Our Summer Vacation

Usually, Joanne and I have several camping and hiking get-a-ways during the summer, but usually Jo’s not pregnant! So, this year, our summer was rather tame. Instead of overnight stays in a tent, we simply packed our cooler for afternoon trips to the nearby beaches. We did, however, plan a 3 day, 2 night ‘mini’ vacation trip to Toronto to enjoy the city and some good ‘ol Rock’N’Roll!!!


I managed to get a really good rate at a hotel right in the downtown core of Toronto. We took the 401 freeway until we hit the world famous Yonge Street and soon we were passing Dundas Street and the Eaton’s Centre.


The location of our hotel was great. We were so close to many attractions, restaurants and transit vehicles, so we could walk or go for a ride. This triangular shaped building was just two blocks away from our hotel, as we set off in search of cold beer! You will see this building in many of the Toronto travel commercials on TV. The ‘Y’ intersection that it creates is interesting, as well as…


… this fun mural, found on the backside of the building. Only the middle windows are real. The others are a part of the mural’s design.


Steps away, is another famous Toronto attraction, the St. Lawrence Market. Vendors bring in fresh fruits and vegetables from local Ontario farmers, fresh baked treats, meats and fish, along with many other tasty yummies. After a stroll through the market, it was time to rest and enjoy…


… the cold beer that I was looking for. Ahhhh! Beer! I wonder if the Jupiler Beer Company will send me some money for this advertisement on my blog?!!!


Again, within walking distance, we strolled to the shore of Lake Ontario. We did a lot of walking, sitting, walking, sitting, during this trip. Joanne was using a lot of her energy making a baby and I didn’t want to tire her out so she wouldn’t be able to enjoy our time. So, for a while we relaxed and watched the boats in the harbour. Had we a bit a more time, we might have taken a fairy boat ride to the Toronto Island that you can see in the background of this photo.


As we made our way back to the hotel we spied this view of the CN Tower and the Rogers Centre – formerly known as the Skydome. The Rogers Centre is the turtle shaped building at the base of the Tower. We got excited cuz we knew that the next evening we would be sitting inside listening to the world’s greatest Rock’N’Roll band!


After a short rest and a change of clothing I took Jo’ on a fun ride on the Queen Street streetcar. You guessed it – to ‘the beaches’ we went for a stroll along the boardwalk and then an amazingly yummy dinner!

I lived in Toronto for three years while I was studying Architecture, half a lifetime ago, so I got to know the city really well. During this trip, I was able to make decisions about where we were to go and how we were to get there so we could see all the interesting areas in fun ways.


The next day, we decided to journey on the underground subway to visit the ROM – Royal Ontario Museum. We started our tour in the south wing of the museum that is dedicated to the North American Natives, including the Inuit and the Haida Natives who created this monstrous totem pole.

I’ve always respected and admired the indigenous lifestyles of the Earth’s people. In many instances their philosophies have influenced my own art creations and I strongly believe that the future of humankind will aided by adopting these reverences for Nature.


Next, we visited the displays depicting the history of the Asian continent. It took a little convincing to get Joanne to pose with her Buddha belly alongside these other Buddha bellies, but eventually she thought that it would be funny, too! Ohhhhmmmmmmm…


Of course, it would be impossible to learn about the history of humanity without learning about a thing called ‘WAR’. Many people believe that violence is in our nature, an inherent characteristic, a human quality… the way we will always be. I disagree!

As humanity treads upon its path into the future, I can see that we have only two very distinct choices… continued greed and violence leading to the fall of our life sustaining ecosystems and all of the Earth’s life forces or, humbled respect and love leading to the Earth’s first ever unified peaceful global civilization.

Seems like a simple choice!


Yes, the world’s history is marked with many acts of violence and suffering, but humanities capacity to learn, grow and love is also evident in many of histories artifacts… like this – the world’s first ever Peacebus!!!!


Next up on our visit was the Dinosaur display! I don’t know what was more enjoyable, seeing all the amazing displays or watching all the children’s reactions to these displays!!

We wound our way from these ancient creatures, through bat caves and into the present, with displays of North American animals and birds. All the exhibits were great, with interactive teaching tools, but I fumbled for words when I saw…


… this depiction of the common raccoon! Somehow I don’t think that the raccoon’s natural habit is a cottage porch, littered with Campbell soup cans!!


As we walked through these displays – of present day animals – I noticed that more and more signs were stating facts that, “habitat loss, agricultural runoff and excess harvesting,” are the reasons for so many issues threatening the survival of so many important creatures. Boy! We sure do have a lot of changing to do in order to create that utopian global civilization. Recognition of a problem is the first step, though, so let’s all be conscious of our present day situations!


Lunch with a cold beer and then a shower got us ready for an evening at the Rogers Centre and U2! This is ‘The Claw’ and as you can see, it looks like something that you’d find in a kid’s Lego set! Banks of speakers spill downwards and I must say, the sound was the loudest and crispest I’ve ever heard.

Usually after a concert, people’s ears are ringing for days. But, during this show you were engulfed in sound with now side effects.


This guy became very well known in my part of the arena… the Beerman! There was always a crowd around him!!


As I sipped on the most expensive beverage I’ve ever bought, stretched out on the turf lawn, watching the crowds fill the stadium, a natural light display caught everyone’s attention. The roof hatch was opened at just the right angle at the same time as the sun was at just the right height at just the right time of day and “Voila!” A ladder of light appeared to usher in all the angels of Rock’N’Roll!!!!


The day’s forecast was for afternoon rain followed by clear skies. All we got were the clear skies, so soon a decision was made to open the retractable roof. Very cool to watch that happen!


Later, in the evening, the CN Tower put on a little light show of its own and this added to the overall atmosphere for this event! What a great night!!


Bono and the boys really had the crowds jumping with excitement as they deftly pounded out ‘Even Better Than The Real Thing’ as the opening song. The Edge’s guitar rift in ‘The Fly’ had my brain bouncing around inside my skull as the crowd got into high gear. These songs were followed by ‘Mysterious Ways’ and then ‘Until The End of The World’ and then I told Jo’ that maybe we had traveled back in time to the early 90’s. All four of these songs were from their album ‘Achtung Baby!’ I thought we were here to listen to their most recent tunes.

Bono said something about ‘why’ this album was being highlighted on this evening but I missed this cuz I was busy lookin’ for the Beerman again!

Usually, U2 goes on tour to promote their most recently released album and most of the songs performed are from that album. Last year, they started their tour to promote ‘No Line On The Horizon’ and the last leg of the tour was postponed due to Bono’s back surgery. I’m thinking that once they got the tour going again that they simply decided to play all their favourite songs cuz ‘NLOTH’ was old news by then.


Here is the rest of the set list from this evening…

I Will Follow
Get On Your Boots
Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
Stay (Faraway, So Close)
Beautiful Day w Major Tom
Elevation
Pride
Miss Sarejevo
Zooropa
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
Crazy Tonight/Discotheque
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Scarlet w Amnesty International Speech
Walk On

Encore:
One
Where The Streets Have No Names
Kiss Me, Thrill Me
With or Without You
Moment of Surrender


Joanne and I had a great time! We ended our night on a restaurant patio, enjoying a cold beer as we chatted about the concert. I was pleasantly surprised to hear ‘Zooropa’ and ‘Miss Sarejevo’. I thought it was really cool how U2 dug into the vault to bring ‘Scarlet’ to life as a subtle backdrop for Bono’s little speech promoting Amnesty International. I was a little disappointed that none of the songs broke into a heavy jam session, as many of their songs often do in a concert… like ‘Last Night On Earth’. I had a hard time getting into their new version of ‘Crazy Tonight’ but I thought that it was really cool the way they delved into ‘Discotheque’ from that song. I listed off a few tunes that I would have loved to have heard, like ‘Love & Peace… Or Else!’, ‘All Because of You’ or ‘Like A Song’ which I’ve never heard live - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_wMNNySCZk - but it’s one of my favourite tunes! Joanne told me to quit complaining and she suggested that next time I should send Bono a list of songs that they should play for me, next time they’re in town!!!

Hey! A true fan is a bit of a critic, but that’s just because we want only the best of the best!!! If they had played the songs that I listed above I would probably turn around and complain that they didn’t play ‘Elevation’ or ‘Stay (Faraway So Close)’!!!

Maybe I should have simply complained that the concert wasn’t long enough. If it was longer, then they’d have been able to play every song off of every album, making everyone happy!!!!

Hmmmm…. there’s an idea!

Jim

The Magic That Surrounds

The concert hall shimmered in hues of blue

as the audience shuffled in two by two.

Laughter and chatter filled the air

as the time quickly approached

when – as a mass – we would share

a wonder of ROCK twirling musical notes.

I thought that it would be appropriate to begin this blog story in the same manner that Gord Downie began his concert – just about a month ago – here in London, Ontario at the London Music Hall.

The lights came on – dimly lit – and the band took the stage. Gord gave the crowd a wave, took his microphone and then began talking in rhythmic lyric – as only Gord could! As he continued to speak he knelt down beside a slide projector – of sorts – and dabbled liquid colours onto the glass, which reflected onto a large screen at the back of the stage.

Having finished – or so we thought – his spontaneous art creation he picked up his guitar and joined in with The Country of Miracles – his band – who had been filling the air with edgy musical vibrations and beats throughout this time.

Earlier – while enroute to this venue – I told Joanne that this should be a very interesting concert for the both of us. Gord had released his third solo album with his third solo band – taking a side step away from his endeavours with one of Canada’s greatest Rock bands The Tragically Hip. I had only heard two songs off of this album and Jo’ hadn’t heard a single one. I remarked that it would be an interesting concert since neither of us were deeply acquainted with these new songs.

As we were walking down the street, heading towards the concert hall I said, “It’ll be like watching a glorious sunrise, set to music. The sun will rise, the magic that surrounds, in the shapes of clouds and colours of the sky will unfold and be experienced. We’ll be a part of the experience but unable to truly capture or save it, unable to relive it at a later date. To live is to experience the moment as it is happening and revel in the wonder of it all.”

After the first few songs - which truly Rocked! – Gord went back to his projection screen – microphone in hand – and using a thin metal object, began destroying his art creation until new textures were created. Many fans – myself included – were taking pictures (some were recording the performance using their cel phones) and as Gord worked on his new creation he commented – in rhythmic lyric – how we’ll be unable to truly capture this moment and how it would be best if we lived in the experience and the magic that surrounds. I nudged Jo’ and said, “Hey! That was what I was talkin’ about on our way here!”

During these times The Country of Miracles kept the spirit of musical celebration alive by diving into melodical ‘jam’ sessions. I felt like I was witnessing a shift in space and time. Was I at a Grateful Dead (who are known for their long jam sessions) concert, guest starring Jim Morrison (being remembered for his off-beat tangents and poetic verses)?

No – this was better!! This was a melding of historical Rock influences combined with inspiration found only in this new century.

During the first set a few thoughts swept through my brain. I wondered where all of Gord’s material was coming from. True – he had a new album, but that contained maybe ten or twelve new songs. We had already heard this many and a second set of performance was still to come. He wasn’t singing any Tragically Hip songs, so I wondered if he was using material from his first two solo albums. But some of the songs seemed to make reference to ideas that – as The Hip – were explored during their last two albums.

Hmmm??? Could it be (and I thought this was truly possible, slightly alighting to Gord’s renowned creative ingeniousness) that many of these songs were totally brand new, having never been recorded in a studio, created solely for the purpose of this Canadian Rock tour???

These thoughts formed into a stronger theory during the intermission, when I bumped into someone I knew…

In 2008-09 I was teaching my Art For Earth programs in a few elementary schools, here in London. The person I met at the Gord Downie concert was a teacher from one of these classes. Throughout the three days of my classes, the teacher and I had several conversations. He was very impressed with the reasoning that surrounded my classes and I’m sure that I may have inspired him to continue teaching these ways of thinking and expressing, long after my job was finished.

At the concert, he told me that he had bought Gord’s new album and that he had only heard one song off of the album, so far that evening. Hmmmm?!! My theory grew stronger!

My favourite part of the concert was the first song of the second set. Gord took the stage by himself and began another small rant as he layered his projection screen with shades of blue and a black silhouette cut-out of a tree. He picked up his guitar and went straight in to ‘East Wind’ – the first radio release from his new album – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETUZ9Dhe_UI&feature=fvw. I had heard this song maybe just four times previous to this moment and I thought that it was good – nothing to get too excited about though…until this night!!

Very quickly, I found myself slipping into the magic that surrounds, as the notes found a happy place within my skull. I felt myself swirling through the colours of vibration as they leapt from Gord’s guitar… and my feat started to move. A tingling arched it’s way up my spine and I felt a bursting of light exploding throughout my body. The music from this one instrument came from all directions and his voice echoed from the base of my skull into the inner core of my ears. From this one guitar I heard a symphony, that didn’t go around me, it blew right through!

If you can’t guess, I’ll say it straight up – I HAD A BLAST!!!! What an amazing musical experience! I’m so glad that Joanne and I were there!!!

The other day, I went onto youtube to see if I could find some cool links to some fan-recorded concert clips…to share with you. There were many to be found – like this one (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMYb6l6hiBY&feature=related). It was during this time that I truly came to appreciate the memories of my experience cuz not one clip came even remotely close to capturing the essence of the concert that I had celebrated in.

There were concert clips from outdoor shows in the summer where a projection screen would not have been possible. There were other indoor venues where Gord simply placed one image to be projected with none of the rhythmical or lyrical expressions that we heard that evening. And in all of the recordings of East Wind, I could not find a single example where it was just Gord and his guitar. In some of these recordings Gord played along with his band and in other recordings he simply sang while his band played.

As I was walking home from the library – where I had conducted my youtube searches (I don’t have the Internet in my home) I began to think how lucky I (and the rest of the crowd at the London Music Hall) was/were. By watching these youtube clips I could witness the evolution of Gord’s concert series, as he strove continuously to make his performance more interesting and more artful. I felt very lucky to have been a part of his journey nearing the end of his tour where all of his ideas had come together in perfection and grace.

Jim

The Show Must Go On!

Several months ago, I received an invitation to participate in a new community festival. The event was called ‘L.O.O.K. It’s A Party!’ Local artisans and environmental organizations had joined together so that we could share our Locally Organized Organic Knowledge. Ha! This acronym still cracks me up!!!

Of course, I said that I would love to participate in this event!

It was Saturday morning on October 02 – just two weekends ago – and when I had arrived (around 8:30am) the rain was still coming down.

There was lots of activity, at this time, as everyone was setting up their tents and displays.

Like this one!

This is an artisan who creates chairs, tables, lamps and other interesting things out of old bikes. Really cool stuff!

Ha! I just love these tiny ornamental animals that were created using bicycle chains!

As well as artisan and environmental displays, people were also occupied with getting the equipment in place for all the musical performances that were another part of this day’s events. These guys are setting up a small tent to cover all the sound equipment that will be needed.

Since I didn’t have a professional tent covering, like everyone else, I had to use a little imagination. I had brought my camping tent to shelter me from the rain and my art displays were set up inside. I moved a picnic table over and I taped my beach umbrella to it to keep the rain from leaking into my tent.

Inside, I had layered the floor of the tent with some colourful Mexican blankets to create a warm inviting feeling as people checked out my Stik-ers…

… box of prints for sale and a few original paintings. The rain never let up on this day and a few hours later I had to zip my tent shut as rain was leaking in. I was a bit sad that no one had a chance to see any of my art – it was a bit of a wasted effort and all I got out of it was a pile of wet blankets and a small head cold.

I decided to focus my attention on other aspects of this festival – namely the music!

I spent a good part of the morning helping out with setting up a couple of tents that would be needed for all the musicians – myself included – who would soon be taking the stage.

The tents were needed to keep this funky looking machine – and all of its riders – dry. I’m not sure what this machine is called but its purpose was to create all the electricity that would be needed by the musicians. People would volunteer their time to sit in the chairs and pedal with their feet. There were eight seats available. As everyone pedaled, energy would be created and this energy would be converted into electrical currents that would power all the guitars, microphones, speakers and soundboards.

This was a great idea – meant to inspire people to realize that we can find more environmentally friendly ways to create the energy that our societies need. And after pedaling for a while, people came to appreciate the effort that is needed to create electricity!

There was just one problem… The sponsors who were to donate a special kind of battery that would be needed to store our energy until it was needed, backed out at the last minute. Unfortunately, we had to plug the stage and equipment into London Hydro for this event.

But… we still wanted to show the people who came to our event – and this number never exceeded 30 – that we could do something with the energy we did create. Someone came up with the idea that we could plug in a beverage warmer and fill it with apple cider!!! We all thought that this was a great idea!

I spent a bit of time on ‘the bike’ to keep warm and the other times I was hanging out on the stage, keeping the rain off my head. I was a bit surprised when the Mayor of London, Anne Marie deCicco-Best, appeared on stage to join us. I introduced myself to her, shook her hand and – of course – gave her a few of my peace Stik-ers!

The mayor was there to make the opening announcement for the event.

And as you can see the audience was all ears! Wait – that’s not the audience… it’s one of the band’s photographers.

Ahhh yes – this is a better shot of all the millions of people who attended!

Well, the show had to go on… and it did! This is a band from St. Thomas and they helped to lift everyone’s spirit with some good ‘ol Rock’N’Roll!!!

I was scheduled to take the stage after this band, and I was freezing, so I decided to hop back onto one of the bikes to warm up. The bike helped to get my blood moving again…

… and this warm apple cider helped to warm my insides!

Delicious!!!

Later, I was inspired to write this poem in honour of all the people who came out to make this day possible and in honour of my latest ‘peace poem’ efforts (see last 2 blog stories).

Now that I was warmed up, I was ready to share a few of my songs with all of the other artisans and bike pedalers!!!

I sang two songs while playing my guitar and then I decided to do something in honour of our attempts to create enjoyment without the aid of electricity, since we couldn’t make our own. I put down the microphone and stood at the edge of the stage, in the rain, and with everyone’s help…

… we were able to fill the air with song, spirit and wishes for a better future!!!

It would have been nice to have had a beautiful day for this event, but we didn’t. It would have been nice to have had the support of all our sponsors, but we didn’t. It would have been nice to share our art and our talents with the community, but no one showed up.

We did the best we could with what we had. We persevered through the rain and cold by using our imaginations. We joked, we laughed and our small communion embraced in honour of what brought us together – our attempts to inspire a brighter future for the world.

In a funny sort of way, it was better this way! We were there to show the world that we love her and I know that she was there, listening and smiling!

Jim