Zanta's Back!

>I usually see Zanta in Yorkville and had seen him there often during the film festival, running around, being loud and showing his feats of braun for passersby. I'm not really sure what his deal is but he seems perfectly content in this role which finds him dressed up in nothing but boots, shorts and a santa hat. Friends recently told me they'd seen restaurant signs on Yorkville and Cumberland streets saying "Bye, Bye, Zanta" or "We'll miss you Zanta", and had feared something horrible had happened. Turns out Zanta's back!. He was just in jail for a little while for, according to his website, doing push ups on the subway. He's also now banned from all TTC vehicles.

I can't say whether I think the dude is nuts or just "in character" as he claims. He does seem to have a pesky personna. I'll admit I've been kicked off the subway before too so I'm not surprised at the attitude the TTC has taken. All I was just doing was singing American Pie with a bunch of other late night passengers who'd implored me to sing along. If that got me busted, I'm sure Zanta wasn't doing much worse. However, he does appear to be getting banned from other sites in the city and CHUM doesn't like him poking around their windows much either.

I'll have to look into it a bit further, maybe watch his videos, but for now I think it's kinda cool having our own kooky dude on the street like NYC's Naked Cowboy. Maybe there should be a showdown or at least Zanta could step it up a notch and make ringtones available on his site, like the Naked Cowboy, who purportedly makes a decent living doing his thing in Times Square.

(image: Matt O'Sullivan)