You can now upload to 'Covers' in the Listening Room. One at a time now...
  posted by John : 7:56 PM

 
Happy 50th Knud!
Brother Knud turns 50. Here's a video folk tribute, shot at the Kerrville festival this year.

  posted by John : 2:15 PM

 
NYC 09-11-2004 Photos

photo gallery

photo gallery

A bit late maybe, but here are some pictures from my weekend in NYC last month.

  posted by John : 2:25 PM

 
Listening Room etiquette
Someone new has visited the room and generously filled up the Thanksgiving mix. And I noticed Leslie managed to get one in there too. Thanks for all the tunes. But it makes me realize that the room could use just a few guidelines.

If you would please limit yourself to one upload every few days, to give others a chance to take a turn at the wheel. There's no hurry. The collaboration in making a mix can be a wonderful thing, and fun too. See the other notes added on the upload window.

I opened up a new mix with that old standby theme 'Covers'. Don't feel you have to submit a cover song. Stretch the boundaries. And thanks for playing along.
  posted by John : 12:51 AM

 
Dream
Tonight I dreamed that my father died.

I was holding an aluminum step-ladder that he would use to step up onto a platform of a ship on a rocky shore. He only needed to step up onto the first rung.

The surface wasn't flat, so when he put his weight fully onto the rung, the ladder tipped forward and to the side. I tried to hold it back, pulling downward with all my weight, but it quickly tipped forward and my father fell down the bank. He smashed into a dozen white icy blocks at the water's edge.

My Mother's first reaction was to blame me for not trying to save him. That I did it on purpose. But I think that was an emotional reaction - she didn't really think that I had killed him.

For most of rest of the dream I sobbed heavily. It seemed very real (I rarely if ever feel any awareness that I'm dreaming).

Something I'm just recalling now about the dream is that my father appeared as two figures. The one that died, and another who lived on. I think the one who lived on had the appearance of my father, but I didn't feel close to him. Like an Uncle who didn't visit very often. This one reflected on my father's death: "He had nothing to look forward to. Winter was coming soon and he wouldn't be able to go outside very often. It was getting harder for him to get around. He was ready to go."

After this I was wandering outside, encountering friends and family along my route. They would cry or I would cry, quietly, when we spoke about my father. It was our bodies' way of honouring the importance of his life.

This dream was certainly a product of my father having been taken to the Hospital today. We think he didn't react well to an antibiotic prescribed by his doctor for a fever. He fell out of bed and my Mother called an Ambulance. But he was okay, and came back home the same day. I see this dream now as a gift. It allowed me to really mourn for him, to acknowledge my feelings for him, but then wake up to know he is still alive.

  posted by John : 2:45 AM

 
GZ
Before going to NY a few weeks ago I read a Times architecture article that referred to the world trade center site now as "gz". Short for ground zero. This shrunken name was in stark contrast to the hugeness of the now-empty space. I took few pictures from the lawn of the little church next to the site, and later stitched them into this wide shot of the void.
  posted by John : 1:31 AM

 

photo

Fall has come to Ontario, quickly. We drove the back-way from Peterborough to Guelph this weekend, to see the Greg Brown show in each town. Very nice. I'm commuting to Dallas, TX for work these days so life has gotten busier and haven't been finding the time to post here. My cab to the airport is coming in 15 mins. Yet scenes from the weekend still fill my mind.

  posted by John : 2:06 AM