Toot! Toot!
Richard Burnett
rburnett@hour.ca
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Daniel and Bugs post-sangria in Old Montreal
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"You have to get out there and promote yourself!"Those very words were spoken to me by veteran Montreal journalist Alan Conter one night at Montreal's now-defunct Plateau Press Club soon after I began writing this column in the mid-'90s. At the time there was no one else anywhere in Canada doing what I was doing and - following Alan's advice shamelessly - I made sure over the years that everybody knew it.Because I'm fabulous, dammit.
However, in case you've been hibernating for the last decade or so, Three Dollar Bill was Canada's first ever (and still only) syndicated gay column. It has run in over half of this country's alt-weeklies, in almost every major market and I did it all by myself because in those days not one - not one - of Canada's major syndication companies dared even touch me with a ten-foot pole.
Along the way I've had death threats, been banned in Winnipeg and investigated by the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary over charges my column was pornographic. But best of all, I helped lay some groundwork for others. In Toronto, before I was published in the Queen City's Fab magazine in the late '90s, I pitched TDB to Eye Weekly. Suitably smitten with the idea of having a fabulous gay columnist write for their paper, they decided instead to go local, first hiring notorious playwright and author Sky Gilbert (his loudmouth column was called Pink Panther) and then infamous underground indie filmmaker Bruce LaBruce (his was called Feelings).
I love it that I can brag I blazed
a trail for both Gilbert and LaBruce.By the bye, when it comes to humility, I'm the greatest.
Meanwhile, over in Edmonton, my column ran in that city's awesome Vue alt-weekly for a decade until they decided to go local too, in 2007. When I congratulated Vue's current gay columnist, Ted Kerr (his column is called Queermonton), he wrote me, "That you might read Queermonton thrills me to no end because of course I was an avid reader of your work while it was in Vue. It helped shape how I think and informed me that I could I write about those thoughts."
I tell ya, Ted made my day.
Then last week, Tourisme Montréal's new, hot and handsome gay blogger Daniel Baylis, who also grew up in Edmonton, paid me a similar compliment.
"I used to read you in Vue," Daniel told me over a pitcher of Sangria in Old Montreal last week. "When I was coming out in Edmonton your column was one of the connections I had to coming out!"
Each week even when I'm following Alan Conter's advice and shamelessly promoting myself, I also never forget my responsibility to my readers. I also never forget that I love having pictures of myself published. Just ask Gazette columnist and fabulous bitch Bill Brownstein, who profiled me in his column to celebrate the 10th anniversary of TDB in 2006.
"Shall I email you a photo of myself to run in your column?" I asked.
"No!" Bill replied. "The only photo that runs in my column is a photo of me!"
Anyway, what I and other writers did for Tourisme Montréal's print gay publications a decade ago, folks like Daniel Baylis are now doing on the web. Tourisme Montréal has just launched what they call their "Insider" program, featuring five bloggers (including Hour's own Seven Night Stand columnist Brendan Murphy) covering culture, food, shopping, festivals and nightlife in this fabulous city of ours. I'm not surprised Tourisme Montréal has hired Daniel - onetime columnist with The Link when he attended Concordia University - because they created the template for gay tourism. Once again, they're setting a new standard and pushing the envelope. And I enjoy reading Daniel's entertaining and informative blog everyday.
"Finding gay-specific information about a particular destination isn't always easy, but Daniel Baylis, a long-time blogger, columnist and journalist, always has the inside scoop to gay Montreal," says Tourisme Montréal's new gay media relations manager Tanya Churchmuch. "So how is Daniel sharing his passion, expertise and love of gay life in Montreal? Online, where everyone can reach him. Daniel actively explores the city and regularly updates his blog on the Tourisme Montréal website with his latest adventures."
But it doesn't stop there.
You can also "friend" Daniel on Facebook, follow him on Twitter and check out his videos on YouTube. Ask him questions about gay life in Montreal and he'll answer them in his blog. It's so much faster and more efficient than what dinosaurs like myself did for Tourisme Montréal a whopping decade ago.
Still, what I really want to know is this: Is Daniel's new web star-status getting him some fabulous groupie action?
"I haven't gotten any sexual offers yet!" Daniel replies slyly. "But it's a neat position to be in!"
ooo
Essential buttplug Visit Daniel's blog, www.tourisme-montreal.org/Blogs/Gay-Life, where you can also see his vlog interview with me! You can also follow Daniel on Twitter at twitter.com/Daniel_Baylis.
