Lost music to my ears
I just finished reading your article about Vanishing Venues (NOW, March 2-8).
As a member of Toronto’s music community (I’m the sound engineer at Nocturne as well as a session musician), I feel it is important to keep the spotlight on what’s happening to our scene and to bolster the discussion with unemotional, factual analysis of the myriad puzzle pieces that have created this landscape.
Your article does a great job of capturing how complicated this battle will continue to be, all without feeling hopeless.
A couple weeks ago I was in Ottawa, and while walking around looking for a place to settle in for the night I was blown away that every single bar seemed to have live music. A couple of places had several different musicians playing different rooms. While that’s not necessarily the same as the venue conversation per se, it left me lost in thought about the scene in our city.
How ridiculous and sad that live music takes us by surprise.
Neil Jones, Toronto
More local arts coverage, please
Thanks for the feature on Toronto’s evaporating accommodation of live music venues. We must be vigilant against the impact of gentrification on our city’s artist class.
Still, I can’t help but feel that NOW’s decision to cut back its album reviews section in print is yet another symptom of this gentrification.
More local arts coverage, please.
Maximilian Turnbull, Toronto
Mosque open house questions
Raised Jewish by very open-minded and liberal parents, I have always felt comfortable with people of all races and religions.
But imagine the cognitive dissonance I experienced when I read your feel-good article about the Masjid Toronto mosque open house (NOW, March 2-8) and then an article in the Canadian Jewish News about an alleged anti-Jewish hate crime committed by an imam of that same mosque!
The NOW article talked about the goodwill and acceptance being expressed from all quarters for the Muslims among us and implied that those Muslims equally accept the non-Muslims among us.
While it is true that there have been subsequent apologies made by the mosque, it is very disturbing. It gives me the feeling that there are congregants in the mosque who hear such declarations and implicitly accept them.
Mark Levine, Toronto
Reality check on terror threat
Recently, the term “Islamophobia” has taken flight. But what does the term really mean?
If it means hatred of Muslims, we already have hate legislation. So why have a motion on Islamophobia?
If it means apprehension about Islam, we should look at the definition of a phobia and determine whether the aversion is an emotional condition or a cognitive one based on facts, or even “alternate facts.”
If you are living in Iraq or Syria, then a fear of Islamic extremists definitely has merit. In some European countries that fear is lessened but still significant. In Canada there is very little to fear from extremists and nothing to fear from 99.99 per cent of Muslims as long as CSIS, the RCMP and the FBI are doing their job.
Dennis Choptiany, Markham
It’s white privilege, stupid
Conservatism A Ticking Time Bomb, by Michael Coren (NOW, March 2-8).
As the white race becomes less numerous and successful, it will turn more and more to racism. Don’t blame the left. They have been standing up for the working class and unchecked globalization for decades.
The problem is that white working-class voters are only concerned about white privilege and have gone into white identity politics. They suddenly care about globalization and billionaires? Bullshit! They care about maintaining white supremacy and will use any excuse to justify it!
G. Uddin, From nowtoronto.com
Roadblocks slowing down electric car
Re Who’s Killing The Electric Car, by Adria Vasil (NOW, March 2-8).
Back in December I ordered a Chevy Bolt. It has yet to arrive. Even with the incentive, it remains more expensive than a comparable internal combustion engine vehicle.
My frustrations: GM is planning on making only 30,000 per year and won’t roll them out to all of North America until September. And dealerships have no incentive to sell them. Meanwhile, the lease/finance rates are significantly higher than for fossil-fuelled cars (3.9 per cent vs 0 to 1 per cent respectively.)
Also, as a condo resident, I’ve found getting permission to install a charger a challenge, and all quotes for installation surprisingly costly.
At the end of this process, I’m still excited about soon having a vehicle that doesn’t consume fossil fuels but frustrated at how many roadblocks I’ve encountered along the way.
Michael Murphy, Toronto
Marijuana edibles need labelling system
Re Frequently Asked Questions About Marijuana Edibles (NOW, March 2-8).In your article on edibles, you ask, “How do you deal with the risk that candy-like edibles may be attractive to minors?”
There’s an easy way for edible-makers to mark their offerings so they’re identifiable by children and adults as cannabis products: by adopting a universal safety symbol.
Chase Rader, Baked Smart
