It’s an odd concept “to belong” to something, but I’m convinced it’s an important part of being a human.

A few weeks ago, I received an e-mail inviting me to be a part of the annual general meeting of the Avalon Liberal Association. Do you know I actually considered it for at least a little bit? The internal decision in my head was swung by the fact it was a “virtual meeting.” 

No hotels, no beer by the barrel, no late nights or free stuff. I mentioned all this to someone I knew that I had considered it and she said, “You just want to BELONG to something.” 

You know, upon further review as they say in sports, she was right. We all want to be part of something. We want to belong.

‘Leafs Nation’

The opening to the TV series Cheers always struck an emotional chord in my heart. Individuals finding relief from some awful emptiness by being in a bar sipping beer. The benefits were spelled out. Cheers was a bar, “Where everybody knows your name.” That defines a kind of salvation from the realization that on some important level; you are alone and the path you walk is often by yourself.

The Toronto Maple Leaf experience is like that. It’s the failure of a team over decades and a failure the edge of which is blunted in some way and a salve applied to a wound by making it a shared experience. The approach is given life by an expression that I love, and it is “Leafs Nation.” That expression could bring tears to my eyes. 

Tsunami of lost hope

So many people brought together in a great tsunami of lost hope and disappointment somehow made at least bearable by a shared experience and a confirmation of the truth that each year when an NHL team wins a championship, 25 teams lose.

In the middle of that emotional angst, you are at least not alone. You belong to something. You are Leafs Nation  There’s a religious aspect to it. A shared set of beliefs and someone to stand with you. 

Consider if you will now a line from Leonard Cohen. It’s to me one of his very best lines. It’s from Dress Rehearsal Rag, and references a 17th century metaphysical mystical group still active in the 21st century called the Rosicrucians. To wit: “Why don’t you join the Rosicrucians they will give you back your hope.” 

It’s in the end all about belonging. The Rosicrucians, the Leafs, Cheers or the Avalon District Liberal association. It’s the great struggle to belong to something and avoid the great consequence of being in the universe on your own.

NTV’s Jim Furlong can be reached by emailing: jfurlong@ntv.ca

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Viva Las Vegas!! Rising from the desert sands, a signature tune for Elvis, (penned by Doc Pomus & Mort Shuman), swings and roars back to life as the soundtrack to the wild opening title sequence of Army Of The Dead – Hollywood auteur Zack Snyder’s newest creation, a zombie heist+ spectacle set in Vegas.

Allison Crowe, recently elegiacally closing Zack Snyder’s Justice League, joins movie music maven Richard Cheese for a duet to raise the undead along with the living. (The fabulous Cheese – actor/musician Mark Jonathan Davis of Lounge Against the Machine –  earlier serenades audiences in “Dawn of the Dead”, “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” 2016, and more).

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Milan Records, (an imprint of Sony), releases the original motion picture soundtrack on May 21 – and the album opens with Allison & Richard’s singular dual rendering of #VivaLasVegas! Along with vocal/piano+ celluloid heroes, the OST includes the film’s electronic music score from super-composer Tom Holkenborg aka Junkie XL (also fresh off the #SnyderCut).

The movie Army Of The Dead opens this Friday, May 14 – showing in 600 cinemas across America, before it globally opens on Netflix – May 21st.

NB #ArmyOfTheDead” is very much a “hard R” movie experience – as befits the zombie/horror genre. Anything from The Stone Quarry team of creators will provide intellectual and spiritual content as well as visceral thrills. The zombie genre, of course, offers a particular kind of catharsis and, so, it’s for an appropriately age-restricted audience. Director Zack Snyder notes: “Viewer discretion is definitely advised.”

(Press release courtesy of Allison Crowe Music/Netflix)