Bidini was first published in The Sunshine News, a national highschool newspaper, and later, Toronto alternative rock magazine, Shades, for whom he interviewed Devo, The Dickies, REM, Katrina and the Waves, the B52s, Hunters and Collectors, Aztec Camera, The Specials, The English Beat, The Fleshtones, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Members, Lloyd Cole, and the Ramones. His first ever interview was in 1980 with Canadian prairie rockers Harlequin. Afterwards, he wrote for OP magazine as well as the Village Voice, which is where his first sports writing appeared, including "Why I Love Wayne," which later became "Why I Love Wayne Bradley," from The Five Hole Stories. He was a columnist in the Toronto Star between 1991-1993, and currently contributes one essay per issue for Maisoneuve magazine, and a weekly Saturday column for the National Post, called "Games People Play." He will teach a songwriting course in July, 2010 at the University of Toronto's Continuing Education Program, and is currently helping to develop the screen version of his 2002 book, "Baseballissimo."
Books
- On a Cold Road: Tales of Adventure in Canadian Rock (1998) based on a diary he kept during a cross-country tour with the Tragically Hip in 1996.
- Tropic of Hockey (2001)
- Baseballissimo (2004)
- For Those About to Rock (2004)
- The Best Game You Can Name (2005)
- The Five Hole Stories (2006)
- For Those About to Write (2007)
- Around the World in 57½ Gigs (2007)
Plays
Bidini has written two plays,
Five Hole: Tales of Hockey Erotica and
The Night of the Dogs, currently in development.
Awards
His article in the
Calgary Herald's
Swerve Magazine on Clara Hughes, "That's good, Clara, that's good", won an honourable mention in the 2008 National Magazine Awards for Sports and Recreation. He previously won for the
Saturday Night piece, "Hockey Night in Dubai," which was later expanded into one of
Tropic of Hockey's narrative triptych.
Bidini championed Paul Quarrington's novel
King Leary in the 2008 edition of
Canada Reads.
King Leary won the competition.