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| Paul Hyde & son circa mid 80s |
Christmas is Coming - Payola$ & Paul Hyde
When I started my blog in January 2006 I had no idea what a blog was about. In these years and 5411of them (not including this one) I have settled and come to understand, that with the demise of journalism and my previous years as a magazine photographer and writer, my blog is my personal magazine where I am the publisher, editor (not a very good one) writer (a passing one) and a decent photographer.
My emphasis, a pleasant one has been to combine photographs from files with poems, and stories of writers that I admire both in English and in Spanish. Perhaps my most frequent ones have involved Emily Dickinson, Jorge Luís Borges, Julio Cortázar, Homero Aridjis and William Carlos Williams.
Another strong blog content has been writing about my personal life, previous family and present one (some here are not too happy with some of the details placed herein).
A third, and I believe an important one, involves my belief that Vancouver has a poor memory for its past. Many of my blogs involve the many events of our city that I remember because I have a good memory or I was directly involved.
One such subject is this day’s blog on my gentle friend Paul Hyde. I have written about him here.
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| Payola$ |
Because we have lost sight, or have forgotten, of the popular Expo 86 ad about Vancouver being a “world class city” we have no memory for the fabulous events in culture of that past and ignore the wonderful ones we have right now.
As a former Argie, when I go to Buenos Aires (I do this with frequency) I see how the world-famous-world-class-city opera house, the Teatro Colón has tired programs of 19th century music and ballet. They have no Turning Point Ensemble, no Ballet BC, and no Arts Umbrella Dance Company. Theater in Buenos Aires does not have cutting edge stuff like the Electric Theatre Company.
Our CBC with CBC Reclaimed, CBC Music with Tom Allen and CBC Ideas with Nahla Ayed and with other programs go beyond world class in my opinion.
And how many living in Vancouver now know that the Vancouver punk scene of the late 70s and early 80s was one of the best in the world?
How many know of my gentle friend Paul Hyde whose band The Payola$ (that $ is not a typo) was a blend of punk that somehow felt just a tad softer?
And how many may not know that there is at least one Vancouver Christmas song that is rarely played?
It is this one “Christmas is Coming”.
