So says Bob Nasmith, in this bit from The Toronto Star, regarding The Dream Tower. Life in Rochdale College as performance art 35 years after the fact? I have my doubts, but I'm happy to see any sort of Rochdale spin-off still in play, just because that really was such a strange and emblematic chapter of Trudeau-era Canadian history.
In the meatime, newcomers to Rochdale are advised to seek out Ron Mann's doc by the same title. My own modest (and properly confused) metaphoric summary: if you run Haight Street through Woodstock and Altamont, it will stretch north and end in a cul-de-sac at Rochdale.
...sounds like a missed opportunity for Canada's version of Animal House will finally come to pass. Who's going to be U of T's version of Blutarksy? Any Liberals that are now ex-government officials?
ReplyDeleteIn the Bob Nasmith article you linked to, he mentioned that the Downchild Blues Band started here. Wow! I remember catching them once in a bea up brasserie in Hull, over the river from a friend I was visiting in Ottawa ages ago. A very sloppy but enjoyable show. From their website, it seems they are still breathing and ticking. Amazing.
ReplyDeleteYou must have a WOrd Verification program that senses the age of your commenter. The confirming passwrod was "gszsr". That's pronounced "geezer", right?
"Geezer" - I like that! Among the Rochdale "graduates" is also poet Dennis Lee, which is a bit of jaw-dropper. I recall his "Alligator Pie" being recited with some regularity by Mr. Dress-up and crew - this in the mid-70s, when the heat could still be felt on the welded-shut doors of Rochdale. Try to imagine Fred Rogers reciting one of Alan Ginsberg's tamer bits, and you'll get a picture of what I'm talking about.
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