May 9, 2014
comment 0

Hank Snow: born 100 years ago today

HankI’ve long had a soft spot for Hank Snow. It goes back to when I was a kid. My father and my brother taught me the words to Hank Snow’s version of the Wreck of the Old 97. Even as a child I knew there were two Hanks – the Canadian one (the real Hank) who delivered a train song like nobody’s business, and then there was that other fellow, Williams. That was a time when there were (as my friend Barb recently reminded me) two kinds of music, country AND western.

Hank was a great singer and a pretty good player too and his Rainbow Ranch boys were a tight band. They had about a million records.

Hank had humble beginnings in Nova Scotia at a time when there really wasn’t much of a support system for Canadian home-grown music (Hank wasn’t the first country star to emerge from Nova Scotia though – he followed in the footsteps of the most awesome Wilf Carter AKA Montana Slim). Hank Snow went on to international fame, playing the Opry for 45 years, wearing crazy-coloured “Nudie suits” studded with rhinestones, hair lacquered back, playing a guitar with HANK SNOW across the fretboard, as if we didn’t know who he was.

They’re celebrating today in Liverpool NS at the Hank Snow Home Town Museum. Hank’s son, Rev. Jimmy Rodgers Snow is there, and Canada Post is there too, unveiling a commemorative stamp.

England’s Liverpool may have had the Beatles but Nova Scotia’s Liverpool had The Singing Ranger.

 

 

 

May 8, 2014
comment 0

117

DSC05623George is 9 months old now. I walked him and Memphis up to the animal clinic after dinner tonight to put George on the scale. He weighed in at 117 pounds, just 20 pounds lighter than Memphis. At this rate he will overtake Memphis in two or three months.

May 6, 2014
comment 1

Milestone

IMG_1081

Georgie has loved the water since he first had a chance to splash around in it, but he has been reluctant to actually go out deep enough to swim. It happened today in Lake Ontario – his first real swim. You can see him way out there behind Memphis.

May 5, 2014
comments 2

How music works

I just finished reading How Music Works, the 2012 book by David Byrne. I’d like to thank Hobie Post up front for recommending this excellent read.

For those who saw the name of the author and immediately thought the question, yes, it is by THAT David Byrne, the one from Talking Heads and loads of other excellent projects.

This is an ambitious book. It talks about so many aspects of music, from the creative process, performing live, recording, to the business end, the various types of contractural arrangements, and how the business has changed radically with technology. This is all mixed in with autobiography. Byrne shares his own experiences generously throughout.

One of the key ideas Byrne argues is that he believes we “unconscously and instinctively make work to fit preexisting formats”. He starts the book out by laying out this argument and in doing so he caught my attention right away.

“In a sense, we work backward, either consciously or unconsciously, creating work that fits the venue available to us. That holds true for other arts as well: pictures are created that fit and look good on white walls in galleries just as music is written that sounds good either in a dance club or a symphony hall (but probably not in both). In a sense, the space, the platform, and the software “makes” the art, the music or whatever.”

How Music Works is written in a fairly conversational way. It is intelligent and thoughtful but at the same time it’s his own story and all the bits are mashed together. I think this kept the book from becoming too dry and as well it flavoured Byrne’s ideas with his experience.  The book is peppered with illustrations, although I  thought many of them were superfluous.

I think How Music Works could be improved with a little editing aimed at reducing the scope somewhat and shorting the whole business by a few chapters. Still, I found it to be informative and thought-provoking, and I recommend it highly for anyone who loves music. I’m giving Mr. Byrne the 27th Street Stamp of Approval for How Music Works. Read this one.

May 4, 2014
comment 0

New mosaic project

IMG_1064We’re starting a new mosaic project. Actually, we’re starting three of them. Today I cut out the shape for a grackle mosaic and we’re starting to source tiles and crockery. Although the grackle is a black bird, there is lots of colour in this bird. As soon as I have a chance, I’ll cut out the other bird we’re making, a male cardinal. These are both commissions. Meanwhile, we’re starting to source materials for garden bench project.

May 4, 2014
comment 1

Whirligig

At some point in late fall or early winter, storm winds damaged the fisherman whirligig we had out front. I have to make one new part and replace another and it will be fine again. Meanwhile, today we decided to give the carousel whirligig a turn out front.