Luso Life 014

Nº 014

autumn ‘22

Rock 'n' roll working men

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C R EATIV E D IR ECTO R

AD V ER TIS E

David Ganhão

info@lusolife.ca

a r t / d e si g n D IR ECTO R

CONTACT

Noah Ganhão

lusolife.ca info@lusolife.ca

A D V E R TIS ING D IR ECTO R José M. Eustáquio P H OTO S Josh Balkowski Julia Dantas Michael Neal Ramon Vasconcelos Underscore Projects i l l u s t ra t i o n s Stella Jurgen

D IS TR IB UTION If you would like to carry Luso Life, write to info@lusolife.ca S UB S CR IB E Luso Life is released four times per year.

To subscribe, visit lusolife.ca/shop l i st e n Listen to a few of the many tunes that helped us through some long days while we were crafting this issue.

Cover Michael Neal WOR D S David Ganhão Inês Carpinteiro Josh Balkowski Julia Dantas Valmor Garcia Warren Frank

Published by MDC Media Group Manuel DaCosta, President.

Printed in Toronto. ©2022 Luso Life. All rights reserved.

All material in this magazine may not be reproduced, transmitted or distributed in any form without the written permission of Luso Life.

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Contents 14

Food is the language of love We are all fluent—no translation necessary.

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The art of drag

Air-essentials Julia has been travelling—a lot—so she decided to share some tips to help your next trip be a little more comfortable.

It's fashion, theatre, sexuality and politics... it's also the most fun you'll have on a Saturday night!

We spend an evening with Jezebel Bardot—in her drag room—talking and watching her transform.

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Photography as an art form is dead A bold statement from a someone who's spent many hours in a dark room... let's hear him out.

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The Sheepdogs: Rock 'n' roll working men We can finally scratch having a beer at a sports bar in Toronto's Little Portugal to chat with a couple of Sheepdogs off our bucket list... bonus points for having the opportunity to watch their triumphant return to Massey Hall and joining them all for a few more beers after the show.

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Death Let's talk about this.

The gig poster The printed art that visually connects us to the music.

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Over at the Rainbow What's better than enjoying a big plate of bacon and eggs with a side of white toast and a bottomless cup of coffee at your local greasy spoon? Nothing, really.

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Portrait Heaps—the reunion of a band who never actually broke up.

avó Carla

Food is the language of love

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words: inês carpinteiro

recipe: carla carpinteiro

PHOTOS: Mike neal

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B

y now you've definitely realized that cod fish is a key ingredient in Portuguese cuisine—a tradition that has been alive since the Romans set foot on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is a very small country but represents 20% of the global consumption of cod, which translates to 35kg of this white fish per year, per person. Much like the invasion of pumpkin flavours in the fall, there are no boundaries when it comes to where cod should be added. Thankfully [for some] pumpkin season only lasts for a few months, then we have a ninemonth pumpkin-free period to cleanse our pallets… cod on the other hand, is used all year round and makes an appearance at every festivity. The love affair is so deep that the Portuguese invented salted cod in order to preserve it longer. After a fishing trip, entrails are removed, the fish is cut into pieces, and instead of leaving it to dry in the sun as it was done in the Viking era, they would place it inside wooden barrels, covered with large amounts of salt. Although cod doesn’t swim in Portuguese waters, the obsession with this fish can be explained by its versatility which has been a great source of culinary inspiration of the centuries.

The ability to grab fresh ingredients and build innovative delicacies appears to be in my blood line. Thinking about my childhood, most memories involve a certain smell wafting from the kitchen—my grandparents cooking whatever their sweet grandchildren desired, my mother planning huge feasts to celebrate my birthday, or dinner on a Tuesday because in my house, any day would serve as an excuse to serve an over-the-top meal.

That’s the power food has, it becomes engraved in our memories. It’s used to celebrate accomplishments, to show people you care about them and even to reward you after a tough day – regarding the last one, psychologists may say that’s not exactly healthy, but Portuguese totally support this practice.

Regarding the culinary scene at my house, being a kid was simply great… being my mother, not so much.

While I was blessed with a mother that knows how to cook those marvellous Portuguese dishes that make most people salivate just thinking about them, she was not blessed with children that fully appreciated her cooking. I remember that most nights, my mother would prepare two full meals at dinner to serve just three people, and later four, once my sister joined me in the picky eating brigade.

While my father would eat the very best that gastronomy has to offer, we would rather indulge the blue-plate special—usually pasta, sausages, and cheese… children have exquisite taste.

I remember her spending hours preparing banquets that she would serve to her friends and family, writing recipes in a dossier that [I believe] she considered to have as much value as our own lives. And at the beginning of each meal, she would stop, watch us take the first bite and wait for a reaction to judge her success. I understand now that to my mother [and her family] food is the language of love. All those hours of prepping, cooking and a pile of dishes to clean at the end, simply means she loves you.

On my mother’s side of the family, everyone has the gift of cooking [Note: I

was not blessed with said gift, and if I’m being totally honest, I also don’t have much faith in our future generations—I hope they prove me wrong.]. My family would gather every chance they got to share a delicious meal, for no good reason other than simply spending time together. The kitchen would turn into a cooking class and on occasion we’d see a little bit of a competitive spirit pop up. Having a family that cooks extremely well is both a blessing and a curse. I definitely enjoy meals that are so good I will [as they say in Portugal] “eat and cry for more” but I can’t make them. I got so used to taking the backseat—and by that, I mean to wait for the yell “come to the table.” That I haven’t taken interest in learning how to make most traditional dishes, yet I’ve always considered cooking their superpower, and it’s pretty amazing. My mother works as a chef in a restaurant, her father used to cook on pirate ships and at 70, her mother still works as a chef in a restaurant. Actually, that restaurant is, in some way, also part of our family.

It’s like a ritual of some sort—three generations of women from my family have [mostly] entered the workforce via that restaurant, myself included. It was also there that I saw this dish for the very first [and only] time… and now it’s time to share it with the world. This was a recipe that my mother inherited from her mother and even I am confident I can pull this one off.

So don’t stress, Bacalhau à Campino was chosen because it’s the perfect dish for when you want to impress but don’t want to have a crazy amount of work or simply when you want to make the most of your leftovers.

And it’s incredibly simple.

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prep

stuff

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bake

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serves 6

Bacalhau à campino 1 pão caseiro 1

prep

2 salted cod fillets (aka bacalhau)

Bring two pots of water to a boil.

2

1 can red kidney beans ½ cabbage 6 garlic cloves minced olive oil black pepper

Cut cabbage into small pieces, add to one pot and and boil 8-12 minutes or just until tender. Drain and set aside.

Add cod to second pot and boil for 10 minutes. Remove cod from pot and retain water for later.

Remove and discard the cod skin. De-bone fish and shred with your fingers and set aside.

Cut a thick slice from top of the loaf to use as a lid—approximately 3 cm [ 1 1/4 inch].

Hollow the loaf by scooping out the centre, leaving a 2 cm [3/4 inch] thick shell.

Soak bread in the fish stock for a few seconds, remove and set aside. stuff In a large pot, sauté the garlic in olive oil for 30 seconds.

Stir in the cod fish, the beans, and the soaked bread.

Mix in the cooked cabbage and season with black pepper. bake Preheat oven to 185ºC [370ºF].

Stuff the bread bowl with the cod mixture.

Drizzle with olive oil.

Place the bread lid on top and bake in oven for 30 minutes.

1

pão caseiro: literally translates to "homemade bread." you can purchase this large loaf at any portuguese bakery, substitute with your favourite, or make your own!

2

desalting cod: add fish to a ceramic or glass container, fill with water and place in refrigerator. soak for at least 48h, replacing the water every 8-10.

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words & photo: julia dantas

AIR-ESSE Beauty by julia dantas

@juliadantasbeauty

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Now these can be a little pricey but I promise they are worth the investment. When you have an early morning flight and need to be ready to go when you land or just need to catch up on some Zzz’s, noise-cancelling is the way to go. I’ve spent a lot of time on planes lately and I can honestly say these make all the difference in getting some much-needed shuteye. Whether you prefer earbuds or over-the-ear headphones, there are so many amazing options that offer a noisecancelling solution.

I promise you will not regret this one.

EMERGEN-C 1000 MG PACKETS

I hope these essentials help make your next trip even better!

NOISE-CANCELLING HEADPHONES

Hey, it’s your girl, Julia! If you guys didn’t know I’ve been traveling all over the world recently for work and as exciting as it is, it can get a little crazy. Between the early mornings, Ubers to the airport and the hours spent waiting for delayed flights, it can be a lot. What’s been getting me through it is my 5 carry-on essentials that I can’t travel without. So, if you’re planning some epic trips in the near future or visiting family and friends over the holidays, you need to get your hands on these items to make your flights and airport waits bearable.

These are gamechangers! When you’re travelling as much as I am (or even if you’re not) your immune system can take a hit being in the air. I always keep a couple of packs of Emergen-C in my carry-on. These easyto-use packets mix with a bottle of water and give your body a boost of vitamin C and other essential vitamins to keep you healthy while jet-setting the world!

If you’re anything like me, you like to use those long flights to catch up on some muchneeded sleep. Now you know I love travelling with my noisecancelling headphones, but I also like to keep a sleep eye mask with me. It really helps me block out what’s going on around me and relax.

Sometimes when I’m flying in the middle of the day it can be too bright for me to fall asleep, these keep everything dark and put me in my zen space to get some beauty sleep.

COMFY CLOTHES

This one might seem silly to mention but it's so easy to forget to keep this in your carry-on and not just pack it in your luggage. Our skin can get super dehydrated when sitting on a plane and it's important to give it some TLC. Now you don’t need to keep your whole 8-step skincare routine on hand (unless you want to) but have some hydrating essentials: moisturizer, lip balm, beauty elixir or face mist. Even toss in a face mask or under eye patches and don’t forget about hand cream! I promise your skin will thank you later.

SLEEPING EYE MASK

SKIN CARE

NTIA

Last but not least, wear something you are comfortable in! Flights can get delayed or you can be stuck sitting on a plane for hours while they get clearance to take off or the customs line is out the door. The last thing you want is to be in tight, stuffy clothes.

I always make sure when I travel I’m wearing something comfy sweatpants and a hoodie to be exact. Now I know this can be tough to do sometimes because you may be heading straight to an important meeting from the airport (trust me I’ve been there).

When this is the case, I try to pack a change of clothes in my carryon so I can still be comfy while travelling and change when I land.

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theart ofdrag

^ Carpinteiro words: Inës

P hotos: Ramon Vasconcelos

It's fashion. It’s theatre. It’s sexuality. It’s politics... It’s the art of drag. The art of drag has challenged social norms and a prejudiced society while providing us with super lively and colourful entertainment. With an extensive and complex history, drag is much more than meets the eye. Sure, it’s the wigs, the extravagant make-up, the brilliantly planned outfits, the sequins, sparkles and the high heels, but, above all, it’s an art form.

Drag has probably existed from the moment humans decided to put on clothes—some caveman decided it’d be fun to put on his sister’s sheepskin cape

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and do a dance for the family [although I’m pretty sure men and women basically wore the same clothes for most of history]. In Ancient Egypt, Cleopatra and other queens were known to dress as a men to assert dominance and power in order to gain the throne, and men always took on female roles in Greek tragedies.

Drag [as drag in name] starts in the Elizabethan era and we can thank the church [I’ll wait for you to finish giggling]. Ok, so there wasn’t a Pope who declared, “Thou shalt dress in garments from the opposite gender then go forth and busteth a move to Donna Summer records.” It’s more an indirect link. Five hundred years ago, the

church was the authority, and they were quite good at imposing [their] principles on the people [stuff like absolving sins for cash payments]. One such rule was the banning women from the stage [they also weren’t allowed to vote or own property but we’ll save that story for another day]. WIth women at home rearing children, who would Shakespeare get play Lady Macbeth and Juliet? Young men, of course… and it is here that the term drag likely originated here as a form of slang meant to describe men wearing women’s clothes because their dresses would drag on the floor [genius]. From there, drag showed up in Japan as part of their Kabuki theatre, where female impersonators wearing intricate makeup would sing in falsetto voices, and Baroque operas also included examples of drag.

Drag is not just entertainment—it’s culture and its journey became political. Twentieth century drag came to the forefront with the emergence of Vaudeville—travelling shows featuring magicians, acrobats, comedians, jugglers, singers, and dancers.

Female impersonation fit in perfectly with these live shows and from there, Julian Eltinge, the world’s first famous drag queen emerged. So famous, that in 1904 he made his Broadway debut in Mr. Wix of Wickham and eventually surpassed Charlie Chaplin

as the highest paid actor in Hollywood. His ability to embody a woman was so convincing that when he removed his wig at the end of each performance, there were often cries of disbelief from the audience.

During WW1, The Dumbells [a name taken from the Third Division’s emblem—a red dumbbell that signified strength] were formed to raise the morale of Canadian troops on the front lines. The Dumbells performed wherever the troops were and their shows would include patriotic songs, dark comedy, and a taste of drag, giving the men their first peep at a lady in a very long time—which was great fun, even if it wasn’t a real lady. Between the wars, society changed and the end of the second world war was accompanied by the ‘rise of masculinity,’ and the public started to disdain everything that was non-normative behaviours—aka a more conservative society.

Enter the Hollywood’s Hays Code. By 1930, Hollywood had a very bad reputation and the general public viewed ‘movie people’ as morally questionable [probably a fair assessment] which was bad for business.

In an attempt to clean house, the industry consulted with religious groups, and political organizations [what could possibly go wrong here] to create a set of rules.

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The implementation of the code in 1934, drove drag underground. The Production code outlined what was or wasn’t acceptable in film production—profanity, sexual relations outside marriage and any sexual act including suggestion of same sex relations were deemed immoral. Despite there being a misconception that all drag performers are part of the LGBTQ+ community, those two communities were closely linked, so impersonating the opposite gender was also made taboo. While some took drag behind closed doors, others found outlaw bars where being queer was celebrated. Known as the “Pansy Craze”, it was in these scenarios that drag performers such as Ray Bourbon, Bryz Fletcher, Jean Malin and many others rose to fame.

With the heavy policing and stigmatization of drag culture in North America, Canada made changes to the Criminal Code in 1948 and the persecution of the LGBTQ+ and drag community came under “acts of gross indecency”. Carte blanche for the police who took their harassment to LGBTQ+ friendly establishments, many of whom allowed drag performances. Unfortunately, this reaction wasn’t unique to Canada. New York state went as far as enforcing anti-cross-dressing laws which made dressing in drag just as illegal as stealing a car. Police raids on gay clubs in New York City led to a series of riots organized by drag queens in 1969. The Stonewall Riots [named after the club where they started] are considered a landmark moment in LGBTQ+ history. Only in the 70’s, did Canada’s Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau finally declare [what should be a universal law] “There’s no place for the State in the bedrooms of the nation”. The first gay rights march took place in Ottawa that same year and we saw a resurface of drag soon after that.

The Queen, a 1968 movie was proof that drag was regaining the spotlight. The documentary is narrated by Jack Doroshow, a 24-year-old man living in New York who works as a drag queen named Flawless Sabrina, and depicts the drag queens participating in the 1967 Miss All-America Camp Beauty Contest.

Through the 70s we saw artists like David Bowie breaking gender stereotypes, Tim Curry dragged out as Frank-N-Furter in 1975’s Rocky Horror Picture and even drag queen Lori Shannon enter our living rooms in his recurring role on the popular sitcom All in the Family.

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Slowly, drag bled into the mainstream and started appearing everywhere—movies like Pink Flaming starring the contra-culture icon Divine or Paris is Burning which showed the more glamourous side of drag.

Boy George, Dead or Alive’s Pete Burns, Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie, Tom Hanks in Bosom Buddies, Robin Williams as Mrs. Doubtfire, The Birdcage, the list is long and fun. in the 80’s and 90’s, drag had become pop culture.

I am very aware that there’s a notable inauthenticity to a straight woman writing an article about drag. Yes I did a lot of reading and yes I’ve enjoyed a few shows, but all I am able to do is run through a brief history of it. This wasn’t enough. vJason opened the door to his drag-room, where Jezebel Bardot comes to life—a persona inspired

by Bridgit Bardot, the symbol of women’s liberation and beauty in 1960’s France. We talked, took photos and now the rest of the show is in Jezebel’s words.

“

I am very aware that there’s something unauthentic about a straight woman writing an article about the art of drag. Yes I did a lot of reading and yes I’ve enjoyed a few shows, but all I am able to put down on paper are some historic facts. Like you, I wanted more. Jason opened the door to his drag-room, where Jezebel Bardot comes to life—a persona inspired

by Bridgit Bardot, the symbol of women’s liberation and beauty in 1960’s France. We talked, took photos and we end this article with Jezebel’s words.

My style of drag, and drag “ in general, is the art of fooling the eye. Drag is an illusion.

My style of drag, and drag in general, is the art of fooling the eye. Drag is an illusion. You are capturing and you are taking people into believing they are watching something that is not really going on. Which is a man, in a dress, dancing like a woman. Although I am clearly a man, I am still able, for the duration of a number, to really capture people and make them believe they are watching something that is not really reality. Jezebel, if you look at the biblical figure, although she was a very negative and bad figure in the bible, historically, she really fooled a lot of people into believing in really bad stuff. So, there’s a parallel there, be-

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drag

g

tween the biblical Jezebel and Jezebel in the sense of the art of drag. You are fooled to believe there is something going on that is not really true.

“

I’m not surprised that drag happened in my life. It was not something that I actively thought out. It kind of happened by accident. Before doing drag, I had a career in gymnastics. A long supporting career, I was on the national team for gymnastics. I really wanted to get into Cirque du Soleil— that was a big goal of mine. After injuries and my perspective of life changed, not wanting to live out of a suitcase kind of thing, I decided to go for a more stable job.

My career in gymnastics ended and then I kind let things go for a while, but I was always a very creative person. I was always a gay man, a little bit feminine, I always loved pretty costumes and things like that— the show, the lighting, the fantasy of it all.

When I moved to Toronto, I had an opportunity through the gay volleyball league to dress up in drag and make people laugh as an amateur kind of show during one of our tournaments.

“

I discovered in that moment the power of drag—to bring people together, to heal and to talk about problems in a funny way.

I realized that drag, for me, could become my own version of Cirque du Soleil, the career that I never got to have. I get to have elements of acrobatics in my drag, I get to do make-up and I get to be under stage lights, which is something that I’ve always fantasized about with Cirque du Soleil.

Drag has become a second career. I have a very established career as an educator, but I’ve always kept drag because it was not only my creative outlet and something that I love to do, but it also became a small business. It’s a way to express myself, to blow off some steam, to get rid of some of the stress during the week, and I get to live my life as the show-business person that I never really got… but I got to have it in this form which is amazing.

“

This is something that comes from another part of my life—I’ve learnt two separate things. In my previous life as a gymnast, I was training 30 hours a week. No one could talk to me without talking about gymnastics. It was such a big part of my life that everyone would even call me gymnast. It was so attached to my identity—I was coaching gymnastics, I was training and making an income. Then I went to university and completed a degree in Sports Psychology—again attached to gymnastics. I had dreams of being part of the Cirque du Soleil but I injured myself. Now it wasn’t just Jason the gymnast that was not good. My identity was so attached to being a gymnast that my whole life crumbled because I didn’t have anything else to rely on. When I started doing drag and playing with my new identity as Jezebel, it was important for me to differentiate between the two. For example, if I’m having a great night as Jezebel, I get to celebrate that success in both Jason and Jezebel. But if I’m having a bad night as Jezebel, I can put the wig and the costumes away for a while and have my whole other life where I have other interests and things that I’m good at, and can distract myself with. I’ve learned to compartmentalize my drag and I find it to be the healthy way to approach theatre and drag for myself.

“

I like to take songs that bring an emotion out of people or brings them back to a memory, instead of something that is popular. I did a song for Mother’s Day, Good Mother from Jann Arden, which you wouldn’t typically see in drag because it’s not upbeat. I did it because my mom loved that song, I love that song and it fits the theme. I didn’t realize that could trigger some emotions in some people who maybe don’t have a good relationship with their mother or who lost their mother. And I had someone come up to me and say, “Thank you for doing that song. Mother’s Day is always hard for me, although I am emotional and I don’t usually listen to this song at home because it brings bad memories, seeing you having fun performing it forced me to listen to it again and live a good memory.”

“

You have to have a good group of friends LUSO LIFE

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who support you—on and off stage. In the role of Drag Queen you will often find yourself in the centre of friendship groups. You are the centre of fun. On Friday, I used to finish work, go home, quick shower, a bit to eat and would start getting ready for my show. My friends wouldn’t even have to message, they would show up with drinks at my house, we would have drinks as I get ready—you become the mother figure where everybody gathers. You are the centre of attention as you are doing your make-up. Then 11 o’clock hits, we’re out of the condo and off to the bar. People give you shots, money and take pictures. Again, you are the centre of attention. Then, you go on stage and do your performance.

Again, validation. What happens is that when 2 o’clock hits, the bar closes and now you are not only alone, but also exhausted. You can easily fall into a trap of—look at this fun, validation. I’m the centre of attention, I’m making a difference, making people excited about things and all of a sudden, very quickly… you are alone. If you do drag and you can say, “Well I am alone now but that’s great because I had a really good time and I performed well,” that’s fine. But if you are doing drag because all you care about is attention, attention, attention, that moment of silence and the moments of loneliness are very difficult.

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In the role of Drag Queen...

You are the centre of fun.

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words & photo: josh balkowski

PHOTOGRAPHY AS AN ART FORM IS DEAD.

B O L D

statement, I know. But let me walk you through how I got there before you decide to disagree.

Photography at this point in time has had a long history, and we could go into all the processes and outcomes of the daguerreotype, wet plate, dry plate and more, but that's a history lesson for another time. I would, however, be remiss (and most likely criticized) if I did not at least acknowledge the aforementioned era and development of the photographic process. Yes, there were photographers before colour film. Yes, they worked in various methods. And Yes, they are worth looking at and exploring. But let's compare apples to apples here. Black and white is now an option for photographers and not the only option available as it was for many years. A necessary distinction when comparing analog and digital photography. To understand how I got to this controversial conclusion, we must skip ahead to when colour photography became mainstream. We must start, then, when Kodachrome came onto the scene.

In 1936 the Eastman Kodak company released their tri-colour film to the masses. A definitive moment that made colour photography accessible to every mom, pop, and child around the world.

When it came to the artists, colour film photography was used in a way that we now take for granted. Each shutter snap was a choice that had a cost, a "decisive moment," as Barthes would say.

But each was available to all.

Skipping ahead once more, things changed with the invention and adoption of digital photography. But what changed was more than a simple switch from analog. What changed is how we see and use photography. There was no more decisive moment; the taking of a photo was now allowed to be taken for granted.

It has evolved to the point where now we are all photographers.

So the question begs asking - if everyone can be and is a photographer, what defines the medium of photography as an art form?

What separates the artist from the rest? Can photography still be considered art? This is where it really begins.

A bit about me, I studied photography both in its analog and digital processes. I know my way around a colour-dark room and feel just as comfortable editing photos in photoshop. Relevant, in case you were beginning to think this article looked like some sort of hate speech on digital photography.

I'm not sitting on some high horse of the past looking down from my

lazy boy yelling, "you darn kids!" Instead, I am merely suggesting that it is about choosing the medium; as far as I can see, there are two mediums. Digital and Analog.

Digital has the ability to be everywhere, refine at the moment of capture, manipulate in real time and edit live. It is speed. It is precision. It is light. It is the future. Analog has romance and nostalgia, where confidence is required before the click. It is patience, understanding, dedication, and class.

The separation is necessary once again to appreciate each one for what they are. If we combine the two, we lose what is most valuable to each one, what defines each one, and what makes them great as their own entities. It is a choice, not a definition; both can be great, both can be shit.

So, what defines the medium of photography as an art form? I have grappled with this question as a photographer and appreciator for years. And what it has come down to, in essence, is the craft. The making of, the tireless and meticulous dedication to the work, the painstaking revisions and decisions to match the image in your head. This is the craft, but where is it? I haven't seen it in photography for a while. (Honourable mention to graphic designers and illustrators for picking up the slack) The cynic in me says that it's gone. Things are too accessible and available to everyone that there is no need to craft. What

does it matter, and who will notice in a never-ending feed of images?

People put analog photography on a pedestal and talk about it like it will forever be considered an artist's medium. Oh yeah? Tell me, did you mix the chem, process the film, and develop the images? OR just get the lab to scan them so you can post them with the hashtag portra400, never to pick up the negatives. Worse yet, you just use filters to make it seem like you shot on film?

Light-leek filters and fake grain are the true bastardizations of the photography world. And you digital photographers, you're not off the hook either. When was the last time you printed an image or framed it? When was the last time you pushed the capabilities of that "shot on an iPhone" slogan for yourself or experimented in any way with the presets?

This is how I concluded that photography is no longer an art form. This is how the tool became so easy that the craft wasn't necessary. But this is not the end.

This is just how it is for now, and I implore any photographers out there to get past the tool and work on the craft again, for photography's sake.

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interview/words: david Ganhão

PHOTOs: Micheal neal

Ewan Ryan

If you’re someone I think is cool, I want you in the magazine, which means I’ve probably jotted down a question or two that I plan to ask you when we finally meet. [Iggy Pop, I’m coming for you]. Many of those questions are ridiculous, but I write them down anyway.

The Sheepdogs are one of those bands. I put them on my “cool list” after watching their Edgefest 2012 performance. The band was tight, sending good vibes to everyone within earshot. Bluesy and upbeat, southern feelgood rock ‘n’ roll… the kind of music you had blaring from the car stereo during that roadtrip when the cop pulled you over for speeding and instead of giving you a ticket he just smiled, gave an understanding nod and sent you on your way after saying one word, “Sheepdogs.”

I was hooked.

At some point after that concert, I crafted my question and put it away until the opportunity to interview a Sheepdog or two presented itself.

This year, the ‘Dogs released a pair of stellar albums—Live at Lee’s followed by Outta Sight, they announced a fall tour and then the stars

aligned. I reached out to long-time e-penpal and music publicist, Cristina Fernandes in an attempt to sit her down long enough to chat about doing something for the magazine [cool chick… see paragraph one]. Unfortunately for us Cristina is a busy person. Fortunately for us Cristina is busy being a publicist. During our convo, The Sheepdogs came up, and it turns out they are her clients. Shortly after, an email came in— “Ewan and Ryan are a go. Interview is noon on Wednesday. Ryan thought it’d be fun to do the shoot at a sports bars in Little Portugal.” Noted.

“No. No. No.”

Thirty-six hours to prepare. I had one question and an eager photographer… what could possibly go wrong? I told everyone to meet at the Nossa Casa Sports Cafe on Dundas Street— everyone except the owners of Nossa Casa.

No big. I showed up at 10am and spoke with the owner, who politely declined my request.

“Thanks, but we’re not interested.”

With that, he broke, “If your family comes here, and they recommended us, I don’t want to let them down. Do your thing.”

“Wait, what? We only need an hour and won’t be in anyone’s way… The band requested a place like yours… We’ll be interviewing a couple of freakin’ Sheepdogs…”

With the clock hands getting closer to noon, I downed my fourth espresso and thought, “What would the Sheepdogs do?” They’d appeal to the “every man” sensibility. “You know,” I said, “the boys had actually suggested another bar up the street. I told them Nossa Casa was a better spot because I have family who come here—my cousin Mario, his son Armand, even my son had been here to watch a few soccer games.”

I exhaled and ordered a beer to hopefully reverse the effects the caffeine was having on my nerves, then looked up at the clock—11:41.

I had 19 minutes to chill out before Ewan and Ryan showed up. I took a sip and looked over my questions.“Fuck it,” I thought, “I’m leading with the ridiculous…"

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Luso Life: Okay. So I've been holding this question for a long time, way before there was even a thought of an interview. You were the first unsigned band to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone, how does that compare to being the first signed band on the cover of Luso Life?

Ewan Currie: They’re both honours. It took a long time to get here. [laughs]

can think of is, aside from it's just a phrase that's out in the world, I think one of the guys that worked on that album is this guy Stephen [Kozmeniuk aka Koz]. We met him years ago, he was in a band called Boy that was a rock band, kind of in our style, and he’s now, a super writer/producer for the stars.

He worked on that record. So I'm wondering if maybe he knew or he maybe had a hand in that. I don't know.

It's a stupid question, but I needed to ask it. That was a super cool thing, though. Obviously, you guys have talked a lot about the Rolling Stone thing but I heard you were the only Canadian band that entered.

Ryan: We also just joke that at some point, maybe she's looked us up and seen that our record will come up, if you type it in. So maybe we get a few spins occasionally. One for every 10 million that she gets. [laughs]

Ryan Gullen: It wasn't even something we entered. Somebody at Atlantic Records that had gotten a hold of our album and then put us in the pile. Then Rolling Stone and Atlantic picked ten or 14 bands, or whatever it was, so it was actually a surprise when we found out we were in that competition. It was sort of like, "Hey, are you interested in being a part of this?" It was completely out of the blue. It wasn't something we entered, but we were the only Canadian band. We were very fortunate.

We really got the Canadian community behind us to help with that.

There's nothing wrong with that. While we're talking about that genre, I couldn't find it anywhere, but have The Sheepdogs ever been sampled? Do you know?

So, Dua Lipa's latest album is named Future Nostalgia… I can only assume it's a nod to you guys?

Ewan: She's a big fan of ours. [laughs] We took it from a sketch from an old TV show called Mr. Show—Bob Odenkirk and David Cross, so it's a nod to that. The only thing I

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Ryan: I don't think so. I mean, typically people are pretty good at clearing that stuff, so no.

We've talked about that… how it would be great to get some samples rocking.

You guys are considered Canadian rock royalty by this point…

Ewan: Maybe princes or something. I would never dub myself Royalty.

You get lots of love here… you’ve played all over the world… outside of Canada, do you guys fill rooms of the same size?

Ewan: We’re more like rock ‘n’ roll peasants [laughs].

Ewan: It depends where we go... We're going to the UK—we fly out tonight. So we’ll be playing rooms that are a little smaller [than we play in Canada]. We go to America and the UK and Europe—we've been building it up… to get it up to the same level.

Ryan: We're a li ttle bit more of the rock ‘n’ roll working man, the working class. We're out there pounding the pavement a little bit more. We've been able to continue to have the ball rolling in Canada, but for a lot of people in America and Europe, we are still a fairly unknown band. We have a very devout following in those places, but it still will continue to grow. We've been to Europe once this year, this will be our second trip to the UK. We're going back because our shows in January sold out and we're going back to do those same venues again—bigger venues, so we're seeing growth, but we're not rock ‘n’ roll royalty by any means. [laughs] Does the world see you as Canadian or do they see you as American or do they just see you as music?

Ewan: I don't know. We are Canadian, but I don't think that really is first and foremost—we're not always super conscious of singing about Canada. When we go to the UK and Europe, it's like, we're just a band from North America that plays American style rock and roll. In the States, we go down to the south and we play some of our licks, and they're like, "Wow, you guys sound like you're from down here, but I know you're from Canada." I don't think people really care that much… if the music is good, it doesn't really matter.

I remember when I’d go to Portugal in the 80s and 90s, the charts there were filled with stuff from everywhere—people were singing in whatever language and it was all accepted. Back in North America it was more like, "Hmm, we'll let "La Bamba” in, but everything else should be in English.”

I like that music is a universal language because, like I said, when we go to Spain, and places where they don't necessarily speak English, they'll sing the riff. We played a show in Spain, they were singing one of the riffs of our songs back to us, as if it was a football anthem, like the soccer matches. That's really cool and it just feels great to connect with somebody through something that doesn't, you know?

Ryan: It's a funny thing… you'll go to a country where you can't even have a conversation with someone after the show but then they're singing lyrics to new songs. That's kind of the power of music, that people can discover music and learn the words but then have difficulty having a conversation. Obviously, when we go on those tours, we're in a different country with a different language every single day. It's a very bizarre thing.

Ryan: That's a funny one because that happened twice on our European tour—at the first in Hondarribia, Spain and the last show in Paris. Both shows, at the end of the night, people were singing our song. You know how they do Seven Nation Army at football games now? They were doing that in the crowd and it was this amazing moment where it was like a universal thing that two neighbouring countries did kind of the same thing.

You see some of the concerts out of Brazil, where you have 100,000 fans, and they don't speak English but they're all singing along with Queen or Megadeath.

What song?

So as a listener and a writer, you prioritize melody, or the lyrics?

Ewan: I prioritize melody. Like I said, I connect to music first—I get melodies and riffs stuck in my head. That's why I enjoy listening to music that's in different languages, whether it's Portuguese or French or Italian. The melody is the thing that really connects to me. It's not to say that lyrics aren't important but to me, I really connected to the music. I think you can go a lot further with a strong melody and shaky word than the other way around. That's just me.

Ryan: Often, the most ambiguous lyrics end up having more meaning to people than when they're very like on the nose too. Ambiguity is a good thing in music. We've often talked about LUSO LIFE

Ewan: If someone asks me the meaning of something, I don't care if they know the right meaning. I'd rather they just interpret it and have their own thing.

Ewan: There's a real thing with rock ‘n’ roll, I think it's really tied to the English language.

People love it in all languages but for some reason it's sort of tied to English. When you go to Spain or wherever, people go nuts, singing back to you. Even if they don't speak English, they'll sing lyrics back to you and kind of latch onto it. They don't seem to produce a lot of their own rock ‘n’ roll bands over there, but they love the genre.

Ewan: Yeah, that's what's great about music.

It's like the feeling of just hearing a melody or the rhythm—you don't necessarily need to speak the language. I listen to a lot of Brazilian music from the 60s and 70s Tropicália era.

That's all in Portuguese. I don't speak Portuguese but it sounds beautiful. I love the sound of it and it speaks to me just through the music.

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that universal lyric, but we'll meet people and they'll be like, "Oh, in this song, this lyric meant this to me." And that's cool.

Ryan:"Nobody." They were like, "da da da daaa." [sings riff] A roomful of people doing that is pretty powerful.

Ewan: One other point about the words versus music is sometimes, someone will post a lyric as their Facebook status or as a tweet or whatever, and if you don't know what the music is behind it, or the song—unless it's a really good line—you think, what the hell is this? But if you know the line, it makes sense because it has that music. It just imbues it with a special flavour that writing on its own can't do.

Do you have a favourite line you or somebody else has written?

Ewan: “The love you take Is equal to the love you make.” [laughs] Ryan: After watching that Beatles doc, it's so funny because you see, sort of to Ewan's point, where it's like something that ends up being profound can come from a very unprofound moment, and I often have wondered that about that line. It's so incredibly profound. I do believe that's one of the best lyrics but I have a feeling it could very easily have just been come up with on the spot. It's quite possible it doesn't have this deep-seated moment. A profound moment

can come from essentially nothing. I think that's one of the things that's so interesting about that Beatles doc, or any music that's being created, it's not always created in these amazing circumstances where everyone in the room is like, "oh my god! There's magic happening right now and we know this is gonna be something special."

Ewan: I've thought of a good line. “Deacon Blues” by Steely Dan. "Learn to work the saxophone, I play just what I feel. Drink Scotch whiskey all night long and die behind the wheel."

The other line, "They call Alabama the Crimson Tide, call me Deacon Blues." The [University of] Alabama football team, which he's looking down his nose at them like they're a bunch of hillbillies, have been given this grand name, the 'Crimson Tide', and he's like, "I'm just some loser, so call me Deacon Blues." It's a good line.

Yeah it is. One of my favourite moments in the Beatles doc involves some magic happening—when Paul is writing "Get Back."

You've got George and Ringo, just watching Paul messing around on the bass. George is yawning and Ringo is wiping sleep from his eyes. Then the song starts to come together and you see George pick up the guitar to join in and Ringo starts to bang on his leg, and we watch the song magically come together. Does that type of thing happen with you guys, where you're jamming in the studio, and everybody's contributing, or do you come in and say, "there's your parts, please play them the way I've asked you to?"

Ewan: It depends. Sometimes it is like, here's your part… not that I write out sheet music or anything. Other times, it's just a kernel of an idea and we jam it out. It is wild to see that happen in the movie, that it just happened so seemingly out of thin air, then it turns into their new number one hit… crazy. So yeah, sometimes it's fully formed and other times, it's just a skeleton of an idea. As a songwriter, sometimes you can see it all in your head or hear it all in your head. Other times, you can't... you just have this piece, but then once you get the band around you turning it from an idea into this 3-D thing, you can start to envision it, once you hear it in the room. It's weird, because sometimes you envision a song, and you're like, "I know, it's gonna be like this, and it's gonna work out like this," and then once you're actually playing it, you're just like, "I can't make it sound like it does my head." Then it becomes something else.

Ryan: I think what's interesting about this record is because of the nature of making an album during the pandemic, we sort of would just get together and jam on ideas. It was a pretty unique way for us to make a record.

Ewan would come in with ideas that he had demoed or worked on over the pandemic, and we'd all sit in the room, basically in a circle, and just try things out. Like he said, it might have been a fully formed idea and we would make suggestions, but other times, it would be literally us trying things out. We would go and record a little bit then listen back. Other records we've done, songs have taken shape over long periods of time, or have already been pre-formed and jammed, and when we would come into the studio we knew exactly what we were doing.

So, because Outta Sight was a pandemic album, did you have more time with it?

Ewan: Less time. We don't all live nearby. Three of us live in the city, one guy is off in Saskatchewan, so time with all five of us in a room was limited. Also we ended up being discouraged from doing things together and congregating.

Every now and again, we would have some reason to get together, so we would just book a couple of days in the studio, and just try to bang out songs.

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Ryan: We didn't have that much time, being separate.

Ewan: We were supposed to go to the States and do a proper two to three weeks and sink our teeth into making a whole record, but that was basically scheduled for April 2020… of course, you know, the border shutdown and everything else. Basically, you know what the pandemic was like. You'd make some plans and then the rules would change, and then those plans got screwed. We were just kind of desperate to do something that felt like we were accomplishing something. You can't play shows, you'd plan to do a video project and then the government would be like, "actually, we're not allowing this right now, because you can’t have these people together in a room." We were just like, let's just get in the studio and try to accomplish something. It worked out pretty well the first time we tried it, so we just kept going, and next thing you know we had eleven songs, As a result, we didn't over-think it. It was very basic... that workman mentality—come in, work on something, finish it, and then it eventually became the album. Our previous fulllength record was a very different story, where it was actually longer. We'd try different things and it was more drawn out. With this, we'd focus on one thing, get it done, and then move on to the next thing, Very cool that you were able to write a very uplifting rock album while the world was falling apart.

Ewan: When we started our band, we were both kind of miserable. I had a breakup when I was 19,

so it was an end-of-the-world kind of vibe. Ryan got fired from his prestigious job at Blockbuster, ruining his career as a video store clerk…

Ryan: You really did me a favour.

Ewan: It was right at the start of summer, and summer was looking like a bummer. We started the band right around that time, and I was driving around in my car listening to Creedence, listening to the Kinks, listening to rock and roll music and just trying to cheer myself up. I really was using rock ‘n’ roll as a drug to make myself happy and to escape feeling like a bummed out dude. When you're 19, you just think, “this is the end of the world, and nothing's gonna get better.” I love rock ‘n’ roll as a sort of optimism.

Even if your life sucks or your job sucks, Friday night rolls around, you got a bit of money in your pocket and you're going to have a good time— whatever that is for you. For me, we would get together in the basement of our drummer Sam’s parents house. Jam, drink beers, and go out to a bar to see some music. I want the rock ‘n’ roll music that we make to be an escape. It's always been that way and then the pandemic rolls around, and more than ever, it's good for that. So it was a little bit of wishful thinking—I think we were always acutely aware that when this thing was over, we were going to try to put it in our rear-view and not think about it.

Ryan: I think everything about it was, even ourselves thinking about making music, we knew that whatever the end or the next part of the pandemic looked now—playing shows, putting out music, doing in person interviews instead of Zoom—all those things that we were so accustomed to, and never really stopped doing

until the pandemic hit. A lot of what we were doing was, "we're working on this now so that this can come out and we can have it." It's all looking forward to that as well, as everybody was at the time—hurry up we're waiting for things to hopefully go back to normal.

Ewan: If you think about your favourite Beatles records, and I’ll use "Taxman"… it will reference Mr. Wilson, Mr. Heath and politicians of the day, but it’s not married to 1966 or whatever. It's not like they're only commenting about that. It might reflect the moods of that time, but they're still universal enough that they can be attached to anytime. I think timelessness in music is the goal.

Absolutely. When I chatted with Ron Hawkins, he said he wished Lowest of the Low had recorded a very happy-go-lucky album, like Katrina and the Waves. Coming out of the pandemic, I think that would've been so fun.

Ryan: Yeah, that's what's been fun about the shows we're doing now. We have those new songs that are good vibes and people are just so happy to be back. We've been fortunate to be the first shows back at a lot of places. In November we did four sold-out nights at Lee's Palace in Toronto—that was the first weekend indoor shows were allowed in Toronto. So we got to do these four shows where it was everybody's first indoor show and the energy was incredible. We had a recording and then we put out a live record [Live At Lees] from it because it was this incredible moment. We went to the UK in January and same thing. They'd just opened up, a lot of bands are cancelling their tours, and we decided to go anyway. Shows were very packed and LUSO LIFE

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people were just happy—for everyone, it was first shows back. Now, having just done the first leg of many, many shows we're doing in North America, the East Coast of Canada and Quebec, same thing. People are just happy to be back, happy to get back to a regular way of life and back in a room. I think one of the strengths of rock music is that it is exponential. Being in a room full of people singing along to songs, feeling that energy, both for us onstage or us in the audience, is a great moment. That exponential experience, I think is what all of us were really missing, whether it was at a sporting event or in a bar with your friends, those are things that we took for granted. So, it's been fun to be that first for a lot of people in that way.

Everyone knows that you wear all your influences on your sleeve. Do you feel that you’ve taken the baton from the old rockers and now have a sense of responsibility to keep great guitar rock alive with gen-whatever or is it not that deep?

Ewan: Responsibility? No, I don't feel responsibly. I feel a bit of an honour. The last bunch of rock concerts I went to, the guys are all over seventy. There's usually two original members at best. I saw Doobie Brothers and Bonnie Raitt this summer, those are my two concerts.

They're not going to be rocking for that much longer. The kids are more into like electronic music, hip hop and stuff, so it's different. Going back to what Ryan said about the experiential thing, I think a great element of going to our concert is that it brings rock ‘n’ roll fans together. So you kind of find your like-minded people.

It doesn't have to necessarily be people, like, "I met my future husband at your show," although that has happened, but just bringing all the rock ‘n’ roll people in that town together for one night is so cool because it's not the most popular genre anymore. It’s a more of a niche.

I love it because we love rock ‘n’ roll music. It's like when you find a bar, in some city you're not from, and you're like, "This is my style and this is my type of music." It's like, yes, these are my people, everybody's into the same thing—just a shared experience.

Ryan: It's funny, I was out last night for a short while, I met somebody and we were both wearing a denim shirt that had embroidery on it. I said to him, "Nice shirt. I see we obviously shop at the same store." And he's like, "and I can guess we probably can talk a lot about music, based on how you look." We didn't even talk about music but we knew that based on how we both looked, we both like rock ‘n’ roll music. It was just kind of a funny thing. I think there's something to be said about that. When you're around like-minded people, it's good.

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I think what's interesting is that electronic music and hip hop are very popular, but we're also at a time where it's very easy to discover new types of music. Historically, you would have to go to a music store or have a friend's cool, older brother that would turn you on to something. Whereas now you can go down these rabbit holes and discover things. Ewan and I went to high school during the Napster era, where we could start looking things up and downloading music. Obviously that's not great for musicians but it’s great for discovering music, especially growing up in a small city with limited resources. On this last tour, the age range of people coming to our concerts are literally 70-year-olds and 15-yearolds. There was a show we did in Vermont and there were two people that had the underage wristbands on—they were probably 16 years old. It's pretty amazing to see that, because I think there's this thing where people can get into something—they don't need to be forcefed, whatever is on the radio, which in a historical music model, was like, "You're gonna like Third Eye Blind because Third Eye Blind is what's on the radio, and it's popular right now."

As a result, I think there are more avenues for bands to exist that are a little bit more niche.

You don't have to just chase whatever is popular... and one thing we've never done in our career is really chase what's popular. We rode out all sorts of different waves and different things. So I think it's interesting to discover that. So we're just gonna continue doing what we're doing, and people that are into it will discover and come into the fold.

A lot of people of my generation complain that new music sucks, and I constantly bring you guys [and others] to prove my point that great music is still being made.

Do you fall into the “new music sucks” category?

Ewan: I think it's just style. There are definitely bands that I hear and think this is cool, but they're playing more of that 60s/70s style, which is what we aspire to. You know, stylistic difference.

So, to switch away from music, I love all your artwork and all of your photography—you guys seem to have a lot of fun with it—visually, your album covers seem to go outside of what your music sounds like. Like the

cover for Outta Sight could’ve been one of those old K-Tel albums, full of 80s hits like “Elvira” by the Oak Ridge Boys and Steve Miller’s “Abracadabra.”

Ryan: I mean, all of our artwork, and all of our photos are all done by one guy, his name is Mat Dunlap. He's originally from the East Coast. We met him there but he lives in Los Angeles now, and we've been working with him for the last 10 years on almost all of the stuff that we've done. We're very involved in the conversations and he's the guy that helps us. He's like the extra member of our band in some capacity. He looks like us, he does all our photos…

Ewan: He’s very much a kindred spirit.

Ryan: Him and I do other things together as well, like videos and whatever. So yeah, we like to have a big hand in that. How you’re represented is very important.

Ewan: We’ll just hop on a Zoom and throw ideas at him, and he absorbs them like he's being splattered by a paintball gun. Then he goes away and figures out how to make it actually happen. We have very similar sensibilities. He's a big fan of not just old music, but also old design. We just loved a lot of those old vibes… and everything's on the table, so it's not just classic album covers… we love that sort of K-Tel, classic, silly stuff. You can see in some of our silly videos that we have those old infomercial vibes. We’re kind of pop culture nerds in a retro way, I guess.

Yeah. There’s a total sense of humour with you guys.

Ryan: We don't like to take ourselves too seriously. I think that rock ‘n’ roll can be serious but we're not in that mindset. We think it should be fun. And we'd like to have fun with it. We're happy to sort of make fun of ourselves a little bit. We're happy to make it fun because I think, in a world where a lot of things are serious, it's nice to have that be the fun part.

Ewan: I did buy a black shirt today. I'm getting a little more serious.

Ewan: Well, the first song on the record has trumpet, trombone and two saxophones.

Shamus is the trombonist, as always, Jim, our guitar player at the time, plays trumpet, and Sam and I play sax. Shamus can really play, the rest of us barely squeaked out a few notes that sounded okay in a, ‘works in a sloppy Rolling Stones kind of way.’

Best bar band ever.

Ewan: Absolutely. We've had a few different horn players play with us. I'd like to do some more. Horns are definitely always on the table.

It's tricky because you always want to make it work... you don't want to just tack it on for the sake of tacking it on but I definitely think it's something we'll do in the future.

Two final guest questions. One is from my buddy Paul Hermann, who's a huge fan and said, "Oh, really, you're interviewing The Sheepdogs tomorrow? That's fantastic. I'm fixing an ambulance."

Ewan: That's honourable work.

Paul wanted to know if you will be returning to The Kee to Bala… they miss you in cottage country.

Ryan: Yeah... We had a pretty good run, pre-pandemic, where we played every year for eight years or something like that. It didn't really work into plans this summer but I have a feeling we'll find ourselves back there.

And the final question is from his 12 year old son, Rod, who plays guitar and lives up near Jimmy Bowskill… ready? Where did you get the name Sheepdogs.

Ewan: Classic question. [laughs] It came to me in a dream

thesheepdogs.com listen to our sheepdogs Spotify playlist

I was wondering if Shamus has suggested adding a few more horns to your shows?

Maybe add a New Orleans vibe?

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As a very young child [way before bubble wrapping children was in vogue], I remember seeing “The Skeleton Dance,” a 1929 cartoon short—the first of Disney’s Silly Symphony series. The film is an interpretation of Danse Macabre [aka Dance of Death]—a symphonic poem by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns based on a medieval legend where Death himself shows up playing lively waltz to escort the living to their graves—kings and commoners, rich and poor, all to face the same fate because we are all connected in death.

The Saint-Saëns version has Death in the cemetery, at midnight on Halloween, fiddle in hand playing for the skeletons who crawl out of the ground to dance until the rooster crows at dawn.

The skeletons then return to the grave to rest for another year. The Disney version is cheerful and fun, showing four human skeletons dancing while interacting with all the elements we associate with Halloween—the full moon, bats, an owl, cats, a spider, graves and of course, lots of bones. Joyful and upbeat, yes, but five-year-old me was scared to… you know.

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Within a year after watching this film, Death himself visited my house taking my father to a very early grave—he didn’t even have the decency to wait until halloween. At 31, he was gone forever—he had reached the ending that no one escapes.

I imagine the next few days were chaotic [understatement of the year?]. I was not consulted on any of the funeral arrangements, but at five, I likely would’ve agreed with whatever was pitched to me. “Mr. David, it seems your father was a great man, who deserves to be sent off in our best solid mahogany casket. Cry if you’d like me to go ahead and process the order.” At this point, I would’ve handed over my [toy] credit card and allowed them to do whatever they thought was “the best thing to do.” Without a “death plan,” which my 31-year-old father did not have—he would constantly joke that he was going to live to be 100—our grieving survivors have a few short days to make a slew of very important (and potentially costly) decisions. Things like choose funeral home, decide whether to cremate or bury, order an urn or tombstone, purchase or rent a casket, obtain a death certificate and burial permit, ask people to eulogize, plan service and maybe a reception, write an obituary, notify your family and friends, let your employer know that you will not be showing up to work… tomorrow [or ever], notify employer and family… and hopefully you’ve given someone passwords to all your online accounts.

That doesn’t give a lot of time for your loved ones to research prices. Eventually someone will need to secure the deceased property, forward mail, obtain the will…

Ah death. It’s a sensitive topic… a subject that’s uncomfortable to talk about… one that usually gets locked inside a box and buried underground.

Sure, we celebrate death every year, by dressing up as ghouls and ghosts, but the focus is more on our fear of the unknown and our mortality than a day of reflection for the family or friends who have passed. Many of us struggle with having to think about the implication of death [myself included] so we avoid the topic.

For the longest time, in the western world, planning wasn’t a huge issue.

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Most people were given a church service, then buried in a cemetery nearby—usually the same resting spot of relatives that were long-gone. As time passed, the funeral business became, well, big business because it’s fairly easy to upsell to a person wearing a grief-target on their back. Naturally, you want to give them the best sendoff possible, and we all know the only way to do that is to spend lots and lots of money, right?

Wrong. We are in the age of options and just like buying a car, more and more people have started to shop around for a burial that reflects who they were in life. Others are shopping for the best deals because, let’s be honest, many of us can’t afford to die.

Just like cars, there are options. “Sure we have the base model but don’t you want air conditioning and sharp looking alloy rims?” I’m not suggesting you take it upon yourself to drive your loved-one’s body to the crematorium [although here in Canada, you’d be legally within your right to do so, as long as you get the right paperwork and ensure the deceased is placed in an enclosed rigid, leak-proof container that is not visible to the public], but since upselling at funeral homes can increase costs by 1000%, some things are worth questioning.

Embalming. This is the process preserving a corpse from decay. We humans have been embalming our dead for thousands of years, most notably the Egyptians did so before mummification to enable the soul to return to the body after death—think King Tut. These ancient techniques involved using spice and plant based concoctions to preserve the body for spiritual reasons. Modern embalming developed as more of a sentimental thing.

With people dying further away from home, it was used as a way to preserve the body for travel, to give us a little more time with our deceased friends— when British admiral Lord Nelson was killed in the Battle of Trafalgar, a state funeral was in order, so his body was preserved in brandy mixed with camphor and myrrh for over two months.

War, specifically the American Civil War, basically created the undertaker/ funeral business and made embalming standard practice—lots of dead bodies that needed to be transported home.

The modern process is also quite different, which involves draining all the fluids from the body and replacing them with extremely toxic, carcinogenic chemicals—leaving embalmers susceptible to myeloid leukemia and other rare cancers. This all made sense at the time, but with the advent of refrigeration, is embalming necessary? Depends. If you’re planning to do some Weekend at Bernie’s type of road trip with your deceased buddy, absolutely, if not, the answer is no, it is not. Embalming is expected, because, “it’s always been that way,” and some will, “strongly suggest it,” as a, “safety precaution for the guests,” but that’s just crap. Dead bodies do not cough or sneeze, and any viruses expired wth the body, so they aren’t dangerous at all. You have a better chance of getting sick from the dude who came over to offer his condolences in the form of a full body hug and whisper in your ear.

Caskets have traditionally been another cash-cow for the industry. How fancy do you want to go? We’ve come a long way from the era of the coffin shaped pine-box—highest quality woods, and sealed metal boxes to protect us forever, each costing more than the next. The Ikea bedroom suite may have been fine while he was here, but for eternity, let’s lay him in the bronze casket, with gold plated handles and the Milano eggshell velvet interior, he’d have wanted that. And what about the concrete grave liner we assume has to be there… not so. It may be cemetery policy, but it’s not actually a requirement by law.

One way of avoiding the embalming/ casket/burial conversation is by choosing cremation. For a fraction of the cost our remains can be transformed into four to seven pounds of ash and bone dust. WIth cremation on the rise, I can only assume that prospect of saving their families a few shekels while providing them with a souvenir to take home is looked at as a win-win situation—nobody should have to go broke saying goodbye.

Cremation also offers a creative element when deciding what should done with your ashes. The most popular thing to do is simply have them placed in an urn, allowing your family to proudly display them on a shelf in

the house, preferably next that bottle scotch you didn’t get a chance to finish.

Having your ashes scattered in some of your favourite places is also a popular option, but for the really creative, how about turning your ashes into jewellery, or getting a cremation diamond made?

Maybe have an artist mix some of your ashes with paint and commission a portrait or request that a tattoo artist sterilize your ashes and mix them with tattoo ink so that you can get under the skin of your favourite person. Ashes can be concealed inside a cute teddy bear, used as sand inside an hourglass or made into vinyl records—I have a friend who upon reading this may dust off his karaoke tapes from the 80s and press his body into copies of his crackly rendition “La Bamba” backed by his falsetto version of “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” just to torture us from the afterlife. Reef balls are an innovative option. There are companies that will take your cremated remains, mix them into a perforated concrete dome and place that in the ocean to help restore ailing coral reefs. Your dead remains become a living part of the sea, providing structure for fish to swim through, a place for plants to grow and an excuse for your family to take a trip to the beach to visit you. The most spectacular way to go, may be setting your dust into fireworks to be set off at a memorial party in your honour. If you want to take a fireworks show to an epic level, befriend a [very] rich person, instruct them build a giant cannon into a 47-meter monument customized for you, invite 280 of your closest friends, have your rich friend blast your ashes into the heavens, then close the show with a red, white, blue and green fireworks while your friends drink and cheer. Of course, if your name isn’t Hunter S. Thompson and your [very] rich friend isn’t as crazy as Johnny Depp, this option may remain off limits. And then we have good old Keith Richards—this isn’t an option as much as a weird story. According to Keith, he once accidentally spilled some of his father’s ashes on a table and rather than letting them get sucked up into the atmosphere, he mixed them with a little cocaine and sucked it all up his nose—classic Keith.

As “fun” as cremation can be, there is a downside. It’s often marketed as the eco-friendly alternative to burial be-

cause compared to a traditional burial it is. In traditional burials, formaldehyde used to preserve the body leeches into the ground and contaminates the land; materials used to make our resting boxes—wood, plastics, metals, fabrics, paints and varnishes—seep poisons into the ground, and create different environmental hazards during their production and transportation. Add to that greenhouse gas emissions from making the concrete needed to build the grave liners, and the fertilizers and pesticides used by cemeteries to maintain their lush green grass and we have a ridiculous amount of prolonged environmental damage. Compared to that, cremation seems like a great option, but it too has environmental effects to consider—the average cremation uses as much energy and creates the same emissions as it does to drive from New York to Chicago.

ever I end up, as a final farewell, and to lighten the mood for everyone watching me being placed into my final resting place, I think I may ask one of my friends to text everyone a final message from my phone, “thanks for coming, see you soon ;-)”

Eco-friendly options do exist. If you want a casket, there are lots of green alternatives—bio-degradable caskets that turn into mulch, are made out of recycled paper, bamboo, wicker, and even wool. You can have a conservation burial, where the body is wrapped in plain shroud made of natural fibres and placed in a wooded burial preserve—no tomb and no markers, just you getting back to nature. If you’re in a hurry and want to speed up the decomposition process, there’s the Luke Perry option. He went fully organic and was buried in a compostable mushroom suit. Yes a mushroom suit.

Basically, this is a burial outfit made out of organic cotton with mushroom spores sewn into the fabric. The spores naturally turn all the body’s poisons and toxins into enzymes assuring your remains won’t contaminate plant life or the water supply. Think of it as turning corpses into compost.

Personally, I’m thinking an aboveground crypt at Cemitério da Lapa in Porto would make a great eternal home… or a spot across from the pyramid that is waiting to entomb Nicolas Cage at St. Louis Cemetery No. 1. in New Orleans—that plot comes with a $40,000 price tag, but just like in life, it’s all about location. Definitely something with a front door that will make it easy to join the other skeletons for the yearly Danse Macabre. WherLUSO LIFE

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words: Valmor Garcia

PHOTO: Underscore Projects

the gig poster 10 Polaris Prize Posters

A gig poster is the bridge between music and visual art. A carefully crafted medium that carries musicians’ message and visual interpretation, connects artists and audience, many times displayed in public spaces allowing democratic absorption, whether it is the form of a wrinkled up wheat paste slapped onto plywood, washed up in concrete or, and why not, beautifully framed hanging in the immaculate walls of an art gallery.

The Polaris Prize Poster Program Exhibition focuses on the screen-printed posters created by Canadian visual artists over the last 16 years, commissioned by Polaris Music Prize and curated by The Office of Gilbert Li [since 2016]. Every year, 10 posters are created for each of the short-listed albums selected by Polaris’ jury.

In digital days, screen printing is one of the coarser ways to create reproductions. In the process of screen printing, ink is pushed through the tiny holes of a mesh screen. The ink is mostly opaque and the colours in each layer don’t mix very much [or in the most predictable ways], so each layer must be meticulously thought out. This makes the process of screen printing, on its own, a form of art and an active research endeavour which is always prone to happy accidents.

The exhibition at Underscore Projects showcased lots of brilliant artwork, here is a selection of some of the many posters that we love for different reasons, in no specific order.

Valmor Garcia is a digital artist working in the video game industry for 13 years, muralist and co-founder of Underscore Projects. @underscoreprojects 56

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kid koala carpal tunnel syndrome

ombiigizi sewn back together

designed by raz latif

designed by josephine guan

@razlatif

@jo.guan

2020

2022

Besides the dynamic feel of this poster, which perfectly suites the vibe of this album, the amazing scratchy texture applied to the hands, created by the opaque layer of black ink makes us wonder - is that one of those happy accidents? We like to think that’s an improvisation, just like the scratch virtuosic style Kid Koala shows in the album.

Clever visual metaphor in this design, which according to the artist’s statement, represents the “Indigenous youth figuring out their way forward in today’s society.

Like paddling down a river, it can be lonely and overwhelming – but also hopeful and exciting”

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ouri frame of a fauna

faith nolan africville

designed by mark neil balson

designed by yazmin monet butcher

@markneilbalson

@ymonett

2022

2021

This mix of geometric and organic frequency-shaped horizontal divide creates a beautiful collage of contrasting elements that relates directly to the vibrancy of the sound carefully crafted by Ouri in this album full of elements and texture. This poster is also printed with a metallic pigment adds a new dimension to the artwork especially when experienced in person.

We love the bright colours and the juxtaposition of Africville’s environment representation on Faith Nolan’s silhouette.

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As explained by the artist, this imagery represents the Black community located in the outskirts of Halifax, as seen by its residents: “A bright and beautiful place, full of history and potential”. This poster does a perfect job as a medium inviting the audience into learning more about this album from 1986, a brilliant document and artistic expression that sheds light into an obscure piece of Canada’s history.

lido pimienta miss colombia

metric fantasies

designed by jenny vivar

designed by drew ng-how-tseung

@jennyvivar

@drewng

2020

2009

Less is more in this artwork, a minimalistic design of Pimienta’s silhouette formed by strong geometric shapes and bold colors laid as a statement, carrying the strength of the music in this album, overlaid by a fabric texture that, at the same time breaks pragmatic patterns and adds a layer of detail that relates directly to the Latin American cultural heritage.

Great composition in this strong yet delicate portrait illustration, clever use of patterns to create lighting shifts. This turns out to be a very different approach for a visual interpretation of this album, but thought it worked out well.

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pup morbid stuff

marie davidson working class woman

designed by katie hicks

designed by melanie garcia

@kati.hicks

@_melanie_garcia

2019

2019

The design compliments the vibe of the band and this album specifically, one can guess the genre and style through the linework, vibrant colors and characters that populate the image. This is a beautiful render and composition using a limited amount of layers that enhances all the strengths of screen printing in comparison to other techniques.

This is an amazing printing plan and execution, the final effect of mixed media makes you second guess the printing technique, even when looking at this piece in person, until you come up close to realize the flattened ink layers applied onto the paper.

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charlotte day wilson alpha

leonard cohen songs of leonard cohen

designed by kendra yee

designed by lauren tamaki

@kendrayee

@laurentamaki

2022

2016

We love the attention to detail and the many layers of information that can be found in this artwork, all well-grounded by colors, typography and geometrical shapes. It is a trip on itself to try and interpret all the symbolism in Kendra’s work, we are still working out some of them!

We love the bright colors and the juxtaposition of Africville’s environment representation on Faith Nolan’s silhouette.

As explained by the artist, this imagery represents the Black community located in the outskirts of Halifax, as seen by its residents: “A bright and beautiful place, full of history and potential”. This poster does a perfect job as a medium inviting the audience into learning more about this album from 1986, an brilliant document and artistic expression that sheds light into an obscure piece of Canada’s history.

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w o r d s : D a v i d Ga n h ã o

Pho

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: M i

Over at the R ch

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w ainbo

There’s a certain nostalgia I have for diners.

When I see the chrome swivel stools, bolted to the checkered tiles, I’m taken back to a time when it seemed like every department store my mom took me tottin the 70s— Kresge, Woolworth’s, Zellers—all had a dineresque lunch counter that was left over from an era gone by. Usually we would simply walk past, do our shopping and leave… me holding my mom’s hand, head turned back staring at the lunch counter as we walked out the door.

There were times when my mom would give in… usually this came in the form of a bribe. Since I was a child with [undiagnosed] ADHD, I was a a bit of a handful—especially walking through stores. This would occasionally work in my favour, “If you let mommy do her shopping without knocking down any displays or setting off a fire alarm, we can have some lunch before we go home.” [your welcome to my sister Jeannie, who would benefit from my hyperactivity].

Although The Rainbow Restaurant has been serving food in Oshawa since 1958—started and still owned by the Givelas family—it was off my family’s radar. It wasn’t until the summer of ’96 that I was finally lured in by the provocative fragrance of sliced pork belly spattering on a flattop grill. Seventeen-year-old me had scored a job at Elusions, a nightclub in our city’s downtown core. My routine for that summer was wake up in the afternoon, go to work in the late afternoon, punch-out at 2am, “unwind” with the bar staff for a few hours, go to an all-night coffee shop until sunrise, walk home, sleep, repeat. Sometimes I would deviate from the routine. When a band I liked played at Elusions—Chalk Circle and Images in Vogue come to mind—I would make a stop at Starr Records to buy their record, but since they only opened at 10, and by then I was usually hungry, I would make the vampire walk to Rainbow for breakfast and some Bunn-OMatic coffee.

The Rainbow is a hole-in-the-wall greasy spoon—the kind of place that Guy Fieri has made cool again. Every town has one, and if you think your town doesn’t have one, look around—it’s the place where the cops, fire64

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fighters and cab drivers eat [not Uber drivers, that’s a whole different breed].

Louie Givelas [aka Chef Louie G] can attest to that—he’s the owner, cook and mental archivist of the historic Rainbow. He joined me at one of the worn out vinyl booths to chat, getting up every few minutes to cook an order. He is a mix of humbleness and confidence. On the one hand he is grateful for the restaurant’s success and is well aware that all of 64 for years of happy customer are the foundation of his business… on the other hand, if you don’t like the food or service, it’s a you problem… and he’s fine with that. “We’re an everyday kind of place. People come here two or three times a week because they want what we have to offer—fast, great food that’s reasonably priced, combined with personable service—we develop relationships with our customers.”

I had no reason to think Louie G was lying, but if I had any doubt, a quick glance at the walls was all that I needed to confirm the truth behind that statement. The walls of the rainbow are decorated with frame after frame of photos from the restaurant’s historic past, mixed with retro pics of the Three Stooges and other cinematic faves—literally hundreds of pictures.

When Louie catches me looking at them, he starts the tour, pointing at various photos on the wall as we walk around. “This place is all about nostalgia—it’s off the chart. Every photo has a story and I know most of them… that guy scarfing down a 24oz burger is a cop named Louie…

That’s Tyler when she brought home six medals from the World Martial Arts Championship in Portugal—we helped sponsor her… These are Oshawa Generals players… That’s Big Tony.

She would come in and load up on pancakes before her bodybuilding competitions—she lives in Australia now, we follow each other

on Instagram… That guy is not Will Ferrel, but he looks just like him and when he comes in dressed like Elf, customers turn their heads…”

I guess the statement ‘if walls could speak,’ stands true at the Rainbow so I ask if there are any stories that haven’t been framed and, he had a few, of course. There was the unconventional, “Last July we had the Hell’s Angels take over for the day when they were doing that annual meetup… 40 years ago they did the same thing to my dad. They wanted breakfast, and we had a great day selling bacon and eggs to these guys… sticks in your mind forever…” The famous, “We’ve been in a few movies, music videos, commercials and some cool photoshoots—like the time Matt Barnes had some naked girls up on the counter—very tasteful, of course…” And of course there’s the weird stuff.

“Years ago, we did have a guy come in at 7am, who got up on the counter, then dropped his pants and drawers! The waitress looks at him and bluntly said, ‘I’m not going to serve you.’

And that was the end of that.”

Louie turned back to the wall. “Some photos are personal… that’s my lovely wife and I in Paris… That’s my mom—she was gorgeous… that’s my dad when he first arrived in Montreal, working in the fur trade” Wait, what? “Ya, they were furriers in Macedonia.

At that point in history, Macedonians were being drafted into the Greek army so my Grandfather, John left with his sons—my father Chris and my uncles Nick and Steve—and came to Montreal.

They eventually moved to Oshawa because it was a boomtown, thanks to GM.” So, no restaurant experience? “Nope. My father had experience making toast! His favourite story to tell was arriving in Canada, ‘I had money for a loaf of bread and had a toaster—no butter and no jam—so i ate toast for a month.’ [laughs].

Basically, my uncle Nick got a job in restaurant… they got a space in downtown Whitby and opened the first location. They just put their heads together and all worked—father and sons—so they didn’t need employees. I recently found an original menu which is framed on the wall… a burger for a quarter, just crazy.”

cluding my family, indirectly, although we never had a cottage because my father figured since we were open seven-days-a-week, enjoying it would’ve been impossible! At some point, my dad got a job a GM and worked there for a month but that type of work wasn’t for him, he just couldn’t do it. So he came back to join his brothers at the restaurant, which at that time was open 24-hours.”

Your mom was okay with him leaving a pretty secure job to go back to the restaurant business? “This was all before he was married.

After being in Canada for ten years, he went back to Greece to find a wife [laughs]. Back then, the single ladies were ‘paraded’ in the town and Aphrodity, my mother, caught his eye. Young, handsome and rich, by their standards, dad goes up to my grandfather and says, ‘I like your daughter.’ Two weeks later they were married. My mom felt like she won the lottery.” So mom came to work in the restaurant? “Yes. When it came to our success, mom was just as important as dad.

By the early 70s we only had the Oshawa location and my uncles had left to open other restaurants, so dad would work, mom would watch the kids, then dad would come home to take a nap on the couch and mom would go to the restaurant and take over for a few hours.

Then they’d swap again. Everyday.”

Every once in a while I think about opening a restaurant, a diner seemed like a great idea, but I’m not sure about having to cook for 200 to 300 customers a day, like Louie does.

Maybe I should open a sandwich place, selling only sandwiches I like… One sandwich that will definitely be on the menu is The Elvis—peanut butter and bacon, which I’ve never actually seen on a menu until now, so I’ll have to come back to do some research and test Chef Louie G’s cheesed-up version on a future visit. @cheflouieg

With so many years of experience, and so many stories, The Rainbow would be a great setting for a cooking show of some sort—Somewhere Over at the Rainbow. Louie laughs when I mention cooking shows. “I used to like them. Gordon Ramsey is a fantastic chef but I had to stop watching Hell’s Kitchen… not because I disagree with all the yelling, but because I was jealous [laughs] there have been times when I’ve wanted to do that, but can’t. It upsets people.”

With GM having built a new plant in Oshawa in the mid-50s, there was no shortage of work, and scores of people moved to the city with hopes of getting one of the coveted union jobs—almost every person I grew up with had a relative employed by GM many of which bought houses, cottages and boats, and eventually retired with a very lucrative pension… why not the Givelas clan? “It’s true that GM gave a very good living to a lot of people… inLUSO LIFE

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We’re an everyday kind of place.

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The Lumberjack When a regular customer of The Rainbow kept asking for a breakfast that had pancakes and eggs on the same plate, Chef Louie G gave in. The Lumberjack was born and it's been one of their most popular items for the past 25 years—pancakes [aka griddle cakes aka flapjacks], eggs any style [we recommend sunny side up], thick slices of hand cut peameal bacon, fat Farmer's sausages, thick slices smoked deli ham, generously buttered toast and make sure there's two of everything on your plate.

5 yukon gold potatoes

Perfect home fries

beef lard for frying

Clean and peel potatoes.

3 tablespoons of butter or margarine

Boil whole until fork tender [not mushy].

salt & pepper paprika pinch of cumin

Let cool.

Cut into one inch cubes.

In a large skillet, fry potatoes in beef lard for 5 minutes at 135ºC [275ºF].

Remove lard from pan.

Add butter or margarine and fry potatoes at 190ºC [375ºF] until browned and crispy around the edges.

Season with salt, pepper, paprika and a pinch of cumin.

2 cups flour

No nonsense pancakes

4 teaspoons baking powder 2 teaspoons white sugar

Mix the dry ingredients together then whisk in wet ingredients until smooth [don't over do it!].

1 teaspoon salt

Let rest.

1 ½ cups milk

On a well oiled pan or flattop grill at 350F ladle your batter mix.

3 ½ teaspoons melted butter

Flip when cakes start to bubble. Usually about two minutes per side till golden brown.

1 egg

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brick | stone | block | pavers | walls

150 Rockcliffe Crt, Toronto 416-658-8300 sensogroup.ca

They built our homes ...it’s time to build theirs Since 1953 our parents, grandparents and great grandparents have worked hard to not only put a roof over our heads but to also put roofs over the heads of their Canadian neighbours—building, cleaning and maintaining homes all over Ontario.

It’s our turn to give back to help build them a home where they can live together, By donating to the Magellan Community Foundation, you’ll help fund Ontario’s first long-term care home for the Portuguese-speaking community, as well as affordable housing residences and a community hub.

Help provide Portuguese-Canadian seniors the care they deserve.

To donate, visit magellancommunityfoundation.com

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Agora com um sistema híbrido com a potência de 445 cavalos e condução eléctrica pura de 75km.

words: Warren Frank

photo: MICHAEL NEAL

film

Portrait

Heaps debuted in January 2020, with a new name, new song, and new look. Our first full-length L.P waiting in the wings, and a desire to play these songs everywhere we could.

Hitting the road with Hamilton’s “Basement Revolver”, we started the year off by promoting our first single “Softly,” as whispers of viruses and lock-downs swirled about. In March, we played our last show of 2020 in Guelph, Ontario.

E.P was released and that was it. Back to work. We thought that would be fulfilling enough, but as the responses to the tunes started to roll in, we realized we had to bring them to life. So, in the vein of everything “Little Blue,” we had a Zoom call.

The pandemic took away the opportunity to be the touring band that we had our sights set on, but the desire to write remained. So, we wrote! Through Zoom, we shared ideas in Logic Pro files and worked through them together while in different cities. When restrictions would lift, we would book an Airbnb as fast as we could. When lock-downs would start again, we’d head back to Zoom and begin editing.

“Yep, just a couple shows. I’m in Ontario for a week in October, can we make it work?”

It was an incredibly scattered and generally weird experience. But, it was also really fun. From it all came “Little Blue.” A departure from our debut “What Is Heaps”, a rock and roll L.P recorded in Toronto. Little Blue is a scrappy, 4-song E.P that we put together piece-by-piece, while we navigated a new chapter of life together and apart. By the time that “Little Blue” hit streaming services, our drummer, Tanner, had moved to British Columbia for a new job. The

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“We gotta play these live, right?”

The nights were a blur of friends and family, fans we hadn’t seen in a couple years, and fans that were new to us thanks to Little Blue. The music went over well and the sweaty, fastpaced high of playing live was there like it never left. Little Blue got its time on stage, and people sang along. We packed up our gear and chatted with folks at the merch table.

For right now, we aren’t really sure what’s next.

Little Blue is there. People are listening and singing along.

We’ll play it again for you at some point. Maybe even alongside a new song or two.

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MAY 13, 2023 70ANOSCANADA.CA

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