Glad to Be in Publishers Weekly’s Story on Life After Corporate Publishing
Post by Philip Turner.
Getting lots of pick-up and shares of my Great Gray Bridge blog and Facebook post on being in Publishers Weekly.
Amanda Lang, CBC Biz Correspondent, Log-rolling for RBC?
A follow-up late today makes this Amanda Lang story even more corrupt: Canadaland reports that she’s in a relationship with an RBC board member, a fact that was not disclosed at the time Canadaland reports she was trying to derail the investigation by Kathy Tomlinson.
For the record, CBC has now denied improper conduct by Lang, or by CBC.
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Corrupt practice like this should not be tolerated inside any self-respecting news organization.
Post by Philip Turner.
Enjoying My Annual Boxing Day Music Splurge from Zunior.com
I’m really enjoying all the music I bought last week in Zunior.com’s annual Boxing Day sale. My two fave albums so far are “Lost in the Dream” by a band known as The War on Drugs, fronted by musician/songwriter Adam Granduciel, who from what I can tell has roots in Canada, and currently lives in Philadelphia. After one complete listen, I recommend it highly, with moody atmospherics and memorable melodies. The second is “Sad-Eyed Lonesome Lady,” a down-home mostly acoustic country blues album by BC artist Steph Cameron, who plays fine guitar and harmonica. “Lost in the Dream” is heavily produced, while ”Sad-Eyed Lonesome Lady” is stripped-down and minimal. You can listen to them via links at a post I just published atHonouraryCanadian.com, and read about all the music I picked up atZunior.com – The little digital music store, a music seller I recommend highly. I also got music by these artists: Joe Nolan, David Francey, The New Pornographers, Broken Social Scene, Sam Roberts Band, Elliott BROOD,Pink Mountaintops, Jim Bryson w/the The Weakerthans, Molly Rankin, The Inbreds, In-Flight Safety, Amy Millan, Amelia Curran, Wintersleep, Matt Barber, NQ Arbuckle, and Mo Kenney.
I’m really enjoying all the music I bought last week in Zunior.com’s annual Boxing Day sale, which I posted about that day on Facebook. Below is that post, and then more info on what I bought.
The most enjoyable albums that I’ve listened to so far typify what’s great about browsing on Zunior’s site. I hadn’t even known of these two immediate faves until the day I was browsing Zunior.com, which is run by Dave Ulrich, a musician himself who was a founding member of The Inbreds, by whom I bought an album last week. Dave calls Zunior “the little digital music store.” The first of my two new discoveries is called “Lost in the Dream” by a band known as The War on Drugs, fronted by musician/songwriter Adam Granduciel, who from what I can tell has roots in Canada, and currently lives in Philadelphia. After one complete listen, I recommend it highly, with moody atmospherics and memorable melodies. It was on many year-end best lists, and I can see why already. You can hear cuts from it via this link. The second is “Sad-Eyed Lonesome Lady,” a down-home mostly acoustic country blues album by BC artist Steph Cameron, who plays fine guitar and harmonica. You can hear some of her songs via this link.”Lost in the Dream” is heavily produced, while”Sad-Eyed Lonesome Lady” is minimally produced. Cameron has long mostly made her music as a busker. From her CBC Music artist page:
“That’s how I’ve worked my way across Canada for nearly ten years,” she says. “With my friends and our dogs, we hitchhike and ride trains to get into cities. We take over a spot, play music for a week, make enough money to keep going and then move onto the next place.”
Meantime, despite the busy holiday week, I’ve so far also found time to listen to the albums I got by Joe Nolan, David Francey, Broken Social Scene, Pink Mountaintops, Amy Millan, Wintersleep, Elliott BROOD, Amelia Curran, NQ Arbuckle, and Mo Kenney. I know I’ll be enjoying this music all year, and beyond.Below is the cover art for each of the albums
Glad to Be Part of Blurb, Portal Connecting Writers with Quality Editorial Services
Glad to be a collaborator/editor on Blurb, a new Web space where authors can find editors to help them hone their work, and other book publishing services, including design. There’s a nice, clean look to editors’ profiles, like mine linked to here at The Great Gray Bridge. If you’re an author looking for editorial help, or know a writer who is, please have a look and get in touch. 
Feting Ruth Gruber’s Lifetime of Humanitarian Activism
This past Tuesday night, many admirers of Ruth Gruber gathered on the upper west side of Manhattan to fete the great humanitarian and photojournalist. The occasion was the opening of a photo exhibit of her work, which will be up until Feb 25. It was a cold and rainy night but Ruth—who marked her 103rd birthday last October—was on hand, looking happy and beautiful. If you’re in NYC, I recommend you see this exhibit at the JCC on Amsterdam Ave near 76th Street. If you don’t live here or won’t be in the city over the next couple months, I invite you to read the post I’ve just published on The Great Gray Bridge with photos from the reception, like the one of Ruth below. Also, please note, five of the books I’ve published with Ruth over the years are available in new editions from Open Road Integrated Media. Lots of pics, more info, and many pertinent links are assembled at my other blog, The Great Gray Bridge.
When Life Imitates Humor
Ahh, silly me, I thought the boneheaded remark made today by a Peter Goldring was a joke by Peter Oldring, aka @poldring of @CBCThisIsThat.
— Philip Turner (@philipsturner) November 27, 2014
MP from Edmonton Peter Goldring (not the comic Oldring) apparently thinks that people, especially women, are so eager to accuse him of bad conduct that he thinks every encounter should be taped to avoid what he called “besmirchment.” He later retracted his press release, with its headline, “Consorting Without Protection is Risky,” but the Twitter mockery was already well underway. My Twitter comment was kicked off when I confused Goldring with Oldring, and the Onion-like CBC Radio One program, This is That.
New Rah Rah Single, “Good Winter,” from their Forthcoming Album, “Vessel”
I was excited to just get an email from a publicist working with one of my favorite bands, Rah Rah, announcing the first single from their new album, “Vessel,” coming out in 2015. The new song is called “Good Winter” and is streaming here. The press release quotes frontman Marshall Burns:
“This song is a romanticized reimagining of being a young adult in a small Canadian city. The overly nostalgic tone is meant to underline the dichotomy between the ‘good winter’ described in the song and the reality of the harsh cold, boredom and loneliness that, in actuality, accompanies a typical winter (particularly in our hometown of Regina, Saskatchewan). The song aims to be a reminder, to ourselves as much as anyone, of the unique and positive aspects of those cold, long winter months.”
Listen to “Good Winter” here on the Soundcloud page of label Hidden Pony. I took the above photo when I heard Rah Rah live in NY at the Mercury Lounge on Nov 3. For a lengthier report on Rah Rah, here’s a post I wrote in 2012, after seeing them open for the Weakerthans. Finally, here’s the art Rah Rah created to go with the single, which can be bought on iTunes: 
An Idea So Bad I Hoped it Was a Joke
This morning I listened to a radio program about a proposed monument that prompted me to post twice on Facebook about it within a couple hours of the segment. Please see my posts below, shared in the order I wrote them, followed by pictures of the Cabot Trail, where backers of the monument want to see it erected.
Post by Philip Turner.
I visited Cape Breton several times in the 1980s and ’90s, and wrote about those journeys here on this blog. View this pristine landscape and ponder the proposed statue. Given the Harper government’s propensity for reverting to the playbook of the George W. Bush administration, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re looking for a wedge issue here, something that can allow the militaristic prime minister, who will be running for re-election in 2015, to suggest that opponents of the statue are “against the troops.”