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Host of Artists at Farewell to Quarrington Posted: 2010-04-14 | |||
 Paul Quarrington | |||
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
'Touched, Inspired' In the celebrated comic novel King Leary, the titular character, looking back on his storied hockey career from the dreary confines of a nursing home, says that he once wanted his gravestone to read "something of a natural." Though he was far from being that conceited, those words more fittingly describe Leary's creator, the late Paul Quarrington. A cross-section of CanLit, CanRock and CanStage luminaries gathered at The Opera House in Toronto last night to pay tribute to Mr. Quarrington, who died earlier this year at the age of 56. The show, hosted by the soon-to-be-ex-host of As It Happens, Barbara Budd, featured an eclectic lineup of musicians, actors, and writers. The bill included National Post columnist Dave Bidini and his BidiniBand, who performed a newsonginspiredbyQuarrington's poem In The Rock Hall; Soul Stew, which acted as the evening's house band; Paul's brothers, Tony and Joel Quarrington; singer/songwriter Dan Hill, who sang a new song called It Just Hasn't Hit Me Yet; and Quarrington's band, The Porkbelly Futures, who were joined by special guests including Megan Worthy, the daughter of Mr. Quarrington's longtime musical partner, Martin Worthy. In one of the evening's most touching moments, Mr. Quarrington's former wife, Dorothy Bennie, also took the stage, apparently for the first time ever, to perform a song she wrote in honour of her late former husband. Other performers who were scheduled to take the stage included Juno Award-winning singer/songwriter Melanie Doane; Joe Hall, with whom Mr. Quarrington was on tour when he wrote his first book; and Blue Rodeo frontman Jim Cuddy. The evening wasn't restricted to music. The audience was shown clips from Life in Music, a new documentary about Mr. Quarrington that will air in May. As well, some of his best-loved books were brought to life by a cast of actors, including Gordon Pinsent, who brought the house down during a riveting dramatic reading of Mr. Quarrington's novel King Leary. "It was a very considered lineup, in the sense that we did want to actually have it reflect as many interests of Paul's as we could," said Judith Keenan, executive director of the Quarrington Arts Society, and one of the tribute's co-organizers. It was a fitting tribute for a man whose artistic talents spanned several disciplines. Mr. Quarrington, who died on Jan. 21 after an nine-month battle with lung cancer, was a singer, songwriter, screenwriter, director, playwright, teacher and novelist. He won the Governor-General's Literary Award in 1989 for Whale Music. His last two novels, Galveston and The Ravine, were nominated for the Giller Prize. King Leary won the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour and, more recently, won Canada Reads, where it was defended by Mr. Bidini, who also announced a new award last night: the Paul Quarrington Memorial Award for Best North American Sports Book of the Year. "We all were so struck ... when Paul died [by] the outpouring of gratitude and sadness and appreciation," said Quarrington friend Rebecca Campbell, of The Porkbelly Futures. "So many people spoke of how he had touched them, whether they had been up close or really far away. So the impact his art and his person had on people surprised all of us, when the outpouring came about. And so this is a gathering of a circle of people who were particularly touched and inspired and shared so much of their art and their lives with him. From his family to musical communities to theatrical communities to film communities." The money raised from last night's event will go to the Quarrington Arts Society, which was founded in the wake of his death to provide funding for multi-disciplinary artists. "The gathering itself, I think, is a manifestation of the essence of the man," Ms. Campbell said. "And we're all left to carry his legacy." Mr. Quarrington's memoir, Cigar Box Banjo, and a solo album, The Songs, will be released next month. mmedley@nationalpost.com | |||