Montreal

Hey, there's Tuffy P....we're on our way to dinner.....

Montreal

Well it was a whilwind trip to Montreal - we really only had an afternoon and evening there and then we zoomed back down the highway for a birthday party. We left with a dinner recommendation in hand - Peter said we should try the best Thai food in Montreal at Chao Phraya on Laurier, near Sainte-Laurent. Since it is the only Thai food we've tried in Montreal, it is a little hard to compare, but I will say we enjoyed a fantastic dinner! There are many choices for a dinner out in Montreal - this one is well worth a try.

We didn't go for the food though. We drove to Montreal to see the Anselm Kiefer exhibition at the Musee D'Art Contemporain de Montreal - Heaven and Earth - before it closed. This huge exhibition explored about 35 years of Kiefer's work, with over 50 works and a healthy representation of new work. In Kiefer's words, "In my painting, I tell stories to show what lies behind history. I make a hole and I go through it. Kiefer has exhibited regularly since 73. His work just exploded by about 75 and in 1980 he represented Germany at the Venice Biannale. This was the first major exhibit of Kiefer's work to be shown in Canada.

This show knocked my socks off. When I was in University in the 80s, Kiefer was associated in my mind with a resurgence of figurative painting in both Europe and America, but looking at the work together in the context of this exhibition, I see little relationship with broad movement. Kiefer: "My spirituality is not New Age. It has been with me since I was a child. I know that in the last few decades religion has been made shiny and new. It's like a business creating a new product. They are selling salvation. I'm not interested in being saved. I'm interested in reconstructing symbols. It's about connecting with an older knowledge and trying to discover continuities in why we search for heaven."

Kiefer makes impossible paintings. First, many of them are huge. At the same time, they can be both incredibly delicate (one has a dead sunflower stock wired up to it) and absurdly heavy (consider big head-sized rock-like chunks of lead hanging from the paintings by wires). Consider a giant painting whose image is mostly described by sunflower seeds. Consider an oversized steel bookshelf holding a collection of huge lead books. The gallery has film room with a video playing of the unloading and unpacking of the exhibition from a tractor-trailer to the gallery with forklifts and plenty of man-power. The paintings have thick convoluted cracking textures, stuff roughly affixed to the surface, and often objects attached. Fantastic

The show includes a few early paintings and books as well as the 'mature work'. It was very interesting to me to see his ideas evolve. It seemed like he had the images he needed but didn't know how to nail them down, how to make them come to life. Then, there they were - it all seemed to come together - work after work after work.

It isn't too often that an exhibition charges me up this way. I left feeling refueled, my confidence in painting renewed.

Mus�e d'art contemporain de Montr�al ::: Anselm Kiefer - Heaven and Earth

We're off to Montreal for the weekend to see the Kiefer exhibition. Today I was given directions to the best Thai food in Montreal....leaving early in the morning. No blogging until Sunday night.....

Superior claims landmark!

via Information Junk

Entropy at work.

Eagle Eye Cam

Thanks to East Texas Red for providing this link.......fantastic!

The Twist

This version of The Twist, by Boozoo Chavis, is one of those tunes that I just can't get out of my head...maybe because it brings squeezebox to what Tom Waits has called the 'instructional dance tune'. I think Boozoo, on his return to music, really sparked new life into zydeco in the 90s. Also check out Chris Ardoin and Beau Jocque
If you like this cut, please support your local independent music guy and buy some of that good zydeco.

Thanks to Fitzgerald over at Squeeze my Lemon for posting a how-to for posting mp3s....I had no idea.

Loafer's Glory

Loafer's Glory is the 1997 release by Utah Phillips and Mark Ross. Mark Ross plays various instruments; Utah sings and tells his stories. Utah takes you to another America, one featuring trains and hobos and unions and anarchists. Here is a sample story called Amtrack. I heard Utah perform this story many years ago on a radio broadcast on what was then 'Ryerson Radio'. Some of you will remember the old Folk Ways and Folk Music show with longtime host Joe Louis. I used to listen to that show every week for years.

If you see this CD on the shelf of your local independent record dealer, please buy a copy. Support your local tramp.

songs about baseball

Big Rock Candy Mountain is featuring some songs about baseball. Check them out. Hey, I heard the Blue Jays have a good team this year. Is that a conscious decision, like this year, we'll pump all kinds of money into the franchise and buy some top rate guys?....or, the fans are still coming so let's cheap out and ride out a few bad seasons? Am I too cynical?

Weird Bob gets a radio show

Wow, it seems Bob Dylan is doing a weekly radio show on XM Satellite Radio......it never occurred to me to pay for radio before, but I bet weird Bob will put together some really interesting programming.....

Concertinas

Want to learn all about concertinas (I do!). Here's an excellent place to start.

Drugged America

I just spent a few days in Central Pennsylvania. The other night I watched some TV in the motel and saw ad after ad for drugs drugs drugs. I swear I heard lymphoma on the list of side effects for one of them. Don't worry though....respondents reported that side effects were mostly not severe enough to stop them from taking the drug. There were drugs advertised for afflictions I didn't know existed. I was overwhelmed by the number of them. Is this a normal thing?

Fly fishing in Pennsylvania

Read my trip log at The Southern Ontario Fly Fisher.

Stop Kinky!

Well it seems that Kinky Friedman is actually serious about running for governor of Texas, and there is a site devoted to stopping him. It seems that Mr. Friedman is not just a harmless nut with a love of country music and bad mysteries. This site suggests he has some pretty scary ideas!

Going Fishing

I'll be driving down to Central Pennsylvania to do some fly fishing after work tomorrow, returning on Sunday evening. Please enjoy some of the fine blogs linked to from my sidebar while I'm gone.

If there are any trout-hounds out there, I'll post stream reports on The Southern Ontario Fly Fisherman when I get back.

Kinky Friedman for Governor

Kinky Friedman, of Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys fame, is running for governor of Texas. Some of you will be familiar with Mr. Friedman's series of mystery novels - others will remember albums like Sold American, and songs like The Ballad of Charles Joseph Whitman, and what may be the only country tune about the Holocaust, Ride 'em Jewboy. Many years ago, I had an opportunity to see Mr. Friedman perform at the old Bamboo Club here in Toronto. It was white roots week, and Kinky was playing with some local boys, "The new Texas Jewboys". The opening performer for Kinky was one Joanne MacKell, who later became a regular at the old Pine Tree tavern, with her band at that time, The Yahoos.

If I lived in Texas, I'd vote for Kinky. His campaign slogans are "Why the hell not", and "How hard could it be?".

Traditional Portuguese music - the Vira

This page is translated, but the translation isn't the best - however, the music sample is lovely. Vira's are like fast waltzes with a strong beat. Enjoy.

Update: something weird happened with my link here - when I link to the url with the vira, it takes me to a different page. When I first made the link it worked fine. I suggest you browse through the whole site - it is excellent, and you'll find the vira sample along the way.

[ airport ]

via The Presurfer
This is a clever short film created using airport info-graphics.

Trikitixa Elkartea - Historia

What is Trikitixa?

Dyngus Day

It seems that tomorrow is Dyngus Day. In all my years, I have never heard of such a thing....yet, being from Polish stock, I ought to be hip to the birth of Christianity in Poland... Check out the post by The Great White Bear. It sounds to me that South Bend is going to rock the known universe tomorrow: "By itself, the West Side Democratic Club will cook 1500 lbs of sausage". That's a lot of kielbossa!

Lisandro Mesa

...also listening to some old-school Vallenato cumbias by Lisandro Mesa....
That's a lovely 3-row box he's playing!

The Hank Snow Country Music Centre

Wow, look at all those pictures of Hank Snow - he must have spent a fortune on wigs over the years! I happened to have a Johnny Cash version of I'm Movin' On blasting on the computer this morning, so I did a Hank Snow Google search......

Americans behind bars

via Cynical C

An interview with the late Screamin' Jay Hawkins

On I Put a Spell on You: "I wasn't the only one there. If you notice, you hear me singing but there's a band there too, and every member of the band was drunk. And the man who was the A&R man, his name was Arnold Maxim for Columbia Records - he was drunk! And the engineer, who was mixing the sound and doing the mastering and the editing - he was drunk! Yes, because we had a record called I put a spell on you which was recorded previously for Grand Records, and it was a ballad, something like Johnny Ace or Roy Hamilton would sing..."

Legendary Stardust Cowboy

Three Restaurants

I just enjoyed a couple of Yung Sing's fabulous pork buns a couple weeks ago. I hadn't been there in years, but it still rocks.

Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006)

We went to see Ice Age: The Meltdown tonight - I guess the fact that we chose to see a sequal to a cartoon speaks loudly about the current crop of films at the theatres.

I think this is a fun movie for kids....very high cuteness and adorability factor....some recognizable from TV voices....and the usual marvellous animation. The film was entertaining enough, and had a few nicely crafted moments, but it is, as they say, what it is.

Karel Appel Cat Paintings

These paintings are a lot of fun!

public health posters from Amsterdam

via Rashomon

Chimp art

How many times have we heard know-it-all would-be art critics say, "Oh, a chimp can do that!". Here is Cheeta - yes, Cheeta from Tarzan movie fame. He's 74 now, but still painting. Between chimps and Thomas Kinkade, how can an artist compete anymore?

I came across this site via The Steel Deal

Tangled Up In Blue: It Hurts to Be in Love

I guess this is old news already - reported on Tangled up in Blue on the 5th - but I hadn't heard it or seen it in the papers or anything until I saw this post:

Gene Pitney, dead at 65. He died on tour.

SqueezeMyLemon: Sonny Boy Williamson II - Nine Below Zero Video

Great video!! I love Sonny Boy II!!!

Porn Star Makes An Offer He Will Likely Refuse

via Bacon & Eh's. No need for words on this one.

playing Go

Playing Go tonight. More blogging tomorrow.

Our first 2006 Paska

paska, originally uploaded by mister anchovy.

Here's our first Paska effort for 2006. Tuffy wants to make a couple more batches during the week to keep our friends happy. We had to test the short squat one. It didn't last long.

Paska Time

Both my mom and Tuffy's mom made a version of traditional Easter Bread - Tuffy's mom was Ukrainian; my mom was Polish. Both our moms long ago abandoned the cross-based ornamentations that you often see. Here is how we go about making Paska:
1 tsp sugar
1 cup lukewarm water
2 tsp yeast
3 cups scalded milk, lukewarm
5 cups flour
9 or 10 more cups flour
6 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
1 tbsp salt
grated rind of one lemon

Dissolve the sugar in the water and add the yeast. If the water is too hot, you'll kill the yeast. If the water is too cold, you'll kill the yeast. It should be on the border between warm and hot. Let it sit for a few minutes to proof the yeast. It should start to get foamy. Add it, along with the milk to a mixing bowl, and combine in 5 cups of flour. Beat until smooth, then let it sit in a warm environment for about 20 minutes. Add in the beaten eggs, sugar, melted butter, lemon rind and salt and mix thoroughly. Add flour until you get a soft dough. Knead it until it stops sticking to your hands...you can add a little flour along the way if you need to. Knead until the dough is smooth and has body (hard to explain unless you've made bread...it has to push back some). Let the dough rise, covered, in a warm environment until it doubles in size. Then punch it down, knead it for maybe 20 seconds, and let it rise again.

Section your dough into three or four parts, depending on what you bake it in. We use coffee cans, big ones and small ones. Grease your cans, and plop a chunk of dough into each, such that it is a little less than half full. Let the loaves double in size again in the tins. Brush the tops with beaten egg diluted with an equal part water. Bake for 15 minutes at 400, then lower the temperature to 350 and continue baking for 40 minutes. If the top starts to brown too much (it should come out a deep honey), cover the top gently with aluminum foil for the last 10 or 15 minutes.

Make many loaves and give them to your friends.....never keep it all for yourself. That's the rule. Feel the love.

A Welsh View: The Internet Has 80,655,992 Web Sites

wow, the inner-nets are getting big. via A Welsh View

The other day, another tube arrived from Chicago - after a long delay at Customs - I guess the folks at Customs needed to take some time to enjoy the paintings. Now our kitchen ceiling is pretty much full of art, a full suite of battleship and submarine paintings by Candy Minx and Anthony Stagg.

These shots are looking south from the top of Silverthorn Ave, which amounts to what is sometimes called the Eglinton Hill. Can you spot the cat in the top picture?

Portuguese meat art in the neighbourhood

meat art, originally uploaded by mister anchovy.

The cow suffered from vandals over the winter, breaking her ears off. The sign is new. Ribeiro's meats is just around the corner from Casa Anchovy.

a thoughtful garden

a thoughtful garden, originally uploaded by mister anchovy.

We saw this lovely garden on our walk this morning. I think this place is up on Cameron St. by the Eglinton hill. Note the signs for Grandpa's garden and Grandma's garden.

Is this tough old Jerry?

Jerry1, originally uploaded by mister anchovy.

This is Jerry, pretending to be a kitten. Jerry is the best cat you'll ever meet.

William in a box

william1, originally uploaded by mister anchovy.

When William sees a camera, he finds a box.....

Spring comes to Blackthorn

Bamboo

via Information Junk. Interesting article about bamboo - I'm a fan of bamboo, largely because a certain type, known as Tonkin Cane, from Canton, is used to make the finest hand-crafted flyrods in the world. Building a bamboo rod is a labour of love.

Squeezytunes: Early Pogues Video

Check out this early Pogues video.....Shane still has teeth here. via Squeezytunes

Anselm Kiefer Online

I mentioned a couple days ago that Tuffy P and I are going to Montreal to see the Kiefer exhibition, and I realize that there may be some folks out there who are not familiar with Mr. Kiefer's painting. This site links to pictures of his work in a number of museums around the world.

Grits gather here

Any early predictions on who the next leader of the Liberal Party of Canada will be? It looks like it will be an interesting race - Belinda is out - I'm guessing her advisers have told her she can't win without being able to speak French. Gerard Kennedy is in - there's an interesting choice. What about Bob Rae? Somebody told me Ken Dryden is interested, but I don't think he has the charisma to win.

'Fish-land animal link' found in northern Canada : Culture : Features : DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE (The Daily Yomiuri)

Ok friends, who's betting it's the real thing and who's betting it's an elaborate scam?

Byzantine Randy Wow

Candy Minx has just done the most fantastic painting called Byzantine Randy featuring our very own Randy da Stray. Check it out.....

Community Clean-up in Weston

Rocky Gualtieri (my choice for the next Ward 11 Councillor) is organizing a community clean-up day in Weston - Earth Day, April 22, from 9:00 a.m. to noon. I'll be in State College Pennsylvania when this is happening - otherwise, I would be there helping out. I think there will be quite a few clean-up events around Earth Day this year. If you can, help out, and do your part for a cleaner community!

Front Yard Devotions

There are a lot of these in the Toronto area....

Noonan at it again

Check out the new painting by Tim Noonan.

SqueezeMyLemon: It's The Birthday Of Muddy Waters

How could I have missed Muddy Waters' birthday? I had the pleasure of seeing Muddy perform only once - I think it was in 1975 (maybe). It was at the old Ontario Place Forum - remember, it used to go around in circles and concerts were free with admission? Those were the days. Muddy was the headliner, but the James Cotton Band opened and they were pretty hot stuff. I was just 15 and already a blues geek. Back then, I didn't know about all the fantastic forms of roots music I listen to now, but even then I knew there was something desperately wrong with the whole pop music business, and I was looking for something else. It couldn't be jazz, because my dad loved jazz, and I couldn't allow him to be right. Years later, I 'discovered' some of the jazz players he loved to listen to....turned out he wasn't so off base after all.

I had a combination record player / 8 track player at that time. The 8 track had this annoying habit of switching tracks in mid song. Somebody thought that was a good idea?

Bogus Ben Covington???

Wow, you can alway count on Honey where you been so long for some interesting old blues. I've heard a lot of blues, but I've never heard of Bogus Ben Covington. Nice cut posted too!

If you're looking around for some fine old tunes, also check out Sixteen Tons by Tennessee Ernie Ford, posted on Locust St. Wasn't that a Merle Travis tune?

Anselm Kiefer - Heaven and Earth

Oh, no...this exhibition is only on until the end of the month in Montreal! We have to go, but we're running out of time!

computer problems

My computer is sick....I may not be able to post for a few days until I get it fixed.


UPDATE
Turns out the problem was very minor....back in business!

Meet Randy

Randy showed up panhandling over the winter, and we helped him get through. He's a lovely young homeless Tom.

Supreme Commander Miss Twiggy

What a beautiful day for a regal old cat like Twig to hang out on the porch and watch the world go by.

Sunday Walk

There were some birders hanging around the level crossing on Osler St. They said there was a red-tailed hawk on the rook of a storage place, but it was out of sight when we were there. They also pointed out two night-hawks, and told us there were 4 red-tails in the area. Spectacular. This was only a short walk from our house.

The Straight Story (1999)

This David Lynch film was on TVO last night. I asked Tuffy if she wanted to go for a walk, and she said after this great film - it had already been on for a while. I popped down for a look, and sat down to watch the rest. This is a lovely, slow, old-fart road movie about Alvin Straight, who as an old man drove across Iowa to see his brother on a riding lawn-mower, who he hadn't spoken to in a decade- who had suffered a stroke. Alvin wanted to make peace. This is unlike a David Lynch film in so many ways (for instance it's tender) - yet there are scenes that could have been done by no other director. I now have to see the first part of the film, which I missed. Richard Farnsworth starred as Alvin - it was his last movie.

mister weak-eyes

I went to the eye doctor today, because it was becoming clear (well, unclear really) that both my distance and close up vision had changed some over the past year. The eye doctor suggested that this was the right time for me to get into progressive lenses (you can translate that as progressive pricing too!). I ordered up both clear and sun glasses - hopefully I can adapt to these things OK.

Tom Jones knighted