Monday, July 06, 2009

Drumming, Caravanistas, and Life: Mid-Week to Weekend Recap

July 1 was Canada Day. It felt strange to have a holiday in the middle of the week. Most of my friends who work regular jobs were slightly ticked at the fact that they could not turn it into a long weekend. Lots of celebrations went on around the city, but since I hate flag-waving nationalism even more than I hate crowds, I opted not to go to any of them. Instead, I opted for a bike ride and took some pictures around the grounds of the Royal Alberta Museum.

On Saturday, I played drums for the first time in months. The coolest part was when I was warming up by attempting to play "Wipe Out" (albeit much slower than the real thing) and someone actually recognized it! My philosophy on drumming is that you have to be totally into the music. Your headspace has to be concentrating on all the other instruments around you. One wrong move, and you can throw off the whole works. I think it is a good idea for someone who plays the drums to also play another instrument to have a better understanding of orchestration, dynamics, and timing.

That afternoon, after lunch at Ricky's, I went to a presentation by Pastors for Peace about their annual caravan down to Cuba, bringing with them much-needed medical supplies and other necessities. This is the organization's way of trying to break the US embargo on Cuba which is starving the people there. The keynote speaker was a "caravanista," and we saw a short film about a school bus that was detained on its way to Cuba. Notre Dame Des Bananes and The People's Poets performed some socially conscious music. Here are some pictures.

On Sunday I went to a bridal shower, which was a lot of fun. I got to spend time with a lot of friends and met a lot of new people, which is always a good thing. I took a lot of pictures, which went on Facebook - so if you want to see them, you have to add me as a friend (hee hee!). Seriously, I don't put "family" photos on Flickr. Anyways, if you ever want to make new friends, carry a camera with you - I am telling you, it has saved my social life many times over the years!

This past week, I also wrote a review of The Hydeaway which I neglected to do back when I saw Yves Engler speak there last month. Last Thursday and Friday were spent distributing the July/August issue of Boyle McCauley News, which included putting a distribution box in front of the Italian Centre! Passers-by can now grab a copy of the paper without having to run around in curcles trying to find one (we also have copies in the Italian Centre, Zocalo, the Mohawk on 87th and 108 Ave., and Mini-Mart on 95 St. and 107A Ave.). The web version of the paper should be coming imminently. The article I wrote for the Phoenix Multi-Faith Society about the Genocide Memorial Garden dedication ceremony is also now online.

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