Monday, February 27, 2006



Many years ago my family doctor was Elliot Mintz. I took my daughter Ale, who had hundreds of warts on her knees, to see him. Ale was 8 years old. Mintz lay her down, and without telling me exactly what he was doing he put her in a trance. Then he told her to rub every wart (three times) with a magic penny (which he gave her) and to go home and bury the penny in a place where nobody would find it. Within the week the warts were gone. A few years later in January 1985 I was assigned by the then editor of Vancouver Magazine, Malcolm Parry to go to the PNE to shoot a dog show. It was there that I spotted Taibo,the blue chow puppy. He was the star of the show and the owner was, yes, Elliot Mintz. Mac decided to put the dog on the cover. If you ever see him and ask him about putting animals on the cover of a city magazine he will frown. Readership and sales always go down with cover pets of the animal kind. The good doctor sold his puppy for lots of money ($10,000 was the sum mentioned in the magazine article). It seems that many people now know what was only suspected then and that is that blue chow puppies lose their colour when they grow. And the art director, Chris Dahl damned me for not having correctly photographed the dog as one of his eyes got no catchlight. Since this was before Photoshop he had a competent retoucher air brush the second eye.

Sunday, February 26, 2006


A few weeks ago I had the luck to be able to photograph Frank McCourt. Alas! I only have three things in common with this wonderful man.

1. We were born in August.
2. We taught high school.
3. We read Herman Mellville's Pierre Or, The Ambiguities.

"....and she fell upon Pierre's heart, and her long hair ran over him, and arbored him in ebon vines."

Saturday, February 25, 2006





Laura Kramer is my favourite Vancouver cellist. She is the only one I know that holds a doctorate in the historical performance practice of the cello from Cornell University. While she plays the modern cello very well, I like her best with her baroque instrument (no spike is one way to tell the difference). She performs in the Pacific Baroque Orchestra. Laura is very shy and quiet spoken but when she sits to play she is rock solid. I always wait for those virtuoso moments. With my eyes closed she sounds amazing. With my eyes open it seems effortless for her. And in the difficult parts she always smiles. A few years ago, a full church in West Van (including me) waited a full 45 minutes before the Pacific Baroque Orchestra could begin the concert. It seems that their rock solid cellist was stuck on the Lions Gate Bridge.

Pacific Baroque Orchestra

Friday, February 24, 2006

Sometime in 1980 they sat at a Railway Club table one Saturday night, oblivious to a loud band playing on the stage. As I watched the pair of them, the music faded for me, too. She had this nose and the gaze - piercing for a long time, then remote almost diffused.

 I had seen  him a few years  earlier at the Italian Cultural Centre. Gerry Gilbert had read his poetry after Allen Ginsberg's rather tedious singing and melodeon playing, and had revived all present. I spotted Gerry often, riding his Chinese bicycle downtown, and caught glimpses of Tamsin as she worked in a shopping mall restaurant.


Railway Club

Thursday, February 23, 2006



This week when talking to my friend John Lekich he suggested I blog about Carole Taylor considering that she had just introduced the new Provincial budget. This would be a good excuse to post one of your many lovely portraits of that lovely woman.

When Kerrisdale hair wizard Richard Jeha was cutting my hair yesterday I had a Bill Richardson/Bunny Watson moment. I spied Jeha's three Russians conspiring in a corner. With beautifully shaped and deft hands the poker-faced Sergei cut off Paulina's folksingerish long hair while Svetlana watched the master who had represented Belaurus in recent World Cup Hairstyling Championships. In about 15 minutes Paulina emerged as a Russian femme fatale to die for.

For years I had faithfully followed a personal hairdresser who would change venues once a month. There were days when she would tell me, "I am not in the mood for cutting your hair." So I searched for a less stressful replacement. About ten yeas ago my wife Rosemary suggested, "Try Richard, if he is good enough for Art Phillips, the ex-Vancouver mayor, he should be good enough for you."

While pleasing John by posting a picture here of our Finance Minister I can satisfy my own train of thought by showing her with her husband Art Phillips. Richard Jeha and his staff (including the three Russians)are not only good enough for Art Phillips but for Canada, too! They have swept Canadian hairstyling competitions with many firsts in the last few years and they are poised to represent us in world competition.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006





One of the great but mostly unsung bands of the 90s in Canada may have been Vancouver's The Blue Shadows. When I was hired to photograph them I knew three of them. Jeffrey Hatcher, Elmar Spanier and J.B. Johnson. I knew Hatcher through his connection with the Odds. Spanier and Johnson had been members of my favourite 80s pop band Maurice and the Cliches (Goodbye Mr Bond!).Taking photographs of he Blue Shadows gave me the opportunity of meeting the legendary Billy Cowsill. I instantly liked him and I will never forget his speaking voice similar to my alto saxophone playing friend Gavin Walker. In recent years I have run into J (pronounced Jay) a lot and I have marvelled at his intricate mechanical devices which he exhibits in such Vancouver galleries as Monte Clark.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006


In 1992 when John Alleyne became the artistic director of Ballet BC I swear I might have seen some ballet version of the Maypole dance. I was appalled. Soon after, Alleyne would mix more contemporary stuff with classical ballet and I could see the elder patrons leave the Queen Elizabeth Theater in a tiff. But Alleyne stuck to his guns (quietly) and now we have a cutting edge modern dance company in which ballet really only exists in its name. Going to an Alleyne, Ballet BC performance is always exciting. Part of the attraction is that Ballet BC, and much of the independent dance scene of Vancouver feature new music. Alleyne has commissioned local composers to write music for many of his ballets. There are few venues for this kind of music and hearing it while watching dancers dance is a double delight.
New Music
Ballet on a Streetcar