Leaving on a jet plane

A crazy skate monkey that I adore. I think he's trying to flip me off.

This is the second day of Shul of Rock, and there are already 4 posts (including this one,) and two comments on one of them. Very cool.
I've been taking pictures since I was old enough to soil a diaper, and now I want to share them with you! (The pictures, not the baby shit.) I'm leaving in a few days for beautiful Israel, and I'm too caught up in preparations to write anything overly irreverent, so instead, I'm going to pile on some cool/fun pics I've shot recently for your perusal. Photo-blog party! If you've got photos you want to share, leave some linkage in the comment box.
Oh, and this blog will likely lay dormant until I return (mid-June). I should have just started it then, but I couldn't wait!

This is Old Flash McGee. He works at the famous Imperial Pub.
His claim to fame is that he can carry a lot of stuff at once. He bears
a striking resemblance to Toronto voice artist Benjamin Israel.


Birds at the Walden Galleria, Buffalo NY. 22.05.05.

5 Questions w/ Emma Richler

Literary talent and skill flows through the Richler family faster than Duddy Kravitz on roller skates. Check out this quick back and forth I had recently with award-winning author Emma Richler. It shall soon be incorporated into the Weinryb Family Library's upcoming Richler exhibit. Dates and hours will be posted soon and will be by appointment only. Alan will provide more details in the coming weeks. (This and other content were previously published in The Varsity.)

What has the book tour been like so far?

It’s sort of continually exhausting, although everyone though is very gentle and looks after me and makes sure everything’s alright…This is the most unnatural part of the job – having to talk about yourself – which most authors don’t like doing! I can’t say it’s fun, but on the other hand it’s not unpleasant.

Do you have an audience in mind when you sit down to write?

No. I think that would be enormously inhibiting. I think it would be awful. When I sit down to write, there’s nothing. It’s just me and it and the world being played out in my head.

Any other goals now that you have successfully tackled writing?

Umm, be a formula one racer? No. Um, I’d like a dog. I’m planning on getting a dog very soon.

What’s the best place to do an interview?

One of the places I find not good is home. Because all your things are around. You feel slightly more exposed than you need to be. You can have an interview walking – just not at home and not in a bar.

How do you feel about the prospect of the Canadian literary world wanting to adopt you as one of their own?

Well, I’d be actually delighted to be adopted. I don’t feel any one whole thing or another. I know I have a bit of an accent. I was born in London – actually spent two thirds of my life in London and it feels more like home than anywhere else. I’d love to be embraced by Canada as fully as they wish to embrace me. I also think it’s very healthy for a writer not to feel too ingrained in any one culture, any one place. It’s very good for the imagination, it’s very good to feel slightly rootless. It allows you to explore with more detachment.

On the tip of your tongue

Photoshop is the tool of the devil.




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Bang! First Post.

That's right. I just started this blog with a bang. Get ready to rock. Shul of Rock is more than a blog - it's an attitude. A little history lesson for you; The word shul is middle German for 'school', a place of learning. It is now commonly used as another word for synagogue (which is in itself Greek). In Hebrew, a shul is known as a beit ha'knesset, or house of congregation. It's a place to come together, and a place to learn. A community springs from it, and is strengthened by it. This blog's mission is to bring the world something it is sorely lacking - what that is, I do not quite know, but I'm sure I'll figure it out. I have a feeling it includes humour, politics, pop culture, and news, all wrapped up in some rock and roll attitude. Welcome to the Shul of Rock. I hope you enjoy your stay.

Special thanks to Samantha Israel for introducing me to blogging.
Congrats to Dave for being the first visitor!