Covering Niagara: Studies in Local Popular Culture

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Appropriately, given the subject of this book, there are many people who have helped in one fashion or another, and indeed too many to mention by name. Most importantly, we wish to thank the numerous individuals from across the Niagara Region and elsewhere who agreed to be interviewed and to share their memories, stories, and memorabilia (some of which appears in these pages). In addition to the many people and sources, whether identified or not, we are particularly grateful for the individual contributions of John Burtniak, local historian and collector; Andrew Porteus, Reference Librarian, Niagara Falls Public Library, and the library staff; Wilma Morrison of the Norval Johnson Heritage Library; Sherman Zavitz, Official Historian, City of Niagara Falls; the Lundy’s Lane Historical Museum staff, Niagara Falls; the Archives of Ontario; Pat Simon and Don Ede, avid collectors of local memorabilia; and the M.A. students in Popular Culture who assisted the Popular Culture Niagara Research Group. At Brock University, the staff of the Office of Research Services, under former Vice-President, Research Michael Owen, provided excellent advice and support. Nick Baxter-Moore and Marian Bredin, former chairs of the Department of Communication, Popular Culture and Film, and current chair, Russell Johnston, have provided additional help despite limited resources. Lewis Soroka and Dave Siegel, former Deans of the Faculty of Social Sciences, both had the vision to appreciate and support the work of the Popular Culture Niagara Research Group. Anne Howe, Sharon Spiece, and Adrian Palmieri provided invaluable assistance in mounting the 2002 Colloquium, out of xvii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS which much of the research for this book grew. Rob Macmorine, as always, offered dependable technical assistance with this event and the 2006 Popular Culture Niagara Conference, as did Phil Nardangeli and John Culp of Audio Visual Services. The 2002 Colloquium was partly funded by the President ’s Fund for the Advancement of Scholarship and by the Office of Research Services. Special Collections librarians Edie Williams and Lynne Prunskus of the James A. Gibson Library provided research assistance. Joanna Robinson, former M.A. student in Popular Culture, provided outstanding help in organizing the conference in 2006, and Dante Sicoli did an excellent job designing the promotional materials for the conference. We are particularly indebted to artist John Boyle for providing his artwork for the conference materials, and for his keynote talk on the history of the Niagara School, and to the local musicians who offered their excellent interpretations of local popular music in the concert portion of the conference hosted by Terrance Cox. Professor Gregory Waller of Indiana University , keynote speaker at the 2002 Colloquium, provided advice and encouragement as the PCN researchers were beginning their work. We are also grateful to Nick Baxter-Moore for his consultation on the Introduction , to Denis Ceci for formatting the illustrations, and cartographer Loris Gasparotto for preparing the maps. At Wilfrid Laurier University Press, thanks to Brian Henderson, Director ; Lisa Quinn, Acquisitions Editor; Rob Kohlmeier, Managing Editor; and Heather Blain-Yanke, Production Manager, as well as copy editor Wendy Thomas; we are grateful for their supportive consultations along the way. Thanks also to the text designer, Catharine Bonas-Taylor, and the marketing and publicity team at the Press: Leslie Macredie, Penelope Grows, and Clare Hitchens. We are grateful to the anonymous readers of the manuscript , who provided very helpful reviews and whose comments and suggestions are reflected in the final book. Thanks as well to local artist John Sakars for permission to use his charming depiction of Niagara’s famous waterfalls, rendered from found materials, housed in Trish Friesen’s Tangled Yoga Studio in the Port Dalhousie area of St. Catharines; to Denis Cahill, who photographed John’s artwork for the cover; to Mike Balsom and David Sisler, Laura Secord Secondary School, for the photos of the Kenny Wheeler concert; and to Geoff Pevere for his fitting reflections in the Foreword. Finally, we thank the contributing authors represented in this collection for their original work, cooperation, and patience throughout the development of this project; and our fellow-members (Nick Baxter -Moore, Marian Bredin, Terrance Cox, Russell Johnston, Michael Ripmeester, and Jeannette Sloniowski) of the Popular Culture Niagara xviii Acknowledgements Research Group for the many lively and stimulating discussions on researching local popular culture. This research was partly funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Council Grant Number 410-2003-0945). Acknowledgements xix This page intentionally left blank ...