Jim Cuddy: Video Telegram for Paul Quarrington

A sardonic but warm tribute to Paul Quarrington by music artist Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo.? This interview was shot for “Life in Music, Words, and on Screen” a live event produced by BookShorts for International Festival of Authors and Humber College, in celebration of Quarrington’s life and work (Oct 24, 2009).?? Paul and Jim have worked together on many projects, including a special mini-documentary directed by Ron Mann for the Blue Rodeo anniversary DVD.? For more info about joining the Quarrington Arts Society, an organization committed to multi-disciplinary artists, visit quarringtonartsociety.org

Chartattack Celebrates Rheostatics Reunion

On October 16, 2009 CHARTattack reported:

The Rheostatics will reunite as part of an event honouring Canadian author, playwright, screenwriter and musician Paul Quarrington next Saturday.

To see the full article, go to http://www.chartattack.com/news/75725/rheostatics-reuniting-for-one-off-performance

The Paul Quarrington Chair Fund

On Thurs., Nov. 5, 2009 at 8:00pm, the Leacock Museum National Historic Site is presenting an evening with three-time Leacock Medal winner, Arthur Black. The proceeds of the event will be the first to support the Paul Quarrington Chair Fund.

The Paul Quarrington Chair at the Leacock Museum is a fund started in 2009 to honour the contribution to the arts, especially the literary arts, of Leacock Medal for Humour winner Paul Quarrington. Each year the museum will designate a writer as the Paul Quarrington Chair recipient and invite him/her to visit Orillia and participate in the annual Leacock Summer Festival. The Paul Quarrington Chair Fund is established to offset the costs of hosting the annual designate including travel and accommodation. In this way, Paul?s contribution to the Leacock Museum and the Leacock Medal for Humour will be established as an ongoing legacy. Contributions can be sent to the address below, payable to the Leacock Museum ? PQ Chair, and are tax deductible.

Leacock Museum National Historic Site
P.O. Box 625, 50 Museum Drive
Orillia, ON L3V 6K5

or visit www.leacockmuseum.com

John Martyn dies, age 60

John Martyn was a wonderful singer, guitarist and songwriter, and a very big influence on me, musically-speaking. Martyn was a troubadour and a scop, a seer and a mystic, and he sang with a soulful slur that made men want to weep. Of course women, always more at home with their emotions, did weep. I had the good fortune to meet Martyn. When he played Toronto in the late seventies (I’m guessing it was the late seventies),? Joe Hall and the Continental Drift opened for him. We were doing our sound check when the doors at the back of the hall flew open and a fellow with a beard (actually it was more like organized scruff) and the flinty glint of a mad man came stamping down the aisle, yelling “Stop! Stop!” When we did so, he leaned over the apron of the stage and scolded us, “You lads were having too much fun. There’ll be none of that.” John Martyn put on a wonderful show, and I became a fan. “May You Never,” one of his more famous songs, is a kind of a drunkard’s benediction: “May you never lay your head down without a hand to hold./May you never make your bed out in the cold./May you never lose your temper and get hit in a barroom fight./May you never lose your woman overnight.”

Paul Quarrington with Drew Hayden Taylor

Paul Quarrington talks to Drew Hayden Taylor, award-winning author, playwright, screenwriter and comedian. At the risk of dating himself, Hayden Taylor reveals that his first television writing credit was for the Beachcombers! Who knew? At THIN AIR 2008, Winnipeg’s writers festival, he read from Me Sexy (the sequel to Me Funny), a collection of stories written by some of Canada?s most esteemed First Nations writers, a number of which joined him on stage. First funny, then sexy…we can’t wait to see what’s next for Drew.

Help Me Write A Poem!

Here’s the deal: I’m working on a poem, “In the Rock Hall,” the inspiration being a visit I made, a couple of years ago, to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the Land of Cleves, Ohio. The poem is divided into two parts, the first being my impressions, the second being my thoughts about what artifacts or relics should be in the Rock Hall. I want you guys out there to suggest things, too, and when I get enough, well, we shall published and be damned!

Here’s the poem to date:

In The Rock Hall

Of course you must go!

When next in Cleveland, you must
Visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Which sits on the shores of Lake Erie
(Itself a monument to ancientness.)

Of course you must go!

You will be disappointed.
There are clothes,
Vestments and albs worn by the luminous,
But they seem to have been laundered
Many, many times.
Not never, which is what you would expect.

And the clothes are so small.

(You have become tremendous.
You own a belly that drapes over a golden belt buckle
And hides it from view
Even though the buckle is so enormous
That it would seem to have been bestowed by some
Transgalactic wrestling league?

(But you do not worry, of late, about your appearance.
You squeeze your shoulders into a denim jacket
That you have had for years,
At least, for the years that meant anything,
The years that felt anything,
The years that you keep in your back pocket
Along with the condom of optimism.
There is no chance of fastening the fastens,
But that?s all right, the jacket
Never could withstand even the weakest
Of Elements.

(Your hair is gone, or
Streaked like a crazy lady?s cheek.
Your hair has become absolutely
Unmanageable.)

These clothes on display,
They are so small and, now,
You so large,
you would have trouble
Forcing your fist into them and
Working them like handpuppets.

But you must go!

Because at the end of the day
You will stumble outside
Blinded by tears, and you will
Fall into Lake Erie
(Itself a monument to ancientness)
And you will,
Finally,
Mourn your youth.

2)

Here are some things that should be on display:

Elvis?s sneer (not the he used on-stage, the one that crimped his mouth when Colonel Parker suggested he try on the suit in the closet)

Jerry Lee Lewis?s hymnal.

Robert Johnson?s lost nickel (for he telephoned his manager, at least, the white man who was exploiting him, and said, ?There?s a lady here wants fifty cents, and I lacks a nickel.?)

Her Boy Lollipop.

The Land of a Thousand Dances. I?ve calculated that if we confine ourselves to popular dance steps of the 20th and 21st century?the Lindy Hop, the Pony, the?we are currently stalled at number 999. What grand luck! So there should be an exhibit, a room where people enter and dance and someone will finally do something brand-fucking-new and the Land of a Thousand Dances will all of a sudden appear in atlases. Wilson Pickett may even come back to life, we can only hope.

The dildo that Jimi Hendrix used when he was too fucked up to fuck.

Neil Young?s blue ears and fingertips, the result of venturing outside in Winnipeg, Manitoba, wearing only a too-small denim jacket as protection against the Elements.

The scream that came out of the mouth of Brenda Boychuk, age 13, of Don Mills, Ontario,when Paul McCartney shook his hair in Toronto?s Maple Leaf Gardens.

The best move I ever made,
Which was made in front of a mirror?
I was the same age as Brenda Boychuck, indeed,
It was Brenda I was possessed by,
The sight of a bra strap escaping from a
Cream coloured sweater
Resulting in what our
Gym and Health teacher Mr. Luik
Called ?penile engorgement,?
But?where was I going with this??
I once draped my Zenon guitar
Over my shoulder and struck an
E chord with such engorged insouciance
That Brenda Boychuck would have
a)??? forgotten about Paul McCartney forever
b)??? allowed me to do whatever sex was

Okay? never mind.
I?m going out now for a few drinks.
Wearing my denim jacket
Even though it is too small and unable to
Withstand any of the Elements.

—————————————

Dr. Landy’s prescription pad with whatever drug made Brian and Ozzy walk and talk the way they do. (Helen Musclow)

(copyright 2007, Paul Quarrington)
——————————–

So… any suggestions? Post them here or send them to paul@paul.quarrington.org. Together, who knows, we may win the Griffin Prize!!

Live Report from Darryl’s Hard Liquor & Porn Film Festival

In a serious effort to scout talent for a new line of sexy funny films, BookShorts sponsored the first ever Hot Type Award at Darryl?s Hard Liquor and Porn Film Festival.? The Hot Type Award was bestowed upon the filmmaker who most cleverly integrated a book or its written word into their film. Each eligible film was made during the 69 Hour Film Challenge. Congrats to the winner, Darryl Gold who wins $500 towards his next screenplay for a BookShorts film.

To?the BookShorts?filmmaking team in a new line of sexy films, visit http://www.bookshorts.com/author.htm .

Watch Paul’s Live Report Here!

Magic in the City

Quarrington is, among other things, an extremely amateur magician. (This interest arose out of a novel he wrote,?The Spirit Cabinet, which features a couple of Las Vegas style showmen, not unlike his beloved Siegfried and Roy). Recently, on the advice of his friend?Baldini?(himself a prestidigitator of considerable talent), he attended a performance at Toronto’s Tranzac Club. First there was a display of mentalism by?Mysterion?(and then some metal music, during which Quarrington drank in the back room which featured a pleasantly whuss singer/songwriter) and then?Steve Santini?performed some terrifically terrifying escapes. I mean, how often do you see an escapist here in Toronto? I myself want more, more, more!!Here’s a picture of a Golden Lion Tamarin (I was in Brazil this summer, working on a movie, from which I was fired) because I had nothing better to illustrate this magical theme:??

Congrats To Colin Linden

We understand that Colin Linden, whose stunning slide guitar solos on Gladstone Hotel and Hemingway enhanced our “Way Past Midnight” release, has joined Emmylou Harris’s band.

We are big fans of Emmylou, and her music has been a continuing influence. (We’ve also admired her guitarists: Ricky Skaggs, James Burton, Albert Lee, Daniel Lanois, Buddy Miller and now Colin. Whew!)

We therefore feel a special connection to both Colin and Emmylou as well as to blues singing sensation Roxanne Potvin who guests on our new CD and has a impressive new release of her own, produced by… Colin Linden.