Wednesday, December 27, 2006

my 2006 picks..........

No.10 HOWLIN' RAIN - HOWLIN' RAIN
No. 9 THE BROKEN FAMILY BAND - BALLS
No. 8 THE BLACK ANGELS - PASSOVER
No. 7 CUT CHEMIST - THE AUDIENCE IS LISTENING
No. 6 HOT CHIP - THE WARNING
No. 5 BELLE & SEBASTIAN - THE LIFE PURSUIT
No. 4 VETIVER - TO FIND ME GONE
No. 3 MIDLAKE - THE TRIALS OF VON OCCUPANTHER
No. 2 THE TYDE - THREE'S CO
No. 1 ESPERS - ESPERS II


Top Ten Tracks - jeez this was hard - here is my current selection,
this will have changed by tomorrow

No 10. GRUFF RHYS & LISA JEN - candylion
No 9. HOWLIN RAIN - death prayer in heavens orchard
No 8. ESPERS - dead queen
No 7. VETIVER - been so long
No 6. THE EARLY YEARS - so far gone
No 5. HOT CHIP - boy from school
No 4. THE TYDE - brock landers
No 3. DAVE ALVIN - california bloodlines
No 2. MIDLAKE - roscoe
No 1. BELLE & SEBASTIAN - another sunny day

Top 5 Reissues - no problem with no. 1 here.......

No. 5 JOHN PHILLIPS - the wolf king of LA
No 4. JESUS & MARY CHAIN - entire back catalogue remastered
No 3. JOHN CALE - paris 1919
No 2. JOHNNY CASH - live at Folsom Prison
No 1. GRAM PARSONS - the complete reprise sessions

Top Book - shamefully i have read less than 10 books this year - some
of them have taken me months but i enjoyed these two:

John Peel - Margrave of the Marshes
Naomi Duguid - Mangoes & Curry Leaves: Culinary Travels Through the
Great Subcontinent

Top Movie - hmmmm we don't have a cinema so bit tricky this one:

obvious choice - Borat.............but most enjoyable in a melancholy way
Be Here to Love Me - the story of Townes Van Zandt

Best dvd i watched - Two Lane Blacktop

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

SoCal in the spring...........

we've decided to head down to Palm Springs in March for a week

never been to that part of the world & the aim is to book into a small, independant hotel - ( tho' it looks like it'll be a bit tough finding a child friendly one) - from where we can do our own thing

a lot of the hotel's have a fifties vibe about them which fits perfectly with a bit of a B-Movie phase I have been going through - Invasion of The Body Snatchers rules!!!

now the radio blog is up again i can share some tracks from bands i have been listening to

So Far Gone (also a terrific Teenage Fanclub track) is from the latest album by The Early Years - they are a London band, much akin to the likes of Spacemen 3, Sonic Boom & Spiritualised all of whom i saw, loved & adored in equal measure in my indie-kid days

actually on reflecton i think i am still in my indie-kid days

surely by now is houlda developed an affection for Simply Red, Michael Bolton & Keane?!?!

Monday, November 27, 2006

The Music Machine Returns.............

after much fiddlin' about - it's back & i can share some favourite tunes

i love this version of Blues Run The Game by obscure 60's US folkie Jackson C Frank

and of course you can't go wrong with Donovan

more to come, but don't fret it ain't all folk

Sunday, November 26, 2006

so cold it hurts.......

by jove it's cold

cold as in i think my eyeball's might be freezing

cold as in getting into the warm, from being outside, really hurts

cold as in don't touch any bare metal with ungloved hands or else

it's -35C to be precise, in reality it's only -25 - but the wind chill man, the wind chill

so all this lovely talcum powder like snow that is falling is going to waste as only the extremely brave & the foolish are venturing outside let alone up a ski hill

and there's more to come, a whole weeks worth of bone chillin' cold

those warm summer's evenings are a mere dream, now we are in the depths of winter

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

brown water....

it's terrible

i haven't written anything here for aeons - it's not like i'm always crazy busy - i just forget

i am in Vancouver, heavy, heavy storms have turned the water in the reservoirs a murky shade of brown & a murky shade of brown is what you get when you turn the taps on

the city is without clean drinking water & subsequently sales of bottled water are at an all time high - it's all a bit surreal & makes you realise just how precious the stuff is & how much we take it for granted

the ironic thing of course is that this, being Vancouver, is accompanied by an almost constant downpour of fresh water from the leaden skies

it's all too much & i look forward to getting back to Calgary & Canmore tomorrow where life in the deep freeze is much more straightforward

i urge you to listen to John The Wolfking of LA by John Phillips - it's just been reissued, i have been a fan for years of this early 70's masterpiece - now it's back for all to hear

a talented guy who waste a lot of his life on drugs but was also married to one of the most beautiful women in the history of popular music in my humblest of humble opinions

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

home from home....

well i am just back after 2 weeks in the UK, it was a bit strange to be "home" after a whole year away - but in reality nothing had really changed

the roads were still clogged with far too much traffic, things in London were still horribly expensive & Charlton were still losing

things i noticed

- just how many people wear suits, it's very informal here in Canada - hardly anyone wears a suit but back home everyone was suited & booted

- how much better public transport is in England, it's non-existent over here barring air travel

- how fashions had changed, everyone in 80's style long jumpers & belts, skinny jeans, boots etc, i do like this season's look - over here fashion is more dictated by weather, with the onset of snow this morning - it's hats, gloves, scarves & big coats

- Poles everywhere, London is the new Warsaw - but even in the little towns, East European accents are everywhere to be heard

- food, we ate at some great pubs & enjoyed a proper old-school curry - food in general in the UK is better than Canada - although we know most of the best, secret places to visit over here

- pace of life - London is mad, mad, mad - especially rush hour, i had kind of forgotten that aspect of things - it is definitely more chilled over here

so great to be back, to see some very dear friends & family - but back home now & back to the grindstone in the run up to Xmas

nice.

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Widnes 1990.......


i was reading an article today about The Stone Roses & their famous gig at Spike Island in May 1990 - it brought the memories flooding back, i was a mere slip of a lad back then living in one of the most run down areas Manchester has to offer, carefree & totally hooked on the Stone Roses

they were the soundtrack to my late teens & we'd got on board the bandwagon pretty much before it left the station, big fans pre-debut LP & first seeing them in front of a few dozen people at a club called Legends underneath the Rugby League ground in Warrington, one dark, dank night in '88

fast forward a couple of years & the band were super nova, it's hard to describe just how massive they had become in Manchester by the time Spike Island rolled round, forget the Happy Mondays, Inspiral Carpets, James etc etc - The Stone Roses fired up the whole late 80's Manchester craze, they were streets ahead of Oasis but unfortunately unlike their plodding succesors, they succumbed to a blizzard of drugs & in-fighting

Sunday 27th May 1990 for me is a haze, chemically imbalanced i dont actually recall that much - just hazy flashes of the band on stage, a giant globe beach ball bouncing around in the crowd, fireworks & of course 16 or so perfect pop songs

it seems a long time ago & a different world, but i was there - in the days before V2 festivals & the like, this was about a northern band with attitude, and 30,000 or so kids witnessing a legendary group at the all too brief pinnacle of their powers

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

R.E.S.P.E.C.T

Good old Hugo - loved the speech today at the UN.

Viva Hugo. Viva Venezuela.


Sunday, September 17, 2006

Banff, AB

there's not much to interest anyone other than hungry, souvenir hunting tourists in Banff - if you are looking for humorous tee-shirts or small bears in Mountie uniforms you can't go wrong

it is very, very much a tourist town, it is however surrounded by stunning scenery & on a sunny Sunday afternoon your eye is constantly drawn to the snow capped peaks & the amazing blue waters of the River Bow

even though i only live 25 minutes away by car, this was only the second time this year i have stopped for a look around the shops & notwithstanding the possible need to buy bears in Mountie outfits for disliked relatives at Xmas, it'll probably be my last

on the way home i nipped up the potholed, dirt road that takes you above the Spray Lakes Reservoir to take a few pictures - now my car with it's fancy 4WD makes effortless work of this steep, winding, rutted road & I admit my speed was a little higher than it should have been

so i apologise to the old guy who had for some reason pulled over & stopped on the side of the road, (in the area that states "No Stopping - Avalanche Danger") - how was i to know he had his window wound down & was taking a photo from his car window as i came round the corner swooshed past him, through a lake of a muddy puddle & soaked him & the inside of his car - ooops - sorry Grandpa!!!

a newt's eye view



I

if you were a newt paddling eastwards down the River Bow through Canmore this afternoon, this was what you would have seen.......nice eh?

Sunday morning snapshot

The snow clouds have lifted & its a glorious September morning again, there's a big melt on & I had to capture the scene from our bedroom window - a few days ago, the mountains were bare.


I'm off to Banff now, to take a few more pictures.

Friday, September 15, 2006

a reminder

on a cold, snowy day it's nice to recall a bit of sun - our local swimming pool just a few weeks back

a jammy situation

well it was a good night in the Rose & Crown last night, too good in fact & it was struggle to get up this morning

it will be even harder in a few hours time when i have to drag myself out of bed at 5.30am to watch Charlton live on the TV - now there's commitment for you, the question is should i go back to bed afterwards of concede defeat & just stay up as though a 5.30 start on a Saturday morning is perfectly fine - hmm decisions, decisions

whats the worst thing you can spill in a car? well i managed to smash a huge jar of jam in my trunk (boot!) yesterday afternoon, i guess there are worse things - but what a pain cleaning that up - the spare tyre is now officially glued into place with apricot based confiture, god help me if i get a flat in the next few days - as i scraped the sticky mess out it was falling all over the sidewalk (ha!) & up my driveway, really bad news when there are hungry bears everywhere - it took ages to clean up, not helped by the slush & snow & my car has a sickly jammy fragrance to it

i drove to Innisfail today, the weather was attrocious & everywhere just looked dank & depressing - unusual for Alberta which seems to be sunny 90% of the time - a real Fall feeling abounds, but its due to warm up again rapidly after Sunday - not that it matters, i have a few days next week in Vancouver & i know it will be all fine & dandy over there

so thats about it, another week whizzes by, 11 months we have been here now & it only seems like yesterday that we were heading down the Trans Canada Highway from the airport to Canmore for the very first time

Thursday, September 14, 2006

three inches...

of snow today, the street looks like a scene from a Xmas card - it's the 14th September

just off out to the pub for a few beers with my good mate JG

it's quiet at the moment with Nicky & Tabby back in the UK, i'm rattling round this big old house like a pea in a drum

i'll be back soon enough, two weeks today I'll have a pocketful of pounds & pence, driving on the other side of the road & looking for the nearest good Indian restaurant

yes that's one thing i miss over here - a decent curry

Monday, September 11, 2006

memories.......

with the nation in the grip of 9/11 reminiscing i guess i should just say that i was at home in Greenwich, London on that fateful day - i remember looking out of the windows every few minutes to see if Canary Wharf was under attack - it wasn't

i recall we had fish & chips that evening, too shocked to cook & in need of comfort food - it was all too much - no matter what despicable politics were behind it all

and now we have movies, TV "Docu Dramas" & all sorts of what some say is "cashing in" going on - i haven't & will not watch these things, people's lives obliterated turned into entertainment

on a cheerier note the good weather continues, it was +30 in Calgary today, amazingly they are calling for just +1 on Friday!!!! Must be some cold front rolling in...........

Canmore United lost in the final of the end of season Bow Valley League Tournament, disappointing but the tournament was pretty meaningless & the real trophy, The BVSL League Championship was handed over to us, halfway during the day's proceedings. I played all 5 games yesterday, from 10.30am to 7pm - knackered isn't strong enough to describe my physical state at the moment & we have to do it all again in Cochrane this coming weekend, with an even bigger tournament and tougher schedule - better get the thermal gloves ready for this one

Thursday, September 07, 2006

of bears and cabers....

the 3rd night of 3 in Toronto on a little work jaunt, i am back on Westjet to Calgary first thing tomorrow morning

it's a short week, after another public holiday on Monday - we seem to get one a month - i'm definitely not complaining

the weekend just gone was scorching, we went to the Canmore Highland Games on Sunday - lots of dubiously connected "Scots" larging it up - but it was fun & I finally got to see someone tossing a caber- i can tick that off my ambitions in life list

the week before Canmore United won the Bow Valley Soccer League - it's been a pleasure playing for this multinational team, with great lads pulling together to win this hotly contested title - shame the Championship winning party is when i am back in the UK

i also found time to cycle the rugged Rundle trail from Banff to Canmore, we were well aware of the dangers of running into bears but luckily they were nowhere to be seen - maybe they were tossing cabers too, some of those hairy Scotsman were suspiciously bear like in appearance come to think of it

Monday, August 21, 2006

a bear.......

finally got to see my first Grizzly bear on Saturday morning, as we drove down Highway 40,(roughly where the green arrow points, for a hike into the mountains

there he was, sitting on the edge of the forest, his coat shining in the fierce sun & looking rather sleepy

we turned the car around for a second look but he was gone, dissapeared into the vast forested wilderness that the highway cuts through

the hike up at the Highwood Pass was strenous as we climbed several hundred metres in elevation, but at the the top a series of cascading waterfalls offered some respite from the heat

all good fun & wholesome exercise

the following day i starred for Canmore United in our 7-1 demolition of Caribou in the Bow Valley League, actually i saw stars as a nasty clash of heads forced me off dazed & confused shortly into the 2nd half - it was odd, i kind of felt OK but my head was swimming & i couldn't walk for a while - needless to say my head hurt for the rest of the day but i hope to be fit for our final game of the season on Sunday, a win guarantees us the league title

Thursday, August 17, 2006

bloody Brazilians....

I am on the Island for a couple of days, as ever it's a lovely place & the weather is good - i flew into Comox today from, Calgary - a route that took us over the Coastal Mountain ranges of BC in pristine blue skies

then a pleasant drive down from Comox, via Nanaimo to Victoria with a few work stops on the way

which brings me here to a hotel in downtown Victoria, temporary home to the Brazilian National Swimming Team competing in the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships & currently running riot in the hotel, worryingly close to my bedtime

i'll have to go & shout at them - maybe I'll remind them of their dismal World Cup

on second thoughts, as an Englishman I better put the stones down or my glasshouse will be well & truly broken

so what is Portuguese for "SHUT DA FUCK UP!!!"

Monday, August 14, 2006

sunset over the mountains....

this summer seems to have lasted for ever, it's another lovely evening & i am sat in the lounge of our new home with a beautiful view of the sun setting over the mountains - the few wispy clouds slowly reddening as darkness nears

the new house has brought with it nothing but hassle & expense in terms of actually buying it - thanks to an idiotic buyer of our UK house turning out not to have the money to fulfill the deal, she so happily entered into & an estate agent redefining the boundaries of incompetence - but enough - we are here now & on a balmy August evening that's all that matters

recent weekends have been spent at festivals

the Calgary folk festival was headlined by Kris Kristofferson - a true legend, but also a legend who refused to leave the stage & was still playing after about 3 hours by which time our initial spell bound attentiveness had succumbed to weary, cold boredom

the weather was gorgeous - hot, dry & with much lighter evenings over here - it was a truly wondrous day - my 21mo old daughters first festival & an experience that spilled over from the cool bands playing (the great Son Volt, Robbie Fulks, Dave Alvin) into the craft stalls, ethnic food vendors & of course he beer tent/garden - not a chav in sight

the following weekend was our very own Canmore folk festival, a smaller, more family oriented affair - but again, perfect weather & lots to do outside of the music, including a small enclosure filled with tiny sheep, goats & pigs which the kids could stroke - i never knew pig's had such wet, slimy noses

so back in the Uk for 2 weeks hols at the end of September - really looking forward to it - hopefully all this stuff about the planes & security will have calmed down

out here in sleepy, balmy Canmore it seems a long way away

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

saskatoon shakedown........

sorry about the lack of posts - i was watching the world cup

my thoughts on it.......later

another busy month whips by, i'm in Saskatoon tonight - its 35 degrees & hotter than Zinedine's temper - last time i was here it was 30 degrees under & i had my car dragged out of a snowdrift after i veered off the road

yesterday i was in Victoria & on Monday, Vancouver - i wish Westjet did air miles or something - i could fly home for nowt

talking of which, i will be back in the UK for 2 weeks in September - hurrah! Also BA will soon fly direct to Calgary from Heathrow & its cheap - drag your sorry asses out here because

we have pretty much sold up in London & bought a house in Canmore, its a single family house 3000sq feet backing on to Mount Lawrence Grassi & acres of wilderness - the people we sold it to have had bears, wolves & lots of deer in their back garden - theres also a really cool swing strung between two of the trees in the garden - maybe this is why the animals visit?

in the basement theres a fully separate flat, so visitors can relax in their own space & if so minded avoid all contact with us during their stay

the house buying process has been smooth, selling up back home has been like pulling teeth

in other news - i had a week off & spent it fishing, biking, hiking, shopping, drinking & umm watching football (proper football not the American stuff) - i now play for the great Canmore United in the Bow Valley Soccer League - we have a squad of 24 & almost 24 different nationalities - which is great & has made WC2006 all the more interesting

the weather has been scorching, really hot & usually bone dry interspersed with huge rumbling thunderstorms & awesome lightning - Canmore is really swinging, on the weekends the bars are full, the pavement cafes buzzing & the mountains swarming with visitors - i flee to Peter Lougheed National Park - here you can escape the cowds & come face to face with nature - but i still havent seen a bear

what we have had for the last week, an annual event is mosquitos - they have gone now but for a couple of days it was hell - thank god for Deet

so that is it, i go home 9canmore of course) tomorrow afternoon just in time for training for Sundays game & then i'm playing golf for the first time ever on Friday i also play poker with a crowd of mates now on a regular basis, another new thing

it's all good

my thoughts on the World Cup

Rooney - harsh sending off but i'm not convinced it wasnt deliberate if it had been Crouch i would have believed it to be accidental, Rooney has that evil streak in him

Sven - absolute twat who only picked the players the Arsenal mob wanted him too - his decision to take Walcott rather than Darren Bent was utterley ridiculous & ended up costing us dear - thank god he's gone but McClaren is just as bad

Zidane - who knows what motivated that headbutt, i'm sure there was sledging going on, but hasnt he heard it before? - he's been sent off 14 times before so maybe he has

Italy - good luck to them, i love Italy the country, the food, the people

Portugal - ditto, people whinge about Ronaldo but forget Crouch cheating & fouling his opponent to score the vital goal against Trinidad

Crouch - shit, shit, shit OK he tries hard, so would i

roll on the new season

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

who knows where the time goes?

i can't believe its more than a week since i last wrote this thing - it has, as is per usual these days, been hectic - i have been to Vancouver & Toronto in the last 7 days - & even had time to play in Canmore United's 10-0 drubbing of Rim Rock in the world famous Bow Valley SoccerLeague - we even get weekly coverage in the local paper

the weather has of course been wet & dull & i only get to watch the World Cup in the evenings, hours after the games have finished - meaning the deliberate avoidance of scores all day - which is not that difficult in the footballing desert that is Alberta

the trip to Toronto was great by the way, i missed my evening flight on Sunday & ended up on the 12.30 night flight out East - stuck in the middle seat on a packed & sweaty plane - horrid, horrid, horrid!!

well it's nearly the weekend & some much needed rest, so on Sunday i am getting up at about 6am to head out on on a photography field trip up to Emerald Lake which should be fun, as long as this rain buggers off

all the travelling has given me some time to listen to new albums & i can definitely recommend

Madlib - Beat Konducta Vol1-2 Movie Scenes
Gotan Project - Lunatico
Primal Scream - Riot City Blues

I have piled money on Spain winning (or at least reaching the final of) the World Cup - i am feeling pretty good about this after their 4-0 drubbing of the Ukraine this morning

Viva Espana!!!!!

Monday, June 05, 2006

last minute breakdown

i know the whole world is going World Cup crazy right now - and it funny how suddenly the world, his wife & every Z-list celebrity is suddenly an expert on the beautiful game when oridnarily they would know their Inter from their Milan - but it's also Stanley Cup Final time & Alberta's own Edmonton Oilers suffered a sickening loss tonight in game 1 (of 7) against the Carolina Hurricanes

the game was tied at 4-4 with 20 seconds to go when the Oilers goalie fucked up a clearance & gifted a tap-in to the Hurricanes striker - all the more sickening that the Oilers earlier led 3-0

what puzzles me though is how a game of 60 minutes stretches out for nearly 3 hours - it would be the equivalent of a football match starting at 3pm & ending at 6.45pm - my advice, cut down on the millions of ad-breaks & get the game over & done with - we fit 90 minutes into 2 hours with the Worlds No. 1 game - time for the hockey boys to do likewise

so just got back from Victoria, as i have said before it's a great place - an (almost) tropical climate, ocean & mountain views at most turns & a quaint Britishness pervades - we drank in pubs, ate fish & chips, saw double decker buses & heard plummy accents on every street

the only thing missing were the hordes of Burberry cladded ASBO-ed up chavs hanging out at the precincts

what a shame eh?

Monday, May 29, 2006

Two Lane Blacktop.......

I finally got to see this 1971 movie tonight after capturing it from the net, it was so worth the wait - an extremely rare film - and if you get the chance to ever see it do so

Sunday, May 28, 2006

QF exit................

my first competitive outing for Canmore United soccer team ended in a QF penalty shootout loss in the Molson Cup in Banff - we got through our group in relative comfort, but faced the Bow Valley League champions in the Quarter Finals & after a tight 0-0 draw were dumped out thanks to the superior penalty kicking ability of our opponents

still it was good fun, playing on a pitch ringed by snowcapped mounatins with players from every nationality you could muster taking part and the upside of going out early was that we were able to hit the Rose & Crow in Canmore earlier than expected & sink a few consolation beers

i was in Edmonton for a few days last week, of course the big news up there is the progression of the Oilers to the Stanley Cup final - unfortunately this happened last night, (Saturday), rather than on the Thursday when we were up there - Edmonton is hockey town & their fans are almost European in their sports fervour - good luck to them in the final

next week we'll be in Victoria for most of the week, a mixture of work & pleasure - hopefully the weather won't suck so much as it has this week

Monday, May 22, 2006

Bank holiday sunshine - whats this all about eh?

somethings not quite right

its a bank holiday Monday and the sun is shining brightly - in fact it has been for most of May - warm sunny & hot - whoever told us Canada was cold was having a laugh - even more amusing is the reports we keep hearing of torrential rain & downright miserable weather back home

(at this juncture i should point out that this laptop doesnt have a functioning comma key - so apologies for the bad punctuation)

well the only thing to ponder now is what to do today - yesterday we scrambled up Mount Yamnuska not right to the top i should stress - it was hard work with a 19mo old baby in a back pack - but the views were wonderful - i will post some pictures later

Saturday was partly spent at the Canmore childrens festival - my daughter loved the clowns & the spachoppers - wasnt so sure about the bizarre fairy type creature on stilts who semed to invoke terror in every kid under 10 years old

we think we have sold our house in London - i wont say too much cos I dont want to jinx it - but we are a step closer to buying a house over here

i have caught up this last week or so on my music listening & have a handful of albums which i really dig

these are

Espers - Espers ii
Richard James - The Seven Sleepers Den
Mojave 3 - Puzzles For You
King Biscuit Time - Black Gold
Neil Young - Living With War

The Espers album is a real gem - ancient folk tunes dusted with modern electronica & effects - truly captivating. Richard James used to be part of Welsh band Gorky's Zygotic Mynci and here he presents a stunning folky album - think Nick Drake folk rather than the trad. hey nonny type though. Mojave 3 seemed to have peeled off several layers of the swoonsome country ambience that were the hallmarks of prior albums & this LP has a rockier side - with some songs charging by at express train rate - its all good in my book - Neil Halstead has hardly put a foot wrong since his Slowdive days & deserves more attention than he & the band ever get. King Biscuit Time is the new-ish project for ex Beta Band lead singer Steve Mason - its a heady mixture of beggy melancholia & dancehall riddims - i particularly love the first track C I Am 15 - where after 3 minutes or so of a lilting indie tune dancehall MC Topcat blasts in with a witheringly sarcastic denouncement of those brothers in blood - Mr Bush & Mr Blair. And - talking of politics I leave the best til last grumpy old Canuck Neil Young has issued forth with an album full of hate for the odious Bush regime - no matter that Youngs political judgement has deserted him in the past - this is heartfelt stuff & while it would be too optimistic to see it as another nail in the coffin of Bush & his axis of evil - the fact that is has shifted enogh units to reach the upper echelons of the US charts shows plenty of people buy into his message. There is hope yet.

Thursday, May 18, 2006

back in business.......

it's been a while

i'm back in Canmore, playing my first game for the local soccer team in the Banff Sunday League - i defy anyone to find a more picturesque setting than the one we play in, an elk poo, mosquito ridden field surrounded by forests and mountains

i got back from a week in Toronto last Wednesday, i even had the pleasure of watching the UEFA Cup Final live on TV thanks to the live satelitte TV Westjet provide - it was great, the normally dull 3 & 1/2 hour flight, um, flew by

we have had scorching weather in Canmore, 30+ degrees for about a week & at such altitude the sun is brutal, however as it's a bank holiday weekend this weekend the weather is due to turn crap about 4pm tomorrow might - honestly it is

now i'm back i'll get this blog up & running again

having said that i'm in Edmonton next week, Victoria the week after & then pretty much a week in Montreal

as the Beach Boys used to say, round, round, get around.....etc etc

Thursday, May 04, 2006

away from home..........

so a few nights in Toronto away from the misery in Calgary - the Flames were dumped out of the Stanley Cup last night & there was a palpable sense of mourning in the city this morning.

so a chance amongst the work to meet the Ginger Prince and his delightful g/f and spend a night or two in the urban sophistication of downtown Toronto

the flight across tonight was interesting the old boy in the neighbouring seat regaled me with tales of his time in London with the RCAF at the end of the war - a really nice old chap & it made the hours shrink

well as i type this Tony Blair is getting a right old kicking in the UK local elections - i can still clearly remember thecam euphoria when he won in 1997 cool brittania & old that - well right now he must be just about the most universally unpopular prime minister in years

i bet eating canapes & drinking champers with the Gallaghers seems like a long time ago now for Tone & Cherie

Monday, May 01, 2006

feeling at home....

as i drove down from the ferry terminal i was back in the green fields, rolling meadows & lush countryside of southern England - it was only the site of a big boxy, bland WalMart store & trucks on the road the size of small buses that told me i was actually on the Saanichton peninsuar of Vancouver Island

i was on the way to Victoria, the distinctly English flavoured city on the southern tip of this big island & in the evening dusk it reminded me of an upscale seaside town with it's olde world pubs and ivy clad hotels

suffice to say that we'll be making a special effort to come here this summer, it looks like a great place to visit & naff as they may be the allure of an olde world English pub is strong for an Englishman somewhat missing his beer gardens & stout yeomans of the bar

it seems that it's snowing tonight in Canmore, so i'll content myself by sitting here smugly in the balmy, salty air & watch the sun go down over the Pacific & savour a whiff of good olde England

Sunday, April 30, 2006

Alan Curbishley: Football Genius...............

it's the start of a busy few days, Vancouver, Victoria & Toronto on the agenda - time to load up the tunes on the mp3 player, transfer some of the good British TV i have obtained from UK Nova onto the laptop & get ready for the usual work/travel routine

rounded off the weekend today with an afternoon's snowboarding with Jen up at Sunshine, we had a total blast despite the fog & the choppy snow - my knees feel well & truly mashed & I hope i don't get cramp in my tired legs on the plane tomorrow - nothing worse than standing bolt upright during take-off & screaming in pain - i amused her with descriptions of my superstitions, which i didn't realise until i listed them were so extensive & in some cases bizarre - i tried to explain that in the UK it's normal for football fans to be highly superstitious, but i don't think she bought this excuse

so on that note it was very, very sad to see legendary manager Alan Curbishley announce his departure from Charlton Athletic yesterday - and while i think ultimately it's for the best for both him & the club - it is undeniable that he has almost single handedly transformed my club from the brink of extinction to the brink of European qualification - things had gotten a bit stale as of late and i guess after 15 years at the same club, you run out of things to say & do to motivate your players - who would i like to see in his place - well Claudio Ranieri would bring some much needed European knowledge & star-player attraction - Martin O'Neill has the tactical & motivational knowledge to keep us moving in the right direction - Mark Bowen, has proven to be a great coach at both Birmingham & Blackburn, yet great coaches don't always become great managers at the first attempt - Steve Cotterill springs to mind. Who would I hate to see there - Mervyn Day, Mick McCarthy, George Graham, Graham Souness......

we will see

todays radio player music comes from Tony Joe White - deep fried, southern country soul from 1969 - TJW has a voice that could melt the blacktop & backing musicians with more funk than is healthy - a bit of a departure from the usual folksy stuff on here, but i love it nonetheless - both tracks are from his album Black and White which i strongly recommend you to buy!

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

the green green grass of home....

driving home tonight i suddenly noticed that the grass on the side of the road was green, after 6 months of straw coloured brown - here was lush, green , green grass - the whole City of Calgary seems to be chirpy at the moment - the Flames are 2-1 up on the Mighty Ducks in the first round of the playoffs & everyone you meet seems quietly confident that this could be a Stanley Cup year

at the same time the Edmonton Oilers are also progressing nicely, having taken a 2-1 lead in the best of 7 over the Detroit Red Wings as well

sheesh what am i even talking about??? 6 months ago i would have been hard pressed to name more than half a dozen Hockey teams - but it is BIG over here & you can't escape Flames fever

i had to laugh last night, some youths on the embankments of Highway 1 just past Cochrane were busy constructing a giant penis out of rocks - a bit of a departure from the usual names & faces that you see on these slopes, which people construct by arranging rocks in patterns on the slopes

it was still proudly there this morning, a bit like a condensed stone version of the famous Cerne Abbas Chalk man in England

Sunday, April 23, 2006

photos from Saturday



























White Tailed Deer & Mountain Lake View
Peter Lougheed Provincial Park
Alberta

a weekend at home.......

Well this was the weekend i was supposed to be back in England watching Charlton reach their first FA Cup final in 59 years - unfortunately Middlesborough put paid to that a few days ago & so it was that another weeekend in Canmore was played out

I was down in BC on Friday, Invermere to be precise - another (arent they all round here) stunning drive through jaw dropping mountain scenery, past the Hot Springs resort at Radium, past a bizarre stetch of tacky tourist tat on the highway between Radium & Invermere, past the huge lake at Invermere & on to see a client. Invermere was windy, so windy that great clouds of dust stung your face & hurt your eyes - I'm sure it's not always like this but it was a relief to get out & back into the mountains.

Back home for Friday night & the sun was shining, the smell of BBQ's permeated the air & joggers ran past in not much more than shorts & trainers

8 hours later, we awoke to just under a foot of snow

Overnight the balmy had been replaced by the barmy & Canmore was shivering under a blanket of wet, heavy snow - bang went our plans for a bike ride & instead I hopped in the car & headed up into the Peter Lougheed Provincial Park & took some photos. PLPP is a huge expanse of wilderness, with a single rutted & muddy road threading through the lakes & peaks - it was hugely enjoyable (& I am not a car man, oh no) to splash through the great muddy puddles in the road, bounce over the potholes & skid round bends - the car came back swathed in a thick blanket of Albertan mud.

Given all the fresh snow that had fallen, it was inevitable that we'd be up a mountain snowboarding today & so it was that 6 of us shredded 'til we could shred no more, under brilliant blue skies & warm sunshine & to the echoing accompaniment of the obligatory big shorts, backwards baseball capped, goatee wearing, fat bass playing group laid on by the resort management at the top of the Gondola

no real substitute for being back home amongst friends, family & football BUT my bank balance is heaving a sigh of relief & the mother of all jet lags can wait another day

in other news looks like we might have sold the London house, but thats another story for another day

couple of fresh tunes too

my LP of the year so far is undoubtedly "Three's Co" by The Tyde - read about them & it here

close behind is Nobody & The Mystic Chords of Memory - another wonderful Californian band, formed from members of the super-awesome, but now defunct Beachwood Sparks -buy their new LP here.

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

cayenne pepper anyone?

i bought a couple of cannisters of pepper spray today in Calgary, just in case we meet Mr. Bruin while out & about in the woods - it was somewhat akin to buying a gun - i had to give name & address, have it explained to me how to use the product & then take the product from the shelf to the checkout in a sealed bag

the greatest danger though out here is undoubtedly the drivers on the roads around Calgary - back home people are generally courteous & will let you out into traffic or give you space to change lanes - not here though, everything is done at breakneck speed & unless your aggresive that space you need is gonna be full of a huge SUV before you know it - add to that a huge number of plain cop cars ready to pull you over ofr any indscretions & the Calgary driving experience is a lot more stressful than London - this is partly due to the fact that you barely get above 30mph round much of inner city London

it's always a relief to get past that last set of lights on Highway 1 just past the ski slopes of Western Calgary & cruise the 100km back to Canmore, without a speed camera or traffic light in sight

Friday, April 14, 2006

Good Friday snow

i really like the Easter break , nowhere near the hype of Xmas & usually much better weather, although a few snow flakes are falling in Canmore this morning

i'm off mountain biking later today, hitting a few trails in the 'hood & testing out the suspension & my lack of riding skills - the place is swarming with bikers & these are deffo not the hairy, bad ass type

which reminds me we were in Edmonton on Monday night, it seems like punk is not dead there or indeed bikers ( the hairy bad, ass type) - all along Whyte Avenue the hogs roared as the Hells Angels cruised up & down the strip - close your eyes & you are almost in one of those cool films from the sixties

on a differnt note, i'm gonna post a couple of tracks from the brilliant Meic Stevens in a bit - i can't stop listening to Outlander at the moment - the connections with Dylan are plain to see, but Stevens is from South Wales (Solva) as opposed to Duluth, Mn

i really urge you to hunt down Outlander, it's magical stuff indeed & an inspiration for generations of super Welsh bands

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

operation riverside : mission failed

oh man, Charlton were well & truly sunk by Middlesborough today in the FA Cup Quarter Final at the Riverside - bang goes my plans for a quick trip home to see them play West Ham in the semis. I suppose on the bright side it's saved me a few thousand dollars, two days annual leave & a mighty bout of jet lag - but I'm gutted that yet again we have failed in the Cup & it's another barren, boring season

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

six days on the road & i'm gonna make it home tonight.............
















just got back after driving more than 1000km's - looping from Canmore to Valemount to Jasper to Edmonton to Camrose to Canmore

a mammoth journey for the most part in glorious spring weather & dotted with all kinds of spectacular scenery, especially up through the world famous icefields parkway

we saw an abundance of wild things - elk, sheep, deer, coyote, hawks & masses of waterfowl - no bears though

i managed an afternoon at Marmot Basin ski resort where the snow was decididly slushy, but the queues & slopes for a sunny Sunday were practically empty

the week before involved a trip to Vancouver, which was basking in glorious spring weather - again i can't express how beautiful that city is, it must be 4 weeks ahead of Calgary in terms of spring - green grass, blossom & flowers in abundance whereas we are still brown & budding

well i'm too knackered to write anything of any interest, no change there then i hear you say

however i have one album recommendation for you, much listened too as we churned through the k's this past few days

Van Morrison's new country opus, Pay The Devil - is primarily a covers album & he does full justice to some old time country standards, his voice as rich & soulful as ever, & the backing musicians are flawless in setting the tone for this pour yourself a whiskey & sit on the porch kinda album.

Monday, April 03, 2006

if's, buts & maybe's...............

i'm about to embark on a mini tour of Canada in the next month or so , i will visit Vancouver, Edmonton, Victoria & Toronto

i might also be heading back to England for the weekend, if Charlton beat Middlesborough (or burrow as every football pundit calls them on TV over here) in the FA Cup next week.

we have sold nearly 5000 tickets for the game & if i still lived in dear old Blighty i would be one of the hopeful souls trekking up to Teesside - so i will have to content myself with watching it on PPV over here, that's if the stupid satellite works - i ended up watching the original game live on sportingstreams.com (i.e the internet)

if we win, i will have to try & get a ticket before i book the flight - the flights themselves work out OK pricewise & timing wise - it would give m etime for a Saturday night in London, a trip up to Birmingham for the game & a trip down to Brighton to see the family

but it's all a very big IF...........................

Sunday, April 02, 2006

i want to ride my bicycle............

i bought myself a mountain bike this weekend - as the clocks have finally gone forward & it's gonna be light until 8pm at least from now onwards it'll be great for evenings

the ride back from the bike shop to our house is literally up a mountain, i was knackered by the time i huffed & puffed up the drive, it's amazing though what you get to see - i stopped & watched a herd of giant elks grzing on the other side of the river as i cycled along the path, they didn't seem to know i was there

as i said beofre we had the Olympian home coming on Friday, it wasn't much of a spectacle, we were at the back of the crowd & all we could see was a mass of heads & a very grainy video screen - similarly the speeches were carried away in the breeze - still it's not every day you get to stand less than 100foot away from a gold medallist

here's a couple of songs about doomed Mariners - Pentangle's "Lord Franklin"from their 1970 album Cruel Sister is the sad tale of Lord Franklin's 1845 expedition to seek a passage to the Pacific through the frozen seas of the Canadian north. The story of Franklin is one of the greatest adventures ever told, he set sail from England with a crew of 129 men & the latest in the technology of the day - including a huge stock of canned food. Unfortunately the cans were poorly constructed & contained a lot of lead, this lead slowly poisoned the crew - their ship finally became entombed in the ice & after surviving in the harshest conditions imaginable, with food running out some of the crew turned to cannibalism - basically every calamity that could possibly befall the expidition occurred & the crew & ships vanished into the frozen wastes.

a similarly downbeat number from Fairport Convention & one of my very favourite tracks by the band, Sir Patrick Spens is the tale of a reluctant seafarer, commanded by the King to captain a boat in the dead of winter, Sir Patrick foretells his own demise which comes about whilst shipping Scottish nobility across the North Sea.

Thursday, March 30, 2006

ravenous bears, gold medallists & slush....














spring is in the air, the sun is getting hotter each day, eagles are flying around the neighbourhood & the local paper has a half page ad warning us of the impending awakening of the local grizzly bear population

said bears will be ravenously hungry after 5 months asleep, well you would be wouldn't you?, and anything at all edible must be securely indoors by this weekend - i'm off tout suite to buy some bear spray on Saturday!

other local news is that the Canmore Olympians arrive back in town tomorrow night for a victory parade - should be a good night & I aim to post up here some pictures of the girls who brought us home gold & silver medals - & who knows - exclusive shots of a marauding gang of half-starved Grizzlies helping themselves to the complimentary BBQ & salads

well as i type this i can see the sun setting on the mountains opposite & i'm inspired to post up a song from Under The Skylon by the inutterably brilliant Candidate

the track is Mountain Snow & as you can see from the shot i just took above, there ain't much left in this part of the Bow Valley - if it stays this warm the Cross Country skiing will be over soon & mountain bikes will be every where...

the other track i'm adding today is by another folksey outfit, Espers & a traditional folk song called Black is the Colour - an altogether more sombre affair, strongly reminiscent of Fairport Convention in their heyday - i can't get enough of this band & this song

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

sounds familiar?

driving home last night i was listening to an album i just got hold of by a band called Maplewood

their self titled album is excellent & a great addition to any folk/alt.country conoisseur's collection

however i couldn't help notice the similarities between their song "Be My Friend" & the old Byrds classic "Wasn't Born To Follow"

see what i mean (both tracks are on the radio player to your right)?? i'm gonna post up some more close relations from the wonderful world of pop as they spring to mind.....

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

art or porn?

we watched Nine Songs last night on DVD - this is the film that caused such controversy a couple of years ago - basically it's the story of a brief relationship between an Antartic scientist & a young American girl - the film is interspersed with 9 songs shot live at various Lomdon gigs that the couple attended during their fling

oh & there's lots of sex scenes, real sex with nothing at all left to the imagination

a lot of people in need of a life, moaned & whined that it was simply porn & that it was revolting, disgusting etc etc etc - others stated that while not the greatest of films, it was a valid piece of cinematic art

well i thought it was a good little indie film, the sex scenes were certainly very graphic but the story, such as there was, was quite engaging & nicely acted - if you haven't seen it, i recommend doing so - just make sure your mum isn't there or you will be truly embarrassed

the live footage of concerts by bands like Primal Scream, Franz Ferdinand. Elbow & The Von Bondies is great - in fact me & Pete from Toronto were at the VB gig & undoubtedly were in some of the audience shots - scarey indeed to think that me & him star in a sex flick!!

Monday, March 27, 2006

two photos..............



i took at Lake Kananaskis last weekend, the ice sculpture sat in the middle of the frozen lake. The bird is a Whiskey Jack, voracious appetites drive these birds to any length to get a bite of your sandwich - in fact they will land on your hand & snatch a bite if you turn your head for one minute!

flourescent romper suits

all kinds of confusion yesterday after i mistakenly thought the clocks had gone forward on Saturday night, seems that they go forward next week & consequently we are for a while 8 hours behind the UK - which means your work day in London is over before i have even finished my latte - harumph!

i eventually spent the day skiing, downhill Alipne skiing that is - i had a pair of fat, carver skis strapped to my ski boots which were great - i bought my boots in 97 and wore them once before converting to snowboarding full time, for some reason i had in my mind that they were a hideous shade of day glo orange, but when they arrived from the Uk last week they were black - what a relief - they go with my all black outfit - colour co-ordination is essential on the slopes as these people don't proove

8 years since i last skied but it came back quickly, i took one tumble in the first 5 minutes & that was it for the day - i was gliding down the black runs by close of business - amazing how the body & mind remembers

other than that not much to report, i have posted a new song on the radio player - it's from the bard of Barking - Billy Bragg & highlights the plight of Rachel Corrie, whose sad story you can read here

Saturday, March 25, 2006

Buck's done gone..................

news today that 60's country superstar Buck Owens has passed away - i like a lot of his work from the mid to late sixties, he had a slight edge to him which elevated him above some of the saccharine that Nashville poured out back in the day

couple of tracks on the radio player, including his song later covered by the Beatles, to commemorate the man

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

the queen of the north.......


A couple of years ago I took a long, overnight boat trip on "The Queen of The North" from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy, through the inside passage down the coast of Northern British Colombia. It was a beautiful, scenic trip despite the increasingly drizzly weather - down through the uninhabited & mystical islands of the BC coast.

The ship was a bit rickety, practically empty & when we hit open water tossed around like a rubber duck in a bath tub - i remember hardly sleeping in my tiny cabin as we lurched about in the darkness.

Imagine my suprise then to read the news this morning of the fate of this ship!

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

1988 ahhhhh...........

1988 - the year before Madchester broke & I was a scrawny, raggy arsed student in that self, same great, grey, rain sodden metropolis halfway along the M62 'twixt Liverpool & Leeds....

...The Smiths had just split, Morrissey was the new pop idol & a host of bands were itching to take his late band's thorny crown

Bradford - who remembers them? The Railway Children - yikes, The good old solid Weddoes. The Primitives, the Darling Buds all battling against the ever present student disco goth-thrash of Pop Will Eat Itself, The Sisters, The Mission & countless other flour coated Goths!

Two great things about 1988 - John Peel's radio show - a shining beacon amongst The Hairy Cornflakes, Simon "Master" Bates, Steve Fuckin' Wright in the afternoon & countless other dross

the other thing - The House of Love - little did we realise then that Guy Chadwick was already about 75 years old & that they would split acrimoniously pretty damn quick

so here combining Peel & Chadwick are two tracks from The HOL's 1988 Peel sesh - ejoy.

Friday, March 17, 2006

a willing king virgin fool........






















Oh well, a week of outdoors fun & games turned into a week of suffering but i read a coupleof books, listened to a backlog of new CD's & most enjoyably watched The Wicker Man (Director's Cut) which i bought recently & hadn't seen since my old VHS copy bit the dust a few years ago.

It's a great film, beautifully shot, scripted & acted & the old fashioned grainy film only adds to the underlying strangeness of the story - you can shove all your modern CGI bollocks, for me films like this (i.e. A Warning To The Curious / The Signalman) convey more dramatic tension than a years worth of hollywood dross.

The underlying tale is establishment (prissy, uptight christianity) vs. anti-establishment (hippy, free love paganism) - but you can factor in any contrasting belief system here & the story remains the same. Who wins in the end - well you'll have to watch the film.

The film was shot mostly on the west coast of Scotland & there is an excellent guide to locations within the film here.

Finally the soundtrack is stunning, I got my hands on Nuada by Candidate recently - an album inspired by the film. Again hunt it down, it's a gem & the music created by this highly under-rated band on this & other albums ( I particularly like Under The Skylon) deserves a wider audience.

unbelievable....

first week off in 5 months & i have spent most of it in bed with something close to bird flu

harumphhhh!

Thursday, March 09, 2006

all over the map..........

i have been tracing my family tree off & on for a while now, with both my parents no longer about, i never really knew much about my family history beyond grandparents - so thanks to all the census sites now about, i have traced back so far to the early nineteenth century

it's fair to say that the wanderlust that has brought me here to Canada is evident in my forefathers - my dad's side of the family is all over the map - Ireland (I wish I knew where), Lancashire, Staffordshire, Leicestershire, Gloucestershire & in recent times Durham feature

my mum's side is much more resolutely London - although she was born on an RAF base in South Wales during the war - both sides of the River Thames feature with Camberwell, Peckham, New Cross representing the south east!

i was born in Gloucestershire, brought up in Wiltshire & Brighton, went to college in Manchester, lived in Liverpool immediately after graduating & latterly lived in SE London for quite a few years - no wonder i'm confused

i like to think this broad base has enabled me to travel & adapt to new places with ease - i remember once travelling in Idaho, we met a family in a bar in a little hick town one evening, after talking for a while i asked one of them where else they had travelled in this fair world - i was startled when she replied she'd been to Moscow once, i commented about how exotic that was for an American & she looked at me rather strange

we drove through Moscow the next day - 30 miles up the road from where we had been staying

two more tracks for the Rocky Mountain Radio tonight

in proud celebration of my Irish ancestory i am putting up a track by Planxty - recorded in 1973, the self titled album is full of wonderful, exhilirating Irish music - the usual smattering of Republican songs, teary eyed laments & breathtaking reels - the album is a joy. I have actually selected one of the reels - a disturbing song about a beggar, who invited into the farmer's house, deflowers the (seemingly willing) farmers daughter! - not sure it would pass muster with the PC police these days, but the playing is breathtaking, epsecially the closing minute or so.

i have by way of contrast selected another song by Sandy Denny's Fotheringay, from 1971 - another trad. song (of Scottish origin I think) - this tells the tale of a reluctant soldier & his heartbroken wife in 1800 - as he is drafted & sent off via Portsmouth to fight against Napoleon in Egypt - a sadder song you would struggle to hear, especially with the beautiful voice of Sandy Denny telling the tale.

it's strange to think that 140 years after this song was set, my grandfather himself would be in Egypt fighting a war

Planxty - The Jolly Beggar Reel (1973)

Fotheringay - Banks of the Nile (1971)

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

no bear cull in canmore...........

great news from the provincial government this week, the grizzly bear hunt is not going ahead this season & not for the next two either

the "sportsmen" will have to find something else to kill, because the bears are now protected & hopefully in 3 years time they will become permanently listed as a threatened species

i just cannot see the sense or the pleasure in shooting such an intelligent creature & with numbers in the protected zone estimated to be as low as 53 (previous guesses had put the number closer to 700!), allowing the slaughter of these animals for "fun" would be crazy

so for the bears, waking up soon, it's a safer world in some ways this year - that's not to say there won't be unfortunate bear/human encounters this year, and thats why the Bearsmart program being introduced is such a good thing

it's refreshing for once to see a decision come out in favour of the environment & it's wildlife

Monday, March 06, 2006


Mountain View Country (just west of Cochrane, AB) Posted by Picasa

neither here nor there..........

Red Deer today, about halfway up the Highway between Calgary & Edmonton - kind of neither here, nor indeed there.......

It's funny - I found out last week that Greenwich Market is under threat from developers who want to turn it into an office complex or somesuch nonsense. Spitalfields Market in East London, one of my favourite places in the City was also facing the same peril the last time i heard. We have so much history in our buildings, yet all the time faceless town planners & their corporate cohorts are thinking up novel ways to turn them into glass fronted offices for Chartered Accounting Companies & the like.

On the other hand over here, there is no history, (well apart from thousands of years of native history but no one ever mentions that) - so if a building is over 100 years old, there will be signposts from hundreds of kilometers away proclaiming "Historic Building Ahead" - I even drove past a farmyard barn today, which had "Built in 1924!!" proudly plastered all over it - I half suspect that even old coffin dodgers who hang around too long on the local park bench, will end up with blue plaques & Historic Site status about their person.

I do like the old station wagons & farm trucks that you see often round here, people seem to preserve them as antiques & park them at the front of their ranches out in the back country - they look dramatic in a kind of rustic way. Not sure it would work with your old Bedford Van though back home - one day I am going to photograph some of these relics (and probably get shot by an irate redneck at the same time for tresspassin' on his homestead).

Two tunes for the radio player today, both from a really good Box Set I picked up off e-bay recently. The Harvest Festival Box Set compiles the best recordings released on Harvest, the "progressive music" label that had it's heyday from about 1968 to 1980 - as i have said before Prog is a four letter word, thanks to ridiculous, overblown orchestral mini-rock operas & the like pumped out bythe likes of Rick Wakeman, Mike Oldfield, Genesis & other such truly tiresome bands - however beneath the surface there was a whole canyon of interesting left-field music, some folk, some psychedelia, some heavy rock and some just plain fried - Harvest was one of the labels putting out such music when flares & tank tops were de rigeur.

The Move - Do Ya (1972)

Michael Chapman - It Didn't Work Out (1969)

Sunday, March 05, 2006

an eventful few days.............

well i took a trip over to Saskatchewan this week to visit a few clients, i flew into a very cold, snowy Saskatoon on Thursday morning & rented a 4x4 to get me safely! around this snowbound province

Saskatoon seemed like quite a picturesque town, with bridges crossing the frozen river at various points & a hip(ish) little strech of shops, bars & cafes on Broadway - it was friggin' freezing mind you so opportunities to explore were limited & anyway I had a 4 hour drive east to Yorkton to consider after i had done my work

see route here

about halfway into that cross-province journey i pulled off the main highway with the intention of stopping to eat a bit of lunch & have a short a rest from the fairly monotonous drive, which offered few scenic highlights other than a flat landscape muffled by deep, white snow

as the snow covered road i pulled onto seemed quite narrow i thought i better pull over slightly in case anything like a tractor came past - BIG MISTAKE - the car suddenly lurched off the road & into a deep, snow filled ditch & there got itself well & truly stuck, four wheel drive/off road type thing or not - all i could do was spin the wheels & throw up big chunks of mud, grass & snow

swallowing my pride i called 411 (directory services) and asked for a nearby garage, and sure enough i was put in touch with the local towing company - 20 minutes later a tow truck driven by the obligatory baseball becapped old guy turned up, him no doubt thinking to himself what the bejesus is this idiot doing?! Then amazingly with his battered up old tow truck he was able to winch me & modern, shiny new 4x4 out of our sorry predicament - he then charged me a few bucks for the privilige & no doubt drove off laughing to himself - oh well , lesson learned!!

the rest of the trip was happily uneventful, but i would have to say that Saskatchewan is not going to set any pulses racing for sight see-ers - the words, flat, white & dull summed up the route i drove pretty succinctly

yesterday we had the pleasure of strapping my 16 month old daughter into her first pair of skis - she took to it immediately & had a whale of a time slippin' and slidin' round the piste - in fact she did wail when it was time to take them off & leave

pictures here - password is my surname (lower case)

last night was a bit of a blur, booze, booze & more booze in Bannf - where i met the proprietor of the local sex shop, she told me in great detail about her range - which was nice. To make matters worse though I had a 7.30am start this morning to get over to Sunshine for a days snowboarding with the gang, it was good fun though - very cold, but the snow was perfect , really quick & plenty of terrain to explore - i am now absolutely knackered though & the week hasn't begun

other stuff - Charlton defended doggedly & dourly to earn a point at Anfield, certainly not pretty or good to watch but a good result & 4 points off the European Champions this season - nice - great to see the odd plastic scouser moaning over on Netaddicks

i have only just, 6 years too late discovered what a good comedy series Black Books was - watched the whole of the 1st season on DVD recently - i should have known it was good with Graham Linehan involved, he of Father Ted - have aso been downloading & watching The IT Crowd recently - similar kind of humour & better than a lot of the stuff that passes for comedy these days

music wise - well The Broken Family Band album has been played pretty much non-stop this last week but to keep the mp3 blog going here are a couple of other songs i'm currently enjoying

the ramones - let's dance (live in LA 1976) - classic punk rock from Da Bruddas

fotheringay - the way i feel (1970) - Byrds inspired British folk rock from a short lived cult group featuring the immense talents of Sandy Denny

Oops! Posted by Picasa

Broadway, downtown Saskatoon Posted by Picasa

Typical Saskatchewan Landscape Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

food, glorious food..........

it's been one of those days today to hunker down & keep warm, a blizzard blowing all day has reduced the view from our house to little more than a white swirling fog

amazingly there are people out there still jogging & doing all the usual fitness freak stuff that goes on here in Canmore - i have noticed my fitness improve no end in the 4 months we have been here

playing soccer weekly at this altitude definitely helps & once you get into good food habits, the poor diet trap that is so easily fallen into at first can be avoided

there are some gems out here in terms of food & drink & in 4 months these are the best of the best so far

pizzas - The Rocky Mountain Flatbread Co - hands down, the best pizza we have eaten anywhere, even Italy itself

beer - The Grizzly Paw - nice centrally located bar, elevated beyond the ordinary by its range of fantastic home brewed beers

bread - Urban Baker in Calgary - I know my bread (it's my job after all) & this is a beautiful artisan baker, especially the Tuscan Bread - the best I have tasted anywhere in the world

meats - i don't really trust meat out here - the same principles of organic, drug free meat that thrive in the UK - seem to be ignored over here but Valbella Meats in Canmore produces a wide range of fine, continental charcuterie

coffee - Beamers Coffee Shop in Canmore produces excellent & highly addictive latte's amongst many other coffees

chocolate - Le Chocolatier in Canmore is a fine, artisan chocolate producer - using real Belgian chocolate to produce exquisite products

there is i'm afraid a lot of mediocre, additive filled junk food out here - but dig around a little & there is also some damn fine fayre too!

Monday, February 27, 2006

all fucked up on the booze & the drugs!

i've said it before & i'll say it again - The Broken Family Band are the best goddam band in the UK at the moment! i have just taken delivery of their new album Balls & it is chuffin' marvellous! there is not a weak track on there & they seriously rock live, if you don't stand there with a big grin on your face throughout the set, there is no hope!

Track 4 - "the booze & the drugs " is worth the price of the LP alone.

Sunday, February 26, 2006

a trip to the grotto..........














i'm currently halfway through John Peel's semi-autobiography - Margrave of the Marshes - it's very sad because his contribution suddenly ends midway through the book, he's obvioulsy just died, & his wife's memories of him take over. a massive shame because JP must have had some incredible stories to tell.

he certainly had a big influence on me, i listened pretty regularly between say 1987 & 1992 - and then intermittenly afterwards - i even briefly met him once, when he was DJ-ing at Manchester University & he played a request for me - after i joined the queue of students asking him for the latest smash by The Flatmates, The Darling Buds, The Wedding Present or whoever was fashionable in the indie-schmindie world at the time

i think the last time i listened to him was one dark, stormy night as i drove through the wilds of Yorkshire - his voice the equivalent of a warm cup of cocoa but the music a mix of joyous African guitar bands, death metal & probably a modern day Flatmates type schmindie band in session

a genius & despite there being many great internet radio stations out there now - WFMU & KCRW to name but two, nobody comes close to the man.

it was finally a bit warmer today & the thermometer even broke through the freezing barrier this afternoon & climbed to +1C !! We went for a walk up to Grotto Canyon - which is basically a towering canyon with a frozen river (at this time of year) running through it, it was very picturesque but the frozen water was treacherous & at times we were emulating the Olympic speed skaters from the Olympics during our walk back down & out - not the most comfortable experience with a 25lb baby strapped to your back

it's about time i put some fresh tunes on the radio player - i have been listening a lot recently to No Roses by Shirley Collins - Collins was a Hastings born folk singer, who made a number of essential albums in the late 60's early 70's - she married one of the guys, Ashley Hutchings, who founded Fairport Convention.

No Roses is a much loved work of hers - the two tracks i have put up are quite different stylistically - the first track - The Murder of Maria Martin - telling the story of a ne'er do well condemned to hang upon a tree for murdering rather than marrying his girl - the song contains both an unintentional reference to a fairly famous British Soccer club & I guess the inspiration for the name of an excellent contemporary British folk group....

the second one - The Little Gypsy Girl - could be seen by the musically challenged (!) as rather corny in a fiddle-dee/morris dancer manner, but me & my 16 month old daughter absolutely love it & after a few listens I defy anyone not to hum it every now & again! The problem with folk music is that it is seen by many as at best, twee. I blame The Two Ronnies - who sent up the genre ad nauseum in the 70s. Yet this music is our heritage & while it is OK to love the traditional music from other nations (Celtic, Bluegrass, Cuban etc etc etc) - our musical heritage is frowned upon - however the stories told in these old songs are a direct insight into the long-forgotten lives of ordinary men & women from our fayre land. Open you ears...........

Thursday, February 23, 2006

more medals for canmore.............

suddenly i am seeing coyotes everywhere i look, there was even one foolish mutt running down the grass strip that divides the traffic on the Trans Canada Highway this afternoon - he was a sure fire bet to end up as crow food I'm afraid - maybe it's a sign of spring, but these little dogs are everywhere

there was also a herd of elk faffing around on the highway yesterday morning just past Lac Des Arcs, whats gotten into the darn critters round here?

maybe it's the heavy snowfall we've been having - you can see the first real snow of the winter all over Canmore on the webcam - it's sure pretty but also makes driving a lottery - i was flashed by a red light camera in Canmore tonight, but only cos the car skidded about 15 metres & past the red light after i braked as the lights changed

just time as well to gloat over Canmore's new gold medallist Chandra Crawford, who won a gold in the Women's Cross Country Sprint on Tuesday - that makes it one gold & one silver from our little town's intrepid Olympians - i really am looking forward to the homecoming party/parade...........i was in Aviemore for the celebrations in 2002 when Scottish skier Alain Baxter came home with Britain's first ever alpine skiing medal, the poor bloke losing it shortly afterwards over some obscure doping controversy.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

photos online.........

those of you that know me & know my surname can access photos of us in Canmore

simply visit this site & input my surname as a password - all in lower case

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

flying to V again.......

off on one of my regular jaunts to Vancouver tomorrow, looking forward to this trip in the summer when the weather is good - our friends have just started work on a second restaurant out there - in Kitsilano - promises to be a fun place when it's opened

everyone you meet seems keen to extoll the virtues of their home town - we've bee urged to go to Winnipeg & Montreal in recent days

are they telling the truth or will we end up in the Canadian equivalent of Milton Keynes? only time will tell..........

Monday, February 20, 2006

four days off............

well it' s the end of a much needed 4 day break, and back to work tomorrow with a couple of busy weeks involving trips to Vancouver, Edmonton & Manitoba

friday was a corker of a day, despite temperatures close to -30C which caused excruciating pain in my ungloved fingers while i secured my snowboard to the car's roofrack - a day up on the mountain at Lake Louise was better than expected - it was quiet, not a cloud in the sky & with about 16 layers of clothing on i didn't feel the cold at all

i also saw the stupidest thing i have ever seen in years of doing winter sports type stuff - on the men's world cup downhill piste, two dickhead snowboarders were sunbathing in the middle of the slope! Hidden by a dip they were invisible to anyone coming down the slope & as this was a double black diamond piste it was pretty much vertical - they were extremely lucky not to have their heads split in two by skiers/boarders hurtling down that slope - luckily i took a line slightly to the left of them or i would (a) have killed them & probably (b) killed myself - unbelievable

that night we had plans to go & see a couple of bands at the Canmore Hotel, but instead stayed on at our friends house party which was really rather nice - as usual everyone gathered in the kitchen & as we left it was just starting to get raucous

saturday i managed to beat my record for cross country skiing, doing two laps of the Banff trail in record time - i love this sport, it burns 600 calories per hour & is officially the most cardiovascular challenging sport there is - knackering but you can feel the flab burning off - i'm still rubbish though & haven't mastered skiing out of the tracks (i do the classic version where you stay in pre-cut tracks)

sunday involved a walk round town & then friends round for dinner - all very civilised & good to see our 15 month old daughter really interacting & playing with other kids - something i don't see much

and yet more walks today & lunch with more friends in the Drake Inn, which again was a civilised & child dominated affair - as it was a holiday, Alberta Family Day, it was pretty busy in town a foretaste of the summer, when Canmore heaves we are told

to top all this off, Charlton are in the FA Cup Quarter finals with a decent home draw against Middlesborough - ironic in that my dad was a life long Boro fan & my cousin still has a season ticket up there - shame i won't be at The Valley for the game, hopefully it will be a better affair than the capitulation to Bolton in our last Quarter Final a few years back

i will definitely come across for the Cup Final in May should we make it & should i get my hands on a ticket! let's wait & see...........

major obsession over here at present is the winter olympics & we are extremely proud of Canmore girl Sara Renner who won a silver, (thanks in large part to a kindly Norwegian coach who gave her a replacement ski-pole when hers snapped midway through the race), at the aforementioned Cross Country Skiing. We watch the, it has to be said, mind bogglingly extensive coverage in the evenings every now & again, but i find some sports pretty dull - especially bloody ice skating - if this "sport" is in the winter olympics, why the hell isn't ballroom dancing in the summer version - it's not a sport, in fact most sports which rely on judges awarding marks out of 10 for things like "artistic merit" are questionable in my book

no music today, i am gonna start getting into the habit of writing this blog more often - i have bought a shed load of new stuff & some of these tracks will be ending up on here

Friday, February 10, 2006

cougar alert!..........


This beautiful cougar, easily capable of killing a fully grown adult was photographed using a remotely triggered infra red camera - a few minutes from the Canmore Nordic Centre on Monday 30th January at 6.34pm. It's probably looking at me cross country ski-ing, as this was exactly what i was doing at the time - wildlife officials have warned the likes of me to exercise extreme caution in ski-ing at night with these creatures around!! This was splashed all over the front page of the Canmore Leader this week. Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

hot, hot, heat........

well considering it's still the first week of February & we should be rights be under 3 feet of snow & shivering at minus fifteen, it was with some bewilderment that i drove around Calgary today with the windows down & the a/c set to cold in the car such was the warmth of the day - whoever told us Canada was cold was having a larf!

i finally got the damn radio thing working, seems my previous web hosting site just decided to delete loads of accounts without telling anyone - nice!

so returning in style here are two live tracks from the wonderful Laura Cantrell - possessor of the purest, sweetest country voice you will hear - she was much championed & beloved by John Peel, which fits in with fact that I am just about to start reading his autobiography.

Larua Cantrell - California Rose (live in Kerry, Ireland 2005)
Laura Cantrell - Two Seconds (live in Kerry, Ireland 2005)

Sunday, February 05, 2006

an ill wind blows no good...........

well despite Charlton losing in a most insipid style today at the new home of Spice Boy, Danny Murphy aka Sulky Spice - things aren't too bad

basically i am just happy to be here at all, after a terrifying flight on Tuesday night from Calgary to Vancouver - WestJet is/are a great airline, modern planes, good service & seatback TV's that provide live TV from probably 20+ stations

about halfway into the flight I tuned into a Vancouver news station to be informed of a powerful wind storm going on off the coast of Vancouver itself - this was the headline story & predictably enough there was footage of trees falling over & waves crashing against sea walls

oh! i thought, thats where we'll be in 20 minutes time & landing at the airport involves a flight out over the sea before a turn back into land

well we were not dissapointed, the flight got progressively bumpier, the hostesses dissapeared to strap themsleves into their seats a lot earlier than normal & then the fun started

the plane banked to the right to make it's approach & all hell broke loose, screaming engines, unidentified bangs & thuds & above all the feeling that you were in a metal tube being tossed around by some mysterious giant - i just stared out of the window into the gloom - straining for some sign of land/light & suddenly it was all over - we emerged from the clouds (it was also raining torrentially) & literally flopped onto the runway

the deathly hush that had prevailed amongst the passengers, gave way to relieved & nervous chatter - all in all, a pretty brutal experience

well after that everything else was pretty mundane - 3 days on Vancouver, a horribly early start on Friday (getting up at 4am is not humane) & a pretty good weekend

after a day on the slopes at Norquay today, we hit th epub where they were showing the Super Bowl Final on TV - it was hilarious, 30 seconds of action, 3 minutes of commericals, 30 seconds of action, 3 minutes of commercials, 30 seconds of action, 3 minutes of commercials & so on - what a waste of time

so Charlton may well have lost but at least it's (still) a prper sport & not just one excruciatingly long advertising exercise


ps - not sure whats happened to the Radio Player - its dissapeared!!!