The South Etobicoke News

Serving Humber * Mimico * Lakeshore Village * Long Branch * Alderwood

Hanging with the Stars back in the day at the famous Skyline Hotel

by

THE DIAMONDS at the Skyline Hotel was a fun night.

Reporter DAVE KOSONIC reflects on his days covering bands for the Toronto Star at the Skyline Hotel.

The GREAT Tanya Tucker

DAVE with the Stars at the former Skyline Hotel. That’s Rick Nelson, top, middle and Roy Orbinson at the bottom, middle.

 

When I was a teeny-bopper I loved to listen to recordings by chart toppers including Lesley Gore, Del Shannon, Ricky Nelson and other stars of the time.

I never dreamed that I would rub shoulders with them in the mid-1980s during revival concerts at the former Skyline Hotel on Dixon Rd.

Many people will remember the Skyline, which featured the Diamond Lil’ carbaret shows, with the dancing bar girls.

I did a weekly entertainment column for The Toronto Star’s Etobicoke Bureau, in which I wrote about these live shows in advance to help boost ticket sales. As part of the job, I was a guest at the VIP get-togethers with the stars.

Lesley Gore was a tiny lady and when I was introduced to her back stage she looked at me and responded “Hi Dave” like she had known me for years. She was one of three stars scheduled for the stage. Gore had requested to be last up as the concert’s high-lighter but she was escorted onstage first.

She performed four of her hits including It’s My Party and She’s A Fool quickly and then stomped off the stage. Gore died of lung cancer at age 68 in February 2015.

When I met Roy Orbison often dubbed ‘The Big O’ he had just completed his last set. He lit up a smoke and chatted with me, and my wife, Dorothy,  for several minutes. He came across as a quiet and humble man. He had a fear of flying and one of his brothers ferried Orbison and his crew to his shows in a customized bus.

Orbison had performed many of his hits including Only The Lonely, Oh Pretty Woman and Dream Baby. Some related to tragedies including the death of his wife Claudette. Orbison suffered a fatal heart attack at age 52 in 1988.

During Ricky Nelson’s Skyline show he sung many of his hits such as Hello Mary Lou, Travelin’ Man and Fools Rush In. I met him up close and he looked great almost like in his teenage days. Sadly a few months after the show Nelson , 45, and his fiancé Helen Blair,28, perished when his DC 3 airplane crashed in a Texas field on New Years Eve 1985.

Jerry Lee Lewis had the concert promoters anxious the evening of his show. The show-goers were told Lewis was to appear shortly but he wasn’t present. Promoters called his manager in The U.S. and were told that his aircraft would be departing soon to come to Toronto. The Skyline show promoters then told the audience that Lewis was running late and that the show would go on. His performance was remarkable as he aggressively pecked the keys of his piano while performing Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On and Great Balls of Fire.

The mid ‘80s Skyline retro concerts featured many other hit-makers including Wilson ‘The Wicked’ Pickett, The Diamonds, Freddie .’Boom Boom’ Cannon, Lou Christie and Brenda Lee and others of that era.

Beer-drinking Octoberfest octogenarian still king of the oom-pah-pah crowd

by

Party icon George Kash is known worldwide for drinking two beers while standing on his head.

MIMICO’s ‘King of Oktoberfest’ George Kash performed for 27 years at Ontario Place. George Kash photos.

Mimico’s ‘King of Oktoberfest’ George Kash is a beer-drinking party icon at age 80.

Kash is proud to represent Mimico as the ‘undisputed Mr. Oktoberfest,” whose beer-drinking antics has thrilled fans for 27 years at Ontario Place and across the world.

He became famous as leader of the oompah-pah band Oktoberfest Express and as a standing Master of Ceremony for Toronto’s Festival of Beer.

The so-called ‘King of Oktoberfest’ and his trio have entertained generations at Ontario Place with his oom-pah-pah, sing-alongs and hand-clapping, foot-stomping, beer-drinking music that visitors love.

He is world-famous for his trademark move, in which he drinks two beers while standing on his head. And the fans love it.

Kash has been performing this move since 1978, when he first did it to ‘put a few British upstarts in their place’, at the Edelweiss Beer Garden at Ontario Place. He remained there until it was closed.

For more than 27 years he’s been slugging back pints on stage and getting paid to do it.

“We are known for our infamous interactive techniques,” Kash says proudly. “I get right into the audience and bring people into the act in a way that would make any rock star envious.”

The artist loves the Lake Shore area, where he moved almost 50-years.

“I love the people here,” he says. “The area is great and I have public transit right at my door.”

He admits most of his gigs have been cancelled due to the virus, ”which turned everything upside down.”

Before the pandemic, he earned a good living as a musician, beer drinker, actor, town crier, disc jockey, auctioneer, clown and product promoter.

He misses one of his favourite gigs, playing Santa Claus, for city kids yearly.

“I’m a professional entertainer, that’s what I do,” he insists. “It’s unbelievable you can make a living this way. I’m just all about a good time.”

This so-called ‘Lord of the Lederhosen’ and Oktoberfest Express have gained acclaim performing in Australia, Fiji, Portugal, Morocco, and other hot Oktoberfest areas including Kitchener, Edmonton, Ontario Place and the Canadian National Exhibition, according to his website.

Kash is also known for his novelty acts in which he portrays Mr. Melon Head and Mr. Coffee Bean Head and Mr. Chocolate Head, which fans love.

For more information or to book gigs contact the George Kash Experience at 416-252- 1747 or send an  email to george@georgekash.com

 

 

 Rexdale’s Admiral Crumple with some fresh tracks inspired by the Las Vegas massacre

by

ADMIRAL Crumple is back with some fresh Hip Hop tunes from Vega. Courtesy photos.

 

Up-and-coming Rexdale Begamot Hip Hop artist Admiral Crumple is plugging some new tunes.

Admiral Crumple wants the community to know that he has released his first full-length film to DVD.

He is pleased with the film, Drab Vegas, which was filmed in the City that Never Sleeps five days before the shooting massacre more than three years ago.

“The film is shot in Las Vegas and has a few original Hip Hop beats playing throughout,” says Admiral Crumple. “The conversations are about the challenges, but also the hopes and dreams of modern life.”

The October 2017 massacre saw a gunman open fire on partiers on the Las Vegas Strip attending a Route 91 Harvest Festival.

Some 60 people were killed from the 1,000 shots that were fired by a gunman from the 32 floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel. Some 411 people were wounded, which rose to 867 when it was all said and done in what is called the worst mass shooting in the U.S.

The gunman later killed himself with the gun.

Admiral Crumple’s film is described as ‘dark and hardcore’ by some, while others said it is “an inspiring documentary, adding to the quality of hip hop and film culture.”

The Official Trailer for Drab Vegas can be viewed at youtube.com

The DVD can be purchased by sending $21.95 + $10 Shipping (U.S.) via Paypal to admiralcrumple@hotmail.com

Activist and author June Callwood loved people and Mimico Creek

by

    A young June Callwood setting forth on her writing career. Courtesy photos.

JUNE CALLWOOD made a name for herself without leaving Etobicoke.

By DAVE KOSONIC

June Callwood lived much of her life in Etobicoke and is well-known in the community as a prominent and well-respected author, journalist and influential social activist.

Donna Cansfield, a former MPP for Etobicoke Centre, had great admiration for her friend Callwood, who passed away in 2007, due to cancer at age 82.  Callwood had bravely refused any treatment for her malignancy.

“The message she leaves behind for everyone but young women in particular is that there are lots of ways to show a passion for your cause,” Cansfield recalled. “June herself was an in-your-face activist in some ways, yet a great support behind the scenes in others.”

At the age of 16 in 1942, Callwood was hired as a young reporter at the Brantford Expositor for a humble $7.50 weekly, but in time moved up the ranks and was recruited as a reporter by The Globe and Mail.

There she met and later married well-known journalist Trent Frayne, but her maiden name always appeared on her story bylines since the newspapers at the time did not hire many married women.

For much of her life Callwood lived in the tree-lined Thorncrest Village area north of Rathburn Road and close to Mimico Creek on Hillcroft Drive.  During a 1984 interview Callwood said: “I love my street the access to the creek (Mimico Creek)…it’s a wonderful neighbourhood.”

Callwood made landmark contributions in Etobicoke and the GTA.  She was a member of the board of directors at Etobicoke General Hospital and now William Osler Health Centre.

“She was passionate about health care social justice and the community – a great supporter and a wonderful asset,” added Kytas Mickevicius then president and CEO of both hospitals.

She also was a key player in the creation of the June Callwood Centre for Women and Families and Casey House – Canada’s first HIV/AIDS hospice.  And along the way she authored 30 books and wrote for high-profile magazines, including Chatelaine.

Callwood in 1978 was appointed to the Order of Canada, the country’s second highest civilian honour. She received a Canadian Journalism Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004, was  inducted into the Etobicoke Hall of Fame and earned her private pilot’s licence at age 70, which she maintained for many years.

She also dealt with many personal challenges in her own life.  She and Trent parented two daughters and two sons.  Daughters Jesse and Jill are well-respected writers and their elder son is Brent.  Casey Frayne was the youngest son and he was killed by an impaired driver in 1982 on Highway 401 while driving home from university.

On a personal note, some of Callwood’s teenagers attended Burnhamthorpe Collegiate Institute when I was a student there back in the day.  Mom June regularly drove them back and forth to BCI, as most parents did back then.

 

Remembering popular Elwy Yost and his Saturday Night at the Movies

by

Fans loved Elwy Yost (with John Candy right) and his Saturday Night at the Movies.

 

 

 

 

 

By DAVE KOSONIC

“Good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome once again to Saturday Night at the Movies. My name is Elwy Yost.”

That is the welcoming way Canadian television personality Yost began his weekly movie program for 25 years from 1974 to 1999 just after multi-colored stars glistened on viewers TV screens.

Yost had a long connection with Etobicoke and few people knew that he was  a full-time English teacher at Burnhamthorpe Collegiate Institute.

“Well it is that time ladies and gentlemen to turn your lights down very low and put your feet up.” Yost added while introducing a show about alcoholism as presented in the cinema.

“It is harrowing but it is magnificently made and I am very proud of this film,” were words he used while reviewing the Academy Award winning movie The Lost Weekend produced by Billy Wilder and starring Ray Milland with screenplay by Charles Brack.

Yost always appeared very relaxed while he sat back in a comfy chair and turned on his retro film projector and then said with a smile: “If you are ready I am now so let’s roll our projector.”

Yost was well-known for hosting CBC television’s weekday Passport to Adventure series from 1965 to 1967, TVOntario’s weekday Magic Shadows from 1974 to the mid-1980s and Saturday Night at the Movies.

He also authored four books about movies.

The broadcaster  was born in Weston in 1925 and passed away in West Vancouver 2011 of natural causes at the age of 86.  He was married to Lila Ragnild for 60 years and has two sons, Christopher and Graham, who is a producer and screenwriter in Los Angeles. Yost was also a film maker and he produced two movies titled Ida Makes a Movie and Moulin Rouge.

Yost joined the Canadian Infantry in 1944 and was honorably discharged in 1945. Other brief employment included construction work at the CNE, working in circulation department at the Toronto Star and a job in the aircraft industry in Malton. Yost earned a degree in sociology from the University of Toronto in 1948. He worked on and off as a panelist on television shows until the late 1960s when he became the permanent host of the CBC radio show It’s Debatable and his career then blossomed.

After Yost’s death in 2011 an editorial in the Toronto Star entertainment section reflected back upon his life. ‘The bald man with the moustache, wire-rim glasses and odd name was an unlikely candidate for stardom…at the peak 250,000 viewers appreciated his appetite for gorging on movies and taking trips to Hollywood to talk with the people who made them.’

Adrian Morrow in the Globe and Mail added, “His father would give him a dime every week to see a film and then have him recount the plot.’

On a personal note I was a student at Burnhamthorpe Collegiate when Yost taught there. I was not in his classes but he always voiced a friendly hello when he passed any student in the hallways.

 

Popular journalist Gordon Sinclair travelled the world but never left Etobicoke

by

SINCLAIR (right) with fellow Front Page Challenge members Betty Kennedy, Pierre Berton (left) and Fred Davis

By DAVE KOSONIC

Legendary journalist and broadcaster Gordon Sinclair loved Etobicoke and is still considered a legend by many area residents.

Sinclair, a member of the Etobicoke Hall of Fame, managed to cram an enormous number of accomplishments into his busy life before passing away at age 83 in May 1984.

Sinclair grew up in the Cabbagetown area but spent much of his life living in his family home tucked away just off Burnhamthorpe Road w., near the Islington Golf Course.

Growing up, he dropped out of high school during his first year and was terminated by his first two employers, the Bank of Nova Scotia and Eaton’s. He served part time with the 48th Highlanders of Canada

Things began happening for him in 1922 when he was hired as a cub reporter by the Toronto Star and began working his way up the newsroom ladder.

Before long, he rose to become one of the most prominent Toronto Star reporters and for a decade in the 1930s travelled around the world four times on assignment, which included interviews with Queen Elizabeth, Adolph Hitler and Teddy Roosevelt among others.

The Star wrote that Sinclair had travelled 340,000 miles in 73 countries for the newspaper. During that time he wrote eight books on his exploits.

Sinclair married co-worker Gladys Prewett in 1926 and they were parents of three sons and a daughter. His eldest, Gord (1928–2002), was also a successful and respected journalist in Montreal, as well as a majority radio station owner.

Sinclair joined Toronto radio station CFRB in 1943 and became part-owner of that station the next year. He continued with CFRB until his death.

He appeared on the popular weekly CBC’s Front Page Challenge for 27 years flanked by other television personalities including; Betty Kennedy, Pierre Berton and Fred Davis.

Sinclair was flamboyant and developed his own “distinctive” style of dress which included plaid blazers and loud bowties. He especially loved wearing a kilt to celebrate his Scottish heritage.

He gained considerable attention globally when he praised the U.S. from his Canadian perspective in 1973 and at later dates.

“This Canadian thinks it is time to stick up for the Americans…I am one Canadian sick and tired of them being kicked around,” Sinclair stated.

The  broadcaster loved cars and drove around in a Rolls Royce for many years.

He was inducted into the Canadian Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame and made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1979.

Sinclair died from a heart attack and rests in Etobicoke’s Park Lawn Cemetery. His spirit lives on in the community.

 

 

Violinist Raha Javanfar fronts for Toronto blues band Bad Luck Woman

by

CLASSICALLY trained violinist Raha Javanfar is the front woman for blues band Bad Luck Woman. Courtesy photo.

Classically-trained violinist Raha Javanfar like most area musicians has been hit hard by a loss of musical gigs due to a spread of COVID-19.

Javanfar, a bassist and front woman for the Maple Blues Award nominee blues band, Bad Luck Woman and Her Misfortunes, is now teaching students online how to play the violin, piano and music theory.

The busy pre-pandemic four-piece band was silenced as the virus spread across the world and public health officials ordered people to stay away from crowds.

“The pandemic so far has been a roller coaster for me. I spent the first several weeks feeling quite depressed and uninspired,” she recalls. “I felt a deep resistance to this thing which was quickly being dubbed ‘the new normal.”

She, with partner Fraser Melvin, are busy these days writing tunes and performing virtually.

The Iranian-born entertainer held virtual classes last month with students at a Lakeshore Arts event, which was a big success.

“Campers will build their own homemade percussion instrument, learn various rhythms, and experiment with different sounds to create their own grooves and melodies,” says a poster promoting the event.

Javanfar is thankful she is working in her field and attributes her career to a ‘rich fabric of numerous projects in various fields.’

She regularly plays fiddle in the Western swing band, The Double Cuts, and has performed with notable artists as Stars, Protest the Hero, Peter Katz, Tom Wilson and Daniel Romano.

The violinist is also known around town for other musical projects including; Voodoo Raha & Speedy Wax and Zuze, as well as frequent performance in the Concert Series at Soulpepper Theatre Company’s Riverboat, 27 Club, 88 Keys and Promised Land.

She is one of six co-creators of Now You See Her, a play by Quote Unquote Collective, produced by Nightwood Theatre, in which she performed the role of Daria. It was nominated for Best New Play at the 2019 Dora Mavor Moore Awards.

She has toured with Toronto Baroque orchestra, Tafelmusik, for over a decade as projections designer of concerts such as House of Dreams, Circle of Creation, and Tale of Two Cities, which has performed at Disney Hall in Los Angeles, the National Arts Centre in Ottawa and venues in Mexico, Australia, Japan and Malaysia.

She and Mellville are proud of their own brand of hot sauce, that is made to her recipe. Bottles of their home-made Bad Luck Woman sauce and her music are available for sale at www.rahajavanfar.com

 

 

New Toronto billiard hall owner followed his acting dreams to Hollywood movies

by

By DAVE KOSONIC

John ‘Doc’ Cassidy is a former New Toronto billiard hall owner who went on to live his dream by acting in Hollywood movies.

Cassidy became an actor and consultant in a popular 1980 Hollywood movie ‘Carny,’ which was a big-office hit starring Gary Busey and Jodie Foster, who were making a name for themselves.

“I saw myself on six or seven occasions during the movie.” Cassidy said in 1980. “It just hit me like a bolt of lightning and I didn’t know what to say. “

‘The Doc,’ as he was dubbed, was 59-years-old in 1980, operating Cassidy’s School of Billiards, on Lake Shore Blvd. W., in New Toronto, where he taught his students the art of pool playing.

The former billiard ace and carnival game hustler, who lived in South Etobicoke, spent 15 years on the CNE Midway from the mid-1940s until the early 1960s, where he said he learned “every corner of the carnival.”

‘Carny,’ which also starred Canadian Robbie Robertson, is a movie that portrays the rough-and-tumble lives of carnival workers or carnies who travelled through the U.S. putting on shows.

He said carnies had their own lingo. Those who operated the rides were known as ‘ride girls and ride boys’ and others who hustled the midway game, were known as ’game girls and game boys.’

The Doc explained that the chances of winning a big stuffed panda were slim.

Carny was a major production that was filmed in 1980 in Savannah, Georgia.  The storyline is about a carnival comes to a small town.

In the flick “Donna, 18, meets Frankie and Patch, two carnival hustlers. They earn their living by mercilessly taunting spectators to try to dump one of them into the water by throwing balls. Donna is tired of her work as a waitress and follows them through the South.”’

The movie is written by Mattias Thuresson and directed by Robert Kaylor. Cassidy played ‘Harry the Hat’ in the 107-minute drama.

He explained that it was easy for him to portray the fast-talking Harry because it what was natural for him as a former midway barker.

The Doc recalled that one of his most memorable moments on the movie set occurred when the entire cast and crew gave him a standing ovation when a big scene that included him was shot in “one take.”

He had spent about ten-weeks at the Lorimar Production set at Savannah, doing consulting and acting for the movie.

The Doc, who had never acted previously, said he first viewed Carny at the Imperial Six theatre in downtown Toronto in 1980. After the movie he said he sat down in a café near Yonge Street had a couple of beers and spilled a few tears of joy.

“It might be the start of quite a future for me,“ he said later. If still alive the Doc would be age 99 but his fate is unknown.

The former New Toronto business owner went on to make other films, which included: Hangmen, Yanks, Matilda, Yanks and Bob Martin.

Kevin Hart and Woody Harrelson making movie in Queensway and Kipling area

by

Woody and Kevin in the area filming Sony comedy. BlogTo photo.

Two of Hollywood’s top actors Woody Harrelson and Kevin Hart have been seen wandering around The Queensway and Kipling area recently working on a movie.

The pair are filming a new Sony comedy called The Man From Toronto, which has also been shooting in downtown Toronto and Brampton.

It is reported that they have been busy at a large production set that was erected  in The Queensway and Kipling area.

The story tells the story of the “the world’s deadliest assassin and New York’s biggest screw-up who are mistaken for each other at an Airbnb rental,” according to promotional materials.

The Queensway and Kipling area is believed to be he base camp for this part of production.

Filming for the much-anticipated action-comedy was originally due to begin back in the spring, but production was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Man From Toronto is expected to filming in the city until Dec. 15.  It is set to premiere on Sept. 17, 2021.

 

Calypso History Month in Toronto being streamed for fans

by

This is for our residents from the Caribbean who are looking for some heat.

This month is Calypso History Month in Toronto and you don’t have to leave your home to play mas. A virtual Calypso symposium is taking place on October 17, at 3 p.m., online at www.famaaly.net

Join moderator Prof. Lennox Borrel,  organizer George Maharaj and special guest Michael Lashley for livestreaming fun. Fans of Trinidadian Calypso music are urged to log in to hear Rhoma Spencer talk about “Calypso as Drama and Theatricality.”

Don’t miss Christopher Pinheiro presentation of  “The Mighty Spoiler’s Return,” Lindy Burgess with  “Old Lady Walk a Mile, “ a musical tribute to icon Lord Kitchener.

Local legend King Cosmos will tell you all about Calypso in Canada from 1947 and Roger Gibbs has some exciting facts about vintage calypso in Barbados from the 1930’s.

“Reserve the date, get your popcorn, mauby, Carib, accra, doubles, corn soup etc. and spend the afternoon with some of the calypso experts in Toronto,” according to organizers.