Sleeman Breweries for Sale

And the prospective buyers are......the usual corporate giants. Too bad.

Miami Vice

We saw Miami Vice tonight. Let me say first that I liked it quite a lot. It is very gritty, filmed in a grainy way with hand-held cameras. It's tough and ugly and nasty....and at the same time, more than a little cheezy, with some pretty bad dialog along the way. Action-packed. Three salties on the five anchovy scale.

In the middle of the film, Tuffy P leaned over to me and says, there's David Cronenberg, pointing to a head in the dark a couple rows ahead of us. No way. Way. No way. Way. Look, he's the only guy staying for the credits, it's him. No way. Way. I think the way side won the debate. David, if you're out there, care to share your thoughts on the film?

Hazard Zones by Keith Maillard

I just finished reading Hazard Zones, by Keith Maillard. I bought it at a used book store in Halifax, on the strength of another of his books, The Clarinet Polka. The Clarinet Polka was a rollercoaster of a book, and though I had some mixed feelings about it, on the whole I liked it quite a bit, in part because it dealt with a Polish American experience not all that distant from the Polish Canadian experience my family lived - my mother was born in Poland. Both books were set in the same fictional West Virginia town - but the characters are worlds apart.

Hazard Zones is a book about two characters who in different ways come to terms with their youth. It is nicely written and thoughtful - but at the same time, I didn't really empathize with the characters or the story in any really significant way. I would certainly recommend The Clarinet Polka over this one. I might try another of Mr. Maillard's novels down the road.

busking

I busked wih my button box from 11:00 this morning until about 2:30, with a lunch break in there somewhere, and had my best day at St. Lawrence market - best in terms of $$ but also, I think I was playing at my best too. I was in the north building, a spot I like when I can get it. Lot of people out buying market fresh veggies - in other words a good crowd. Reaction was pretty good today too....even a couple impossible requests (like I'm playing folky dance tunes, and buddy askes for a Drifters tune).....

I met a character who was setting up to dance tango in the market - from here. He has a permit (???) to dance there at 2:00 each Saturday.

I've also started to notice an interesting cast of regular characters who hang out at the market. Some are vendors; others are more mysterious.....

everything you ever wanted to know about hippy-dippy VW camper-vans

I always thought one of these would make a fabulous fly-fishing mobile...you could rig a rod-rack in the back, a little camp stove, all your maps, a fly tying desk..... Tuffy's not impressed.....

One more Portuguese concertina tune

Sorry I don't know the name of these tunes. This one has some very nice fast playing.

That little imp, Spud

Portuguese concertina music

When I think of a concertina, I think of the little squeezeboxes with melody buttons on both sides. The Portuguese call diatonic button accordions concertinas, which causes a little confusion. Around here, most of the Portuguese players use a 3 or 4 reed 3-row instrument, usually in GCF. The link takes you to a song from an old cassette called Nova Geracao de Concertinas by Antonio and Lina Amorim. I'm not sure, but I think they are a father/daughter team. I love their sound, and hope you do too. They play the hell out of this music. If I could find some CDs by these two, I would buy them for sure.

Here's a nice article about Portuguese folk music.

searches that led to mister anchovy

peter max
anchovy
green drake problem on credit river
anchovy
green drake disappearing credit
johnny cash middle finger
anchovy special video
anchovy
mister-mexico 2005
johnny cash finger
"Les Patterson" Toronto
marge simpson's paintings
rock songs about baseball
johnny cash middle finger
lee marvin paintings
johnny cash middle finger
JOHNNY CASH MIDDLE FINGER
"nancy edell"
Peter Max
johnny cash + middle finger

And the winner is....... yes, it's mister-mexico 2005. Congratulations to the individual who found me with that search...your prize is on it's way (runner up is Lee Marvin paintings)......and people, stop with the Johnny Cash finger searches already, ok?

Cottage Gardens

Tuffy's mom started these gardens many years ago, and they are still spectacular, if a little wilder than they once were.

Tree Down

This tree came down a few days ago up at Tuffy's dad's cottage in the Kawarthas. It landed on two small oaks, and it remains to be seen if they can be saved.

Not your average accordion band

Check out this video, posted on Squeezy Tunes, of a performance by Gogol Bordello.

William

William is my first cat. Before he came on the scene, I was allergic to cats. Tuffy had Twiggy at that time, and if I even patted Twig, I would break out in hives. I have no idea really how William helped me overcome the allergy. I'm not exactly sure how old he is, but it seems to me he must be 13 or 14. I named him after blind Willie McTell, because when I brought him home he howled the blues for three days and three nights. He wasn't amused.

In the picture with the two cats, William is with Delia. I got Delia after I had William for almost a year. The problem was that William needed constant attention. I would play games with him, but once he figured out the game, he would get restless for a new one. So I brought Delia into the picture...named her after the Willie McTell tune, Delia. That Delia was shot to death by her lover, Cutty, but my Delia was only tormented a little by William.

high profile painter?

Toronto artist Les Patterson has scored a remarkable amount of publicity this last week for making Marge Simpson's paintings....yes, that's right, he's recreated as actual paintings the images "created" by cartoon character Marge Simpson. It seems he views the episodes, and freezes the key frames with the paintings and reproduces them. He signs them Marge Simpson. His exhibition has received more publicity in the last week than most Toronto artists are likely to garner in their careers. I'm talking about a full page in the National Post, and a huge article in the Toronto Star, plus I heard him on CBC's Here and Now the other day. The host asked if he was worried about being sued for copyright violations and he ventured the opinion that the Simpsons corporate machine likely wouldn't be bothered with a little artist like him. I wonder what happens when somebody buys the paintings? Does Mr. Patterson send the proceeds, or a portion of them to the owners of the rights? I suspect he doesn't, but maybe I'm way off base.

It makes me tremendously sad that the only time our local media embraces painting with a little gusto is when it depicts images lifted from a TV cartoon. On that score, Mr. Patterson sure figured out the right buttons to press.

The wheel is in spin.

Refreshed my template

I messed around with my sidebar tonight, reorganizing it a bit by creating a few categories. While I was at it, I couldn't resist fiddling about with my template too, just for a little change.

Great Canadian Painter Ken Lochhead RIP

I hadn't head this until I checked out Timmer Readtree's blog tonight.

"Painter Kenneth Lochhead, who helped put Saskatchewan on the national arts scene map with the Emma Lake workshops and as a member of the Regina Five, has died. He was 80."

When I was a young painter, Lochhead and the other Regina guys were Canadian heros to me.

Uke and Kazoo Born to Run

via Bifurcated Rivets

Asger Jorn and CoBrA

Driving home form work today, in traffic, I found myself thinking about some artists I really enjoy who were part of the CoBrA Movement after WWII. Jorn and Alechinsky in particular are two artists I keep going back to. Both went on to do their best work after CoBrA. You can find out more about Jorn here and Alechinsky here. There were also a number of interesting artists associated loosely with CoBrA (which is Copenhagen Brussels Amsterdam for those who don't know). The brilliant and very witty Italian painter Enrico Baj is one as is Argentine born Lucio Fontana, who did, among other things, paintings involving slashed canvas.

Many of the CoBrA artists remain obscure to North American audiences, but I think this group is well worth a second look.

Mickey Spillane RIP

"This is an income-generating job," he told The Associated Press in a 2001 interview. "Fame was never anything to me unless it afforded me a good livelihood."

Spillane was the creater of Mike Hammer. He was 88.

Trikitixa

Check out the Trikitixa video posted on Squeezy tunes. For those who aren't yet hip to Trikitixa, it is the name given to Basque music and the 2-row squeeze-box it's played on.

A Furry thing....

Here is a song by Furry Lewis called Natural Born Eastman. I'm posting this one for Fitzgerald in particular, but I think any blues fan out there should enjoy it. Fitzgerald runs a terrific blues blog called Squeeze my Lemon - it's a fabulous blog and I visit it often.

I would say support your local bluesman and buy Furry's records, but he's been resting in the Hollywood Cemetery in South Memphis since 1981. Who knows who's bringing in the dough every time one of Furry's CDs is sold. Furry was a very strong and subtle guitar player with a way of making all the songs he played his own. He had some fame later in his career, in part due to his association with Lee Baker, who as a young guitarist had a great empathy for Furry's work and accompanied him frequently.

Note: the download here is indirect....choose free, then when prompted enter the verification and it will download.....sorry, the host I usually use is having difficulties this week....

Ontario Corn

This is about the first week for local sweet corn. We grow some fabulous sweet corn in Ontario, and we like to take advantage when the farm-fresh corn is available. Yesterday, I was in a local grocery store that was trying to sell some sad-looking imported excuse for corn wrapped in cellophane packs of 6, likely picked two weeks ago. I couldn't believe they wouldn't have had the foresight to get the good stuff just as soon as it became available. We cooked some up on the bbq today - we pull back the husks and remove the silks, then put the husks back together and tie them off with a bit of butchers string. Then we soak the cobs in cold water for a while before tossing them on the grill. A great summer treat!

A funny thing happened in beautiful Wyoming....

So there I was in my local grocery store, shopping for this and that, when I spy a display of discount DVDs. Now I figured it would be all crap, and that was almost true. In amongst the junk was a single copy of Red Rock West, directed by B movie king John Dahl - for a mere $3.99. I saw this movie years ago (I believe it was made in the early 90s) with Candy Minx. It stars Nicolas Cage and Dennis Hopper and Lara Lynn Boyle, about a nice guy (Cage) out of work who hears about possible work opportunities in the sleepy Wyoming town of Red Rock West. He shows up at the local bar and the bartender asks him if he's here about the job - the bartender, who is also the sheriff, thinks Cage is a hit man the he has hired to off his wife. The real hit-man is Dennis Hopper, who plays his usual charmer. Lara Flynn Boyle gets to play one nasty woman.... not quite as nasty as the Linda Fiorentino character in Dahl's The Last Seduction, but nasty still.

It has been years since I first saw this flick, and while I remembered thinking it is an excellent film, and I remembered why, it turns out I forgot a lot of detail, so it was great to see it again on the big 13 inch set (we call it the media centre) with Tuffy P. Now I think I'd like to see another Dahl flick, Kill me Again (starring Val Kilmer) one more time. I've never seen Rounders....maybe that should go on the list too.

John Dahl is usually described as a "neo-noir" director, and I guess that is accurate enough. I like his films a lot, and recommend this one to anyone who hasn't seen it or hasn't seen it in a while.

"The dead want to get the music back"

Check out this remarkable article from the Globe & Mail today about John MacDougall, an 81 year old guy living in a trailer in Cape Breton, who has written 33,300 songs for fiddle. He believes he is channelling them from "the other side". The first time the music came to him, he transcribed 65 tunes in one night, and has not stopped. Fantastic.

You know, we revere musicians who are recorded and marketed by multi-nationals, yet we have in our midsts, guys like this, real musical heros in their community.

The Grand River

This time of year, water temperatures in the Grand River, a stream known as a tail-water, because it is the outflow from a bottom-release dam, remain cooler than in many freestone streams such as The Credit. There are trout in the river because over a dozen years ago, it was recognized that the cool water from Lake Bellwoods could support them. There are special regulations of most of the trout water, and lots of insect hatches, so we see plenty of large free-rising brown trout. Right now, the downside of the Grand is the chunks of algae floating down along the river, a curse for the fly fisherman.

The trout water on the Grand is usually described in three sections, the upper river, above Fergus, the middle river below Fergus, and the lower river, down by Inverhagh. The lower river warms up quite a bit by mid-summer, in part because of warm feeders entering the stream. I fished the upper river last night, and the water temperature was in the low 60s f.

There are no secret spots on this river and nothing is remote - and most days you can expect to see other fishermen on most stretches. Last night I fished for two large trout that were rising in a little flat, but ended up catching a few smaller fish.

To see some pictures of this river go here

blueberry cornbread

this looks good!

The Sloganizer

Syd Barrett RIP

something's happening here......

via Information Junk

Ballad of a Thin Man on video by Weird Bob himself.....very, very good.

Ring of Fire

From the Offbeat covers department, Grace Jones does Johnny Cash. Here's Ring of Fire. I think Sly and Robbie play on this cut, but that doesn't make it any less weird. Enjoy.

Living Soul - Solomon Burke at Massey Hall

Burke appeared with an 8-piece band, including a fantastic, fantastic B3 player + 2 singers, his daughter and god-daughter. The lights went down, and there he was, a mountain of purple glitter standing briefly, then sitting on a huge throne. Two huge buckets of long-stemmed roses sat at his feet - he threw them to women in the audience who stepped up to the stage in some kind of soul-communion. The audience is swaying and clapping and singing, and Burke invites us to the stage, come on up here, come on up here, I know my dancers have been waiting all night, and dozens of people file up to the stage and start dancing. This isn't a concert, it's a dance party. It isn't a dance party, it's a revival. Some guy is taking a picture with his cell phone on stage, and Burke talks to him. His wife is at home - he lost his wallet on his way to the show. Let's call her up, call her up. Do you know who this is? Do you know who you're talking to? James Brown, he says, and starts into a JB tune. Then the dancers are sitting down on stage, at the feet of this mamoth soul legend, and the band lays right back, and Burke moves into Don't Give up on Me, the B3 cutting through the melody, this is pure gospel and it's beautiful, and then he's rocking again, and the trombone and the sax are honking and audience members are helping pass out more roses, and everyone is dancing, and Burke is singing I need you, I need you, I need you, and he's shaking hands all around and the light go down and he's gone into the night.

I rate this show, a full case of the biggest and fattest and tastiest salties sold anywhere. If Solomon Burke comes to your town, don't miss the show. The picture, which is from Burke's website, shows him with Carla Thomas in 2003.

...back in business

As you can see, my computer is back in business....turns out it was a $25 part that needed to be replaced....

more Nova Scotia pictures

Yes, I found a trout stream. Actually, I found a couple of them, for future reference.....
You can see what happens at low tide.....later, these boats will be afloat.....

away from Halifax for a couple days.....

The cute dog is Pupette. She is delightful!
The flower is a primrose - they grow all over the Bay of Fundy.
The house is Hidden House, Suzanne's retreat in the country.
....and that's me with Tuffy P.

at NSCAD

That's our friend Suzanne Gauthier with me at the show. Suzanne is a fabulous artist. We had a chance to visit her studio and see some really exciting new work she's going to exhibit in Winnipeg.

Halls Harbour

...on the Bay of Fundy. The tide is coming in.

Italy vs Germany

Wow, that game was enough to make a soccer fan out of me! Today, I'll be cheering for Portugal - I live on a block that is dominated by people from Portugal. Frank has run cable from his house out to Elson's garage, and they'll all be watching there today, and there will be a big party if Portugal wins, that's for sure!

Reporting in from Halifax

I flew into Halifax Saturday morning. When I got into town from the airport, the street my hotel (the Lord Nelson) is on was closed, there were throngs of people, and I heard pipes. Turned out it was a parade. I found a pub with World Cup on and watched Portugal finish off England with kicks. Too bad I missed the party back home. My Portuguese friends will have been out on St. Clair with flags waving and horns honking. I think this is the farthest they've gone in World Cup play. Oh my God and the mighty Brazil has fallen to France. Wow. So anyway, I had lunch in the pub, washed down with an ale, then a couple more ales. Checked into the hotel and had a little nap after that before walking down to the gallery to set up.

I had the exhibition almost completely set up on Saturday night. Sunday morning, I tweaked it and put labels on the wall, then had quite a bit of the day free. It looked like it was going to storm, but I decided to go for a drive to Halls Harbour on the Bay of Fundy. It's a lovely little hamlet. You can walk along the beach while the tide is coming in - the Bay of Fundy has the biggest tides anywhere. There is also a lobster pound and a weird but good restaurant. To order food, you have to go into the gift shop next door, order and pay, and they give you a number on a stick....you then enter the restaurant, and find a table, leaving your number there so the server can find you. I've never seen anything like that.

Today I did a lot of walking around Halifax. I stopped into an awesome used book store and picked up some reading material. I also stopped into a folklore centre music store. I thought they might have some button accordions I could play. The guy said, sorry, you missed by one province....this is a fiddle town. Go to St. Johns Newfoundland and you'll find loads of accordions. While I was in there, there was a couple asking about piano accordions, and the staff new nothing, so I stopped to talk about what to look for when buying an accordion.

Tuffy P. is coming to town in the morning. We'll be back home Thursday night, and Friday morning, I'll take my computer into the shop and see if they can fix the power problem. Hopefully it will be something simple and cheap, but more likely, it will be something complex and expensive. C'est la vie.