I Want to Take You Higher
I loved this story. Geoff Nicki was telling me the other night about his Upper Canadian buddy in Taiwan. It seems he is one of those guys who speaks what he is thinking, even if it is rude and possibly heartless. So this one day him and Geoff are at some kind of food stand grabbing a snack and an older woman was in line behind them. When she started eating her snack she did so over a garbage bin so as not to make a mess. The problem is that she lost the handle on her meal and it fell, all of it, into the garbage. She stared at it and realized that that was that. Meanwhile, Geoff's buddy broke out laughing and, I presume, pointing. I also picture him slapping Nicki and saying something along the lines of "Ron, did you see that!" and then something wholly derogetory. The lady called him on it and basically said something along the lines of "I'm glad you find this funny, asshole", at which point he genuinely apologized to her while still not being able to contain his giggle. And that last part of the story reminded me of one of my favourite guilty YouTube pleasures. Check it out:
It should be noted that this video was sent to me by Normy so if you think I'm evil I remind you that I'm just the messenger. It does make me laugh though...shoot.
Enjoy!
Hit Me With Music
Reggae got soul, Freddy got soul.
Every Wednesday night a local reggae outfit called Dub Antennae plays at the Taproom. I have been several times over the course of the summer and since the first time I went to the last time (last night) the crowds have gotten progressively bigger. The place was packed last night, as was the stage. At my last count there was 10 people on stage including a four-piece horn section. I don't know that reggae is all that complicated to play but these guys have a great singer and the horn section is the kicker. From the first time I saw them until last night the one thing that has been consistent is their ability to make people move. And that, no offence to them, is less a testament to them as it is to reggae music itself.
I can remember being in London a couple of years ago on a rugby trip. After my rugby commitments were done North and I went to London to see the sights. I saw Big Ben (Parliament, kids...), the Tower of London and the bottom of a couple dozen pints of flat British beer. After two days of this I awoke alone in my King's Cross hotel room with a lonely night ahead of me. Once I made it out of my funk-hole I wandered onto the Tube and found myself getting off at Covent Garden. Once there I saw a band setting up to busk in a closed shop doorway. They were just doing their sound check but they were obviously prepping for some reggae. I grabbed a snack and sat down to watch them from across the square.
Once the music started in was clear that these guys weren't just out for a laugh. They were tight; but it was once the singer started that their strength became clear. The guy was tiny but had a huge, smooth voice. As far as I could tell they were doing
Legend from start to finish but if you closed your eyes it would be hard to tell the music wasn't coming out of boombox. If you openned you eyes the scene was even more amazing. Covent Garden is a major Tube stop and a big tourist area. The mix of people through there on that day was astounding; from tourists to businessmen, beggars to royalty (maybe right?). The coolest thing was watching these people walk in between the band and me. They would all catch an ear of that voice then glance at the band. Some stopped, some didn't break stride but nearly everyone started smiling and bobbing to the beat. They all knew Marley; everyone knows Marley. It was one of the coolest things I had ever seen; quite possibly my favourite sociological survey and it left me giggling.
No word on who the band was but I gave them whatever pounds I thought two hours of music was worth and left London happy. I went to bed happy last night too...there's a pattern there.
Listen to reggae - be happy.
Rasta Si
Take me to the River
I spent Saturday and Sunday at Little Forks with Wheat as invited guests of Mac's. Once you leave the Renous - Plaster Rock highway it is perfectly legal to drink beer (right?). You can finish one and a half on the logging road that leads to the Camp's access road. On that road you can finish 3.5 more although at least 1 of those will be on your shirt from the rough ride. So, once you descend down the steep last pitch into the valley you are firmly within that midly euphoric 3 - 6 beer range and you'd swear that the person that you came in with is the funniest guy in the world and that this particular place is the nicest place in the world.
Malcolm whipped across the river to pick us up in a flash and we were settling in to the camp in no time. Malcolm had hooked two fish that very evening so I didn't waste any time in getting my line wet. I wasn't so lucky but confident that we would get a fish as the weather was perfect; clear and cool. We retired back to the lodge and Malcolm entertained us while cooking a great salmon dinner. We ate and drank and Mac kept us all in stitches. We ended the night with a beer on the veranda with the sound of the Mighty Miramichi flowing by. I don't have trouble sleeping anywhere but I truly enjoy sleeping at Little Forks more then anywhere else. I slept like a baby.
We awoke at 7 and hit the water. Mac gave Wheat a quick fly-fishing lesson and we spent two solid hours fishing the elbow before heading in for breakfast. After eating we decided to take a walk up the North Branch to hit the pools up there. We had a great walk and fished each pool hard on the way back down. I did catch 3 fish but I would say that if I stacked them all end to end they may have added up to 12 inches. We made it back to camp around 4, had a snack, and went back out to hook our fish before we took off. We fished two more hours hard and, as much as I'd like to end this with fish story, didn't have any luck. At the end of the day I was reminded of my favourite fishing adage - "A bad day fishing is still better than a good day at work".
As the guide took us across the river to start back to Freddy I took at look behind me and again thought that this may well be my favourite place in the world. I then took a look beside me and thought, you know, Wheat isn't the funniest guy in the world after all but no one should feel bad about taking second to Malcolm.
Thanks Fellas,
Salmon Pacey
PS - Check Little Forks out here -
www.littleforks.ca
Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)
Huge Congratulations to Pete and Tracey on the birth of their baby girl!! Ava Rose Alma Slipp was born Friday August 4th, 2006 at 11am. She was an even 9lbs thanks to the extra week she spent at the free womb buffet. She was in no hurry to join us and tried her best to stay put but Trace was more than ready to meet her face to face so she worked to exhaustion to give birth. She was more than exhausted but both she and Ava are healthy.
I was born two weeks early and mom likes to joke that I haven't been early for anything since - I've been making up for those two weeks my whole life. Let's hope that Ava works the other side of that coin and is early for the rest of her life. Kind of like Pete waiting outside the Canadian Tire at 5am for the Boxing Day power tool sale.
No word on when Pete is going to give
birth.
Uncle Si
