In 1984 the Olympics was held in Los Angeles,  Michael Jackson was still relatively black,  the most effective piece of American propaganda ever invented ' We are the World',   the tune that was meant to save the world was playing in every home every where in the world.  Come on,  don't you remember Ray Charles up there screaming his love at the world,  I bet you,  that there were kids Russia doing the "Ray Charles" move.  That was some shit back then,  Buoy,   because I was doing the Ray Charles move myself.  I was 14,  at the time,  and my hero was Carl Lewis.  I was just beginning to discover my physical capabilities and track and field was my thing.  My fathers hero,  however,  was the God of work,  who ever he or she is,  because every summer I had to find a job in town for the summer before he did,  as the alternative,  was always,  much more harrowing. 

The summer of 1984 was different,  as I had to be at home to watch the Olympics and see Carl Lewis do his thing.  My father upon hearing the news of my decision,  took it quite well as he saw the look of determination in my eyes,  or so I thought,   made me agree to start and complete a project,  of his choosing,  by the end of the summer while I was lazing about the house.  This is too easy,  I thought to myself,  as I quickly ran the probabilities through my head,  and with that,  I agreed with a handshake,  that felt warm and strong.  The next morning,  he woke me up early to show me my project before he left for work,  and there it was,  just off  the back of the house, where the grass met the  farm,  a 10x12 ft area was pegged out with construction cord for me,  it was then explained to me that my project for the summer was to dig a tank. For the benefit of those of you who don't know what a tank is,  a tank is a water reservoir that is meant to catch water when it rains, as you can never have too much water on a farm.

I learned something about myself that summer as my father's seeming cruelty of keeping me on schedule taught me how to plan as I was determined to outsmart him,  the thing is,  I got to see Carl Lewis,  my hero,  win four goal medals.  Of course that was in between breaks from digging a tank.  Its funny just how much harder you have to work to have things your way. 

THE CHRONICLES OF DARK SMURF

Dark Smurf and I have a history,  he is a homeless Kat that has dubbed himself the mayor of West Queen West,  but I call him Dark Smurf because he has that Dark Vader, Papa Smurf ,  harmless malevolence about him. The back alley along Queen St. West is hard to comprehend because it is old, it is like a beautiful woman who has neglected herself.  it has so much history.  Queen St. any where in the world is like that, and Canada is no different because it is a part of that British imperialist tradition. Dark Smurf is the mayor of the back alley,  he sees all that goes on,  he knows what's going on he is not a "crazy guy"  as people would love to think.  On a certain level he is actually quite smart and I respect his fortitude for having  stuck with his decision to live on the streets.  My conversations with him over these past three years has revealed this to me,  he used to have a job,  but the cost of buying clothes all the time, waking up to go to work,  then working all day, then home again, sleep, so he could go to work the next day,  just wasn't working out for him. So he decided to simplify his life,  and simplify he did,  he decided to be happy all the time and not worry about a thing.  Around the same time,  he also discovered that crack made him extremely happy, and work didn't so,  he chose happy.  These days,  as I watch him ply his trade of guilting young yuppies out of their cash I wonder if they could appreciate the fact that Dark Smurf is the way he is by choice,  a conscious decision he made which had some unpleasant consequences. Now his life is very simple just him and crack.  From time to time we bump into each other in the back alley,  and we will talk for as much time as it takes him to summon up the strength to ask me for some cash,  and during this time,  I'll try to find out as much as I can about him for I am truly fascinated by him, and then he will be on his way.  That is the nature of our exchange.

The space that Irie now occupies was once his haunt as it was a Crack Bar called The Stone Angel. I just recently learned that it was actually responsible for the creation of the West Queen West business association as they all came together because they all had a desire to see this place go.  So lets just say that we have a history,  and I am some how connected to this Kat who I don't mind but now here he is,   for what,   the third time taking a shit,  so I can clean up after him?   Hmmmmm not this time,  I decided to give him two options; " Clean your shit up or I will clean it up for you,  conditional upon on this,   if I have to clean it up,  then I'll have to deal with the frustration factor,  which would mean that I am quite likely to throw you a few blows,  just to compensate,  y'know what I mean".  So he picked it up,   put it on a piece of card board,  and left,  mumbling to himself.  The whole exchange was so surreal to me, I was literally living a deja vous, this exact exchange had not happened once,  or twice,  but three times.

My back alley has of late become garbage central,  especially since the city put that yellow bag program into effect,   everyday that I drive  in I see it.  It has become so much a part of my daily existence that much of the subject matter for my next show has a lot to do with the garbage in my back alley. 

COMMUNITY

Like Dark Smurf ,  I too have been on a mission to simplify my life,  I too used to do the 9am to 5pm thing (now I do the 9am to 4am thing) but after a few months I came to realize that I was not productive before noon,  and all I would do is drink coffee to pry my eyes open in the morning,  turn my computer on and stare at it for a few hours,  drink some more coffee,  and play office politics.  The move to simplify came as I was "let go"  because I was not a "team player,  believe me,   it was not a good scene.  The next few months were my doubtful months as I wallowed in self pity about my  "differentness".  That's when the summer of  1984 occurred to me again.  You have to work even harder if you want to have things your way.  That was back in 1997 and in seven years I've met a whole bunch of people who are like me in way or another.  These people have become my community.  If you are reading this e-mail,  then you too are a part of my community. 

There is connection between people,  connection that goes beyond the five senses of our  daily reality.  As our cognitive awareness of the world around us develops we tend to lose that connection that we have to each other in favor of sight.  We tend to own what we see when in fact our reality is just light hitting our eyes.  Ask yourself this question,  "How does the blind experience beauty".

Three weeks ago there was a meeting at Irie called "the meeting of the crazy minds"  arranged by my good friend and fellow artist Ricardo because he felt strongly about surrounding himself with like minds.  The criteria for being invited to this meeting was that you had to have had an original idea that you executed or are in the process of executing.  In total seven people turned up and told their stories and as I sat there and listened to these amazing and uplifting stories I couldn't help but feel a sense of kinship and comradry with this eclectic group of people.  The connective strand was just how differently we thought about things and how our attempts to fit in resulted dismal failure.  We were all from different ethnic backgrounds and as I listen to their stories heard them accept their "different ness" and how by tapping into it,  they changed themselves,  and are changing their world around them.

I was watching a flock of Geese fly by recently and made the observation to my friend  that the reason they fly in that triangular format is to make the journey easier for everyone in the flock.  The one who leads breaks the wind for everyone and so does the next bird for the next bird right down to the last one. That way they can fly for thousands of miles a lot easier than had each bird  decide to go it alone.  My comment to my friend was that I wish we as a society could talk to the Geese and figure some shit out.  She then told me to read a book,   "Jonathan Livingston Seagull"  by Richard Bach,  as she thought I would really dig it.  I did read it and now I am recommending it to you,  my community.

THE PROPOSITION

My little incident with Dark Smurf changed something in me,  I realized that I had been wallowing in my own self righteousness about garbage and dirt on my property,  I had made myself into a victim.  And my constant irritation around this issue was not going to go away as I was certain that there was going to be a forth time.  That was when the summer of 1984 popped into my head again.  I realized that what was irritating me was simply what I was seeing and that it was totally within my power to change what I see.  So I gave myself a project to affect what I see everyday in a positive way.  I decided to extend my back Patio and bring my vision of Irie to my back alley.  In thinking this somewhat expensive project through, it had to go through the acid test,  I had to present it to my wife, to tell you the truth it was the hardest part of the whole endeavor,  and there was no Dark Smurf story in there either,  it was facts and figures.

I had to really think about how I was going make the additional space work.  I thought about who the members of my community  are,  let me see,  they are for the most part cool people from

all walks of life usually in their thirties to forties,  they go out a lot to eat (or I would be out of business) and they like the relaxed environment at Irie.  My space has over the past 3 years become a place where they come to celebrate their birthdays,  anniversaries,  to propose.  Irie is a celebration space.  That's what the addition to the back patio is going to be,  it is going to be a celebration space.  Here's how it will work.

During the summer and winter (as my back patio is open year round) parts of the  back area will be reserved for parties of twenty or more.  This area will be a private area where people can celebrate outside.  This is great for smokers and non smokers.  Now here is the big Kahuna  I am also offering the extended party package  wherein your dinner party of 20 or 30 people turns into a full blown jam after dinner around 11pm to 11:30pm.  Here is how that side will work. 

1) Dinner party of 20 or more
2After 11 pm I'll comp $150 of hors d'oeuvres
3)After 11pm we  the DJ starts to drop some tunes.  That cost we split (no more than $75 each)
4) I'll hit my email list to tell them  who's birthday we will be celebrating,  and invite them down for the extended party for them to revel in your joyous day.

5) My website will carry all the pictures of the parties that we celebrate so that you can download yours as I'll personally be taking pictures.

6) It will build a very strong community

The key to this whole proposition is that all the people who will attend are people from all walks of life except that they are similar to you in some respect because they are like me in some respect.  The result,  I hope, will be a beautiful bohemian environment.  This way like minds will meet.  That is my plan.  Hit me back if you want to book your special occasion.  Nuff love Carl.