I’ve been sitting on this one for long enough; sorry, Kurt. May the exhibit be heavenly. Enlightening. Ascendant. Hey, whatever turns you on. :)

For the benefit of the reader who may not be familiar with the Queen West art strip, it’s a terrific place to exhibit work. The whole area is chock-a-block with galleries and people interested in seeing them. In July, tourist season in full swing, with the heat and oh-so-pleasant air con inside, it’ll be even more lucrative. Kurt’s been at this for a while so you’ll be in good hands and I didn’t see anywhere on there that it says “locals only”.

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“The Spirit Of The Thing” is an exploration of Art that deals with spirituality. I asked a friend if he was religious. His reply was one that is heard often now;”No but I am spiritual.”. I want this exhibit to reach for some explanation as to what the word spiritual means in this context. Does being spiritual have some loosely defined form of dogma? How is it practiced? Or is this just a way to avoid the matter of religion altogether? Have we as a western society become so jaded by our religious traditions that we have rejected their ways, but don’t want to be viewed as having no concept as to what is before and after these short stays in our fleshy carcasses? Has history showed us the political truth of religious societies; A truth of war, intolerance, and abuse in the name of their deities? Have we re-examined religious literature to come to the conclusion that indeed it is literature and not dogma? So we have on mass vacated the houses of religion, but what have we replaced them with? These are the questions I want to see your answers to.

The exhibit will take place in *New* Gallery in the middle of the Queen West art district, during the month of July. *New* gallery is an Artist collective as well as a rental gallery. The fees are very reasonable and with enough Artists involved to share the expense the cost would be nominal. For more information please e mail me, Kurt Rostek, lokart@sympatico.ca .

Submissions by email only. Send 3-5 jpegs of recent work, and an Artist Statement. All media acceptable. Send all submissions to Kurt Rostek, lokart@sympatico.ca

Deadline For Entry: May 15th 2010

Newstalk 1010 is starting to grow on me again.

The downtown AM radio station was part of my regular morning schedule. I’d wake up, shove an energy drink into my face, and get good and worked up to Bill Carroll’s latest rant.

As the weekday morning guy, Bill was on top of local topics before most people, and he’d always deliver them with an abundance of vociferous opinion. Sometimes he’d be so wrong that I’d have to stand up in protest. At other times Bill would say something so accurate and poignant that I’d have to rise in support. Either way I’d be out of bed and into my day with a tank full of caffeine and indignation.

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Wheels are in motion.

I spent this afternoon pushing thumbtacks into all sort of surfaces around the local Universities in an attempt to lure writers, photographers, artists, and fellow bloggers to TCL. It’s time for this blog to start spreading its wings a little.

I’ll be keeping my hands as dirty as usual around here (posts / photos / etc.), but I firmly believe that the potential for TCL to grow into something more substantial is there. And I don’t think I can get there alone.

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I don’t believe I’ve ever done more than one post in a day on TCL — this one is too short to feel satisfying so something will have to follow.

Bit of an unspoken tradition with me until I thought … and why? Well, gives me time to go over the photos, research, etc. But darned if I didn’t come across the neatest thing the other day. Neat enough to make me question.

This insightful work was produced by Chris Hutsul out of Kensington Market. Chris was kind enough to provide a gargantuan version of this drawing as well as a close-up of that adorable house centipede in the center.

Mr. Hutsul is obviously a native.

You know, I really thought that last post about letting your kids wander around alone in a city would’ve been more contentious. Apparently not. Gotta say, the TCL readership is waaaaaay more liberal than I ever could’ve imagined. Cool!

Or you’re still reading. Sorry, it was kinda long. I’ll do my best to keep this one lighter.

Nothing much to say anyway. The Music Garden is supposed to communicate through other senses.

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Generally speaking, that’s a good rule. I usually just smile and ignore, but I was sucked into this one. Why? I offered my seat to a kid. Oi.

Two brothers, I dunno, ten and and eleven, were escorted to the back of the streetcar where I was sitting, by their dad. He sat them down and suddenly realized he’d forgotten to get transfers. The one kid was buzzing to look out the back of the car and he kneeled on the empty seat between me and the matronly, scraggly-haired woman on the other end. His dad sat him back down. Guess he thought the kid would be pestering us.

There were two empty seats across from me – the back  is a half-circle facing each other – so I offered to give the kid my seat. I knew the dad would want to sit with the kids anyways (correctomundo, btw), so I thought the kid might as well have a few seconds of fun gazing out the back of the streetcar. I loved looking out through the front of subway cars when I was young, so I get it. And I honestly didn’t see the harm. The boy was polite, he was obeying his dad, he was keeping his feet off the seats, backpack neatly to the side – damn if that kid didn’t deserve an ice cream sundae!

So shit, peeking through a greasy, filth-covered window for ten seconds seemed appropriate for a young man of that calibre.

Offered it to him twice. Twice he refused.

Scraggly-hair to my left says, “good for you!”, to him. “You listen to your dad!”

Okay, guess she had a point. But you know, not like he’s gonna roll up his sleeve, tie off a vein, and start hitting the dragon back there. Plus, potential weirdo ends up in a seat farther away from the kids. Where would be the downside?

Dad came back, seat gladly accepted. The opportunity was gone.

Oh well, the kid did refuse. And that should’ve been the end of it.

Scraggly-hair pointed at the kids and said to the dad, “You shouldn’t leave them alone like that here. This isn’t a safe neighbourhood.”

Internally, I begged to differ. Oddballs? Painful piercings? Imaginative body modifications? Yes, yes, and yes. Dangerous? No. But, this was still just between her and the three of them. :)

The dad replied, “I teach my sons well and they know how to handle themselves.”

The buzzing kid popped erect, beaming a smile, and immediately added, “We take the streetcar by ourselves all the time. We walk home, we take the subways, we take the buses. I know what to do if I get lost. On this streetcar, if I got lost, I would get off at St. Andrew Station and …”

It went on for another five minutes with the other boy interjecting excitedly in sporadic bursts to further heighten the tales of their prowess. The dad finally stopped them when they got on the subject of late-night taxi rides (if only he’d let them look out the window).

“You never know who’s around them down here. All sorts of people”, responded scraggly-hair after a short pause. “It’s just not safe.”

Then she looked over at me. For fucks’ sake!!

“I didn’t mean to imply that you’re a criminal”, she explained sheepishly.

Steady, old boy, I thought to myself. Not a problem, a broad smile and that’ll be my reply. No problem. I never felt myself to be a criminal, so ho harm no foul. And no statement. :)

“But don’t you think it’s dangerous?”, still looking at me. :(

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