Here's Mike Judson Showing Why He's The Ultimate Wing Man

Newswatch weather guy Mike Judson ate 18 wings in 120 seconds at East Side Mario's for a Five Counties Children fundraiser yesterday to claim the title of media person who eats the most wings in two minutes.

[Chex Newswatch]

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Two New Shows Opened This Weekend At Art Gallery Of Peterborough & Artspace

Opening this past Friday evening were shows at Artspace and the Art Gallery of Peterborough. Artspace presents Are We There Yet, a group show, presenting with diverse work of Lauren Hall, Gareth Lichty and Sam Mogelonsky.

The large front space features a playful "rug" woven of garden hose. It's fun, plastic nature is a poke at our collected yerning for the perfect outdoor space. It's an interesting piece to walk around.

Also featured are interesting colourful channelled landscapes from Hall, who uses clear corregate and coloured powders to create "perfect sunsets" with parallel gradients of colour. Mogelonsky pieces these diverse works together with his neon title piece, "Wish You Were Here".

The show runs January 13th, 2012 to February 25th, 2012.   

See Artspace-arc.org for more information.

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At The Art Gallery of Peterborough, opening on Friday evening was a range of work connected throughout the public spaces. Titled Steaming Alterity, this presentation brings together the diverse work of artists Rebecca Belmore, Natalie Wood, Christina Zeidler, Emelie Chhangur and Johanna Householder.

The work these women make draws from themes of activism, places, internal context and self within a wider world. Using photography, video, collage and physical still-life, an adventure awaits the visitor. Plan on being generous with your time here.

The show runs January 13th to March 4th.

See Agp.on.ca for more information.

[Text and pic by PtboCanada's Jeffrey Macklin]

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PTBOCanada Introducing New Q & A City Hall Column "Backroom Briefing" By David Goyette

GOYETTE'S BACKROOM BRIEFINGPTBOCanada is excited to be introducing a new reader-driven Q & A column by David Goyette called "Goyette's Backroom Briefing", which will take you into the inner workings of City Hall.

Goyette is the Executive Assistant to Peterborough Mayor Daryl Bennett (see our Day In The Life Of Mayor Bennett, which includes pictures of the two of them together).

One of Canada's most experienced strategic communication and political consultants, Goyette has provided services to 12 municipalities; 17 Ontario Deputy Ministers; 32 Offices of the Government of Ontario; 90 Canadian politicians including Mayors, Cabinet Ministers and Premiers; and the leadership of all the major Canadian banks. He has received 11 political appointments and had management roles in 12 election campaigns.

Readers of PtboCanada are invited to put questions to David about the skinny at City Hall. Not rumour or gossip or when your local pothole is going to be fixed, but how things really work—how decisions get made or don’t get made, and the stories behind the stories. Consider it your backroom briefing.

Email your burning questions for David about City Hall to feedback@ptbocanada.com.

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Here Is The Story Of James Jenney Who Died In Transformer Fire

On Friday, December 16th, an Aboriginal man named James Jenney was electrocuted at a transformer station on Crawford Drive.

Evidence at the scene showed that Jenney, an alcoholic, was on the property cutting copper wire and must have fallen and made contact with a liver feeder line.

What lead up to Jenney—who was a caring and happy person by all accounts—doing this? Maybe it was the baby he was expecting with his partner, or the two dogs he loved and needed to feed. As with so many crimes committed, Jenney was under desperate financial pressure.

Everyone has a story, a back story. Here is the story of his life as pieced together by Newswatch...



[via CHEX TV]

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Dani Stover's New Morning Partner At The Wolf Is Brian Ellis

Ellis replaces TJ Connors, who left for a job out west.

[chextvDOTcom]

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PTBOCanada Review: Mashup & Group Photography Show At Artspace

Mashup, currently on display in the front room of Artspace, is a collab/co-mingle of art from two artists: Montreal artist Nadia Moss uses sculpture and drawing in a fun, creative way which plays out as a cross between street art and comic book art; and London, Ontario artist James Kirkpatrick uses interactivity as a basis in his sculpture. This is an excellent installation.

Also featured in the mudroom of Artspace is Exposure: A Group Photography Show from the Electric City Lodge. A wild cross-section of photo based art is displayed by some local artists you may recognize, and some who will be new to you: Jessica Melnik, Bradley Boyle, Eric McKibbon and Esther Vincent are just a portion of the folks who's wildly eclectic work are on display in this show. 

Both of these shows run until Friday, November 25th. That gives you a good two weeks to check it out. It's a fun look-see. Artspace is located at 378 Aylmer Street.

[Text and pics by PtboCanada's Jeffrey Macklin]

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PTBOCanada Review & Pics: Dave Bidini Reading From "Writing Gordon Lightfoot" At Traill College Last Night

Last night, Canadian musician and author Dave Bidini read from his new book, Writing Gordon Lightfoot: The Man, The Music, and The World in 1972. It's Bidini's 10th book.

As he described to those in attendance at Scott House, Traill College, it's the first time he's written a book about one person.

Previous books have covered Canadian Rock during the fledgling years of Bidini's former band The Rheostatics, as well as his other love—sports. Those books told stories about hockey and baseball from Bidini's unique Canadian perspective. 

Last night Bidini read one chapter from the book, regaled with interesting and entertaining anecdotes before taking questions. It turns out, Lightfoot does not do interviews, preferring to not look back on his history.

Bidini, working without any help from the subject, wrote the book based on interviews with those who were around Lightfoot during a pivotal week in 1972, piecing together the story of this Canadian songwriting legend during what must have been a meteoric rise in fame.

The storyline builds from the 1972 Mariposa Folk Festival, where legends Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Lightfoot were seemingly drawn together in one place, at one time.

Based on Bidini's talk last night, this will be a highly informative read. The book was launched two weeks ago and should prove to be a fun read for those who have a soft spot for Canadian music and pop culture.

Lightfoot fans are sure to be pleased.

[Text and pics by PtboCanada's Jeffrey Macklin]

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Here's Caylie Staples Covering Arcade Fire At The Spill

Musician Caylie Staples did this cover of "The Suburbs" (it starts just after the 4:00 minute mark) in the summer at The Spill. It just got uploaded to YouTube. Man, she can sing.

[YouTube]

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