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Samantha Butler
Samantha Butler is a journalism student at Centennial College with a undergrad in geography and anthropology from U of T...

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Paul Quarrington, Porkbelly Futures

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Canadians are mourning the loss of one of their own as Paul Quarrington, one of the nation’s most dynamic and multi-talented artists, lost his seven-month battle with lung cancer Thursday.

Here in Toronto, where the award-winning author, musician, and screenwriter made his home, he is sorely missed.

“He was an amazing and rare character,” said John Maxwell, owner of Allen’s pub and Dora Keogh on Danforth Avenue in east Toronto.

Here, Quarrington met with friends and fellow artists for over twenty years.

Quarrington engaged thoroughly with the Canadian arts community during his 56 years. He published his first book in 1978 at age 25. Fifteen more followed, including  King Leary, The Ravine and Whale Music, for which he won the Governor General’s Award in 1990.

He also fronted popular Toronto blues-rock band The Porkbelly Futures, who released four albums since 2004. They played regular full-house gigs at Dora Keogh, which, according to staff, “doesn’t fill for just anybody.”

There are six film and several television screenplays to his name. He also served as a member on the board of Fringe Theatre Toronto, contributed to BookShorts’ Moving Stories Film Festival, appeared as a frequent guest at the Harbourfront International Reading Series in Toronto, was Chair of the Writer’s Union of Canada, and served on the board of PEN Canada, according to his website.

Meanwhile, back at Allen’s Pub, Maxwell says that he was also a regular face in a vibrant arts crowd, that included writers such as Nino Ricci and musicians Martin Worthy and Chaz Elliot. But among the crowd, Quarrington always stood out.

“He combined the enormous creativity with great humour, wonderful human sympathy,” Maxwell said, “and of course with a work ethic that allowed him to produce at a prodigous rate.”

Quarrington was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer in May 2009. His response to this terminal diagnosis was a renewed passion for the arts.

“We saw much more of him (after his diagnosis),” Maxwell said. “He was stimulated by the ticking clock …ready to squeeze, as he would say, the last drops from life.”

The Porkbelly Future’s gigs continued, even as Quarrington became limited by ventilation equipment and the physical tolls of his illness. Their next show at Dora’s was scheduled for Friday, January 22. Instead, a gathering of “many many friends” came together, and put on an evening of music and memory.

“Friday night was a magical night,” Maxwell said.

Several friends performed, including Toronto blues band Soul Stew.

It seems a fitting tribute an man who pursued so passionately and incessantly his passion for the arts. Though his advanced cancer presented an ominous battle, “his response in spirit was to be more positive,” Maxwell said. While others whither and weaken in illness, Quarrington “(became) more lively, more overt.”

Quarrington was born in Toronto in 1953. And while he leaves behind him now a vast legacy of artistic work for Canadian to explore, he also leaves a behind a large crowd of loving friends, family and colleagues.

For more on Quarrington’s life and work visit his website at http://www.paulquarrington.org/.