the conversation

  • Face the Music: My most humiliating story

    Face the Music: My most humiliating story I have an embarrassing secret: I am tone deaf. I don’t just mean that I am a terrible singer who can’t carry a tune, I mean clinically tone deaf. Or amusic, as the scientists say. I’ve been tested. Many times. But I also love music. How is it possible for someone who is tone deaf to also be a music nerd? Well, I’ve spent a lot of time over the last few years trying to figure that out and that’s also led me to explore how we hear music. The results of my…

  • The thrill is never gone

    The thrill is never gone The thrill of seeing your name on something you’ve written is something I will never get jaded about and that’s especially true when your name is on a book. When my first one, Watchdogs and Gadflies, came out, Penguin’s office was a couple of blocks from my house. As soon as my editor, Diane Turbide, called to say she had two copies for me, I went into a whirlwind of activity: tidying the house, buying champagne, inviting friends and, of course, picking up the books (which came with a sweet note from Diane). And then…

  • The Dempster

    The Dempster There are lots of things I’d like to do while I am here in Dawson City, but if there was one thing I had to do, it was the Dempster Highway. The Dempster runs from a little outside Dawson to Inuvik, NWT (and in the winter, via ice road, all the way to Tuktoyatuk). So I feel more than fortunate to have travelled the first 150 km of it on my third day in town. That’s only one-fifth of the way to Inuvik, but it was in winter, which offers a completely different look and experience (it was…

  • Berton House

    Berton House Big Tim and I thumbed to Dawson City, though not as quickly as we’d hoped. Hitchhiking in 1979 was far easier than it is today and, in Yukon, just about any car that was going our way stopped to pick us up. We worked in a mine in Elsa that summer and were headed to the annual Discovery Days festival. But because cars didn’t come along all that often, we waited by the side of the gravel road and sang songs. Big Tim—he was such a strapping guy that people actually called me Little Tim—had a stereo with those…

  • Alex Russell speaking about parenting

    Alex Russell speaking about parenting Alex Russell, my co-author on Drop the Worry Ball: How to Parent in the Age of Entitlement (and when I say co-author, I really mean the brains behind the whole thing because I just helped a bit with the words), has become quite a popular speaker on the subject of parenting. Here’s a clip of him speaking at Branksome Hall school in Toronto. It gives a good sense of what the book is about and, I think, shows what a smart and entertaining speaker Alex is.

  • You’re invited

    You’re invited Drop the Worry Ball: How to Parent in the Age of Entitlement, a book I helped Dr. Alex Russell write, is just about out. Needless to say, that’s a good reason to throw a party. Here’s the invitation: We also have a Facebook event page here. Hope you can make it.

  • Back cover copy for Drop the Worry Ball

    Back cover copy for Drop the Worry Ball Alex Russell and I, with the help of my friend Amy Spach in LA, wrote the back cover copy for Drop the Worry Ball this weekend. Here it is: Want a More Resilient and Independent Kid? What happens when you combine children who expect the best of everything with parents who believe failure is not an option? You get parenting in the age of entitlement, an era of meddlesome managers rather than sympathetic advocates for confident kids. Drop the Worry Ball offers a much-needed fresh perspective on raising self-motivated children ready to take on…

  • Middle-aged teenager picks his albums of the year (2011 edition)

    Middle-aged teenager picks his albums of the year (2011 edition) Music aficionados who are a lot smarter than I will ever be have already made the point that this year was one full of lots of really good albums, but not that many truly great ones. That made coming up with my top ten even harder than usual. But here goes: The Whole Love Wilco Yeah, yeah, middle-aged guy picks dad rock for his top album of the year. Piss off. This album—which is adventurous, yet familiar—shows that Wilco isn’t content to coast. Here’s a cool stop-action video for the…

  • A fond farewell

    A fond farewell Over the last four years, I’ve spent a lot of time in the magazine lab at Ryerson University’s School of Journalism. That’s because I’ve been the instructor on five issues of the Ryerson Review of Journalism (Summer 2008, Spring 2009, Spring 2010, Winter 2011 and Winter 2012). The job is an unbelievable time suck, there are moments of ridiculous stress and the pay is an insult, but each issue has also been an incredibly fulfilling experience. I’m always really proud of what my fabulous students accomplish and it’s a genuine pleasure to watch them grow as journalists, as…

  • Nick Lowe Starter Kit

    Nick Lowe Starter Kit Nick Lowe, a 62 year old with a shock of white hair, is the opening act on the Wilco tour. And if last night’s performance at Massey Hall is any indication—he earned a standing ovation—a lot of people will be checking out his music for the first time. If you’re one of those people, here’s an eleven-song Nick Lowe starter kit: “House for Sale” From The Old Magic (2011) One of many examples of how Lowe makes songwriting seem easy: DtYOh_UpWeM “Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day” From At My Age (2007) My second favourite Lowe album—after…