Urban Chic in Toronto

–The urban chic lobby of our hotel

We should have put this one up months ago, but stuff kept getting pushed forward. At any rate, here’s one of the synchros in a slew of them while we were in Toronto, filming for William Shatner’s Weird or What and talking about Wolfgang Pauli.

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When we got the green light for an interview on William Shatner’s show, Weird or What?  the first thing  I did was check the weather in Toronto, where the interview was to take place.  For the period we would be there, the weekend of February 17-19, there was supposed to be light snow, followed by temperatures in the mid to high twenties Farenheit, which looks a lot colder in Centigrade; 0 to -3 degrees.  It was obvious that the jackets I own  would not do the trick.

In South Florida, the winter temps rarely go below 40 and when they do, it’s just for a couple of nights, then it’s back into the high 60s and 70s for a few days, then another cold snap in the 50s, then back up again. From around October to April, the air conditioning is usually off and the windows are  thrown open. But this winter has been unusually warm. Tonight, for instance, February 19, it was 85 during the day, high 70s tonight, humid and sticky. The AC is on.

So when we got the green light, I drove off to our local thrift store to look for a winter coat. A real coat, not a Florida jacket made of cotton. Five minutes at the store and there it was, Jones of New York – olive green, my size, soft inside, the exterior perfect for blocking wind, and when I slipped it on, it was lightweight and felt cozy  enough to sleep in. It looked and felt brand new. Jones of NY is an expensive brand and I figured this jacket had probably cost several hundred bucks off the rack. I paid $18 for it. (The pic was taken outside our front door, on a night when it was at least in the high seventies.)

And when we stepped outside the airport in Toronto and I zipped it up, I knew I’d found the right coat. The wind and cold never touched me.

Our hotel in Toronto, the Pantages,  was in the heart of downtown Toronto and inside, it was colorful and vibrant, as you can see from the photo at the top of the post. Our suite on the 10^th floor was called Urban Chic, a fancy term for a studio apartment.

That term, urban chic, isn’t one I use. I wasn’t even sure what it meant  in terms of Toronto or city life. It seemed to be imply a bridge between city living and your inner life; the room actually included a yoga mat, an aspect advertised on the hotel website.

Our first walk into downtown was to find a knit cap for Rob. We walked around a tremendous mall – Eaton Center, four floors of stores, many of them American, for quite a while, ducking in here and there, asking about knit caps. Nope, sorry. The caps sold out weeks ago, spring clothing has arrived. Finally, in Old Navy, Rob found one on sale for ten bucks.

On Saturday afternoon, we took a cab to the loft studio where the interview was to take place. Cool building,  old and colorful, scruffy wooden floors. There,  we met Stephen Grant, the director and interviewer, and his crew, the videographer and the sound guy.

We were surprised to learn that Stephen and his crew had never been in this building before – it was a rental by the hour, day, whatever, for gigs like theirs. As we got acquainted, I realized Stephen and his crew were urban chic.  They had spent the last three or four months traveling constantly, shooting and interviewing for the show’s third season. The night before, they had returned from California, where they’d interviewed the woman whose story was central to this episode. Since November, they had been in Scotland, China, and in various states in the U.S. investigating weird stuff, anomalies.

Stephen is the ideal interviewer, the sort of guy who can talk to anyone about anything. He put me immediately at ease – and that’s saying something. My first foray into TV – and the last foray for decades – was as  a 14-year-old on Venezuelan TV, where I was supposed to play a Beethoven piece on the piano. I sat down, put my fingers on the keys, the camera moved in  – and I suddenly froze. I couldn’t remember a single note. The synapse between my brain and my fingers shut down. That fiasco stayed with me for years – but vanished as Stephen and I talked.

It helped, I think, that Stephen had experienced numerous synchronicities and that part of the interview was focused on that. As they were setting up, the videographer saw a brand emblem on the sweater I was wearing and said, “Uh-oh,  we need to cover that up.”

Stephen handed me his scarf, which I draped around my neck to cover the North Creek emblem.

When the interview was over, they wanted a profile shot out on the fire escape. “Should I wear my coat?” I asked.

“Let’s see it,” Stephen said.

I held up my $18 thrift store coat from the chair. “Just this.”

“Wow, urban chic,” Stephen said. “Put it on.”

Really? Just like our studio apartment? I burst out laughing and slipped on the coat. Then I climbed out onto the fire escape, wondering how my coat had gone from thrift store purchase to urban chic, right in line with our studio apartment.

I have no idea what the urban chic synchro means. But it does mark a turning point for me. I confronted this weird fear I had and realized that as long as I am prepared, I can do this, I can do a TV interview without freezing up and collapsing into panic.

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An interesting aside here. William Shatner was not there. My sister texted me and asked, Did you meet him? Get pics? It turns out that the video is sent to Shatner, who does a voice over, so that it appears he is interviewing the people on the show. I had been wondering about this, how Shatner could shoot Boston Legal plus do this show. Now I know. It’s all urban chic, perceptual magic, part of the digital world of the 21st century.

But hey, Shatner is tackling interesting topics, looking for alternative explanations. His name allows him to dig and delve, to explore and inform. And isn’t that right in line with what he did as Captain Kirk on Star Trek?