Toronto Life articles from August 2000

Toronto Life archives from August 2000

Mix master (DJ Denise Benson is clubland's queen of spin).
August 1, 2000... "You've got the Blackalicious album, right? It's so-o-o good," she raves. Flip, flip, flip. "D'you know these guys? Ultimate Dilemma is another label that I haven't heard a bad thing from yet. British hip hop. Funky stuff. They're wicked,...

Total eclipse of the Sun (Brian Mulroney now oversees operations for The Toronto Sun and 16 other daily papers across Canada).
August 1, 2000... When Paul Godfrey stepped down from his post as president and CEO of Sun Media in the middle of June, he passed the torch to the company's chairman of the board. And who might that be? None other than the ex-PM Canadians love to hate, a certain...

Exhibitionists (Power Plant's annual fundraiser).
August 1, 2000... The Power Plant's hype had promised an evening "connecting contemporary art with glamour," though the annual Power Ball fundraiser, on a Thursday night in early June, seemed strangely artless: the gallery's nine-metre walls were draped with...

(Our annual summer fiction issue).
August 1, 2000... CANADA IS BLESSED IN ITS WRITERS. MANY are world famous. Some of these international figures have contributed stories to our annual summer fiction issue. But it was always our hope that we could publish, in addition to writers everyone knows,...

Role model: most striking among this year's Shakespearean actors at Stratford is ... Juan Chioran.
August 1, 2000... Most striking among this year's Shakespearean actors at Stratford is the lean-jawed, sepulchral-voiced Juan Chioran. He plays three supporting roles to Paul Gross's Hamlet: the Gravedigger, the Player King and the Ghost -- an imaginative...

Pop goes the easel (Emerging artists - exhibition).
August 1, 2000... Yeeaaah baby! Disco pinks, blues and mauves predominate in Jay Isaac's still lifes of barely recognizable dried flowers, overturned vases, satin-draped plinths and trees festooned with crazy string. In fact, these oils resemble the jumbled...

Blissed out (k.d. lang's new album Invincible summer).
August 1, 2000... Many Canadians see provocation as k.d. lang's most conspicuous gift. In the early '90s, the spunky country singer publicly touted her lesbianism and nettled her fellow Albertans by appearing in the "Meat Stinks" ad campaign for animal rights;...

Truce and beauty (The arts of the Sikh kingdoms - exhibit).
August 1, 2000... "In times of war, money is spent on war," says Seema Bharadia. "In peacetime, it can be spent on art." Bharadia oversees

Paddling her own canoe: the times and texts of E. Pauline Johnson (Tekahionwake).
August 1, 2000... NATIVE TALENT Two years ago, Jack Granatstein, retired York University history professor and CEO of the Canadian War Museum, raged into the national spotlight, guns a-blazing, with the question Who killed Canadian history? The answer, offered...

Happily ever after: I had known them only briefly ... and that was almost 50 years ago. But I'd never forgotten them.
August 1, 2000... I had known them only briefly, back when I was starting out in newspapers, and that was almost 50 years ago. But I'd never forgotten them. They were so utterly improbable a couple-Elsie the shrew and David, her milquetoast husband IT...

Crazy for you: (during) the investigation into our affair ... I was asked to describe in detail Dr. H's penis size, our sexual practices and, most puzzling, who penetrated whom.
August 1, 2000... The investigation into our affair took place during the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal. While all the world discussed Monica's blue dress, I was asked to describe in detail Dr. H's penis size, our sexual practices and, most puzzling, who penetrated...

Life before Nietzsche.
August 1, 2000... THE YEAR HE TURNED SIXTEEN, MASON CROWE FELL in love with Seeta Chahal, a girl who was to be married in autumn to a man she had never met. They were in the same gym class, where one of their blocks was tennis. She was not very good. He was. She...

Painting the dog.
August 1, 2000... JACQUES TEAK DID ALL THE MONEYED PEOPLE'S POOCHES. This and that party swore to his excellence, you can't go wrong with terrible Jacques Teak, they said. Why is he terrible? Charmaine had asked. No manners, they said, first word out of his...

Eleanor.
August 1, 2000... ELEANOR WAS FINE, BUT SHE HAD TROUBLES FITTING IN with the family at first. The young boys looked at her as though she had never had sex, which wasn't true. When she was nineteen she had slept with her boyfriend many times. In those...

Seeing double.
August 1, 2000... HERE IS THE TALISSERS' LIVING ROOM. IT IS A SATURDAY evening in November, just after eight. This is about ten hours before a black dog will find Rob Talisser's body in the ravine. Those are moss green silk drapes at the bay window that are...

Sky to stop us.
August 1, 2000... HIS WIFE HAS LEFT HIM. HER SPORTS CAR IS NOT IN THE driveway, the pool area normally cacophonous at this hour with the screams and laughter of his daughter, Zafira, and her neighbourhood friends is strangely forlorn; there's no sign of the...

Open house: on a remote island in Georgian Bay ... architect Michael Miller reimagines the Ontario cottage.
August 1, 2000... On a remote island in Georgian Bay, only glass separates Wild Iris Hall from the elements. Architect Michael Miller reimagines the Ontario cottage THE GOAL WAS NOT A ROOM WITH A VIEW, but a view with a room. The view is the wilder reaches...

Cherry bomb: Stella Fakiyesi.
August 1, 2000... When she's not working on her own photography, Fakiyesi runs (and is the initials behind) SOF Art House, an incubator that gives young photographers access to affordable studio space on Richmond Street West. The O? It stands for Omobolasire,...

First resort: each spring, Inn at Manitou owners Ben and Sheila Wise assemble a fresh staff ... most are new to Canada. Happily for us, many choose to stay.
August 1, 2000... NORTHWARD, EVER NORTHWARD, RUNS THE road to Manitou, swooping over granite ridges, tunnelling through forest, swerving around shining lakes, pools full of cattails and cranberry bogs. And always, where a fragment of the wilderness has been...

Tasting notes.
August 1, 2000... These notes list producer-shipper, aqent (and telephone), CSPC number (V indicates a Vintages bottle), price per 750 mL and region. Consignment bottles are generally bought by the case from the agent. Ratinq is on a five-star system that...

Drink list: Monsoon.
August 1, 2000... DRINK LIST Monsoon, 100 Simcoe St., 979-7172 The place An award winner (for restaurant design), thanks to Yabu Pushelberg, who converted this former warehouse basement. The bar and lounge area is modern, with a floor--and the bar itself--of...

Gazpacho (at Bonjour Brioche, Casa Barcelona!, Jump and Sassafraz).
August 1, 2000... GAZPACHO It's as Spanish as the siesta, sangria and Don Juan, as summery as spaghetti straps and suntans. Derived from the pre-Roman caspa (meaning leftovers), gazpacho finds its roots in Andalucia, the sol-soaked southern shoulder of Espana--a...

Industry July 5, 1996 - August 6, 2000.
August 1, 2000... When the party began, we were all crisp and clean. We lined up at the door at 901 King West as the rest of the city settled into bed. We knew the bouncers and let them pat us down, search our bags and sniff our cigarette packs. Once inside, a...