Your take on Hamilton seems a tad narrow minded, LH. Hamilton did have pollution problems like other steel producing area including Cape Breton. However, I think the pollution is dwindling as offshore producers take over the markets and force plant closures. Even Orillia had metal plants and contaminated areas. Dorr-Oliver still had a mud floor in the foundry when I worked there. I only went to the foundry once but felt I had stepped back into a Dickens’s novel.

My feelings on Hamilton were that it had culture, a mix of working culture and other cultures. I believe that the McKenzie Brother act was a direct rip-off of Hamilton working culture with the a bit of cleaning up, such as ‘take-off eh’ instead of their endearing local colloquialism. As in any place that loses hundreds of jobs, areas got rundown but new buildings, parkland, and initiatives sprang up. Hamilton seems to have become a hotbed of music culture in recent years. Perhaps this is because parts of the city are much more affordable than neighboring Toronto.

I'm sure Tom Wilson was acting tongue-in-somewhere with his remarks. He’s from Hamilton and can joke about the place. Besides being a member of Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, Tom also fronts the musical group 'LeE HARVeY OsMOND.' One of their songs shows pictures that are probably recently taken in Hamilton. A lot of it looks like other cities in North America.
Lee Harvey Osmond -I Can't Stand It
And they say Canadians don’t dance. Damn.

If you start looking for culture in Hamilton, you’ll find lots of it mentioned on the web. Who would have thought that Conway Twitty played Hamilton in the 50s?

How about McMaster? McMaster has been one of Canada’s top Universities as long as I can remember. Besides their leading edge medical research, they bought Bertrand Russell’s old letters. How could any Canadian’s write good letters without the example of an old, dead, Brit? (Russell was a great writer.)

If Eugene Levy hadn’t met Ivan Reitman at McMaster, we may not have enjoyed highly cultured Canadian movies like American Pie, American Pie 2, and American Wedding.   

Hamilton locals put on a great free festival each year, The Festival of Friends. I saw Bruce Cockburn and many other top-drawer performers there, the few times I attended.

And how about that one-sided mountain? Did you ever ‘go up the mountain’ in Hamilton? Hamilton Mountain only has one side. Hamiltonians will hear no arguments to the contrary.

Are you sure who was fooling who when you went to that Hamilton guitar store? No self-respecting salesman, wanting to make a sale, would disillusion a crazy musician with lots of money jingling in his pocket.

Furthermore, they might have realized from your strumming that you should already be a star. Sadly, they didn’t know that you needed help to promote yourself and to get over your fear of success. They might have been able to help you if you asked. Daniel Lanois re-launched Aaron Neville and Dylan’s careers from Hamilton.

Good to see your video out there where people can see you. Thanks. A couple more would be nice.