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Winter Closing In

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Written by: Rod Boyle

Category: Miscellany

Published: 17 October 2017

Hits: 1815

Winter's closing in. The leaves are almost all done turning, the restaurant - without notice and ahead of schedule - has begun closing 2 days per week, layoffs are complete - many wanted the layoff, worked the summer so they could collect EI all winter, maybe work a few cash-in hand jobs. A couple of employees were not so pleased with the layoffs, didn't see them coming, weren't warned, only found out when their names vanished from the schedule - not impressed, and you realize that you're always on shaky ground here, that you're expendable to the needs of the business. We've kept a total of 3 staff - 1 waiter - me, (the other the owners son R#5), and 2 chefs. That's it.

Saturday, cold outside, the restaurant is busy. 10, 11 tables at once, no more tourists, these are the residents of Foon, people in for an herbal tea with extra slice of lemon and honey, party of 4 to share 4 lemon waters and plate of fries, people in for a glass of water and the free wi-fi, we're the heated shelter for people waiting for the Ferry, I do 40 tables to ring out $700.00...unbelievable...

More scrolls from my friend, more humorous rants about R#5, he doesn't like him, once they were friends, but R#5, he has that way of rubbing people ... he's rationed Batshit to the yellow candies only, nobody likes them, and Batshit, he knows, he's bearing a grudge...cryptic instructions to meet with Batshit at 2:00 on the other side of the lake, witness the glory of the Keith Richard's painting on woven teflon, for my eyes only before driving him to a helicopter pad up in Riondel, he's betting I won't make it...

Cold, and I haven't yet confirmed my place for November 1st - I'm hopeful, but the cheques are lean and leaner, the bills keep coming and the tips are scant...I need to reign in my vices, work on other things, always, always keep a full tank of gas in case I gotta get the hell out of here, but Calgary is cold in the winter and it's not the best time to flee the magic Kingdom, time to start looking for more work, another job, find a way to make it to spring when I can start new plans...

Poesia Sin Fin - Finally!!

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Written by: Rod Boyle

Category: Film

Published: 12 October 2017

Hits: 1690

Finally, which I had been saving on the computer these several months, the logical sequel to his last "The Dance of Reality" - if you liked the one you'll enjoy this. The subtitle track I had was a bit sketchy, but I figured it out, you will too, and much of it doesn't need words, and none of it needs my recommendation...

A Treasure Trove of Batshit Scrolls

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Written by: Rod Boyle

Category: Stormy

Published: 12 October 2017

Hits: 1454

He's been by the restaurant, left me a small treasure trove of scrolls, 4 of them, to be divided amongst the servers and kitchen according to the game of dimes, whoever comes closest to the wall gets to keep the scroll of his/her choice...

Naturally, they're all mine, nobody else is all that interested. And they're marvelous, the narrative of his life, wrapped in dirty socks, with coffee stir sticks and cardboard sleeves and padded with local tourism flyers (grabbed for free in our foyer), they make mention of his daily trials, the hit list of businesses on the landing, of "three cheeses" - a reference to a poutine I bought him that he especially liked, lobster (6, 7 references, "Eat Lobster" - he's got a craving for sure), his dealings with Mick Jagger, ...

Grand. The next day, on the Ferry back from the Gray Creek Adventure, I run into him, he's at a restaurant on the other side, he's another bag full of scrolls for me, even better than the last, 5 "Electras" - girls done up in stripper poses, an annotated centerfold pasted to board with his embellishing comments and recollections, curious things, now he's referring to Turkey - he's heading over on the Ferry to mooch some turkey from the restaurant, he's not hopeful of his chances but he's gotta try, I'm reviewing the scrolls, they're a treasure trove, a good hour's reading, sounding out, turning upside down...

Curious facts, stories about the milkshake girls who spun up milkshakes with their breasts, conversations he had with them, strippers on the poles, legs spread, everything in Zsa Zsa Gabor''s accent, memories of girls from the Crowsnest Pass, of Mocha (cryptic, I have errands to run to the coffee bar, he's wary, in the note I was supposed to deliver - to the absent recipient, there's a phone #, he's thinking I called it...), the details - half the stripper girls are holding steaming coffee mugs - he likes his coffee - and, apparently, so do they, the misremembered and dismembered lyrics written down in jaunty styles all over the pictures...

I'm thinking Marwencol, he's better than that, better documentary fodder by far, his life, so far, an enigma, lives north of the landing on the east side, tiny village, everyone knows of him, nobody knows about him, interviewing him, the inchoate conversations, here, in the land of Foon, on the Ferry, at the local businesses, it would make for genius...

I buy him his turkey dinner, the least I can do, he's grateful, saves him going begging...

The next day - on the landing - he's there again for an order of fries - "That fucking Sophia L., She ate all of the Turkey Dinner....!!!"

So I know that he lives with her, which explains the purse, but not necessarily the date on it, and I'm wondering how many of his other "memories" are these grafts of memory and film, celebrity and trivia, but I'll need first to find Sophia L. and get her story...

(I've sworn not to reproduce his art, but - fair use, and these are the smallest bits of his scrolls)

Scrolls and gift of Mocha (coffee), foreshadowed in earlier scrolls...

Small detail of his paintings...

Another detail, note the cup of coffee (center) ...

They're crazy, but brilliant at the same time, and I know so many people who've received his art and then forwarded it into the trash, this will be his value, in the end he'll have produced thousands of scrolls - tens of thousands, but only a few will have found the appreciation they deserve...