RIP Will Munro, 1975 - 2010

 With heartfelt condolences, I want to pass on the news that Will Munro, who accomplished as much as anyone possibly could as a multi-disciplinary artist/queer activist/community builder/cultural impresario here, died of cancer last night at the age of 35. A vigil is being held as I type this, in Trinity Bellwoods Park. 

For those who knew him well, this will be an extraordinary loss; even from afar, his energy and zeal for life put off a radiant glow. It's hard to guess what Munro will be best remembered for -- his tireless promotion of his cultural passions, which, at his monthly Vazaleen nights at the El Mocambo, helped launch the likes of Peaches and The Hidden Cameras; or his multiple standing DJ nights around town; or as the proprietor of The Beaver, a safe haven of welcoming diversity along the increasingly thick-necked West Queen West scene. 

Beyond a handful of chance meetings, I didn't know Will, but I'll always remember him as an artist, where his obvious good humour, smarts and passion for life never failed to sparkle its way through a sometimes-dour art scene. 

His last show at Paul Petro, just a couple of months ago, was, to use the apt cliche, so him -- not an easy thing to do in the later stages of the brain cancer that claimed his life. Nonetheless, the show, "Inside The Solar Temple of the Cosmic Leather Daddy," contained all his good-natured, self-effacingly wry humour, leavened, this time, by the looming sense of his own mortality. Will knew the end was coming; he just wasn't going to let it spoil his fun. Both for his spirit and simply for the person he was, he'll be badly missed. 

With thanks to Art Metropole for the image above.