Inspiration - Live More Lightly

Farewell to ManDido Master Drummer

I was singing Kpan Logo yesterday while preparing a meal and thinking about my friend and mentor, ManDido. I could hear him singing the call in my mind, “Kpaaa-an Logo” and I thought about the amount of things he taught me about West African drumming and life.

tsmilestatu5

On Sunday, July 26th, starting at 3pm there will be a drum circle in his honour at Spanish Banks and there, his ashes will find a resting place. All are welcome to bring a drum and join the gathering.

May there always be a drum circle at Spanish Banks to carry on the tradition that was started by ManDido. I hear that the one he started in Montreal is still going strong, although Baba Dido has not been leading for decades. I hope that here too, his legacy will continue and Vancouver will always know the sound of the djembe, sogo and jun-jun drums that he brought to us.

Joining The Wiser Earth Network

we_logo_larger_tagline It is really important for me to try to connect to a larger community to try to get help with my project. I know that I will need to build support before I can get recognition and funding to enable me to encourage individuals to “Live More Lightly”. Today, I posted my solution, The Live More Lightly Project on Wiser Earth, a networking and community site. You can vote on the project and make a comment.

I was inspired by their tagline, “Connecting You to Communities of Action”, so I developed a more modest motto, “Changing the World One Small Action at a Time.” I don’t think it’s perfect yet, but it’s a start.

I have observed many individuals who are very successful in promoting their projects and it seems that joining networks and having lots of ratings and comments really helps. I continue to be inspired by Diane McEachern of Big Green Purse as she starts a women’s business initiative, Big Green Breakthrough. She is an author that has built on her success to make a real difference to the environment by offering a list of green products and rating claims of “earth friendly” and “natural”.

As I am looking for more work right now, I am going to try the Bright Green Talent site to try to obtain enough contract employment to support my project and myself with environmentally friendly work. Due to the downturn in the economy and the fact that I have not received any funding, I have had to reconsider my idea of riding my motorcycle across Canada. I still might be able to achieve this goal, but I really need to establish some financial stability before I can bring my workshop to the people.

Jack Velker Sunday Soul Service Memorial

I took this photo of Jack Velker at ManDido’s memorial service in January. At the time, it seemed like an unusual thing to do, but I wanted to remember all my friends that were there remembering ManDido. I didn’t have the courage to take photos of everyone, just the people I knew well. Now I am really glad I did because Jack has passed away.

I met Jack at the Sunday Soul Service at the Cottage Bistro at 4468 Main St. Sometimes they let me sit in and do my songs, and I was always happy to sit and listen to the house band. Ross Barrett, saxophonist and flute player, who was also at ManDido’s memorial, is pictured below. He was Jack’s partner in presenting the Soul Service each Sunday for the devotees of the Isis Cult. The Cult will be meeting in full force this Sunday to remember Jack (Facebook event here).

I always enjoyed going down and sitting in at the Cottage with the band, as the ranks of players swelled off the stage and on to the floor. Sometimes there were rows of people playing as Jack conducted chorus after chorus through “Little Liza Jane”.

When Jack strapped on his bandoneon, the “stomach Steinway”, as he fondly called it, Ross’s deep love for Latin music could really shine out.

The band was in fine form last Sunday and this Sunday will be a more official memorial. I don’t know if I will play, but I will be happy to listen and take photos.

International Womens Day 2009

Last year I was so excited to be going to Bellingham, USA for the Watcom County International Women’s Day Celebration.

Womens_Day_Song08

This truly was an International Women’s Day for me!

One of the best parts was marching through the streets chanting. In Vancouver, I had always had to be setting up and getting ready for when everyone arrived, but here, I was able to march through the streets. It really gave a feeling of solidarity. Later the woman who spoke on food security made some interesting points linking the West coast of North America with Latin American issues.

Womens Day Song Information and Lyrics

This year I was busy and many changes occurred in my life, so March came in with a whisper.

I am still seeking a venue for my song performance this year.

These performances are usually last minute as most of these events are set up and managed by volunteers. I will post when I have a performance, come down and sing with me.

————————————————-

Women’s Day Song 2000 video
Womens Day Song Video (videopop plug-in still a work in progress – may not work)
This is a video of a song written by Victoria Gibson in honour of International Women’s Day. Performed by Victoria and the Seaquam Secondary School Choir for the Society of Women in Science and Technology Conference in 2000 held at the school.

ManDido Morris – Master Drummer

Sometimes it is easy to forget that my friends are pillars of the Vancouver music community and have worked with and recorded with international music stars. As I work on their computers, jam with them or trade jibes about our love life — or lack of that sort of attraction — these magical musicians are very human folks. We relax and respect each other as individuals as we share the time that builds a real relationship — we are friends.

My friend and African drum teacher, ManDido Morris has gone into the next stage of existence. He will no longer call me to assist him with his computer, update his website or to integrate his latest piece of audio/video electronics into his system.

ManDido had a huge collection of hand drums, but he also loved gadgets and computer technology. He was always buying something that he saw real potential in owning, but then needed help in figuring out. As this was my specialty, I would trade him for drum lessons or just come over and eat his fine vegetarian cooking. He’d say that once you tried his special tofu, you would never go back to eating meat. I could never get into the wheatgrass juice or infrared sauna though . . .

We helped each other in many ways. He as a mentor, drum teacher and dispenser of wise words of encouragement. I will miss ManDido, but I know that he is doing what is best for him and not lingering around here when his work was done. He raised two fine sons and touched thousands of young hearts with their first try at drumming with his workshops in the schools. He established drum circles in Montreal and in Vancouver that will continue into the future. He brought many of us into the rhythm of mother Africa, even though I will never be a master drummer, now I can be a journeyman follower. I can listen to a master drummer, take instruction and hold my part to build the interlocking sounds of traditional West African music.

Almost the last time I saw him he blessed me with the wish, “I hope you find what you are looking for”. I am still searching ManDido, but you did help light my way.

I attended the event postered below, but for those who did not, sometime in July ManDido’s ashes will be sent to the winds at the anchor beach where his drum circle started on Spanish Banks sometime in July. I will post the time and date, but at the memorial, I was too involved in what was going on. More information and stories about ManDido will be published in Common Ground.

Bringing the World Together

I attended a workshop on grant writing yesterday and I realized I have to be able to convey the idea behind my whole project more clearly. So I am going to post some other projects that I have been paying attention to that have had some impact on the world.

Where the Hell is Matt?”

When my daughter told me about Matt, I didn’t get it. She invited me to come down to the beach and dance with this young man who was traveling all over the world dancing with people. No, he is not a great dancer. I didn’t get it — I didn’t go. That’s my daughter in the red skirt, front left, on the beach in Vancouver.

Where the Hell is Matt 2008

Matt brought the world together with his little dance. There is such joy in the act of Matt doing his dance from the heart that it refreshes my belief in humanity. I believe that behind the power struggles and the greed — we are all one people. When I saw the video — I got the message.

Playing for Change

Here is another group that is doing video of pop songs, like “Stand By Me” (Ben E. King) and “One Love” (Bob Marley) performed by musicians all over the world playing together through the wonders of technology. They all appear in their own country playing their instrument on the same song playing with the musicians that have already been recorded.

They have a great site and the passion to show that music can cross borders that have been created by the power structure to connect us.

Live More Lightly

The completed Live More Lightly song 6 minute video will show me singing, joined by one person, then by another, then by all the workshop participants that want to be in the video. As each workshop will be different, it probably won’t be as smooth in transition as the Playing for Change videos, but if I get some funding I can make better video. The first one will be a do-it -yourself demo, but I hope to have it ready for the start of the tour in 2009.

The documentary movie will be about the journey across the continent in 2009 to bring the diverse age groups, cultures, ethnic backgrounds and others (basically everybody I can get) together to Live More Lightly on the land one small action at a time. I want to show lots of great environmental footage of natural scenes so everyone will know why we should save the planet. I anticipate that 90 minutes of singing, workshop events, beautiful scenery and on-bike motorcycle riding should be about right.

The motorcycle tour is a small portion of this project, but it has been taking a lot to coordinate. I could just go in my van to do the workshops, but the motorcycle is much more environmentally friendly.

I also hope to be able to be the first person to stream live video from a moving motorcycle to a satellite without a truck. The Grand Prix racers have on-bike cameras that stream to a nearby truck that carries a satellite dish, like the one pictured below. This huge dish with signal amplification allows them to send a broadcast quality signal to the satellite. From the satellite the signal can be received at the television station for editing or routed into the broadcast signal as live coverage. A higher quality signal (broadcast television) takes more power, so a larger amplifier and more microwaves, than a low quality signal (webcam).

Due to microwave radiation from this type of dish, it is against Canadian law to mount it lower than 4ft off the ground. This dish, when fully extended is well above the heads of any concert goers and is considered safe. I don’t even like to carry my cell phone in my pocket, but for the sale of art, I plan to innundate myself with microwaves from a portable modem. Basic outline of streaming requirements here.

Many motorcyclists have mounted cameras on their bike and there are a lot of videos on the internet of intense riding. Depending on your area of interest there are many to choose from. One other Vancouver rider, Jeff has captured a lot of scenic footage from his Harley on VRide TV. I love the smoothness of his ride as it makes for great video as I already described here. I am on a more limited budget with my old Yamaha FJ1200, but I hope to be able to get some great nature footage for the documetary. Still working on the streaming aspect. I will keep you posted.

Live More Lightly Workshop in Schools

Schools are back in session and I am now trying to coordinate presenting a “Live More Lightly Workshop” to school-age youth. The deadline for a showcase application to Artstarts in Schools is October 17th and I must have a video by then. I am still working on preparing the book, but financial considerations have limited the time I have been able to spend developing the environmental section. The book may act as a teacher resource guide as I am putting so much environmental information in the book and on my Sources of Inspiration Page.

Most of the work I have done recently on my blog and the project is administrative tasks that are not too exciting. However, I am excited about the possibility of facilitating a workshop in Powell River soon and having my friend Judy capture the action on a video. Now I have updated WordPress, I can add video and podcasts. It is always a concern of parents when considering allowing their children to be in a video posted to the internet, but I hope that I will be able to form a community of environmental supporters. Everyone seems to be less concerned when there are hundreds of videos — I’ve seen countless children on Youtube.

I will be networking with more environmental education sites and I hope that many people will know “The Live More Lightly Song” by the end of the year.

SLR Camera – Image Capture

Now I have had the opportunity to look through two examples of excellent camera technology, I find myself increasingly attracted to continuing the experience. The first time I held such a camera was at the Madu Sari gamelan performance, “New Javanese Shadows“when a friend of mine asked me to hold his camera. My first impression can only be described by referring to a Hindu myth often told about the young Krishna. For those not familiar with Hindu mythology, the incarnations of the god Vishnu are many, but this story is about his time as the human Krishna.

On one occasion, when Krishna was still a child, he revealed his true god-self to his mother by asking her to look in his mouth. When she complied, she was astonished to see the entire universe inside the mouth of her child. When I looked into that camera, I saw a glimpse of the infinite — I was astonished. The photographer who owned the magic box enthusiastically started informing me of the technical details in a language full of numbers that I did not understand. This machine may be described by numbers, as the universe can be modeled mathematically, but the impact of the revelation I had experienced created a bookmark in my mind that I return to in wonder.

My next reaction was more practical, as the Virgo reasserted her presence. If everyone had a camera like that, my opportunities for employment as a graphic artist would be seriously reduced. There was no noise in the image, it was balanced and in sharp focus. If the capture mechanism was as pristine as the view, the images would reflect a hyper-realism that would need few adjustments. My daughter later comforted me by pointing out that many of these cameras are owned by individuals who can cause them to malfunction and that composition skills are still required. Even the best images can benefit from layout, design and story, so my production skills will still be needed.

The term “multi-media artist” has often been applied to my skill sets in production. I know that if I am not being paid, I do music, music technology and saving the world. Some practical part of me knows that my time will not allow any more addictions. I am already being drawn away from my “Live More Lightly Project” too much by other musical entanglements. I have to complete a book prototype this month. Move on. Continue reading SLR Camera – Image Capture

Watch the Watcher

I have been fascinated by the idea that I am being watched by surveillance cameras since they started to become more common in the 1980s. In 1989 I wrote a play that explored a vision of the future. It was rejected for a Canada Council Grant because it was too much like the novel 1984 by George Orwell. The play contained an act that featured a lonely young man and opened with him watching television alone because his roommate had gone on a date. Read the play excerpt here.

Many of the technologies I envisioned in the play have become ubiquitous in our lives. I wrote about ATM machines, the internet and e-books, but the focus was surveillance and government control. Now I read articles that confirm my fears that every moment we are in a public place, we are on camera (example). Is this something to fear or does it contribute to public security? The example article quotes Norman Siegel, who recommends that everyone carry their own camera with them so they can record their version of any event they witness. This is good advice, but sometimes events happen so fast or unexpectedly that the video camera is still in the case when the action occurs.

The idea of mounting a video camera on my motorcycle did not arise from the idea of documenting civil rights violations, or even motor vehicle traffic law breakers, although that’s not a bad idea . . . my idea came from wanting to share the experience of riding a motorcycle. When I am riding, I am part of the environment in a way that never occurs when I am sealed in the box of a car or van. With only two small patches of rubber on the road — it’s as close as I can get to flying.

Even though I know each time I go to the bank, shop, drive or even walk down the street, I may be on video and might be on the internet. I know that there is not enough manpower to monitor every video stream; so there must be years of video stored on hard drives that has never been viewed. There are very intelligent software filters and programs that match facial features or license plates to database records, used by large organizations and governments, so humans only become involved if there is an alert. Video is often used after the fact to try to identify perpetrators or get-away vehicles. I try to be nondescript in public and pass under the radar by looking completely non-threatening. Invisible = average height, middle-aged woman.

As part of my camera research I have been looking at the possibility of using a surveillance camera for the always-on option on my bike. The cameras are small, high-quality, durable and stream directly through an ethernet cable to a computer or the internet. There is a lot of money spent on the development of these cameras and so they come in many shapes and sizes. Some manufacturers even make ones with a built-in windshield wiper, de-mister and/or heater! Some are really high quality and I will do another post on camera choices soon. I already plan to bring a computer and I wanted to stream on to the internet, so this could give the process a jump start. This system example I got from Gary looks like it is used by plumbers to examine pipe insides. The notebook runs on Vista, but I will try to make it work in Linux too.

Carrying my notebook with me everywhere I go would be a good thing as I really do use it, when I bring it along. I need bags on my bike so I can carry it securely and not have to strip everything off every time I stop. I am working on it.

———————————————————

Another connection with surveillance technology is my interest in highway-cams. On my tour, I plan to identify hiway cams and video them as they are capturing me. I talk about the artistic influences that inspired me to do this here. The ideal outcome will be if I can have a collaborator saving the highway-cam stream on their computer so that I can use the video record in a documentary.

_______________________

There are also threats to privacy in the proliferation of spyware. A description of what these programs can do is found here on a site that sells software designed to assist network administrators to monitor computer use. Downloaded spyware can track every keystroke you make, where you go on the internet, what pages are viewed, for how long and what you are clicking on. Then, the program will send all of this information back to over your internet connection to the company or individual who invaded your computer. Computers running Windows are most vulnerable to this type of background program and regular use of Spybot and Ad-Aware are recommended to all of my Windows computer clients. Just to demonstrate how devious these programs can be, a recent invasion of spyware was caused by a company masquerading as Ad-Aware. Please ignore all other sites and download only from Lavasoft.

Simon’s Yamaha FJ1200 Enduro Experience

This summer, more than one dual-sport motorcycle owner has looked at me and my bike with extreme pity and said, “Too bad you can’t ride that bike off the paved road . . . ” They then proceed to tell me about some beautiful alpine meadow or remote hot springs that can only be reached by traveling down a rough gravel road. I have to sigh and admit that there is no way I am going to muscle my huge, delicate road burner over that terrain. I have ridden in these areas and long to return to the scenes of my youth, down the abandoned logging roads that criss-cross the B.C. back-country. I miss my moto-cross bike, but I had to have a truck and crew of fellow off-road riders to achieve a successful trip, and to quote the Allman Brothers “There’s nobody left to run with anymore . . . ” So, I have turned to street bikes as being a more practical ride and I am looking forward to long distance riding as a new experience.

I have many stories to tell of those days of off-road adventures; discovering abandoned mines, riding to the snow in August and the breathtaking mountain vistas that inspire a connection with the spirit of beauty. This story is not one of mine, but a guest post by my friend and mechanic, Simon. This story is the tale of an actual ride that Simon and Mark experienced, told in Simon’s own words. Please be warned that he uses words as part of his regular vernacular that are not usually found on these pages, but that are familiar to most speakers of the English language. Due to the general nature of the internet audience, I have used some discretion, while still preserving the form.

I know it seems hard to believe, but this is what happened . . .

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Continue reading Simon’s Yamaha FJ1200 Enduro Experience