I attended the Toronto Flamenco Festival last year and was greatly impressed with the sophistication of the audience, and the skill of the performers. Flamenco derives from gypsy dancers in Spain, but the modern adaptation is chic, colourful and very dynamic.
The event director, Lionel Felix, is a dance instructor himself, and his passion for music and movement are exemplified in this event. I have tried to learn salsa and meringue myself, and they are the most beautiful of the latin dance forms in my opinion.
For an evening of charm and grace check out the 5th annual Toronto International Flamengo Festival http://www.torontoflamencofestival.com/. This year it will be held at Koerner Hall Thursday October 20, 2011 at Bloor and Avenue Road, a most elegant venue. It is like being inside a violin.
Olay
The Adventure Guy
Friday, September 23, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
Laurentian Ski Museum Hall of Fame Inductee - Ron Booth of The Trading Post
When I think back of my youth in Montreal and my days of a young skier, one of the highlights was my time working as a ski technician at the Trading Post, one of Montreal's greatest ski shops in the 70's. This October 22, 2011 the Laurentian Ski Museum, http://www.museeduski.com/ will be having their fund raiser for Ski Hall of Fame entrants into the Laurentian Ski Museum Hall of Fame. How fantastic that the entire Booth family of St. Saveur are to be inducted. I rememeber with great pride working for Ron Booth, the owner of the Trading Post.
When I was a young ski enthusiast, I desperately wanted to be in the ski industry. I remember, approaching the head of the ski repair shop and suggesting that I would work for free in order to learn the ropes of being a ski binding technician. He hired me at a low wage, and I made it behind the bench to work with Pickle, a young ski tech from the Okanagan Valley of B.C. I would arrive at 5 am excited to work for my minimum wage. However, I was working with the products I loved, was learning about the latest in ski technology, and was in complete working bliss.
We would often see Ron walking through the shop, asking for certain setups to be done on various packages the sales people would sell. He was always well mannered, positive and thoughtful towards all of his staff. In those days we had quite a large shop of staff, who were trendy and great skiers. One day, while I was trying to set up skis and drill the binding holes as fast as my professional colleagues, I drilled a pair of brand new skis in the wrong place, basically destroying them. I was so embarrassed. However, Ron was polite and even tempered, and just put them on the rack to be sold at a discount. An honest mistake was made, and he treated it like a gentleman.
What a great choice to induct Ron Booth of the Trading Post. That was the greatest part of Montreal ski history, which should be acknowledged for his contribution to making the city, one of the greatest ski locations in Canada. I believe they went to Vancouver and then opened other shops there such as Canski, but none were as successful and trendy as the Post.
Well done on the inductees.
Keep on promoting our ski legacy, museeduski.com
The Adventure Guy
When I was a young ski enthusiast, I desperately wanted to be in the ski industry. I remember, approaching the head of the ski repair shop and suggesting that I would work for free in order to learn the ropes of being a ski binding technician. He hired me at a low wage, and I made it behind the bench to work with Pickle, a young ski tech from the Okanagan Valley of B.C. I would arrive at 5 am excited to work for my minimum wage. However, I was working with the products I loved, was learning about the latest in ski technology, and was in complete working bliss.
We would often see Ron walking through the shop, asking for certain setups to be done on various packages the sales people would sell. He was always well mannered, positive and thoughtful towards all of his staff. In those days we had quite a large shop of staff, who were trendy and great skiers. One day, while I was trying to set up skis and drill the binding holes as fast as my professional colleagues, I drilled a pair of brand new skis in the wrong place, basically destroying them. I was so embarrassed. However, Ron was polite and even tempered, and just put them on the rack to be sold at a discount. An honest mistake was made, and he treated it like a gentleman.
What a great choice to induct Ron Booth of the Trading Post. That was the greatest part of Montreal ski history, which should be acknowledged for his contribution to making the city, one of the greatest ski locations in Canada. I believe they went to Vancouver and then opened other shops there such as Canski, but none were as successful and trendy as the Post.
Well done on the inductees.
Keep on promoting our ski legacy, museeduski.com
The Adventure Guy
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Shrimp Daddy and the Sharpshooters at The Southside Shuffle
I attended the 13th annual South Side Suffle www.southsideshuffle.com Blues Festival in Port Credit, Ontario, this past Saturday night. It is a wonderful thing to see live music jutting out of every nook and corner of this very quaint town. The quality of the artists are superb here in Mississauga for some unknown reason. The season is short in Canada for outdoor live music, and this year's festival had great weather to capture the event.
I came to see Shrimp Daddy www.shrimpdaddyreid.com play, as I had seen him before at the Toronto Blues Society harmonica seminar and later at the Maple Blues Awards. He is a very personable fellow, with a great passion for the blues. This was my first time seeing the Sharpshooters, who are a very tight band with an awesome keyboardist from Australia and lead guitarist.
Shrimp Daddy has a deep bluesy sound that makes this genre so beautiful. His harmonica style is superb as he uses the full range of the harp, and even usese multiple harps within one song. Originally from Montreal, he is friends with Barath Rajakumar, also of Montreal, who may be one of Canada's greatest harp and blues singers.
I picked up Shrimp Daddy's latest CD "Messin with My System", which was produced by Steve Mariner of Monkey Junk. This same band is last year's Maple Blues award winner and Steve plays multiple instruments and sings in the band. Mariner, also won best Harp player of the year. Another outstanding talented musician. The bottom line is that there are some deeply talented musicians connecting and working with Shrimp Daddy, and the sound is paying off.
For some great full sounding blues and awesome harp, check out Shrimp Daddy and the Sharp Shooters.
Keep on Bluesing with Feeling,
The Adventure Guy
I came to see Shrimp Daddy www.shrimpdaddyreid.com play, as I had seen him before at the Toronto Blues Society harmonica seminar and later at the Maple Blues Awards. He is a very personable fellow, with a great passion for the blues. This was my first time seeing the Sharpshooters, who are a very tight band with an awesome keyboardist from Australia and lead guitarist.
Shrimp Daddy has a deep bluesy sound that makes this genre so beautiful. His harmonica style is superb as he uses the full range of the harp, and even usese multiple harps within one song. Originally from Montreal, he is friends with Barath Rajakumar, also of Montreal, who may be one of Canada's greatest harp and blues singers.
I picked up Shrimp Daddy's latest CD "Messin with My System", which was produced by Steve Mariner of Monkey Junk. This same band is last year's Maple Blues award winner and Steve plays multiple instruments and sings in the band. Mariner, also won best Harp player of the year. Another outstanding talented musician. The bottom line is that there are some deeply talented musicians connecting and working with Shrimp Daddy, and the sound is paying off.
For some great full sounding blues and awesome harp, check out Shrimp Daddy and the Sharp Shooters.
Keep on Bluesing with Feeling,
The Adventure Guy
Monday, September 5, 2011
Surfwise Movie
I watched Surwise a documentary movie about the Paskowitz surf family. It was my second time viewing this unique flick. I had to restudy the details of the film to digest the meaning of this surf lifestyle story. This is the site for it http://surfwisefilm.com/html/index.html
The movie is the ture story about Dr. Dorian Paskowitz a surfing medical doctor, who is obcessed with fitness and marries his third wife based on her ability to have great sex. He drops out of his medical practice, travels around the beaches of the US, allowing his children to surf all day while never allowing them to be educated. He believes that wisdom comes from experience not from academic institutions. His practice is to mimic animal patterns and while having sex nightly with his young wife, he pumps out 9 children and gives them all biblical names. Very much affected by the holocaust and his failed experiences to help the jewish people of that era.
The message from the film is that family is more important than material success, and that health is something you have to work for every day. His health regime was based on no sugar, no fat, no excesses. Surf everyday and earn your health. Wisdom comes from travelling and meeting people, noth through study at Stanford or other places of higher learning.
Well worth the watch.
Makes one want to look at going off grid and living life like a zen warrior.
Surf's up Dude
The Adventure Guy
The movie is the ture story about Dr. Dorian Paskowitz a surfing medical doctor, who is obcessed with fitness and marries his third wife based on her ability to have great sex. He drops out of his medical practice, travels around the beaches of the US, allowing his children to surf all day while never allowing them to be educated. He believes that wisdom comes from experience not from academic institutions. His practice is to mimic animal patterns and while having sex nightly with his young wife, he pumps out 9 children and gives them all biblical names. Very much affected by the holocaust and his failed experiences to help the jewish people of that era.
The message from the film is that family is more important than material success, and that health is something you have to work for every day. His health regime was based on no sugar, no fat, no excesses. Surf everyday and earn your health. Wisdom comes from travelling and meeting people, noth through study at Stanford or other places of higher learning.
Well worth the watch.
Makes one want to look at going off grid and living life like a zen warrior.
Surf's up Dude
The Adventure Guy
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