Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

  Emotional pain of losing parent hits different during age of COVID-19 Author of the article: By stephen weir Publishing date: Jun 12, 2021   •   June 12, 2021    My 96-year old father died recently.  I was busy looking under the bushes for our garbage bin — the men on the truck continue to find unique places to deposit the empties — when my iphone vibrated. I didn’t take the call as bin retrieval is a serious business. The call rolled over to text. The message was short and to the point. “Dad has gone! It happened 10 minutes ago.” He had been recovering in a Manotick senior’s facility near Ottawa following surgery a week before. Dad, a Second World War vet and former Windsor optometrist, had been rushed to hospital when he couldn’t get out of bed that morning. The hospital admitted him and less than an hour later he was gone. The phone vibrated again. It was my wife. She had heard and wa

  Beginning in September travellers can vacation in La La Land. St Vincent coming back! LaLa the volcano And now for the good news from the volcano ravaged St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG)! At a Zoom presser with the Canadian Travel Media, Glen Beache, CEO of the nation's Tourism Authority said SV&G will begin welcoming Canadian tourists in early September. Mr. Beache told reporter Stephen Weir and other members of the press that he has just learned that Air Canada will begin direct flights to Argyle Airport on St Vincent beginning September 13th. Virgin Air is expecting to begin flights from the UK in September as well. Mr. Beache told the press that SVG has been hit doubly hard this year. Like other Caribbean destinations, Covid has caused them to establish protocols for visiting tourists. “And then there is LaLa – you have to smile even when things are rough – that is what we call our Volcano. She has been quiet for a number of weeks, but, there are still rumblngs.” B

BaitCloud photo  Free Family Fishing all weekend  (Monday too)

Montreal International Black Film  Festival goes online Sept. 23- Oct. 4 The  annual Montreal International Black Film Festival (MIBFF) will be held online from September 23 to October 4. For 16 years,  the MIBFF has presented films from all over the world, providing a platform to thousands of Black artists who otherwise would not have been seen or heard . The  MIDFF usually alternates  yearly between Montreal and Toronto. The Toronto Festival  is scheduled to be held next February.  This is the first year that Toronto audiences will be able to take in the Montreal movie fete. The Festival  opens on Wednesday, September 23 at 7 P.M. with a Canadian film, Sergio Navarretta’s The Cuban starring Louis Gossett Jr. Then from 11P.M. 120 uncut films from 30 countries, will be available online. There will be movies from Jamaica, Cuba, Colombia, the United States and Canada.  There will also be films from Africa and the United Kingdom. Foreign movies  will be shown with English subtitles. This

Breaking News – Drive in to see those Caribbean Movies we all love.   Tonight (Thursday), Friday and Saturday the Caribbean Tales Film Festival will be showing movies on the Big Big Screen.  Although the actual festival in September will be on-line, for the next three nights they will be showing movies at a newly built Ontario Place Pop-up Drive-In!  It is all part of what the CTFF calls its Community series, From August 6 to 8, recent and classic Caribbean films will be screened at the outdoor theatre at the southeast corner of Ontario Place. Each night includes two of Toronto's top comedians performing live followed by TWO classic films. The just announced schedule is as follows: Thursday Comedians: Jay Martin & Keesha Brownie Films: Bazodee and The Harder They Come Friday Comedians: Jean Paul & Ron Josol Films: Kingston Paradise & Yardie Saturday August 8  Comedians: Crystal Ferrier & Cedric Newman Films: Rain & Battledream Chronicle   Drive-ins are making a

Marc Trinidad getting ready for the day he can get back on stage Just ask Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle who the best Caribbean Canadian comic they have worked with is and the answer will be the same, Marc Trinidad.   Be it on stage, radio, or on live TV, Trinidad is our standup man! True to his sir name Marc Trinidad was indeed born and raised in Trinidad, but now Barrie is where he calls home. After working theatre and sketch comedy in T&T for a number of years he decided to come to Canada to gain some international exposure.  He has lived and worked in the “Great White North” for over 20-years and has carved out a stand-up career that has him in constant demand wherever English is spoken! With nightclubs closed and comedy festivals on hold, Trinidad, is hunkered down at home waiting out the virus shutdown. Over the weekend the standup man had a sit-down question and answer session with our Arts reporter Stephen Weir.  He also took a selfie for the Caribbean Camer

Wailers wait it out indoors while their new record soars high in charts around the charts By Stephen Weir The Wailers are enjoying one of their most successful records in decades, but for drummer Aston Barrett Jr, these days he is spending a lot of his time musing about the meaning of life.  While their new song One World, One Prayer climbs up the charts Barrett is holed up in Miami, talking to the media and waiting for the day when the worldwide virus lockdown is finally over. Bob Marley and the Wailers recorded, toured and made history together between 1972 and 1981. Today, the Wailers carry on the mission with band members who are legitimate members, children-of-legends and a host of immensely talented musicians. It was the request of the late Bob Marley that the Wailers keep his music alive after his death. Although they haven’t had a new record this century the Wailers continue to tour the globe playing Marley’s reggae sound! On any day in any other time, Barrett,

 BUSY BEING CREATIVE IN HER DOWNTOWN TORONTO DIGS Rhoma Spencer is an actor, director, storyteller and broadcast journalist who began her career in her birth nation of Trinidad and Tobago.   On stage, performing in TV shows, movies parts, and public events; heck, I have even seen her in costume at a high profile Scarborough funeral last year. Up until the virus shutdown Spencer was one of the busiest live performance actresses in Toronto.  Over the weekend she did a Question / Answer with our reporter Stephen Weir. Question 1:  Where are you spending the quarantine? If you are alone, do you have ways of communicating with friends and family? Answer 1 : I spend it at home in downtown Toronto with two other family members in my three bedroom townhouse. Question 2:  As an actress and entertainer and performer, you seem to be always involved in very cool projects. What was 2020 shaping up to be for you before the shutdown? Answer 2:  The year started off with a bang i

Home Schooling’s Flickring Life Line – UK’s National Archives Steps Up Its Caribbean Collection of Photos Need a photograph of downtown Port of Spain, from let’s say, 1899? Or, ever seen a picture of Haiti’s first Mardi Gras? Flickr, the world’s largest repository of photographs – 6 billion and counting – is a useful tool for a family’s home schooling duties. For the past decade, Flickr has been working with more than 135 archives, museums and historical associations to make historic photographs and graphic treasures available to the public for personal and school use. Now, in this period of forced home studies for school aged children, the Flickr archive programme (called the Commons) is proving to be an easy to use, resource with pictures you can’t easily or freely get anywhere else! Guadeloupe woman 1899 Canadian museums, the George Eastman Museum, the US Library of Congress, The State Library of New South Wales and the Smithsonian are just a few of the institutio

So what is King David up to at home? By Stephen Weir Need quarantine relief? Here's what the Soca King is doing at home Congratulations dear Caribbean Camera reader. You've made it through another week of Ontario’s virtual virus prison. You're seen every movie on your Netflix hit list. You're somewhere between finally doing you taxes or buying yourself a dog so that you have an excuse to be out walking the streets. Don’t get cross. The Caribbean Camera’s Stephen Weir has got your back.  This week he talked to David Michael Rudder, aka King David, about how the Soca star and his family are handling the shutdown. David Rudder has been singing about the Caribbean experience for over four decades now. At the age of 67 he shows no signs of slowing down. In fact while he isn’t performing live right now, he is very active on the Internet producing a must read Facebook account that is newsworthy, thought provocative and entertaining. Earlier this week we c

Strange Masks For The New Times By Stephen Weir Noel's homemade hat mask There was a time not that long ago when wearing a mask into a bank was not the done thing.  This week?  Some local banks require clients to wear masks if they want to enter the building to do their finances. Suddenly the mask – if you can find one – has become an important part of one’s anti-virus wardrobe.  Attempting to buy a mask has become an expensive and often fruitless exercise, so much so that people are making their own, using material they might have on hand! The  Caribbean Camera  has been noticing that many of our readers are using their ingenuity to overcome supply shortages. And while they are using bits of old clothing, odd bits of linen and reclaimed elastic to handcraft personal maks, a few are putting a bit of Caribbean influence into their designs too. Noel's masks at left “ I made one of my masks using one of Saldenah’s caps,” said veteran Mas costume-mak