Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

  The exhibition  Paul McCartney Photographs 1963–64:  Eyes of the Storm  has arrived at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto displays  more than 250 photographs  taken by McCartney during the early Beatlemania period between late 1963 and early 1964. These images come from Paul McCartney’s personal archive and show behind-the-scenes moments of The Beatles’ rise to fame, including touring, fans, press, and personal moments with bandmates.  👉   Number of photographs:  Over  250  are included in the exhibition.  🎶  When  The Beatles  were  in  Toronto also played two shows at Maple Leaf Gardens that year, on what would be part of their final North American tour.  So, The Beatles first  arrived in Toronto for a performance  on  September 7, 1964 .    John Lennon and Yoko Ono   performed together at Toronto’s Varsity Stadium   as part of the   Toronto Rock and...

  Canada puts the stamp of approval on Michie Mee and Maestro Fresh Wes By Stephen Weir on I  wouldn't  “I was in disbelief, and I was like, ‘You’re kidding me,’ and then I was just overjoyed,” Michie Mee told  CBC Radio’s As It Happens  host Nil Köksal. “I’m still screaming at the top of my lungs inside.” Canada Post has released Black History Month stamps every year since 2009, but this marks the first time the Crown corporation has honoured hip-hop artists. “It’s been so long in terms of being recognized for women in rap — much less Canadian women in rap,” Michie Mee said. The Black History Month stamps honouring Canadian hip-hop trailblazers Maestro Fresh Wes, Michie Mee and Muzion were unveiled at a special event in Toronto this past week. The stamps highlight the lasting impact these performers have had on Canadian music, culture and identity. Michie Mee is featured on one of Canada Post’s new Black History Month stamps honouring Canadian hip-hop pioneers....

  BIG Doll | XWAT Naaniitus I Opened the Door But Where are the People? By  Stephen Weir   Visiting an art gallery’s special exhibition has always been a serious business for me. Be it the AGO, the National Gallery, or the Windsor Art Gallery, I prepare myself by mentally  reviewing the Four Ws: Who is the artist? When does the exhibition open? Where is the gallery? What’s my time line allowance for touring the show? I read up online on relevant websites, watch any posted videos, read the media reviews of the exhibition, and scour social media for public comment on the show and artist. Well, last Thursday was the day I went to tour Vanessa Dion Fletcher’s exhibition:   Big Doll | XWat Naaulitis   at the Windsor Art Gallery. I went with Canadian art scholar and former Windsor Art Galleries educational curator Chris Finn. He and I worked together at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection for decades and did work on a Marilyn Monroe retrospective art show ...

STEPHEN WEIR  says “I am using a strict lipogrammatic constraint taking out the letter “E,” deliberately removing the most frequently used vowel in English. A STORY ABOUT STEVE WEIR HOLDING HIS BREATH WHEN HE IS IN AN ELEVATOR AND RESCUING CATS FROM SUNKEN LADAS                          (No “E” No Air No Rhyming, Floor 32. Cats Can’t Swim,) Balcony drinks. Upstairs unit guy falls during our cocktail hour (  or went down with aid? )  “Air-holding kings can last 5–10 min” are scrawls in my blog’s talk-back box. “As it was, is, and shall stay, world without limit. Amnhb.”  Bad call moving into our cloud-scraping Toronto condo. I sought always to daily spy on the giant  CN Stick  in sight from our balcony! cocktails in hand. Day winds down as CN lights lit up skyward, and Whoosha Russian spy drops past us on his rapid way to ground — 40 floors straight down. A Russian Air Crash. a man had said i...

  According to recent Caribbean reports and military tracking of the U.S. naval buildup in the southern Caribbean and off   Venezuela’s coast  the US is stepping up its presence in the waters aroune Venezuela. US destroyers sail from the Gul f west to the Caribbean Sea On Wednesday morning President Trump  said the waters around Venezuela are now “completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the history of South America,” and that the U.S. has ordered a “total and complete blockade” of sanctioned Venezuelan oil tankers as part of a major naval buildup aimed at pressuring the country over alleged criminal activities and to reclaim what he described as stolen assets. Although these ships so far  are not destined for Trinidad and Tobago waters the American military have reportedlyincreased their air traffic through the Tobago airport. STEPHEN WEIR    USN aircraft carrier Ford.

 From the Caribbean Camera November 2025  Stephen and his wife Maria                                         Photo by Rose Embrett You can reach me at  STEPHEN WEIR Stephen Weir & Associates | stephen@stephenweir.com  swear 4509@rogers.com 109 Castlefield Avenue, Toronto, ON CANADA. M4R 1G5 Tel: 416-489-5868 | cell: 416-801-3101  www.stephenweir.com  twitter:  sweirsweir 

  Today, the new Minister of Justice, Arif Virani, and his predecessor, David Lametti, announced that Tim Rees’s conviction for the 1989 murder of 10-year-old Darla Thurott was to be sent back to the Ontario Court of Appeal to be reviewed. Darla was strangled in her bed at her home in Etobicoke on March 16, 1989.  She was found by her mother in the morning.  Tim Rees, then 25 years old, who had visited Darla’s parents the evening before and stayed overnight, was convicted of the murder on September 15, 1990, and sentenced to life imprisonment.  His appeal to the Court of Appeal was dismissed on June 16, 1994, and the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear his case.  After 26 years in prison, he was released on parole in October 2016, and he remains on parole today.   Innocence Canada  adopted Mr. Rees’ case in 2016 and in 2018 filed an application claiming that he had been wrongly convicted with the then Minister of Justice, Jody W...

The Kamala Harris Jape That Wasn’t a Joke It started as a University of Windsor Creative Writing application. But in my mind, it was also a master plan to save the Auto Pact, fix international trade, and maybe even rejig the White House seating chart. My assignment to myself was simple: Write a story so good it saves the Windsor–Detroit auto industry from Trumpian-style tariffs. Hand Kamala Harris a shiny new PhD while I’m at it. Nothing too ambitious. Here I am, back on campus after 53 years. Most students worry about essays or midterms—I’m plotting a geopolitical coup disguised as creative writing homework. My plan? Write something that knocks the professor’s sandals clean off. Save the auto industry. Rescue Canadian–American relations. Maybe even get tenure while I’m at it. Clearly, I needed backup. So I formed a  secret committee —half Canadian writers, half bewildered classmates, and one smug ex-PMO trade policy influencer whose big idea was to form a tri-city consortium with ...