I had a very startling moment while doing genealogy today. I was taking a bit of a look into census records in New Jersey as I stumbled across this site today - . I went on doing some searches for people in my Silverthorn/Silverthorne branch and came across a reference to my 9th Great-grand Uncle Nathaniel Silverthorne and one line jumped off the page at me.

Baptism LDS - Date: 2 July 1988

Now I've always had a realization that the Latter Day Saints perform baptism for the dead but I've never really thought about in terms of MY ancestors. And while I've no real issues with the members as a whole (they're very nice people who can believe whatever they want)...I have to admit now this one belief has taken on an entirely new viewpoint for me. Seeing that online this morning hit me with this sense of anger and very deep offense, quite frankly. I got this feeling of "we don't care what this person believed in, we are right and they were wrong".

I was quite surprised by how deeply offended I've felt all morning. And this is from someone who has very little use for organized religion in general, being that I'm a pagan and nothing will sway me back to the fold of dogmatic faiths. However, my ancestors belonged to their own faiths and had their own beliefs that they found strength and community in. Back in the 1700's, the church would have been extremely important to people like Nathaniel. To have another religion feel that they have the right to circumvent another's faith strikes me as ... arrogant.

Face it, none of us know the truth and those that claim they do are moderately deluded. I prefer my simple pagan faith where deity is in everything that surrounds me and worship is done under the trees and the clear blue sky. And I respect that people believe in whatever gives them some sense of comfort, regardless of what it is. But don't try to convert me or my family. Not while we're alive and certainly not when we're dead.

And Miles To Go...
I'm becoming a huge fan of the arc trainer at the gym. The eliptical doesn't even feel like it's challenging after using this thing! I did 10 minutes on it today and then decided to switch over and do 10 minutes on the eliptical but got bored and went and did another 5 minutes on the arc trainer. So from now on I'm going to do my lunch workouts with 15 on the arc and 10 to cool down on the recumbant bike.

It should be disturbing that I enjoy working out in the gym enough to blog about it. :)

Almost got nailed by yet another driver not paying attention to pedestrians here. I swear that we have the worst and most self-involved drivers in this town than anywhere else in Canada. Maybe North America. See the little light up there that looks like someone's walking? Buddy, that means get the HELL out of my way. I'm going to start carrying a pocket full of rocks with me to throw at cars when they nearly run me down - think that might get their attention?

Tomorrow it's off to Toronto in the wee hours of the morning. Going to have breakfast at the Shopsy's, grab some good coffee, hit a few bakeries for some yummy stuff (likely in Greek town) and see another taping of The Hour. Norman Jewison is a guest tomorrow so it'll be cool if he's there and that's not a pretape.

Anyone know of a really good Italian bakery in Little Italy? I think I'm hitting Serano Bakery over on Pape but I'm still looking for a great place for some really good and tasty Italian bread and pastry.

Now I'm going to find someway to waste some time before dinner - later all!

What part of "Stay Right" do people find so damn hard to understand??? Ok, I don't mind you walking on the bike trail...even on the parts of the bike trail that run almost parallel to the boardwalk...but do you think you could stay the HELL OUT OF MY WAY? At least not step out directly into my path while I'm going fairly speedily and enjoying my ride? I'd prefer not to go ass over teakettle from my bike thanks so much. And if I do....I'm taking you with me jackass. And you would deserve it for NOT LOOKING! Hi...moving vehicle here - just because I'm not behind the wheel of a car does not mean I'm not going to do some damage to you when I hit you for being momumentally stupid. And by the way...this isn't a sidewalk...it's a BIKE PATH. Do you think you could maybe give me three inches of room to get around you without you and your dumb teenage friends walking four across and yakking on your cellphones, you selfish jerks? Trying to keep a rhythm and speed here and I keep having to brake 'cause I can't get around you and there are other people coming up the other side. And don't pretend you didn't hear me because my brakes squeak right now and even YOU aren't so completely self-involved that you didn't hear that.

*sigh*

Ok - rant over. Serves me right for thinking I could go for a nice bike ride in the middle of the afternoon in this town. Should have known that I needed to get up and ride in the early morning before the idiots get out of bed.

There are days that I hate this city and nearly everyone in it.

Esprit de l'escalier

So...I watched 1408 last night (actually just after midnight so technically this morning) which naturally meant that I was totally freaked out again and had a hard time going out into the dark hallway to use the bathroom. So then I decided to finally watch Religulous so that I could actually get to sleep at some point.

I love Bill Maher. I love his humour and his in-your-face honesty. And while I am a person of faith, I wouldn't call myself religious. Most pagans tend to be more laid back about such things I think. Outside of burning us at the stake, we take criticism well. And we don't believe so much in a God as that we believe that Deity is in everything that surrounds us. The absolute best parts of the movie though were Bill talking to the guy with the marijuana religion and...Father Reginald Foster. The good Father should go on the road instead of working at the Vatican 'cause he's hilarious!

Anyway, after I went to sleep and had a strange dream about being at the Osmond Fireside and it was the same but after I left to go get my bus and stuff one of the Elders who was there when I was talking to Jay about my pentacle said to the one with the forms, "Put a big red X on THAT one...". (Supposed to be receiving a 'gift from the Osmonds' for attending the Fireside. I expect it's LDS related and they're probably rushing one out to me, lol.) Like being put on the equivalent of an LDS hit list I suppose. I've now got this image in my head of some kind of emergency baptismal list for we heathen types. ;-)

While I'm still a tad upset over the whole Rick Springfield thing - I so totally stoked that The Skydiggers and Luke Doucet are coming to the festival this year!! (I've probably mentioned that already but it bears repeating.)

But I'm going to go focus on The Stromo Show now and hang out in the chat room. Later y'all.

New Random Mumblings...

So, I'm still on a bit of an Osmond high - my friends can make fun of me all they want but I had such a good time (as can be evidenced by previous blog entry, lol).

*However*...my music high has been tempered just a tad. One of the other acts on the old bucket list is one of my "guitar gods". Rick Springfield. And I've been waiting, and waiting, and waiting to see him live finally. Hoping against hope that just maybe, he'd play the concert hall at Casino Rama. And he's finally coming. And do you know WHEN he's coming?

That's right...the saturday night of the folk festival.

Now, I *could* say to hell with it, blow off my responsibility as coordinator for the night and just go rock out for the night. Buuuut....I'll probably be a good girl and tough it out listening to Buffy St. Marie (or whoever is headlining saturday) and not pass it off to the other volunteers. *sigh* Being a grownup sucks sometimes.

I'm also a bit bummed that very few of my volunteers seem to be returning this year. I've only got 3 or 4 coming back thus far. Though I do seem to be picking up a few more locals which makes sunday night easier so there's that. Another good thing about this year's festival? Dude, I not only get cutie-pie Luke Doucet on friday night...but THE SKYDIGGERS ARE PLAYING!!! And peeps should know that I *heart* The Skydiggers. Wish I had Stephen and the other Rodeo Kings again though. They make my life interesting. Especially Tom Wilson. He makes everyone's life interesting. (Have I mentioned lately how much I want to go on one of Stephen and Tom's little insane road trips?)

:-)

I'm likely going to put the genealogy aside for a little bit, at least til after the festival. I've platteaued and I'm not sure where I'm going from here anyway. Can't get any new info on my Davis line past my Great-grandfather (really need to get one of the paranoid males in the family to do the DNA testing thing since my maternal one turned up nothing). No luck thus far with tracing my Snider/Snyder line back to Quebec, let alone finding out where the Dutch ancestry fits in. Nothing further on where John and Jane Baker came from in England and nothing on Hiram Higgerson's parents to even nail down the parents as Levi/Eli or Amelia/Martha. Weeks surfing for obits lead me to no real information and I still haven't even found where Hiram and John Snider/Snider are buried, let alone the resting place of their parents.

Bah. I need a trip to Toronto to see if I can find something to break down the wall. Not gonna happen until at least the end of the month. If I don't spend everything I have on shoes that is. But I REALLY want to get down this month for another taping of The Hour and see George again. I just really enjoy looking at him, ok? :) Gotta see if I can pick another USB drive and take the boy some music he might not have heard yet. And maybe cookies. Wonder what I can get him to do for my white chocolate/macadamia nut cookies? (Pardon me, while my mind ponders the possibilites, lol)

Well, I'm thinking it's bedtime. I'm a bit sore tonight after doing 15 minutes on the elliptical at the gym during lunch then doing another 20 minutes on the gazelle with my FitFlops on. Plus, work was crazy busy today. Got to admit, I'm feeling the thing in the legs tonight. It's a good thing though. I'm almost down to 38" in the waist and I've dropped 1/2" in my hips and thighs since I last checked. So, go me! :) I've just got to drop my post-Teletech weight and get back in shape.

And btw - I'm going to fix the music thing on here Mel. I swear. Hopefully sunday I'll see if I can put a jukebox on here and update the ones on the Myspace pages before George's radio show. And maybe even update the music collection page.

OSMONDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wooohooo!! Back home from an amazing trip to Kitchener to FINALLY see The Osmonds in concert. Wayne, Jay and Merrill did not disappoint either. I'm really regretting not going to the St. Catherine's show on thursday night now. Hindsight and all that. Man, I had so much fun it should be illegal. And I'm crazy tired. :)

So...I get up at 5am on friday morning, get everything together and get ready, and head off on the 6:15am bus to the terminal. 7am and I'm on the Ontario Northland to Toronto where there's close to an hour wait so I go get a latte from Timothy's and catch my Kitchener connection. Get in close to 1pm....looooonnnnng bus ride. Not as long as the trip down to Media, PA but still. Do my usual grabbing of transit maps and walking out to the nearest street, pick a direction and start walking. Check in at the hotel isn't til 3pm so I kick around King Street for a bit. Around 2, I find a stop for the #7 that I know goes close to the hotel and wait for a bus while picking up a conversation with a woman who is from Cuba and lives in Kitchener.

Get to the hotel, do the check in thing, take a "disco nap" and then freshen up. (6 hours on a bus and all ya know.) Went over to Wimpy's for dinner and had a MASSIVE burger and fries. Dude, this thing was the size of a bread & butter plate. Good thing I was doing a fair bit of walking 'cause I'm pretty sure that thing was over my calorie count, lol. And then....off to the show!!

Center in the Square isn't much from the outside but it's really impressive inside the theater. Nice seating with loads of leg room too. Makes me wish our Opera House had seating like that in it. And the concert was more amazing than I had ever hoped! After wanting to see them for such a very long time, it was awesome to have it happen and to have fantastic seats for the show. They did a lot of the hits like One Bad Apple, Yo-yo and He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother plus a medley of love songs and a medley of brother acts. They naturally did the BeeGee's thing that freaked me out the first time I heard it on the live cd...and Jay does a disturbing Michael Jackson impersonation when they did ABC. ;-) No Love Me For a Reason or I'm Still Gonna Need You though but I'll live.

And good grief but Wayne...ok, I knew he's a bit unique and all. And I've seen clips of him going off on his joke moments....but I had no real clue just how he can flip the show off the rails and how valiently Merrill tries to keep it moving. He usually loses mind you but man, he tries. And Wayne tells the kind of jokes that I really shouldn't laugh at 'cause they do tend to be cheesy but boy, can he deliver those things with....enthusiasm. :) You know the ones I mean. Like when he was talking about the last time he was in Canada. "I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out." Yeah...those ones. But my favourite was when they were introducing Heartache Tonight and Wayne was giving it alternate names. Lots of alternate names. And he got into stuff like, "Get Off The Stove Granny, You're Too Old to Ride the Range." And the one that made everyone do the sharp intake of breath followed by unavoidable laughing, "Hope You're Living As High Off The Hog As The Pig You Turned Out To Be".

They did the Auctioneer song too which was so much fun and Jay did a huge drum solo that was AWESOME!! And when they came back on for the encore, they did a song I'd never heard before, most likely called, The Lady in the Second Row or something close. It was a great tune and a bunch of us went up to the side of the stage to dance about, clap and carry on. (Hey, I require NO encouragement for audience participation.) And closed the show with I Believe...and mentioning they'd be doing a Fireside the following morning.

Being as tired as I was after the show and my mind wandering to getting back to the hotel plus being on a music high...I didn't look too closely at the card other than the intersection I needed to get to the next day. Checked with the front desk to find out where it was and it wasn't that far from the hotel so I figured that I'd figure the busing out the next morning before breakfast. Didn't notice AT ALL until I was on the #12 and almost there that it was at the LDS church. Keep in mind that I have no idea at all at this point what a Fireside even IS! I figured it's just the kind of little event I've been to at a lot of churches. You know, those little receptions with the church leaders and locals and whatnot.

Those who know me know that on a good day, I'm not even remotely comfortable in churches. They just go a bit against my Pagan nature. And the fact that I went to Kitchener wearing my pentacle was a tad more uncomfortable. Not that I was going to take it off - that's just not me. However, when I got there, I realized the event was in the LDS chapel. There were also a lot of Elders in the lobby. There were also a lot (and I mean a LOT) of LDS members in the lobby. You'd think by now I'd be used to being the only non-Christian in the crowd but this felt particularly odd. So, it turns out that a Fireside is sort of a meeting of congregation for the Latter-day Saints with hymns and speakers on religious topics. Yeah....did I feel conspicuous? Not that I really have any problems with the LDS church (outside of the gay marriage thing and they are hardly alone on that). Hey, if I were looking for a Christian church they would be right up there on the list. (Though I think I like the Baptist hymns a bit more, they've just got more ooomph.) But anyone who knows the story of my near-death experience, also knows that my faith is on extremely solid ground and has been for years. But it was quite a lovely meeting and the Osmond brothers gave lovely speeches, only graced by Wayne's interuptions of levity a few...dozen...times.

BUT...I totally met the Osmonds after!! I was not expecting that to every actually happen. And Jay Osmond has now vaulted to the #2 position, closely tailing Jimmy, for the position of my favourite Osmond. Sorry Merrill but you've been bumped. Jay is just about the sweetest person - I mean they all are - but Jay knocked my socks off. You need to understand the reactions I get from my pentacle most of the time. I either get weird questions about tarot readings or random people that I'm supposed to know because appparently all Pagans should know each other ... or people think I'm Jewish. (Note: The Star of David has SIX points, not five). But Jay just said that he was really interested in my necklace and wanted to know what it way. I mentioned that I was a non-Christian and that the pentacle symbolized the elements of Fire, Air, Water, Earth and Spirit. He seemed surprised but we talked briefly about Spirit being the fifth element and about how long I've waited to see them and how great the show was and whatnot. What a charmer....I now see why he's at the top of so many Osmond fan's lists as their favourite. :) Scooted over to get Merrill's autograph though he had a lot of people waiting so we didn't really talk and then Wayne who I chatted with very briefly...and then it was off to get the bus home as I had a 4:15pm connection to make in Toronto.

I know I've glossed over the whole trip a bit...but I wanted to hit the highlights before I go to bed tonight and I start to forget things. The whole trip was so wonderful and it was such a blessing to actually get to meet the three of them, if briefly. I'd go and see them again in a heartbeat. Though it'd be awesome if I didn't have to spend 6 hours on a bus to do it, lol. Guys, how about a show in Toronto...or Casino Rama?? And bring Jimmy next time too. :)

One of the most fun parts of doing family history is the search through old newspapers. Why can't the papers of today been even HALF as interesting??? The down side is that you can get so caught up in reading the news of the day, that you forget to look for the information you needed in the first place! :)

This is one of the best articles from yesterday's search - I love this one.


Orillia Packet & Times - September 20, 1906

Here is a timely hint for next year's Mayor; A Rochester official proposes that the city buy 500 goats to eat the weeds in vacant lots. As side issues, he suggests that the city could sell the milk of the goats, hire them to secret societies for initiation purposes, and by shaving their beards every fall, use the hair to make fur collars for policemen.

My mind is like a parking lot,
Each memory has a separate slot,
I never forget a name or face,
I just can't find it's parking spot.

~~ Elinor K. Rose

Ok - so perhaps over the last few years I have developed a slight to moderate crush on Kiefer Sutherland. Just maybe. And hey, who wouldn't want to marry into THAT genepool?? Donald Sutherland and Shirley Douglas as in-laws? Hell yeah. Grandson to the man who is considered the greatest Canadian ever (and former leader of the political party that I happen to belong to)?

I do like the homegrown boys the very best. :)

Speaking of rather cute homegrown boys....another sunday is done and another edition of my sunday night Strombo show is over. Not that there was any *actual* Strombo tonight as the show was a pretape so it was the gang online chatting with our lovely Amanda who is left to tend the fort all by her lonesome. And she does a wonderful job. (Though a live show every so often would be nice too.) I'll just have to take me down to Toronto for another taping of The Hour in May. Probably around the 14th (if any of the regular online girls happen to be interested, lol). Has to be the payday after I get back from Kitchener from seeing The Osmonds!! (Laugh all you want but they are on my list of acts I've loved forever and never seen live so I'm going dammit).

Finished round one of the spring cleaning and the bedroom looks all pretty and smells like lemon and such. Shiny. :) Found stuff under the bed that I almost forgot I owned! Tomorrow is back to work and hitting the gym on lunch. I was a good girl and did zumba twice this week but I don't think I really did enough resistance on the circuit. Such a balancing act...

Off to pack the gym bag! Later taters...

Virus with capos....

Just a short entry tonight 'cause I'm tired and I have to be at work later on this morning. Just got home from seeing Stephen Fearing at the Orillia Opera House and he was his usual wonderfully talented and goofballish self. I've so missed him at Mariposa in the summer.

Uncharacteristically (at this point I've no clue if that's right, lol), I did not take either a camera or a notepad to the theater so I'm not even going to try and put together the set list. Thought there were some tunes I haven't heard in a long time - including Willie's "Trying to Start Out Clean" requested by Bernie from the office. I loved her "play something by a heretic" request. :) (Stephen mentioned a posthumous Willie recording!!)

Lusty pulled one on me this afternoon. I had a thought that he would but I thought...nah. Wrong! Around 1pm in walks Lusty and Fearing...the dynamic duo themselves. Twas a nice little surprise. Always pleasant to get a nice hug from a wayward musician in the afternoon. :) Little bit of chatting and then they went forth to wander and cause chaos elsewhere, lol.

Ok...that's all I have the energy for tonight plus my powers of typing are leaving me. I've got work tomorrow followed by zumba class at the gym so stay tuned.

~~ L.

Ok - I have an admission to make. Generally speaking I HATE American Idol. And Canadian Idol...all the singing shows really. Yes, I'm a music snob and I'd rather have someone stick an ice pick through my ear canal than listen to bad singing. It's physically and mentally painful. People who can't carry a tune and still insist on singing in public should be dragged into the street and shot. Stick to singing in the shower where I can't hear you dude. And shows like AI have a handful of good singers and a whole boatloat of crap. And divas. Sometimes really crappy divas...and they usually come with either an overinflated sense of their importance or some kind of an attitude of entitlement. I really enjoy the ones who pray before going onstage to "watch over them". Seriously, you think God cares if you become the next American Idol?? You don't think he's got bigger concerns in the universe??

But...I've watched some of AI this season for one reason and one reason only. David Osmond was going to be on the show. Picqued my curiosity just enough to watch. Unfortunately, David temporarily lost his voice on 'group day' during Hollywood week and was voted off the island. Major bummer....no longer a reason for me to watch really. You can all go back to learning how to put out a wonderfully commercial record with no soul that will get acres of radio play now. I'll go back to hanging out with my indie musician friends who are slogging it out in anonimity.

~~~~~

Speaking of indie musicians, I saw Danny Michel here in Orillia at the Opera House on Jan 31st. He was his usual awesomeness (like the other 15 000 times I've seen him live, lol). Cracked me up after the show as I was hanging out in the green room, chatted Danny up a bit as I'm always good for. ;-) Realized I forgot to tell him something so I sidled back up as these two girls with accents were getting cds autographed and one had bought "Fibsville". Danny seemed...well...a bit appalled really. Told her that was not a good cd to buy if you hadn't heard him before. I was surprised as I LOVE LOVE LOVE that album (not that Danny could make a crap cd if he tried). He turns to me and asks my opinion and I told him it was a wicked cd. He reiterated his opinion and then forbade her to have it...told her to take the new one instead.

I was torn in that moment whether to turn on my inner cd selling machine and try to get her to buy both. But I wasn't in charge of the table. I should have done it anyway but I was a bit tired and my reflexes slow, heh. (Dude, I can sell cds out of the box while walking artists from the Mariposa Emporium to the cash trailer. I had one of the African drummer guys last year laughing over my sales pitch to this woman who came up to ask about his cds.)

~~~~~

Still working on the family history thing. Too tired tonight to do a full genealogy post, maybe tomorrow or later next week. I've found some kids and grand-kids relating to my line from John Griffin and Elizabeth Jane Cooper. 11 children ... including my 2x Great-grandmother Hannah who had 14 children!!! (John and Elizabeth had 33 grandchildren that I know of and I'm sure there's more as that's only 4 of their 11 kids.)

HA! Take that Osmond family. ;-)

I've gotten a bit of a headache for my efforts today but I finally tracked down my 3x Great-grandparents Baker on the 1851 census and discovered 5 2x great-aunts and uncles I previously did not know existed.

1851 Markham Twp, York

Baker John England Episcopalian 46 M M
Baker Jane England Episcopalian 45 F M
Baker Ann England Episcopalian 18 F S
Baker Jonethan England Episcopalian 16 M S
Baker Sarah Canada Episcopalian 13 F S
Baker Elizabeth Canada Episcopalian 10 F
Baker Julia Canada Episcopalian 1 F
Baker David Canada Episcopalian 5 M
Baker Charlott Canada Episcopalian 2 F


Elizabeth was my 2x Great-grandmother, her brothers Joseph and Daniel were both born after 1951. I had known about Charlotte Baker from her marriage to James McNeill (thanks to some cousins from this marriage that wrote in my Great-Aunt Evelyn's autograph book from school). But the others I had never heard of prior to discovering the census record.

The internet is a wonderful thing. :)

PLAYLIST FOR OBAMA...

Ok - so starting Monday, CBC Radio 2 is going to start collecting ideas for a Canadian playlist as a gift to Obama from his neighbours to the north. I'm not only totally happy about spreading the wealth of our great music but it makes for amazing publicity for an artist when it's reported on. Like when they did the article a couple of years back about what was on George W.'s ipod and my buddies in Blackie and the Rodeo Kings were listed. (At least the man has good taste in music.)

I'm been giving it some thought the last hour or so (like anyone could expect that I would pass up an opportunity to publicize Canadian music) and came up with a list of things that President-Elect Obama should be listening to.

1. D'arcy McGee by Mike Ford
~~ A great song from his Canada Needs You: Vol. 1 cd about Canadian history - something that Obama should know a bit about, along with more Canadians. Before JFK, there was Thomas D'arcy McGee. He was a journalist and a poet along with being a Father of Confederation who was assassinated in 1868.

2. The Old Prince Still Lives At Home by Shad
3. Sunday Morning by K-os
~~ Obama's a music lover and based on some of the tunes he's mentioned, I think he'd love both of these amazing songs from two amazing hip hop artists, one new and one very well established in Canadian music.

4. I Used To Love You But It's All Over Now by Jackie Washington
5. Jackie Washington by Blackie and the Rodeo Kings
~~ Jackie is one of this country's legendary blues/jazz players and not enough people these days still know his music. He's 87 now and still gets out there and plays music festivals but he started his career working the trains and playing wherever he could. Canadian 'supergroup' Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, wrote a song about him for their High or Hurtin' cd.

6. Lace and Pretty Flowers by Willie P. Bennett
~~ Another underappreciated Canadian legend, Willie is likely best known as Fred Eaglesmith's mandolin player. But he was one of our greatest songwriters and we lost him this year. (Blackie and the Rodeo Kings got their name from one of his songs as well.)

7. Chelsea Morning by Joni Mitchell
8. Early Morning Rain by Gordon Lightfoot
9. If a Tree Falls by Bruce Cockburn
10. Closing Time by Leonard Cohen
~~ Icons of the Canadian music scene, fixtures in the old Yorkdale scene that Obama should listen to...just because. :)

11. Riverboat Fantasy by David Wilcox
~~ Gonna make you do that dance you did on Ellen again.

12. Bo Diddley by Ronnie Hawkins
~~ Our adopted son "The Hawk", gave us so much great rock music between his own and his being the catalyst that created The Band. Hey, and it's a lesson in cross-border relations. There is no one anywhere on earth that is quite like Ronnie Hawkins - talented, outspoken and completely outrageous...he definitely deserves a spot on the list.

13. Hallelujah by Rufus Wainwright
~~ I've never been a massive Rufus fan but I do love his cover of Leonard Cohen's song. The 'loud and pround' offspring of Louden Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle is also deserving of a place on the list.

14. Gulf War Song by Moxy Fruvous
~~ A little reminder for the future president about events past that still rear their heads today from the quintessential Canadian band.

15. Good Mother by Jann Arden
16. Broken One by Luke Doucet
17. Tennessee Tobacco by Danny Michel
18. Lay It On The Line by Divine Brown
~~ Amazing songs by some great artists that should be on everyone's playlists no matter who you are. Seriously...go find them...now.

19. Song To The Moon by Joanne Kolomyjec with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Mario Bernardi
~~ My token classical choice. While there will be tons of people recommending Glenn Gould on their lists (which is also deserving as Gould is genius) I wanted to showcase the talents of great Canadian soprano Kolomyjec doing Dvorak instead.

20. Last Saskatchewan Pirate - The Arrogant Worms
~~ Every lists needs a little comic relief so naturally I picked The Arrogant Worms. This is just a crazy, fun, very Canadian tune that will haunt you for days after you hear it. And it's even better live when you can sing along and do the hand motions and through your fist in the air. :) (I picked up on the recommendation by Rich MacInnes-Rae that everyone should know how to spell Saskatchewan as well.)

Starting Monday, go and join in!! http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/obamasplaylist/

So, it's that time of the year again where I post my top albums for the year. I think I've been doing this in one form or another since I started high school in '84 - back in the days when we'd hang out at the Sam the Record Man downtown. That was where I discovered Bowie, Roxy Music, and all the other music of the day. I'd pick up whatever 45's were new and take them right home after school, put them on the record player and just play them for hours. I miss hanging out at a local record store staffed by people who were passionate about music. And part of me missed running a record store and being able to help other people discover the music they've never heard before. (Which was the only reason I put up with management that didn't give a shit and the crappy pay that I took for 8 very, very long years.)

Who will teach the children about Pete Seeger? :-) But...I digress.

TOP ALBUMS OF 2008

10. Little Jackie - The Stoop
9. Matt Costa - Unfamiliar Faces
8. Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs
7. The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely
6. Hawksley Workman - Los Manlicious
5. Ron Sexsmith - Exit Strategy of the Soul
4. Elvis Costello - Momofuku
3. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
2. Serena Ryder - Is It O.K.
1. Danny Michel - Fur and Feather

Honorable mentions: Mike Ford - Canada Needs You Vol. 2, Divine Brown - The Love Chronicles, The Killers - Day and Age, Adele - 19

A Merry Yule to all as we celebrate the rebirth of the sun for another cycle in the wheel of the year. I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday season, no matter what you celebrate this day.

Blessed Be.

Everyone should go and sign the petition to save Dirty Sexy Money from cancellation. What the hell is ABC thinking?? I mean, DSM is like the great soaps that I remember from my misspent youth. This is an awesome show and if it gets cancelled before I find out what Simon's master plan is and how he intends to pull it off or who killed Dutch....I'm going to be really pissed off. Come on...is Nick's marriage to Lisa really over? Is Lisa really going to end up with Jeremy? And if not, will that end up meaning trouble for the gallery? Will Karen really marry Simon? What's the dish behind Simon's hold over Nora and her little brother? And is that glass swan *really* just something that holds sentimental value for Simon? Is Tripp going to try and move in on Nick's rebound relationship or will his marriage to Latisha survive?

I have way too many unanswered questions to let this show go down without a fight...

http://tvseriesfinale.com/articles/dirty-sexy-money-petition-to-save-the-abc-tv-show-from-cancellation/


On another TV note...I have come to the conclusion that the majority of people voting on SYTYCD Canada don't know what the f^&% they are talking about. Seriously - Isaak is still on the show and both Danny and Vincent have gone home??? Really...Isaak is still there - the guy who give nothing to his partner, gives nothing on a performance level is still there and Vincent - the technically brilliant, emotive and versatile dancer who Jean-Marc called "the perfect foil for any woman" goes home??? They keep telling Isaak that he has to step it up, week after week and he continually performs at the same level and yet people keep voting for him.

WTF?!?!?!?!!?

If he ends up winning this show, I will be disgusted yet again by the taste level of the viewing public and will never watch this show again.

I'm once again disappointed in my country when it comes to their voting record. *sigh*

A LITTLE NOTE TO AMERICA....

Please, don't fuck this election thing up tomorrow.

Thanks,
Your neighbours to the north.

:-)

So, I'm at work the other day and I notice an older gentleman wearing what looks like a crew jacket for "Passchendaele". After I ask him what I can help him with, I ask him about the jacket. He tells me it's an interesting story. Turns out his son-in-law is Tom Pretak! (FYI - Tom is a producer on the movie and has also worked with Paul Gross on "Due South", "H2O" and "Men With Brooms" among other things.) So, we chatted about the movie and I told him about seeing it on opening weekend and how wonderful I thought it was. We talked about how talented Paul is and how fantastic it is to have such a talent that has stayed and worked in this country, fighting to make great art and tell great stories about Canada. And we Tory bashed a bit over the arts cuts.

So, I used to chat with Ed Robertson's mom and now I get to talk up Tom Pretak's father-in-law. ;-)

(Dude, I believe I am now 2 degrees of separation from Paul Gross!! Woohoo! *g*)

All of us in Canada should be ashamed of the pathetic voter turnout in this country. 59.1 percent??? It's the absolute height of laziness to not spend 5 minutes of your life casting a vote for the people who are in charge of your country. There are people in the world who fight and die every day to have the right that those of us who live in democratic societies take for granted.

You have no right to complain about how the government handles your tax dollars unless you get up off your ass and vote! I'm thinking that Australia has the right idea in the whole compulsary voting thing.

Well, I've been on vacation for the last week and a bit. Second day back at work. Spent lots of time doing genealogy and a few days down in Toronto (which was wicked fun!)

It's possible that my 1st cousin 2xremoved, George Hiram Borman, fought and died during the 2nd Battle of Passchendaele. The timing seems to fit as he was in Belgium and died on 23 Oct 1917. He was also with the 116th Battalion which was involved in the battle from what I understand. I have to request his war record to find out for sure. Weird that I find this out the week that Paul Gross' movie, Passchendaele opens though.

I'll be working my way through the war record requests soon. I've got George's to request, along with my grand-uncle Edward Davis' and my Great-grand uncle Albert Victor Forbes. And those are just the ones I know about. I've got a bit more of a difficult time when it comes to my grandfather though. Jack Davis joined up with the U.S. Army and was stationed in Panama during the building of the canal. I have to figure out how I find his service number or whatever to aid in requesting his records. I know what battalion he was serving with but I'll have to do more research to see if that's going to help.

Hey, I finally went to a taping of The Hour when I was in the city and totally want to go to another one now. That was fun! And my, that Strombo is one good-looking dude in person. Even more so than on tv, my friend. I might even go so far as to call him...a biscuit. :-) And dude...he was interviewing Alice Cooper!! Mr. Mayhem himself was like, five feet away from me talking about how much he enjoyed doing The Muppet Show!! Awesome stuff.

Couldn't stick around after the taping though as I was meeting a friend for dinner before we headed off to The Pheonix for a rally/concert called the Not a Conservative Party. Yes, trying like hell to get people not to vote for Mr. LackofPersonality himself. Hosted by The Department of Culture (departmentofculture.ca), they were raising money to take out ads in some swing ridings in an attempt to take out some Tories. Great music, a little friendly Harper bashing (live and prerecorded) including stuff like this ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aT9VxjLtEZw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtM2ccc8yT0

You can also find the spots that were made for their "Gone in 30 Seconds" campaign on YouTube.

The day after the election, I still fail to see why people are voting for this man. The whole party is based on one of their lies. Every time I turn around he's breaking a promise, part of their platform or even the laws the party set up itself! He comes across as an uncaring, soulless, control freak who tries to micromanage everything and yet has control over nothing. He's secretive, tries to stymie the press and not only cut back arts programs critical to so many groups who were already relying on money that they were to be allocated but also tries to inact laws that allows them to censor the arts. And I won't even get into their fascist copyright laws that they are trying to inact. And god forbid that we should ever have a coalition government. You need to be able to compromise for that and Harper doesn't play well with others. It's either his way or it's a confidence vote that can trigger an election.

When are people in this country going to wake up and deliver the two parties that keep getting elected a nice big smack upside the head? Why do people keep electing tweedledum and tweedledummer? We need serious change in this country for once but it's obvious that we don't seem brave enough to take a chance on it. We need serious electoral reform in this country but we don't seem to have leaders brave enough to take a chance on it.

Nice to see that from the top on down, we're just willing to take it. Maybe we do get the leadership that we deserve instead of the one that we vote for.