Events

Barris MCs and launches new Great Escape book

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Ted Barris has hosted the Uxbridge Celebration of the Arts “Books & Authors Night” for a quarter century. Shelley Macbeth and Blue Heron Books celebrate “B&A’s” 28th year on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2013, by featuring Ted interviewing several popular authors and inviting questions from the audience, as well as a chance to meet the authors over the autographing table. But there’s something a little different this year. In addition to his hosting/interviewing duties, Ted will also be interviewed by fellow author Linwood Barclay about Ted’s latest book, The Great Escape: A Canadian Story. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the blockbuster movie The Great Escape, (with Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, etc.). But as Ted will demonstrate when he speaks and reads from his book, the most famous WWII POW escape was not a story of British heroes and Yankee know-how. The Great Escape was very much a story of Canadian leadership and courage. It’s more exciting than the Hollywood movie. And it’s all true!

When: 8 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 26, 2013.

Where: Uxbridge Music Hall, 16 Main St. S., Uxbridge, Ontario.

Contact: Shelley Macbeth, Blue Heron Books, 905-852-4282, shelleymacbeth@hotmail.com

Barris Beat

A prince by any other name

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The new arrival – a “royal” entry.

Everybody was buzzing about it. There had been a new arrival. We knew it was a boy. But nobody knew what he would be called. We were all breathless with speculation. Then after a couple of days, we saw the announcement from the parents on social media.

“All right,” the mother said by text. “It’s official. Tell the press and the paparazzi. We have a name…”

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Barris Beat

Township crown jewels

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1967 tree planting crew (l – r) Theodore Kontozoglus (my grandfather), Colin Kaiser, Allan Bourne, myself and Michael Clancy. Oh yes, he’s holding a bundle of 2,000 seedling evergreens.

One spring weekend in 1967, I managed to convince several of my friends to accompany me to the family’s property in the country. The weather forecast promised to be sunny and warm. My mom promised some of her renowned Greek cuisine. My dad said he’d allow us a few beers at the end of the work day.

“Work day?” one of my friends, Michael Clancy, wondered.

“Yeah, just a bit of planting,” I said, “about two thousand evergreen trees.”

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Barris Beat

Summer rite of passage

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This week, summer settled in. The news isn’t worth reading for a while. The backyard is halfway between being under some control and being taken over by weeds. Any songbirds that are coming, have come. A lot of neighbours have disappeared to their cottages. I’ve slipped into a summer break like a pair of favourite sandals. Then, the other day, my daughter dropped by.

“Taking two of the kids to summer swimming camp,” she told me.

“Yup. It’s summer,” I sighed.

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Barris Beat

Four score and seven years ago

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This painting entitled “Confederate Standard Bearer” (by Don Trolani) is the emblem for the 10th Louisiana Regiment re-enactors of Canada. Their members joined the re-enactment of the Battle of Gettysburg on the 150th anniversary.

They wore uniforms highlighted in grey, and broad-brimmed army slouch hats. They carried tents, kit sacks, ammunition and Enfield rifles considered state-of-the-art during the American Civil War. They were troops of the Confederate Army of General Robert E. Lee. And last weekend they were defeated by the Federal Army of General George G. Meade in a re-enactment of the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg. To my surprise, several Canadians were among the Confederate re-enactors, including Lesley Peplinski, of Paris, Ontario.

“I am the colour sergeant for the 10th Louisiana Regiment,” she told me between re-enactment stages of the famous battle. “And it’s historically accurate.” (more…)

Barris Beat

Summer is music to my ears

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Drummer and Lighthouse band leader Skip Prokop epitomized music in the summer in Canada with 1972 hit song/album “Sunny Days.”

I have lots of thoughts associated with this time of year. Most are memories of the beginnings of summers past. The smell I most relate to this time of year is that of a high school locker; this time, it had to be cleaned out right to the bottom. The sight I most associate with early summer is an open road. It seemed with the first of July we drove to a cottage, a farm, maybe a campground. And the sound? Yes, mosquitoes, but mostly…

“Sittin’ in the sun and listenin’ to rock and roll,” sang Skip Prokop. “Sunny, sunny, sunny days…”

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Barris Beat

Canada Day attitude

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B. J. Byers presented a solo concert in Uxbridge on June 22, 2013… It was 15 years in the making.

Part way through B.J. Byers’ concert last Saturday night in Uxbridge, the young pianist finished one of his toughest pieces – an etude by Chopin. He wiped the perspiration from his face with a towel, smiled broadly – as if he had just conquered Everest – and acknowledged the packed house at Trinity United Church.

“There was once a time, I wouldn’t have been able to face this,” Byers said. “I would have just turned and run away.”

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Barris Beat

Through the fog of the Pickering Airport

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Toronto Star photo of government ministers Murray, Flaherty, Kent and Alexander at photo op to announce expansion of Rouge Urban National Park… and, oh yes, an airport.

It happened one morning a couple of weeks ago. I was driving down Brock Road in the southbound rush-hour east of Toronto. In the stop-and-go-traffic just below the village of Brougham – near the intersection of Brock and Hwy 407 – I pulled up beside a pickup truck with a construction logo on the door. I had my window down. So did he.

“Construction season’s started, eh?” I said so the guy could hear me.

“Oh yeah,” he said and smiled. He seemed glad to be working.

“Big time 407 overpass?” I asked. (more…)

Barris Beat

When heroes let you down

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Dr. Allan Dafoe and the Dionne quintuplets on display at Corbeil, Ontario, in May of 1934

It was a new idea at the time. In the late 1990s, students in college were certainly used to attending classes during which experts lectured them. But perhaps not quite the way I envisioned such a thing. I was interested in having the journalism and broadcasting students I teach at Centennial College meet contemporary media figures, who were highly visible in the profession. One of the first to agree to come to engage my students was quite eager.

“I truly enjoy, and still feel flattered when I’m asked to chair a symposium, referee a debate, or give a speech,” she told me in March 2000.

My guest speaker was Pamela Wallin. (more…)

Features

The man who pushed back D-Day

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On June 6, 1944 — 69 years ago today — nearly 15,000 Canadians joined the long-anticipated D-Day invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe. They attacked overland, from the sea and through the air. The 10-kilometre stretch of Normandy beach which Canadians wrested from the German defenders that day was code-named “Juno.”

As those Canadians engaged the enemy in a fierce campaign that would, 11 months later, see the surrender of a defeated Germany, they had no idea that one of their countrymen had played a small but critical role in bringing D-Day about.

(Full story published in the National Post, June 6, 2013)

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