Christmas with the Maple Leaf Brass Band

Two Christmas Concerts: Sun, November 25, 2 - 4pm

Orleans United Church 1111 Orleans Blvd, Ottawa, ON [Map] Sunday, December 16, 2:30 - 4:30pm

St. Matthias Anglican Church 555 Parkdale, Ottawa, ON [Map]

And you can buy our new Christmas CD (for only $10, I think)

Samples online here.

The New Beard and Alzheimers Prevention

One reason my blogging frequency has been low in the past month is I've felt I should blog about the Beard before I blog about anything else.

I've been delaying on the Beard because I didn't have a photo I wanted to use and I didn't know how I wanted to approach the topic.

But now I have this excellent quiz night photo from Kevin McPhee and I've decided to just do it.

About five years ago, I stopped shaving several days before Halloween so that I'd look more like a Viking. That did not exactly work, but I thought I'd continue with a goatee moustache combination (which many refer to as a "Van Dyck") to see if maybe I could pull off looking like a Musketeer.

One day, two itchy, irritating months later, I came to the conclusion that I could pull off looking like a Musketeer, but rather than looking like Dartagnan, the dashing one, I looked like Porthos, the big-eater. I shaved it off.

In August, I spent a lot of time sleeping in tents and got out of the habit of shaving. Back in Ottawa, I realized that Talk Like a Pirate Day was fast approaching and some facial hair would be appropriate. I decided to try a Van Dyck again.

Within a week, I had a noticeable growth and my face itched like crazy.

Like I always do when I have a problem, I went to the internet. Sure enough there are beard forums out there where guys ask "what can I do about the itching?" and other guys answer. Some answer with suggestions like "brush to remove dead skin", "use moisturizer", or "use conditioner". Most say you just have to wait for the itching to go away. It doesn't seem like there has been a scientific study on the topic.

I suspect that a study would confirm that, of the proposed solutions, waiting is the only one that works. I also suspect there are guys out there that waiting doesn't work for and these guys don't have beards. Unless they live in cultures where they have to grow them anyway and these fellows may well be why extremism becomes associated with bearded cultures.

I may be a guy that waiting doesn't work for. Why do I still have the Beard even though we are two months past Talk Like a Pirate Day? First, there was Halloween; the Beard made it easier to be a space pirate. Second, the ladies seem to like the Beard. Third, the Beard may stave off senility.

That's right. I'm growing facial hair to prevent dementia. Here is my reasoning: Forcing new circuits to grow in our brains is supposed to be good. They tell us to solve crosswords, vary our routes to work, brush our teeth with the other hand, take Spanish, etc. I figure that getting my brain to deal with the bizarre sensations of having a mat of prickly hair below my nose is going to force all sorts of new neural connections.

Beard growing for brain circuit growth has a few benefits over the other recommended methods that make it ideal for the lazy man:

1. It doesn't take time that you would have to take away from another activity;
2. You don't have to remind yourself to do it;
3. While it's irritating, it is not hard like learning a new language.

Oh, I almost forgot my favourite quote about the beard, from a gathering at the Manx:

Me: So yesterday, someone at band practice told me I look like Mark Twain, "but in a good way".

Others: What? You don't look like Mark Twain.

Dave T: But you do look like a Mark Twain character. You'd make a great riverboat gambler.

It's funny because it's true.

Tips from a Songwriter

Jane singing a sweet song (photo: D. Moyer)

Jane did a beautiful job at Sally's Salon today. She sang one of the 25 songs she has written. This one she wrote when she was 8. She's working well with her back-up band, and is even generous with them. Mike on mandolin and Dave on clarinet both got nice long solos.

After supper, another songwriter, Jen Gilbert, was asking Jane about her song-writing practices. I took notes because I'd like Astronaut Love Triangle to have 25 songs.

"I write most of my songs in the bath. Sometimes two songs in one bath. Because there's nothing else to do in there...

I just cannot write rock songs. I write sweet songs. I have no idea how to write campfire songs...

[Mentions a collaboration effort with her guitarist brother, Liam.]

But then we had the idea 'toothpaste'. We wrote a song about how back in the old days they didn't have toothpaste... How they came up with the name 'Colgate'.

It just shows you don't know what to do, but then you have an idea. I would never have guessed I'd write a campfire song about toothpaste."

View Finder - A performance creation in progress

I took many photos during Alan, Shara and Renata's performance last night. I love watching them dance together. You can kind of get that feeling with the slide show below. Click a few times and set the speed to 1 second to get the effect best.

A Few Things I Learned at the Opera Last Night

It is a bad idea to throw a masquerade party if you have enemies who want to kill you.

If you are hiring a personal servant, find one who looks kind of like you and wears the same size clothing.

If you are a personal servant with a similar-looking boss, make sure there is a way to quickly establish which of you is which when you wear their clothing.

Any sentence sounds impressive when translated to Italian and sung in 4-part harmony.

Lightbulb Art - Shade

I broke the lamp shade in the guest bathroom about six months ago.

I must get something that won't burn to cut the glare from the clear lightbulb, I thought.

The obvious answer of using other lightbulbs, burned-out and coloured ones, came to me quickly.

It just took me a while to get around to making it happen.

These bulbs are filled with rubbing alcohol, mineral oil or both and capped with black silicone caulking. I found the grill in some renovation garbage.

The wire came from the broken slide projector I made a mobile of many years ago. Some of the wires are attached to the bulbs using triangular bits of plastic clipped from excessive packaging. I think the springs are from a lawn chair. I don't know where the other wire bit came from, but it was a perfect length.

Click on the photo to see my Flickr set that includes a couple of "the making of" views.

Art Opening: Red

Lots of red at the Cube Gallery tonight. I bumped into Miss Vicky (not literally) and she commented on how crowded it was. I agreed. We were obviously both thinking that we had never seen so many people at a Cube opening. I couldn't think of a way to say that didn't come off badly. Vicky probably just didn't think it needed to be said.

In addition to all the splashy red art and good looking people wearing red, there was a band. Quite a good band. After I made the round of the art and snapped a few pictures, I bumped into Vicky again. "Do you know the name of the band?" I asked.

"No," she said, "but they're mentioned on the Facebook listing. This was a Facebook event."

"Ah, ha," I said. "That's why there are so many people here."

"I don't really think this is a Facebook crowd," said Vicky. "I see a lot of grey hair."

To avoid drawing attention to the colour of my hair, I just said, "Facebook is getting awfully popular."

....

And now, I'm at home with my hi-speed connection and I can tell you that the music was provided by "Spanish party band Asunto Secreto" and according to the Facebook event listing, the event had "12 confirmed guests", "25 people might show up" and 64 had not replied to the Facebook invite. I was in the 25.