Trailblazers

WITH THE publication of this, East of the City’s 10th anniversary issue, it’s safe to say the magazine knows a thing or 10 about what it takes to keep its readership engaged month after month, year after year. Regional stories of the unique people, places and things that enrich our daily lives have been the foundation on which East has built its success. For me, it’s always been the people profiles. And so it goes that I had the privilege of interviewing the inaugural group of five of our region’s most beloved trailblazers for this special edition. And in each the following five editions you will meet five additional innovators who call our region home.

Household names now, to be sure, but suffice to say, these creative, learned, fun and funky Durhamites have been honing their craft for well over a decade. 

What does it take to become an overnight success 10 years later? Ride along with us and discover, as we did, the breadth and scope of these most amazing innovators and gain insight into their worlds. With a degree in music and philosophy from the University of Toronto, this one woman dynamo began writing songs at nine-years-old. Slean’s debut EP, Universe, was an uncommon indie success story, landing the Pickering native a co-venture recording contract with Atlantic Records US and Warner Music Canada in 1998. 

 With a plethora of albums to her credit and a fan base of Passioneers who would surely take a bullet for her, and accolades from the likes of Time Magazine, who referenced Slean as, “one of the most compelling acts Canada has to offer,” through it all, The Baroness has managed to keep her success in check. Says Slean, “To be fluent at my craft and on fire with something to say — which is all I wanted — there’s no substitute for work and life experience. You can’t stand over a tomato plant and scream at it to grow faster.”  

 

How old would you be…

Sarah Slean: I would honestly be exactly as I am ... I would never trade this time for any other time. I think the essence of human life is this constant ride on the present moment, the crest of the wave of time. We surf the “now” into ever more amazing places, opportunities, people, moments. And though there is a part of me that still feels like the eight-year-old kid; the 19-year-old bursting with dreams; the 26-year-old caught in a maze of agonizing doubts and passions, there is all that and so much more now!!  In my view, we don’t necessarily change, we expand, we amplify and spread out in terms of our knowledge and power and capacity. We awaken to more and more of what we are, so all of those old selves are still in there.  

And I think that’s an eternal process. 

 

Christian Pritchard

Christian Pritchard’s passion for food started as a toddler with his weekly trips to the St. Lawrence Market in Toronto with his first culinary mentor, his dad. The sights, sounds, tastes and smells of the market were the catalyst for a lifelong career in food and entertaining.

 

Today, Pritchard dishes up his own brand of gastrotainment within the Region as co-host of Rogers TV’s Daytime where his passion for all things local — especially food, farms and family — shines through. During the show’s hiatus Pritchard conducts Food and Wine Tours of Italy with Transat Holidays.

 

An in-demand culinary entertainer, Pritchard “keeps things moving along” emceeing large food events with Food Network  titans the likes of  Mark McEwan, Lynn Crawford, Curtis Stone, Susur Lee, Martin Yan and Kevin Brauch, to name but a few.

 

Factor in his sold-out cooking classes at professional cooking schools across Ontario  — including at his own Blue Mountain Culinary Cottage in northern Ontario — stints on TALK640 radio; and guest appearances on City TV’s Breakfast Television, CBC’s Steven & Chris Show; and CHCH’s “Morning Live.,” and one could safely call this gastronome, Mr. Food.

Food for thought, indeed.

 

How old would you be…

Christian Pritchard: I feel like a 16-year-old, even though next year I’ll turn 40. 

 At 16 I felt at the top of my game in so many ways. And I had great hair! In this age of social media, the people I hung around with at 16 in the beaches in Toronto have started reintroducing themselves into my life.

 When I was 16 my Dad (veteran CHUM FM radio broadcaster, David Pritchard, who passed away in 2005) was the coolest guy in the world. Unlike other kids my age, I absolutely idolized my parents, especially my Dad. He had accomplished so much in his life and I wanted to be just like him. Today, I can only dream of him knowing my beautiful children Lilea and Lochlan.

Visit Christian online at www.chriscooking.com

 

Neil Crone

Neil Crone lives in a town so small everybody knows where everyone else’s birthmarks are. He has performed in dozens of television and radio commercials, TV shows, and is the voice of numerous cartoon characters every Saturday morning, including YTV’s new hit series, Erky-Perky, Pearlie, and The Adventures of Bob and Doug McKenzie.  

 For most, our endearment for Crone comes by way of our television sets as he celebrates his sixth season playing the role of Radio Redneck Fred Tupper in CBC’s hilarious hit sit-com Little Mosque on the Prairie and in his second season of Family Channel’s delightful Really Me. 

 A Second City Main Stage alumnus, Crone has been performing improvised and sketch comedy for over 20 years and was bestowed the 2008 Canadian Comedy Award for Best Radio Comedy for his work as “Bad Santa” on Q107 radio’s Derringer in the Morning show. 

 When not on stage; in front of a television camera; or behind a microphone, Crone is busy penning his  award-winning syndicated humour column, Enter Laughing, for Metroland Media Group. 

 

Crone is a cancer survivor and is the National Spokesperson for both the Colo-rectal Cancer Association of Canada and Colon Cancer Canada.  As a much-sought-after motivational speaker, Crone focuses his presentation on the power of laughter in healing.

When Crone grows up he wants to be an Astronaut.

 

How old would you be…

Neil Crone: I’ve always said that I still feel like I’m 16. Feels like I just mentally and emotionally parked there at some point. Not sure if that’s a good thing or bad thing. 

I seem to have loads of energy most of the time, my body feels good and I can’t stop staring at girls.  

Also seems like I ‘m just learning to drive again every morning I get on the 401!

 

Visit Neil online at www.neilcrone.com

 

Ted Barris

For going on 40 years, Ted Barris — through his thought-provoking contributions to the Globe and Mail, National Post, Legion, Air Force, esprit de corps, Quill and Quire and Zoomer, to name but a few publications, and his many books on the subject — has become Canada’s steward to its wartime history and gatekeeper for the heart-rending stories of  the veterans who proudly served their country.  

Of the 16 non-fiction books under Barris’s writerly belt, most Canadians know his words through his series on wartime Canada: JUNO: Canadians at D-Day, June 6, 1944; Days of Victory: Canadians Remember 1939-1945; Behind the Glory: Canada’s Role in the Allied Air War; Deadlock in Korea: Canadians at War, 1950-1953; and Victory at Vimy: Canada Comes of Age, April 9-12, 1917. All have received critical acclaim and bestseller status. Barris’s 16th book, Breaking the Silence: Veterans’ Untold Stories from the Great War to Afghanistan, is a bestseller.  Barris’s non-fiction writing has been twice short-listed for the Canada History Prize, awarded in memory of Pierre Berton. 

 

Barris’s work finds him in front of the studio microphone and camera as well, hosting and contributing to CBC Radio programming and on TV Ontario. 

 

Barris has received a many awards during his long career including his hometown of Uxbridge’s “Citizen of the Year” honours; the Bear Hackle Award in recognition of his “contribution to the awareness and preservation of Canadian military history and traditions”;  the Patriot Award; and the Canada 125 Medal  “for service to Canada and community.”

 

On July 27, 2011, Barris was presented with the Minister of Veterans Affairs Commendation. 

 

Talk about a hard act to follow!

 

How old would you be…

Forty years a freelance writer (and all those years a chronicler of Canada’s wartime history), I have enjoyed the gift of the memories of perhaps 4,000 veterans. Consequently, in my work, I have always been the age of a soldier, sailor or airman. 

 

When I began my wartime research/writing in the late 1960s, I have imagined I went over the top with Canadians at Vimy, during the four days in April 1917 when Canada came into nationhood. 

 

More recently, I have discovered the trauma of Canada’s Afghanistan vets. 

 

Through my work, I have known the youth of service to Canada. And while I have felt their vitality, I have also come to know the nightmares and their loss. Being this close to their experiences, I feel I am as old or young as those I’ve written about.

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