Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

 Concert cancelled ticket agency returns refunds It is Friday evening, and the last thing you want to see on your Facebook or Instagram account just appeared. The upcoming Sunday festival for which you have tickets has been canceled! This happened last Friday afternoon. In a shocking turn of events, concert promoter Ian Andre Espinet announced the sudden cancellation of the highly anticipated Toronto Soul Music Festival just 2-days before it was set to take the stage at the Rebel Nightclub on Polson Pier. Scheduled for last Sunday, November 19th, the festival promised a stellar lineup featuring renowned artists such as Jully Black, Glen Lewis, DVSN, and several other acts. The Toronto Soul Music Festival aimed to be a multi-disciplinary, multi-faceted celebration of Soul music and its associated genres and culture, specifically highlighting and honoring Black music and culture. In an email sent out at 7 pm Friday evening, Espinet conveyed the difficult decision to pull the plug on...

  Make Way For The Reacher Preacher  We call him the Reacher Preacher, but everyone else in the GTA and the Caribbean knows him as Marvin Ishmael. Ishmael, a long-time Trinidadian-Canadian author, actor, musician, playwright, director, and educator, is all that and more, but he is NOT a preacher. However, that might be about to change next month. Last December, his Toronto agent landed him a small part in the Amazon Prime series "Reacher Season Two," and the fruit of that labor is about to air. The action series, as reported by TheWrap (a leading Hollywood digital media news organization), is one of "Amazon Prime Video’s top five most-watched series ever in the U.S. and globally, according to Amazon, and stands as one of the most-binged original series ever on the streaming service." "Reacher," starring Alan Ritchson, is based on the Jack Reacher book series written by US author Lee Child. The TV show, based on the best-selling books, is shot for the most ...

Just keep your eyes on the flag sir. Caribbean swimsuits for 2024 Haiti Carnival memories dwindle into nothing in the rear-view mirror. The feathered costumes, the high-heeled shoes, and even the pocket flag doo-rags have been relegated to the storage room. If you are planning to go South once the snow flies, thanks to Etsy, there is no need to worry about not being able to wiggle your flag on the beach! Just in time to winter in the Caribbean, Etsy Canada has just listed on its website almost 800 different men’s and women’s bathing suits that incorporate individual island flags and coats of arms in the product. Their merchants' new Caribbean Swimwear bikinis and one-piece suits are cheap, simple, and sexy—well, maybe not as sexy as what we saw this August 4th going down the road. Whether male or female, think 'Oh la las' and not wolf whistles as you wade into the calm blue Caribbean Sea. And poolside, expect fast, maybe even over-attentive service from the hardworking youn...

  On DECEMBER 2nd THE CONNECTOR AND FRIENDS ARE HOLDING AN EPIC CHILDREN'S HOLIDAY PARTY Tis the Season for Giving: Connector Soca Music and E.P.I.C Carnival Join Forces for Toy Drive & Children's Holiday Party As the holiday season approaches, Canadian Calypso singing star Joel Davis and the E.P.I.C Carnival mas band are coming together to connect the children with the joys of Christmas. Davis (the Connector) and E.P.I.C are hard at work organizing the coming third annual Toy Drive and Children's Holiday Party. This festive event promises to bring smiles to the faces of young ones and create lasting holiday memories. The highlight of this initiative is the Children's Holiday Party scheduled to take place on Sunday, December 2, 2023, at the Twilight Family Restaurant (55 Nugget Ave) from 1 pm to 4 pm in Scarborough. To make this holiday season extra special for those in need, the Toy Drive kicks off on November 14th and will run until the day of the Children's H...

Brother to Trini Vampires, Another Chariandy Book Film in the Works? Even as positive social media reviews come in for the current Netflix showing of "Brother," the Caribbean Camera has learned there could be another film based on a David Chariandy book in the works. We talked to Chariandy late last week about how he felt regarding the movie "Brother" being shown on the Netflix streaming service. The movie, made by Virgo Clement, is an adaptation of the Trinidadian Canadian author's hugely successful book published in 2017. "Brother" draws from the author's own upbringing in Scarborough. Chariandy, also a professor at Simon Fraser University (SFU), skilfully weaves a tale of two brothers, children of Trinidadian immigrants (turned into Jamaica in the movie), who grapple with violence and prejudice in a Toronto housing complex during the sweltering summer of 1991. The film became a success under Clement Virgo's writing and direction and was in ...

Brother Here. Brother There. Check out Netflix But Be Quick About It. First, there was the book. Then, there were many book prizes. Next? A movie based on his novel was showcased at TIFF, and it received numerous awards. Earlier, it was screened in theaters across Canada. David Chariandy's Scarborough-based story, "Brother," has made history in both the literary and cinematic realms in Canada. For Canadians who missed out on David Chariandy's "Brother," you have one last chance to discover the phenomenon. Netflix is now streaming the film made in the GTA. However, the streaming service warns that you only have a month to watch it, as the movie will disappear from its catalog on November 21. Chariandy holds the Toronto book prize - sweir pix The film stars Aaron Pierre as Francis and Lamar Johnson as Michael, with supporting cast members including Kiana Madeira, Marsha Stephanie Blake, Lovell Adams-Gray, Maurice Dean Wint, and Dwain Murphy. The screenplay was...

  Indigenous Man Returns to the Court in Winnipeg where He was Convicted 50 Years Ago ­­­­­__________________________________________   More than 49 years ago on March 5, 1974,  Clarence Woodhouse , a young Indigenous man, and a member of the Pinaymootang First Nation on the Fairford Indian Reserve in Manitoba, was convicted of the murder of Mr. Ting Fong Chan in Winnipeg, a crime he did not commit.   On July 18 of this year, two of Mr. Woodhouse’s former co-accused were vindicated in the King’s Bench Court by Chief Justice Joyal in Winnipeg. A fourth accused, Clarence’s brother Russell Woodhouse, sadly died in 2011 before he could be vindicated.   On September 13, 2023,  Innocence Canada  filed an application with Federal Justice Minister Arif Virani for a ministerial review of Clarence Woodhouse’s conviction pursuant to the provisions of the  Criminal Code.   We also filed a posthumous application on Russell Woodhouse’s behalf with the...

THREE WAYS INDO CARIBBEAN POEMS "The Tarragon’s Extra Space seats only about 100 patrons. And while they have a much larger theater in their midtown building (near Casa Loma), the size is of extreme importance to anyone contemplating seeing a new play that actually takes place in Guyana (well for part of the show). Don't think you can get away with waiting until the last minute to buy a ticket for this one! The play, "A Poem for Rabia," has its world premiere on October 25th and is already packing the theater during this week's preview performances. The piece, written by Nikki Shaffeeullah in her playwriting debut, runs in the Extra Space from now until November 12. "The play is an epic journey across time, oceans, and tectonic shifts in political history for three Indo-Caribbean women. 'A Poem for Rabia' weaves the stories of three queer women from the same bloodline: Zahra, a disillusioned activist in 2053, navigating a Canada that has just abolish...

  If You Ask, You Can’t Afford the House, Just Ask TV’s Eccleston and Wiltshire Next Monday evening Toronto TV watchers will see what Listing Large is all about. Home Sales? Men’s Abs? Real Estate Agents’ Fulsome Décolletages? After watching advance copies of the first two episodes of new CTV half-hour locally made programme I can say I am right on all counts, Listing Large is all about two beautiful well-dressed Caribbean Canadians who are very successful listing, selling and building homes in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area). CTV Life Channel's new original 10-episode docu-reality series, Listing Large will premiere on Monday, Oct. 16, at 8 p.m. on CTV Life, CTV.ca, and the CTV app. This All-Black production follows the journey of Real Estate moguls and business partners Odeen Eccleston and Lamont Wiltshire as they navigate the challenges of their growing real estate empire while dealing with the demands of parenthood, friendship, and their past romantic relationship. Eccleston ...

The Last Epistle of Tightrope Time Walter Borden, the best Black stage actor in Canada, is currently busy performing in front of live audiences and educating people from the diaspora. At 81 he proclaims, "I am the mirror of your inner truth – I am you!" However, there was a notable issue at the Sunday matinee attended by the Caribbean Camera. Almost all of the individuals in the Tarragon Theatre audience were white, and a significant number of them were older than the octogenarian actor standing before them. The play is titled 'The Last Epistle of Tightrope Time,' and according to director Peter Hinton-Davis, "It is Walter's letter to the world. But instead of being a mere memoir, which looks backward, his epistle also looks forward to illuminating one's calling in life.” "It is an autobiographical 90-some-minute-long monologue. It is set outside of a parking lot ticket booth where a stooped-over attendant (Borden) opens the play by sitting down on a...

Paradise Lost is found on one side of PAMA the Brampton Art Gallery Yesterday, Brampton's Main Street received a striking makeover as a massive two-story art piece found its place outdoors on the side of PAMA, the public art gallery and museum located on Main Street, just across from Gage Park. This awe-inspiring creation, named "Paradise Lost," is the creative art of Caribbean Canadian artist Chris Louis and Dillon Douglas ( pictured ), and it promises to inject a new level of intrigue into the daily commutes of motorists. "Paradise Lost" is a triptych artwork spanning three outdoor banners, portraying a journey from a thriving, healthy Earth to a desolate wasteland. Bursting with repetitive and overlapping motifs, some whimsical and others peculiar, Douglas and Louis guide us through a humbling exploration of monumental human failures. Their intention is to serve as a stark warning of the grim potential for our own future. The official launch of "Parad...

ALBERT JACKSON’S FAMILY STAMP HIS NAME ON NEW SCARBOROUGH BUILDING   If you don’t know who Albert Jackson was or what he looked like, you probably haven’t been s If you don't know who Albert Jackson was or what he looked like, you probably haven't been sending letters home to Mommy. Tall, fit, and finely groomed with a mustache, Canada's first Black mailman cut quite the figure walking his route. So much so that Canada Post put his painted portrait on a stamp back in 2019. Born into slavery in the United States, Jackson was just a boy when his family escaped to Canada via the underground railroad. In Toronto, he pursued his education and won a position as a letter carrier in 1882. When he reported for work, he faced discrimination from his colleagues, who refused to train him. The debate over the situation raged for weeks until political pressure, especially from Toronto's Black community, triumphed, and Jackson was able to walk his route. He passed away in 1918 at the ...

BROUGHT IT BACK TO WEBISTE FOR MY APPLICATION FOR A THIRD YEAR CREATIVE WRITING COURSE - THEY WANTED PROOF OF LIFE      BRUCE'S SEVEN CRIMES OF THE LAST CENTURY (AND THEN SOME)   photo by Bruce Paton By Stephen Weir The first crime of the day was the sweetest. Black paint spray cans at the ready; Bruce and I had our way with the road sign that had stuck in our craw for years … “Renfrew, a beautiful town to live in, population 9,800.” We weren’t very literate back in the day, so we made it short and to the point. “Renfrew a beautiful town to die in, population 9,798.” Littering was our second misdemeanor that hot dusty August morning. We tossed the evidence – two spent spray cans - into the weed filled ditch just before we threw our knapsacks into the back of the pickup truck that had stopped to give us a ride. Squeezed into the cab, left knee getting pummeled by the vibrating four-on-the-floor gearshift, Bruce and I once again left town forever. We were too young to...