LONDON DAY 15 – au revoir!

Charles got up and took the storymobile in for service – the air conditioner is on the fritz!  So, I packed up our hotel and we met the awesome Andrea and lovely Lisa from Downtown London for lunch at Che – a mouthwatering new downtown resto. Then to the office to pack up from yesterday’s brown paper presentation, a quick stop for Christmas cards from Kingsmill’s sidewalk sale (I just HAD to – after all we’ve heard about it), and we were OFFFFFFF!  So long farewell London Town!  We hope to see you sooooooooooon!!!!!

Check out some of the stories we collected in London on our SoundCloud story map by visiting our website thetaleofatown.com, and listen to our radio broadcast A Walk Down Main Street - London Edition!

LONDON DAY FOURTEEN – from me to you.

This morning I wrote a quick rhyming diddie to add to our presentation so that in hopes of getting everyone out of their seats and on to the streets at the end of the presentation today.  It was quick and dirty and I think quite clever!  If you want to hear a bit, listen for it in the middle of our radio podcast A Walk Down Main Street - London Edition.

Downtown London, The London Arts Council, The Heritage Council, The Grand Theatre, The City of London, The London Fringe all gathered together at the Downtown London office and we unveiled our proposed plan.  That’s all I can tell you today.  There’s lots of work to be done but it’s going to be very very very… FUN!

After the presentation, we had a beer, ordered a pizza, and slept for many hours.  LONDON Town was done for now, but the tale continues…

LONDON DAY TWELVE – do you hear what I hear?

Ohhhhhh – it’s time to listen.  And we need help.  We called in our friend, Sandy Gribbon, an incredible theatre artist who lives here in London and teaches at Fanshawe College.  We also needed a few more sets of ears, so I called Tyler from City Lights books (he seemed way smart), and although he couldn’t come on the drop of a dime, he sent us two awesome people, Andrew and Chris.  Thanks guys.  Your ears let us hear so much more. Thanks to Bob Usher we had the Labatte Lounge at the market for a spell, making lunch time selections a highly anticipated part of the day… salads and smoothies and sandwiches and smoked salmon, and… the list goes on.

As we always seem to do – we lined the walls with brown paper and started scribbling time codes and character ideas and quotations all over until bit by bit lines began to bunch together and singular stories became tales of the town.

Even though we had vowed that we were not interviewing another person, Charles checked out for a quick chat with the mayor – we did not want to pass up the opportunity to catch this man while we can…. I mean while we could.  what tense am I in here?  Whatever, it’s better to rhyme.  bed time!

LONDON DAY ELEVEN – morningstars and ceaser salad

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!

LONDON DAY TEN – organizing chaos and dr. lendt

Today we tried to organize the many interviews we have taken in, and make a plan for the week to come.  How will we listen to over 70 hours of tape before we leave London next week?!  And the interviewing isn’t over yet!  London has so many downtown stories, and as always - there are so many sides to each story.  But alas, that is where creativity comes to play, and artful decisions will rule the day, as we make something beautiful from what the people say….  That rhymes, non?! In the midst of the organizing of tracks and tapes and papers and plans, I skipped off to meet with Dr. Barbara Lendt who had an office in downtown for many years where she delivered babies and promoted health.  Barbara painted a picture of downtown from the perspective of a Torontonian who came over 30 years ago, just for a short time, but was drawn in.  Above and beyond the insight this interview provided, I loved hearing Barbara’s love for the downtown store Novak’s – that’s one for the story map for sure!

The weekend has come.  And my friend Jo from London, England is getting off the via rail train tonight to visit us here in London Ontario!!  I can’t wait to show the downtown off and take her out Londonlicious!  (I wonder if Jo will feel more at home here with The Covent Garden Market and the forks of the Thames nearby…)

LONDON DAY NINE – bob, books and fanny goose

The day began again in the market.  Bob usher uncovered the tale of the swearing parrot in the old market whose name was Mac.  Bob recounted market memories, both the old and new and what happened in between.  It was impressive to hear that there are no chains or franchises allowed, and the farmers who share there are local tried and true.  Bob did a few market adverts for me in his booming radio voice, and I was correct I suspected he was a pro… You can hear the voice of Bob on 98.1 Free FM.

Off we went to City Lights Bookstore and it was there we heard the gritty and underground tales of downtown culture.  We heard about the days of the Talbot block and the Brunswick House and noise bands and second run movie theatres.  We heard about a time when London was packed with young people cruisin’ around the downtown between record shops and comic shops and bookstores to bars.  Here are the gents we spoke to, along with one other who wishes to remain anonymous.

Next we rushed to the famed Fanny Goose.  We found her at the Richmond Retirement Centre – and a beautiful one it was.  It struck my funny bone, as it was a microcosm of downtown London, Ontario inside, replete with the Blackfriars pub and the Covent Gardens – just as London Ontario is a microcosm of London, England, one could say…  Fanny’s story is second to none.  She even has a book about it.  Fanny came to London Ontario from Poland, began selling wares from a suitcase, moved up to a flat bed truck and finally opened a shop downtown called J. Goose Family Clothing which she ran successfully for over 50 years, until she was 88 years old.  Anyone who knows anyone back in the day in downtown London will remember Fanny and her wily ways.

Friday tomorrow.   Looking forward to the weekend to digest all of these new stories….!