To thine own self be true

Words and music did not come into sharper focus for me till I started listening to top 40 radio in grade 5 (1959) and started paying attention to song lyrics.

The lyrics of folk songs and folk songs from 1964-1972 (notably Bob Dylan‘s, Simon and Garfunkle’s, Phil Ochs’ and Gordon Lightfoot’s) increased my attention to words as did a grade 11 unit on Robert Frost and a poetry unit in grade 12 which featured some of the greatest English poets (Wordsworth, Keats, notably) and poems.

My music got more serious with my own initial performances in high school musicals coupled with listening to folk rock and music by The Beatles and the British Invasion. The public performances continued and increased from 1968 to 1975, though, afterward, I formed and played in many teacher groups during my high-school teaching career. I also wrote and recorded 25 of my own songs. (I will also add that many of my own heightened experiences with words and music have come from listening to poetic songs and songwriters; there is a maximal hybrid effect/affect from that unique art.)

The many literature courses in university heightened my sense and appreciation of The Word as did teaching senior-high English for 30 years. By 1978, I was beginning my textbook career and learning to write good prose (including two writing handbooks) all the way through to 2010 (50 plus texts and guides that sold over 1 million books, reaching 5 million kids) in that medium. After 2010, I created two blogs and have written for the main one for 10 years now.

Another ‘career’ has been as a poet and I started writing poems steadily from 1980 on up to the present. Individual poems have been published about 150 times, I’ve won and judged contests, and I’ve done several chapbooks of my own work.

In conclusion, my experiences with The Word have maxed and continue; I also have collected spoken word LPs, cassettes, and CDs by numerous famous poets and writers.  And I still continue to listen to a lot of music each day, having long branched out into jazz and classical.

Looking back, I’d have to say that words and music have chiefly defined and enlarged my life. They are both at the core of who I am.

(even the deer up here are frozen, not moving)

A remote Arctic outpost like Ice Station Zebra.

It does seem on many days that we have 8 months of winter and 4 of summer.

We really do kid ourselves, especially when we get polar and winter storm advisories and are on permanent standby to shovel snow and scrape ice.

the first year he was elected and it continued their Remembrance Day ceremony coverage as he walked away from the site into the crowd taking shameless selfies with crowd members. This was presented as a significant event which eclipsed the ceremony. That choice of Trudeau’s also tells you everything you need to know about his essential character: a full-of-himself egotist valuing optics over respect for Canadian wartime dead.

Based on Orwell’s book, this is the only cartoon ever made about the beginnings of political consciousness and the corrupt ways of power. The animal fable is quite suitable for junior-high-age audiences (12-15) at a time when kids are becoming more aware of limits on themselves and the unfairness and injustices appertaining. (The film’s cartoon violence would also be less upsetting than to say 4 to 8 year-olds.)

The movie is faithful to the original except in the ending. SPOILER: It ends on a more positive and hopeful, less bleak note than Orwell intended. And, indeed, the whole enterprise would be more of a downer (belieing its cartoon exterior) without the power of the people taken into consideration and the fact that the corrupt often bring their own ruin upon themselves.

The film raises a lot of good, relevant political questions for a young audience (as Orwell intended). The DVD also gives information about the political allegory behind the book (again useful world political history for junior-high viewers). 

Matyas Beiber’s music keeps the plot dramatic and there is also occasional humor inserted for children viewers. The animals are sympathetically presented (except for the pigs and dogs, of course). A BBC-style narrator is used for the main events while one man–Maurice Denham, amazingly voiced all the voices of the animals (shades of Mel Blanc)!

The 72-minute production might have been edited to 60 minutes or less, but, otherwise, there were no other possibilities for second-guess changes. Oh, and based on their experience, high-school kids and adults will get the political nuances and messages faster and more deeply than junior-high-viewers so they’re welcome to the film as well.

They have long worn out their welcome throwing beer cans at the media, defacing Terry Fox’s stature (a bridge too far), parking on the war memorial, jumping on the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, wearing yellow stars, waving confederate flags, carrying upside down American and Ontario flags, defecating and urinating all over the downtown, fighting for ‘freedom’ by infecting themselves and others via not wearing masks or social distancing. Fighting for ‘improvement’ by raising the Covid case count, vandalizing the capital city, and actively threatening the PM’s life.

Enough, enough. The mayor should immediately impose a ban or the military should be called in to sweep the streets of these redneck hooligans lingering there without a valid reason and without a permit paralyzing Ottawa.

First out of the gate: Neil Young, then Joni Mitchell.
2 Canadian greats with moral fibre/integrity, lacking in so many others. Astute Canadian prairie stock (Winnipeg, Saskatoon).

Quite a nice surprise of 60 years of uncollected Dylan. (Cassette issued in 1991; CD in 2017.) CD 1 anchored in his folky protest days: 1961-63. CD 2 covers Another Side of Bob Dylan up to his comeback Blood on the Tracks album; 1963-74. CD 3 (58 works) moves into his more sophisticated period with more rehearsed bands; 1974-1989.

There is much to delight here including rehearsal takes, ultra-rare tracks, early live recordings and demos, as well as alternate versions and many album outtakes.

On the 1st Cd, his wit is demonstrated on 3 humorous songs and his poeticness in an effective live, Beat-style reading of his Woody Guthrie ode at New York City’s Town Hall in 1963.

On the second CD, he plays a rare instrumental and plays a variety of folk-rock with various musicians including Al Kooper, Mike Bloomfield, The Band, and George Harrison (“If Not for You”).

The third CD illustrates that Dylan kept growing and expanding his musical tastes, voices, and arrangement. Back-up performers include Emily-Lou Harris, T-Bone Burnett, Mark Knopfler, Barry Beckett, Jennifer Warnes, Danny Kortchmar, Mick Taylor (of The Rolling Stones), and Daniel Lanois.

The boxset is a revelation and very representative of all phases of his career. As usual, his lyrics are a banquet unto themselves, especially on CDs 2 and 3. It is frankly hard to believe that one guy/the same guy wrote all these songs.

I’ve long been a fan, but the variety and depth here, unexpectedly, blew me away. If you are a Dylan fan, this is a must-have collection. If you are a doubter of Dylan’s talent and genius, this collection will significantly change your view. Highly recommended.

The return of a long-forgotten jazz legend who played by ear, seldom looking at his keyboard, who never learned to read music: the once-popular pianist Erroll Garner.

His most famous 1955 album remastered 60 years later: now on 3 CDs, 11 new performances, 1 CD of the original edited concert.

Erroll’s 3 to 5 minute pieces are always full to the brim with extra notes and chords; no one else ever played like this; he makes full use of the keyboard. Classics are freshly and uniquely reconfigured. Erroll’s trio (bass and drums fill in nicely and keep things hopping). And, he mutters and hums his way along, delighting the live audience with how much he is into the music.

Erroll was, definitely, a memorable one-off and he staked out unique piece of jazz history. Always entertaining and fully engaging for the listener’s ears. Quite the auditory imagination and eloquent expression. Nary a dull moment. This set is highly recommended for piano fans and jazzers interested in the history of jazz.

Something like 90% of Canadian truckers are already vaccinated. They like having work/getting paid.

Truckers entering the States can’t get in w/o being vaccinated.
So already this ‘issue’ is dead in the water.

There are definitely some wanna-be GOPers that want to blow up the House of Commons, but this is a much more civilized Canada (except for a tiny population of rednecks, mostly in AB). We are not the States; we are not a guns and daily violence culture. We are not a bunch of dopes trying to topple the government even if many of us are fed up with our cowardly, ineffective, irresponsible PM.

That said, if I were in charge, I would have the military on standby in case the protest turns violent and gets out of hand.

Too, the federal PCs are on the wrong side and should be supporting the vaccine mandate instaea of rednecks and crazies in the convoy. They will never see power again in the future at this rate. Totally stupid, wrong platform.

just as the truckers convoy gets to Ottawa. A familiar escape-from-responsibility and confrontation tactic he’s used many times.