Category Archives: Lifestyle

Lifestyle, Music

Tommy Emmanuel In Calgary

There was much anticipation of the Tommy Emmanuel concert at Calgary’s Jack Singer concert hall. I literally felt giddy earlier this evening upon dressing in blazer and slacks wondering what exactly what was about to unfold. I have watched his youtube rendition of “Classical Gas” about 20 times and “Lewis and Clark” probably ten. I’ve listened to other players rave about his prowess on acoustic guitar. J.P. Cormier ranks him as the best in the world. Other youtubers also put him there.

Made a point of getting there early. I was by myself and envisioned some sharing among a kindred spirit in the lobby. I walked right in and chatted up William. He had just stumbled on his ticket and never heard of the guy. His party hadn’t yet arrived so I eagerly set William up for the evening at hand.

Sat next to Kevin. He was a mandolin player so that was cool. He had just heard Christie Lenee at a folk club here in town and came to know about Tommy via the Christie crowd. Surprisingly, the place was not sold out and the top floor bar was closed.

Unassuming is how I’d characterize his demeanour as he took the stage. He jumped right into lively new material from his latest album. This helped him shake off some nerves. He was a bit tight early into the first set and I was thinking about the sound. The Jack Singer concert hall is spectacular and is particularly amenable to acoustic sound yet he was running his signal through a PA. I knew in advance that this is his typical large auditorium set up and was slightly disappointed that he didn’t decide to just run via acoustic amp akin to Cormier.

“Angelina” and “Never Too Late” came up in the first set and they were both done beautifully. He plays from the heart and his stage show is fantastic. There were no shortage of fast lead lines in between ballads and he wowed the crowd with a demo of his one man band methodology. One song in particular ran half way through full of one note harmonics only. I wondered if he was going to strike a chord and he finally did. This was the talking point between Kevin and I at half time. The precision just to hit consecutive harmonics is tricky never mind half a song worth of them.

I had never heard the song “Eva Waits” and it was solemnly melodic stemming from the story of separated love at the Berlin wall. Despite being fully cognizant of his penchant for using a guitar top for percussion…he dazzled my mind by gymnastically eliciting every imaginable sound from a guitar fixed with a mic and pick up. This was breath taking for him and us.

Tommy didn’t disappoint by bringing his reknown Beatles Medley topped off with select lines from Classical Gas. The Billy Joel song “And So It Goes” was flawless and closed with a colorful story of the “added bridge”. Eric Clapton was on his mind so he brought out an old run down Maton specially equipped with effects in and ode a la creme de la Cream.

Lifes Lessons, Lifestyle

Canadians Goin’ Broke

Half of Canadians are $200 or less away from not being able to pay their bills. Accounting firm MNP has been watching an “insolvency” metric a claim that it is up 8 per cent in Q4 2024 vs Q3 2024.

Why is this? Let me postulate.

  1. Acquiesce to desires of spouse despite financial condition.
  2. Absence of household budgets
  3. Excessive expense on:
    • Alcohol
    • Restaurants
    • Travel
    • Automobile
  4. Luxury items
  5. Spontaneity versus good planning.
  6. Too much house
  7. Interest and penalties on tax

Lifes Lessons, Lifestyle

Fly The World In Faith

Fly the world in faith. It’s one segment of society where statistically we’ve improved. It’s never been safer to fly partly because of absolute attention put on “internal controls” having learned lessons from past accidents. This isn’t to say that those controls can’t be compromised when parties have self interests to serve. I think the Tenerife disaster was monolithic in producing necessary regulation. If I recall from an episode of “Mayday” or something similar way back…..the attitude of the most senior pilot of one of the two planes and the circumstances surrounding events produced the kind of impatience and poor decision making which culminated with the collision. The thing about life is that nothing is for certain despite man’s good intention and effective execution. We can all look to recent events whereby expectations were met with far differing results.

Naturally, we go about our business and take a plane when the need or responsible desire arises. We are aware of the privilege and we play by necessary rules. There is a bigger chance of getting struck by a vehicle while walking to work than there is of dying on an airplane. Pilots have check and balances every time they walk into a cockpit. The driver of a 4×4 pick up truck unsettled by matters at home and potentially distracted by a phone is a much bigger risk.

However; at times like this when we learn of an air disaster, it gives us pause to reflect on the delicacy of life and how none of us are immune from one very bad move from another. Despite some obvious cocooning arising from the pandemic and otherwise, all of us look to adventure in some way, shape, or form as a means to elicit happiness. Unfortunately, a price can be paid via risk in the quest for adventure. It’s a price which keen happy hungry humans are rightfully willing to pay and we honor those lost in pursuit.   

Lifestyle, Philosophy

Fifteen Years As a Blogger

Much has changed during my fifteen years as a blogger. I look upon this period as dramatic in context of the influence of technology on human relationships and culture. Establishing and maintaining a blog (vlog) in 2009 was not as easy as it is now for example for anyone to pick up a phone and post a video to youtube expressing anything within a wide boundary of free speech acceptance. I’m reminded of this today via facebook post of an old friend quoting a philosopher. We are more cynical than we were in 2009. We doubt at every turn now but before we could count on sources more readily. We care less than we did then. We turn a blind eye to the helpless injecting Fentanyl because we’ve come to learn that politicians aren’t willing to tackle the problem with vigor. Still the mechanics of law and order subsist despite some contingent of police officers who are indifferent.

This year I had not written much due to a focus on my youtube channnel and improving my guitar in particular. I do wonder why my propensity to turn to the pen has been lightened and I think this has much to do with the zealousness of others so inclined. S’pose I’m in a digestive mode in contemplating how seriously incoherent some opinions can be but reticent to call out suggestions of policy which conflict with values which others and I supposedly should hold dear. It’s exhausting to debate with characters whose ideals are basic and exempt of consideration of a higher order of being. We are capable of so much but lately there has been a compelling force to drive only to the lowest common denominator of conduct between ourselves. Obviously, the disillusionment with ridiculous liberal policy has had much to do with this era of malaise and disenfranchisement. Angst is rampant and goodwill for cooperation is repressed in favor of political grandstanding. Our egos keep getting in the way of progress.

If you’ve ever had a chance to read one of my posts over the years – thanks for tuning in! I appreciate your interest!

Health, Lifestyle

City Driving

It’s been two years without a car and I’m loving it. City driving can work you over emotionally and it can be impactful on your psyche. I see evidence of this every day. I was one of those enthusiastic 16 year olds out to get licensed at the earliest opportunity and I’ve owned a car for all these years but now I don’t. I walk. I jog. I take Uber / transit. I drive with a car sharing service and on the rare occasion I rent a vehicle for the weekend. Rarely I’ll also ride a rent a scooter (Neuron). While walking I sense the impatience and frustration of drivers. There are those who have their wheels turned toward you creeping forward as you traverse the cross walk. There are those who speed incessantly when given some breathing room between lights. There are those who follow too close. There are those who express their vanity in boutique or hot rod rides. There are motorcyclists annoying their neighbors with modded mufflers.

Robotic driving apparently is upon us with the google voice telling you how to get there. You now no longer need to think about your route as a potential distraction from the gridlock. A poll shows that Torontonians are seriously considering leaving the city due to congestion. Not all of you will have the luxury of going without a car but if it’s a possibility….you might consider it seriously. What is the cost of getting home after work and saying something stupid to your family out of frustration from your ride?