JB's Warehouse & Curio Emporium

83: WHAT WE DID ON OUR HOLIDAYS 6: NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND THE DEVIL'S HIGHWAY DAY 6 Santa Fe/Los Alamos/Espanola/Chama/Pagosa Springs, CO/Durango/Cortez/Monticello, UT/Moab Time to start heading north...but first a sidetrip to Los Alamos, home of the Manhattan Project. It was worth the trip just for the scenic drive along New Mexico 566. Discovered Chevy Cavaliers don't like putting on speed while going uphill, but the car never overheated. Stopped at the Bradbury Science Museum , home of atomic-age artifacts. One amusing, yet still frightening one in light of recent paranoia, was this notice... Models of Fat Man and Little Boy were on display...not the originals, but similar casings from the period. Most of the museum was gung-ho about the benefits of nuclear physics, but efforts were made to show the downside. Not a buh... Drove back to US 84 and grabbed lunch at a Subway in Espanola. We were stuck behind a family who we suspected had never stepped foot in a Subway before,...

81: WHAT WE DID ON OUR HOLIDAYS 5: DO YOU KNOW THE WAY TO SANTA FE? DAY 5 Tucumcari/Santa Rosa/Pecos/Santa Fe Decisions needed to be made about how far west we would go at this point. When I left, I figured there would be enough time to reach Las Vegas, then head north on US93 into British Columbia. Some quick math proved this route might make time tight towards the end of the trip. We'd likely arrive in LV on a Friday night, which might have been pricey. At first, thought about going as far as Flagstaff, then shortened that to Gallup. Subconciously, we may have also wanted a day where there wasn't so much driving involved. Drove through Tucumcari, which is nothing but hotels, active and abandoned. Out of town, all you could was a landscape that was bare except for the odd shrub. Drove along I-40, since parts of old 66 faded into the dirt. Stopped in Santa Rosa for lunch at another 66 landmark, Joseph's. Though it has been around since the 50s, it recently adopted t...

A quick break from the trip chronicle... One positive side-effect of the blackout's aftermath - it's been much easier to adjust back to work. Monday and Tuesday were half-days, while the rest of the week has been on reduced lighting and air conditioning, allowing me to wear shorts to work. Went to the CNE Tuesday afternoon with Mom and Amy. It was opening day, but not too busy. The ride operators were generous with ride time, especially on the Tilt-A-Whirl. Picked up the last thing I needed, compact discs, which were going for $5. One that I suspect will get a few spins at future dinner parties, if I don't hide it, is one of the discs played often in second year at Arts House... I see it now...group singalongs of Slow Cars, Fast Cars . Rock on Chicago... Made one fatal error - don't go on spider/octopus like rides immediately after digesting large quantities of Caribbean food, Honeydew and water. Now I know how a egg feels when it's scrambled. Stumbled off ...

79: WHAT WE DID ON OUR HOLIDAYS 4: WALTZ ACROSS (THE PANHANDLE OF) TEXAS DAY 4 Edmond/Oklahoma City/Yukon/Canadian River/Clinton/Erick/McLean TX/Groom/Amarillo/Tucumcuri NM Day 4 began with a quick trip through Oklahoma City. One recommendation - drive towards the state capitol from the north - it's an awesome sight (but one with no parking along the way). Passed out of the city, stopped to snap pix of an old bridge on the outskirts, as well as Yukon, OK's main attraction... Now, Yukon's claim to fame is as the hometown of Garth Brooks. Thankfully, no memorabilia was in sight. Next main sight on 66 was the pony bridge over the Canadian River, with at least 38 trusses. The river was nearly dry. Then came Clinton, home of the Route 66 Museum . We stopped, took the tour, then picked up souvenirs. We started to the notice the landscape change, as the land grew dustier and vegetation sparser. Shrubs began to dominate. Final stop in Oklahoma was Erick, whose main intersect...

DAY 3 Springfield, MO/Joplin/Kansas/Miami, OK/Vinita/Tulsa/many little Oklahoma towns/Davenport/Arcadia/Edmond The third day began with a quest for a money order to pay off the cops back in Bourbon. Tried a bank first, but the over-enthusiastic teller told me that they wouldn't sell me one unless I had an account there. It was the strangest layout I'd ever seen in a bank - all of the officers had desks in the open in the middle of the floor. I wound up at a check-cashing place where (a) no questions were asked, (b) the fee was much less than the bank would have charged and (c) I didn't have to go searching for stamps to mail the darn thing. Once this was taken care (along with a brief stop at a supermarket and a Big Lots), we left town. Instead of Meramec Caverns or walnut bowls, all of the billboards along I-44 led travellers to Ozark Village. Again, had to see what the fuss was about. We didn't go in after taking one glance in the window - so much junk ...

DAY 2 Bloomington-Normal/McLean/Springfield, IL/Cahokia/St. Louis/I-44/Bourbon/Meramec Caverns/Rolla/St. Robert/Lebanon/Springfield, MO Began the day with the first of several hotel breakfasts in a row where make-your-own waffles was among the options. Couldn't resist a tiny taste of the other soon-to-be-staple, sausage gravy and biscuits, a dish definitely not found on this side of the border. It looks like somebody's healthy sneeze, and old folks love shovelling it away. We finally drove onto an old stretch of 66 at the south end of Bloomington-Normal. The Illinois portion of the old highway is one of the least exciting, hugging I-55 close as it passes cornfield after cornfield. The odd town and attraction pop up, such as the much-written about Dixie Trucker's Stop in McLean. It was under renovation, but we caught a look at the Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame . Snapped shots in other towns, but didn't take a lengthy stop until we hit Springfield. Springfi...

After years of daydreaming and months of obsession, the long-pondered roadtrip across the continent became reality Aug 3, 2003. The plan: in two weeks, drive down old Route 66 as far as Las Vegas (Los Angeles was too far), head north along US 93 into Canada, turn east at Banff, then take the Trans-Canada Highway back to Toronto. With my sister along for the ride, here is the story of that adventure... DAY 1 Detroit/Ann Arbor/Irish Hills/Coldwater/Indiana/South Chicagoland/Joliet/Bloomington-Normal The trip began with a gargantuan breakfast at Louie's, a sandwich nook on the east side of Detroit. I hadn't been there for a few years, since my father passed away. We went there for excellent bean soup and ham sandwiches. One thing that had changed was the decor - there were now booths. Our booth was barely large enough to hold the food we ordered. I ordered pastrami and eggs - the pastrami was piled high on a separate plate. From there, we stopped in another of our us...

We zig-zagged around the city for the next hour, going back and forth across Woodward. We covered areas like Ferry St, the New Center, Boston-Edison, ground zero for the 1967 riots, Hamtramck and so on. Almost missed the Motown Museum - I thought it was on the other side of the street and the view was blocked by several tour buses. It's one of those places you've always intended to visit, but never get around to. Should have marked that as a New Year's Resolution... One comment that kept cropping up as the others saw more of the city was how they now understood why musicians from the region like Eminem were so angry. The abandoned landscape led to thoughts about the decayed inner cores of American cities versus healthy ones like Toronto (some American exceptions were mentioned, like Boston, SF or NYC). The decay struck a nerve, especially when we crossed into the suburbs and saw the landscape change immediately. The lack of visible minorities in the burbs was duly ...

Hours of fun in the sandbox to come! Photo taken July 1978 - JB

Brought a carload of friends back to my hometown this weekend, a chance to get out of the city for a few days. Covered a lot of ground, which will take a few entries to tell. FRIDAY Had an easy drive out of the city. Stopped in Woodstock at Dairy Queen, where we sat in the parking lot with the local teenage population. Drove through London, past several sketchy strip joints ("sketchy" was a term thrown around often during the weekend) and into a livelier-than-I-remember downtown London. Maybe the place is now dead by day, alive by night, like Windsor. Arrived in A'burg around midnight, watched an episode of the Muppet Show, then collapsed for the night. SATURDAY Things got off to a good start at the border, where the guard joked around with us, asking if the girls were dragging the guys along for shopping. More proof the guards are friendlier at Detroit than along the Niagara River. Once across, we swung around the Hotel Yorba, then grabbed lunch at Armando...

Spent Friday night/Saturday morning on the airwaves for the first time in several months. I didn't forget how to use the equipment, though more of it was in less-than-functional order (now both turntables and one CD player need a manual cue - the board will only send the sound out). Things seem to be in better order around there these days - they have finally started to catalogue the new releases and make it easy to figure out if anything has gone for a walk. Good new material is available, not missing after a week. Record library's still a mess, but don't think that can be helped. It's scary to still see signs posted in there from my attempts to rearrange the place...seven years ago. Nobody called, so I can't be sure if anybody was listening. Whenever I do a late-night fill-in, there's usually a drunk or stoner who'll call in and keep pestering for stuff. Still remember the first call I ever got at the station - it was before my first show, and a ...

Updates and news... 1) The test laboratory in the basement has picked up a newfangled gizmo called a digital camera. Results of its tests will appear in the next few weeks. 2) I'll be on the road the first two weeks of August, travelling across the continental. Updates may appear, if only to keep straight the places I've been. 3) Chateau Cola is still a mystery (May 20th). Any leads are appreciated. Other family members recall having root beer, grape and orange. 4) Looks like one miscarriage of musical justice has finally been rectified, according to the latest issue of MOJO magazine. In Britain, it looks like Neil Young's On The Beach has legitimately entered the digital era (June 11th). 5) No more sushi for me. Another food through trial and error that i have discovered no longer agrees with me. However, discovered the cure the tummy woes may be lazing around a hotel pool all afternoon and going out for a nostalgic dinner with siblings. Confused? L...

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 ...