It’s Not Dark Yet: Essay by Martin Worthy

January 21, 2011

Paul Quarrington died of lung cancer a year ago today, on Jan. 21, 2010. To mark the anniversary of his death, his former bandmate Martin Worthy sent the Globe this story and a prophetic song that they recorded together in 2008 with their band, Porkbelly Futures.

Essay (with music)

Martin Worthy
Globe and Mail Online
Published Friday, Jan. 21, 2011 12:00AM EST

<< Read the whole story here >>

About Martin Worthy

Martin Worthy is Paul’s oldest closest friend and continuing member of the band Porkbelly Futures. He and Paul played, wrote and toured together for decades, the last 10 years in the band Porkbelly Futures. The band released a CD dedicated to their colleague called The Crooked Road, which has a number of tunes the two wrote together. Martin also heads up the Quarrington Arts Society; for more information visit www.quarringtonartsociety.ca.

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James Reaney remembers Paul Quarrington

January 21, 2011

>> Read James’ Brand New Blog here <<

Published Friday, January 21, 2011

I am one of many who are remembering Paul Quarrington, the great Canadian arts & life hero who died a year ago today. You can listen to an amazing recording of Bob Dylan’s It’s Not Dark Yet by Paul Quarrington with his Porkbelly Futures bandmates.

Paul Quarrington was a multi-talented, award-winning artist, musician, filmmaker, screenwriter, author, journalist and teacher. He died of lung cancer on January 21, 2010. For more information, visit http://www.paulquarrington.org

Judith Keenan has provided a wonderful list of events & creativity that made the last year so remarkable. We miss Paul, but continue to celebrate all that he did & his friends keep doing.

2010, a year of Paul Quarrington

· Produced the live event tribute October 2009 (IFOA) and again April 2010 (Opera House), celebrating Paul`s life and work

· delivered the documentary film PAUL QUARRINGTON LIFE IN MUSIC about him, Bravo has broadcast it nationally twice already, and there is another date scheduled for March 27.

· toured the film to ten cities across the country, with his band Porkbelly Futures riding shotgun, in those and another dozen cities too.

· Porkbelly Futures released their third CD THE CROOKED ROAD dedicated to PQ; half the songs on the disc were penned with or by Paul.

· Paul ‘s CD THE SONGS was released

· his memoir CIGAR BOX BANJO was released and even made a bestseller list

· As the last element in a year of PQ efforts, I have produced a half-hour radio show dedicated to Paul, with live music and stage tributes by Jim Cuddy, Gordon Pinsent, Tony and Joel Quarrington, drawn from the various live events I produced in 2009-10, plus and the Bob Dylan song you find attached here. It will air on JazzFM on Sunday, Jan 23, at 10:30pm.

Martin Worthy on Paul Quarrington & It’s Not Dark Yet

>> Read James’ posting of Martin Worthy’s Essay It’s Not Dark Yet here <<

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The Paul Quarrington Radio Show, His Voice, Legacy and Future

January 17, 2011

Tune in to JazzFM on Sunday, Jan 23, at 10:30pm for a half-hour radio show dedicated to Paul Quarrington, hosted by Porkbelly Futures bandmate and lifelong friend Martin Worthy; to continue to commemorate Paul`s ongoing legacy on the anniversary of his passing. With live music and stage tributes drawn from live event celebrations of PQ produced in 2009-10, including Jim Cuddy, Gordon Pinsent, and Tony and Joel Quarrington. PLUS Sharon Riley and Faith Chorale as featured in the film Paul Quarrington Life in Music, AND never-before-heard PQ performance from the Porkbellys private recording library.

Written by admin · Filed Under Awards & Honors, Songs

Bravo Encore for Paul Quarrington Life in Music

January 8, 2011

Bravo!’s original series GREAT CANADIAN BIOS showcases the lives of twelve of our nation’s most iconic, accomplished and revered artists, premiering Sunday, January 16 at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT on Bravo!

Kicking off with an insightful portrait of Canadian acting legend Gordon Pinsent, this year’s lineup features new and compelling biographies on Emily Carr, Ryan Larkin and Roy Kiyooka. Ensuring the season is packed full of Canada’s most celebrated cultural icons, Bravo! offers encore presentations profiling the extraordinary lives of Jann Arden, Yousuf Karsh, Des McAnuff, Mordecai Richler, Paul Quarrington, Ian Tyson, Denny Doherty and Glenn Gould, whose GREAT CANADIAN BIOS profile was recently shortlisted for an Academy® Award.

PAUL QUARRINGTON: LIFE IN MUSIC – Encore Presentation
Sunday, March 27 at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT
Saturday, April 2 at 7 p.m. ET/ 4 p.m. PT
PAUL QUARRINGTON: LIFE IN MUSIC is a documentary about an artist whose sudden diagnosis of terminal illness led him to embrace both life and art with a lifetime of creativity packed into all too brief few months. Loaded with intimate moments with Quarrington himself, this documentary features interviews with Quarrington’s family, friends, and members of the internationally renown arts community. The list includes writer Roddy Doyle, musician and writer Dave Bidini, author Wayson Choy, musicians Dan Hill and Joe Hall as well as Paul’s life-long friend and fellow musician Martin Worthy. The documentary also includes dynamic performances from Porkbelly Futures, and a touching performance by Paul’s brothers Joel and Tony Quarrington. PAUL QUARRINGTON: LIFE IN MUSIC is produced by BookShorts Inc. and directed by Bert Kish.

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Quarrington concept launches comedy web series for Bite TV, Babelgum

January 8, 2011

GlassBOX Television’s Bite TV is in partnership with independent media creators Duopoly and Farmhouse Productions for a new original comedy web series, Papillon.

Based on a property originally developed by the series’ Executive Producer Catherine Tait and Paul Quarrington, Papillon (15 X 4 minute episodes) stars Kevin McDonald of the acclaimed TV show Kids in the Hall. The series is one of the few projects selected for the first Independent Production Fund supporting linear online content.

Papillon will be seen in Canada first online, at bite.ca and then broadcast on specialty channel Bite TV, as well as the popular international Internet platform Babelgum the US.

Papillon centers on the motley crew of misfits who operate a discount airline out of the working town of Windsor, Ontario. Papillon is the airline that promises to put the flutter back into flying. In other words – no unnecessary ‘perks’ such as in-flight drinks, meals, or pesky seatbelts. The web series is slated to begin production January 11, 2011.

“Papillon is both perfectly targeted to Bite’s audience and a wonderful fit with our commitment to develop fresh new programming that utilizes Canada’s tremendous depth of comedic talent,” said Jeffrey Elliott, Founder and Co-CEO GlassBOX Television.

Papillon is an original concept created by the late Paul Quarrington and written by Mark Steinberg, with three scripts by writing team Kevin McDonald and Paula Blair. Paul Quarrington was one of Canada’s most celebrated writing talents. As a screenwriter, he wrote or contributed to several produced screenplays, among them: Men with Brooms, Whale Music, Camilla and Perfectly Normal, winner of the Genie for Best Screenplay. His television writing credits included Due South, John Woo’s Once a Thief, Power Play, The Counsellors, Tom Stone, 1-800 Missing and Chilly Beach.

For the complete story, visit Mediacaster Magazine

Written by admin · Filed Under News, Screenwriting

Telegraph Journal says Cigar Box Banjo one of year’s best yarns

January 2, 2011

The new year doesn’t mean you have to say good-bye to 2010. Revisit the year’s best books, and take a peek into 2011,
with Salon’s regular reviewers.

Sean Flinn
* Cigar Box Banjo by Paul Quarrington, GreyStone
Quarrington died in the early days of 2010. It’ll take years to fully appreciate his contribution. Start now, with this excellent memoir on his musical life first, his approaching death second.

– from the St. John Telegraph Journal

Written by admin · Filed Under Fiction, News, Non-Fiction

Paul Quarrington

Paul Quarrington portrait

In May 2009, Paul was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer. From May 2009 to January 2010 he channeled his prodigious creative energy into the completion of many artistic endeavours, including his first solo CD release “Paul Quarrington: The Songs,” the third PorkBellys Futures CD release, his memoir “Cigar Box Banjo: Notes on Music and Life” for Greystone Books, the documentary film “Paul Quarrington: Life in Music” (BookShorts / CTV Bravo) and so much more.

His brave journey ended on January 21, 2010. He passed peacefully at home in Toronto surrounded by friends and family.

The Quarrington Arts Society has been established in honour of the inspiration Paul’s life and work continues to provide for artists who seek expression in many disciplines – for information about the organization and its mandate, please visit http://www.quarringtonartsociety.ca

Paul Quarrington was a musician, acclaimed non-fiction writer and novelist, an award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker, and an educator extra-ordinaire.

His novel The Ravine (2008) was long-listed for the Scotiabank Giller Prize; his previous novel Galveston (2004) was short-listed for the Giller. Quarrington won the Stephen Leacock Award for King Leary, a title that also won the 2008 Canada Reads competition. Whale Music won the Governor General’s Award for Fiction and was one of several of his novels already adapted or currently being adapted as feature films.

His non-fiction writing includes books on some of his favourite pastimes such as fishing, hockey and music; his memoir Cigar Box Banjo: Notes on Music and Life, is published by Greystone Books (May 29, 2010). He regularly contributed book reviews, travel columns and journalism to Canada’s national newspapers and magazines, winning or co-winning more than 30 Gold awards. His screenplays and story editing won many awards, including the CFPTA Indie Award for Comedy for the series Moose TV.

Throughout his career he was in high demand as a story editor for Canadian and American feature films and television. Paul’s filmmaking talents as writer / director are evident in his BookShorts film, Pavane (2008), which he adapted from his novel The Ravine; it was featured in the national tour of Moving Stories Film Festival, won a Remi Platinum Award for adaptation at Houston’s WorldFest, was juried in several other US film festivals, and was broadcast in Canada on Bravo!FACT Presents and CBC Reflections.

As a musician, he played in the band Porkbelly Futures for more than ten years; the band’s first CD Way Past Midnight was extremely well received, their self-titled second CD was released to even more popular acclaim; and a third release will be available in 2010. From 2008, Paul increasingly returned to the performance circuit as solo vocalist on guitar; his first solo CD release “Paul Quarrington: The Songs” is available June 8, 2010 from Cordova Bay.

Paul taught creative writing at Humber College for more than 20 years (in the program founded by Joe Kertes, Quarrington and colleague Wayson Choy); he also taught at University of Toronto. His seminars on adapting books for the screen and creative writing were constantly presented by institutions and festivals in across Canada.

He sat on the Board of Directors for the Fringe Theatre Festival, and was mentor to BookShorts Inc. since the company’s first short film release (2005) through to the company’s production of Paul’s biographical feature documentary film Paul Quarrington: Life in Music (Dir. Bert Kish, for CTV Bravo) which will be broadcast May 29 and 30, 2010. Nipissing University bestowed him a Doctor of Letters PhD (posthumously) in June 2010.

Quarrington enjoyed his ranking as an (extremely) amateur magician and would-be mariner. He is survived by his two children, Carson Lara and Flannery Quarrington.