Petition to Restore CBC Radio Two May 30, 2007
Posted by Dale in Music.10 comments
A couple of months ago, CBC Radio 2 made some changes which resulted in the cancellation of its evening classical music programmes, including my favourite: Two New Hours with Larry Lake. Two New Hours was the only radio programme to exclusively feature contemporary classical music, and its cancellation has ramifications for all of Canada’s composers and musicians, not to mention the audiences who relied on this particular programme as the only one of its kind to present the music of our living composers, as interpreted by Canada’s best, most creative musicians. It allowed us to travel all across the country from the comfort of our own homes, to hear great concerts such as those from the Winnipeg New Music Festival, and to feel connected with the new music community. It was one-of-a-kind, and now it’s gone – there is no alternative.
Critics (myself included) are condemning the changes as a “dumbing down” of CBC’s programming, that it unnecessarily duplicates other radio stations’ programming and leaves a big hole in fulfilling its mandate “to provide rich, original content that reflects the diversity of Canada.” Some lively discussions about the issue can be found here and here, as well as this letter to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage by composer Paul Steenhuisen.
A petition to restore CBC Radio Two has been initiated to try and convince those in power to undo these changes and reinstate “the type of intelligent, provocative and informative programming that has long been a hallmark of Radio 2.” Feel free to sign this petition if you have any interest in the issue. And be assured, this is NOT one of those silly chain emails that goes around; it is a legitimate petition.
Here’s hoping I get my CBC back.
Win CF Light Bulbs! May 18, 2007
Posted by Dale in Environment.1 comment so far
If you are the owner of a single family dwelling on PEI, and are interested in finally making the switch from incandescent to compact fluorescent light bulbs, why not get some for free! Green Light Prince Edward Island is holding a lottery draw in which 1000 winners will be chosen (the week of June 11) to receive up to 12 CF light bulbs to replace any existing incandescents in their homes.
This contest is the second phase of Green Light PEI’s A Bright Idea project, the goal of which is to “help homeowners save energy and money, and in turn, reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” The results of their pilot project in 2006 demonstrated that the average household retrofitted with CF bulbs reduced their energy use by 2.6 kilowatt hours per day (worth about $95/year), and reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 0.65 tonnes per participant. It is another example of how a small action can make a big difference – imagine how much greenhouse gases could be reduced if everyone made the switch.
Check out Green Light PEI’s website for more details on the contest. It is a great project, and a great chance to win some free bulbs. And with 1000 winners, the odds are pretty good!
Incidentally, our house is outfitted completely with CF bulbs (which makes us ineligible for the contest), and although the initial cost was higher up front (compared to incandescents), we have not had to change a single bulb since we installed them over six years ago!
Music Festival – on marks and competition May 14, 2007
Posted by Dale in Kids, Life, Music.1 comment so far
My daughter sang in the Kiwanis Music Festival today. It was so sweet. All the girls who sang were very cute. I love the fact that Riley likes to perform in front of an audience – she’s really into it, and I hope she will always retain that joy for sharing music. Last year was the first year she sang in the festival, and it was a non-competitive class – everyone got a participant ribbon, no first-second-third nonsense. If only life could be so, well, non-competitive. Although Riley’s classes were competitive this year, she still didn’t seem too concerned about whether or not she would win, although she very much hoped to get a ribbon (colour not important), just because she likes ribbons – and she came home with a blue one and a white one (even better – two different colours!).
You might wonder what would be the point of having competitive classes at that age – is there any real purpose to being marked and ranked when you’re seven? I suppose it prepares kids for “real life” and the reality of sports and spelling bees… and jobs. Having gone through that whole music festival experience myself, as both participant and adjudicator, I am cognizant of the somewhat subjective nature of music competitions – of how the adjudicator’s own musical tastes, biases and expectations come into play in their evaluations. When I adjudicate, or when I have to mark my university students on their progress, I always find myself wishing I didn’t have to assign a mark – that I could just relate my comments and constructive criticism, and leave it at that. Of course, that would be taking the easy way out – and what kind of message would that send to the kids? There’s already an attitude (borderline epidemic?) of entitlement apparent among today’s youths. Perhaps we should embrace any opportunity to demonstrate to kids that success requires effort, that hard work is rewarded – and that you don’t automatically get something just because you want it.
While we may worry now about our desire to keep the music festival experience a good one, it is inevitable, if the adjudicators are doing their job, that Riley (and Bailey, in his turn) will experience disappointment along the way. And rather than try to negate or temper the impact of such an experience, perhaps the best thing we can do as parents is to make sure our kids learn something valuable in the process – how to deal with disappointment, to see it as an opportunity to build character, and to always look for the positive in any situation. Lifelong goals, for sure. And if we can keep music-making fun through all of that, then I will be very happy.
My 1200 Calorie Breakfast May 9, 2007
Posted by Dale in Health, Vegetarian Food, Wheat-free.1 comment so far
I’ve always believed in having a good breakfast, although the actual content has changed a lot over the years. As a kid, bacon and eggs were the usual thing; now, as a vegetarian, I start my day with a base of whole grains. What has remained consistent is that my breakfast is BIG. Today, I decided to find out just how big – here is a typical morning meal:
That ought to get me through to lunch!
Music from CTV Ad May 3, 2007
Posted by Dale in Music.1 comment so far
We don’t have cable TV, so the only channels we get are CBC, CTV and Global on a clear day. Honestly, though, who needs more than CTV? With Criminal Minds, Lost, Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, and all the CSIs and Law and Orders (and yes, even American Idol), CTV is it for me. One could easily spend their whole evening glued to CTV, although thanks to facebook, this doesn’t happen so much anymore!
I’ve been really enjoying the music on one of the CTV ads – it’s the ad with the bouncing “C” ball and pretty much all the stars of all the shows on CTV – the one which starts with Jon Stewart doing air grafitti, and where George from Grey’s gets it in the you-know-what. I was determined to find out what the song was, and have learned that it is the title track from Natasha Bedingfield’s album Unwritten.
According to her website, Natasha Bedingfield is “the UK’s biggest female pop star bar none”. And I’ve never even heard of her. But then, that genre isn’t really what I stay on top of. I do like that song though, and once I figured out what it was, I downloaded it from Puretracks so I could listen to the whole thing. I like it! I also like expanding my musical horizons, and that means keeping my ears (and my mind) open – inspiration can come at any time and from any place, even from a simple ad on TV.
