Post Industrial Brambles

We’ve seen seven plays at the Fringe this year:

Tippi Seagram’s Happy Hour
Three Sisters: A Black Opera in Three Acts
Radio Collar
Timmy’s Sexual Adventures
Cougars
HIP-HOP 4 DUMMEEZ
Felix Listens to the World

They were all very good. Timmy’s Sexual Adventures perhaps being the favourite (though it was the play that we’ve seen last so it had the advantage). Volunteering was fun too. I just might do it next year again.

There are many plays that I still want to see, but I’m skippin’ town tomorrow so this is it for the summer. Local culture is so much fun.

circa 1978 – Zagreb
Mom dancing with me to “U razdjeljak te ljubim”, Djordje Balasevic’s first single. I don’t remember the event, being quite new to the world at the time, but I do remember choreographing his entire albums in elementary school.

circa 1988 – Zagreb
Dad and I go to pretty much every concert by Zagrebacki Solisti, an excellent string assemble, that season. I was in the classical music phase at the time with particular interest in piano and harpsichord.

1989 – Summer camp in Veli Losinj
I bring my Beatles tapes to the summer camp. Other kids conclude that I have an old fashioned taste in music. I have the last laugh when, two years later, kids around me discover Beatles long after I moved on.

On the way to the beach in Veli Losinj

1993 – French class at Sacred Heart School of Montreal
I give a presentation on how important music is and how much I love listening to music. Mme Habachi is very impressed with my maturity. I am very glad that I kept the speech ambiguous since everyone thought I was talking about classical music when I was really referring to Pink Floyd.

1994 – Sleepover at Maria’s place in Montreal
I get to stay in Maria’s sister Anuska’s room. Anuska is rainbow coloured Political Science student totally into underground culture. I whine about not being able to hear anything other than classic rock and contemporary mediocrity on the radio. She tells me about Brand New Waves and CKUT radio.

1996 – Summer camping on a small island near Murter
My buddies are intrigued with my mixed tapes of Japanese noise, black metal and opera. One of the guys unequivocally declares that the two of us can never agree on music since I don’t think that Freddie Mercury is a stellar artist.

Murter Island

1998 – Playing sink in the snow on Lakeshore in Ste Anne with Luisa, Chris and Jon around 10:30 at night
Out of the blue I say “I was walking down the street around 10:30 at night”**. Chris sais “A lot of people around here go to bed around 10:30 at night.” I knew right away that he’s my man.

Today – Last xmass my wish was to get many CDs spread across the year so Chris got me one of those “buy 10 CDs – get one free” cards from Record Runner. I think this is definitely one of my favourite xmass presents. I’ve been really enjoying the music lately.

* reference to a film about Glenn Gould
** reference to Dead Kennedys

I am really enjoying this summer. I just biked back home after a run through the forest with Julia and Lan. Part of me is missing the fresh air, but part of me loves being outside in the heat, as humid as it is. Now I’ll grab some grub and then try to fix up the garden a bit. The lawn is looking pretty bad, but that is true across the neighbourhood. I blame it on the thin layer of cheap soil the builder stuck us with. Some of the perennials came back with a vengeance while others are barely alive. I think I’ll add a bit more dirt and fertilizer and hope for the best.

Wu-hu, the summer is getting booked. The following is the current schedule:

June 4th – Niece Victoria’s b-day party in Quebec cottage country
June 5th – Sunday Bike Days (weather permitting), Doors Open Ottawa, Art in the Park, checking out a Beaverbrook house with trampoline…. some other stuff…

June 11th – Party at Dave the Sloth’s. Dave’s turning 30 *)

June 17th – Heather’s BBQ

June 16th to 26th – Ottawa Fringe (last year was great, can they keep it up?)
June 17th – Volunteering at Fringe HQ
June 20th – Selling beer tickets at Fringe tent

June 23rd to July 4th – I’ll be in Croatia, Chris is free for grabs.

July 8th to 10th – Camping with the Lunch Pack (Chris still free for grabs)

July 7th to 17th – Bluesfest Particularly:
* July 8th – Neko Case
* July 9th – Broken Social Scene
* July 14th – Rufus Wainwright
* July 14th – The Dears
* July 17th – Holly Golightly

July 7th to 24th – Fantasia in Montreal

July 20th to 23rd – Linux Symposium

July 23rd to August 6th – Chamber Music Festival

July 29th – My Life as a Fairy Tale at Lincoln Center Festival

August 18th to 21st – Folk Festival

August 22nd – As The Poets Affirm at Club SAW

September 19th – Movin’ !!!

Not yet scheduled- camping with Luisa and Chantal, more biking, etc…

We are already overbooked for some days (you are all welcome to join us for the festivals) but are free other times. The summer will be short and it will be back to the grind after that so book your Chris and Boj time now!!!

You know how I’ve said that there will be no more Japan photos posted? Well, I was wrong. Chris set us up a Flickr account and posted _all_ the Japan photos. Knock yourself out.