It is no doubt historic, as music awards go, and the Much Music Video Awards tonight will be fun for their young adherents. But no honest assessment of the MMVAs as an event can deny that they are the quintessential big business self-promotion served up as news.  The Much Music awards were a creation of the former CITY-TV 25 years ago. Now it’s owned by Bell Media. So is the awards show. So is CP24 ,which inherited the all-news mantle from CityPulse News and so is the CTV Network. Tonight (Sunday, June 14, 2014) on an admittedly slow news night, the MMVAs are the top of the news agenda. And there’s talent in there somewhere. We’re sure of it. Never mind that the hosts are that made-up-out-of-nothing pair Kylie and Kendall Jenner of Keeping Up with the Kardashians. That’s Kendall and Kylie inset in an unknown make-believe moment which is said to be a promotion for the MMVAs. That is what they are famous for. Talk about a vehicle that defies the gravity of rational value — except of course that people will pay for anything. And enjoy it. So enjoy.

It is a deeply disheartening example of a public official freeloading at your expense. The full accounting of just what Dan Brambilla, chief executive of the city-owned Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, got for being in that job is breathtaking. When he was married in 2010, the centre paid him $7,910 for use of the photos to market the venue as a wedding location. The National Post records what one councillor called it “an enormous laundry list of indiscretions” compiled by Mr. Brambilla.  The centre paid Mr. Brambilla as a consultant from 2002 to 2008, until the Canada Revenue Agency “determined that the CEO was an employee and not a consultant,” declassified papers from the city’s auditor show. Here are some more: The Sony Centre reimbursed: $2,500 Mr. Brambilla paid to attend the Mayoral Harmony Dinner in 2011, $600 for a fundraiser with Bob Rae in 2010, airfare and event tickets worth $1,250 for Nancy Brambilla, the CEO’s wife, on trips she took with him to Ottawa and Quebec City, $890 for a staff holiday lunch with seven employees, in which 38% of the pre-tax bill was for alcohol, tickets to four other fundraisers for Liberal politicians, totalling $1,550. The Post says Mr. Brambilla liked to dine in the Sony Centre cafeteria with his wife, the documents show. His employer regularly reimbursed him for 50% of the cost of those meals. Council has taken what councilors called “swift” action to stop this type of abuse although taxpayers may say “swift” is a bit if a fib as well.

JOHN TORY AT WORK

The Leaside Gardeners Twitter account is saying this evening that 165 Grade 3 children planted local community gardens this past week in Leaside. It is a charming and so worthwhile exercise for these kids. The program is part of the Leaside Garden Society’s Junior Gardeners program