Friday, October 5, 2012
Letter to the Los Angles Times writers Randall Roberts and Randy Lewis
Friends ...
I'm sure you've received plenty of criticism over your thoughts about Rush and the Rock 'N Roll Hall of Fame, but I wanted share with you my two cents.
For me, the crux of the issue comes down to the question over what qualifies a band for inclusion into the Hall of Fame. I think that's where we all get lost.
The suggestions you made in your video make sense -- you guys aren't the first to criticize Geddy Lee's voice. And Canada's favourite rock trio has been knocked for being pretentious and for writing complicated melodies and lyrics that many view as inaccessible. However, one thing I've never heard is somebody complaining that Rush music is difficult to dance to -- that's like criticizing Picasso because he's a terrible piano player.
I don't care if Rush gets inducted into the Hall of Fame, but it seems to me Rush might qualify for reasons that you didn't talk about.
Rush has influenced rock music and musicians in ways that are unique and far reaching. Rush fans adore them for some of the reasons you complained about in your video.
The band has always created music that was challenging and intricate -- and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart has similarly challenged listeners with cerebral themes and lyrics not usually found in rock music. These are among the reasons Rush fans adore them.
Because of all of this -- or despite it -- musicians from many genres cite Rush as an important influence. For decades, when fans or critics make their lists of musicians known for their talent, popularity and innovation, all three Rush members make the cut. I'm a Rush nut, and even I was stunned at the number of rock stars who worship Peart's drumming, Lee's skill as a bass player and the guitar work of Alex Lifeson. The recent documentary "Beyond The Lighted Stage" didn't just celebrate Rush's popularity, but it also helped put the reasons for the success of Rush into perspective.
Perhaps this year offers the best proof that Rush is more important than you appreciate. Even though Rush has sold-out their concerts for decades, its current tour is no exception. Fans are flocking in the thousands to Rush shows across North America. And this is no nostalgia-based, greatest-hits tour many of Rush's contemporaries have undertaken in recent years.
Rush's latest record, this summer's Clockwork Angels, is just as relevant as any Rush album released in the previous decade, or material released in the 1990s, the 1980s or the 1970s. For a band whose debut album was released in 1974, Rush is recording and touring in 2012 with remarkable success. This isn't just rare -- it's unheard of.
Many Rush fans are silver-haired fans who remember when songs like Closer to the Heart or Spirit of the Radio were on the charts, but the appreciation for Rush continues to deepen. Young fans are still attracted to the unique sound of Rush and discover nuggets from its catalog that includes 19 studio albums over four decades. Last week at a Rush concert in Saskatoon, I sat beside two teenaged Rush shirt-wearing brothers, one of whom bragged about being able to play the 1975 Rush song Fly By Night “almost all the way though" on the guitar.
If inclusion into the Rock 'N Roll Hall of Fame were based on issues surrounding popularity, influence, musicianship, relevance and longevity, then they ought to have been inducted years ago. If Rush is ignored for reasons you talk about and the Hall of Fame doesn't the like the complicated music and Geddy Lee's voice, then that's okay by me.
Cheers,
Andrew Matte
Regina, Sask.
CANADA
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
"I'll treat this as an adventure"
This was published in 2009 on nationalpost.com
Andrew Matte: 'I'll treat this as an adventure'
nationalpost.com
Thu Jan 15 2009
Section: Full Comment
Along with the rest of Regina, I've heard plenty about challenges in health care - there are too few nurses, not enough infrastructure and not enough money. I didn't think much of the issue until I was hospitalized last week and learned lots about our health-care system shortcomings.
After my whirlwind tour of the General Hospital's emergency ward, I was given bad news. Sure, I was told I'd be admitted for a few days, but the news got worse when I was told there was no bed for me. Instead, I would spend a few nights recovering from asthma complications at Code Burgundy, a large main-floor ward also used by patients who come for a few hours of treatment or assessment during the day.
Code Burgundy was established, I was told by hospital staff, because of the nursing shortage - elsewhere, there are nicely decorated rooms and soft beds, but not enough nurses to care for patients. Others told me "there are just no beds."
Instead, this makeshift room, which is also referred to "patient overflow," collects patients the hospital can't normally handle and the remaining available nurses are assigned to patients like me. Until last week, I assumed patient overflow was something easily remedied by a bedpan and a little privacy.
The number of patients this ward accommodates varies from night to night - some get released, some find that coveted bed "upstairs," and one nice lady during my stay was transferred by ambulance to the Pasqua Hospital, where a regular bed had become available. Members of the unfortunate group that remained, which fluctuated last week between 12 and 20, were left to convalesce in make-do circumstances.
Mind you, this is no African refugee field hospital. But my bed was little more than a narrow cart on wheels, and the reassuring gurgle from my intravenous pump was interrupted at night by noises expected at a big room full of sick people and those who care for them. You'd be surprised how often - and how loudly - patients are coaxed from their sleep at 4 a.m. for a some sort of test or treatment, or how often patients call out for help long after the lights are out. And never did I miss my own bed more than when I was handed a half-sized rubber pillow squished flat by a thousand heads before me.
I tried to treat this as an adventure. After all, my health was improving and I took solace in the notion I'd be home soon while other patients might not have similar prospects.
On the other hand, I was disappointed my tax money wasn't working harder for me. I figured this roomfull of mostly senior taxpayers who were spending their days and nights on stretchers, deserved better. There was also fabulous irony in how I looked forward to leaving the hospital so I could catch up on my rest. I'm 41 and I was at Code Burgundy for only a few days, so I felt bad for older people whose stays were longer than mine.
Others deserve better, too, including the patients who were scheduled for day procedures but received pre-dawn phone calls telling them not to come in because new patients like me were using their space.
The nurses and doctors are owed more, too - I felt let down by the system, but I was treated well by the men and women who cared for me, all of them energetic and positive despite the conditions. It must frustrate doctors and nurses to see the care of their patients compromised.
I wonder what Tommy Douglas would think if he were a hospital patient today. My guess is that he'd be dazzled by the care, but then turn burgundy with frustration over the notion of patient overflow in a booming Saskatchewan in 2009.
I don't know why this problem exists, so I have no advice for the politicians and health administrators who should fix it. During my hospital stint, I was reminded of all that I have read about nurse recruitment and the Saskatchewan Party's boasting about what it spends on health-care, neither of which comforted me last week.
But I suspect that if the right people spent a night or two at Code Burgundy, I bet they'd start to work as hard as nurses to figure out a way for all hospital patients to have a bed.
And then all of us would sleep a little better.
Length: 739 words
Idnumber: 200901150138
Permalink: network.nationalpost.com...»
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Monday, February 20, 2012
Ron Petrie
Ron Petrie's column was one of the first things I read when I researched Regina and the Leader-Post before I moved to the Queen City in 2004.
I liked the column because it was written by a smart man who loved to write and share his love for his wife, children and Saskatchewan. I figured that this Prairie province would suit me just fine because Ron proved you could poke a little fun at life in Saskatchewan and embrace it at the same time.
I got lucky six months ago when I was assigned a new job and a desk near Ron's, which meant I got to chat with him more than I ever had.
Ron's best columns focused on his kids. When I was a copy editor and assigned to write a headline over his column on the right side of A3, I concede that I had to walk away from my desk a couple times to keep myself for choking up in front of my colleagues after reading about how much he loved his four children. When it came to his family, he wrote with unmatched passion and clarity.
Looking back on the weekend of Ron's death at just 52, I realize that I liked Ron and his work because he reminds me of my dad -- a talented, funny journalist and passionate father whose life ended much too early because of a cancer, a disease that seems so unfair and cruel.
AM
I liked the column because it was written by a smart man who loved to write and share his love for his wife, children and Saskatchewan. I figured that this Prairie province would suit me just fine because Ron proved you could poke a little fun at life in Saskatchewan and embrace it at the same time.
I got lucky six months ago when I was assigned a new job and a desk near Ron's, which meant I got to chat with him more than I ever had.
Ron's best columns focused on his kids. When I was a copy editor and assigned to write a headline over his column on the right side of A3, I concede that I had to walk away from my desk a couple times to keep myself for choking up in front of my colleagues after reading about how much he loved his four children. When it came to his family, he wrote with unmatched passion and clarity.
Looking back on the weekend of Ron's death at just 52, I realize that I liked Ron and his work because he reminds me of my dad -- a talented, funny journalist and passionate father whose life ended much too early because of a cancer, a disease that seems so unfair and cruel.
AM
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
alcohol delivery
By ANDREW MATTE
REGINA — This darkened bungalow was hidden by a massive, overgrown tree. The tiny house numbers didn’t help. But the rumble from inside was the giveaway — a muffled version of “Honky Tonk Woman” could be heard through an open window, so I was confident I was delivering a 12-pack of Pilsner and a 750ml bottle of Smirnoff to the correct address.
I followed a crumbling sidewalk, noted a tipped-over tricycle and other toys in the front yard and rang the bell. I rang it again and knocked loudly before I called the customer from my cell phone.
A pleasant woman in her 50s wearing a nightgown finally came to the door. She paid me cash for the beer and vodka, the $8.40 delivery charge and an extra toonie for my trouble, which, wasn’t enough for the extra work it took to find her hidden house and roust her from whatever she was doing.
But this was a typical delivery on a Saturday evening working for John Murray, Regina’s first entrepreneur to be licensed by the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority to deliver alcohol. This spring, “dial-a-bottle” was introduced by the Saskatchewan government, allowing imbibers to order a bottle like they would pizza. It also opened a market to anyone to apply to the commission for a Home Delivery Permit and begin a business where none existed before.
For the six companies operating across the province, the work is simple — take an order over the phone, drive to a liquor store or offsale to buy items on the customer’s behalf and deliver it to their doorstep for a fee.
The rules aren’t different from bars or offsales — customers who appear drunk or are younger than 19 must be refused. Delivery companies can charge whatever they like for their service, but they aren’t allow to inventory their own alcohol, nor are they allowed to put a mark-up on what they buy.
I went to work for John as a casual driver this summer in hopes of making extra money when I wasn’t at my full-time job as a copy editor at the Leader-Post.
I like the money, but I am also drawn to this late-night adventure and the surprise that comes with every delivery.
Some customers are 20-somethings enjoying an evening with a house full of other young people, some are affluent party hosts treating their guests to drinks and others live in unfortunate circumstances: Some count their nickels to pay for a 1 a.m. delivery of a case of high-alcohol beer as toddlers scurry about the house.
As the Yuletide season approaches, alcohol delivery companies are anticipating an upswing in business due to demand from Christmas parties, family dinners and New Year’s Eve bashes.
n n n
John Murray opened his business, aptly named 775-BEER, after receiving his Home Delivery Permit from the authority in April. He and his wife Angela Markel had returned to their hometown of Regina about three years ago after going to school in Edmonton.
Murray had been working as a courier delivering building materials to Regina construction sites when he learned of Saskatchewan’s changing liquor laws. He saw an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a new industry.
“I wanted to be first through the gate. And I was,” Murray says.
With the help of his wife and other family members who sometimes take a turn answering phones and making deliveries, Murray proved to himself that there’s potential for growth. He believes that with more advertising and as more residents know of the service, expansion in Regina and beyond is likely. He already accepts orders from Moose Jaw and hopes to someday serve imbibers province wide.
“The growth rate has been steady. I’ve been pleased with it,” Murray says.
“This isn’t a self-employment venture, nor is it a get-rich scheme. This is a fun project. This is something I want to build into something more. That is why I got Moose Jaw on the go. This is where it can be cost effective, which is to have a single call centre for multiple cities,” he says.
“I would love to see it go province-wide. To see it grow into a provincial brand would be just great. I would have a lot of fun building it.”
He said it was important for him to pay his own start-up costs and avoid going into debt. He’s not sure, however, whether spending more on advertising at the beginning would have let him grow faster.
“Sometimes I wonder whether I should have borrowed and done some more aggressive advertising, but I guess I can’t say I’m displeased either,” says Murray, adding he’s avoided borrowing money to launch the business.
Before Murray delivered his first case of beer, he sought advice from the South Saskatchewan Independent Living Centre. Since Murray was born without a left hand, he qualified for advice from centre, which helped him fine-tune his business plan.
n n n
There was a young mother who, while holding her infant son in her arms, proudly showed me her driver’s licence that proved she had been 19 years-old for three weeks as she accepted two, 2-litre bottles of wine coolers. I also remember a man in his 30s who was standing on his front lawn wearing a bathing suit when I arrived at 2:30 a.m. — he was dripping wet after emerging from his backyard hot tub. I also remember delivering a case of beer well after midnight to a Winnipeg Street house where the front yard was crammed with people, many of whom were huddled around a fire, including pre-schoolers in diapers and children in strollers.
n n n
Regina’s second company to receive its permit is Bottle Runners, a business launched by the Denouden brothers, Kevin and Curtis. Kevin had recently returned from Alberta where he worked as an alcohol delivery driver in Calgary and Curtis had returned from China. Like Murray, the Denoudens saw potential in the new service. Also like Murray, they’re seeing a steady growth as word spreads of their business, as well as a wide variety of customers.
“We probably get calls from three new customers a day. And least one of them will call again. Over 50 per cent of our customers have called more than once,” says Kevin, whose company was granted a delivery permit after 775-BEER because it was forced to appeal after it was turned down in April.
“We deliver in Wascana Estates and in the Core every day.”
But the Denoudens hope to lobby the authority in hopes of loosening the rules, to allow them to take orders until 3 a.m. rather than be forced to refuse calls after 2 a.m. Kevin says they’re missing out on business and he argues the rule is unfair since offsales can stay open until 3 a.m.
“A lot of the times, we’ll answer the phone after 2 a.m. and we’ll educate them a little bit and tell them ‘hey buddy, get your call in before 2 a.m.,” Kevin says.
“The main aspect of the business is to keep drunk drivers off the street. So if you take away that hour, between 2 and 3 a.m., then it sort of defeats the purpose.”
James Rolston hopes to do some lobbying of his own. Rolston operates Living Skies Alcohol Delivery in Saskatoon and believes the authority should be doing more to tell the public that his service, and others, are an option.
“I have had people call me at 6 a.m. ... people think I have better prices than the liquor board stores ... there has been no public education... it’s very frustrating,” says Rolston, who unlike 775-BEER and Bottlerunners, takes orders and makes deliveries himself.
Rolston, who also operates a limousine service in Saskatoon, said he was surprised that so many of his customers want their orders to arrive quickly. He had hoped his customers would order several hours, or even days, in advance.
“I didn’t realize it was going to be as on-call as it is. I was hoping to do more of the business through the website. But how it works is that people don’t order until they’re down to their last beer, and then they want it right now. So that tended to be problematic,” says Rolston.
His website has helped him attract some business, however, including one customer from Taiwan who arranged to have a case of beer delivered to his father in Saskatoon, as well as a company in Toronto that ordered a bottle to an actor debuting at the Persephone Theatre.
n n n
Permission was granted to delivery companies after the authority’s review of Saskatchewan liquor laws, which prompted changes in other areas, including allowing customers to brew beer and wine at businesses that sell equipment and offer advice. Other changes including allowing restaurant-goers take to home a bottle of wine they didn’t finish, as well as increased fines for those who serve alcohol to minors to $10,000 from $2,500.
Authority spokesman David Morris says alcohol delivery was granted because residents of Saskatchewan wanted it. Also, the province had been in the alcohol delivery business itself for the past 25 years, offering services from liquor stores in Regina, Moose Jaw and Saskatoon. Available to seniors and others with mobility issues, local courier and cab companies were contracted to deliver alcohol, but usually just once per day.
“What we heard from residents that they wanted an improved delivery service, an on-demand service,” says Morris.
Morris defends charges from detractors who argue the service puts booze in the hands of those who shouldn’t have it or allows minors greater access to alcohol.
“Residents of Saskatchewan already have many outlets available to them where they can purchase beverage alcohol. Home delivery is aimed at customers who maybe can’t get to an SLGA liquor store or offsale,” Morris says.
“A delivery service isn’t an inducement to drink more. This is just another way for people who maybe can’t get to those outlets to buy beverage alcohol.”
The authority isn’t done granting delivery permits. So far, there are six in Saskatchewan — two in Regina, two in Saskatoon, one in Swift Current and another in Lampman. There are three more applications before the authority — one in Regina, another in Saskatoon and another in Melfort.
Morris says there have been no complaints since the permits were issued, and delivery companies say they have only positive reports from customers.
The services also legitimize other firms that could have operated under the law. There is plenty of folklore in the industry that includes stories of companies that operated under the law prior to 2009, delivering marked-up alcohol and even illegal drugs to customers.
Bob Bymoen, president of the Saskatchewan Government Employees’ Union, is among those who think private alcohol delivery is a bad idea, especially since it takes the work out of the hands of union workers at government-run liquor outlets.
“They are all trained in a store. And there is no money incentive when it comes to refusing someone alcohol. They are more likely to keep their job by refusing alcohol than by selling it,” says Bymoen.
Bymoen believes having private companies deliver alcohol makes it more likely for minors or the intoxicated to be served.
“If you are standing on somebody’s doorstep with a bottle, the only way you are going to recoup the price of the bottle and the delivery is to give them the bottle,” says Bymoen.
“If you’re too drunk to get into your car and get a bottle yourself, is it any more responsible to have someone get the bottle for you?”
For others, getting into the business of alcohol delivery remains tempting. It could make sense for offsales that already operate a busy food delivery service to simply add alcohol to the menu.
Kevin Kasha, part owner of the Last Straw Brew Pub on Albert Street, said he and his partners are still studying the issue.
Larry Krulak, owner of the Empire Hotel on McIntyre Street, operates the only offsale in Regina that stays open until 3 a.m., 365 days a year. He considered adding delivery to his business but decided against it out of fear of dealing with headaches.
“It’s too much hassle. There will be problems at the door ... your drivers can get ripped off. And when you get to the door, you will have problems finding someone old enough to accept it,” adding he might have considered it if a delivery permit allowed him to deliver to downtown business and hotel guests.
n n n
Back at 775-BEER, Murray still goes out on delivery but relies on growing number of drivers. He also shares that uneasy feeling of delivering alcohol to heavy users of alcohol, but says his job is to make sure the laws are followed.
“I am regulated when it comes to the morality of it. I can’t sell to minors, I can’t sell to people who appear intoxicated,” he says.
“The people who I deliver to used to get their alcohol otherwise, like taking a cab or driving themselves to the offsale.”
REGINA — This darkened bungalow was hidden by a massive, overgrown tree. The tiny house numbers didn’t help. But the rumble from inside was the giveaway — a muffled version of “Honky Tonk Woman” could be heard through an open window, so I was confident I was delivering a 12-pack of Pilsner and a 750ml bottle of Smirnoff to the correct address.
I followed a crumbling sidewalk, noted a tipped-over tricycle and other toys in the front yard and rang the bell. I rang it again and knocked loudly before I called the customer from my cell phone.
A pleasant woman in her 50s wearing a nightgown finally came to the door. She paid me cash for the beer and vodka, the $8.40 delivery charge and an extra toonie for my trouble, which, wasn’t enough for the extra work it took to find her hidden house and roust her from whatever she was doing.
But this was a typical delivery on a Saturday evening working for John Murray, Regina’s first entrepreneur to be licensed by the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority to deliver alcohol. This spring, “dial-a-bottle” was introduced by the Saskatchewan government, allowing imbibers to order a bottle like they would pizza. It also opened a market to anyone to apply to the commission for a Home Delivery Permit and begin a business where none existed before.
For the six companies operating across the province, the work is simple — take an order over the phone, drive to a liquor store or offsale to buy items on the customer’s behalf and deliver it to their doorstep for a fee.
The rules aren’t different from bars or offsales — customers who appear drunk or are younger than 19 must be refused. Delivery companies can charge whatever they like for their service, but they aren’t allow to inventory their own alcohol, nor are they allowed to put a mark-up on what they buy.
I went to work for John as a casual driver this summer in hopes of making extra money when I wasn’t at my full-time job as a copy editor at the Leader-Post.
I like the money, but I am also drawn to this late-night adventure and the surprise that comes with every delivery.
Some customers are 20-somethings enjoying an evening with a house full of other young people, some are affluent party hosts treating their guests to drinks and others live in unfortunate circumstances: Some count their nickels to pay for a 1 a.m. delivery of a case of high-alcohol beer as toddlers scurry about the house.
As the Yuletide season approaches, alcohol delivery companies are anticipating an upswing in business due to demand from Christmas parties, family dinners and New Year’s Eve bashes.
n n n
John Murray opened his business, aptly named 775-BEER, after receiving his Home Delivery Permit from the authority in April. He and his wife Angela Markel had returned to their hometown of Regina about three years ago after going to school in Edmonton.
Murray had been working as a courier delivering building materials to Regina construction sites when he learned of Saskatchewan’s changing liquor laws. He saw an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a new industry.
“I wanted to be first through the gate. And I was,” Murray says.
With the help of his wife and other family members who sometimes take a turn answering phones and making deliveries, Murray proved to himself that there’s potential for growth. He believes that with more advertising and as more residents know of the service, expansion in Regina and beyond is likely. He already accepts orders from Moose Jaw and hopes to someday serve imbibers province wide.
“The growth rate has been steady. I’ve been pleased with it,” Murray says.
“This isn’t a self-employment venture, nor is it a get-rich scheme. This is a fun project. This is something I want to build into something more. That is why I got Moose Jaw on the go. This is where it can be cost effective, which is to have a single call centre for multiple cities,” he says.
“I would love to see it go province-wide. To see it grow into a provincial brand would be just great. I would have a lot of fun building it.”
He said it was important for him to pay his own start-up costs and avoid going into debt. He’s not sure, however, whether spending more on advertising at the beginning would have let him grow faster.
“Sometimes I wonder whether I should have borrowed and done some more aggressive advertising, but I guess I can’t say I’m displeased either,” says Murray, adding he’s avoided borrowing money to launch the business.
Before Murray delivered his first case of beer, he sought advice from the South Saskatchewan Independent Living Centre. Since Murray was born without a left hand, he qualified for advice from centre, which helped him fine-tune his business plan.
n n n
There was a young mother who, while holding her infant son in her arms, proudly showed me her driver’s licence that proved she had been 19 years-old for three weeks as she accepted two, 2-litre bottles of wine coolers. I also remember a man in his 30s who was standing on his front lawn wearing a bathing suit when I arrived at 2:30 a.m. — he was dripping wet after emerging from his backyard hot tub. I also remember delivering a case of beer well after midnight to a Winnipeg Street house where the front yard was crammed with people, many of whom were huddled around a fire, including pre-schoolers in diapers and children in strollers.
n n n
Regina’s second company to receive its permit is Bottle Runners, a business launched by the Denouden brothers, Kevin and Curtis. Kevin had recently returned from Alberta where he worked as an alcohol delivery driver in Calgary and Curtis had returned from China. Like Murray, the Denoudens saw potential in the new service. Also like Murray, they’re seeing a steady growth as word spreads of their business, as well as a wide variety of customers.
“We probably get calls from three new customers a day. And least one of them will call again. Over 50 per cent of our customers have called more than once,” says Kevin, whose company was granted a delivery permit after 775-BEER because it was forced to appeal after it was turned down in April.
“We deliver in Wascana Estates and in the Core every day.”
But the Denoudens hope to lobby the authority in hopes of loosening the rules, to allow them to take orders until 3 a.m. rather than be forced to refuse calls after 2 a.m. Kevin says they’re missing out on business and he argues the rule is unfair since offsales can stay open until 3 a.m.
“A lot of the times, we’ll answer the phone after 2 a.m. and we’ll educate them a little bit and tell them ‘hey buddy, get your call in before 2 a.m.,” Kevin says.
“The main aspect of the business is to keep drunk drivers off the street. So if you take away that hour, between 2 and 3 a.m., then it sort of defeats the purpose.”
James Rolston hopes to do some lobbying of his own. Rolston operates Living Skies Alcohol Delivery in Saskatoon and believes the authority should be doing more to tell the public that his service, and others, are an option.
“I have had people call me at 6 a.m. ... people think I have better prices than the liquor board stores ... there has been no public education... it’s very frustrating,” says Rolston, who unlike 775-BEER and Bottlerunners, takes orders and makes deliveries himself.
Rolston, who also operates a limousine service in Saskatoon, said he was surprised that so many of his customers want their orders to arrive quickly. He had hoped his customers would order several hours, or even days, in advance.
“I didn’t realize it was going to be as on-call as it is. I was hoping to do more of the business through the website. But how it works is that people don’t order until they’re down to their last beer, and then they want it right now. So that tended to be problematic,” says Rolston.
His website has helped him attract some business, however, including one customer from Taiwan who arranged to have a case of beer delivered to his father in Saskatoon, as well as a company in Toronto that ordered a bottle to an actor debuting at the Persephone Theatre.
n n n
Permission was granted to delivery companies after the authority’s review of Saskatchewan liquor laws, which prompted changes in other areas, including allowing customers to brew beer and wine at businesses that sell equipment and offer advice. Other changes including allowing restaurant-goers take to home a bottle of wine they didn’t finish, as well as increased fines for those who serve alcohol to minors to $10,000 from $2,500.
Authority spokesman David Morris says alcohol delivery was granted because residents of Saskatchewan wanted it. Also, the province had been in the alcohol delivery business itself for the past 25 years, offering services from liquor stores in Regina, Moose Jaw and Saskatoon. Available to seniors and others with mobility issues, local courier and cab companies were contracted to deliver alcohol, but usually just once per day.
“What we heard from residents that they wanted an improved delivery service, an on-demand service,” says Morris.
Morris defends charges from detractors who argue the service puts booze in the hands of those who shouldn’t have it or allows minors greater access to alcohol.
“Residents of Saskatchewan already have many outlets available to them where they can purchase beverage alcohol. Home delivery is aimed at customers who maybe can’t get to an SLGA liquor store or offsale,” Morris says.
“A delivery service isn’t an inducement to drink more. This is just another way for people who maybe can’t get to those outlets to buy beverage alcohol.”
The authority isn’t done granting delivery permits. So far, there are six in Saskatchewan — two in Regina, two in Saskatoon, one in Swift Current and another in Lampman. There are three more applications before the authority — one in Regina, another in Saskatoon and another in Melfort.
Morris says there have been no complaints since the permits were issued, and delivery companies say they have only positive reports from customers.
The services also legitimize other firms that could have operated under the law. There is plenty of folklore in the industry that includes stories of companies that operated under the law prior to 2009, delivering marked-up alcohol and even illegal drugs to customers.
Bob Bymoen, president of the Saskatchewan Government Employees’ Union, is among those who think private alcohol delivery is a bad idea, especially since it takes the work out of the hands of union workers at government-run liquor outlets.
“They are all trained in a store. And there is no money incentive when it comes to refusing someone alcohol. They are more likely to keep their job by refusing alcohol than by selling it,” says Bymoen.
Bymoen believes having private companies deliver alcohol makes it more likely for minors or the intoxicated to be served.
“If you are standing on somebody’s doorstep with a bottle, the only way you are going to recoup the price of the bottle and the delivery is to give them the bottle,” says Bymoen.
“If you’re too drunk to get into your car and get a bottle yourself, is it any more responsible to have someone get the bottle for you?”
For others, getting into the business of alcohol delivery remains tempting. It could make sense for offsales that already operate a busy food delivery service to simply add alcohol to the menu.
Kevin Kasha, part owner of the Last Straw Brew Pub on Albert Street, said he and his partners are still studying the issue.
Larry Krulak, owner of the Empire Hotel on McIntyre Street, operates the only offsale in Regina that stays open until 3 a.m., 365 days a year. He considered adding delivery to his business but decided against it out of fear of dealing with headaches.
“It’s too much hassle. There will be problems at the door ... your drivers can get ripped off. And when you get to the door, you will have problems finding someone old enough to accept it,” adding he might have considered it if a delivery permit allowed him to deliver to downtown business and hotel guests.
n n n
Back at 775-BEER, Murray still goes out on delivery but relies on growing number of drivers. He also shares that uneasy feeling of delivering alcohol to heavy users of alcohol, but says his job is to make sure the laws are followed.
“I am regulated when it comes to the morality of it. I can’t sell to minors, I can’t sell to people who appear intoxicated,” he says.
“The people who I deliver to used to get their alcohol otherwise, like taking a cab or driving themselves to the offsale.”
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Home-made background and stand
It began with a wedding job - the client wanted simple pictures, all taken indoors in a living room. I had plans to rent a backdrop and stand but decided to make my own. I found designs online, fiddled with them a little and came up with this.
The first thing I did was use 1 1/2 inch and 2 inch plumbing pipe rather than PVC pipe I found on other sites. A little more expensive but more sturdy and durable.
The feet were the easy part. The vertical lengths are two sections that slide into each other -- two 6-foot sections mean it's expandable to 12-feet. I drilled holes in both and used a 50-cent bracket-pin frmo Princess Auto to hold it in place.
The horizontal sections are two 1 1/2 inch sections with a 2-inch section that holds them in place. Similar holes and bracket-pins hold it all in place.
The elbows - where the vertical section meets the post took a little plumbing. I originally had the 1 1/2 inch secton jammed into the elbow piece. But it wasn't as stable as I wanted. So I plumbed a short 1 1/2 section into the elbow, then added a step-up joiner and then a short 2-inch section thas was long enough to accept a couple of holes. The bracket-pins make it all nice and secure.
The stand cost me about $85 including the pipes and pins.
As for the backdrop, I started with a $35 painter's drop cloth -- it has a seam in it, but you can't see it in any of the pictures I took. A made a second one, ordering a 12'-15' section of muslin from an online fabric place in New England. That cost me about $50. I tie-dyed both backdrops, using ritt dye I found at Michaels. The grey backdrop, which is the painter's drop cloth, is quite a bit heavier. I had my sister-in-law sew a loop in it so the horizontal piece slides right inside of it.
So, this is cheap, sturdy and very portable. It sets up in a snap and it's easy to do for one person. It's expandable to 12-feet high and 15-feet wide.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
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