Elton John pays tribute to Queen at his final Toronto show: ‘She worked bloody hard’

Rock bottom best thing to happen to Les Girondins

You know things are dire when hitting rock bottom is a relief. You might be at your lowest point, but you still exist. The ground hasn’t swallowed you up, and while you lay prostrate, humiliated, you eventually understand that the only way is up.

Girondins de Bordeaux is at rock bottom — and lucky to be there. It is still, just barely, a football club. But it exists. And given how close it came to oblivion, existence is good enough for now. Not that it doesn’t hurt.

The dizziness of the drop, and pain of the landing, is felt in relation to the height from which you fell. Bordeaux fell from the top of the mountain.

On May 30, 2009, Les Girondins won its 11th match in a row and was crowned Ligue 1 champions for the sixth time. A month earlier, it had lifted the Coupe de la Ligue — a competition in which it drubbed Paris Saint-Germain at Parc des Princes in the semifinal.

On the night table: Carol Off

Carol Off: Author, True Patriot Love

I’m about to start On Treason By Patrick Lennox. I recently finished reading Margaret Atwood’s memoir Book of Lives and loved it; I came to understand, from her point of view, all the things that made me fall in love with Canadian literature as a young person. Now I understand how difficult it was to actually get published in this country from the points of view of those writing, and all the wonderful, wacky stories Atwood has about culture in Canada.

Carol Off launches True Patriot Love on Wednesday, Nov. 25 at 7 p.m. at McNally Robinson Booksellers’ Grant Park location.

Supreme Court road show draws overcapacity crowd in Winnipeg

A historic Supreme Court hearing began Wednesday in Winnipeg by putting into focus the lack of resources in Manitoba’s court system — a reality felt deeply across the country, the Supreme Court justices were told.

As they presided over a case outside of the nation’s capital for the first time in the court’s 144-year history, the nine judges were tasked with considering whether court delays caused by judges are a systemic problem in Canada, and if so, what they can do to stop them.

The issue likely isn’t top of mind for most Canadians outside the legal system — or even the majority of those within it — but the public’s interest was piqued by the chance to see Canada’s highest court in action.

About 180 people showed up to watch Wednesday’s hearing at the downtown Law Courts building in a 60-seat courtroom usually reserved for Manitoba’s Court of Appeal. There was a little fanfare: people were issued free tickets to get into the hearing, and Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard Wagner gave a short welcome address (not the norm in Ottawa).

Group’s second LP made to get hearts racing

While a live performance is a moment in time that comes and goes, a record is something that, ostensibly, lives on.

Both are important, often complementary methods of artistic expression for any band of musicians, not the least independent local artists carving out names for themselves in the dark heart of the continent.

Claire Thérèse & the Lockdown are celebrating the vinyl release of Racing Heart, its second full-length LP, with a gig tonight at Public Domain. The group’s last full-length record, Villainy!, was released in 2022.

“For me, this seems like perfect timing,” says Thérèse, primary vocalist and songwriter in the group. “This album has been done for almost two years now. I don’t even know if I would call it procrastination, (but) there are just those steps that one needs to take to actually release something into the world, and that’s how long it has taken me.”