The Canadian media lost a true prince this week, and at far too young an age: Derek Weiler, 40, passed away suddenly on Sunday. He was the editor-in-chief of Quill & Quire magazine and a regular contributor to DRIVEN (notably, Derek wrote our Hugh Dillon cover story last September). The details of his passing are unimportant because the loss is, by any measure, incalculable.

It bears mentioning that Derek was also a very good friend of mine, which is an altogether other incalculable loss.

But as to Derek the fiery-yet-somehow-mild-mannered editor/journalist: His primary beat involved keeping the Canadian book-publishing industry honest, but he was also devoted to sharing the joy of music through his dazzlingly poetic reviews and blogs. Ask anyone about the man, and you’ll hear variations on one very rare and classy theme. (Kind of Bird-meets-Nyman-meets-Glass to me, though I’m sure Derek, probably more passionate about music than literature, would find my triangulation limiting. As someone pointed out earlier today, online, “The dude had too many faves, his Top Ten list included 300 records”.)

Derek was ridiculously well-versed, but humble. Opinionated, but tactful. And principled? The man was rigidly ethical; he walked tall. I bet he slept soundly, too. He wrote with infectious rhapsody when it came to the arts, and he dotted every ‘i’, crossed every ‘t’, checked every fact and mucked every rake when it came to hard news. To that last point: Derek took stands — always a courageous act when you work in a niche industry. And if his editorial stances irked the establishment here and there in the short term (well, every couple of issues or so), he only earned more respect in the long term, from everyone.

That’s how integrity works, by the way; there are just so few people out there with the guts to put themselves on the line to back it up. Constantly, consistently, truly conscientiously.

I named this post “Dark was the night in late afternoon” for no reason of assumed profundity, though I can’t deny there’s that vague hint of Eugene O’Neill and depression and, yes, death about it. The title is, in fact, Derek’s: It was the subject header in an email he sent me recently, which contained his review for the benefit CD compilation, Dark Was the Night. I’ll let you guess the time of day that he filed. Funny guy.

That review, which I’m publishing in tandem with this post, would be Derek’s final contribution to DRIVEN; click here to read it. To be fair, it’s not his most elegant work, but fault the format in this particular instance, not the freelancer (you try succinctly summarizing 31 songs by almost as many artists, in just 175 words).

Because when it came to writing about music, give that gangly boy some elbow room and wow, could he make words sing.

One compelling bit of music criticism Derek phrased so vividly that it echoes in my head every time I hear the track in question was for Eluvium’s “Amerik,” an instrumental jaw-dropper that I’ll crudely describe as a more melancholy, contemporary take on Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man.” Derek found something deeper and more insightful but, a singular skill, expressed it inclusively: “To me, the heavy washes suggest weary resignation, while the lighter undermelody suggests something else, some mix of bewilderment and stubborn hope. But I suspect this one’s a real Rorschach test, pulling something different out of every person.” He could take what inspired him, and inspire others — and at the best of times, which was often enough, help us learn something about ourselves along the way.

I’ll sign off with a lyric snippet from a favourite song that Derek introduced to me: “I See a Darkness,” by Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy. I know, I know, a lot of “dark(ness)” in this post overall, but you’ll find the final shade slightly lighter. The key, as with most things, is your perspective.

My best unbeaten brother — this isn’t all I see.

Good night, Derek. Sleep tight, friend; you earned it.

_____________________________________________

[There will be no further posts at DRIVENmag.com
for the remainder of the week of April 13-17]

Prior to embarking on the development of the fourth-generation Acura TL, the powers that be decided they wanted their popular mid-size sport sedan to be more capable, more exciting and more engaging from a design standpoint. In the immortal words of Meat Loaf, “Two outta three ain’t bad.”

While the outgoing TL was an immensely popular car, there was room for improvement. In particular, the high-output Type S was a big handful with too much power for its front-wheel layout. On the styling front, some offered that the old TL was too plain (not me) and it didn’t resemble the other cars in the Acura lineup (true enough).

By and large, though, it was a great car: well-built, fun to drive, luxurious, filled with hi-tech features. But time stands still for no man or machine, so the 2009 Acura TL has been made different in three main ways: the drivetrain, the engines and the exterior styling.

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