Lorelei

In the 1980s there was a singular looking woman engaging in panhandling at Yonge and Eglinton. Although she had the facial demeanor of a street person she wore a leather jacket, grey flannel trousers, carried an Esprit bag and had seemingly “done” hair. She stood with one hand out croaking the words “Two bucks!” … this in the days of a typical donation being closer to one or two quarters and several years before the advent of the twoonie. My assistant J. Harrison Shannon dubbed her Lorelei (he was much better at finding the most appropriate mythological equivalents than I was). He said he original Lorelei was a siren who lured boats and their crews to their doom on the rocks. I did a study of our Lorelei (with hand, hair, leather jacket and Esprit bag) luring the unsuspecting to their fates. Standing up to her knees in the roiling waters. With some suitably ominous rocks jutting out of the swirl. And then the Pogues included a song called “Lorelei” on one of their albums. Cosmic bliss. “Two bucks!” Wonder what ever became of our siren?

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