A couple of weeks ago, we walked into the Mariposa Café in N.D.G. and to our great surprise, there was former newspaper colleague David Sherman, guitar in hand, about to sing his own music before a live audience.

There seem to be no bounds for this Montreal-born journalist, editor, broadcaster, script writer/producer, playwright and now singer-songwriter. And he’s only 59.

The last time Sherman was in the public eye was this winter, as writer of the hit play Joe Louis: An American Romance, directed by Guy Sprung at Infinitheatre. It is a retrospective on the heroic and tragic life of the great American boxer who died impoverished in 1981. It is, Sherman says, a story of celebrity and racism, and if you missed it, a new version is in the works.

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We all remember those golden days of summer, when, to ensure optimal health, we were urged to spend as much time outside as possible.

With increasing awareness of the link between sun exposure and skin cancer, spending time in the sun now requires protection and with the first days of good weather, the smell of sunscreen is ubiquitous on beaches, in parks and even downtown.

But how much protection does sunscreen actually afford? Are there some that are better than others? Could any of them be dangerous? How much needs to be applied, and how often? By next year, consumers will have a better idea of which sunscreen to choose to fit their needs.

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Alfredo Giovanni di Frescobaldi is your typical New York wiseguy for nine months of the year. But at the end of the June, Alfredo dons a halo, helps older ladies and stoned gentlemen across the street, and shortens his name.

“Call me Al,” he says. “Al Fresco.”

Al Fresco has only one proscription for visitors from Montreal. Never, never spend any time inside.

“My pal AC is not really cool. He just wants to waste your time. New York gotta be outside, else it ain’t New York in the summer.”

Hey wait, I tell him, Montreal is a gourmet town. You don’t expect to eat hot dogs all day long, do you?

Al looks like I’m Lazarus, just arose from the dead.

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