Ted Barris • Page 80 of 102 • author

Acknowledging musical gifts

Written by Ted Barris on September 20th, 2011September 20th, 2011. Leave a comment

The Town Tavern (at Queen and Yonge streets) was Archie Alleyne's home club from the mid-1950s until 1970.

The star attraction was not in the house that night. While many others were present – the luminaries of the Canadian jazz scene – perhaps the country’s best studio and jazz concert drummer of the day was absent. In fact, it was because he was absent, that all the stars came out. It was 45 years ago that Toronto-born drummer Archie Alleyne suffered serious injuries in a car accident. He was not able to work … at either of his jobs.

“I didn’t have a car, so I had to carry my drum kit on streetcars and the subway,” he told my father, Alex Barris, back then. “I’d play from nine at night to one a.m., get home with my drums by three a.m. and be up four hours later to go to my day job.”

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Days that change us

Written by Ted Barris on September 15th, 2011September 17th, 2011. Leave a comment

President Roosevelt signs declaration of war on Dec. 8, 1941.

There was a day in my parents’ lives that changed everything. It happened in 1941. My father was 19 that September. My mother was a year younger. They both had grown up and gone to school in New York City. But events that day just before Christmas, meant that my mother would see her brother-in-law and her future husband, my father, go off to war. My parents were both U.S.-born and their American president described the change that day indelibly.

“December 7, 1941, is a date which will live in infamy,” Franklin D. Roosevelt said.

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Three-generation learning curve

Written by Ted Barris on September 13th, 2011September 13th, 2011. Leave a comment

They were a long way from our consciousness in the dying days of spring. Nobody in our family had even thought of them back then. There was too much summer holiday ahead, too many barbeques, too many long weekends, for us to ever worry about them. But about two weeks ago – I think it was the Friday the CNE opened, the same day the advertisements began ganging up on us on TV and radio – suddenly, they were back in our faces: the three most important words of September.

“Back to school.”

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Trusted anchor

Written by Ted Barris on August 30th, 2011August 31st, 2011. Leave a comment

CTV News anchor Lloyd Robertson speaking at Centennial College in 2006.

It seems commonplace now, but for a long time those working in the media were not considered able, nor in some cases were they allowed, to do two things at the same time. Today it’s called multi-tasking. Thirty-five years ago, it was considered a violation of the working agreement between workers and managers in the media. The first person to break that barrier in Canadian news media will leave his revered spot on the air later this week.

“Unions were so powerful [when I worked] at the CBC,” Lloyd Robertson told a group of journalists a few years ago. “As an announcer there, all I was allowed to do was pick up news copy and read it on the air.”

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Citizen Jack

Written by Ted Barris on August 23rd, 2011August 27th, 2011. 1 Comment

Jack Layton (left) in a media scrum during the 2006 federal election. Toronto Observer photo.

Jack Layton gave me and my teaching colleagues a gift we shall always cherish. It was a political gift, yes. It actually took place in front of news cameras – during the 2006 federal election – so it was also a public gift. It was a gift that probably wasn’t appreciated by the mainstream media reporters present that day. That’s because, for a few moments, he ignored the big-name reporters from CTV, CBC and Global Television in Toronto in favour of the lesser known, less experienced and less jaded reporters – some of our first-year journalism students.

“I’ll take questions first from the Centennial College journalists,” Jack Layton said during the press conference that day.

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Strangers in the night

Written by Ted Barris on August 17th, 2011August 17th, 2011. Leave a comment

A reel-to-reel tape machine, the likes of which we used to record, playback and edit content for radio.

It’s always wonderful to be recognized for your work. It’s even better when people spot your work and recognize it as being yours. I mean, everybody knows what an Armani suit is. Or a Picasso painting. Most cinema buffs know what to expect from a Marilyn Monroe movie. Or a coffee at Tim Hortons. There was a time, when I produced radio shows in Saskatchewan, that my broadcasting colleagues might see me working late into the night and comment:

“Oh-oh, Barris is in the studio. I wonder who died?”

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Annual Remembrance Day observance in East York

Written by Ted Barris on August 13th, 2011August 13th, 2011. Leave a comment

Branch 617 (Dambusters) Royal Canadian Legion colour party during Nov. 11 observance at Centennial College in East York. — "Dambusters" Royal Canadian Legion colour party during Nov. 11 observance at Centennial College in East York.

For the 11th straight year, the East York Campus of Centennial College presents its unique Remembrance Day observance in the campus library. Each November 11 since 1999, Ted Barris has presented veterans who offer their personal reminiscences of Canadian wartime events. They are featured as part of a traditional ceremony – complete with colour party from the Royal Canadian Legion (Branch 617), Last Post/Reveille and Two-Minutes Silence. Immediately following the ceremony, the public is invited to join the veterans for refreshments

When: 10:30 a.m., Thursday, Nov. 11, 2011.

Where: Centennial College, East York Campus, 951 Carlaw Ave, Toronto, Ontario.

Contact: Ted Barris, 416-289-5000 x8805, tbarris@centennialcollege.ca

Barris speaks to Community Care Seniors in East York

Written by Ted Barris on August 13th, 2011August 14th, 2011. Leave a comment

As part of its fall 2011 program, the Community Care East York’s Senior Centre has invited Ted Barris to address its members on Monday, November 28, 2011. He will speak about the job of getting veterans to speak about their experiences; his talk is based on one of his recent bestselling books, “Breaking the Silence: Veterans’ Untold Stories from the Great War to Afghanistan.” Copies of a number of Ted’s books will be on hand for sale and autographing.

When: 12:45 p.m., Monday, Nov. 28, 2011.

Where: Senior Centre (Cosburn United Church) 1108 Greenwood Ave., East York, Ontario.

Contact: Lois Scott, supervisor, 416-467-1166, lscott@ccey.org

Barris returns to speak to Pickering Historical Society

Written by Ted Barris on August 13th, 2011August 14th, 2011. Leave a comment

Among his veterans subjects, Ted Barris has interviewed Afghanistan veterans. — Among his interview subjects, Ted Barris has interviewed Afghanistan veterans.

As part of its fall 2011 program, the Pickering Township Historical Society has invited Ted Barris to pay a return visit and address the members at their regularly monthly meeting. On Tuesday, September 13, 2011, he will speak about the job of getting veterans to speak about their experiences; his talk is based on one of his recent bestselling books, “Breaking the Silence: Veterans’ Untold Stories from the Great War to Afghanistan.” Copies of a number of Ted’s books will be on hand for sale and autographing.

When: 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2011.

Where: East Shore Community Centre, 910 Liverpool Road, Pickering, Ontario.

Contact: John Sabean johnsabean@rogers.com

When all about you are losing their heads…

Written by Ted Barris on August 9th, 2011August 9th, 2011. Leave a comment

Sturm und drang over pennies and dollars.

Here we go again. The past few days all I’ve been hearing is doom and gloom about the economy. Everywhere I look and listen – in the papers and on radio and TV mostly – I see and hear people running around shouting the modern equivalent of Chicken Little’s “The sky is falling. The sky is falling!” Only the 2011 version is:

“My stocks are falling! My stocks are falling!”

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