SUNNY DAYS: THE SKIP PROKOP STORY (PART 3) by Jaimie Vernon

Skip Prokop (drums), Bill Misener (guitar vocals), Chuck Beal (guitar), and Denny Gerrard (bass)  formed The Paupers on December 10, 1964. Skip picks up the story from here.

Bill moved to our house in Alderwood (south of the QEW near Browns Line) to stay with us, and he went home on the weekends. We would drive from Alderwood, New Toronto, over to Scarborough and we would practice in Chuck Beal’s basement because we could set up our equipment there. That’s where we really began to put the band together.

Roxanne Tellier – Temptation Redux

Much as I tried to pull together at least a preview of a project that I’m working on for this column today, it is not to be; there is much back burner simmering to be done before that column is ready to be savoured.

But speaking of food …  here’s something I wrote in the Spring of 2013, and have revised and updated for your dining and dancing entertainment. Bon Appetit!

Doug Thompson: ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE MISSES THE MARK…..AGAIN!

Rolling Stone Magazine recently released their latest ‘list’, “The 100 Greatest Songwriters” rollingstone.com).  Let me repeat that title, “The 100 Greatest Songwriters”.  Their descriptive line states “From Brill Building tunesmiths to Punk poets, from Woody Guthrie to Max Martin, the visionaries who defined music history.”

Darrell Vickers: My Treatise of Detritus

There is a startling new theory being put forth about the aging human brain. It has been accepted wisdom for centuries that our cranial matter calcifies with the passing years, leaving us increasingly incapable of retaining knowledge.

Roxanne Tellier: 20 Feet from Stardom

I’d been longing to see the Academy Award winning documentary film “20 Feet from Stardom” since it first came out in 2013, but it was only recently that I actually had the chance.

Doug Thompson:“I’M AS MAD AS HELL AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!”

Anyone who knows their movie history, knows that rant comes from Peter Finch’s newscaster/commentator character Howard Beale in the movie “Network”.  Credit where credit is due.  Those words actually were written by the author of “Network”, Paddy Chayefsky.  Where am I going with this you may well ask?  Well, see I LOVE A GOOD RANT!  And that “Network” rant is one of the very best.  There are plenty more out there.  Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly trying to record a quick promo and not having the time…or Orson Welles losing his patience with a British director on a series of TV voice overs.

Roxanne Tellier: Who’s Crying Now?

What a week! Everywhere you turn, people are commenting on Mayor Ford’s latest antics, marching against Monsanto, insisting that their petitions against some newly discovered outrage in the human or animal world be signed, and wondering what the heck is the deal with the weather.

Roxanne Tellier: Food – The Last Temptation

Mmm … food. Can’t live with it, can’t live without it. For some, food is a sensual pleasure, as delicious and desirous as sex. To others, it’s a necessity; they would be content if ever a pill was created that filled their nutritional needs without effort.

Gourmet or gourmand?  That is the question. To me, there is nothing so sexy as a man or woman who not only enjoys good food, but revels in all its glories; heaven on the palate, a visual treat, and a tactile experience. To me, there is little as delightful as a feast for both the eyes and the stomach. Good food, in all of its 3D wonderment, warms the cockles of my heart, quickens my breath, and eases the tensions of life.