Monday, November 25, 2013

this country in the morning


This Country In The Morning debuted in 1971. Its signature host, Peter Gzowski, left the program at the end of June, 1974, when I graduated from high school.

In September 1982, Gzowski returned to CBC Radio to host Morningside, which ended in May 1997.

Friday, November 22, 2013

it was fifty years ago today


The Beatles second album, With The Beatles, is released in the UK, 89 days before their American debut on the Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964.  Mark Lewisohn: "With astonishing British advance orders of 300,000, it swiftly passed the half-million and, in 1965, the one million sales marks. It even earned a brief placing in the singles chart, which in the early 1960s was calculated on sales of any record, irrespective of diameter."


"Friday, 22 November 1963, began as usual in the Lewis household, Warnie later recalled: after they had breakfast, they turned to the routine answering of letters, and tried to solve the crossword puzzle. Warnie noted that Lewis seemed tired after lunch, and suggested that he go to bed. At 4:00, Warnie brought him a cup of tea, and found him 'drowsy but comfortable.' At 5:30 [GMT], Warnie heard a 'crash' from Lewis's bedroom. He ran in to find Lewis collapsed, unconscious, at the foot of the bed. A few moments later, Lewis died. His death certificate would give the multiple causes of his death as renal failure, prostate obstruction and cardiac degeneration." Alistair McGrath


"President Kennedy was killed today by an assassin's bullet as he rode in a motorcade in Dallas. The assassination occurred shortly after noon (12:30 CST, 5:30 GMT). Cheering crowds lining the streets had been stunned when shots rang out and the 46-year-old president crumpled in the seat of the open limousine, a massive, gaping wound in his head." Chronicle of the 20th Century

fiddle oak




self-portraits by a 14-year-old photographer
who goes by the name "fiddle oak"

Sunday, November 17, 2013

holy city | brian whelan


"Here and there in this picture gold sparkles, as it does in many of his pieces. But these are not fragments of gold leaf, they are foil chocolate wrappers, knowingly applied as if on an icon. This is one of Whelan’s signature techniques, a conscious reference to his vision of the presence of God in the most mundane locations. His are visionary paintings, effortlessly combining the temporal and the spiritual – heaven and earth in one reality."

Meryl Doney, Artway Visual Meditation, November 17, 2013


"What intrigues me most about Brian’s Holy Cities are the many doors and windows that seem to beckon me to enter. This is a city which welcomes the stranger and seems to thrive on transparency. There is a genius behind the fact that the many houses of worship are created from the wrappers of various sweets from around the world. Not only does this give the paintings luminosity unlike anything I have ever seen, but it invites the pilgrim to understand that the structures themselves are merely a shell, a recollection of the true sweetness which was found inside."

Jeff Frohner, "A Pilgrimage Of Sight"