Christopher Dafoe

Send-offs to old friends can be melancholic. Such is the case for a going away (to Winnipeg) event at the Sylvia Hotel today from 5 to 8 for Christopher Dafoe.

Christopher and I collaborated (me with photographs, he with interviews) of famous people for the Globe and Mail in Vancouver. Of all the many writers I ever worked with this man could sit in front of someone like film director Krzysztof Kieślowski and not say anything. The folks facing him would look at his calm face and simply open up with all sorts of intimate details.

Christopher was gracious enough to allow me to be present at these interviews, usually in Vancouver hotels so that I could get my large camera and lights ready and to observe the mannerisms of the person who would face my camera.

I met Christopher many years before when he worked for CITR Radio. I may be one of the few persons that remembers that he was a DJ at the stripper heaven Drake Hotel. He taught the ecdysiasts to appreciate local punk and pop bands. I saw some of my favourites like Cheri dance to Maurice and the Clichés.

When Christopher was asked by the Globe to move to Toronto he declined. He entered the University of British Columbia and became a highfalutin lawyer.

I will always be grateful to Chris as he has been the only person who appreciated my rose scans and bought one (yes!) from me.

I wish Christopher the best in his native city of Winnipeg.

An added humorous note. The picture you see here I made into a place mat. I have no idea if Christopher kept it.