N U M B E R 4 3 ■ A u t u m n - Winter 2014 ■ $ 2 . 0 0

■ CHRISTOPHER MOORE AT THE MORRIN CENTRE ■ OUR PRESIDENT SOVITA CHANDER AWARDED PRIX HOMMAGE ■ MURDER AND INTRIGUE IN SAINT-SYLVESTRE

The Morrin Centre is managed by the Literary & Historical Society of . Society Pages are published with the assistance of Post.

CONTENT Jessica Kelly-Rhéaume

LAYOUT Patrick Donovan

NUMBER 43 ■ AUTUMN-WINTER 2014 PROOFREADING Louisa Blair

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CONTENTS PUBLISHER Literary & Historical Society of Quebec 44 chaussée des Écossais Quebec, Quebec G1R 4H3 PHONE Interview with LHSQ President 1 418-694-9147 FAX From the Executive Director 2 Barry McCullough 418-694-0754 GENERAL INQUIRIES Transactions [email protected] WEBSITE Hill Search: www.morrin.org 2 The Robert Corrigan Story ■

LHSQ COUNCIL Library Pages [email protected] Sovita Chander, President On the Shelf: Way out West 4 Britta Gundersen-Bryden Ladd Johnson, Vice-President Gina Farnell, Treasurer More Book Reviews 6 Mike Lawlor Shauneen Furlong, Secretary Donald Fyson, Honorary Librarian Recipe: Plum Cake 7 Rosemarie Fischer Barry Holleman, Member at Large Bruce Laurie, Member at Large New Acquisitions 8 Peter Black William GK Boden Events & Activities Jack Bryden Katherine Burgess Introducing Hoffmann Wolff 9 Diana Cline Jacob Stone Literary Feast 10 Hoffmann Wolff Hélène Thibault

David F. Blair, Ex-Officio Halloween at the Morrin Centre 10 Hoffmann Wolff ■ Miscellanea DIRECTOR Music Review 11 Barry McCullough Barry McCullough Executive Director Volunteer Thanks 12 [email protected] FULL-TIME STAFF Gail Cameron Accounting & Financial Clerk [email protected] Rosemarie Fischer LIBRARY HOURS Administrative Assistant [email protected] Stefanie Johnston Sunday 12:00PM-4:00PM Guided Tours Coordinator [email protected] Jessica Kelly-Rhéaume Monday CLOSED Library Manager [email protected] Tuesday 12:00PM-8:00PM Elizabeth Perreault Program and Communications Director Wednesday 12:00PM-4:00PM [email protected] Mathieu Tremblay Rentals and Events Coordinator Thursday 12:00PM-8:00PM [email protected]

Friday 12:00PM-4:00PM ■

Saturday 10:00AM-4:00PM The mission of the Morrin Centre is to share and foster English-language culture in the region. The Morrin Centre is administered by the Library Closed December 24, 25, 26, 31 and January 1, 2 Literary & Historical Society of Quebec. ISSN 1913-0732

Front cover: Christopher Moore at the Literary Feast (Credit: Louise Leblanc) SOCIETY PAGES LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT INTERVIEW WITH LHSQ PRESIDENT SOVITA CHANDER

On November 12, the president of the LHSQ, Sovita speaking cultures, so I think we have a lot to contribute Chander, was awarded the 2014 Prix Hommage by the locally and nationally. Chambre de commerce et d'industrie de Québec. This prize honours the contributions to society made by an individual MC: What are the benefits of being recognized? born outside Québec. SC: Awards like the Prix Hommage allow you to shine Morrin Centre (MC): Congratulations on winning the a spotlight on the issues and causes that matter to you, Prix Hommage. both inside and outside business. I can tell you that the Morrin Centre is at the top Sovita Chander (SC): of that list. On the Thank you! professional front, I am a big believer in the need to MC: Do you think your bring more women into experience with the technology. We waste half Morrin Centre has our resources when contributed to your women are not part of the success in the business picture, and we can’t world? afford that.

SC: Yes, definitely. You MC: The position of learn a lot about President is a very teamwork and bringing demanding one. How do a vision to life when you balance this busy you’re on a board. volunteer position with What you learn is your career? invaluable in business. SC: Growing up, I was

MC: How has the Credit: fredphotographe.com taught that you give back Morrin Centre changed in to the community you live in, the seven-plus years you've been on Council? no matter where you live. Just to give you an example, my mother, who lives outside Washington DC, chairs SC: When I first joined Council, we were in the thick her city’s Aging in Place committee. Back in the day in of restoring the building. Today, we are building a Malaysia, my grandparents were active in their local leading cultural organization that every one of us can communities, as board members and volunteers. I’m cherish. Council can be proud of the work we’ve done. lucky to have these great role models.

MC: What is the key to being recognized by influential MC: How do you see the Morrin Centre growing in organizations such as the Chambre de commerce et the near future? d'industrie de Québec? SC: Let me try to answer from a historical perspective. SC: You know, I’m not sure that I’m an expert on that. When Lord Dalhousie founded the Literary and All I can say is: be good at what you do. Know how you Historical Society of Quebec in 1824, he started with make a difference. And learn how to talk about what is 125 members. Last year, our cultural centre had 25,000 important to you, whether it’s business, culture, visitors come through our doors. This year, that technology, or another topic. One thing I would like to number will hit 30,000. We are becoming a key player add: we need more entrepreneurs in Quebec. There in the Quebec and Canadian cultural landscape. Lord are strong entrepreneurship traditions in many English- Dalhousie wouldn’t recognize the place! ■

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AUTUMN-WINTER 2014 FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Dear members, With such a full calendar, though, we are always looking ahead and have been hard at work preparing an even It’s hard to believe that 2014 is more exciting programming for 2015. The lineup for the drawing to a close. With how 6th annual ImagiNation Writers’ Festival is nearly set much has been happening at the and will be unveiled early in the New Year. Morrin Centre, it is no wonder the Additionally, the winter and spring programming is lined year has passed so quickly. We set up. Be sure to check out our website and Facebook records for attendance with more page for all of the latest updates on programming and than 30,000 people coming through the doors. While more. the team had a busy year, it was incredibly rewarding to be able to bring you a rich program of heritage, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all of the educational and cultural activities. presenters, collaborators, staff and members of Council for everything they have done for the Centre this year. Early in the year we hosted the fifth annual ImagiNation Special thanks go out to our volunteers who make so Writers’ Festival where we hosted some of Canada’s many of the great events and activities possible. You will top authors such as Miriam Toews, Annbel Lyon, find their names on the back inside cover of this issue. Wayne Grady and Terry Fallis. All throughout the year Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. I look forward to the Morrin Centre hosted its Connecting Through seeing you all in 2015. Culture series, which allowed us to celebrate bilingualism through a wonderful series of cultural Barry McCullough events including music, history, literature and more. Executive Director

TRANSACTIONS INTERVIEW WITH STEVEN CAMERON ABOUT HIS NEW BOOK HILL SEARCH: THE ROBERT CORRIGAN STORY

Steven L. Cameron is co-founder of the various non-profit organizations. And, the experience of Irish Heritage Group, Coirneal sharing the stories got me to the next stage, making Cealteach, and former Vice President of them into a book, whereby the target audience could be the Literary and Historical Society of broadened and a bit of permanency added to the story- Quebec. Below is an short interview telling. that the Morrin Centre did with Steven Cameron on his first book. This story, the Robert Corrigan Story, was and is just too important to have been lost to time. In addition, I Morrin Centre (MC): So why did found that when I did find something about it in the you write a book? And why this public domain, most, if not all the sources included so specific book? many errors … it simply had to be re-told.

Steven L. Cameron (SLC): Over the past few years, MC: So, what’s it about? I have been driven by the idea of saving the Irish/Celt footprint in our area (southwest of Quebec City). A lot SLC: (chuckles) Obviously the focus is Robert Corrigan of effort has gone into saving cemetery stones, getting a and his murder in 1855…. But it’s more than that. The ‘historic site’ designation for a section of Craig’s Road, story provides a good view as to what it was like to live establishing our own Celtic Cross/Irish Stone Circle as here at the time. In the 1830-1870 period, St. Sylvester a place to visit and finding and saving old stories. This was a tough place. The story is about Ribbonmen in the story component evolved into a series of talks for hills, armed Orangemen on the roads, body snatching, a

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SOCIETY PAGES TRANSACTIONS

 HILL SEARCH (continued from previous page) have no one to blame for failure or error other than lost cemetery, police raids, intimidation and intrigue, yourself. fraudulent elections, fights and more. It also weaves the oral tradition into the telling. And always, as a principle, MC: Any surprises in the process? it maintains the nuanced difference between fact, rumour and opinion. This is not fiction…it really SLC: Not sure, but I have found that it has all been happened. rather amusing. Having to learn the self-pub software, figure out MC: How long did it take you pricing, the tax implications and to research this book? Can you the best sales channels have all tell us about the process? been a hoot! And the little unforeseen pleasures have been SLC: Well, I have been playing a true joy: seeing my first book around with this subject matter being placed on the shelf of my for years. As a youngster hearing library, getting my first order about the men ‘hiding in the (real $), having someone ask me hills’, I was never sure whether I to sign their copy…. I had not was being told the truth. Then a expected that I would react with few years ago, a dear friend, a smile at each of these new Marianna O’Gallagher, asked me experiences, no matter how to give a talk on the subject simple…so maybe that’s the matter. This simply made me surprise! realize how much I didn’t know about the story. So, I gave the MC: Will you do it again? talk, and then really started the research…at the archives, re- SLC: Absolutely. I am hoping to visiting the oral tradition with have the second book the elders and finally, simply completed by the spring of 2015. walking the hills. I know this There are a few more murders land, I know these hills and now to document and share. Then, I know them really well. with a bit of luck, I hope to make a first attempt at fiction, MC: Why self-publishing? leveraging some of the facts Carey Corrigan, Steve Cameron, Denis Corrigan th (Left to right) about a 19 century Quebec SLC: It did not take me long to City lawyer with a strong air of realize that I lacked patience. Publishers don’t move at mystery about him. warp-speed. They never seem to say ‘no’ outright, but their “we’ll be back to you” drove me nuts. I guess their MC: Thanks for this. lack of speed was a polite ‘no’. So, I waited a while, and then thought of two solid examples of do-it-yourself : SLC: My pleasure. Enjoy the read! ■ the musician, Loreena McKennitt, whose self- management is such a success story, and my friend Joe Steven L. Cameron was at the Morrin Centre on November Lonergan, President of Irish Heritage Quebec, who 26 to tell the Robert Corrigan story. Books can also be completed his first book earlier this year. The option purchased by contacting the author at allows you full control of the process and assures you [email protected].

Follow us on Check out pictures of our events and more Facebook www.facebook.com/morrin.centre

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AUTUMN-WINTER 2014 LIBRARY PAGES ON THE SHELF: WAY OUT WEST A THEMATIC REVIEW OF SOME INTERESTING, IMPORTANT OR JUST ENTERTAINING BOOKS IN THE LIBRARY OF THE LITERARY AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF QUEBEC. by Britta Gundersen-Bryden

Quebec City readers can look West by following their Non-Fiction at Its Best gaze along the mighty St. Lawrence. Then, in their Candace Savage sets A Geography imagination they can cross the wide sweep of the of Blood in Saskatchewan’s prairies, climb up and over the Rocky Mountains and Cypress Hills. This Saskatoon-based press onward to the forests and salt water of the Pacific academic found a deep, personal Coast. The Library’s shelves have many offerings to connection to the small town of enrich that virtual journey. Eastend, nestled into the eastern side of the Cypress Hills. Savage Fiction So Good, It Seems “Real” gives readers evocative descriptions James Lee Burke is best-known for of the landscape as well as his crime novels set in New flashbacks to her family’s life in the Orleans. However, the author Peace River Country. She soon looks beyond her own himself splits his time between the family’s story and finds stories of the First Peoples at Big Easy (New Orleans) and the Big the Interpretive Centre at the site of Fort Walsh. Those Sky (Montana) and has set several of are stories of displacement, desperation, starvation, his books in Montana. Bitterroot sacrifice and massacre but also of timelessness, (2001) is the story of challenges resilience and friendship. faced by Doc Voss and his daughter Fort Walsh, the Cypress Hills, the Sioux and the Maisey. Voss’s friend, Texas lawyer Mounties are threads that tie Savage’s work to Billy Bob Dixon, comes north for a Vanderhaeghe’s. Readers who pair these two works will visit and gets tied up in matters of murder and mayhem. come to a new understanding of a seldom-discussed Like Burke’s iconic character David chapter in Canadian history. Robicheaux, Dixon has to face his own ghosts in order to help his friends. Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Guy Vanderhaeghe was a featured Immortal Photographs of Edward writer at the 2013 ImagiNation Curtis by Timothy Egan (2012) Writers’ Festival. Soon thereafter provides a masterful sweep of the the Library shelves featured his 2011 life and life’s work of Edward Curtis. novel, A Good Man. Vanderhaeghe Curtis was the author, photographer takes his main character, Wesley and driving force behind the classic Case, through the end of the Wild compendium, The North American West period. Case encounters Indian. Egan followed in Curtis’s Mounted Police in their scarlet tracks to the US southwest, California, Oregon, tunics and the U.S. Cavalry in their Washington, British Columbia, Alaska, out into the blue shirts. He spends time at Fort Walsh and Bering Strait and to the Big Sky Country of Montana. interviews Sitting Bull. Throw in Fenian raids and the Egan’s writing is crisp, as always, and the reproductions Battle of Ridgeway, the U.S. Civil War and a love story, of some of Curtis’ best-known photos give the book a and the author gives readers a real treat. The main special touch. characters (Case, with all his human weaknesses, and Ada, with all her strengths) ring true. A Good Man is a Many Library members will remember reading the Little good, tightly-woven story with the haunting history of House on the Prairie novels. For “the rest of the story”, the Sioux as the undercurrent. try Ginger Wadsworth’s biography, Laura Ingalls Wilder: Storyteller of the Prairie, (1997).

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 WAY OUT WEST (continued from previous page) The Quadra Chronicles: An Otter Growing up in - and returning to - the American Odyssey by Bruce Bradburn with Southwest inspired ImagiNation Festival 2014 local illustrations by Rhys Haug will appeal author Rae Marie Taylor to pen a series of essays, The to those 8 – 12 year olds who are Land: Our Gift and Wild Hope (2012). Taylor writes independent readers as well as to of times past and hopes future. She also draws parents and grandparents who want perceptive parallels between Canada and the United to read an action-packed “chapter States and between Quebec and New Mexico that book” to younger children. Oscar come from a deep understanding and her personal the Otter and other animals of the experience. Pacific Coast are portrayed as real animals in their natural surroundings. They have only The Yukon is as far west as a fleeting contact with human beings and spend most of traveler can go in Canada. Author their time learning how to survive, and thrive, in the Keith Tryck wrote about his wild. (In the interests of full disclosure, the author is adventures “way out west” (and the brother of the writer of this column. He has spent north) in Yukon Passage (1980). most of his life on the West Coast and has been a This rafting story covers a 2000-mile careful observer of the animals with whom he shares his long journey from Lake Bennett, beloved Quadra Island). south of Whitehorse, north to the Bering Sea. Older readers (and adults, too) will appreciate An Another account of an exciting water voyage in the Indian Winter (1992) by Library’s collection is the subject of Jonathan Raban’s Russell Freedman with Passage to Juneau (1999). paintings and drawings by Karl Bodmer. In 1833/34, One of the grandest western adventures was the cross- Bodmer, a Swiss artist, and continental trek of Meriwether Lewis and William Alexander Phillip Maximilian, Clark. Each man kept his own journal of the expedition, a German prince, spent the which lasted from May 1804 until September 1806. In winter with the Mandan people of the Upper Missouri 2000 the Folio Society published Pathfinders of the region. Freedman’s book is based on Maximilian’s American West: The Journals of Lewis and Clark, published journal. The prince details his journey from edited by Frank Bergon. This work entwines both St. Louis through the lands of the Sioux, the Hidatsa, journals, by date, allowing readers to compare and the Assiniboine, and Blackfeet, to what is now Great contrast the observations and musings of these two Falls, Montana. Along the way Maximilian and Bodner celebrated explorers. meet Toussaint Charbonneau, who had been one of the Lewis and Clark expedition guides thirty years earlier. History buffs can dig even deeper by perusing The Works of Washington Irving, Volume X; Bonneville’s Finally, what single word evokes Adventures, published in 1860 – and still residing on images of the West more readily than the Library’s shelves. “cowboy”? A 1996 book entitled Cowboy by Robert Klausmeier, For Younger Readers illustrated by Richard Erickson is Few subjects fascinate 8 – 10 year old readers as much complete with facts about cattle as dinosaurs and time travel. Author Helen V. Griffith ranching from the Canadian border to and illustrator Sonja Lamut combine the two in southern Texas, round-ups, brands, Dinosaur Habitat (1998). Part fiction, part fact, this is cattle drives, cowboys’ horses and daily life. There are an “up close and personal” account of a young boy who biographical sketches of three famous cowboys and a is mysteriously transported back into a world where his good glossary of cowboy terms. There are even songs toy diplodocus, triceratops, hadrosaurus and fearsome and recipes for cowboy beans and sourdough biscuits! ■ t-rex all come alive.

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AUTUMN-WINTER 2014 LIBRARY PAGES MORE BOOK REVIEWS by Mike Lawlor

Stumbling towards war resulted in the deaths of more than 15 million soldiers,

The War that Ended Peace: yet failed to produce anything remotely beneficial for The Road to 1914 by any of the participants. But some things were changed, Margaret MacMillan for example: Prior to 1914, Europe had not  Syria was created; been in a general state of  The Ottoman Empire collapsed and Turkey arose; warfare since the conclusion of  Empires were wiped out, such as Austria-Hungary; the Napoleonic campaigns  Communism and fascism were accelerated; nearly a century earlier. It had  US world power was established; and been an uncommonly  The seeds of WW11 with Germany were planted. harmonious stretch by the continent’s historically The germination process of these seeds was significantly bloodthirsty standards (albeit enhanced by the fact that Germany was not defeated on the civil war in the United States had significant the WW1 battlefield – it was neither invaded nor ramifications in Europe, and there was the isolated occupied. The Armistice (11.00 A.M. November 11; defeat of France by Germany in 1871). 1918), an agreement to stop fighting, resulted in the total capitulation of Germany but it did not technically But during this period a series of small but nagging surrender. There ensued six months of negotiations confrontations in Morocco and the Balkans was having based upon US President Wilson’s fourteen points. an accumulated effect; as well, the great powers were Who could be blamed? coming to view one another with a growing air of  in Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm II and the chief of the suspicion. Finally, there was a mood throughout Europe German general staff, Von Moltke the Younger; of an “odd combination of unease and complacency.”  in Austria-Hungary: Emperor Franz Joseph; This atmosphere was exacerbated by supremacy  in Russia: Tsar Nicholas II and his wife; struggles between England and Germany over naval  in Britain: King Edward VII, Prime Minister Herbert power, Austria-Hungary’s attempt to maintain its power Asquith, and British Admiral Jacky Fisher. status in Europe, and Russia’s objective of increasing its influence in the Balkans. The 1914-18 slaughterhouse, initially called the Great War and later rechristened the First World War, gave And then there was the June 28, 1914 assassination in us Remembrance Day and, from a Canadian Sarajevo of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand by perspective, Vimy Ridge. It ended peace in the 20th triggerman Gavrilo Princip and fellow members of the century. Young Bosnia radical independence organization. Not in the same league A month after Ferdinand’s assassination, Austria- Flight of the Eagle by Hungary declared war on Serbia, and Europe Conrad Black collectively stumbled toward war: I found this book by Conrad  Germany with Austria-Hungary; Black to be his best; although  Russia with the Serbia; his other two books on  France with Russia; Roosevelt and Nixon were very  Britain with France. good too. This, in my opinion, is the best account of the history A century’s worth of forensic investigation into the of the U.S.A. Black does not causes of WW 1 has yielded its share of finger-pointing, hide the country's sins of with all of the principals (Germany, France, England, commission or omission but Russia, Austria-Hungary and Serbia) blamed for drawing they are marginalized by his Europe into a long senseless war of attrition. This war account of the greatness of the nation, beyond anything

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 MORE BOOK REVIEWS (continued from previous page) He describes the greatness of Presidents Adams, ever achieved or even imagined, culminating in its Jefferson, and Madison, but clearly ranks Washington, bringing about the collapse of the USSR. It is a great not Lincoln, and Roosevelt as the most effective and having -so-short anecdote against 'Yankee Nay-Sayers'. made the greatest contribution to the nation and to the world. Black has high praise for Eisenhower, Nixon, and While each president of the U.S. is discussed from both Reagan, but gives less standing to Kennedy, Johnson, the a domestic and an international perspective, the book is Bushes, Clinton, and Obama: not in the same league. essentially structured around the following periods: He concludes by outlining that the U.S is now in a bit of from its beginnings until 1776; from 1776 to 1863; from a funk, not having recovered from 2008, and weaker 1863 to 1930; from 1930 to 1991; and from 1991 to now than in the past as regards political gravitas and 2013. know-how. However, he predicts re-evaluation and re- growth. ■

RECIPE: PLUM CAKE by Rosemarie Fischer Instructions Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.

In a larger bowl, mix butter and sugar and beat until fluffy.

Add eggs one at a time, beating well between each, and then mix in vanilla and almond extracts.

Mix in dry ingredients in two or three sequences, alternating with the milk.

Spread this dough in a round spring form mold. Place quartered plums on top. The surface must be entirely This plum cake recipe is a simplified version of the covered in plums. Sprinkle with sugar. traditional German plum cake made on flat baking sheets with yeast. My inspiration comes from my Bake in a 350°F oven for 45 to 60 minutes or until a German grandmother, Luise Volbrecht, the best baker toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean. of cakes I have ever known! She made this 'Zwetschgenkuchen' every September when Italian Serve with freshly whipped cream. plums were in season. Notes: I prefer to sprinkle a mixture of cinnamon and Ingredients sugar on top of the cake before baking. You can also 100 grams butter (about ½ cup) use apples if plums are not in season. Cortland apples 100 grams sugar (about ½ cup) work best. ■ 1 envelope vanilla sugar 2 eggs HOLIDAY Almond extract (to your taste) 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract LIBRARY SCHEDULE

200 grams flour (about 1½ cups) Closed December 24, 25, 26, 31 4 to 5 tablespoons milk and January 1, 2 500 grams blue plums (seeded and quartered)

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AUTUMN-WINTER 2014 LIBRARY PAGES NEW ACQUISITIONS

Here are a few of the recent additions to the Library collection. To reserve a title, please contact the Morrin Centre Library at 418-694-9147 or visit our online catalogue at www.morrin.org. Fiction Sanaaq: An Non-Fiction Midnight in Inuit Novel Taste Buds and Europe Nappaaluk, Molecules Furst, Alan Mitiarjuk Chartier, François F991 2014 N217 2014 664.072 C486

A Man Came The Bees Reading out of a Door Paull, Laline Architecture: A in the P329 2014 Visual Lexicon Mountains Hopkins, Owen Harun, Adrianne 721 H795 H296 2014

Mr. Mercedes The Long Way Feet, Don't Fail King, Stephen Home me Now: The K54 2014 Penny, Louise Rogue's Guide

P416 2014 to Running the Marathon Kaplan, Ben 796.4252 K17 Us Conductors The Rise and Dreams of the Michaels, Sean Fall of Great Good Life M621 2014 Powers Mabey, Richard Rachman, Tom BIO M112 2014 R119 2014

Moving In the Light of Those Wild Forward What we Know Wyndhams : Sideways like a Rahman, Zia Three Sisters at Crab Haider the Heart of R147 2014 Mootoo, Shani Power M825 2014 Renton, Claudia BIO W985 2014

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SOCIETY PAGES LIBRARY PAGES Jane, the Fox & Juvenile Four: A Me The White Divergent Britt, Fanny Bicycle Collection GN B862 2013 Brenna, Beverley Roth, Veronica JF BRE 2014 JF ROT 2014

Graphic Novels The Strange The Mysterious Jane, the Fox & Life of Benedict Me Gwendolyn Society Britt, Fanny Golden Stewart, Trenton GN B862 2013 Dowding, Philippa Lee

JF DOW 2014 JF STE 2007

Flannery Paper Towns The Man with O'Connor: The Green, John the Violin Cartoons JF GRE 2008 Stinson, Kathy O’Connor, JF STI 2013 Flannery GN O18 2012

Northwest Wildwood The Unlikely Passage Meloy, Colin Hero of Room Rogers, Stan JF MEL 2011 13B GN R729 2013 Toten, Teresa JF TOT 2013

INTRODUCING OUR INTERIM PROGRAM AND COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR HOFFMAN WOLFF

“I'm originally from North Carolina, but sporting goods companies. first arrived in Quebec City as a teenager. I attended Quebec High School and learned I returned to Quebec City in April 2013, French by playing on area baseball teams. and truly enjoy living here.

After completing my bachelor's in French at The Morrin Centre is an amazing, a small college in Virginia, I worked in the important place and I'm really happy to be sports world, handling communications and on board with an excellent team.” ■ operations for a number of teams and

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AUTUMN-WINTER 2014 EVENTS & ACTIVITIES MORRIN CENTRE SUPPORTERS COME TOGETHER FOR A QUEBEC CONFERENCE-THEMED EVENING by Hoffmann Wolff

With the 150th anniversary of the Quebec Conference The crowd was then entertained by the evening's as its theme, the sixth annual Literary & Historical keynote speaker, Canadian historian Christopher Society of Quebec Literary Feast on October 16 was a Moore. Having previously won two Governor's General resounding success. awards, he is currently a columnist for Canada's History magazine. In his The Literary Feast has been talk, “Three Weeks in the LHSQ's signature event October: When Quebec since its debut, bringing City invented Canada,” together members of the Moore spoke on the area's Anglophone and Quebec Conference of Francophone communities 1864, and how a handful of for an evening of superb Canadians from all walks of food and memorable life came together in guests. Quebec City to develop the framework of the After beginning the evening constitution for the new with a cocktail in the nation. library, the over 100 attendees moved into Susan Campbell, the host College Hall for dinner, of Quebec AM on CBC which was decorated in the Mr. Christopher Moore (Credit: Louise Leblanc) Radio, entertained the spirit of the 1864 conference. In addition, the crowd as the evening's emcee. Attendees were Restaurant Saint-Amour provided the meal for the encouraged to bid on over 40 silent auction items evening inspired by dishes which were popular at the which had been generously donated by members and time, including rabbit stew with lime. corporate partners, including a round-trip business class ticket from Quebec City to Toronto on VIA Rail, a Former Society chairman David F. Blair, partner at the bottle of 12-year-old Old Pulteney scotch from McCarthy Tetrault law firm, as well a member of the QuebecWhisky, and an oil painting from member Order of Canada, was the evening's honorary chair. He Joanne Coleman-Robertson, “Low Tide.” discussed the history of the LHSQ and its adaptation into today’s Morrin Center, the steps that have been Between ticket sales and silent auction items, over taken to ensure its longevity for years to come, and the $35,000 was raised for the LHSQ, which will contribute importance of the Literary Feast evening towards the greatly to the costs of putting on the wide variety of Centre’s fundraising goals programming at the Morrin Centre during the upcoming year. ■

HALLOWEEN AT THE MORRIN CENTRE by Hoffmann Wolff

For the second year in a row, the Morrin Centre frightening Halloween-themed environment under the hosted its Interactive Halloween Experience, which theme “The World of Dr. Frankenstein.” took place over 12 nights between October 17 and November 15. Hérôle, an entertainment company As Hérôle described the event: based in Trois-Rivières, transformed the building into a Three years ago, Victor Frankenstein

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SOCIETY PAGES MISCELLANEA

abandoned his house after conducting The Morrin Centre received wide-ranging media research about life on earth, having finally coverage both before and during the event. Quebec achieved his greatest success. City media was introduced to this year's theme at an Unfortunately, every prior experiment left interactive press conference that took place at the behind monsters, each more terrifying Morrin Centre on October 1, with performers from than the last. The scientist has Hérôle bringing this year's characters to life. Radio- disappeared…but his subjects still haunt Canada television and radio also reported during the the house’s corridors. tours, enabling viewers and listeners throughout the area to become acquainted with the event. Guests purchased tickets for a one-hour tour of different areas of the Morrin Centre, through which Over 1,200 visitors attended this year’s Interactive they encountered various darkened corridors and scary Halloween Experience, adding another spine-tingling characters. event to the area’s Halloween scene. ■

MUSIC REVIEW: By Barry McCullough

Spoon – They Want put Who Makes Your Money, up against almost My Soul (Loma Vista) anything they’ve ever put to tape (vinyl? computer?).

Full disclosure: I’m a bit With the band switching labels, is of a Spoon fanboy. So, the first Spoon to not be released on Merge it’s not with complete Records since 1998’s A Series of Sneaks. Even the Spoon objectivity when I claim connoisseur would agree that the band’s distinctive that they’re one of the sound remains firmly in place. Like so many of their best bands of the past 20 previous , They Want My Soul is new and years. If there not one of familiar all at once. “Rent I Pay” kicks things off with a the best, they’re at least slow burn and Daniel’s first words being a confession one of the most consistent and I have plenty of people that he’s “been losing sleep.” Restlessness is a common who will corroborate this claim. Metacritic, a website theme throughout the album. that aggregates reviews of music and other media, determined that during the 2000s Spoon was the best- One of the clear highlights is “Inside Out,” with its reviewed group ahead of heavyweights like Radiohead, classic spoon drum-machine beat keeping pace and the White Stripes and Tom Waits. enough synth complements to lend it a dreamy quality. Side two doesn’t waste anytime setting the pace with It had been over 4 years since Spoon’s last album, a the synth-laced “Outlier.” Much of the album has a veritable eternity in the world of Spoon. The band cited retro feeling including the cover of Ann-Margret’s 1961 being burned out after the album/tour/repeat cycle as hit “I Just Don’t Understand” and the title track. During the reason. That’s not to say that Spoon’s main man, the latter, Daniel claims “Educated folk singers want my , hasn’t been busy. Daniel formed indie soul.” The song is clearly an assertion that there is supergroup with of Wolf always someone out to get you, listing sharks, street Parade. Other band mainstay kept himself preachers and even Jonathon Fisk (see: 2002’s Kill the occupied by producing albums for several bands, Moonlight). including Half Moon Run, !!! and Tennis. The album closer, the urgent “New York Kiss,” is a Some saw 2010’s Transference as either a bit of a step fitting end to an excellent album. Its restlessness is back or treading water. Following up 2007’s incredible proof positive that Daniel and company are still living, was always going to be a tall order. loving, searching. Let’s hope that it doesn’t take them That’s not to say there weren’t excellent songs. I would four more years to put this on record. ■

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