Culture

Canadian Children’s Performer Fred Penner – Making a positive difference in the life of a child

May 13, 2013Uncategorizedarts funding, Canada, Canadian, CBC, CBC TV, CIUT, Culture, Down's Syndrome, Fred Penner, Fred Penner's Place, Interview, Intro, Kevin Caners, kids, Music, Musician, politics, Raffi, television, The Cat Came Back, toronto, TV, Winnipeg, Word Birdkevincaners Leave a comment

Well if you’re like me, and belong to a certain generation of Canadians, who grew up in the 80s and 90s, there’s a good chance that hearing the name Fred Penner triggers a series of fond memories from childhood. That’s because Fred Penner was the man behind Fred Penner’s place, a popular children’s television show that ran on CBC from 1985 to 1997.

Over the course of almost 1000 episodes, Fred Penner entertained his young viewers with stories, music, and words (you might remember the famous “Word Bird”) and in the process influenced an entire generation of young Canadians.

Fred Penner with The Cat Came Back

Fred Penner grew up in Winnipeg, and from a young age developed a love for music. But it was through playing songs for his younger sister Suzy, who was born with Down’s Syndrome, that he came to see music as a way to connect and make a positive difference in the life of children.

After graduating after from the University of Winnipeg, he started performing and touring around Canada both as a solo musician and as a member of various groups and acts. But it was in 1979 when he recorded His first LP of songs for children, The Cat Came Back that his career really took off. The album became hugely popular, and went on to sell more than 150,000 copies in Canada alone.

The success got him noticed by popular childhood musician Raffi, who invited Penner to tour with him around North America. And after a few years of performing both with Raffi and as a solo artist to ever increasing audiences, Penner was approached by the CBC and asked if he would be interested in developing a children’s show based around his musical performances.

And so Fred Penner’s place born, and it quickly became one of the most popular and beloved children’s shows on TV. His warmth and his obvious love for music endeared Fred Penner to a generation. And although the show was abruptly cancelled by CBC 1997, Penner never stopped believing in the importance of what he was doing, and continued performing and positively connecting with young people right up to the present.

He’s recipient of the Order of Canada and multiple Juno Awards. And when he’s not busy performing, he’s actively involved with numerous children organizations and causes. I can only imagine how thoroughly impressed my 5 year old self would be that I had the great pleasure of meeting and speaking with Fred Penner in person!

Fred Penner with Kevin Caners

Longtime Harper’s Editor Lewis Lapham on The Flaws of Journalism and Excesses of The American Ruling Class

March 27, 2013UncategorizedAmerica, American Politics, author, climate, Clinton, Culture, editor, George Bush, Harper's Magazine, history, Interview, Ira Glass, Journalism, Lapham, Lapham's Quarterly, Lewis Lapham, manhattan, Mark Twain, media, Philosophy, politics, Radio, ruling class, San Francisco, Society, This American Life, writer, Yalekevincaners Leave a comment

Lewis Lapham editor of Lapham’s Quarterly

Whenever anyone happens to mention the name Lewis Lapham – the renowned American writer, and social thinker – chances are that a reference to Harper’s Magazine isn’t too far away. Over the course of the almost 30 years he spent in the role as editor of the influential magazine, Lapham and Harper’s became virtually synonymous.

Although he left his day-to-day role at Harper’s in 2006, the magazine still bears many of his distinctive marks; from its layout, to the style of writing – even the Index and Readings sections which were created in a 1984 redesign he spearheaded – Lapham in many ways shaped the magazine into what it is today. And although the circulation of Harper’s has never rivaled that of more mainstream publications, an impressive number of people, from Ira Glass to Thomas Frank, credit Lapham and the magazine with influencing their journalistic sensibilities.

Harper’s Magazine

But it’s not just for his role as an editor that Lapham become widely known. He is also by many considered one of the most prescient voices in America today. For decades through his columns and books, Lapham, with sharp wit and fierce independence, has been deconstructing the social-cultural landscape of America – traits which have seen him compared with both H.L Menken, and Mark Twain.

He came from a privileged background –attending both Yale and Cambridge, but Lapham has never been shy in criticizing what he sees as the excess, greed and short-sightedness of the ruling elite. He vocally argued for the impeachment of George W. Bush for launching the Iraq War, was openly critical of the Clinton’s, and regularly has taken to task the mainstream media and press for their subservience to power and unwillingness to tackle the important issues.

Lapham’s Quarterly

While he left Harper’s in 2006, Lapham has by no means slowed down. Having long been passionate about the wisdom that can be gleaned from examining history, he immediately went to work founding and editing Lapham’s Quartery a unique publication that takes an issue or topic of current interest and concern—War, Religion, Money, – and examines it in a historical context using the voices and events of the past to bring the topic to light.

I spoke to Lewis Lapham at his office in downtown Manhattan.

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Thomas Frank of Harper’s Magazine on Obama, Wall Street, and Pitying The Billionaire

March 24, 2013UncategorizedCulture, Easy Chair, Election 2012, Harper's Magazine, Harpers, Interview, Journalism, Obama, Obama's second term, Pity The Billionaire, Radio, The Baffler, Thomas Frank, Wall Street Journal, Writekevincaners Leave a comment

Thomas Frank is probably best known for his regular easy chair column in Harper’s Magazine – the opening essay in which he draws together elements from history culture and politics to make insightful, often unexpected observations into the social-political landscape of our time.

In his columns he has taken on everything from the high cost of tuition and the obsession with austerity in Washington D.C, to the culture of gun violence in America.

Thomas Frank, Easy Chair columnist at Harper’s Magazine

He was born in Kansas City Missouri in 1965, and attended the University of Virginia to study history. Although he originally was conservative, and was even briefly involved with the campus Republicans, soon he discovered his interest in writing, and while still an undergrad, he along with a group of friends founded THE BAFFLER magazine, a journal of cultural criticism.

In 1988 he began studying American history at the University of Chicago, from which he received a PhD in 1994. His dissertation was eventually turned into THE CONQUEST OF COOL a book about how industry had successfully commercialized the idea of rebellion and 60’s counterculture. After leaving academia, he became a full time journalist, although his main interest was culture, while writing for the Chicago Reader he became increasingly drawn to political and economic topics from investigating the advertising efforts of Enron, to challenging the dominant free market ideology of the day.

During his career as a newspaper and magazine columnist He also has written four best selling books – His most recent is called Pity the Billionaire: The Hard-times Swindle and the Unlikely Comeback of the Right.

Canadian Music Icon, Bernie Finkelstein: A Life In The Music Industry

March 24, 2013Uncategorized1960s, Bernie Finkelstein, Bruce Cockburn, Canadian Music, Cancon, Culture, Drugs, Industry, Interview, Memoir, Murray McLauchlan, Music Business, Producer, Records, Scene, True North, Yorkvillekevincaners Leave a comment

Founder of True North Records and icon of the Canadian music industry Bernie Finkelstein has just published an exciting memoir of his life and times in the music business. It’s called True North: A Life in the Music Business, and it is brimming with fascinating stories and interesting insights into the early days of the Canadian music industry, when, with no laws to promote Canadian content, there was hardly an industry to speak off.

Legendary Producer and Icon of Canadian Music, Bernie Finkelstein

A life in the music business

I sat down with Bernie to discuss his checkered youth, his beginnings as a producer, the Toronto Yorkville scene of the 1960s (which was a creative breeding ground for some of the most famous musicians of the era including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell), and his life spent celebrating and fighting for homegrown Canadian musical and cultural talent.

To find out more, and to purchase a copy of his memoir, you can head to www.berniefinkelstein.com

And as always, to get The Public’s new episode each week, you can subscribe to our podcast or visit our page in iTunes

Filmmaker Daniel Cross & on Arts Funding in Canada and Toronto Star Columnist Rick Salutin on Democracy, Citizenship and Obama

March 22, 2013Uncategorizedarts funding, canadian politics, CIUT, columnist, Culture, Daniel Cross, documentary, film, filmmaker, Interview, politics, Rick Salutin, Toronto Starkevincaners Leave a comment

Episode two of The Public!

This week award-winning Canadian filmmaker Daniel Cross on the recent culture cuts by the federal government and what it means for the future of documentary filmmaking in Canada, and in the second half of the program, writer, playwright, and Toronto Star Columnist Rick Salutin shares his thoughts on democratic renewal and talks about some of his formative experiences growing up in Toronto.