Ideeahs

This is a quick memory about my childhood spurred on by the news of David Bowie's death. I spent a good part of my elementary school years in my cousin's basement bedroom playing chess and listening to his records.  He was (still is!) nine years older than I and those formative years opened my eyes.  He had hundreds of albums.  The Beatles, Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin, Gentle Giant, Genesis, The Rolling Stones and so many other great artists and bands.  One of them was Bowie. Of the first ten album I ever bought two of them were Bowie's.  The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars was one I bought new at either Sam the Record Man on Ste-Catherine or Phantasmagoria on Parc near Sherbrooke.  Cellophane wrapped with a 3.99 of 4.99 written in black marker across the cover.  The second was Diamond Dogs - I bought that one used at Cheap Thrills (can't remember if that store was on Mountain, Stanley, or Drummond....one of those ...

Music is something that I mention often enough in my posts. It is an art form that eases my movement through time on this rotating and revolving rock. I was reminded of this during my trip in Japan last autumn and am again being reminded this now that I am spending a lot of time in the Kamouraska area of Quebec. Music soothes me. It comforts me with a known entity. It reminds me of days lived. Of emotions felt. People spoken to. Things seen. It catalyzes my known past and this comforts when I am in an unknown part of the world or living uncertain times. Of course these moments all becomes part of the next day's known memories - the magic of life and our memory. These days it is so simple for me to carry most of my music collection with me. All my memories easily recalled with the help of a small iPod. Without it I would have a harder time living life - I am sure of that. Thanks to the artists and the technologists. Let me know what you think about what you have just read...

Today we attended our children's school Christmas Concert (sorry, Winter Concert for the PC).  The parents sat in rows, on chairs and wooden benches.  We were sat quite closely for the three hour show.  Late during the second half one of the teachers pulled out his guitar and sang us a song entitled "Christmas in the Trenches" by an American folk singer named John McCutcheon. This song is about an informal truce that took place between German and British soldiers near the town of Ypres, Belgium on December 24, 1914.  The Germans had been singing carols in their trenches and the Brits responded with their own.  Eventually the men emptied out of their respective trenches and met in the middle, in no man's land, to exchange cigarettes, booze and chocolates.  They exchanged stories of home and pictures of family.  They buried the dead that had been lying in the no man's land.  They played a football match.  Boys having fun in a school yard - a school where none of the...

These days I spend a lot of time sitting, MacBook on my lap, writing.  Now that I have my entire CD collection ripped to my iTunes library I can throw headphones on, shuffle 3300 songs and be surprised by the mix that gets created.  I have been listening to a lot of music that I would not have listened to the "old" way.  One CD that I would not have grabbed from the shelf, opened up and inserted into the CD player is Up!  Shania Twain released this CD in 2002. Anyhow...to the subject that sprang to mind today as the tune Ka-Ching! was played.  Back in 2002, before any news media outlets caught on to the rising credit storm, before it became popular to discuss, there were some experts ringing alarm bells.  The economy was running on fumes and people were spending beyond their means.  It turns out that Shania was one of those who was also ringing bells.  I wonder whether her legions of listeners heeded her advice back in 2002.  More than sixteen million copies of Up! have been ...

I am sitting on the Japan Rail Thunderbird 82 train bound for Kyoto.  It is 10:21 in the morning, November 3 and playing on my iPod is Bruce Hornsby and The Range's song entitled "The Way It Is". That's just the way it is, Somethings will never change, But don't you believe them. I said "hey little boy you can't go where the others go, 'cause you don't look like they do" I said "Hey old man how can you stand to think that way? Did you really think about before you made the rules?" He said "Son,  that's just the way it is, Somethings will never change, That's just the way it is" But don't you believe them. Well tomorrow, November 4 Barack Obama will be elected President of the United States of America.  The slogan used for the successful campaign was "Vote for Change".  And that is what, finally, the world is getting.  It is a fantastic accomplishment for anyone to be elected President but this one is ...

During my elementary school years I would take a school bus to and from work.  We thought we were very cool as we didn't ride in a yellow "cheese-wagon" bus but a city bus that had been hired by the school board for the purpose.  We felt like teenagers riding a city bus.  After school I'd bus it and then spend a few hours at home alone waiting for my parents to come back from work and school.  I think about those days and my own children now and wonder how they would cope with being alone at home for a few hours every day. During these afternoons waiting at home I'd prepare myself a snack (Ritz crackers with mozzarella cheese, sandwich rolls with Miracle Whip are two snacks that I am recalling).  I then would move to the living room and flick on the television and watch the following shows, one after another - The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family and Happy Days.  I don't remember very many specific episodes.  There is one, however, that pops up into my mind e...

I have a very personal experience that highlights how context is very important when trying to understand how somebody interprets spoken words, written text, sounds and sights.  In my case it is the interpretation of the meaning of a particular song - "I'm With You" by Avril Lavigne .  There are many interpretations to the song.  See this link for some examples.  Apparently Avril wrote it one day when her boyfriend wasn't around and she was simply in a down mood. For me the story starts in the autumn of 2005 when an employee of mine, a friend of mine, died tragically in a kayaking accident on the Sea of Cortez .  She had been kayaking with friends, the winds picked up, they got separated.  She had the radio, called in for help.  Her friends were found, she wasn't.  This event affected me in many ways and I was much more emotional than I would have expected based on my personality - up to that point in my life anyway.  Here was a woman in the prime of her life, in...

Listening to The Tragically Hip's Phantom Power album this morning.  Sitting at home.  Contemplating life. Rules Guaranteed or not, It's the rules We certainly have a lot of rules imposed on us by various organizations and, more generally, society.  You can't go faster than 50 km/h.  You have to pass on the left.  Stay in your lane (you've read this all before, I know).  In my earlier post I stated that organizations are trying to help us by creating all these rules and signs.  Forcing us into a certain pattern of action and thought so that the machine and all it's complicated parts work smoothly.  Mechanically.  The machine being the earth and the guts of it being the orderly conduct of humans in it.  But by doing this creativity is squashed.  Comply.  Be the same.  Obey.  Do what you want in your home (well, not really) but when you enter the machine, behave. Unfortunately the home is no sanctuary from rules.  Sit up.  Hands on the table please.  Clean up your ...