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I’m going to rake the snow off the yard now

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Why have us Canadians been so cranky lately? Well it all has to do with the over abundance of white stuff all over the place. Ok some of you guys in the US, yes we’ll include you as well!

We’ve had it up to here, I mean the height of our glacier on our front yard, with all that blowing snow and cold temperatures stuff! For crying out loud, yesterday we took the dog for a walk at Cherry Beach in Toronto and we thought it was warm out, it was only 1 (C)!!! Lucky for us this is about a 10 minute drive from out house.

All we want is to go out to an outdoor patio, ones that don’t mind our puppy too much, and have a drink and something to eat relax and plus bath in the warmth of the sun.

What did we do to you Mother Nature to have you soooo pissed off at us? Please reply back soon!

Keep on Jammin’




Now I am pissed

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I am a non violent person who has never hit anyone. I tend to turn the other cheek and it takes a hell of a lot to get me mad, just ask anyone who knows me,but this time I have to take a stand!

canadarm.jpg

A Canadian company called MDA, makes the pride of this country, “The Canadarm”. For many years, we the Canadian people have cheered on this great piece of Canadiana! This is company who has received 100’s of millions of our hard earned tax dollars to research, develop and make this extraordinary piece of space technology. Never since the Avro Arrow has the average Canadian been more proud of a product they can call their own!

dextre.jpg How can the ruling government of Canada, the Conservative Party (the same ones who dismantled the Avro Arrow), do the same stupid thing twice? Once again these idiots are running and ruining the Canadian High Tech industry!

Here is a 1-800 number and e-mail to contact these bastards to let them know how you feel, it’s your right, your tax dollars and our pride on the line here folks!

1-888-780-6444
info@mdacorporation.com

Keep on Jammin’

Kiss me I’m Irish

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Well Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!

kissmeimirish.jpg

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Traditional Gaelic blessing

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh


Jeff Healey rest in peace

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I found this out this morning while making Midnights breakfast (she’s our new beautiful Labrador Retriever).

Wow, taking about being blown away! I think that I will always remember where I was and what I was doing when I found out of this great musical lose! I can still remember when I found out that Stevie Ray Vaughan had passed. I actually called my wife right after finding out.

Rock and jazz musician Jeff Healey died Sunday in a Toronto hospital after a battle with cancer, his publicist said. He was 41.

Healey lost his sight at age one as a result of Retinoblastoma, a rare form of retinal cancer.

Retinoblastoma, is a cancer that hits children younger than 5 years of age.

Healey had the great honour of playing with George Harrison doing one of Harrison’s songs called As my guitar gently weeps. He also played with other guitar gods such as B.B. King and Stevie Ray Vaughan. It was Stevie ray who actually brought Jeff into the greater world musical spotlight. Being in the 1988 movie called “Road House” didn’t hurt either!

I was in his club called Healey’s in Toronto and saw Saga’s second last show in Canada, the last one was in my home town of Brantford, with the lead singer Michael Sadler. Nice place to see a show, go check it out.

My wife and I are God parents to my cousin’s son and he is blind. This happened as a result of contracting a disease called Toxoplasmosis. He is a very outgoing little fire cracker and has a love for all genres of music. He has developed a great singing/rapping voice and has actually recorded some tunes at a local recording company.

My cousin and his son went to a event for the blind that Jeff Healey was at around 3 years ago. His dad thought that it would be a blast for his son to meet him, so they both went up to talk to him. When they met, our godson went silent, if you actually know this little guy, you would think that I was making all this all up because he’s never Silent! He knew who Jeff was and what he accomplished so maybe that is why he was nervous about meeting him.

So let’s keep Jeff and his family in our prayers.

Jeff Healey
1966 – 2008

Best Selling Album of all time turns 25

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It’s hard to believe, but Michael Jacksons Thriller album is now 25 years old. To celebrate the albums milestone a special 25th anniversary edition of the album hit stores in February.

I realize that most people either love or hate this guy, but I happen to be caught in the middle. His way of making music does get your attention. It seems to be passing the test of time and we all know that that is the true yard stick to measure success. Hell, the man-child even got the great Eddie Van Halen to play on this album.

Van Halen’s guitar style, referred to as Shred, comes at you like the heat of the sun on a cold winter’s day on “Beat it”! If the album’s style passes the Eddie test then there has to be something great and innovative about Micheal’s formula, to successful writing!

If you want to hear more about the album and hear what the King of Pop himself has to say about it watch this video.

You know it’s cold when

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… the dog rings her “outside bell” at the door to go out for her … daily constitution … but then refuses to go out in the cold!

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I realize that it’s not as cold here as it is in some parts of this great country we call Canada, but my God -22 C minus 7.6 (Fahrenheit) is not exactly twisting by the pool weather either!

Our NOT so little puppy Midnight, is just such a well adjusted dog at home when she is with us. She doesn’t bark all that much, but when she has to go outside she just stands at the door looking at us to pick up on it. We’ve tried to get her to make some sort of noise, but she just sits there patiently wanting out. When we told her obedience instructor about this (BTW, she just successfully graduated from Puppy Training classes this past Friday night) he had an idea!

He told us to get a bird bell and attach it somewhere near the front door then train her to touch the bell with her nose thus making a sound to alert us to her wishes. It took a while, but she does this now and it honestly works! Just a short while ago she went up to the bell and rang it. I then went to put her leash on and opened the door outside for her to do her thing. After opening the screen door to let her out, a huge gust of wind greeted us and she backed away from the door. I wish that I had the video camera running to catch it on film because she was thinking the exact thing that I was at the same time!

I hope that Wiarton Willie, our famous Ontario Ground Hog, as seen here on youtube is right this time around!

keep on Jammin’

This just in, last night it finally reached a balmy -31 (C) or -23 (F)

The PATH in Toronto

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I was downtown the other day and we ran into the hidden gem for all tourists to use in the winter time. We haven’t used this way for years and I just wanted to share it with you all.

Like most cities that have cold/snowy weather during the winter, you have to deal with the slush and snow while traversing through the core. This really can put a damper on your experience here. So in the early 1900’s our forefathers came up with this fairly new concept on building a underground city to keep you spirits warm and dry. I know that this sounds like some bad sci-fi movie idea, but it works great!

It started out around the landmark Eaton Centre then other locations started to jump on board with this fabulous idea. Then a 1988 reform in city council decided to scale back this idea. After this, developers had to give way to their tenants cries to have their locations attached to this revolutionary way of shopping. This gave way to the rise in land value of the property making the developers owners of the most valuable pieces of property in the country.

According to Guinness World Records, PATH is the largest underground shopping complex in the world with 371,600 square metres (27 km.)of retail space. The PATH also holds the bragging rights to the worlds largest side walk sale! It’s even bigger then the whole size of the West Edmonton Mall. If you’ve ever been there then you get the idea. Soon, they say, it will cover around 60 kilometers underneath the downtown area.

If you ever come to Toronto for a visit, check out the official PATH site and print out a copy, it’ll be one of the best things you did if you come here!

Keep on Jammin’

Oscar Peterson RIP

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I don’t know where to start on this post because I have been in a state of disbelief ever since it has happened. One of the last jazz giants Oscar Peterson has left the building. On top of it all, was Canadian! Not many people are aware of this fact, especially Canadians themselves.

He was born on August 15, 1925 in a limestone house on Delisle Street in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He played trumpet THEN piano, he had TB at the tender age of 7 then concentrated solely on piano. He did most of his recognizable contributions to jazz in the 50’s and 60’s and was best known for his impeccable playing technique. Some may have thought that was his only real gift but when he flew up or down the keys in either PPP or FFF, it was obvious the the guy knew exactly how to execute his talent like no one before. To all of you guitar speed freaks not familiar with him, think Eddie Van Halen!

Over the years he played with the many of the great Jazz Masters. He worked with Ray Brown, Herb Ellis, Ed Thigpen, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Clark Terry, and Joe Pass. Most of these are not household names, but trust me they are giants in the Jazz world!

Most of his major musical influences more well known though. They were Nat ‘King’ Cole, the legendary Art Tatum, Teddy Wilson and James P. Johnson.

Some people consider Oscar Peterson a jazz player who plays standard blues licks over and over again. Although this maybe true, he sounds like he was comfortable in blues as he was in jazz.

As they say ” the world is smaller then you think “, a great guy that I work with is his 1st cousin! He told me that his part of the family was not that close to them. He can’t remember the last time that he saw him which is sad.

I have always wanted to see this legend live, but sadly I didn’t. Not witnessing one of the last remaining great Jazz pianists to play live, is one of the many great acts that will have to be played only on DVD and regrettably not within my memory.

Oscar Peterson RIP

Keep on Jammin’ Oscar

It’s Rocket Robin Hood

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I decided to wake up this Saturday morning very early and the TV was on. What I saw on the old idiot box, that’s what my dad called it, was Rocket Robin Hood of the 30th century.

As a kid growing up, the Saturday morning cartoons were part of the weekend routine and good old Robin, Little John and Friar Tuck were right there in the middle! The sound of the intro called In Troubled Times or the Countdown brought chills up and down my spine.

I was watching The Incredible Gem of Cosmo Khan. Seeing the name Cosmo brought to mind a inter-galactic Kramer with rag tag army of bad guys, if only he did the voice over it would have been my favorite episode!

Kramer, I mean Cosmo Khan was shrunk the tiny planet of Thor, on the outskirts of the galaxy, and held it for ransom until the U.S.S. (United Solar Systems) make Khan the Supreme War Lord of the universe! So now the U.S.S. had to ask Robin to join in their fight for the little planet. One thing though, Robin is a outlaw himself. Ok, they grant him amnesty and all is forgiven.

So the U.S.S. give the boys a ship and they take off immediately to Kramer’s, for some reason I can’t get him out of my head, Khan’s asteroid planet of Xanador to try and stop him. The ship is a bird and while descending to the planet some red neck hunters shot them down, wait there’s more!

After using their gravity boots to land safely, they finally reach Khans castle. They enter by digging under the wall using their disintegrating rays. Ok, their in.

They now must swim in the moot and get into the castle proper. Now inside, Khan is having lunch while admiring the shrunken planet of Thor on his galactic side table that has a magnetic field around it but for some reason it doesn’t work covering the top.

Now Khan is a little sleepy after his umpteenth home made solar chardonnay and finally passes out! Robin notices this flaw in the protective shield and jumps up on a ceiling beam with little John and they do some fishing, well that’s what they said. They got it, until Little John screamed out We got it and woke up Khan and he called his thugs.

Ah, it’s a two parter, can you believe it! Now I have to wake up next Saturday morning to see the Escape from Xanador episode!

Well I hope that I brought you all back to your Saturday morning cartoon memories, I know Robin did.

Keep on Jammin’ Rocket Robin Hood

Back from Vegas Baby

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If there is only one phrase that I can use to explain Las Vegas N.V. it would be, this place is way over the top!

las-vegas.jpg The buzz of the city was not that apparent when we landed at McCarren airport. We got off the plane, picked up our luggage then got a cab. I had never seen a live palm tree before so I certainly got my fill before we reached the new Las Vegas strip. There is a new and old part of Vegas, but we were going to be exposed to the new part only. Our cabbie informed us that these trees cost the city around $30,000.00 US each.

Now the buzz of the city did not just creep up on us, it exploded right in front of our eyes!

Traveling on the strip was like entering a place similar to Disney World, but for adults! The buildings were like nothing that I had even seen before and I love my architecture. They were polished like a brand new diamond rings, while being very ornate in every fashion. They all had their own individual architectural look to them that when all put together, surprisingly did not clash at all.

The people, well they must have numbered in the 1000’s, they seemed to be walking around in all directions, looking up and gazing upon these very large temples of excess in awe, just like I was! The billboards were in a category all by themselves. If you think that time square in New York has great billboards then you have got to go to Vegas.

We then were let off at our hotel called the Imperial Palace. Before we even walked in the door, you could hear sounds and cheering like I have never heard on any CSI show or a documentary on this famous city. You could feel the sounds of the machines that everyone was on. There was a strange and unique buzz in the air to put it mildly.

After trying to navigate through the literal sea of gamblers and onlookers, desperately struggling with our bags of belongings, we finally reached the correct elevators. The people coming off them were all acting like kids in a candy shop! They were all of different ethnic backgrounds wearing smiles on their faces as wide as the desert which we just flew over.

After getting off the elevator and into the suite, we were on a this adrenalin rush like only the great city of Las Vegas could provide! I was in this dream like state of mind and was just waiting for something else to happen, this time it was not that much fun.

I’ll fill you in on the rest in another post! Stay tuned!

Keep on Jammin’

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