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| Christopher Staats, Shelina Kent, Gary Taylor, David Kent and Susanne Tabata washing her hands |
My days of going to loud establishments, even when the bands
playing are extremely good, are over.
I picked up Susanne Tabata at her home and we rendezvoused
at Falconetti’s on Commercial Drive. We were greeted by the indomitable shark
(like a shark he can never sit still) Gary Taylor who confessed to me, “I have
a short attention span.” With us at the table were brother and sister Shelina
and David Kent. The former was a luminous dancer in the 70s and early 80s, the
latter a renowned anaesthesiologist who works and teaches in Alberta.
We were served a sumptuous assortment of Falconetti sausages
with dipping sauce. They had red wine and I abstained.
During the whole evening (not a very long one) we kept voicing
this question, “Why are we here?” The answers were varied. But fun was had and
it was one of those moments that I savour as a photographer in meeting a former
subject after not having seen her (Shelina) for 35 years.
We ran into the seasonal Santa Claus and sometime Colonel Sanders but very good-photographer-most-of-the-time, Wayne Wiens. I confessed to the Filipino father of the daughter (as Taylor put it) who (the daughter of the father) was the lead singer of a good band that my nickname was Supot. The father of the daughter roared with laughter.
To cement an evening of fun I summoned Falconetti’s manager
Christopher Staats to clear the women’s bathroom so I could take my group
photograph.
As I looked at the smiling faces of my companions I had to
point out that it was wonderful that we were all alive.
Why were we there?
Because.