A profile of Demetri Martin; this week’s Explainer
It has been a busy time for me at Hour.
First there was my Jazz Festival coverage, and now it's time for another Just For Laughs article. (Read the first two here.) I wrote this week's cover story on Demetri Martin, a very talented and funny comedian/writer/painter/musician etc. who is bringing his one man show to town. Martin is perhaps best known as the trendspotting youth reporter on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. But he has a ton of other things going on. He was very generous with his time during our interview, especially considering all the projects he has on the go. Really nice guy.
Also, this week's Explainer column looks at the Jacques Cartier Bridge, which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary. I love the fact that the Prime Minister at the time couldn't be at the inauguration in person and instead "delivered a speech by telephone from Ottawa and then pressed a button to remotely unveil a plaque commemorating the occasion." That's hilarious.
JFL: Craig Ferguson and Ryan Belleville come to town
I have two stories in this week's Hour (aside form my usual Explainer column), both of which are interviews with performers coming to town for the Just For Laughs comedy festival.
I gave Craig Ferguson a little Craig-on-Craig action in this article. And I also interviewed Canadian comedian/actor Ryan Belleville. Both were good to talk to. Ferguson's stint as the host of the Late Late Show is steadily bringing in new viewers. And Belleville continues to tour as a stand-up and take part in pilot season from his base in LA.
Then there's this week's Explainer, which is about Doctors Without Borders. As always, the Explainer archives are here.
Hour cover story on Ravi Coltrane; Explainer archives
It's almost the most wonderful time of the year here in Montreal. The Jazz Festival kicks off next week and Just for Laughs begins soon after. Not only do I love both of these festivals, it also means some really fun work for me with Hour, the Montreal weekly I write the Explainer column for. I know, I haven't updated my Explainers in a while, but here's some good news: You can read every recent Explainer by going to my online archives here. I know, it's almost too much to handle at once. Deep breaths...
I was lucky enough to write the cover story for Hour's Jazz Fest issue this week, and it's about Ravi Coltrane. (Yes, John Coltrane is his father.) Ravi was in a bit of a hurry when we spoke last Saturday morning (he was taking his kids to a baseball game), but he was a very laid back guy to interview. I was particularly excited to hear him tell me about playing with Elvin Jones, one of my all time favorite drummers. (I saw him do a solo show in Montreal a few years back and got to shake his hand afterward. He almost crushed mine; it was awesome.) Jones played a big role in helping a young Ravi develop as a musician.
I've pasted a short excerpt from the article below, and you can read the full piece here.
It was 1990 in California, and Ravi Coltrane had a secret.
Elvin
Jones, the muscular, polyrhythmic drummer who was the driving force
behind saxophonist John Coltrane's legendary quartet, was in town for a
show. It had been years since he played on the West Coast, and Ravi
Coltrane, the then-25-year-old son of the famous saxophonist, spent
time with Jones, hanging out at the venue and heading to music stores.
"You know, doing the things that musicians do," Coltrane says by phone
from a New York City cab. (It's Saturday and he's taking his kids to a
Mets game.)Coltrane's secret was that he had started playing the
saxophone a few years earlier. He chose not to tell Jones, but word got
out anyway."By the end of the week he found out I was playing,"
Coltrane says. "Then months later he called me and asked if I was
available to do some gigs. I told him that, yeah, maybe in a year
because I'm still in school, I'm not ready."Coltrane was at the
California Institute of the Arts studying music, but as he
self-deprecatingly describes, "I could barely string two notes
together. I can do three or four now." Coltrane came to the music late,
but Jones wanted to make sure he benefited from an appropriate
apprenticeship. Still, the young saxophonist with the famous name was
hesitant."I was an Elvin fan and I didn't want me having the
name Coltrane to be a distraction for me and the other guys in the
band," he says. "I try to avoid that whole 'Coltrane' thing. It was
never an angle for me."Jones said he wanted him in the band in four months' time.
"Elvin doesn't take no for an answer," laughs Coltrane. "He said, 'I want to help you.' You don't say no to Elvin."
...
Junos, a press clip, and what the kids think about the media
I know, long time no post. But I'm back with a couple of offerings and a promise for more.
First things first: I joined three of my best friends/colleagues on a very memorable road trip a couple of weeks ago. The four of us packed into a rental car and headed to my hometown, Halifax, NS, to attend the Junos -- Canada's version of the Grammys. I went for Toro magazine, but the chances of me filing something were slim, thanks to their long lead time. So I just got to relax and have fun. And oh did we have fun.
Jamie O'Meara wrote a column about our exploits for Hour (yes, that's me kissing my bicep in the photo; don't ask), as did Brendan Murphy (link) and Richard Burnett (link). It's all fun reading.
Next, I am quoted in an article in Presstime, the publication of the Newspaper Association of America. The story is about (what else?) errors in newspapers and how to prevent them. I've pasted the text below (the story is not online yet.)
Finally, I am off to speak to a writing class at Vanier College today. The class is taught by my good friend Martin Siberok. I've visited the class a few times over the last few years, and it's always interesting to hear what the students have to say about the media. This year I decided to get their thoughts on paper by giving them a questionnaire. The class ranges in age from 17 to 24 years-old. I'll be sharing some of the interesting results soon, so come back for the details.
The Presstime article:
'There Really Are No Small Errors'
BY MARY LYNN F. JONES
DURING THE LAST 12 months, thousands of errors have slipped into the nation's newspapers. Among the more memorable: a Dallas Morning News column referring to a woman as a socialist, rather than a socialite; a Denver Daily News item that called New Jersey "Jew Jersey"; and a Chicago Tribune photo caption that misidentified tennis star Serena Williams as singer Beyonce Knowles.
"Errors are probably always going to happen," says Craig Silverman, whose blog, Regret the Error (www.regrettheerror.com), has tracked journalistic mistakes since October 2004. "The question is, can you get rid of the real groaners?"
How to keep such errors out of newspapers will be among the topics discussed at the American Copy Editors Society conference April 20-22 in Cleveland.
Kathy Schenck, assistant managing editor for the copy desk at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, says she pauses before letting certain words -- such as corruption, gangster and epidemic -- into the paper. That's because those words "are loaded and are sometimes used inaccurately," says Schenck, who will lead a conference session on critical copyediting.
"It's about thinking about what those words really mean and making sure that the situation calls for using them," adds Schenck, who started a program for her paper's 33 copy editors last fall that focuses on topics such as math, the courts and use of the Internet.
In February, The New York Times launched the "Quarter Hour Project," aimed at giving copy editors an additional 15 minutes to work on each story. Each participating department -- all except for the Week in Review and Book Review sections and The New York Times Magazine -- determined where it could shave off the additional time.
The idea, says Merrill Perlman, director of the paper's 14 copy desks, which include about 160 staffers, is "to give them a little more breathing space to think about the content of a story."
All copy editors "should check error-prone, verifiable facts as time permits," such as spellings of names, titles, phone numbers and street addresses, Perlman says. Other suggestions include looking for internal inconsistencies in a story, as well as "focus errors," like whether a number should be followed by millions or billions.
And, Perlman says, copy editors should "think about what somebody is saying and what you know." For example, visualize the description of a car accident to see if it makes sense. "Follow your instincts," she adds.
Other common mistakes, according to Silverman, involve misidentification (making a man into a woman in a story, for example) and omission (leaving out an important word in a quote). "There really are no small errors," he says.
A (drunken) blast from the past
This article was published in Hour magazine back on May 16, 2002. Basically, I decided to test Montreal's supposedly lax liquor laws by grabbing a giant can of beer and going about some daily activities. This is one of my favorite pieces just because it was so ridiculous to do. Go to the bottom of this post to see a scan of the article, replete with a picture of me yelling at my hairdresser as she takes a swig from my beer.
Are you looking at my can?
Taking the bar to the streets to see just how liberal our liquor laws really are
by Craig Silverman
Last
week Canada Post declared it would soon be delivering alcohol. The same day, Public Security Minister Normand Jutras tabled legislation
to loosen Quebec's liquor laws by allowing folks to get alcohol when
they order take out, and expanding the types of alcohol they can bring
into unlicensed restaurants. The casual observer might take these two
events and conclude our government wants us to, in the words of Andrew
W.K., "party hard". So I grabbed a few king cans and went about some
regular activities to see just how loose our liquor laws really
are in this already riotous city.
Hair Salon
Important note: Depanneur
workers don't give you dirty looks when you buy two king cans at 10:30
in the morning. So, beer in hand, I continued on my way to see the
legendary Julee Jonez, have her work her magic on my locks, and see if
I couldn't also get a little buzz going.
"I have a surprise for you," I told her, and cracked a can.
When
drinking during a haircut the most important thing is to avoid getting
any hair in your brew. Apart from that important caveat, drinking
during a haircut is an otherwise thoroughly enjoyable experience that's completely tolerated. It's even better when your coiffeur also
partakes in a swig or two. (But be wary if they keep, ahem, reaching
for your can. Drinking while having your hair cut is entirely different
than drinking while cutting hair.)
"This might become a tradition," I said.
"That wouldn't bother me," replied Julee.
Explainer update
I've been derelict in my Explainer updates. Here are some you may have missed:
- La Ronde is building the biggest roller coaster in Canada. Link
- Does photo radar work? Link
- A high speed rail link between Montreal and New York? Link
- A look back at the famous Lennon/Ono Bed-In For Peace in Montreal, and an interview with a woman who sang on "Give Peace A Chance." Link
- A 40-foot replica colon drops into town. Link
- New electronic voting machines for the Montreal elections. Link
- The Montreal Archives' remarkable portrait collection goes online. Link
- New checked baggage rules on Canadian airlines. Link
- A literary tour of Montreal. Link
- Track your kids by their cellphone. Link
New Explainers online
To new Explainer columns are online at the Hour website. My column from two weeks ago looked at a new way to label fruit using lasers (it was invented by a Canadian). And this week's edition goes inside the new Bibliothèque Nationale du Québec for all the details.
This week’s Explainer
My weekly Explainer column in Hour takes a look at homegrown search engine project Zenome.com. Can they grow to challenge Google? Read it here.
I also recommend my good friend Jamie O'Meara's funny column about straight guys with gay best friends. Though I have to say the line of the week goes to a reader who posted this comment below Jamie's piece: "This story was great to read knowing that people can be friends despite diversity."
Yes, we all must strive to combat diversity.
Just For Laughs cover in HOUR this week
I have three pieces in today's HOUR, including the cover story on The Daily Show. I got a chance to chat with both Stephen Colbert and Samantha Bee from the show and you can read the story here. Stories like this are tough because Colbert and Bee know you expect them to be funny, and you also feel pressure to offer set ups that help bring out the laughs. In the end, both Bee and Colbert were funny, nice and very generous with their time. I only wish I had more space to give them.
I also did an article about Saturday Night Live's Finesse Mitchell, who is coming to this year's JFL for some stand up gigs.
As always, I have my weekly Explainer column in the paper. This week's topic: Harry Potter. Read it here.
Welcome
Hey there. Thanks for stopping by. I'm a freelance journalist and author in Montreal, Canada. I serve as an associate editor for PBS MediaShift, a website that reports on trends in new media and journalism. I edit RegretTheError.com and wrote a book of the same name. I'm also the co-author, with Michael Calce, of Mafiaboy: How I Cracked The Internet and Why It's Still Broken. Both books are listed to the right.
I write weekly columns for Hour and Columbia Journalism Review online, and am a former columnist and blogger for The Globe And Mail. Read my bio by clicking on the "About Me" link above, or check out the "Writing Samples" page to read some of my work. If you're interested in speaking with me about an assignment or project, email me at the address listed below.
Recent Writing/Work