When the tow truck arrived the driver, a recent immigrant from India, was supremely apologetic it had been so busy a night--and then proceeded to drop us at our event so we could at least make the tail end of it, before he towed the car to the airport. Reason no. 10,027 why I love my home town.
Today while jazz lovers mark the centenary of the birth of Miles Davis, we sadly also mourn the death yesterday of one of his former collaborators, the saxophone colossus (title of his '56 album) Sonny Rollins at the age of 95. The last surviving member of the Great Day in Harlem image is gone. RIP.
Winnipeggers are wonderful. Yesterday, in town for my 50th high school graduation reunion, our rental car blew a tire. There wasn't a spare. We waited 3 hours for a tow truck during which time no fewer than 7 people pulled over to offer assistance, one even offering water.
Attending the Law Society of Ontario awards ceremony where my friend since first grade in 1964, Kevin G. Cleghorn is receiving the Society’s Medal. Sitting next to his daughter whom I last saw as a 4 year old. Now 28. I feel old. @stpaulshighschool.bsky.social
On @cfrcradio.bsky.social Dark Glasses, another single-artist show as we look back at the long career of the Saxophone Colossus, Sonny Rollins, who died at 95 a week ago today. Today's show focuses on early Sonny from 1953 to 1966; I'll have a follow up later this summer on his later work. 2 PMEDT.
Also born 100 yrs ago today (but with a longer run than Marilyn) folksy TV and sometime movie actor Andy Griffith, of Maybury fame. One of my favourite Griffith performances (non-comic) is as an LBJ-like president in the 1977 fictional retelling of Watergate, Washington: Behind Closed Doors.
Born OTD 100 years ago: Marilyn Monroe. What more can be said about this tragic star? Lots of great performances; a personal favourite of mine is opposite Laurence Olivier (an incredibly odd pairing) in the pre-WWI parable The Prince and the Showgirl (1957). d. 1962. Andy Warhol portrait below ctr.
In a weird re-enactment of O. Henry's 'Gift of the Magi' my wife @jagwoolf.bsky.social and I both ordered copies of Canadian blues guitar virtuoso Sue Foley's new book 'Guitar Women' for each other as a gift and didn't tell each other. Guess what showed up today.
Ahoy, Mateys, and Arr! My review of Allan Greer's delightful book Canada in the Age of Rum. reviewcanada.ca/magazine/202...
In the wild, grooming is an important bonding ritual among zebras. Little Notty lost her natal family – but the instinct remains. Here, she directs it towards her best friend: Tytan, an orphaned black rhino.
Discover their unlikely friendship: www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/orphans/tytan