About this blog

Unless otherwise bylined, this blog is written by John Threlfall. A specialist in media and popular culture, John was on staff at Victoria’s award-winning alternative weekly newspaper, Monday Magazine, from 1999-2010 as the Arts Editor and in-house theatre critic, eventually moving up to a four-year stint as Editor-in-Chief.

John Threlfall, Artsy Type blogger and Fine Arts communication officer (photo: Hugo Wong)

He also spent five seasons as the on-air “walking encyclopedia of popular culture” for CBC Radio One’s Definitely Not The Opera, has been a freelance writer for more than 20 years, worked a decade in live theatre as a stage manager and technical director, and has taught university-level courses on such diverse topics as time travel, the history of the disc jockey, the business of writing, the representation of witchcraft in popular culture, magazine publishing and how to write about popular music. He has been a popular sessional instructor for UVic’s Department of Writing since 2006, and is currently the Communications and Special Projects Officer for UVic’s Faculty of Fine Arts.

In addition, John was one of six Canadian Gen-Xers featured in the NFB documentary Le Temps X, was the co-host of Canadian Biker Television, co-authored the quirky guidebook Victoria: Secrets of the City for Arsenal Pulp Press, was nominated for an Alternative Association of Newsweeklies Award, served as co-president of the board of directors for Intrepid Theatre (producers of the annual Fringe Festival) and is a frequent instructor and guest speaker at universities, colleges, schools and media panels around Victoria. His published interviews include the likes of musicians Bruce Cockburn, Pat Benatar, Ani DiFranco and Billy Bragg; filmmakers David Cronenberg, Guillermo del Toro, Paul Gross and Ron Mann; authors Neil Gaiman, Ronald Wright, Starhawk and Thomas King; and such various personalities as Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk, Titanic explorer Tom Zaller, New Age pioneer Shakti Gawain, comedian Ryan Stiles and veteran west coast rock ‘n’ roll DJ Red Robinson.

A practicing witch for over 25 years, John is also a Wiccan priest, and likes to  spend his free time artfully arranging his James Bond and Orange Crush collections. His wife, Beth, is a busy local artist and his two dangerously charming children may well take over the world one day. If his life was a Broadway show, it would be called Hectic: The Musical!

You can reach him at johnt@uvic.ca or 250-721-6222. 

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