Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

Three Short Arts Items That Didn't Make It Into This Week's Caribbean Camera, But are worthy of your attention (I hope) · Calypso Mucho is a modern-day acoustic big-band revue show featuring local performers of West Indian origin, hearkening back to the 20th-century Calypso tent tradition in Trinidad. Calypso Mucho is anchored by SHAK SHAK featuring frontman Roger Gibbs and led by Dr. Chris Wilson, along with special guests Panman Pat, Monty Hama, Susan G, and Garth Blackman.  Also featured is dance and rhythm troupe John Orpheus Wednesday, August 1 8pm Lula Lounge, 1585 Dundas St. West · The Toronto Book Awards has released its long list for books in the running for the 2018 $15,000 award. On that longlist is Trinidadian Canadian David Chariandy for his book Brother. The book, which has already won the Writer’s Trust Prize, is a novel about growing up in a poor in Scarborough. The winner of the 2018 Toronto Book Awards will be announced on October 10 at the To...

By  Stephen Weir Photographs by Don Moreland (Carnival North) Meet the junior sized King and Queen of this year’s Toronto Caribbean Carnival.   Lift up a glass of soda and salute Caneisha Edwards and Evan Murphy - For the next three weeks they are the toast of the town! The second annual Toronto Caribbean Carnival’s Junior King and Queen Showcase was held outdoors on Sunday afternoon at the Woodbine Mall. Under a cloudless skies and blazing hot temperatures, children in elaborate mas costumes competed for the titles of Junior King and Queen. The Mall, located at Rexdale Blvd and Highway 27, erected a large stage and bleachers in its parking lot. The afternoon competition for the young revelers, mirrors the annual adult King and Queen Showcase held outdoors at Lamport Stadium during the final week of carnival. “ The Kings, the Queens, and individuals of the Carnival bands unveil their elaborately themed costumes highlighting the creative minds an...

Caribbean Humour Is Winning In The Fringes By Stephen Weir - Caribbean Camera After a week of non-stop plays the annual Toronto Fringe Festival has a run-away comedy hit with a Caribbean Canadian connection.    Coconuts, Cedar Trees and Maple Leaves   starring Trinidadian born comic Jean-Paul and Lebanese funnyman  Habib Siam  has been sold out almost every performance for the past six days, and patrons are being turned away! “Right after our preview performance last week, the show has been sold out – it is a small venue and they have had to turn away people,” Jean-Paul told the Camera.    “Before we did our first performance, I thought this would be a one-off thing.    But the response has been so so good, we are looking at taking this out to other cities and other festivals.”   “This is a lot of fun and a much different experience for us in terms of the people taking in the show. They see our performance as theatre, whic...

Charles Roach’s name soon to take to the street. City of Toronto names St Clair West laneway after the father of Caribana By Stephen Weir Caribbean Camera In one week the late Charley Roach will have his name immortalized on a mid-town Toronto alley.    The City of Toronto is about to give name to a small laneway in the St. Clair Avenue West neighbourhood where the late prominent human rights lawyer, artist, musician and a founding father of Caribana, worked. The City will be holding the laneway celebration in the memory of Charley Roach on Wednesday, July 18th at 7pm.    Hosting the event will be local Councilor Joe Mihevc. The soon-to-be Charles Roach Lane, is just north of St. Clair Avenue and runs from Feel Good Lane east to Rushton Road.   Charley Roach was born September 18, 1933, in the community of Belmont in Trinidad and Tobago. He and his first wife, Hetty, immigrated to Canada in 1955 and settled in Sas...

  Pet Marchan and Justin Trudeau talk Caribbean food TRUDEAU COMES TO CARNIVAL BOOT CAMP By Stephen Weir Last Friday Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came to Toronto to meet with Mayor John Tory at City Hall. When he finished the tete-et-tete and went out onto Nathan Phillips Square, he got 45-minutes of Carnival boot camp training that touched on all aspects of the carnival arts, from pan, to costume making to carnival food! “I met the Prime Minister of Canada this morning!” said Noel Audain, a longtime costume maker for Louis Saldenah’s Mas K Camp. “ It was exciting to show him the art of wire bending.” “ I set up a display to show the Prime Minister the fresh fruit and vegetables that are grown in the Caribbean and used in our cooking,” explained long time Carnival associate Petronilla Marchan. “ I had it all. Peppers, mangos, yam, casaba and something he had never seen before. Caribbean Tamara,” continued Ms. Marchan. “ He was very pleasant and took his time looki...

By Stephen Weir Canada’s first professional photography association is having its first ever major exhibition this carnival season. It all happens in two weeks at the Scarborough Civic Centre on Borough Drive. Beyond The Carnival photography exhibition features the work eight members of the newly created Canadian Caribbean Photographic Art Collective (CCPAC). Their framed works will hang in the Civic Centre’s rotunda, July 24 th to August 7 th .   The new show is described as “an artistic expression of Caribbean experience through our lenses.”   The show is free and can be viewed 9am – 9pm daily. “The CCPAC, and this exhibition is all about archiving the history of the Caribbean Canadian experience,” explains Anthony Berot, the founder of the Canadian Caribbean Photographic Art Collective.   “ We have an amazing story that is unique to the people of the Caribbean that now call Canada home.   Black. Chinese. Indian we have a comm...