Nuages...

"New Age Nuage" (8/2012, Montreal, by Ezra S.)

...Then there was the time what looked like America floated by in a sunset cloud...

Wire Flyer

"Wire Flyer"  (12/2012, Montreal, by Ezra S.)

Things can rest and things can soar.

Love to all from Montreal.

Ez

Daisy in the rain...

"Wet Daisy", 6/13, Laurentian Mountains, by Ezra S.

Took this wet daisy pic over the summer after an overnight rainstorm. Now it's Fall and we're on our 11th straight day of sun in Montreal.

In spite of government shutdowns, debt ceilings, innumerable wars, radiation-filled oceans, and all the other swirling, whirling and twirling chaos around us, it's nice to know there's still sun, rain and purty flowers.

Thanks for dropping by EzSez to sniff the flowers.

Ez

Big hemp news from California

"Hemp Leaf" by Ezra S., 7/10

Mazel tov! After a decades-long ban, hemp, aka the non-psychoactive sister of marijuana, is now legal to farm again in California.

Hemp can be used to make everything from food, fuel, fibre, fabric, paper, paint, pretzels, plastic, soap, rope, concrete and coats... And a lot, lot more.

From this SF Bay Guardian article: "The California Industrial Hemp Farming Act (SB 566) was signed into law on Wednesday by Gov. Jerry Brown, after years of deliberation dating back to 1999, a process that included multiple gubernatorial vetoes. The freshly signed law will allow approved California residents to grow hemp for industrial purposes by reclassifying the once-felonious plant as a "fiber or oilseed crop."

Right on, California!

Ez

Update: There is one big caveat to all this... Federal approval. Here's more on that from the Huffington Post.

My new documentary: "Dockside to Bedside: 100 Years of Herzl"

(above: Trailer for "Dockside to Bedside", 1 min.)

Friends,

Good news... The team and I have created a brand new hour-long TV documentary: "Dockside to Bedside: 100 Years of Herzl".

I spent a year as a “fly on the wall” at the Goldman Herzl Family Practice Centre at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, documenting the institution's mosaic of patients, staff and stories throughout its milestone 100th anniversary year.

Located in the unlikely locale of a former Catholic convent on the grounds of Montreal’s Jewish General Hospital in Côte-des-Neiges (Canada’s most multicultural neighbourhood), Herzl is one of Canada's first free medical clinics and an innovative healthcare model. For a century, it has pushed the boundaries in areas as varied as family medicine, breastfeeding, teen health, urgent care, home visits for the elderly, drug addiction, palliative care and many more. 

Herzl patient Julie Lindsay, her newborn daughter, 

and Herzl's head lactation consultant, Carole Dobrich  

The film looks back at the clinic’s hundred-year history, from makeshift dockside dispensary serving newly arrived Jewish immigrants and Montreal’s poor, through its transformation into part of the bedrock of Canada’s medical landscape, becoming a recognized leader in preventive medicine and compassionate care. Today it thrives under Dr. Michael Malus, who is Herzl’s Director and the Jewish General's Chief of Family Medicine.

Dr. Michael Malus, Chief of Herzl

The film has an original score by Josh "Socalled" Dolgin (who scored my earlier films "Man of Grease" and "Posthumous Pickle Party") and was narrated by former CBC anchor Dennis Trudeau. It was produced by my wife, Alexandra Yanofsky and my old friend Christos Sourligas. Phyllis Lewis (who edited the Oscar winning NFB short "The Danish Poet") edited the film and Natalie Karneef wrote and researched it. Post sound and mixing was done by Matt Sherman of Gift of Sound and onlining was done by Rachelle Hamilton. The film is distributed by Incendo Media. A great big thanks to all the above and the entire team and all the staff and patients at the Herzl Family Practice Centre for creating this project with me.

Herzl's Dr. Mark Karanofsky kibbitzes with patients 

If you're in Montreal, tune in to City TV Montreal on Saturday, September 21st at 8pm, to watch the film. During the coming months, I'll have updates up at EzSez.com with additional broadcast dates, public screenings and ways for people outside of Montreal to see the film. 

Health to all from Montreal,

Ez

Update:  On September 18th, we received a great review from Mike Cohen at The Suburban. You can read it here. 

Heart-shaped tree

"Heart-Shaped Tree" (9/13, Montreal, by Ezra S.) 

Spotted this recently and it made me realize that even trees have hearts, especially those shaped like hearts. 

Here's to more hearts. And to more trees. 

Ez

The unexpected...

(Click article for larger version)

I share this article from today's CJN. 

Bagels to all,

Ez

Lightning bolt

So a lightning bolt dropped in just like that this afternoon during a heatwave's hard rain.

It arrived about 10 minutes after I had shipped off the master tape of my latest film to its broadcaster and about 10 seconds up ahead of where I was driving.

Happy to be here at EzSez to tell the tale and share the pic.

Love to all from Montreal.

Ez

Goodbye, Tony

(Tony Koulakis at Cosmos, 2008, Photo by Ezra S.)

A few days ago Montrealers were hit with the tragic news that Tony Koulakis, beloved retired chef of Cosmos Snack Bar in Montreal, had been killed. His younger son Johnny, who lived with Tony, was arrested under suspicion of having stabbed his father. 

I'd been a customer of Tony's since grade 11 and was blessed to have him as the main subject of "Man of Grease", a film I made in 2000 and which was released last year on DVD. 

The news of Tony's death hit me and so many others with a massive wallop. We all knew Tony, retired and sick at home with breathing issues, wouldn't last forever, but we never knew he would meet such an unthinkable end. 

So many people who were fans of the film reached out to me over the past few days to offer condolences to me and through me to Tony's family and I wanted use this blog post to acknowledge their/your extremely kind calls and emails. I was greatly helped through the past few days by all the support. 

As one Cosmos customer wrote in a moving letter to the editor today, it's Tony's family who will need the most support in the coming days, weeks and years. Nikos and Niki who ran Cosmos ever since Tony's retirement a few years back, have a big hole to fill in their lives. Their father and mentor is now gone. Their kid brother is in jail, and the future must look pretty daunting. When, and if Cosmos reopens (there has been talk that it may not reopen), please join me in visiting the place and sharing good memories about Tony with Nikos and Niki and their tireless support staff. 

As my wife Alex reminded me, we need to keep the good memories of Tony at the top of our minds to help ease the pain of the tragedy that befell him. 

Tony was known to some as the God of the Potatoes. I think I once read you can't kill a god. Tony will live on in every delicious breakfast I eat. Every time I walk down that block of Sherbrooke Street West where Cosmos is located. Every time someone mentions Man of Grease to me. And every time someone mispronounces my name the way Tony used to.

I'll miss Tony for the rest of my life. It'll be hard to find a star as bright or as memorable as him in any other film I make. The guy was a true legend and a complete classic. 

Just like the famous sandwich he made a million times over, each time with as much love as the last, the man was a Creation. 

As a facebook friend wrote, "Rest In Grease, Tony." 

Azer

(Ezra Soiferman)

Photo Exhibit

Dear Friends,

It is with great pleasure that I invite you to attend the opening of my new photo exhibit, "These Streets Magnetic".

I've been invited to show my work in the gallery at the Victoria Park building in Westmount and I wanted to share the news.

The show features juicy, large prints of documentary street photographs I shot over the past five years in Amsterdam, Brooklyn, Halifax, Manhattan, Montreal, Toronto, and Woodstock. 

Please join me for the vernissage on Thursday, June 27th, from 5-7pm in the lobby gallery at the Victoria Park building (376 Victoria Ave., Westmount, QC).

The exhibit runs until mid-September, in case you can't attend the opening, but it would be wonderful to see you next Thursday evening. 

Best to all from Montreal,

Ezra

Ezra Soiferman

EzSez.com

Stingray

"Stingray" (6/13, NDG/Montreal, by Ezra S.)

Mount Royal Statue

"The Angel's Reach" (Montreal, 8/12, by Ezra S.)

Streetlight Wires

"Streetlight Wires" (6/13, Downtown Montreal, by Ezra S.)

Can a tree get a parking ticket?

"Invisible Blood" (3/13, NDG/Montreal, by Ezra S.)

Phone book

 ("Phone Book", 9/2012, MTL, by Ezra S.)

Flowerfly

"Butterflower" (8/2012, Montreal, by Ezra S.)

All rolls along.
Sending hellos and hellos.
Ez

Ez Sez Fizz!

(Click image for full size version)

Hi, Ez Sez Readers,

My "Ez Sez Fizz" homemade hemp soda pop recipe was featured today as part of the Manitoba Messenger, a newsletter put out by Manitoba Harvest, the world's largest hemp food company.

It's a yummy drink that you can whip up in about a minute flat in your own kitchen.

Not only is the drink loaded with vitamin C, it also has all the Omega essential fatty acids and amino acids your body needs. And it's sweetened with pure maple syrup rather than plain sugar or high fructose corn syrup found in many traditional soft drinks.

Click the image above to read the recipe.

Enjoy!

Ez

Bad Hair Day

"Bad Hair Day" (3/10, NYC, by Ezra S.)

NY Times

"NY Times" (3/10, NYC, by Ezra S.)

Long shadows

"Self-Portrait in Sand" (5/12, Montreal, by Ezra S.)

Butterfly & Bee

"Butterfly & Bee" (8/12, Montreal, by Ezra S.)

Electric smart

(Photo by Angus M.)

I had the chance to drive upcoming electric smart (coming spring 2013). The one I drove was the only electric smart on Canadian soil. A super fun car. 

Roller Skates

"Roller Skates" (7/12, Halifax, by Ezra S.)

Puddle

"Puddle Pieces" (7/17/12, MTL, by Ezra S.)

Hubcap

"Self Portrait in a Truck's Hubcap" (2/12, NY State, by Ezra S.)

Woodstock moon

"Moon over Woodstock" (2/12, by Ezra S.)

Somewhere...

"Somewhere Over America" (3/12, by Ezra S.)

Reflections...

"Mirror Hand" (4/12, MTL, by Ezra S.)

Been a while since my last post here at EzSez.com.

Just wanted to get back into the swing of things and share this shot I took recently in downtown NDG.

Regards to all from Montreal...

Ez

"Man of Grease" around town...

Fun article all about "Man of Grease" in Bill Brownstein's Montreal Gazette column today. Click here to check it out.

Here's another by Stuart Nulman from the West End Times. Click here to read.

Here's one by Mike Cohen of the Suburban. Click here to read.

And here's one by Bram Eisenthal of the West End Seeker. Click here to read.

Big thanks to other media outlets for covering the DVD launch and screening: Stan Asher at Radio Centre Ville, Malcolm Fraser at the Montreal Mirror, Sue Smith at CBC's Homerun, CJAD, The Ottawa Citizen, Canadian Jewish News, and others.

And thank you to all the Cosmos fans and "Man of Grease" fans who spread the word about the DVD far and wide by email, Facebook ('Like' the fan page here), Twitter and word-of-mouth.

You all made a huge difference, helping to give the DVD a great launch.

To buy your own copy, please visit http://www.manofgrease.com

Ez

Finally, here's a little outtake clip from the film... Tony Koulakis at his best...