UBC Great Trekker Lunch & UBC lipdub

I attended the 5th annual UBC Toronto Alumni Great Treker lunch held at the Windsor Arms Hotel this past May 12, 2011. It was moderated by the fomer Prime Minister John Turner QC, and Peter Fatherington, CBC correspondent. Both of these accomplished alumni and the late Pierre Burton met at the Ubyssey, the UBC student newspaper, and went on to great accomplishments.

Mr Fatherington, asked us to toast the most beautiful campus in the world, in the home of the most beautiful city in the world. These two adjectives are quite appropriate if you know UBC. The luncheon lecture was chaired by David Dodge, the former Governor of the Bank of Canada and Wendy Dobson who worked for him at one time. The  discussion was somewhat uninspiring, but worthy for the alumni to have a chance to reconnect and have a glass or two. The growth of China into a middle class society, is coming and that will have new effects on production according to Mr. Dodge. The rest of the discussion was obscure to me and many of my other alumni.

I ran into classmates who are now bankers, economic developers, account reps, while others, were too vague job descriptions to really understand what they did. They were all characters in one way or another. However, I must admit West Coasters are generally a tall crowd. I remember that as my first impression when I enrolled at UBC.

However, one of my great regrets, was that the Toronto Alumni Association did not give credit to the young art students who created a music video promoting UBC. The new rage in campus rivalry is to compete with online music video coolness factor. Andrew Cohen, the executive producer of UBC Lipdub recently completed his work with Vancouver Olympics 2010, and went on to produce Raise you Glass,   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dpp3quce1Vo avideo on youtube.com which has now over 1,000,000.00 hits. the production was made with over 1,000 students. you can check out more about the group at http://www.ubclipdub.com/ . The Alumni association is doing a great job to keep us together and donating to the campus. However, the real credit should go to the young arts entrepreneurs who are promoting UBC through the online music video world.

UBC may be big and beauracratic, but it does show its unique west coast colours at special moments such as the above noted video. Another great UBC music production by a group of engineers, check out UBC NumaNuma on you tube.com.

Stay creative UBC,



The Adventure Guy

Jimmy Bowskill at Delta Chelsea Monarch's Pub

I was out checking the local blues and open mic scene in Toronto last night. First stop was Dave's Pizza, on St. Claire, where a hip musician scene appears every Thursday at 8:30pm. From up and coming young musicians to older and seasoned country singers, this place is warm, cozy and very friendly. The talent has mixed abilities, with the surprise event being a young artist who wrote and played a song while waiting for his turn in the restaurant. This musician named Sal Di Matteo was quite a song writer and singer. While most people could take months to put a tune together, his was done in a few minutes and he sang with notes in his hand. Other artists were coming and going, but I felt I had to find the pros. Unfortunately, like many artists they come and go from their craft so who knows when he will be back again.

I was in the mood to hear the pros so I ventured down to Monarch's Pub at the Delta Chelsea on Gerrard Avenue. Lo and behold a baby faced young man with long hair got onto the stage. He opened his set with a very poweful vocal solo for the song Let the Good Times Roll. Jimmy Bowskill, was in the house, and it was captivating to see such a young artist play with such seasoned expertise. His guitar rifs were superb, as he beant the notes and played classic blues rock such as Stormy Mondays. He has a bass player and a drummer, and all the vocals are his. I was approached by an older lady who tried to sell me a CD with a free kiss. I guess I was afraid of the kiss, so I did not buy the CD.

The audience is mature business crowd and it is a great venue for the blues. More upscale than our other locals such as Grossman's Taven etc. Jimmy is from Toronto, and at the age of ten, grabbed onto the guitar and started to make it work. He looks like he is having fun, and wish him great success. You gotta love what you do to be good at it, and Jimmy is in his prime and enjoying. Check him out one night and see what you think.

Keep on Rocking,


The Adventure Guy