December 15, 2009
comments 17

Sal’s Gauntlet

“I think this calls for opening up a free for all on the best or at least favorite western ever made. I like John Wayne movies but I dont think any of them would really rank top 5 when you start tossing Lee Marvin and Clint into the mix. Sal throws down the gauntlet…” -Salvelinas Fontinalis

The quote above is from my brother (the trout), Salvelinas Fontinalis, commenting on my post about Rio Bravo, below. Hard to believe I would ever disagree with my dear brother, but let me shout it out: I think the best western ever was the John Ford classic The Searchers. This epic 1956 Western, starred John Wayne as Ethan Edwards. The film is largely about racism and genocide toward Native Americans. I don’t think it won any awards when it came out but it has been hugely influential and remains tremendously powerful. Second choice? I’d have to think about that, but perhaps my next favourite would be Sam Peckinpah’s 1969 film The Wild Bunch.

What do you think? What are your choices for best western of all time?

December 14, 2009
comments 10

Rio Bravo

Rio Bravo was on TV yesterday. I hadn’t seen it in years, but it was as good as I remembered it. Howard Hawks directed and it starred John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Walter Brennan and the very lovely Angie Dickinson.

John Wayne needs all the help he can get when he has a killer in the town jail, but help can be hard to come by. Dean Martin is the town drunk, but he used to be good and we know he can be good again. Walter Brennan is a crusty old complainer but he’s fiercely loyal. Ricky Nelson is an untested young gunfighter. Angie Dickinson? She plays Feathers, and she’s John Wayne’s love interest. None of the other characters get to have love interests in this film. Too bad for them.

I loved the climax of the film when Walter Brennan throws sticks of dynamite at the bad guys and John Wayne explodes them by shooting them. There’s even time for a song, as Dean Martin sings My Rifle My Pony and Me and then Ricky Nelson sings Cindy Cindy. Perfect.

Great film.

December 13, 2009
comments 2

Los Texmaniacs

I’ve heard your grumbling: “Mister Anchovy, you just haven’t been posting enough button accordion music. Please sir, I want more.” OK OK, here’s a wee musical interlude featuring Los Texmaniacs.

Bajo sexto player Max Baca created Los Texmaniacs in 1997. David Farias is the band’s fabulous button accordion player. These guys have a really hot band that incorporates numerous musical influences with traditional conjunto. We saw them at the International Accordion Festival in San Antonio just a couple years ago and they were great fun to dance to.

December 12, 2009
comments 3

My Blue Heaven

I mentioned the song My Blue Heaven in my review of the Leon Redbone show, and it occurred to me that there might be a reader or two out there who do not know this chestnut. It was popularized by Gene Austin and later Fats Domino. However, the song was written by Walter Donaldson and published in 1927. It has been very well recorded. Notable covers include recordings by Les Brown, Benny Carter, Rosemary Clooney, Doris Day, Pete Fountain, Woody Herman, Frank Sinatra and on and on. Even Slim Whitman, Scatman Crothers, The Smashing Pumpkins, Norah Jones, Duane Eddy and Harpo Marx took a stab at this one.

Here’s Fats Domino. I think this version is just a little fast, but still very satisfying.

Here’s Gene Ausin’s defining version. I’m sure Mr. Redbone listened to Gene Austin very carefully.

The Smashing Pumpkins.

And here’s Luis Russell from 1934. Nice.

December 12, 2009
comment 1

Not everyone wants a leash-free park

…but I think it’s the right way to go.

As regular readers here at 27th Street know, I support the leash-free dog park planned for a piece of the R.L. Clark filtration plant land next to Sam Smith Park. I’ve learned that not everyone is in favour of this initiative. In fact, the other day a local dog-owner expressed his displeasure with me because I thought a fenced park was a good idea. I know others who also do not support the leash-free zone. None of the people I know who are against if made it out to the last public meeting to express their opinion. There was a voice of dissent at the meeting, but it was an isolated voice. Most of the people who spoke at the meeting were happy we were getting a leash-free area in our neighbourhood.

A leash-free zone respects the variety of users in the urban park environment – students, birders, walkers, seniors, sunbathers, families with kids – and not all of them appreciate loose dogs running around. As well, as much as I would hope that dog owners clean up after their pets all the time, I’ve seen in Sam Smith Park that some people don’t. My experience in fenced dog parks is that they are self-policed. If a dog owner doesn’t clean up after his or her pet, it’s very likely that somebody will say something, like “do you need a bag?”

I think the proposed leash-free zone would be better if it were bigger, and would be better if it included the area on top of the hill, and if it had lighting and drinking water, but I’m none-the-less happy we’re getting it, and happy that other locations are being considered as well.

We have been taking Memphis to two leash-free areas on a fairly regular basis. One is South Etobicoke Creek, which is a beautiful spot running down the valley along the creek. The other is Jack Darling, just the other side of Port Credit. I think both those areas work very well. Memphis has a great time at both of them. She plays with plenty of dogs and she’s safe from traffic, and can’t bother anyone who doesn’t appreciate a big lovable dog.

I’m looking forward to our new area, and to the one at Humber Bay as well.

December 11, 2009
comments 6

Toronto landmark closing

The Big Bop is closing, and you know, I’ve never been in it. For me it has just been an ugly purple building with lots of music fans lined up out front. I’m trying to remember what was there before, but that bit of information is locked somewhere in the memory banks. I understand it’s going to be a furniture store, removing one more obstacle to the gentrification on that whole strip. I recall when The Sanctuary closed a number of years ago, becoming a 5-Bucks, starting that ball rolling.

Curiously, I do remember what was in the Sanctuary space before that slice of Goth heaven opened. It was the Claremont Tavern. Towards the end it was what is sometimes called an “old man’s bar”, but in my parents day, it was a place to go dancing. Those were the days when Czehoski, at Queen and Euclid, wasn’t a swanky restaurant, but instead a place where my parents lined up before Christmas and Easter to get the best kielbassa in town. They wouldn’t dream of buying it anywhere else because the Czehoski brothers had “the recipe”.

I also remember The Pine Tree, which was located at Queen and Palmerston on the NE corner. In the 80s it was a nice little bar. I remember going there a number of times to see Joanne Mackell and her band at the time, The Yahoos. Further east, we’d go to the Cameron and see the late great Handsome Ned, who checked out in 1987 at just 30 years old.

I was living in an old hardware store on Ossington Ave. I had converted it into a live-in studio – two studios actually, with a shared kitchen. I loved that crazy space. It still had the hardware store peg-board walls, and I loaded up on peg-board hooks and hung art everywhere. Later, when we were given the boot, it became a Vietnamese coffee house.

Memories.

December 10, 2009
comments 7

Leon Redbone at Hugh’s Room

Is this Yesterday?

As Utah Phillips said, the past didn’t go anywhere. Last night, Leon Redbone summed it up at Hugh’s Room here in Toronto, “Is this yesterday?”. Mr. Redbone lives in the character he created for himself close to 40 years ago here in Toronto.  As with Utah Phillips, at some point the character, the schtick ceases to be a schtick at all and becomes real life.

I remember seeing his early performances on Saturday Night Live back in the 70s and being captivated by this mysterious fellow who seemed to walk out of another time and recreate songs of a bygone era – my father called them chestnuts – supported by  mumbled comments, a natty outfit, usually with bow tie and panama hat, and a voice that sounds like it has been through it all. And then On the Track came out. I had it on vinyl and I was so excited by it. I can’t even explain why. I mean, he sang Poly-wolly-doodle. My father heard the record started singing along to all the songs. He especially liked “Marie…the dawn is break – ing, Marie” “Son”, he’d say, “Listen to that fiddler. He’s good. Sounds just like Joe Venuti.” I looked at the credits and oh my God it WAS Joe Venuti playing on the record. This was the first time I think that my father (43 years my senior) and I dug the same music.

Mr. Redbone has aged into his character. He must be around 60 now, and he plays those old chestnuts with the same affection he did back in the early 70s. “I haven’t been well”, he’d say. “I saw my doctor. He said take one pill three times daily (pause)…..you can’t do that.”

I hadn’t realized what a fine guitarist Leon Redbone is. He played some gorgeous licks throughout the night, accompanied also by Paul Asaro on the ivories. The real treat though was when Mr. Redbone mumbled, “How about some trumpet? Is there a Whitely out there with a trumpet?” Sure enough, Chris Whitely appeared from the crowd, pulled his trumpet from it’s box and accented the arrangements beautifully. When they played My Blue Heaven, I thought about my father singing “Just Molly and me and Baby makes three, we’ll be happy in my, blue, heaven” around the house when I was growing up. I knew the lyrics to that song by the time I was five or six years old.

I have to hand it to Leon Redbone. He’s managed to forge a career his way, playing the songs he likes the way he wants to hear them. He isn’t a voice from the past, he just recognized that the past didn’t go anywhere, it’s just over there…you just have to reach out, put on your hat, don’t forget your walking stick. Pour me a drink. This one’s in B flat. Sweet Sue, that’s a nice tune. How does it go?

December 9, 2009
comments 7

What snow?

I expected to wake up to fresh white coating of snow all around Anchovy World Headquarters, but when I drove Tuffy P to the Go-train station early this morning there was no accumulation at all and the snow coming down was changing quickly to rain. Now, mid-morning, there’s a cold rain steadily coming down. No winter quite yet. It’s the kind of weather our Newf Memphis seems to enjoy – cold and wet.

December 7, 2009
comments 8

Dog Park

I attended a public meeting tonight to discuss proposals for two leash-free dog parks in our area, one slated for Humber Bay Park and the other slated for the R.L. Clark filtration plant land adjacent to Col. Sam Smith Park. It looks to me that The City is trying very hard to accommodate all the interests here. They recognize an increase in the number of dogs and want to accommodate the dogs and their owners. They also recognize sensitivities around land use in our parks, wilderness areas, and the needs of other users.

These two proposals have been put forward for the City to consider and it looks like both are going to become reality. A third proposal for a more wilderness type area is under consideration for Marie Curtis Park.

Approximately 50 people attended the meeting. I was immediately disappointed that of all the dog owners I know in the area, I recognized very few at the meeting. Where were all the usual suspects? The City people gave a short presentation, outlining the proposals and then opened the floor for questions and comments from the crowd.

The parks will prohibit pit bulls, female dogs in heat, uncastrated male dogs, and dogs that have a muzzle order imposed upon them by the City. They will be open 6:00 a.m. – midnight.

There is no plan for lighting or fencing at R.L. Clark, and the leash-free site is for a small portion of the filtration plant land. Still, it will be a legal place where we can run our dogs and have them play. I wish the dog site was further west, on top of the hill, because there are few mosquitoes up there in the summer. A number of people at the meeting spoke in favour of fencing, including me. If we’re going to separate out a dog area, let’s set it up so that the dogs can play safely in a broad but confined space. I often take Memphis to other fenced dog parks and they work very well.

The Humber Bay site is right on the water, but the deal will be that dogs are restricted from the water. As many people said at the meeting, that just makes no sense and will only promote people contravening the by-law. The City people said restricting the dogs from the water was due to safety reasons, but nobody was buying into that. The City needs to rethink this.

Overall, I think the City is approaching the leash-free park proposals very well. I’m looking forward to having one down the street from Anchovy World Headquarters.