Condiments

(Click image for juicy view.)
("All Dressed and Nowhere To Go", 5/06, Toronto)

Ez Sez loves to salute the less celebrated things in life. Today, we pay tribute to condiments.

Hug a ketchup bottle today.

Do laundry tomorrow.

Ez

New Josh Ritter Pre-Release Single!

This was WAY too good to keep to myself.

Courtesy of the discerning ears here at Ez Sez, enjoy a free streaming sample of a brand new track from the soon-to-be-released and soon-to-be-raved-about CD by Josh Ritter called The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter (Sony/BMG, coming Aug. 21st).

Click here to hear the exhilarating new classic he whipped up called "To The Dogs Or Whoever".

Read Amazon's glowing review of the upcoming CD here. Serious raves for Josh to whom I bring hot Montreal bagels to backstage every time he plays in Montreal. Hopefully he'll be back in town soon... there's a fresh batch ready on St-Viateur according to my sources.

Bon weekend! Bon 2-post-EzSez-kinda-day too! (See the EzQuote below for today's earlier post).

OK, go enjoy the Josh Ritter song already... No sense putting this off any longer...

Ez

UPDATE: Here's a live music video for the song!

Kim Beggs - A Taste of Yukon in Montreal

(Kim Beggs "Singing With Dog", by Karen Loeb)

The sweet-voiced wonder named Kim Beggs pulled in to Shaika Café in NDG last night to play a country-folk set that pretty much melted my heart with northern twang and near-arctic soul.

Kim's from Whitehorse, Yukon, and I first heard her on Michael Enright's The Sunday Edition CBC radio show. He raved about her and then played a song called "Lips Stained Red With Wine" (listen) that captivated me something fierce. So, when the song ended I wrote the Quebec-born, Toronto-raised, Yukon-fortified Beggs an email and told her how great her song was. Later in the day she wrote back thanking me and telling me she'd love to someday play Montreal...

So I hooked her up with a gig at Shaika (thanks to booker and friend Jenny M.) and the day arrived yesterday.

(Kim and Ez, by Alexandra Yanofsky, 8/1/07)

Thanks to all who attended the show! Thanks to Kim who thanked me on stage for hooking her up with Shaika Café. Glad you were able to spend time with us here in Montreal, Kim. A total treat.

Ez

Listen to Kim's 1st CD here.
Listen to her 2nd CD here.
Visit her official web site here.

Ez Sez: If you're gonna sell out... at least be hempy about it!

(Ezra holding Hemp Bliss hempmilk at Pete's Frootique in Halifax, 7/2007, Photo by Alexandra Yanofsky)

Bob Dylan said if he ever advertised for anything it would be for 'ladies undergarments'. 39 years later his music was used for a Victoria's Secret TV ad in which he even appeared personally. People blamed him for selling out. At least he kept his word.

Good news, Ez Sez friends...

I am now sponsored by Manitoba Harvest Hemp Seeds & Oils to be an official spokesperson for their company and products.

Yes, like Bobby, Ez has now sold out too.

(The way I see it... better to do so for a company you love, which makes products you love made from a plant you love than to do so for just any company.)


I'd been eating Manitoba Harvest's tasty hemp food products for years and then one day I noticed a link on their web site featuring a number of "Hemp-Fuelled Athletes", athletes eating hemp foods for their health. On a whim, I contacted the company and asked them if they'd ever entertain the idea of a "Hemp-Fuelled Filmmaker". They loved the idea and signed me up!

As the company's first Hemp-Fuelled Filmmaker (and likely the world's first too), I'll be eating lots of hemp, talking it up (as I've always done) to friends and family and even making the odd appearance at company events here and there.

(Hemp growing to 15-20 feet tall in a Canadian field)

The reason I'm such a fan of hemp (I eat it every day, wear almost exclusively hemp clothes, use many hemp oil based beauty products and have my business cards printed on hemp paper) is because hemp is simply the most versatile naturally-grown material you're ever likely to find. Thank you Mother Nature for this.


Hemp, the non-psychoactive version of marijuana, has been used by mankind for thousands of years, is grown pesticide-free (compare that to cotton crops which use between 25-50% of all pesticides used in the USA), its fibres are longer and stronger than any other naturally-grown fibre and it can be used from everything from food to fuel to paper to plastic (yes, hemp plastic now exists) to car parts to fabric to beauty products and on and on.


The U.S. government, which banned it during the reefer madness scare in the 1930s, even ran a Hemp For Victory campaign during the Second World War and used massive amounts of hemp fabric and ropes for uniforms and ships.

The three founders of Manitoba Harvest (a company co-owned by the farmers who grow the seeds for the company's products) were actually the spearheaders of the push to get the Government of Canada to reinstate hemp as a legal crop in 1998. Hemp is now perfectly legal to grow, eat and use in Canada even though our friends in the States still cannot grow it legally to this day.

I'm extremely proud to now be representing these delicious and nutritious products from a company I really believe in.

Look for them at your local health food store and at other fine stores in your neighbourhood or order them online at the Manitoba Harvest web site.

All my best to you all. In health and hempiness!

Ez

P.S. In case you were wondering... Ez Eats: Hempmilk in his breakfast cereal, hemp seeds on salads and sandwiches, a tablespoon of hemp oil in his OJ and yes, hemp seed butter on his toasted bagels. He loves the high protein it offers (higher by mass than beef, fish or eggs), the smooth skin it gives him and the omega essential fatty acid he and every other human needs to survive. He loves the fresh, nutty taste too!

Read about Ez in the latest Manitoba Harvest Newsletter
Read Ez's Hemp Facts
Read about Ezra's Hemp For The Homeless project
Take a tour of a real hemp field!

(Hemp cookies with Manitoba Harvest hemp seeds distributed to homeless shelters and homeless individuals as part of the Hemp For The Homeless initiative in 2007)

Ezra interviewed on CJAD - Now online

On Tuesday, July 24th, I was a guest on Peter Anthony Holder's radio show Holder Tonight on Montreal's CJAD 800AM.

On the show I talked about my latest projects, my career, influences and lots of other cool things.

Here's the link to listen to the full 25 minute interview. Enjoy!

Ez

ArtPad!

My scanner's out on loan so I'm not able to scan any pix from my collection. (You may have noticed the dearth of pix at EzSez recently...)

So, I thought to myself: "There should be a place online, like a sandbox, where people can go make drawings and then send them to friends."

So I Googled "online drawing" and behold...

http://artpad.art.com/gallery/?jluxs7lh3y0

Visit the above ArtPad link to watch the EzSez.com drawing I made come to life in an animated movie!!! It's pretty cool, I must say. (You can even adjust the speed by dragging the fast/slow slider once there.)

Thanks, ArtPad! Thanks, Google!

Thanks unto you for visiting EzSez again,

Ez

P.S. scanner coming home soon in case you're not a fan of online painting animations.

Hello - Test

This is a test of the Ez Sez Blog.

If you are able to read this you are able to read this.

That concludes the test of this system.

Regular Ez Sez programming resumes tomorrow or so.

Ez

Thank You

Simple note to say thanks for dropping by.

Today will be a good day at least in many ways, if not all.

Ez

Rusty gears

(click for juicy view)
("Rusty Gears", 7/07, Halifax)

Ez Sez: Givin' you the gears since 2006

Mirror ball

("Mirror Ball", Halifax, 7/07)

A shot from my recent trip to Halifax. What a place!

Ez

I know it's summer but...

(6/7/07, MTL, Ezra S.)

I know it's already summer but I couldn't let this one get away without sharing it here with you, dear Ez Sez reader.

Ez

Earthly Time

This poem was inspired by the birth of Elan Kunin and Lisa Rubin's daughter last night. I wrote it after getting the call from an ecstatic Elan at the hospital.

Ez Sez: Happy 'Jackpot Day'*

*I call today Jackpot Day cuz it's 7/7/7. Hope you have a great one.

Ez

Canadian Jewish News Article

(Click for full size article)

A very nice article about me, my projects and my career just appeared in this week's Canadian Jewish News.

Thanks to the article's author Heather Solomon for calling the Ez Sez site an "endlessly fascinating blog".

Enjoy the article!

Ez

Happy travels

(Click image for juicy view)
(Photos from the series "Wing Shots" and "Shoes On A Wire")

Dear Ez Sez Reader,

Are you off on a trip soon? Wishing you a safe one and a fun one.

Summer best from Ez Sez to you. Thanks for checking back in whether you're at home, work, or at the beach.

Lots more on tap for you here at the site. Drop in again whenever you like.

Ez

Hummingbird

(Hummingbird photo by Ez)

HUMMINGBIRD
(by Zsolty diPietro Mbibmbobm-Yaoushzski)

Not a drumming bird
Not a strumming bird
The summer heard...
A hummingbird

Elvis Perkins on Letterman

Congratulations to my friend Elvis Perkins on his appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman last night!

Enjoy the performance here at YouTube. Thanks to my friend Zed for putting it up there for all of us to see.

The performance was "goosebump-good" said a friend of mine in Montreal. "Elvis is dreamy and his music is haunting," said another in Ohio. "I've had his CD in my car stereo for months," lamented another in L.A.

You be the judge....

Enjoy,

Ez

P.S. More about Elvis's music here at this Ez Sez post.

Save The Bens Building Demonstration

The demonstration to save the Bens Building and have it designated a heritage building is today, Thursday, June 14th at noon.

Socalled will rap, Dave Sanders will sing, Ez will sez.

Come on down. More info on this building and demonstration, as posted on Ez Sez, can be found here.

Be there or be smoked wheat.

Ez

UPDATES:
Here are photos from the event, taken by Colin P. Rose.
Read about the Bens Building demonstration covered in the Montreal Gazette, June 15th, 2007.
Bens demo previewed in the Montreal Mirror. Click here.

Ez Sez: Post-It!

I made this for my cubicle wall one afternoon while working at CBC on Au Courant two years ago. Found it today and thought I'd share it here with you.

Ez

New SoCalled CD out today!

It gives me great nachess and pleasure to let you in on a little secret... my buddy Josh 'Socalled' Dolgin's new CD was released today across Canada and the USA. The CD has been on the charts in France and was playing all over the radio when I was there in December.

It is sure to make waves here too.

The CD is wild and crazy and tons of fun. Much like Josh himself if you've ever had the chance to see him live on stage or if you've ever met him face to face.

Lots more about Josh and his burgeoning career at this recent Ez Sez post.

Best to all from Montreal!

Ez

Buy the CD at Amazon here.
Buy the CD on iTunes
Big interview with Josh at MP3.com today

Read about the new documentary being made by Gary Beitel and Barry Lazar about josh HERE.

P.S. Josh was featured in a big Montreal Gazette feature story this past Saturday. Check your recycling bins! Or click here.

On grand descents...

Recycling Plant

(click pic for juicy, glossy, glassy image)

(From the series "Special Verre", 12/2006, France)

I took these pix at a wonderful glass recycling facility in the southeast of France in a town called Codognon.

Please remember to recycle. (Not just for recycling's sake but so I can keep having cool places to traipse around in while on vacation.)

Ez

From my future-namesake-self...

100th Ez Sez Post... Help Save the Bens Building

Today marks the 100th Ez Sez post, the topic of which is the possible demolition of the historic Bens Restaurant building in downtown Montreal.

(Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin, left, with unidentified guitarist and Ezra. In front of Bens Restaurant c. 1990)

Bens Restaurant closed its doors on December, 15th, 2006 after a strike by workers and the Kravitz family's decision to close the famous downtown smoked meatery. They had owned Bens for close to 100 years.

Now, filmmaker and friend Vanya Rose has taken up the cause - along with Art Deco Montreal, the Pop Montreal festival and other artists and concerned Montrealers - to urge the City of Montreal to designate Bens' Streamlined Modern building a Heritage Building before it's too late...

...For on June 19th, the building is to be officially signed over to new owners who could demolish it to put up a new building.

(Photo by Colin P. Rose, used with permission)

Are you a fan of Bens? Of endangered Montreal landmarks? Of Jewish urban heritage? Did you once have a great smoker there?

If so, consider attending the demonstration that will take place outside Bens on Thursday, June 14th, at noon. (990 De Maisonneuve W., corner of Metcalfe. Metro Peel)

Musicians Socalled and David Sanders will be playing there and filmmaker Tim Rideout who recently launched a short film about Bens will be showing it at the demonstration too. Other artists, speakers and former Bens employees are expected to be present as well.

(Photo by Colin P. Rose, used with permission)

Read the full "Save The Bens Restaurant Building" press release for more details on the event and the Bens restaurant building by Montreal architect Charles Davis Goodman (1894-1962). It is worth noting that the building is currently featured in a Montreal Museum of Fine Arts exhibit on Streamlined Modern design.

Off to eat a veggie burger in bewilderment of such ironies, I remain,

Ez

Further reading:
More articles on Bens here.
More photos of Bens by Colin P. Rose here.
Bens Wikipedia entry
Stay tuned for coverage of this event at your local media outlet, eager to fress deli-style on the latest news.

(Cartoon by Socalled, 2007)

UPDATES:
Here are photos from the event, taken by Colin P. Rose.
Read about the Bens Building demonstration covered in the Montreal Gazette, June 15th, 2007.
Bens demo previewed in the Montreal Mirror. Click here.

Those roads...

(4/00, NYC)

THOSE ROADS
(5/13/07, by Ezra S.)

Those roads that shake us to the bone
Drag us from our homes
Knock us off our thrones
Those are the roads to the best of places
Those roads are the roads I drive
To a deeper place inside
Those roads, they make us thrive

Bliss is here...

Hemp Bliss hempmilk is so delicious I had cereal for supper tonight.

Twice.

I tried the vanilla flavour today for the first time with my super-duper cereal mix. I became an instant fan.

As I suspected at this post on my blog pre-launch, Hemp Bliss which hit store shelves across Montreal last week, is definitely going to give cows a run for their money...

Ez Sez: Plants putting cows out to pasture where they belong.

Off to bed now. Totally can't wait for breakfast...


Ez

Top spot on YouTube

(Cartoon by Josh "Socalled" Dolgin, 2007)

Good news...

A video I shot and directed featuring Montreal klezmer hip-hop star Socalled was selected as the #1 "Featured Video" on YouTube this morning. It has since moved down the list but has already been seen more than 25,000 times! (75,000 as of 8/3/07).

Here's a screenshot of the original #1 spot:


I'm totally honoured that it was selected for this spot and was very pleasantly caught off guard by the news when it came in by email late last night. Thought I'd share the news with you.

(Click video to watch it.)

The video, called "Socalled Promo", was expertly crafted by editor Mika Goodfriend, features an intro by actor Joe Cobden, sweet background vocals by Katie Moore and "crazy-arm" clips by Ben Steiger-Levine. Watching it might just be the perfect way for you to get hip to Socalled's groundbreaking hop.

The Village Voice sez: "Socalled is one of the most deliciously demented minds in beat science."

Socalled is Montreal rapper, accordionist, cartoonist, magician, filmmaker Josh Dolgin. (But keep it under your hat... As you'll see in the video, Josh is very shy and low key.)

Josh made the music for my Cosmo's doc Man Of Grease and recently starred in and made the music for my new doc, Posthumous Pickle Party, about Simcha's Grocery. His new CD Ghettoblaster hits store shelves in Canada and the U.S. on June 12th and has already made it onto the charts in France where he's been touring extensively. I've heard the CD already and adore it.

For all you brand new or die-hard Socalled fans, you can now listen to the single from the CD, "(These Are) The Good Old Days" featuring James Brown's trombone player Fred Wesley, right here. You may just platz when you hear this track. A new classic if I've ever heard one.

Big congratulations to my good friend Josh and his whole music team on this cool YouTube accolade.

Socalled on Myspace
Official Socalled site
Ghettoblaster CD pre-sales (only $8.99 for a limited time!)

Wishing everyone a prelated 'Stay great in 2008' from the forward-thinkers here at Ez Sez.

Ez

UPDATE: A great new feature cover story on Josh just came out in NightLife Magazine here.

UPDATE #2: Big Socalled article just came out in the Montreal Mirror (May 31st, 2007).