Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

     The Porter - Fictional But True There was no better day for the CBC to sit down and talk to Caribbean Camera about their new TV series The Porter than last Tuesday – the start of Black History Month in Canada. When the new Series goes to air on February 21 The Porter will have the distinction of being the country’s largest Black-led TV series. The Social Media Astroturfing had already begun when the Caribbean Camera snagged a cross-North America Zoom sit-down interview with the principal actors, producers, and writers.  Dance. Drama. Action. This high-quality series celebrates the lives, untold stories and achievements of the Black train porters and their families in Canada. The Camera has agreed to embargo those interviews for the next two weeks so as to not steal the thunder of the opening night launch of CBC TV and Gem TV.  The Porter will also be airing in the US on BET+ TV but that premier date has not been announced by the American Blac...

Toronto marks Bob Marley’s 77th Birthday Eight-community leader to receive  Bob Marley Day Humanitarian Awards    Toronto City Council has proclaimed February 6th, Bob Marley Day in Toronto.  This is the 31st time that the city has honoured the late great Jamaican musician.  In previous years there have been public events held to mark the Reggae star’s birthday, this year it will be recorded at A Different Booklist Cultural Centre - The People's Residence and broadcast on YouTube at 3pm.   After the Proclamation issued by Mayor John Tory is read, we will honour this year’s recipients of the Bob Marley Humanitarian Award. Bookstore owner and author Itah Sadu will read from her book, a children’s story about how a new Canadian youngster makes friends with his principal over their mutual love for Bob Marley. We will also have a presentation on the progress o...

KUUMBA DEAD IN THE (FROZEN) WATER,  BUT SOME ACTS COMING THIS SPRING Trixx No official announcement has been issued by Harbourfront yet about the possible cancellation of their  Kuumba   Festival  but the word on the street is that the annual event is on life support.  Kuumba, Toronto’s keynote festival marking  Black Futures Month  (Black History Month), was scheduled to run from February 1-28.  Because of Covid, it has already postponed and cancelled all the advertised keynote live events.   In December the Caribbean Camera interviewed Kuumba organizers about the return of comedy, theatre, authors and dance. Before we could publish the story about the coming of live Black entertainment to Kuumba (in 2021 it was an on-line festival) the Province stepped in with Covid restrictions that have made it almost impossible for Kuumba to pull it off by next week!   Just after New Years the  government ordered the closure of all festivals, i...

Foodways: Caribbean Flavours.  Three chefs bring sunshine to  the Art Gallery of Ontario La-toya Fagon By Stephen Weir There is an art to appreciating Caribbean cooking and fine dining, and there is no better place to learn about it than the Art Gallery of Ontario! For the next two Friday afternoon, two of the city’s most loved Caribbean chefs will be on-line schooling AGO patrons about the fine art of Caribbean Flavours!  The 45-minute talks are called  Foodways: Caribbean Flavours  and feature chef and food stylists Roger Mooking, La-Toya Fagon and  Selwyn Richards ( pictured left ). Hosted by the gallery’s Executive Chef Renée Bellefeuille, Foodways is a new conversation series that brings together food experts the art world to explore the intersection of culinary practices, memory and art.  The guest chefs reflect on their own Foodways, inspired by the AGO’s current exhibition  Fragments of Epic Memory. The large art Caribbean exhibi...

  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...

After working with  Idris Elba it was time for a Caribbean Pizza By Stephen Weir With Hollywood stardom just one TV show away you soon won’t need me to tell you that the man in the picture is  Damian Garth Brown  an up and coming Jamaican-Canadian actor.  He is making a name for himself as a stage actor, a model, and a stand-in movie double and most recently in a made-in California Caribbean TV series.     Damian Brown   When you have workmates like  Kate Winslet  and  Idris Elba  cheering you on from the sidelines, it is no shocker to learn that Damian Brown has gotten the advice he needs to make it in Hollywood.  … Big Time.   At 6”2”  Damian Garth Brown  has a real presence when he stands in front of the camera. No wonder it was Adios Toronto, Hello Vancouver when he got the career boosting call to come to British Columbia and stand-in for superstar  Idris Elba  during the filming of  The M...

  Remembering Eric Kauffeldt (Stephen Weir Facebook article, 1/03/2022) Back in the day when I lived in Renfrew, the town's first newspaper, the Mercury, was still printing with lead type. It was a weekly labour of love paper, and was read by everyone in town. In 1967 Obituaries couldn't wait a week in the Mercury. Editor Norm Wilson scotch taped, as soon as he wrote them, death notices on the front window of the paper on Raglan Street. The Young Lads (male senior citizens) would hang out in front of the Mercury to check out who had passed. When you asked a "Young Lad" how he was doing, he'd say " not in the Merc's front window, so I must be okay". Now, some 55 years later, the Mercury has been taken over by the Toronto Star, and the obits are posted on the web and not the window. I left town in 1969, but I still remember the people who treated me with friendship and fun. And now, as a senior I have entered that stage in life when your friends ...