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			<title><![CDATA[Description: Valerie In Toronto]]></title>

			<link>http://descriptionto.blogspot.com/</link>

			<description><![CDATA[
A personal, sometimes-profane primer on things particular to Toronto and Canada, from a radio refugee born in the USA but Canadian by choice.
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			<pubDate>Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:09:13 GMT</pubDate>

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<title><![CDATA[Description 72 - Between Mud and Sky]]></title>
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Volunteering for a theatre company, I explore Dufferin Grove Park, where the play's the thing in more ways than one. Featuring a naked kid, a pongophone, ice cream truck music and Stephen Harper getting beaten with a stick.Click here to subscribeClick here to download directlyAssociated links(Update: November 21 - Jutta Mason opens the Dufferin Grove rink for the season with her own two hands)Friends of Dufferin Grove ParkYou may know Todd Tyrtle from such podcasts as The QN Podcast and Talking StickBlog post: The Tyrtles Have LandedClay and Paper TheatreTrailer for Between Sea and Sky with ASLRyerson University Centre for Learning TechnologiesCitizen Z @NFB.ca (not with description, which kind of sucks)Dufferin RinkThe Brick Oven @Project for Public SpacesBarbara Klunder"Dufferin Grove Park" poem by RM VaughanOkay, technically, the wading pool is not a Splash pad...For the Birds by Margaret AtwoodWhat is Cob?The QN perspective on the Punch and Judy show with Stephen HarperIn case you think Dufferin Grove Park is some sort of hothouse of gentrification in some well-to-do, lily-white neighbourhood, you would be wrong. That area has had a history of poverty and crime and all kinds of people from everywhere doing their best to get by, so making the park what it's become was an uphill battle and continues to take strength. The fact you wouldn't immediately know that from being there speaks volumes.If you could only click through one link in that list (and that's not true, so go to all of them), it would be the one for Friends of Dufferin Grove Park, because not only does it have all the information about everything going on in the park (rink! oven! cob! campfires! farmers' market! arts! history!), but it sort of evokes the vibe of the park - there are forums and public discussion sections everywhere. The transparency of process in how things work is really impressive.It should not come as a surprise, then, that the editor of the site is Jutta Mason (from Germany - yet another immigrant), who was a major part of the "friends" creating what Dufferin Grove Park is now. She won the Jane Jacobs Prize in 2001, and continues to help hold together the spirit of freedom and community the park embodies every day, inspiring work beyond that block through the Centre For Local Research Into Public Space (CELOS). Mind you, she only helps to hold it together, because this sort of thing doesn't work the way they've done it through the control of a person or two - it has taken a deep but not-foolish trust in one's fellow neighbours.I think many of the greatest thinkers concerning social media can relate to that. So if you have any interest in any kind of community, you'd do well to study that one site as deeply as you can, and take notes.        
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<pubDate>Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:23:18 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[For NaPodPoMo: No Mood Swing]]></title>
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<![CDATA[
Evidently, it's not enough I have this monthly podcast and another weekly podcast - I have to come up with a daily one. But it's just for National Podcast Post Month (NaPodPoMo), which I dodged last year, but this year won't. A podcast episode every day in November, and in my case, each will be under 10 minutes. Yikes.But don't worry - I'm not foisting it on you, unsuspecting Description listener. The podcast, No Mood Swing, will be on another feed...with this one exception: my mission statement for the project, where I give an idea of what I'm going to do on this thing. If you want to subscribe, awesome! If not, no problem, and thanks for putting up with this one thing in your feed. That's the one thing about being less than 10 minutes: compared to what I usually do here, it goes by like (snapping fingers) THAT!Download the mission statementSubscribe to No Mood Swing        
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<pubDate>Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:09:13 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Description 63 - The Annex to Rexdale]]></title>
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If a goofball vegetable cutter can go from a Delhi market stall to China to fulfill his warrior destiny, then I can go from my downtown neighbourhood to the outer reaches of the GTA to help celebrate a friend's birthday and muse about the multicultural mosaic in practice.Click here to subscribeClick here to download directlyAssociated linksKatherine Matthews: 42point1, purl diving and cinefolleRob Lee's blog Unconventional WisdomRexdale in the Urban DictionaryAlbion CinemasChandni Chowk to China: @Wikipedia, official website, official trailer (large) @Apple.comAishwarya Rai Official Website (find your own mousepad...)Yorkdale Shopping CentreOMNITV OntarioThank you to Rob for instigating the festivities for Katherine's birthday. Everyone who wanted to join in no doubt hopes all your plans work out next time.The bus was one of those accessible low-floor deals with a step that lowers and raises for folks to get on easier, and that's what the beeping was about. No one was actually using it at the time, though - maybe the driver was trying to shake snow from it? Anyway...Yorkdale ended up as a footnote in this episode, but as snazzy as the place is now, it has no small historical significance as one of the first major malls in Canada and the largest in the world when it opened in 1964. Shawn Micallef (that's two podcast posts in a row mentioning him) wrote an interesting piece about it on SpacingToronto a couple years ago. While not near any of the places I've lived, I would often go there because of its relative proximity to York University (for people who drive cars, which included me) and because it was a place to park and get on the TTC heading downtown. While it was never, to use a word I was suddenly using everywhere in this episode, skeezy, it was also nothing like the dizzying labyrinth it is now.Up there at the top of this post, I use the term "multicultural mosaic", which I didn't use in the episode. But this business of various ethnic/cultural groups living among and not-among each other has to do with that. For people from outside Canada, "mosaic" is used to distinguish itself from the American term "melting pot", which suggests more assimilation required of immigrants. As thumbnailed in this Wikipedia article, the mosaic idea grew in Canada throughout the 1960's, and multiculturalism became part of official federal public policy in 1971. The CBC Digital Archives has an interesting section about that. You can pretty much figure, though, that when the government starts making rules and laws and initiatives about such things, it can get pretty tricky. But it has become as much a part of the Canadian identity as anything else - and so here it is in an episode about me seeing a bad Bollywood movie.Speaking of Bollywood, in my previous job describing movies, I did get to work on a singularly Canadian version: Bollywood/Hollywood, Deepa Mehta's romantic comedy centred on a well-to-do Indo-Canadian family in Toronto. Dance numbers and everything. Well worth renting, maybe with some take-out curry chicken poutine from Smoke's Poutinerie.Now that would be f-ing nuts. ;-)        
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<pubDate>Sat, 17 Oct 2009 16:12:40 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Description 64 - The Jersey Canuck @ The Bloor]]></title>
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<![CDATA[
I go to a place where I worked illegally to listen to a famous American guy caught up in a romance with Canada that echoes my own. Includes music by The Ambers, candy bars in Tupperware, Alanis yelling and the return of the King of Kensington.Click here to subscribeClick here to download directlyAssociated linksDegrassi: in Canada and in the U.S."Degrassi Classic"Quick Stop EntertainmentQuick Stop covers Kevin Smith at Degrassi (including press conference video)SModcastThe View AskewniverseThe Bloor CinemaTorontoist (of course) on The BloorKevin Smith FestQ&A from the night beforeMill St. BreweryYongesterdamThe Ambers on CDBaby!Zack and Miri Make a PornoDogma @IMDBDogma in full on YouTubeThe Sweater @NFB.caAn Evening With Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder (2006)The parking garage scene in DogmaThe same scene re-enactedSModcast 76: The Great OneThe View Askewniverse Message BoardThe Message Board makes plans for The Walter Gretzky Street Hockey TournamentI have a couple more dots to connect. Alanis also played God in Dogma. When that film caused a big ol' ruckus among panicky, crusading people who thought it was anti-Catholic (it's not), movie distributors got all spooked about releasing it. Who had the cojones to take it on? A fledgling outfit at the time called Lion's Gate Pictures - which, faithful to its name, was born in Vancouver. When I worked at AudioVision, we described quite a few films of theirs, but unfortunately not that one. I had to content myself with narrating and producing description for American Psycho (filmed in Toronto, btw), another film that courted controversy and my favourite one we did while I was there.Speaking of Vancouver, Kevin is doing another snazzy Q&A ("An Evening With...") at the Centre For Performing Arts March 27. It's not confirmed as of me writing this that he'll turn up the next night at a Clerks Festival showing I&II at the Rio Theatre, but it still sounds like a good time.If you're new because you've found this through some sort of Kevin Smith/View Askew-related search/link, hiya. Here are some useful things to know:1) This podcast isn't about me going to movies, although I've now done two episodes in a row where that happens. Those are the only two movies I've seen in six months, and that's a lot for me.2) Yes, I realized too late my spring jacket makes rustling noises when I walk.3) I can't believe I said "I'll drink the Kool-Aid" twice. That was just wrong.4) Yes, there may be samples in this episode that aren't the most legal in the world. I'm gutless, but I don't make money off this thing.5) The editing isn't meant to be tight - it's a style I took from the Modern Roadie Cast. For more professional-sounding editing, check out my other podcast.6) To the question "When does she stop talking?", the answer is "Eventually. Pack a lunch."        
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<pubDate>Sat, 17 Oct 2009 16:11:22 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Description 65 - Everywhere, part 1]]></title>
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<![CDATA[
Go with the flow as I do a soundseeing tour of my television screen, then approach a big old building where cameras, ideas and egos ran free. Includes exclusive music from Memory Bank, an impending bathroom break at Second Cup and people pressed against the glass.Click here to subscribeClick here to download directlyAssociated linksCitytv @WikipediaCP24"Vintage" Video of The New Music @Muchmusicthenewmusic.net"Lament for The NewMusic" @CBCCitytv @Museum of Broadcast CommunicationsMoses Znaimer official site (Flash-heavy)Opening of TVTV: The Television RevolutionMoses Znaimer and TVTV @Media-Studies.caCity Pulse Tonight intros: from 1985, from 1988, from 1990, from 1996 and from 2003CHUM Limited timeline @Canadian Communications Foundation"Whatever happened to Muchmusic?" @EYE WeeklyScrolling Eye talks to Christopher Ward about City Limits and the birth of MuchWhen things started to turn (Globe & Mail via Friends of Canadian Broadcasting)Zoomer MagazineCitytv Official SiteCityNews (what was City Pulse)Memory Bank @myspace299 Queen Street West @WikipediaSpeakers Corner @Ryerson Review of JournalismA 2006 episode of Speakers CornerIntro to Electric CircusCP24/CHUM Christmas WishI have to say that in researching this show, I discovered there's a pathetic amount of Citytv/CHUM stuff out there on the ol' internet. For all the content that has been created, it was incredibly hard to find what little I did find. Maybe back then we thought of everything as being so of the moment, we didn't consider saving it for the future, like the whole vibe of the thing would always be there.Yeah, that's what we used to say about the Oilers. :-)So if you have some old tapes knocking around of stuff you recorded off City or Much or who-knows-what back in tha day, no matter how lame it may seem, think about converting it and putting it up somewhere. I know I will. It doesn't seem very likely that the parents in this divorce are going to do it for us.Yes, JD Roberts of The New Music and City Pulse and any other number of things (because City people multi-tasked) is now John Roberts: previously Dan Rather's anchorman heir at CBS News and now the American Morning guy at CNN. And yes, Jeanne Beker remains the face, heart, legs and spleen of Fashion Television; which started the revolution of runway shows, supermodels and superstar designers on television - and is now a multimedia force unto itself (though it is worth noting she was the editorial director of @fashion, the first major fashion website EVER, in 1995). They are only two of the many, many Citytv people in front of the camera who took their work ethic and lessons learned into the rest of broadcasting and beyond.But I haven't talked enough about the many more people not in front of the camera with the same elements of creativity and intelligence which made Citytv and its spinoffs what they were. More on a couple of those people is coming in the next episode in a few days. Just one example, though, is the late John Martin, who came up with the idea for The New Music and drove it for most of its (and the rest of his) life. For a great in-depth look at this work, check out this 1997 article about him from the Ryerson Review of Journalism.He also applied his sensibilities to Muchmusic, about which he was quoted as saying, "My gig was to sort of mould the anarchy. It was a bunch of absolutely crazy people reinventing their lives every day. It was fun."It sounds a little like what social media (including podcasting) has been going through. Mark well the achievements and issues of the past as they come back around.        
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<pubDate>Sat, 17 Oct 2009 16:10:30 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Description 66 - Everywhere, part 2]]></title>
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<![CDATA[
The Citytv odyssey continues, as I go from the kindness of a great music video director to the kindness of a former provincial policeman. Features a mashup of two Canadian music pioneers, being on live television and a million-dollar truck.Click here to subscribeClick here to download directlyAssociated linksAgain, 299 Queen Street West @WikipediaToronto Rocks with Brad Giffen (you don't have to stay around for the Monkees fans...)Joel Goldberg ProductionsVideo for "Let Your Backbone Slide"Breakfast TelevisionCityLineeTalk on CTVMuchMusicAgain, CityNews"Remember Bravo?"Again, CP24CP24 now in the former venue of Live at the Rehearsal HallAnn Rohmer CP24 bio and @WikipediaFrog the Dawg @Mashupciti"The Hockey Song" by Stompin' Tom Connors Actually, you have to watch this, or you're not allowed to listen to this show anymore. :-)Cam Woolley CP24 bioCam talks to the National PostA Tribute to Colin VaughanAdam Vaughan of Toronto City CouncilAmber Mac!Paedric O'SullivanBob Cook's public LinkedIn profileCitytv moving to Dundas SquareSo here's a killer: in talking to these other CHUM/CITY people from Cleveland, I totally missed the biggest one - the guy I started these episodes with, Mark Dailey, aka "The Voice" of Citytv. He's actually from Youngstown, about an hour south of Kingsville. I've been nearby the guy at odd things, and Bob knows him well, but I've never talked to him. Too intimidated. Besides...I'm a citizen now! I don't need any more advice from people who've moved up here! Pffft! :-)The guy on the CP24 set making me say my name was Bob Summers, amiable CHUM traffic reporter guy who of course is now doing the same with CP24 - almost exactly the same, since the legendary oldies station CHUM1050 has been made into an audio simulcast of CP24. Yes, this is about as depressing as Citytv running back-to-back episodes of "According to Jim" in prime time. A couple months ago, I stumbled past CTV Newsnet (CTV's 24-hour news channel), and this strangely familiar guy was presenting the news. The hair was shorter and completely white, but the voice was the same: it was Brad Giffen. It turns out in the years after Toronto Rocks, he followed a similar path to JD Roberts, into American tv news, and that path has brought him back up here. I must say, when I cross paths with him on tv, I stick around for a while. There's something kind of comforting about listening to him. And the hair.You can find all of Joel Goldberg's music videos in this section of his company's website, but for convenience sake, here's another one, via YouTube:He won a Juno for directing Maestro Fresh Wes' "Drop the Needle":That video I especially loved because they sampled this:        
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<pubDate>Sat, 17 Oct 2009 16:09:57 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Description 67 - The PATH]]></title>
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<![CDATA[
From Toronto's oldest hotel to its oldest store, I go underground and show that not even a free breakfast can make me a morning person. With music from Modernboys Moderngirls, places where the water gurgles up, free radio consulting and a Correction From the Future.Click here to subscribeClick here to download directlyAssociated linksCity of Toronto: PATHThe PATH @WikipediaErin Davis writes about getting the 2009 Rosalie AwardRosalie Trombley and CKLW in The Walrus MagazineJanik MediaValerie Geller's Creating Powerful RadioThe Fairmont Royal York HotelThe Royal York has a podcast?Lisa Brandt isn't at 680 News anymore? Told you I'm not a morning person. (Congrats on the new job, btw!)Royal Bank Plaza @Wikipedia (Yes, it's coated in gold.)Toronto Dominion CentreFirst Canadian PlaceAtrium on Bay and the Toronto Coach (Bus) TerminalBCE Place (It's called Brookfield Place now? Sheesh.)CerealiciousMontréal's Underground City @WikipediaModernboys Moderngirls: official site, @myspace and @publicbroadcasting.caNxEW (not a typo)Sheraton CentreHudson's Bay Company @WikipediaEaton CentreThat thing I sent the boys at Canadian Podcast Buffet was an audio comment in response to a discussion they had about, oddly enough, CKLW in CPB-141 - an episode I listened to while starting to put together this show. I talked about listening to that station when I was very little and the notion that its heyday was brought to an end in part by the advent of FM radio (yes, kids, it was that long ago) and in part by the less graceful advent of Canadian Content regulations by the CRTC (though I'd say it was more FM than CRTC). I got to tell them all that stuff, so you are spared from it. :-)You were not spared from my trying to figure out what the furthest points of the PATH are. Technically, the southernmost point is the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, I guess because they count Skywalk (which you had a taste of in Description 44, connecting Union Station to MTCC and the CN Tower/Rogers Centre area) as part of the PATH. The previously mentioned bus depot...er, "coach terminal", is the northernmost point. And that's the limit of my geography geekiness.Since PATH is capitalized, you may think it's an acronym. Alas, it's not. The logo is supposed to help you remember the directions: the red P for south, the orange A for west, the blue T for north and the yellow H for east.Well, that makes perfect sense, doesn't it?For its part, the Montréal version is officially called RÉSO, which is just a play on the word "réseau," meaning "network". So not much different in that respect.The idea of underground and/or linked malls/office complexes is fairly common in Canada, where many people in suits would like to be saved from having to go outside at least four months out of the year. In Calgary, for example, they're connected by covered walkways above ground: the skywalks of +15. I haven't been to Calgary yet, but I know about it because of a very cool movie I did description for once called waydowntown, about a group of office drones who live in the system, so they make a bet of one month's salary and compete to be the one who can go the longest without going outside. To the relief of Jane Jacobs, I would guess, they each slowly start to go a little squirrelly in bizarre ways. It's well worth a rental, and it will definitely get you to go outside afterward and get some fresh air - even if it's -30 or +30C.        
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<pubDate>Sat, 17 Oct 2009 16:07:53 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Description 69 - Walking the Walk]]></title>
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<![CDATA[
So what was the deal with me mentioning rejection and acceptance in the blurb for the last episode? I explain and try desperately to avoid ChickLit as I make my way to Lake Ontario on Canada Day. With music by The Constantines and some douchebag with a bicycle bell.Click here to subscribeClick here to download directlyAssociated linksCoach House BooksAn Online Archive for bpNicholBlogTO in bpNichol LaneToronto Fringe Festival (Ha! I made it in time! It's on until July 12! Go!)The Robarts LibraryThe redesigned Art Gallery of OntarioGrange Park on flickrOCAD @WikipediaThe Vagina Monologues @WikipediaLoose Moose Tap and GrillHarbourfront CentreAir Canada CentreConstantinesYes, already. But I wanted to get this out there while it was fresh and before it seemed too reactionary.As often happens, it takes me a while to get going on this thing, but stay with me because I do get going.For once, I guess I should explain a reference I made that is more American than Canadian. Lifetime is a tv network in the States sort of like the W Network in Canada, with programming aimed at women (Oxygen is a younger, louder variation on it). So you have makeover shows and movies with Julia Roberts, Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon in them, and basically shows that are supposed to be empowering when maybe sometimes they're more enabling. Then there are the Lifetime TV movies (which often appear on W as well), which are often shot in Canada because it's cheap. The typical Lifetime TV movie stars some actress who used to be in a successful tv series which was cancelled years ago, who plays some woman who goes through some sort of great difficulty ("based on real events" and often caused by some man or men or psycho woman or "the system") and comes away from it a stronger person. Of course, there is much drama and sturm and drang along the way.THAT is what this episode is NOT. You know why? Because drama should be the exception, not the rule. There are no good guys and bad guys, everybody does the best they can, sometimes they screw up or have intentions that don't match, life sometimes sucks by its nature and life sometimes rocks by its nature, and it's all good. And EVERYONE deserves to be empowered, regardless of gender.And you know I mean that because I used CAPS. :-)        
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<pubDate>Sat, 17 Oct 2009 16:07:23 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Description 70 - Walking the Walk in Midtown]]></title>
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<![CDATA[
In a productive overreaction, I blather about the nature of desire unedited while going from a busy intersection far away to a pair of twins in a stroller to the grave of a Prime Minister.Click here to subscribeClick here to download directlyAssociated linksMartin Streek remembered by Liisa Ladouceur in Eye WeeklyMarsden's playlist from last night (Again, more on this later.)Eglinton Way (via boldts.net)Belt Line Railway @WikipediaBeltline Reach (This looks like the whole path where I walked.)Podcasters Across BordersForest Hill @WikipediaBaldwin Steps (to Casa Loma) @WikpediaForest Hill Village @BlogTOAjahn Brahm websiteDavisville Subway Yards @Transit TorontoMount Pleasant CemeteryFeed of the Ajahn Brahm Dhamma Talks podcast The joke was in "The Power of Mindfulness and Compassion" and the sample was from "The Secret (Lo-Fi)" Figures I would sample the one with the technical problem. :-)Mackenzie King @CBC Digital ArchivesThe Diaries of William Lyon Mackenzie KingAfter the recording, I continued on through the cemetery until I realized I was getting tired, then had to work to find my way out the place. But I did and got back to Yonge just north of St. Clair, where I finally sat down again for a little bit, then kept going south and finally made it back home. I mapped out what I remembered of the walk on Running Map, and it said I'd walked 6.5 miles in total.Thanks again for putting up with this. It's pretty important, but I know it's not exactly what you signed up for. As always, listening is optional. A more typical episode, which I was originally going to make Description 70, is really coming in the next week, so if you took out these Walking the Walk episodes, the time between that and the last typical episode (Description 68 - Gretzky) is still ahead of my usual pace. And really, I'm fine. What happened isn't a bigger deal than I made it sound in Description 69 - I just had these extra realizations that made me have to kick my ass in a big way.If I was so earnest and stuff all the time, would I still find this video 20 kinds of awesome? Not bloody likely. (Warning: not Canadian.)        
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<pubDate>Sat, 17 Oct 2009 16:06:12 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Description 71 - Back to the Beach(es)]]></title>
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<![CDATA[
Taking Queen Street to its eastern end, I extend one previous journey and correct another. Featuring music by Luke Doucet, a dog that sounds yippier than it looks, a walk around a picket line and not a single soul bared. :-)"DL Burnside?" Where did that come from? It was NQ Arbuckle! Damn!Click here to subscribeClick here to download directlyAssociated linksbeachestoronto.comThe Beaches @WikipediaThe Beach Business Improvement AssociationAn even better tour of The Beach by Doors Open tour guide Gene DomagalaBeyond LandscapingIvan Forrest GardensThat Luke Doucet song in full @the Mod ClubYou know about Rick Danko, right?Official sites for Luke Doucet, NQ Arbuckle and Justin RutledgeSix Shooter RecordsGarden Gate Restaurant (aka "The Goof" because sometimes the "d" was missing)Fox TheatreTorontoist stories tagged "city workers' strike"The kicking at Christie PitsHistory of the Neville Park LoopHarris Water Treatment Plant @WikipediaHarris Water Treatment Plant HistoryQTVR Harris Treatment Plant tourI ended up on Balmy Beach (Flickr photo by Diego_3336)Woodbine Avenue is also kind of a signpost for me because it's where my friend Julie (now in Western PA) once lived long ago when I was first living in Toronto. I'd go out there to see her, thinking I was going to the far edge of the city. Obviously I was wrong.Hey! Speaking of being wrong...When I should have said NQ Arbuckle (and he was my favourite part of that show at Lee's! Argh!), I must've been thinking of RL Burnside, the legendary Delta Blues guy who passed away a few years ago. That was weird. My subconscious has better taste in music than I do.If you or your subconscious has great taste in music and you're in town when this episode is posted, you'd do well to go where I walked, because for the next few days you will be smack dab in the middle of the annual Beaches International Jazz Festival. More than 50 jazz and jazzish bands clogging up Queen Street East and Kew Gardens with coolness, so go if you can..and take your garbage with you when you leave, because the strike is still on and it's nice to help out those residents who work so hard to keep their neighbourhood lovely without kicking people.        
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<pubDate>Sat, 17 Oct 2009 16:04:38 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Description 74 - GOing]]></title>
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<![CDATA[
I venture into suburbia in a big green and white clanging flattened metal hexagon, and live to tell the tale. Featuring music from The Most Serene Republic, a surprise cameo by a constable, looking up a word I didn't know and a bird in a nice suit.Click here to subscribeClick here to download directly(Yes, you can download it. I'm migrating all episodes to other hosts, working backward. Thanks for your patience on that.)Associated linksGo Transit Official SiteGO Transit @Wikipedia (and follow the link in the article for "conurbation".)The GO Concourse @ Union StationThat Paul Janz song (Again, because much of the video was shot in Union Station. Sorry.)Mississauga.comThe Most Serene RepublicAnd here comes the IODA Promonet stuff...The Most Serene Republic "Heavens To Purgatory" (mp3)  from "...And The Ever Expanding Universe" (Arts &amp; Crafts) Buy at Napster  Buy at Rhapsody More On This AlbumCanoeing the Credit RiverLakeshore Lions ArenaThe Most Serene Republic are forging on with their tour (at the Mod Club here tonight as I write this) although recently they had a lot of their gear stolen in Vancouver. That's a hard blow for any Canadian band, so check out their official site in the links for details on what was stolen, so you can watch for it if you're in that area.A GO Train was the location for the tv series Train 48, which aired on Global from 2003 to 2005. A version of an Australian soap, it centred around a group of commuters heading home each night from Toronto to Burlington (technically, that would have to be Aldershot, right?). The train was the only location for the show, and the episodes were taped the same day they aired (having great improv actors helped), so things could be topical and cheap - and the cheap part was how Global was able to do an original drama series at all back then. That's grist for another episode, I guess, if I could find a way to keep it from being depressing. :-)I cut quite a lot of the soundseeing tour of the concourse hall. Sure, I could go on about the Second Cup and the juice place and the Cinnabon and the Dairy Queen, but...meh. As you might have noticed by my boundless energy in this episode, the place is nothing more than functional.When I first lived in Toronto way back when, there was a bar where the newer food court is now - called Choo-Choo's, I think (whatever it's called, it has moved nearer to the stairs to the Great Hall of Union Station). It was actually where I made my first mixed drink order. Due to my fairly uneventful teenage years, I had very little context for concocting a beverage in my head. I knew I loved Coke, and thought I'd like Kahlua because it wasn't fruity, so I walked up to the barkeep at the age of 19 and asked for a Kahlua and Coke. He asked me to repeat that, and I did. He stood there perplexed for a moment, then went to fill my order. He poured a shot of Kahlua and a highball glass of Coke, then gave me the glasses."Um, no, I'd like them together," I said.He raised his eyebrows. "Together?"I nodded, he shrugged, then poured the shot into the Coke. He watched as I drank this mix perfectly content, because it was exactly what I wanted. I would go on to perplex less seasoned bartenders than him for the following two years, before university life would mature me to the level of gin and tonics.        
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<pubDate>Fri, 16 Oct 2009 05:16:03 GMT</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Description 73 - The Dual Citizens]]></title>
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In the temporary Canadian embassy of Ashtabula, Ohio, I talk with my birth mother about why she went to Canada, why she stays, and how it's even more our home than I'd ever known.Click here to subscribeClick here to download directlyAssociated linksThe beginning of the story is at the end of Description 68 and throughout Description 69Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee @Amazon.caThe Bank of America Center @Wikipedia1972 U.S. Presidential Election @WikipediaThe Port Angeles-Victoria FerryOak Bay TourismStraight.com"The Last Streetfighter: the History of the Georgia Straight"Canada and the Vietnam War @Wikipedia"What Is An Affinity Group?"Tourism New BrunswickCBC.ca article on election for AFN national chiefWalnut Beach Cafe Photo GalleryBy the end of the year, you will be hearing more about Aboriginal people in Canada (having already recorded some stuff) and more about New Brunswick (because I'm going there for Canadian Thanksgiving). Maybe I should say "perhaps on either side of the end of the year," just to keep it safe.In case you were wondering, this experience has been a big one for my parents. They always said they would support me if I ever wanted to search out my birth mother or father, and when my birth mother's family found me, they were as happy as anyone. Knowing that they were familiar with some of them (there are even more odd connections than I've mentioned) and then learning with me how great these people are, it made what could've been a fairly daunting thing even happier for them, and therefore even happier for me. We had our own driving, eating and talking while I was there too. (Btw, it should come as no surprise I gained five pounds over that week.)There's not much more to be said here, except that I had a much better time than I made it sound with my morning semi-cold voice. The week with my birth mother's family was remarkable, but exhausting. Strangely, one thing it wasn't was awkward (although I seem that way in our talk - it's no more awkward than I usually am). My birth mother and I had been communicating freely and deeply through phone and email almost every day since June, so a lot of ground had been covered. I hadn't communicated as much with the rest of the family, and even with my birth mother, there's nothing like being in the same physical space. But the whole thing, while a whirlwind, all felt perfectly natural - like we were all supposed to be there.And we were.        
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<pubDate>Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:56:28 GMT</pubDate>
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