Here Be Dragons

To speak about this newest project, it becomes too long-winded.

I’m starting a new business called TOM (Taking On Media). This would be fairly uneventful if it wasn’t being thrown together with three other business partners in one of the most beloved locations in Windsor…131 Elliott Street…the old Nisbet Inn. The collective space will be known as The House.

In one building, we plan to run a cultural hub in downtown Windsor. The House, set to open September 1, 2010, in the former Nisbet Inn, is a creative collective that will encompass several new businesses. This creative and entrepreneurial development will allow people to access a wealth of expertise in one spot. While running as a cafe and hyper-local food retail space (Rino’s Kitchen by Rino Bortolin) it will also house a catering company (Black Kettle Catering – Rino Bortolin), a graphic design studio (SPOTVIN – Shane Potvin), a new apparel store which will feature “ON WINDSOR” t-shirts (SPOTVIN – Shane Potvin), a web services and online strategy development company (Accent Media – Toby Leftly), and a promotions and social media hotspot (Taking On Media – me). We’ll be collaborating with each other and outside influences to create new events and experiences within The House and elsewhere in the region.

There’s lots of stuff like this in Toronto…but housed in huge steel and glass buildings. We’re going to have a more condensed version of it in a charming 1920s-era house in the downtown. We’ll be working within the house, independently from one another, designing, promoting, cooking, coding, etc…but we will be surrounded by creative people that work HARD. And we’ll be able to poke our head around a corner to get advice, a quote, or an idea from someone we trust…as a friend, in business, and as a creative.

One of the best opportunities we’ll have will be creating new events with each other and the creative community…from more of a consulting standpoint. Yes, we’ll dream up events and execute them all over Windsor AND DETROIT, but we look excitedly toward partnering with people looking to get ideas off of the ground that they’ve been waiting to unleash for one reason or another.

The first project that The House is helping to launch is Christine Rideout-Arkell’s “Made in Windsor” Open Air Crafters Market, expanding in the parking lot beside 131 Elliott Street each Sunday afternoon starting mid-August. Imagine the Downtown Farmers’ Market, except with fresh arts and crafts made by Windsorites instead of vegetables. Made In Windsor has been a success in their Ottawa Street storefront, and has sought the help of The House to re-imagine how her business works. Made In Windsor is closing its doors on Ottawa Street in August. The House, which will oversee the promotion and offer space for Rideout-Arkell to host reading activities when The House opens officially in September. When it does officially open, Made In Windsor Market-goers will be able to sample the wares of Rino’s Kitchen, and make an entire afternoon in the downtown seem like a neighbourhood garden party.

Over 30 vendors are expected to fill the lot, with many more on hold to get a space in the new open-air art market. With the adjustment of expenses for Rideout-Arkell, the Made In Windsor brand will flourish, as the vendor booths are going to generate profit for her right off the bat. And local vendors only need to spend $30 to grasp one of these booths for the entire Sunday afternoon crowd, poised to purchase far more than their weekly buy-in. It’s a win-win-win for Made In Windsor, who will see her vendors surrounded by eager shoppers and families, while keeping it’s costs extraordinarily lower than its previous incarnation.

This space can allow you and your ideas to take flight…or, it can simply offer the most relaxing backyard garden to sit in while sipping organic, fair trade coffee. We hope for all our creative folks to have access to each other in a comfortable setting…every day. New faces and people to bounce ideas off of every single day. We plan on having our favourite newspapers, magazines, zines, etc available for reading also, in the hopes that you get as inspired as we do by learning about the other incredible things happening in the world.

Won’t you visit us?

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I remember sitting next to Bob (that’s how I knew Robert Earl Stewart from the get-go) at Matthew St. Amand’s live book reading at the Windsor Public Library almost 10 years ago.

He introduced himself. He knew Matthew. Great guy.

Over the years, especially with me being at Phog Lounge so often, we crossed paths at literary and other cultural events. It was always great to see him, because no matter how much time had passed, he remembered me…from somewhere.

A little while ago, he reemerged. I bumped into him and found out that he was writing poetry. I didn’t know HE was also a writer…at all. I thought he was friends with a writer. But he had published his first book of poetry! It’s called “Something Burned Along the Southern Border”.

I had the opportunity to hear his poetry, and buy his new book at one of the Juice Poetry Nights at Phog. It was exquisite. It was funny. It made me use my dictionary-app on my iPhone to understand what he just said. I think the word was semaphore. I was proud of our Windsor talent. I showed my appreciation by buying a book.

There’s one poem, about the day he was in a pool, watching his wife tech their young son how to hit a baseball off of a tee. She was a lefty. This left Bob bewildered. He had been married to this woman for years, and this crucial personality-piece was only now being uncovered. It’s genuine. It’s funny. And it’s sweet.

Fast forward beyond the other times I’ve heard him read at Juice Poetry Nights…

Tonight, I received an e-mail from local artist (brilliant) Stephen Gibb.
It read, “Did you know Robert Stewart from Windsor is heading to Toronto tomorrow because he’s nominated for “best new poetry book” in Canada or something like that?…”

No, I didn’t know that. And this is HUGE news! He has indeed been shortlisted!
The award is known as the Lampert Award. This is from the website, telling you what exactly it is…”The Gerald Lampert Memorial Award is given in the memory of Gerald Lampert, an arts administrator who organized authors’ tours and took a particular interest in the work of new writers.The award recognizes the best first book of poetry published by a Canadian in the preceding year. The Award carries a prize of $1,000 and is sponsored by the League of Canadian Poets. It is presented each year at the League’s Annual General Meeting in May or June, with the shortlist announced in April.”

I wanted to leave you a pile of links that have interviews done with literary magazines and a link to his own blog…so here they are, so you can find out more about Bob, a Windsorite we should all be proud of. Good luck Bob!! And thanks to Stephen Gibb for the head’s up.

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Friends of mine (members of the band Michou) …and boosters of Windsor, Phog, Kid Cardigan, and more…are doing something fun this month.

Throughout the month they are having a series of promos and interactions planned that involve lots of balloons. The first chunk of this project is to place balloons in high-traffic areas with the phrase, “It’s Nice To Michou” written on each of them. So far, all of the balloons are bright yellow. They’re meant to be found by their fans, scavenger-hunt-style, just for fun.

Fans are encouraged to photograph or videotape the balloons, wherever they find them, and upload their links to Michou’s Facebook page – HERE.

I love this kind of interaction/promotion by artists simply because they are creating something else, something new to engage their loving fans. I’d like to see more of it from bands that can make it work. Granted…Gwar likely can’t do a June Balloon promo, but certain acts can leverage creativity to remind fans of their projects.

Check out these videos of them explaining June Balloons and installing a couple of them in the downtown Windsor area.

This first video is crazy.

THEN watch the Eavesdropping (balloon-heavy) video!

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