Vinyl Record Graveyard

While I was out riding my bike in Dain City last Sunday, I came across some smashed up 45rpm records near the offroad paths at the end of Colborne Street. Since it's a bit unusual to see such a thing I pulled out my camera and took pictures of all the ones I could find. After a while of searching I found one that was still in one piece, sticking up out of a small crevice in the ground. I brought it home, cleaned it up, and put it on the turntable. Turned out to be 'Galveston' by Glen Campbell. After transferring it to an MP3 file, I made it the background music for this little slideshow. Enjoy!

*As an endnote, I went back the next day to retrieve the rest of the records. I'm planning to use them for some sort of artistic purpose within the next little while.

Welland's Chernobyl

Not too long ago, a photo of the abandoned John Deere factory in Dain City (I tried to find the post, but couldn't.) Someone commented and referred to the factory complex as 'Welland's Chernobyl' - an accurate description. What was once Dain City's biggest employer is now being slowly reclaimed by nature, even though most of the buildings still stand intact. I've been meaning to get some pictures there for a while now and today seemed like a nice day to do it, so without any further ado, here is the John Deere factory as it looks today:

And yes, the security phone at the front gate is still there:

Social Commentary

(This is a long one, but it does link back to Welland in the end, and I hope it's an interesting read.)

In Trinidad, there is a controversial figure who has been attacking the government, the media, the news, and nearly anything else you can think of for nearly 50 years. He uses the art of music to take shots at anything that strikes his fancy, and he never misses his mark - his songs contain some of the hardest-hitting messages in Caribbean music. His name is Dr. Hollis Liverpool, better known as Chalkdust.

Chalkdust is a calypso singer who specializes in the field of social commentary - songs that reflect on current events in his home country and around the world. Often, this involves criticizing members of the government, or just going after the government as a whole. It makes for a very entertaining type of music, and it incites a lot of controversy.

Controversy never stopped Chalkdust - he just used it as the title for one of his albums, and kept on going. During the early stages of his career, several of his associates (political renegades for the most part) were jailed, but Chalkdust kept singing. In the 1980s, when his type of music was being replaced by faster and less meaningful songs, Chalkdust held his own among the new crop of artists. In the 1990s he recieved a PhD in History and Ethnomusicology from the University of Michigan, and still kept singing. He still performs in Trinidad and the United States to this day.

The name 'Chalkdust' has a double meaning. The simple version is that it was inspired by his job as a schoolteacher in the 1970s. The deeper meaning is that it refers to the nature of actual chalk dust - once you get some on you, it's almost impossible to get it off. In much the same way, once Chalkdust latches on to somebody, he doesn't let go. Nobody knew this better than Eric Williams, former Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, who faced the full wrath of Chalkdust for many years. Chalkie attacked every possible aspect of Williams' life. Even the death of Williams in 1981 did not stop the onslaught.

Yet in spite of his continued lyrical battle with seemingly everyone else in Trinidad, Chalkdust was always well liked. In fact, the people he attacked most often gave him the most respect - Eric Williams counted Chalkie among his close friends. Chalkdust only sang about the negative aspects of his country because of how much he loved his country. It was his way of trying to improve his home, nothing more, nothing less. The people Chalkdust called out in his lyrics never responded harshly, if anything, they were honored to be important enough for him to reference them. The only people who hated him were the ones who were complacent with everything the way it was, and didn't like anyone who suggested changes be made.

So how does all of this come back around to Welland? Well, let's have a second look at the facts about Chalkdust:

• Routinely calls out his government on its recent decisions.
• Never backs down from any kind of opposition.
• Loves the place he calls home and tries to improve it in his own unique way.
• Hated by people who don't like change.

Doesn't this sound like a few people we have here in Welland? It does to me, and there's a good reason for that. Being complacent all the time gets us nowhere. We need to speak out in favor of the things we support, and speak out against the things we don't support. That's the only way to improve the place in which we live. Chalkdust knew that, and that's why he never backed down from his views. Several citizens of Welland know this too, and that's why they do what they do.

Yes, Chalkdust's songs often spoke negatively of the topics at hand. That doesn't make him a 'hater.' If he didn't think Trinidad was great, he would have just left it behind - many other calypsonians did just that during Chalkdust's heyday. Instead, he stuck around and sang about the issues his country faced, so that he would inspire people to make it better. That's exactly what's going on here in Welland, and yet the people doing it here get blasted for being too cynical, time and time again.

So the next time you see someone speak out against something they don't like in this city, don't just dismiss them straight away. Give them some respect instead - maybe, just maybe, they're doing it because they want Welland to improve. 

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Recommended Chalkdust songs to go along with this post:

Ah Fraid Karl (19??)

The Message of '70 (1970)

Seawater and Sand (1986)

What the Hell You Want (1987)

Qualifications of a Politician (1988)

The lowest of the low

There's been a shocking update in the ongoing story of Jed, the three-year-old boy accidentally run over by a lawnmower in Pelham. It's not about his condition - the boy remains in critical condition at SickKids in Toronto. It's about something nobody could have expected: some criminal lowlife took advantage of this tragic situation to rob the family home.

According to the Niagara Regional Police, two ATVs were stolen from the home on Saturday night, while Jed's family were at the hospital. The incident is currently under investigation and no other information has been released as of yet.

I suppose there really is no such thing as honour among thieves, and this is proof. What kind of person could look at a situation that left a toddler clinging to life in hospital, and wonder how they could take advantage of it for their own gain? I can think of many names to call such a person, but I won't write them here. Suffice to say, this guy/gal is low enough to win a limbo contest at the Thorold Jail once they're caught.

Anyone who would like to help Jed can contribute to this GoFundMe page.

Nothing for kids to do in Welland?

My recent post on the giant TV screen at city hall has earned me over 2,000 views in just over 24 hours, which is far more than I was expecting. It has also earned me a huge number of comments on Facebook. Most people seemed to agree with me, but a few have apparently branded me as being against the city council and against Welland in general - a hater, as James Takeo might say. They think I am one of those people constantly complaining about how bad this city is, how horrible the people here are, and especially how there's nothing for kids to do here.

I would like to state, for the record, that I love Welland. I think it is a great city, and I'm proud to live here. That's just my opinion, of course, and if you disagree with it then you're not wrong.

But it is definitely wrong to say there's nothing for kids to do in Welland, and just to prove it, here's a picture of an event for kids in Welland that happened today:

That's the Quaker Road Sports Complex, where the Victoria Day GlowFest attracted countless children, teens, and parents looking for a few hours of fun. The event was run by the Welland Mayor's Youth Advisory Council, with attractions provided by Niagara Inflatables, Youngs Sportsplex, and the MYAC themselves. The 3-hour event was completely free and a good time was had by all.

A game of Bubble Soccer, provided by Youngs Sportsplex, was a big attraction for kids of all ages. Over the course of the event, a huge number of people used the bubbles, and the game continued until the fireworks began.

This disco-themed bouncy castle also attracted a crowd. Just out of frame is the laser tag zone, which I didn't snap a picture of. It, too, was a success.

As an added bonus, Deadpool himself showed up to provide some live entertainment, making his way through the crowd throughout the event to interact with people.

Finally, here's a shot of a local journalist (regrettably, I didn't catch his name) speaking to Deadpool and some of his young fans.

So in conclusion? Say whatever you want to say about Welland. Say you want to move out as soon as possible. Say it's the armpit of Niagara. Say it should be placed just below Gary, Indiana on the list of 'Worst Places To Live,' if you want to. But please don't say there's nothing for kids to do here. Cause that just ain't true.

$100,000 for a television, and $0 for Wellanders

As you probably already know, Welland's city council recently approved the purchase of a $100,000 TV screen to be mounted on the outside of our city hall. According to the Tribune, members of the council enthusiastically supported the idea, with one saying that it would make East Main Street 'a cool place to be.'

This is roughly akin to saying that you are going to make Port Colborne's East Village into a cultural hotspot. But in all seriousness, what exactly will Welland get out of this?

According to the Tribune article, the giant screen will be used "to promote city events, as well as display paid advertisements from local businesses and organizations" - which sounds nice, but only because it's been slightly spruced up to sound more appealing to the public. The more accurate version is that 50% of the airtime goes to Welland Hydro, who paid for 50% of the cost of the screen; while the other 50% will be given to the city to be used as they see fit. The city will then sell blocks of advertising to other businesses at their discretion.

To whom will that other 50% be sold? The focus almost certainly won't be on true local businesses, as in independent ones founded by local people. It'll be sold to whoever gets the city closest to earning their $50,000 back as soon as possible. We won't be seeing ad space given to the Black Sheep Cafe, the new CaribAfrica Specialty Store, or even the venerable Rex Hotel. Instead, my money's on McDonald's, Wal-Mart, and the like - companies that may operate locally, but are hardly 'local businesses' by most people's definition. (If the city proves me wrong on this one, I'll be very pleased.)

But even if the ad space DID go to small businesses, what difference would it make to most of us? The bottom line is that Welland just spent $100,000 - which according to our 2015 city profile is nearly three times what the average Wellander earns in a year - on a glorified billboard. Yes, in a world where we regularly pay just to avoid seeing advertisements, all 42,000 of Welland's taxpayers just paid $2.30 apiece to be inundated with promotions every time they drive by city hall. It's expensive, unnecessary, and if the comments from Tribune readers are anything to go by, it's unwanted. How many Wellanders would vote 'Yes' to such a thing, and voluntarily hand over $2.30 to support it, if they were surveyed right now?

Since this is written from a youth perspective, I'll end with one final point. Just over three months ago, the City of Welland announced that $413,333 in funding they had allotted for the construction of a new skatepark was being withdrawn. Why? Because the Federal government cancelled a $216,667 grant for the same purpose. $100,000 could have gotten us much closer to the goal - we could finally catch up to Port Colborne, Dunnville, and nearly every other town in our vicinity by having a nice recreational area for our teens. Instead, we now have a billboard expensive enough to make the Sunshine List.

That's $100,000 for a television, and $0 for the people of Welland. But hey, as long as Welland Hydro gets to advertise... whatever a hydro company needs to advertise, then it's fine, right?