A bunch of us gathered at the venerable Georgetown Pub in St. John’s Friday for a karaoke night. Our friends Jessica and Brock have been wrapping up a visit, and a bunch of former newsroom… Read More
Ten summers ago, case/lang/veirs was released — a one-off collaboration between the singers Neko Case, k.d. lang and Laura Veirs. It’s worthy, and it all happened fairly quickly. To mark the occasion, the trio and… Read More
“Our generation are the new old. I remember what someone of 60 looked like when I was a kid. They didn’t look like me.”— Jack Nicholson, in 1998 Aging bites, and we all look at… Read More
We had some friends over for dinner last night, and it was lovely: six of us in all, dozens of stories, too many laughs to count. Jessica and Brock were back in St. John’s for… Read More
Some nights ago, when there was still a bit of heat in the air and golden light outside, Martha and I sat down to watch A Room with a View. I’d hesitate to count the… Read More
“But to target Canada? I wouldn’t personally poke the eye of my best friend. Diplomacy doesn’t have to become insulting. Negotiations are only cranky if you make them cranky.”— Robert Restaino Robert Restaino is the… Read More
Two years ago today was the last day of my dad’s life. Bill Gushue died in his home on July 30, 2024. It was not a shock: he was 95, and he had spent his… Read More
It’s not the most glamorous drink, but it’s been a go-to thing for me for the better part of a year. Earlier this month, I wrote about my big, ugly fibre-packed bowl of breakfast, and… Read More
“I’m least challenged or inspired by [Hollywood] stories… I’ve gravitated towards independent cinema because you have to work harder in studio scripts to flesh out characters, particularly female ones. They are not as sharply edged,… Read More
Several times this year alone, I’ve spoken with people who have had to deal with an issue that can be a defining moment in a family: surrendering a driver’s licence. Driving can get more complicated… Read More
Like a lot of people, I didn’t think that much of George Michael at the outset. Wham! was a huge pop act in the early and mid-Eighties, and were hard to escape. Nothing really against… Read More
“Ideas brush past fleeting and insubstantial as moths. But I let them go, I don’t want them. What I want is a voice.”— Joyce Carol Oates Having turned 88 last month, the American author Joyce… Read More
“No good opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing when they are feeling sensible.”— W.H. Auden So wrote the British poet W.H. Auden, during a period of his life after he had… Read More
In November 1986, I went to see New Order at the Congress Centre in Ottawa. Peter Gabriel was playing that same night in an arena across town; instead of a nosebleed seat there, I went… Read More
Martha and I were in Toronto in early June, just before FIFA launched the World Cup matches in cities across North America. Toronto was clearly expecting some hoopla — and not just in anticipatory (actually,… Read More