Terry Fox passed away 28 years ago yesterday. I made a note of this a few weeks ago when I read that Terry's story will be included in ESPN's "30 for 30" documentary series that will start in September.
Terry is, to me, the greatest Canadian and was robbed in not winning that title in 2004. No offence to Tommy Douglas but Terry got my vote. I'm very much looking forward to seeing the documentary.
Here's a little taste from a piece ESPN did a few years ago:
I don't have much to add to the news that Michael Jackson passed away. Instead I would like to give you the gift of his music and how I hope he will be remembered.
Because I had committed to volunteer at FredRock I didn't get to see Dad on Father's Day. When I got to work this morning my boss, a STU grad, showed me this month's STU alumni magazine which had a profile of Dad.
We share alot of very obvious similarities both physical and otherwise but also have some personality differences that can probably be attributed to mom's inheritance. One thing we do share, and one that isn't so easily explained by genes, is our love and pride for our home. Within that STU article Dad sums it up very well: "I love New Brunswick. I love our culture and the history of this place and I wanted to share it.” Minus the sharing part, that pretty much nails my sentiments. I hope to someday do half as much as he has done to share and nurture our culture.
Fredrock has come and gone and, despite some of the worst conditions imaginable, the boys pulled it off pretty well.
Friday night we started off with a tour of the Picaroon's brewery and then headed over to the Exhibition Center for the DJs that were kicking off the weekend. The room was vastly oversized for the crowd but Scratch Bastid managed to get everyone going. Nikki Awesome and the Royal Society killed that buzz but then Team Canada got everyone going again with a great set.
Saturday morning the skies were dark but it wasn't wet. That changed around 2 and what started as a drizzle was a steady rain by the time the first band hit the stage around 4. The crowd was just trickling in as Ross Neilen hit the stage but he put on a typically rockin show, dirty and raw. The Respectables were next as the crowd started thickening as did the rain. They were the best surprise of the day solely because I knew little about their music. They were also a rocking outfit who sang partially en francais and were helped by a guest appearance from Gordie Johnson. By the time Matt Mays hit the stage it was a full on downpour but the crowd was big and boisterous. Matt reminded the crowd that a little rain never stopped a maritimer from given'er. True to his word he stepped right out in it and let'er rip. He now has a repetoire of songs that the whole crowd was helping him with. He's hit his stride.
Miraculously, after about 7 straight hours of rain, the rain stopped for the Crowes. The opened with one of my favourites, Wiser Time. True to their Southern Rock heritage they jammed everything out a bit. I didn't get to see as much as I would have like because I was working the bar and that's when it was busiest. They sounded good anyways and the reviews I got from my friends were very positive. And best of all I only had to walk a few blocks to see them in my hometown. How sweet is that?
I spent the aftermath surveying the damage to the field, which was extensive, and talking with the promoters. They got about 5000 paid attendance for the day and, while that was well below their hopes, were ecstatic that they got that given the conditions.
The next day was less wet but far more windy. So windy in fact that the back of the stage came down and required almost 3 hours of work to repair it so the openers were delayed by almost 2. All the sets were therefore shortened to keep the lineup intact. Brad Cain's band, Awake by Sunday kicked it off and he (and they) didn't look (or sound) at all out of place on the big stage. The rest of the bands had some highlights but were on and off too quick for any real review. Age of Daze was the final opening act and they were very well recieved by their hometown crowd. Finally, Live hit the stage and played one song after another that I knew. I truly forgot how many hits they had through the 90's. More importantly they played the shit out of them and were tight enough to keep them true to what I remembered them sounding like. I didn't expect much of them so they were probably the biggest surprise of the weekend. The crowd seemed to agree and that was that. This event was a major leap of faith by the promoters but it looks like it paid off. Maybe not in return on investment for this year but if they try again next year, continue with quality acts, and maybe get a little cooperation from the weather, this concept will work.
Tomorrow is the long awaited FredRock. Nick and Mike have done a great job organizing a pretty damn sweet lineup (particularly for Saturday night - Ross Neilsen, The Respectables (w/Gordie Johnson), Matt Mays, and the Black Crowes. Pretty damn good day of music lined up if you ask me. So hopefully my organizational skills will come through and enough of the rugby club will show up to sling beer to thirsty patrons.
The weather isn't looking good as of now but we can get past that. So far the only this that has been hard to handle has been the opposition from some of the local residents....let there be rock!
Deadspin did a cool retro-post on the surreal OJ car chase that happened 15 YEARS AGO!. The post captures just how out of this world this whole case became and is like a sign of things to come in how the traditional news media became tabloid media right before our eyes.
I remember watching the chase at the Lunar Rogue (it was a Friday) and half the bar was glued to the TV. That spectacle lead to the ensuing trial which was even more of a shit-show. Kato Kaelin was the first reality tv show star and everyone of the lawyers became a household name. As for OJ, he somehow got off but is presumed guilty and in a final twist of the knife he actually wrote a book called If I did it.
I travelled to Newfoundland on the weekend for a rugby game (another loss to the Rock) and on both the there and back legs of the trip was subject to some of the worst turbulence I can recall. On the way there the worst turbulence of the flight was actually after we got over Newfoundland as we were about to land. It made for a very harrowing landing.
I think of myself a pretty happy flier, in that I actually enjoy it for the most part - (I won't say I'm a good flier because I have a historical tendency to miss planes) - but this was probably the first time I can remember being white knuckled on the landing and was actually relieved when the brakes did their work and we slowed to taxi in the terminal.
To counter the concern of the passengers the flight attendant got on the mic and announced the pilot as Mike Hunt. I swear that actually happened. Gotta love Westjet; she's an owner!
This week the English language added it's 1 millionth word. With so many beautiful words out there, I'm somewhat saddened by the fact that on the record web 2.0 will go in the books as the milestone. It seems strange to me that the 1 millionth word is actually a phrase coined by tech geeks who, it should be noted, have their own language anyway. Oh well, at least it wasn't n00b.
In other news, I had a conversation with Geoff and Geoff and one of them relayed to me that in one of his B.Ed classes they were asked to name their favourite song. That flowed in to a 20 minute discussion on how difficult a question that was. We then flipped it to see if we could name the worst song ever and that's when this song came up:
It seems appropriate; shitty song for a shitty "word".
My Head Hurts, My Feet Stink And I Don't Love Jesus
I went and saw The Hangover last night and can safely say it is one of the funniest movies I've seen in a long time. I won't give up too much about it but suffice it to say that I lauged alot and, at times, out loud. Comedy fans have waited a long time for it but it seems as if our generation finally has a candidate for Best Bachelor Party movie to match the exquisite gold standard for the genre 1984's Bachelor Party.
Here's is a reminder of that gem:
I'll need to watch that in full some time soon. For now though, go see The Hangover.
I couldn't let the 65th anniversary of D-Day pass without at least making mention of it and posting this picure:To think about what must have been going through those soldiers' (mostly kids) heads as the jump from that boat is hard to imagine. But nevertheless important to...
Sometimes Flashback Friday can be serendipitous. I was reading last Saturday's Globe and found a great story about a young African economist that has been dubbed the anti-Bono. Dambisa Moyo is a Zambian born, Harvard and Oxford educated, economist. She feels very strongly that 1) Africa's dependance on foreign aid stifles self-sufficient development and enables the culture of corruption so prevalant across the continent and 2) she can't stand that an Irish Rockstar has somehow become the voice of Africa. I urge to take a look at the Globe article and also this one from the NY Time, interesting stuff. The best nugget I found in both was a website called www.kiva.org that allows you to give micro-loans to entrepeneurs around the world. This bypasses the Aid agencies and NGOs and goes straight to the people in need (at least that's what it's supposed to do).
This is serendipitous because I was just thinking to myself that I really need an excuse to give you this song for Flashback Friday:
This iconic picture was taken 20 years ago tomorrow. It was taken the day after the tanks cleared Tianamen Square of protesters and an unclear number of civilians were killed by government forces.
Time plays funny tricks and sometimes it seems like important world events, even media surpressed ones, happened far longer ago. Regardless, it was 20 years today that the Tianamen Square Massacre or Incident happened.
China has come a long way since then. It has embraced (partially) free market economics, brought millions out of poverty and into the worlds largest middle class, and invited the world to take a look at last year's Olympics. Nevertheless there is still major skeptisicm when swallowing any news from China because we know it's all state censored. No matter really, with the way things are going the Chinese government will be censoring our news within the next 50 years.
I for one am preparing for our new overlords by learning Tai Chi, drinking Chai tea, ordering Chinese take-out weekly and catching yellow fever.
I got a real kick out of seeing this at the start of game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Apparently Don reads the blog and has his own opinion of who the most interesting man in the world is. It's him of course!
I think the idea is absolutely brilliant although the execution could have been much better. I do LOVE his line to the ladies coming off the boat though - "I'll text ya". Gold!
Terry Fox passed away 28 years ago yesterday. I made a note of this a few weeks ago when I read that Terry's story will be included in ESPN's "30 for 30" documentary series that will start in September.
