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Gary Topp ushered Toronto into the cultural future—and he’s still making alternative history

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JL;DR SUMMARY The episode explores Gary Topp's critical role in shaping Toronto's cultural scene during the 1970s and 1980s through his work as a music promoter and independent movie theater operator. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski.

  • At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself.
  • This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude.
  • Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from.
  • But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me.
  • And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.
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Tags

Cultural ChangeFilm ScreeningTorontoAuthenticityCommunity BuildingCountercultureMusic PromotionGary ToppThe Roxy TheatreThe 1970s

Places mentioned

Israel
"about Shlomo Mansour, who was the oldest hostage currently being held in Gaza."
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
"really, it's a flashback to a whole bunch of things where I go, oh, I was at that. I remember that. Oh, yeah, okay. And I'm sure I'm not alone in that one."
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
"My name is Joel Chiaoushou, and I'm the Quebec correspondent for the Canadian Jewish News."
Ontario, Canada
"of Toronto particularly, culturally for a very long time. And we even went to the same schools."
Quebec, Canada
"My name is Joel Chiaoushou, and I'm the Quebec correspondent for the Canadian Jewish News."
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
"s that were a gang of hoodlums from Hamilton who, like the band, came in and just scared the shit out of everybody."
This podcast episode was indexed and curated by Cairo, JL;DR's web crawler.
Cairo Item ID 48782
Cairo Source ID 73
Retrieved 2025-04-09 05:30:44 UTC
Curated 2025-04-09 06:04:44 UTC