Entries by Philip Turner

A Generous View of President Obama from Canada

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Twitter pal @NerdyWonka shared this, a pithy letter to the editor that was published in the Detroit Free Press, from Canadian Richard Brunt about President Obama, Americans, and Canada. Now picked up by other media like the Christian Science Monitor and the website Addicting Info, in only 175 words Brunt summarizes some of the accomplishments of the Obama administration and expresses astonishment at the disgruntlement of American voters with his presidency. As a measure of its virality, note below that Nerdy Wonka’s tweet including a photocopy of the letter has been retweeted more than 8,000 times, after it was earlier shared by a Canadian with the Twitter handle @RickStrandlof, whose message has itself been shared more than 1,000 times. I made a screenshot of NerdyWonka’s tweet, including some of the excellent comments below it. A transcript of the letter is just below.

@NerdyWonka

Richard Brunt’s Letter to the Editor:

Many of us Canadians are confused by the U.S. midterm elections. Consider, right now in America, corporate profits are at record highs, the country’s adding 200,000 jobs per month, unemployment is below 6%, U.S. gross national product growth is the best of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. The dollar is at its strongest levels in years, the stock market is near record highs, gasoline prices are falling, there’s no inflation, interest rates are the lowest in 30 years, U.S. oil imports are declining, U.S. oil production is rapidly increasing, the deficit is rapidly declining, and the wealthy are still making astonishing amounts of money.

America is leading the world once again and respected internationally — in sharp contrast to the Bush years. Obama brought soldiers home from Iraq and killed Osama bin Laden.

So, Americans vote for the party that got you into the mess that Obama just dug you out of? This defies reason.

When you are done with Obama, could you send him our way?

Richard Brunt

Victoria, British Columbia

Amelia Curran’s Powerful Video on Ending the Stigma of Seeking Treatment for Mental Health Problems

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Amelia Curran is a great singer/songwriter from Newfoundland. I bought and love two of her earlier albums, “Spectators” and “Hunter, Hunter.” She has a new album due out this month and has chosen this time to make and release this powerful video advocating for the end of the stigmas attached to treatment for mental health conditions, and for increased funding for treatment. Implicit in her plea is improving efforts at suicide prevention. I tweeted to her that it’s great, and not just for Newfoundland/Labrador, though her plea is specifically for NL. It’s a very moving video with sung parts taken by about two dozen musicians (like Alan Doyle of Great Big Sea) and many local people. It’s crowd-sourced in the best way, and Amelia put it all together with good people. Very eager to hear her new album, “They Promised You Mercy.”

The Night Jian Ghomeshi and Toronto Star Investigative Reporter Kevin Donovan (sort of) Ate Dinner Together

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In September Toronto Star investigative reporter Kevin Donovan happened to get seated at a TIFF dinner next to Jian Ghomeshi, whom he’d been trying to interview for several weeks about the allegations that JG had abused women. Donovan reports it made for quite a surreal evening, including when Ghomeshi tried to warn him off the story with a not-so veiled threat: “People in this city need to understand that I have a long memory. You need to understand that and be very, very careful.” What’s weird to me is that he evidently thought his threat would be enough to make the report and newspaper back off, the same reporter and paper that had just some months earlier investigated and reported with great detail many scoops on Rob Ford, which elicited many unavailing threats from the Ford brothers.You may read the rest of Donovan’s story via this link.

Fictional Folk Musician’s Memoir Folded in to a Forthcoming Novel

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This forthcoming novel looks like it oughta be good. I’d never seen W.B. Belcher’s name before, but now have found him on the Web. He’s obviously folk music-inclined, as I saw posts there about Pete Seeger, Dave Van Ronk, and “Inside Lewyn Davis.” Dave Van Ronk

I know the agency that represents him, and they have many great clients, like historian of magic and arcana Jim Steinmeyer, whose Hiding the Elephant: How Magicians Invented the Impossible and Learned to Disappear, which I edited and published with him in 2003. Hiding the Elephant, Jim Steinmeyer

Post by Philip Turner.

Kick-off to a Great Week of Live Music in NYC w/Wilderness of Manitoba, HIGHS, and In-Flight Safety

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Wilderness of ManitobaI kicked off this live music-intensive week on Monday night by going to hear Wilderness of Manitoba, a Toronto band that I first heard live in 2011, and whose sound I’d learned has continued to evolve. Earlier, when they toured for their 2010 album, “When You Left the Fire,” their sound was dominated by acoustic guitar and strings, with a hushed ambient quality almost reminiscent of the Windham Hill record label from the 1980s. Over the summer, I’d heard an interview on CBC Toronto’s afternoon radio show “Here and Now” by host Gill Deacon with longtime member, and lead guitarist, Will Whitwham who said for their new album they’d staked a new course—with lineup changes including a heavier rhythm section that leaves them more apt to rock out and jam than before. I heard “Leave Someone,” the single from “Between Colours,” their latest album, and really liked it. When I heard they were playing a free show at Rockwood Music Hall, it was an easy call to go hear them. They played a great set, and true to what I’d heard, the new rhythm players were a great addition—bassist Wes McClintock and drummer Tom Bona—as was vocalist Amanda Balsys. I enjoyed talking with Wes and Amanda after the show. Here are more pics, including the cover of their new album.


Tuesday night kicked off the annual CMJ music festival, and I really enjoyed my first live listen to HIGHS from Toronto, and In-Flight Safety, from Halifax. I had heard singles by both bands on CBC Radio 3—”Summer Dress” and “Animals,” respectively—and both bands played terrific, 35-minute sets, with buoyant tunes and good energy. Here are pics from both shows.

The Strumbellas, Spreading the Fun at Rockwood Music Hall

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Simon Ward & Darryl James of the Strumbellas
I loved the live set played by The Strumbellas Thursday night at Rockwood Music Hall. Big, buoyant songs played and sung with ensemble choruses amid loads of positive energy. Equally enjoyable was talking with the band afterwards, chatting with Darryl James (bass), Dave Ritter (keys), and Isabel Ritchie (violin). Rounding out the six-piece is Jon Hembrey (lead guitar), Jeremy Drury (drums), and Simon Ward (lead vocals, acoustic guitar, frontman). Like Derek Atkinson, lead singer of Loon Choir, another Ontario band I like a lot, Ward is a very expressive singer on stage, and interesting to watch, as you can’t be quite sure sort of swooping or expansive gesture he might strike next. The Strumbellas have been together several years, so far putting out a total of three albums. They won a Juno Award in 2014, for “We Still Move on Dance Floors,” their most recent release. Darryl told me that for a long time they only played in Toronto, which is home base, seizing every opportunity that they could find to play in front of people, but not touring much. Then, they began touring in Canada a couple years ago, with gigs in the US coming after that. All six members had a great time on stage, exuding a comfortability that put the good-sized weeknight crowd at ease and in the mood for fun. Here’s a video of one of my favorite songs of theirs, “Sailing,” followed by the rest of my pics and a Facebook post I put up right after the show.

Post by Philip Turner.