Best known as the host of the CBC Radio pop culture and current affairs show Q, Ghomeshi (pictured) recently published a literary memoir called 1982 that semi-chronicles his experiences growing up as a disaffected Iranian-Canadian in the waspy Ontario town of Thornhill. As a teenager, Ghomeshi’s idol was David Bowie. And later on he played in the folk-rock group Moxy Fruvous. So 1982 is heavy on cultural analysis of that time — which saw a dramatic rise in power and influence of reactionary conservative forces.
I’ve yet to read the book. But in a National Post review, critic Stephen Carlick ripped it for being trite and cliche ridden. I could see that possibly being true as sometimes Canadian culture can be a little bland and overly earnest, even calculated, or designed to appease rather than inspire. I don’t read the National Post regularly enough to know, but it could also just have been part of the paper’s broader campaign to discredit, diminish, and ultimately topple, the public broadcaster.
Regardless, Ghomeshi’s in Regina Feb. 1 to do a talk and book signing at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum. Start time is 8:30 p.m., and tickets are $25 adv. and $32 door.
