One of the many instruments on display (and playable!) at the National Music Centre in Calgary.
Listen
09 Wednesday Aug 2017
Posted in Alberta, art, Calgary, Canada, music, photography, photowalk, photowalking, random, urban
Tag Archives: music
Night out in Portland
25 Tuesday Apr 2017
Posted in music, photography, Portland, Travel
Tags
alternative, music, Oregon, photography, Portland, rock, Travel
Blossoms of Manchester, England, above, and The Arkells of Hamilton, Ontario, below, take the stage at the Doug Fir Lounge in Portland, Oregon, about two weeks ago.
King Eddy reborn
12 Tuesday Apr 2016
Back after a few weeks AFK.
Also (soon to be) back is Calgary’s venerable King Edward Hotel, a noted blues venue, which was carefully dismantled and rebuilt as part of the new Canadian Music Centre in East Village.
Above, how things looked a few weekends ago … and below, when the King Eddy stood alone at the corner of 9 Ave. and 4 St. S.E., almost five years ago.
Dancing up a storm
25 Wednesday Mar 2015
Nothing gets people together like good music!
This is Seattle-based Squirrel Butter (Charlie Beck and Charmaine Slaven) performing at Pike Place Market … with some very happy kids dancing along.
Check out this guy’s set of pipes!
27 Wednesday Aug 2014
Posted in music, Oslo, photography, photowalking, random, Travel, urban
Hotel California
21 Thursday Nov 2013
Posted in Los Angeles, photography, photowalking, random, Travel, urban
Tags
california, Los Angeles, music, neon, night, photography, photowalk, random, Travel, urban, Venice, Venice Beach
There are two tales of ignorance tied to this photo.
1) It seemed pretentious to me at first, the idea of a hotel proudly selling self-promotional T-shirts.
While quietly scoffing in my head, I looked around to see what hotel this was.
The sign said Hotel California … and the $5 (I think) T-shirts on sale at the front desk suddenly made sense.
2) Holding up my camera to grab a photo of this sign, someone in a group of young men walking by, likely all in their early 20s, offered to take a picture of me with the sign in the background.
I declined and explained I wanted only the sign, because of the song. A quizzical look fell upon his face.
“Hotel California,” I said. “You know, The Eagles?”
His expression remained unchanged.
“Never mind,” I replied. “Just Google it when you get to a computer.”
“Repeat Album” found … unusual limitation in iOS 7
29 Sunday Sep 2013
Posted in Apple, iPad, iPhone, technology
So in iOS 7, it appears you can only repeat an album if you choose to listen to an album whilst browsing from the Album category. If you choose an album whilst browsing the Artist category, you can only choose to repeat the artist.
That’s a pretty weird limitation, especially for people like me, whose mind is set to sorting music by artist name rather than by album name.
Here’s hoping this is a temporary change.
Time for a tune in Cochrane
11 Sunday Aug 2013
Posted in Alberta, Calgary, Canada, fun, iPhone, music, photography, photowalking, random
Tags
alberta, calgary, canada, Cochrane, instrument, iPhoneography, music, photography, photowalk, piano, random
Feel like tickling the ivories? You can do so anytime in downtown Cochrane, Alberta, thanks to this sidewalk piano.
Rocking and rolling
22 Monday Apr 2013
Tags
alberta, b.c., canada, Edmonton, Jasper, Manitoba, music, Ontario, rail, railroad, railway, Sask, Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Sudbury, Toronto, tourism, train, trains, transcontinental, vancouver, Via Rail, Winnipeg
If you’re on Via Rail’s western transcontinental train, “The Canadian”, keep your eyes — and ears — open for two members of Toronto-based band Running Red Lights, who will be performing aboard the train that leaves Vancouver on Tuesday, April 26, 2013.
I had the pleasure of enjoying Scarlett Flynn and Kevin Howley’s music as I travelled westbound with them through much of last week.
Check out their website to learn more about the whole band and to see blog entries recounting their epic cross-country journey.
They’re also all over social media:
Facebook — http://www.facebook.com/RunningRedLights
Twitter — http://twitter.com/rrlmusic
YouTube — http://www.youtube.com/user/rrlmusic
Top photo: Kevin and Scarlett performing in the second Skyline car aboard Via Rail’s “The Canadian”.
Below: A little boy listens intently as Scarlett and Kevin perform a quick gig at Winnipeg Union Station.
Bottom: Scarlett and Kevin entertain the crowd at Jasper train station.
Smells like teen spirit
23 Saturday Feb 2013
Tags
art, culture, EMP Museum, horror, museum, music, Nirvana, photography, Seattle, Travel, Washington
Another great attraction in Seattle is the EMP Museum, which focuses on popular art and music.
The museum, housed in a building designed by Frank Gehry, covers topics spanning modern music and popular culture.
The photo above is in the first display in an exhibit on the emergence of punk and grunge, focusing on Nirvana. The guitar is a Mosrite Gospel, played by Kurt Cobain during the Seattle show in which the song Smells Like Teen Spirit was performed publicly for the first time.
Other parts of the exhibit include such seminal artifacts as Nirvana’s first demo tape and the original photo that would become the cover art for Nevermind.
It’s a fascinating journey through the first days of the Pacific Northwest punk/grunge scene, all the way through its popularization and its acceptance by mainstream media.
Nearby are a historical guitar gallery and an exhibit on Jimi Hendrix.
Elsewhere in the museum are exhibits on horror movies, science fiction and the art of video games, the museum’s newest installation, whose opening I missed due to timing, unfortunately.
If you’re in Seattle for a visit (and especially if you call Seattle home), do make time for this museum.
