the pod bay door

.: I’ve been back in Edmonton for a few days, but wanted to wrap up NYC Trip 14. Last weekend I saw The History Boys on Broadway, and was able to squeeze in one (very good) movie, Half Nelson. The heat and humidity was getting to me on Friday and Saturday, resulting in multiple showers, changes of clothing, and placing forehead in front of air conditioner in various attempts to try to cool down. On Monday evening, my friend Noella and I, after having dinner with her friend Clarissa, went to the Iridium Jazz Club to see Les Paul and his band play a 75-minute set, which they do every Monday night at 8:00 and 10:00 pm. Les Paul basically invented the electric guitar, as well as multi-track recording, so to (finally) attend one of his shows felt like a great honour. What a nice way to spend my final evening in NYC this time around.

The trip home the next day was a bit of a drag. The Northwest flight left La Guardia on time, landing in Minneapolis 2.5 hours later where I spent about six hours before catching the connecting flight home to Edmonton. Six hours later, I was seated in the half-filled jet waiting for departure when the pilot announced there was a problem with one of the jet’s shock absorbers, and that as a result, “they have to find us another plane.” So we all left the plane and walked down to a different gate, and waited. Less than 40 minutes passed before another plane was “found”, and we boarded and left about an hour behind schedule. Sometime into the flight, we hit turbulence, and the pilot announced that it would last for a while, as we were about 50-60 miles south of a major weather disturbance. Well, last for while it did, to the point where I was beginning to feel a bit nauseous from the very rough ride. After perhaps 45 minutes, the turbulence dissipated, and eventually we landed in Edmonton. The plane parked at the gate, and people prepared to leave, waiting for the door to open….waiting….waiting…until the pilot announced that we had to sit down again, because we weren’t allowed to leave because of lightning in the area. So…about 15 minutes later, we were allowed to leave, clear Customs, grab luggage, and leave the airport.

I need a vacation.

.: I am three days into the NYC trip. Weather has been very warm and humid. .: On Thursday, 17 August 2006, I went with friends to the Nikon at Jones Beach Theater to see the Michael McDonald/Steely Dan show, aka the Steelyard “Sugartooth” McDan – The Man … The Legend … The Tour. The concert was amazing – the Jones Beach Theater is an outdoor amphitheatre on the beach in Wantaugh NY, on the south shore of Long Island. It was a clear night, the temperature was warm, the music outstanding.

Michael McDonald opened the show with a full band, and played an assortment of his solo tunes, a couple from his recent Motown songbook, and his killer Doobie Brothers songs, including It Keeps You Running, You Belong to Me, What A Fool Believes, Minute by Minute, and Takin’ It To The Streets. The intro to Takin’ It To The Streets featured a long piano/organ shuffle between McDonald and his keyboardist, John Deaderick. After some brilliant pianistics, McDonald began the opening chords to Takin’, and the crowd roared its approval. Read more »

.: I’m in New York for a few days. Plans include visiting various friends, seeing the Steely Dan/Michael McDonald concert tomorrow, Les Paul on Monday, and perhaps a one-day visit to New Haven. I’m considering attending this show on Sunday, 20 August 2006.

.: Things are about to get hectic again. Tomorrow night I’ll be on site at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival, helping to set up and configure the Performer Hospitality area backstage. The festival runs from Thursday until Sunday evening. My brother Chris and friend Tony are arriving on Thursday to attend the festival, and will be staying at my home during that time. Chris is also volunteering again, for the first time joining me on the Performer Hospitality crew.

On Tuesday, 15 August 2006, two days after the festival ends, I fly to NYC to spend a week holidays there. Among other things, I plan to see the Steely Dan/Michael McDonald show at Jones Beach on the 17th, and living legend Les Paul at the Iridium Jazz Club on the 21st. I had planned to see Alex Chilton and The Box Tops at the Seaport Music Festival on the 18th, but according to the NYTimes, “The Box Tops with Alex Chilton have canceled their tour dates because the band’s bassist, Bill Cunningham, has had a medical emergency. The band was to have played a free show at South Street Seaport on Aug. 18.” Bummer. Instead, the New York Dolls are performing in their place. Other activities are planned and others will evolve each day.

Three days after I return, my parents, their neighbour Lynn, and her two children will descend upon my home for three nights, as part of a Winnipeg-Calgary-Edmonton-Winnipeg trip. Then, suddenly, it will be September. As always, we will ask – where did the summer go? Oh, and I have new glasses.

.: On Monday night, Stephen Colbert nailed Wikipedia on “The Word” segment of The Colbert Report. The “word” on the 31 July 2006 episode was wikiality, the antidote to reality. As Colbert noted, “All we need to do is convince a majority of people that some factoid is true, for instance, uh, I don’t know, that Africa has more elephants today than it did ten years ago”, and it will be considered true, even if it isn’t true (it isn’t) – an example of wikiality in action. (Wikiality is related to truthiness, which “refers to the quality of stating concepts or facts one wishes or believes to be true, rather than concepts or facts known to be true.”) On the show, Colbert encouraged his viewers to find the Wikipedia article on elephants and edit it to suggest that the population has tripled in the past six months.

Well, enough viewers began working on the Wikipedia site that at least 20 elephant-related entries were temporarily locked down by the Wikipedia moderator(s), as well as the Colbert Report entry. Read: I Blocked Stephen Colbert on Wikipedia, by Andrew (Talkerblog), the moderator in question. Andrew wants Colbert to put him “on notice” for blocking him, but Colbert appears to be ignoring him so far. Extensive coverage appeared quickly on sites like Techdirt, Newsvine, CNET News, and John Q chronicled the gritty details here. Much discussion is ensuing on the Wikipedia discuss page, Talk: The Colbert Report, about the show and the fallout on the Wikipedia site.

Nicely timed, The Onion nailed Wikipedia as well this week, with its headline, “Wikipedia Celebrates 750 Years of American Independence.” My favorite line from the article: “While other news and information websites chose to mark the anniversary in a muted fashion, if at all, Wikipedia gave it prominent emphasis over other important historical events from the same day, including the independence of the nation of Africa in 1847, the 1984 ascension of Constantine to Emperor of the Holy Roman Emperor, and the 1998 birth of Smokey, a calico cat belonging to Mark and Becky Rousch of Erie, PA.” (The Onion’s take on the Carolina Hurricanes’ Stanley Cup victory is hilariously funny.)

.: The Winnipeg trip is nearing its end, and I’ve had a great time so far. Other than having to deal with hot and muggy weather, it’s been eight days packed with activity. I reached Winnipeg around 0030 hrs on Wednesday, 19 July 2006, after a long drive from Edmonton. I arrived late in the day because upon leaving Edmonton in the morning, I realized I’d forgotten a few items, and had to drive back to my house to get them. (A day later in Winnipeg I realized I forgot even more stuff, which had to be shipped Priority Courier to me by a friend, to whom I am deeply indebted!) I was pretty much a vegetable the first couple of days here, and on Thursday evening, did the family thing. My folks and I attended a Reichardt Family picnic at St Vital Park. A couple cousins from out of town were there as well – Ian from Dallas TX, and Kathleen and her family from Simcoe ON. Before we left, we had a group photo taken by someone passing by. Afterwards, we visited cousins on my mom’s side of the family for a couple hours before heading home.

On Friday, I attended Part 1 of the WPC Class of ’71 High School Reunion. This included a visit to the high school where a brief open house was held, followed by a classic Winnipeg social at the local community club. On Saturday, Steve George and I paid our annual visit to Chester Cuthbert, well-respected Winnipeg book collector who will turn 94 in October. It’s always great to drop by and catch up with Chester, who is still in good health and reading actively. In the mid-1970s during my sf heydays with the local Winnipeg fan group, we spent many a Saturday afternoon at Chester’s discussing sf, fanzines, and the like.

Saturday night was the pig roast and bonfire with the high school gang. We had the dinner at the local church hall in Oakbank MB, just east of Winnipeg, and followed that with a bonfire at the home of Barb and Doug Zawada two blocks away. Barb was in the 1971 class. This was another great evening with old friends, and this time around, a few classmates attended who had passed on the previous two events, in 1996 (25 years) and 2003 (when we turned 50.) This included my dear friends Barry and Liz Zilkie, neither of whom I’d seen since the mid-70s. We spent much time catching up, and I know I will stay in touch with these amazing people. The day before Liz and Barry left Winnipeg, we met at The Forks, where Barry and I took lessons on riding Segways – what a blast!

Subsequent to the Segway experience we headed to Assiniboine Park (aka City Park) for lunch and a stroll about the Conservatory follwed by a walk about the Assiniboine Park Zoo until the heat and time overtook us.

Pictures from the high school reunion events are here.

On Monday night I moved across town to Mike and Susan’s house, and upon arrival, Mike and Steve took me on one of their now-legendary bike rides, as documented since 2004 at Bike With Mike. About halfway through our ~25.5 km ride we stopped to refuel on water and Gatorade before returning to Mike’s house.

On Tuesday night it was over to Steve’s for a bbq with Steve and his family and Mike and Susan. This is a tradition whenever I am in town, and was a good time as always. Tonight (Thurs) I am off to my parents’ place for dinner, and then back to Mike’s to pack up for the trip tomorrow. Then in two weeks, NYC…

Pictures from my latest Winnipeg trip are available on Flickr, but need further editing to include descriptions, names, etc