Wakeboarding, skateboarding, music and motorcross hit the Toronto Islands as Wakestock kicks off today and runs until Sunday.  The threat of rain appears to be subsiding and it will take more that that to dampen the excitement.

Wu Tang’s RZA and GZA are among the acts due to play!  Metric, Silverstein, Dillinger Escape Plan and Hot Water Music are also on the bill.  Punk, Alternative, Hardcore and Hip Hop are well represented.  If that isn’t enough there are several afterparties.  Saturday’s Sound Academy is sure to be hectic with a Bud Light Bikini contest and DJ sets by K-OS and Lil Jaz.

Let the games begin…

Wakestock
Action Sports and Music Festival
July 24 - 27
Toronto Island 

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Rob Piontek was an accomplished skater who was tragically killed by a hit and run driver while walking home last August.  Thursday afternoon marks the Grand Opening of the Skateboard Park built in his honour.  Great to see the city building more and more parks for youth.

Come out and celebrate the life of a great person at your new favourite park.

Rob Piontek Memorial Skatepark - GRAND OPENING
Courtice Community Complex
2950 Courtice Road
Thursday July 24th
@ 12:30pm - BBQ and Skateboard Session
(Call Alcatraz Skateshop for more details at 905 697-1744)     

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I saw this massive skateboard pic of Dave Nolan near Yonge and Dundas.  While the shop posting this massive ad doesn’t even sell skateboards at least it’s by a Toronto photographer (Harry Gils) and is shot here in Toronto.

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Well, this is a rare one. The CN Tower’s radio transmitter went kaput all of a sudden at lunchtime. (It must’ve been the heat.) Radio stations have backup transmitters offsite in case of an anticipated-but-not-expected event like this, and they all kicked in but one. CHUM FM’s backup transmitter refused to work.

I first knew something had gone awry when I was one moment listening to a song, then suddenly static, buzzing, and then nothing. Google is useless for finding out about breaking news like this; unfortunately, so were CTV and Citytv online news, at the time I searched anyway. I eventually got through to the source, and as I learnt when speaking to DJ John Woodlock, that “nothing” is because CHUM’s backup transmitter did kick in, but for some reason is not receiving the signal to broadcast out to the world. Their engineers are working on it feverishly. Meanwhile Woodlock is broadcasting to an audience of, um, one, cause he did get a winner in the contest. Lucky person — they obviously can listen online. Me, not even the online player works! There’s probably a heavy demand for the online player, and so some of us are going to get the “busy” signal. Stay tuned!

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Update: CHUM FM back on the air, seemingly for good, just before 13:04.

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[Play in high quality if you can. It’s MUCH better.]

When I started my personal blog back in 2005, I was falling down the rabbit hole of frustration and turmoil. I had to find an outlet and I had to both practice my writing and discover if I could even write regularly again; but my lawyer was troubled by my idea. We agreed that I could blog if I kept it anonymous and if I didn’t blog on a whole bunch of topics he listed for me. As the movies say, anything you write will be used against you in a court of law. Well, that’s a bit of a twist on the old line, but it’s certainly true.

I thought at the time that this would be a temporary thing, that my made-up user name would soon be supplanted by my real name.

Ha!

As I blogged and practiced writing and joined Toronto Metblogs, the insurance companies dragged their heels, counter-sued my ex-spouse, and sent me to more medicals. As I returned to photography and an angel came into my life to help me finish my book interrupted, I waited for the mediation to happen, the mediation that was booked almost a year away. I think I also went for a repeat medical. As I published my book and created a website for it under my real name, we went to mediation. What a total waste of time. Time wastage continued as I watched the months crawl by towards my pre-trial in June. My lawyer had informed me nothing was going to happen between mediation and pre-trial as the insurance companies would just wait as is their wont. Finally the day came. The day went. No change. And then at last, the companies started negotiating in earnest with my lawyer, we struck a deal, I recovered from the shock of how the state, insurers, and judges shaft car crash claimants with the legal system’s blessing, and then I waited some more.

Today, it is done. Eight years, seven months, and three days after a couple of dickhead drivers smashed so hard into the back of the car in which I was a passenger that they pushed us into the car in front of us, causing me neck, shoulder, and closed head injuries, all the legal actions are over, and I can come out into the open.

Only thing is, it’s too weird. From finding it strange to write under a made-up name here  on Metblogs, to share my photographs under another made-up name, to getting used to being called Points or Pointsy (my Flickr handle), it is now utter strange to go back, to put my real identity on all my online activities, to amalgamate my blogs and websites under one moniker.

The next many days, I’ll be rejigging my Metblogs profile and making changes on my personal blog, as  I tie both into my website. And in the future, you can be pretty sure I’ll be writing about life as a car crash claimant, the hell of losing yourself through a closed head injury, the weirdness of growing a new personality and new hobby(ies?) out of that personality, and the legal system. I can now also talk about health care, insurance companies, and all sorts of interesting topics (Chinese curse: you lead an interesting life). But first I need to recover from this anti-climactic moment, anti-climactic because after the many times I thought we were finishing up only to find out not, that when it finally happened, I was too worn out to feel much excitement.

But I’m free! And to meditate on that is to touch excitement.

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Opened the door to smog city and saw the air. It looked like dust floating, like particles rising from a room under construction or deconstruction. But no construction going on that I could see (probably one of the few places that’s c-free in Toronto). My lungs instantly rebelled. I’d forgotten my asthma meds, and boy was I reminded in a hurry.

I didn’t hear if it was a spare-the-air day, but it really should be a stay-inside day. I dream of a time when all cars emit just water and the Ohio coal plants are shut down, of a time when smog is relegated to the history books instead of blanketing Toronto and the whole of southwestern Ontario. Until then, I ain’t going outside on days like this if I can help it!

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[murmur].  Here you are (Hear you are).  5 years and growing stronger.  If you don’t already know [murmur] is an oral history project that records and retells the stories of specific locations.  [murmur] was first established in Toronto’s Kensington Market in 2003.

You may have seen the trademark signs, a frosty green ear with a phone number and reference number, all around the city. The signs are markers for story locations.  You can call and listen to a personal story about that physical spot or neighbourhood.  In the age of cell phones this can be an interesting experience.  Someone recounts their story of your particular landscape to your mind’s eye while you stand “on location”.  Of course you can “cheat” and hear many [murmur] stories are on the [murmur] website but the real fun is discovering these stories where they happened.

Today there are close 600 stories, 250 signs up in 8 cities in 5 countries around the world. The project is organic of course and still growing.  The community are encouraged to participate and contribute.  If you would like to share a story you simply need to contact [murmur].

[murmur] is 5!  Definitely something to celebrate.

Murmur 5th Anniversary Party
Thursday July 17th
The Canadian Corps Hall
201 Niagara
(just south of King St. West)
FREE (no cover)

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It’s sure to be a lazy Sunday afternoon.  A great day for the Poor Pilgrim Island Solstice Show.  There’s plenty music in store.  It all kicks off around 4pm with Aaron Lumley’s set and ends with the Feuermusik Big Band at 10:45pm.  So much to see! Best bring a bike.  Each musical stop along the Poor Pilgrim route will be no more than a 10 minute bike ride.

Note to would be cyclists on the island. On Sundays there are no bikes allowed on Centre Island Ferry. Bikes are allowed on the Ward’s Island and Hanlan’s Ferry at all times.

Food, drink and even a flashlight would be a good idea to pack too.  A great compliment to the feast of music.

Poor Pilgrim Island Solstice
Toronto Island
Sunday, July 13th
Featuring:Aaron Lumley, Colours…Brothers, Ryan Driver, Stud Bancker, Allison Peacock, Eric Chenaux, Nadj, Laura McCoy,  Yuula Benivolski, Alex Lukashevsky, Maya Postepski Ensemble, All Under Heaven, and the Feuermusik Big Band
Starts at 4pm

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Matix Clothing’s Lord of the Lines makes a stop this weekend at “Poyner Park” this Saturday. Lord of the Lines is great idea for a skateboard contest. The elements are simple. One flatbar, ledge and manual pad. Best set of tricks on all three in one line wins. Good luck!

Lord of the Lines Contest

Saturday, July 12th

Scadding Skateboard Park
707 Dundas St. W, Toronto ON

Starts at 4pm. Best line on flat bar, manny pad & up ledge.

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The hype of the iPhone has not yet died.  If you didn’t already know Rogers will be the main service provider for your iPhone (if you haven’t hacked one already).  Rogers’ pricing plan has been adjusted as of today and some of their stores will be open early for the drooling masses at 8am on launch day, July 11th.  If you are lucky you might get breakfast and a prize too (check Rogers Plus stores like the one on 112-10 Dundas Street East).

One small victory for consumers. YEAH! Sites like RUINED I PHONE . COM were hot on the backlash trail.  Their “petition” for this product (not officially released yet) has swollen to over 57,000 names and climbing.  Rogers were smart to act.

Not in any rush to grab a new cell phone or mp3 player but at least the plan is “more” in line with those found south of the border.  Apple does have good customer satisfaction. Perhaps their pressure along with consumer outrage turned the tide on Rogers.  I’ll be watching this hype machine from the sidelines for now. Good to see that the “little guy” can better afford their nearly $1,000 phone habit. Will this mean Crackberry’s get tossed? Check your TTC or GO platform in the coming weeks for details.

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A Hamilton City Councillor is pushing for free public transit, a “no-brainer” move some Torontonians would like to see happen here, at the very least on smog days. It’s a no-brainer because as the Councillor points out, free equals more riders, and on smoggy days, when apparently 50% of Toronto’s smog comes from cars, that’s a good thing.

But “while cities like San Francisco and Montreal can offer free rides on
smog days,” Adam Giambrone, Chair of the TTC, says that “the concept doesn’t work with the TTC’s 1.5 million daily riders.” (Nick Kyonka, The Toronto Star, 8 July 2008)

He’s right. Free equals more riders which requires sufficient capacity. I don’t know much about public transit in San Francisco, but I do know that Montréal has more subway lines than Toronto, servicing a much smaller population than we have.* In other words, they can accommodate an influx of riders, the kind of influx that requires large-capacity carrying transit for the kind of riders who won’t tolerate packed, overheated buses and streetcars but will take the subway in lieu of their preferred cars. Toronto cannot.

Not on our buses, not on our streetcars, not on our subways. This is what the Art Eggleton-school-of-apathy established in 1980, the Ontario-Canada-school-of-hate-Toronto, and the learned-helplessness-of-Torontonians have begotten us. The one thing that may save us is the green movement, whereby even the most apathetic and most-Toronto-hating politician may find it beneficial to start building subways again, especially downtown where it would pay for itself. (I don’t know what’s happened to the subway to York U, but it seems to have transferred itself onto the slow track.)

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* How much smaller is Montréal to Toronto: read this tourist post. For a person like me who remembers when the two cities were neck and neck in population, this is very funny. I’m glad she had a good time here! That’s what we like, happy tourists!!! Even if we natives have to put up with an inadequate TTC.

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I’m trying to simplify my blogging so I can spend more time writing instead of logging in, surfing around, navigating the blogging site, copying and pasting all over the place, clicking here, there, and everywhere, never mind waiting for blogger to login, which has mysteriously become strangely problematic. In the past, I’d tried ScribeFire umpteen times on my own blog, but it was more of a pain than it was worth. But finally, for me, it works. Not only was I able to attach my own blog easily, but writing a post is a breeze. It’s intuitive — at last! — and being able to add URL links is so much easier and faster.

Having successfully used it with my own blog, I wanted to add Metblogs to it. Ha! Took me a few kicks at the can to figure out I had to manually configure the sucker and follow this format when inputting the posting URL: http://example.com/wordpress/xmlrpc.php. Phew! The login took at last and now I’m posting my first ScribeFire-powered post on Metblogs.

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Times, they do keep on changing here in the big T.O. There’s another sudden loss on the local airwaves as of yesterday. Leslie Roberts is leaving his hosting duties on CFRB. He used to hold down the 10:00 am to Noon time slot, but no more. Global, his main and first employer in Toronto, is expanding their news division — holy cow! I thought for sure that the CRTC-inspired (as in, you want a license, you gotta…) Global National with Kevin Newman would die into oblivion once the CRTC looked the other way. Instead Global is going against CTV’s current drive and doing  more Canadian. Shocking! And Leslie Roberts, formerly of Montréal and now of Toronto, is going to be a big part of that.

He will continue to anchor the Six O’Clock Global News show, but we will soon see him contributing to a new public affairs show a la 60 Minutes. Well, OK, there’s a little American inspiration instead of Canadian, but since I discovered how cleverly the Fifth Estate colours their stories and since CTV buried W5 in the schedule, I’m not surprised Global would look south of the border. Perhaps this new show is an outflow of Global Currents that Kevin Newman hosts? That would be neat. I hope too that with this change that Global will start to film all their original news productions in HD.

Anyway, congrats to Leslie Roberts on his big promotion and big raise, and now I know too what happened to Troy Reeb: he’s Leslie’s boss.

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Meantime, CFRB Operations Manager Steve Kowch has to find a new host for the 10:00 am to Noon slot. May I suggest a radical departure from the CFRB norm? A sole female host.

I realise a sole female hosting a regular, weekday talk show on CFRB may spark controversy, but I say you’re about a couple of decades behind the times. We’ve listened to capable and entertaining female hosts leave CFRB or be  relegated to weekends at the same time as we’ve heard newbie Ryan Doyle come on the air and assault our eardrums with stereotypical and uninformed spouting. He’s obviously a good producer, but he’s not nearly the same calibre as the female talk show hosts I’ve heard. Furthermore, there must be a lot of women chomping at the bit to have a shot as sole host of a good time slot. It’s about time CFRB provided that.

So Mr. Kowch, you’re not sure what to do with this time slot. Here’s my suggestion: Hire a woman. And for good measure put Doyle back on producing duties only and find another good woman to take over his current slot.

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Although Ottawa is, bar none, the best place to celebrate Canada Day, Toronto is no slouch in the festivities department:

• 8:00 pm, Mel Lastman Square — The official City of Toronto celebration. A concert and fireworks to music
• 7:00 am to 10:00 pm, East York’s Stan Wadlow Park — lots of games, music, eats, exhibits, and fireworks
• 10:00 am to 5:00pm, Fort York — Fort York Summer Guard, perform musket and artillery drill as well as fife and drum music
• 11:00 am, St. Lawrence Neighbourhood — parade and picnic
• 11:00 am to noon, Chinese Railroad Workers Monument, North Linear Park, west of Skydome — honour the over 4,000 Chinese who lost their lives during construction of the railroad
• 11:00 am to 4:30 pm, Toronto Zoo — celebrate Canada Day with the animals, bipedal and quadrapedal alike
• 11:00 am to 5:00 pm, Queen’s Park — the dignified celebration with a 21-gun salute
• 11:00 am to 5:00 pm, Black Creek Pioneer Village — 30 people become Canadians, crafts, games, music, and more
• 11:00 am to 11:00 pm, Downsview Park — free activities and entertainment, buskers at night, huge fireworks in the sky
• Noon to 5:00 pm, Mackenzie House — explore the editorial cartoons and media influence of the Confederation debate of the 1860s — those cartoonists pulled no punches! I love this small treasure of old Toronto on Bond Street.
• Noon to 6:00 pm, Kew Garden Park — kids games, live entertainment
• Noon to 10:00 pm, Centennial Park — ribfest!And fireworks too.
• 12:30 pm, CHIN International Picnic — a very packed picnic at the CNE’s Better Living Centre
• 5:00 pm to 9:45 pm, Harbourfront Centre — from Jackie Richardson to the Great Canadian Campfire Song Circle to Martha Wainwright, and much more
• 10:30 pm, Ontario Place — the must-see fireworks to end the happy day on a glorious note

And if all the isn’t enough of a selection, click on this PDF schedule provided by the city for more options.

Happy Canada Day!!!

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When I commented on Adam Giambrone’s laissez-faire attitude to streetcar collisions, I had no idea that someone would be killed by one mere days later.

Even when the intersection of Fleet, Bathurst, and Lakeshore is not under construction, it can be confusing to drivers when turning from Bathurst onto Lakeshore or Fleet. Sometimes, one is aiming for Lakeshore and ends up on Fleet. Still, it is shocking that a woman died because there has been an ongoing problem with drivers not understanding quickly where they should aim their cars (fast flowing traffic does not usually allow one to ponder all the signs and make a thoughtful decision as to where to go). Clearly, signage is inadequate.

“The signage is definitely lacking. People who live in the area know better than to turn down there, but people who aren’t necessarily familiar with it, they do it all the time.” (Jason Jeffcock, a local, The Toronto Star 28 June 2008)

“Certainly if part of that investigation indicates that signage is an issue, then we will of course work with the City of Toronto to improve that.” (Brad Ross, TTC spokesperson, The Toronto Star 28 June 2008)

If locals see drivers heading down the wrong way on Fleet many times a day, why does the TTC and Toronto traffic services not know about it? Clearly, there’s a disconnect between the community and officialdom, such that officialdom apparently does not know what’s going on with the streetcars. Even if locals aren’t calling the TTC or their local Councillor, have not streetcar drivers not noticed the cars heading towards them? Have they not filed reports with the TTC? Is this the very first time the police have been made aware of this dangerous intersection? I think not. The lack of communication between locals and officialdom is not the only problem here; so is the lack of response. Clearly, locals are concerned, yet the TTC is continuing to take a wait-and-see attitude. Meanwhile, laissez-faire equals one dead woman, and one badly injured woman.

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