Surprisingly, I love Toronto!!!
November 28, 2007
Well, I’m back. It’s cold as a well-digger’s ass, and the snow is on the ground. Here’s a shocker -- I really like Toronto! What a great city! We met nothing but decent, wonderful people. The Heliconian women were a warm and attentive audience. And they asked penetrating, intelligent questions about the book. For those who haven’t been following, on Thursday, November 22nd, I gave a lecture and small reading, followed by a question period and book signing, in Toronto at the Heliconian Club, in Yorkville. One-hundred and forty people came out on a Grey Cup Celebration night, on a chilly, snowy Toronto night. It was a fabulous night. I was hosted by, introduced by, Sheila Hawks, one of the kindest, most generous people I’ve ever met. Let me tell you….to be introduced as a poet/writer Peter Gzowski would have liked…is, for me, a huge honour…very high praise!!! After the reading, as I was signing books, Cindy-Lou was swarmed by women with questions, interested in her. That made me happy. She deserves attention. I told stories about her input into the book, which was significant.
We were wined and dined by my publisher and his partner Wednesday night. It was a treat to finally meet in person…in a lovely French restaurant, called “Provence,” in Cabbagetown. We did not talk business, which was probably just as well, since there was much wine consumed. And Cindy-Lou and I had snapped open the minibar the second we arrived and poured gin and tonics. We were put up at the Intercontinental on Bloor. I could get used to that kind of service. But I’ll have to sell a lot of books to even come close to becoming “used” to it. So, the service, and the room, which overlooked the Royal Ontario Museum, and the Royal Conservatory of Music, and a glorious Toronto skyline, was simply wonderful. Tried to watch Ocean's Thirteen on the pay-per-view and we both fell asleep. I think I made it ten minutes beyond Cindy-Lou. Either the movie is a stinker, or we were really tired.
Lunch with Hilary, my agent was cool. I handed off the new manuscript and met Mr. Westwood, the president of Westwood Creative Artists. They seemed kind of pumped about the new book. Got a tour of the office. Our lunch discussion was very illuminating. Hilary is a tall, beautiful, blond Amazonian literary agent! I’m so glad she’s on my team.
The Weird part
The Weird Part
The WEIRD PART!!!
We’re wandering north of Queen Street and decide that the Village Idiot Pub looked like a really nice place to stop…welcoming…So in we go. I’m half-way through my Guinness, and I look across the joint and there by the window, is Stu Ross, who performed at the very first ROAR on 124th Street. And he’s sitting with Lynn Crosbie, who we tried to book for the second ROAR festival. Odd, but cool meeting. So, the Louster and I go over there and have a chat. Son of a bitch if they weren’t having a discussion about the sorbets(maybe they were just being nice) that I send out every Friday. Of course, there wasn’t one last Friday because I was at the Village Idiot Pub in Toronto, having a Guinness, across the room from Stu and Lynn. Seven million people in the Toronto area and I run into TWO people who get my sorbets. Even if there were really sitting there talking about how in he hell they can get off the list....My head spun!!! Somebody cue the Twilight Zone music.