[URBAN NOTE] Thompson, not in Toronto

[rfmcdonald]

It turns out that the Croatian band Thompson won't be performing this Sunday at Toronto music club Kool Haus.

Thompson, which takes its name from the submachine gun used during the 1991 Balkan War in which Perkovic fought, released the album Bilo jednom u Hrvatskoj (Once Upon A Time In Croatia) in 2006. Translated from Croatian, songs the band has performed include Arrival of the Croats, Ghost of a Warrior and Don't Deceive Me With a Dove In Your Hands.

Some of Thompson's videos also appear on YouTube, including one showing Perkovic dressed as a soldier with a gun resting over his shoulder as armed colleagues sing along.

Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center issued a media release on Oct. 23 asking that both Canadian shows (the other is in Vancouver on Nov. 16) be cancelled.

"Thompson has been singing for years in Croatia," the Center's director of national affairs, Leo Adler, stated at the time. "The difficulty with Thompson is that he and his music act as a lightning rod for young Croatians who proudly wear Ustashe (World War II Croatian fascist movement) uniforms and display Ustashe symbols, which occurred at Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb in June."

Reuters reports that Thompson will be performing in a secret location, and that ticket-holders will be informed of the new venue over E-mail. These people, Thompson's audience, would be found mainly among the hundred thousand Croatian-Canadians. This community gained media attention recently for its links to Croatia and Croatian nationalists--late Croatian Defense Minister Gojko Susak, for instance, had spent several decades in Canada before returning to independent Croatia, and the larger Croatian-Canadian community has been involved not only in above-the-board relief operations during the Yugoslav wars but reportedly provided funds for Croatia's military.