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Life as we know it

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Burt Bacharach

February 12, 2023 in Life as we know it | 2 comments

Burt Bacharach

1928 – 2023

RIP

Phil Guest from Bournemouth, UK, Burt Bacharach 2013 (9219552969), CC BY-SA 2.0I mentioned only the other day in this forum that it was deeply saddening that we seem in these times to be losing so many of those giants upon whose shoulders sit the artists, thinkers, creators, sports-folk and even (dare I say it) politicians to whom we turn in these troubled times.

Now another has gone – and this time one for whom the soubriquet ‘legend’ is surely inarguable.

I am not going to enumerate the many classics that Burt Bacharach penned throughout his lengthy career, not tell you any of the details of his life. That is for the hoards of obituarists who have already covered many miles of paper with appropriately glowing eulogies.

I am instead simply going to recall the one occasion on which The Girl and I saw Bacharach in concert – in Pergugia at the Jazz Festival. This was during his eightieth year; fourteen years ago. His voice had by that time passed its best and he very sensibly employed three different singers to cover his beautiful songs, whilst he played piano and led the orchestra.

To our surprise he started with a ten-minute medley of some of his greatest hits. Having finished this he set out on another. We observed to each other that it was a rare star who thus disposed of his major hits within the first twenty minutes of a show.

Bacharach simply played on… giving us a further two and a half hours of greatest hits. What a catalog – and what a fantastic show! The sentiment that came most frequently into our minds during this magical concert was: “I didn’t know he wrote that!”.

Well – he did!

We will not see his like again.

Rest in Peace

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Jonathan Raban – David Crosby

January 23, 2023 in Life as we know it | Permalink

David Crosby
1941 – 2023
Jonathan Raban
1942 – 2023
RIP

Joe Mabel, Jonathan Raban 07, CC BY-SA 3.0
Eddie Janssens, David crosby-1547297410, CC BY-SA 4.0

It is a sad fact that the passing of those who have shaped our lives – those who have, in some form or other, become our heroes through the years – should occur with increasing frequency as the years go by. It is also the case that these sad occasions come thicker and faster during the winter months.

Such is life… and death.

This week two huge figures in my personal pantheon have gone beyond this place:

David Crosby was a major musical figure for much of my life and, whereas CSN(Y) were maybe not quite in my premier league of immortal bands, I found myself coming back to them again and again as the years passed. What drew me in were, of course, the sublime harmonies… to which I still routinely refer whenever I have a harmony of my own to write. For this – and for the bittersweet songs – much respect. ‘Helplessly Hoping’ indeed…

Jonathan Raban was a year younger than was Crosby but, I suspect, hailed from a very different world. The Guardian’s obituary starts:

“The British author, who lived in the US, blended memoir and travelogue in books that were often inspired by the sea”

Another Guardian piece is entitled:

“Jonathan Raban: his travel writing could pierce your heart”

What’s not to like?

Raban’s best book – for my money – is “A Passage to Juneau“. What appears on the surface to be an account of a sailing trip from Seattle, up the Inside Passage to Juneau in Alaska, is actually a disquisition on the death of Raban’s father and the slow-motion wreck of his own marriage. It is also a revelatory and sublime introduction to the Pacific Northwest – and thus not to be missed.

David Crosby – Jonathan Raban – Rest in Peace…

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Looking back

January 19, 2023 in Life as we know it | Permalink

Ah! January…

‘Tis the time of year to reflect on the one that has just passed. Did it measure up to our hopes and expectations? Given the state of the world, did we have much in the way of hopes and expectation for it to live up to?

As ever, the best way to find out is to locate the equivalent postings from this time last year and to see exactly what – if anything much – we were hoping for…

…then we can see if any of it actually happened!

…and after that we can repeat the exercise for yet another year!

Hang on a sec while I have a shufti…

OK – here is our basic wish-list from last year – with progress reports in red:

  • To get to see family and friends – …yes we did… see below!
  • To be able to entertain again – …there was indeed some entertaining – and not all of it outdoors
  • To dine out – again – …hoorah! We can once again eat out (and on occasion, somewhat splendidly!)
  • To see some live theatre – …well, yes.. but not so much in Canada. See below:
  • To enjoy some live music – …once again – one event only – Barney Bentall’s Cariboo Express in November
  • To attend a live sporting event (preferably Rugby!) – …sadly not
  • To be able to travel… anywhere – …well – speaking of which…

In addition:

  • It is our fervent wish that we get to travel to the UK during the coming summer. Whether or not this happens will depend entirely on the course that the pandemic takes on both sides of the pond over the coming months. We are not holding our collective breaths.

…and this we duly did – emboldened by visits in the spring from good friends in the UK and from an old and most dear friend from New York. The expedition was most enjoyable, even though we did not get to see everyone that we would have liked to have seen. We got to the theatre in London and Bath – we dined splendidly and well – we finished our trip with a lovely sojourn in Paris. The downside? We came back with COVID. Oh well!

  • We will carry out some further domestic upgrades – air-conditioning to guard against future ‘heat domes’ – a new hot water system so that we can console ourselves with even longer baths when things don’t work out as we would wish.

…well – we did the air-conditioning – and just in time for a hot spell too. An excellent notion which works well. The hot water tank replacement is still on hold – but will get done…

  • Normalised work! The Girl would like to be able get back out into the wider world and to visit clients face to face again – not to mention paying a nostalgic visit to her office! I would like to teach students who can actually see my face as I do so.

…pretty well normalised as it turns out. The Girl is back doing (somewhat cautious) home visits and going into the office two days a week. Last spring I was teaching in an N95 respirator and a headset (for streaming purposes). Not much fun. By the autumn I was back to face to face teaching without a mask – even though I wore one when around the enclosed bits of campus.

  • More music! One positive over the last year is that I have been able to write more than enough new songs for the Chanteuse and I to put together another ‘album’. We are currently recording her vocals on these tracks and we are making good progress. Look for further pronouncements in the coming months.

…Last year was indeed a good year in musical terms. The Chanteuse and I finished our third album and at the end of August Anam Danu released ‘Soul Making‘. We were even able to have a lovely reception in our garden to celebrate the release and – for the first time – we played a few tracks from the album live to the assembled friends and supporters. The feedback we have had regarding the music has been overwhelmingly positive and we both have a very real sense of achievement.

So – in spite of all the many troubles in the wider world, 2022 was a good year for The Girl and I. What will we hope to accomplish in 2023?… Check back in a few posts’ time to find out.

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Troy ‘Bubba’ Cook

December 12, 2022 in Life as we know it | Permalink

Troy ‘Bubba’ Cook
1969 – 2022
RIP


The Chanteuse and I were greatly saddened to hear over the weekend of the passing of Troy Cook. Troy was a creative force who was a writer, artist and musician and was born, lived and worked in Fernie, BC.

Earlier this year, in spite of his illness, Troy agreed to create the artwork for the recent Anam Danu album – ‘Soul Making‘. He most generously refused to accept any payment for his work – saying:

“I like to promote original music and this is my way of helping other musicians”.

Troy was a long standing friend of The Chanteuse’s husband – they having known each other for 37 years – and he was much loved by the whole family.

In this video clip Troy explains how his art helped him to deal with his illness.

Our sympathies and thoughts are with Troy’s family.

Rest In Peace

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Eddie Butler

September 19, 2022 in Life as we know it | Permalink

Eddie Butler
1957 – 2022
RIP

Keith O'Brien aka https://www.flickr.com/photos/gefailgof/ cilmeri, Eddie Butler and Iqwal, CC BY-SA 2.0

Further sadness this week at the news of the passing of Welsh rugby player/captain/journalist/peerless commentator/iconic voice of Welsh rugby.

It feels slightly awkward to be mourning someone even so loved and well known as was Eddie Butler (in the world of Rugby Union at least) at this time when most eyes are focused more intently on Westminster Abbey and on the great state occasion that is the funeral of the UK monarch… one who graced the throne for longer than any previous king or queen.

There is here – clearly – a lesson on the dispassionate nature of death, which as we know well – “Waits for no man“…

I was not really aware of Eddie Butler as a player; back in the early 80s my interest in rugby was still at a very nascent stage. Later, however, his commentaries, his journalism, his narration of many a program eulogising the game and its various campaigns and tournaments (particularly in that wonderful Welsh accent that just seems right for such occasions) became a fixture in the sporting calendar as much as did the great game itself.

Yet another colourful part of the fabric of our lives has gone and will be sadly missed.

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Her Majesty – The Queen

September 8, 2022 in Life as we know it | 1 comment

Queen Elizabeth II
1926 – 2022
RIP

Sebastiandoe5 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Union_Jack_Half-mast.jpg), „Union Jack Half-mast“, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode
It is with great sadness that we mark the passing of Queen Elizabeth II – the longest serving monarch in British history. Our sincere and deepest condolences to the members of the Royal Family.

This is truly the end of an era. Her Majesty was crowned a matter of months before I was born and has been a constant presence serving the nation throughout my life – as she was for all those of us who hail from similar generations. In a world that has seen so many tempestuous changes hers was a stable and calming existence that brought some degree of certainty to the most uncertain of times. That the nation – and the world in general – is yet in such dire need of positive influences only makes this news all the more sad.

Requiescat In Pace.

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Welcome back my friends…

August 20, 2022 in Life as we know it, Life in BC | Permalink

“…to the show that never ends”

Emerson, Lake and Palmer

Though it did look for a while there as though the show might end after all…

Welcome back indeed to the Brentwood Bay summer season of Music in the Park. This year – for the first time since the COVID pandemic struck in 2020 – we have again been able to indulge ourselves with the weekly free concerts that have for such a long time been such a splendid feature of life on the Saanich peninsula. I have no doubt at all that similar stories can be told for other al fresco summer music seasons on the island – but the Brentwood Bay events are local to us and much beloved by all of the communities in these parts.

Now, you might – with good reason – cavil that there is little point in my writing about this splendid seasonal entertainment… when the concert series has just finished!

Good point – well made!

The thing is, of course, that we were out of the country for the first part of the season and sufficiently badly stricken with the hideous lurgy that we were unable to attend the first couple of events subsequent to our return. We did, however, get to enjoy the final two weeks of the program and I did not want to miss the opportunity to raise a cheer to mark the occasion.

We are particularly grateful for the return of this relatively safe form of entertainment. The Victoria Fringe – in a somewhat truncated and localised form – is also upon us, but frankly we are very unlikely to partake of any of the offerings. One weighs in the balance the risks of sitting in a small, crowded venue with others who may have contracted the virus against the desirability of the fare on offer. Frankly, nothing in this year’s festival moves us sufficiently that we are prepared to take that sort of risk.

The same is true of the local music scene (when not in the parks!). Local venues such as the Mary Winspear in Sidney have started booking acts again, but one really has to want to see something to overcome the reluctance to expose oneself to another dose…

I guess such things will improve slowly over time and, though we do somewhat resent the way that a huge chunk of experience has been denied us, we also acknowledge that these are our choices.

I guess that life was ever just such an ongoing battle of risk versus reward.

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Hoorah!

August 7, 2022 in Life as we know it | Permalink

‘Nuff said…!

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The uninvited guest

July 29, 2022 in Life as we know it | Permalink

“Pain: An uninvited guest that comes into our lives that demands our fullest attention before it can even think about leaving us.”

Unknown

Bah!!!

Well – I guess it was inevitable…

When The Girl and I returned the other day from our travels abroad we brought with us an uninvited guest.

That’s right – we got COVID!… and that after all the worrying earlier in the year as to whether or not we should be traveling at all.

To be fair – the world is a very different place to that which it was a year ago. Back then we went to great lengths to keep ourselves healthy. Now, in many countries, the assumption is that – vaccinated or not – one will eventually succumb to the virus. Here in Canada we may still be wearing masks to go grocery shopping – and certainly if we go to the theatre or to a concert. For goodness sake – even our national carrier still insists on masks being worn at all times – which is certainly not the case with all airlines.

In the UK and in France the great majority of folk do not wear masks at all and many other precautions seem to be exercised in a desultory fashion if at all. I read a piece the other day by a Brit who had recently been infected, the which meant that he was no longer one of the 15% of the population that had not had the virus – and thus joining the 85% that have! The gist of his piece was that the majority of those recently infected belong to the group that had never had COVID, rather than being re-infections of those that have.

Now, The Girl and I are both inoculated to the eyeballs – four shots apiece (the which clearly did not stop us catching the wretched thing!) – and we are now isolating and relying on dearest friends to do our shopping for us. My symptoms are mercifully mild – little more than a scratchy throat and a predilection for sneezing. The Girl – as is sadly the way with such things – is having a tougher time, as a sinus infection seems to have taken advantage of her weakened state to set up shop alongside the spiky thing. Not fair! Not fair at all!!

The only bright side (and certainly not one that I will bring to The Girl’s attention just yet awhile) is that our four shots will shortly be joined by the additional immunity that comes with a having a dose of the blasted thing…

Hey ho!

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Peter Brook

July 6, 2022 in Life as we know it | Permalink

Peter Brook
1925 – 2022
RIP

There is little that I could write about the towering figure of post-war British theatre that was Peter Brook that could not – and will not – be far better addressed elsewhere. His influence on the theatre was immense, even once he had retreated to Paris and was less frequently seen in the UK. Sadly I was too young to catch the productions at the Royal Shakespeare Company that cemented his reputation (the which famously included ground-breaking productions of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream‘ and ‘Marat/Sade‘) and I only saw the filmed version of ‘The Mahabharata‘.

Brook was – of course – not only a theatre practitioner, but also a teacher, a thinker and a writer on the subject of the noble arts. Theatre students today would do just as well to seek out his many books. A quick hunt around my shelves reveals copies of ‘The Shifting Point‘, ‘There are no Secrets‘, ‘The Tip of the Tongue‘ and – of course – ‘The Empty Space‘ – without which I would not be.

A sad loss to the theatre and to the world.

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