At Home in Hespeler

I am really liking what I have been hearing of the new “Supergroup” Black Country Communion, with Jason Bonham, Derek Sherinian, Glenn Hughes and Joe Bonamassa. Their first single, One Last Soul, is available for free download on their website (use the promo code OLS2010). It is excellent.

Then last week a video of them “recording,” The Great Divide, was released. Lets call it an easy 2 for 2:

In July 1966, myself, my brother and my mother jumped on a puddle hopper from Ireland to Scotland, and from Scotland came to Canada, where my father had arrived, found a job and set up a home three months earlier. The story is a family legend: mom almost didn’t come. Husband or no husband, Ireland was home. Standing at the airport,  surrounded by family, she was having doubts. Then my grandfather took me by the hand and led my brother and myself to the plane. Dazed, mom followed us kids. My energetic brother, and me, dragging a teddy bear almost as big as me. A good story, a yarn, even perhaps. I have told the teddy bear story for years, and always wondered how accurate it was.

Last Friday, I found out. Not the day, not the event, but the very moment of my grandfather taking me to the plane was caught on film.  For the first time in my life, 43 years later, I saw this picture last week.

In case your wondering, the Teddy Bear is still around: both of my kids played with it. He lives at my mother in laws place, along with all the grandkids favourite stuffed animals.

Cool For Cats Black Country Communion, Derek Sherinian, Glenn Hughes, Jason Bonham, Joe Bonamassa, The Great Divide

I don’t believe in book burning, never have. Otherwise, I would have spent last weekend in the bookshops buying cheap copies of Handmaids Tale and The Edible Woman for our Saturday Night Bonfire. So Pastor Terry Jones and his Church of the Dove’s Qur’an burning don’t appeal to me. I think they are wrong, just as the people who want to build the New York City Mosque are wrong: just because it’s legal to do it, doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do.

Yesterday I was listening to the radio, and they were discussing this issue. Most people seemed to sympathize, but disagree with Pastor Terry. Then one guy phones in: “We should all wear traditional Muslim dress on that day to express our support for the Muslim community.” This lunatic wants you to dress like a desert Bedouin on Sept 11th, to show support for the guys who flew the plane?

Then there’s John Hawkes, who’s letter was published in the Toronto Sun on Thursday:

What does this idiot think he will accomplish by burning a Qur’an? Pastor Terry Jones has a belly-full of hate and little else. He’s as bad an example of a Christian as any Islamic terrorist is a bad example of a Muslim.

Put another way, since you have that fire going, you might as well throw a few Chechen school-children on. And he’s calling someone else an idiot.

The problem isn’t some nut Pastor, it’s these moral equivocators, who see no difference in burning down a building with a thousand people inside and burning a Qur’an.

There will be no Muslim dress for me tomorrow, but I will be commemorating Sept 11 by joining Project 2,996. If you have a blog and a bit of time,why not write a tribute for a victim of 911.

mullahs CFRB, John Hawkes, Margaret Atwood, Mo and the Mullahs, New York City Mosque, Pastor Terry Jones, project 2996, Qur'an, sept 11, Toronto Sun

This brave new policy is sordidly familiar, akin to collaborating with the Nazis to stop the flight of Jews

Ron McKinnon, president of the Port Moody-Westwood-Port Coquitlam Federal Liberal Association

Silly Liberals, Stephen Harper, Uncategorized Liberal Party, Ron McKinnin, Stephen Harper

“Back when my job was to sell Toronto,

we used to have visitors just about every week from other cities in the world desperate to learn how to do the things we did best.”

…a big shot from Paris Metro wanted to see how we ran such a successful transit system, others who wanted to learn how to build a retractable-roof stadium and another group who marvelled at the CN Tower.

We had Russians who wanted to replicate our financial centre towers… another group…who wanted to examine the Stock Exchange, a third who was intrigued by our Keele Landfill and a police chief who wanted to know how we kept people from shooting each other.

… a group from Cincinatti who were amazed by our mixed-income co-op communities…

…we don’t do anything particularly well enough any more that any city official in his right mind would… come here to learn our secrets.

The last seven years of Miller leadership has not built a single thing for the city that is better…

Toronto: Not in a Death Spiral Brian French, Toronto Sun

An alt-rock band entertained the true believers. Hippies generated electricity with stationary bikes to power the amplifiers.

Meanwhile, over at Nathan Phillips Square in front of City Hall, the party faithful were gathered for Toronto-Cuba Friendship Day. A sparse crowd of lefties was demanding that Canada end the U.S. blockade of Cuba (how Canada is supposed to do that was a little vague). The communists were out in force extolling the virtues of the Cuban Workers’ Paradise.

h/t SDA

Toronto: Not in a Death Spiral

en Francais

pimply minions of bureaucracy

One likes to believe in the freedom of music.

Rush - Spirit of Radio.

Gibson Guitars had a list of the top 50 front men (and women) of all time on their webpage. Actually, they had two lists: one put together by Josh Todd of Buckcherry, Chad Kroeger of Nickelback and Ric Olsen of Berlin, plus staff at Gibson.com. The other list was chosen by readers. Here’s the top 10 of each list:

Gibson

1.Mick Jagger
2. Freddie Mercury
3. Robert Plant
4. Elvis
5. James Brown
6. Jimi Hendrix
7. Michael Jackson
8. Roger Daltrey
9. Prince
10. Jim Morrison

Readers

1. Freddie Mercury
2. Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden)
3. Marc Bolan
4. Bon Scott
5. Robert Plant
6. Brian Johnson
7. Mick Jagger
8. Bono
9. Robin Zander
10. Elvis

We can pick and natter about the list, and ultimately that’s what these lists are for. So lets:

Really? Freddie Mercury is pretty much the undisputed best? Really?? While the “experts” pick Jagger, the readers placed him well enough down the list to make Freddie indisputable. One suspects however that too many fans think of Mick circa 2005, or 1995, when he looked like a skeletal old man refusing to acknowledge his age. Longevity has it’s curses…

There is an argument to be made that Elvis wasn’t really a front man, he was the act. And if we are allowing guys like Elvis, why not Frank Sinatra? Could you make a list of front men, and not have Sinatra on the top 25, never mind the top 50? Hell, Neil Diamond is there. And not to pick on Elvis, the same questions apply to Jackie Wilson, Otis Redding, Garth Brooks and, too a lesser degree, Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Elton John &tc….

And what’s this about Stephen Tyler being at #11 on the Gibson list and #22 on the fan list, yet Rod Stewart is #22 on the Gibson and doesn’t make the fan list? People don’t seem to realize how much Tyler copped Stewart’s Faces act. Oh, I know, I know, he copped Jagger not Stewart. Except other than looking kinda, sorta like Jagger, there is little comparison. He dresses more like an early 70’s Keith than Mick, but his stage stuff is all Stewart. The scarves hanging off the microphone, the dragging the mike stand around the stage. All Rod, before Aerosmith came along. Granted, Tyler uses silk scarves and Stewart football scarves, but that’s details. The point is, if Stephen Tyler is to be so high on the list (and don’t get me wrong, he belongs up there), then Faces era Stewart belongs in that neighbourhood.

Quibbles and Bits,however, as the dog is always saying when we argue philosophy (these discussions usually involve vodka). If Gibson readers think Freddie Mercury over Bruce Dickinson, then I’ll not argue. He wouldn’t top my list - and you know there’ll be a list - but then again, Bruce Dickinson? Not on my list.

Dickinson and Robin Zander. When I said top front men, did Bruce Dickinson and Robin Zander come to mind? Iron Maiden and Cheap Trick’s front men? Is Zander even Cheap Trick’s guy, wouldn’t Rick Neilson really qualify as Cheapest Trick? But lets face reality. A couple of fan web sites put fans on notice there was a readers poll and a “lets get Robin to the top of the list,” button. Even accounting for that, however, Marc Bolan? Who’d a thunk it?

For those who don’t know, Marc Bolan was the leader of T. Rex, although that was by no means his only band. T. Rex had a significant American hit with Bang a Gong. Bolan was their singer and guitar player, had male model good looks (in fact he did some modelling), the requisite big curly hair, and played a Les Paul on stage. He is credited with inventing Glam Rock, what we here in America tended to call Glitter. Think Ziggy Stardust era David Bowie, and you have Glam (or think Cherrie Currie dressing up as David Bowie in “The Runaway’s” and you’re there).

T. Rex released nine albums from 1970-1977, a decent output, to put it mildly. In fact, Bolan’s discography is impressive. In September 1977, however, Bolan was killed in a car crash, a passenger in a purple mini, in London. He was two weeks shy of being 30.

The thing is, I have never, ever, had somebody mention how good Marc Bolan is to me. In all the years, and all the music conversations, never once has his name even come up. It’s not a name that would have ever occurred to me. And to be clear, I’m not poo-poohing the idea that Bolan is the third best front man ever: I have no idea if he is or not. I have zero frame of reference.

Or at least I had no frame of reference. What did we do before the internet? Before YouTube?

Marc Bolan fan: Marc Bolan is the greatest.
me: Is he now?
Marc Bolan fan: Don’t argue with me, I’m telling you
me: Never seen ‘im.
Marc Bolan fan: Well you should check out… um…er…

But with YouTube, there he is, in full purple colour (the 70’s were incredible for music, but they really were a crime against fashion). He is more charismatic than athletic, all good looks and pretty smile. The physical manifestations of the job he leaves for others, the heavy Les Paul keeps him pretty rooted in spot. But for that, he’s not bad. I see what they are talking about, although he’s not about to make my list.

My list: you knew it was coming… here it is, my list of the top ten (plus some)front men (and women).

1. Roger Daltrey - he moved constantly, he had all that blonde curly hair. He had the most powerful voice in rock, and didn’t have trouble singing on stage. He would twirl his microphone by the cord sending it twenty feet in the air and during Who Are You he ran on the spot through the whole song. In Won’t Get Fooled Again he offered up the greatest scream in rock and roll, that counts here.

2. Mick Jagger - Not tired old guy circa now Mick Jagger, but the young Mick Jagger that preened and pranced. Pre 1980’s Mick who exuded sexuality out of every pore. Once he put on the knee pads it was pretty much over, but I’ll even give him the knee pads tour of 1981. Mick pretty much invented the genre and virtually everybody else is an imitator to one degree or another. He deserves to be much higher than seven.

3. Robert Plant - The best band in the world, bar none (even the dog doesn’t argue that point with me). By a long, long shot. Heads and shoulders above the next. So how low can their front man be? Not below 3, that’s how low.

4. Bruce Springsteen - Even now he fronts an energy packed band, never stopping, never seeming to breathe for two, two-and-a-half, three hours. If you’ve never seen him, it’s exhausting. And yet, those in the know will tell you he’s nothing compared to what he was in 1978.

5. Janis Joplin - Rent the DVD Festival Express and skip to Cry Baby. Those chills running up and down your spine, that’s why Janis Joplin is not just the token woman on this list.

6. Russel Mael - Every one who makes one of these lists, every critic needs their obscure, arty band to prove their bona fides: Sparks are mine.

7. Stephen Tyler - He really is good, no matter who did what first.

8. Alice Cooper - He hung himself, onstage, with mascara running down his face. He wore a boa constrictor for a necklace. He danced with a corpse, and with skeletons in top hat and tails (with walking sticks, naturally). That stuff counts for something.

9. Rod Sewart - Of the Faces, not of Do You Think I’m Sexy. He tied scarves around his mike, duct taped the mic to the stand and taught Stephen Tyler how it’s done - the tutu is a but much though.

10. Freddie Mercury - I have no frame of reference having never seen Queen live or watched any Queen concert footage, but if he’s #2 for the Gibson experts and #1 for their readers, that’s good enough for me.

10a. Elton John - The electric boots, the mohair suits: OK that technically isn’t Elton John, but he has worn both. Also, he has dressed by like Luis XIV, worn oversized glasses with windshield wipers on them and played Crocodile Rock on stage opposite a crocodile. At the end of the day, this is supposed to be entertainment.

10b. Ian Hunter - The shades, the rock star hair and cockney accent. Ian Hunter was still doing Glam in 1980, and getting away with it. You couldn’t get away with Glam in 1980.

10c. J.Geils - More fun on stage than anybody you have ever seen, that has to count for something.

10d. David Lee Roth - He can jump microphone high, and do the splits. He wore yellow jumpsuits. He once said, “I’m not like this because I’m a rock star; I’m a rock star because I’m like this.” Some people are born to be front men, some have front men-ish-ness thrust upon them. Diamond Dave is of the former.

10e. Bob Seger - Since we’re allowing Bruce Springsteen…
The most fun you will ever have at a concert.

The Freedom of Music, The Mighty Zep, This Week on my I-Pod Aerosmith, Bruce Dickinson, Cerrie Currie, David Bowie, Elvis Presley, Faces, Frank SInatra, Freddie MErcury, James Brown, Kieth Richards, Marc Bolan, Mick Jagger, Neil Diamond, Queen, Robert Plant, Robin Zander, Rod Stewart, Rolling Stones, Stephen Tyler, The Runaways, The Who

All the fluffy news about those nutty celebrities

Last week at this time I mused on the subject of Lindsay Lohan, and what would I fill this space with if she stays out of trouble? I put the post to bed Friday night, put myself to bed, and by the time I woke up, Paris Hilton had answered my call:

LOS ANGELES - Socialite, celebrity TV and website favorite Paris Hilton has been released by Las Vegas police after her arrest for possessing cocaine Friday night…

For the record, Paris claims

a) it wasn’t her purse
b) yes the prescription medications were hers
c) it wasn’t her cocaine and
d) she thought the cocaine was gum.

No official word on what the hell kind of gum Paris Hilton chews, but for the record Paris: nose candy is a slang term.

Authorities believed her story so much they took all the way until Tuesday to charge her with fellony possession of a controlled substance.

Axl Rose is a notoriously unreliable guy. Guns ‘N’ Roses shows are often so late, not only is the start time listed on tickets considered a suggestion, but so is the date. If you’re going to see G’N’R be prepared, be very prepared, to sit around waiting for Axl to show, and a couple of hours from support act to headliner is not unusual. It is lame and unprofessional, but it also is what it is.

Last Friday, Guns ’N’ Roses took to the stage an hour late at Britain’s famous Reading Festival. Organizers had been given strict orders from the Police that the festival was to go acoustic at 11:30. So that’s what they did, cutting the power on G’N’R during Paradise City. Ever the hint taker, Axl attempted to continue using a bullhorn, but as the guy with the McDonalds bag on his head was strumming a solid body guitar without power, he quickly lost the groove of the song, and gave up.

Reading Organizer Melvin Benn had earlier in the week assured festival goers that Guns ‘N’ Roses would perform on time, as he was under immense pressure to make sure it was so.

It was, of course, not so. Sorry Melvin.

Dad’s an electrician (retired). Industrial, mostly, but he has done some contract work through the years. And his basement is a mess. Wall to ceiling stuff, mostly what us kids accumulated through the years that they never had the heart to throw out. One day it’s going to need cleaning out, and who knows what we’ll find? Some things, however, I pretty much don’t expect to stumble across.

When renovating John Lennon’s Tittenhurst Park home, near Ascot, in 1972, a contractor kept the toilet with blue flowers painted around the bowl. “Put some flowers in it,” Lennon is reported to have told him. Whether he ever did or not is unreported.

What his son-in-law did, however, is a matter of public record. He sold it at auction last weekend for $15,500 (£9,500).

Makes a guy wonder what dear-old-dad has down there: Celine Dion’s bidet, perhaps?

GreatFreudianTweets Batman:

@saman12 unfortunately there are no words to describe how sorry I am.

Unfortunately, Lindsay Lohan’s ex was tweeting about her bulldog attacking and killing a Maltese in LA Monday, not granting a moment of self evaluation.

Uncategorized Axl Rose, Buckethead, Celine Dion, Guns 'n' roses, John Lennonm Tittenhurst PArk, Lindsay Lohan, Melvin Benn, Paris Hilton, Reading Festival, Sam Ronson

I fancy this, I fancy that,
I wanna be so flash…
And ev’rybody tells me that it’s cool to be a cat

The new feature, Cool For Cats Friday’s is going to offer whatever I have stumbled upon through the week, a song, a video a pinup or whatever. This week, the features title song, Squeeze’s Cool For Cats. And for the Gentlemen

Her name is Abbey Clancy. She is what’s known is Britain as a Presenter, meaning she hosts the TV show “The Fashion Project.” She is herself a model, and a WAG (Wife and Girlfriend of football players), engaged to the Tottenham Hotspur Centre Forward Peter Crouch.

Cool For Cats Abby Clancy, Abigail Clancy, Cool For Cats, Peter Crouch, Squeeze, Tottenham Hotspur

“I don’t know how it happened mother,” says Premier Dad to Elizabeth McGuinty, his Czar in charge of all policy decisions.

“I was trying so hard not to turn into Mike Harris, that I never noticed I had turned into Bob Rae.”

Dalton, Economic Fundamentalism Bob Rae, Dalton McGuinty, Dalton's Mom, Mike Harris, Premier Dad

Joe Warmington Gets it (emphasis mine):

Like a giant boa constrictor, they are slowly sucking the breath out of the lives of Ontarians and the lifestyles they’ve come to know…

The public is too busy paying taxes to keep track of how this land is becoming is [sic] a giant tax, fee and regulation society that builds very little, except massive debt to pay for bureaucratic insanity.

It seems the whole game is more about saving their false economy…

They are rapidly eroding the life we understand and replacing it with a collection business, which seems to be the only industry thriving on Ontario.

Dalton, Premier Dad, writers Joe Warmington, Premier Dad

Remember when Liberals bragged about “the toughest and most ruthless machine in Canadian politics,” not whined about it.

Frankly, I’m still trying to get my head around Jean Cretien publicly using the words NDP and leadership together, thus giving them credibility they really don’t have.

The more I watch of The Count, the more I believe that, regardless of what this or that poll says, when an election is on and everything counts, Harper is going to wipe the floor with this guy.

Michael Ignatieff, Silly Liberals, The Count Michael Ignatieff

One likes to believe in the freedom of music.

Rush - Spirit of Radio.

In the minutes following midnight of August 27, 1990 music fans were leaving the Alpine Valley Music Theatre near East Troy Wisconsin. Moments earlier they had seen guitarists Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray and Jimmy Vaughan join Vaughan’s brother Stevie onstage to play a 20 minute rendition of Sweet Home Chicago. A two hour drive from Chicago, the performers left the stage and headed for cars to take them to the Second City.

Backstage there were four helicopters. Stevie Ray Vaughan was due to drive to Chicago with his brother and sister-in-law. Instead, he opted, Ritchie Valens style, to take the last seat available on the helicopters. At 12:40, as the last of the fans straggled out of the concert site, the helicopter - piloted by Jeff Brown - who was probably unfamiliar with the tricky take-off procedure at the ski hill site - crashed into a man made ski hill. Stevie Ray Vaughan, age 35, was dead, along with Brown, Bobby Brooks (Clapton’s Hollywood agent), Colin Smythe (Clapton’s assistant tour manager), and Clapton’s bodyguard, Nigel Browne.

I saw Vaughan: it was not his finest moment. He was, frankly, pretty bad. However, it’s hard to blame him. He was opening up for Dire Straits on their Brothers in Arms tour. Dire Straits were at the peak of their fame, as big as they would ever be. Vaughan himself was a well known entity, two years since David Bowies Lets Dance put him on the map, he had two solo albums out, including possibly his best, 1984’s Couldn’t Stand the Weather.

For that, somehow, when the two came to Toronto in July 1985, they played Varsity Arena, a small, concrete building with a low corrugated tin roof. You can imagine the hell it played with the sound. Dire Straits, more laid back, and with more sound check time, managed the problem. Stevie Ray Vaughan, on the other hand was inaudible. His scuttle-buttin’ rhythm style with lead fills just blurred into one big mess. Damned if I know what he played that night other than noise. He may, in fact, have been brilliant, but unless somebody has a soundboard recording we’ll never know. Like I said, hard to blame him, but it wasn’t a good show.

But make no mistake, Vaughan was a phenomenal performer and most people who were fans of Vaughan’s usually came there via a live performance. He was an outstanding guitar player and a vastly underrated singer. For the former, people like to point to things like his version of Jimi Hendrix’s Vodoo Child (Slight Return). I prefer Tin Pan Alley, a slow minor blues that reminds a person of Jimmy Page at his absolute best, playing Since I’ve Been Loving You.

I spent a Friday night in the mid ‘80’s at a friends house, a seriously good guitar player who was a big SRV fan. We spent the night trying to learn the rhythm for Mary Had a Little Lamb, that off-beat shuffle that Vaughan loved so much. I don’t remember if we ever got it right, but I do recall we had a hell of a time trying to get it. It sounds simple enough, like the easy part of playing a Stevie Ray Vaughan song. Simple enough, that is, until you try it.

That he was a brilliant guitar player there can be no doubt. But as a singer, he was better than most guitarist/front men. My favourite SRV song is not one of most usual, it is the simple, elegant Life By The Drop. Vaughan was a heavy drinker and addict. His early performances he would have a bottle of whiskey on stage with him, and drink from it between songs. By 1986, he decided he had a problem. He sent himself to rehab, and came out clean and sober. Life By The Drop is a testament to his sobriety:

Hello there, my old friend,
not so long ago it was ’till the end
We played outside in the pouring rain,
on our way up the road we started over again

You’re livin’ a dream, woe you on top
My mind is achin’, Lord it won’t stop
That’s how it happens, livin’ life by the drop

Up and down that road in our worn out shoes,
talkin’ ’bout good things and singin’ the blues
You went your way, I stayed behind
We both knew it was just a matter of time

You’re livin’ a dream, woe you on top
My mind is achin’, Lord it won’t stop
That’s how it happens, livin’ life by the drop

No wasted time, we’re alive today
Churnin’ up the past, there’s no easier way
Time’s been between us, a means to an end
God it’s good to be here walkin’ together my friend

You’re livin’ a dream, woe you on top
My mind is achin’, Lord it won’t stop
That’s how it happens, livin’ life by the drop

No electric histrionics, it is accompanied by a lone 12 string acoustic guitar. Not to suggest it’s a simple piece to play, it’s not, but the effect is simple and elegant. A song in which the pain of the past, the dull ache of alcoholism flows through with poignancy. It’s in this song you realize what a strong, emotive voice he had, how good a blues singer SRV was.

Stevie Ray Vaughan was, after all, a bluesman first. In the flash and circumstance of the pop era, we sometimes forget that blues is, at it’s heart, a simple music. Vodoo Child (Slight Return) is a blues, however complex it’s guitar part. But Life By The Drop is the blues stripped back to it’s basic element. A single guitar, a single voice, expressing so much emotion, pain and joy at once. It’s what the blues is supposed to be, and in leaving it behind for his fans to find (it was released posthumously), Vaughan leaves no doubt about his status as a premier bluesman.

Twenty years ago this week music fans were stunned by the news that Stevie Ray Vaughan’s helicopter went down at the Alpine Music Theatre. Twenty years ago this week the world lost a unique voice. And twenty years ago this week that friend who I spent a night trying to get a handle on Mary Had a Little Lamb with crawled into bed for a week - because Stevie Ray Vaughan did what every good musician does  for somebody, he touched  him deeply.

Talkin’ ’bout good things and singin’ the blues indeed.

The Freedom of Music Stevie Ray Vaughan

All the fluffy news about those nutty celebrities

Brad Pitt is a good leftie. He doesn’t believe in the death penalty for, say, someone who kidnaps a child and spends three days molesting them before killing them. Paul Bernardo, as an example, should be spared the death penalty.

But run a company that has an environmental accident?

I was never for the death penalty before, but I am willing to look at it again (for BP executives)

I love the headline in this weeks In Touch. Angelina Jolie, it claims, calls Brad stupid behind his back.

Talk about belabouring the obvious.

Free at last, free at last. Thank Justice Revel, Lindsay’s free at last.

Lindsay Lohan has been sprung after serving 13 days of a 90 day jail sentence and 22 days of a three month rehab program.

“She is healthy, clear-headed positive and looking forward,” her lawyer said.

Lohan will have to reside at home, submit to random drug and alcohol testing, take psychotherapy four days a week, behaviour therapy twice a week and attend a 12-step program for addicts. Should Lohan fail her drug and alcohol test, “She’ll go to jail for 30 days,” according to TMZ.

You know, the kid (and she is a kid) can act, unlike those other celebrity-celebrities she hangs around with. I hope she gets her act together, while at the same time wondering what I’ll write on Saturday’s if she does.

Jimmy Fallon wants you to tweet him - if you are blonde, lean, long, female and between the ages of 21 and 35. The rest of us can send him a message on Twitter.

Fallon, who is hosting this Sundays Emmy’s, wants twits to send tweets on twitter to him commenting on the show. The shows writers will incorporate them into his material.

In other words, the only people who get paid any real money to write any more (i.e. TV writers), now want you to write the jokes. They get the credit - and the pay check.

You can tweet Fallon at @jimmyfallon

I am not a Martin Short fan. Nothing against the man - he seems nice enough - but his style of comedy is not my taste. That said, I wish him no ill will. Sadly, ill will seems to have found Martin Short anyway. His wife of 30 years, Nancy Dolman, died last weekend at their California home.

Cause of death is unknown, but there have been reports that she diagnosed with cancer three years ago. She was 58. Condolences to Martin Short and their three children.

Fluffernutter Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Jimmy Fallon, Lindsay Lohan, Marsha Revel, Martin Short, Nancy Dolman, Twitter

One day, someone will write a book about Toronto’s demise and there will be a chapter entitled: August 26, 2010.

On one hand, this council often talks about finding new sources of revenue.

On the other hand:

“This is not an airy-fairy, done on the back of an envelope (plan),” she said. “There is a dearth of housing in this area for artists.

“To suggest that staff didn’t come back with a positive report is incorrect,” McConnell said.

Toronto: Not in a Death Spiral