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Last night I had the most amazing opportunity to see The Canadian Songbook: A Tribute to Neil Young’s Live at Massey Hall, as part of the Luminato Festival. It was a recreation of Young’s 1971 concert by an impressive roster of talent, including Colin James, Holly Cole, Jason Collett, Cowboy Junkies, Issa [formerly Jane Siberry], Stevie Jackson [of Belle & Sebastian fame), Colin Linden, Steven Page [of Barenaked Ladies fame], Carole Pope, Sarah Slean, and many others…
Interspersed between songs were stories about Neil Young, his life, the recording of the famed 1971 concert, and so much more. What impressed me the most, I think, was that by the ripe old age of 24, he had already written such gems as Old Man, Heart of Gold, Ohio, and The Needle and the Damage Done. Makes everyone else look like a slacker. Hmph.
It was a fabulous night with fabulous entertainment. Well worth the price, even though my seat was partially obstructed by enormous speakers! I’m simply grateful for having gotten tickets in the first place…
If you weren’t able to enjoy this concert in person, it will be broadcast on CBC Radio 2 on June 29 & July 6. Check it out!
Yes, the song by Bonnie Tyler. Except this version is by the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra – and highly addictive:
I’ve been listening to it ALL DAY. I can’t get enough of it. Help!
While you’re at it, check out their live cover of Outkast’s “Hey Ya” – way cool!
If you look closely, you might notice that the second guy from the left is Bret McKenzie of Flight of the Conchords fame. No wonder they’re so damn cool.
- I had a great time at the Gordon Lightfoot concert last night (it was pretty thrilling to see a Canadian icon in person):
- I haven’t disappeared from the face of the earth; I’ve simply been dealing with some life changes that include becoming newly single, finding a new place to live and everything in between. Part of the process is yucky and sucky, and yet it’s a time for great opportunies and changes. I’ve always believed that everything happens for a reason and it’s important to learn from every situation that comes your way, good or bad. Already, some good has come following the bad…more to come soon.
- Now that things have finally slowed down at the pesky day job, I’ve finally found the time to take a few workshops, such as a basic letterpress class -
- I even took my very first scrapbooking class (!):
- I’ve been busy making LP Journals to sell (available at nathalie-roze & co.) – by the way, you can learn how to make your own LP Journal on May 24, when I’ll be teaching a workshop at nathalie-roze & co.:
- I’ve been making bookbinding kits to sell (available at Urban Scrapyard):
- I completed a commission that had been in the works for a long time – a dos-à-dos (back-to-back) large-sized journal:
- I participated in several swaps on Swap-Bot:
- I even found the time to take a walk on the beach:
And yes, there is a beach in Toronto.
I’m happy to report that the bulk of the events I’ve been planning as part of my day job are now over – only four more to go until May, but who’s counting?
I feel like I’m finally getting my life back. Although I’m physically and mentally tired, at least I’m not suffering from the high levels of stress and anxiety of a few weeks ago. Last week I took two whole days off, and what a pleasure it was! B and I spent the day shopping at IKEA on Thursday – although I was only planning on buying a bookcase, we ended up with so much more: 3 bookcases, a coffee table, two side tables, two nightstands, wall-mounted shelving and a wall organizer thingy. Whew! That meant we spent a good chunk of the weekend putting things together, and we’re still not done!
Saturday night we had tickets to see the Cowboy Junkies and Ryan Adams perform the Trinity Session Revisited. B loves the Junkies, and I love Ryan, so we figured it was a win-win situation. Until I checked my emails on Saturday morning and found one announcing that Ryan Adams would not be performing due to an unforeseen illness! What?!! I was sooooo bummed out! I was really looking forward to seeing him perform, especially this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvIRk8wvC_A
Since I’m not a huge fan of the Cowboy Junkies, it was hard for me to muster up any enthusiasm for the show. It was a nice show, but a bit too mellow for my taste (I think I may have even nodded off at one point – yikes!)… At least one of us had a great time – B loved the show (and Margot Timmins!) and raved about it. Lucky him.
Although I’m quite back to bookbinding just yet, by next weekend I’ll have my energy back, I’m sure. I’m really looking forward to crafting again – it’s been difficult and frustrating to not have the mental energy to do anything these past few months. And when I do get back to it all, my craft room will be super duper organized!
Looks like today is going to be a great day for staying in and making books. We got what looks like a foot of snow overnight, and today it will turn to freezing rain and ice pellets… As I said, a great day for sipping hot lemon & ginger tea and playing with paper. I have several commissions to finish before Christmas, so the timing is fantastic.
It’s been a busy weekend, so I haven’t had much time to work on my projects. Friday night, B and his friend John and I attended the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards. One of B’s nephew’s was nominated for an award, so it was all very exciting. Unfortunately, there were so many technical glitches throughout the show that it was difficult to thoroughly enjoy the evening. First, they started 20 minutes late. Then, the teleprompter was showing the text backwards, and when they finally got it right, the text would disappear. I felt terrible for the poor awards presenters, left standing on a stage with no text to read; most of them were sponsors who had no experience or ability to improvise during awkward moments… Several times, when they listed the nominees in a certain category, as they called one artist’s name, another artist’s music would begin playing. Argh!
The event planner in me found it very painful to sit back and watch all of this. So many times, I wanted to run to the stage, push the production people aside and take over the damn show!
Despite the numerous glitches, there were a few highlights during the evening:
- Derek Miller’s performance – I saw him a few years ago in Inuvik, Northwest Territories and this guy can really rock!
- Lorne Cardinal, aka “Davis” on Corner Gas – he presented one of the awards. When there were technical glitches during his part, he was the only presenter who was able to ad lib through it – this guy is so frickin’ hilarious!
In the end, B’s nephew didn’t win, but they did perform during the show – a great honour in itself. Unfortunately, it looks like the list of winners hasn’t even been posted to the CAMA website yet…
Yesterday my friend C and I checked out the first ever City of Craft event – I wanted to apply to this craft fair, but unfortunately missed the deadline. So I thought I’d check it out to see if it would be worthwhile to attend next year’s event.
What a disappointment. From a logistical standpoint, traffic flow was a nightmare. There was barely enough room for one person to walk in the aisles between tables. Because of this, you couldn’t really stop and look at anything properly, because people were shoving their way around you. The quality and variety of products was also disappointing. Am I the only person who doesn’t “get” crocheted penises and boobs??? Everything looked the same – it seemed to all be about buttons, yarn, and softies. Nothing really new or innovative. Nothing especially eye-catching. I left without buying anything – an extremely rare occurance for me.
My friend C was just as disappointed as I was with the event. She’s an event planner too (we worked together on Canada Day and Winterlude celebrations in Ottawa), and we started talking about all the things we would do differently to improve the event. Suddenly, it dawned on us – why not organize our own craft fair! We certainly have skills and experience on our side, as well as a few good contacts in the industry.
The idea of planning our own high-quality, curated arts & crafts fair was very appealing to us and we have already come up with a number of exciting ideas. I’ll keep you posted as we move forward with this project…
Yesterday morning on my way to work I I had a surprise encounter with Mark McKinney of Kids in the Hall and Saturday Night Live fame. Not exactly a household name, but for someone who grew up obsessed with KITH, I was starstruck. At first I wasn’t sure that it was actually him (he looks older than I imagined him to be) and so I couldn’t stop staring… I wish I wasn’t so darn shy so I could walk up to him and say hi. I’ve met a number of celebrities over the years, but don’t have any photos or autographs to show for it because of my immense fear of looking like a dork. Sigh.
Last Saturday night I had the opportunity to see another of my fave celebrities: Mike Ford of Moxy Fruvous fame. I’ve mentioned my love for Moxy Fruvous in past posts, and my sadness at their now playing together as a group anymore. The show was a benefit concert held on Ward’s Island, one of Toronto’s islands just across from its harbourfront. B and I were excited about the ferry ride over to the island, we we’d never been there.
This is a shot of Toronto harbour taken from Ward’s Island:
When we landed, the show didn’t start for a while yet so we decided to explore the place. It’s very picturesque, with cottage-like homes (worth millions of dollars!). We came across a small beach where we found this piece of installation art:
Mike gave a great performance – I absolutely love his sense of humour and the playful songs that he writes. He even came over and greeted B and me during the intermission (he and B distantly know each other), which was thrilling for me. Fifteen years ago I’d have never thought I’d not only be meeting one of the members of Moxy Fruvous, but that my partner would befriend him! Very cool indeed…!
In bookbinding news…
I am very proud to say that this past Saturday, I taught my first male student! Teaching classes in a scrapbooking store, I can imagine how intimidating it must be for men to take a class there, even though I’m absolutely convinced that many of them would love bookbinding if they gave it a chance. Well, I’m happy to note that my student thoroughly enjoyed the experience and has vowed to come to my other classes. Yay!
And for an update on the bookcloth-making fiasco… I finally did manage to make a few half-decent sheets of bookcloth, although the PVA glue did seep through it in some parts. I’m not entirely happy with the final results, but it is much better than the first few sheets I attempted to make.
At first I had tried ironing a product called “Therm O Web – HeatnBond” onto the back of the fabric but that didn’t work. Not sure if I or the product was the problem…
I’ve since received some hints on making bookcloth from the ever-kind-and-helpful Astrid. And based on the amazing books she makes, I think I’d be crazy not to follow her advice! I’ll keep you posted on my future bookcloth-making adventures!
I mentioned earlier that my new job has taken the wind out of me – not only am I adjusting to a different routine than what I’d become used to, but my schedule is pretty crazy – aside from one out-of-town event I worked at on Monday, I have four more events between now and May 7, three of which are out-of-town… I love the job, but it’s completely drained me already! Hopefully things will slow down a bit in a few weeks…
All this means I haven’t had the energy to produce much this past week. I did manage to make two LP books, with plans to make more when I’m not as exhausted (I don’t like playing with sharp knives when I’m tired).
Yesterday I hit the mother lode when I visited my local thrift shop – I found several LPs of each of the Beatles, The Who, Led Zeppelin, and David Bowie! I couldn’t believe my luck – I’ll now have lots to choose from for my next LP books…
But best of all, I found a Stan Rogers CD! Here’s the folk-lovin’ Maritimer in me coming out! This particular CD contains Forty-Five Years, one of my favourite Stan Rogers songs. Incredible to think he was just 23 years old when he wrote it… For those who don’t know Stan Rogers, he was a folk singer from Ontario who lived in Nova Scotia for many years. His most famous song (one every Maritimer knows by heart) is Barrett’s Privateers – go to any Irish pub in Canada and you’re sure to hear it! Unfortunately Stan died at the ripe old age of 33 when the plane he was travelling on caught on fire in 1983. The smoke was so thick that no one could find their way out, so he used his booming voice to help direct passengers off the plane. He later died of smoke inhalation.
If you go to this website and click on the large red “iStan music player” icon, you can actually listen to a few of his songs, including Forty-Five Years. Be sure to listen to Northwest Passage while you’re there…
In all honesty, I must admit that until 10 years ago, I had no clue who Stan Rogers was. You see, I grew up in a part of New Brunswick that doesn’t much listen to traditional Celtic/Maritime music. Growing up on the U.S. border, we were mostly influenced by American pop culture. I got to know Stan’s music in 1997 when I had the most awesome summer job travelling across Eastern Canada with the beautiful schooner Bluenose II (the same ship that’s on our dime). I spent an entire summer travelling with sailors from Nova Scotia, so I couldn’t help but become immersed in Stan’s music (and Maritime music in general). Good times gone by much too quickly…
Watching the East Coast Music Awards on TV last night brought back so many great memories. In 1997 I had just been laid off from my job for a few weeks, and was feeling bummed out. When I realized I had tons of time on my hands, I phoned the ECMA organizers to see if they needed help (this was the week before the conference and awards show). They asked me to come over IMMEDIATELY. They assigned me to the Director of Communications, who had me calling media to confirm their attendance – imagine the thrill of calling the editors of Rolling Stone magazine! I guess she was so impressed with my work that the night of the awards show she assigned me to the backstage press room; my job was to facilitate interviews between media and artists. It was incredible being backstage – I got to see Rick Mercer in action (he was still with 22 Minutes back then), and Peter Gzowski was there to receive an award for his contribution to East Coast music. I also got to attend the post-awards party, where I mingled with the guys from Great Big Sea and Sloane. It was truly a magical evening. As I was on my was out of the hotel where the party took place, an impromptu kitchen party broke out in the lobby, and I ended up staying even longer. I think I finally made it home at 8 am… To this day, the week spent at the ECMAs is still the best fun I’ve ever had. I can’t believe it was 10 years ago already…
I’ve only made one book in the past two days. It’s a new binding for me – ribbon-hinged. It turned out quite nicely, and I love the colour combination of pink and brown:
I also just finished reading The Birth House by Ami McKay, which I thoroughly enjoyed and would highly recommend. I loved Marie Babineau’s background link as an Acadian/Cajun (I am of Acadian descent) and her way of speaking. I’ve just started The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards, and like it so far…
I spent a few hours this morning watersanding my partner B.’s sleeping polar bear carving.
He’s a full-time artist and mostly does stone carving, although he paints as well. This past year I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to take a break from the corporate world, thanks to B.’s support (financial and otherwise). I’ve become an artist’s assistant of sorts, helping him organize his carving studio, print business cards, and finish his carvings. When he’s done carving a piece, he’s sand it quickly with rough sandpaper. That’s where I come in: I sand it with various grades of sandpaper in water, then scrub the piece clean. Pop it into the over, brush on melted wax and polish it. Depending on the size and complexity of the piece, it can take me anywhere from 1 hour to 6 hours to complete the process. Although sanding isn’t exactly a fun or exciting activity, it’s been extremely rewarding for me to better understand the creative process of a talented artist. Even though I don’t consider myself to have an artistic eye, I now can often recognize when a carving is “off”, either proportion-wise, or if it’s poorly carved by another artist.
One of my obsessions is making handmade books – last night alone I worked on 6 books. I cut and covered the covers and bound the book blocks.
All I need to do now is glue everything together and they’re done!
Something I’ve recently discovered and quickly become obsessed with is podcasts, particularly craft- and music-related ones. I’ve subscribed to so many of them it’s hard to keep up, but I try to listen to as many as possible whenever I can. I love listening to the CraftSanity podcast while working on projects; it’s terribly inspiring to listen to such a wide gamut of craft artisans and entrepreneurs talk about their experiences and give advice on leading a crafty life. When I’m in need of a bit of humour, I’ll listen to the Quirky Nomads podcast. Their Quirky Quiz podcasts are so freaking hilarious, I can’t stop giggling the whole time I listen to them!
I’ve also discovered many indie music websites and podcasts over the past several months. It never ceases to amaze me how much talent is out there that never gets “discovered” or get radio airplay. In some ways, I prefer to discover these hidden gems myself and share them only with those people whom I know will appreciate them. It’s our little secret…
