Some days are magic.  

I'm not talking about just a good day or a really fun day.  I very much mean a magical day that surpasses all expectation, a day that defies explanation, a day that forever changes your world and leaves you a better person at the end of it.  A day that revisits you over and over again to return even more gifts and blessings to you.  

I'm not talking about a day that defines me as a person, although I've certainly had those.  I did not change as a person at all.  I think in my case I'm thinking of a day that defined my direction and forever has changed my course in life.  For the better, I believe.  So much of what I feel is shaping me today can be traced back to one single, special day.

To explain how I got there may very well take my entire life's story.  How about instead I jump in at the point where we have a single dad with not a lot of money and two pre-teen kids to keep amused and occupied in Calgary.  Bicycles and festivals filled a lot of the gap.  We hit every festival I could discover that was cheap and not too far out of the way.  My goal was to be outside and get out of a drafty apartment every single weekend after a hard, cold winter.

I can't explain why the magic happened on the week that it did.  We were at Lilac Fest, we went to SunFest, we went to handfuls of festivals, sometimes two or three on the same weekend.  We saw many of the same people event after event, we met many new people along the way.

My magical day happened August 23 last year.  There are a lot of factors that lead to it.  A festival involving bikes has to appeal to me.  I attended Bow River Flow the previous year (it's first year) and while I originally felt dismissive towards it I found that we sincerely appreciated the moment.  Returning was never a question because my kids hugely connected with it.

If you've been around here a while, you know what happened.  In brief, I changed my mind about who I was going to vote for and decided I had to take a better examination of the candidates.  Win or lose, I decided I would work with my choice and support him or her in their bid for office.  I thought hard about choices, I weighed my options, I took it upon myself as a responsibility.  I chose the right guy, and he continues to prove to me that I made the right decision.

Naheed gets to smile about how he ruined my life.  In reality, I think that feeling of engagement was always there, I just needed a way to express it and a person who I believed would sufficiently represent my views.

But the magic of that weekend is not held solely within political re-engagement.  

Stemming from Mayor Nenshi ruining my life, I began talking about #BetterYYC.  Earnestly trying to do one thing each and every day to make Calgary a better city.  Some days it was literally the one thing dragging me out of bed in the morning.  Some days it feels like I'm completely on my own.  Other days one or two other people jump in, renew my ideas and spur me on.  I'm still trying.  Trying to encourage someone else to do one thing each and every day, trying to do one thing on my own every day.  It originated from that one day, Aug 23.


Last year, for the first year since I was in Jr. High, I rode my bike year round.  I did it for my health, I did it for my lungs, I did it to save money, I did it to save time.  But I did it.  I love riding my bike, now I know that I can completely love riding my bike even when it's 20 below.

A bicycle is my single favourite form of transportation - of freedom.  I know that I can personally extend it to the entire year and do so safely.    That love of alternate transportation reestablished itself at Bow River Flow.  Sure, I rode my bike in the city before, but now it became my primary choice of getting around.  I got to say that for the census this year.  That felt exhilarating.

I've become much more aware of Bike Calgary and I'm feeling a greater affinity to a community of people like me.  I'm very interested in what we're going to develop for bicycle infrastructure in Calgary to make bicycle commuting more attainable to average cyclists.  I've met Sean from Bike Bike who was immeasurably helpful in helping me transition from a fair weather cyclist to the cyclist I want to be.  I feel good to ride my bike along the river every morning and see the dog walkers and say good morning every day.  I attended An Evening With Mia Birk, and got my own copy of Joyride.  I'm not sure if it's ironic or imminently sensible that listening to Mia meant I finally started to understood the Bow River Flow.  

These are all ways that the decision to reconnect with my bike year round continues to return wonderful moments to me.


I thought that somewhere I spoke about how wonderful and surreal it was at the Bow River Flow to have a parade with the Ogden Legion Pipe Band in front and Calgary Escola De Samba behind, while my children and I were in the middle ringing our bike bells in time to the beat.

I'm not Scottish, but I love the bagpipes.  Strong, bold and distinctive, they can rock you, they can be moving, the can express touching heartbreak.  There's never been a pipe band I haven't enjoyed and when they're as good as they were that day I like it all the more.

But Samba?  Wow, the Samba was new to me.  It moved me in a very literal sense.  It was incredible fun to overlay with the festival.

Years ago, my aunt asked if I was a drummer.  Uhm, no, no I wasn't and just where did the question come from, anyways?  Apparently I was tapping out a rhythm and she thought that it sounded pretty good.  I must have a very strong sense of rhythm in me.  In another festival somewhere near the end of the year the kids and I ended up playing in a drum circle and I got the sense of what it was like to really play.  Another good moment.

I'm not sure who runs @yycsamba, but whoever it is found me on twitter and followed me.  I'm a fortunate man, I probably wouldn't have sought them out.  I've appreciated that they get my love for #FunkFridays, but I've had very little actual connection with the school since.  Until #Sambafied.

Last week I got the invite to go to Endeavor Arts and take part in the school's #Sambafied event.  I got to play a couple drums, I got to watch a whole bunch, and I got to reconnect to that kid that beats out rhythms on kitchen floors.  It very much brings out a sense of fulfillment to be part of a group creating something more than you can on your own.  I completely enjoyed it.  I might have to do some creative thinking of how to take it up, but I'll work on it.  It's become this surprising piece of my life that I value greatly.  It may take me a while, but I at the very least I'm a friend of the band and someday hope to be a full member.

One of my favourite parts of #Sambafied was when I got to watch Valerie Roney (or, as I like to call her, @vlrny) hammer on a surdo while completely lit up with joy.  It's easy to understand the appeal after trying it just for a moment.  I want a little more of that joy in my life, too.

I've mentioned Valerie before, but the past week I've been reading her blog cover to cover, if you will.  It's given me pause for thought and a great deal of consideration.  Cause to reevaluate things I've been doing wrong or haven't been doing at all.  I've reconnected, at least somewhat, to my creative writing.  I'm sure it's horrible, but it's horrible *mine*.  There are a few people around that have told me I can implausibly weave a coherent story out of my narcissistically-addled rantings.

And, while I'm at it, I need to mention Art Walk With Art because that was my introduction to Endeavor Arts.  I went out in an attempt to stretch out my #BetterYYC experience and really enjoyed it.  You have to remind me on that more often, Art.  I have to get out to another one soon.


It's good to challenge one's complacency - after all, isn't that what I've been discussing all along?  August 23rd, 2010 was the day I actively started challenging some of the complacency I was getting swamped under.  It hasn't been all smooth sailing, I continue to learn just how dumb I am for a smart guy.

In the process I've tried to make for a better city, and I suspect I might be in the midst of making myself a better person for the effort.  I am feeling more connections with my past, I'm remembering things I used to do that brought me joy that I haven't been doing.  I've already reconnected with my love of space through the interest of my children, now I've been rediscovering more things I'm passionate about.  I haven't specifically changed as a person, but I feel more freedom to strike out and be the man I want to be.  Stretching, growing, feeling better about myself.  Taking good chances.

I'm not sure where I'm going, I just know it's a better direction.

Okay, I'm working on this reputation of long, rambling, hopefully meaningful or descriptive blog entries and giving quite the skewed perception of who I am as a person.  I'm going to fix that a little tonight.  

I'm giving you two dimensions of myself.  

I had to run out to do a couple errands this evening, so I hopped in the car and thought I'd flip over to the hockey game when I got sidetracked by Randy's Vinyl Tap.  He played a song and suddenly the thoughts that have been swirling for the past week crystallized.






You're going to get it or you won't.  It's all fine by me.

It's the same old song.

Never did flip over to the hockey game.

Hi Rebecca,

I got Paul's CD this morning.  I was kinda busy and it was really hard to not rip it open then and there.  I held out for about an hour, then put it into my computer at work and listened to the first couple of songs as I could.  I try to hold judgment on whether I like or dislike an album until I've heard it a couple times.  I loved this one on first listen.  Every song is rich, meaningful and significant in some way to me.  It's got that unnervingly familiar and yet entirely foreign feeling that Paul's work always manages to bring out of me.

I was late to discover Paul.  Sort of.  A friend of mine told us about a movie playing downtown at one of the artsy theatres that we should go see, so four of us piled into whatever junker I was driving at the time and saw Whale Music together.  Just before the movie started, I met one of the other grad students from the university who asked if I liked the Rheostatics too.  "The who?" I asked.  There are two particular things I remember well about that night:  The music was among the finest I'd ever heard and at the very end of the credits, the four of us were sitting in our seats, every one of us both slack jawed and smiling - so much as that is possible.

It took a few more years to understand just how much Paul's fingerprints have been embedded on my life.  Whale Music the movie led to the Whale Music the album, which led to Whale Music the book.  Once I discovered the novel, I found King Leary and from there Paul's other books.  The pinnacle for me was when I realized some jerk scribbled in my copy of Civilization before I managed to buy it.  I was really mad someone would ruin a book like that before I realized Paul must have signed it while out on tour.

But then I started to understand not only the breadth of his talent but how much I was surrounded and drawn to it as well.  It wasn't enough to know that he put out great work, I realized how much of the stuff I really enjoyed involved Paul in one way or another.  If it's Canadian and it's good, I just figure there's a credit somewhere that reads Quarrington.

I remember Arthur Black playing this astounding band called "Continental Drift" that just blew me away and endless years of frustration never finding a copy.  Long after Due South finished it's run, I learned that Paul was involved.  I just figure he's somewhere in the background all the time now.

I saw you this year when Porkbelly Futures played at the Bow Valley Music Club this past year.  I loved it, but we all know that's a given by now.  How about something you don't know?  About once a week, when I'm riding my bike to work I'll get held up by a train at a crossing that's somewhat hard to avoid until it's too late.  I thought to myself, "I *hate* waiting for that train."  As soon as I finished that thought I started singing under my breath, "Mmmm mmm mmm, Mmmm mmm mmm, Gotta love a train."  I sing it every time I cross those tracks now.  Thanks for singing along in my head.

Thanks for getting The Songs out to me.  Be sure to pass thanks along to Judith too, just in case my copy passed through her hands.  Pass on thanks to all the Porkbelly Futures from me.  The best thing of all is that Paul's introduced me to a bunch more friends with talent to share.  And thanks for the updates!  I'm @Zarquil on twitter, I've been plugging Paul Quarrington: Life in Music and Cigar Box Banjo on there and in person.


Let me end with the highest praise I can offer to Paul and by association to the rest of my friends on that side of the wire:

Thanks, Paul.  Thanks to the rest of you.  You inspire me to play my guitar until I'm good enough to play the songs I've been writing.

  - Mark

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On 2010-06-03, at 8:19 AM, Rebecca Campbell wrote:

Greetings Folks —

We're heading into our first summer without Paul, and posthumous PQ activity is already in full swing: Many of you will have tuned in to Bravo's weekend broadcasts of Paul Quarrington: Life In Music, Bert Kish's new film documenting Paul's musical swan song; Cigar Box Banjo: Notes On Music And Life, is flying off bookstore shelves as we speak; and The Songs is finally ready for your listening pleasure.

Judith Keenan and I spent Tuesday afternoon stuffing and addressing your preorders, and they're winging their way towards you now. If it's not too much hassle, please let me know when you receive your copy, so I can keep up with any strays. If it doesn't show up in the next couple of weeks, I'll look into tracking it down or replacing it.

Once again, let me thank you on behalf of Paul, David Gray, Martin Worthy, and everyone else who put so much into the production of this amazing recording, for your contribution to the process. Don't forget that you were part of the making of this record, and that Paul was honoured and humbled by your investment, and your pledge of faith.

I hope and trust that you'll enjoy it for years to come!

All the best,

Rebecca

Life has been so turbulent in the past few months, and particularly the past few weeks, that it's been a huge struggle lately just to keep my feet on the ground. 

There are a few things I can count on.  Remembrance Day has long since been one of the rocks I can rely on to tie my kite down.  Most years I try to take notes and kinda keep track of highlights and particularly good moments or thoughts that are presented.  This year it all went out the window, and I stopped even trying to take notes and just kept trying to stay focused in the moment. 

Remembrance Day, for my friends who are not Canadian, is on November 11th, the day of the signing of the Armistice ending World War I.  In Canada it is a commemoration of those who served in World War I, World War II, the Korean conflict and in our Peacekeeping forces around the world since Lester B. Pearson created the idea of modern peacekeeping forces. 

Canada is no different than many other countries who have went through generations of peace.  Remembrance Day has waxed and waned over the years.  Just a few days ago, I heard some lady on the radio talking about how she would just keep right on talking through the two minutes of silence because war is bad.  Yes, yes it is.  And thank you to the soldiers and sailors and airmen who put their lives on the line so that you have the opportunity to talk through those two minutes of silence.  Tyranny knows no bounds, but it is in the acceptance of a differing opinion that we defeat tyranny - even if we must sometimes protect the other opinions with force. 

I definitely stand with those who remember.  I always have.  It's a personal conviction and with great gratitude that I say I remember.  My grandfather fought WWII with the Soviet army - artillery I believe - until he was taken prisoner and placed in a Nazi POW camp.  My friends have served - some still serving - with the armed forces and I consider them amongst the finest, most honourable people I've ever known. 

It's a tradition I've shared with my children for the past - wow - nine years.  From those first years of holding my daughter on my knee as she strained to see the brass band and holding an infant son trying to comfort him and keep him from crying through the minutes of silence to attending with two of the most marvelous and honourable young people I've ever had the pleasure to know.  Today I brought a Tamagotchi for my son to play with while waiting for the ceremony to begin.  Once we were seated in the Jubilee Auditorium he reached it over to me and showed me he had collected 1914 points and whispered, "Dad, that's the year World War I began."  Just when the ceremony was about to begin I leaned over to him and whispered it was time to put it away and realized he was already stuffing it into his pocket. 

My daughter was translating some of the French for me, talking about facts and figures from the history of Canadian armed forces, and sat proudly and respectfully throughout the ceremony.  How good does that make a father feel? 

Particularly a father who feels like he's being sent scurrying in every direction right now? 

I feel wonderful and proud of my children.  I feel very grateful that we can spend a day together in remembrance of the service of others.  I feel very pleased that we have some traditions together that are just accepted and a touchstone in our lives and no matter how scattered our world gets, we have something solid to hold fast. 

Our annual tradition is to shake the hand of someone in uniform.  Thank you to the kind gentleman who freely shook our hand this year, thank you for serving in our air force.  You, sir, are a man I admire wholeheartedly.

I'm thinking much of the family of Sapper Steven Marshall today, and for 132 other families who have lost loved ones serving in Afghanistan.  My heart goes out to you all.  I thank you through remembrance and by teaching my children remembrance and respect.  It is well and truly the least that I can do.

So tonight I feel that I have a little better perspective and a lot more resolve to deal with my piddling problems.  Tomorrow, I will not forget.

Sorry for flubbing "Tomcat Prowl", Doug, but don't you just remember the time I nailed "Nobody But Me"?  Takin' it Day By Day, Mr. Bennett.

You'll be happy with what I give you and you're going to like it.  Damn it. 

Let's start off with my pal Loudo.  Yeah, I'm singing along.  I expect you to sing along too.  And for some real strange reason I wanna go to Little Rock. 


Next day was a little bit of Santana Magic (tm) by Carlos (r).  Bella.  It's muy bellisimo.


Then we go to the incomparable Willie P. Bennett.  Willie lives in my heart forever.  The song was Willie's "This Lonesome Feelin'", but not finding it on youtube I replace it with one of my absolute  favourite songs he ever wrote.  Willie, you're a giant amongst legends.  This makes me wanna go paint the town..  Err..  Red.


Then we go back to some Bowser and Blue.  It's short.  You'll love it.


Next is Joe Walsh with "School Days" from "Ordinary Average Guy."  Am I seriously the only guy in the world that liked that album or something?  Thhbt.  No youtube for you.  Say it with me, Weber.  "Joe Walsh, the only Eagle that matters."  Attaboy.

Lastly, I'm going to end again with the Rheostatics, but instead of the Rheostatics themselves, I'm going to include a cool little video I fell across tonight and instantly loved.  It is a treasure.  You are very star, Sirant!

Oh dear, I knew this day was going to come sooner or later. 

I saw the video for Metal Queen when I was 16.  That probably explains it all right there. 

Lee Aaron still has a fantastic voice and has transformed into a jazz singer these days, but like so many testosterone fueled nerdly dweeboids, I remember and love her best for the mind-numbing goodness of the past.  It wasn't until I tracked down a copy of Metal Queen that I realized just how.. erm..  appealing to testosterone fueled nerdly dweebs the songs were.  Wow, am I glad we've all moved on.  Well, some of us, anyways.   I have this charming mental image of Ms. Aaron walking onstage in a gorgeous gown, crooning a soft number in some upscale music hall, and a dozen morons like me standing at the front of the stage ripping their shirts off to spell out "PLAY METAL QUE." 

There's always a couple jerks that don't show up. 

For what it's worth, here's one of the better songs on the album.

The Clash - the best fucking folk group EVER! 

And we could all go for a little drop in pressure right about now, couldn't we?



And a follow up just-for-fun.  I'm filling up the car with gas tonight and this comes on over the loud speakers at the station.  I can't decide if I'm more upset that I can still sing along or if I *did* sing along...

I often wonder which is mine: 
Tolerance, or a rubber spine? 
 
   - Odgen Nash

I have no idea where they get off marking this down as the worst ever.  It's got a beat and I can dance to it.

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair! 

This week I'm Shelley.  What ya goona do?  I must be poetic. 

Starting off last Monday, I started off with The Who's "The Seeker."  Pete Townshend is one of the masterful songwriters.  I dug up a recent version, too.  For some reason, in my memory Daltrey had a Hawaiian shirt or had some kind of surfer look going on when they played Calgary.  Good rocking. 


Last Tuesday was Proposition 61 by the Most Serene Republic.  I love these guys, I'd really like to catch them live.  They're another unique band with a distinct sound all to themselves.


Wednesday was Earth Day, wasn't it?  How about something appropriate:  The Planet from Hans Theessink.  No audio of this one, but let me paint a picture in your mind.  Hans is a Dutch blues player who plays delta blues.  He's an absolutely amazing guitarist and a must see when he comes through.  In the album I've got, he has Jon Sass playing tuba - including one of the apocryphal tuba solos!  Fantastic musicians all.


Up on Thursday I go back to The Soundtrack of Our Lives with  Nevermore.  They were on here before with "In Your Veins", this is much more indicitive of why I like TSOOL.


And how about I finish off with today's music, which is that great epic, "Clam Caravan" by Spinal Trap.  Can't beat those guys, but we know just how anal they are about posting anything up on youtube.  Great band, but David, Nigel and Derek are such humourless prigs.  Well, if I can't find what I want to play, you get dosed with a blast of bass.  Enjoy!