No More Canadian Voices

In Toronto, why not pick up the very last issue of The Toronto Onion and also read “Canadian Voices.” That's right, there will be no more Toronto Onion, it lasted ten months. These Canadian Voices have now been silenced…

Lenticular shoot

New photo of The Canadian Romantic by Brendan George Ko as part of a batch made for upcoming lenticular wallet size pics!!!! These pics will wink!

Poppy Family


I just got the latest issue of Galactic Zoo Dossier and wowwwweee, what a beaut!  With Plastic Crimewave I did an interview with Susan Jacks and Craig McCaw of the Poppy Family. Plastic Crimewave  hand draws and letters and designs the whole massive magazine complete with perforated sheets of trading cards and a CD! The issue also has him doing an Arthur Brown interview, Sixto Rodriguez, examples of tripped out comics, and so much more!

Carousel Issue 29 Launch Party: Thursday, July 5

Hey folks! I am doing a reading for this launch! In Carousel 29, I have an in-depth interview with David Boswell on Reid Fleming, World's Toughest Milkman and more!

The Black Swan, 154 Danforth – 2nd floor
Doors at 7:30 p.m. - Readings from 8:00 p.m.
A PWYC Donation is Requested.
Also reading: Claire Caldwell, Emily Gordon, Katie Jordon, Josh Stewart, Elana Wolff, Talia Zajac

WET DIRT CD review

There's a really nice review of the WET DIRT CD in this month's issue of that really neat FREE Toronto-based paper OFFERINGS and guess what? The CD is available for dirt cheap (Like 5 bux) and comes with a booklet printed on a risograph done by the team at Color Code Printing...ORDER THE CD HERE:
www.inyrdisk.com

WNDW 4: Robert Dayton — The Canadian Romantic's Window Display

@ ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS (911 Davenport Road)  > Jun 09 - Jul 13, 2012 (accessible 24/7)
RECEPTION> Sun Jun 10, 2pm (see below)
http://www.wndw-s.ca/

'The Canadian Romantic' is a larger-than-life character by artist and entertainer Robert Dayton that explores the grey area of impossibilities that intersect with Canada and romance. This window display will revolve around these notions and this persona.

RECEPTION> Sun Jun 10, 2pm
Come out to WNDW 4 for a picnic in Hillcrest Park (directly across from Roadside Attractions) — featuring maple cookies, assorted goodies, and a brief in character performance by The Canadian Romantic!


http://www.youtube.com/user/TheCanadianRomantic

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WNDW, curated by Mark Laliberte, is a multi-site project that links a cross-section of Toronto’s independent street-level window galleries for the first time, exploring how vacant windows in downtown cores are being transformed into unquestionably accessible, 24-hour walk-by galleries.

Taking place throughout June, artists Robert Dayton, Larry Eisenstein, Happy Sleepy (the collaborative duo of Marc Ngui and Magda Wojtyra), Eunice Luk and Magda Trzaski take on these playful and sometimes challenging spaces, presenting five solo artworks united under a common curatorial umbrella.

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WNDW is the latest installment of the 'Carousel Exhibition Series' — occasional gallery shows that bring together groups of artists, who have, through their practice and aesthetic, strongly connected to the community developing around Carousel magazine — and each of the artists involved in this project appears in the pages of CAROUSEL 29, out on newsstands in June!

The article “The Gallery is Always Open” by Jason Paradiso also appears in the issue, as an accompaniment to the exhibition.

For more info on CAROUSEL 29:
http://www.carouselmagazine.ca/current.html

The Canadian Romantic opening for Bobby Conn and R Stevie Moore!

Wed, May 16th! Ten PM! Parts and Labour, Toronto. Strongly recommend getting adv tix at rotate This and Soundscapes
It will be good to see Bobby and Monica Bou Bou and the rest touring their new album "Macaroni"!
Yayyyy!
The Canadian romantic will be doing a short set with accompaniment by Chris Cummings (Mantler), the only Toronto act whose music makes me cry.
New vid:

Quintron and Miss Pussycat tonight in Toronto!

Quintron and Miss Pussycat are old pals from New Orleans and they put on an incredible puppet show and organ dance party!!! My band WET DIRT is on at ten PM sharp. The band catl is on the bill as well.
It's at the Silver Dollar, Toronto.

But Seriously

Funny how I got on that last train. Set off in that mode. "Dear Diary, I hate the world!"
Last night, after my last post,  I came across this line:
"Don't take yourself too damn seriously."

Of course, of course! A ha!
Ha ha! I was going to take this city less seriously but forgot about myself!

As to my previous post I thought I could have gone two ways at that point (oooh melodrama). I could have done what many people do here: get guarded. Put up walls. To me, that's giving in. And destroying all the painful but important self-work that I have done to sandblast away that isolation in me, I've realised things and had to make changes, communicate and grow. I've moved in the opposite direction.
So, it's the other option. Not take it all so seriously.
Insert joke here.






This blog has been very face value of late.

But don't worry, no jacket's required!





And maybe some people should eat shit. Oh wait, Phil Collins doesn't have an album called "Eat Shit."


Bad Fridays/two cases of Coca-cola

Friday got off to a roaring start when my whole body ached from allergies. As well as the brain fog of congestion. Tis the season. I did not want to leave my bed. Day job said, "Yes, you gotta."

Go East on the bike amidst clanging construction and closed off sections and other calamities of the morning.
Note to cyclists: please be careful, you are meat.

Red and white are so striking, such bold colours. Especially striking when they force one into another lane lest ye be killed or maimed. This was a very large Coca-cola truck. At the red light I pulled up to it on my beaten white bike and made obscene gestures. The driver mocked being scared. A little man at the wheel of a very imposing and dangerous vehicle. I biked around and pulled up to his side and yelled how he could have killed me if I hadn't driven defensively. He ignored me and pulled away on the green light. In the heat of the moment my body was so filled with rage and fear that I'd forgotten to take his information down. If only, if only.

Arriving at my work place, I Googled 'Coca Cola' and 'Toronto' and called the most appropriate phone number that popped up anyways. Why? Because I obsess on such matters, I can't just let it go. Oh no! Setting this call in motion, I was given the run-around. Each phone number that I dialed gave me a new phone number to call like the heads of Hydra.This happened six times. I was not going to give up, even though this run-around now equaled the frustration of the incident itself, even though I was now nowhere near any physical peril. It truly showed me that this corporation is faceless and nasty. This time it was personal. By the way, my co-workers are wonderful and were concerned for my well being.

When I reached the right person she told me to call the number on the pop can next time. I rarely drink their 'health tonic' to have these cans laying about within reach. It offers no benefit, except for when I need caffeine and there is no coffee around to be had. I have a peculiar admiration for this company, that they have become such a  behemoth with such a useless and harmful product. As an apology she told me that she was going to send me two cases of their 'health tonic.' What to do with it? How many nails, coins, and baby teeth can I watch dissolve with that much Coca Cola?

Listen to this man's soothing accent:


The day continued. Checked out a  few nasty Youtube comments aimed at my person. Politely replied with my tongue politely planted in  cheek. Continued the tasks at hand at my job. Then five o' clock hit. All I wanted was slumber. And once home I got my slumber.Perhaps I could start over when refreshed?

Upon awakening from my nap I thought that it may be best to leave the house and be social. Everywhere, at each new place that I approached,  were grim reminders. I saw a woman who would have dated me if I wasn't too old for her: hey, at least she was honest. A sweet gal. (age disparity is another topic for another time) A few 'fine, don't say hi' kind of women speckled here and there and if they did ask how I was after my "Hi, how are you?", they didn't wait for a response. They don't matter. A woman who had invited me to a gallery opening last week but wouldn't send another message telling me where it was- did she avoid my eye contact on the street? Two maybe three women who I had been on dates with and nothing had happened then dissipation. Why? I don't know. Including a woman who felt terrible about not returning my phone call or calls, it was either one or two before I gave up.

I had to get out of the final destination even though I was amongst wonderful friends. Perhaps if all of these reminders hadn't come at me I could have enjoyed the company of wonderful friends and not gotten all hung up. One wonderful friend told me how he has confidence in some areas and lacks confidence in others. I relate. Must simultaneously balance and up the humility and confidence levels.

I wandered to another place where a gorgeous woman who did not want to trade contact info approached me. We coyly sparred while a female friend looked on and rolled her eyes at some of the things I'd say like it was self-sabotage. Hell, maybe it was. I started taking the eye rolls a tad too personally. Home to bed.

This eve was a grim reminder, it said too much about what my romantic life feels like in Toronto. One fraught with rejection (natch, I utterly and conveniently forget some of the good experiences I've had with interesting women, the self-pity machine starts its' hum). I felt- I feel- like there is something wrong with me. I'd love to know what. Or is it the  city? Perhaps I wouldn't have felt this way if I hadn't had such bad allergies, almost collided with a  truck, experienced such a tidy progression of these women (just one might not have set me off so much). The day before I was all, "Fuggit, my basic needs are met" and then this day, this Friday, set me off and I became trapped within myself. How much of this is ego? Because I've lived a good life, been spoiled, and am an endowed sexual being (oh yes, I have to freely state that), I take umbrage and get in a bit of a huff. Part of it may be loneliness.Yet Thursday I was all "Fuggit, I have a cat." I can't wait to get back to that feeling again. I will soon. Yet I don't want to turn into a monk.

Everyone is so insanely flighty. And I really should not pursue these wretched flighty things. I will no longer pursue (not that I did all that much, I don't get obsessed anymore and have more self-respect than I used to). I will not offer up unless requested. (This didn't stop me from getting all eager and giving my e mail to someone on Sunday though, did it?) I've paid my dues, lived a good life, fallen in love a few times, dated plenty...in other cities than this one: this one where it feels like a sort of curse. Maybe I should be more thankful of the life that I have lived. (it sounds like my romantic life is over, hell, maybe it is...who knows? Last time I felt like that I stepped into a three year committed relationship a mere three months after the last one....more will be revealed...who knows what will happen and who has the atomic bomb?) I have learned a lot about myself these past few months, had to face painful things and do the personal work. And have plenty more to learn: maybe I'm still not ready and maybe that's obvious. If I was a sociopath that wouldn't matter (see: confidence).

On Saturday I go off to a wedding of a friend, an immigrant who once asked me how one can meet people in Toronto. I told him that you don't. He did. He told me that I can bring a  date. I go alone.

I recently gave a female friend advice. That men are too scared of approaching women in Toronto for fear of being shut down and that is because women shut men down here. (I coach in generalizations) I told her that if she approaches men she'll do just fine. And also note: if men are shocked by this approach, it might not be rejection, they just need time to absorb the shock, many are oblivious (case in point: I am so oblivious). She'll do fine.

What is my place? I know I must help others where needed, to give people a sense of wonder, to smile at strangers.
But maybe after that I am simply supposed to completely, utterly fuck with people for fun and pleasure. I think I will. I can't take any of these people seriously. There are a lot of people trying to be taken seriously in Toronto (and elsewhere...and anywhere) and it's very hard to take that seriously.
This is better than being guarded, there's enough of that out there.