You Are Invited

The first Look Back at the art of Brian Jones. Works from his Estate and various collectors.

See the March 2008 Archive of this blog for further details about the man. You will have to scroll down a tad though.

Opening Reception, Saturday, November 29, from 2 to 4; at The Michael Gibson Gallery, located in Beautiful Downtown London - 157 Carling Street, just down the block from Chaucers.

Video screenings of Bob Pegg's 1980 documentary on Brian Jones at 2 o'clock and 3:00.

More images available at gibsongallery.com

Private Screenings available upon request courtesy of Sonny Drysdale Presents (Inc.)

... pie may be served afterwards at Casa Drysdale.

Sonny's regular Saturday late-afternoon Dance Party will still be held as scheduled.

London to Lose Yet Another Local Landmark

As of a week ago, London Board of Control and City Council has given approval for a demolition permit of the 160-year-old Tiffins Market Building on King Street. According to Wikipedia, it is one of the last of the two still-standing pioneer buildings on the north side of King between Ridout and Talbot.

In the unorthodox move, Council declared that since the local landmark is 'old' and because the the most vocal members of the 'Downtown City Task Force' consider it to have no 'architectural merit,' - it is probably for the best that it be turned into a paved surface parking lot.

A majority of members of council also referred to the building as a 'dump' and an 'embarrassment' due to the fact that the decades-owned family business was also located on one of the tourist-congested 'Gateways' to 'Downtown London' and our 'historic' city core.

When questioned by a cub-reporter for the SonnyDrysdaleMediaEmpire, patrons of the quaint little produce grocer called 'Tiffins,' located only half a block down the street from the notoriously over-priced city-owned 'Covent Garden Market' said that they would be very sad to see the place go.

"It has the most reasonably-priced locally grown vegetables in town," lamented one long-time shopper. "And I like the original wooden plank floors. My shopping cart at the A&P in Westmount always seems to have a mind of its own."

Said another satisfied and content customer, "There are no other places downtown where you can choose to buy either a carton of ossified eggs or a carton with a few of the 'cracked' variety - for half a buck less!"

"I come here for my Halloween shopping every year," said Robert J. Pegg of nearby Becher Street. "I appreciate the opportunity to buy unshelled peanuts as something to give out to high school-age trick-or-treaters who don't even go to the trouble to come up with a decent costume. Or at least put on one of those 'Scream' masks."

Pegg also noted that he liked the fact that the guy with the small nose and slightly receding hair line who occassionally worked behind the counter looked just a lot like his Dad.

But most of all, patrons said they would miss the personal attention given to them by current owner and family member Linda Tiffin. "She will be missed," said one.

Reportedly, local heritage activists are all up in arms about these latest plans by London's Planning Committee in their attempt to rid London of all 'old' buildings - and more specifically, 'personality' and 'character.'

But not is all lost, say some.

As an example, rookie councillor Gordie Fumes promises that there is no way council will okay the demolition permit for the 'Forrest Furs' building just to the west on King Street of the apparently now-doomed Tiffins building.

"There is no way *that* building is going to go," insists Fumes. "It is a well-known fact that the upper floors of Forrest Furs have long served as rehearsal space for most of our 'independent' and 'alternative' bands.

"Well, I'm here to tell you that LONDON, ONTARIO is a neutering environment for any artists. Even those who play that 'Grunge' music. If I have anthing to do with it, someday London will be known as a creative city.

"Forget all about the old 'Forest City' image.

"Forrest Furs is no danger of falling to developers," Fumes thoughtfully noted.

"Believe me, that building will be around as long as the Pyramids or well, let's say, 19 King. Just down the block.

"C'mon man, think about it - 19 KING STREET is like an arts incubator. It's a destination point for all of us kids. EVERYONE who is ANYONE has developed their craft in that building.

"Either that, or I'm just a phoney hypocritical opportunistic big bag of wind who doesn't really give a shit about the Downtown or local culture or the 'Ahhts," added Fumes over the phone from his home in Byron.

The Good Part of being a parent and the bad part of living in London

After reading about the fire that followed the Three Stooges-style attempted demolition (sorry, I refuse to defame cowboys by referring to attacking a building with a bulldozer as 'cowboy style',) of the Brunswick Hotel, I went down for a dog-walk the next morning and saw all the fourth-degree burns in the flesh.

Being London, and being autumn, it was raining, so when the sun finally began to make brief appearances later that afternoon, I sent the boy down to take some snap-shots for posterity - and offered him five bucks for his trouble.

Now, here's the only bright spot in this montage of why this town (and more importantly - the buffoons we keep re-electing on city council,) continues to SUCK on a regular basis - it's the joy that one can derive as a parent of a teenager.

You know, it's one thing to send him down to the 'Wick' to take some photos - and then start ranting when he gets back - "PARKER! I SENT YOU DOWN THERE TO GET SOME SHOTS OF SPIDERMAN STARTING THE WICK ON FIRE! AND THIS IS THE BEST YOU CAN COME UP WITH?!?"

So of course we had a chuckle over that. I hate to brag but I do a pretty good 'J. Jonah Jameson' imitation.

But this is where the good part of being the father of a teenager comes in. To see if you can mess with his mind. To see if he actually did read all those DC comics you gave him as reading-material over the summer. Because even though he's more of a 'Marvel' kind of kid, as a parent, you want him to appreciate who *invented* the whole spandexed superhero genre in the first place. And no, it wasn't Robin Hood. Or Hercules for that matter.

So you continue to bark out in J.J. fashion - "Parker - I sent you to get proof of Spiderman torching the Brunswick and all you come back with is snap-shots of Clark Kent half-naked in his underwear in the broom-closet next to the newsroom!

"Tell me Parker, did you even leave the building?!? Great Caesar's Ghost!"

Ode to the Spanner Girl

I saw her every day. We had a thing going on. For the past couple of months. We tried to keep it secret. In the end, that didn't even matter.

Every morning coming home from work, there she was - in that hodge-podge of billboards at the corner of Wortley and Stanley Street. She stood out from all the other outdoor advertisements. All it said beneath her was 'Spanner.' I didn't know what Spanner even was. Was it a store? What were they selling? Clothes, hair-products, make-up? Nope. All they were selling was Attitude.

And the Spanner Girl had it in spades. With that haughty expression on her face and those sad but intelligent eyes, you could tell that she was a 'Don't-give-a-shit' kind of girl. The kind that makes you want her all the more.

I'd get home, park the car and tell Mavis that I was taking the dog for a walk. And I did. But we always ended up at the same place. Standing in one spot and staring up at the Spanner Girl in all her Earthwear Fall-Girl splendour.

My problem, of course, was that she wasn't real. She was a billboard. It's not like we could bump into each other on a dog walk and then go for coffee. She was mounted on a pedestal 15 feet off the ground on a slab of plywood 40-feet by 18-feet. I guess it just wasn't meant to be. Size apparently does matter. It's not like she was a page in 'Vogue' that I could tear out and take into the bathroom.

So I had to worship her from afar. From on the ground. I even wrote a poem to her.

'Ode to the Spanner Girl,' I call it.

And it goes a little something like this -

"O Spanner Girl,
Up there on your billboard throne.
You look so serious.
Or are you sad? Are you glum?
Or are you down as you look down at us mere mortals from your Mount Olympus perch?

Are you in prison up there?
Is it awful? Is it like Rapunzel awful?
If only you could let down your hair,
I could be a passing brave knight, climb your tresses
And save you.
But how would we get down?
Anyway, I can't. Not with your hair cut into that fashionable bob.

O Spanner Girl,
Just say the word
And I shall spring like a trout from a stream and rescue you.
I will if you want me to.
But where would we go for lunch?"


I never got to recite it to her.

She never heard my declaration of love.

Last Saturday morning on our early morning dog walk, Jane and I found her. On the ground. Broken. Lifeless. Bloodless.

Some Halloween hooligans or downtown neer'do'wells or teenagers letting off steam destroyed her. Ripped her down from her lofty perch and tore her to pieces.

Look. Look for yourself. It's all documented in the photos at the top of this post. See?! See what they have done to my Spanner Girl - left her in the dirt and leaves on a cold fall morning all ripped up and scattered about.

... You know, I don't care if a person doesn't agree with what the Spanner Girl represents. Maybe they're just jealous. Maybe they can't afford nice fall earthwear clothing. But regardless, if you don't agree with someone's ideas or philosophy, you criticize those ideals. This is a democracy after all. But - YOU DO NOT ATTACK THE PERSON. We are supposed to be living in a civilized society, people.

It's one thing to disagree with the Spanner Girl and her 'life-style.' You may not agree with it. Fine.

But to attack an innocent billboard image, one which has never done a bit of harm to anyone - and in fact has only brought joy to myself - and probably many others, is ... well, let's just call it a sad commentary on today's 'modern' world.

Goodbye O Spanner Girl. May we meet again in another place, another time. Or in one of the new Spanner's Christmas billboards.