Happy New Year!

Wishing you all a happy and healthy 2009!

Collective Nouns - a selected list

The list of collective nouns is extensive. Here is an abridged list...

herd of antelope
colony of ants
congress of baboons
culture of bacteria
sleuth of bears
lodge of beavers
flight of bees
flock of birds
wake of buzzards
army of caterpillars
nuisance of cats
drove of cattle
brood of chickens
parcel of deer
cote of doves
flight of dragons
swarm of eels
memory of elephants
school of fish
knot of frogs
gaggle of geese
cloud of gnats
implausibility of gnus
leash of hares
array of hedgehogs
crash of hippopotami
nest of hornets
stable of horses
pack of hounds
smack of jellyfish
mob of kangaroos
ascension of larks
pride of lions
lounge of lizards
michief of mice
tribe of monkeys
watch of nighingales
bevy of otter
parliament of owls
company of parrots
ostentation of peacocks
huddle of penguins
nye of pheasants
litter of pigs
pod of porpoises
covey of quail
warren of rabbits
gaze of raccoons
rhumba of rattlesnakes
storytelling of ravens
run of salmon
bob of seals
shiver of shark
fold of sheep
den of snakes
host of sparrows
flock of turkeys
colony of vultures
sneak of weasels
pod of whales
pack of wolves
herd of yaks
zeal of zebras

What's going on in Yellowstone?

Scientists have observed an unusual swarm of earthquakes in Yellowstone Park. More than 250 tremors occurred over three days.
Yellowstone is an active volcanic and tectonic area, but apparently these tremors are very unusual. It isn't known if this is a precursor to more significant activity.

Thanks to East Texas Red for passing this along.

PS I didn't know earthquakes came in swarms. How do we characterize groups of the following:
geese
cattle
alligators
mosquitos
crows
turtles
deer
bear
ants
baboons
kangaroos
larks
lions
oxen
peacocks
rats
walruses

Yves Lambert & Bébert Orchestra : Pachelbel

Happy 50th John McC.

Celebrating the birthday of an old and dear friend from our university days loosened up a number of memories I had sitting in a holding tank somewhere...

Masterful tuna sandwiches and the day a studio dog stole one.
Floating the Kitimat River in a rubber dinghy with a leak in it.
An endless supply of stale teabags, morning 'metaphysical' tea, and a giant plaster teapot to celebrate.
Lego.
Making a Sol Lewitt wall drawing at the David Bellman Gallery, and the day lettering from a Lawrence Weiner piece appeared from the ether.
The School of Shaky Carpentry.

Happy birthday John.

PS Love the guitars.

I feel like a little Cajun music this morning

Today, let's hear D.L. Menard.

Yellowhead to Yellowstone - CD Review

I've been listening to Ian Tyson's latest release, Yellowhead to Yellowstone. It's been a long trail for the 75 year old Mr. Tyson, from the young man who heard Bob Dylan perform Blowin in the Wind and decided he could do better than that - and came up with his first songwriting effort, Four Strong Winds.

I recall driving across the country in the early 80s. When I reached Alberta it seemed I heard selections from Tyson's fantastic Old Corrals and Sagebrush recording on every station. Tyson had reinvented himself as a cowboy songster, and a great one. Somebody told me he had moved back to Alberta and was raising cutting horses. I had no idea.

Fans of Ian Tyson will be surprised, maybe even shocked to hear him sing the first cut on the new album, Yellowhead to Yellowstone. Throughout the album, the rich, deep, resonant confident voice we all know has been replaced by a voice much more vulnerable, horse and raspy. The songs themselves are compelling and well-crafted. They're mature songs, tender and reflective.

On the five fish anchovy rating scale, I give this one a barrel of salties, aged in wine.

Eartha Kitt, RIP

She was 81. I had the pleasure of attending an Eartha Kitt show not so very long ago, and she was delightful. RIP

Winter Walk

This is in Sam Smith Park yesterday. The park is just two streets over from Anchovy World Headquarters. It was a beautiful sunny day, but there was a very cold wind in exposed areas.

Mercy Mercy Mercy

The other day, I posted a chemnitzer concertina version of a tune called Mercy Mercy Mercy, and mentioned that I thought there was a Cannonball Adderley recording of a tune by the same name. Here's Adderley's version of this tune which was written by Joe Zawinul:


Here's another fine version played live by the Birdland Big Band:


And one more... here's Curfew:


The writer of this song, the late Joe Zawinul played with Cannonball Adderley, and then went on to play with trumpeter Miles Davis, messing with "jazz fusion". He later co-founded Weather Report and the Zawinul Syndicate. According to Wikipedia, Zawinul won the "Best keyboardist" award 30 times from Down Beat's critics' poll.

Bruno S.

Thanks East Texas Red for passing along this excellent article from the New York Times.

Up early...

I was up early this morning to shovel out, put out the recycling, and drive Tuffy P to the Go train. Then, it was off to the 24 hour grocery store for a few last minute things I need for cooking dinner Christmas day. I drove by Village Butcher (our local most excellent organic butcher) at just after 8:00, and was surprised he was open this early. I had ordered a crown roast pork to cook on Christmas day, so I stopped in to pick it up. That place is going to be crazy today as everyone picks up their turkeys.

Last night's snow was significantly heavier than the previous batch, and it even drizzled on me a little as I shoveled out.

So now I'm ignoring all the things I have to get done today, enjoying a coffee and some surfing. I found a nice clip on YouTube of Steve Earle on Letterman in 1988. Let's see if there are any other Steve Earle gems kicking around on there. Here's one performed in a Prison - Bob Dylan's It Takes a lot to Laugh It Takes a Train to Cry.

Fort Worth Blues is one of my favourite Steve Earle Tunes. OK, one more.... Here's Mr. Earle with the Del McCoury Band playing I Still Carry you Around. Beautiful.

I hope you all enjoy whatever it is you're celebrating. Have fun. Be safe.

It's snowing again

...and tonight ice pellets are predicted followed by rain tomorrow. I have a little driving to do tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully the roads will be OK.

It's concertina time...

Here's the Policeman's Polka, played on a 1919 Pearl Queen Diamond Deluxe (Triple reed) (Abalone and Mother of Pearl inlay) Chemnitzer Concertina Special Solo.



I like listening to the Chemnitzer Concertina. I love the quality of the tone along with all the mechanical noises and wheezes that go along with it. It reminds me of taking the train instead of flying, and I like trains. Here's another I found on YouTube called Tango of the Roses.


I heard this morning that negotiations have broken down between Warner Music and YouTube and Warner is going to pull videos from YouTube. The beauty of YouTube is that it is such a hodge-podge of treasures. I won't be sad if some of the product from the big record companies disappears, as long as I can still find material like the tunes posted here. I'm like a kid in a candy store with this stuff.

Here's one more...Mercy Mercy Mercy
It seems to me that I have a tune by that name somewhere by Cannonball Adderley. Same melody?

Songfacts

I was surfing about a few minutes ago and stumbled on Songfacts over at The Presurfer, a place where the intrepid surfer is apt to find almost anything.

Songfacts offers plenty of information about the songs in its database but the database has plenty of holes. It seems to heavily favour music you'd hear on the radio. Still, it's fun, and you can do searches by year too, which is pretty interesting. Have fun.

3,000

I happened to notice that this will be my 3,000th post. I don't know the exact date I started this blog, but I know I put a tracker on it very soon after starting and the tracker started November 15, 2004. That's about 1500 days ago.

After four years and all those posts, there is still no plan. When I figure out what I'm doing here, I'll let you know.

I did make a name change this year, turning the place into mister anchovy's rather than mister anchovy. That came about to acknowledge the fact that I invited some other folks to post here. I had this idea that adding in some more points of view would enhance the place, create some new dialogues, and generally mix things up a little. My little experiment didn't really catch on, and so I finally discontinued it, at least for now. I'd consider it again if the situation were right-for instance if I had a regular commenter who became so engaged in this blog that offering up a posting voice made sense, or if somebody talked me into it (I enjoy single malt scotch). Meanwhile, I'm not changing the name back. Mister Anchovy's sounds like the name of a pub, and I'm all for readers having a brew when they visit here.

Mister Anchovy's doesn't get a lot of comments compared to many of the blogs I visit. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing really. I just assume it means I'm posting just the right amount of accordion videos. I do appreciate your comments though. I also really appreciate those of you who, for some strange reason continue to come back for more.

Huapangito

I really like the way this fellow plays!

Anchovy World Headquarters, Winter edition

Brass Bands

It would be interesting to take a close look at the history of brass bands in North American music. I wonder if anyone has taken a shot at writing that history? I'm sure there must be ethomusicologists out there who have studied it at length.

One strain of that history goes back to the Civil War. Brass Bands provided martial music for dress parades, serenades for officers and music of home for the troops.

Then there is New Orleans. Here is some historic footage of New Orleans Brass Bands playing in the funeral tradition. I really like some of the modern New Orleans Brass Bands like Rebirth and The Hot 8.

There are other traditions as well. Most of you will remember Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.

Another interesting band is the Youngblood Brass Band from Oregon, Wisconsin. These guys started out as a highschool band. You can hear elements of New Orleans, jazz, punk and hip hop. Here's a tune they recorded and released as a single called Nuclear Summer. Here they are again with The Headbanger.

Then there is the Salvation Army. I have no idea from where their brass brand tradition emerged. It's a big mystery to me, so fill me in please.

He can go into any book....

Today, somebody mentioned Gumby to me. I haven't thought about Gumby in a very long time. I forgot how delightful the little clay guy was.

Rossi thinks he's so tough....

Tuffy P took this photo of Mr. Tough-guy Rossi. He's always trying to act tough, but he follows Tuffy around everywhere!

Carefree Samba

I awoke to a pile of snow this morning. It was actually refreshing shovelling out. It wasn't too cold and the snow wasn't too heavy. We have a neighbour next door who is in his late eighties so the fellow on the other side of him and I cleaned up his walkways this morning and this afternoon I did his driveway.

A nice day for a Carefree Samba

City Beat: Condo anyone?

Over the past several years, condo building has been constant in Toronto. Some areas have become hardly recognizable over the past decade. I often wondered when it would all crash. How many condo buyers can there be? An article in today's Toronto Star by Tony Wong sheds some light. Wong reports that there were 33,919 condos under construction in GTA at the end of September 09, three times the annual average.

With falling sales and tightening credit, perhaps this is going to create a good market for renters. When I was in my twenties, artists turned to warehouse spaces as clothing and other industries disappeared from our downtown west and reasonable space became available. Could it be that a glut in the condo market will be a boon for artists searching for cheap space?

Furry

The other night I was talking to a friend of mine about Memphis, and the conversation reminded me of the day me and Tuffy and Candy and Stagg wandered about a flooded old cemetery in South Memphis looking for the grave of Furry Lewis. I don't know too many people who are familiar with Furry Lewis. I never had an opportunity to hear him play live, but through his recordings, he became one of my favourites.

Here he is singing Kassy Jones


Furry's Blues


St. Louis Blues

Messing with Evidence

Blog Traffic

Blog traffic is a mystery to me. It goes up; it goes down. Occasionally, there is an explanation, like I've posted something about an issue which is getting a lot of play in the news. Other times, I don't understand what drives it.

In fact, outside of a small circle of friends, I'm not sure why anyone comes here at all, unless it's for the accordion videos (everyone loves accordion videos, right?). Anyway, my hit count has been inexplicably going up over the past two or three weeks.

Let's take a look how people stumbled here, looking for more interesting places:

accordion hero - how did they know?
Patychky - are so tasty
stan of green gables - Har!
lupe rodriguez - RIP
cajun riviera music - Holly Beach...and there are songs about it too
. Here's another one to the tune of Under the Boardwalk.

scrubby and the dynatones - make good polka
saskatoon crumble - I've made this, with saskatoons from the former Anchovy World Headquarters
st. annes reel - good tune
ben shahn drawings - an excellent painter
dennis weaver's earthship - who knew?
lyrics j'ai passe devant la porte - a Cajun lament
dead carp - a problem on the Kawarthas last year
mister anchovy - that's me!
vibrandoneon - I did one little vibrandoneon post and people find it all the time. You go figure.
papamo recipe dish - hey, wrong blog...try here

For those you who stumbled on over here by accident, stay awhile, I hardly ever bite.

Dinner at the Anchovy's - Patychky

Some time ago, a couple years ago in fact, I posted a family recipe for a dish I grew up with called Patychky, or Meat Sticks. Over the past couple weeks, there have been quite a number of searches for this recipe, so I thought I would feature it again.

To my vegetarian and vegan friends...best just to not look...

Part 1
Part 2

Some blues for an overcast December morning...

Some readers may be familiar with this guitar player from New Orleans who has been called a "human jukebox", who has apparently claimed to have a repetoire of over 1,000 tunes - Snooks Eaglin. Here's a tune fans of Canada's Downchild are familiar with, Talk to your Daughter.

Here's Lipstick Traces. And one more, Red Beans.

Mr. Eaglin is comfortable playing in a number of styles, including Latin. He does not tour or record much these days but can occasionally be heard live in New Orleans.

OK, I know I've lost control with these 60s dance tunes, but....

But how could I resist posting the Dovells performing The Bristol Stomp? The kids in Bristol are sharp as a pistol when they do The Bristol Stomp.

Sour Dough and Pot Roast

Dinner at the Anchovy's


It's been a while since I've had a sour dough monster growing around the house, but yesterday Spicecat gave me some of hers, so I hatched a plan...make sour dough bread, make a little pot roast. Enjoy hot pot roast sandwiches on warm just out of the oven sour dough.

Spicecat also passed on the suggestion that I bake the bread in a dutch oven, something I've never done before. The idea is that you preheat the dutch oven then drop in the dough, and keep it covered for the first 20 minutes of baking. The dutch oven maintains steam and that makes for really excellent crust. Most recipes that suggest this are of the "no knead' variety, which suggest a very wet dough and rising times of 18+ hours. I can be a patient man, but I didn't want to wait 18+ hours for my sandwiches. So I'll fess up; I kneaded my dough.

The result was a fantastic loaf with a crunchy crust and nice open crumb. And did I mention tasty?

For the pot roast, I recalled this morning I had half a cross-rib roast in the freezer, so I took it out early to thaw in the fridge. I browned the sides, and deglazed the pan with beer. I added a chopped up onion and a carrot, and some salt and pepper and a splash of Worchestershire sauce, then poured in the rest of the beer and a splash of stock and let it simmer for 3.5 hours.

I enjoyed dinner with a cold beer.

Longbranch Arena, a blast from my past

Longbranch Arena is two streets over from Anchovy World Headquarters. When I was a little tyke, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, my house league hockey team would occasionally play a game over there. I hadn't been in the building in maybe 35 years. We went over there to see Z's kids play Timbit Hockey. This is hockey where you don't keep score, don't call off-sides, don't have so many formal rules. The kids are just learning and they have a blast out there. It's fun to watch. It's as if the kids are attracted to the puck as if by a magnet, yet when they get close, making contact is another story. What great fun!

As a plus, Z turned me on to the awesome back bacon on a bun sandwiches available at the arena. Delicious.

One more instructional dance tune

It's Finger Poppin' Time by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters.

By 1961 and the release of this tune, R&B performer Hank Ballard had already established his sound and a strong influence on early rock and roll. He had the sexy Work with me Annie in 1954, The Twist in 59 and then Let's Go Let's Go Let's Go. Chubby Checker recorded The Twist in 1960 and that's the version most people remember, as Checker had a whole Twist franchise happening.

Mr. Ballard died in 2003 in his late 70s. He came to Toronto sometime back in the late 80s or early 90s. I don't recall the year, although I recall the show vividly. I think it was at the Horseshoe Tavern and it was packed and very hot. Ballard had a full band with a horn section and singers and groovy outfits. I was used to bands showing up in their grubbies, with a guitar or two, bass and drums, but Ballard was there to put on a show. I believe he wore a white tux, perhaps with a bow-tie. It was really an amazing show, remarkable. I really enjoyed that rich-textured R&B punctuated with punched up horns and lots of backup singing. I wonder if any of my readers were there, or have had the pleasure of attending one of Mr. Ballard's shows.

The Orlons

I couldn't do the Wah-Watusi even if I tried.

It's Mashed Potato Time

with Dee Dee Sharp

Waterfront West LRT

I attended an open house tonight set up to inform residents of the planning for a Waterfront West Light Rail Transit line from Parklawn to Longbranch. Longbranch is my new neighbourhood and it sits at the extreme south-west corner of Toronto. For those readers not from the Toronto area, transit development in this city has been contentious. In the St. Clair W. area, it divided the community.

Here is the purpose of the project, as expressed in the documents I picked up at the open house:
"The WWLRT line is intended to provide fast and efficient service between Long Branch and downtown Toronto at Union Station serving numerous communities along the way. Work has been underway for some time to develop a reserved right of way connection between Union Station and Exhibition Place, and more recently between Exhibition Place and The Queensway at Roncesvalles. The conversion of the existing streetcar service on Lake Shore Blvd West to LRT in the section from Humber to Long Branch will address the last piece of the proposed line. TTC and the City of Toronto want to identify the best way to provide this high quality transit service in a manner that:
i) is affordable,
ii) makes transit a much more attractive travel option relative to the private auto, and
iii) supports the City's reurbanization objectives for this section Lake Shore Blvd West which is designated in the Official Plan as an "Avenue", including enhanced housing, jobs, and other transit-oriented developments, and improved streetscaping and pedestrian environment."

This is early stage planning for a line which, if approved by City Council, would be constructed in 2014/2015, and which is projected to cost $125 million + vehicles.

I appreciated the way the plan was laid out in the cafeteria of a local school for the Open House. There were representatives from the City floating around who were happy to talk to me, hear my concerns and discuss the issues. I was able to get a clear idea of some of the issues quite quickly.

I have shared on this blog some of my concerns with the TTC right-of-way under construction in my old neighbourhood, along St. Clair Ave. W. If this plan goes ahead on Lake Shore, the City has to do a better job of protecting the interests of local businesses through the construction. The City also needs to recognize the concerns of residents. The St. Clair construction divided the neighbourhood, for and against. It felt as if the Mayor was determined to force the project through. I'd like to see improved public transit from Longbranch to downtown, but not at all costs.

I'll be attending the next Open House in late winter and will report back at that time.

$23 million

I heard this morning that the NY Yankees baseball club is going to pay some pitcher $23 million each year for throwing a ball. I'm all for paying athletes a good wage. They entertain us. They typically have short careers, and few of them have any other skills. I think $150k to $200k is generous. $23 million? There are people sleeping on grates. How about giving him $230k instead, or even $2.3 million and give the rest to a food bank?

Am I the only guy around who thinks there is something very very wrong with this picture?

Bailouts

All this talk about bailouts reminds me of hearing Arlo Guthrie singing Tom Paxton's Changing my name to Chrysler many years ago. Today in one of the papers, I read about a guy named Chris Merren, who has been standing down at King & Bay asking for a $250 million bailout, a modest sum from the government for the sake of society. He wants us to help him help us. Mr. Maren runs a wee company selling promotional products, and it seems $250 million would tide him over for a couple weeks.

There seems little doubt that at least in the large part, the big three North American automobile manufacturers are the authors of their own demise. Still, there are a lot of families out there who have been raising families on well-paying automotive jobs which are disappearing fast.

The question is, can these companies turn things around with a healthy bailout, or would it just delay disaster a little longer?

Here's The James Cotton Band with Rocket 88:


And the late great Don Walser, singing Hot Rod Mercury:


Finally, let's listen to Mr. Paxton's updated tune, I'm Changing my Name to Fannie Mae...

Cedric Watson

City Beat: Lakeshore TTC Right-of-way?

I heard recently that the City of Toronto is planning a TTC right-of-way along Lakeshore to Longbranch, similar to the one they've built on Spadina and the one they're currently building on St. Clair. My first thought, was damn, we just moved away from that construction nightmare.

The situation is a little different out here. There is currently a Longbranch street car as well as a Go train which stops at Longbranch and at Mimico. The neighbourhoods are less dense. The current streetcar seems quite slow. There is some rush-hour traffic coming west in the afternoons, but less traffic overall than the St. Clair area we used to live in.

I was against the St. Clair right-of-way, but since I've moved, I won't be in a position to assess it as a resident once the construction is finally finished. I haven't yet taken a position on a right-of-way along Lakeshore. On the one hand, our community retains a certain character because it is a little isolated, being below the tracks and the Gardiner and being at the very western end of the city. Perhaps that is one of the factors that drew us out here. I'd hate to lose that. On the other hand, perhaps an injection of investment would be positive for our area, and make it a better place to live. We've just lived in Longbranch for a few months, not long enough for me to have a good sense of this quite yet.

If there are any Mimico/New Toronto/Longbranch residents out there, please weigh-in. Is a TTC right-of-way good or bad for us?

Accordion News

Fire destroys Cajun musician's home
Louisiana's Disappearing Music
Great Big Sea wins Fortune's Favour

Earworm

Ever have one of those days where a song sneaks up on your brain and stays there and doesn't want to go away?

I had one of those today, which took me back, way back to Ian Dury and the Blockheads:

Hit me with your rhythm stick

Nice day for a bbq

Dinner at the Anchovy's

Yesterday was both my birthday and Tuffy's dad's birthday, so tonight we had the family over to celebrate. Tuffy wanted me to make a turkey dinner, and since the snow didn't materialize, I decided to cook it on the bbq. We served it with roast veggies and roast potatoes and a barley/tofu dish Tuffy concocted.

Jerry

Sunday morning Boogie

with Louis Jordan and the Tympany 5

Caledonia


Is you is?


Let the Good Times Roll

One Kiss

Here's the late Beau Jocque and the Zydeco Hi-Rollers, performing One Kiss, from back in 1998. His band had a fantastic groove. I never want his songs to end. There isn't a lot of live footage of these guys posted, but here's another short clip.

For the record....

Harper appears open to working with Bloc in 2004 CBC interview
...just because we're going to hear a month of Conservative attack ads about the 'separatist coalition'.

So OJ's going to the Big House

Oh well.

Prorogued

And so Parliament is prorogued. The pundits started using that word a few days ago, just like they knew what they were talking about, but what a strange archaic word it is at the heart of some of the most interesting politics we've seen in some time in this country. When I heard it, I thought, are they talking about pierogies? I love pierogies. Then I thought, no, they're talking about a pirogue, that curious flat-bottomed swamp boat one poles on the bayou, when gathering crawfish from crawfish traps, or hunting nutria or alligators.

So, what was the GG to do?

I was listening to talk radio on the way home this afternoon and I heard John Moore express his displeasure at the bunch of our federal leaders on CFRB. He referred to them as a jerk (Harper), a dufus, a blowhard and a separatist, and suggested none of them were the right choice to lead the country. He may be right. Harper has to go, but maybe patience until the Liberals find a leader who isn't a third rate politician is better?

I think the opposition formed a coalition because Harper was trying to bankrupt them, not because of the economy. At the same time, I'd rather see a centre-left approach guide us through these rough economic times. I expect Harper will consult with the opposition and come up with a budget which meets their concerns on a broad range of key concerns and show enough goodwill (even if it is disingenuous) that he will govern for a while longer. If the budget is defeated, the coalition runs the risk that Harper will convince the GG to force an election rather than turn over power to the coalition, and then what would a Liberal party with no leader do?

What a fascinating mess. Harper may have saved his bacon in the shorter term, but he may have alienated Quebec. If he continues with his "separatist coalition" attack ads, he might alienate voters elsewhere as well, because nobody like to be treated like they're stupid.

How do you want the whole business to go down?

Spud is doing much better

Today when I got home, Spud was more energetic. She appeared in the kitchen to greet me. At supper, I gave her a little wet food and ate a little. Then later she ate a few treats, then hopped up on my lap and purred for awhile.

This is a huge improvement. We'll continue with the round of antibiotics, and hopefully she eat a little more tomorrow.

Some searches that led to this island in the sun...

"paul clayton" "whaling songs"
freddie fender 'WHO WAS YOU THINKING OF WHEN WE WAS MAKING LOVE LAST NIGHT'
signes hobo
KS1 - KEYTAR
"shave and a haircut, two bits"
patychky
lisandro mesa
panzerotti vs calzone
"john hammond" "wicked grin"
scrubby seweryniak
accordion hero
How a terror group cloned Ted Rogers' cellphone

Huh? A Separatist Coalition?

I tuned in the tv news a few minutes ago, to see a montage of clips of Conservative MPs in the House, referring to the Liberal/NDP "coalition", backed by the Bloc, as "The Separatist Coalition", as if the Opposition parties are trying to take power for the purpose of breaking up the country. They're not giving the public much credit, are they, particularly in light of the news which has emerged that the Conservatives themselves tried to work a similar political tactic not so very long ago? I guess it's not a "separatist" coalition if it fails.

I think a coalition will be difficult and awkward, but it is certainly playing by the rules. I don't have any sympathy for Mr. Harper or his Chief of Staff Mr. Giorno or any of that bunch. Harper's in trouble and he brought it on himself. It was fun watching how fast they backpedaled when they realized the Opposition was awake and organized. The GG is back in the country and we'll find out what Harper will do tonight. The guy on the news as I write says Harper will ask to prorogue parliament. Let's see what the GG does.

Odetta RIP

Odetta Holmes, American folk music legend has died at 77. RIP

If I needed you...

Some tunes by the late Townes van Zandt. The second video has some Guy Clark moments as well. The last video features one of my favourite of van Zandt's tunes, Two Girls.

Them Poems and other thangs

My brother the trout suggested I check out Mason Williams, and so I did. Here he is on Johnny Cash's tv show back in the 60s. And here he is years later, playing Riding the Low Moon.

Williams gained fame back in the 60s for a tune known as Classical Gas. It doesn't really turn my crank, but it was popular. He's also been a tv comedy writer on The Smothers Brothers show, Glen Campbell's show, and even Saturday Night Live.

Another Spud update

Based on her second blood test, our vet thinks it likely Spud has some variety of bacterial infection. I took her back to the vets for more fluids this afternoon to keep her from getting dehydrated. She's resting now.

Uncharted Waters

What an interesting and possibly historic turn of events in our federal politics today. Imagine a coalition government sending Harper packing? I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall as the opposition parties actually started to see the possibility in front of them, and come to agreements many Canadians would never have thought possible.

So what do you think? Do you want to see it happen? Is it healthy for the country? Can a coalition help stabilize the economy? Is it good riddance for an arrogant Prime Minister?

Betty Goodwin RIP

The great Canadian artist Betty Goodwin died this morning. She was 85. RIP