Saturday Night's Alright For (Uke Cover) Fighting...This Time Featuring Bigger E!

First, the Original, covered by the excellent third generation Non-Originalists...

Next, Bigger E's amazingly graceful Uke Cover...

Why no video on this one?

Well....

If you listen closely I'm there in the audio mix, off in the background (which is right where I belong)...


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If you want to keep track of where E. is playing around town, and beyond (she's across the water at a gig tonight, in fact) her Twittmachine feed is....Here.
And, just in case you were looking for that seminal second generation cover by the exceptional Mr. Van Ronk, it's....Here.

And, especially if you are looking for true originality every which way to next July, I highly recommend this unbelievably raw and beautiful version from the good Mr. Buckley. 

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For My Dad...

HowManyBowsCanYouFitOnTheHeadOf

PinVille

Saw a bunch of boats running up the river while walking the Whackadoodle down at the ocean's edge this morning.

As the nice lady who took the image above, a little farther up the big muddy at New Westminster,  said on the Twittmachine...

'It's a Tugboat Party!'

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Actually, this might also be for my Granddad too.
A previous, much more important, post for my Pops that a lot of folks, all of whom I'm pretty sure are part of 'The Seventy Percent', is....Here.


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Can Anything Good Come From...

...A Post-Wilburys Jeff Lynne?

Yuma Wray tells Ben Tufts that he thinks not.

Me?

I'm not entirely sure...

Then again, the chord-bending Mr. Wray and the skins-hammerin' Mr. Tufts also appear to have a problem or two with a pre-Abracadabra Steve Miller...

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You can listen to Mess'rs Wray and Tufts doing their thing with Miss Shevaughn and friends....Here.
And, like Mr. Lynne, the gang above will soon have new album out...Details, and more, are here...Don't know about you but I, for one, sure do look forward to figuring out which disc contains just the right number of chords AND the most truth (not to mention the least amount of bullsh*t).


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This Day In Clarkland....Hotels? What Hotels?

DoingOurWorstForThoseWhoNeedOurHelp
MostVille


First there was this:

Then there was this, from Lori Culbert in the VSun:

Somewhere between 23 and 50 foster children have been placed in B.C. hotels in the past year, officials reported one week after a foster youth fell to his death from the window of a hotel where he’d been housed for months.

The numbers are imprecise and vary according to whom you ask.

The children’s ministry puts the number at 23 hotel stays, for an average of five days each, between November 2014 and this month.

However, the provincial representative for children and youth believes the number is higher. Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond’s files suggest between 30 and 50 youth in the care of the Ministry for Children and Families have been lodged in hotels instead of group or foster homes in the last year.

“Why is this happening?” asked Turpel-Lafond...


And then there is even more, from a report from the Canadian Press:

...Turpel-Lafond stressed that her office has no difficulty interacting with the ministry's front-line workers and directed her condemnation towards upper management.

"Who would actually believe them when they tell you they're adamant no kid will be in a hotel and then a young person is in a hotel in crisis and dies,' she said. "Will I take what they tell me at face value ever again? Probably not.''...

Look.

I take no pleasure in learning any of this.

But it just needs to end.

Unfortunately, until the folks in charge and those respsonsible are held to account, I very much fear that it will not.


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Mr Trump, Tear Down That Wall (That You Haven't Even Built Yet)...

...With Canada?

And, no.

I'm not joking.

The following is from Bloomberg News:

...41 percent of Americans say that if a wall is built along the Mexican border, one should also be erected on the Canadian one. And yes, the same percentage favors a wall erected along the nation's southern border...


And the reason they need the monstrosity, both North and South?

Well, according to at least one citizen it's because:

"...If you cut off one (border), they're going to come in the other way..."


Sheesh-O-Ramma-Llama-Ding-Dong.


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#Elxn42...How Serious Is This Vote Splitting Thing, Really?

ThreeWayReallyCouldMeanConWay
AllOverAgainVille


Very serious.

Bruce Livesey, writing in the National Observer, explains:

...For voters desperate to end the reign of the Harper government this public squabbling between the opposition parties (that went on in last week's English language debate) is alarming, largely because they fear it will only help Harper garner a fourth term as prime minister. “We have an electoral system where a majority of people can vote for change and still see the Conservatives win seats because the parties refuse to work together,” says Amara Possian, election campaign manager for Leadnow, a national advocacy organization campaigning for strategic voting.

Some political experts agree. “It's most emphatically in Stephen Harper's interests to have the NDP and Liberals tied (in voter support),” says Toronto-based pollster and political strategist Allan Gregg. “He does not want one of them to collapse. If one of them collapses, he loses… He doesn't want any of them to have a knockout punch."

Indeed, while the chances of Harper winning another majority are looking bleak, winning a minority government is still firmly within his grasp. And that’s because the opposition vote is split between the Liberals, NDP, Bloc and Greens. After all, as long-time Toronto-based election consultant Warren Kinsella points out, the only reason Harper has won the last three elections is because “the opposition parties are exactly where he wants them – splitting the progressive vote…Until the progressive side gets its act together he’s going to win.”

Back in 2011, of 14.8 million ballots cast, 5.8 million went to the Conservatives, and a combined total of 7.9 million went to the Liberal, NDP and Green parties – a difference of more than two million ballots. And yet the Tories picked up an extra 23 seats and wrested control of the House....


Which, again, is why we, the 70% must take matters in to our own hands, riding-by-riding (i.e. National and Regional numbers don't mean squat here because voters need to know who best to vote FOR at the riding level to make a difference in the outcome).

And make no mistake, it won't take gazillions of votes from folks doing the right thing to affect change in many ridings:

...During the 2011 election, 6,201 votes was the combined margin of victory across the 14 most closely-contested Conservative ridings – with 6,215 being the number needed by the nearest parties in those races to have won them by one vote...

And, on that note, here are the current polling numbers for Pitt Meadows-LarryWalker, from Environics and the folks at LeadNow:

Do you folks leaning Red and Green see what you have to do out there to flip that riding out of the clutches of the CPC?



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Of course, the fact that many ridings will be swung by relatively few votes is also a scary thing because that means that's where the patented vote-shaving strategy of one party in particular can be particularly effective....Which is all the more reason for the 70% to take matters out of the hands of both the other 30% AND the parties themselves.

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#Elxn42...Vancouver Granville....What's The Frequency Kenneth?

NoMoreTunnelVisionsFromThe
Outsider'sScreenVille


As in.....

What, exactly, is the frequency required to successfully vote strategically to stop the Con in this new, amalgamated riding that runs North-South through the middle of central Lotusland.

Well.

According to a brand new Environics poll commissioned by the good folks at LeadNow, the frequency currently looks like this:

NDP - Orek - 36
Liberal - Wilson-Raybould - 30
Con - Brosko -29
Green - Barkusky - 6


So.

Despite what the aggregators, which start with the old 2011 numbers and then layer-in a mix-master flashed-up concoction of (mostly) regional polls, this riding-specific poll, wherein the numbers are not that different than a similar poll done in August, tells us that...

...To beat the Con, family/household shown above should pick up its red and green signs from their lawn and vote the remaining orange to help end our national identity crisis.

OK?


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Even though I like very much (and have contributed to) what LeadNow is doing here, there are still a couple of important things to consider... Environics looked at decided and leaning voters (which means that there is some softness) to get the numbers....And the MOE was 4% in this specific riding....Still, you have to remember that the Con shaving and GOTV efforts to come may give their candidates 2-3 points each....Thus, strategic voters like us have to give it our best shots based on the actual riding-specific data available (and again, regional and national polls mean absolutely NOTHING when it comes to these efforts)....Lastly, I'll remind you that this kind of info really helped voters do the right thing in Esquimalt in 2011....

Other BC ridings polled by Environics in the last week...
1) PoCo-Coq...Dipper Donnelly still up by 7 but his lead has shrunk considerably in the last month...Lib is way out of contention here - Therefore, liberal leaners must strat vote as it is now getting uncomfortably close....
2) Pitt Meadows- Maple Ridge....Here it looks like a Con-to-Dip flip may be happening for the NDP's Bob D'Eith...Again Libs, and of course Greeniacs, you can't win here, so do the right thing and help de-elect the Con (who won big in 2011)!...
3) North Isle-Powell River...Dipper Rachel Blaney now looks to have a bit of a lead but there is a solid rump of Greens vote in the riding...Thus, a significant red and green strat vote, together, will ensure that the Con, who narrowly won this seat in 2011, is eliminated from the picture (interestingly, this was a 2011 riding where it looks like Strat-Voting almost worked because the Dipper was close and the Lib and Green votes were both low)...
4) Nanaimo-Ladysmith...Dipper Sheila Malcomson has a bit of lead but there is a crazy high Green vote here (as a reader points out in the comments it's exacerbated by the Paul Manly effect) that could take votes away from the hordes of orange and thus give the riding to the Con...So...Stop this!...Particularly given that the the Cons have shown some strength here in the past...Libs you are a significant number here too, but you CANNOT win so, please, do the right thing...
5) Kootenay-Columbia....It just my be a dead-heat between the Dipper Stetski and the Con...There are definitely enough Lib and Green votes here to make sure the Con Wilks is de-elected if even half of them strat-vote...

And, hey!....Thanks to A. Reader for the image at the top of the post.


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My Morning Ride.

AllTheWorld'sABike(NotRacing)Stage
TwiceADayVille


The acorns are down in Kitsilano!

Which brought back boyhood memories of scooping them up and storing them in bags for battles royale through the neighbourhood I grew up in.

Of course, our Mom was always shouting about how somebody was going to lose an eye.

And we are probably lucky nobody did.

But, man, it sure was fun - essentially hide-and-go seek with the added bonus of small sympathetic nervous system-juicing projectiles.

Fun, that is, until one of the big kids down the street started in with the chestnuts.


_______
The Good - The young kid at the counter where I buy the Monday morning lab treats who said 'Sure, it's right around the corner' when an old guy who was down on his luck came in and politely asked to use the washroom.
The Bad - Sliding on those acorns under tire while turning corners.
The Ugly - Absolutely nothing (say it again!)


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Your Sunday Morning Read...Which Party Will Be Canada's Best Fiscal Steward?

UpIsNotDown
LeftSideOfTheLegerVille


Back in the salad days of mid-summer (i.e. before Mr. Harper kicked off this interminable election campaign), I was lying on the beach in the just-tucked-out-of-the-fog sun at Florencia Bay when I read the following, from Doug Saunders, in the dead-tree edition of the Globe purchased earlier that day at the Tofino Co-Op:

...Right-wing governments are simply not faring well as fiscal stewards.

Has the world turned upside down? Not really. It’s just more evidence of a well-established trend. Since the early 1980s, in much of the Western world, liberal and social-democratic parties have been entrusted to clean up the fiscal and spending messes created by conservative regimes.

In the United States, Mr. Reagan managed to increase debt, government spending and even (ironically) taxes; it took Bill Clinton’s less state-heavy economics to send debt plummeting, until Mr. Bush repeated the pattern.

In Britain, Conservative debt became a problem in the mid-1990s, when the Labour Party under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown used strict fiscal discipline to keep debt below 40 per cent of gross domestic product for a decade, until the 2008 crisis forced all governments to spend.

In Canada, Brian Mulroney’s Tories pushed spending and debt to record-breaking levels, precipitating a world-scale crisis that Liberals Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin finally faced down with aggressive program cuts. On top of this, analyses show that over the 30 years from 1981 to 2011, the Canadian governments most likely to have balanced budgets, and those with the lowest deficits, were provincial NDP regimes.

This has tangible effects: After analyzing 12 Western countries, economist Douglas A. Hibbs found that “the unemployment rate has been driven downward by Democratic and Labour administrations and upward by Republican and Conservative governments.”...


There's a lot of important, data-backed stuff in Mr. Saunders' piece that is impossible to argue with.

Having said that, what I don't agree with is Mr. Saunders' speculation about why, as he puts it, 'the left is repeatedly more fiscally sensible than the right'.

But I will leave my thoughts on that for another time.

For now, you should just go read Mr. Saunders' entire column so that you can use the facts within it to influence all your whackadoodle (and/or even just bamboozled) friends, uncles and aunties when they tell you that they are 'scared' to vote for Mr. Mulcair and friends because they are sure to mess things up like the NDP always do...blah...blah...blah.

OK?



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Heckfire, if you really wanted to stretch this argument out...You could even make the case that nobody but the far left Syriza folks were willing to deal with the Greek debt thing in a rational, realistic way.
As the photo at the top of the post of the two E's in their wetsuits shows...If you're in the Tofino area and the big beaches are blanketed by fog, try heading south to Florencia/Wreck Bay and you just might find that the dangle of the headland above and the southward-facing curve of the beach below somehow manage to keep the fog at bay (especially when the weather is otherwise fine and there's a westerly blowing).


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Saturday's Alright For (Uke) Cover Fighting!....Tiny Dancer.

There'sNoUkeLike

CoverUkeVille


Was listening to late-night, butt-headed sportstalk on the longwave recently and suddenly, between the caterwauling about the NY Giant pass rusher guy who blew his fingers off with fireworks and the ridiculousness of the abundance of riches of Ohio State at the pivot position, the two 'hosts' suddenly and incongruently started waxing nostalgic for Cameron Crowe's 'Almost Famous'.

And, specifically, that scene on the tour bus near the end of the show.

****

Anyway...

Despite the tonguish-in-cheek title of this little series, I don't think I've ever done an Elton John tune.

So, without further ado, here's a pretty good version of the original by the Original mouthing the really original words of Mr. Taupin:

And here's a barebones Cover with just as much feeling (it actually amazes me how covering a tune can transform folks as they're playing/singing the song even in the most straightforward and rudimentary way).

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And, just for good measure, here's the scene from the movie....And, why the heckfire wouldn't Dave Grohl do an almost, but not quite, ironic cover on the TeeVee?...Case in point, by the time the gum-popping Grohl gets halfway through the second verse he has the same expression on his face as the kid in the video above...Then, of course, he starts to work the crowd...
As always, Uke Peg-Head at the top of the post courtesy of fantabulous Los Angeles photo-maven Ellen Bloom.
Previous Cover Uke Fighting sessions can be found....Here.


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#Elxn42....Attempting To Quantify The Number of Voters Willing To Vote To Stop The Con In Lotusland.

That's from a recent Metro Vancouver-focussed poll of decided voters in Metro Vancouver by Justason.

My opinion?

Nineteen percent of decided voters willing to vote to Stop-A-Con, with a 12 percent differential, is enough to make a real difference.

But only 'if'.....

And it's a really big 'if'....

Which is...

'If' they know who to vote for to stop the Con.

Which is why we need more riding-specific polling.

OK?



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How Liberal Leaners Can Vote Strategically To Stop A Con In British Columbia.

FirstPastThePostIsDrivingSeventyPercentOfUs
BonkersVille


This is a first pass, and like our earlier post for Liberal leaning folks looking to vote strategically, it leans heavily on Eric Grenier's riding projections (and as we've discussed previously, I know that there are inherent problems with his methodology). I'll update it as more riding-specific polls are done.

Essentially, the key to this stuff is figuring out which ridings are in doubt where your party of choice's candidate CAN'T WIN.

That way you can vote for another non-Con party with a clear conscience (and be fairly certain that you are helping ensure that the majority of Canadians who want a change in government get it).

Here goes...

Cariboo-Prince George: Leaning Con, Liberal has no chance but the Dipper does...So, Liberal leaners can make a big difference in Con-stopping.

Central OK Similkameen Nicola: Strong Con, Dipper clear second but would need significant Lib and Green votes to win.

Coquitlam-PoCo:  Leaning Con, Liberal has no chance but the Dipper does...So, Liberal leaners can make a big difference in Con-stopping.

Courtenay Alberni: Leaning Dipper, Lib has no chance but Con in the running...So Liberal leaners can make a really, really big difference to ensure a non-Con win.

Cowichan Malahat Langford:  Leaning Dipper, Lib has no chance but Con in the running...So Liberal leaners can make a really, really big difference to ensure a non-Con win.

Esquimalt Saanich Sooke: This is NOT Elizabeth May's riding...Here Dipper is solid with Con in distant second...The problem here, as is the case with all South VanIsle ridings that are not a non-Con lock, is the potential for significant misguided Green bleed...Thus Liberal leaning votes sent the NDP's way could make sure nothing disastrous happens in this riding.

Kamloops Thompson Cariboo: Dipper and Con may be neck-and-neck here...Importantly, the Lib cannot, I repeat, CANNOT win this riding.... Thus, any Liberal votes that go to the NDP could be extremely useful, especially given that the Green vote is relatively weak here (compared to VanIsle at least).

Kootenay-Columbia: Like Kamloops the Dipper and Con may be neck-and-neck and the Lib  CANNOT win here.... Thus, any Liberal votes that go to the NDP would be extremely useful for Con-stopping purposes.

Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Craneyon: Leaning Con, strong Dipper and Lib has no chance...So, Liberal leaners can make a big difference to stop Cons.

Nanaimo Ladysmith: Sure, this is strong Dipper territory...But given the potential for Green votes sliding up to the mid-Island, I would strongly suggest that Lib leaners ensure that the Con, who might have as much as 30 percent support, doesn't come up the middle, especially given that your Liberal candidate cannot win here.

North OK Shushwap: Leaning Con with clear 2nd place Dipper...Votes from Liberal leaners and a few Greens might just flip it.

Pit Meadows Maple Ridge: Con and Dipper running neck-and-neck...A solid block of votes from Liberal leaners could easily stop the Con here.

Prince George Peace River NorthernRockpile: With the Con so far ahead this is kinda pie-in-the-sky by the Dipper looks to be solid second...So, if I were a dreamer I would hope that all Liberal and Green voters would go orange here....Just don't pinch me!

South OK West Kootenay: Pretty strong Dipper with Con in second...The potential for Green hiving scares the heck out of me though...So, again, Liberal folks...Your candidate cannot win...Therefore, please do your best to ensure a solid Con-stopping.



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Every other B.C. riding, at least as far as I can tell, either has a lock for somebody such that switching even half of the Liberal vote wouldn't help...There are two exceptions though, where the uncertainty makes it really hard and/or impossible to tell who the heck is in first or even second for sure...Both are 'new' ridings...Delta and Vancouver Granville.
I've already done one of these kinda/sorta for Greeniacs who want to Strat-Vote to stop a Con...It's here.
One for Dipper voters will soon follow.


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My Morning Ride. Friday Sept 18th.

AllYourCameras'R
UsVille


Well....

I guess if you can't put surveillance camera stickers on your giant signs you can always put your giant signs right next to actual (kinda/sorta) surveillance cameras.

Or some such thing.

****

That particular riding (the new Vancouver Granville one) is driving me crazy.

I mean, how is anybody supposed to figure out how to vote strategically if nobody knows who is in either first or second.

I actually saw the LeadNow folks out in force canvassing in the riding yesterday.

So, as you might expect, I stopped to ask one of them if they were going to do another riding-specific poll there.

Unfortunately, the very nice fellow had no idea what I was talking about.

(Strat vote suggestions for Liberals in B.C. comin'....promise)


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Scorecard:
Good - Gaggle of junior high-aged kids that waited for the old guy to swoop through the same traffic circle he had trouble with the other day so that he struggle up the hill on the other side
Bad - Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Ugly - I know it was done with the best of intentions but that painted in bike lane between the through and right-turning traffic at King Ed and Arbutus (going West) just seems to be making everybody crazy. And this morning when the bus pulled up on my right to go straight I decided to wait for him when the light turned green which, of course even made the speedy guy on the bike behind me angry.


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My Morning Ride.

I've written about this tree before.

He stands straight up, like a sentry, at the head of the powerline trail that cuts through the park that buffers the place where I work out on Lotusland's western-most edge.

Usually his colours turn last, but this year they seem to be going a little early.

And I'm not entirely sure what's up with his buddy the cedar either (the one in our backyard has had the same problem this year).

Subtly strange days perhaps?

Weather/climate-wise, I mean.

****

Had an interesting talk with a science geek-buddy this morning.

He's a Dipper who lives in the former provincial Earth-Wind-And-Fire minister's (i.e. Liberal Joyce Murray's) riding.

"Should I vote for her?" he asked.

What do you think my answer was?


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Scorecard:
Good - The puffed-up starling on the fence in the back lane who I could swear winked at me as I disembarked.
Bad - The first sheen of damp leaves on wet pavement - super scary for bikes
Ugly - I did my best when I turned right at the sentry and hit the trail this morning...But there was one slug I just couldn't avoid...Maybe they need a lane of their own...


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At The End Of The Day...

...Sometimes I really do wonder if our Neil killed hair metal (and more) in one fell swoop in the fall of 1989.

He wrote it in response to George Bush the Elder - thus the '1000 points of light' business.

But it was so much more than all that.

When the geezer rockers and I get together we do it as fast as humanly possible.

They let me sing and set the Tele to maximum distortion.

It always has to be my last song of the night because the entire thing is pure raw power without the Iggy.

And because I am an old guy.

But not as old as Mr. Young.

OK?


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Wee bit of nitty gritty about this specific performance for Lorne Michaels et al......Here.
Coming soon...Recommendations for Strategic Vote ridings for progressives who lean Liberal and want to stop Cons in Lotusland...Stay tuned.


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