JB's Warehouse & Curio Emporium

Guess it's been a week since I last posted anything. Life's been busy in the interim - dinner with friends (one occured, one postponed), a trip home, opening birthday presents (even though the actual day isn't for two more weeks), watching my life flash by on the the 401... The ride back last night? Not bad until Dutton. Just beyond the service station, I noticed a car gaining fast on me. I was driving in the right lane, so i figured the guy would pass and maintain my speed, around 110. Instead, they kept gaining, breathing on my tail. Then they starting flashing their high beams off and on, like a strobe light. Even though the left lane was clear, they refused to pass. I wanted to pull into the left lane, but my eyes were full of spots and the glare from the other car was too strong. I pulled over and they followed. Pulled back into the right, and the chase continued. Then there was some traffic ahead of me and I attempted to brake a bit, but the other car was...

Continuing on... (If the project was set in the 60s, the concept album/rock opera had to rear its head. What was the most mundane Cancon topic one could choose?) In 1969, the group was commission by the CBC and several FM stations to compose a Canadian rock opera, to compete with the likes of Hair and Tommy. Why the group chose to create a song cycle based on the life of Canada's 5th Prime Minister, Mackenzie Bowell, remains a mystery to this day. "Bowell Movement" was unleashed on an unsuspecting public in May 1969. The pride of Belleville, he had no plan Beyond being a loyal Orangeman The album ended with an 11-minute epic, So Long Mr. Bowell So long Mr. Bowell It was good while you had it So long Mr. Bowell Tupper's back and right at it So long Mr. Bowell If only you’d had more time So long Mr. Bowell You'd have made another rhyme. So long Mr. Bowell Those damn Manitoba schools So long Mr. Bowell Made you look like damn fools So long M...

I tried to post this tale a week ago, but Blogger ate it up. This has been split into 2 parts, with the thrilling conclusion tomorrow... As mentioned in an earlier post, I tend to start stories/journals/etc based on ideas bouncing through my head, but never let them reach fruition. Mostly they’ve been attempts to kickstart the writing juices that vanished back in '99 after the black comedy that was working at the Ontarion (the University of Guelph's newspaper). From brief spurts of journal writing (occasional steady runs, but mostly printouts of e-mails) to attempts to write in different personas, nothing has taken hold (the latter was one of the kookier ones, inspired by an exhibit of photographer Cindy Sherman at the AGO. Rambled on about at length with a friend once, but made it sound like it was much further along than it actually was - there may be a fragment or two of it lying around. The photographic accompaniments never got off the ground - to Dayna, sorry I rambl...

Ever have that feeling when you see somebody you were not on good terms with that your heart feels like it's going to burst out of your body like the thing in John Hurt's belly in Alien? Had one of those moments at my next stop, Kensington Market. I'm walking up Kensington, just as the vintage clothing stores turn into food shops. I look forward and my heart makes it move. I saw one of the few people I have ever blown up at post-childhood. It’s a long story I won't go into here (that might cause another large post error), but basically they pissed me and others off for a long time in university with misguided rhetoric that often harmed those they claimed to stand for. We worked together at CFRU radio at Guelph in the midst of a tense atmosphere, which blew up during a meeting where they were disrespectful to others in the group (mostly involving a finger). I reached the limit of my patience, yelled at the top of my lungs (not directly at anyone) and left the me...

The folks down in the technical department here at the Warehouse thought it was Canada Day already...and left the place hanging. As a result, nobody's been able to update things for a few days. We corralled then back in...so we're back, with a tale intended for earlier in the week. Getting back into the writing swing of things today - spent the weekend enjoying the great outdoors. Wasn't in a scribbling mood yesterday, so I'll try to make up for it today. Began the day at St. Lawrence Market, to check out a BBQ cookoff for lunch. Naturally, I ate fish and chips. Don't know what scared me off the BBQ - maybe it was the same menu and prices at each stand. Maybe it was the cheapskate in me hoping there was small, cheap samples from each place (instead, the smallest offering was a 1/3-rack of ribs for $8, no sides). Maybe it was the thought that I'll hopefully be indulging in grilled goodness while driving through Oklahoma and Texas this summer. Next st...

Taken by my parents in the early 1970s, possibly around Cottam or Harrow .

A hardy survivor of the soft drink wars, Moxie was one of the earliest to be widely available, dating from 1884. Originally sold as "nerve food", this gentian-root based drink (whatever gentian root is) was popular in the early half of the 20th century, especially in the Northeast. One of the first soft drink to mass-merchandise itself, especially through postcards. Most of the websites out there concerning Moxie deal with these items and their collectors. Moxie's last great claim to fame was as a running joke in Mad Magazine in the late 50s-early 60s. In one of the magazine's rare attempts at soliciting advertising, publisher William Gaines reached an agreement to feature Moxie's logo in the background of articles, using it as one of the magazine's running-joke names, like "potrzebie", "veeblefetzer" and "cowznofski". Results couldn't have been too successful for either side, as the name (usually imposed on a blimp) soon dis...

Finally got off my duff and picked up a bicycle today. Turns out all the cycling in the gym has done some good, as it took a long time to run out of gas. The first trip wound its way through Leaside (much faster than by car), across the Leaside Bridge, down into the Don Valley by the police training facility, then along the Don River. It took no time at all before reaching the port lands, where a warm, sunny day turned into a cold, foggy one. This flip in the weather lasted as long as I was south of Lakeshore - once I reached Leslie, conditions returned to the way they were. Still full of energy, I decided not to take the subway back, testing the riding waters downtown. Turns out Sunday is ideal, even for riding up University. Passed Woofstock in the Distillery district, dodging pooches and their owners, each side with smiles on their faces (later talked to a friend of mine who took her dog down and had a good time...and lots of samples to take home, though it sounds like her ...

Looks like Wal-Mart is attempting to reintroduce the concept of the plain brown wrapper for magazines it sells - only it's for such mainstream women's publications as Cosmo and Glamour, following a decision to remove several men's mags entirely. As the Associated Press reports, FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will begin obscuring the covers of some women's magazines stocked in checkout lanes, shortly after a decision to stop selling some men's magazines over their racy content. The company has begun testing "U-shaped blinders" that will cover the photos and language on the covers of Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Marie Claire and Redbook, spokesman Tom Williams said at the company's annual shareholders meeting Friday. "That's to accommodate those customers who are uncomfortable with the language on some of the magazine covers," Williams said. If that's the case, I can think of several other mags they could extend this co...

Source: Sports Illustrated , December 26, 1955 - JB

Went for my first walk around town since coming back from Montreal. Stumbled upon the celebrations for the official opening of Toronto's latest attraction, Dundas Square (see here for local newspaper coverage ). The new landmark has been the source of endless debate in the local media for the past few months, from those trying to defend its future potential to the majority who see it as an ugly concrete slab that fails to live up to the hype (this being Toronto, the centre of the universe, everything has to be world-class). I wandered over after loading up on Japanese food on the Danforth, wandering down through Cabbagetown to walk off the excessive amount of sashimi I'd downed. Lesson learned on the way: if the call of nature strikes hard, and you're scrambling to find a men's room on the Ryerson campus, good luck! Noticed the chess tables by Sam the Record Man have been replaced by a sidewalk cafe, as part of that landmark's ongoing modernization. It'...

1) Sunday is the ideal time to drive into downtown Ottawa - it's dead. 2) As in Toronto, the American embassy appears to have cramped traffic, blocked off by concrete, a forlorn-looking guard protecting the compound. I later saw an elderly man walking back and forth yelling out (with a pitch that bore an uncanny resemblance to a megaphone) that Dubya was a mass murderer. 3) It's nice to have old friends in far-off places. Had dinner with a couple I hadn't seen for a few years. Time has been kind to both of them. Had a great roast chicken dinner, plus got to see the wedding pix. 4) When I walked into the hotel lobby, I had a familiar feeling. I think I stayed at the Crowne Plaza before, under a different hotel name, on a grade 9 field trip to the nation's capital. Main memory - my room slept through an early morning fire alarm. Also seem to recall somebody making a real ass of themself at a sugar shack in Rigaud by pretending to be very swishy in front of Americ...

A mixture of the good, the bad and the ugly 1) The traffic - as snarled, if not more so, than Toronto. I've always managed to get stuck on the Metropolitan. Even surface streets on a Sunday afternoon are terrible (Jean-Talon and Cote-des-Neiges...arrgh!) 2) The turn signal does not exist. You're putting along, maybe 10 km/h at most, when unexpectedly somebody darts in front of you. 3) Maps lie. Sure, it looks easy to get from point A to point B. The mapmakers never factored in that on many routes, it's impossible to turn anywhere. A 5-minute jaunt turns into a 20-minute quest. Heaven forbid if you miss the correct turn... 4) Stopping on a red light at the top of a steep hill downtown is cause for anxiety...especially when being tailgated. 5) Franglais works! 6) Useful feature inside the subway cars - each has a pixelboard that not only shows the next station, but the connecting bus routes. 7) The panhandlers are more animated than in other locales. 8) Ma...

Where was I before conking out the other night...on the way back to Amherstburg. Got back for dinner Friday night, then rested out for the family weekend roadtrip to Toledo... Started off with the first of many nods during the day to past trips. On a whim, we went over to Grosse Ile (the chunk of the States directly across the river from my hometown) to check if the bakery we used to get great sugar cookies and pudding cakes from was still there. Went 2 for 3 - the bakery was there, as were the cookies (bought the last half-dozen - polished the last one off tonight), but no pudding cakes this day. Downtown Toledo is one of those city centres where the city planner had a malicious sense of humour. Every street is one way and never goes the way you want it to. We missed most of the confusion this time around, as the freeway leading into downtown (I-280, notorious for its traffic jams) was closed for construction. The exit we took led us directly to our destination, the Libbey ...

Chateau Cola Availability - mid-to-late 80s, SW Ontario A&Ps My father used to bring this stuff home from the local A&P - he really enjoyed it, probably due to an uber-sugar rush. Chateau was an anachronism, being the only pop I remember that had to be opened with a can opener. No tabs or push buttons for the Chateau folks. This was appropriate, since it had the viscosity of motor oil. The can itself had a vague drawing of a castle, with a generic font for the flavour name. The taste was sickly sweet, close to pure syrup. It was the kind of stuff that could give a kid a psychedelic experience, like that episode of the Simpsons where Bart and Millhouse go for the pure syrup Squishy. There were other flavours - the ginger ale was watery but OK. There may have been orange and grape flavours. But Dad liked it, and it was cheap, so we drank it. Attempts to find any information on the web for Chateau have turned up nothing. Anybody know who made it or how long the c...

( full size version ) A selection of photos taken around Arts House circa 1995.

Waited with the gang in the drizzle last night to see the Matrix Reloaded at the Uptown. The theatre took awhile to fill up, as it was still half-empty minutes before showtime. The Uptown will be a loss when it closes in the next year, the last of the old major chain palaces. Signs have gone up indicating it's future as, what else, condos. Its demise was sealed when Famous Players decided to close it rather than comply with a legal request to provide handicapped access, along with the Plaza and the Eglinton. The ideal way for the theatre to go, and take advantage of its ample space, would be to show a classic silent with a live orchestra. Gone...the last theatre not to show advertising slides and star puzzles before the movie. The movie itself? A mixed bag - the second half, with the freeway chase, worked better than the first, unless you're a fan of bump n' grind hippie dance sequences. The theatre helped, as the acoustics in the Uptown allow you the feel each k...

...and not succeeding at it :) Maybe because it's the lull before a busy week-and-a-half here. Going to see Matrix 2 with friends Thursday night, going back home to Amherstburg Friday afternoon, down to Toledo on Saturday, back to T.O. Monday, company discount sale next Wednesday, then a weekend vacation split between Montreal and Ottawa. And only a few months until the Great American Roadtrip. I'm one of those people (probably looked at as crazy by the likes of the National Post ) who's happy to see a higher loonie, if only for a cheaper vacation this summer and better deals cross-border shopping. It's one of those habits people look puzzled about when I mentioned, like I'm some sort of nut. Having grown up close to the border, I'm used to crossing it to pick up things I can't get in the Great White North, like Pepsi One, Rice and Beans mixes, cocoa rice-krispie type cereals and decent baked beans. Back at the height of cross-border shopping in the ...

OK, so I wound up here by accident in the midst of my web-surfing adventures...but a web blog sounded like a neat idea, perhaps a way to finally let those pent-up creative impulses go somewhere...or bore people to death. :) What'll be here? Whatever strikes the old noggin. Rants, raves and the odd inspiration. A chance to finally follow through on things friends have suggested. Blah blah blah. Welcome to the Warehouse and Curio Emporium. We hope you'll be a repeat customer. WHERE'D THE NAME COME FROM? In my teens, my sister and I got hooked on SCTV reruns. One recurring bit was "Tex & Edna Boil's Prairie Warehouse and Curio Emporium" featuring Dave Thomas and Andrea Martin as a bizarre pair of piano salespeople who rambled on about odd things. Something about the name stuck with me...a few years later, I landed a spot DJing on CFRU at the University of Guelph. It took awhile to figure out a name for my show, which I usually described as ...