The day began with a delightful interview a la Dana Morningstar. Dana is the chair of media arts at Fanshaw college and a Londoner through and through. She told us tales about that market parrot swearing at her when she was a kid at the market, and stopping off at The Bay downtown on way to work to get a squirt of perfume in the early days of her career. After the interview, Dana treated us to a tour of the INCREDIBLE Fanshawe College media facilities. Wow. Those students are spoiled, as they should be. And very lucky to have what they need to get their waves flowing and their bytes dining. Things have changed a bit since Charles graduated from their Music Industry Arts Program, but the tour still led him on a sound scape down memory lane (just go with the metaphors people – I’m trying to keep it interesting…)
The afternoon took us to an interview with the fascinating memory making machine Jack DiCarlo at Michael’s on the Thames. Oh Jack – he is retiring this coming Tuesday after almost 40 years serving up silver service tableside a la flambée here in London Ontario. His heart bursts with passion and his dedication to his patrons is beyond measure. He reminds me of my “nonno” (Italian grandpa) and I feel that somehow I know him. I think Jack just has that effect on people – he makes everyone feel welcome and his personality is warmer than a hot toddy. In fact, a hot toddy shrinks in comparison to “Jack’s Coffee” – one of the specialties that combines ice cream and liquers on fire that we had to cap off our meal on Saturday when we came here to Michael’s on the Thames for Londonlicious. After that coffee, we couldn’t help but wonder about who this “Jack” was, and that is brought us here today to meet him in the flesh.
To hear more about the real life legend of Jack DiCarlo, listen in to the Huntsville Edition of our podcast A Walk Down Main Street!