Globe and Mail honours Paul Quarrington’s works

A privilege to enjoy the recognition of Canada’s prestigious national newspaper, The Globe and Mail ….

Profile:  Paul Quarrington: His final year was his greatest work by John Barber

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/paul-quarrington-his-final-year-was-his-greatest-work/article1584668/
A remarkable memoir reveals a writer and musician determined to face down death with courage and flair.

A genius at living // Cigar Box Banjo:  Reviewed by Mark Kingwell

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/review-cigar-box-banjo-notes-on-music-and-life-by-paul-quarrington/article1584522/
Paul Quarrington, author and musician, embraced both life and the inevitability of death

Bittersweet notes on music and life (Book Excerpt)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/bittersweet-notes-on-music-and-life/article1584674/
In his memoir Cigar Box Banjo, Paul Quarrington writes that upon learning of his lung cancer, he drove to the Scarborough Bluffs, ‘stumbled out to the shore and bawled like a baby’

A final song

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/a-final-song/article1584596/
In a Globe and Mail exclusive, listen to a song Paul Quarrington wrote about the end being near. The song is one of three on a CD included with Quarrington’s memoir, Cigar Box Banjo

National Post continues Quarrington support

Interview with Director Bert Kish on Paul Quarrington: Life in Music >>  By Katherine Laidlaw

Paul Quarrington: When his many passions merged into a love of life

Read more: http://arts.nationalpost.com/2010/05/29/paul-quarrington-when-his-many-passions-merged-into-a-love-of life

And Phil Marchand’s review of Cigar Box Banjo

Open Book, by Philip Marchand: Cigar Box Banjo, by Paul Quarrington

Read more: http://arts.nationalpost.com/2010/05/29/open-book-by-philip-marchand-cigar-box-banjo-by-paul-quarrington

Paul Quarrington 2010 = book, music, film

Paul Quarrington believed every day was an opportunity to live the creative life to the fullest.  This summer, fans have the opportunity to enjoy that philosophy to the fullest, with the release of works in all three of his favourite art disciplines – writing books, making music, and wrapping arms around everything for the screen.

Cigar Box Banjo: Notes on Music and Life

Memoir, Greystone Books, May 29, 2010

Paul Quarrington: Life in Music

Documentary Film, May 29 on Bravo! Canada
DVD release, BookShorts, August 2010
National Screening Tour, BookShorts Literacy Program, Sept, Oct, Nov 2010

Paul Quarrington: The Songs

Solo Music CD, June 8, 2010
14 tracks, Cordova Bay Records

Nipissing University honours Quarrington with honorary degree

Paul Quarrington will receive, posthumously, the honorary degree, Doctor of Letters from Nipissing University, North Bay Ontario Canada. His daughter, Carson Quarrington will accept the honorary degree and deliver the convocation address to graduates of Nipissing’s Faculty of Arts and Science and Concurrent Education program on Thursday, June 10. Paul Quarrington is recognized as one of Canada’s most influential literary figures. A novelist, musician, screenwriter and non-fiction writer, Quarrington’s work has garnered numerous awards. His novel King Leary was awarded the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour in 1988 and was a finalist for Trillium Book Award.

In 1989, his novel Whale Music won the Governor General’s Award for Fiction. His novel Galveston was shortlisted for the prestigious Giller Prize in 2004. In 2009, the Writers’ Trust of Canada awarded Quarrington the Matt Cohen Prize for a distinguished lifetime contribution to Canadian literature. Quarrington also taught creative writing for more than 20 years, served as the Chair of the Writers’ Union of Canada and was a board member of both PEN Canada and Fringe Theatre Toronto. Quarrington died from lung cancer on January 21, 2010.

The other honorary degree recipients include Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo, local artist Jack Lockhart, women’s advocate Marsha Greenfield and Jon Dellandrea, most notably known for university advancement, and Former Ontario premier Mike Harris.

The announcement was made Friday May 21, 2010 by the university’s interim vice-president of academic and research Errol Aspevig, who said all six are an “extraordinary group of individuals being honoured.”

A committee of the senate, which includes board members, students, faculty and alumni, decides who receives honorary degrees. Nominations are made by the committee and accepted from outside sources. The list of candidates are taken to the board of governors for approval.

For more information, visit http://baytoday.ca/content/news/details.asp?c=37061

Quarrington finds new ways to surprise, posthumously

The Canadian Press

Date: Monday May. 24, 2010

TORONTO — Months after his death, Paul Quarrington is still finding new ways to surprise.

The multi-hyphenate author, musician, filmmaker and playwright died of lung cancer in January. But the work is still coming. This spring will see the release of his first solo CD and a new memoir, while a documentary about his final months will air on television.

And as they survey his latest spate of creative works, those close to Quarrington continue to marvel at the friend they’ve lost.

“The reception, it’s just overwhelming, the sense of ‘thank you,’ and ‘I didn’t know that,”‘ said Judith Keenan, a close confidante of Quarrington’s and the producer of “Paul Quarrington: Life in Music,” a documentary that will air on Saturday (Bravo, 7 p.m. ET).

“These are people talking to me — ‘I’m a high school friend of Paul’s and I didn’t know that about him.’ Or his brother would say, ‘I didn’t know that about him.’ They’re all discovering things about this gentleman.

“I think just the way he constructed his life, it’s people finding doors to walk through they didn’t know existed. It’s increased the value of this trifecta of products coming out at the same time.”

And these final creative works exist thanks to the tireless effort Quarrington put in during the months and days that would prove to be his last.

Quarrington was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer last May, a fatal condition he would succumb to in January at the age of 56.

In between, he worked at a prodigious pace to complete his projects. Rather than being defeated by the diagnosis, he almost seemed buoyed — in the film, he refers to it as a “gift,” because the knowledge that his time was limited served as motivation to work furiously to complete a staggering career of accomplishments.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE ON CTV.CA or in any of the many print and online media outlets across the country!

Photos

To download high resolution photos – right click on the photo title.

	Paul Quarrington portrait 1 (c) Irene Duma for BookShorts
	Paul Quarrington portrait 2 (c) Irene Duma for BookShorts.com
	Paul Quarrington portrait 3 Irene Duma for BookShorts.com
	At Doors Open Toronto, May 2009 (c) Judith Keenan for BookShorts Inc.)
	At Conversations with Joe Hall, Peterborough, May 2009 ((c) Judith Keenan for BookShorts)
	Porkbellys Futures Performance at Doors Open Toronto, ROM, May 2009
	Paul Quarrington and Martin Worthy on film set shooting “Hey Hollywood, August 2009
	The Quarrington Family (c) Christine Quarrington
	Paul and Joel Quarrington(c) Christine Quarrington
	Paul, Joel and Tony Quarrington(c) Christine Quarrington; use only with written permission
	Paul, Joel and Tony Quarrington(c) Christine Quarrington; use only with written permission
	Paul, Joel and Tony Quarrington(c) Christine Quarrington; use only with written permission
	Teenage Paul Quarrington(c) Christine Quarrington; use only with written permission
	On the set of Pavane short film produced by BookShorts written and conceived by BookShorts.
	PorkBelly Futures Publicity Shot
	PorkBelly Futures (c) Pages This is Not a Reading Serices; use with permission.
	To download the other 32 performance shots from this series, click here.PorkBelly Futures at the Haliburton Forest Festival, 2009 (c) BookShorts Inc.
	Quarrington/Worthy (c) circa 1988.

THE SONGS Paul Quarrington Solo CD out June 8

A beautiful collection of songs by renowned Canadian songwriter and author Paul Quarrington. Upon learning he had lung cancer in May 2009, Paul set about living life to the fullest and channeling his creative energy into the completion of many artistic endeavours. This included a third album with the band Porkbelly Futures, his memoir Cigar Box Banjo for Greystone Books, the documentary film inspired by the book Paul Quarrington: Life in Music (BookShorts / CTV Bravo) and this album that would become his only solo release.
Paul Quarrington – The Songs will be available in stores on June 8 2010.

Track Listing:

• All The Stars
• Friendly
• This Old Body
• Over Yonder
• Lake Effect Snow
• Celestial Navigation
• Wherever You Go
• Hey Hollywood
• The Valley Below
• Sheralee
• A Waltz At 3 AM
• The Weight of Wings
• Big Ol’ Bass
• Hello Jim

Paul Quarrington Life in Music Now On Facebook

All PQ all the time!  We’ve now got enough fans to have our very own Facebook Page URL >>

Paul Quarrington Life in Music

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Stop by anytime – ask questions, read interviews and reviews, post feedback – tawk to us ya!

Yours in geekdom-groupie-ness

Judith

Cigar Box Banjo – Quarrington’s Memoir from Greystone Books in stores

Paul Quarrington had a favourite story told to him when he was a kid: a boy fashions a banjo from a cigar box, sets off for a contest in the next town, and wins with a song that weaves in the sounds he hears along the way. As a grown-up writer and musician, Quarrington still loved the tale. And after he learned he had stage IV lung cancer, the story took on a whole new meaning for him.

Eclectic, hilarious, and endearingly frank, Cigar Box Banjo tracks a life lived in music and words. Quarrington ruminates on the bands of his childhood; his restless youth, playing bass with the cult band Joe Hall and the Continental Drift; and his incarnation, in middle age, as rhythm guitarist and singer with the band Porkbelly Futures. Ranging through rock’n’roll, the blues, folk, country, and soul, he explores how songs are made and why they affect us so profoundly.

Songwriting gave him a way to take in his own experience, Quarrington tells us—road trips, bad whisky, true love, love gone wrong—and music becomes his mainstay after the Dread Diagnosis. Some people with a terminal illness find mountains to climb; Quarrington decides to go out singing. On stage, at sea, and in studios from Newfoundland to Nashville, he celebrates his last year on the planet.

Enhanced CD includes three new Quarrington solo music tracks and first release of “Hey, Hollywood” music video as well as the official trailer for the documentary feature “Paul Quarrington: Life in Music.”

Read an excerpt and find out more on Greystone Books website

Paul Quarrington Life in Music Doc Airs May 29 on Bravo!

Paul Quarrington is an award winning, well respected and much loved author, filmmaker, musician and teacher. Though a very public figure in the field of Canadian arts, and an artist who made himself easily accessible to fans, he was also a complex person. So much so that few in his public or private sphere say they really knew him. With the sudden diagnosis of terminal illness, he is compelled to address this in the best way he knows how – he chooses to make art – to squeeze the juice from life and pour his passion into making this film, into re-writing his about-to-be-published memoir to include his “new thematic material,” and into writing songs, lots of songs, all made more poignant for the absolute deadline at hand.

Through this film, Paul gives us a rare and insightful glimpse into the inner workings of an artist in the act of creating. As he writes, records and performs, you see the heart and soul of a man able to express in music deeply personal issues. We witness the artist, and the man, reach for a resolution to the question that we will all face when our time comes, “what would you do?”

What unfolds is a laugh-out-loud funny, compelling, warm and enlightening story – a journey woven around music, bearing witness to the power of song to elevate, encapsulate and explain the emotions that poured into this artist’s creative endeavors. His story will inspire every viewer to look at life a bit differently – to engage and to be present as if life were to end tomorrow. It is a story of friendship and community – of immersing oneself in the redemptive powers of an audience to find solace and validation.

As a teacher, Paul would always tell students to write about what makes them uncomfortable – to be unafraid of the subject matter. With much of the music in this film written and recorded post-diagnosis, the process of coming to terms plays itself out musically. “All the Stars” – a hauntingly beautiful ballad, tells of one left behind, while “Are You Ready,” written expressly for the film, pulls all that has transpired into a deceptively simple lyric whose impact is made clear in the powerful and surprising denouement.

On screen conversations with some of the most important people in Quarrington’s life amplify the inspiring message, including longtime friend and bandmate Martin Worthy, Roddy Doyle, Dave Bidini, Wayson Choy, brothers Joel Quarrington and Tony Quarrington, daughters Carson and Flannery and their mother Dorothy Bennie. Comments by Nick Jennings and Martin Levin provide context and threaded throughout are live performances by Paul, his band Porkbelly Futures, Dan Hill, Joe Hall, Roberto Occhipinti and many more musical guests.

Producer Judith Keenan, Director Bert Kish and Editor Caroline Christie have done a masterful job of drawing the viewer into the life and work of this Renaissance artist, a gift from the man we finally get to know – the author, musician, teacher, father and friend – Paul Quarrington.

PAUL QUARRINGTON: LIFE IN MUSIC
A Feature Documentary Film
Produced by Judith Keenan, BookShorts Inc., Director Bert Kish

BRAVO! TV Broadcast Dates
Saturday, May 29 at 7pm EDT and Sunday, May 30 at 6pm EDT

DVD Available
June 2010

National Screening Tour
September – October 2010