for sentimental reasons

Diana Sweets mourned in song

Ron Sexsmith laments loss of downtown diner

The Standard (St. Catharines - Niagara)
Tueday, August 16, 2005
By Erik White

Whenever he's back in his hometown, Ron Sexsmith tries to make time for a walk down memory lane. Usually to see what's changed.

It still surprises him a little whenever he strolls by the St. Paul Street storefront that was home to Diana Sweets for 75 years.

Even nine years after the landmark diner closed and its historic insides were scooped out, it still seems like it will always be there.

"It was very authentic," said the St. Catharines-born singer/songwriter. "I miss those kind of places."

Although the diner is already immortalized in local nostalgia, Sexsmith has taken the unspoken mourning for The Di to a new, public level.

His new album, Destination Unknown, on which he partnered with longtime drummer Don Kerr, comes out today. It includes a track called Diana Sweets.

Some have guessed it's a love song to a girl named Diana. Sexsmith calls it a love song to a lost time and place.

But the 41-year-old Juno Award winner was never a regular at Diana Sweets and never cemented a puppy love by carving initials into the wormwood booths. He admired it from afar.

"Even before I went there, it seemed like this magical place like Willy Wonka's or something," said Sexsmith.

His first memory of the old eatery is from when he was six. He had a cast on his leg and was afraid to get it taken off. His uncle George promised him a soda from Diana Sweets if he was brave. He thinks it was cherry.

When he was in his early 20s, Sexsmith worked part time at The Standard and would spend his breaks at Diana Sweets over coffee and a piece of pie. He also remembers writing some halfway-decent songs there.

"I liked the idea of it," he said. "You felt connected to something."

Sexsmith remembers being surprised to hear of the Di's closing in 1996. Every time he thinks of his uncle George, recollections of the old soda fountain usually follow.

They did the night he wrote the song in a hotel room outside of Krefeld, Germany. The tune was a natural fit for the new album. Most of the songs are about glances back at childhood.

"I find it strange that people are constantly looking backward," Sexsmith said.

"It's almost a disease in a way, nostalgia. But I guess it comes with the job as a songwriter."

Diana Sweets
Destination Unknown (2005)
Ron Sexsmith

Down St. Paul there is a gaping hole
Where once Diana used to be
But summer's faded into autumn
Gone with all her golden opportunities

I was sipping on a soda
Once with my Uncle George
He said he'd take me
If I was a good boy

That was long ago
A door forever closed
Still in my mind I see Diana Sweets
And the sweet sweet summers I've known

Sweet summers now long gone
When everything seems to be wrong...
Diana....

From Western Hill cut to my window sill
In some hotel near Krefeld, Germany
Am I doomed to wander every back road
Of my mind for all eternity

Why do I keep on knocking
When there's nobody home
And calling where no one
Can pick up the phone?

For sentimental reasons
I keep on believing
In some fading dream of Diana Sweets
And the sweet sweet summers I've known
Sweet summers now long gone

Diana where have you gone?

-30-

Rock star status for Ron Sexsmith

By Mike Bell

The Calgary Sun

July 21, 2005

To some people, Ron Sexsmith is a rock star. Actually, to rock stars, Ron Sexsmith is a rock star.

Especially in the Canadian music industry -- the brilliant singer-songwriter is looked up to in something approaching awe by the younger crew of Canuck talent such as Sam Roberts and Feist.

"They all make me feel like I'm a -- I don't know how to describe it," the always humble Sexsmith says from his T.O. home. "Everyone's really supportive of what I do, and they make me feel like I'm the old guard or something ...

"But I'm always surprised when people come up and they know my music or they say they're fans or whatever because I'm always clued out about that stuff.

"I just assume that because I'm still relatively unknown to the masses that these people probably don't know my stuff either."

Sexsmith's last album Retriever went a step or two farther in getting his name out to the music-buying masses.

For the first time in his lengthy career, Canadian radio actually embraced some of the upbeat, poppier fare.

Add to that his Juno win for songwriter of the year, and it was another move towards the fame he deserves.

"With each record I always felt that I've moved a few notches forward," he admits.

"I've just been really lucky that through it all I've had a solid fanbase -- and that was enough for me to keep going."

Sexsmith is all ready to get started recording the followup -- he'll hit the studio after his folk fest appearance this weekend including a mainstage show tomorrow.

And while he won't preview any of those songs for the folk faithful, he will treat us to some new material.

Sexsmith recently recorded an album with Don Kerr called Destination Unknown.

Set for an August release, it features music he compares to the Everly Brothers, with no electrics but gorgeous harmonies.

"We originally thought we'd just sell it from the stage," he says. "And then we got wind that a lot of labels wanted to get involved and put it out."

So I guess it is true -- everyone wants a piece of you when you're a rock star.

-30-