Can you guess who this person is?

During this persons youth, while travelling overseas, news of a must-see concert was passed. The folk singer, a former librarian hailing from Victoria, BC had the voice of an angel. At this point, being very short of money, this person decided to throw caution to the wind and spend his absolute last £30 in the following way before leaving the country. £16 was spent on a return train ticket, £7 was spent on the concert ticket itself, £2 for a pint of beer and leftover was a pittance for a bite to eat. Unfortunately for this not-so-bright individual, arrangements had not been made for a place to stay. At the end of the night a hike was made to a park towards the edge of town, and the night was spent underneath a pile of broken umbrellas in an effort to keep the rain off. Apparently, the concert was worth the adventure. Bonus points to name the singer.

christmas cards

I got Katherine to swear on the inside of a christmas card!

And, I crushed my orange

Do you remember that scene in Wayne's world when Stacy drives by and she's like, "h-i-i-i-i-i wayne". Then she slams into the parked car? If you're like me, you probably thought that was pretty funny. Well, today I left my place on my bicycle for my daily commute and I pedaled for about 100 metres and then my bike stopped immediately and I kept going, as if my bike had hit the parked car that Stacy went face first into. I thought that my u-lock was firmly affixed to my rack, but it turns out I didn't have it in the proper locked position. It dropped down into my drive train or spokes - I still don't know, and that sent me flying. Some lady who was passing by with her kid had her jaw on the ground and her eyes wide open as she yelled out, "are you okay!" Luckily for me, I was wearing my helmet and gloves, so I was no worse for the wear. Just surprised and embarrassed.

G.

Just Summer Memories Now...

What are you listening to?

Why?
When I walked in to the Why? gig in a club called Babylon on Bank Street in Ottawa I saw a man in his late 20's with a moustache clutching a drumstick in one hand pounding on a tom drum, and with his other hand playing the melody line on a keyboard. If that isn't enough, he was singing really profound lyrics that got in my head and kept me thinking about what was said for days. I was late for the show and how sorry I am that I was because it was some of the most magical music that I've heard in a while. I want to call the music 'folk-hop' but I don't think that does it justice. It just sounds like such a bad combination - though there are artists, such as Buck 65, who may be worthy of the title. To support my claim, I'll point you in the direction of Buck's last album where indeed there was a banjo. Anyhow, this is a tangent, we are talking about Why? and I'm trying to pigeonhole music that takes elements of folk, rock, experimental, hip-hop, and pop and puts them all together with the ethos of the indie-rocker. The instrumentation in the band when I saw them consisted of drums, keyboards, synth, other percussion, and guitar. These instruments were not always together as there were only 3 members but, as I alluded to above, sometimes more instruments were played than there were members on the stage.Check out the album Elephant Eyelashes to see for yourself.

John Vanderslice
This man knows how to listen to music. That much is evident from his 2005 release Pixel Revolt. I was elated to find that it was released as a double LP on 45 rpm 180 gram vinyl. What that means is that it is released on a format that probably gets as close to perfection as possible. When I put this on, turn it up, and listen - every detail in the music is evident. The music itself is thoughtful, poetic, and gentle independent music that obviously only exists because of the passion that Mr. Vanderslice and co. get from making noises that people want to hear. I'm not going to look for comparison, but it is high on my list of current favourites and I think it will remain there for a while. I have yet to explore his other recordings but that will be coming in short order.

I am the resurrection
A tribute to John Fahey
When I first heard this album, I had been searching for a while for something that combines folk, blues, and experimental music. This tribute fits the bill as the bands do a great job interpreting these songs. Unfortunately, I'm commenting from inside a vacuum because I've never really sat down to listen to the originals. I guess that's what a tribute album is all about though. If some of the bands that you really respect are playing this guy's songs then he must have been on to something. Sufjan Stevens, Devendra Banhart, and Calexico provide highlights for me, mostly because I knew these artists before picking up the album, but there are a whole host of others who do stellar tracks. In the liner notes to the disc, Fahey was commenting on the idea of theme and variation in his music when he said, "there's no variation. I just play the same thing over and over." Each song really builds upon a central riff and this makes it really great to listen to, you have to listen for the subtle variations in the music to really appreciate it. The album is pieced together in such a way that it actually sounds like an album when you listen to it vs. a compilation because of the way the tracks are put together. Now, I'm off to check out the originals...

Paulo are you there?

This showed up on my machine the other day. If anyone knows who Paulo is, could you let him know that somebody's looking for him.

Milk River Cowboys

Howdy.

So I was over at the grocery store and I ran into my neighbour.
He said, "how's it going?"
I said, "howdy."
He said, "Fine."
Then he looked a little bit embarrassed because he said the wrong thing, so he said, "oh yeah, you're from Alberta." He was laughing a little bit and kind of uncomfortable about our exchange. As was I. Sorry Alberta, I hate to spread the myth to the east that it's all cowboys west of Thunder Bay. Nobody says howdy.

Butterhorn Rolls (Version II - The better take)

Top 3 Bathroom Technologys I can do without:

1) Automatic flush toilets (and sinks). Every time I go into a bathroom and use one of those fancy urinals it greets me by flushing and then it does the same again when I leave. This is apparently to stop the spread of germs because I don't have to touch the plumbing and to conserve water. I can flush the toilet more accurately than the little sensor. Don't get me started on the 'sit-down' toilet because every time I go into a bathroom that has one of those I'm greeted with... You guessed it, somebody's mis-flush or no flush. Then what am I doing? Waving my hand in front of the little sensor trying to get it to flush before I carry on with my business. Hello! Could somebody please leave the manual flush on these stupid things - just in case?!?

2) Automatic Air Freshener Dispenser. You didn't ask but I've got another one. Have you been in the bathroom lately and it smells like potpourri? It's not because you're in the flower garden. Somebody along the way has decided that it is in your best interest to be ingesting chemicals that are intended to disguise our foul smells and trick you into thinking that the bathroom is actually a garden. This is the same place that we have the germ-o-phobic sinks and now they're putting something in to try and entice me to stay longer. Good grief. I haven't even touched on the toxicity level that is coming out of these things. I'm no expert but a quick look at the MSDS sheet tells me that this stuff contains hazardous materials. I wonder what hexylene glycol, ethanol, and propanone do to one's body over a series of years inhaling this stuff? Is it worse than the regular smelly bathroom? I also notice that "deliberate excessive inhalation of concentrated vapours can cause respitory tract irritation and central nervous system effects, including death" (http://www.airdelights.com/msds.html - Metered Aerosol Products 30% VOC - All Fragrances). My question that naturally follows is: isn't that exactly what these things will do to me over a lifetime? If I'm 25 years old now, and these things are in a bathroom shooting down on me for the next X number of years, is that not deliberate, excessive inhalation of concentrated vapours; that is what is in the can after all. To be fair, they specify that this is for acute exposure - well, we all remember what a few CFC's did to the ozone, or how about a little DDT for the birds of prey. Good idea folks. Lets see how the shareholders respond when they start paying out the medical bills on that one. Can't somebody just light a match or something?

3) There's one that I really want, but think that I'll be able to do without anyhow.

New friends in ottawa

Being new to Ottawa has posed some challenges such as the fact that I didn't know anyone at all when I first arrived. First, let me tell you that I've met some very close friends immediately. For instance, my bestest friends that I ever met were Rosemary and her mother from ottawa. We go way back. Rosemary even played bach for me on her flute and her mother tells the best jokes I ever heard. I've got other best friends in Ottawa too. For instance, today Katherine and I went to check out Rideau Hall, which is the residence of Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean. We met this great fellow from Quebec named Mark. Immediately we hit it off and so I've got another best friend, or at least we were great companions for at least 40 minutes while he showed us around the joint. He said maybe he would see us in a pub someday, and then forgot to give us his phone number. Sheesh. There's another really really close friend that I could also tell you about. Actually, two more people. First, there is the girl from the front desk at the hotel. We're such good friends that she actually let me use her fax machine. Imagine that, not everybody gets the privilege of sending a fax in this day of fast paced technology. What with email, so called 'just in time manufacturing', hybrid automobiles and even places where sometimes the floor moves. Anyway, it was better than getting a ride in a really old, and shiny hot rod. The other really good friend that I've made in town since we arrived is also an employee at the hotel. We've never met, but we are very close. Every day, this person comes into our hotel room and makes our bed. That is something else. You've got to be pretty close to someone to come into their room and make their bed. Maybe someday I'll return the favour.

C.

Katherine made the Internet!

Katherine's wit

Any Suggestions?

This is my first draft of my scathing letter to the bank. What is it with corporate entities that take your money, make money off of you, and give you little or nothing in return? Anyone got any suggestions for what I should add to my letter. If you want, we can make it a petition. You can feel free to copy it and send it to your bank as well, I don't mind.

C/.

Driving Across the Country (Canada)? Stop here.

From West to East recommended stops:

• Thai Food - 'Nits' in Moose Jaw, SK. Try a vegetarian dish, even if you're not a vegetable.
• Greek Food - 'The Plaza' in Kenora, ON.
• Breakfast - 'The Embassy' in Wawa, ON.
• Mexican - 'Casa Mexicana' in Sudbury, ON.

Also, swim in Lake Superior. The water is cool, clear and superbly refreshing.

The trip took 5 days of sort of casual driving. We made it to Ottawa yesterday and it seems that we may have found a place to live, this will be confirmed on Monday. More to follow.

Rescue on Crowsnest

A couple days ago, I went with Fraser, Omar, and Jamo to Crowsnest Mountain where we would attempt summit. After Fraser found his lunch at the 7-11 in Coleman, we headed for the trailhead. When we arrived we saw a couple of people near what we thought was the beginning of our adventure. We said hi, and got some assurance from them that indeed, we were in the right place.

We loaded up, stocked up on water and hit the trail at about 10:30am. After walking for about 1/2 a kilometer and noticing that the path we were on didn't seem to be going 'up', too incredibly fast, we wondered if we were heading the right direction so we turned back to find that we had walked right by the clear-as-day trail heading in the direction of the mountain... up we went.

The trail heads pretty well straight up to the top of the treeline and from there you zig-zag up the scree on a trail marked by cairns. There had been another group doing the hike and they were hiking behind us up to the treeline and they passed us on one of our frequent water/food stops going up into the alpine. We kept meeting up with this group - this would be a pattern that would continue, all day... and, into the night.

The mountain is tough because the rocks under your feet are not really attached to anything. There is one really tricky part - referred to as 'the chutes' - where it's so steep there is a chain bolted into the side of the mountain and you use that to climb up.


We summited about 3:00pm and the view from the top was spectacular. The Crowsnest Pass is certainly beautiful from above. I wondered to myself if I could get cell phone reception at the top. I called Katherine and indeed, the reception was crystal clear. We hung out for an hour or so, had a nap on the summit, ate some watermelon along with the rest of lunch and signed the log book. After about an hour or so, we began our descent.

Just a few steps off the top and we ran into two of the other hikers. We stopped and talked to them for a minute. They had gone up a different route than us and apparently, it was the hard way. It seems that they regretted that decision because they made it clear that it was really hard. We had enough difficulty with the 'easy way'. There was a guy and he said that one of the members of his party had fainted, and was having some problems. It appeared that she was on her way down now. I thought it awfully strange that they would continue up the mountain with one of their group having problems.

They continued up and we hiked down. We were moving down the mountain, at a much faster pace then we went up, and a few hundred metres below summit we ran into the girl who was having the problems and a couple of guys who were guiding her down. We could see that they were having issues. She looked like she was really scared, "like a rat in a cage". Anyway, as we passed, we were nervous about sending rocks down on them, and I didn't want to spook an already spooked gal heading down the mountain, so we passed. They didn't give us any indication that they needed our help at this point.

We proceeded down a little bit further and discussed the situation, pondering wether there was anything else we could do to help and determined that in the conditions (ie. rocky and steep), there wasn't much of anything we could do at all.

A while later, we saw the same two members of the party that we saw at the summit booking it down the mountain. They said that they were going to call for help for the girl. They stopped long enough to ask if we had a phone. That, I did have, but I couldn't get any reception at this elevation on this side of the mountain. Again, no mention of wanting our help, and there was nothing we figured we could do, so down we went.

We continued down nearly until we hit the treeline, and when we stopped for a break we heard a distant shout. I couldn't make out what was being said, but I heard something. We stopped and turned our ears to the wind and then we ascertained that it was a call for help. That gave us the answer to the moral dilemma that we had been wrestling with all the way down. Up we went, for the second ascent of Crowsnest Mountain that day.

Surprisingly, my legs felt pretty fresh and I felt pretty good going back up to where they were. We met up with one of the guys from their group who said that she was on top of 'the chutes' and they wanted a hand carrying her down the mountain. This made us really nervous, given the terrain, but up we went to assess the situation.

When we got up on top of the chutes, she was in much worse condition than we witnessed earlier. She was lying on her back going in an out of consciousness while her boyfriend was giving her artificial respiration. They were doing a good job of administering first-aid - keeping her conscious and her legs elevated and such, but she was definitely in shock. Lips shaking and not looking too good at all. Given the surroundings, it was pretty scary. They were right on top of the chutes and at this point, there is no way that she would have been any help going down the chutes.
Carrying her down would have probably put people into serious danger, so we were definitely stuck. There wasn't really anything that could be done. They said that their friends had called for help and that was true, but we had no idea what form that help would come in, or if the call had actually been made. I knew that I could get cell reception higher up, so I went up a couple of hundred metres, got into sight of a transmission tower and made a call to 911. On the phone, I was assured that a call had been placed and that help was on the way. This was good news because by this time it was about 7:30pm and light was going to be going fast.

It wasn't long after that we heard the very welcome sounds of a helicopter. It made a pass and tried to land, but the terrain was too steep. I was sort of wondering if they were going to do the mountain evacuation by dropping down a basket and carrying her off. No such luck. Not being able to land, the chopper went up to the summit and we saw the door open and we assumed that some guys got out. They did and began their descent, lugging all of their rescue gear with them, to where we were.
It probably took them a good half hour, or forty-five minutes to make the descent, and we were sure glad to see them when they made it. All the while, the girl had been going in and out of consciousness, her breathing was stopping and starting, and the administration of first-aid continued. The mountain rescue guys gave her an IV which raised her blood sugar, and oxygen, and she seemed to start coming around pretty quickly.

Once she was stabilized, they began the process of the descent. That's right, this girl was going down the mountain. They had a sled - imagine really heavy duty crazy carpet with straps - that we helped load her into, and they got out their ropes, anchored onto a big rock at the top of the chutes and began the descent. By the time they started the descent, it was getting pretty close to 9:00pm and darkness was encroaching fast. They had 100m of rope, and that meant they had to anchor three times to get the girl to the bottom of the chutes.

The rest of the group waited at the bottom of the chutes, on a scree slope, mistakenly thinking we were out of the way of falling rocks. We suspect that there were some mountain goats on a ledge above us that sent some rocks down a vertical cliff face in our direction. The rocks started whizzing down the mountain and we had another victim. The girl's boyfriend took one to the head and he was split open. It always amazes me how much blood can come from a small gash on the head. Fraser put his mountain man first aid into action, and got the bleeding cleaned up and stopped in pretty good time. Fortunately, this injury wasn't more severe.

By the time the rescue team made it down the chutes, it was about 10:00pm and dark. We still had over 1000 metres of vertical to descend until we got to the bottom, and it was very dark but we noticed a nearly full moon was coming out to help guide us. There was also a moment of beauty in it all as the Northern lights came out and gave us a show.

There was a decided light shortage, but fortunately there was enough for one for every two people. Being that we had ascended the mountain twice, and descended once already, our group was more-or-less responsible for finding our route down. Fraser and I sort of took charge in that department searching out the cairns in the dark and leading the way down the path of least resistance.

As we moved, the girl started coming around more and she was able to walk down under her own steam, while strapped to the rescue guys. With great difficulty in the dark, we were able to make this descent safely. As we approached the treeline, we saw more rescue team members approaching from the bottom. At this time, our job was done and all we had to do was walk out to the truck at the bottom.

My legs were jelly, I was very thirsty, I missed dinner but everyone was safe and I'm sure that the lady will be okay. She probably won't be doing any 'intense' hikes in the near future. We made it to the truck by about 2:00am, and I was home, showered and ready for bed by 4:30am. I woke up with a headache at 9:00am but everyone was safe and that's what is important.

With technology like this humanity's largest problems should be a breeze

In Lethbridge!

Act Now and you get roof racks too! Email me, or drop your contact info into the comments and we'll set up a test drive today.

Unintentional Polyrythms

At the South Country Fair, you'll find poets, musicians, jugglers, fire-spinners, volunteers, craftsmen, neighbours, friends, and...drummers. At 2:00 in the morning, when the two-four of Milwaukee's best beer has moved into the second half, and the yee-hah, whoop's and hollers have moved out of the context of the stage, where the performers are being encouraged for an amazing solo, and into the realm of the camps, let the drums begin. Around the camp, which smells of the peculiar combination of campfire smoke, barbecued steak and deep woods off ( 28.5% deet), a skunk wanders by every now and again, never seen, but you know its there because it's walking by, followed by young men giggling. If you're not careful, you might find yourself trying to sleep when the campers next door start up at about 2:30 in the morning with something that sounds like this:

boom bid a bid a bid a boom boom bid a bid a
boom bid a bid a bid a boom boom bid a bid a
boom bid a bid a bid a boom boom bid a bid a BOOM BOOM

When the 2nd drum comes in and it's a little bit off, it sounds closer to this:

boboom bidom boom bidbid boom bida bidboom bid a bid a booboom bidm boom bid a bid a boom bidboom bidboom bid a bboom bidid a bid a booboom bidm boboom bidom bid a bid a booboom bidmboom biboom bidd bid a bboom bidid a bid a boom boom bidboom bid a bid a

and now, the stand-up base (4 feet, from your already-pounding head at 3:00am)
dum, dom, dum, dom, boo, doo, bum, du, bu

... "Well, I heard that train a coming..."

Now the process repeats till 5:30 am, all the while, I lie in my tent thinking to myself how loud things are and that maybe I should go out and say something to them, you know, get them to pack up their drums and hit the road - but, then I remember that I'm not wearing any pants and that it's a package deal. Anything goes at the SCF.

By the time morning rolled around, I might have got 2 winks of sleep, but probably not. I did have something to whine about though. The next day with the temperature exceeding that 30 degree celcius mark, I was exhausted - and actually kind of grateful to the drummers. Without them, the river never would have felt so good in the late morning and then again in the early afternoon. Maybe the music wouldn't have sounded as good either. I think that by denying my body sleep, I must have heightened the rest of my senses for the rest of the weekend because it turned out fantastic. Great friends, music, food, and a cold old man river flowing - what could be better than that? I'm looking forward to doing it again next year.

This is Tom, he didn't sleep well either - I guess he'll use the knife to "fix" some of those pesky drum skins!

Dear Lethbridge,

I ride my bicycle and I have a request for how you can improve my chances of making it another day when I ride to work or anywhere else for that matter.

Please don't stop for me when I'm trying to cross 13 St. S. or Scenic Dr. or Mayor Magrath etc. Just because there are pedestrian lines painted on the road doesn't mean that you need to stop for a guy on a bike, who incidentally is NOT a pedestrian. When you stop, there are 3 more lanes of traffic that don't know why you stopped, because you shouldn't have in the first place. This is why, I will look at you wondering if you stopped for me, or if there is a kid on the sidewalk that you are waiting for. Please don't get miffed when I look confused, or neglect to give you the friendly wave to say, "thanks for stopping, I really appreciate it" because that would be a lie. I don't appreciate it so cut it out.

I hope to see an improvement in your driving immediately.


Thank you,

Love Chris.

Ahh...summer is here and goats were sold.

This is what happens when you round up 5 goats and head to Picture Butte for the animal auction. If you're interested in going it's worth the trip and they make really good hamburgers - No barbeque - seared on the hot grill like my grandma used to make. I believe the auction takes place weekly. When we went there were lots of cows, pigs, goats, sheep, some plants, a really sweet Husqvarna (sp?) lawnmower and, of course, an old Briggs and Stratton water pump that ran like a dream and went for a mere $20.

Have you seen my cat?

Cycling Sound Collage

So...this is a sound collage that I put together of a 2 hour bicycle ride in Lethbridge, Alberta during June. The voice that isn't mine is probably Lisa V. Hope you enjoy.

Working with audio could be fun...

This appeared on my answering machine the other day. I thought it was funny.