Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

 I Know What I Am Going to Cook For Dinner Tonight  Hope they used Canadian maple syrup! Just saw my first can of Maple Flavoured Spam (Saveur D'Erable) in a Toronto Superstore (Loblaw). Bought it and set up my little studio on the dining room table to take this picture. Will give it a taste test tonight. Will give a report tomorrow (if I live). Product made in the USA even though they use the English Cdn spelling of the word Flavoured, and a French language product name (Saveur D'Erable) too, on the label. BTW - this is the smallest item posted on my website ever. It is a copy of my very favourable posting on Facebook early today.

  Carnival Hopes That The Feds Are Listening. Public Safety At Stake Organizers of this year's Toronto Caribbean Carnival have their fingers and toes crossed and their ears to the ground, hoping to hear the sound of approaching government funding. They have reason to be hopeful. Early this week, the Feds announced an emergency grant of money to the country’s Pride Festivals to cover rising fixed costs. On Tuesday, Toronto Pride learned that it will be receiving money from the Federal government to cover the costs of added security measures at this year's Pride parades. The Feds is providing up to $1.5 million to Pride organizations across the country for increased security measures this year. Half of that money goes to Pride organizations in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. Like Pride, the Toronto Carnival is facing a hefty increase in the cost of insurance, security, and other fixed costs this summer. However, to date, it has not received an increase in funding to pay the bil...

  Patties Wave Goodbye To Yonge Street By Stephen Weir    Hungry hipsters. Out-of-towners looking to sample Patties Express’s finest Patty and Coco Bread special. Hospital workers rushing for a cheap and cheerful lunch take-out. Street people looking for hardy midnight snacks are about to go into mourning now that the word is out. Patties Express is about to close its downtown landmark Yonge and Elm Street take-out.   Patties Express isn’t going broke because of Covid. In fact their four outlets are going gangbusters and have plans for more outlets in town. Blame it on Toronto’s Condo craze. Located a block south of the Yonge and Gerrard intersection, the building that has housed the famous Jamaican style Patty is making way for  67-storey 819 condominium retail mega tower.   “ This is so unfortunate - you are our  go-to  at the Toronto General when staff is too busy to grab lunch,” posted a hospital worker on social media. “You will surely be mis...

Jay Douglas and Jamaica's  DJ General Trees drop a big one! Toronto’s all-time favourite reggae performer Jay Douglas has a new song out and a new “album” in the works. Still going strong after 45-years of performing, the Toronto singer has just “dropped” Jah Children, a single he has recorded with Jamaica’s Dancehall DJ General Trees. Saying that Douglas is part of Toronto’s reggae scene, is unfair to the singer.  Better to say he started the reggae scene in the Six back in the late sixties with the group The Cougars and continues to be the big draw for the sound. While the Yorkville and Yonge Street scenes have long since disappeared, Douglas continues to soldier on. You have probably seen him on stage at Caribana and Carnival concerts, headlining at the CNE, on TV as he accepted his Junos, and performing at some of the GTA’s most popular watering holes. “ We have never stopped,” Jay Douglas told the Caribbean Camera. “I started as a kid in Montego Bay in the early ...

Stan Douglas, left, with Michael Audain  awarded the $100,000 Audain Prize for Visual Art. Four Canadian Caribbean Cultural Icons in the National Spotlight By Stephen Weir Stan Douglas just won a really big one while Amanda Parris, Ian Williams and André Alexis are up for a some big ones too! September and early October has been a rewarding time for four Canadian Caribbean artists, dramtists and writers. Ten days ago Vancouver photographic artist Stan Douglas was awarded the $100,000 Audain Prize for the Visual Arts. It is a Canadian art  award  that recognizes the outstanding achievements of British Columbia's artists. The Prize is administered by the  Audain  Art Museum. Born in British Columbia to Caribbean parents, 59-year old Stan Douglas is one of Canada’s most widely celebrated and internationally important contemporary artists. Best known for his photography, film and video installations, his art often examines the complexities of...

Poster for Swiss Caribana Music Festival By any other name would Caribana smell so sweet? By Stephen Weir Toronto’s annual Carnival has had many names since it burst out of the gate in 1967as Caribana.   Since then the summer street festival has been called, Scotiabank Caribana, Scotiabank Toronto Caribbean Carnival, Peeks Caribbean Carnival and the current Toronto Caribbean Carnival. No matter what you might see on the official logo, for the past 52 years the citizens of Toronto and visiting carnival tourists call this amazing festival and parade simply Caribana. Caribana Swimsuit Caribana is the name that just won’t go away. So embedded is the name in our collective psyche the first Monday in August is always been called the Caribana holiday.   There are Caribana parties, cruises and concerts.   Stores have Caribana specials; hair dresses have stay open late for Caribana treatments. There are even Caribana porno movies! So pervasive is the ...

Grab your popcorn. CTFF About to Open. Annual Filmfest has Snakes on the Brain for Gala Night By Stephen Weir When the  Caribbean Tales Film Festival (CTFF)  opens in a couple weeks, the first film of the annual flickfest will have the audience thinking they have snakes on the brain when the theatre lights come back on.   Rattlesnakes  is a full- length feature that has rattlers not just in the personalities of the principal actors but literally on camera too.  The Canadian debut takes place September 4th, right on College Street in Toronto’s Little Italy.    The film will be feted at the festival’s early evening 2019 kick-off and street party, followed by an 8pm VIP filled screening across the street at the Royal Cinema! This is probably going to be the first movie an audience will ever see where they will see the names of three snakes in the final credits! Slash and Strike don’t get much screen time or any lines to speak, but they d...

Tomorrow's Caribbean Camera Tonight! ROCHDALE – IT’S THE SIXTIES MAN. FREE LOVE AND FREE RENT COME TO TORONTO. BLACK POWER TOO By Stephen Weir Do you know what Rochdale College was? No? That probably means that you weren’t alive and living in the Toronto in the late Sixties when Rochdale was the centre of all things counter culture … including Black Power. Cast of rochdale in costume It was a large residence on Bloor Street near Spadina and housed over 800 people; most of them love bead-wearing students.  It was launched in 1968 as an experiment in a student run, free form alternative education set in a hippie run co-op.  Rochdale lasted only 8-years.  Closure came when the students stopped paying rent and the building started falling apart. At the time the police and neighbours said it had become a haven for drugs and crime. It was closed in 1975 when the authorities actually welded the front doors shut. Irony of Ironies, it is now a senior’s residence a...

Student, Author and Recording Star Antonio Michael Downing Receives a new Mentorship Award. By Stephen Weir for Caribbean Camera Photograph:  Antonio Michael Downing   Antonio Michael Downing grew up in southern Trinidad before moving to Canada He is a musician, writer and activist based in Toronto and he has just been chosen to be part of the new RBC Taylor Prize Emerging Writers Mentorship Program. This is a professional development program designed to support the next generation of Canadian writers on their career journeys. It is all part of the RBC Taylor Prize Emerging Writers Award, a distinction that is given annually to a Canadian author whose work embodies the pursuit of excellence in literary non-fiction. The Mentorship program is being made available to five Canadian non-fiction writers, who are selected in partnership with a national network of university and college writing programs. These students have been paired ...