Brianland

  First of all, he’s an Irish leprechaun, and I’m very pro Irish leprechaun. Second — he’s also an empath . . . as opposed to a sociopath. As he likes to say in his Irish way — “Don’t compare me to the Almighty, compare me to the alternative.” He’s smart, hard working, Gets Things […]

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. Why this Deadhead Beatnik Beatlemaniac loves Pop’s Princess   I’ve been into Taylor Swift since a New York Times profile in 2008 talked about her confessional songwriting and use of social media — at the time, MySpace.  (!)  Her second album Fearless was set to come out (and would go on to win Album […]

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Jack on Film: Take 2 at Lowell Celebrates Kerouac . Here’s a YouTube playlist with great video of the entire Jack on Film show — . =========================================== Here’s a riffing interview with WCAP in Lowell about all things Kerouac — and the new “Jack on Film: Take 2” show — with nearly a hundred photos […]

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Imaginestock . photo by Christy Worsoe . Imagine, if you will, a place where music and love fill the air, and every person works for free to build a utopian kingdom. Imagine a secret island hideaway whose location is only shared to people who’ve earned an invitation by a lifetime of good deeds. Imagine a […]

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Poster by Frank McTruck  —  who did ‘Pokes posters in the ’70s .   The Central Continental Cowpokes — Winnipeg Folk Festival, 1977 Laney Hunt, Rick McGhee, Sue Hodgson, Bill Hodgson, Andy Roblin . Sadly, regular Cowpoke drummer, mandolin player and singer Brian Ridd was in Europe this month, but he was ably filled in […]

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The Art of Glass, the Art of Business, and the Art of Love . One day a hundred years ago, or maybe it was five, I noticed this store called the Squisha House opened around the corner with insanely cool glass pipes!  What the hell?!  In little Bronte Village?!  I had to investigate! After keeping […]

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Starry Nights in Bronte by Brian Hassett In my never-ending search for Adventure I stumbled into the coolest little enclave in the harbourfront park in front of my house — an astronomer’s meet-up digging infinity (to riff on Lord Buckley’s line).  And these people are really doing it! Whenever there’s something special going on in […]

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Fireworks in Oakville or The Day Florida Moved to Canada . . . What a riot we had last weekend in Oakville! A buncha teenagers came to my little harbourfront neighbourhood cuz it has a corner Variety store that’ll sell anything to anybody including fireworks to kids.  We had a little to-do here a couple […]

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The Setting: The new Bob Center is in Tulsa Oklahoma because the Woody Guthrie Center is there, and because both were paid for by the OK billionaire philanthropist George Kaiser. Tulsa is remarkably like the midwestern town of Winnipeg I grew up in — flat farmland, low-rise, about a half-million people — and both with […]

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. The Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role is *the* story of the 2023 Oscars. I’ve seen all the nominated performances, and thought un-nominated Margot Robbie sure as hell should have been in the mix for Babylon. Her co-star Eric Roberts, he of the 621 on-screen acting credits, compared her performance to […]

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