All posts by pierrev

Posts from the road

Return to Montreal – Part 2

2 Comments

(Montreal, Quebec, Canada)

[Somewhat delayed continuation of our April 30-May 2 trip to Montreal – click here for the previous post]

We weren’t looking for a vegan restaurant, but that just happened to be the most interesting option in Hochelaga as Saturday morning gave way to afternoon. Not just vegan burgers, but also vegan bacon!

Lunch at Antidote Bouffe Végane, on Rue Ontario in Hochelaga (Montreal)

Of course, what trip to Montreal would be complete without a visit to the record shops in the Plateau neighbourhood? I do most of my record shopping locally in Kingston, but it’s always interesting to pop into a Montreal shop and see what’s available. And it seemed like the right thing to do, because we were going to a concert that night!

This historic church is on rue Ste-Catherine in the heart of downtown Montreal..it is also a concert venue called Le Balcon!

For our first concert since the pandemic, we attended a “Soul/Motown/Disco” event at Le Balcon. This is a unique concert venue in downtown Montreal…in a church! The female vocalist, Kim Richardson, was outstanding. I must admit that it felt a little strange being in an enclosed space for a concert again, but the Province of Quebec has been quite cautious about re-opening and most people seemed to be on their best behaviour. And the show must have been pretty good – I’ve been listening to a lot of Earth, Wind & Fire since then! The photo at the top of this blog post was taken outside the venue on rue Ste-Catherine, right after the concert ended.

Some of Montreal’s subway stations haven’t been renovated since the 1970s…

On Sunday morning, we continued one of our favourite Montreal pastimes: hopping on the bus or subway and exploring a more-or-less random neighbourhood. Unlike Toronto, Montreal still has a special transit pass that is valid from Friday evening (when we arrived) until early Monday morning. Because every trip after about the 4th is free, you don’t need to worry about making mistakes. Another train or bus will come along in a few minutes!

La Luncheonette (Saint-Henri)

We eventually found ourselves in the “transitioning” neighbourhood of Saint-Henri. We had a peaceful al fresco lunch at the appropriately-named La Luncheonette. I wasn’t necessarily trying to go meat-free this weekend, but the vegetarian chili with corn muffins looked delicious (and indeed it was). I don’t remember what exactly was in my smoothie, but it hit the spot too.

Vegetarian Chili with corn muffins at La Luncheonette

We had “timed-entry” tickets to a special museum later that afternoon, so we had a little bit of free time available. We decided to visit the Marché Atwater, which had a ton of fresh produce (see photo below) but also had a lot of highly specialized shops for cheese, vinegars, olives, etc. We couldn’t really take much with us, but once again it was nice to be in a “bustling” environment after a couple of largely bustle-free years.

Our last stop of the day was at the Musée des Ondes Emile Berliner in Saint-Henri. OK, the name may not mean much to you. But Emile Berliner built a massive gramophone factory here that was later absorbed into the RCA Victor organization. And on this very site, there is now a specialized museum dedicated to gramophones, phonographs, and other entertainment and communication technologies of the 20th century.

Of course, for a vinyl geek like me, this is really fascinating stuff. If you think vinyl turntables are bulky and fussy, look at these beasts! I enjoyed listening to some original shellac records – you really feel like you are listening to ghosts of the past.

But some of the technology goes further back than those brittle shellac discs. How about cylinders? Check out the Edison cylinder player below. A music cylinder is kind of like a flat vinyl record wrapped around a tube, and the stylus (needle) slowly makes its way around and across the cylinder. This technology goes back to 1896!

There were also some displays about radio and television, so I can recommend this to my former colleagues at CFRC-FM. It’s a very small, out-of-the-way place (there were only two other visitors while we were there), but it’s really cool if you have interests in both history and recorded music.

You may be wondering why it took more than 4 months to post this blog entry. Well, there have been some distractions this summer. And my next blog post will explain (almost) everything!

Posts from the road

Return to Montreal

Leave a comment

(Montreal, Quebec, Canada)

On April 30, we took our first real “vacation” together in more than 2 years. Yes, we had taken longer trips in 2021 for sports competitions, but this was travel purely for the sake of travel. And we even left the province of Ontario!

Restaurant Manana on rue St. Denis in Montreal

Masks were still required on the train, as they were in most indoor settings. We also had to provide proof of vaccination before boarding. But, even with our masks on, we found ourselves appreciating the change of scenery more than we expected. After so long in isolation, everything different seemed to have an additional “wow” factor. I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited to take the Metro in Montreal!

My main course at Restaurant Manana – pollo garnachero

I found a nifty little Mexican restaurant near our hostelry, and we were blown away by the colours even before we sat down. And the service at Restaurant Manana was just as vibrant as the surroundings. I also really appreciated the range of unusual hot sauces I could try with my meal.

Dessert at Restaurant Manana (already in progress)

Once again, we bought a weekend transit pass so that we could zoom around the city without any worries. The next morning, our first stop was the Botanical Gardens in the east end of Montreal. We haven’t spent any significant time in the east end before, but looked forward to some urban green space and what we presumed would be interesting non-touristic neighbourhoods.

We met this (wild) owl at the Montreal Botanical Gardens

The Botanical Gardens were huge. Maybe it wasn’t quite the same as New York City’s Central Park, but it was really interesting to see all of the different botanical regions in one very walkable place. Our favourite was probably the Alpine zone. At the edge was a very impressive (and very chilled-out) owl, who kindly let me and many other amateur photographers snap his picture.

More from the Montreal Botanical Gardens

My wife has pledged to return to the gardens at different times of the year, in order to fully appreciate all it has to offer. It is conveniently located right beside Montreal’s infamous Olympic Stadium (see photo at the very top of this post), which is legendary in Canada for its phenomenal cost overruns. It wasn’t paid off until 30 years after the Olympics ended, as it was over budget by nearly 2000%! Yes, 2000%!

Skateboarding beside Montreal’s Olympic Stadium

I attended my first ever professional baseball game here about 40 years ago, when Montreal still had a major league team (the Expos). I will never forget watching the game in that cavernous concrete beast of a building! Stories about pieces of the concrete roof falling onto the field were not completely fictitious. While the stadium is finally paid off now, most of the action these days is in the skateboard park beside the stadium.

“Boutique Hellvis”: one of many interesting things in Montreal’s Hochelaga district

From the Olympic Stadium, it was only a short walk to the Marché Maisonneuve and then the Hochelaga neighbourhood. Hochelaga definitely wasn’t touristy, and it was a little scruffy in places, but it had a lot of unique attractions for its residents. “Boutique Hellvis” certainly wasn’t the only one. Somehow, Montreal seems to have avoided the corporate creep that has anonymized so many North American cities. So many businesses were independently owned, and they really emphasized their local products. We ended up having lunch in a Hochelaga vegan restaurant…stay tuned for the details on that and our interesting evening out!

Posts from Base Camp

The DNA Test – Travel through time

1 Comment

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

Today’s post is a little different, but still very much in the spirit of travel.

Although I had been thinking about it for a while, I finally got around to requesting an “Ancestry DNA” test this spring. And the results have now arrived.

Getting caught by the waves at the same beach where my father played as a child (‘s-Gravenzande, the Netherlands)

On the surface, the expectation was simple. With one Swiss parent and one Dutch parent, one would expect the results to be 50% from each country. But I also heard some other distant echoes from the past.

My ancestors lived in Maassluis, the Netherlands, many centuries ago

Over time, family stories become almost accepted as fact. And one of my family stories was that we had some Spanish ancestry, due to the Spanish occupation of the Netherlands in the 16th century. With respect to the Swiss side of my family, I wondered if there might be some Italian influence, given the fairly close proximity of Italy to my ancestral place of origin. And I also wondered what other interesting connections may have been forgotten in the mists of time.

A church in Lenk (Switzerland) – I wonder what important family events took place here?

I was pretty excited when the results finally arrived. When I clicked on the link, I discovered something very interesting. Switzerland and the Netherlands each belong to the same two broader groups: “Germanic Europe” and “England and Northwestern Europe”. And I had almost complete (92%) ancestry in those two regions.

Lots of choices, high above Lenk and Adelboden (Switzerland)

I found the “England and Northwestern Europe” region interesting. Consisting mostly of England, Belgium, the southern Netherlands, Northeast France and Switzerland, I had never really considered that DNA from England would be connected to both of my countries of origin. This region even contributed more to me than the anticipated “Germanic Europe” region.

Mårten Trotzigs gränd – the narrowest street in Sweden (Stockholm)

And what about the other 8%? The stories and guesses were, in a word, wrong. No Italy. No Spain. As it turns out, most of my other ancestry was from Sweden/Denmark, with a smaller part from Norway. I had always been looking south, but it appears that I should have been looking north.

Terminus of the railway to Flam (Norway)

I know that these tests are not 100% accurate, and of course some ancestry is lost with each passing generation. But way back in 2012, I felt very comfortable in Stockholm (see photo at the very top of this post). I thought it was a place in which I could live. It makes you wonder why I had that feeling.

Posts from the road

More on Toronto, and looking ahead

Leave a comment

(Toronto, Ontario, Canada)

It’s been 30 years since I lived in Toronto, so it is not surprising that much has changed. My old neighbourhood (Avenue Road, near Dupont Street) has become far more expensive and “intensified”, but those changes had been creeping north from Yorkville for many years.

View from my hotel room on Queen’s Quay in downtown Toronto (March 6, 2022)

I was more surprised by the extent of the redevelopment of the waterfront area. When I lived in Toronto, the lands south of Union Station did not really attract much attention (or many people). Now, however, it seems like entirely new neighbourhoods have sprung up and there is a sense of community that I never noticed before. I wouldn’t normally stay in that area but, thanks to an online deal, my hotel was cheaper than even the traditional “budget” hotels near the train station. And it had a meal credit tossed in as well.

The Rogers Centre (formerly SkyDome), home of the Toronto Blue Jays

Maybe it was the bright sunshine, but everything seemed to be shiny and new. i doubt that many of the skyscrapers shown in the “cover photo” at the top of this post existed in the early 1990s. With so many people enjoying the weather and being on the waterfront, the energy I found on Kensington Market (see my previous post here) was also apparent in what used to be a nondescript part of the city. And on the first weekend of March, to boot!

Toronto Harbour

All of this made me decide to take advantage of some accumulated loyalty program points and make plans for another big city getaway. Having had a proper glimpse of downtown Toronto for the first time in a couple of years, it was time to visit Montreal!

My Toronto hotel, as seen from the harbour

We went to Montreal at the end of April (8 weeks after Toronto, but just before this post was published – it’s complicated). I’ll have a full report soon!

Posts from the road

Inspiring Stopover in Toronto

2 Comments

(Toronto, Ontario, Canada)

My flight from Calgary to Toronto arrived on Saturday evening, just a bit too late to catch the last train back to Kingston. I decided to stay in Toronto for the night, and then head back to Kingston on Sunday afternoon. This gave me just enough time to visit some old (and new!) haunts in Toronto.

“My Roti” from “My Roti Place” – March 5, 2022 (Toronto, Ontario)

My hotel was downtown on Queen’s Quay, so I assumed that I’d have no problem finding dinner even though it was well past 9:00 p.m. (It took 1 hour and 39 minutes for my luggage to show up on the airport carousel, so not all of the pandemic kinks have been worked out yet!) I started to get worried though: ever since the pandemic, a lot of restaurants stop serving by 9:00 or 9:30 p.m. My first two choices fell into this category. I finally decided to take a chance on something called “My Roti Place”.

My Roti Place (Cameron Street at Queen Street West) – March 6, 2022

This ended up being one of those happy accidents that makes travel so enjoyable. The roti (almost like a rectangular soft tortilla) had an absolutely delicious filling. My filling was Paneer (an Indian cheese) in a curry called “Awesome Tangra Hakka Chilly”, but you could design your own with one of four levels of spiciness. I opted for “medium” (the others are “mild”, “serious” and “stupid”) and it was perfect for me. This wasn’t elegant cuisine by any means, but it “gave me a sense of enormous well-being” (to quote Blur, from their mid-1990s hit Parklife). And just like that, I have another “go-to” place in downtown Toronto.

I did have to check out this venerable record shop (Kops) on Queen Street West

The next day, the temperature eventually rose to an unseasonably warm 16’C. Far too hot for March 6 in Canada, perhaps, but perfect for a wander from Queen’s Quay to Kensington Market. I found some vinyl rarities at Kops on Queen Street West, a store that was around even when I lived in Toronto in the early 1990s. They have an outstanding selection (as in thousands and thousands) of high-quality 45s: you’ll have no trouble finding the song you’re looking for.

On such a warm day, a visit to Dolce Gelato in Kensington Market was almost mandatory

The vibe in Kensington Market was spectacular. I don’t think I’ve seen such a vital streetscape since the pandemic began. The Market can be pretty ramshackle in places, but it remains very low-rise and has largely avoided the creeping corporatization that has hit other parts of downtown Toronto (including parts of Queen Street West). While there’s been a bit of a shift from markets to restaurants, it’s still a great place to go when you are hungry (or plan to be soon).

And when I’m in the Kensington Market, a visit to Jumbo Empanadas is never a bad idea

I had a huge breakfast at the hotel, and wasn’t ready to face a delicious but weighty “pastel de choclo” at Jumbo Empanadas, a place (and delicious specialty) I’ve written about before. But the warm weather made some homemade gelato at Dolce a most satisfactory fall-back option. They have a lot of authentic Italian flavours, and it was wonderful to have some of their gelato again after a pause of several years. I really miss having gelato in Italy, and look forward to doing that again someday.

The “Hungary-Thai” Bar & Eatery in Kensington Market

I’ve written about eating Hungarian food in Toronto before but, oddly enough, it has always been at Hungarian restaurants. But as you can see, Kensington Market now has a “Hungary-Thai” restaurant that features cuisine from both Hungary and Thailand. I still wasn’t hungry enough to justify a visit this time, but I’m glad to see that Kensington Market continues to attract and support unique places like this.

This sunny and vibrant afternoon made me crave more of the energy that you can find in great city neighbourhoods. I’ve already made plans for another city visit…I’ll have some more Toronto photos (and some hints about where I’m going next) in this space soon!

Posts from the road

Last days of skiing in the Banff area

Leave a comment

(Canmore, Alberta, Canada)

For the fourth day of skiing, we went a little further afield to the Lake Louise ski area. I went skiing there in 2019, and was looking forward to revisiting the “Traumpiste” that we found in the area’s back bowls.

My only picture from Lake Louise. And the longest lineup we had for the entire week.

Once again, we had a very intense day of skiing. We were quite tired at the end of it. This was partly due to the amount of skiing we did, but also the conditions. There was a blizzard, so we really had to focus on what we were doing (and keep our knees bent just in case we hit some unexpected bumps).

Richard pauses halfway through some off-piste glade skiing on Goat’s Eye Mountain (Sunshine Village)

I am pleased to report that the Lake Louise resort renamed the “Brown Shirt” piste that I found troubling in 2019. It was such a shame that this great piste had such a dismal name. It is now called “Brown Cow”. Alas, the poor visibility meant that skiing this steep, unmarked and ungroomed piste was somewhat less than ideal. We didn’t return for a second try, despite knowing that all the fresh snow would create amazing conditions once the visibility improved.

And this is where we just skied to get to that spot. Lots of deep snow!

Our favourite itinerary for the day turned out to be a couple of black-rated pistes (#59 and #12) close to the main gondola. The visibility was OK and there wasn’t much traffic on these steep and snowy pistes. Without blizzard conditions, I can see how these could get icy and unpleasant very quickly.

Deep woods right beside the lower part of the Goat’s Eye Mountain chairlift

The drive home was an adventure, as the roads hadn’t been properly cleared. I was glad that we were in a heavy 4WD vehicle,

View of Goat’s Eye Mountain, from Mt. Standish (Sunshine Village). Glade skiing location on far right, just above the denser woods and marked trails.

We intended to return to Lake Louise for the final day of skiing. However, the roads were still dodgy once we approached Banff that morning. Even worse, traffic was getting backed up because of the sheer number of people who wanted to go skiing at Lake Louise (no doubt because of the previous day’s blizzard). We made a quick decision to turn off Highway 1 at Sunshine Village and ski there instead.

“The Great Divide”, as seen from Mount Standish (Sunshine Village)

This turned out to be a great decision. While the skies were once again overcast, Goat’s Eye Mountain was relatively untouched for the entire morning. I can’t say how much mileage we achieved, but it was a lot. And the conditions were really good despite the gray skies. We even managed a bit of glade skiing in the trees (see photos above).

One of Canmore’s many wild rabbits

While the afternoon didn’t quite live up to the morning, I was still pleasantly exhausted at the end of the day. The TP Town lift still had good soul and reggae music, and the heated seats were most welcome as the temperatures dipped to around -8’C.

Looking the opposite way (from the top photo) on “my” street in Canmore, Alberta

I left Alberta the next morning, and of course the sun shone brilliantly in response. But I was still very happy with how the skiing turned out. It’s great to rediscover something that at one time seemed lost forever.

Downtown Calgary in the distance, as seen from the departures area of Calgary’s airport

But that’s not the end of the trip! Stay tuned for the details of a brief but very enjoyable stopover on my way back home!

Posts from the road

Skiing at Banff/Sunshine Village

2 Comments

(Canmore, Alberta, Canada)

I’ve now completed three days of skiing at Banff Sunshine Village. The weather continues to be overcast and gray, but it really hasn’t affected my skiing enjoyment. I’ll take it over the -29’C temperatures I experienced the last time I was here!

Note the absence of a line-up for this chair lift (Sunshine Village)

Even though I have been active every single day of the pandemic, it often took the form of a walk or a relatively low-intensity sport. Hockey and soccer were severely curtailed. So I can’t overstate how good it feels to actually push myself to be seriously active for the entire day…multiple days in a row.

Typical skies this week above Sunshine Village

Although I have only skied for 3 days so far, it probably works out to be more like 5 or 6 “typical” days. There are only two of us skiing, lift lines are non-existent, and we ski at about the same pace…so we manage to get in a lot of runs. With the iffy weather, there also isn’t much incentive to linger over a beverage or have a leisurely al fresco lunch! While those things can also be enjoyable, it’s just not in the cards this year.

Naturally monochrome view from Mt. Standish, with Goat’s Eye Mountain to the left (Sunshine Village, Alberta)

At Sunshine Village, we spent most of our time in the “Goat’s Eye” area. There are basically two halves to Goat’s Eye Mountain (see photo above): the upper half is almost tundra-like, with fast, direct pistes. The bottom half is wooded, with terrain ranging from treed glades and mogul fields to steep powder stashes and leisurely cruising pistes. Our favourite piste this year was probably “Rolling Thunder”, which successfully combined a steep pitch with deep fluffy snow.

Delirium Dive at Sunshine Village: for adrenaline junkies only!

Sunshine Village also includes a couple of “hard core” areas for extreme skiers. Delirium Dive (access point pictured above) is one of them. You are not allowed to ski here unless you have avalanche equipment (digital avalanche transceiver, etc.) and a skiing partner with you. It’s rated a “double black diamond”, and the rating is certainly deserved. You can read more about Delirium Dive here.

Downtown Canmore, Alberta

We also spent some time on the areas serviced by the “Great Divide Express” and “TP Town” lifts. The TP Town chair lift is one of my favourites: not only is the music non-stop reggae (ideal for sports), but the seats are heated and there is also a “bubble” that you can pull down to shield yourself from the elements. The slopes are a little busier here, but my ski partner knows the area very well and was able to find hidden gems that the crowds completely ignored.

Downtown Canmore, Alberta (opposite corner from the previous photo)

Once again, my base for the week is the town of Canmore. I heard today that Canmore is the fastest-growing town in Canada. With the increasing popularity of telecommuting, more and more people are choosing to live here in the mountains rather than in big cities.

Stay tuned – I will be moving on to Lake Louise! Until then, here is a link to some highlights from the last time I went skiing here.

Posts from the road

My first flight/skiing/journey out of Ontario since the pandemic started

2 Comments

(Canmore, Alberta, Canada)

The title says it all. On very short notice, I found myself on a plane to Calgary and about to do my first skiing since my trip to Morzine, France, in early 2020.

My worst photo ever – I think it’s tilted at least 45 degrees

I’m once again based in Canmore, Alberta, and spent the first day of skiing at Sunshine Village (just north of Banff). There was no real sunshine today, and usually my ski photos feature brilliant sun and blue skies, but I’ve decided to include the photos anyway. After two years, I was just so thrilled to be on the slopes that I want to document the occasion here!

Not much better – this “Welcome Back to Sunny Alberta” sign is maybe 100 yards past the “Welcome to British Columbia” sign. Note: it’s not actually sunny.

In one of those quirks of geography, a tiny sliver of the Sunshine Village ski area is actually located in British Columbia. I took the above two photos to document my very brief visit to B.C. today. Both were snapped whilst riding the chair lift into the grey misty abyss at the top of the resort. So, I have successfully proven that (ski mitts + movement + fog + wind) = objectively bad photos. I even managed to make an uphill chair lift look like it was going downhill!

Goat’s Eye area – Sunshine Village, Alberta.

I was kind of anxious about the flight to Calgary, as I hadn’t been on one for so long and quite a few restrictions were still in place. But once I printed out my baggage tag, it all seemed to fall into place and it really wasn’t that different from before. I just had to wear a mask for a lot longer than I’m used to doing, and people seemed to be just a little more cautious about personal space, etc. And I’m OK with that.

Random skier at Sunshine Village

Being on skis for the first time in two years also brought some mild trepidation. Would I still remember how? Would I still like it? Would the overcast weather lessen the fun? Would I be cold?

View of the older part of Sunshine Village, from the Goat’s Eye area

I needn’t have worried. It all came back fairly quickly, and I’m not even feeling that sore…despite maintaining a hectic pace for the entire day (and having a fairly short lunch to boot). It was a reawakening – finally being able to do something that had brought me so much joy before the pandemic. I still like the deep snow, I still relish the challenge of solving the slope, and I still love being out in the mountains. We kept on going until the lifts were closed, and we’re going back tomorrow for more.

Well, of course we had to try it…

More snow is in the forecast for the rest of the week, so I may not post *any* spectacular sun-dappled ski photos at all. But I’m still ecstatic to be here, and I admit that I’m already looking forward to the next trip…wherever it may be.

Posts from Base Camp

Travel Flashback – Summer Trip to Switzerland (2006) – Part Three

Leave a comment

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

Today, I finally pulled the plug on my planned February 2022 ski trip to Zermatt, Switzerland. While I had been expecting this for some time, it was still kind of sad to cancel the Zermatt hotel room that would have formed the base for most of my trip. However, even with three COVID vaccinations so far, I couldn’t justify the costs and complications of international travel at this particular time. Perhaps to compensate, I’ve decided to finally write the final post from my summer 2006 trip to Switzerland. The first part is here, while the second part is here.

Italy! Domodossola’s old town (August 11, 2006)

As we had a Swisspass allowing unlimited travel on the Swiss transportation system, we were highly motivated to stay within Switzerland. However, certain cross-border trips were covered. One of them was to the northern Italian town of Domodossola. It was a nice change of pace, and we really enjoyed having a relaxed lunch on an outdoor patio.

Zermatt’s new town, with the Matterhorn struggling to emerge in the background (August 11, 2006)

While it would have been nice to stay longer, we had to return to Switzerland. In fact, our next stop was…Zermatt! A big part of Zermatt’s appeal is, of course, the Matterhorn. Alas, the grim weather that characterized much of this trip continued. We could barely see the Matterhorn from the village. And as you can see from the photo above, I had to put the jacket back on even though this was early August.

Zermatt’s old town (after many failed Matterhorn photos)…August 11, 2006

While we saw little of the Matterhorn, the trip to Zermatt was still memorable. I didn’t have a digital camera yet, but the views from the train were still stunning enough to attempt some pictures from the train window.

Crossing a bridge by train, and looking at other bridges (August 11, 2006) – near Stalden, Switzerland.

The next day, we explored the popular Swiss city of Luzern. It was much more crowded than our base in rural Hondrich. Once again, however, we used our SwissPass to see something totally unexpected: the Bourbaki Panorama. The Panorama is a very large round room, and it contains a very unusual thing: a circular painting! It is 377 feet long and 32 feet high, but each end is connected to the other. It depicts the French army retreating through Switzerland during the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian War. It’s a very long story – you can read more about it here.

My ticket to the Bourbaki Panorama in Luzern, Switzerland (August 12, 2006)

We took a walk on top of Luzern’s old city walls (the photo at the top of this post was taken from the top of the walls), saw some other typical Luzern sights, such as the old Kapellbrücke (chapel bridge) and the “Lion of Lucerne”, and then returned to Hondrich for one final night at the farmhouse.

At one end of Luzern’s ancient Kapellbrücke – August 12, 2006.

Writing this post has been another reminder of how much we took for granted in the past. Imagine making spontaneous decisions to hop on a train to visit another country! I remain hopeful that international travel will become a part of my life again soon, even if won’t be this winter.

Posts from Base Camp

2021 (Re-) Discoveries, Part 2

2 Comments

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

Following up on my Boxing Day post, here are some more things that I appreciated musically in 2021. Today’s focus is on music with a connection to this travel blog.

In 2018, I went to a music conference in New Jersey. We saw a great band called the Weeklings: you can read more about it here. A couple of the songs they debuted at that conference (see photo at the top of this post) have since made it onto their 3rd studio album (logically, called “3”). I think the above cover of “Baby You’re a Rich Man” improves considerably on the Beatles’ original version…which is not something I say very often!

But I also like the Weeklings’ original music. “In the Moment”, “Running Away”, and the title track from “3” may not sound like 21st century recordings: hearing them is like finding previously unreleased power pop gems from the last century. And what’s wrong with that?

Another vinyl compilation I picked up in 2021 was Stevie Wonder’s “Original Musiquarium I”. This double album collects some of his best 1970s tracks along with a handful of new recordings from the 1980s. It’s hard to imagine a better sequence of music than the beginning of side 3: “Higher Ground”, “Sir Duke”, “Master Blaster (Jammin’)”, and “Boogie on Reggae Woman”.

An urgent live version of “Higher Ground”

But Side 1’s opening comes close: “Superstition”, “You Haven’t Done Nothin'”, and “Living for the City”. Despite being quite a distance from the stage, seeing Stevie Wonder a few years ago in Toronto is one of our fondest concert memories. Here’s a link to that post.

…and an urgent live version of “Superstition”, from the same 1974 German TV appearance

2021 saw me listen to a lot of Marshall Crenshaw’s music again. We saw him perform in upstate New York in 2013, and I managed to get him to sign my copy of his self-titled 1982 debut album (the original vinyl pressing, of course). He was happy to hear that I played his music on my radio program at CFRC-FM.

My signed copy of Marshall Crenshaw’s debut album

That album remains a great blast of fresh air, but I also like playing his lesser-known 1996 Miracle of Science LP. It was recently reissued on vinyl, and included a bonus single with a Michel Pagliaro cover!

Someday, Someway is from Marshall’s debut album

Michel Pagliaro may not be well-remembered, but this Quebec singer wrote and performed “Lovin’ You Ain’t Easy”. The title is rubbish, but musically it has more hooks than almost any other single ever released. When we saw the Trans-Canada Highwaymen perform at the Grand Theatre in Kingston a few years ago, they performed this song as an encore. An absolute highlight! Pagliaro is still performing in Quebec to this day; maybe we’ll get a chance to see him soon.

Music has been an important part of our travels. While the pandemic is crushing any travel ideas right now, I’m hopeful that in a few months we’ll be journeying and listening to live music again.