You may remember me; my name is Curtis. You were kind enough to allow me to speak to you on Thursday last at Houselink’s Double Exposure 2010.  I want to thank you for an enjoyable evening and the opportunity to speak with so many of you.  Many guests shared stories about their personal contributions to the cause of the poor and homeless, their compassion and drive are an inspiration.

From all accounts, the evening was a success.   We raised more than $50,000 for Houselink’s programs. (Incidentally, that’s after all expenses.)  That is such a good thing for us; it will allow us to reach real people with real solutions to the problems they face.  On behalf of the current members of Houselink, and certainly, those out there who are waiting for us, please accept our most sincere thanks. 

If you haven’t already, I invite you to use this opportunity to get to know us a little more and become part of our family.  Visit: http://houselink.on.ca/. You will find yourself among of a group of good people who accomplish good things.  Of course, many agencies and organizations in this city nobly serve our poor.  Therefore, whether your support is directed at Houselink and/or others, what is important is your support.  It will take all of us to solve this most unfortunate problem.

Nevermore, will I be able to tell the story of my little man without mentioning my little men and women of Double Exposure 2010.  I have waited such a long time for an uplifting ending to that story and now you have given it to me.  Thanks so much for that. 

Curtis

Visit Double Exposure sponsor JB Smith Photography to see if you were caught on film at the event!  Enlargements of the candid images and pictures from the Photo Booth are available for order.

You will need to register (which is free) and access the Double Exposure Galleries at http://www.jbsmithphotography.com/cart/

Give Feet A Chance was taken in the “green room” adjacent to the main suite at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel No. 1742.  John and Yoko didn’t sleep in the main suite.  After a long day (from 9 am to round 8 pm) of receiving visitors they would retreat to this room, watch films, television, relax with their friends like Beatles press agent Derek Taylor, play with Yoko’s daughter Kyoko or, as in this picture, simply blow off steam and have fun.  

Left to right:  Judy Marcioni (Tommy Smother’s girlfriend), Tommy Smothers, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Rosemary Leary and Dr. Timothy Leary.  It was the fist time these two counter-culture kings had met.  From this unusually casual photo, the viewer can see the very special relationship photographer Gerry Deiter had with John and Yoko.  They trusted him to not exploit the opportunity to document what was going on.  Deiter was the only photographer there the whole 8 days and was on assignment for Life Magazine.  This only recently revealed archive, perfectly captures an era of innocence and honest efforts to stop war.

This is one of many prints available from the Deiter Archive at the Stephen Bulger Gallery, Toronto.

Featuring works by the artists featured below (L to R): Andy Summers, Sara Angelucci, Jesse Boles, Scott Conarroe, Adolph Fassbender and Dianne Bos.   To see all 25 auction lots visit our online gallery.

What are you doing on April 15th?  That’s the question that we asked several Toronto celebs including: Debra DiGiovanni, Scott Thompson, Brent Bambury, Patrick McKenna, Valerie Pringle, Linda Kash, Mark Tewksbury, Bob McDonald, Deb McGrath and Colin Mochrie. 

A special thank you to Lisa Merchant, Josh Saltzman and Dan Shehori for making the video happen!

It’s been a long week of coding and cobbling together this year’s web site, but we are nearing completion.  Of course, in the Web 2.0 world that we’ve entered with this year’s web site, there is no “complete”.  We’ll be facebooking, tweeting, YouTubing and blogging up to event day and beyond! 

Stay tuned for this year’s PSA video coming early next week!

We are in the midst of preparing for Houselink’s Auction, an annual fine art photography auction featuring a wine tasting, silent auction, entertainment and more!  Save the Date: Thursday, April 15, 2010. 

Check back here in the next few days as we update this site with all the latest information about the event.