CaptainOrange

My winter walks provide plenty of time for music listening... If you recall , I started my 1001 Albums project last year, in March. It is inspired by a reading of 1001 Albums you Must Read Before You Die . At the time, I was only 30 albums along. I can recall thinking that I might finish within a year (if I went all out). That didn't work out. I was on track, but I completely stalled out once summer was over. I have not done an exact count, but the lists below (which I finished in early September) comprise about 470 albums totaling approximately 350 hours of music. Find it. Listen to it. As you may imagine, it has been an intense and wonderful experience. Having something to share with my teenagers is enough all by itself, and it has been so much more than that. I sent Leora playlist #10 this week. Even though we text a few times a week and talk most weekends, it has been hard having her away at Mt. Allison. You may recall some of my emotional state . The 1001 albums pro...

Damn. That was one beautiful show. I don't think I've ever seen a better package. The Kin , as the opening act worked very hard to win the audience over. It was an uphill battle as virtual unknowns and less than 1/2 the audience seated. I enjoyed their solid rock sound and was fascinated by their drummer, Shakerleg (the Aussie brothers picked him up while working in New York), who eschews drumsticks in favour of his bare hands and some tape. There is a short article about Shakerleg at  Modern Drummer . Wondering if  +Ian McQuillan  has ever tried this? From his website: shakerleg.com Here are The Kin on Conan O'brien. They did this number at the concert, but it sounded a bit heavier and the  didgeridoo (wikipedia) segment at the beginning was much extended. Pink's performance was inspiring.  I dub her... An earthy, athletic and completely bad-ass Tinkerbell.  I wish I had the opportunity to photograph her show. There was so much to look a...

I'm old enough to have started buying my music on Vinyl, though most of my collection was cassette. I only transitioned to CDs late in my university career. I kept a number of my records for 20 years after I no longer had a turntable. Eventually, they hit the dustbin along with nearly every cassette I ever bought. Did I ever own those songs? They certainly own my dreams. I feel like the songs are part of me. It doesn't seem right that I have to pay to own part of me. Ah, the success of the RIAA. Oh, yeah. This isn't a rant against the music corporations. This is a celebration of a few albums that I've rediscovered. I eventually became embarrassed with my possession of each of these. Now I've had to pay for them again. I look back and realize that I was lacking in self confidence. I found it hard to maintain or defend any opinion, not just those involving music. Styx: Kilroy Was Here My first album (1982). I was 10 years old. I know I just bought it for the...

I have volunteered with  Saskatoon Summer Players since we moved back to Saskatoon, 8 1/2 years ago. Since then, I have done West Side Story, Pirates of Penzance, Kiss Me Kate, Cinderella, and been M.C. for The Broadway Bash on 3 occasions. They should not be confused with Gateway Players (now defunct) with whom I performed in Becket: or the Honour of God, The Mouse Trap, And Then There Were None and a privately produced version of Monkey Business. Last year I decided to try and take more of a leadership role with SSP and I allowed myself to be nominated to the board of directors. I've been acting as Secretary since then. The "on paper" commitment is one meeting per month and a second one in November for the AGM and I keep and distribute the minutes. As happens with me occasionally, things have managed to get out of control. Summer Players has been attempting a restructuring during this last year for a number of reasons that I won't go into. The result is that t...

-- guess I forgot to put a link to the great review we got in the StarPhoenix . Ever since working on Cinderella (capO), Leora has been on my case to do more community theatre. When she heard the possibility that Gateway would be doing To Kill A Mockingbird (wikipedia), she would not let me rest. I had to repeatedly check the website for any hint of auditions. When we saw James Hawn (who was to direct it) there would be questions about when auditions might be scheduled, etc... Eventually, there were auditions. Wendy, Leora and I all tried out for roles and Anwyn hoped to work as a crew member. Anwyn got her way, as did the rest of us. Short of patient, reliable children, James H. eventually convinced Anwyn to also take on a couple of roles in the show. So we were all in the show -- a first for our family. We were excited, yet trepidatious. I know how hard it is for the family with just me in a play. For this to succeed we were going to have to take special measures. I took time off w...

An early celebration was had last night. The core group of Questers was in attendance. As a first order of business we discussed last years quest books. A general favorite was "How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read," which, humourously, Dave hadn't. You could look up the less than favourable Guardian review, or you could take my word for it and have a good read (and a good laugh). From there we moved on to this years reading list which, I'm sad to say, I did not contribute to. It will be a light reading year (for must reads)... 2 Picks (Filthy Lucre/Heath/Starcat, Notes on Democracy/Mencken/rainswept) I will also attempt to read Dave's attempted pick (which is in 6 volumes and he hasn't quite finnished yet) entitled The Nature of Order - Christopher Alexander Follow this link for my pictures from the evening... QE19 I have set a few goals for the coming year: First I plan to beat the 24-year-old me. I'll explain that one another time. ...

It is time that you were training mentally and physically for this year's event. Here is the scoop on last year , if you need a refresher as to what City Quest is all about. I don't have a firm date yet, but it will definitely be after Cinderella is finished for Leora and I. That means after the first week in July. My summer will book up early, so if you want a say, speak now. As a primer, Leora, Anwyn and I are planning to bike out to Osler to see Grandma and Grandpa. It looks to be about 36km of backroads. Should be a good challenge in itself. Look for this to happen near or just after the end of school. I guess I would be remiss if I didn't plug the show. Leora and I both have small roles in the production, so no star value here, but if you like Cinderella (not the Disney version) and waltzes...

What I am doing here is letting someone do all the work and then passing on the finished product to you. One of my favorite kinds of jobs. A couple of weeks ago, Anna and Ian offered to look after Leora and Anwyn for the day. Anna picked up the girls at 9am and told us we could come and get them after 6pm and we could have supper with them. It sounded like a good deal. Wen and I had a lovely day of doing not much and hanging out together. It may have been that day that we officially declared the bathroom renovation 'almost mostly done.' When we went to their house for supper, we were under prepared for the splendor of it all. I'm not going to go into too much detail about the food. Anna does that nicely . And who can blame her. The food was fantastic. While focusing on the food, she neglects a couple of highlights: Each of these tastes from around the globe was prefaced by a flag the kids had coloured as an introduction to the country of origin. While we were eating said di...

Expectation Reality 2 attendees: Vin and Me Vin, Me, January, James, Jay-Pep, Chantelle good food available Food was fantastic Irish beer and ordinary coffee to drink Several Irish beers, Irish-style coffee, Barley water w/lemon and honey! listen to Irish-based rock music Several Irish Artists, James played guitar and he and I sang 2hrs of U2, Sinead, Spirit of the West, and others moderated to annoying amounts of Joyce analysis check! Actually, I found it quite subtle and cleverly (hope, hope) integrated into conversation about society and (hu)*man All in all, a fantastic time was had by yours truly. This is definitely an event to repeat next year! * in case Lucky is reading along... I don't want you to get the wrong idea about my gender-bias

O.K., I know I haven't posted details of day 3 yet, but I am surprised at how when you get back to the real world there isn't 2hrs a day to come up with the perfect description of your day and crop, size and place to perfection the photos that go along with it. Instead of making everyone (especially me) wait, I am putting up what I consider to be the most important post next -- even though it will destroy the verisimilitude. I will post the details of day 3 if and when I have time (My apologies to Vij's restaurant and the wonderful company we had while there for the delays). You will notice that there are no pictures. I was not among the many who were gutsy/rude enough to take in their recording devices. I make no apologies for respecting the establishment in this one respect. Without further adieu... The concert was fantastic. Sting's son is in the band – Fiction Plane -- which opened for The Police (hmmmm...) Yeah, well, they were actually pretty great as unknown open...

4 hrs of sleep (8:30am (SK time)... ugh. My eyes feel very much like sandpaper. And not good sandpaper either, but rather the kind that you start using and immediately all of the sand crumbles off the sheet and dribbles all down your hands. It is a good thing that can't really happen to my eyes. One reason to be happy this morning.' Anna drove out to a nearby Tim's and got us a wake-up call, while I read some news and tried not to wake Ian. Anna said he could not be woken by the apocalypse itself, but as it happened, he was vaguely aware that all was not right in what should have been a pleasant land of slumbery bliss. After coffee and some news/blogging on our two laptops, we set out on our second day of this adventure. 10:45am we leave the hotel on foot. Anna has done extensive reading and planning on the bus schedules , pricing and frequency. It looks like we can ride on the weekends for $2.25 with a pass that lasts 90min. Considering how many buses and the frequency, th...

This my recounting from my journal of the events of day one... For now, you can guess where most of the photos fit in. If I feel generous or REALLY bored at some point, I may "in-line" them for you. The photo link is at the end of this post. About 6:07am (my watch) Anna, Ian and I hit the road from my house. 6:30am we start listening to our first music. I have decided to put an entire playlist (as sanity allows) on the blog to help establish a time-line. (thanks to wikipedia for all the cut and paste playlists ) " If I Ever Lose My Faith in You " (Sting) – 4:30 "Love Is Stronger Than Justice (The Munificent Seven)" (Sting) – 5:11 " Fields of Gold " (Sting) – 3:42 "Heavy Cloud No Rain" (Sting) – 3:39 "She's Too Good for Me" (Sting) – 2:30 "Seven Days" (Sting) – 4:40 "Saint Augustine in Hell" (Sting) – 5:05 " It's Probably Me " (Sting, Eric Clapton, Michael Kamen) – 4:57 " Shape of My H...

The girls orchestrated a fabulous event for we parents on Tuesday. Leora did the fabulous backdrop (a heart skull and crossbones) and sang vocals. Anwyn played lead guitar and helped the boys make and distribute tickets and they both trained Eric and Anthony to take tickets, sell plastic concession food, do sound and lighting, and provide the audience with cues for when to clap. The set was planned as 4 songs from the " Scooby-doo and the Witche's Ghost "(wikipedia) soundtrack. It was a 3-seat sellout! The girls (and possibly their dad) have been obsessed with the hex girls (hex girls coven) for several years now, ever since we first saw the movie. If you are a Scooby-doo fan, or just into Wiccan, goth/vampire, chick bands, you should definitely check them out (youtube). Leora and Anwyn have done air-bands to them sooo many times, I thought it was time to blog about it.

Just the Q-juniors and dad this weekend. While Ms. Orange breaths deep of the mountain air in Banff, I am being my most indulgent. We slept in a little this morning and took it slow. T1 had a bit of a cough so she road in the trailer all the way there and most of the ride home. T2 was a cycling trooper, per usual, and we set a new record of 30 min. flat to Grandma and Grandpa's house. I had a good visit with the family and then PCarbon and his boys teamed up for some Resistance: the Fall of Man fraggin'. We stayed until 2pm! It was windy on the ride home so we took the opportunity to stop on campus for a little "rest" and photo op. We spotted a rather large magpie nest (24" TV sized, a.k.a. ~24" ) and I was induced to do a bit of climbing myself (twisted my arm, they did). You can't tell where I was because T2 likes to be in nice and close with the telephoto :) Curse my Cannon and its 12x zoom. Daddy Weekend Hey, this pic is a LINK! Click, Click, Click ...

T.S. Eliot said it was April ,( bartleby .com) but I have to disagree. February sucks. I think that means a lot coming from me. I'm generally a pretty positive guy. I can't stand the lack of sunshine and warmth. It's only saving grace is that it eventually gives way to March. Questing has always had a strong tone of renewal for me. Really that just means "Woo- hoo , winter is outta here. Let's climb some shit!" Even though I am nowhere near finishing my grandiose project from last year, I am really pumped about this questing season. As always, I am looking forward to a little surprise event if things proceed according to my design. Feb has received a little boost this year in it's otherwise dreary fortunes. I got word, a couple of days ago, that on May 28 th I shall be attending the opening date for the reunion tour of The Police . I had heard about the tour and was unsurprised that it appeared to be passing Saskatchewan by. I wistfully allowed my ini...

The sweetness of summer is upon the land. I have finished my role in the musical and somehow everything feels like it has changed while I was busy. Maybe Gandalf will suddenly come back today? Things were looking pretty grim as the end of rehearsals approached. Everyone in the production could feel it. Things were not working the way we wanted, time was dreadfully short and tension was the highest I have witnessed in a show. I was trying to stay up-beat, but even my optimistic nature was hard pressed to keep on the orange-coloured glasses. However, tension and I are done for a time and so I will simply tell you that the show was great. We could have used a week in the theatre to get ready instead of the two days we had. Consequently we were still getting up to speed on the first few nights of performance. After that it was terrific. Each show built on the last, getting better and better. I kept thinking that we had peaked, but I was wrong. Right to the end we continued to put out mo...