The Neon News

What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland's School Success

2012-01-05T12:00:00.002-05:00

http://www.linkedin.com/news?actionBar=&articleID=1015598382&ids=dPoUe30Udz4MciMRe3wUdP8Qcj0Nb3AMdjcOe3oNc34IczwPe3ARdj4MciMPcPsMe3sMcz0N&aag=true&freq=weekly&trk=eml-tod2-b-ttl-1&ut=0lWu9Sjy2Kal41

Yet one of the most significant things Sahlberg said passed practically unnoticed. "Oh," he mentioned at one point, "and there are no private schools in Finland."

This notion may seem difficult for an American to digest, but it's true. Only a small number of independent schools exist in Finland, and even they are all publicly financed. None is allowed to charge tuition fees. There are no private universities, either. This means that practically every person in Finland attends public school, whether for pre-K or a Ph.D.

Neon News 111201 - Holiday Party Time

2011-12-01T02:19:00.011-05:00

Been to El Mocambo lately? Now's the time!

http://www.opsbattleofthebands.com/index.html

Thursday, December 1, 2011

The Big Trouble Band

Battle of the Bands

El Mocambo

464 Spadina Avenue

Doors open 6 pm. We'll go on about 8:00.

Nine bands—twenty bucks! Proceeds to The United Way.

Come out and help us win!

Annex Live will be no more.

Come hear The Axes of Evil and say thanks to Graz for the good times.

Axes of Evil

Holiday Dance Party

Friday, December 2, 2011

Annex Live

296 Brunswick Avenue

8:00 pm — No cover!

What can I say? Fun just keeps happening in Barrie!

The Wee Stinky Band

StinkStockmas VII

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Sticky Fingers Bar & Grill

199 Essa Road, Barrie ON

With opening act Wail.

It's here! The new CD from MBBJE.

Perhaps you've heard it on Jazz FM 91.1?

Pick one up at the Christmas concert!

Sunday, December 11, 2011 2:00 PM

Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble

“Our Annual Christmas Concert”

Cooksville United Church

2500 Mimosa Row, Mississauga ON

Tickets: $20

Call Rob at 905-270-4757

for further details

Storyteller Night at Fedora Upsidedown

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Cameron House

408 Queen Street

PWYC (duh)

Rambunctious at 11 pm

Still Rambunctious!

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Rambunctious—on the bar!

La Palette

492 Queen Street West

At midnight

PWYC

You get to choose!

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Gordon's Acoustic Living Room

Ninth Annual All Request Night

The Free Times Café

320 College Street

8-11 pm

No cover, no minimum

Vote here for your favourite tunes:

http://www.xrays.com/galr/

Specializing in pagan rituals!

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Rambunctious & The Kensington Horns

Winter Solstice Celebration

Kensington Market (outdoors)

6-8 pm

Starting somewhere near Augusta and Oxford

and ending up in Alexandra Park

And speaking of pagan rituals . . .

December 31, 2011

Patio Dave & The Lanterns

New Year's Eve

Simcoe Curling Club

Simcoe ON

info@simcoecurlingclub.ca

And that's about it for 2011!

I can already smell the haggis.

Wayne Neon

Wayne@wayneon.ca

416-407-7009

Neon News 111010 Occupy The Black Swan!

2011-10-11T04:36:00.004-04:00

Saturday, October 15, 3:00-7:30 pm

The Big Trouble Band

The Black Swan

154 Danforth Avenue (just east of Broadview)

PWYC

Now, I know you'll all be puttin' it to the man down on Bay Street on October 15, but hey, that's thirsty work!

Drop by The Black Swan about 3:30 pm for this matinee performance.

I'm 99% sure you'll have fun!

Sunday, October 16, 8:00pm-11:00 pm

Gordon's Acoustic Living Room

The Free Times Café

320 College Street (west of Spadina)

Eight years of monthly gigs!

New tunes every month!

No cover, no minimum!

(Warning: The performance will involve bagpipes.)

Coming very, very soon—the new CD by

The Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble

Neon News 110523 - Immortality for twenty bucks!

2011-05-23T23:42:00.005-04:00

Be part of history! You can be in the audience when the Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble makes its next recording—Live at Arnold's!

Sunday, May 29

Arnold's Sports Bar

485 Morden Road

Oakville ON

(Morden runs north from Speers Road, west of Dorval.)

Here's the plan:

At 2:30 pm, we will record two sets of music.

At 4:30, we will serve an all-you-can-eat buffet.

At 6:30, we record the same two sets again.

Catch both sets and the buffet for only $20.00!

If you don't want the dinner, it's just five bucks.

Plus, your ecstatic applause will be on the CD forever! It's amost like you were famous!

Act now! Seats are limited. Don't be disappointed!

If you want to partake of the buffet, YOU MUST MAKE A RESERVATION.

Call Rob Boniface, 905-270-4757 or email rboniface@rogers.com by Tuesday, May 24.

Hey, that's today! Call or email Rob NOW!

The perils of strategic voting

2011-04-14T20:56:00.000-04:00

An old blog post from 2005, but still relevant.

The perils of strategic voting

by Wayne Smith

Buzz Hargrove created a sensation at the very beginning of this soon-to-be-endless election campaign with a surprising call to his Canadian Auto Workers to vote for the Liberal candidate in ridings where the NDP has no chance of being elected.

This is not what Jack Layton wanted to hear.

But many voters feel compelled to consider the option of "strategic" voting because we are saddled with an antique voting system under which most votes are wasted on candidates who do not get elected, and voters are offered few real choices. However, there are some downsides that must also be considered.

1. Strategic voting is an abomination. If we had a fair and well designed voting system, voters would simply vote for the candidate, party, or leader they prefer and know that their vote would probably make a difference. No one would have to vote for the "lesser evil", and Parliament would truly reflect the political thinking of the electorate. The diversity of our communities would likely also be more accurately reflected.

2. Strategic voting is not even available to most of us. Most of us live in ridings that are "safe" for one party or another. Most of us know who will be elected in our riding before the votes are even cast. If you are not in a "swing" riding where there is a close race, then forget about strategic voting and vote with your heart.

3. Strategic voting is widely misunderstood and frequently botched. To some people, strategic voting just means "vote Liberal". In fact, the correct strategy is to decide which of the candidates in your riding actually has a reasonable chance of getting elected, and choose to vote for one of them. For some people, this will mean voting NDP. For some, it will mean voting Conservative or Bloc. For most, it will mean few choices, or none at all.

4. You could get it wrong. Although Canadian elections are lamentably predictable, you never know. Strange things happen in elections, and public opinion does change during the campaign. A prediction of defeat for your favourite party could be self-fulfilling.

5. Last, but certainly not least, votes trigger campaign financing for your party. The new campaign financing rules mean that every vote really does count, at least for $1.75. That's how much the party you voted for will get each year because you voted for them.

This makes a difference. For example, the Green Party now has a significant war chest, although their half a million votes last time didn't even come close to electing anyone.

But what's your vote really worth? This is the first election under the new rules, so frankly, we're not sure what's going to happen.

Here's the strategic voting dilemma. Should you cave in, hold your nose and vote for someone you can't stand, in a desperate attempt to make your vote count for something? Or should you vote sincerely, even when your vote probably won't affect the outcome of the election? You're damned if you do and damned if you don't-that is, until Canada joins the modern world and scraps our antiquated first-past-the-post voting system.

The solution is for Canadians to choose a modern, fair voting system that accurately translates the will of the voters, as expressed by the votes we cast, into seats in Parliament, and which will therefore allow us to hold government accountable. Most industrial democracies have been using proportional voting systems for most of the last century. Canadian voters too deserve a system designed to ensure that every voice is heard.

When will this happen? Not until it can't be prevented. People elected under the current system think that the current system is working just fine, thank you. One thing is certain-we won't have a fair voting system until voters demand it.

That would be you. Democracy is still, after all, a do-it-yourself project.

My election leaders' debate schedule

2011-04-01T01:40:00.002-04:00

OK, here's my proposed schedule of leaders' debates of the election:

All debates are one-on-one. Each week we have two back-to-back, one-hour debates.

Week one

Debate one: Ignatieff v Layton

Debate two: Harper v. Elizabeth May

Week two

Debate one: Ignatieff v. May

Debate two: Harper v. Duceppe (in French)

Week three

Debate one: Ignatieff v. Duceppe (in French)

Debate two: Harper v. Layton

Week four

Debate one: May v. Layton

Debate two: Harper v. Ignatieff

What if the Spanish electoral system had been used?

2011-01-24T03:58:00.002-05:00

What if the Spanish electoral system had been used?

Neon News 110108 Bagpipes & Birthdays

2011-01-08T00:48:00.006-05:00

Saturday, January 8, 11 pm
Rambunctious at The Port
1179 Dundas Street West (just west of Ossington)
PWYC

It's Eva Moon's birthday! She's so old!

Sunday, January 16, 8-11 pm
Gordon's Acoustic Living Room
The Free Times Café
320 College Street (just west of Spadina)

Seven years of monthly gigs!

Tuesday, January 25, 9:30-11 pm
Gordon's Acoustic Living Room
The Free Times Café
320 College Street (just west of Spadina)

Robbie Burns Night
Two bagpipes - no waiting!

Presenting -- Rambunctious!

2010-12-15T23:20:00.000-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5BKD_Q4_CE&feature=player_embedded#!

Folk The G20

2010-12-07T03:24:00.001-05:00

Rambunctious played at the Folk The G20 fundraiser for The Molotov Rag and is included in this video. A hot time was had by all!

Pattie Walker December 4 studio sale

2010-11-28T22:56:00.002-05:00

Please join me and my partner in glass Denise Therrien for a unique jewellery shopping moment .

Denise has studied the global influences of the decorative art of jewellery and glass from the mountains of Mexico, to the hills of Thailand, to the markets of the Middle East.
Her new line of jewellery transforms the earthly elements of gold, silver and silica crystal into bold, pieces of signature artwear. Using her unique glass fusion process of layering pieces of glass, colour upon colour , with flecks of precious metals, she super- heats them and lets chemistry finish the artistic process. The results are subtle, painterly blends of pigment frozen into the glass which splashes the iridescence of a tropical butterfly wing.

http://denisetherrien.com/jewel05.htm

Her glass works are high quality fashion accessories, that are one of a kind and hand crafted.
Once the glass pieces are finished, each is set in handcrafted silver settings Fair trade produced by a silver craftsman in the hills of Chaing Mai, Thailand where his family has been working in silver for six generations. The necklaces are strung with semi-precious beads to create a sophisticated effect that is both contemporary and global in design.
The pieces are designed with flexibility in mind and can be adjusted to three different lengths to accommodate different necklines.

A recent completed commission of mine will be on view and a few of my works will be for sale.

Hope to see you:
Saturday, December 4
Between: 2-6
At: 340 Gerrard St East
1/2 block east of Parliament on north side
Private parking lot is front of building

RSVP by email to pattie@pattiewalker.com

Please feel free to bring a friend.

Pattie Walker
416.925.2966
www.pattiewalker.com

The Big Chill: Advocacy and dissent under siege in Canada

2010-11-27T02:39:00.002-05:00

Remarks delivered by Alex Neve,

Secretary-General of Amnesty International

Canadian Section (English Speaking),

at the 30th anniversary of the

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

Ottawa, Ontario

November 18, 2010

There are few values at the heart of any vibrant democratic society more important than the right and the ability to speak out freely, to disagree, and to advocate for differing points of view. It is what lies at the heart of freedom and liberty that underpins democracy. It is what ensures that the level and nature of public debate and discourse leads – in theory at least – to the wisest choices when it comes to making the laws and setting the policies that govern the most essential dimensions of our own daily lives, the types of communities we live in and the place we take as a nation on the world stage.

No surprise then that related human rights obligations have consistently been recognized by governments as core in a wide range of human rights declaration, treaties and other documents --- in particular the three fundamental freedoms of expression, association and assembly. It is what guarantees that we can voice our views, join our voices together with others, and come together in public to do so.

Governments have come to recognize, as well, that in addition to safeguarding these rights for all individuals there is a particularly urgent imperative to protect the rights of organizations that exercise their rights to free expression, association and assembly to defend the human rights of others. Human rights defenders.

They have underscored the importance therefore of governments actively taking measures to safeguard the work of human rights defenders, working on their own or working in combination with others. In fact on December 10th 1998, marking the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN unanimously adopted what has come to be known as the Human Rights Defenders Declaration, making it very clear that in any country efforts to better protect and promote human rights should be encouraged in all ways possible.

Around the world, of course, that is far from the case. Brave women, men and young people – working on their own or in organizations small and large; taking action within their schools and neighbourhoods or at national level – press for improved human rights protection every day. They do so by educating, researching, going to court, mobilizing, providing relief and assistance, mounting demonstrations and more. They very often do so on no more than a shoestring budget. And far too often they advance the work at great personal cost – as human rights defenders on every continent, remarkable individuals who should be celebrated and feted for all they do, are far too often instead targeted for arrest and imprisonment, torture, threats, attacks, “disappearance” and death.

Not our reality, right? Of course not. We have long had a dynamic and outspoken human rights community in Canada, at all levels of society, who have taken up a multitude of important human rights causes and, over the decades, have made great contributions therefore to improving human rights protection both domestically and globally. And have done so without fearing whether they might pay for their work with their life, or the life of a loved one.

But there is a growing concern in Canada, friends. A growing concern that the space for human rights advocacy and, more generally, the space to disagree with government on a variety of human rights issues – is shrinking dramatically and with it a nervousness and reticence about speaking out is taking hold. That shrinkage and that nervousness is, admittedly, not a consequence of the sort of violence that human rights defenders in countries such as Colombia, Zimbabwe, China and Sri Lanka face relentlessly. But it does come through measures that are most certainly punitive and vindictive and reflect government coercion to weaken and even silence voices of dissent.

This must be of concern to us all.

And it is of growing concern. As more and more individuals and groups have experienced the impact, or observed it being felt by others, we have started to come together. And we have come together in impressive numbers and from a remarkable array of sectors and backgrounds, many of whom have never before found common cause or worked together. And as the dots have been connected and common themes and experiences begun to emerge, we have come to use some pretty strong terms: dissent under attack, opposition being silenced, civil society under siege, democracy in peril.

- It goes back to 2006, when Status of Women funding rules were changed so that groups advocating for protection of women’s human rights would no longer receive government funding. The impact was dramatic, including the closure of the highly respected National Association of Women and the Law, AWL.

- Soon after, the Court Challenges program was discontinued, cutting off one of the most important avenues by which Charter of Rights court cases have been brought forward by and on behalf of society’s most marginalized and disenfranchised.

- Outspoken heads of important oversight bodies, charged with monitoring and even adjudicating on government conduct in areas where human rights are very much on the line, have felt squeezed out, been fired, or not been renewed in their positions because they have stood up to or disagreed with the government on a number of crucial issues: Peter Tinsley at the Military Police Complaints Commission (while he was in the middle of his Commission’s highly-charged Afghan prisoners hearings); Paul Kennedy at the Office of Public Complaints against the RCMP ( who had been outspoken about such issues as Tasers and the weak oversight powers of his office); and Linda Keene at the Nuclear Safety Commission (who stood up to the government about nuclear safety at Chalk River).

- Government employees who have spoken out and disagreed with the government about human rights and other important social policy issues have been intimidated and derided, and thus many have been silenced. Richard Colvin’s experience in simply telling the truth when he was called to testify before a parliamentary committee has certainly cast a shadow over others. And this summer there was of course the example of Munir Sheikh at Statistics Canada.

- There was the news earlier this year that the Canadian Human Rights Commission has made the difficult decision to close down three offices in Toronto, Vancouver and Halifax because of funding constraints.

- It is over the past twelve months that things have really picked up steam and the impact and the implications began to be widely and deeply felt. It came through a series of seemingly endless arbitrary and capricious funding decisions from CIDA, Citizenship and Immigration, Status of Women and other government departments that have devastated some organizations and left many others in a position of wholly untenable uncertainty about important programming.

- One common thread appears to be a solidifying government policy not to fund organizations engaged in what we would likely consider to be human rights advocacy. The list of groups who have had long established funding cut or near assured funding denied is growing long. Others wait nervously with the expectation that they are likely next.

- It cuts across so many issues and so many communities. Deeply concerning funding decisions have been made or loom that risk curtailing incredibly important advocacy and research work with respect to a number of vital issues effecting Aboriginal Canadians: the National Residential School Survivors Society, the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, and the Native Women’s Association of Canada’s Sisters in Spirit initiative all being very troubling examples.

- Then, there is Israel and Palestine. It has become clear that groups, large or small, independent or creatures of Parliament – who in any way carry out or provide financial support to programs seeking to defend and promote the rights of Palestinians, will face government repercussions. It does not fit the government’s orthodoxy that the problems in Israel and Palestine cannot be laid at the feet of the Israeli government. Israel will not be criticized on the government’s dime.

o Some have received considerable media and political attention, such as the alarming crisis that engulfed and has so dramatically weakened Canada’s world-respected agency, Rights and Democracy, created by Parliament. The crisis was triggered by the ideological opposition of a handful of government appointed Board members to relatively small grants provided to well-known Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups. It provoked heated internal battles, in the midst of which the agency’s former President Rémy Beauregard died from a heart attack. Staff have been summarily fired. Others have left in dismay. A new president, who has taken some questionable human rights positions in the past, was put in place by the government despite opposition from all three opposition parties. In the end, one of Canada’s very important and trusted human rights voices has become largely silent on a whole range of issues that long defined its agenda and program of work.

o There was the clearly politically motivated decision to deny CIDA funding to KAIROS and Alternatives largely because of their programs of work with and on behalf of Palestinians.

o The Canadian Arab Federation lost immigration department funding for resettlement programs because of comments the Federation’s president made about the situation of Palestinians.

o An academic conference at York University faced intense political and administration interference, going to the very heart of academic freedom, again because of ideological views clearly not prepared to countenance criticism of Israel’s human rights record.

o And recently the Mada Al-Carmel Arab Centre had to go to Federal Court after the International Development Research Centre abruptly and inexplicably ended funding support for a project of social science research examining the life of Palestinians.

- Women’s rights advocacy continues to suffer. I referred already to the cuts back in 2006. There was another punishing wave of cuts earlier this year, largely from Status of Women, but also from CIDA. The list is now staggering, and is by no means confined to the Ottawa/Toronto/Montreal triangle. It includes the New Brunswick Coalition for Pay Equity, MATCH International, le Conseil d'intervention pour l'accès des femmes au travail, the Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses, Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women, Réseau des tables régionales de groupes de femmes du Québec, the Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation, Action travail des femmes, Womenspace, the Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada, the Alberta Network of Immigrant Women, Centre de documentation sur l'éducation des adultes et la condition feminine, and the Association féminine d'éducation et d'action sociale.

- There is international development. After more than 40 years of highly respected work analyzing, researching, critiquing, educating and, yes, advocating about Canada’s international development policies and programs, the Canadian Council for International Cooperation came into the government’s sights this year and with little hesitation, reluctance or apology, in July – away from the possible scrutiny of a sitting Parliament and the likelihood of media attention, there was a sudden and crashing end to the significant financial assistance the government has provided to the Council for decades, effectively gutting 75% of the agency’s budget, forcing staff lay-offs and program cuts of a similar scale.

And there is no doubt this was political. Within CIDA, CCIC’s work and role in coordinating government/civil society engagement in the development sector is appreciated and respected. CIDA officials did not wish this result. This was political. And once again it was all about advocacy. The message clearly conveyed was – we will fund service delivery. We will fund organizations that are prepared to feed the poor. We will not fund organizations that ask challenging questions about why the poor are still in need of feeding or critique the approaches government has taken.

- And finally there is immigration and refugee policy. I’ve referred already to the Canadian Arab Federation losing its funding for resettlement services because of Israeli/Palestinian politics. It is playing out right now with respect to Bill C-49, the government’s anti-smuggling legislation, recently introduced in the House. I cannot recall when we have last seen immigration legislation that is so rife with so many blatant human rights violations. Top of the list – the likelihood that any refugee claimant arriving in Canada by sea, in a ship arranged by smugglers, would find themselves subject to mandatory – not possible, or even likely – but mandatory detention for one year, without access to a detention review. Mandatory detention without any right to challenge the grounds for detention before a competent tribunal. Not on the basis of the individual’s own characteristics or untrustworthiness –but simply on the basis of the number of people they travelled with. It violates the Charter. It violates numerous international human rights treaties. It is not worthy of Canada.

- Beyond the concern about the human rights problems in the proposed legislation, however --- and there are many more --- what is relevant for our discussion here are the human rights concerns associated with speaking out about the Bill. You can imagine that there would be many organizations, large and small, right across the country, who would have concerns about the proposal. They would likely share the concern that measures that target smugglers who exploit or expose their passengers to danger have merit – but would be concerned about an approach that primarily penalizes and punishes those individuals who, in desperation, turn to smugglers to help them reach the hope and safety that Canada represents. But we are already hearing reports from many of those groups indicating that they are fearful to speak out, because many of them rely upon funding from the immigration department for the programs they run for immigrants and refugees. Some indicate that they have had veiled suggestions that their funding would be at risk.

- The flip side, notably is that serious doubts are arising as to the legitimacy and even the very existence of some of the ethno-cultural groups the government says support the Bill. Last week Canadian Press reported that within a day of the Bill being tabled small ethnic organizations started sending press releases to journalists covering the story, and Conservative MPs speaking out in support of the bill began listing their names. But it turns out that many of these supporting organizations are so small that they have no office, staff, website, official mission statement or evidence of any programming or activities related to immigrants. One organization admitted that they hope that by supporting the Bill the government will provide them with financial support. The result is perverse: those who have experience and expertise that should be heard in the debate are fearful about speaking out; and those who do not come to the fore.

I could go on. But I want to step back from the enormity of the examples and think about the common thread here. What is at stake, quite simply, is the freedom and the ability of Canadians to vigorously advocate for the protection of human rights – of all rights and of all people – both here within Canada and abroad, and to do so without political interference, intimidation or manipulation.

It is vital to understand it in those terms. I am not raising concern about the fact that we, and others – in fact most or perhaps all of the groups I’ve just referred to – disagree with and may even be strongly opposed to some of the positions or policies the government adopts or advances with respect to many of these issues as well as numerous issues I have not yet mentioned --- its position on Israel and Palestine, on women’s human rights, refugee and migration policy, the rights of Indigenous peoples, torture in Afghanistan, corporate social responsibility, climate change, and more . I could give a very different speech about those issues and concerns, and how it has led to a spiraling and deeply troubling erosion in Canada’s international human rights reputation. In fact I quite regularly do give just that speech.

What I’m underlining and speaking about today is not the issues themselves – but rather how crucial it is to ensure that voices are able to speak out about and debate these issues. The fact that voices need to be heard. And that those voices need support and funding and space so that they can be heard. Voices of opposition need to be heard. Voices of support need to be heard. Voices that bring us uncomfortable messages need to be heard.

And it is the voices that are at risk – that are being punished for the message they bring. Voices are being defunded, sidelined, derided, fired, punished. Not because they have wasted money or done their job poorly. Not because they have spread lies. But simply because they speak out about things the government does not want to hear.

Some may say – that is the business of government. Governments come and governments go and they always make decisions about which groups are in fashion and which are out. Who will get funding and who may lose out.

That is true. But we have – I think it is safe to say – never before seen or experienced something of this nature. What we are witnessing is a systematic onslaught against what I think is a bedrock principle that most Canadians believe – that is in all of our common good to ensure that all voices are heard on crucial issues.

And let’s be clear that this is not a matter of simply whining about funding decisions. Firstly, many of the examples I have pointed to are not about cutting cheques at all. But even when it is about money, that does not somehow turn it into something tawdry and illegitimate What is at play here is the government’s particular and very important responsibility to ensure that voices that would otherwise be marginalized and overlooked are able to speak out and able to be heard; and to provide support, including financial support, to make that possible.

Many of you will know that groups are coming together to respond to this siege. Coming together for a number of reasons – to learn and understand from each other; to provide support to those groups that have suffered the impact of these measures; and to find our common voice to speak out about the importance of voices being heard.

Many of you have likely joined our new movement – which we have quite simply, aptly and bilingually named Voices/Voix. Voices is national in scope. At the same time, a number of Quebec-based organizations, many of whom are part of Voices, have come together and formed a provincially based coalition as well: Pas de démocratie sans voix. The Voices Declaration, which was launched in mid-June, has been endorsed by 188 organizations and over 4000 individuals – and that is without a determined strategy yet for promoting it widely.

The Declaration talks of the importance of upholding freedom of expression, of respecting and supporting the role of civil society groups in Canada, of the importance of transparency and accountability with respect to funding decision, and more. Very telling is that the organizations who have signed on come from almost every sector imaginable, including large national groups like AI, Oxfam, the CLC and the United Church and local organizations such as the Island Peace Committee of PEI, the Prairie Lily Feminist Society of Saskatchewan, the Victoria AIDS Resource & Community Service Society, and the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg.

We have only just begun to tap into and mobilize the depth of concern that exists across the country. And that will continue. Because we are not a nation founded or built on some sense of orthodoxy, ideology and conformity. We are a nation of diversity and debate.

And we simply cannot stand by and watch as that is taken apart.

Neon News 101126 All-Request Holiday Battle of the Bands

2010-11-26T23:27:00.005-05:00

OK, that's actually three different events.

Battle of the Bands

Friday, November 26, 6 pm - 1 am
The Big Trouble Band
The Opera House, 735 Queen Street East, $20
This is a fundraiser, and its TONIGHT! Come out and support Big Trouble.
It's all for the cause, but if it's a contest, we might as well win!
http://www.opsbattleofthebands.com/index.html

Holiday Concert

Sunday, December 12, 2-4 pm
Missisauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble
Cooksville United Church, 2500 Mimosa Way, Mississauga ON, $20
Our annual Christmas concert and fundraiser at the church where we rehearse pays our rent for the year.

All-Request Night

Sunday, December 12, 8-10 pm (same day!)
Gordon's Acoustic Living Room
Free Times Café, 320 College Street - no cover, no minimum
Vote for your favourites here: http://wayneon.ca/music/livingroomrequests.html

But that's not all . . .

Saturday, November 27, 11 pm-2 am
Rambunctious
The Port, 1179 Dundas Street West (at Ossington)
We're just makin' it up!

Tuesday, November 30, 8-10 pm
The Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble
Arnold's Sports Bar, 485 Morden Road, Oakville ON - $5
Our regular last-Tuesday-of-the-month gig.

Stinkstockmas!

Saturday, December 4
The Wee Stinky Band
Sticky Fingers Bar & Grill, 199 Essa Road, Barrie ON
The seventh annual! Still stinky after all these years!

Release Party

Thursday, December 9
Rambunctious
The Port, 1179 Dundas Street West (at Ossington)
http://UrbanMeadow.ca

More big band

Tuesday, December 14, 8-10 pm
Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble
Arnold's Sports Bar, 485 Morden Road, Oakville ON - $5
This is the regular monthly gig, but a couple weeks early.

Still more big band

Friday, December 17, 7-9 pm

Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble
Sky Restaurant & Cocktail Lounge
2680 Skymark Avenue, Mississauga, http://skyrestaurantlounge.com
We're back! Join us for dinner.

POSTPONED!

The Big Trouble Band
Saturday, November 27, 5-7 pm
Mitzi's Sister, 1554 Queen Street West
The club double-booked. (It happens.)
We'll be back. Watch this spot.

This is your December newsletter.

Happy Hanukah, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!
.
I'll be playing in Simcoe on New Year's Eve with Patio Dave.

Wayne Neon
416-407-7009
wayne@wayneon.ca

Neon News 101110

2010-11-10T02:38:00.004-05:00

Hey Fanz!

The festive season is upon us, and the music is coming fast and furious!

Triple Rambunctious this week!

Saturday, November 13, midnight, PWYC
La Palette, 492 Queen Street West
Dinner reservations - (416) 603-4900
The band plays on the bar!

Sunday, November 14, 7 pm, $5
Saving Gigi, 859 Bloor Street West
Fundraiser for The Molotov Rag
http://g20.torontomobilize.org/node/608

Thursday, November 18
The Great Hall, 1087 Queen Street West
Rambunctious will be parading with Henri Faberge and the Boyce Naval Academy Marching Band, whatever that is.
Don't know much about this event, but it will surely be fun!

Bagpipes and Blues!

Saturday, November 20, 10 pm
The Black Swan Tavern, 154 Danforth Avenue
The Big Trouble Band returns to this legendary blues room.

Sunday, November 21, 8-11 pm
The Free Times Café, 320 College Street
Gordon's Acoustic Living Room heads into the home stretch
of our seventh year of monthly appearances at one of Toronto's favourite folk clubs.

Blues and more blues!

Friday, November 26, 6 pm - 1 am, $20
The Opera House, 735 Queen Street East
The Big Trouble Band goes for glory in the Battle of the Bands
Proceeds to The United Way
http://www.opsbattleofthebands.com/index.html

Saturday, November 27, 5-7 pm
Mitzi's Sister, 1554 Queen Street West
The Big Trouble Band recuperates and savours victory
with one of our popular matinee gigs.
Don't be late! It's over before you know it.

Big Band wraps up November

Tuesday, November 30, 8-10 pm
Arnold's Sports Bar, 485 Morden Road, Oakville ON
The Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble closes the month
with our regular last-Tuesday-of-the-month gig.
This band just keeps getting hotter!

and coming up in December . . .

Saturday, December 4
Sticky Fingers Bar & Grill, 199 Essa Road, Barrie ON
The Wee Stinky Band presents the 7th annual Stinkstockmas!

Sunday, December 12, 2-4 pm
Cooksville United Church, 2500 Mimosa Way, Mississauga ON
Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble annual Christmas concert!

Sunday, December 12, 8-10 pm (same day!)
Free Times Café, 320 College Street
Gordon's Acoustic Living Room's annual All-request night!

Tuesday, December 14, 8-10 pm
Arnold's Sports Bar, 485 Morden Road, Oakville ON
Christmas comes early for the Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble!

THE PERILS OF STRATEGIC VOTING

2010-10-06T02:40:00.002-04:00

As always, strategic voting is becoming an important issue around the Toronto mayoralty race. Here is what I have had to say about the subject before:

December 12, 2005

THE PERILS OF STRATEGIC VOTING
by Wayne Smith

Buzz Hargrove created a sensation at the very beginning of this soon-to-be-endless election campaign with a surprising call to his Canadian Auto Workers to vote for the Liberal candidate in ridings where the NDP has no chance of being elected.

This is not what Jack Layton wanted to hear.

But many voters feel compelled to consider the option of "strategic" voting because we are saddled with an antique voting system under which most votes are wasted on candidates who do not get elected, and voters are offered few real choices. However, there are some downsides that must also be considered.

1. Strategic voting is an abomination. If we had a fair and well designed voting system, voters would simply vote for the candidate, party, or leader they prefer and know that their vote would probably make a difference. No one would have to vote for the "lesser evil", and Parliament would truly reflect the political thinking of the electorate. The diversity of our communities would likely also be more accurately reflected.

2. Strategic voting is not even available to most of us. Most of us live in ridings that are "safe" for one party or another. Most of us know who will be elected in our riding before the votes are even cast. If you are not in a "swing" riding where there is a close race, then forget about strategic voting and vote with your heart.

3. Strategic voting is widely misunderstood and frequently botched. To some people, strategic voting just means "vote Liberal". In fact, the correct strategy is to decide which of the candidates in your riding actually has a reasonable chance of getting elected, and choose to vote for one of them. For some people, this will mean voting NDP. For some, it will mean voting Conservative or Bloc. For most, it will mean few choices, or none at all.

4. You could get it wrong. Although Canadian elections are lamentably predictable, you never know. Strange things happen in elections, and public opinion does change during the campaign. A prediction of defeat for your favourite party could be self-fulfilling.

5. Last, but certainly not least, votes trigger campaign financing for your party. The new campaign financing rules mean that every vote really does count, at least for $1.75. That's how much the party you voted for will get each year because you voted for them.

This makes a difference. For example, the Green Party now has a significant war chest, although their half a million votes last time didn't even come close to electing anyone.

But what's your vote really worth? This is the first election under the new rules, so frankly, we're not sure what's going to happen.

Here's the strategic voting dilemma. Should you cave in, hold your nose and vote for someone you can't stand, in a desperate attempt to make your vote count for something? Or should you vote sincerely, even when your vote probably won't affect the outcome of the election? You're damned if you do and damned if you don't-that is, until Canada joins the modern world and scraps our antiquated first-past-the-post voting system.

The solution is for Canadians to choose a modern, fair voting system that accurately translates the will of the voters, as expressed by the votes we cast, into seats in Parliament, and which will therefore allow us to hold government accountable. Most industrial democracies have been using proportional voting systems for most of the last century. Canadian voters too deserve a system designed to ensure that every voice is heard.

When will this happen? Not until it can't be prevented. People elected under the current system think that the current system is working just fine, thank you. One thing is certain-we won't have a fair voting system until voters demand it.

That would be you. Democracy is still, after all, a do-it-yourself project.

Gordon's Acoustic Living Room - Lost On The Bayou

2010-10-06T01:10:00.002-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CK1inei4Cg&fmt=22

Next Acoustic Living Room: Sunday, October 17, 8-10 pm.

The Free Times Café, 320 College Street.

Our seventh year of monthly appearances.

No cover, no minimum.

Come early, it's small.

Great food!

More Stuff Coming Up

2010-10-01T03:20:00.006-04:00

Saturday, October 2, 1:00 pm
Christie Pits
No Fare Is Fare
Rambunctious
Come to the park to celebrate the campaign to win free and accessible transit for the GTA!

Saturday, October 2, 8:00 pm
Gladstone Hotel Ballroom
Nuit Blanche
Rambunctious
http://www.scotiabanknuitblanche.ca/

Saturday, October 10, evening
Cabo Verde Bar & Restaurant
215 Ossington Avenue
Rambunctious

Missisauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble
Friday, October 15, 8-11 pm
Sky Lounge
2680 Skymark Avenue, Mississauga

Sunday, October 17, 8-11 pm
Free Times Café
320 College Street, west of Spadina
Gordon's Acoustic Living Room

Thursday, October 21, 10:45 pm
El Mocambo
464 Spadina Avenue
This Is Not A POLITICAL Party (CAPP fundraiser)
Rambunctious and eight other bands

Stuff Coming Up

2010-09-16T23:34:00.006-04:00

Sunday, September 19, 8-11 pm
Gordon's Acoustic Living Room
Free Times Café
320 College Street (west of Spadina)
No cover, no minimum!
Our seventh year of monthly gigs!

Thursday, September 23, 11 pm
Rambunctious
La Palette
492 Queen Street West (at Portland)
PWYC
Nine or so horns and a cute drummer--on the bar! Must be seen to be believed!

Saturday, September 26, 5-7 pm
The Big Trouble Band
Mitzi's Sister
1554 Queen Street West (at Sorauren)
$5 or free, I forget which.
Good Time Rockin' Blues That Makes You Wanna Dance!

Sunday, September 26, 2-4 pm
Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble
Pedestrian Sunday, Kensington Market
Augusta Avenue, south of College.
It's in the street! It's free!
Five saxes, four trumpets, four trombones, piano, guitar, drums, and bass!

Tuesday, September 28, 8-10 pm
Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble
Arnold's Sports Bar
485 Morden Road, Oakville ON (off Dorval, S. of QEW)
$5 - That's less than $0.30 per musician!
Handy to Halton, Hamilton, Port Dover, and points west!
Catch this residency while it lasts!

Lots more later!

The World Through A Piper's Fingers: Tunes from Rory Sinclair and friends

2010-09-10T00:18:00.004-04:00

"Casual band." I like that.

The World Through A Piper's Fingers: Tunes from Rory Sinclair and friends

Richie Hayward w/ Little Feat - 2009-05-03-Dixie Chicken

2010-08-20T20:31:00.002-04:00

Dixie Chicken Little Feat

I’ve seen the bright lights of Memphis
And the Commodore Hotel
And underneath a street lamp, I met a southern belle
Oh she took me to the river, where she cast her spell
And in that southern moonlight, she sang this song so well

If you’ll be my Dixie chicken I’ll be your Tennessee lamb
And we can walk together down in Dixieland
Down in Dixieland

We made all the hotspots, my money flowed like wine
Then the low-down southern whiskey, yeah, began to fog my mind
And I don’t remember church bells, or the money I put down
On the white picket fence and boardwalk
On the house at the end of town
Oh but boy do I remember the strain of her refrain
And the nights we spent together
And the way she called my name

If you’ll be my Dixie chicken I’ll be your Tennessee lamb
And we can walk together down in Dixieland
Down in Dixieland

Many years since she ran away
Yes that guitar player sure could play
She always liked to sing along
She always handy with a song
But then one night at the lobby of the Commodore Hotel
I chanced to meet a bartender who said he knew her well
And as he handed me a drink he began to hum a song
And all the boys there, at the bar, began to sing along

If you’ll be my Dixie chicken I’ll be your Tennessee lamb
And we can walk together down in Dixieland
Down in Dixieland, Down in Dixieland

Social Media like Bertilak de Hautdesert – the mysterious Green Knight?

2010-08-20T11:38:00.002-04:00

http://abranddayout.wordpress.com/2010/08/20/social-media-like-bertilak-de-hautdesert-the-mysterious-green-knight/

A report in yesterday’s Daily Telegraph in the UK highlighted the problems of social media sites such as Facebook, Bebo, Twitter etc – an innocent surrendering of privacy destined to come back and haunt the writer in years to come.

In the anonymous Middle English classic, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the Green Knight arrives at the court of King Arthur one Christmas and invites anyone bold enough to do so to chop off his head. The terms of the deal are that whosoever takes the challenge must in a year’s time meet with the Green Knight again, where they will be beheaded by the Green Knight in return.

Oh woe unto Sir Gawain who takes up the challenge! He strikes off the Green Knight’s head and the court watches as it rolls across the hall. And then, and then… the headless Green Knight picks up his head and rides off, demanding of Gawain that he meets him again in a year’s time.

So it is that a year later, that Gawain fulfils his promise. Before the final denouement with the Green Knight, he stays with the mysterious Bertilak de Hautdesert and his wife. Bertilak leaves to go hunting and his wife is left to look after Gawain. Here’s where the test begins: the wife tempts our hero, inviting him to be disloyal to his host, tempting him with her pleasures and her beauty.

Her failure is critical. Unable to tempt Gawain, she gives in and - in time-honoured fashion - hands him a green sash to protect himself from evil. It is this sash, when Gawain meets the Green Knight in readiness for his execution, which protects him from death. The Green Knight reveals himself to Sir Gawain as none other than Bertilak de Hautdesert, his host. The two depart; Gawain absolved of his deal a purer and more devoted knight…

And so it is with social media, methinks. We are invited in to its lair and exposed to its beauty. We become publishers. We write our own hagiographies. But there is a price to pay – our own potential execution when we have had our fill. Teenagers who reap the rewards for “dissing” friends and family. Membership of obscure and potentially dangerous groups revealed when candidates apply for jobs. Singular and eccentric views regarded as a flaw of personality.

Picture the horror on the face of the candidate for a job as family law practitioner when the interviewer asks them about their performance of lewd acts in a college bar. Or the teaching applicant laid bare in fish net tights and a cane…

If the challenge laid down by Social Media is the same as that laid down by the Green Knight, so it is that in the temptations which follow on our routes to purity are those laid out in front of us by the wife of Bertilak de Hautdesert. Cam we resist them? Can we be true to ourselves? And is our self truth one which can be substantiated when confronted by that higher judge, once more, the Green Knight?

Social media is about consistency delivering credibility, as commentators Chris Brogan and Julien Smith say in their book Trust Agents. So if we stay consistent in what we say, and what we do, there should be no problem. But if we pitch ourselves one way and describe ourselves another, then we will fail. And there will be no green sash to protect ourselves save that of the whim of Google, Facebook and the rest, giving us some form of privacy protection.

So let it be that social media – as marketing – is used with honour and not with contempt for manipulation. For if used well then we too shall emerge from its shadows stronger in ourselves and more credible. As Bertilak himself may well have said:

“Thou art confessed so clene, beknowen of thy misses and hast the penounce apert of the poynt of myn egge” – You are cleansed by your confession, by admission of your errors, and having openly done penance at the point of my blade.

Send Them Back an Old, and Awful, Refrain

2010-08-17T14:19:00.002-04:00

http://bobrae.liberal.ca/journal/send-them-back-an-old-and-awful-refrain/

Posted on 16. Aug, 2010 on Bob Rae's blog

Canadians have been caught up in the drama of the arrival of a small boat with 500 people aboard. They have travelled for several months on the Pacific Ocean, turned away in Thailand, Australia, and given the cold shoulder everywhere else until they reached the western shore of Vancouver Island, escorted by the Canadian navy.

Many have suggested that the ship should have been boarded and just turned away. Unfortunately these views have a terrible pedigree, and call to mind the fate of two other boats, the Komagata Maru and the SS St Louis.

The Komagata Maru set sail from Calcutta in 1914, picking up passengers in Yokohama and Shanghai before making the long voyage to Vancouver. Its arrival in the harbour was met by powerful hostility. In the previous decade Canada had opened itself to the arrival of 400,000 Europeans, but had strict laws and regulations preventing Asians and others from coming. The passengers on board the Komagata Maru, who were mainly Sikh, tried desperately to land but both the federal and provincial governments did all in their power to prevent the 354 passengers from landing. This brutal discrimination succeeded, and the ship was forced to sail back to Calcutta. The Imperial authorities concluded that the leaders on the boat were dangerous agitators for Indian freedom, and 19 of them were killed on arrival in Calcutta. Many others were arrested and imprisoned. The incident remains a dark stain on Canada’s reputation, for which Stephen Harper has yet to apologise in the House of Commons. The House itself has endorsed a motion in the name of Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla expressing just such an apology.

The SS St Louis made its famous voyage, known as the “voyage of the damned”, in 1939. Its 936 Jewish passengers made their way from Hamburg to Cuba, where they were denied landing, although they all had visas. After a stay of many days, the ship set sail for the U.S., where it was also rejected, and then to Halifax, where the Liberal government of the day also refused entry. It had to make its way back across the north Atlantic to Antwerp, where passengers were dispersed to a number of countries, many of which were soon to be occupied by the Nazis. Historians tell us that as many as 254 of the St Louis passengers were killed in Nazi death camps, while the rest probably survived the war.

Just two years ago Canadian Church leaders held a ceremony of apology to recognise the terrible wrong done. Bishop Marcel Gervais of Ottawa said “remembering what happened to the passengers will help Christians make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

This past week Canadians have been subjected to wild rumours of disease rampant aboard the ship, and allegations that “terrorists” and “criminals” are about to run amok in the country. Many urged the Canadian navy to board the ship in international waters and send them on their way.

Bishop Gervais’s admonition notwithstanding, it would seem some have learned very little from our past. Of course people paid to get on the Tamil boat, just as they did to get on the Komagata Maru, the SS St Louis, and Kastner’s train for that matter.

Sri Lanka’s civil war did not come to a pretty ending. As the army made its way through the country, planes strafing villages and bombing civilians, Tamils who had returned home after the ceasefire of 2001 were corralled by the opposing sides to the north-eastern shore of the country. The complete exclusion of journalists and international observers and agencies makes it impossible to know how many died in the last weeks of the war: estimates range from a few hundred to 40,000. The entire leadership of the LTTE and their families were wiped out. Hundreds of thousands became refugees in their own country.

General Fonseca, who ran as a presidential candidate, was arrested the day after the election. Dozens of journalists are killed every year, and many foreign observers, from Swedish Foreign Minister to Bob Rae, Canadian MP (and writer of this blog), have been refused entry to the country.

Canada has an obligation under our law to take refugee claims seriously, to weigh them in a judicious manner, and to insist that allegations of “terrorism” and “human trafficking” be proven. We also need to work with our international friends and the UN to understand better why these boats are travelling, how they are being organised, and why people feel they should take them.

It is a pity Vic Toews didn’t mention the Komagata Maru and the SS St Louis, and why we’re not going to repeat those atrocities. To turn away a boat that’s been on the high seas for over 90 days would be unconscionable. It would also be illegal.

What, then, of the “moral hazard”, the argument that if we let one boat it will be followed by countless more ? These are not exactly cruise ships. Not everyone on them will be found to be a refugee. But if the Sri Lankan government says I’m a threat to their national security I’m less inclined to take seriously their blanket conclusions about who’s on the boat and why they’re there. I have confidence in our immigration and justice system. Vic Toews is right about one thing: the world is watching. I’m proudest as a Canadian when we’re setting the right standard for the world. We didn’t do it in 1914 for the Komagata Maru or in 1939 for the St Louis. Let’s get it right this time.

Tanya Tucker - Not Fade Away

2010-08-09T23:27:00.000-04:00

That's not me playing sax, but it should be.

Third parties get third-class treatment

2010-08-09T22:33:00.002-04:00

Third parties get third-class treatment

Published: Sunday, August 08, 2010, 11:43 AM

By Candy Neville

Third parties are not third-class citizens and the Fourth Estate should never forget it. According to an Aug. 2, 2010, Rasmussen Report, 35.4 percent of American adults are Democrats, 31.8 percent Republicans. The number not affiliated with either party is now at 32.8 percent -- a substantial piece of the American pie.

Big and constant "news" in this country is the national disenchantment not just with the government, but with the two major political parties.

Big and constant "olds" is repetitious coverage of every detail of squabbles between the two parties, while leaving a gaping hole regarding what change is occurring outside of them.

It's easy to follow the well-worn trail, but it is very clear that the trails that wander outside the Democrat and Republican boxes are growing in size and number. It is these trails of discontent, venture and new pursuits that represent the "news."

It is important that the loud, disharmonious, din of change that comes from within this 32.8 percent be recorded and published. The free press is our pride and hope. It is a lofty challenge to be the keepers of the parchment and ink and to pen today's story as it happens with objectivity. It is important that journalists seize the responsibility of it and not just the entitlement.

Frankly, only covering the same old, same old is getting old -- and just outside the box of negligence.

Candy Neville has been nominated by the Pacific Green Party to run for the U.S. Senate.

Related topics: candy neville, pacific green party, political parties

Fly Me To The Moon

2010-08-09T03:52:00.003-04:00

Here's a great old recording from the first album by The Big Steam Band, including me on second tenor sax.

Rambunctious, A Jazz band in Little Italy, Toronto.

2010-08-03T22:54:00.000-04:00

Stop me if you've seen this one before.

A less proud country

2010-07-28T15:40:00.001-04:00

"Ursula Franklin defines peace as the presence of justice and the absence of fear. Which is ascendant in our home and native land -- justice, or fear?"

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/less+proud+country/3330366/story.html

Shame on us

2010-07-27T02:33:00.003-04:00

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/in-the-matter-of-omar-khadr-shame-on-us/article1640305/

"You either support high standards of justice or you don’t. In this case, most Canadians, along with their government, do not."

Tough Chicks Rule

2010-07-26T13:31:00.003-04:00

Wear a Pink Sari and Carry a Big Stick

What would Gandhi say?

Not the Last Living Room

2010-07-21T01:19:00.001-04:00

A wonderful composite photo of last Sunday at the Free Times by John-Marc Hamilton.

Amnesty International Canada (ES) AGM 2010 Report

2010-07-21T00:06:00.007-04:00

Photo by Don Payne

Anyone who attended our Branch's Annual General Meeting (AGM) from June 25 to 27 will be unlikely to forget it. It was unlike any AGM that had taken place before. For the first time, our AGM was being held at the same time and same place as the world's headlining news event: Toronto during the same weekend that G8/G20 leaders were holding their annual summit.

Rambunctious

2010-07-20T02:24:00.004-04:00

Stuff coming up:

Sunday, July 25, Pedestrian Sunday in Kensington Market. Look for us near La Palette on Augusta around 3 pm.

Saturday, July 31, standing on the bar at the other La Palette, 492 Queen Street West at Portland, at midnight.

Try the horse tenderloin!

Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble

2010-07-20T01:59:00.004-04:00

Coming up in July:

In town: July 23 & 24, Beaches Jazz Festival, on Queen Street at Bellefair, across from Kew Gardens, 7 pm start. (I'll just be there on the Friday, because my friends Fallon and Matthew are getting married on Saturday!)

Out of town: Tuesday, July 27, Arnold's Sports Bar, 485 Morden Road, Oakville, 8-10 pm, $5

Be sure to catch this one because WE WILL NOT BE AT ARNOLD'S IN AUGUST. Back for the regular gig on the last Tuesday in September!

Star Wars Subway Car

2010-07-14T23:14:00.002-04:00

Funniest thing I have seen in my life so far.

The Crises of Capitalism

2010-07-07T10:28:00.003-04:00

"We have a duty to change our mode of thinking."

It's a Stinky, Rambunctious Canada Day!

2010-06-30T01:22:00.008-04:00

Canada Day Eve, it's The Wee Stinky Band After Work Party, 5:30ish to 9:30ish at Tiff's, 130 Dunlop Street East in Barrie.

Always the best party ever, except maybe for . . .

Nine (or so) horns and a scrumptious drummer, we're just making it up!

Rambunctious are back at The Painted Lady this Thursday, Canada Day, at the relatively civilized hour of 10 pm.

Impossible to describe, must be heard and seen!

Jeff Carolin - Torontonamo: The Terror of Unaccountable Authority During the G20

2010-06-29T03:39:00.003-04:00

[please forward to anyone you think would read this]

hi everybody, thanks to everyone who's been sending moral support. i still feel totally fucked up. i write this with the fear of coopting the voice of the 100s of other people who have been arrested but i just think right now that we need stories getting out there and this is my 3 hour attempt to share my own. i wont pretend that my writing is at peak form or that i have the patience to give this a proper edit. nor do i have the energy right now to describe my whole account but i just read through the info at the following link and it captures my personal experience. and has made me believe (unsuprisingly) that people who are more vulnerable in these situations - like folks who dont identify as male or heterosexual, folks with disAbilities, and people of colour - had it worse than me. so please read through this first: http://www.thelinknewspaper.ca/articles/2698.

before continuing on, i just want to clarify that this is not a message about the saturday black bloc action that took place for about 1.5 hours without a single one of the 10,000 cops anywhere near it. something that i personally think was a deliberate cop gambit to justify the crackdown that followed, which seemed to have been working out in the media in their favour until some time on sunday when the wild police repression and brutality that took place at queens park late saturday afternoon and later that day in front of the novotel started coming out. (not to mention last night at queen and spadina.) rather its about something thats completely not debatable: the crime of the prisoner processing centre at eastern and pape, torontonamo.

and although torontonamo is a separate point, there is a connection to the police crackdown and the mass arrests. that is, of the 25 other people i shared my overcrowded cage with, not a single one was in there for something legitimate. a lot had been at queens park or the novotel. two were punk kids who were beat up and arrested for wearing black and knew nothing about the g20. i was also with a fully uniformed ttc attendant who was jumped by riot cops leaving queens park subway station. he was kept in for 30 hours. we were also with a 17 year old kid (who had been at the novotel), who was only wearing a t-shirt and was shivering from the cold the whole time and who, of course, had not been allowed to call his parents. (we were all, in fact, effectively disappeared for the entirety of our detention as we were allowed no calls, and the cops werent giving any information about anyone to the outside world.) then there was the self-proclaimed apolitical freelance photographer who had been tackled by a plainclothes officer while running away from riot cops. the same plainclothes officer had just, moments earlier, been inciting the crowd to get closer and to throw stuff at the cops. he was passed to riot cops who stepped on his head and kicked him in the face. he was covered in blood in our cell and was passing in and out of consciousness. obviously there was no medical attention. i asked him, as we left together 20+ hours later, if he felt less apolitical now, at least with respect to the police as an institution and the state that is supposed to oversee it. you can imagine his response.

all that to say, when you hear torontonamo horror stories, as im sure they'll keep emerging, keep this collective punishment in mind. and maybe also keep in mind how this compares to other parts of the world where, albeit much further along the fascistic spectrum, occupying armies and repressive regimes carry out mass, indiscriminate arrests and sweeps, and keep people in conditions based on the same CIA low intensity psychological torture techniques for breaking people down (as described below and in the link above). and how everyone emerged from our cell - the political and the previously apolitical - completely enraged at the abuses of authority that we had been subject to. and about how much we wanted to strike back. and about how it only took 20 hours of collective punishment and psychological torture - and the imposition of complete powerlessness - to plant within us the desire to take part in militant resistance towards the state that allowed this to happen. again, im talking about the previously apolitcal as well.

and now a few points to personalize the link i sent above.

first, the circumstances of my arrest to provide some context. i wrote this bit when i got home, after having slept for about 30 minutes in the previous 43 hours:

"the most intense shit that i witnessed over the course of saturday was when i returned to the southern law of queens park just under the legislature around 530. a motley crew of random unaffiliated activist-ey folks, passersby and labour people were having a standoff with the riot cops. the riot cops had begun darting out in groups of four or five, grabbing someone doing something completely benign and then dragging them back behind their lines where they usually would beat them for awhile with their batons. Although a part of me wanted to take off my "legal" hat and join the locked arms at the front, it became clear that few people there knew of our group. So I went back and forth just behind the front line passing out "know your rights" literature, and shouting out the legal number that ppl could call if arrested, etc. At some point I took off my hat and was helping keep people calm just behind the front line, as each time the police rushed there was a chance of a stampede. Eventually we got pushed back and back until we were divided into two marches - on Harbord and Devonshire. Cops kept charging at us beating their shield trying to force us backwards. sometimes the horses would come ahead.

Eventually things dissipated and I returned home, only to leave again with some other people to head to the Jail Solidarity action at midnight outside the jail on eastern ave. i felt obligated to go having just witnessed so many illegal arrests and beatings. Arrived at an action already in progress. Peaceful. Was following cops orders that the protest stay on the sidewalk on the north side of the street. Pretty soon after we arrived, the riot cops showed up and completely surrounded us. there was some negotiation and the ultimate decision was that we would be given a way out to the west along eastern avenue. the people i was with had decided that we were going to leave, but that we would try to carry out our legal observing from outside the riot cop ring as the people who decided to stay back were arrested.

It seemed that too few were willing to stay, so after a brief delay (1-2 minutes?) the core organizers followed everyone out to the west and we ended up joining up with them as they passed through the ring of riot cops. We were now slightly behind the main group ahead that had left right away (half block?) and something like a block or a block and a half west of the original encirclement, a second line of riot police appeared in front of us and blocked our way, fully surrounding a group of about 20 of us. we were then arrested for breaching the peace. we were told that we had taken too long."

second, the overall architecture of this "temporary prisoner processing centre" was the most orwellian, fascistic, brutalizing, fucked up thing that i have ever seen. again, probably designed according to CIA sensory deprivation, psychological torture specs. (who the fuck allowed this to happen? this was the same place that the police said they were building in order to be able to process prisoners quickly and efficiently.) in any particular cage you rarely had a view of any other of the grey metal cages. just the spotlights and surveillance cameras and dark ceiling above, and the white or grey concrete floors. no clocks anywhere. nor were there any cameras on the hallways or places where the cops convened and brought prisoners through. and then there were the cops, guards and officers of all types walking by us. usually ignoring us, sometimes antagonizing us, and often just telling us total bullshit as i describe in two points below. when i close my eyes right now, i have an image of cold harsh lighting, stark white walls and floors, and streams of guards passing back and forth through the squares of the cage. closing my eyes makes me feel nauseous.

third, something that doesnt really come across through the list of things described in the link above was the group psychology in the cages and how we actually spent the time (at least in my cage). we spent the first few hours indignantly demanding our civil liberties (calls to counsel especially) and insulting the guards, calling them pigs, etc, when they refused. by the end i was grovelling and pleading on my knees with my bound hands in a supplicating position, begging for water, food, blankets and medical attention for those who needed it.

there was much in between these two extremes as well. the moment of collective laughter when we decided to conquer the toilet-paperless, doorless port-a-potty that faced the guards. after a few hours of ignoring the unappealing toilet, i stood up and announced (as loud as i possibly could) to the guards that i was going to take a shit, and i invited them to watch. it broke the proverbial seal and became a source of collective strength as others began to use it. we transformed what had been designed to humiliate us. (though i know that as a "man" cage we had an ability to do this that wasnt the same for the "woman" cages.) and then there was the stand up routine that one guy did, ripping into all the guards that walked by that had us all cracking up. there were moments when we tried to appeal to the humanity of the guards. ive never called anyone a nazi in my life, but there i was telling them that they had been assigned to work in a concentration camp and that when this all came to light the excuse that they were just following orders wouldnt cut it. we asked them if they had children and what they would think if their children were in it. no one would engage with us in these points. and finally, at certain points, we were screaming any possible insult we could think of. there was also a rousing rendition of "if you're happy and you know it clap your hands"... that immediately followed an incredibly intense expression of rage of the four cages in our room. almost everyone was kicking and rattling and screaming in our cages for at least 10 minutes. it the loudest and most intense creation of sound that i have ever been a part of.

then there was a moment when it looked like our cage was going to slip into total chaos. i became aware of it at the point when i myself hit my own low. i had been watching a guard eat his vast lunch five feet away from me. bite by bite. i kept up a constant stream of insults and commentary, telling him how hungry i was and if he enjoyed watching me suffer as he ate, telling him how looking at him was making me more physically ill than i had even felt up to that point. that i was going to puke and try to get as much as i could in his direction. and then pretty soon after, i was standing up, gripping the cage and screaming as loud as i could, "we need food!" i slumped back down and a really strong soul, one of the older ones amongst us, came up to me slumped in the corner and told me that he needed me to be strong. he got through to me. i looked up and i became aware that we had one guy, lips turning purple, who was going into shock both due to cold, exposure and exhaustion, and also because we had a guy with a blood condition who was semi-conscious and who was oozing blood out of his finger tips. our requests for medical attention were ignored and this one guy was getting so worked up that he was trying to convince all of us that we just had to bust through the door the next time the guards came. i got him to sit down and breathe with me and i turned to my buddy who was in there with me and said that we were collectively losing it. just then, the guy who earlier had been regaling us with his stand up routine stood up and screamed at the top of his lungs for about 10 seconds. i grabbed another guy who was in there to help get everyone quiet and i led us in a deep-breathing exercise and with the help of others got us to start reflecting on this experience. on how the only thing we could control was the space within our cage. how that was the only power that remained to us.

this was necessary after only 15 hours of arbitrary detention and deprivation.

fourth, i want to add another thing to the link above that didnt really come up. its that i believe that 100% of the apparent administrative incompetence was one more subtle but ultimate really powerful tool to fuck with our heads. it was both their excuse for why we werent getting food, water, phone calls to lawyers and medical attention for those who needed it and it also toyed with our minds, emotions and spirits. this part was totally sadistic. basically it seems consistent that in all "breach of the peace" cages they would make it seem that the delays were all due to processing slowdowns. "we're really trying here. but it just takes time. you'll get to make your phone calls soon. why dont you just calm down." etc etc. that was when they talked to us; most of the time they just ignored all of our requests or were verbally hostile to us.

they would keep our hope alive that things actually were being processed by taking someone out every few hours. for example, 2 guys were taken out from my cage after 2 hours, and we thought, yes, we're going to get out soon. and that was the implication of what the guard told us. we saw them 15 hours later in different cages. they did this periodically throughout the day. also, almost every half hour a guard would come by looking for people who were almost never in our cage. it made it seem that they had no idea where anyone was. new people would keep coming on shifts and say that everything was a mess, and then they'd make us line up in our cage and give our last names and prison IDs. in our cage we did this three times. they also took people out of our cage, implied they were getting out and then would only take their pictures (one guy was photograhed three times) and then they were sent back. around hour 16 they came to our cage and told us that our group had gotten lost in the system and that they had been looking for this one guy in every cell. the implication was now that they had finally found him we'd all finally be processed. we didnt get any more releases for 3 hours. etc etc etc. they also kept coming around, pausing in front of us, getting us to be quiet and then would read out 2 or 3 names and prison IDs that 95% of the time were not in there with us. this both got our hopes up and then would totally dash them when none of the people were us. it also kept up the justification for why none of our rights and needs were being satisfied.

as it was approaching 24 hours, and a lot of us finally did get released, we basically walked around the corner from our cage, got handed our property bags and the forms filled out by the original arresting officer (no other paper work or processing to be done!) and were told to leave (into the pouring rain).

its hard to describe the significance of this final point. they told us that there had been an admin fuck up and that's why our group was held so long. when, a bit earlier, i said to one of the guards, "does anyone know whats going on? is it just that there's no one in charge who know's whats happening". he replied, "yeah this guys finally figured it out. this is a smart guy." and it didnt sound sarcastic at all. but as i sat down to write this last night, i pictured this final scene again. the outdoors were just around the corner. there was just a folding table with a commanding officer and all he had to do was hand us our belongings and tell us to leave. basically it took 2 minutes to process us. But they had led us through this puppy mill of caged people to make it seem that we were in the middle of this huge complex full of overcrowded cages that we couldnt see, under spotlights and surveillance cameras, cops and guards rushing by, hunger and dehydration, people going into shock from the cold and exposure. barely sufficient medical attention (and only after hours of chanting and screaming)... and this underlying admin incompetence that was used as the excuse for it all.

and as i started writing it down last night i went through the final moments again and suddenly felt a tightness in my neck. i realized that we were basically 35 feet and 2 minutes away from being released the entire time. i couldnt breathe and felt like i was going to puke all at once. i had to get leah to calm me down and help me breathe again. it hit me like a 1000 tons that the entire display of admin incompetence was an act. they wanted us off the streets until the g20 was over and they succeeded. they wanted to criminalize dissent and prevent anyone empowered by g20 demos to remain politically active. they wanted to gather intelligence. they mollified us with the admin bullshit stuff and strung us along and toyed with us all at once. sick and debased. and consistent from what ive been hearing from other people who were released with no charges.

fifth, i was in plastic wrist restraints the whole time.

sixth, i recognize that none of this was about the issues around social and environmental justice that protesters have been trying to bring attention to all week. but i think that this does address a core underlying issue of a hierarchical state that is not accountable nor democratic to those who do not fit into the mainstream.

seventh, for the legally inclined, they read us a breach of the peace statement that said something like if we were found at another g20 demo we would be given a real criminal charge. i tried to argue with the guard that he couldnt impose conditions (something i dont know but assumed) but my fellow arrestees told me they just wanted to leave. so i acceded and we left.

eighth, today i turn 28.

in peace, solidarity, and rage,

jeff/hedge

Achieving Progressive Political Unity - By Kelly Gerling

2010-06-27T21:43:00.003-04:00

http://americanprogressivecongress.org/2010/06/27/achieving-progressive-political-unity/

“The will of the people shall be the law of the land.” That statement by Robert LaFollette in 1912 is clearly what we need on electoral reform when public policy is conservative and public opinion is progressive.

URGENT: warning re. increased police powers near the security zone

2010-06-25T01:37:00.001-04:00

URGENT: warning re. increased police powers near the security zone

June 24, 2010 - 5:01pm | by movementdefence
Under the Ontario Public Works Protection Act, the area inside and within 5 metres of the security perimeter (as seen on this map: http://www.g8-g20isu.ca/g20/resources/10-06-11-map.pdf) has been designated as a ‘public work’ from June 21st to 28th, 2010.

This means that police officers have the power to require anyone entering or attempting to enter or approaching the public work “to furnish his or her name and address, to identify himself or herself and to state the purpose for which he or she desires to enter the public work, in writing or otherwise”.

The police may also “search, without warrant, any person entering or attempting to enter a public work”. The police can also search “a vehicle in the charge or under the control of any such person or which has recently been or is suspected of having been in the charge or under the control of any such person or in which any such person is a passenger”.

Finally, the police “may refuse permission to any person to enter a public work and use such force as is necessary to prevent any such person from so entering”

Police may arrest, without warrant “any person who neglects or refuses to comply with a request or direction of a guard or peace officer, or who is found upon or attempting to enter a public work without lawful authority.”

Neglecting or refusing “to comply with a request or direction made under this Act by a guard or peace officer” or if you are a person found upon a public work or any approach thereto without lawful authority means you could be found guilty of an offence and be liable to a fine of not more than $500 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than two months, or to both.

Details of the geographic limitations are here: http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/source/regs/english/2010/elaws_src_regs...
Read the Public Works Protection here: http://www.canlii.org/en/on/laws/stat/rso-1990-c-p55/latest/rso-1990-c-p...

Midnight. Start of a new day.

2010-06-19T00:35:00.003-04:00

Rambunctious at La Palette. The new one on Queen Street.

Tory descent continues in 'strange new political world': poll

2010-06-17T22:11:00.005-04:00

Mr. Graves says that the first-past-the-post system is now unworkable because the “old parties are incapable of creating stable constituencies.

“Boomers will lose their strangle-hold on power. Young voters are turning to new parties like the GP [Green Party]. Parliaments will be forced to become mosaics rather than monolithic, reflecting a more pluralistic and faster-changing society.”

What if we had an election and no political party won?

What if we had an election and voters won?

Tory descent continues in 'strange new political world': poll

Big day coming up Saturday June 19

2010-06-15T00:59:00.006-04:00

Saturday, June 19 I will be helping present a workshop on electoral reform on behalf of Fair Vote Canada from 10 am until noon at Ryerson University, room Vic 206, as part of the People's Summit 2010.

This means someone else will have to give the regular Saturday noon orientation tour at Free Geek Toronto.

I may not make it to work at all, because I'll be playing with the Big Trouble Band at Mitzi's Sister, 1554 Queen Street East, from 5 pm to 7 pm.

I'll be jammin' with the Geminis at Ray the Baby Giant and Loretta's birthday party in the evening, then I'll be playing with Rambunctious at La Palette (the new one at Queen and Portland) at midnight.

Sunday I'll be at The Free Times Café from 8 until 11 pm with Gordon's Acoustic Living Room, this month featuring saxophone, mandolin, violin, pedal steel guitar, bagpipes, and (finally!) steel pan drums!

Stop talking about coalitions.

2010-06-15T00:46:00.001-04:00

"Let's stop the talk about mergers and monolithic parties and start addressing electoral reform."

http://communities.canada.com/shareit/blogs/themark/archive/2010/06/14/stop-talking-about-coalitions.aspx

BURMA: Freedom Vigil, Holy Trinity Church June 17, 2010,7:00 pm.

2010-06-09T12:27:00.001-04:00

I'm Blogging This Moment

2010-06-01T01:22:00.003-04:00

http://pennyred.blogspot.com/2010/05/im-blogging-this-moment.html

So there I am at the gates of Downing Street, at around 3pm this afternoon, with a moderately raucous throng of people in purple demanding 'Fair Votes Now.' We're here to hand in a petition as thick as a man's thigh, demanding a referendum on proportional representation.

And it's all got a bit noisy and spontaneous, in a shufflingly British sort of way, and I've managed to end up at the front of the line, just behind all the people with the huge cameras, who are always there at protests in London but don't really count. This is the closest I've ever been to Number Ten and aha, here come the vans.

Three riot vans screech up and police in yellow jackets pour out of the hatches like predatory lymphocytes to sterilise the dissent. They stream into formation and edge us back from the gates, politely for now, but extremely firmly. One young policeperson's face is really close to mine as he shuffles us unseeingly back, and suddenly hey, I bloody know you, officer.

Last time I saw Officer X, he was wearing my underwear and a red velvet corset.

This was about three years ago, at a photoshoot for Genet studio show we were both involved in, in which I played a cross-dressing lesbian hooker in 18th-century Paris and he played, funnily enough, a career sadist. We were all set up in an empty wine bar to do the shoot for the publicity posters, and we decided it'd look great and also be kinda hot if we swapped clothes.

So we did, and then we did the play, and then we left university and went our separate ways in the way that young people do, me to urban squalor, activism and writing, him to be a state t-cell. I recognised him instantly, because he was doing the same flinty, murderous, slightly suggestive gaze into the middle distance that made his character so effective. He's clearly not going to be on the beat for long.

So I say, hey. And he says nothing. And I say, hey, name. And he says, oh- er, hi!

His flak jacket is still all up in my face. We exchange awkward pleasantries. Because he's a copper now, he asks me if there really are another thousand of us coming. Because I'm an activist, I deny any knowledge of anything.

The crowd shifts, surges forward behind me, a shifting sea of quiet human rage. We're losing each other in the swell. The moment of connection is gone, and time rushes back with the noise of the chanting and more vans turning up.

We promise to contact each other on Facebook, and I disappear into the crowd

Good Idea!

2010-06-01T01:19:00.000-04:00

I am launching a campaign to have the G20 moved to a cruise ship so that we can save the $1 billion of security costs and our leaders can float around the oil slick as they dine on endangered seafood. They might even want to pop into a Haitian refugee camp or visit some Jamaican drug lords in between cocktails.

SEND HARPER A MESSAGE! Stephen Harper: HarpeS@parl.gc.ca

Darlene

Big Band, Rambunctious, and more!

2010-05-24T14:10:00.003-04:00

Tuesday, May 25, 8-10pm, The Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble at Arnold's Sports Bar, 485 Morden Road in Oakville, http://www.arnoldssportsbar.ca/.

And immediately following: Rambunctious at The Painted Lady, 218 Ossington Avenue, just south of Dundas, http://thepaintedlady.ca/, starting at 11 pm.

Also coming up:

Sunday, June 6, 11:30 am, The Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble at the Streetsville Bread & Honey Festival, http://www.breadandhoney.com/.

Saturday, June 19, 5-7 pm, The Big Trouble Band at Mitzi's Sister, 1554 Queen Street West, http://www.mitzis.ca/sister.html.

Sunday, June 20, 8-11 pm, Gordon's Acoustic Living Room at The Free Times Café, 320 College Street http://www.freetimescafe.com/. Halfway through Year Seven!

Check out Rambunctious on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/rmbnxs.

John Cleese on proportional representation

2010-05-05T09:42:00.001-04:00

Olden but golden!

Rambunctious on College Street

2010-05-05T02:54:00.004-04:00

One of four videos of Rambunctious playing on College Street in front of Soundscapes Records posted independently on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcANQbeLzVc&NR=1

Scoff 'n' Scuff Again, May 1, St. Christopher House

2010-04-30T00:46:00.002-04:00

Been there, done that. Gonna do it again.

It's worth the drive to Oakville!

2010-04-27T01:11:00.004-04:00

If you haven't yet seen and heard The Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble live at Arnold's Sports Bar, well it's about time you did.

Eighteen musicians! Five bucks! 8-10 pm

www.arnoldssportsbar.ca
485 Morden Road
Oakville, ON L6K 3W6
(905) 844-2613

Democracy Imperilled

2010-04-26T22:48:00.005-04:00

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/our-inability-to-elect-a-majority-government-imperils-democracy/article1545122/

It is the current voting system that keeps giving the Bloc Québécois two-thirds of the seats in Québec with one-third of the votes. The same system gives the NDP one seat out of ten, although they receive one out of five votes. This is because the Bloc's votes are geographically concentrated, while the NDP's are spread out across the country.

Under the current voting system, whether your vote counts or not depends on where you vote and how you vote.

Proportional voting systems, by definition, make every vote count. This is the answer to our democratic deficit, and anything less is not.

Hang Parliament!

2010-04-24T02:49:00.005-04:00

Exciting times in merry olde England! The current election campaign has evolved into a three way race, bringing the realization that it is entirely likely that the party with the most votes may still come in third, while the third-place party hangs on to power.

Hang parliament!

Mississauga Big Band Dinner & Dance April 17

2010-04-02T21:47:00.002-04:00

Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble at Arnold's Sports Bar Tuesday, March 30

2010-03-24T23:17:00.001-04:00

Hearts for Haiti - The Big Trouble Band

2010-03-05T22:50:00.002-05:00

Date:April 15, 2010

Cost: $20 / person

Location: The Opera House, 735 Queen Street East, Toronto

Time: Doors open at 5:30pm, concert starts at 6:15pm

Democracy Café

2010-02-20T19:21:00.003-05:00

Introduction to Voting Systems: Why do they matter?

Monday, February 22, 6-8 pm
University of Toronto, Koffler House, 569 Spadina Avenue, room KP108

This will be the first in an informal series of weekly talk and discussion sessions under the rubric Democracy Café, sponsored by Canadians against Proroguing Parliament (Toronto Chapter). The series is intended to help members of the group educate themselves on the mechanics of parliamentary process in Canada, and to be prelude to a more formal series of courses for the general public.

All are welcome.

Suggested reading:

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/polit/damy/BeginnningReading/beginningreadings.htm
http://www.fairvote.ca/sites/fairvote.ca/files/Lijphart_summary.pdf?q=files/Lijphart_summary.pdf
http://aceproject.org/

Speaker: Wayne Smith, Fair Vote Canada

Wayne Smith is Operations Coordinator for Free Geek Toronto, a non-profit organization that teaches people to make new computers from old. He is a passionate advocate for human rights, with a special interest in economic, social and cultural rights, and is a former Chair of the Amnesty International Toronto Organization. He is also a Campaign Coordinator for Fair Vote Canada, a national grassroots movement for fair voting reform. Wayne is a former national President of Fair Vote Canada, and was the founding Chair of the Fair Vote Canada Toronto Chapter and founding Director of the Fair Vote Ontario Campaign. He has been working for fair voting reform for ten years and doesn't know when to quit.

See you there!

Gordon's Acoustic Living Room at the Free Times Café 8-11 pm Sunday Feb 21

2010-02-14T15:43:00.002-05:00

From Jonathan Rudin:

The singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III wrote a tune on his first album, released many decades ago, that included the lyrics:

Four is a magic number
But then again so is five.

(The song also included this great verse: “Every time I sit you down/To tell you what is true/For safety sake, remember please/I would shut up if I knew.” But more about that another time.)

I think what Loudon was getting at here is that we often invest numbers with more meanings than they might necessarily have.

Take for example, let’s say, the number seven.

We have the Seven Dwarfs (shouldn’t it be the Seven Dwarves?): Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, etc.

Then there are Seven Deadly Sins: Dopey, Grumpy, Sleepy, Doc etc.

In film we have Kurosawa’s masterpiece (and my dad’s favourite film) “The Seven Samurai.” We also have the inferior American remake (when using the term “American remake” is the word “inferior” always redundant or implied?) “The Magnificent Seven.”

I could go on but this would require increased reliance on Google for searching things relating to the number seven and I would get caught up in all the trivia I was reading and probably not get back to this missive.

Where was I? Oh yes, the number seven.

While then not wanting to weight this number with undue and unwarranted relevance or meaning, I would point out that Gordon’s Acoustic Living Room is now in its seventh year of monthly shows at the Free Times Café at College and Major. I think that says something – I’m not sure what that is, but I think its something.

Anyway, this month we’re playing on February 21 at 8 p.m. As always, its free and there will be lots of good food and drink.

Hope to see you there.

Found on Youtube

2010-02-09T01:42:00.004-05:00

That's me behind the guy in the blue shirt.

Obama takes questions at Republican retreat

2010-02-01T01:33:00.001-05:00

This is astonishing. Imagine Stephen harper taking questions at an NDP convention.

How to report the news

2010-01-30T13:15:00.001-05:00

Prorogue Apathy Today!

2010-01-23T12:54:00.004-05:00

We need a new, proportional voting system now! It's not fair that most of our votes don't count. It's not fair that most of us are "represented" by people we voted against. It's not fair that one political party gets all the power, even though most people voted against them. It's not fair that Conservative voters can't elect anybody in Toronto, that Liberal voters can't elect anybody in Alberta, that NDP voters are under-represented by half, and that Green voters can't elect anybody anywhere. We need a voting system that makes every vote count, no matter where you live or how you vote.

Sign the Declaration of Voters' Rights http://www.fairvote.ca/en/declaration-of-voters-rights. The prorogation problem is just the latest in a long series of actions by governments of various stripes to diminish our democracy and shift power into the Prime Minister's Office. It's not just about Stephen Harper. The core problem is that our antique, winner-take-all voting system does not allow us to hold politicians and political parties accountable. Proportional voting is the normal way of doing things in most developed countries, and has been for 100 years.

Join Fair Vote Canada (www.FairVote.Ca) and support our campaign for electoral reform. The people elected under the current system tend to think that the current system is working just fine. Electoral reform is about voters taking power away from political party elites. They won't just hand it over. We will not get a fair voting system until the people demand it. That would be you.

Prorogued: Globe & Mail Cartoon

2010-01-21T22:50:00.001-05:00

Prorogued: Globe & Mail Cartoon

I care!

2010-01-21T16:36:00.001-05:00

Year Seven Begins!

2010-01-16T18:07:00.006-05:00

Yes, we at Gordon's Acoustic Living Room are about to begin our seventh year of playing every month at the Free Times Café, 320 College Street, just west of Spadina. As usual, it's on the third Sunday of the month, which happens to be January 17. As usual, we will play from 8 pm until 11, but it's a small room—get there early! As usual, no cover, no minimum.

And of course, on Monday, January 25, we present the Seventh Annual Burns Night celebration. This is how it all started for us at the Free Times. For this one night of the year, the band is called The Burns Unit. Show starts at 9:30 pm, but the room is even more crowded than usual, so do get there early. Haggis? Of course! And neeps and tatties and poetry too—that's the only way we keep attendance down low enough to fit everyone in.

Also coming soon:

The regular last-Tuesday-of-the-month with the Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble at Arnold's Sports Bar, 485 Morden Road in Oakville. Eighteen musicians, five bucks—can't beat that for value! 8-10 pm

And EVERY Tuesday at the The Painted Lady, 218 Ossington Avenue, just south of Dundas, get Rambunctious. More horns than you can shake a stick at and Eva Moon on drums. No tunes, we just make it up as we go along. Impossible to describe, you've got to see it and hear it. Starts at 11 pm.

Prorogue Apathy Now!

2010-01-08T00:33:00.008-05:00

The action of the Canadian government in proroguing (cancelling) Parliament to save their political butts, not once but twice, has unleashed a storm of political outrage. The Facebook group Canadians against Proroguing Parliament has exploded to over 80,000 members in just a few days, and it’s not the only one. Protest rallies are being organized all over Canada for Saturday, January 23.

Friends of Fair Vote Canada will know that this is only the latest in a series of actions by governments of different political stripes to diminish the relevance of Parliament and concentrate power in the office of the Prime Minister, and that the root problem is our inability to hold politicians and political parties accountable because of our antique, winner-take-all voting system.

Opportunities for political change come along only once in a while. This is one of those opportunities! Act now!

Here’s what to do:

 Sign the Declaration of Voters’ Rights: http://fairvote.ca/en/declaration-of-voters-rights. Forward this message to all your contacts and ask them to do the same.

 Download and print off a copy of the Declaration of Voters’ Rights, get ten signatures, and mail it to Fair Vote Canada.

 Attend one of the anti-proroguing rallies with copies of the Declaration and get more signatures.

Here are more ways to build a better democracy in Canada:

 Join Fair Vote Canada and support us with your donation: http://fairvote.ca/en/Join

 Join our Facebook and Twitter groups and become a fan. Share with your online friends. http://www.facebook.com/FairVoteCanada http://twitter.com/FairVoteCanada

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Tractor Square Dancing

2009-12-31T12:51:00.001-05:00

What would we do without YouTube?

MBBJE at Arnold's Sports Bar Tuesday, December 29, 8 pm

2009-12-27T17:37:00.002-05:00

The Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble

presents:

“Live At Arnold’s Sportsbar ”

Tuesday, December 29 8:00-10:00 PM

Cover Charge: $ 5

Arnold’s Sportsbar

485 Morden Rd.

Oakville

905-844-2613

www.arnoldssportsbar.ca

It was a blast!

2009-12-22T21:49:00.002-05:00

Kensington Festival of Lights, December 21, 6-8 pm

2009-12-20T13:28:00.003-05:00

I'll be marching and playing with Richard Underhill and the Kensington Horns, who include the Rambunctious lot, at the Kensington Festival of Lights on Monday, December 21, 6-8 pm.

Gordon's Acoustic All-Reguest Night Sunday December 13 2009 Free Times Café

2009-12-10T20:26:00.002-05:00

Wee Stinky Band at Sticky Fingers Saturday December 5

2009-12-05T15:11:00.002-05:00

Big Trouble at Mitzi's Sister Thursday, December 3, 2009 at 10 pm

2009-11-30T12:23:00.002-05:00

Go to this site and vote for this idea - right now!

2009-11-16T23:55:00.002-05:00

Planned and perceived obsolescence has created the myth that a computer needs to be replaced every 2-3 years. Working hardware becomes e-discards that is being sent to landfill sites, shipped illegally to the Third World where it causes huge environmental and health problems, and since April of 2009 in Ontario, trucked to destruction plants, further wasting our precious fossil fuels and spewing toxic substances into our air.

Meanwhile, many individuals can’t participate fully in the digital economy because of the high cost of hardware, software, and Internet access, creating an ever-widening "digital divide" between the rich and poor. The Bloor & Lansdowne area encompasses the federal riding of Davenport, one of the poorest in the country, and this is exactly where CyberEquality expects to create its 2000 sq. ft. community technology centre in the first quarter of 2010.

Axes of Evil Saturday November 14 2009 The Annex Live 296 Brunswick Avenue just south of Bloor

2009-11-13T19:23:00.002-05:00

Suite Life Fundraiser

2009-11-11T03:05:00.005-05:00

If you go to this, I guarantee you will be glad you did.

Afterwards, you can come to the Free Times Café, 320 College street west of Spadina, and hear Gordon's Acoustic Living Room, 8-11 pm.

Sign the Declaration of Voters' Rights!

2009-11-09T22:51:00.002-05:00

Are you fed up with voting in federal elections where seven million of us cast ballots that elect no one? Are you tired of Parliaments that don’t represent the people of Canada? Are you angry that a party can win a majority of seats even when 60% of us vote against them?

You’re not alone.

Several weeks ago, Fair Vote Canada held a press conference at Parliament to launch the Declaration of Voters’ Rights (see the article, photos and video on our website).

This document is not a petition. It’s not a request. It’s a people’s declaration. Canadian voters have a fundamental right to equal votes, fair election results and legitimate majority rule.

Between now and the next election, we intend to circulate the Declaration as widely as possible.

How many signers can we get? How loud will our voices be? That depends on you and other citizens.

If you sign today, and pass it along to just five friends, we can jumpstart this campaign and build real momentum.

At our press conference, the first three signers were Nathalie Des Rosiers, General Counsel, Canadian Civil Liberties Association; Ed Broadbent, former NDP leader; and Dr. John Trent, former secretary-general of the International Political Science Association.

Many others have since joined them. And now we need you.

Please sign the Declaration of Voters’ Rights today and forward it to your friends.

Yours for a democratic Canada,

Bronwen Bruch

President

Fair Vote Canada

Fair Vote Canada

Palm party postponed

2009-11-05T23:00:00.008-05:00

Hey Fanz!

OK, I've had a couple of bars shut down right after I played there. But this is the first time a restaurant has closed up just before I arrived. Apparently the mere prospect of my appearing there was enough to make them throw in the towel and go out of business.

Well, not exactly. However, in a sudden development, Sage West Restaurant is now under new ownership.

It is also under renovation for the next month, which is why the breathlessly anticipated debut of the ROYAL PALM ORCHESTRA is POSTPONED until an indefinite time in the not-too-distant future.

Sorry for the inconvenience. I know some of you have been trying to call the restaurant for reservations. Put away your tiara and await developments.

However, you needn't be without entertainment in the meantime!

Start making plans to attend the Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble Christmas Concert, 7 pm on Sunday, December 6 at the Cooksville United Church, 2500 Mimosa Row, in Mississauga near Dundas and Hurontario, to see if reindeer really know how to swing!

And come and hear me make music with these bands (count 'em!) in these places at these times:

Saturday, November 14, 8 pm

The Axes of Evil

Annex Live, 296 Brunswick Avenue (just south of Bloor)

Kevin & Deborah Go Coastal!

(RSVP to bcampbell@pathcom.com)

Sunday, November 15, 8-11 pm

Gordon's Acoustic Living Room

The Free Times Café

320 College Street (west of Spadina)

(new tunes every month!)

Friday, November 20, nineish

Patio Dave & The Lanterns

The Brig, Norfolk Hotel, Port Dover ON

(Private Party)

Tuesday, November 24, 8-10 pm

Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble

Arnold's Sports Bar

485 Morden Road, Oakville, 905-844-2613, www.arnoldssportsbar.ca

Cover charge $5

(Regular monthly gig — handy to Burlington and points west!)

Thursday, December 3

The Big Trouble Band

Mitzi's Sister

1554 Queen Street West (at Sorauren)

Saturday, December 5, 9pm-1am

The Wee Stinky Band

Sticky Fingers Bar & Grill

199 Essa Road, Barrie ON

Sunday, December 6, 7pm

Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble

Annual Christmas Concert

Cooksville United Church

2500 Mimosa Row

in Mississauga near Dundas and Hurontario

Tickets $20

Sunday, December 13

Gordon's Acoustic Living Room

The Free Times Café

320 College Street (west of Spadina)

Fifth Annual All-request Night!

And every Tuesday, get Rambunctious at 11 pm at the Painted Lady, 218 Ossington Avenue just south of College, http://www.thepaintedlady.ca/

Of course, January is just around the corner, and that can only mean — yes, haggis! Can't wait!

Speaking of tiaras, I was on my way to Sage Restaurant after school today, sitting on a westbound Carlton car at Queen's Park watching the OCAP demo in front of the Legislature. Screaming sirens approached from the south. Instead of an ambulance, a flurry of motorcycle cops took over the intersection. I was wondering if the demo was about to get rough, when a couple of flagged limos went by. Hmmm, I thought, what visiting dignitaries are in the neighbourhood? Aha! The Prince of Wales!

Yes, I was that close to him. And no doubt to the Duchess of Cornwall as well. Probably just had their flu shots down the street.

What a day!

A shop assistant who was told she could not sing while she stacked shelves without a performance licence has been given an apology.

2009-11-05T22:54:00.001-05:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/tayside_and_central/8317952.stm

A shop assistant who was told she could not sing while she stacked shelves without a performance licence has been given an apology.

Sandra Burt, 56, who works at A&T Food store in Clackmannanshire, was warned she could be fined for her singing by the Performing Right Society (PRS).

However the organisation that collects royalties on behalf of the music industry has now reversed its stance.

They have sent Mrs Burt a bouquet of flowers and letter of apology.

Mrs Burt, who describes herself as a Rolling Stones fan, said that despite the initial warning from the PRS, she had been unable to stop herself singing at work.

They would need to put a plaster over my mouth to get me to stop, I can't help it

Sandra Burt
Singing shop worker

The village store where Mrs Burt works was contacted by the PRS earlier this year to warn them that a licence was needed to play a radio within earshot of customers.

When the shop owner decided to get rid of the radio as a result, Mrs Burt said she began singing as she worked.

She told the BBC news website: "I would start to sing to myself when I was stacking the shelves just to keep me happy because it was very quiet without the radio.

"When I heard that the PRS said I would be prosecuted for not having a performance licence, I thought it was a joke and started laughing.

"I was then told I could be fined thousands of pounds. But I couldn't stop myself singing.

"They would need to put a plaster over my mouth to get me to stop, I can't help it."

In response to the furore created by their initial hardline, the PRS contacted Mrs Burt to apologise.

In a note attached to a large bouquet of flowers they said: "We're very sorry we made a big mistake.

"We hear you have a lovely singing voice and we wish you good luck."

Stuff Coming Up

2009-10-25T23:58:00.004-04:00

Hey Fanz!

Come and hear me make music with these bands (count 'em!) in these places at these times:

Tuesday, October 27, 8-10 pm

Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble

Arnold's Sports Bar

485 Morden Road, Oakville, 905-844-2613, www.arnoldssportsbar.ca

Cover charge $5

(Regular monthly gig — handy to Burlington and points west!)

Saturday, October 31 - Hallowe'en!

Patio Dave & the Lanterns with Mark Haines

Lighthouse Festival Theatre, Port Dover

(Party of the year! Worth the drive to Dover.)

Saturday, November 7 at 7 pm

The Royal Palm Orchestra

Sage West Restaurant

924 College Street (west of Ossington)

Sagewest@rogers.com 647-346-6183

www.sagewestrestaurant.com

(George Gershwin, Cole Porter, yada, yada, yada)

Saturday, November 14, 8 pm

The Axes of Evil

Annex Live, 296 Brunswick Avenue (just south of Bloor)

Kevin & Deborah Go Coastal!

(RSVP to bcampbell@pathcom.com)

Sunday, November 15, 8-11 pm

Gordon's Acoustic Living Room

The Free Times Café

320 College Street (west of Spadina)

(new tunes every month!)

Friday, November 20, nineish

Patio Dave & The Lanterns

The Brig, Norfolk Hotel, Port Dover ON

(Private Party)

Tuesday, November 24, 8-10 pm

Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble

Arnold's Sports Bar

485 Morden Road, Oakville, 905-844-2613, www.arnoldssportsbar.ca

Cover charge $5

(Regular monthly gig — handy to Burlington and points west!)

Thursday, December 3

The Big Trouble Band

Mitzi's Sister

1554 Queen Street West (at Sorauren)

Saturday, December 5, 9pm-1am

The Wee Stinky Band

Sticky Fingers Bar & Grill

199 Essa Road, Barrie ON

Sunday, December 6, 7pm

Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble

Annual Christmas Concert

Sunday, December 13

Gordon's Acoustic Living Room

The Free Times Café

320 College Street (west of Spadina)

Fifth Annual All-request Night!

Big Trouble at Mitzi's Sister Friday, October 23, 2009 at 10 pm

2009-10-23T17:03:00.002-04:00

2009-10-09T15:31:00.000-04:00

Stuff Coming Up

2009-09-19T12:22:00.003-04:00

OK, back to reality! Here's where I'll be playing soon (without Bono).

Sunday, September 20, 8-11 pm
Gordon's Acoustic Living Room
The Free Times Café
320 College Street (west of Spadina)
(Our regular monthly gig - year six!)

Sunday, September 27, 3-5 pm
Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble
Pedestrian Sunday, Kensington Market
(Rare downtown gig — don't miss this opportunity!)

Tuesday, September 29, 8-10 pm
Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble
Arnold's Sports Bar
485 Morden Road, Oakville, 905-844-2613, www.arnoldssportsbar.ca
Cover charge $5
(Regular monthly gig — handy to Burlington and points west!)

Friday, October 9, evening
The Big Trouble Band
The Black Swan Tavern
154 Danforth Avenue, 416-469-0537
(This is a legendary blues room, so we're very excited about this gig. New tunes!)

Sunday, October 18, 8-11 pm
Gordon's Acoustic Living Room
The Free Times Café
320 College Street (west of Spadina)
(Our regular monthly gig - year six!)

Friday, October 23
The Big Trouble Band
Mitzi's Sister
1554 Queen Street West (west of Lansdowne)
(We're getting to be regulars here, too!)

Tuesday, October 27, 8-10 pm
Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble
Arnold's Sports Bar
485 Morden Road, Oakville, 905-844-2613, www.arnoldssportsbar.ca
Cover charge $5
(Regular monthly gig — handy to Burlington and points west!)

Saturday, October 31 - Hallowe'en!
Patio Dave & the Lanterns with Mark Haines
Lighthouse Festival Theatre, Port Dover
(Party of the year! Worth the drive to Dover.)

Fun with Bono

2009-09-19T11:56:00.004-04:00

I had a blast this week on Wednesday and Thursday at the U2 concerts. (They can call it the Rogers Centre all they want, but you and I know it's Skydome.) I was there (at Bono's invitation) volunteering for Amnesty International, promoting the Demand Dignity campaign with a photo petition (link to follow when I get it together) and petitioning on behalf of Aung San Suu Kyi.

At the climax of the show they sing a song about Aung San Suu Kyi, and at that point, I and about forty other volunteers from Amnesty, One.org, and Canadian Friends of Burma got to walk out on stage wearing Aung San Suu Kyi masks. Woo hoo! Being adored by 50,000 screaming fans is definitely something I could get used to.

We also got to watch the show from the "Red Zone", between the runway and the stage, so from where we were, the band looked like this:

photos by Dawn Michael

Why we are winning even though it feels like we are losing

2009-09-07T15:20:00.001-04:00

I came across the passage below in a blog on third-party politics in the US. It helps to explain why we should keep beating our heads against this concrete wall we call electoral reform.

Wayne

http://washparkprophet.blogspot.com/2009/09/political-theory-401-beyond-high-school.html

It isn't that I believe that major political changes in an ideologically positive direction aren't possible.

Seemingly against the narrow politics of self-interest, the franchise was consistently expanded in nations across the world, to broader groups of people. In the end, the abolitionists and the suffragettes won, not just in the United States, but worldwide. The Progressive movement, for better and worse, had an immense political impact in what was then viewed as a liberal direction, a century ago (culminating in the ultimate political experiment, Prohibition) .

The Civil Rights movement was so effective that most leading segregationist politicians and religious denominations who outlived it ended up endorsing an end to de jure racial segregation and the legalization of interracial marriage. Almost every non-European country has gone from being a European colony to achieving sovereignty and independence, the largest share in the 1960s. In the 1960s, abortion was illegal or highly regulated in the vast majority of the world. Now, it is legal in most of the developed world with only modest regulation. Government safety nets for those in need were once non-existent and are now the world norm. The death penalty has been abolished is most of the world and a minority of U.S. states; in many of the countries and U.S. states where the death penalty is still on the books as an available punishment (e.g. Kenya which just commuted the sentence of more than 2,000 death row prisoners, or the U.S. military), it is carried out
rarely or not at all in practice, even in aggravated murder cases.

Women have vastly more career options than they did half a century ago, and domestic violence is now taken much more seriously by the legal system. Gay rights have dramatically expanded in the last generation.

In the United States, today's progressive Democrats are the intellectual heirs to the advocates of these earlier, stable, yet progressive political sea changes. Conservatives, meanwhile, have consistently opposed these changes.

When these issues emerged, they were highly partisan, even though many are the subject of a broad bipartisan consensus now. There aren't a lot of Republicans out there publicly arguing that the vote should go back to being restricted to white, male property owners (although the less overtly racist and sexist argument that the vote should be restricted to those with sufficient civic education is popular among conservatives today and isn't dismissed out of hand by liberals).

Even in the midst of a national debate about health care, where an impotent "public option" has become a poster child for people fear mongering about "socialism" sweeping America, very few legitimate political figures with any actual power are arguing that the taxpayer funded American single payer health care system for the elderly (a classic example of a "socialist" welfare state program), or its welfare state fellow traveler, Social Security, should be dismantled. Socialism is a lot less frightening when encountered at a personal level (something also true of immigrants, homosexuality, and transgender individuals) .

How did these big changes come about?

Yes, there was activism within political parties. In fact, third parties were also created around most of these issues. But, ultimately, the real progress came though movement politics. Ideological and political leaders changed people's views in society as a whole. This happened over time, not all at once. It was done with combinations of electoral politics, legislative politics, public interest litigation, private civic action and public awareness campaigns. The mix has differed with different issues.

Movement politics has its own logic. Philosophers come up with ideas. Pioneers in the movement spend a lot of time engaged in futilely banging their heads against the wall, making sound but not light in formal legal and political institutions, and crying in the wilderness. Effective leaders take up the cause and allow it to gain legitimacy with a progressive "vanguard of the revolution," often an educated elite, and gain traction in formal legal and political institutions.

Two steps forward are often followed by one step back. The abolition of slavery and the political gains of reconstruction after the Civil War, were followed by almost a century of lynchings and the segregationist system. Women entered the workforce, outside a narrow handful of professions, a couple of generations after they gained legal and political equality rights. A great reduction in the use of the death penalty in the United States has been accompanied by a dramatic rise in criminal incarceration and life imprisonment sentences. In most of the world, political independence from colonial powers was swiftly followed by autocratic dictators or autocratically controlled political parties that remained in control for many decades. But, after these social and political movements stall and peter out, the cycle repeats itself and there is more progress. And, gains made in a first round of reforms are rarely completely reversed.

Successes in one movement teach the leaders of the next generation's movements organized around different issues how to bring about change. The gay rights movement, for example, has mostly consciously and intentionally followed the model of the Civil Rights Movement. Civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., the most prominent figure in the movement, who is now a national and international icon, in turn, consciously modeled his approach on that taken by Ghandi in his efforts to seek independence from colonial rule for India and on the tactics of the union movement. He was probably informed by the model of the movement for women's sufferage and the abolitionist movement in the United States as well; his embrace of the term "progressive" that had advocated both causes, is one of the important reasons that liberal Democrats today embrace that terminology.

As these movements illustrate, the real leaders in movement politics often hold no formal position of authority in the political system. Martin Luther King, Jr. never held elected office outside of civic organizations that he helped to found. The Ghandi that Martin Luther King, Jr. emulated was never a prime minister or president. The leading sufferagists were self-appointed.

The flame that keeps these movements going, in both their dormant and seemingly futile stages, and as they gather steam and become unstoppable global waves of policy change, is the power of ideas. Powerful ideas are pilot lights ready to ignite immense political and policy change when enough fuel for political action is present.

Missisauga Big Band at Arnold's - twice!

2009-08-22T16:53:00.004-04:00

Hey Fanz!

I'll be playing with the Mississuaga Big Band Jazz Ensemble at Arnold's Sports Bar in Oakville—twice in one week!

TONIGHT—Saturday, August 22—we'll be playing at 9 pm. Come on out and support the band!

Tuesday, August 25, at 8 pm is our regular last-Tuesday-of-the-month gig.

This is a great opportunity for those of you who live in Oakville, Burlington, Hamilton, and points west. You know who you are!

Love to see you there!

Arnold's Sports Bar
485 Morden Road, Oakville

905-844-2613
www.arnoldssportsbar.ca

Also coming up:

Sunday, September 20, 8-10 pm

Gordon's Acoustic Living Room

Free Times Café

320 College Street (west of Spadina)

Friday, October 9

Big Trouble Band

The Black Swan Tavern

154 Danforth Avenue (east of Broadview)

Friday, October 23

Big Trouble Band

Mitzi's Sister

1554 Queen Street West (west of Lansdowne)

Saturday, October 31 (Hallowe'en)

Patio Dave & the Lanterns with Mark Haines

Lighhouse Festival Theatre

Port Dover ON

Tiff's Backstage Pass

2009-07-23T21:18:00.003-04:00

Beaches Jazz Fest

2009-07-23T12:21:00.002-04:00

If it ever stops raining, I'll be playing at the Beaches Jazz Fest with the Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble Friday and Saturday, 7-11 pm. Look for us in front of Bellefair Church.

Perpetuum Jazzile - Africa

2009-07-19T13:30:00.002-04:00

This is cool! They're from Slovenia.

Busy times coming up!

2009-07-15T23:11:00.003-04:00

On Sunday, July 19, I will be playing with the Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble at Port Credit Memorial Park at 6:30 pm as part of the Sunset Concert series.

Then I will zoom back to Trawna to join Gordon's Acoustic Living Room for the second set of our regular monthly gig at the Free Times Café the same evening.

Also coming up with the MBBJE:
Friday, July 24 and Saturday, July 25, 7-11 pm, at the Beaches Jazz Festival and
our regular fourth-Tuesday gig at Arnold's Sports Bar in Oakville on July 28.

Followed in short order by:
Big Trouble at Mitzi's Sister on July 30 and
Kempenfest at Tiff's in Barrie with the Wee Stinky Band, July 31, 4-9 pm.

And I'm doing a wedding on August 1! Whew!

Kempenfest fun July 31

2009-07-15T14:03:00.006-04:00

I'll be playing with the Wee Stinkies again in Barrie on July 31 at Tiff's Bar and Restaurant, 130 Dunlop Street East.

It'll be fun.

Neon News 090630

2009-06-30T03:17:00.001-04:00

Hey Fanz!

I'll be making lots of music during this busy Canada Week!

Tonight! Tuesday, June 30, 8-10 pm, $5
The Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble
Arnold's Sports Bar
485 Morden Road Oakville 905-844-2613
www.arnoldssportsbar.ca
Last Tuesday of every month!

Wednesday, Canada Day, July 1, 4:30 pm, Free!
The Shuffle Demons and 1000 saxophones
Nathan Phillips Square
(That's in Toronto.)

Friday, July 3, 5:30ish to 9:30ish, Free! (who'd pay?)
The Wee Stinky Band
4th Annual Promenade Dayz After Work Patio Party
Tiff's Restaurant Bar, 130 Dunlop Street East, Barrie ON

Also coming up:

July 11 & 12, Afrofest!, Queen's Park, Toronto
North America's largest festival of African music, food and culture
and the biggest party in Toronto that nobody knows about.
I'll be coordinating volunteers for Amnesty International.

Sunday, July 19, 8-11 pm, no cover no minimum
Gordon's Acoustic Living Room
Free Times Café, 130 College Street, Trawna
Halfway through year six of regular monthly gigs!

July 25 & 26, 7-11 pm, No charge!
The Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble
The Beaches Jazz Festival

Tuesday, July 28, 8-10 pm, $5
The Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble
Arnold's Sports Bar
485 Morden Road Oakville 905-844-2613
www.arnoldssportsbar.ca
Last Tuesday of every month!

Thursday, July 30
The Big Trouble Band
Mitzi's Sister, 1554 Queen Street West

Friday, July 31, 4-9 pm, Free! (Who'd pay?)
The Wee Stinky Band
Kempenfest After Work Patio Party
Tiff's Restaurant Bar, 130 Dunlop Street East, Barrie ON

and don't forget—

You can still see ART by Pattie Walker and me
at the Ontario Craft Council Gallery
990 Queen Street West
http://www.craft.on.ca/
until July 11.

See ya!

Wayne

2009-06-30T02:44:00.000-04:00

Mala's eggplant recipe

2009-06-30T01:47:00.003-04:00

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Puncture eggplant twice on one side.

3. Fill the holes with slices of garlic.

4. Wrap the eggplant in foil.

5. Put in oven until soft. Check after 45 minutes.

6. Cut out the stem from a tomato and insert a few drops of olive oil into the hole.

7. Put the tomato in a separate baking dish and put in oven when the eggplant has been in for 30 minutes.

8. When the eggplant is soft, remove eggplant and tomato from oven and cool.

9. Remove the foil and skin the eggplant.

10. Skin the tomato and put in the same bowl with the eggplant.

11. Sauté one or two chopped onions in a pan with olive oil.

12. Add chili powder if desired, and green herbs such as thyme or basel.

13. Add onions to eggplant and tomato.

14. Salt and pepper to taste.

15. Crush everything with a fork and mix into a soft paste.

16. Add more olive oil if needed.

17. Serve cold or reheat.

Quick version: Cook eggplant in microwave, (without foil!) ten minutes on one side, eight minutes on the other. Cook tomato in microwave for three minutes.

For Immediate release: Calling All Sax Players July 1, Nathan Phillips Square at 4:30pm

2009-06-23T03:07:00.002-04:00

For Immediate release: Calling All Sax Players July 1, Nathan Phillips Square at 4:30pm

It’s been a long time since the last Richard Underhill email, so hi to everyone old and new, hope you’ve been keeping well! Here’s some ‘exciting’ Shuffle Demons news!

To celebrate 25 years of audaciousness, the Shuffle Demons and are embarking on a 2 month cross Canada tour (dates below or at http://www.shuffledemons.com).

To celebrate this momentous event we’re releasing ‘Get on the Bus,’ the long awaited Shuffle Demons DVD featuring all 6 videos, live performances from China, India, Stonehenge and Europe plus amazing photo galleries and interviews with the band.

The DVD will also include footage from our 2004 Guinness World Record breaking event with 900 saxophones. To celebrate this launch and to also regain the record (which was unofficially broken by a Taiwanese group last year) we are Calling all Sax Players to Nathan Phillips Square on Canada Day, July 1 at 4:30pm to help us retake the record! We’ll be playing a slightly demonized version of O Canada and with your help, will break the record with at least 919 saxophones! What the hey, let’s go for a cool 1000!

You can register online for this event at http://www.torontojazz.com/Pages/Toronto_Downtown_Jazz_Festival_pgM241.asp

On site registration starts at 2pm at Nathan Phillips Square, we’ll rehearse a bit at 3:30 and then attempt to break the record at 4:30 pm. Then as an added bonus, the Shuffle Demons will play a set of all your faves at 5pm!

The Shuffle Demon line up this year is Rich Underhill, Perry White and Kelly Jefferson on saxes, George Koller on bass and Stich Wynston on drums.

Be sure to come out and bring your horn and help us break the record again. And if you were there last time, pick up a copy of ‘Get on the Bus’ to see our last date with destiny!

Get on the Bus – the Legend of the Shuffle Demons

The long awaited DVD from the Shuffle Demons features 25 years of great demons memories including all 6 videos, their Guinness World Record breaking event with 900 saxophones, live performances from around the world, the Shuffle Demons in China, India, Stonehenge and Europe plus amazing photo galleries and interviews with the band.

The Legend of the Shuffle Demons awaits you on this fast paced, funny, digitally re-mastered 2 hour DVD.

Shuffle Demons 25th Anniversary Tour:

June 25 – Calgary Jazz Festival
June 26 -Medicine Hat Jazz Festival (noon)
June 26 – Edmonton Jazz Fest (Yardbird Suite)
June 27 – Victoria Jazz Festival
June 28 – Vancouver Jazz Festival
June 29 Saskatoon Jazz Festival
June 30 – Winnipeg Jazz Festival
July 1 – Toronto Jazz Festival 4pm-6:30pm Nathan Phillips Square – World Record
July 10 – Montreal Jazz Festival 6pm
July 11 - Hildebrand Jazz Festival
July 17 – Halifax Jazz Festival
July 18 St. John’s Jazz Festival
July 19 - Waterloo Jazz Festival
July 31 – Cumberland, BC the Waverly
Aug 1 – Hornby Island festival
Aug 2 – Vernon, BC
Aug 7 Edge of the World Festival – Haida Gwaii
Aug 8 Maple Ridge, Jazz Festival
Aug 13 Collingwood Jazz Festival
Aug 14 Collingwood Jazz Festival
Sept 11 Sudbury Jazz Festival
Sept 12 Guelph Jazz Festival 5pm - 7pm

As usual, if you would like to be removed from this very occasional list of music events, Please email back with ‘remove’ in the subject line.

Thanks very much.

Rich

http://www.richardunderhill.com
http://www.shuffledemons.com

Fluid Edge - steel, sandblasted plate glass, neon 19" x 65"

2009-05-28T23:04:00.006-04:00

My good friend Pattie Walker has won the Ontario Craft Council's Hey Frey Award for excellence for 2009.

Congratulations, Pattie!

As a result, she gets to show a piece in the Award Winners' Exhibition.

She has chosen to display a piece we did together, a set of three sandblasted glass and neon pieces. So once again I am treated to the thrill of seeing my work displayed in an art gallery!

Please join us for the Opening Reception on Wednesday, June 3 at The Ontario Crafts Council Gallery, 990 Queen Street West, 6:30-8:30 pm.

The exhibition will continue from June 3 until July 11.

2009-05-26T12:06:00.002-04:00

Afrofest is coming!

Afrofest 2009 will take place in Queen’s Park (behind the Ontario Legislature), on Saturday and Sunday, July 11 & 12.

Afrofest is Canada’s largest African music event, and one of North America’s largest festivals of African music and culture.

It is also Amnesty International’s largest annual volunteer event in Toronto. Once again, we will have a significant presence at Afrofest, with general information on AI and actions on African issues.

We will be meeting thousands of people, and we will require 20-30 volunteers to do a three-hour shift over the course of the weekend.

Don’t know anything about African issues? No problem!

We will be holding a pre-Afrofest orientation meeting for volunteers on Thursday, July 9 at 7:00 pm in the NEW Amnesty offices at 1992 Yonge Street.

Can you help?

Please contact:
Wayne Smith
Wayne@wayneon.ca
416-407-7009

Oh, and one more thing—there’s food, crafts and music!

Afrofest is fun!

Image by Randy Holder

2009-05-20T22:24:00.004-04:00

Neither will we.

2009-05-18T15:22:00.003-04:00

Wayne Smith has left a new comment on the post "Lessons from the Tragedy of BC-STV":

Electoral reform is dead only until the next horribly distorted election result, which should be coming along right about the time of the next election.

As a result of the election just past, BC once again has a "majority" government that most people voted against.

Once again, most voters are "represented" by someone they voted against.

Once again, most MLAs "represent" mostly people who voted against them.

Citizens, mystified at why politicians just don't listen, continue to sense that their vote doesn't make a difference. Turnout hits an alltime low. Most people don't bother to vote.

Our current voting system doesn't work. It doesn't work in the literal and straightforward sense that it does not accurately translate the votes we cast into political representation in our legislatures.

Because most of our votes have absolutely no effect on the outcome of the election, the outcome of every election is horribly distorted.

The people we vote for don't get elected, and the government we end up with is not the government we voted for.

As a result of the referendum campaign, thousands more people understand that our current voting system just doesn't work, and must be changed.

Once you get it, it's hard to forget it.

We need a fair voting system!

The problem hasn't gone away, and neither will we.

Posted by Wayne Smith to TruthTalkOnline at May 18, 2009 12:17 PM
http://truthtalkonline.blogspot.com/2009/05/lessons-from-tragedy-of-bc-stv_18.html

Big Trouble Returns

2009-05-15T01:14:00.002-04:00