Monday, January 08, 2024

Bus Rider.


NeitherGuess
NorWhoVille


Had a fall on my bike on one of those slightly frosty, sneaky black ice mornings a couple of weeks before Christmas and messed up my hip.

It's just about back to normal now and I've started to get back into the saddle again with a few tentative, short rides.

Anyway...

Because of all that, I've been putting my Compass card to good use and have been taking the bus to and from work recently.

And I've got to say that the bus drivers were all aces back when I was really hobbling, lowering that front step and always waiting until I had a seat up front.

And that R4 that booms along 41st, east and west going from one end of Lotusland Central to the other?

It's the fastest thing going - almost like your own private helicopter across town - if you were travelling with 80 of your best friends on a multi-wheeled articulated whirly-gig.

And, apropos of essentially nothing at all, except for the fact the the guy sang it to the girl on the bus in 'Once' (see clip, above), here's a cover of a trifle that has been stuck in my head for more than fifteen years now...

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Truth be told,
I love public transit and always try to take it at least once wherever I go...Heckfire, in addition to a Translink Compass card, I've also got an Opus card in my wallet because I actually enjoy taking the 747 bus from Dorval into Montreal - for all kinds of reasons, including the fact that it's just about the only place in that town where people don't immediately switch to English when they hear my crummy French...And it won't be long until I can get such a card with my photo on it...
Tommy Smothers, one of my Dad's favourites,  passed away last week...Here's a great oral(ish) history of his life and times by David Bianculli and Terry Gross on US'ian Public Radio.
And another great, one of the matriarch's of the Salish (and surrounding) Sea's orca community, T46, or 'Wake', has also left us...Here's a great interview about her and hers with Jared Towers of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, also on Public  Radio...And here's something you might not know (I certainly didn't)...Almost fifty years ago, Wake was captured in Budd Inlet in the deepest part of Puget Sound with five other orcas...All six were destined for a long, long stint in an aquarial prison before a massive public outcry led to their release and a permanent (we hope) end to live whale capture...
On a lighter note, regardless how you feel about the sound of his stuff, which likely hinges on whether or not you think that late '80's album of Robbie Robertson's has stood the test of time (or not), anyone who is interested in the process of how the music gets made will dig this three (yes, three!) hour interview of Daniel Lanois by Rick Beato.
Earworm in the sub-header got your presque vu sense tingling?...This!


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7 comments:

Grant G said...

Happy 2024 Mr K

This is gonna get very lively.



https://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-age-of-deliberate-idiots-and-fall.html

Cheers Eyes Wide Open

RossK said...

Great to hear from you Grant - hope all is well with you and yours.

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e.a.f. said...

Have never heard, If we make it through Dec., played this way. Very interesting and very sad. Puts the song on a whole different level.

The Guess Who, the mention of the name caused me to review them on Wiki. OMG, I must be old. Some of it is from high school days and to early years of adulthood. No car, on the bus to work. Buses weren't that crowded in those days so it wasn't bad. Did give you a better view of things around you.

Do be careful on that bike, as we age, falling is not much fun and can be downn right dangerous. Happy to hear you're also getting better.

The mention of the whales, actually do remember the protests about that. At least they got to live out their lives in freedom. Never understood why whales were captured and inprisoned. The animals were smart. Would have loved to have put some of those acquarium people in a small swimming pool and left them there for a few decades to see how they liked it.

"almost 50 years ago", please I'm still telling myself I'm 38 but its difficult when you write "almost 50 years ago". ah, the early 1970s. never saw those forest fires coming that we now have. drove all over the province in my orange mini-austin 1000.

The song is sad because during that time B.C. had high unemployment rates and the first food bank in B.C. was opened. It was on Vancouver Island when former forestry and mill workers weren't working and couldn't make it. They needed assistance. We still have food banks and the need is getting greater. We haven't come that far

Here is to spring and better riding conditions, less war
Thank you for the music. It makes me laugh that I was a young adult during that time. "If we make it through Dec", I'm greedy, I'd like to make it through the next 10, 15 years to see how this all ends and what happens next.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

RossK said...

Thanks e.a.f. - for all those great memories and ruminations...

Truth be told, I kind of swiped the arrangement of the Haggard tune from a kid one of my kid's took me to see last summer.

You can hear that version....Here.


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e.a.f. said...

Thank you! she has a lovely voice and style. Its a song you usually hear men sing, so its interesting to hear her sing it. Noticed a lot of other interesting music on the list. Tomorrow's music, again thank you.

RossK said...

e.a.f.--

You have to thank littler e!

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e.a.f. said...

Thank you "littler e". You're a special source of great information. Happy to see your following the family tradition.