dancing were all the rage.

Featuring Sheila Williams, Dana Parsons & Steve Power, $57.50+ (meal & show), Masonic Temple-6 Cathedral St 579-3023 (Fri Sep 25 & Sat Sep 26)

traditional NF fairy tale told by Andy Jones with puppets by Darka Erdelji. All ages, $1.90/$3.90, Signal Hill Visitor Centre 772-4444 (Sun Sep 27 at 2pm)

Wine & Words (Breakwater Books) Trudy Morgan-Cole and Tina Chaulk as they read from their latest books, $10 inc drink, Newman Wine Vaults-436 Water St 739-7870 (Thu Sep 24 at 7pm)

performance &dance Salsa, Tango & Latin Dance, $5, Bella Vista (Tuesdays at 7pm) Tango On The Edge: A social gathering to dance Argentine Tango, 8:30pm-10:30pm, $5, RCA Club-10 Bennett Ave (Thursdays)

spoken& written

to

Play...

www.hooked-up.ca • 206 Duckworth

at 7pm)

The Queen of Paradise’s Garden: A

Arts Mount Pearl) An Improv Murder Mystery: Enjoy the performance, figure out whodunnit, how and why, and you could win, $15, Darry’s Pub-Mount Pearl (Wed Sep 30 at 8pm)

Loves

St John’s Storytelling Circle: An open mic of local tales by local tellers w/ resident fabulist Dale Jarvis, $3, Crow’s Nest Officer’s Club (Thu Oct 8 at 7:30pm)

Where There’s A Will, There’s A Slay (Assoc

Internet Café

Vicar YAIC (Independent)

HOOKED UP

the vicar waxes the cameras

comedy Coors Light New Talent Night, $5+/$7+/$11+, Yuk Yuk’s-193 Kenmount Rd 7269857 (Wednesdays at 8pm)

Stand Up Comedy: Mike Wilmot, Stephen Coombs & George Price, Yuk Yuk’s-193 Kenmount Rd 726-9857 (Thu Sep 24 at 8pm $12+/$14+/$18+; Fri Sep 25 & Sat Sep 26 at 8pm & 10:30pm $18+/$20+/$24+ w/ dinner at 6pm $47.99-$53.99) Stand Up Comedy: Ron Vaudry & Marc Sauve, Yuk Yuk’s-193 Kenmount Rd 726-9857 (Thu Oct 1 at 8pm $12+/$14+/$18+; Fri Oct 2 & Sat Oct 3 at 8pm & 10:30pm $18+/$20+/$24+ w/ dinner at 6pm $47.99-$53.99) Stand Up Comedy: Johnny Gardhouse, Matt Esteves & Shannon Laverty, $12+/$14+/$18+, Yuk Yuk’s-193 Kenmount Rd 726-9857 (Thu Oct 8 at 8pm) Comedy Sundays, $2, The Levee-Holdsworth Crt (Sundays at 8pm)

Andy Jones Presentation: MUN writerin-residence will give a performance of his work, free, Petro Canada Hall-free parking in Lot 15 (Thu Oct 1 at 8pm)

thescope.ca

Book Launch: Fishing for Reality by Paul Michael White-Inspirational Speaker & Author, free, MUN Inco Centre-Lecture Theatre (Tue Oct 6 from 7:30pm-9:30pm)

Book Signing (Creative Book Publishing) Ted Rowe signs Connecting the Continents, Chapters (Sun Sept 27 from 2pm-4pm)

september 10 - 24, 2009

thescope 19

100%localcomics

comic sans by Andrew Power

freewillastrology

rob brezsny ignores the ants in his pants  Libra (September 23 – October 22) This is an excellent time to celebrate the pleasures of emptiness . . . to extol the virtues of the blank slate . . . to be open to endless possibilities but committed to none . . . to bask in the freedom of not having to be anything, anyone, or anywhere. Are you smart enough to need no motto to live by? Are you resourceful enough to rely on nothing but the raw truth of the present moment? If so, you will thrive in the coming days. Happy birthday to Dana Cooper, Sarah Rowe, Gemma Schlamp-Hickey and Todd Vere-Holloway.

 Scorpio (October 23 - November 21)

werebears and only children by Jennifer Barrett

During the dialog about health care in the U.S., certain highly relevant facts are never discussed. For example, it’s ludicrous for rightwingers to fear that a government-run health system would freshly infect our capitalist system with the stain of socialism. The truth is, America has long had the biggest socialist enterprise in the world: its sprawling military establishment, which is completely paid for by taxpayer dollars and run by the government! Another unacknowledged fact is this: The single smartest strategy for financing universal health care (as well as dramatically improving the economy) would be to reduce military expenditures. Americans don’t seem to realize that their monstrously huge military empire is a case of supreme overkill: It girdles the globe in ways that are unprecedented in the history of civilization. I bring this to your attention, Scorpio, to illustrate the way that a seemingly serious discussion can be thrown off course and rendered unproductive when it ignores critical information. Please make sure nothing like that happens in your personal sphere in the coming weeks.

 Sagittarius (Nov 22 – December 21)

Everybody cheer up by Bryan Melanson

Ms. Quote by T.L. Fleming

20 thescope

september 10 - 24, 2009

the ex-planet Pluto, the Holy Grail, the Appalachian Trail, and the Garden of Eden.

This would be a good time for you to draw inspiration from his example. I don’t mean that you should become a litigious fanatic, but rather that you should seek redress and vindication from those people, places, and things that have not had your highest interests in mind. This could take the form of a humorous message, a compassionate prank, or an odd gift. Remember, too, that old saying: Success is the best revenge.

 Taurus (April 20 – May 20) This would be an excellent time for you to learn how to brew your own beer (tinyurl. com/zteca) or build your own telescope (tinyurl.com/2yert5) or teach yourself how to operate a forklift (tinyurl.com/lgoyk5). Your ability to master practical new skills is at a peak, and your need to develop more self-reliance is more pressing than usual. Once you raise your confidence levels, you might even move on to more challenging tasks, like concocting your own home-made flu shot (tinyurl.com/kmchwx) or reconfiguring the way your brain works (tinyurl.com/lxhuap or tinyurl.com/ns5vhv).

In the coming weeks, your medicinal effect and your power to incite change will be peaking simultaneously. You may heal people by shaking their certainties or you may scare people as you motivate them to shed their lazy approaches. You could be a stringently benevolent force or a disruptive fixer of broken things. My only advice for you is to work hard to stay humble.

The potency of your influence might tempt you to get full of yourself, and that would undermine the beauty of your impact.

 Gemini (May 21 – June 20)

 Capricorn (December 22 – January 19)

 Cancer (June 21 – July 22)

Novelist James Patterson has signed a deal with a publisher to churn out 17 new books between now and the end of 2012. (By comparison, it took me six years to write my first book, nine years to write my second, and five years for my third.) According to my reading of the astrological omens, you Geminis will have James Patterson-like levels of fecundity for at least the next four weeks. I suggest you employ that good mojo to create a masterpiece or two.

As I gaze out the window of my home office, I’m embarrassed to confess that when I’m I see a vast wetland crossed by a creek shopping for an herbal supplement I’ve never that originates in the bay. At high tide, the bought before, my choice is unduly influenced creek is as wide as a river. At low tide, it’s by how much I like the packaging. For exas narrow as a village street. Sometimes it ample, I might opt for the brassy orange and flows north vigorously, while at other times it white bottle with bold black lettering over the surges south with equal force. Now and then brand with the washed-out blue-green color it’s perfectly still. Its hues are a constantly scheme and delicate purple font. I hope you mutating blend of grey, green, blue, and won’t fall victim to any version of my folly, brown, and at sundown and sunrise Capricorn. It’s especially importhey’re joined by tinges of pink, tant that you make your decisions Homework purple, and orange. As a Cancerian, based on a piercing analysis of Take a guess about I find this intimate spectacle to be the inner contents, not a superfiwhat your closest ally cial survey of the outer display. most needs to learn in both comforting and invigorating.

It’s a reflection of my own everorder to be happier.

Testify by going to shifting moods, a reminder that  Aquarius (JanuFreeWillAstrology.

I’m a watery creature whose ary 20 – February 18) com and clicking fluidic changeability is natural and Study the following facts to on “Email Rob.” healthy. What I wish for you, my derive oracular clues about fellow Crab, is that in the coming your upcoming destiny. 1) Some week you will also surround yourself with bacteria are inimical to human beings, but prompts that help you to be at peace with others are friendly, like the creatures that who you really are. inhabit your intestine and help you digest the food you eat. 2) There are snakes whose  Leo (July 23 – August 22) venom is poisonous in large doses but healWhat exactly is a “wild goose chase,” anyway? ing in small amounts. 3) The term “demon” Does it refer to a frenetic and futile hunt is derived from the ancient Greek term for an elusive prey that’s never caught? Or “daimon,” which referred not to an evil supermight it also mean the meandering pursuit natural being but to a benevolent guardian of a tricky quarry that after many convoluted spirit that conferred blessings on a person. twists and turns results in success and generates a lot of educational fun along the  Pisces (February 19 – March 20) way? Either definition could apply to your On the website “Yahoo! Answers,” readers wild goose chase in the next three weeks, pose questions that are answered by other Leo. Which one will ultimately win out will readers who have expertise on the subject. probably depend on two things: 1. how well In a recent entry, a young woman asked, you detect the false leads you get; 2. how “Is there a spell to become a mermaid that determined you are to be amused rather than actually works?” Of the 50+ replies, most are frustrated by all the twists and turns. snarky and mean, ridiculing the asker of the question, and not a single one gives useful  Virgo (August 23 – September 22) information. I encourage you to offer your Your time is up, Virgo. No further stalling will own insight on the subject sometime soon. be allowed. We need your answer now: Will (Go to tinyurl.com/mdclt4.) You are now at you or will you not take advantage of the the peak of your ability to act, think, feel, messy but useful offer that is on the table? love, and dream like a mythical sea creature.

Don’t ask for an extension, because you ain’t getting one. Please take advantage of  Aries (March 21 – April 19) this chance to prove that you love yourself Jonathan Lee Riches is renowned for filing too much to get hoodwinked and abused by numerous lawsuits in U.S courts. Some of his perfectionism. Be brave enough to declare targets are actual living people, like Martha your allegiance to the perspective articulated Stewart, George W. Bush, and Steve Jobs. by the mathematician Henri Poincaré: “There But he has also gone after defendants like are no solved problems. There are only moreNostradamus, Che Guevara, the Eiffel Tower, or-less solved problems.”

events send us your event info Email: listings@thescope.ca Online: thescope.ca Event listings are free. Hi-res photos are welcome and encouraged.

14,000 copies of The Scope are available at 300+ locations across St. John’s, Mount Pearl, Paradise, Torbay and CBS.

Next deadline for listings: 5pm Sunday, October 4th.

community events • lectures & forums • daytime music • kids & teens • meetings & classes

community events Alzheimer Coffee Break: For the 7th consecutive year, Time Out for Women Group of Cochrane Street United Church will be hosting a “Coffee Break” in aid of the Alzheimer Society, Church Lounge (Thu Sep 24 at 10am)

Blessing of the Animals: Everyone welcome. Please bring your pets, Anglican Cathedral (Sat Oct 3 at 2pm)

CLB Sunday Market: Flea market & craft fair, CLB Armoury-Harvey Rd (Sundays from 10am-4pm)

Dogberry Moon Fundraising Dinner (Craft Council NL) A Taste of Class catering & live music presented by Janet Bradbury & Gerry Madden. Silent auction & door prizes, $60, Johnson Geo Centre-175 Signal Hill Rd 753-2749 (Thu Oct 1 at 6:30pm)

First United Fall Fair Festivities: Beans & Ham, $5/$10, First United Church-Mount Pearl 368-2194 (Fri Oct 2 at 5:30pm) First United Fall Fair Festivities: Jiggs Dinner & Auction, $6/$12, First United ChurchMount Pearl 368-2194 (Fri Oct 9 at 5:30pm)

Great Rubber Duck Race, The race begins from the Stephen Rendell Herder Bridge and finishes at King’s Bridge Road 722-3825 (Sat Sep 26 )

Hurling Exhibition Match, Bay Bulls (Sat Sep 26 at 11am)

Ken Proudfoot Potato Festival: NL Horticultural Society Fall Vegetable Show; Jigg’s dinner; Cooking demos; Potato displays, experts & tasting; veggie stand; children’s activities; Compost Challenge Awards; admission is donation of a non-perishable food item or funds, MUN Botanical Garden-306 Mt Scio Rd 737-8590 (Sat Sep 26 from 10am-4pm)

Municipal Elections: If you recently moved, recently turned 18, or for whatever other reason might not be on the voters’ list, you must fill out an application and provide picture ID, plus something with your address. For more info on the election in St John’s, call 311 (Tue Sep 29)

SPCA 2nd Annual Fall Gala (Spay Neuter fundraiser) An evening with Seamus O` Regan of Canada AM, three course meal, silent auction & music by The Dana Parsons Project, Sheraton Hotel 895-2975 (Sat Oct 3)

St John’s Farmers’ Market: Support our local economy & celebrate community spirit, Lion’s Chalet-Newtown Rd (Saturdays from 9am-2pm)

Walk a Mile in His Shoes (Prostate Cancer NL) A pledge-based walk which raises awareness and encourages men to take action, Mundy Pond 753-6520 (Sat Sep 26 at 9:30am)

lectures& forums An Evening with Rex Murphy: Discussing his new book Canada and Other Matters of Opinion, free but must pre-register by e-mailing jharron@mun.ca, DF Cook Recital Hall-free parking in Lot 15 (Mon Oct 5 at 7:30pm) Artist Presentation (Craft Council) Jason Holley tells about his show of chainmaille-inspired creations that investigate our social links, free, Craft Council-59 Duckworth St 753-2749 (Fri Sep 25 at 12:15pm)

John’s Farmers’ Market) With Ross Traverse, free, Lion’s Chalet-Newtown Rd (Sat Oct 3 at 11am)

Caregiver Conversations: A Support Group for Unpaid Caregivers, Community Room, Sobeys-Merrymeeting Rd 726-2370 (Every third Monday)

Carrying the Tune: The personal reflections of a traditional music popularizer. Clary Croft lives in Halifax and is a folklore researcher, recordingartist and producer responsible for cataloguing Dr. Helen Creighton’s collection at the Public Archives of Nova Scotia, MMaP Gallery, Arts & Culture Centre-2nd floor (Wed Sep 30 from 7:30pm-9:30pm) Election Forum (NLEN) An Edible, Sustainable St John’s: What can our Municipal Government do to make this a green, food secure city?

The candidates for Mayor & Deputy Mayor have been invited to speak & answer your questions on this topic, St John’s Farmers’ Market-Lion’s Chalet-Newtown Rd (Sat Sep 26 at 11am) Instant Places: Cross-Canada project presentation Ian Birse & Laura Kavanaugh, Eastern Edge Gallery-72 Harbour Dr 739-1882 (Thu Sep 24 at 7:30pm)

Mountain of Learning

Comic Jam: Get together with local comic artists to create, share, conspire & discuss. Bring your own drawing materials, free, Hava Java (Mon Sep 28 from 7pm-10pm) Community Garden Gathering: (Community Garden Alliance) Get your hands dirty & help out at the Rabbittown Community Garden.

Workshops too, 36 Graves St (Sunday from 12:30pm-2pm)

Critical Mass: Group bicycle ride to celebrate cycling & to assert cyclists’ right to the road. Meet at Colonial Building, Bannerman Park (Fri Sep 25 at 6pm)

Flower Garden Tour: Take a leisurely stroll through the flower gardens & see what’s in bloom this week, Suitable for families, MUN Botanical Garden-306 Mt Scio Rd 737-8590 (Sundays at 12pm)

FIND THE MOST GS up-TO-DATE LISTIN ONLINE AT

(Everest 2010 fundraiser) A multimedia presentation by TA Loeffler regarding the challenges of training for and climbing “The Seven Summits” including Everest. She is returning to Mt. Everest in the spring of 2010. Suggested donation$10-$20, Inco Theatre, IIC-2001 (Thu Oct 8 at 7:30pm)

thescope.ca

Who is Rowing & Who is Steering (IPAC NL) The Increasing Role of the Third Sector in Public Policy & Service Delivery, Comfort Inn Airport (Mon Oct 5 from 8:30am-4pm)

Women’s Studies Speakers’ Series: Medicine, Morality, and the Maternal Body in the writings of Samuel-Auguste-Andre-David Tissot.

This presentation closely examines the medical and moral constructions of the lactating mother, MUN Science SN-4087 (Fri Oct 2 at 2pm)

daytime music Auntie Crae’s Band, free-no purchase necessary, Auntie Crae’s (Tuesdays at 12pm)

The Great Casavant Organ: David Drinkell plays varied programs of sacred and secular works, free, Anglican Cathedral (Wednesdays at 1:15pm)

Welta’q (CD launch) Historic Recordings of the Mi’kmaq, MMaP Gallery, Arts & Culture Centre3rd floor (Thu Oct 1 at 4:30pm)

kids& teens Seussical The Musical (Etcetera Productions) Based on the works of Dr Seuss this musical is a story about the imagination, $7.50/$25, Arts & Culture Centre 729-3900 (Wed Sep 23 – Sat Sep 26) The Queen of Paradise’s Garden: A traditional NF fairy tale told by Andy Jones with puppets by Darka Erdelji. All ages, $1.90/$3.90, Signal Hill Visitor Centre 772-4444 (Sun Sep 27 at 2pm)

Get Your Vote On (Mark Wilson campaign) Join for refreshments & live music before heading to City Hall at 3:30 to get registered on the voters list. Bring photo ID & proof of address to register, instruments for the walk, 116 Duckworth St (Fri Sep 25 at 3pm)

thescope.ca/community

Send photos of your pet to

nansquires@hotmail.com Prices start at $200 for 8×10 acrylic painting

(709) 437-1985

(Royal Astronomical Society of Canada) Look at the skies through high-powered telescopes. Kids can make bottle rockets plus slideshow of heavenly objects, free, Admiralty House Museum-23 Old Placentia Rd-Mt Pearl 748-1124 (Fri Sep 25 from 7:30pm-10pm)

La Manche Village Hike (East Coast Trails) Easy, free, for car pool & registration info call 364-6233 (Sat Sep 26 at 10am) Le Café Français Hebdo: Un lieu où les francophones et francophiles peuvent socialiser en français. L’anglais est interdit, Atlantic Place, près de Starbucks (tous les dimanche à 16h) Let’s Talk Science (MUN Science) Anyone interested in learning more about the program is encouraged to attend, University Centre, UC-3018 (Fri Sep 25 from 10am-2pm)

Mall Walkers Club, Avalon Mall, 737-2333 (Thursdays at 8:45am)

MUN Sustainability Celebration: Celebrate the signing Memorial’s Sustainability Declaration. Visit displays on sustainability projects, energy efficiency & conservation, MUN University Centre-3rd Floor (Tue Oct 6 from 10am-3pm)

NLOWE Webinar: Achieve a clear understanding of your business – its strengths and its weaknesses, open to all women, free but must register at www.nlowe.org (Wed Sep 30 from 9am-10am)

Overeaters Anonymous: Weekly meetings in St John’s area, call 738-1742 for more info

Paper Trails Writing Group: Explore new perspectives of writing and story telling. Fun, supportive and open to all, free, Dynamis Health Centre-95 Torbay Rd (Tuesdays at 7:30pm)

Seniors Bridging Cultures: Tea, guest speakers & conversation, Seniors Resource Centre 737-2333 (Thursdays at 2pm)

meetings& classes

Breastfeeding Support Group (La Leche League) The topic of discussion will be Baby Arrives: Family & the Breastfed Baby, babies welcome, free, Sobey’s-Torbay Rd 754-3610 (Mon Oct 5 at 7pm)

Send your community listings to listings@thescope.ca

International Fall Astronomy Day

Sketchy Doodlers: Drawing club in com-

baby carriers (10:30am); Breastfeeding ChallengeA count of babies breastfeeding (11am), free, Avalon Mall-The Gap (Sat Oct 3)

Women’s Accordion Circle: An informal environment for women of all ages to perform, experiment & share stories about making music with their accordions, Arts & Culture Centre-2nd Fl, Old Gallery 746-2399 (Mondays at 7:30pm)

Capture the spirit of your pet with a beautiful painting by Nancy Squires.

door field & Tuesdays 6.30pm at St. Bon’s College.

Contact alephmudra33@yahoo.ca for details

Shambhala Meditation Group: Free

Baby Workshops: Learn to use different

the history of downtown, everyone welcome, free, Auntie Crae’s (Saturdays at 10am, rain or shine)

Hurling: Training Sundays 6pm at Swiler’s out-

Young Performers: Open mic with Denielle Hann, O’Reilly’s Irish Pub (Sundays at 3pm)

up in a casual atmosphere with coffee & contemporary music, free, Rabbittown Theatre-106 Freshwater Rd 576-6937 (Sundays at 10am)

Trivia Night, Rose & Thistle (Tuesdays) Walk on Water: Get fit, meet people & learn

HEADS &TALES

Green Drinks: An informal get together for those who work, volunteer or have an interest in environment & conservation related issues, 7pm-9pm, no cover, The Ship (Last Wednesday of month)

Seniors Friendship Club, Seniors Resource Centre 737-2333 (Fridays at 2pm)

Avalon Wesleyan Church: Weekly meet

The Rooms: Free admission, 9 Bonaventure Ave 757-8000 (Wednesdays 6pm-9pm)

Going To The Max (Atlantic Lotto) Step into a giant bubble & flying down a hill, Bowring Park (Fri Sep 25 from 5:30pm-8:30pm)

Young Musicians, Open mic at Shamrock City Pub (Sundays at 2pm)

clubs • groups • free classes & workshops

meditation on scriptures & singing, free/free will offering, St Thomas’ Church (Last Sunday of month at 7:30pm)

meditation practice, Billy Rahal Clubhouse-behind Elizabeth Towers 739-0270 (Wednesdays at 7:30pm & Sundays at 9:30am) fortable den with tea & beer available, free, A1C Gallery-8 Clift’s-Baird’s Cove 237-0427 (Thursdays at 7pm)

Sounding Hills & Mudder Wet Hike (East Coast Trails) Moderate, free, for car pool & registration info call 579-1849 (Sun Oct 4 at 10am)

St John’s City Council Meeting: Refer to Council Agenda at www.stjohns.ca (posted Friday afternoon), Public welcome, City Hall-Council Chambers, 4th fl (Mondays at 4:30pm)

Sunday Morning Nature Hike: Explore barrens, boreal forest, or bog as you hike one of our nature trails with education staff, MUN Botanical Garden-306 Mt Scio Rd 737-8590 (Sundays at 10am)

The Pottle Centre: A social & recreation centre for consumers of mental health services.

New members welcome, 323 Hamilton Ave 753-2143 The Reach: Explore topics of faith through guest speakers & artists in relaxed setting. Short

Canning & Preserving Workshop (St

september 10 - 24, 2009

thescope 21

thescope

classifieds To place an ad go to thescope.ca/classifieds

For Sale 2002 Mazda Protege 5, 5-speed, 100,000 kms, runs excellent, alloy wheels, tires 4 months old, power windows, remote entry, CD player. Needs some bodywork. $2000 firm.

743-3133.

BLACK Tama Superstar 5-piece drum set comes with the Tama hardware package: 22” x 18” bass. 10” x 8” tom. 12” x 9” tom. 14” x 11” floor tom. 5.5” x 14” snare Regular and portable cymbal stands Single bass pedal Hi-hat stands Snare stand + damper Tom stands etc. Includes Zildjian 5 piece cymbal set. Interested buyers e-mail engr.oahmed@ gmail.com to book a viewing time.

Jobs Artist’s Model: Experienced male model available to pose nude for figurative artists, sculptors, artistic photographers, body painting artists or art students in private or group sessions. Artists’ level of experience not important. Reply online at thescope.ca/ classifieds

Bulletin Board Global Education Initiative: We’re a group of passionate youth committed to ensuring our province educates students about social justice and global issues. Want to make a difference? E-mail erinaylward@hotmail. com or come to an introductory meeting on September 28th, 5:15-6:15, 6th floor board room of the University Center.

Classes Five-Week Novel Writing Workshop Series: Tuesday evenings, September 29th to October 27th: Facilitated by Paul Butler. Location: 155 Water Street, Suite 304. Email info@ writingworkshops.ca, call (709) 753-7740, or visit http://www.writingworkshops.ca/

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Cost: Classifieds printed in the paper cost 30 words for $15. Ads of more than 30 words will be edited to that size for print.

Deadline for print: Monday before publication, 5pm

Hey! Carpool Wanted: I live off LeMarchant Road and work 8-4/9-5ish near the Avalon Mall but I have a flexible schedule! I’m fine with biking/busing for now but when the weather gets colder a ride would be nice! I don’t have a vehicle but will split the cost of gas and provide your morning java :) Reply online at thescope.ca/classifieds

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Adopt Me...

SPCA St. John’s - 726-0301 - www.spcastjohns.org Shelter location: R.C.A.F. Road off Torbay Rd. Hours: Mon-Fri 9am-4pm / Sat & Sun 2:30pm-4:30pm / holidays 2pm-4pm.

Cinnamon was surrendered to us Taz is a fabulous short hair all three months ago with her tiny black NEUTERED male who came newborns. She’s been in foster to us as a result of his owner care ever since. Her kittens have passing away. He is extremely found homes. Now it’s her turn. lovable, loves attention and loves She is four years old. She is very to be brushed. If you are looking gentle, loves attention and is for a fantastic feline, please drop very quiet. by for a visit with the Taz man.

cinnamon

taz

22 thescope

september 10 - 24, 2009

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Lady Dunfield Memorial Shelter Scooby is up for adoption through the Gander SPCA. If you are looking for a young, house trained and energetic canine who gets along with both cats and dogs and is good with kids, then drop by our shelter to meet this 10 month old male Shepherd Mix.

scooby

savagelove

sex columnist dan savage needs your help spreading santorum

Y

ou are known far and wide as an arbiter of all aspects of sex and especially definitions of sex, so we are hoping that you can give your definitive opinion on an interesting conundrum.

My wife and I were recently regaling each other with anecdotes from our past, and she easily had the most interesting story: It seems that when she was a young woman in college, a fellow student invited her over for lunch. It turns out that he thought she was lunch. He quickly had her clothes off and was kissing her, although he was still dressed. Then he brought out a vibrator. He applied the vibrator, she had an orgasm, and then she called a halt to the proceedings.

They went back to school, and that was the beginning and the end of their relationship.

Did she have sex?

Now, I think any time you have an orgasm you’ve had sex, and if someone else is present, even if they’re clothed, you definitely had sex. My wife’s view is that since he never got his clothes off and she never saw his cock, she really didn’t have sex. We would like your opinion on this.

Definition Essential For Intensely Novel Experience Let’s say you and I met in a bar, DEFINE, while the wife was out of town, and we hit it off. And let’s say I took you home, stripped you naked, made out with you, sucked your dick, ate your ass, spanked you, tossed you in a sling, fist-fucked you, and then—with my right arm buried up to my elbow in your ass—slowly stroked you with my left hand until you Dan Savage blew a massive mail@savagelove.net load all over your stomach, chest, and face.

Now let’s say I taped the whole thing and e-mailed a copy to your wife. I think it’s highly unlikely that your wife would turn to you after watching the video—remember: I don’t get naked, you never see my dick—put a hand on your knee, and say, “Well, I’m glad you didn’t have sex with Dan Savage.”

Your wife clearly regrets going to that guy’s room; she regretted the moment she came, just as you would probably regret going home with me. These feelings prompt her to round this experience down to Not Sex, to minimize it, to exclude it from her sexual history on a technicality: He didn’t get naked; she didn’t get fucked. Your wife can attempt to rationalize away the sex she had in that dorm, DEFINE, but she had sex with that guy—and that guy’s vibrator—whether she wants to admit it or not.

I

---

’m writing to you to let you know that a huge fan and reader of your column has been in a coma since Saturday, September 5. He had a bad motorcycle accident and has a severe brain injury. His name is Jon Broom, and he’s my boyfriend, the love of my life, and my best friend. Even though he still hasn’t woken up, I’ve been reading your columns out loud to him so that he never misses one. I know you’re a busy man, but I thought I’d take a chance and ask if you could pass on his Facebook support group at “Get Well Jon” in one of your columns (www.tinyurl.com/m3ngc3). I think it would be awesome for him to look back and see your column when he wakes up and is able to function again.

We appreciate your writings and support for the people who ask for your advice.

Here’s to hope, faith, and community.

Penny Kim Oh, Penny, I’m so sorry. Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery. If you’re on Facebook—and who isn’t?—please join Jon’s support group.

---

I

just had to share with you my first reaction at reading this headline: “Santorum dips toes in 2012 Iowa waters.” My first thought was “Ewwww,” followed quickly by “Is that even possible?”

After all, santorum is something that is dipped into, not something that can dip. And then I remembered that before “santorum” meant santorum it actually designated a person, a senator. But it took me a few seconds.

Congratulations on a job well done. I expect I am not the only one who had this moment of cognitive dissonance upon reading this headline.

A Faithful Reader

Ben Smith at Politico reported last Tuesday that Republican former U.S. senator Rick Santorum plans to run for president. Political Wire linked to Smith’s post and added that “Santorum has a serious Google problem.”

Truthdig linked to Political Wire’s post and spelled out Santorum’s Google problem: “The former senator’s rampant homophobia inspired sex columnist Dan Savage to launch a campaign to usurp the conservative’s name. The result: If you type ‘Santorum’ into Google, you’ll find that it refers not to a former senator, but ‘that frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex.’”

From uppercase Santorum making the news with the announcement that he intends to run (runs?) for president to the full definition of lowercase santorum—in just three steps.

And who deserves the credit? Not me.

The credit is yours, dear readers. It’s thanks to you that SpreadingSantorum.com—a blog that I haven’t updated since July of 2004— remains the number-one hit on Google when you search “Santorum.” It was a Savage Love reader who first suggested that we usurp Rick Santorum’s name, another Savage Love reader who suggested the “frothy mixture” definition, and Savage Love readers who chose the winning definition in a free and fair election. Well done, gang.

We can’t take credit for Santorum losing his seat in the U.S. Senate to Bob Casey by 18 points. That was Rick’s doing.

But we helped to make him ridiculous— there were so many headlines during his failed reelection campaign with “froth” or “frothy” in them. And for a politician, being an object of ridicule is a problem, which is why SpreadingSantorum.com and the “frothy mixture” definition of santorum are going to be a problem as Rick runs for president.

“Maybe it’s time to start updating SpreadingSantorum.com again,” writes Savage Love reader P.B., “now that Rick is running for president.”

I couldn’t agree more, P.B., but I’m a busy guy these days. Back when I was writing for SpreadingSantorum.com, I had only the column on my plate. Now I blog every day at thestranger.com/slog, I do a weekly podcast, I’ve got a bad case of talking headism, and I’m working on another stupid book. So I just don’t have the time to give SpreadingSantorum.com the attention it needs.

But maybe some Savage Love readers do?

If SpreadingSantorum.com is going to remain Google’s top hit when you search “santorum”—and it should—then the site needs to come back to life. So I’m looking for a few folks who want to torment Rick Santorum by following every twist and turn of his sure-to-be-disastrous run for the White House on SpreadingSantorum.com. (I may dip in every once in a while and post myself.)

It would be helpful if one of the people posting to SpreadingSantorum.com was in Iowa, and it couldn’t hurt to have someone in New Hampshire, but you don’t have to live in either of those states. It would be labor of love—read: a nonpaying gig—but you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that you’re driving Rick Santorum and his supporters absolutely batshit (batshittier?).

If you think you’re the right person for this gig—if you think you’re right for SpreadingSantorum.com—write me at mail@ savagelove.net.

Listen to Dan Savage's podcast online at

thescope.ca/savagelove

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