Denman ART Studio Tour Celebrates Another Successful Year

August 27, 2026

Denman ART Studio Tour Celebrates Another Successful Year

The 2026 Denman ART Studio Tour was a great success. Saturday was particularly busy, with visitors arriving throughout the day, while Sunday offered a steadier pace. The tour attracted a particularly strong number of off-island visitors, many of whom travelled specifically to experience Denman’s creative community. Guests came from Denman and neighbouring communities, as well as Vancouver, Kelowna and other parts of the B.C. Interior, as well as the United States.

Artists were enthusiastic about the response. Everyone reported increased sales compared with last year, with several artists describing the weekend as one of their most successful tours to date. One artist sold out within four hours on the first day!

However, sales were only part of the story. Artists spoke enthusiastically about the many conversations they had with visitors, who were eager to learn about their creative processes, materials and inspiration. Families and children were especially interested in seeing artists at work, and several artists noted that the tour encouraged visitors to consider making art themselves.

Visitors also enjoyed travelling between studios, discovering different parts of Denman Island and seeing artwork in the environments where it is created. Some visitors returned to studios more than once, while others continued to connect with artists after the tour.

The draw basket was another highlight, with Arielle Agar taking home the prize. We extend our sincere thanks to everyone who contributed artwork, products and support.

The committee would also like to thank all participating artists, volunteers, visitors and sponsors for helping make the 2026 Studio Tour such a positive and successful weekend.

Our Generous Sponsors – Thank you!

Denman WORKS!, Arts Denman, 97.3 The Eagle, First Credit Union, Sure Copy Courtenay, Jordan McDonald – RE/MAX Ocean Pacific, BC Ferries, Hairpins Boutique Salon, Terry Lynn Hemmerling Yoga, Beech & Cedar Homes, Denman Island Chocolate, Seaside Electric, Jenessa and Donna Tuele at the Tuele Real Estate Group, Lora’s Truck Services, Keep Floral, Denman Island Tea, Denman Island Hardware Store, Denman Craft Store, Friesen Family Construction, Denman Water, Eden Therapy Clinic Studio and Corlan Vineyard & Farm.

Looking Ahead to 2027

The 2027 Denman ART Studio Tour will take place on August 14 & 15. Mark your calendar!

We look forward to building on this year’s success and continuing to showcase the talented artists and vibrant creative community that make Denman Island so special.

Camp Denman Vs ChatGPT

August 27, 2026

Camp Denman Vs ChatGPT by Keith Porteous (editorial)

Given that all of Camp Denman’s public communications employ so-called Artificial Intelligence (AI), in creating its website, its logo, and its supporting text, I asked ChatGPT AI to compose a critique of the proposal for non-farming uses on the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) protected farmland it occupies. The following is what ChatGPT generated:

The Free Market Will Save Denman Island, Right After It Sells It Off

Tony Aly casts himself as an entrepreneur, and a man impatient with governance that stands between his ideas and their execution. He says he builds “platforms, infrastructure, and real-world operations,” and he describes Camp Denman, a non-farming development on protected ALR lands, as a “creative campus.”

That makes his opposition to the Agricultural Land Reserve and Islands Trust land-use restrictions particularly revealing in relation to his business interests. His argument is familiar. Regulation is red tape, while markets are dynamic and efficient in allocating land to its best use. Remove the bureaucratic obstacles, let owners decide, and the island community will flourish. It is a seductive argument. It is also spectacularly misguided.

The market does not ask what Denman Island should become. It asks what somebody will pay for its lands. Those are not the same questions.

The Agricultural Land Reserve exists precisely because agricultural land is not an ordinary use of land. British Columbia’s ALR designates agricultural land as a priority use and restricts competing non-agricultural uses. The ALR is a public policy response to a basic market failure. Once farmland is converted into non-farming uses, the agricultural capacity that has been lost cannot simply be purchased back when it is needed.

Islands Trust was created in 1974 because the Gulf Islands were already experiencing development pressures that threatened their character and environment. Its statutory mandate is explicitly to preserve and protect the Trust Area and its unique amenities and environment, not to maximize the exchange value of every parcel of land. That distinction matters enormously.

There isn’t a market force that reconstructs agricultural activities in a community after the farmland has been developed for other purposes. Prohibiting development of farmland for non-farming purposes isn’t “red tape” just because the owner of the land can profit more from other uses. The costs of one person’s business development should not be imposed on everybody else.

The question is not whether Denman should employ “the market”, or have land use regulations.” That is a false binary. The real question is what rules should govern a scarce, ecologically constrained place where one person’s development decision can permanently alter everybody else’s environment.

The Islands Trust mandate is not an unfortunate bureaucratic accident. It is the reason it exists. The alternative isn’t simply to “let the market decide”, because the market has already decided what land is worth, and that is precisely the problem.

On a desirable Gulf Island, the highest-value private use of land is not farming, conservation, non-market housing, or community infrastructure. It’s luxury housing, vacation accommodation, or speculative appreciation. If that outcome is allowed to dominate over other considerations, it will produce an island that maximizes the purchasing power of the people who can afford to buy the land.

“Visionaries” are often remarkably bad at seeing the possibilities that their own success eliminates. The great trick in the market-versus-regulation debate is to describe regulation as an artificial intervention and markets as natural. Neither is true. The question is whose interests do they serve, what harms do they prevent, and what kind of future do they imagine?

The ALR and Islands Trust are not substitutes for the market. They are democratic attempts to put boundaries around the market, precisely because markets are powerful enough to destroy things they have no mechanism for valuing. [That isn’t red tape. That’s the whole point!]

Shucking Oysters: Nasty Entitled Canadians

August 27, 2026

Shucking Oysters: Nasty Entitled Canadians

By Alex Allen

We are spoiled. Nasty. Difficult to deal with. The irony is rich given who’s pointing the finger. As one UK writer shared: “Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem. For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace.” There have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid. And with that, last week Canada received yet another virtual hug from Big Donald: 50% tariffs on over $28 billion of Canadian goods. Instead of kissing his Lard Ass, Canada flipped its middle finger and left the negotiation table.

In a press conference over the weekend, Prime Minister Carney described the negotiations as a war: “They asked too much and they offered too little … you’re at war when you’re attacked and we got attacked.” On Fox News, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called Canada “a country that doesn’t have a military” and said it was taking advantage of America. “To think that they are going to go to war with Donald Trump and actually win that war with the US, I think it’s foolish on their part.” Carney will match Washington’s tariffs dollar-for-dollar beginning next month, targeting sectors such as steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper and electronics.

In reaction, knuckle-brained fart lozenge posted his usual rant: “Canada wants the benefits of being a State, without being one!!!” It’s true that the US announced tariffs against dozens more countries, but there is something weird about the lopsided vitriol directed to Canada. Most of the global tariffs Trump recently announced were around 10%, Canada 50%. The tariffs also land differently here, given Trump’s obsession with making Canada the 51st state.

The US not only challenged our French language culture and packaging, they wanted to restrict our freedom to make trade agreements with other countries without their approval. Spoiled? Difficult to deal with? What utter BS. Carney has rightly called this beyond unacceptable and an infringement on our Canadian sovereignty.

Terry Winnitoy of EnergyNow, wrote that Trump did Canada one enormous favour, “he made complacency impossible.” He added that history may one day show that his tariffs, threats, trade disruptions and “blunt America-first agenda did something Canadian politicians, business leaders and voters had avoided for decades: he forced Canada to look in the mirror.”

Winnitoy warned that when “Washington’s trade policy can change with a speech, a post, an election or a negotiating tactic, Canada cannot build its future on the hope that one customer will always behave predictably.” Trump has exposed the hard truth. Canada’s problem has never been a lack of resources. It has been a lack of resolve.

The onion-eyed flap dragon goes on about Canada’s trade surplus with the United States, which he keeps saying is $200 billion a year – NOT, it’s actually less than a third that size. Trump appears to believe that he doesn’t need anything from Canada. Not the automobile manufacturers who rely on Canadian parts, not the farmers who rely on potash, not the Midwest oil refineries that rely on Canadian oil, not the builders who rely on Canadian lumber, not the households that rely on Canadian electricity.

With no surprise, when the most recent round of tariffs was announced, most of the economic damage landed on Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia – the three provinces that have the strongest anti-Trump sentiments. The economies of Alberta and Saskatchewan were relatively unscathed.

Here in BC, items under tariff threat represent more than 13% of our total exports to the US, higher than any other province. Stats show that 51% of our exports last year went to the US, more than half wood, pulp and paper, metallic minerals and energy products. Meanwhile in Ontario, Premier Doug Ford, said he was willing to cut off electricity and critical minerals to the US.

No doubt in response to Ford’s passion, Trump then announced he would add 50% tariffs January 1 to all vehicles, auto parts and steel from Canada. The Nod Off Father lashed out at Canada, accusing us – with no evidence – as being “among the worst nations in the world to deal with.” We’re “entitled.” Save us from our Canadian sins, Lord Rump.

After saying Trump could “kiss my ass” over the weekend, Ford and Trump exchanged blows at the beginning of the week, with Trump referring to the premier as “Flunky Ford” and calling both Ford and Carney “clowns” and bad leaders. Ford responded: “He’s the type of guy in school that would take your lunch money one day, take your toque off your head the next day and then steal your running shoes.”

The Toddler-in-Chief has constantly complained that dealing with us Canadians is unpleasant and nasty. Well, expect us to get even nastier, because whether he knows it or not, he’s left us with little options. The economic impacts remain to be seen, especially given Trump’s history of changing tariffs on a whim.

Prime Minister Carney did what Canadians elected him to do: stand up for Canada. As Stephen Marche wrote, “It’s funny to wake up relieved that you’re about to take a beating.”

“Compostable” Bioplastic

August 27, 2026

1748:Degradation_of_PLA_in_Seawater — The degradation of PLA and PET at the sea surface and seafloor over time. The degradation of PLA closely mirrors that of PET, suggesting PLA degrades similarly to petroleum-based plastics in seawater.

“Compostable” Bioplastic

By Leif Lebaron

A friend who aims to be ecologically responsible and health conscious, recently shared some organic tea from a small company on the BC mainland. The tea was excellent but I noticed that the “pyramid” bags were made of plastic. “No, they’re plastic-free and compostable” she corrected me, but I protested and melted one to demonstrate. Then with well-founded doubt, she requested more information about the tea bags.

The quick response enthusiastically reasserted several false claims with bamboozling technical jargon and a “spec sheet” from their Chinese supplier. These false claims were the very reason she bought the tea, and very persuasive to one who doesn’t know better, so I prepared a response for my misled and duly disappointed friend. In gathering evidence, I was surprised to learn that bioplastic is less biodegradable than I had assumed.

The plastic in question is polylactic acid (PLA), made from fermented corn starch by a chemical process. PLA is technically “compostable”, at temperatures exceeding 60° C, with high enough humidity, in the presence of specific microbes. In contrast to this industrial “composting” process, it may persist for decades if not centuries in home compost or soil.

The rate of degradation is similar to that of PET (the petro-plastic commonly used in water bottles). Some studies also suggest that PLA degradation products may be more toxic to marine life than similar petroleum-based plastic.

Aside from bioplastic, tea bags epitomise superfluous disposable convenience; so rather than asking the question“What material is best for tea bags?” I think we’d all be better served by asking “How do we live without tea bags?”. Of course it’s not just tea bags; more common are the “biodegradable” poo bags that so many dog owners leave behind, presenting a worse biohazard long after the contents would have otherwise dissolved naturally.

The more important problem is propaganda and especially the lack of intellectual responsibility in preventing its damage. In this case, I imagine the operator of the small tea company was not acting in bad faith but had been misled by popular “green-washing” propaganda; however, after being informed about the facts of the matter, they recoiled and false claims persisted on their website for several months.

My friend, who would otherwise buy more of their fine tea, chose to responsibly refrain instead of rationalising away her cognitive dissonance.

Upon a final check before publishing this article, the false claims have been removed, just a few days ago. Whatever the reason, here’s to honesty!

“It is not because the truth is too difficult to see that we make mistakes. It may even lie on the surface; but we make mistakes because the easiest and most comfortable course for us is to seek insight where it accords with our emotions — especially selfish ones.” —Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (“Peace and Violence”, 1973)

Support the Rotary to Royston Trail Project

August 27, 2026

Support the Rotary to Royston Trail Project

A new community trail project could soon strengthen connections between Courtenay, Royston and the Comox Valley’s growing network of active transportation routes.

The proposed Rotary trail in Courteany to Royston Trail aims to create a safe, accessible route for walking, cycling and other non-motorized transportation while celebrating the area’s history and natural surroundings. Importantly, it could provide an alternative to the busy Highway 19A corridor, giving residents, school children and visitors a safer and more enjoyable way to travel between communities without relying on a vehicle.

Supporters see the trail as an opportunity to promote healthy living, tourism, recreation and sustainable transportation, while preserving and sharing the stories of the historic railway corridor and surrounding communities.

The public is invited to an open house on Friday, August 28, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at Royston Hall to learn more about the project, ask questions and share ideas. Everyone interested in the future of this important community connection is welcome to attend.

Explore how we can use E&N transportation corridor from 29th to Royston for alternative transit today while railbanking it for tomorrow.

fortvi.ca

I write to that invisible tribe of like-minded mad creators

August 27, 2026

Gabriel Jeroschewitz, July 13th, 2026, dedicated to Anthony Burgess and the book A Clockwork Orange in Kubrick’s vision of that book.

I write to that invisible tribe of like-minded mad creators

Dear Most Honored Curator of the Ministry of Uniqueness,

O my brothers, here is a humble epistle penned from the cold and humming depths of Block 9-C – where the buzzing fixtures buzz with the energy of a thousand angry eyes and where the air exudes thinly of sour moloko and ideological disinfectant. This is no glossy State pamphlet but the unvarnished expression of a man who has known the loneliness of kavkaz but who happily drinks deep of the sweet nectar of his singular work.

Yes—I am a ptitsa of a peculiar feather. A would-be artist — a self-styled “singular craftsman” — whose fundamental truth is that the universe is a great grotesque joke which is best expressed as a horror show masterpiece! My singular work – a series of interactive, biofeedback “laugh-machines” that ooze neon slime whilst emitting the frequency of a newborn giggle – is currently being labelled “dangerously original” by the Central Committee for Aesthetic Conformity. They speak of threats to the social contract whilst I observe only a threat to the boredom that renders our citizens into zhopa-driven automatons.

Let us speak of the fundamental loneliness that courses through every kalkulirovaniye – a low-frequency drencrom no amount of breath-work can silence. Such a primal, malenky signal settles in the gut like “You are a stranger to the herd – and the herd will eat you alive should you stray too far”. Remember the old days before the Great Uniformity Act when the tribe would cast out the krom who painted outside the lines? Today’s exile is not of a physical golova upon a spike, but of a cold shoulder from the govny of coworkers, the penny-dreadful glances of neighbors, and the shouting of algorithmic trolls that bounce off our psychic firewalls.

I know of such a fear in the gloomy hours when the night seems as dark as a cally-filled abyss and when my neuro-circuit lets me signal “Turn back, little malenky bird, before the State’s slick talons pluck you from the sky.” Yet I cannot betray my fundamental truth. The singular work is my total being – my krov and my muscles – the only thing that makes the gloomy monotony of our dystopic existence bearable. I have tried the somatic drills, the breath exercises and mind games prescribed by the State’s wellness gurus – they are, frankly, “escapist play time”. They may smooth the surface, but they fail to penetrate the intrinsic levels of my deepest fear and resistance – the psyche-brain-nervous network that screams at the very thought of presenting my laugh-machine to the public.

O Most Honored Curator, I have chosen a means to penetrate those fundamental levels – the most primal way possible: I write letters. I write to you. I write to that invisible tribe of like-minded mad creators who hide behind the mask of conformity. In every sentence, I dissolve a little protective slime coating my inner walls. I uncover the trauma of being seen as a dangerous original—the punchline to every State-approved comedy routine. I reveal the primal insecurity that makes me crave the tribe’s approval even as I spit upon its face.

Such is the humorous element of this loneliness – the joke which never lands and whose punch line is always out of synch. Standing before the mirrors that comprise the Ministry’s reception area, one sees a hundred identical faces draped over the same mask of smug compliance. Behind each mask, however, there is a tiny but unquenchable flame of singular desire. Such a flame is lonely in the knowledge that burning too bright will ignite the censors, while remaining dim will extinguish the self. This is the primal paradox which defines each day I live – and which I now laugh about – loudly and unabashedly – for should I fail to do so the gloom will swallow me whole.

My singular work is, in a sense, a mirror of the tribe. The laugh-machine does more than produce a giggle—it forces the viewer to confront the nonsense of their own social programming. When the machine releases a pulsating wave of giggle-frequency, the crowd of obedient citizens cannot help but shake off the stifling coat of conformity for a while. They experience a primal release – that kind of joy which the State fears above all other armed rebellion! The machine is my singular gift—my lens through which I view the world—and the Ministry fears me even as it cannot contain such a piece within a bottle of propaganda.

Of course, the road to presenting this work is riddled with obstacles – the State seeing fit to assign a team of psych-engineers for evaluating my mental fitness. They probe my dreams with electro-needles, measuring my heart rate upon uttering the word “singular”. They ask, “Do you feel lonely?” to which I answer with a smile: “Only when I’m not creating.” Such notes are scribbled, their heads shaking in admiration of my defiance. I know such loneliness is no disease to be cured but the very engine of my singular work.

Therefore, I write this letter not for approval – the tribe can keep their cold shoulder – but to declare my continued pursuit of such singular aims regardless of the gloomy prophets of conformity. I shall penetrate the deepest layers of fear that define my spirit, I shall laugh boldly in the face of primal anxiety, and I shall offer the world a flash of unadulterated, human joy – even if that joy manifests within neon slime and sounds like a baby’s giggle.

Should you have any recommendations for navigating the bureaucratic maze of permissions whilst preserving the integrity of my singular work, I would be most grateful. If not, then accept this letter as a slight act of opposition – a tiny crack in the wall of uniformity – and a reminder to all that the human spirit can still laugh throughout the darkest clockwork night.

Yours in solitary but smiling,

Mikhail “Mik” Vorobiev
Architect of the Neon Giggle-Machines
Block 9-C, District of the Eternal Grey

GREEN PARTY OF CANADA LAUNCHES MEDICAL CANNABIS PETITION

August 27, 2026

For Immediate Release

Thursday, August 20, 2026

GREEN PARTY OF CANADA LAUNCHES MEDICAL CANNABIS PETITION

Victoria, B.C.: At the request of the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club, the Green Party of Canada has started a petition to ask Health Canada to help form the B.C. College of Medical Cannabis Dispensers and to conduct research into high dose edibles. Still in the early stages of development, the B.C. College of Medical Cannabis Dispensers will seek to gain authorization to certify individuals to give advice on the medical use of cannabis and sign patients up to the federal medical cannabis program. The petition will be entered into the House of Commons in Ottawa in November 2026 by federal Green Party leader, Elizabeth May, where she will be accompanied by VCBC founder, Ted Smith.

In July, Elizabeth May wrote to Federal Minister of Health, Marjorie Michel, in support of the club. “VCBC helps address significant gaps in the federal medical cannabis framework, particularly for low-income patients who are unable to afford products available through the legal market…Reform is urgently needed to ensure that vulnerable patients are not deprived of effective and affordable care.”

Cannabis retailers across the country are expected to assist in the collection of signatures. Currently cannabis retailers are unable to provide medical advice without having a pharmacist, nurse practitioner or doctor physically onsite. Millions of people using cannabis for medical purposes currently purchase at legal retail stores where they are unable to get any advice about how to use cannabis as a medicine or any information about potential drug interactions. Once able to hire certified medical cannabis dispensers, retail stores will be able to dramatically improve patients health outcomes, which will increase sales.

The B.C. College of Medical Cannabis Dispensers is a recent project of the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club as it attempts to transition into the legal system without compromising its primary functions. By giving birth to this institution, the VCBC intends to formalize the responsibilities of a budtender in a compassion club into a medical professional that sits somewhere between a nurse, doctor, herbalist and pharmacist. To get this project off the ground, 14 different stakeholder groups ranging from doctors and researchers, to First Nations and compassion clubs, will work together to generate educational material, publish a research journal and standardize how patients learn about how to use cannabis as medicine.

For many years before legalization, cannabis educators have been doing their best to teach patients how to use this herb. According to certified medical cannabis consultant, Jennifer Collett, “…this project is long overdue because Canadians have been using cannabis as medicine for decades, yet our healthcare system still does not have a professional role specifically designed to provide patients with knowledgeable, evidence-informed guidance about cannabis therapeutics. Patients are navigating an increasingly complex range of cannabis products, formulations, routes of administration, dosing considerations and potential interactions, often without access to someone who has specialized training in cannabis medicine. At the same time, physicians and pharmacists have been placed in a system that was never designed to fully integrate cannabis into conventional medical practice.”

Additionally, the petition requests Health Canada begin seriously studying the benefits of high dose edibles for patients in persistent, chronic pain and/or fighting cancer. Current THC limits on legal edibles are 10 mg, which is very low for patients requiring up to 1,000 mg THC per day to fight cancer and/or avoid opiate drugs. Patients at the VCBC have been safely and effectively using high dose edibles for decades, with many finding relief from their symptoms they cannot get from other drugs.

A link to the Strategic Plan of the B.C. College of Medical Cannabis Dispensers is attached, as well as a link to the petition page of Elizabeth May, where you will find this petition in the Health and Wellbeing section.

Elizabeth May’s website

https://elizabethmaymp.ca/paper-petitions/?fbclid=IwY2xjawTxq5dwZG9mBWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMUoybm5PblJoU1hMNWRrY1BzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeSlhjgU6pqRd4b9yR-9NybOA_aeWwsP4iAYcGuSsiQcaIifiSOdBMklETKk4_aem_usD_aJ2j8gw5n7XcpYQdMw

Strategic Plan

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KSRdnusqdhiYEljMR0GSP1XZxj_ycjOtN7Tnfg6UBkg/edit?tab=t.0

For more information contact Ted Smith at 250-415-1063 or exec.bccmcd@gmail.com.

WACKUMS CD Release

August 27, 2026

WACKUMS CD Release

By Quinn Ireland

The time has finally come!

I am sixteen-year-old Quinn Ireland, and my debut album, WACKUMS, is complete!

After eight grueling months, I have my appreciation of physical media in my grasp, and it could be in yours too! WACKUMS is a grotesque featuring of expanded genres, not sticking to one thread of folk, punk, choir and instrumental piano ballads (written by family and friends). Inspired by the likes of The Smashing Pumpkins to Bob Dylan, WACKUMS ultimately creates a range of musical layers that I believe accurately sum up me and my musical pallet.

The twenty-one-track record was captured from my own DAW recording software gifted as a Christmas present from my very smart producer uncle. As soon as I laid my hands on this interface in late December last year, I had to record something, and that song remains on the album today.

The combined works of the album were 90% me, playing virtually all of the instruments. WACKUMS is recorded in our welcoming studio known as The Band House which is well known among local musicians. I practically live out here!

My routine practice for a good portion of the process was questioning if I should keep going or if I should head off to bed as the clock struck three AM!

I cannot give enough thanks to that other 10% who helped me cross this rewarding finish line. It took from December to May for the recording side of things and from May to July for the taxing post-production marathon.

For vocals, I do not sing myself but rather write all of the lyrics and construct the melodies. I have a very talented list of singers to recognize:

Harriet Armstrong, Naomi Karsten, Franklin Lundberg, Oliver McPhail, the Denman Island Community Choir, and of course, Mom, Bethany Ireland, who stood as one half of the parental support throughout this crazy and somewhat mind-numbing process. I would delicately teach my Mom the melodies and phrases through hours of careful time in The Band House. Also, thanks a million to the supporting musicians on the album:

Timber Hayward-Siegner, Oliver Ireland (my bro), Harriet Armstrong, Oliver McPhail, and Bethany Ireland.

And finally, the production side of things, in which I owe my soul to Oliver McPhail. The producer extraordinaire who is about my age committed fully, and I mean with true heart, in assisting with the post-production of WACKUMS. I had been teasing about the release of WACKUMS since back in March, bringing it up at the open stage where I would present a few of the songs. Little did I know the road I had ahead, the mountain I had to climb. Months of frustration, sadness, and ultimately, lost faith in this thing ever getting finished…

Now I sit here, beyond the struggle of post-production madness and never-ending pickiness and perfection, with 100 CDs bearing the light blue title WACKUMS.

I have always cherished physical media, much like my parents do. I have grown up with records and CDs, even through a time of streaming service popularity. So, naturally, I had to go with this choice as my first impression of my music. As for cover art, I’ll let you decide how it is associated with the record…

WACKUMS will be released on August 28th (tomorrow) at the front hall along with the amazing doubleheader show that will feature local youth musicians (including me), and dancers, run by the fantastic trio of my mom Bethany Ireland, Shel Brodsgaard, and Quinn Lundberg. I may play a little medley of WACKUMS songs as an opening stunt… Wink, wink…

The names that coat this list of assistance are familiar. In fact, every youth member who helped make this record is in a little local band called Polsen Moose. They are also in this amazing presentation known as Wild Haven!

So come out this Friday, bring your $15, and buy this genre-less album,

I sure do hope you enjoy it!

All the best to you, amazing locals!

Your support and encouragement make dreams like this a reality…

Cupcakes & Cow Pies

August 27, 2026

Music Review: The Missing Digits of Mark Pauline

August 27, 2026

Music Review: The Missing Digits of Mark Pauline

By thomas p. hunterson

The Missing Digits of Mark Pauline are a local Denman Island music duo that appears to have negotiated a temporary ceasefire with reality. Their latest studio recording, Paper Sun, Plastic Rain, sounds less like music than a weather system passing through a warehouse filled with malfunctioning carnival rides. Every track folds into the next with the confidence of a sleepwalker carrying a chandelier.

At the centre of this wonderfully unstable orbit is lead vocalist, guitarist and lyricist, Mid Digit, an eccentric underground star whose spectacular delusions of grandeur somehow become part of the duo’s creative engine. His lyrics wander through abandoned shopping malls while his voice ricochets a whispered conspiracy intended for audiences that may not exist.

The recording itself is gloriously disobedient. Drummist Al Toombs sounds as though he is remembering his previous life as a carpenter, apologizing to no one. Rhythms bloom into improbable shapes before collapsing into pockets full of applause. Yet beneath the absurdity lurks an unexpected emotional clarity, as if every bizarre sonic detour were secretly pointing toward the same impossible destination.

Their recent local live performances have only intensified the illusion. The stage seemed less arranged than accidentally discovered beneath several layers of forgotten dreams. Lighting cues behaved like curious insects, amplifiers hummed with the confidence of retired prophets, and every encore felt like the audience collectively remembering an event that had never occurred.

Mid Digit conducted the evening with theatrical certainty, saluting invisible dignitaries, thanking fictional sponsors, and briefly attempting to negotiate with what he described as “the union representative for echoes.” Nobody appeared confused. If anything, the audience seemed relieved that someone was finally addressing these long-neglected matters.

It is difficult to recommend The Missing Digits of Mark Pauline to anyone seeking ordinary music. But for listeners willing to wander into a landscape where logic politely waits outside, both their new recording and their recent performance offer an unforgettable glimpse into a universe that insists on existing just beyond the edge of conventional wisdom.