The False Ducks Blahg

     Be forewarned that this blahg is going to be strictly Canadiana.   I know that the last few blahgs have featured some notable Canadian music by Pat Riccio, The Bridge City Dixieland Jazz Band, and Pete Schofield and the Canadians so this blahg won’t be any different.  But it is!  This blahg is dedicated to Paul Quarrington.  That’s his picture on the right instead of mine.  Paul was a brilliant musician and writer.  Don’t take my word for it, look it up or don’t look it up.  But take my word for it even after I said don’t. 

     The inspiration for this blahg came last week when the song “Fictional World” by the band Porkbelly Futures played in the rotation on my Ipod.  Paul Quarrington was a member of that band and I believe he sang lead on the song.  I could be wrong about that but I met Paul Quarrington at a book reading about 10 years ago in Picton, Ontario and he sang that song.  I didn’t realize it was 10 years ago but I knew Paul had died of lung cancer not that long ago but when I looked it up I was shocked to find he had died in 2010.  It didn’t seem that long ago to me.  So, I became inspired to write this blahg celebrating Paul Quarrington and my connection to him. 

     My journey with Paul Quarrington started in 1979.  That year, a track by the duo Quarrington – Worthy used to play on a local radio station.  I think that station was 98.3 CFLY out of Kingston, Ontario.  The song was “Baby And The Blues” and it probably played in rotation on that station for about 6 months.  That was back when Canadian content was bigger than it is today.  I didn’t even know then that the full names of the duo were Paul Quarrington and Martin Worthy.  I also didn’t know that the song was from their self-titled LP “Quarrington-Worthy” on the Posterity Records label.  I own a 45 rpm of two other songs from that album that I purchased in 1980.  There is a picture of my 45 to the left.  It is signed by Paul Quarrington but more about that later.  You can also see that it is dated March 26, 1980.  I think that’s when I bought it at Sam The Record Man in Belleville.  Once a big chain across Canada, Belleville has the last Sam The Record Man store still in existence. 

     If you looked closely at the picture of the 45 above (click it to get a larger image) then you would have seen that the songs on the single were attributed to being from LP “Quarrington/Worthy” PTR 13012.  I think that was the first time I discovered the name of the album.  I began my search for the record but I think it was the mid 1980s before I was able to acquire the LP.  I had been looking for it for a while and that was pre-Internet and pre-Ebay days so if you didn’t find it in a store then you were out of luck.  Luckily, there was a guy named Paul Cowan who ran a used record store in Belleville.  I asked him to keep an eye for it.  Eventually he found it for me in a discount bin at a local Woolworth or Kresge department store.  Alas, like Cowan, his Zap Record store, all of the Sam The Record Man stores, Woolworth and Kresge are long gone.  To the right is the front cover for the record and to the left is the rear cover.  Both images were pulled off the internet but I’m adding a picture of the back cover scanned from my own copy because it is signed by Paul Quarrington.  He signed it over his picture when I saw him last in Picton. 

     Now, at this point you would have thought that was it for my story about Paul Quarrington.  You’d be wrong.  It’s so nice to say when someone else is wrong because then I don’t have to say I’m wrong.  But I digress.  Before I continue, let me first give you a link to listen to the song “Baby And The Blues”: 

Here’s a link to another great song from the album: 

THUNDERTOWN:

So, I finally had the LP!  Hooray!  But wait, there was another LP.  I didn’t know it then but there was an LP that preceded the Quarrington-Worthy album.  I found it a few years after Cowan had supplied me with that album.  The new album was also found in a discount bin but this time by me.  It was an album by Paul Quarrington’s brother Tony Quarrington titled “Top Ten Written All Over It”  What a fun title.  Tony’s album came out in 1978 and featured songs written by Tony but not all songs on that record had Tony singing lead.  Paul Quarrington sang lead on some and Martin Worthy sang lead on others with the rest by Tony with harmonies from Paul and Martin.  Give a listen to one of my favorites from the LP, “Atlanta”: 

Here’s another one but this time it’s a swinger: 

STREETCAR ANGEL:

Again, at this point you would have thought that was it for my story about Paul Quarrington.  You’d be wrong again.  I’m not gloating.  Now things begin to switch away from the music.  It was 1987 and I was recently married and Jeanette and I were living in Peterborough.  We liked to walk through and shop at the Eatons’ store in the Peterborough Square mall.  Sadly, Eatons is gone now too.  Well, when it was open, I was shopping there with Jeanette and I happened to notice a book on the discount table (again Paul’s stuff was discounted).  The name of the book was “Home Game” by Paul Quarrington.  The name struck me because I knew it from the Quarrington-Worthy LP and there couldn’t be two Paul Quarringtons.  After checking the dust-jacket it confirmed this was the musical Paul Quarrington.  Here’s the synopsis of the novel from the dust jacket: 

In this story of a marooned circus sideshow troupe, a former baseball hero, and a Michigan village dominated by a fundamentalist religious sect, the author confronts some of the highest as well as the least desirable aspects of human motivation.  One group passionately wishes the expulsion of the other, self-righteously condemning them as immoral, and inhuman.  But in the organization and training of the baseball team, and during the subsequent game where the issue will be decided, we learn that despite all appearances, these eccentric characters ultimately cannot deny the humanity that makes all of them members of a single team.

     Home Game is a moving and very hilarious book.  It runs about 400 pages and captures you in the story.  I’ve always described this book to anyone who would listen as a baseball game between a group of religious fanatics and some circus freaks.  If that’s doesn’t pique your interest then I don’t know what will.  When I last saw Paul in Picton I finally got him to autograph Home Game for me.  I’ll speak about that meeting in a bit but if you can lay your hands on Home Game then read it.  It’s not just a recommendation, it’s life advice. 

     Paul Quarrington continued to write more novels after “Home Game” which originally came out in 1983.  He followed “Home Game” with “The Life of Hope” in 1985, “King Leary” in 1987, “Whale Music” in 1989, “Logan In Overtime” in 1990, “Civilization” in 1994, “The Spirit Cabinet” in 1999, “Galveston” in 2004, and finally “The Ravine” in 2008.  I’ve read them all.  He also wrote “The Service” in 1978 but I’ve never tracked it down so I don’t know anything about it.  “King Leary” won the Stephen Leacock Award in 1988, and “Whale Music” won the 1989 Governor General’s Award for Fiction. Paul was also nominated for the Leacock Award in 1984 for “Home Game” in 1986 for “The Life of Hope” in 1990 for “Whale Music” and in 1998 for “The Boy on the Back of the Turtle”.  That last title is one of his non-fiction works.  I haven’t read that one but I have read the non-fiction “Fishing With My Old Guy” 1995 and “Cigar Box Banjo: Notes on Music and Life” 2010. 

     I don’t read modern fiction much.  I can’t tell you the last time I read a current novel unless it was “The Ravine” from 2008.  Paul was my favorite novelist.  I miss him and I miss his writing.  I think no one else has written anything new that gives me the joy I would get from reading a Paul Quarrington novel.  That’s sad.  It makes me miss Paul Quarrington even more. 

     Paul also wrote screenplays.  Among them was “Perfectly Normal” from 1990 and the screenplay for his own “Whale Music” which came out in 1994.  It was the film “Perfectly Normal” that allowed me to have my first meeting with Paul.  The Quinte Film Alternative in Belleville gave a showing of “Perfectly Normal” and Paul Quarrington was in attendance.  I remember walking up to the front of the theater and there was Paul.  I was excited to meet him and I brought along my 45 rpm record of “Montego Bay” and “Wilfred” for him to sign.  You can see that autograph above.  Afterwards there was some meet and greet with Paul at someone’s loft downtown Belleville.  It was around the time that “Civilization” came out because I remember talking to him about it.  I think I was the only person who talked to him about his novels or his music.  The room was full of pretentious people from the Quinte Film Alternative and I was surprised to learn none of them had read any of his novels.  I only got to spend a few minutes with him but it was a pleasure.  That was around 1994 or 1995. 

     I didn’t see Paul Quarrington again until after “The Ravine” came out in 2008.  I can’t remember if I met him again in 2008 or 2009 but it was that time I spoke about in Picton.  He was there for a local authors’ festival and he read excerpts from “The Ravine” and he sang a couple of songs from the new Porkbelly Futures CD, including “Fictional World” which was the inspiration for this blahg: 

That night, I also had Paul sign my LP and my copy of “Home Game”.  I told him my story about being a music fan of his and then picking up “Home Game” in Peterborough.  He liked my story and said the LP was now a bit of a rarity.  What I didn’t know at the time was that less than two years later Paul would be dead from Lung Cancer. 

     After Paul died I remember driving my daughter home from University in Toronto and hearing the following song on the radio.  I immediately recognized the voice and was confirmed when the DJ said the song had been by Paul Quarrington.  It’s a beautiful song that Paul wrote in his final year and it really speaks about his preparing to die.  It’s called “Are You Ready?”  The great Dan Hill sings harmonies with Paul.

     During his final year of life, Paul wrote and recorded songs, including “Are You Ready?” for a CD called “The Songs”.  Martin Worthy also appears on the CD.  Paul would also write and record some more songs with Porkbelly Futures also with Martin Worthy.  “Cigar Box Banjo: Notes on Music and Life” was published posthumously and talks about his music and books.  It was the last great read I had from Paul.  Both the CD “The Songs” and “Cigar Box Banjo: Notes on Music and Life” are great companion pieces and summarize a life that ended too soon by a great author and singer/songwriter. 

     How to do I end a blahg after all of that?  I’ll let Paul close it with another great song from his CD, “All The Stars.”  Are you ready?  I believe I am.