Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

The Winds of Change Blow Through the Offices of the Toronto Caribbean Carnival An edited/rewritten version of my story appeared on the  front page  of last week's  The Caribbean Camera newspaper Goodbye to Aneesa Oumarally. The Caribbean Camera has learned that the 40-something lawyer is no longer at the helm of the Toronto Caribbean Carnival. Veteran carnival administrators Denise Herrera-Jackson and Chris Alexander are now running the annual festival. In a conversation with me (Stephen Weir) Ms. Oumarally explained that she had not been fired and that the decision to leave the Festival was made after discussions with the Festival Management Committee Board about the future of the 53-year old festival. Oumarally, a well-respected Mississauga lawyer is returning to the practice of law but will keep her hand in Carnival by re-joining the Festival Board. The Festival Management Committee (FMC) Chair, Joe Halstead, confirmed her comments.  “ She wasn’t terminated,” he said in a taped

Caribbean Canadian writers continue To pen Their own success stories during the Shutdown By Stephen Weir   KAIE KELLOUGH . Back in May of this year  Kaie Kellough  won the richest poetry prize in the land.  The Guyanese Canadian poet Kaie Kellough was awarded the annual $65,000 Griffin Poetry Prize for his book,  Magnetic Equator.  Kellough was born in British Columbia and now lives in Montreal.  His maternal family is originally from Guyana and much of his poetry revolves around that Caribbean heritage and life experiences. Earlier this week Queen’s University’s Creative Writing department announced that Kellough will be the 2020/2021 Writer-in-Residence, beginning in January 2021.  The University is located in Kingston, Ontario. As well he will be in Toronto on October 6th to speak at Harbourfront about his 2020 novel  Dominoes at the Crossroads . In this collection of linked stories from the Caribbean Canadian diaspora. Kellough’s characters navigate race, history, and coming-of-age

Caribbean Tales Film Festival's BoomFlik headliner Jamaica's first horror/gangsta film is Nefarious (real bloody too)   Review by Stephen Weir   Lock the doors. Bolt the windows.  And whatever you do, after you seen Jamaica’s horror film Nefarious don’t go walking the streets of Kingston, Jamaica at night. No matter what. This Jamaican  horror film – it was made in 2018 – is coming to Canada for its first public showing at the 15th annual Caribbean Tales Film Festival. It's headlining CTFF’s September 18th Boomflik  An evening dedicated to the screening of Jamaican films No matter how many  made in Jamaican movies viewers might have seen over the 15 year history of the CTFF, no one has seen a Jamaican film  like Nefarious – the island’s first ever horror/gangsta flick. Gang bangers, bandit street fighters. vampires and demons walk the streets of a Kingston ghetto, killing everyone who gets in the way. Mark (played by high school teacher/actor Kevoy Williams) tries to live o

Saturday 100,000 People Watch and Take To Toronto Caribbean Carnival's Virtual Road  By Stephen Weir:  It was the perfect parade that the world will never see live.  Beautiful people in costumes, soaring pan, word perfect Calypso. No gaps on Lakeshore Blvd. No arguments amongst the  Mas Men.   No stormers.  No rain, thunder or lightning.  Perfect, but,  sigh,  the city really misses you  Toronto Caribbean Carnival. “When you total up the viewers on all the different platforms from Twitch to Instagram to Facebook, we had 100,000 watching the  Virtual Road Carnival  on Saturday alone,” said  Aneesa Oumarally ,  Chief Executive Officer  of the  Festival Management Committee.  “The whole world did watch. We heard from (happy fans) in Atlanta, Cleveland and other great American cities who told us they are coming to Toronto next summer to be with us live.” Ourmarally’s viewership numbers have been confirmed by  CBC News , while some social media sites say when one takes into account repo

No end to Friday night content online. SoundClash with Carib Ricky T in SoundClash studio Carnival’s Virtual Road  was not the only weekend online event that drew cellphone audiences here in Toronto.  A live Canadian Sound Clash from St Lucia and cooking demonstrations using Carib Beer and Ice Cream also drew viewers, albeit at a much smaller scale than the Saturday Toronto digital Caribbean Carnival. On Friday night it was all live from St Lucia.  Three Soca artistes:  Ricky T; Cooyah;  and  Umpa  performed in a studio online broadcast created just for Canadians celebrating Carnival Week. A SoundClash, by the way, is a musical competition where crewmembers from opposing artistes pit their skills against each other. The one-hour unscripted show saw the Soca stars play all their hits and have fun with performing with each other!  “It is this Covid 19 thing that we are all trying to shake it off with our music,” Ricky T told the Caribbean Camera. “There is no Carnival anywhere, so we hop

Friday night's Toronto Freedom Train Rattles Across The Internet By Stephen Weir Carnival’s Virtual Road was not the only weekend online event that drew cellphone audiences here in Toronto. A virtual underground railroad ride, drew viewers, albeit at a much smaller scale than Saturday's digital Toronto Caribbean Carnival. ( Pictured above - last year's train ride - Sheppard Station) On Friday night the 15th annual Freedom Train to mark Emancipation Day was live online and drew a larger following in cyber space than it usually does with an actual packed midnight subway train trip! Itah Sadu and the A Different Booklist Cultural Centre community organized the ride that brought in supporters from as far away as Ghana. Traditionally people come out to ride a train from Union Station to Downsview to mark both the Emancipation Act and to honour those who rode the Underground Railroad to freedom from the USA. The live event attracts 1,000 people, Friday’s live YouTube broadcast

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