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| "He's my kind of guy." This is the new standing photograph for my revitalized blog coming January 2nd, to be known as "Ted Currie, Antique Head". The alien by the way is a folk art wood carving crafted by a Muskoka artisan from the Utterson area. Rob Currie photo. |
HAPPY NEW YEARS FROM SOUTH MUSKOKA - FROM ALL OF US, TO ALL OF YOU
NEW YEAR WISHES FOR OUR TOWN COUNCIL - GET OUT OF TOWN HALL AND MEET YOUR CONSTITUENTS
Suzanne and I are all alone this New Years, and it's not really much of a hardship. We usually pay for a big spread for the boys who are huge eaters, but for the two of us, we decided not to spend the usual wad, and instead brought it down to a simple spread of cheese and crackers and a few slices of pizza to ring in the new year. We get enormous pleasure with cats on lap, some decent shows from our dvd collection, and leftover wine to ring in 2015. It's cold out there tonight, and being hearthside is no disadvantage. For years and years, the only way I could celebrate New Years was to be as drunk as a skunk, with a lamp shade on my head by midnight, and the collateral damage of me being a career practical joker. I guess it's a sign of age and maturity, intermingling in all the right places, and the fact Suzanne can make us a festive feast out of some leftovers, stored in twenty or more sealed containers, from the Christmas Day extravagances. Tonight Suzanne drops the bones of the great bird into the big pot for the commencement of boiling down, and vegetable enhancements, for the New Year's Day ceremonial "Turkey Soup," which is so thick, well, you know that thing about the ladle standing in the middle. I love the holiday season because of good food and treats that we normally don't budget for ourselves through the rest of the year. You may be doing the same thing as we are, and that's about as wholesome and conservative as you can get. Andrew is working, at a local entertainment venue tonight, and Robert is at an event with some of his mates. I guess the big question now, is whether a couple of dull folks can make it all the way to midnight without falling asleep in their afghans.
Whatever you're up to, wherever on earth you happen to find yourself, or whoever you are with, on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day, Suzanne and I hope you will have a nice day off to start off 2015. If you've had to work through both days, as millions have to because of job responsibilities, we hope you will at least have a moment or two, in order to greet the incoming year with positive anticipation for what the next twelve months will hold in store. I hope you will be will me a year from now, when I do this all again, and welcome you to experience the Muskoka hinterland, that I find so magnificent through the four seasons; but an enchanting place to spend the Christmas season. Whether you are alone, or have a party to attend, a small dinner on New Years with the family cat, or a big spread to enjoy with a group or at a resort, think happy thoughts and enjoy yourself. We will be having our usual New Year's dinner, with a huge dish of Suzanne's Windermere Lasagna which is breath-taking; and that's how I feel for an hour after leaving the table. But please, be careful out there, whether walking or driving. The roads are slippery and I've heard there are squalls occurring in our region. Also, and most important, take a cab home from the party, if you've been drinking. Take it from a former reporter, who saw a great deal of carnage associated with drinking drivers, it's not worth the risk.
Beginning on the 2nd of January, 2015, I will be following through with my planned editorial change for this blog, bringing it closer in focus, to follow the adventures, and often hilarious misadventures, of our family business past and present. In the area of enterprise involving antique and collectable hunting, and of course, the vintage music industry, most often an amazing, action-filled carnival of curious goings-on; which of course overlaps into our "Currie Church Concerts," at St. James Anglican Church in Gravenhurst, which will resume in the early spring. We're still shocked about the success of these events, which began with only a dozen or so patrons in the back of our main street shop.
Here's what a lot of elected officials want to read. I won't be writing about Gravenhurst Town Council, at any time in the New Year, because I can no longer, and in all honesty, and without doubt, objective, and that's not fair to these elected officials, or anyone else affiliated with town hall. For one thing, I have severe objections to the way Council is managing the Gravenhurst Opera House, especially the large scale theatre project they have planned for the coming summer season, taking it further and further away from what the constituents would like to see occur, or hope to benefit from, in the the general use, of the building we fund with our ever-increasing tax burden. In my opinion, and it is shared by many other townsfolk, the town has made a mistake once again, and there's a pretty good chance we will face yet another substantial Opera House operational deficit, to the point, that sometime in the near future, the historic venue, will simply be too expensive to operate, even as additional office space. There is no critical approach being used here at all; just the same old, same old, of building it, hoping someone will come, and then a plethora of excuses, as to why theatres in Canada are drowning in debt. As for mitigating risk? Does the town have a plan "B" if ticket sales for the summer theatre fail? I think it's a huge, and unnecessary risk, but then, when you're spending tax dollars, what the hell; there's more where that came from.
We are facing uncertain economic times in this country, the result of dropping oil prices. The main impact will of course be on those provinces where oil plays a large role in regional economics; but Canada's economy is very much hinged to the wealth of natural resources. We have already seen a shift in the real estate market, with too many properties for sale, and too few buyers. As for the local economy, well, it's chugging along, but nothing spectacular. I do not think it is the appropriate time to have our Opera House dominated by summer theatre; we have a lot of history about summer theatre at its best, and still not being able to put "bums in seats." I was a reporter in the late 1970's and through the 1980's, who reviewed just about everything Muskoka Festival got up to in the way of summer theatre, with by the way, some of Canada's fine professional actors. And despite a pretty substantial budget for advertising, and a savvy publicity department, it still wasn't enough to, in the end, keep Muskoka Festival out of financial trouble. The times haven't changed all that much, from the 1990's, when it was finally put to rest as an Opera House mainstay. A lot can be learned from the failure of professional theatre, in Gravenhurst, but I have a feeling, Town Councillors aren't big on historical precendants, and are walking into this heavy investment without fully knowing the risks to taxpayers. There isn't any excuse for this but they've going to do it regardless of warnings.
The Town shouldn't be in the entertainment business, and I mean that! But one thing about it, councillors will have no choice but to face up to the outcome; whether it means a parade will be thrown in their honor, because of its theatre successes, or they'll be provided the rail to ride on the way out of town, raised to our shoulders. Every elected representative, should demand to know what the risk of financial loss might be, if the project was to fail. And if they are concerned about the potential for such loss, they should most definitely raise the issue to the full council, to get re-assurances, that if the project shows signs of low patron numbers early on, there is a suitable exit strategy, on behalf of taxpayers; and the taxpayers of this province and country, should grants be involved in the project whatsoever. Councillors are in office, to be the stewards of our town resources; not to fritter them away on a lark, that the summer theatre is going to make all the difference, to the economic development of our town. This is what happens when serious critical input is avoided, because it gets in the way of progress, as some see it as best served. The enablers of this project will be held to account, if the theatre initiative becomes an economic failure. As for due diligence, methinks it may become more of an after thought.
It would be interesting to see a published, nitty gritty audit, of just how theatre has fared at the Opera House, in terms of profit or loss, rentals and associated revenue, for the town (ultimately us), over the past two summers. I don't want to see it buried into a general financial statement. I want to see it with specifics, including equipment purchases, so that one might be able to discern the weight of our (taxpayer) investment, as balanced with actual earnings from patron attendance. We know from the first season of theatre as an experiment, attendance was less than stellar. Weak is probably a better description. The financially astute taxpayer, might wonder, if the first season didn't go so well, as far as revenue, then why in the world would the town agree to nearly doubling the plays for this coming season? What is going to change this year from the first year? Has the theatre market changed that drastically in two years? What is the budget, and what is the break even, where the town actually doesn't suffer a loss as a result? If I don't ask these questions, who will? The media? Well, that would be their job to do so, but I'm not expecting they will find it as important as I obviously do.
I have written a great volume of editorial material, for a variety of publications, and for this blog specifically, over the past four years, three intensively so, promoting the Town of Gravenhurst and South Muskoka generally, of which I am particularly proud. I have never written a single word of this, because I was paid to do so, or at the urging of any business group, or the town itself. I have also never objected to any of these groups using material that I have composed, in the way of promotion, and the offer is always on the table, should they wish to borrow editorials to benefit our hometown in any way. But I don't write promotional material about our region, to either win them over to my way of thinking, or to make extra money. I'm not going to stop writing about our hometown, and South Muskoka, and I'm not expecting town councillors will care whatsoever, if I do, or don't, which doesn't bother me at all. After riding the town pretty hard for quite awhile now, I don't expect them to embrace me, or our business, which they certainly haven't thus far, so I'm never truly disappointed by the way my name doesn't come up, without a cuss attached. I don't plan on changing from this supporting role, like it or not, and I have a lot of great plans for the future, writing, and via our mainstreet business, which today is booming; and we sure feel good about it. Of course we're excited about a brand new year, because we had a great old year. We have every reason to be excited about the coming year for a lot of different reasons; and we hope that other retailers feel the same, and had as good a year, as we enjoyed.
If I have one over-shadowing New Year's wish, for our Town Council, it would be that they break away from the safety, comfort and convenience of town hall, where they have their greatest authority, and get out to meet the constituents that were missed during this past November's municipal election, which wasn't the barn-burner it should have been, considering the precarious issues. Councillors should be interested in the "word on the street", not just assume they know how constituents feel, from a passing glance from their automobile, and leave well enough alone. There are a lot of folks like me, feeling pretty disenfranchised from our own home town, as relates to the governance at town hall. Many have simply given up worrying about what councillors are up to, and yes, it does play into their hands. Apathy is never a positive reality, and we have a lot in this town that is never given the scrutiny it warrants. Why do citizens feel this way? What has caused this? I heard have heard stories recently, about people leaving our town, to relocate in other communities, who were saying things like "we can't wait to get out of here," and "there are too many politics at play in this town." If you hear this enough, even fully committed, long term residents, start wondering where all the dissension is generating from. I'd gladly take credit for raising some of it, although by statistical evidence, it wouldn't be because my readership is in the multi thousands. It really bothers me when I hear comments like this, because we take hometown pride seriously in our family. We promote Gravenhurst constantly through our shop, and if you read Tweets, sent out to the world from our customers, you'd appreciate this to be true. We love it when we can brag about our town. So yes it does upset us when we hear negative comments especially from citizens, who are leaving the community. But why would a Gravenhurst Council representative, having been elected fair and square, care how constituents feel about local government. Let them speak to council as a delegation, or have a one on one with the mayor. That ought to do it! Right? What minor percentage of constituents, would believe, that anything they offer as critique of council conduct, would be taken seriously anyway, let alone adopt changes, as a result of critical input, in order to make our government more responsive. Inclusive versus exclusive, for example. Until the next municipal election, I can't imagine any councillor worrying themselves about whether we, the constituents, are pleased with their work on our behalf. They haven't in the past, so expectations are low, they would see any advantage, trying to change anyone's opinion about their political agendas or conduct on their behalf.
Gravenhurst Council is going to have a tough four year term, whether they dismiss my overview or not. The closing of a major resort for renovations after a serious fire, is a big loss for the town's tourism economy, even if it is only for a year of restoration. There's lots more to come, including the potential sale of the former Muskoka Centre, by the cash starve province, and consideration about whether Gravenhurst High School should be amalgamated with Bracebridge and Muskoka Lakes Secondary School, or left to deal with its modest enrollment indefinitely. There are are the hospital woes, and whether there will be one hospital where there are now two (Bracebridge and Huntsville); what's Gravenhurst's position? It would be nice to read or hear about a Gravenhurst Councillor standing up for some of these big issues, and actually going on the record as either being for, or opposed, and prepared to rant a little on our behalf. I have no expectations so I sure as hell won't be disappointed, when status quo one again becomes the operative standard, for the coming term of office. The kind of issues that will face the town in the coming four years will be high profile, and councillors will be divided on issues more than they can imagine, at this gentle, soft, celebratory turning of the years. We are watching closely, to see how these folks stand up to intensive public scrutiny over the long haul. The only advantage they have today, is that there is a gentle media, that is not overly interested in the kind of investigative journalism, we used to have, and be well known for, in this region. As I've noted many times in the past, this is what has led to our own seriously lacking knowledge, of what is really going on at town hall. We have, for a long time, depended on the media to work on our behalf, ferreting out the backroom politics and potential scandals we need to know about. Honestly, this does not serve the community well. In fact, Councillors should be begging the media to take a closer look, at their own administration, because like an exploratory medical examination, transparency reveals what we should all be concerned about, and have resolved, treated or removed entirely. A bright light shining on business affairs, is never a bad thing, yet if you suggest its advantages, as a way investigating council, the instigator would most certainly be considered a heretic, or someone leveling unfounded accusations. Funny how that works.
It isn't my quest to shine such a light on our council, or any council serving this region. I've done that in the past, and it's true, if I was editor of any of the local publications, I would insist on a great investment in investigative reporting, and most intensive, as far as council business is concerned. Taxpayers do want to know what is going on at town hall. Relax, I'm not editor of anything more than this humble blog, and as I have been writing about for some time, I'm changing format as of Friday afternoon (with carry over to Saturday), to write about antique collecting, and about the enterprise of vintage music, as our family is presently immersed. I have lost interest in municipal politics, and the reasons could fill a book. We have had one of the best business years in our combined company histories, and our Church Concerts are getting recognition amongst Indie musicians all across Canada, and the best is yet to come in 2015, as our plans come closer to fruition. Andrew and Robert are looking forward to some big gigs with Grant Tingey and Hired Gun, and of course their friend Johnny Fay, the group's celebrity drummer, from the iconic Canadian rock band, "The Tragically Hip." I love working in the studio of our shop. Every day brings forth a new fascination, and an interesting adventure with our special guests.
I want to take this opportunity to thank all the readers of this blog, who have taken precious time out of their busy days, throughout the years, to read along with the story-teller / antique dealer, municipal critic, and general complainer about governments, to follow some of the small town adventures of the shop-keeps, of upper Muskoka Road here in Gravenhurst. I will hit 260,000 views early in January, gained since I began the daily blogs over three years ago now, and I hope with the copy and theme adjustment in the coming days, I will again be able to successfully compete for your ongoing support. The shift to some will be a minor one, most obvious by the exclusion of council critiques, and newspaper anecdotes from my old days in the publishing industry. The antique and collectable business is much broader and more exciting than I may have led you to believe, in some of the blogs I've published this year on the subject. I'd like to prove that our Gravenhurst enterprise is an adventure filled place, and our own biography in the profession, has given us enormous experience in collecting for fun, profit and investment; but with so many interconnected tall tales, I can guarantee, it won't be musty, dusty or boring. You don't have to love antiques or care about collectables, to get some entertainment mileage out of our stories, as a collecting, adventure-seeking family, that can't get enough to satisfy our appetite. Why not take a trial spin with my revised, revamped and revitalized blog, that will be entitled, simply, bluntly, insanely, "Ted Currie - Antique-Head." Like when I followed the Grateful Dead as a "Dead-Head," and the folk group, "Tanglefoot," and a "Foot-Head." It will also have a lot of history embedded because that's what antiques are all about, when you get past the valuation stuff, and how pretty a harvest table, for example, looks in your dining room. Provenance is a big deal, and I love being able to share stories about former owners of those magnificent harvest tables, pine flat-to-the-wall cupboards, and old clocks we love to talk and write about. It will involve ghosts, because they hitch-hike with antiques; pieces that were adored in life by owners, unwilling to let go in death. If you've heard the line, "enjoy it while you can, because you can't take it with you," well sir, we can tell you differently. If you've seen the movie "Beetlejuice," you will appreciate why the spirits of some deceased, don't know when to let go, especially of their former digs, and possessions.
I'll give you all a little sample in tomorrow's (New Year's Day) blog, so you can dip your toe into the new format and material, to see if it fits your reading interests. See you soon.
Have a safe and Happy New Year everyone!
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