August 17, 2013
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Once Upon a Dream

Steven and Maureen Van Zandt brought their production of Once Upon a Dream to the Royal Alex here in Toronto, beginning a few nights ago. The show features the original Rascals, a New Jersey pop group from the 60s that had a string of catchy, well-produced and mostly recognizable hits such as Groovin’ and Good Lovin’. We like some of the tunes and we heard about the show from the PR blitz done by Mr. Van Zandt prior to the production coming to Toronto, so we decided to go.

The theatre was just about full and most everyone appeared to be having a better time than we were.  The whole thing just seemed wrong. These guys more or less recreated their sound on stage, now 40 years later, but the sound was too loud and some of the singing was, well, not so good. In the background, on a giant screen, we watched some sort-of-psychedelic images mixed with band members telling their story and what appeared to be re-enactments of key moments of their early career. The band seemed to be reading scripts, and some were better readers than others. It would have been a lot more interesting to hear them actually interviewed, telling their story in their own words. But then, the story really wasn’t all that captivating, except maybe to Rascals super-fans. The production values were not up to a level I would expect in a professional production. The video was choppy and it didn’t flow really well. Maybe it was supposed to evoke 60s production values, or maybe it was simply a budget production.

Singer Eddie Brigati looked like he was having a great time dancing about with a pair of tambourines, but it was a strange and awkward thing to watch, song after song. I guess they had him do that to add some visual interest to the band. To us, it was just weird.

We lasted until the intermission, then headed for home.  Perhaps the folks to the left and right of us wondered what happened to us after the break – they were clapping along and having a great time in the first half. The fellow to the right of me was even filming parts of the show on his iPhone. Maybe it was more of a nostalgia trip for them. They were a little older than us, I think, and while we were kids during the Rascals’ heyday, they were likely teens. Maybe they had important memories from their teens associated with some of those tunes, and that infused the show with more meaning for them than it had for us. Maybe it was a great show and we just didn’t get it. Maybe, but I don’t think so.

August 16, 2013
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Back in the saddle

Our cat Jack Shadbolt seems to be just fine after his death-defying flight/fall from a neighbourhood treetop the other day. He did not appear injured after the incident but I expected next day when shock wore off and pain kicked in, he would be a mess. Not so. Today his appetite has been fine. He’s not showing any sensitivity. And, he want to go back out and do it all over again. For now we’re keeping the little tyke inside.

August 15, 2013
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Jack Shadbolt’s Adventure

Jack Shadbolt – the cat not the late painter – disappeared Sunday. He was out and he didn’t come back. We searched around the neighbourhood, calling him, but to no avail. I thought he was a goner for sure. Then today we heard him meow and followed the sound. The poor guy was way up a tree in a yard across the street….

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I called 311 and they told me I had to call a private tree company to rescue him. OK. We got some guys to come out. They started by putting up a ladder. The ladder brought one guy very close to him, but the lad got scared and ran way further up the tree…..

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So, one of the tree guys geared up with spikes and a safety rope and started up after him. The only problem was that as he got closer, little Jack climbed higher and higher until he was balancing on the smallest branches, which bobbed under his weight. Suddenly, little Jack was airborne. Fortunately there were several leafy branches to break his fall on the way down. He hit the ground running and disappeared into a yard across the way. I went around the corner to find him but no Jack. By the time I got back home though, he was already there, by the back door, frightened but walking around normally. We’ll watch him for a few days in case any injuries present themselves, but so far, it looks like he’s just spent a few of his 9 lives but is otherwise fine.

August 14, 2013
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Bees and Pesticides

Honey Bees with beekeepers

Honey Bees with beekeepers (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’ve seen numerous reports over the past couple years about declining bee populations in North America in general and in Ontario in particular, leading to the question, what’s killing bees.

 

In this CBC article, a beekeeper says millions of his bees have been killed by a new class of pesticides called neonicotinoids. Premier Wynn is doing what all politicians do…she’s forming an expert panel to produce a set of recommendations by spring of next year. Meanwhile the folks who make pesticides along with some scientists suggest that the culprit may be Varroa mites and not the pesticides. Corn farmers say they need the neonicotinoid. What if both the mites and the pesticides are contributing to the collapse of bee populations? Perhaps there are other factors at play as well.

From the Globe and Mail July 31: This past winter was one of the worst on record for bees. In the U.S., beekeepers lost 31 per cent of their colonies, compared to a loss of 21 per cent the previous winter. In Canada, the Canadian Honey Council reports an annual loss of 35 per cent of honey bee colonies in the last three years. In Britain, the Bee Farmers’ Association says its members lost roughly half their colonies over the winter.

So why are the bees so important? They pollinate a high percentage of our flowering crops, meaning with no bees we’re going to lose a lot of food directly, not to mention crops that are used to feed livestock.

We’d better get this right and get it fixed.

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August 13, 2013
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Mississippi Sawyer

Mississippi Sawyer is an old fiddle tune that has been around since the mid-19th Century, but I don’t know much about its origins. I’ve only heard it as an instrumental and I don’t know if there are any lyrics kicking around for this one. I know a sawyer is someone who cuts wood but I read that Mark Twain describes sawyers as treacherous snags in the river that can spell disaster for a boat.

Here it is on fiddle performed by Rex McGee

Here’s Cathy Moore on clawhammer, messing with this one. Ms Moore posted a number of videos quite a while back then disappeared from the YouTube machine. I like her playing a lot.

Here’s a lovely version performed by Annie and Mac on guitar and clawhammer.

And one more…..a version featuring the hammered dulcimer…Ken Ward and Bob Bence