Always Fresh

Sorry everybody. It's been busy. The marathon is Sunday and I'm going to take another shot at Boston. Things are busy with teaching, practicing, and gigs, so unfortunately blogging has taken a back seat. But now I find myself between soundcheck and gig in Coquitlam. I'm playing tonight for....uh....well, some big event at the Red Robinson show theater at the Coquitlam casino. I was getting lost in YouTube videos of Pat Martino (which will inevitably lead to Fainting Goats) when I realized my mom will be pissed if I don't blog soon (hi Mom). So I was trying to think of things that have been on mind lately.... Oh yeah.... Is nothing sacred? This was a question posed by a friend when confronted with the possibility of a Tim Horton's being opened on Commercial Drive here in Vancouver. For those of you not in the know, here are two givens: Tim Horton's is a doughnut chain here in Canada. Some feel it is as synonymous with Canada as beavers, beer, and hockey. Hell, Tim himself was a hockey player. Also for those of you not in the know, Commercial Drive is an area of Vancouver that's home to many artists of all different mediums and general funky types. Wal-mart haters in other words. So, IS nothing sacred? Well, there are a couple deductions one can make from that statement. One is that, Commercial Drive is sacred. The other is that Tim Horton's will degrade the holy drive. I often hear people refer to Commercial Drive as "THE DRIVE" (picture someone closing their eyes as they say "THE DRIVE") ala "The Village" in New York. This implies a certain smugness. "Where do you live?" "Oh, I live on THE DRIVE". They might as well say, "I'm totally hip, obviously you philistine." My response to "THE DRIVE" is "Oh, Marine Drive? That's near me! Howdy neighbour!" At which point, they give me this look of disgust that I'm so out of touch with what is cool that I don't even know what THE DRIVE that they are talking about. Don't get me wrong, I like Commercial and my friends that live there. I just hate the smugness. Most of the people are not saying THE DRIVE to be smug, I think it's just a phrase that's made it's way into the lexicon of Vancouver-speak that originates with smug asses. However, I think many of those people who are not being smug would also say that "they" shouldn't open a Tim Horton's on Commercial and that IS smug. Let's take a look at 2 scenarios. First off, let's say that the predominant attitude on Commercial is not in favor of T-Ho's. Then, it would die a death because of lack of business from the locals. What about the non-locals? Well, in fact much of the business generated on Commercial Drive comes from the locals (in the 2001 transit strike, while other shopping districts reported a decrease in sales, Commercial reported an increase! That comes from thedrive.ca). In other words, economics 101 would suggest that if no one wants it, it will close. Hippies win. The other scenario, and more likely, is that T-Ho's will thrive. Good, tasty, healthy eats at a low price with quality assurance that Timmy himself puts his name on. So what does it mean to be sacred? I would assume that my friend meant locally owned and operated businesses, not some big corporation, right? Like Cobs Bread on Commercial? Busy Bee Dry Cleaners on Commercial? How come no one considers these franchises to be sabotaging the holiness of Commercial?? I'll tell you why, because they're not fast food. Fast food is the new smoking. It's an easy target so that we can feel morally superior to others. We've hunted down McDonald's, Wendy's, and Burger King, now we're on to doughnuts. People, leave it alone. Tim Horton's will not hurt your neighbourhood. Starbucks is on Commercial and yet Calabria, JJ Bean, and Turks thrive. Leave it to the consumer to make the choice, don't legislate it. I remember reading about an old turn of the century Heinz ad that read something to the effect, "Protect yourself from your local Farmer, buy brand names. Buy Heinz."