Monday, October 5, 2009

Jerry Santbergen

Moses and Pauline at Jerry's Opening at Jack Pollack Gallery
by John Krash Radcliff


Jerry Santbergan came on the Art Scene in Toronto around 1965
He came from Regina in a bit of a wave with his girlfriend Kaaren Blatchford and Warren Bowman, etc.
he soon became a favorite of the Telegram Art Critic Barrie Hale and seemed to make the Art Section week after week. I became friends with Jerry about then and we  hung around to-gether. I helped Jerry make (not create) a lot of his paintings. he had a great studio the old Bohemian Embassy Space on St.Nicholas St.
An example of our relationship.
I get a phone call eight in the morning.
Jerry. "Gary I got lecture i'm supposed to give at the teaches college at 10 o-clock.'
Me      'So?"
Jerry. "I dropped acid a couple of hours ago and I need you to give it for me."
Me huh?
Jerry, "I's $600. and I'll split it with you.
So we show up with a slideshow and go into a classroom full of teachers with a projector.
I show the slides and invite questions.
The Teachers ask Jerry a Question and he sits there stoned and stonedfaced and I answer the questions.
they ask him a question I answer on it it goes. We finish and go to the office to get the cheque. We are amazed they give it to us and tell us it was the best lecture they had seen.
We go to bank and to Pilot Tavern laugh and drink all day long.
This card was his his Death of an Artist show and was pretty much it for his art career. he tried working with the City Muffin Boys for a while and drifted into driving and owning a cab.(I took the photo)


Sunday, September 6, 2009

Glenn Gould


 Willard Grieg  was a determined young man with ambition to become a lawyer.
He lived in Nestorville (now a ghost town near Thessalon)
as a teenager he was an accomplished trapper and woodsman.
In the spring of 1909(circa) he told his sister Florrie to pack her bags they were going to Toronto. He had a dogsled heaped high with the furs he had trapped all winter pulled by his 2 huskies 'Grit and Tory' He said after he sold the furs he would have enough money to go to law school and also to pay for Florrie's tuition at the Royal Conservatory of Music. So they got on the train with the sled, dogs and all and headed for Toronto.
From Union Station they headed up Bay Street sled and again dogs and all and as they approached Gold's Furriers the dogs who had not eaten for a couple of days broke lose and chased down the furriers cat and killed it and ate it. When the Furrier saw the furs he forgot about the cat. He bought the sled full of furs. He also noticed Florrie and a few years later after she graduated from The Royal Conservatory of Music He (Bert Gold to become Gould) married her.
And they were to become Glenn Gould's parents.

This story was told to me by John Grieg of Uxbridge Ontario
who is Glenn Gould's first cousin

Sunday, July 19, 2009

How I Saved Woodstock

chip today

I got out of the Navy in 1962 and found myself hanging out in the Folk Scene In Toronto.
I was friends with Ken Danby who owned the New Gate of Cleve coffee house. and I then ended up in charge of the Food Concessions at the second Mariposa folk Festival in Orillia. I was staying at a motel as we set up the week before, and in the next room was the coolest guy I had ever met. he was from New York and did the lighting. We had a few beers together everyday. Chip had little round blue sunglasses and a young hippie wife with a baby and he knew everybody and was just cool. So the day befor the show he is looking real sad and I ask why. he says he is leaving. he broke his most important light and it cost $150.00 and he didn't have enough to pay for it. I asked if he could get it in Orillia he said yes. So we went and bought it and I charged to the Festival. So the show went on and saved his business. That cool guy was Chip Monck one of the principle founders of the Woodstock Festival. So that is how I saved Woodstock (lol)

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Mickey Handy

Mickey Arthur Handy 
Mickey was a good friend. he was jazz drummer in New York for a while and he knew everybody and knew more about Jazz than anybody I ever met.


In 1967 he had a huge piece in The Art display in Nathan Phillips Square. It was a huge ball with a giant slit representing you know what. In the Star there was a photo of the mayor William Dennison with his head inside. hilarious
Brief Biography
1933Born New York, New York.
1959B.F.A. New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, New York.
1960M.F.A. Alfred University.
Came to Canada.
1960-66Head, Ceramic Department, Ontario College of Art, Toronto, Ontario.
1971-76Assistant Professor, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario.

Exhibition History
1965"New Sculpture"; Isaacs Gallery, Toronto, Ontario.
1977"Retrospective"; McLaughlin Art Gallery, Oshawa, Ontario.
1980Drawing Show; A.C.T. Gallery, Toronto, Ontario.
1981Arthur Handy Installation; Mercer-Union Art Gallery, Toronto, Ontario.
1985"Arthur Handy Ceramic Sculpture 1962-65, and 1985"; Macdonald-Stewart Art Centre, Guelph, Ontario.
1997"FIRE+EARTH: Contemporary Canadian Ceramics"; Burlington Art Centre, Burlington, Ontario.
1998"FIRE+EARTH: Contemporary Canadian Ceramics"; Itabashi Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan.
"Arthur Handy: Recent Work"; Burlington Art Centre.
2000"FIRE+EARTH: Contemporary Canadian Ceramics"; Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia.
2001"FIRE+EARTH: Contemporary Canadian Ceramics"; The Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan.
2002"FIRE+EARTH: Contemporary Canadian Ceramics"; Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Publications
"Clay: Medium-Based Practices." Dalhousie Art Gallery. Guelph, Ontario, Essays, Robert Fulford and Barrie Hale.
"Arthur Handy Ceramic Sculpture 1962-65 and 1985," Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph, Ontario.
"Arthur Handy Retrospective," London Art Gallery, Essay, Robert Fulford.
"Arthur Handy's New Sculpture," Arts Canada, Barrie Hale, Spring 1972.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Sneezy Waters,

musician, Ontario - 1998 - JM Hodgeson from Ottawa - best known for his legendary performances of Hank Williams: The Show He Never Gave - was member of The Children with Bruce Cockburn in the mid-1960s


I was at the first performance of Hank Williams The show He Never Gave at the HorseShoe Tavern In Toronto. The Horseshoe at that time was still the premier Country and Western Bar and all the big Nashville stars played there as well as locals like Sneezy.
  In the middle of the first set a Sneezy Fan passing by stuck his head in the door and yelled."Hey Sneezy sing Louis Riel"! One of the locals who just happened to be in the bar as usual caught Sneezy in between sets. "Hey Hank" she says "How old are you?" "Ahh, 34 " says Sneezy. "Bullshit" She says Your son was here 3 months ago and he was 36."

Valdy,

singer/songwriter - British Columbia - 2008 - Ottawa-born as Daldmar Horsdal, he went on to become an iconic figure on the fledgling Canadian music scene in the 1970s. His Valdy & the Hometown Band recording of 1976 is a classic.

Lucille Starr

country singer, Quebec - 2000 - chanteuse from Montreal who scored a major hit with The French Song in the mid 60s - influenced many important female singers: Sylvia Tyson included

Mose Scarlett,

musician - Ontario - 2006 - his long beard, tall lanky body, glass of scotch and a six stringed guitar have made him the Leon Redbone of Canada; his work with Ken Whiteley and Jackie Washington is something special: When old friends meet!

Roy Payne,

singer/songwriter, Newfoundland & Labrador - 1995 - one of the most fiercely Canadian recording artists of the 1960s, his songs I Wouldn't Trade a Million Dollars for a Single Maple Leaf and The Goofy Newfy defined his no-bullshit demeanor

Murray McLauchlan,

singer/songwriter - Ontario - 2007 - wrote The Farmer's Song and many others - hosted Swing on a Star on CBC radio as well as a TV show

Gordon Lightfoot,

singer/songwriter, Ontario - 2000 - started out as a singer and square dancer on CBCs Country Hoedown - started due The Two Tones before going out on his own - early songs covered by Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan & Ian & Sylvia

Roy Forbes,

producer, singer/songwriter, broadcaster, British Columbia - 2002 - once known as the performer Bim, influenced by country and blues, member of pop trio UHF

Bernie Finkelstein

music industry exec, Ontario - 1996 - before the days of CanCon, he started his own record company - True North - responsible for the careers of Bruce Cockburn, Dan Hill, Murray McLauchlin, Carole Pope and dozens of others

I once sold Bernie some prints I had of Iskowitz, Town Rayner Coughtry etc.
We had long negotiations but finally struck a deal.
Bernie says ,"Are you happy with this deal? Is it a good deal?"
"Yes I say "It is a good deal."
"Hmm says Bernie if you are happy and I am happy, how can it be a good deal."

Graham Townsend

fiddler, Ontario - 1993 - the peoples' fiddler, the man who could do just about anything on his instrument with his delicate, magical hands

Dick Nolan

singer, Newfoundland & Labrador - 1994 - the first Newfoundlander to record the folksongs of his native land - had a major hit with The Night We Stole Aunt Martha's Sheep

Colleen Peterson,

singer / songwriter, Ontario - 1996 - wrote and performed songs in Nashville and Canada - member of Quartette and very well loved

I hung out with Collen a bit and she spent a lot of time at my bar.
She took me back stage to meet Bonnie Raitt.
So much talent, so litle time, Sadly Missed.

Harry Hibbs

Harry played the Horseshoe and we hit it off enough that I got invited to the dressing room, Harry carried two case one with accordion and the other he said contained his music.You had to get invited to the dressing room to see his music which was 2 bottles of rum I more than a few with him. I remember his drunken rendition of his song mother where the tears would flow down his cheeks and occasionaly he would get a little raucous and go over backwards in his chair. Never the less he usually played to pretty good crowds

Harry Hibbs accordionist, Newfoundland & Labrador - 1993 - hosted At The Caribou on TV - one of the first Canadians to have 4 Gold records to his credit

John Allan Cameron

- singer, Cape Breton I, NS - 1995 - the man who made Cape Breton famous - hosted his own TV program - propelled Maritime music to the national stage

Willie P Bennett

Willie P Bennett, Singer-Songwriter & Musician - Ontario - 2006 - has influenced countless songwriters by breaking new ground with his 70s albums; played with the Dixie Flyers and Fred Eaglesmith's Flying Squirrels; Juno Award winning CD 'Heartstrings'

Great Guy, Willie was his own worst enemy, I had to bar him a few times in his wilder days but always appreciated his music.

Cliff 'Kid' Bastien

Jazz player, Ontario - 2003 - Leader of the Happy Pals who lead Saturday afternoon jams at Grossman's Tavern, Toronto, for 30 years.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Nelie Meininger

My dear friend Nelie
Is a fine artist
Nelie Meininger

Studio Fatamorgana
PK.Drossaartstraat 13
3131P.A
Vlaardingen
The Netherlands