Port Fairy 2011 Gem from Tim O'Brien

I've been away at the Port Fairy Music Festival (I think they're trying to dissociate themselves from their past exclusively 'folk' reputation). This time I took along the wonderful Flip video camera and made some (short) video clips instead of attempting out-of-focus snaps of performers refusing to stop still for even a microsecond.

The results are patchy, to say the least. I forgot to take it on the first night - missing a superb opportunity in the front row to film Shakura S'Aida and band followed by Rosie Flores.

On Saturday I started filming the French Canadian group Les Chauffeurs a Pieds (that would be the walking chauffeurs?) followed by Crooked Still - an eagerly anticipated gig only marred by the Flip suddenly and inexplicably freezing: with the battery going flat, I couldn't record, play or turn it off. So I took it home to show it who's boss, and then proceeded to have a frantic live text chat with a techie somewhere else in the world - only after first installing a Telstra moby broadband USB borrowed from a generous companion. So it charged up whilst its primary carer caught up on an hour or two of much needed sleep.

The day's entertainment resumed with Joe Pug, and Tim O'Brien and the Two Oceans Trio. I captured one of several special 'moments that bring a tear to your eyes' when Tim O'Brien sang and accompanied himself on fiddle: achieving an amazing 3 part harmony. Listen for his wisecrack at the start about how to tell if your fiddle is out of tune. (I'm still trying to master that trim tool in Flip - again, it refused to acquiesce to my wishes.)



The timbre of his voice also morphs to blend with each musical style in their wide repertoire.

Other magical moments included the phenomenal guitar licks of the young Donna in Shakura's band (eat your heart out Santana, Hendrix and Zappa) and the delightful duet of 'You are my Sunshine' with Joe Chindamo (on accordion!) and Doug DeVries, guitar. We were all bowled over by young Callum, the drummer in Blue Shaddy (is he allowed to be away on tour without his mum or dad?!)

For more on the PFFF experience (yep, one of the 'f's stands for folk) go to Annie's Cat Politics one of the blogs featured to the right.

Better go and sort out that chaotic pile of video files floating around in the virtual universe between netbook, USB stick and imac Flipshare, imovie and iphoto...

The Dance of the E-Learning Objects

It's all coming together like a great musical that many people have been rehearsing for weeks: some playing instruments, some singing or acting, some building sets.

Thanks Vlad B at flickr

Everyone thinking 'how the hell can we combine all the different strands to create a thing of such beauty and complexity as this?'

For most of this year, I cursed the imac for not doing what I was used to. But I'll postpone a situation analysis on the imac for a later entry.

The e-mentor project presented challenges to 'talk the walk' amongst the e-leaders and travellers. But what is the walk? What's the best way to use a bunch of Web2 tools with our students in an environment where access to the internet is never assured, where you never know from one day to the next if the necesssary plug-ins /add-ons are available to run audio and video. And the students' computer literacy is inconsistent and patchy.

Last year (or was in 2008?) I set up the CNLCTalks wiki to be shared by ESL and ALBE classes to both showcase students' oracy work and as an internet hub for learning resources. I drew inspiration mainly from Dale Pobega's blog and Rosa's podcasts st St George TAFE in Sydney.

We had some early modest success, mainly in uploading audios from the Communications 3 group, and storing audio/ video / screencasts for ESL classes and computer classes. We also put a pdf of the latest students' RAW Newsletter there, though I doubt if anyone actually accesses it in this way. But I really felt that the wiki is under-utilised by both students and staff. Even I have had ups and downs with collecting student-centred content and with sourcing and uploading resources.

However recently a few things have fallen nicely into place. And we're pretty close to running a dress rehearsal (returning to the opening analogy).

The adoption and integration of digital audio is a rough road to travel: operating mp3 players, file management, editing (simply) in Audacity have all presented challenges. Even now we continue to do battle with the Voice recorder in Voxopop and are considering the move to a Pro Easi-speak microphone to ease the transition (for teachers especially).

However, I'm convinced the discovery of ipadio and phone blogging is a breakthrough for generating teacher-produced podcasts and recording students both in and beyond the classroom.

And the other day I finally incorporated Dropbox so that my Netbook and imac finally share files - like a separated couple who begrudgingly communicate now via a mediator! So now I don't need to take the mp3 player home to copy files to the Netbook. And the extra memory stick I recently bought can be mothballed. With 3 copies of a particular file (doc/ mp3) in 3 different places, I can update in any of these places and know that it is quietly working in the background to update the other copies too. Wow - an app that actually works for me (not the other way around!)

It's time to revisit the question: where are we heading and with what resources and tools? And we're in a good place to re-position ourselves, our tools and resources for the future.

Phlog: some New Year's resolutions

U.S.#11 New York: cruise, museums and musicals

A cruise around Manhattan and an elevator ride to the 86th floor of the Empire State building were fitting bookend attractions for our 7 days in New York City. Many images were already in my head from years of viewing the slides of several trips to New York. (How come we never got to go with Mum and Dad?)

Each of the following images is a link to a Web Album - click on it to go there to view all the images in each photo album. Albums are chronological, but my notes are not.




The city is buzzing - no real end to the CBD - it continues in all directions with crowds of pedestrians heading all places. Yellow taxis everywhere - I wondered why they're always using their horns until I realised that jaywalking rules: locals in a hurry trying to beat the lights and tourists blithely ignoring pedestrian signals.

Navigation is a cinch generally when you get the hang of the numbering of the avenues (going up- and downtown) and the streets 'crosstown'. You can even work out distances - 20 short blocks to a mile and three (short blocks) to a long one.

We were told authoritatively on several occasions that New Yorkers like walking everywhere or taking the bus or subway - which is just as well as the roads are congested pretty much all the time. However, in the summer the heat is oppressive and we resorted to buses toward the end of our stay. Buses are fine once you get hold of a bus map and you have unlimited time to sit in traffic and at lights. It's probably the same pace as a brisk walk only beautifully air conditioned.

In seven days we saw several brilliant concerts including a Klezmer/ Bluegrass band at the City Winery, a gig at Joe's Pub by Country artist Marty Stewart, and I finally got to the Village Vanguard to enjoy an 11pm set by Joe Levano, Bill Frisell and Tony Motian. We also saw Memphis, a musical about the DJ Huey Calhoun (loosely based on Dewey Phillips) who promoted black Rock 'n' Roll music in Memphis, Tennessee in the 50s and 60s at great expense to his personal life. This was followed the next night by Fela, a musical about the life of Fela Kuti. Both were polished and exciting performances though the latter stood out as a masterful achievement in choreography and design.

City winery and Guggenheim Museum

My travelling partner was blissed out by Marty's (solo) performance and

got to give him some feedback afterwards when he finally emerged at the lobby to sign CDs and greet the few adoring fans. He's a real pro: I loved his stories between songs which established his credentials in the Country scene and convinced the audience that he was utterly down to earth and personable. He clearly enjoyed touring solo - for the first time in 15 years. Song lyrics were comprehensible and his guitar and mandolin licks were polished.

The Vanguard gig was great: I nearly didn't go due to all-round sensory overload (read: exhaustion) but it was well worth it. The trio were obviously used to playing together: I recognised a couple of the 5 numbers played (should've asked what they were afterwards) and all songs were masterful and understated interpretations.

Our days were mostly taken up by the Stations of the Cross: namely, the museums covered by our Citypass - American Museum of Natural History (traditional static diaramas), the Guggenheim (noisy and crowded), Metropolitan Museum of Art (beyond comparison with any other collection I've seen - in size and quality) and the Museum of Modern Art (too tired to enjoy but Cubist collection and Matisse exhibition were both impressive).


Metropolitan Museum of Art


I also made the effort (2 days in a row) to get the Neue Galerie. The first day I got there and had a quick coffee (in a real Viennesse Kaffeehaus with a real Linzertorte at a Viennesse price!). When I got to the entrance they advised it was closed! So why had they sold me a ticket 25 minutes before closing? As I appeared to be close to tears, the staff diplomatically asked me to take a seat whilst they consulted with the manager. They then issued me a pass to return the next day - being the final day of the Otto Dix exhibition. It turned out to be one of the highlights along with the Met Museum of Art: for its size (over 100 works) and sheer emotional force. His First World War series of sketches completed during and after his time at the Front constituted an overpowering anti-war statement. The rest of his oeuvre covers the spectrum of life in pre- 2nd World War Germany with expressionistic honesty and brutality, qualifying his work as 'Degenerate Art' by the Nazis.

Each 'Museum' day was punctuated by a meander through Central Park: on the first of these I aimed more or less for the exit opposite the Dakota Apartments on the steps of which John Lennon was murdered in 1980. Just beyond the Imagine memorial, i came upon a wonderful 8 piece band doing Beatles numbers and joined in the choruses of Strawberry Fields. They were flogging their CD of Beatles covers and obviously do a brisk trade, busking in that spot regularly.

NY MOMA etc

U.S.#10 Banff : I heart Banff

It was great to be touring in a car again. Abbotsford was the first fuel stop on the way from Vancouver to Banff (well, it requires at least a mention in this blog...).

Kamloops was a great overnight stop: it was a bonus to happen upon the evidence of settlement by local indigenous people dating back 4,000 years - this was in the form of kitchen pits remaining from housing. House structures were beautifully reconstructed in a reserve devoted to indigenous built form of the last 4,000 years, till European invasion.

Road east to Banff


We followed the recommendation to take the road to Banff via Golden and Mt Revelstoke and it got very interesting from this point on. I enjoyed the photographic opportunities provided by the sun roof - the peaks being far to high to capture from the passenger windows. And, of course, I insisted we have lunch at Kicking Horse Pass - so I could see what prompted our honorary Aussie to name his band after this top spot.

Banff is the largest ski 'village' I've ever seen: providing for every imaginable need of skiers and summertime tourists. Development is obviously strictly administered so that the natural values of the surrounding area are not compromised by the bustling town. The caribou are not put off by the traffic and graze freely by the roadside.

We stayed in the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel which is so big and grand that it conducts tours of its buildings and grounds for anyone interested. We didn't have time to do one, however, we browsed its dozen or so shops and on the last day I enjoyed a swim in its 30 metre lap pool and hot plunge pool. We declined the provision of parking (at $25 per day or $50 per day valet parking) as the room tariff was already rather pricey.

Banff and Sunshine Meadows walk


I got a lift to the starting point for the walk up to the Sunshine Meadows - a plateau which supports a complex network of ski lifts for every imaginable snow sport. In summer, a bus replaces the gondola ride to Sunshine Meadows. It's a relatively easy climb from there to the meadows. The trail is clearly marked and, fortunately for this solo walker, there were many people walking the trail so I wasn't concerned about surprising any bears going about their business. Wildflowers had almost finished flowering but the views hadn't!

I took a rest break at the top of the chairlift for lunch and as soon as I opened the plastic wrapper containing food, weazels darted out expecting to share it. They are much faster than the chipmunks or squirrels, and a real challenge to photograph. Feeling a bit put-upon, I finished the rest of my packed lunch at a bench a small distance down from the peak - a couple of local girls hiked past, one of whom authoritatively explained to her mate that the diggings next to the bench were those of a Grizzly. Maybe that wasn't such a good spot to eat either.

My walk took in all 3 lakes as well as the summit. Although I got back to Sunshine Village in time for the 4.30pm bus, it was full, and whilst waiting for the 5.30pm (last) bus, I chatted with a woman from Virginia, who had settled in the U.S (from China) 16 years ago. She was most interested in the Australian system of government, in particular, the social welfare / medicare system. And I was interested in catching a lift with her and her family back to Banff so we continued our conversation during the 20 minute ride back to Banff.

Johnston Canyon and Sulphur Mountain
The next day we chose the short drive to Johnston Canyon rather than go to Lake Louise. The pics can't do justice to this amazing gorge and series of waterfalls. We were advised to get there early to avoid the crowds as it's a popular tourist destination. The Red squirrels posed obligingly for photos. These are not to be confused with Ground squirrels which are plain grey brown or with chipmunks which are tiny by comparison.



Sometimes, the top travel experiences occur in an unplanned and serendipitous manner. This happened in the afternoon of that day when we drove up the mountain to view the resort where my nephew worked when he first arrived in Canada. I spotted the gondola up Sulphur Mountain and immediately decided to ride it to the top. With a car to myself, I got a little panicky on the 8 minute ride - altogether too tense to take out and use the camera. Nevertheless there were plenty of opportunities at the top to do so, and the day was perfect.

With local map in hand, I strolled back to the hotel via a track through the woods. It was suddenly very quiet and isolated, zigzagging about 2kms downward and dotted with horse poo - I imagined that it was far too dangerous to traverse any other way than on horseback. The bus driver had advised making a lot of noise (which is easy when you're walking with a companion) so I sang bursts of 'There's a bear in there' and chatted loudly to all the inhabitants so that I wouldn't meet any bears on the way.

U.S.#9 Vancouver and Van Dusen Botanical Gardens

We left Hood River before sunrise, having an hour's drive to the airport at Portland to fly to Vancouver. I realised I had not taken many pics of the mighty Columbia River Gorge so attempted to take some from our mini-van as we sped along the highway. Some of the foggy valley pics worked, in an impressionistic sort of way, but most didn't...

As soon as we arrived in Vancouver, we located the Australian Consulate so that one of our touring party could exercise his democratic right to vote - Friday arvo being Election Day in Australia. This worked a lot more efficiently than receiving postal voting papers in Hood river 3 weeks after having ordered them from the AEC.

Vancouver looks a lot different in summer: this was particularly highlighted by our trip up Grouse Mountain in the gondola. The last time I was there, we couldn't do much at the top except admire the view over Van and sit in the bar watching the ice skaters directly outside. This time we went up the chairlift to the peak and took the elevator to the top of the wind turbine to enjoy the view from there.

As we had only a long weekend in Van and we planned to spend it with family, we made a beeline the following day for the Van Dusen Botanical Gardens with a cold bag of champers and a picnic pack of supplies from the French cheese shop.

The gardens were in full bloom: I just loved the various outdoor 'rooms' of different habitats, especially the herbs and flowers, and the grasses. We got through the maze quite efficiently working as a team. The many sculptures featured during our visit were by a group from Zimbabwe called Zimsculpt: these were available for sale but way too heavy to bring back to Abbotsford in a suitcase with a 50lb limit.

This was followed by a lazy sunset on the verandah at Kitsilano, enjoying the view of the bay. Being a bit tired out the next day, an idea started percolating - to do a couple of laps in the longest pool in the Northern Hemisphere - at 137 metres it proved to be an interesting experience. The protocol is for all lap swimmers to swim up on the outside of the right line and return on the outside of the left line (there being only two lines marking the laps). Overtakers swim between the two lines. Got it? The whole effect is further enhanced by its brilliant location overlooking the beach.

U.S.#8 A few Cool Facts about the Hood River Aquatic Centre

1. There's a different tariff for out-of towners (fair enough, too).
2. There are no numbers on the lockers - that's because you bring your own padlock.
3. No-one bothers with the padlock (incredible but true).
4. The 25 metre lap pool gets deeper cross-wise instead of lengthwise (what's the reasoning for that one?)
5. Aqua classes are conducted at the shallow side so that the Over 80s can join in from the adjacent warmer pool (how considerate!)
6. The water is very clean - I know this because one of the women testified that she comes here from White Salmon because she always gets a rash after swimming there (urgh...)
   
7. On every 2nd lap, you can admire the views out of the open roof/ wall to the ubiquitous Mt Adams.
8. On a windy day, (and remember, that's why we're here) the canvas roof makes such a racket it sounds as if it's going to blow away.