Psalm-istry

Of each thing in itself thou shalt ask "at its essence, does it cause cancer?" If thine answer be "No", enjoy it. If thine answer be "Yes", thou shalt shun it

... And thanks for all the health care...

Last night I was at a fundraiser for a friend of mine who has a undiagnosed disease and has had to stop work. On June 9th there is the F**K CANCER benefit for Laurie Walsh. I don't know Laurie Walsh, but I love the attitude of the F**K CANCER movement. Even if I can't wear their T-Shirt in public or unscramble their name in my blogpost.

Although now that I am writing this, I realize the real obscenity is the disease, and how it ravages people's lives, and how a cure is always just another 100 million dollars in fundraising away. So really is should be F**K C*NC*R.

No doubt every day there are many such private passings-of-the-hat as people have to take a year out of their lives to fight disease. We've all had "friends with benefits", but these are our friends without health benefits. Yes these women all live in Ontario, and their OHIP card will provide them, gratis, what would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in the United States. But there are still drugs that have to be paid for, and medical supplies that aren't covered. And the rent and bills don't go away just because you can't go to work for a year.

Which brings me to my point - how blessed I was to have come through my journey with cancer and have some an awesome short-term and long-term care plan via my employer. Thanks for that.

And thanks for going to that fundraiser for that person. And thanks for donating to that hospital fund. Or if you have no dough, thanks for making cookies for the bake sale. When you make a contribution it isn't the cash value that lifts the spirits. The fact that so many people care becomes an island of hope and love. And when the person with the disease is going through the darker moments of illness and treatment, that island will make all the difference.

The F**K CANCER Fundraiser for Laurie Walsh

I told you “No wire coat hangers” at this memorial!

On Apr 23 of this year Parachute Club drummer Billy Bryans lost his fight with cancer. 11 days after I won mine. Needless to say the news hit me hard. Billy and I were fixtures on the Queen St West music scene of the early 1980s and had collaborated on many music projects. Most notably the art-rock band "The Government" and "V", Billy and Lorraine Segato's project band that you, today, know as "Parachute Club" ("Rise up, Rise up")

As part of our collaboration I documented a lot of band performances along Queen St West during the early 1980s. With Billy's death I wanted to draw from that material and do a tribute. But going through my archives I didn't really find anything that suited. My recording of V's "Alien-Nation" is clearly a precursor to the Parachute Club version, but I cannot bring anything new to it.

I finally chose "Joan Crawford", a The Government recording from Nov 1981. It's a great band line-up, with Andrew James Paterson and the late Robert Stewart fronting the band they co-founded, Billy Bryans doing his awesome percussion thing that later artists such as Manu Katché would take to new heights, and, of all people, Jeremiah Chechik, director of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, on scratch guitar. Those were interesting times my friend.

Here is my mashup, with The Government song "Joan Crawford" illustrated with public domain and fair use images of the ultimate Hollywood glamour queen, Joan Crawford.

Bye' Billy. We hardly knew ye.

Joan Crawford Live at the Cabana Room Nov 14, 1981

When I was a Pink Chiquita

Filmmaking in Canada in the 1980s was insane. Very crafty producers were using very generous tax credits to fleece every doctor, dentist and lawyer in town. Whilst we were doing lines of coke off strippers' V-tanned derrieres, has-been actors were flying into town daily to star in the worst films ever made.

I was never that fortunate. My film debut did not feature the has-been Sylvester Stallone, but his never-was brother, Frank Stallone. Pink Chiquitas was reviewed as “a film where familiar faces from TV do 33 rpm schtick at 78 in a desperate attempt to get laughs.” The film is unique in the history of cinema as the only time anyone promoted a sound editor to direct a picture. Lousy direction. But the soundscape is brilliant.

Click the pic to watch the vid

Herein I present a bootleg clip that features a 30-year younger me, 2 minutes in. Shout-out to my scene-mate the still-hot Jan Anderson.

Queen's Park's Whitney Block Tower

The Whitney Block Tower is a Modern Gothic structure added in 1932 to architect F. R. Heakes 1928 Whitney Block. It is faced with Queenston limestone. Due to the building being situated on the street racing part of Queen's Park Crescent most people take no heed of it.

As first built it was an eclectric complex for a Provincial Government headquarters, featuring

• a bowling alley in the basement
• An early form of conditioning that used blocks of ice
• The sixth floor contained animal pens used by the provincial veterinary services that were housed there. Cows were brought up to the lab in an adjacent service elevator.
  
• The elevator is not automated but has to be hand cranked

As imposing as the Whitney Block tower is, it is an abandoned building.

The building hasn't been inhabited since 1968, when it was deemed a fire hazard. There is only one staircase, which makes it unsafe in the event of an emergency evacuation. As well, there is no central mechanical ventilation system. The only way to get fresh air into the building is by opening the windows.

Foods that prevent cancer

This weeks blogpost comes to us via 50plus magazine:

"An unhealthy diet is linked to about one third of all cancer cases. Here are the top "all-star foods" that can protect you."

Foods that prevent cancer

Alan takes the Allen

Alan takes the Allen is my valentine to Allen Road from a subway train. It is a companion piece to Stations of the crosstown subway stylistically. What I like most about it is that about half the effects are "photographic", meaning that's the way I captured the image using an iPhone The other half of the effects are digital image processing. The idea is to find new patterns and shapes in the ordinary.

A shout out to my son Philter Fox for letting me use his house mix Blip Bounce as the soundtrack.



Colour, stereo, 2:23