Dennis & Jennifer Stroughmatt
This duo are from a community in Missouri Quebecois French is still spoken. Here they are performing The Boyer Stomp.
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Shake it Don’t Break it
The King.
15K!
I’d like to take a moment to thank those of you who listen to The Agency Podcast. It isn’t a big, corporate-sponsored, fancy-ass podcast. We’re low tech. We aren’t darlings of the CBC. Nothing has “gone viral” or any of that jazz. It’s made possible in part by our amazing Patrons who have helped pay the bills (yes, if you love The Agency you can be a Partron too). Against all odds, the 15,000 download threshold has snuck up on us and we appreciate each and every one of you taking the time to listen to our ongoing conversations about arts and culture and whatever else is on our minds. Special thanks to Special Agent Sarah for her occasional excellent appearances, and also to all our guests who have enhanced this project so much.
The Agents love to hear from you. Email us anytime.
Foodigenous
Please check out the latest episode of The Agency Podcast. You can listen right here or find it at all the good places.
A chance meeting between Agent Candy Minx and food blogger Adam Horvath over grilled oysters in New Orleans led to today’s foodie-friendly episode, as we welcome Adam to The Agency. Please check out Adam’s blog, called Foodigenous.
The Agents love hearing from you. Email us anytime
30 Century Man
This episode, we welcome Sarah Elliott back to The Agency to discuss the 2006 documentary Scott Walker: 30 Century Man. Listen to it right here or find the episode at all the best podcast places.
Scott Walker’s early musical success was with the pop band The Walker Brothers. They weren’t brothers, nor was their name Walker. They performed pop music like their familiar hit, The Sun Ain’t Goin’ to Shine Anymore. 30 Century Man chronicles Scott Walker’s transition toward an experimental music which included percussion generated by punching a slab of meat.
Were you into Scott Walker’s music? Join us to hear about his unique history as told in 30 Century Man.
Shane MacGowan RIP
Extraction
I’m typing this with a chunk of gauze stuffed in my mouth as a result of have just had a tooth extracted. This tooth has had quite a history. It had a big filling for a while, but later needed a crown. That crown was fine for many years until 2019, when it came loose.
I visited my dentist, who said there wasn’t a lot of tooth remaining there. He was worried that by pulling out the crown to clean things up and try to reset it, he might break the tooth. That didn’t happen. Instead he did a re-glue job on the crown and I was on my way. The repaired crown has come loose 3 or 4 times since then. Each time, my dentist warned me that there wasn’t much tooth but he’d try a minimalists fix. The last time he repaired it was not very long ago, and at that time he told me that tooth would have to go soon and be replaced by either an implant or a bridge. Sure enough, only weeks later, the crown came loose yet again.
The procedure went slowly but really it was no big deal. In fact, the most painful part of the extraction was getting the freezing injected on the palette side of my tooth. “It’s going to pinch a bit”. I’m sure they teach them that bit of bullshit at dental school. It pinched a lot. My dentist was able to work the remains of my tooth loose with various tools until finally it came out in one piece. He said extractions are usually faster, but he took a slow and careful approach in an effort to keep the root in one piece.
Now it heals for 3 or 4 months before we do any more work in there.
Killer bees to Super Pigs
Does each generation have its own bugaboos? Back when I was a teen, there were so many stories about killer bees. They were coming from Brazil to get us. A hapless scientist imported some African bees to Brazil because they were known to be good workers. Bad things happened and next thing you know they were on the move, spreading mass bee fury via the wonder of pheremones (or something like that, depending on who was doing the telling). It turned out the nasty Brazilian-African hybrids watered down their fury on the trip north, and now – well, you know, no big deal.
Today we have a new bugaboo. Super Pigs. The population is set to explode. They are always hungry and grow upwards of 600 pounds. Yikes. They have been referred to as an ecological train wreck – and they breed like bunnies. They are called Super Pigs because back in the 80s, wild boars were introduced to the pork business because it was thought improved production was in the future. They eat just about anything and they carry diseases galore, so we’re told. It seems the Super Pigs are spreading at a crazy rate.
If you’re out for a walk and encounter a herd of 600 pound feral pigs, don’t worry. A recent article in the Toronto Star provides a hotline and email address. Just call: 1-833-933-2355 or wildpigs@ontario.ca. Better write that down and carry it around on a scrap of paper in your wallet.
Update on the mitten-eating dog
This morning I saw the mitten-eating dog with its human at the dog park. The good news is the dog is fine – now. He was running around this morning, having a great time, looking for more mitts to steal. The fellow told me the vet had to somehow pump out the mitt. I didn’t ask for details of the extraction. I’m really glad the dog is OK!
He ate my mitten
This morning I was out at Jack Darling Park with Bonnie. She was having a great time goofing around with her buddies, when suddenly a dark grey doodle appeared beside me. It was a cold morning and I was wearing an old pair of wool mitts Sheila knitted for me many years ago. The doodle grabbed my right mitt and had it off before I even realized what was happening.
There were 3 or 4 humans on the path at the time and we all tried to retrieve the mitt but it was not to be. The dog managed to chew down and swallow my entire mitten in seconds. At this point the human belonging to the doodle was still way down the path. I called out, “your dog stole my mitten”, which I doubt he even heard. By the time the fellow caught up, the mitten was gone.
It turns out this is not the first time this dog has stolen and eaten items of clothing. The fellow told me his dog had to undergo surgery once after eating a sock. I guess the best case would be the dog chucking up the mitten. Otherwise, this doodle is headed back to the vet for an unpleasant time. I sure hope it will be ok.
27th Street 