So, today is the first day of summer. It’s the kind of day that makes me wonder why I live here. I remember, before I left Nova Scotia to return here a few years ago, it was near the end of a streak of 40 straight days of sunshine and temps in the thirties—that’s EVERY day beginning in early June. And it was still sunny and warm when I left. Even the winters were warmer and sunnier. And we haven’t seen the sunshine in nearly a week now. A couple of weekends were really nice—just the way summer should be—but you can never take that kind of weather for granted here.
I mean, I do appreciate where we live. Whenever I grouse about the crappy rain, drizzle, fog, and cold some optimistic soul always points out that it could be worse—we could be getting the massive hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, smog alerts, and brush fires like they get in those places with warm weather. Yes, they’re right, although sometimes I’m not so sure that we won’t be getting those things in the next decade or so. But for now, I concede that our weather isn’t that extreme, and that’s something I truly am grateful for.
My wife and I lived in British Columbia about nine years or so ago, though not for very long. We were enticed out there by well-meaning relatives who kept telling us how mild the winters were. Well, on the fifteenth of November that year, we were moving to a new apartment…and it snowed, and snowed, and snowed. 100 centimetres! And I didn’t own snow boots or wool socks. Most snow they’d seen in decades apparently. Then a week later: another 100 centimetres, and twice more around Christmas time their were massive snow storms. They had to close roads and call in the army to get the highways and byways cleared. It took weeks.
I recall one day in late February waking up one morning and seeing the sun shining in through the kitchen window and realizing: it’s the first time I’ve seen the sun since mid-October of the previous year! That’s a mighty long time without even a glimpse of the sun. It had rained continuously whenever it wasn’t snowing, with only a few cloudy, rainless days in between.
The best weather in B.C., besides the hot, muggy weather of August and September (which I absolutely love and wish we could import) was the lightning storms. They were just spectacular. We lived in the Fraser Valley, in a third-floor apartment, so you could not only hear the thunder roaring and rolling from mountain to mountain, but you could also watch the chain lightning get caught in this bowl of rock, just zinging back and forth, lighting up the sky and everything beneath it. I recall standing out on the balcony, overlooking the downtown, the rain pouring down in sheets, and the thunder and lightning like nothing I’d ever seen before. Just incredible. Almost as great as the total lunar eclipse on the night of the full moon in October. Almost as spectacular as the Fundy tides of Nova Scotia that roll in so fast it can take your breath away or the harvest moon setting over the apple orchards in the Annapolis Valley, the sky painted orange, black, and red, like something out of an Old Testament movie.
I guess, when I think of it, it’s the sameness of the weather here that I love and hate at the same time. I like difference, have never been fond of stagnation. But we have entire weeks of RDF. Granted, I wasn’t fond of the constant threat of earthquakes in B.C., and in Ontario, there was the occasional tornado (one took off the top of a church) and drive-by shootings a few miles away (which, in a strange way, is weather-related because most of the real wackos like warm weather).
Weather like this—on the first official day of summer—always makes me wonder if we should be on the move again, to somewhere warmer. But then I think of all the times when we were living elsewhere, and I would have given anything for a whiff of salt air or a glance of Cabot Tower or the Atlantic Ocean. That’s usually enough to make me appreciate being back here. I think of all the people who wish they could be here, but have little choice but to go away to find work. Then I think, a little cold weather is not so bad, even in June.
And pretty soon, it really will be summer. Any day now. Yup. Any day now.
GC
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
The Sound of Singing!
It’s the anniversary of the day I was born, a.k.a my birthday. I’m not overly fond of this day, for some reason. I was going to go on a long diatribe about the (in) significance of birthdays, but instead I wanted to talk about music. (Oh, and it's not that I hate birthdays or celebrating or aging or any of that. I guess I just don't like the expectations that go along with being the centre of attention in that way. Also born on this day: Mark Wahlberg, Cam Neely, Bjorn Borg, and Joe Clarke. What a strange collection of Geminis). For the record, on this day in 2007, I am aghast at the state of the world: Paris is in jail, Lindsay and Britney are in rehab, Anna Nicole is dead, and Canada is nixing on its Kyoto commitments. New Orleans is sinking, and the dollar is rising through the roof. Seven signs that the apocalypse is nigh?)
Anyway, one of my many hobbies, pastimes, interests, wastes of time, ways of fooling around, or whatever you want to call it is downloading music from iTunes. I don’t pirate music (except when someone generously gives me a CD mix or something like that) because, as a writer, artist, and former musician myself—who knows other writers, artists, and musicians—I understand what it means to value the work that someone does. Sometimes, the best way to show that you value someone’s music (or book or whatever) is to pay for it. I know—not very utopian of me. I always thought I was a socialist at heart, but I don’t think that everything should be free. I just think that stealing is wrong, period.
Anyway, enough preaching (I’m just not in the mood today)—just thought I’d throw a few of my latest favorite downloads at you, just for fun:
1. “Working Class Hero”—Green Day. It’s a remake of a John Lennon song from the seventies, but I love what they do to it. Billie Jo Armstrong’s voice is perfect for this song. It gives me chills every time I hear it. He’s so righteous and angry in a way that you rarely heard in such a melodic, poetic way. Most of the anger and self-righteousness you hear on radio these days lacks melody and/or poetry. Hip-hop bores me to death. Metal has no melody. Mostly just primal screaming, which is therapeutic for some, I suppose. Just not me. I like my songs to sound like songs and singing to sound like singing.
2 . Lucy Kaplansky. Who???? Am I the only person who’s never heard of this person. I was at Starbucks one day and they were playing this version of Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me, Babe” (also once covered by Johnny Cash), and the voice is just this beautiful, haunting, expressive female. I went home and searched iTunes for who’s done a cover of that song recently and came up with Lucy Kaplansky. Turned out to be the same one. I liked it so much a downloaded a couple more of her songs. She’s richly talented. I might buy more. (FOLKIE WARNING: I am a huge fan of the female voice, as opposed to the male voice. Especially just a girl and a guitar. Or a piano. Or a banjo. Okay, just kidding about the banjo.) (Oh, unless it’s those Dixie Chicks—love ‘em.)
3. “Top of the World” by the Dixie Chicks and “Not Ready to Make Nice” by the Chicks. They play their own instruments extremely well, and they write articulate, poignant, catchy songs. What’s not to love? Oh, and they hate George W. Bush! I mean, how perfect is that? "Top of the World" is one of my favorite songs of the past three years, just as Lucy Kaplansky is my new favorite singer for the next three weeks.
4. “Space Oddity” by David Bowie. One of my favorite songs of all time. It’s just downright spooky…to me, anyway. How did I get by without having this song in my collection all these years? That’s what iTunes is for.
5. “Tom Sawyer” by Rush. Deadly song. Fantastic lyrics. Possibly their best melody. I was never what you call a huge Rush fan, but when I was writing my short story “Exit the Warrior,” the main character turns on the radio and this song was on. So I had to go listen to the song, and that’s where the title of the story comes from. This is a great song for running, working out, or just listening to. It's just pure rock, with a bit of a roll.
That’s only four out of the two or three hundred songs I’ve got on my mp3 player at the moment. I plan to download a few more over the weekend, and I’ll let you know what I come up with.
Oh, and they’re not necessarily recommendations. It depends on what you like. But it might give you some idea where my head is at. Scary thought.
Have a great day even if you didn’t have a birthday.
GC
Anyway, one of my many hobbies, pastimes, interests, wastes of time, ways of fooling around, or whatever you want to call it is downloading music from iTunes. I don’t pirate music (except when someone generously gives me a CD mix or something like that) because, as a writer, artist, and former musician myself—who knows other writers, artists, and musicians—I understand what it means to value the work that someone does. Sometimes, the best way to show that you value someone’s music (or book or whatever) is to pay for it. I know—not very utopian of me. I always thought I was a socialist at heart, but I don’t think that everything should be free. I just think that stealing is wrong, period.
Anyway, enough preaching (I’m just not in the mood today)—just thought I’d throw a few of my latest favorite downloads at you, just for fun:
1. “Working Class Hero”—Green Day. It’s a remake of a John Lennon song from the seventies, but I love what they do to it. Billie Jo Armstrong’s voice is perfect for this song. It gives me chills every time I hear it. He’s so righteous and angry in a way that you rarely heard in such a melodic, poetic way. Most of the anger and self-righteousness you hear on radio these days lacks melody and/or poetry. Hip-hop bores me to death. Metal has no melody. Mostly just primal screaming, which is therapeutic for some, I suppose. Just not me. I like my songs to sound like songs and singing to sound like singing.
2 . Lucy Kaplansky. Who???? Am I the only person who’s never heard of this person. I was at Starbucks one day and they were playing this version of Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me, Babe” (also once covered by Johnny Cash), and the voice is just this beautiful, haunting, expressive female. I went home and searched iTunes for who’s done a cover of that song recently and came up with Lucy Kaplansky. Turned out to be the same one. I liked it so much a downloaded a couple more of her songs. She’s richly talented. I might buy more. (FOLKIE WARNING: I am a huge fan of the female voice, as opposed to the male voice. Especially just a girl and a guitar. Or a piano. Or a banjo. Okay, just kidding about the banjo.) (Oh, unless it’s those Dixie Chicks—love ‘em.)
3. “Top of the World” by the Dixie Chicks and “Not Ready to Make Nice” by the Chicks. They play their own instruments extremely well, and they write articulate, poignant, catchy songs. What’s not to love? Oh, and they hate George W. Bush! I mean, how perfect is that? "Top of the World" is one of my favorite songs of the past three years, just as Lucy Kaplansky is my new favorite singer for the next three weeks.
4. “Space Oddity” by David Bowie. One of my favorite songs of all time. It’s just downright spooky…to me, anyway. How did I get by without having this song in my collection all these years? That’s what iTunes is for.
5. “Tom Sawyer” by Rush. Deadly song. Fantastic lyrics. Possibly their best melody. I was never what you call a huge Rush fan, but when I was writing my short story “Exit the Warrior,” the main character turns on the radio and this song was on. So I had to go listen to the song, and that’s where the title of the story comes from. This is a great song for running, working out, or just listening to. It's just pure rock, with a bit of a roll.
That’s only four out of the two or three hundred songs I’ve got on my mp3 player at the moment. I plan to download a few more over the weekend, and I’ll let you know what I come up with.
Oh, and they’re not necessarily recommendations. It depends on what you like. But it might give you some idea where my head is at. Scary thought.
Have a great day even if you didn’t have a birthday.
GC
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