The Oppenheimer Report 10/26/15

 

It’s that time of year again, when mountains of candy line the entrances to supermarkets, and everything is decorated in orange, black, and that spray on crap which looks like spider webs (because we can never have enough of those). My musician friend Troy Sinister, former member of the legendary Toronto punk rock band The Sinisters, who has recently charted on Hunter’s Bay Radio’s Top 20, is a big fan of Halloween. He and his wife Kandis go all out to decorate their Huntsville property in ghoulish splendor. I can relate; I used to be a huge fan of Halloween, although I was not so much about the decorations as I was about the costumes. During my Buffalo years, I typically threw or attended at least one wild Halloween party every year. Many Halloweens ago, a friend rented a school bus, and about thirty of us travelled around to various bars in Buffalo, dressed in our costumes, ambushing unsuspecting patrons with our loud and obnoxious party. As anyone who dresses up for Halloween can attest, all bets are off when the costume goes on. Oneself is, after all, invisible. For this bus party, I was dressed as a Buffalo Sabres cheerleader, complete with shiny blue spandex tights and a ridiculously over-endowed chest. My “in drag” alter ego Halloween costumes were never pretty, but this one was particularly abominable, and it got progressively worse as the night wore on. Oh, for the good old days, when I had no shame. If Shauna is well enough, we might go down to Bracebridge for a music jam/ Halloween bash to which we’ve been invited. If we do go,  I’ll be at a loss to come up with a good costume.  
 

Last Saturday I attended the first annual Festival of Song in Huntsville, and therein was a gathering of songwriters from all over Ontario. We assembled to discuss our craft and to present some of our songs. I’ve never actually participated in a songwriting circle before, and this meeting of songwriters was both instructive and enjoyable. I knew many of the local writers, but there were quite a few new faces, and several guys who were well known. I met John McGale of the Montreal rock band Offenbach, and he was a wealth of knowledge as well as an entertaining slide guitarist. Headliners Jon Brooks and Rob Lutes were in attendance all day, and simply getting a chance to hang out with these two gifted songwriters whom I admire was a treat. They both did hour sets later on, and these are my favorite concerts, wherein the room is small and the audience can interact with the artists. All in all, it was a very successful outing, and Shauna’s second in 2 months.

 

As most Canadians (and likely very few people in the U.S.) now know, Liberal candidate Justin Trudeau, son of the legendary and charismatic Pierre Trudeau, is the now the Prime Minister of Canada. As I suspected, Canadians had had enough of the Conservative Harper government, and Trudeau and his Liberal Party won a majority government. Now that the bathwater and the baby have been thrown out, we’ll see what the new guy can do. I predict that, after a brief honeymoon, the electorate will turn on Trudeau like a pack of angry wolves. Someday, perhaps, when pigs can fly, we the voters will own up to our part in this process. In other words, leadership will only take us so far; change requires sacrifice.

Torontonians are in a state of mourning after their beloved Toronto Blue Jays were defeated by the Kansas City Royals 4-3 in a nail-biter World Series game six. While not a baseball fan myself, I was vicariously exhilarated by the Toronto fandamonium. Be it the Leafs, or the Jays, or the Raptors, Toronto fans are wildly enthusiastic about their teams, and it is infectious. I was courting Shauna when the Jays won their second back-to-back World Series, in 1993, and I remember that we were at the Granite Brewery when Joe Carter hit the game winning home run that won that series. Needless to say, downtown Toronto was chaos. Located near Yonge and Bloor, Shauna’s apartment was right in the middle of the celebration, and I had never before experienced anything close to that kind of collective elation. I remember the frightening experience of being squeezed by a wall of people on Yonge Street. If only the Leafs could somehow find a way to be a winning team (heavy sigh).       

Maybe I'll pick up some fake blood at Dollarama. I mean, I've got to do something for Halloween!                                                                                                                                         

-Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c2015 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED