hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil and unidentified photographer

No Notes "studies" the TV Guide

Meanwhile, back at the shop...

And of course, if we're thinking about a reunion, it would be appropriate to recall our roots together, worker-controlled cooperatives, long nights doing paste-up at the shop, all those meetings, all that copy, all those deadlines, all those publications, all those parties and potlucks.

Early daze

Gary contemplating... I don't think there are many photos of the interior of this old house and perhaps that is just as well.

Dumont World Enterprises

Trouble Looming

I remember the time Jim Hunter built a loom for Charlotte von Bezold. This was when we were living at 132 University Ave. Jim was one of the smartest people I'd ever met but he also did some of the stupidest things too. Anyway, he decided he was going to make this loom even though he'd never done it before and didn't have any instructions, not even a book to go by . . . just his own head. Before long he's built a frame for it and has started to insert the wires that would keep the threads in place. Now 132 was not exactly set up as a wood-working workshop so Jim built it right there in the front room. One day he was sitting there with this contraption on his lap. He was threading the wires through these narrow holes that he'd drilled in one of the wood cross-pieces. He would push a wire into the bottom of the hole and when it came up out the other side he would grab it with a pair of needle-nose pliers and pull it through the rest of the way. Only one of the wires was giving him trouble going through the hole so he grabs it with the pliers, and reefs on it real hard, pulling it up towards him. Except the wire suddenly slips through the hole and he can't stop the momentum of the pliers which end up coming right toward his face. In fact, there's about a half inch of wire sticking out the side of the pliers facing him and he actually pokes himself in the eye with it. Ouch!
Well, he did go on to finish the loom and it worked just fine. I was always amazed that he could make something like that without any drawings or plans. I don't know whatever happened to that loom. I just know what happened to Charlotte.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Okay then, here's the original call to action and invitation that we all received in the closing glow of the recent Winter Olympics:

VANOC passes the Torch DUMOC

DUMOC (more affectionately known as the DUM Organizing Committee) is announcing that the next DUM gathering will take place in the Greater Kitchener Waterloo area, on the long weekend of July 30, 31 and August 1, 2011. The first five members of DUMOC, brains befuddled by beverages, best buddies and unbelievable banqueting while celebrating Mel Rotman’s 65th, somehow thought it would be fun to organize a gathering to similarly mark Dumont Press Graphix’s 40th year.

New Left hippie veterans Jane Harding, Doug Epps, Murray Noll, Steve Izma and Mike Canivet have put their names forward and what remains of their brains together in a preliminary effort to make this fantasy a reality. We welcome both local and non-local fellow travelers and organizers to help out. We will be looking for federal, provincial and municipal funding to build our venues but may have to resort to private hedge funds or grants from socialist Venezuela, given the present financial climate.

Our event will be totally inclusive – no Para-event for us. We welcome the infirm and the previously firm, the mentally competent and those who just can’t remember but think they might still be. Please spread the word by whatever means you wish and to whomever you wish. Let us know what you think about the time and proposed location. We are willing to organize the weekend if there is sufficient interest.

LET US KNOW!

Steve Izma:   sizma@golden.net

Murray Noll:   mnoll@rogers.com

The Epps:   eppskenneth@gmail.com

Jane Harding:    jami@golden.net

Mike Canivet:   jami@golden.net

So there we have it... The torch has been figuratively lit. Perhaps in following this Olympic model we'll have to build our own torch, something cobbled together out of the abandoned Bic lighters hiding out at the back of the kitchen drawers of all those former smokers in the group. It could be quite the Torch Relay, wending it's way from the fabled hills of Batoche, across the prairies and the muskeg of Northern Ontario, pausing perhaps briefly in Bruce Mines of pay homage to those great reunions of the '80s and '90s, before it thrusts southward into the heart of Upper Canada and across the back roads of Waterloo County, arriving triumphantly at a local farmers market for provisions and munchies, then out to wherever this legendary gathering might be taking place. Whew!...

...in the wind

My back yard in Regina sends many best wishes for a 2011 reunion into the wind.

tricky biz

An exploration:
If you click on 'new post' in the upper right hand corner, you will arrive at the blog spot, which is not the same as commenting on someone else's post/blog. Thanks to Gary, Rosco and Bruce for initiating this initiative. It's late; after visiting on skype they have asked me to be a test case to see if this works and if I could navigate it. I guess that is yet to be seen.
Learning curves appear to be endless in my life, at pretty much every level...good night....sweet dreams...the geese are back...

The Dumont Ducks

So of course there will be baseball stories, and some great plays. . . and Roddy figures prominently in most of them... By the way, Rosco would really like to know who the other two people were in this photograph... I figure it's just part of the other team.

Joint exercise!

So Bruce wanders in the front door as Gary's making supper and says, "Is this the night we're getting together?" And Gary says, "Yes . . . tonight, but you're an hour early." Bruce happily accepts the invitation to join in for leftovers and Rosco shows up an hour later. . . right on time.

We've gathered to come up with a plan . . . to invite folks to share stories and photos and songs as this little corner's contribution to the Dumont 40th celebrations. Yes, it's a meeting we're having . . . though sometimes its hard to tell. It's a freewheeling, wide-ranging discussion . . . even on point at times . . . and a collaboration from the get-go. Here's your invitation . . . let's see where it takes us.