“A TRIBUTE TO PAUL QUARRINGTON” will take place TUESDAY, APRIL 13 at The Opera House (735 Queen St. East, Toronto)

Click here to buy your tickets now

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Celebrating his Life with Music, Theatre, Literature, Magic, and Sport

Friends and family celebrate the works of renaissance artist Paul Quarrington, featuring live music and theatrical presentations of his literary works, sprinkled with a touch of Magic and Sports. Host Barbara Budd will introduce featured artists including Joel Quarrington, Tony Quarrington, Porkbelly Futures, BidiniBand, Soul Stew, Baldini the Magician, Dan Hill, Melanie Doane, Joe Hall, Jim Cuddy, Anne Lindsay, and more!

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE YOUR TICKETS NOW

Produced by
Judith Keenan and Rebecca Campbell

In Collaboration with
BookShorts, CTV Bravo!, Cordova Bay Entertainment, Greystone Books

Profits of the Event Contributed to
Quarrington Arts Society

TICKETS:

General Admission – $35.00 in advance (plus Service Fee)
MORE at the door!

Ultra Ticket Package – $95.00
Only available by calling 416-519-0806
Includes: A Book, CD & DVD. This offer is ONLY available in advance of the event!!

QUARRINGTON ART SOCIETY – First In Line!!

February 24 – March 2, 2010
Advance tickets available exclusively to QAS contributors

Paul Quarrington
Paul Quarrington is a Canadian artist who defied creative pigeon-holes to become celebrated in many disciplines
- music, film, television, theatre, journalism, education – while pouring out novels and books of non-fiction in Canada and abroad. Paul passed away on January 21, 2010; he was 56.

BookShorts Inc.
BookShorts Inc. produces screen-based media specializing in content inspired by authors, books and publishing.
The media is distributed via television broadcast, Internet, live events, film festivals and other multi-platform promotions. BookShorts’ Judith Keenan is the Producer of the documentary film “Paul Quarrington: Life in Music,” a cinematic essay featuring this prolific artist as he comes to terms with his life and death through the power of music.

CTV Bravo!
Bravo! is an oasis in the television landscape where viewers make a regular appointment with the arts.
Whether it’s a classic opera, an art documentary, a performance in the Concert Hall, or a cutting-edge film,
Bravo! gives viewers an opportunity for enriching and thought-provoking experiences.
Bravo! is owned by CTV Limited, a division of CTVglobemedia, Canada’s premiere multi-media company.
“Paul Quarrington: Life in Music” will air on the channel on May 30, 2010.
More info at http://www.bravo.ca
More info at www.bookshorts.com

Cordova Bay Entertainment
Cordova Bay Entertainment Group, Inc was founded in Victoria, BC in 1998. As an independent label, our philosophy is to form a partnership with each of our artists to effectively promote their music to the world. In its lifetime, Cordova Bay has put out records that span the genres of Rock, Pop, Blues, Folk and Jazz the common ground always being a dedication to great music, good relations and new ideas.
Cordova Bay will release Paul Quarrington’s as-yet-untitled solo recording on May 25, 2010.
More info at http://www.cordovabay.com

Greystone Books
Greystone Books has been publishing textual and illustrated books of the highest quality since 1993. Under the guidance of Rob Sanders, the company has become a leading publisher of books about nature and the environment, travel books, guidebooks, and books about sports, popular culture, and current issues. It is a division of D&M Publishers, one of the largest independent publishing houses in Canada. Greystone will publish Paul Quarrington’s memoir “Cigar Box Banjo: Notes on Music and Life” with an accompanying multi-media CD-ROM on May 29, 2010.
More info at http://www.dmpibooks.com/book/cigar-box-banjo

Now Magazine:
http://www.nowtoronto.com/daily/story.cfm?content=173353

http://www.nowtoronto.com/daily/story.cfm?content=173372

The Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages:
http://pr-usa.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=320940&Itemid=96

The Toronto Star:
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/753819–author-paul-quarrington-dies-at-56

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/754206–appreciation-paul-quarrington-a-renaissance-man

http://thestar.blogs.com/onthehouse/2010/01/its-a-sad-day-at-on-the-house-i-just-learned-that-a-brilliant-and-much-loved-canadian-writer-paul-quarrington-a-man-i-was-p.html

Quill and Quire:

http://www.quillandquire.com/blog/index.php/2010/01/21/paul-quarrington-19532010/

http://www.quillandquire.com/google/article.cfm?article_id=11116

The National Post:
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/afterword/archive/2010/01/21/paul-quarrington-loses-battle-with-cancer.aspx

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/afterword/archive/2010/01/21/canada-s-writing-community-remembers-paul-quarrington.aspx

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/afterword/archive/2010/01/21/dave-bidini-pays-tribute-to-paul-quarrington.aspx

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2470218

The Globe and Mail:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/writer-paul-quarrington-dies-of-cancer/article1438818/

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/deaths/obituary-paul-quarrington/article1439922/

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/music-writing-love-of-fishing-brought-quarrington-to-bc/article1442565/

Canadian Press:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5hZtawf03bmhuHLcRKUCRByg1EuLA

New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/sports/hockey/24slapshot.html

http://slapshot.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/nhl-scoreboard-habs-and-flyers-move-up-isles-and-bruins-fall-out/

BBC News:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8474495.stm

CBC News:
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/01/21/paul-quarrington-obit.html?ref=rss

http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/ID=1392141926

The Ottawa Citizen:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/entertainment/gentle+literary+lion/2478616/story.html

Lethbridge Herald:
http://www.lethbridgeherald.com/content/view/144283/120/

McLeans:
http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/01/21/paul-quarrington-embracing-life-and-art-to-the-end/

The Vancouver Sun:
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Author+musician+Paul+Quarrington+dead/2468326/story.html

The Torontoist:
http://torontoist.com/2010/01/paul_quarrington_dies.php

Newsfix.ca:
http://www.newsfix.ca/2010/01/24/toronto-friends-and-fans-remember-paul-quarrington/

World Fishing Network:
http://www.wfn.tv/blog/Patrick/402173

London Free Press:
http://www.lfpress.com/blogs/brandnewblog/home.html?x=blogs&s=blogs&s_entry_id=6313&s_blog_id=11&p=11

Eye Weekly:
http://www.eyeweekly.com/blog/torontonotes/article/81751

Book Ninja:
http://www.bookninja.com/?p=6908

Chart Attack:
http://www.chartattack.com/news/78719/ten-reasons-paul-quarrington-was-cool

Friends and colleagues remember Paul Quarrington

The Honourable James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages:

I was saddened to learn of the passing of Canadian writer and musician Paul Quarrington.

Although he began his career in the arts as a guitarist and song writer and continued to be active as a musician, Mr. Quarrington is best known for his contribution to Canada’s literary heritage. His novel Whale Music won the Governor General’s Literary Award for fiction in 1989. He also wrote King Leary, the winner of the 1988 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour that was later chosen as the winner of CBC’s Canada Reads competition in 2008. Mr. Quarrington was also well known as a screen writer and won three National Magazine Awards for non-fiction articles focussed on the great Canadian pastimes of fishing and hockey.

On behalf of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Government of Canada, I extend my deepest condolences to Paul Quarrington’s family and friends.

http://pr-usa.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=320940&Itemid=96

Nino Ricci, Author

I met Paul twenty years ago, just after the publication of my first novel, and so my friendship with him has coloured literally the entirely of my life as a writer. I realize now that over those twenty years, literary events came to be divided in my mind into two types: those where Paul was present, which were to be looked forward to, and those where he wasn’t, which were to be endured. It wasn’t that Paul was always fun or jokey or even paid me that much attention as that when he was in the room I felt I had an ally. I felt I was not alone. His presence gave a kind of shape to things, a kind of meaning, that would be hard to put into words: yes, there is this farce we have to put up with, it seemed to say, but let’s make the best of it. Then after, we’ll talk.

Sarah Cooper, The Saint Agency

Over the decades I’ve known Paul and his work, the thing I’ve always loved the most is his humane sense of humour: he never laughed at, but boy did he love to laugh with — his characters, his students, his friends and family, his audiences.

Anne Collins, Editor, Random House

Paul Quarrington brought humour, grace, energy and joy to the dark business of dying in the same way he brought those qualities to his remarkable fiction. He was one of our funniest writers and surreptitiously one of our most profound. I hate the fact that he has died but I am so glad he did it in the company of the people he loved best. I am so sorry for their loss, and deeply sorry that Paul won’t be able to sing us more songs or tell us more stories, both things he loved so much to do.

Dan Hill, Singer/Songwriter

Paul was one of the most inspiring, courageous, and creative human beings I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. Everything I learned about playing guitar I learned from watching Paul slide his hands up and down the fretboard when I was 15 and he was 16. The high point of my youth was being a singer-songwriter duo with Paul, called Quarrington Hill. He was also the funniest man I’ve ever known: a character’s character.

Joe Kertes, Author/Dean of Creative and Performing Arts, Humber College:

Paul was a life force–so much so that, even when he got his terrible news, he fought against it as if it wasn’t there, until, like him and with him, we didn’t believe the illness could take him. His passing was, therefore, a blow to us all. In the end we had Paul Q. multiplied–the same Paul Q., but more so. We’ll miss him.

Antanas Sileika, Author/Director, Humber School for Writers:

Paul Quarrington was many things to many people, so I knew only a few versions of him.
Paul Quarrington was a man’s man, somewhat restrained in giving praise, and uneasy in getting it. But you could always count on him- I believe the old song, “Stand by Me” summed him up pretty well.
As a poker player, he was aggressive in a friendly way and therefore fun to play against.
As a cook he redefined the meaning of “man size.” He would make a mountain of chicken wings that lay higher than eye level if you were sitting at a table with him.
As a writer he was eclectic, interested in everything, from card tricks to storm chasers, from fishing to hockey to rock and roll.
He knew how to squeeze enjoyment out of life. When we arrived in Siena late one night before a writing workshop, we were sitting out on the square under a half moon, and when I asked him what wine to order he said this: “Look around you. You’re in paradise. Order the best wine you can afford.”
At that same workshop, I was solo but he was with a girlfriend, and they took me under their wings. Along with the writer Joe Fiorito and his wife, Susan Mahoney, we bought bottles of grappa to drink in the back of a can as we drove through the Tuscan hills, singing doo-wop songs.
People wanted to be around Paul. He attracted them, whether they weer poker players, hockey players, musicians, women, or waiters in restaurants. He had vitality, life force, and his loss takes away a little of that life force from all of us who were privileged to share moments of life with him.

Glenn Davis, Writer:

Working on a TV show with Paul, despite his mastery of the teleplay, he never seems fully of the TV world (good for him). But when you think about it, despite being a giant of Canadian literature (and he is), he never seemed fully of that world either. He never adopted the drab academy tone, instead he transcended so much of what we call Canlit with equal parts hilarity, invention, and wisdom. For all his deep love of the blues and wonderful musicality and right singing voice, he never seemed to be fully at home in the music world either. The truth is that Paul was too big, too expansive, too active, too funny, too full of gifts to give for any of these worlds to contain him. It only occurred to me, now that Paulie has left us, that maybe this world, our world, wasn’t big enough to contain him either. Wherever he’s gone, I know the fish are biting.

Michael Leclair, Producer, Arc Pictures:

Paul’s literary contributions to the game of hockey are a revelation. Logan in Overtime, King Leary and Original Six: True Stories from Hockey’s Classic Era are masterful stories with unique, captivating and unforgettable characters. Thank you Paul, for your inspiring words and for so brilliantly capturing the people, beauty and ruggedness that make up our game and our country.

Roddy Doyle, Author:

A great writer, a great musician, a great, great friend, and a dreadful
poker player.

In today’s online edition, macleans.ca debuts ‘Are You Ready,’ a gospel song conceived by Quarrington for the upcoming documentary film “Paul Quarrington: Life in Music.” The tune was written with his long-time musical partner Martin Worthy, and recorded in this advance-only version with Dan Hill. To hear the maclceans.ca exclusive debut of ‘Are You Ready’ click here.

The song will be one of many featured in the documentary (BookShorts/CTV Bravo, Spring 2010). Paul writes about this song and the many others he wrote with Martin Worthy, as well as his own life-long affair with music in general, in the memoir to be published by Greystone Books (May 2010) called Cigar Box Banjo. More about the book on the publisher’s website here >> D&M Greystone Books

Click here to download a Zip File containing press material of Paul Quarrington Performance Photos

To download high resolution photos – right click on the photo title.

	Paul Quarrington portrait 1 (c) Irene Duma for BookShorts
	Paul Quarrington portrait 2 (c) Irene Duma for BookShorts.com
	Paul Quarrington portrait 3 Irene Duma for BookShorts.com
	At Doors Open Toronto, May 2009 (c) Judith Keenan for BookShorts Inc.)
	At Conversations with Joe Hall, Peterborough, May 2009 ((c) Judith Keenan for BookShorts)
	Porkbellys Futures Performance at Doors Open Toronto, ROM, May 2009
	Paul Quarrington and Martin Worthy on film set shooting “Hey Hollywood, August 2009
	Paul and Christine Quarrington, Don Mills, ON (c) Christine Quarrington
	The Quarrington Family (c) Christine Quarrington
	Paul and Joel Quarrington(c) Christine Quarrington
	Paul, Joel and Tony Quarrington(c) Christine Quarrington; use only with written permission
	Paul, Joel and Tony Quarrington(c) Christine Quarrington; use only with written permission
	Paul, Joel and Tony Quarrington(c) Christine Quarrington; use only with written permission
	Teenage Paul Quarrington(c) Christine Quarrington; use only with written permission
	On the set of Pavane short film produced by BookShorts written and conceived by BookShorts.
	PorkBelly Futures Publicity Shot
	PorkBelly Futures (c) Pages This is Not a Reading Serices; use with permission.
	To download the other 32 performance shots from this series, click here.PorkBelly Futures at the Haliburton Forest Festival, 2009 (c) BookShorts Inc.
	Quarrington/Worthy (c) circa 1988.