Best place to get your laptop fixed

8:23 am

Laptop Centre, located west of Allen Road on Eglinton Avenue, isn’t in the most picturesque part of town. But, if you’ve managed to smash your IBM ThinkPad or discovered your MacBook’s keyboard is dead, aesthetics is probably low on your list of concerns.

If your laptop’s in need of a fix, Laptop Centre can take care of it.

Plenty of stores in Toronto fix computers and other easily breakable gadgets. But Laptop Centre is one of the few to specialize in fixing and selling laptops.

Their website is polished, too, and they offer online shopping for their accessories.

It’s also one of the very few to spell out services and costs (along with giving possible reasons for your notebook’s woes) right on its website.

And, if your laptop turns out to be past all hope, they have a wide selection of new and used notebooks for you to peruse.

1485 Eglinton Avenue West

416-256-7600

Low-cost eatery high on fun and flavour

4:40 pm

THE MANTRA OF this market-style eatery north of Steeles on Yonge is “fresh and healthy Middle Eastern cuisine.”

To that tag line they should add “fabulous” as everything sampled here is deserving of a revisit.

Much effort and investment has gone into the spacious room and furnishings (the restaurant’s logo is carved out of the metal backs of all 128 chairs), although the decor is by no means pretentious. Rather, it’s quite a casual, almost-cafeteria-style space, with food stations for ordering and numbered tables for easy delivery.

Capable and genuinely friendly servers give the experience an easy, jovial feel.

Tabbouleh ($4.99), made mere moments before, is fresh, fragrant and full of flavour.

Paramount’s version of hummus ($4.99) sticks to the classic. A pretty sprinkling of paprika seasoning blankets the very creamy chickpea spread, with whole chickpeas, olive oil drizzle and chopped parsley garnish.

Two freshly baked, inflated pita breads (as big as birthday balloons!) hiss and steam en route from wood oven to table.

Made-to-order manakeesh, the Middle Eastern version of pizza, makes a popular choice for big appetites on a budget. The price point ranges from $2 to $4, although any of 14 selections could serve as lunch or a light meal.

The tomato, onion and zaatar topping retains moisture without soaking the crust (hooray!). Alas a dash or two more of salt would have balanced better with the onion.

Crisp baked pita pieces add carbohydrate crunch to fattoush ($4.99), a Levantine salad of romaine lettuce, chopped bell peppers and diced tomatoes — tossed in a dressing of white vinegar, lemon juice and sumac. The pleasure continues into meatier plates from the Halal kitchen.

Red-checkered paper wraps chicken shawarma grilled sandwich ($4.99) — a triumph.

Exceptionally moist and flavourful meat morsels share space with dill pickle slice and romaine in the tightly wrapped pita.

Mixed grill plate ($15.99) brings a pair of lamb kebabs lying pretty beside a duo of immaculately grilled kafta skewers.

The lamb is cooked to well done, but the meat’s balanced seasoning and tenderness appease. Plenty of clove, cinnamon, parsley and onion contribute complexity to the kafta’s ground beefy goodness.

Paramount also serves as a sweet tooth’s heaven, with thousands of baklava and other pastry treats (not an exaggeration) on display in glass cases around the room.

One entire area is dedicated to baklava, baked in various shapes and forms. All six sampled sated.

This is Paramount’s second location to open in York Region with a third on the way.

Third Midtown project for plucky restaurateur

4:27 pm

THIS TINY EATERY strives to snag the rotisserie and rib market north of Yonge and Lawrence.

The third project by owner Tony Xavier, who also runs Hazel’s Diner and Chega just doors away, Antonio’s offers locals an extremely limited space (just four stools) in which to chow down on inexpensive meaty main takeouts.

The fare here suits timestrapped families looking for a fast and filling alternative to home cooking and local midday workers craving something a little different from the usual pub grub and box lunches.

Terra cotta walls hung with nondescript prints stand in as decor. The warmth of wood in the space is neutralized by the stainless steel kitchen equipment that dominates the rest of the room.

There’s a brightness to the space, owing to well-placed light fixtures and a large storefront window facing west.

No surprises on the wallmounted chalkboard menu.

Various-sized appetites and groups pick their portion preference of rotisserie chicken (whole $12, as a half $8, or as a quarter — white meat $5 and dark $4) and ribs (whole $15, half $9).

But there are other options too: buttermilk-battered chicken wings, say, or pulled pork in a ciabatta panini sandwich or grilled fillet of salmon. Hot and cold side dishes aim to make a meal out of meat with the likes of Caesar salad, coleslaw, macaroni salad, penne in tomato sauce, and asparagus, couscous and butternut squash salad.

Can’t decide? Four combinations make it easy. For example, combo #3 brings together a full rack of ribs, a half chicken, one pound of wings, a large Caesar salad and a large serving of French fries for $39.

The quarter-chicken special ($6.95) offers patrons the most economical option. Spicy roasted Parisienne potatoes and a sizable portion of fresh and flavourful crisp green beans, baby broccoli, crunchy cauliflower florets and sweet carrot coins accompany the lightly seasoned rotisserie chicken.

Although the fowl is juicy and generous, it is slightly undercooked, and the skin lacks sufficient caramelization — a bit sinful for this specialty shop. Freshness also features in a salad of cucumber, onion and tomato ($4), chopped and diced just before plating and tossed in a very basic vinaigrette.

A mountain of thinly cut fries ($3) plays pedestal to a half rack of ribs. Practiced deep-frying renders the spuds delectably crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, but oversalting lessens the pleasure. Meat falls easily from the ribs — very tender indeed.

However, wouldn’t the savoury sauce have made more of an impression if brushed on before the ribs had finished cooking? In temperature, definitely. In taste, most certainly.

A help-yourself cooler keeps cans and bottles of water, pop and Fruitopia chilled.

After we perched on our stools, the pleasant and keen owner-cumcashier stepped out to mail a letter and was replaced by, well, no one — for at least 45 minutes of our visit. A kitchen worker came to the front of shop, when customers came in to place an order, but mostly we gossiped and giggled alone.

Toronto comedy troupe’s legend grows with daring new series

4:18 pm

COMEDY FANS WERE in rapt anticipation of the new Kids in the Hall miniseries, premiering early last month on CBC.

I went to the advance screening of episode one at the Rivoli — a packed to the rafters event introduced by Mayor David Miller, who must be an enormous fan since he wasn’t there to troll for votes.

It was hard to see the screen for the crowds, but I liked enough of what I saw to follow the series.

The Kids in the Hall had done a number of tours over the last few years, which I thought were very successful with their maturity adding to the material.

All had shone in individual careers since they disbanded in the mid-’90s, but it’s been a long time since they had collectively jolted the comedy world with their groundbreaking work.

Their new series, Death Comes to Town, takes place in the fictional town of Shuckton, which could be any town north of Barrie. Death, played by Mark McKinney, rides into town on a low rider chopper with a scythe and a PDA shaped like a skeleton’s hand.

His first victim is the corrupt and sleazy mayor of Shuckton, played by Bruce McCullough. When he dies, Death collects his soul, a fine white powder, and snorts it.

Of course the town has to believe that the mayor was the victim of foul play, and a murder mystery ensues. The Kids play most of the parts. I stopped trying to count how many parts each one plays; it must be dozens.

Many of the roles they play are women. Those who loved the drag aspects of the original TV series won’t be disappointed. The Kids never met a wig they didn’t like.

Dave Foley plays the mayor’s ambitious wife and is so convincing in drag that I had to look twice to be convinced it was a genuine Kid. Kevin MacDonald fans will not be disappointed by his portrayal of a public defender obsessed with his dying cat.

The brain dead animatronic pet will upset animal lovers, so beware.

Scott Thompson, who was battling cancer at the time of production (and who tells me he’s now in total remission), used his baldness to play the mayor’s gay lover who steals the corpse and lives with him as if he’s still alive.

The character is a masterpiece of comic timing, as Thompson’s monologues become more and more absurd, chatting with his dead “friend.”

Equally moving and absurd is Bruce McCullough’s portrayal of Ricky, an obese man confined to his house, who becomes obsessed with the case, and tries to solve it à la Rear Window. McCullough brings a fine subtext of humanity to Ricky, which he’s done with other characters, but never as evolved as this.

The show is obsessed with death, sex and venality but in a creative and surreal way. The scenes are fast and layered quickly to keep the pace moving. Not every gag works, but there are so many that a fresh one is just around the corner.

If you missed the air dates of the show, never fear, it is sure to be released on DVD later this season. I think it might be a fitting way to enjoy this creation by one of Canada’s most enduring comedy troupes: making an evening of it.

No sophomore jinx for T.O. playwright

4:15 pm

HUSH,THE LATEST PLAY from Rosa Laborde, the talented creator of the widely praised Leo of four years ago, had its world premiere at the Tarragon Theatre on Feb. 9 with the production running until March 21.

We Torontonians have been blessed with some very impressive young artists recently. Hannah Moscovitch (creator of the powerful and beautifully written East of Berlin) comes to mind, and I nodded my head with pleasure when Laborde told me that she had been “developing a couple of series for TV” with Moscovitch recently and that the two are best of friends.

Leo was nominated for Outstanding New Play at the Dora Mavor Moore Awards and for a Governor General’s Literary Award as well, so Laborde’s gifts have already been recognized.Now one can safely add Hush to her growing fame. Her new, 80-minute, one-act play avoids any talk of a “sophomore slump.”

Critics should always inform their readers if the play they are reviewing was seen in one of its previews — as is the case here — especially if it is a world premiere.

But imagine this critic’s horror when he was approached by the young playwright outside the Tarragon’s Extra Space following the last preview of Hush.

“I saw you making notes,” she said. “But I’m still making changes.”We agreed to talk by phone the next day, so Ms. Laborde seemed relieved, as was I. She admitted to me that “the changes are minimal, more tonal.” On with the review.

I once read a study of George Bernard Shaw that joyfully noted that “only G.B.S. could write a play starring a main character who is a dentist.”

Hush stars two of them, both roles wonderfully acted by veteran actors Graeme Somerville and Conrad Coates alongside Tara Rosling and almost-newcomer Vivien Endicott-Douglas as the “almost 13-year-old” daughter of Harlem (Somerville).

Most plays suffer from any attempt to capture their plot in a few words.

(Imagine a blurb on King Lear: “a ruler has tensions with his three daughters.”). Hush would be similarly diminished: “a young girl suffers from nightmares, driving her father to near despair” does not begin to capture the beauty of this new play, the gorgeous all-black set with its shockingly white silk sheet playing everything from bed cover to newborn baby, and the four perfect, memorable performances.

Like all fine works of art, Hush is far more than the sum of its parts. It portrays the agony of pubescence in brilliant fashion, the rational and scientific versus the passionate and emotional, mother-daughter and parent-child relationships.

The play is filled with wit, horrifying moments, inspired time shifts and real surprises.

Richard Rose, artistic director of the Tarragon, so triumphant in his recent work on Michael Healey’s excellent Courageous, has rarely been better, and Laborde is a young Canadian to continue to watch with excitement. I recommend this highly.

Toronto’s quiet riot paints a moving musical portrait of the country

4:12 pm

ORDERING A HOT toddy to take the chill off a blustery winter afternoon, Tony Dekker, of Great Lake Swimmers, settles into the leather banquette at the Inter Steer restaurant in his Roncesvalles neighbourhood.

He calls the area home but has spent scant time here in the last year. Such is the hectic touring life of Canada’s quietest rock star.

Since releasing their stunning fourth album, Lost Channels, in early 2009, Dekker and crew have toured and toured some more with major forays in Europe and China in support of the band’s most ambitious release to date.

The record, nominated by music critics across the country for the 2009 Polaris Music Prize, has a fuller sound than previous efforts with contributions from a more stable musical collective adding texture and depth to Dekker’s poignant, rich lyrics and haunting vocals.

Dekker and company recorded a stripped down version of the album at a local legion hall. The Legion Sessions has since taken on a life of its own online, and a new album chronicling the intimate event should be available next month.

“It is this classic old legion with lots of wood, trophies, photos of old prime ministers and the Queen, Christmas lights, streamers from whatever last event was held there and this little bar in the basement,”Dekker explains.“It is just this iconic Canadian place.”

Place: a word that goes far in defining Dekker’s songwriting, as well as his recording preferences and his philosophical approach to life.

Great Lake Swimmers make a habit of recording in unique locations — an abandoned grain silo for the first album, an old church, Ward’s Island for their third album, Ongiara.

For Lost Channels, Dekker and company recorded in several locations throughout The 1000 Islands, including the well-documented session in Singer Castle.

It is a search for the perfect acoustics, but for Dekker there is more to it. The location is like a new band member recruited for a particular album.

“There is something intangible,” says Dekker. “The feel of a place, a charge or an energy. It becomes an important part of the recording process.The rooms become almost like a background colour to a painter or another layer of sound on a recording.”

Growing up on a farm in the Niagara region near Wainfleet, Ont., Dekker was infused with a sense of place early in life.

“Coming from a rural community, especially a farm, you develop a special relationship with, say, weather patterns and seasonal changes, and that becomes important to you,” Dekker explains. “I was really infused with that at a young age, and that gave me some sort of perspective on these things that really matter to me now, maybe even on a different level.”

Moving to the city of London to attend university, Dekker was able to find his musical voice as a solo artist and a member of the band Two Minute Miracles in relative anonymity, but playing his style of music, solo, in a bar had its own challenges.

“I must have played every dive in Canada.” Dekker laughs. “It was a trial by fire for sure, just plugging in and playing is not an easy thing to do.”

According to Dekker, the difficulties of being heard above the din of a bar was partly the reason Dekker formed a band.

“It was easier to make a statement with a band,” he says.

For many years, that band consisted of a rotating cast of musicians that accompanied Dekker in the studio or on tour.

But, over the last couple years, the group has solidified, and as a result, the music has grown. “I think we’re in a really good place creatively now,” says Dekker, just days before leaving to play the Vancouver Olympics. “As a band, as a ‘thing,’we are really hitting our stride.”

Great Lake Swimmers play the Royal York Hotel on M a r c h 13.

Thrifty is the new extravagant

4:08 pm

WHEN MARGARET ATWOOD proudly plunked down a massive binder chronicling her mother’s 30 years of expenditures down to the last penny, Marjorie Harris knew that she was with a kindred spirit.

And when Canada’s most acclaimed author declared that Harris should write a book on the subject of thriftiness, she listened. Thrifty is now on the shelves, published by House of Anansi in Toronto.

“She felt I should write it, so naturally I paid attention,” says Harris, on the phone from her condo in a small town in Southern California. (Yes, she got a deal.) “The deadline was short, eight months, so it was pretty hard to do.”

Thrifty is a frugal living handbook and covers everything from travel and gardening to food and fashion. In addition, it has a smattering of memoir, from Harris’s life on a budget, as well as guest appearances from famous and not-so-famous frugal-istas such as actor R. H.Thomson, and Sheree-Lee Olson from the Globe and Mail. According to Harris, once the book was begun, thrifty Torontonians came out of the woodwork. “The number of people who live like this actually astounded me,” says Harris. “And young people, too. They are a lot smarter than you think with money.”

Harris makes it a point of pride to chronicle the number of chairs and cabinets bought for a bargain or found street side. She loves Value Village but says second-hand clothes shopping is akin to an art, and shouldn’t be approached willy-nilly. And for goodness sake, cook a good meal and use your leftovers! But, if readers take one thing from her book, Harris hopes it is a bit of financial literacy. Something the boomer generation is sorely lacking, she says.

“I just couldn’t believe how numb, not just dumb, middle-aged people were,” Harris explains, “A: They didn’t see it coming. B: They couldn’t figure out how to adjust quickly. I’m not saying I know everything, but I know about losing a job and having to skate pretty quickly.”

Harris is a freelance writer who has published numerous gardening books and had a long stint as an editor at Gardening Life magazine before it closed up shop during the recent economic downturn. A humbling and scary experience, says Harris.

“It was devastating,” she explains. “I thought I’d never go out in public again, let alone figure out how I’d earn a living. It’s taken a year to haul myself out of that pit.”

First step in the quest for thrift? “Absolutely know where every cent of money is that you have,” says Harris. “Have a budget. I don’t know why this scares people so much.”

Your backstage pass to T.O.'s hottest shows

12:33 am

RAINE MAIDA

OUR LADY PEACE, MAR 12

You and wife Chantal Kreviazuk are living in L.A. these days. What’s the first thing you’ll do when you get back to T.O.?

I’m back and forth constantly. First thing we usually do is hit up an Italian restaurant. Terroni or Biaggio does the trick.

Might there be a Chantal Kreviazuk cameo at your Massey Hall show?

Anything is possible. I definitely want my boys to see this tour.

What’s your most cherished piece of memorabilia from Our Lady Peace tours past?

We have most of our old backdrops hung up in our rehearsal space. They do a great job of helping remind us of the work we’ve done over the years.

MARK HOLMES

PLATINUM BLONDE, MAR. 10

Platinum Blonde is being inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame at CMW. How does it feel?

A bit strange at first. I thought they may have made a mistake. You see, we were never really in the industry’s good books.… This just goes to show that if you wait long enough you will be loved.

More importantly, how does it feel to have inspired a hairdo phenomenon back in the ’80s?

Embarrassing! Not as bad as the piano tie though.

JOEL PLASKETT

THRUSH HERMIT, MAR. 13

You’re part of the CMW Songwriters Café at CMW. Who’s your muse?

My wife, Rebecca, and the lines that run across this country.

What was your very first song about?

It was called “The You You Song.” Some confused teenage rambling with lines like “I don’t know what blinded me, maybe it was my hair.”

What’s the most shocking thing that’s ever happened to you in Toronto?

When I put ketchup on a hot dog at Spadina and Queen and it turned out to be hot sauce.

AMY COLE

RURAL ALBERTA ADVANTAGE, MAR. 13

What’s the most unexpected thing to happen during a show?

The other night in Calgary, someone actually threw underwear at me onstage. Green men’s briefs. They landed right on my glockenspiel.

How did you spend the Olympics?

We got to play as part of the Cultural Olympiad in Vancouver.… We felt really honoured. Other than that, we watched the Olympic coverage and cried.… Alexandre Bilodeau and his brother? Come on! I was a mess.

JASON COLLETT

@ LEE’S PALACE, MAR. 10

If you could master any new instrument, what would it be?

I’m still trying to figure out how to play guitar. I’ve bluffed my way this far. I figure I shouldn’t push my luck.

If Slash (in town Mar. 11) asks you to show him around town, what will be your first stop?

The Henhouse [1532 Dundas St. W.], surely he’d feel right at home.

You’re touring 17 cities in one month. Why the punishment?

No punishment, it’s the best job in the world. Any ponce who bitches about it should try sanding drywall.

Don't miss this vintage shop on Ossington

12:09 am

Ossington Street is lined with fantastic vintage stores but I Miss You is the best of the best.

Filled with high-end designer brands, it is easy to find a special piece in this eclectic boutique.

Every time I walk into this boutique my eye gets caught by the fantastic Pucci pieces hanging at the front. It then goes straight to the designer handbags and selection of Hermes scarves. There is always a good selection of these amazing accessories that owner Julie Yoo sources mostly from estate sales.

At 5’8”, I tend to stick only to accessories when I’m looking for vintage pieces for myself, as I find women from years past were smaller than me. Julie does an amazing job sourcing vintage pieces in sizes that fit my frame. I love looking through brightly coloured sweaters at the front, and working my way to the cocktail dresses at the back.

There are so many fantastic pieces in this store – I would highly recommend it for one-of-a-kind vintage cocktail dresses and accessories!

I Miss You, 63 Ossington Avenue, 416.916.7021

Always on the lookout for Toronto’s best boutiques!

Wendy

As a personal style coach with THE REFINERY, Wendy Woods translates the world of fashion into a personal style that makes her clients shine, while introducing them to Toronto’s unique boutiques.

By Divine Right

4:43 am

THE BIGGEST underground rock band from Toronto actually has its roots in Thornhill. By Divine Right, the 20- year-old juggernaut that launched members of Toronto super-collective Broken Social Scene, including Grammy sweetheart Leslie Feist, actually got its start when all four members of the original group were students at Thornlea Secondary School in Thornhill.

Jose Miguel Contreras, the group’s founder,is now 40 and a father and finds as much inspiration in producing new bands as he does recording his own intricate brand of psychedelic rock ’n’roll pop. However, in support of the worldwide release of Mutant Message, the band’s addictive sixth record, Contreras has a new version of By Divine Right back on the road.

“We’ve been out for a couple of weeks, and everything is going pretty awesome,” says Contreras, reached on the phone as he navigates the group’s van through a snowy patch of rural Quebec. “By Divine Right is certainly the weirdest band I’ve ever been in, and believe me, that’s saying a lot.”

By Divine Right is rock royalty firmly anchored in Thornhill.Not only were all of the band’s original members from the same forested neighbourhood, but they cut their teeth playing shows that were put on by other ambitious local kids.

“I remember Jose when we were both in high school. I remember him getting up and doing a version of ‘Taxman’ that would rival the Beatles,” says Jian Ghomeshi, another Thornlea graduate and host of the popular CBC show Q.

Ghomeshi was best known as the leader of Moxy Früvous when By Divine Right was beginning to explode. “I think he’s the real deal as an artist.He’s never really appeared to be doing music for the trappings of material success, girls (or boys) or commerce. He immerses himself in his art.”

According to Contreras, there’s no separating that art from where he’s from.He says his environment still bears the result of old hockey fights.“My teeth are probably still floating in the bottom of Thornhill Pond,” Contreras says with a laugh, taking great pains to stress the fact that he never felt like he had to move down to Toronto to make it. Musically, he could get everything he wanted at home in Thornhill.

“I grew up with a sense of wanting to discover the world. I loved my house on Henderson, right across from the forest. It gave me the space to experiment,”says Contreras, whose group has been an influence on everyone from Nelly Furtado to Arcade Fire to Jully Black to Kings of Leon. “I think maybe that’s what the suburbs are for.”

For Contreras, whose parents moved to Thornhill from Chile when he was only a boy, his childhood was spent playing hockey, learning the guitar and listening to music by Neil Young and Pink Floyd. At the time,Thornlea had a reputation as being “Rock High,” and Contreras not only went to school with Hayden and Jian Ghomeshi, but also members of groups like Prozzäk and the Philosopher Kings, who were popular at the time.

“I always remember Jose’s passion. From his teens in our high school days, he was kinetically and emotionally involved in the music he was playing,” says Ghomeshi,who used to host a night at their high school called Swe, which provided Contreras with his first stage. “He would close his eyes and disappear into the song he was playing. And he was already playing some good guitar leads when he was in his teens.”

Those good guitar leads have only grown and blossomed through early albums like All Hail Discordia and Good Morning Beautiful. With Mutant Message, the mixture seems only to have ripened with age. A potent blend of rock, pop, ’60s-era psychedelia and the work of ex-bandmates Feist and Broken Social Scene,the album’s ten tracks seem like a perfect antidote to the waning winter days of March.

“I knew certain songs would be short and sweet and have some pretty bits in there, but I wanted to make sure the album also had that good experimental edge,” says Contreras, whose wife, Lily Frost, a respected singer-songwriter from Oakville, not only appears on the record, but also inspired “I Love a Girl,” the record’s unforgettable opening song. “I love my wife like crazy,and it was easy to focus on her. But even though the song itself isn’t necessarily about her, it …I don’t know, it’s just a pop song, but it provided a certain vibe.”

If there’s an discernable vibe to By Divine Right, it would be a feeling of inclusiveness. Although Broken Social Scene’s Brendan Canning has said that the group went through their “Fleetwood Mac phase”— referring to various makeups and breakups within the band — there’s a sense of harmony beneath even their hardest guitar discordance.

Perhaps it’s that optimism that catapulted them to the head of the pack of a burgeoning Toronto indie rock scene that included acts like Sloan, I Mother Earth and Len and saw them open stadium shows for the Tragically Hip.

Michael Milosh, the group’s newest member, was a student at Thornlea when By Divine Right was first becoming rock stars.

“We’d hear the names all over school: ‘Oh look, there’s whoever’s picture is in the yearbook.’ I had just moved to Thornhill from Whitby and definitely loved the rock vibe,”says Milosh,who,at 20, is a full two decades younger than Contreras but says nevertheless he’s inspired by the leader of his new band.

For his part,Contreras seems proud of the two decades he’s spent writing experimental love songs and introducing some of Canada’s biggest talents to the world. He produced much of his wife’s new record (it’s called Viridian Torch and due out mid-April) at their new home in the Scarborough Bluffs, and he says he’s pleased — but not surprised — by the success of his talented former bandmates.

“I’m obviously proud of Leslie [Feist], but I wasn’t totally in shock because I figure these things can happen,” Contreras says. “Everything she’s doing now, she was already doing back then. It just takes a moment sometimes for everything to fall into place.”

Jose Contreras started out as a teenager putting together a rock band in Thornhill and then spent almost 20 years on the road making music.

By Divine Right will go down in the annals of Canadian rock history, no less important to their scene than groups such as Rush, the Guess Who or Neil Young were to their own. Of course, you’d never hear Contreras make some kind of wild statement like that. As much as he’ll say of his legacy is just that he’s proud to be part of a continuum.

“If anything, I’m just a link in a chain and that’s it,” he says as he pulls his van up to the group’s show for the night.

“Some links may be unknown,and some links may be famous, but we’re all just links in that chain.”

March is the month to ditch the Merlot

4:11 am

YOU MAY HAVE heard of the ABC movement, or “Anything but Chardonnay.” This was a south-ofthe- border phenomenon created by an exasperated wine writer who was suffering from palate fatigue. He had had it up to the saliva glands with overoaked Chardonnays that tasted like sweet butter.

I can empathize because these wines not only overpower the food you serve them with (unless it’s tartare of dinosaur) but they also anaesthetize the palate with their high alcohol.

But is there, I wondered in an idle moment, a corresponding club for red wines, for those who can no longer stomach the fruit bombs coming out of New World wineries? Let’s call them WMIs — Wines of Mass Indigestion.

Remember Miles in the movie Sideways, exploding outside the Hitching Post restaurant in Santa Barbara: “If anyone orders Merlot, I’m leaving.I am NOT drinking any f—ing Merlot!” This one line had an immediate and disastrous effect on the sales of Merlot wines and a corresponding upthrust for Pinot Noir,which Miles eulogized.Maybe consumers were just waiting for an excuse not to buy Merlot — a variety that had become the Flavour of the Month.

What if this concept actually caught on and wine drinkers began turning their backs on those red varieties they had habitually bought? What if they wanted to give thumbs down to Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Shiraz (a.k.a Syrah) and Pinot Noir? And for good measure Zinfandel, Sangiovese, Nebbiolo and Tempranillo into the bargain.

The good news is that you would not have to give up drinking red wine altogether because there are a goodly number of red wines that are produced around the world from grapes you may not be familiar with.

Here are six to get you started.

Aglianico: (pronounced “ah- LYAH-nee-koe”) mainly grown in Italy’s Campania and Basilicata regions. It was the Screaming Eagle of its day in Roman times. Example: Mastroberadino Aglianico 2006 ($19.95).

Agiorgitiko: a.k.a. St-George, grown in the Greek region of Nemea, makes a fruity, full-bodied wine. Example: Estate Papioannou Single Vineyard Agriorgitiko 2005 ($18.95).

Baga: Portugal’s most widely planted grape. The name means ‘berry’ in Portuguese, producing tannic, acidic reds that can age well. Example: Quinta do Ribeirinho Baga Pé Franco 2003 ($159).

Blaufrankisch: The most widely planted black grape of Austria (the Germans call it Limberger). Produces gutsy Beaujolais-style reds. Example: Teleki Villányi Kékfrankos 2007 ($14.95).

Castelão: a southern Portuguese variety, a.k.a. Periquita, producing fruity, fleshy reds that can age. Example: Catapereiro Vinho Tinto 2006 ($14.95).

Dornfelder: A German crossing of two unpronounceable varieties that is deeply coloured, producing dark, ageable reds. The second most popular black grape in Germany after Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir). Example: Black Tower Dornfelder Pinot Noir ($10.95).

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Morellino di Scansano: A local name for Sangiovese along the Tuscan coast. The wines have a dry cherry flavour and are generally less costly than Chianti Classico. Example: Fattoria di Barbi Morellino di Scansano 2006 (Vintages # 720177, $17.95)

Mourvèdre: a grape of the southern Rhône, usually blended with Grenache and Syrah. A.k.a. Mataro in Australia and Monastrell in Spain. Produces high alcohol, flavourful wines. Example: Bodegas Castãno Hécula Monastrell 2005 (Vintages # 718999, $13.95)

Nero d’Avola: Sicily’s best red wine grape producing rich, dense red wines. Example: Ajello Majus Nero d’Avola 2006 (Vintages # 100545, $14.05)

Caesar the day!

4:07 am

In the spirit of the ides of March, let’s have fun with various ways to present the Caesar salad — a favourite at the family table. Traditional Caesar salads are generally high in calories and fat. Here are some light variations on this traditional mainstay that are a breeze to prepare.

Sautéed Oyster Mushroom Caesar Salad

Goat Cheese Rounds over Caesar Greens

Warm Caesar Pasta Salad

Post City Magazines’ culinary columnist, Rose Reisman, is author of 17 cookbooks, a TV and radio personality and a health and wellness expert. Visit Rose at www.rosereisman.com.

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