Tom Thomson's famous painting The Jack Pine. Oil on canvas. 1916.
It’s the stuff of Canadian legend. Artist and avid outdoorsman, Tom Thomson, paddles out into Canoe Lake just as he has done countless times before. This time he disappears. After days of searching, his body – bloated and bruised – surfaces. It doesn’t make any sense.
More on the extraordinary story after these extras we’ve put together for you.
While the official coroner’s report claims that Thomson’s death was accidental there are many conspiracy theories – and for good reason. Tom was a strong swimmer and experienced outdoorsman, he even had a license to guide in Algonquin. It seems quite unlikely that he just fell out of his canoe and drowned on a clear day. In addition he had a bruise on his temple and there was a piece of fishing line wrapped around his ankle no less than seventeen times! There also wasn’t any water in his lungs, an indication that he died before he drowned. These facts, and many others, have raised questions surrounding his death.
Tom was just entering his prime as a painter and was starting to get recognition for his work. He grew up in Owen Sound but had moved to Toronto to pursue his career. He spent his summers in Algonquin park doing small oil sketches that he would transfer into larger works at his studio in the section of Toronto now known as Rosedale.
The best site I found for research is Death On A Painted Lake if you’d like to do some of your own digging. For a more entertaining read you can check out ‘Canoe Lake‘ by Roy MacGregor.
Recently a very traumatic thing happened. I was reading Marvel’s Civil War series and was saddened to see that Spider-Man was convinced by (his now mentor…wtf?) Tony Stark (a.k.a. Iron Man) to unmask on national television. I won’t go into details as to why this happened, or why it seemed important to the “cause” at the time (because really, do you care?) but it certainly started my brain in motion. I often relate very closely with the trials and tribulations (okay…so I want to be Peter Parker) of the story line throughout the Spider-Man comics. Not the good versus evil, or the whole super-powers thing, but the life of Peter Parker – the nerdy, scrawny, often maligned by his own good intentions, wallflower kind of guy. I often joke about the fact that no one ever sees me in the back because I am hidden behind the drums / three tall guys, but for the most part I also make myself scarce before and after shows – protecting my secret identity. It’s something I work hard at, much like Peter Parker worked for so long to conceal his identity. The difference is that I intend to continue to play things close to the vest – the fact that this blog is out is almost an unmasking in its own right
For the most part this was just to let people know that if you ever tried to say something or get my attention (pre or post show) and I failed to acknowledge it…it wasn’t a shun or cold shoulder, I was just trying to protect my secret identity
A fight happened right next to me on the subway. Two girls. I didn’t even know they were serious until the profanities escalated into one of them used the C-word. Then I knew it was for real.
An observation: guys can do nothing in this situation without looking like an idiot or getting punched in the face. For this reason I used all my concentration to attain invisibility. Even when one of the girls hit me with the back-swing of her purse (yes she was actually swinging it at the other one) I didn’t turn around, didn’t even acknowledge that it happened.
Also, trying not to laugh out loud when this is happening takes a lot of effort.
I work in a shoe store five days a week. I make just enough money to pay my bills and in a good month I might pay off a little of my debt. We play music on a regular basis but it’s rare we make enough money to cover our costs. When we do make money on a gig we don’t split it between each other, it goes in “The Band Account”. We spend three to five days a week practicing, writing and having meetings to organize ourselves. In our off time we hang out with girlfriends, go out for drinks, workout, read and some of us obsess over hockey pools. All of this happens well we dream up new ideas and plans for the band. Financial stress, family pressures and personal goals are all factors that can pull the spirit and excitement from living this lifestyle. Every new musical moment, every new artistic invention, every cheer from the back of a dark dingy Toronto bar and every new soldier in the Winhara army makes it that much easier to take a deep breath and ignore the negative forces I have kindly titled “bullshit”. If you are reading this thanks for helping to relieve our pressure, we will continue to work hard to bring you our best.
Check out the new Video Blog and remember if you’d like to be on the Guest List for our March 14th Canadian Music Week show at the Mod Club just e-mail your name to winhara@winhara.com.
I read somewhere once that less people take high school physics than get tattoos. The writer’s theory was that you should therefore express your individuality by taking Physics. So I took physics. I didn’t feel like an individual. I felt like a nerd. Not surprising since I like physics and am, in fact, a nerd.
I also like tattoos. I have been talking about getting one (or several) for a long time, but a less than friendly relationship with needles, among other things, has held me back. I think most people thought I was all talk. So finally, with the impending doom of my 25th birthday looming in the all too near future I got inked.
The words “Gardez Bien” are now permanently drawn on my chest. The Montgomery Family originally came from Scotland and this was their family motto. It means “Guard Well” or “Keep Well”.
My first tattoo experience taught me a few things:
1. It doesn’t not hurt, but it’s nowhere as bad as I thought it would be.
2. It takes a lot longer than Miami Ink would have you believe.
3. Don’t mention Miami Ink to your tattooist, unless they are, in fact, Miami Ink. If they are not chances are they consider those guys as being in it for the celebrity and not artists in it for the art. They will become agitated. You do not want someone who is about to spend the next hour or more stabbing you with inky needles to be agitated.
4. It really is addictive. I am already planning my next one. It will be much bigger, with lots of colours. Lets just hope it doesn’t take me turning 50 to finally get it done.
I got my tattoo at Talisman studio in Mississauga-Streetsville. They were awesome. Really great about explaining the whole process since it was my first one. Their artwork is amazing. And they are super crazy about being clean – they show you everything coming out of the sterile packaging to start and then chop it up and put it in the bio-hazard bin when you are done.
You can find Talisman Studio at 212 Queen St. South in Mississauga- Streetsville, Ontario, (905) 286 0786. They don’t take walk ins so give them a call. I highly recommend you check them out.
Personally? Well I think I sound a little pitchy and I sometimes struggle with my “R’s”.This band on the other hand, well we sound like Winhara…I hope.On the rare occasion that Mic Jagger runs into someone who has not heard the Rolling Stones before I always wonder what his answer to that question would be.
“Well we sound like The Beatles but we’ve done more drugs and are less worried about peace and more concerned about sex, but hey tomaytoe tomattoe right?”
or
“We sound like the F$%#ing Stones man!”
It’s raining this morning and I’ve been sitting around thinking about what kind of music I like.I’ve been thinking about what I enjoy in a song and how I interpret new music.The hardest part for me is removing my idea of the artist before I judge the song.Why is it I can’t listen to a song for its musicality and production?
What do we sound like?
We sound like the cover of our album. We sound like the promotional pictures on our website.We sound like our small club live show.We could sound like our big stadium live show.We could sound like our radio or TV interview.Hell we could even sound like our leaked celebrity sex tape.
Hey everyone I’d just like to start with a blanket apology for everything from not playing enough shows this past year to not keeping everyone updated enough throughout some major developments with the band. The beginning of 2007 started off with the completion of our album “We Are Not Normal.” This album couldn’t have happened with out the help of many people. It turns out doing an album on your own never seems to work out that way. Also as we completed the album we joined the Kharma Management team which has been the greatest boost to both our commitment and focus to this band. To have the full support of people in the industry who believe in us is a healthy dose of confidence.
After becoming good friends with Kharma family member and well known Toronto producer Byron Wong during the “We Are Not Normal” album (thanks for letting us borrow so much stuff!) we all decided our next project should be together. As the Winter was ending we started working out some songs for our next project at home in Bracebridge. Thankfully I had found a few months of free rent in Bracebridge from my amazing Aunt and Uncle. I was house/guitar-sitting for them as they went away to do some traveling. We used this opportunity to set up our equipment and do some writing and practicing to prep.
In the Spring as we started working on the songs with Byron a few of us had been hit with some family health bombshells. Lets just say we all grew up a little bit in 2007 and even though these issues are ongoing we’ve learned to really appreciate where we’re all at in our lives and as a band. It was amazing going through the writing process with Byron and learning so many things about song structure and creativity and learning to balance it all.
As we rolled through the summer in Muskoka with the exception of our weekend travels to Toronto we lived for Muskoka Dry Gingerale, Boating/Wakeboarding, bonfires and lakefront band meetings on the dock. We really tried to take it in this year because I think we all feel that it may be the last regular summer we’ll have for at least a few years. We also decided that it was time to make two major changes. It was time to move on in more ways than one. We decided that come summers end we would move to Toronto together and we would change our name. For some reason we thought that moving to Toronto was going to be the easy part. Such was not the case!
We found a loft in Toronto in an old factory that is now filled with rehearsal spaces for local and touring bands. We lucked out and got our hands on this loft which is actually a live-in rehearsal studio with four bedrooms. The price was right and after a weekend of painting and cleaning in September we’ve all grown to love this place.
The band name was a difficult task. We were four or five months coming to agree on something and we decided on Winhara. This is a really personal name that relates to us all. We grew up and together as a band on Winhara Rd. The Hara is also known to some as “the vital center of man” and it is the belief of not distinguishing between body and soul but finding that balance that brings them together to help find harmony and fulfillment. It’s that balance we’re trying to find as a band and as men. The ability for us to win hara is directly linked to our ability to take this band as far as we feel we can and hopefully you’ll all join us along the way.
