Meet Joseph Planta. He is not your everyday Joe. Joe is, a trendsetter, a raconteur, a storyteller, a memorabilia collector, a book lover. Everything he does is done with passion, gusto and commitment. He was first out of the starting gate with a podcast 17 years ago. Today podcasts are the super hot trend in…

In retrospect it was a fortuitous moment. Three music producers, Mario Dradi, Italian, and Elmer Kruse, German, Herbert Chapell, British, we’re going to produce a concert in Rome. The reason? Raise money for opera singer Jose Carreras, and his foundation, Jose Carreras International Leukemia Founation, who had just survived a bout with cancer. And the…

Mad, genius, troubled, conflicted, insightful, happy, depressed, gypsy, restless, focussed, angry, resentful, relentless, moody, agitated, uneven, tormented, iconic, tortured. They all define Vincent Van Gogh. His career as an artist, short lived, painting from 1880 to 1890. Yet, he was prolific – producing more than 800 oil paintings and 700 drawings. Often penniless and poor…

Van Gogh like all great artists experimented – refining, bringing new dimensions, perspectives and techniques to his art. All evident in these three periods. Early Years – 1881 – 1883 His early paintings were a reflection of a harsh reality, people living and working in a coal mining town, he himself living there for a…

Vincent Van Gogh, powerhouse painter, important, influential, stellar artist. Many of us have seen his paintings, in museums or pictures of them. But now there is a way of seeing his art in a revolutionary, immersive and anything beyond what you can imagine, way. And it goes further – Imagine being part of his art.…

NOTHING BEATS A BBQ CHICKEN DINNER WITH GARLIC BREAD, CUT-UP TOMATOES This yummylicious dinner is for two and is a snap to make. Tasting NotesSucculent, juicy, BBQ chicken is hard to beat. The tangy, a bit spicy, a bit sweet, sauce is perfect. And that BBQ char on the chicken pairs perfectly with the crunchy…

David Park was a painter defying often-held conventional beliefs in the art world. One, he was a teacher in high school and later at various art schools preventing him from becoming a great artist. Two, he started off painting in one style, but then suddenly he used a totally different style and approach. Park started…

The Pet Shop Boys sold more than 50 million records worldwide. They became the most successful duo in UK music history. They won numerous international awards, travelled the world on various concert tours, produced and wrote music for other major international musicians. And they re-invented themselves several times over, much to the surprise of many…

It was one of those life moments – changing me forever. I was in Toronto looking for work as a radio or television producer. My short career – a mere 10 months as a television producer in Vancouver – was a bust. A move to Toronto was the only viable option , if I hoped…

Meet Ruth Kozak. At age 83 she had her second novel published after a lifetime of travel writing and writing some poetry. She got the writing bug at age 12 – an article in a Girl Guides magazine. Four years later she wrote an Alexander The Great themed novel. And now at age 88 she…