as I live a few more questions

Share the Kern Hill Love

Someone named "RetroWinnipeg" is posting classic videoclips on YouTube, taken from old commercials which aired on Winnipeg TV in the mid-eighties.  Remember those ads for Kern Hill Furniture Co-op?  You can see the full list of ads and other TV tidbits here.

"This will be the single-most incredible event in the history of the home furnishings industry!"

"Come oooooon down!"  God I miss those commercials, Nick Hill was always a character. 

And anybody remember those "Wicked!" Park Pontiac commercials?

I wonder whatever happened to the "Wicked!" woman?  Did she move on to a career with more adjectives?  Or is she lying in some gutter somewhere with a cheap bottle of wine in a paper bag, remembering her glory days?

Now if ONLY someone could resurrect those infamous Pollock & Pollock shows on the cable access channel.  (image below: Natalie Pollock in foreground on the left, Ron Pollock on the far right)

Everyone knows what "cable access", or "public access" is by now; Do-it-yourself TV on a channel that your cable company is obligated to provide by the broadcast regulator, the CRTC in Canada or the FCC in the United States. In Canada, the regulations are much stricter as to what goes on and what doesn't. In the U.S., you just pay your money and you can do whatever you want. In Canada, there is no money exchange allowed and your program must be one that benefits the community. Considering that, it's a wonder The Pollock and Pollock Show slipped through the cracks.

The Pollock and Pollock Show consisted of a middle-aged brother and sister team with the last name of Pollock who did everything from silly, crazy dancing around and outrageous antics to political commentary, all while dressed in outrageous outfits. Apparently the show didn't start out that way but "evolved" into that. (quote by Beau Hajavitch)

We could use a little Ron & Natalie trippy goodness in these troubled times :-) although I understand that Ron is, once again, running for mayor of Winnipeg.  Oh wait, it was Natalie who kept running for mayor.   More on the Pollock & Pollock Show and Winnipeg's cable TV golden age from CBC.

Back To Work

Today is the first day of classes at the university, and the hallways are full of students again.  But this September I will not be fielding questions about copycards and call numbers.

From September 1st, 2006 to February 28th, 2007 I am on a research leave from my job.  And I'll be doing archival research and conducting interviews for a book I'm planning to write, on the queer history of Winnipeg.

Click on the thumbnail to pull up the largest-size image, and read the article on what I'm doing, recently published in a Canadian queer newsmagazine.  I've already been working at this for some time, but now I have some uninterrupted time to focus on it, and I'm very much looking forward to it.

True Colours

I'm going to be running around like a chicken with my head cut off the next couple of weeks, but I couldn't be happier.  Why?  Because our end-of-season concert is on May 6th and 7th at the Winnipeg Art Galery, and I'm freaking out because I haven't learned all my pieces yet.  (Then again, I'm hardly alone in this department.)  We have several rehearsals coming up between now and then, and I have all my parts on a CD so I can beat the notes into my brain beforehand.

I've been with the chorus since its inception in September 1999, and it's the same drama every year: one mad dash to the finish line, everything coming together like magic at the last minute.  I personally believe that if the Rainbow Harmony Project got it all together, say,  a week beforehand, it would be an unlucky omen! 

I still remember that first end-of-year concert at the old Walker vaudeville-era theatre (now called the Burton Cummings Theater).  The thing I remember the best was standing backstage and weeping as our guests the Saskatoon chorus performed Fred Small's Everything Possible and the realization of how much pain I could have avoided if I had only had someone sing that lullaby to me when I badly needed to hear it.  It was on overwhelming moment, and I will never forget that instance that proved to me the power of song to make a difference.

Anyways, consider this your invitation to come hear all fifty-something of us sing.  It's Saturday, May 6th, 8 p.m. and Sunday, May 7th, 2 p.m. in the Muriel Richardson Auditorium at the Winnipeg Art Gallery.  Tickets are $20 for the concert ($60 for concert plus reception) and can be purchased at McNally Robinson Booksellers, the Rainbow Resource Centre, or the Happy Cooker in Osborne Village. Our special guests are the female a cappella septet Madrigaïa, who borrow from various world musical cultures in their songs, and they are just wonderful (I have both of their CDs). 

The river above, the river below

I went out with my camera just as the massive thunderstorm front was rolling in over the flooded Red River, carrying logs and branches along in its black, turbulent waters. The river above, the river below. Both spilling over their banks. I was able to get back to John's house before the river above spilled down. Just what southern Manitoba needs, another deluge of rain in an over-saturated floodplain.

None of this would have happened if I hadn't volunteered to delete the Opt-Out thread when slight clutter mentioned it.

Always so helpful and eager to please. Always bending over backwards to keep everybody happy so they have no reason to lash out at me. Always so unprepared when the harsh voices rise in sarcasm, criticism and condemnation.

The lessons learned as the emotionally and physically abused 4-year-old, do not serve me well at 41. Every time I think I've learned better, it turns out I'm still playing by the old rules.

44º C

44º C
Originally uploaded by Quiplash.

Photo snagged from today's (June 25th) Winnipeg Free Press:

"Average humidex in Memphis, Tennessee, yesterday? About 40º C. Average humidex in Winnipeg at midday yesterday? About 44º C, which would have had Elvis turning over in his grave....Meanwhile, Winnipeggers dripped perspiration as the humidex climbed over the course of the day, before breaking into merciful thunderstorms around 5 p.m."

Environment Canada noted yesterday's sweltering humidex levels were a hair-width from breaking Winnipeg's record. On June 27, 1996 -- almost nine years to the day -- the humidex soared to a level of 46.1º C."

Welcome to Winnipeg—from one extreme to another.

Hmmm...I wonder if the photographer noticed the, uhm, sexual connotations of this particular photograph??

My first videopost!!

I have re-established an account with audioblog.com, which now has a (cheaper) annual subscription rate, and works with audio (MP3) or video (AVI).

So, to give it a test, I pulled out my Canon PowerShot S500, set it to videocamera mode, and records 30 seconds of sights and sounds in the yard around my apartment. Hear the birds cheep :-)

Portage Avenue, Sunday 1:00 a.m.

Wedding social??

Ah, here I need to explain. Socials. We have something here called a "social", which I have discovered is unique to our province. (This is essentially a re-edited repost of a one-and-a-half year old blogpost.)

A local tradition that I've been told came originally from Manitoba's large Polish/Ukrainian immigrant community, a social is when the friends and family of a to-be-married couple (or a sports team, or a Ukrainian dance troupe, or a singles group or whatever like-mided group of people) rent a hall (often in a community centre, a curling club, or a church basement) and throw a rave ;-)

What, no feathers?

An Act to Incorporate the City of Winnipeg was passed by the Manitoba Legislature on November 8, 1873. Winnipeg was officially a city, though not without event.

After considerable debate, the original bill for incorporation was thrown out. At issue was civic taxation and the financial burden this would impose on major property holders. Dissatisfied with this outcome, supporters of the bill waylaid Dr. Bird, Speaker of the House, and poured a pail of hot tar over his head and shoulders.

An excerpt from the City of Winnipeg Archives' Pathways, their first online exhibit.

Transcona Lutherans, 1988

This engagement photo was taken sometime in early 1988 (February, I think). We had met through the church youth group, and had known each other for a decade. Two good little Transcona Lutherans. I was 24, she was 23. We were both virgins when we married. (Remember, we were good little Transcona Lutherans.) We had followed all the "rules" laid down by our church and our society. We were absolutely clueless. Absolutely fucking clueless. Deer in the headlights. I wish I knew then what I know now, and I wish I had been strong enough to stand up for myself instead of pleasing my family and church. After our separation in 1988, I returned to Winnipeg while she stayed in Toronto. She came out of the closet as a lesbian, and I came out of the closet as a gay man. (How I found out she was a lesbian is a full story in itself. Another time.) I stayed at her place when I came to Toronto for Pride in 2002, and we had a chance to chat and get caught up on each other's lives. She told me the pink dress went to a Toronto drag queen. Somehow, that seems so very fitting.

Ryan and fianc�e, early 1988 Originally uploaded by Quiplash.