Stephen Pate

Ebony Bones - South by Southwest 2009, originally uploaded by kk+.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

NJN Network

Better than ever before.

Please change your links. It's better - you'll like it.

Thanks, Stephen Pate

Monday, January 19, 2009

Seagate has admitted the unusually high number of problems with its Barracuda 1 TB drives, Barracuda 1 TB 72000.11 drive failures on Jaunuary 16th, 2009. The word got out and back to Seagate at warp speed. After initially ignoring the problem, they promised a firmware fix and data recovery services according The Register, who first reported the story. "The company will provide a free firmware upgrade for those affected by the problem, and if you've lost data thanks to this firmware issue, it will provide free data recover services as well." Link to Seagate to see if your hard drive is affected or read the Register story here. All's well that ends well.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

When is Windows 7 coming?

And should you care?

By Stephen Pate
January 18, 2009
with reports from ZDNet and PC World

Of course you should care. We all like something new and Windows 7 promises to be new. The release date is rumoured to be late 2009 according to PC World but Microsoft is officially saying 2010.

There are Windows 7 Beta's flying around and some people say it's faster than XP and Vista according to tests on ZDNet. How much faster? Twice as fast but then speed isn't everything.

Other people at ZDNet hate the changes since they like the old interface, even before Windows XP.

Love it or hate it, faster or slower - Windows 7 will dominate operating systems and our computing lives from 2010 onward. That is until Windows 8.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Windows 7 or Vista, should you wait?

By Stephen Pate
January 17, 2009

We hate change and resist it with a passion. Now that the word is out about Windows 7, the articles are everywhere: should you wait for Windows 7, get Vista or try to keep Windows XP? CNET has a user story which is interesting if not instructive.

Of course you should upgrade to Vista. Why not? You heard it had bugs? For a generation raised on technology it's hard to believe we are so stuck in the past.

Here's a stunning revelation: every operating system since the beginning, since Noah pre-released Ark 1.0, had bugs and incompatible drivers, devices and programs. That's the nature of technology. New things are better, hopefully, but always different and usually a bit of trouble. There is one law I've learned: you can't go backwards in technology or life. Try driving your car backwards to the store, work or Toronto.

Everyone online and friends told me to avoid Vista and for the first time in my life I listened. When I bought two computers with Vista, I wasted time trying to revert to XP which is a great operating system but out of date. I got my copy of XP on 9/11 which is sort of weird but it ran out of steam eventually, like George Bush always talking about terrorists as if life didn't move on. Wi-fi connections with Vista are much simpler for example.

HP ought to be shot for not updating their drivers to Vista sooner. They did this once or twice before and it reflects their muddle, lack of profit or stubbornness. It also gives their competitors a window of opportunity to take market share. Try a new printer manufacturer like Lexmark, Canon or Dell. HP aren't the only or best printers on the market.

I use Sonar for audio recording and the bulletin boards tell you to stick with XP which is a crock. So we ran around trying to prop up Sonar on old XP boxes. Then Cakewalk upgraded Sonar, not Vista, to use Microsoft's new and better audio drivers. Wow, Sonar works much faster with less latency. The lesson is Microsoft and the other manufacturers are in a competitive race to improve technology to meet our demands for faster, cheaper and more. When they make a leap forward, run with them. Should Microsoft have kept patching XP forever? Why?

Up until a few years ago, I liked to work at the beta stage for Windows, each and every version. It was exciting. We learned a lot and felt cool to keep ahead of the pack. I installed lots of trouble but none of that killed me and since people were paying me to be in the know that paid off.

And the silly talk didn't start with Vista: it's been the same right back to Windows 3.0. Oh, don't install that or you'll go blind. Windows NT? No stay with Novell. Windows for Workgroups? No that doesn't work which was a lie because we had a WFWG system at work and one at home.

Naysayers are everywhere in life, even in technology. A lot of them write for magazines and feed on fear. Here's my decision grid on when to upgrade:

- Like to try new things and learn from experience - beta stage
- Need some new feature or productivity - when released, you need and can afford it
- Somewhat nervous - wait one year or Service Pack 1
- Run a major IT network - at least SP 1 or 2
- Own a typewriter - stick with DOS

Stephen Pate was introduced to an IBM 360 in 1970 and it was love at first sight. In 1980 He founded Island Computer Ltd, a systems integrator, and Aquilium Software, an international water and electrical software developer, which he took public. He has been writing about technology since 1981. He has had a long term working relationship with Great Plains Software and Microsoft including participating in the world wide launch of Windows NT. When he has the time, he loves listening to complete Italian operas. He is a musician, songwriter, journalist, social advocate, business person and collector of life's experiences who spends too much time on the computer.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Don't put down your credit card for plasma yet

The word is Plasma is going almost gone with LCD's getting better each month. The real reason is manufacturers can't make money on plasma at the lower price points.
Plasma is still better at sports and deep black but c'est la vie.

LCD vs Plasma in 2009

Stephen Pate

Barracuda 1TB 7200.11 drive failures

The Register reports 1 TB Seagate Barracuda drives are failing at abnormally high rate. Back up back up back. There is no posted fix.

Stephen Pate

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Bluetooth bye-bye and none too soon

By Stephen Pate

A new tech standard endorsed at CES (PC World) promises to replace Bluetooth which has been too long promising and too little doing it. Yahoo Tech reports

"TransferJet wireless capability is getting closer to reality. The technology, which is being developed by major camera makers Sony, Olympus, Canon, Kodak, Nikon, is intended to make it easier for to transfer your images between devices wirelessly. Now Toshiba is getting behind the wireless standard showing off a laptop here at CES that uses the technology."

"Toshiba's demonstration included a laptop with the technology embedded in its palm rest, and embedded into a mobile internet device from Toshiba Japan. Take the camera, rest it on the palm rest, and it will automatically sync your files over to your laptop's hard disk drive. The device needs to be within 2mm of the transfer area."

Sounds cool to me. I've supported Bluetooth for years and find it totally useless except for drivers who want to pretend they are Men in Black.With the major camera makers onside, we should see it available by next Christmas.

Motorola cell biz going almost gone

By Stephen Pate
with stories from Phone Scoop and Bloomberg

Motorola, the original handset manufacturer, is getting read to exit the biz. Phone Scoop reports they may be laying off half their workforce.

"Phone Scoop has learned that Motorola's handset division is expecting a large round of layoffs as soon as this week, according to someone familiar with Motorola's plans. The layoffs are confirmed to be significant and may amount to 50% of the entire handset operation."

That would be no surprise to me: my last Motorola RAZR is a case of unfinished engineering. The software to sync with Outlook never worked no matter how hard I pushed support. If you pick it up on your hand, as opposed to your mouth, the ringer can be inadvertently turned off.

Bloomberg reports 4,000 layoffs for the struggling cell mfg.an. 15 "(Bloomberg) -- Motorola Inc., the second-biggest U.S. seller of mobile phones, cut an additional 4,000 jobs as consumer demand languishes under the strain of the recession."

The recession is a precipitating event. The reality is Motorola lost their way when competitors had more than human engineering behind their phones. They were easier to use in today's connected world.

I've been using Motorola phones since those bricks back in the 1980's. I had a cool voice activated car phone in 1988 that would respond to "Call Home" with a robot voice. The StarTAC was a revolutionary small phone that re-defined how small a cell phone could be. My brother who worked for Siemens was responsible for product development of the StarTac screens and early development of the color plasma for cell phones.

Motorola knows technology but what they don't understand is how to write software that is easy to use. Samsung, Nokia and other phone manufacturers have less arrogant development teams that are not living in the past like Motorola. Their reaction to the bad software problem on the RAZR told me three years ago they were history. Snooze you lose in this market.

iTunes Songs Don't Have DRM, But They Contain Your Email Address

from the two-steps-forward-one-step-back dept

From TechDirt

Apple got a lot of press last week when it announced that it was going to remove the DRM from songs it sold through the iTunes Music Store. That's a great thing in itself, since it removes the barriers legitimate customers faced in playing back music they purchased on the device of their choice. But details are coming out, and it's not all good news: the songs are watermarked (via Slashdot) with the email address of the iTunes account used to purchase them.

This is certainly better than DRM, but it's still not great. The biggest issue is that it links files to a particular consumer -- which will likely lead to the RIAA using the watermarks to attempt to "prove" that people actively shared songs and sue them. It seems inevitable that the label cartel will attempt to use the marks to inflict liability on users if music bearing their email address appears online. Which is great, until a person's iPod gets stolen and the music ripped from it, or a friend grabs music off of somebody's hard drive without their knowledge. The RIAA's legal strategy has been based on flimsy evidence; removing the DRM but adding watermarks simply gives them another way to "prove" people shared music they purchased online, even though the marks won't actually prove anything.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Funniest post of the week

Cabinet

Once again I have been passed over for a Cabinet post. Just what is it that I’m doing wrong?

Peter Rukavina

Web 2.0 is a sucker deal

When I was 13, someone paid me $10 to write 350 words per week for the Halifax Mail Star. It was a record review column where I gave my teenage opinion on 4 new albums a month: rock, country, jazz and pop.

Most of my life, someone paid me to write or promised to pay me. I've written on theatre, arts policy, technology, business consulting, poetry, short stories and journalism. I've written for newspapers, magazine, journals, for hire, and for the web.

Somehow with Web 2.0 and social media, creative people have gotten suckered into providing content for social media sites for nothing.

MySpace, Facebook, YouTube - the whole bunch of them are making money off creative people who post their work for free. Those companies are making money.

What changed the rules, as in you work you get paid?

This won't last long or the creative quality of the content is going south.

Monday, January 12, 2009

DRM is alive and well at Apple

By Stephen Pate
January 11, 2009
with story suggestion by Tech Dirt

While DRM is moving off iTunes music, Apple is still protecting video and proprietary systems like iPod with DRM. DRM or digital rights management makes it harder to download music and ruins CD's even if you've paid full price.

You hate it. I hate it. Everyone hates it except the big labels, content providers and Apple.

Deeplinks reports the whole story Apple Shows us DRM's True Colors

In fact, an inventory of Apple's remaining DRM armory makes it vividly clear that DRM (backed by the DMCA) is almost always about eliminating legitimate competition, hobbling interoperability, and creating de facto technology monopolies:

* Apple uses DRM to lock iPhones to AT&T and Apple's iTunes App Store;
* Apple uses DRM to prevent recent iPods from syncing with software other than iTunes (Apple claims it violates the DMCA to reverse engineer the hashing mechanism);
* Apple claims that it uses DRM to prevent OS X from loading on generic Intel machines;
* Apple's new Macbooks feature DRM-laden video ports that only output certain content to "approved" displays;.
* Apple requires iPod accessory vendors to use a licensed "authentication chip" in order to make accessories to access certain features on newer iPods and iPhones;
* The iTunes Store will still lock down movies and TV programs with FairPlay DRM;
* Audiobook files purchased through the iTunes Store will still be crippled by Audible's DRM restrictions.

DRM only slows down sales of products and frustrates novice users. Hacks are easily available online.

Facebook hacked, private info compromised

By Stephen Pate
NJN Network
January 11, 2009

Over the past week it became clear that Facebook has suffered a major security breach.

Several people are reporting getting wall post messages but nothing is posted to the wall, such as

From: Facebook (wallmaster+etywsqae@facebookmail.com)
Sent: January 12, 2009 5:15:15 PM
To: subneb@ (hotmail.com subneb@hotmail.com)

Sarah commented on your status: "Always wanted to try viagra or cialis? Now is your chance..Free"http://www.fortmurk.com

It appears email addresses have been stolen from Facebook and setup on another server to execute the spam sales pitch.

SC Magazine for Security Professionals says the wall hack spams the user email accounts from Facebook and recommends users not click through the link.

We tried the link and it appears to be a pill pushing site which could be a prelude to a trojan attack. The spam artists have foiled Facebook's security so far and are said to be sophisticated.

The rogue Facebook application is suspected to be Secret Crush according to Facebookadvice.com

A new and more virulant wall post has been sending pictures of child torture to Walls, More Facebook Spam … Don’t Click This!.

Be careful. Re-set your password and push Facebook email to your junk folder. Do not use the same password for Facebook and other sites since the hackers can see what they want on Facebook apparently.

Facebook faces new challenges everyday besides running out of cash. Will they survive?

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Where is the best hamburger?

MacDonald's, whoa did the price go up!

By Stephen Pate

The humble hamburger just got the heist when MacDonald's upped the price recently to over $8 with taxes for the Angus burger meal.

Wendy's is only slightly behind them with new higher pricing.

The poor girl at MacDonalds tried to tell me the price was the same. I've had a MacDonald's hamburger too many times not to be a connoisseur on quality and price.

I wouldn't mind paying more if the staff were getting something close to a living wage, north of $10 per hour. That is not the case for PEI's wage slaves working in fast food joints.

So cheap and quick is only quick now. Just quick and greasy.

None of the fast food hamburgers is a great meal.

My favourite hamburger in town is at Baba's on University Avenue where it's something less than $10 and more than I can eat. Real meat, great fries (or rice if you are sensible), some veggies and they serve beer. Cedar's serves the same thing but the atmosphere is wrong for me.

Tell me what's your best hamburger and why? Anywhere in the world will do.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

No snow job

Another day in June, CBC Photo

By Stephen Pate

We are not writing stories about the weather. Too many writers without a thought in their heads are writing stories about weather all the time. You can search Google for weather stories until your brain is numb and then watch "Survivors".

We think weather only clutters up a story. Does it really matter to music if the night was dark and cloudy?

The chances are 100% that the night will be dark and cloudy isn't that far behind.

My characters are angry because an elephant is standing on their foot. Or their lover just slept in a threesome with the librarian and their best friend. Or the guitar string broke while impressing the salesman at a music store with "Stairway to Heaven".

Sunny, windy, rainy and snowy - of course it's snowy for the love of Peter Paul and Mary. It's winter time and we live in Canada.

How can snow be news except for some person who just moved here from China or Dubai? For them, snow might be news since Richard Brown told them about the Garden of Eden on PEI.

So here's our weather for the next three months: cold days and nights, with wind sometimes heavy and snow sometimes white.

The sun will shine from 7 AM to about 5 PM. If you can't see it, take an airplane ride: the sun is always shining above the clouds.

Paste this on your morning coffee cup, bathroom mirror, computer screen and front door.

When in doubt, stick your head out the window. You may be pleasantly surprised by warm, calm and sunny weather. Or not.

We'll report the weather again in April. You will have saved days of your life and hours of insipid conversation by not worrying about the weather until then.

Later on this spring, when the weather improves, look for our new book: Weather and whether or not you can change it.

We are printing only 1,877 copies for the immigrants who made Robert Ghiz and his friends rich with their PNP money.

Friday, January 2, 2009

Don't mange merde even from the Fascists at Facebook

Web 2.0 Fascism

By Stephen Pate

My dad taught me never to take shit from anyone. Talk about an independent streak.

That was a pretty brave thing for him to teach a little crippled boy since everyone has to mange merde most of your life.

That streak of independence, a poor man's Cool Hand Luke, has stuck with me. Cool Hand Luke combined inebriation with ne pas mange merde. He continued to act inappropriately and generally doomed himself.

Thus my variation on the theme is don't take shit but keep yourself out of trouble, sort of a high wire act.

I'm been reasonably successful at relationships, jobs, career etc. until the coup de gras at which point I walk away, fight or get even.

As you might gather, I'm not a joiner. I'd rather quit the JW's, Rotary or any other body into group-think. I'm into free think.

Friends have been importuning me to re-join Facebook. I do miss the fun but I don't hang around with Fascists. While we think of Mussolini and Hitler as Fascists, the term has become synonymous with "exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control" (Merriam Webster Online Dictionary)

Facebook is the Web 2.0 version of Fascism. Actually, there is a lot of Fascism on Web 2.0.

Have you read those agreements you sign to get free this or that on the web. They can take your personal information, sell it to anyone or use it anyway they like and you can't do diddly.

I knew this in the back of my mind and Peter Rukavina's article reminded me that Facebook was not a nice company.

Then they started hassling me. Wrong move. I don't menge merde from anyone. First sending messages to all my friends was bad. Then sending to 500 was bad. Like true Fascists, Facebook won't let you know the limits so you have to guess if you're driving too fast on the 401.

At the last 200 messages was too many. So one day I sent 1,200 and watched them panic. Disabled. Well I'm already disabled so that was no threat! I laugh at your stinkin' rules.

There is a real Fascist story below that event but I'll save that for another blog.

So all my 1,200 Facebook friends, RSS this blog or send me your email address.

Mine is stephen_pate@hotmail.com and has been since Hotmail opened. I've got tons of gmail accounts but I love Hotmail. So basic - if you're not in my email list, bingo you're spam. What could be easier?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6BeawBIzhc]

Stay free and I will remember you.

You'll see me hanging around
Singing on a street or in a bar
Laughing with my friends
Keeping free but never far
Always there and always caring
I'll remember you oh yes I will.

@copyright 2009 Stephen Pate

The dime

By Stephen Pate

Lessons in life can come from unexpected quarters and people you wouldn't suspect. I learned honesty not from the bible as my mother wished but from a humble woman named Rose Llewellyn.

Rose Llewellyn was from Antigonish, Nova Scotia. In 2002 after she died, I discovered that her sister was married to one of my cousins.

Rose was married to Dick Llewellyn, a radio engineer on the the Baffin, a research ship with the Bedford Institute of Oceanography.

They lived in Edmonds Grounds in Armdale, Nova Scotia. Edmonds Grounds was a family estate across from the Horseshoe Island beach, at the foot of Quinpool Road.

It's called Spinnaker's today and all the old houses are gone. The anchor from the Mont Blanc flew 3 miles in the air and landed there during the Halifax Explosion. We used the anchor as first base playing scrub baseball.

Mont Blanc anchor blown to Edmunds Grounds Armdale NS by the Halifax Explosion

I knew Dick first because he was teaching me radio electronics when he was ashore.

Joe Lewin, one of my best childhood friends, came from Antigonish to live with them when his mother got sick. We chummed around for many years until Joe moved back to Antigonish.

We didn't go the the same school because Joe, Rose, Dick, and all my cousins on my Dad's side were Roman Catholic. He went the the Catholic school.

My mom was a Jehovah's Witness so we went to public school. Despite my mother's warnings about Catholics, Joe and I hung out fishing, swimming, boating, playing cowboys and Indians and all those things boys do.

I spent a lot of time sitting at Rose Llewellyn's kitchen table, eating cookies and listening to Rose talk about life. Even when Joe was back with his mom, I would visit Rose. She was my second mum. When Dick came home from sea, he would be a second dad to me teaching me all about resistors, capacitors and DC electronics. He helped me build my first radio from a kit.

One day during school lunch Rose asked me to go to the IPC Store and pick up a few things for her. I liked the job because she would tip me 5 or 10 cents, even if the walk was hard for a kid wearing a leg brace.

So off I went through our secret path in the pine woods, across the school yard and to the IPC store where the Purcell's Cove Road meets the Herring Cove Road. When I got back, Rose counted my change as she always did.

"You have ten cents too much," she said.

We counted it again and sure enough the girl at the store had given me back too much money.

"We can keep it," I said.

"No, you better take it back," she insisted.

"They will never know," I protested.

And then the final word came "Do you want ten cents to stand between you and heaven."

Now JW's believe you didn't go to heaven. My mother had also taught me that Catholics and the Pope were the next thing to the devil as in liars, thieves, fornicators and drunks.

Here I was Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes, holier than thou, JW boy being taught a lesson in honesty from a Catholic. This was a moral and religious quandary that shook me to my boots.

Gulping down my pride, I turned on my heels and trudged back through the woods, across the school yard where the kids were lining up for class, past the principal who gave me a dirty look and into the IPC store.

The girl didn't thank me or reward me and the Heaven didn't open up to angels singing on high about my honesty. I went to class late and got a detention.

I just knew that Rose Llewellyn was the most religious and honest woman I'd ever met and she was a Roman Catholic.

Rose taught me two lessons I've never forgotten.

One - right wing Protestants or any religion for that matter don't have the franchise on morality and honesty.

Two - don't let a dime get between you and heaven.

Visions of sin, Bob Dylan

"Dylan's Visions of Sin" by Christopher Ricks is a thick tome of 500 pages that is one of the better courses in songwriting you can read. Dylan is one of the most prolific and successful song writers of the last 50 years. He has influenced every corner of modern music. What influenced Dylan is a more inportant and useful question.

Ostensibly the book is a dissection of Bob Dylan's songs categorised under the seven deadly sins; however, the sins are metaphors for Ricks on the human condition. Dylan's songs reflect the good and bad of man's existence. Much like the Buddhist dharma's are the yin and yang of human emotion, seven deadly sins have seven heavenly virtues that Rick's applies in a scholarly approach to Dylan's songwriting.

"Sin" also a good title hook to entice the reader to purchase and read a longon the title page was attractive. So was the author's pedigree: Ricks is an the editor of the "Oxford Book of English Verse" (OBEV) and is a professor at Oxford University.

I have owned OBEV since university. People steal my OBEV and I buy another. He has also written on some of my favourite poets like T S Elliot, Keats, Tennyson, and A E Houseman. Why is he writing about Bob Dylan?

Let's get past cliche put-downs of Dylan like the canard he can't sing, you like his songs but he can't sing, you like his singing but his looks stink, or he isn't a poet, etc. ad nauseum.

Bob Dylan is the single most influential singer/songwriter to hit this planet ever. He copied everyone before him and added to it his own genius. What kind of a genius steals from the Bible, Shakespeare, Milton and TS Elliot with impunity?

Without Dylan there would be no Bruce Springsteen (a pale imitation), John Prine, Neil Young, no anybody who is doing what music is about today - relevant songs that the singer wrote himself.

When I listen to Dylan's progeny it's painfully clear they think Dylan authorized guitar accompanied introspection. Most of their lyrics are mundane, prosaic, and forgettable.

He has written 500 plus songs over 5 decades many of which define how we have felt along the way. If you want to see an artist in the middle of self-recreation, check out one of his concerts. It's like Picasso re-painting his paintings over and over.

Ricks is a proponent of the "close reading" of poetry. How close? Very close - you will go on wonderful trips where he compares "Not Dark Yet" from "Time Out of Mind" to Keats' "Ode to a Nightingale" line for line. After you digest that he points out how Keats was inspired by Shakespeare's "Sonnet 73."

I would love to have Rick's grasp of poetry and literature for he also brings in Becket and others. Word for word, line by line he draws out the beauty and significance of Dylan's work.

The popular press and pundits are constantly judging Dylan: such is the lot of an artist. It reminds me of the people who critiqued Van Gogh (too much yellow and blue) or Gauguin (who are those naked natives). You can tell Ricks is impressed by Dylan during every period of his artistic career.

Ricks makes you appreciate Dylan, even in his missteps, as the great artist he is.

This book is not an easy read. I guarantee if you like poetry, are a poet, or songwriter it will hold your interest you.

My songwriting has improved from a single read. I've got to read it again, I should say study "Visions of Sin" song by song, instead of trying read to get to the end.

There are other scholarly books on Bob Dylan: this one is my favourite for its emphasis of poetry and song structure independent of the music.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Staying upbeat despite all

By Stephen Pate
PEI Disability Alert
January 1, 2009

Being a social advocate is not the easiest job. You are constantly prodding a reluctant government and society to change.

What keeps me going is the progress we have made in just a few years. Certainly the recent passing of Kay Reynolds and thinking about her life's work spurs me onward. She and others who worked tirelessly for the benefit of others are examples to us even after they pass on.

We have made great progress even in the past two years. When I tried to get anyone interested in the $1 million cutback in disability support spending in 2006, there was nothing but a wall of indifference. Today people are discussing disabilities and other social issues regularly in the paper and in public. Yes the Liberal government has tried to deep-six disability reform but they will not succeed. Ghiz will be gone and we will have significant reform.

Two years ago, people tried to belittle my letters to the Guardian an Graphic about disabilities and seniors without wheelchairs. Today, those are recognized social problems. Poverty is moving from a charity case to a problem we can solve.

Government corruption is no longer a backroom story: it's headlines and even story of the year with the PNP Immigrant Scam. The December 27, 2008 story in the Guardian Deal over Internet angers Liberal got the public talking with 57 comments that discussed underlying issues such as 1) the need for more open tenders, 2) political patronage and 3)corruption and deceit in the Ghiz government. It was a decent discussion of the social and governmental ills I have been writing about for two years.

I was encouraged by the level of discussion and the number of people who used their real names which rarely happened in the past. Islanders are getting fed up with the corruption of the Ghiz government and taking the leap to open and fearless criticism. Especially encouraging was I didn't have to make a single comment to keep it moving along.

So despite the fact we don't have seniors in the Disability Support Program, nor has the cutback been returned, nor has UPEI put accessible parking back on campus, we are making progress. We will solve these and other problems.

I take little credit for what is happening. Consider the 22,000 people on PEI with disabilities who live through their pain and challenges. Consider too the tireless caregivers, parents, spouses, friends and helpers who make their lives bearable. These people are saints.

Some people thank me for being an advocate with emails and one-on-one comments. Other people take it on themselves to tell me to bugger off.

On New Year's Eve an old friend decided that Old Ang Syne need to come at 5 PM. According to him, he was already over the 0.8 reading.

First he showered me with faint praise for the good work I do then gave the example of the person I should be. Apparently someone had accomplished more in 10 short years than all the other social advocates on PEI and they had a NICE personality.

After supper he called back to continue the thread until my migraine was out of control. Such is life.

This I take with a grain of salt since I am a nice person and get along with more people than I can even remember. If I wasn't social, my work would be impossible.

However, after someone who is abusing the poor, the disabled or the otherwise disenfranchised refuses to help, change or even acknowledge the problems at hand, well I do put them on my public exposure list. And that's the way it works.

You know I have a disability which is characterized by fatigue so you might wonder how I get all the writing, research, videos and everything else done. Sharon Cameron, deputy minister of Social Services and Seniors asked me that question, perhaps hoping to discover my Achilles Heel.

Well, I'm not telling you will tell you a story!

At about the worst time in my life, in the middle of a family crisis and when walking had become next to impossible I said to my lawyer "I apologize for being so slow."

He replied "You get more work done in a few hours a day than ten new associates all week. I could use you."

That's not a boast, just a promise to not quit until the work is done. If you would like to help, don't hesitate. Volunteer to help someone today and any day.

Jesus said "The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few: pray you therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest." Luke 10:2

Everyone can be a worker for social justice and make PEI a truly beautiful home for all. This is not Stephen Pate's cause: it's belongs with all of us.

As we begin 2009, we will renew ourselves and work to accomplish good work.

Happy New Year.

Friday, December 26, 2008

The early influence of Harold Pinter

The world notes with sadness the passing of the great British playwright Harold Pinter. Personally, Pinter was an early influence that I intend to renew.

My exposure to him was only through movies. Fortunately Halifax has a strong British culture. One could see almost all of the great British and foreign films with only some diligence to the Sunday art cinema at the Hyland Theatre.

The Servant, Joseph Losey (director), Harold Pinter (writer), Dirk Bogarde and James Fox

My first Pinter film was "The Servant" with Dirk Bogarde, Sarah Miles and James Fox, a darkly immoral film to my mind at the time. Pinter was the writer from a book by Robin Maugham. I was so intrigued by the plot, character development and cinematographer I saw it numerous times. Losey framed emotionally charged scenes, like the one above, as reflections which was visually arresting.

My second Pinter film, which he wrote, was a noir tale "The Caretaker" which epitomized Pinter for me. Starring Donald Pleasance, Alan Bates and Robert Shaw. The movie felt like an play with an interior view bounded by walls. The outside shots were out of place and seemed another world. The characters were dense, evolving and often outside the morals of a young boy. The movie was intriguing and expressed the existential and socialist philosophy of post-war England.

The Accident, Joseph Losey(director), Harold Pinter (writer), Dirk Bogarde and Michael York

My next Pinter film, his second with Joseph Losey, was "The Accident" with Michael York and Dirk Bogarde. Again Pinter excelled at subtle character development with understated British dialogue. The vacuous lives of the protagonists gave the movie an empty feeling contrasted with the sumptuous color of the British countryside. Even on second viewing, the tension and characters held me yet I wanted to leave the film to avoid the impending tragedy.

My last Pinter film was "The French Lieutenant's Woman" which I could have skipped. It felt like an update of A Man And A Woman without the music. It never engaged me in the plot or the characters.

I'd like to see the Servant again.

Nobel-winning playwright Harold Pinter dies at 78

Harold Pinter, the young playwright

By PAISLEY DODDS, Associated Press
Thu Dec 25, 9:44 am

LONDON – Harold Pinter, praised as the most influential British playwright of his generation and a longtime voice of political protest, has died after a long battle with cancer. He was 78.

Pinter, whose distinctive contribution to the stage was recognized with the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005, died on Wednesday, according to his second wife, Lady Antonia Fraser.

"Pinter restored theater to its basic elements: an enclosed space and unpredictable dialogue, where people are at the mercy of each other and pretense crumbles," the Nobel Academy said when it announced Pinter's award. "With a minimum of plot, drama emerges from the power struggle and hide-and-seek of interlocution."

The Nobel Prize gave Pinter a global platform which he seized enthusiastically to denounce U.S. President George W. Bush and then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

"The invasion of Iraq was a bandit act, an act of blatant state terrorism, demonstrating absolute contempt for the concept of international law," Pinter said in his Nobel lecture, which he recorded rather than traveling to Stockholm.

"How many people do you have to kill before you qualify to be described as a mass murderer and a war criminal? One hundred thousand?" he asked, in a hoarse voice.

Weakened by cancer and bandaged from a fall on a slippery pavement, Pinter seemed a vulnerable old man when he emerged from his London home to speak about the Nobel Award.

Though he had been looking forward to giving a Nobel lecture — "the longest speech I will ever have made" — he first canceled plans to attend the awards, then announced he would skip the lecture as well on his doctor's advice.

Pinter wrote 32 plays; one novel, "The Dwarfs," in 1990; and put his hand to 22 screenplays including "The Quiller Memorandum" (1965) and "The French Lieutenant's Woman" (1980). He admitted, and said he deeply regretted, voting for Margaret Thatcher in 1979 and Tony Blair in 1997.

Pinter fulminated against what he saw as the overweening arrogance of American power, and belittled Blair as seeming like a "deluded idiot" in support of Bush's war in Iraq.

In his Nobel lecture, Pinter accused the United States of supporting "every right-wing military dictatorship in the world" after World War II.

"The crimes of the United States have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but very few people have actually talked about them," he said.

The United States, he added, "also has its own bleating little lamb tagging behind it on a lead, the pathetic and supine Great Britain."

Most prolific between 1957 and 1965, Pinter relished the juxtaposition of brutality and the banal and turned the conversational pause into an emotional minefield.

His characters' internal fears and longings, their guilt and difficult sexual drives are set against the neat lives they have constructed in order to try to survive.

Usually enclosed in one room, they organize their lives as a sort of grim game and their actions often contradict their words. Gradually, the layers are peeled back to reveal the characters' nakedness.

The protection promised by the room usually disappears and the language begins to disintegrate.

Pinter once said of language, "The speech we hear is an indication of that which we don't hear. It is a necessary avoidance, a violent, sly, and anguished or mocking smoke screen which keeps the other in its true place. When true silence falls we are left with echo but are nearer nakedness. One way of looking at speech is to say that it is a constant stratagem to cover nakedness."

Pinter's influence was felt in the United States in the plays of Sam Shepard and David Mamet and throughout British literature.

"With his earliest work, he stood alone in British theater up against the bewilderment and incomprehension of critics, the audience and writers too," British playwright Tom Stoppard said when the Nobel Prize was announced.

"Not only has Harold Pinter written some of the outstanding plays of his time, he has also blown fresh air into the musty attic of conventional English literature, by insisting that everything he does has a public and political dimension," added British playwright David Hare, who also writes politically charged dramas.

The working-class milieu of plays like "The Birthday Party" and "The Homecoming" reflected Pinter's early life as the son of a Jewish tailor from London's East End. He began his career in the provinces as an actor.

In his first major play, "The Birthday Party" (1958), intruders enter the retreat of Stanley, a young man who is hiding from childhood guilt. He becomes violent, telling them, "You stink of sin, you contaminate womankind."

And in "The Caretaker," a manipulative old man threatens the fragile relationship of two brothers while "The Homecoming" explores the hidden rage and confused sexuality of an all-male household by inserting a woman.

In "Silence and Landscape," Pinter moved from exploring the dark underbelly of human life to showing the simultaneous levels of fantasy and reality that equally occupy the individual.

In the 1980s, Pinter's only stage plays were one-acts: "A Kind of Alaska" (1982), "One for the Road" (1984) and the 20-minute "Mountain Language" (1988).

During the late 1980s, his work became more overtly political; he said he had a responsibility to pursue his role as "a citizen of the world in which I live, (and) insist upon taking responsibility."

In March 2005 Pinter announced his retirement as a playwright to concentrate on politics. But he created a radio play, "Voices," that was broadcast on BBC radio to mark his 75th birthday.

"I have written 29 plays and I think that's really enough," Pinter said . "I think the world has had enough of my plays."

Pinter had a son, Daniel, from his marriage to actress Vivien Merchant, which ended in divorce in 1980. That year he married the writer Fraser.

"It was a privilege to live with him for over 33 years. He will never be forgotten," Fraser said.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Best and worst Boxing Day Sales

When I was younger a Sale seemed like a spontaneous event. Then my ex-wife worked for Sears in the purchasing department. Tbey were planning sales for a year in advance, including picking the items to "put on sale".

Boxing Day Sales have become a big part of the Christmas selling season. Stores like Sam the Record Man in Toronto made them a must go event. Door crasher specials are still fun for the young and vigorous. I like mine on the web.

One of the worst Boxing Day sales is audimidi.com who are normally savvy web vendors.

Ten...Nine...Eight...aM's Countdown Sale Starts December 25!
We're kicking off the countdown....take 10% off your order on December 25, 9% off on December 26, 8% off on December 27, and so on. Act fast- the sooner you use the coupon the more you save! Offer expires December 31, 2008. Use coupon code COUNTDOWN08. Exact discount dependent on time and date of order placed.

A whopping 10% discount and it gets worse every day. Pass.

The best site is Future Shop.

They have been mailing me flyer announcements for days, telling me to get in the queue. You get your choice from 6 different flyers: web only or in store, Boxing Day only, all week, etc. Future Shop flyers are html or flash and each item has more info, buy or wish list choices. Everything is convenient and easy to find.

There are fantastic bargains in-store but the web ones are decent as well.

Future Shop will do tens of millions of dollars in business this week because they put the time and effort into making it easy for their customers to spend.

Gibson Dark Fire, if you need the ultimate guitar

By Stephen Pate

Gibson's ultimate got-to-have for Christmas guitar has arrived, well sort of.

The new Gibson Dark Fire guitar started to trickle out from the factory mid-December. dark-fire-side-partial1

Of course it's gorgeous. Rrrrrgh!

The Dark Fire one-two-and-three up's last years hot Robot Guitar with a new faster robot tuning system that tunes all 6 strings at once.

Tuning and tone is controlled by a user programmer MCK button with more custom tuning pre-sets and custom along with tone variations. The toggle switch dials in more or less of the tone presets.

There are 3 pickups: Burstbucker 3, bridge piezo, and a new P90H.

The body has been re-chambered to increase sustain. Forever? apparently almost with the guitar-to-computer hook-up.

The Dark Fire comes with a computer hookup, Ableton Live 7 and Guitar Rig 3. If you like Ableton, it's easy. Guitar Rig allows you to create a virtual rack with emulation for many famous guitarists. Extra cool. There is also a midi hookup which isn't quite clear - the guitar is not midi pickup equipped.

They are in such limited supply, it's hard to say what the Dark Fire will cost - looks like $3,500. See eBay (watch out- Gibson only warrants original purchase from a dealer)

Robot Guitar owners like moi are being offered an upgrade which could be interesting. I do love my Robot.

Check out the user video

or Harmony Central - the official video

Harmony Central video

Whatever happened to the days when you dreamed of owning a Les Paul Custom Black Beauty?

Monday, December 22, 2008

Lennie Gallant in Rustico Dec 29

Lennie Gallant will be appearing in Rustico on Monday December 29th, 2008 at St. Augustine's Church. Lennie will be accompanied by Sean Kemp, his longtime violin player.

I attended the Un Noel Acadien concert for the first time in 2003 and it's always been a very special part of the holiday season for me.

Lennie Gallant is one of the Island's favourite sons and a world touring singer songwriter.

With Gallant on the bill are Meaghan Blanchard, an up-and-coming singer songwriter and award winning pianist Jeremy Gallant. Other performers include Caroline and Jeannita Bernard, Angele and Christine Hashie Rix.

Tickets are still available at 963 3252 or at Gallant's Clover Farm 963 2000. The performance starts at 7 pm.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Alan MacPhee attacked at St. James Gate

Souris businessman Alan MacPhee sustains injuries at St. Games Gate
Surprising news about Alan MacPhee at St. James Gate in the Guardian, Businessman seriously hurt in attack at club

A well-known Island businessman says he was seriously injured when several men attacked him on a dance floor in a Charlottetown nightclub. Alan MacPhee says he was dancing with two women at St. James Gate late Friday night when four men jumped him.

Too bad for Alan. We hope he recovers from what would be an unexpected and unpleasant turn of events.

This is pretty alarming considering the Gate is one of PEI's most popular waterholes and meeting places. While I've seen the odd fight break out, the staff were the most efficient in town at separating and removing the belligerents.

The dance floor was usually well-patrolled with athletic looking security people, at least when we used to go there which hasn't been in a few years.

Almost from the day it first opened, The Gate was known as a safe and fun place to spend the evening for the unattached or those seeking that status. It featured efficient and friendly staff, good local bands and plenty of action of the non-pugilistic sort.

I've been knocked down while dancing but my balance and rowdy dancers can only be the blame. I know several people with disabilities who frequent the place.

Hmmm what could be going on? There are too many questions. Is management losing control? What did they do to assist MacPhee?

Time For Journalists To Take A Lesson From (Smart) Musicians

From TechDirt
These days there are a few types of stories we see and write about consistently: (1) the legacy recording industry's troubles in adapting to a changing market, (2) the ability of a bunch of motivated, smart musicians, bucking the old way of doing things and finding tremendous success and (3) the legacy newspaper industry's troubles in adapting to a changing market. Given (1) and (2), you would think that (3) might lead to the obvious (4) of a bunch of motivated, smart journalists, bucking the old way of doing things and finding tremendous success.

And, in fact, that is happening, particularly with upstart blogs, but it's not getting as much attention. Romenesko points us to what should be a must-read essay over at the Columbia Journalism Review, highlighting the fact that worried journalists should be studying up on the success stories of musicians who are succeeding even as the legacy recording industry struggles.

It makes a few key points (which I'm summarizing and paraphrasing in this list) that apply to both, but which don't always get as much attention in the journalism field:

* Give away as much content as possible to build a following
* Share, don't hoard
* Really engage and connect with your audience
* Be authentic
* Build your personal brand

Some journalists (and musicians!) will likely push back on some of these, but it seems pretty clear that the market is rewarding people who follow these steps, and punishing those who don't.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

More And More Students Choosing Journalism As A Major, Even As Newspapers Face Troubles

From Tech Dirt

Thanks to all the fretting and worrying about the financial trouble and potential demise of many mainstream newspapers, it's become something of a curiosity that more students than ever seem to be going into college journalism programs (found via Romenesko). However, as the article details, it all makes sense once you realize the simple fact: while newspapers may be in trouble, journalism is actually doing quite well.

Just as many people mistakenly believe that the recording industry represents the music industry, the newspaper industry is hardly a proxy for journalism. Journalism, these days, has expanded well beyond newspapers, and a big part of the problem is that newspapers just aren't as good a medium for news as various other platforms. The second important point that the article above makes clear: journalism, by itself, isn't necessarily a profession. For many students, they see journalism as important training for other professions -- such as law, PR, consulting or management. That's a point that's often ignored these days. The ability to clearly explain what's happening, gathering facts, understanding various viewpoints, and coherently summarizing all the points of view is actually a really valuable skill beyond just journalism. So, don't fear for "journalism." It's going strong. The problem is newspapers who haven't been able to shift course in the midst of a rapidly changing market.

Man are JW's in bad mood this week

By Stephen Pate

I know why Mr. Not-Too-Bright is upset. See Kicked out of the Kingdom Hall.

You see Jehovah Witness's don't celebrate Christmas cause some mouldy old Babylonian God (1) hit his thumb with a hammer and said "Christ!" out loud.

This royal courtier who was a wise arse said "Christ my ass" and the JW's point to that as a pagan source for Christmas.

The whole thing is written on the Rosa's Stone. Marty Robbins found the stone right next Rosa's Cantina, wrote a song about Feelina cause his wife hated Rosa.

Back to Christmas... actually according to Wikipedia, Christmas comes from Chris as in Chris Farley a funny but now dead comedian and Mass from massive gifts I like to get myself.

JW's get in a bad mood around this time of year like a bear in winter. All upset no one is going to get them a Christmas gift or turkey dinner. The price you pay for putting too much stock in defective biblical research.

I was lucky. My mother is one of those rootin-shootin Jehovah's Witnesses but my dad was a good old, go to church once a year Catholic. Luckier still for me that day was Christmas.

It was so cool. Like my mother is arranging some door to door Watchtower work for Christmas morning and dad would say, "I'm taking Stephen to see mom." Out the little cripple boy would go like Tinny Tim on his dad's shoulder.

Mass was a mysterious serious of sit down, stand up, kneel and shut up. Oh well, it smelled neat and gave me a hint of what the crazy 60's would be like with girls in sarongs and incense in their apartments.

After Mass we went to grandmama who made rappi pie which is a bad translation of pati a la rapure. In West Prince they just say rapure. Sometimes, it would have rabbit for the meat - oh so good. And that's why they called us Pate.

Well JW's really are in a bad mood around Christmas. Call one up and wish them Happy Holidays. If you get that far, then say "And a Merry Christmas too.

Sworn Statement
I, Stephen Pate, of one sound leg, swear these statements to be true for the sole purpose of pulling your leg except for the JE part. Man are they weird.

1. This is discussed further by Dr. Splenger and Winston Zeddmore

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Kicked out of the Kingdom Hall

By Stephen Pate

Tonight we were doing the MacDonald's drive-through for supper. Hey that new Angus burger almost tastes like a hamburger. My gal has catechism class and the rush was on.

"Why don't you guys skip that?" I asked. "Isn't everybody busy enough with Christmas and shopping."

Whack on the right arm. Man, there's nowhere to hide in these efficient, little cars.

We were driving down Nassau St. As we got to Queen, I pointed to a rectangular, little building.

"Did you know that used to be a Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall," I asked ever the font for useless information.

"You mean the daycare?" she answered.

"Yeah, used to be a Kingdom Hall back in the 60's, one of the few I got kicked out of."

"What did you get kicked out for?" she asked taking the bait. I love the stories about the past especially mine.

"Yeah, back in '64 or '65 my brother Brian and I were camping on the North Shore. We came in one Sunday night to go to the evening service."

"Why did they kick you out?" she asked. Usually I don't like to be interrupted once I get the go-ahead but I let her get that one in.

"This guy who was like an elder, well he was an elder stood in the doorway and wouldn't let us in. He's still around Charlottetown cleaning windows all skinny and stooped over with his bucket and squeegee."

"I'd think two boys camping should be encouraged to go to church on a Sunday when they're camping even if you didn't have a suit on," she said falling right into line. "Was your brother more religious than you or did you like church then?"

I was so good then and I'm so good now, I thought. This story is working.

"Yeah a real tight ass."

"Watch your language! Hannah's in the car." I got the look.

"Oh yeah, sorry. Sort of a mean guy wasn't he," I corrected myself. "Only time I can remember getting the boot except that time down in Harris, PA when the Pennsylvania Dutch elder didn't like my hound's-tooth pants and Beatle hair. And the time I left for the JW's for good. Man that was a great day."

"Why did you come in from the camp site? To go to church? No that's not it, you were looking for girls!" she whacked me again on the arm.

"No, my brother was looking for one of the Matheson girls from Albion Cross" I replied trying to gain the higher ground. "It's a good thing he didn't marry her because she was a real pain and married this tight assed guy from Sudbury. He was always ragging my butt."

"Watch your language" and the look came back.

You can see that look when you're driving, looking straight ahead and it's dark out. It goes straight into the windshield and reflects right back into your eyes.

"No he really was a tight ass. He had colitis real bad and when he would get upset with me in the 70's., I took special delight in knowing I was making his ass twitch," I replied laughing out loud and then into my hand when it was apparent no one else was
laughing. I was still chortling as we pulled into the drive through.

"You are something else. I should have known you'd be chasing some girl not going to church. You didn't change much."

Thinking I was getting somewhere, I stepped in further. "Yeah when I left Nova Scotia for Montreal, they said it was because I'd run through every JW girl in the Province. That's not true. There were a few dogs I never dated."

Whack.

It didn't matter, I was bent over the steering wheel laughing the deep belly laugh saved for my own jokes.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Snowy Owls on PEI, bad sign

By Stephen Pate

This Snowy Owl relaxes on the Hillsborough Bridge causeway on Monday. This breed of owl, which is normally native to far more northern regions, has been spotted around P.E.I. in recent months. Guardian photo by Brian McInnis

I've got to get out more often. The Guardian reported that there are snowy owls at the Hillsborough Bridge, Unusual visitor has descended on the Island this year. Nice photo Brian.

"Large, white, shadowy, deadly creatures have invaded Prince Edward Island.
The Snowy Owl, usually found in more northern regions, has appeared in large numbers on P.E.I. this fall and appears ready to stay here for the winter.

Reports have come in from a variety of locations across the Island about owl sightings, says Rosemary Curley, natural areas biologist with the fish and wildlife division of the Department of the Environment."

That is so cool. I've never seen one in the open, except at zoo's. Owls are pretty cool anyways: they are the cats of the bird family. Owls seem smarter than the rest of the birds, perhaps because they don't say much. Hmmm could that be a hint. Well owls aren't smarter than Deeter the parrot. That was a smart bird.

Apparently they are coming south to look for food, which means the ecological balance up north is shifting. The Ottawa Citizen reported the same thing, Owls moving south in search of prey

"Cold north winds and a shortage of voles and mice up north are bringing the birds south and that means snowy owls and hawk owls are in the news again.

Ted Busby found them both in the Ottawa area. Ray Kunze had a snowy sitting on his roof in Stittsville all day on Nov. 16. David Moillet also had one on his roof. This one was discovered and harassed by crows. These white owls are much more vulnerable to this activity as they are usually out in the open. They do not perch in thick pine trees, up against the trunk, like the great horned and barred owls do for some protection."

The earth is changing. The scientists warned us and we keep consuming hydrocarbons, polluting and heating up the atmosphere. There's always a couple of right-wing he-man type scientists around to make us feel OK driving in gas guzzling SUV's.

Humans are funny creatures. We were into alternate energy back in the 70's. You remember: the Ark, wood heat, small is beautiful, and pollution.

Whoa, making lots of money in the 80's and 90's who cares about the world and 90% of the other people. We are kings walking on the planet. Let's cut down those rain forests for oil.

Photo: Malcolm Lodge, Entegrity Wind

I'm glad to see the owls as a tourist but it's not a good sign. One part of me wishes I still had my 300mm lens and the other part says get that solar water heater on the roof.

We need to get smarter, really smarter. It's not easy since we've been spoiled for so long. I got rid of the car this year. Waste of money and it consumes oil. Taxis are fun, cheap and you learn things. Looking for more places to insulate. I want a smaller footprint, tired of being a consumer.

Can anyone tell us why we need to spend $1 billion for windmills when they make them on PEI. Malcolm Lodge, who has been at it for decades, makes windmills and sells them to the States. Superior Sanitation has one on the bypass. I guess they're smarter than us. It seems a lot smarter to buy something smaller, less expensive and made on PEI than what Ghiz iszz doing.

It's a funny thing too. When the Guardian published a story about Wayne MacQuarrie winning an award as a wind energy pioneer, I put this small comment on the Guardian site,
Stephen Pate from Charlottetown, PE writes:

Malcolm Lodge should get it too. He's been chasing the wind energy thing since the 70's. Weird how the province goes to Europe for technology when we have it right in our back yard.

The Guardian editors wouldn't post it until I complained. Is there a conspiracy of silence to put us another billion dollars in debt?

Giving MacQuarrie the award, ignoring our own businesses and spending $1 billion in Europe is the Golden Sash Award, a pompous and useless gesture by Ghiz to divert attention. I guess the Guardian knew what they were up to.

We need to take back the Island from the lazy, the greedy merchants and political fools who don't care about anything but money, sex and power.

I'm going out to see come birds before they're gone too.

Unusual visitor has descended on the Island this year

Guardian Staff

Large, white, shadowy, deadly creatures have invaded Prince Edward Island.
The Snowy Owl, usually found in more northern regions, has appeared in large numbers on P.E.I. this fall and appears ready to stay here for the winter.
Reports have come in from a variety of locations across the Island about owl sightings, says Rosemary Curley, natural areas biologist with the fish and wildlife division of the Department of the Environment.
“We’re getting reports all over.’’
Curley said it appears likely the owl’s usual food source, lemmings, have crashed in the Arctic, forcing the owls southwards in search of an alternative supply of food.
Curley said that during an average winter, there might be three or four Snowy Owls spotted on the Island. But those numbers have swelled this fall to numbers rarely before seen.
The elusive bird, one of the largest members of the owl family, is now a regular sight at the Crowbush Cove golf course, along the rocks of the Hillsborough River bridge, around Summerside and in other areas of the
province.
At least one persistent owl has decided to make the Hillsborough Bridge area its home, although one report suggests there are actually as many as three owls there. The owls are there because of the thousands of starlings and pigeons which roost under the bridge at night.
Unlike other owls, the Snowy Owl hunts by day and is becoming a common sight for many Islanders.
Other areas of southern Canada are also reporting unusually large numbers of Snowy Owls, said Curley.
The bird is also known in North America as the Arctic Owl or the Great White Owl and is the official bird of Quebec.
The bird usually breeds north of the Arctic Circle.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Ghiz Selling the Farm - Five & 1/2 minutes

December 15th,2008 episode

All the scandal and dirt on PEI

Premier Ghiz selling the farm
Minister Richard Brown turns his employees into crooks
Who called the police - watch out Richard
Can the Council of the Disabled write a paragraph?
Wes Sheridan filing for bankruptcy
Readers speak out on CBC and John Jeffery

and more...

Almost ripped on Kijiji Mac Pro

4 comments

I almost got ripped off on a Mac Pro today. David Cole answered my Kijiji add in Charlottetown with a sweet deal that was a total scam.

His email addresses are gloryandpride@msn.com and david.cole@msn.com.

The add from last month, when my XP box was dying, said

Wanted: MacPro or iMac Quad or dual quad is best configuration although I will consider anything midrange and up

Everyone was telling me a quad Mac Pro would do video editing better and faster so that's the way I was going. A new one was like $8,000 plus taxes, too much for my unpaid, never profit organization.

Not one peep from the ad until today when a guy emailed me and offered this for $2,600

Newest

Charlottetown Ads for "Mac" in computers 15-Dec-08
MINT Apple Mac Pro 3.0GHz Xenon 8-Core SuperWorkstation ($2,600.00)

Super, it was the cat's ass. Everything, not an option missing - a real $9,000 loaded Mac Pro Quad,

3.0 GHz 8-core Mac Pro workstation Operating System:Mac OS X 10.6, Leopard Memory (RAM):8 GB
Hard Drive Capacity:1.2 GB • 1.25TB Storage (500GB Boot Drive + 750GB Secondary Drive)
12GB of 800mhz DDR2 fully-buffered DIMM ECC memory (6x2GB)
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT with 512MB of GDDR4 memory (two dual-link DVI)
Two SuperDrives: 1. Upgraded Pioneer DVD-RW 20x DVR-116D Burner & Pioneer DVD-RW 16x DVR-112D Burner
AirPort Extreme card/Bluetooth + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate)
Under Apple's full 1-year warranty until 8/7/2009.(Serial No. G88330DHXYL)
Memory: 12GB of 800MHz DDR2
Included accessories:Apple Wireless Keyboard,DVI to VGA Adapter,USB Keyboard Extension Cable
30" Apple HD Cinema Display

There was a sorta of amateurish picture and cut and part of the ad from original text and part cut and paste from Apple.

Checked out the listing. A dream come true, someone in Charlottetown who has what I want at 1/3rd the price. Wrong - whenever something is too good to be true, it is.

I was a little wary so I said yes, then he dropped the price to $2,400 if I acted right away. When I asked for a copy of his Apple invoice I got something with all the names blocked out. Hmmm.

Then I found out he was "travelling on business" but if I sent $2,000 in 2 envelopes to eBay or the post office - it was getting nutty by then - eBay would release the computer from the shipping company in Victoria (BC) while he was in London, England.

The whole thing had a great style of increased excitement to bite now! Do it, I'm a family man and you can trust me.

But of course, once your antennae are up, they don't go down. Scouting around I found the same ad in Toronto.

So no id, no purchase invoice, and no warehouse in Victoria BC. He may be a family man but he is a good con man too.

I guess that's why Kijiji is for local business.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Saving emails, is it the law?

A post on Dan James' CEO Blues got me thinking - is it the law to save your emails?

The answer is yes, if you get sued.

It is a requirement of civil law to retain all documents including electronic docs like email. A Canadian authority on this, with some US links, is Alan Gahtan. He has an interesting blog and encyclopedia of cyberlaw. Makes good reading on long winter nights. ahtan also has a book published by Carswell called "Electronic Evidence" which makes scintillating reading anytime.

If someone sues you or vice versa, you can be compelled during the discovery part of the proceedings to produce all documents (old news) including e-docs (recent news). All means ALL.

This is supposed to show both sides the evidence they will have to address in court and should result in the case being settled early. Courts like us to settle before we get inside the doors of the courthouse so they can watch Judge Judy.

Everyone is used to the drill - get the notice of a suit, start the shredder :). I believe the obligation begins when notice of the suit is served while the actual request can take years. Most lawyers still don't have a clue about electronic evidence and yours may not tell you until well into the process, like when he/she gets served with the request.

Both sides discover things that can be the golden key during this process through accident, guile and sleuthing. In one case a pivotal letter to A delivered by email was purportedly signed by B. It became the smoking gun. It was written for no apparent reason by a third party C who wanted to induce the B to cancel a contract with A. B and C were not computer smart and never thought their littl scheme would see the light of day.

That plot had been suggested but there was no proof until the digital author time stamp indicated C was interfering in a contract between A and B. This allowed the lawyer for A to join C in the lawsuit as a conspirator to induce breach of contract.

The author was discovered just browsing the CD with their e-docs. The case was settled soon after that nasty piece of business came to light.

E-doc requests have another value - leverage. If one side of a lawsuit is careless with e-docs they will either a) not be able to find them b) have to spend upwards of $250,000 to produce them. Tech savvy clients can produce them on a dime - mail server backups with rules that every email is stored on the server forever.

The request for e-docs can send the other side in a tizzy. They will deny: they have any, they have to file them, etc. until they accept the inevitable. At that point they data may be on a computer that died, was sold, taken home - the cost to collect in a medium sized case is about $250,000. Production of documents is usually not a cost assessable against your legal opponent so each side bears the cost.

That one issue alone can bring a settlement, settle now and save a hard expenditure of $100,000 and up.

The other point goes to cost or having your case thrown out. If you cannot produce a reasonably complete set of e-docs, you likely will be sanctioned by the judge, maybe not get costs even if you win. Looks bad to judges like you're trying to hide something. Gahtan has one instance where a case was thrown out when the plaintiff, ex something or other, entered the defendant's computer system, took the docs he wanted and put them with his on a CD.

"A lawsuit was dismissed by an Ontario judge after the plaintiff hacked into the defendant’s computer server while legal proceedings were taking place."

"According to David E. Fine, lawyer for the defendant with Gardiner Roberts LLP in Toronto, as cited in the article, (We) couldn’t really find any precedent, so this may be the first case of its kind, where the judge has said you can’t go ahead because of your conduct. The incident was discovered when the plaintiff submitted a DVD – with the materials hacked from the defendant’s server – as evidence in the lawsuit. " blog e discovery

So saving emails is the law.

The computer biz is like any other, in the early stages law develops case by case. You can get your comeuppance really fast when issues hit. The "superior knowledge" concept, from the ethics discussion, was from Manitoba and US cases.

We had done a project (circa 1988) and it was slower than expected. Wow who would think that could happen? The client was terrible at changing his mind. Boom, one day I got a lawyers letter demand all money back plus damages.

My lawyer convinced me to settle quickly. IT companies rarely win on development or other technical lawsuits since they are assumed by judges to have the upper hand. We are supposed to know more than the client (and we do). It puts the onus on us to know what could, would and should happen. Oops there's one they didn't teach in contact law.

It's like the 49 Gold Rush in IT - people are suing over anything and everything because there's money in it.

Legal notice - I'm not a lawyer nor am I dispensing legal advice, just telling the tale as I know it.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Ghiz takes ball and goes home, mystery woman

Five and 1/2 Minutes - New episode - Dec 3 08

Ghiz takes his ball and goes home

Mystery women on PEI

Media censorship

and more...

The rest of the story.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Going out of business sign for Facebook

Facebook is in trouble, serious money trouble and is acting irrationally toward customers.

Facebook disabled - going out of business sign?

Accounts are being arbitrarily deleted, disabled, whatever. You can appeal but who cares. The program has outlived its fun and excitement. It's almost fascist these days. Don't do this - don't do that.

Social media is about freedom and fun not weird unwritten rules that can cause sudden death.

We'll all have to get over it.

Facebook is morphing into an ugly thing.

Despite their protests, the company is in dire need of money.

With the current financial crisis, they are out in the cold in Silicon Valley. The consensus is the Microsoft valuation was dumb and careless.

No VC's will touch them, hence the little trip to Dubai - think about it - that terrorist guy may have your personal information.

Does this look like the end of the American empire or what?

Anyways, wrong train of thought.

When a business attacks their customers it's called a sign from god - or as Annie Potts said in Ghostbusters

"I'll tell you what sign it is - a going out of business sign."

And nothing is truly free is it?

A sign from God.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Still Water, Daniel Lanois

Here's an hypnotic solo version of Still Water from the Marquis Club in Halifax.

Friday, October 31, 2008

The real Hockey Night in Canada theme

There is something to be said for too much education. It makes a fool of people. Like the Hockey Night in Canada theme.

First the CBC loses the song we remember - market 101 big mistake.

Second they don't beg Stompin Tom to use his song.

Lest you think me a cretin, my favourite composers are Mozart, Puccini, Verdi, Bob Dylan and Stompin Tom.

Too much education makes you stupid. Pride keeps you there.

Go Stompin Tom.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

This Hour Has Five & 1/2 Minutes - Top 8 News Story

“This Hour Has Five & ½ Minutes” was the #8 news video on YouTube October 29, 2008

Comments from viewers were

“Smooth job, keep up the good work”
“Bravo”
“Ha ha! Awesome”
“It was great. I laughed and laughed”
“Take me off your mailing list”

New Promo

Catch “This Hour Has Five & ½ Minutes” and know the buzz.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Microsoft Sphere, too cool

My life has been too intense lately, all this social advocacy broken up with music gigs. Did you know that every time you think about politicians 1 million brains cells cry out for relief.

I need to stay inside and explore new technology like Microsoft Sphere and Surface.

Way cool! I want them! Now.

This could be the breakout for dull and boring computers. They are essentially the same as they were 10 years ago, boxes with software.

The potential of creativity in computing is always limited by the silly learning curve of all those arcane commands the software developers insist we learn. I'm learning sound engineering now and the software is so stupid, so is Photoshop and Premier. Made by geeks for geeks - not for creating things.

In the 1980's PC's were exciting. There was new technology. We read Byte and PC Mag to keep up. No one kept a personal computer for long. The new ones were faster and better.

Ask Will and James - I was techno geek introducing them to computers as soon as they could hold the mouse about age 2. I was a cruel dad: I would let them see me work on the computer and turn it off. They had to learn everything on their own. OK so maybe I gave them a hint.

Gabriel and Laura started a little later since they were already like 7 when I got my first computer. Gabe spent many a Saturday playing Star Wars in green dots.

In the mid-90's it got pretty boring. My last laptop was a throw away at Future Shop that cost me $525 for a quad processor that could run in circles with Word. Ho hum.

Here's a cool parody of Surface

How come Microsoft gets to take English words and make them products: windows, word, excel, surface, and sphere.

Hewlett Packard put out a dealer video called "1999" ( I think) that showed the Internet, object oriented programing, communications that probe other computers to determine protocols, and a host of things that became possible by 1995.

If you have seen this or have a copy, post it on YouTube. It's a real - it was the future way back then video.

Sphere and Surface look like the future.

When do we get holographic computing?

Note: my cheap and blatant test of your morals worked. Not too many people fell for the sexy lingerie gal in the middle of my poem. Sex may sell but it won't get you to read poetry.

Daniel Lanois remains the topic of the week.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Oh those markets, those crazy markets

Buy Stephen Pate

I love pundits
they prognosticate portentously
and ponderously
when only the Fates know.

Victoria Secret not a pundit

The market is driven upward
because it must,
but every upward has a bust,
a down,
shareholders frown
but next time they'll all come around
because greed and fear are always in play...
those markets will have another day
and we will survive,
stay alive, and even thrive...
or we won't.

I have more rhymes
But not this time.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Lanois in Halifax has great vibe, video at 7

Daniel Lanois, The Messenger, Marquis Club Halifax NS Oct 08 (Pate photo)

Daniel Lanois played on Saturday night October 12th in Halifax and the crowd went wild. Lanois the famous producer behind U2, Dylan and other musical luminaries likes to tour with a smallish band - 4 piece in Halifax - doing his own material.

The capacity crown at the Marquis Club on Gottingen Street in Halifax got their money's worth and more as Lanois rocked out the night.

After driving versions of songs like The Messenger, Lanois held the crowd in his hand as he sang part of his set solo. He repeated at the end that in the uninterrupted 2.5 hour performance.

Lanois can sound cool and detached on his CD's. Live he is mesmerizing with his black leather look and emotion packed performance.

In the video clip of The Messenger watch him control the guitar, band and audience with his right hand. He is both pulling us into his performance and threatening at once.

I tried to get as much of that hand on the guitar since he has a unique technique to coax and force great sound from his black Les Paul. It's all in the thumb and fingers: he had a pick but used it rarely.

In the same song he can be gently, almost acoustically finger pick but push the sound out through the amp to make it sound powerful and raw. Then he will punch or rough the strings up. That's where the sound comes from - that great hand technique.

I have 90 minutes of tape which I've previewed and it looks great. Not only did he allow people to take pictures and videos, the stage crew helped. One of the techs, in a great French boating t-shirt, took my video camera and shot one song from behind the drum kit. He was doing it for others in the audience as well.

I'll post The Messenger today and the rest as I get time to edit this week.

That afternoon, Lanois held an unscheduled session at the club to discuss his music and music making. The show will be telecast on CBC sometime. Sonic should have text messaged Lanois's fans. The information was on PEI Locals which is OK if you are at home but useless once you head out.

The night was friendly and loving with a great vibe

The club soundtrack from the camcorder is over-driven and needs fixing. That's where my time will be spent. The raw tracks are 16-bit with mild compression.

Comments are always appreciated either here or on YouTube. Peace.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Priceless UPEI

50,000 videos 9 million viewers

October 16th, 2008

Thursday we passed our 50,000th viewer on YouTube.

The Disability Alert story has been seen by 9 million readers and viewers.

That doesn't even touch the secondary sites that re-publish the videos and articles.

Those are both phenomenal achievements measured only in your interest and enjoyment. Thank you very much for your support for returning again and again to these pages.

Thanks to Michael LeClair and Trish Clarkin who help so much with the videos and many other things. Thanks to all the volunteers and those unnamed and unsung heroes, to the media who cover our stories and to my family for putting up with me writing so much.

I do this to help those who cannot help themselves due to life's little gift of disability and for no other reason or gain. On this site, I just try to have some fun.

There is so much more to do and we'll have fun doing it.

I am humbled and encouraged by your support. Thanks again.

Note: counts refer to story counts, clicks, and views not unique viewers and readers since many people return to our sites.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Six degrees of separation

Relationship chart, Vue software see note below - click on chart to see full view

Is it six degrees of separation or only two? Whatever the number we are connected to each other in this world.

Googling another topic, I came across stories about Red Shea’s death in June 2008 from cancer. (Toronto Star)

Red Shea, Gordon Lightfoot's guitarist dead at 70

Somehow I became connected to Red Shea so I put the theory to the test. Looks like I'm only 2 degrees from Red Shea a great artist I never met and 3 degrees from Gordon Lightfoot.

Red, who hails from Saskatchewan, was Lightfoot’s lead guitarist through most of the 60’s. He also recorded with him during the 70s. Red is credited with much of Gord’s sound. You can find him on the early albums. He mainly played acoustic lead although I saw him try to play the kitchen sink once on Tommy Hunter.

In the early 70s at a Lightfoot concert in Montreal, I met Rick Haynes backstage, saw Lightfoot and was suitably thrilled. Rick was and still is Gord's bassist. You have to be cool or so I thought. No screaming, no autographs, just a tip of the hat and a wave.

My grandmother, Winnifred (Camp) Peardon, loved Tommy Hunter. She liked to make me watch him on Friday night, even when I was a teenager. I actually went to see him at Confederation Centre once.

Red was a fun loving guy, a jokester and prankster. On Tommy Hunter he did quite a few silly gags which relieved some of the show’s predictable character. Tommy would introduce the smiling red-headed guy as a special segment after he found the audience loved Red.

Being an unabashed Canadian folkie from the 60s, I knew who Red was and how good he was. Red had a tasty style that we envied and some tried to emulate. If you listen to the early Lightfoot albums the sound is unmistakable.

My cousin Jim Smith from Ottawa and now in Yarmouth, NS and I both were both Lightfoot fans and played all the songs. We are the same age and were inseparable back then. I remember many nights in Montreal playing Lightfoot songs turn about until the Mrs. Ianno, the landlady, told us to be quiet.

Gordon Lightfoot, Red Shea and John Stockfish going on stage in 1969

We went to Lightfoot concerts and dreamed about seeing him at his annual and legendary Massey Hall appearances.

As an up-and-coming musician, Red kicked around Toronto in the 50s. One of his friends was fellow guitarist Russ Townsend, a big follower of Chet Atkins.

Russ was from the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia. According to Russ, he and Red shared many adventurous nights in Toronto. Rowdy would be the word that aptly describes their fun. Red was a dare devil country boy who liked to shock people with his antics.

Russ left Toronto in the 60s, returning to Halifax to play and teach guitar. Red of course became well known through Lightfoot, Ian and Sylvia and Tommy Hunter.

The strange thread here is both of them became Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW), a cultish end-of-the-world sect that frowns on the rowdy ways of musicians. I vaguely remember Russ telling me he introduced Red to the religion.

It was natural for Russ since his family was JW. For Red I suppose it was reaching out for religion after an irreligious period in his life.

Russ’s family was JW’s. Edwin Barkhouse, his cousin, taught me Industrial Arts at Armdale Junior High. Townsend’s and Barkhouse’s are nice gentle people. I met their parents once on a visit to the Valley. Back then I was a JW so we got around in that little circle.

A mutual JW friend (can’t remember every name!) introduced us. Rick had converted to the JW’s by then. He shared that Red quit the touring band to stay away from the road life with its many temptations. Red settled down. His career centered on studio and TV work in the Toronto area.

When I met Lightfoot he was drinking heavily and bearing a grudge against the JW’s. First he had lost his favourite guitarist to them. Second they were always preaching to him about the end of the world. Then the guys had the nerve to stop partying after the shows. JW’s were a drag on Lightfoot’s life. Tell me about it.

Lightfoot made rules that they were not allowed to talk religion and especially JW religion while working for him. That meant on the road, in the dressing room and before and after performances. He rightly saw their preaching as a threat to his career. It wouldn’t stop JWs though: I heard they were secretly trying to convert Terry Clements, Red’s replacement.

Rick stayed with Lightfoot until today along with Clements who is also an excellent guitarist. After being ill for many years, Lightfoot has been touring again since 2005. I saw Gord perform several times during the 60s and 70s it would be interesting to see him again, although I'll get the video unless he comes east.

Speaking of Lightfoot, SCTV did a crazy send-up of Gord years ago. His dreamy style is parodied perfectly on some inane material. I fell off the coach laughing one Friday night watching that on TV in Murray Harbour North.

Could the voice of the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald work for Mary Poppin’s Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?

For the crazy among us, here it is again with Dave Thomas doing the frantic announcer.

My sons James and Will watched the re-runs in the 90s on cable. They were both SCTV cult fans but I doubt they got the joke of the Lightfoot sketch.

Moving back to Nova Scotia in 1973, I ran into Russ Townsend at a music store and took guitar lessons from him for two years until I moved to PEI in 75. He had an amazing ability to play perfect renderings of Chet Atkins picking.

Russ opened up an understanding of what was possible on the guitar. The only Chet song I play today is “I Still Can’t Say Goodbye” an honest and slow tearjerker.

I left the JW’s in 1979 which disconnected me from Russ. They don’t like it if you quit and practice shunning on ex-members. Weird people.

Fast forward three decades, my daughter Laura Pottie marries James Quinn a local guitarist of renown. They move to Toronto. She is taking Law at U of T and James is teaching at a music store in the Beaches and playing in several bands.

Up on a Toronto vacation during 2002, I met James Quinn one day at the store and he introduced me to Barry Keane, Lightfoot’s long time drummer who also taught at the store.

Barry brought me up to speed on Red who was quite ill and not playing due to arthritis and other ailments. The was a sad end for a guitarist with hands from God. Rick was living the middle class live north of Toronto. Lightfoot was just out of a months long coma.

Back in Nova Scotia one day, I was talking to Harland Suttis the Nova Scotian luthier who I met in the 90s while he was with MusicStop. Suttis knew Red and Russ since he had played country music in Toronto during the 50’s.

Apparently arthritis had taken guitar playing away from Russ as well. Russ parted with his coveted Gretsch Country Gentleman with deep regrets.

Red is dead. He stayed JW: they did the service at a Kingdom Hall. The JWs like plugs when celebrity members get mentioned in the press. Almost makes them seem normal.

Rick, Russ, Gordon and many others are still around. I keep bumping into various people connected to them. I think it’s less than six degrees of separation, more like two.

The following people in this story would not talk to me today since I have left the Jehovah's Witness religion for that simple reason:

Note: the relationship chart was made with a free program called Vue from Tufts University. Very cool.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Have IT gun will travel

The demand for P.E.I. information technology (IT) workers is growing faster than schools can produce graduates. Faced with those problems, Crystal Trevors-Lavellee, senior consultant with MacPherson Roche Smith, prepared a report that was discussed at a forum in Charlottetown Wednesday, hosted by Mike Gillis, executive director of the council. Guardian photo

By Stephen Pate

If the IT sector on PEI pays national wage rates, they will have no problems finding qualified employees.

The Guardian story IT sector needs able bodies states we are facing a crisis in skilled labour in the IT sector. The crisis is made-in-PEI since we have not come to grips with the essential nature of this labour force.

The Binns and the Ghiz governments attracted these companies by offering them low wage employees. I was sitting in Premier Binns office one day with a Merchant Banker from Toronto and Binns asked him "How do we get fish plant workers employed when the fisheries closes down?"

Essentially Binns saw the problem as one source of employment for low skilled/low wage employees versus another.

$10 an hour is less than the $18 per hour most Loblaws grocery clerks make in Ontario. Tim Horton's servers in Calgary make $18 per hour. It is also not a living wage for a UPEI or Holland College graduate with a student loan.

We learned in the 1990's that if you want an IT sector you have to pay Toronto or 905 area code wages. IT employees are highly mobile. They go to companies or Provinces where the pay is the best.

We were having a devil of a time with employee retention just when we needed to keep their brains engaged. Employees were moving out of Province or to the Federal government for better pay. I quickly solved the problem by offering 15% higher than Federal pay. That put us in line with Toronto salaries for similar IT professionals and the project flourished.

The Federal Government, which pays great wages for PEI, was said to have sub-standard wages for Ottawa. During the late 1990's, the Feds lost most of their good employees to the private sector. That is until they started paying market wages.

The IT sector is based on brain power. You want brain power you pay. Want bodies to fill seats, pay less than market wages. Otherwise PEI will inherit the sweat shop call-centre employment market, until they move the jobs to India.

Like my dad said, you get what you pay for in life son.

Note: During the 1990's, we established and took public PEI's first software company using the Vancouver Stock Exchange. Notwithstanding public and government nay-sayers we made it work and learned valuable lessons along the way. (Stephen Pate, former CEO of Aquilium Software Corp., now Avotus.)

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Congress saves $100 billion by reading this blog

In an earlier commentary Bail out is bunk I suggested the Congress should reject the $800 billion bail-out of the Wall Street banks.

Like most Canadians commenting about Americans, I got it 10% right.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) signs into enrollment the financial-rescue legislation passed by the House during a press conference in Capitol Building in Washington, Friday, October 3, 2008. Standing are, from left, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Rep. Rahm Emmanuel (D-IL), and John Larson (D-CT). (Chuck Kennedy/MCT) ( Chuck Kennedy ) San Jose Mercury News

You have to live in the States to really understand and appreciate how they live and think. We're always passing judgement on them like they're Canadians with a cracker accent.

I used to travel down there a lot and came to really like Americans and the country. Americans are keeners, passionate about everything. They like baseball and hockey. They got opinions and know it's their right to express them. We got opinions too. We keep them to ourselves or write anonymous comments on the Guardian web-site. Not speaking for myself here of course.

Anyways, back to the bail-out. After arguing and all the big-guys and gals threatening the end of western civilization as we know it, this came to a happy ending.

The Congress passed a $700 billion Rescue Package and President Bush signed it before he went home for the weekend.

It's not a Bail-out anymore. That's September language except for talk on the Aljazeera.net. Nope, it's a Rescue Plan now.

One thing - they saved $100 billion over the week which I figure is from reading my Blog.

If only poor Robert Ghiz had been able to read my blogs he'd have taken a better road like the Americans. They're having a happy weekend with a big problem solved. His problems are just beginning.

San Jose Mercury News photo

Friday, October 3, 2008

Politics imitating art...at internet speed

Thursday October 2nd 2008

12:40 noon - receive email tip Kate Ghiz registered new company with letters for a name, like a numbered company

1:00 PM research company and write up story

1:27 PM send Premier Ghiz and media question: is he receiving PNP funds directly or indirectly

2:30 PM publish blogs and links across the internet

6:23 PM Premier Ghiz appears on Compass to practice "I am not a crook" routine.

See: PEI Blogging and a better democracy
Rob Paterson

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Wall Street bail out is bunk

Wall Street reaction (WKRG News photo)

The $700 billion bail-out of Wall Street should die a natural death this week and for all good reasons. Wall Street doesn’t need $700 billion although they will whine like babies if they think there is milk and honey coming their way. The bail-out does nothing for the real victims – the millions of Americans who are losing their homes.

Life will go on in Wall Street without the bail out because they are in the business of money and money has no tears. It is greedy. Once Wall Street sorts out that the milk and honey isn’t coming, it will be on with business as usual.

America has one of the most efficient models of capitalism based on survival of the fittest and quick and clean bankruptcy. It knows how to handle a business idea gone badly: you kill it and let the losers start over. Their bankruptcy laws are well suited to letting go of losers. Enron was big talk but it’s just history now.

Let the Wall Street losers lick their wounds and die. Right now they are whining because the government is in an election year and vulnerable to all kinds of weak minded thinking. Bailing out rich bankers and investors is not a good idea. Even the presidential candidates are not immune to this kind of knee jerk thinking. Bah, let the loser businesses die and their principals will be back at the table in months or in jail if they are criminals.

The homeowners who got caught in those no equity, sub-prime mortgages are the real problem. They represent millions of votes of people who will lose the most important thing in our lives after the remote control – our homes. If Bush, Congress and the Senate don’t insulate homeowners from disaster, they will vote with their homeless feet. That won’t be pretty and there are plenty of smart elected officials who understand that.

On Monday, the market fell like a stone: we’re not getting the bail-out screamed Wall Street. On Tuesday it bounced right back as business as usual took over. Wall Street people are in the business of making money buying stocks cheap and selling them to you at higher prices.

Every 10 years or so, the truly rich wait for a chance to take their cash and buy your stocks at rock bottom prices. You are panicking over some imagined catastrophe and sell out. They hold the stocks for 3-5 years until they have made 50% or more and then sell them back to you at inflated prices. That cycle has been going on for decades.

Bail them out? Forget about it.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

It's the singer not the song

It’s a source of constant amazement that singers don’t use decent audio equipment.

While musicians will pay thousands for a fantastic guitar and amp combination, singers use the cheapest microphones.

Digitech Vocalist Live 4, vocal engineer in a box

It’s amazing that many guitarists have more than 10 guitars to their name plus as many amplifiers and singers have one or two cheap mikes.

People come to hear the singer, not the drummer, bassist or guitarist unless you are Jeff Beck. Do we care what instrument Paul McCartney plays? No. “It’s the singer, not the song,” sang Mick Jagger.

The standard mic for clubs is the Shure 58 or its variations. It costs about $200. Some singers are belting their songs into $40 knock offs for hours. Don’t they know it makes them sound horrible?

My favourite indie band was ruined by the singer’s use of bad mikes. Their CD's were great: club appearances were variable.

I’ve seen bands come to a gig and the singer scrounges around for the house mic.

Neumann KMS104, what you sound like

A good performance mic will make the singer sound great. Some examples are the Shure KSM9 or the Neumann KMS104. Both cost around $700. They will make any singer shine, unless of course he or she has no voice. In that case, the audience will hear it all.

To compensate for our weaknesses, singers can buy inexpensive devices like the DigiTech Vocalist Live 4 and Live 2 or the TC Helicon series of VoiceTone pedals. These will correct pitch, add harmony, vocal effects, EQ and otherwise make you sound wonderful.

VoiceTone, making you sound wonderful

On the bulletin boards, singers are bandying around the merits of one cheap mic over another. Get over it: start putting some money into making your performance better.

Invest in your singing career.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

My cousin Father Joe Pottie died

My cousin Father Joe died today at the QEII hospital in Halifax Nova Scotia. Joe Pottie hadn't been a Roman Catholic priest for 30 years but it was the way we remembered him.

Joseph Leo Pottie, "Father Joe"

Father Joe had been a priest but left to marry Kaye a singer, church music director and mother. The shock sent ripples through our family, especially his immediate family. His parents, Max and Tilly Pottie, raised three priests and nun. The younger family members said, why not?

Joe was technically my father's cousin but in the Pottie and Pate family it you're not an aunt or uncle, you're a cousin.

Joe was well known throughout the Maritimes. When I moved to PEI in 1975, a priest and professor at UPEI called me to see if I was related to Joe.

He had a love of God and for singing and he put both together as often as he could. After the priesthood he worked part-time as a singing bartender.

Joe's warm and open personality made him a friend of everyone he met. When Joe entered a room, people went to say hello. He thought well of all men and ill of none. He was a model of the Christian spirit in a man and ecumenical thought.

After leaving the priesthood, he qualified to become an Anglican priest and served in that role until retirement. He was a man of God, irrespective of religious labels.

I loved him the first time we met and considered him a role model of how one should live.

Everyone will miss him.

The announcement is in the Halifax Herald.

Friday, September 12, 2008

The magic in a little boy's eyes

It always pays to put enemies in the rear and forge ahead with your life. They can only control us if we let them.

When someone steals your identity it feels like thieves have broken into your home. It happened to me when a quadriplegic stole "Disability Alert" for an identically named website.

It's a childish and sick thing to steal some one's identity. I feel sorry for him. His life is obviously miserable and he's easy to pity. However, being disabled is not an excuse to steal. We have to make plans to regain control and it may mean some nasty legal business.

I discovered the theft at 2 am Thursday morning. I'd just gotten home from a performance. Don't tell my mother I was out that late.

Most of yesterday was spent in a whirl of meetings legal and otherwise, phone calls, emails and blogs. By late afternoon I was wound pretty tight.

A Facebook friend suggested getting out and enjoying the summer day. Bon idée! (Note - the French expression came spontaneously from the inner workings of the computer.)

Before I could leap from the keyboard, a new song flowed from my mind and onto the screen. It worked in a single pass and is called "Two fisherman". Something tells me parts of the song will be in French since one of my grandfathers was French.

I jumped up and went down to Brennans for supper. My friend Bruce reminded I should learn "Sukiyaki" by next week for his Japanese students. That will be fun as they sing in Japanese while I play guitar in guitar. Weird after a tourist asked me for a Japanese song two weeks ago. Oh please computer don't switch to Japanese!

Chris Buddan, playing jazz on the band stand, asked me to play at 7pm, an unexpected treat.

At 7pm, I was ready to roll churning out Dylan and Elvis songs on a equal mix with my own. Soon the anxiety of the quad's identity theft was gone. There was Joy on my face and laughter in my voice.

A couple went by with a tiny one year old boy while I was finishing a blues, in E with triplets. The little guy started dancing to the music. He came towards me up the ramp and the magic grew.

I improvised the next verse about him. For five verses I made up lyrics as I played about his eyes, his smile, hoodie and dancing.

You've got a hoodie it's so fine
You've got a hoodie it's so fine
You're a handsome boy, I wish you were mine.

The audience across the street receded from view. I heard later they were enthralled with lots of oohs and aahs.

Although only a year old, he knew I was singing to him and about him. We looked directly at each other. His father and mother smiled broadly. The tiny boy kept coming closer until I ran out of ideas.

It was a priceless moment. Life has magic in the middle of chaos. We need to be at peace to see it.

Monday, September 8, 2008

Acadian computer ghosts redux

In a previous post My computer is haunted by French ghosts I related how my computer has been working mysteriously in two languages.

Derek, a friend and computer expert, said "I deal with a lot of English and French stuff at work, but I have never seen the like of this."

Edith says "its awesome to go with a bilingual guy." I thought she was like the world's best computer fixer upper. Apparently she is thinking this might add some spice to the dating.

Georges Arsenault our expect on all things Acadian said enigmatically at the Farmer's Market"It's a sign."

It's a sign from who - public works, the bank or God? I'm a little fuzzy on the signs from God thing. Sounds like standing on a mountain top waiting for the end of the world.

Maybe Georges meant a sign I should work on my French. Yeah that's it.

Today in the middle of a freaky Monday of letters and blogs, it started spell checking emails in French. At least it was Canadian French.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

I have a crush on Rosa Parks

I'm pretty sure you're supposed to keep your love life off Blogs. But I can't help it. I have to admit I have a life long crush on Rosa Parks.
I was reminded of that fact while writing the article Civil Rights violations at UPEI. There she was in the photo collage with Martin Luther King. It all came back.
In 1955 Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus in Montgomery Alabama. The bus driver told her to sit at the back of the bus. She was arrested and her action started the Montgomery Bus Boycott which changed the way blacks were treated. Amazingly she protested the bus driver without any help or support.

In 1963, when I was listening to Bob Dylan and getting involved with civil rights ideas, the story of one brave girl, Rosa Parks, inspired me.

Rosa Parks went on to a life full of public service and civil rights work. She won numerous achievement awards. After he death at age 92, her body lay in the US Capital Rotunda, the first woman ever to achieve that honor. "Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said that if it had not been for Rosa Parks, she would probably have never become the Secretary of State." (Wikipedia)

I never met Rosa Parks but her lesson in courage stayed with my all my life. I was very touched by her injury when she was attacked and deeply saddened by her death. Seeing her picture or thinking about her bravery still makes me kinda weepy. What can I say.

Thank You Miss Rosa, Neville Brothers

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Fixin to die

And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Afghanistan;
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.
Fixin to Die Rag, Country Joe and the Fish

Fixin To Die Rag brought out the same emotions last night at Baba's that were common in 1967. Most people found it amusing or identified with it. One man took angry offence since 3 Canadians died in Afghanistan yesterday. AFP

Country Joe and the Fish's anti-war song was sung by the audience at Woodstock, including Vietnam draftees. It really is a soldier's song, thick with gallows humour. Last night, Afghanistan was substituted for Vietnam and it worked.

Fixin to Die Rag

When the first Canadians came back home in coffins from Afghanistan, there was a sense of national mourning in the country. Now it has become routine. We hear the standard platitudes from politicians.

"Our hearts ache for them and their families, and I know as we gather here on Easter Sunday our thoughts and prayers are with them," the prime minister said on April 8, 2007. CBC News Similar hollow comments are made at each death.

Either people's lives are worth something or not. Politicians have been treating soldiers as expendible for millenia: this will probably not change.

The tide turned against Afghanistan in July when 44 soldiers died while only 31 died in Iraq. Canadians will easily say that Iraq is a bad war yet the one we are in is worse. Times Online

British marines in Helmand: the toll in Afghanistan is climbing rapidly, Richard Mills / The Times

Canada's own little Vietnam has have taken the lives of almost 100 young Canadians, with no end in sight. What are we fighting for? We are not fighting to win against the Taliban since no foreign power has conquered that mountainous country since Alexander the Great and he died in the process. It's not logical to assume Canada with it's tiny army can make it happen.

We are probably fighting to prop up the right wing agenda of Stephen Harper. Harper has adopted the US political stance that no President gets re-elected without a war in his first term. Since Canadians are not a jingoist people, I hope that doesn't work for him.

We are fighting to keep the war lords of Afghanistan in power. We are fighting to protect the opium trade. And we are fighting to hold the Taliban / Muslim extremists from overtaking the world.

How many young Canadians will have to die over there before they bring the troops home?

Postscript - I am neither a pacifist nor a war-monger. There are good wars, bad wars and stupid wars. This one is senseless.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

My computer is haunted by French ghosts

A few weeks ago I sang two French songs at the Fete Nationale Acadian. It was a stretch since I'm not bilingual. However, now my computer thinks I am.

I was sitting with Robert Arsenault at Brennan's Friday afternoon. "Why don't you call me to perform?" I asked in fun.

"You don't know any French songs," was his quick reply.

"Of course I do. There is Un Canadien Errant and..."

"Can you come up with three songs for tomorrow?" he asked looking at Edith.

"Sure," I replied wondering what the other two would be. So I worked all that afternoon and next morning. I won't lie about Friday night - time to party.

It all came off without a hitch or a stumble. There's a video. I amazed myself.

The next week I was installing new software and it gave me the French version. I uninstalled it and tried it again. Same thing.

Since then, all my software has installed French. Except the last one which is bilingual.

Can you figure that. The first three Source sliders have English labels and the last three French. The record control is French. Some places it says "speakers" and others "haut parleurs".

I scoured the regedit file but everything is cool. The control panel settings are right on.

This is spooky. Suggestions anyone or let the thing be?

Monday, September 1, 2008

When your dad is gone

When my dad was gone the first thing I noticed was you couldn't talk to him anymore. You could think about what he would say but he didn't say it. When I see a dad in movies, I get sad. Singing "I Still Can't Say Goodbye" some of the words won't come out.

If your dad is still around, don't forget him.

Not like we talked a lot but we always did about the important things in life and baseball. My dad loved sports: baseball was his favourite. He was a sports reporter for CHNS radio and the Halifax Mail Star early in his career.

When I was a kid he took me to the Halifax Wanderers Grounds, a ball field between Citadel Hill and the Public Gardens. The reporting booth was high in the air. He sat me down in the bleachers with a hotdog and pop and went up to do his reporting job. I got bored. I climbed way up the metal ladder and crawled into the booth. Boy was he mad, seeing I had polio and could have killed myself.

My dad was good for watching Walt Disney if I didn't want to go to church on Sunday night and Gunsmoke when I was tired of homework on Monday. "Got your homework done Stephen?" he'd asked and I always nodded yes.

He was good to take you to a movie or out for supper as a surprise. We saw all the musicals and great films like How Green is My Valley. He would sometimes bring a 16mm projector home from CBC with a movie.

He was good to take me to my grandmothers for rabbit stew and other Acadian treats. She was an old lady with a sharp wit. You knew she loved you by the twinkle in her eye.

My dad would edit my record review columns for the Halifax Mail Star. He had a wicked ball point pen that removed whole paragraphs if they were fuzzy. I couldn't use slang or curse words like "bull shit". He had an editor's eye for what would work.

My dad had been a jazz drummer. We heard lots of jazz music. When I was 13, he brought me a set of Ludwig drums with Zildjian cymbals. That's how I learned to drum. We would argue about Gene Krupa playing "Sing Sing Sing" and I tried to learn it.

He gave me my first guitar. Like all the things he did, he just did it without any fanfare or rules attached.

My dad worked a lot and drank a lot. He worked because life was hard with five kids. Sometimes he had two jobs. When he worked for CBC News there were long days and nights over stories like the Springhill Mine disaster.

His drinking was what a lot of men did. When he got older he stopped because it was hard on him. We lived well so it never bothered me much although my mom minded it.

They fought more over religion than drink. She became Jehovah's Witness and he was Catholic. They didn't have much in common other than Jesus Christ but they never saw that. Later he converted but I liked him better as a Catholic. When I was thirty I converted from Jehovah's Witness to Catholic to even up the score.

So that's a short story about my dad. I still like baseball. I have pennants from almost every team. I wear my Yankees cap and jacket, although I get bored in the middle of a game on TV.

Like my dad, I worked hard all my life, gave it my best. He was argumentative: God knows I am. Five kids: me too. He was a writer and musician: that's me.

When I need to make a hard decision, the sound of his voice still echoes in my head.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Weird things

Sometimes weird things come at you out of the blue. You scratch your head for days asking what is that about.

Last week I was at Close to the Coast at Baba's which is sort of a local indie festival. I took the camcorder both nights and got a few songs of each band.

They are not professional: they're fan videos or pics. Bands love them because 1) they don't have to pay for them 2) they get exposure on YouTube and Facebook and 3) it demonstrates fan interest. There are millions of them posted on YouTube. I've done them for most of the local bands plus Lennie Gallant, Slowcoaster, Tom Fun Orchestra, and Chris Colepaugh.

I get emails with thanks everytime I post one. Tim Chaisson asked me if I had any more of him. I usually make the band sound great by editing the soundtrack.

On the third night a local musician, who shall remain nameless lest he get more agitated, came up and started poking me. "I told you to stop taking my picture." I hadn't talked to him in weeks. When they're drinking, people can have an odd sense of reality.

After we got past the "no you didn't - yes you did" dialogue, I simple apologized and said I didn't mean to offend him. If he didn't want to be filmed it was easy not to do it.

That seemed to satisfy him until 5 minutes later when he started yelling in my face again. At which point I told it was perfectly legal for me to film anyone and to get over it. He disappeared off into the back of the club.

What's with that? There are so many cameras around: cell phones, still cameras, camcorders. People are taking pictures of everything and everyone. You can't stop them. That's why we have paparazzi. I'll venture there were more than 20 people taking video's and stills that night.

Now what to do with the film of the young singer songwriter on his way up who probably would appreciate a YouTube?

I was thinking of editing the movie,blanking out the sideman and perhaps disclose that "no shots of what's his name were used in the making if this video." That would be like no animals hurt or no peanut butter used.

And my musician? He's walking around Charlottetown miming he is taking my picture. I kid you not. There's man with a burr up his saddle.

All this time I was being a nice guy but ended up a paparazzi. That's great: they get paid.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Cool things

A lot of cool things happen. Right now I'm in a creative place. Seeing my work in print is a thrill. To see a video in the Journal Pioneer.
is a new step.

I'm writing up three blogs a day, stories, and songs every day. I work on Blog layouts which can be fun and creative. Social activism is like marketing - condense the message into a sound bite and interest people in the story.

Headlines are cool - The phony carnival war was my best read story for months. The followup Bill Lynch freak show not for disabled was fun to research since I remembered much of the story.

A couple of weeks ago I had to prep three songs for Fete Nationale Acadian. A friend videotaped it and one song >Un Canadien Errant came out well with backing musicians and audience sing-along.

What a thrill to see the Summerside Journal Pioneer put the video on their home page under Your videos.

There are three video scripts on my computer right now. We want to shoot them outdoors so the weather is an issue but we'll get them done. It's an exciting time.

Friday, August 22, 2008

Guardian covers Always on Stage

The Guardian (Sally Cole) did a great job of covering Always on Stage today.

Most of the coverage is jazz because most of the music is jazz. We got a super write up on the Singer Songwriter series that I organized, which I'll repeat below.

Always on Stage: Jessica Palmer, Stephen Pate

I got some videos to post a little later. It was a fun summer and not over yet. I thoroughly enjoyed working with everyone and want to thank Jess, Ted, Andrea, Jake, Evan and Chris who were super.

(From Guardian)
Although the City Stages Youth Festival has become a tradition, it is not staid. It’s ever evolving, says Budhan.

“We want to expand the scope of the program to represent multiple musical genres.

“So this summer we invited Stephen Pate to co-ordinate the singer-songwriter series,” says Budhan.

Always on Stage: Stephen Pate

Working with five slots and six musicians, Pate, who is active in the Charlottetown music scene, selected some Island singer-songwriters to be part of the program and then endeavoured to give the artists opportunity to perform.

“It’s a great opportunity for the singer-songwriter because you get to play a lot more of your material than you would at an open mike. And if you have a fair amount of material, you can put it out and see what other people think about it,”says Pate, who also performed during the series.

“I watch people’s feet and if their feet are moving, tapping to the music, then I’ll assume it’s a successful arrangement. If they’re not, then I’ll rework it over the next week,” says Pate, reflecting on his performances.

Always on Stage: Ted Simmonds

He shared the afternoon performance slot with Andrea MacDonald, Another Colour (Josh Kilbride and Evan Ceretti) Jessica Palmer and Ted Simmons this summer.

Always on Stage: Another Color - Josh Kilbride and Evan Ceretti

MacDonald, who is a folk singer, loves her weekly Victoria Row gig.

Always on Stage: Andrea MacDonald

“For me it’s good practice and a good experience,” she says.

That’s exactly what Budhan was hoping to hear.

“The songwriter series has been a wonderful addition. It’s one of the genres that we want to represent,” he says.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Always on Stage but never under water

All summer I've performed at Charlottetown's Always on Stage Richmond Street. Despite all the rain we've had, I've never been rained out.

Yesterday we planned to record some audio and video from my performance. Two friends came down to help. The worry was the rain. I assured them we would play until at least 1 pm and so we did.

I've had uncanny luck this summer. It could be raining in the morning. I'd pack the car anyways and head down around 11 AM. Just as I got to the stage, the rain would stop. I'd set-up, perform and quit 2 or 3 hours later.

Usually the rain stopped for the afternoon. One day, it started to rain again after my gear was packed in the car.

I played Tuesday's and Andrea had Wednesday. She got rained out twice. Ted, who did Thursday, switched one week and got rained out on Tuesday but I was OK.

Michael, the cameraman, didn't believe me but came anyways. He was able to shot 35 minutes of film. I said 1 pm was our window and right on 1 the thunder started.

We beat it across the street to Fishbones for lunch where we enjoyed the food and dry atmosphere. The Jambalaya was hot and tasty, an unusual dish in Charlottetown. The rain stopped and I was wishing I hadn't put everything away. Until it soon started coming down in buckets.

A bit of gear got wet but it dried out at home later. As Brian MacInnis' picture shows it did rain cats and dogs after that.
Riding a motorcycle in the torrential rain Tuesday afternoon was difficult, but riding through the flood at the corner of Grafton and Edward Streets took real riding skill. Guardian photo by Brian McInnis

I don't know if my rain predicting skills have any value. It's been fun at the very least.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Un Canadien Errant

Saturday I had the pleasure of playing at the Fete Nationale l'Acadie / Acadian National Holiday at Port LaJoye - known to some as Fort Amherst.

Friday night we went out for the Spectacle with Angele Arsenault and Lennie Gallant. Angele is the picture of happiness and optimism - so wonderful. Lenny had his full band and sounded great.

While Port LaJoye is an historic place, it's not the best to draw a big crowd on the summer night. The road out is so dark and twisty!

It rained on Saturday so the Kitchen Party with Robert Arsenault was in a tent. The setting was intimate and a little like camping out when the skies opened up.

We all had a great time. I loved to hear the others play on my songs and you can hear the audience singing along in the video. It was heaven.

I'll edit more film soon and post it.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Daytime ghost of Panmure Island

By Stephen Pate

A decade ago I visited Panmure Island cemetery and only today can I tell you the story without breaking out into a cold sweat.

Father Coady leads a group through the woods the Panmure Island pioneer cemetery. Guardian photo by Brian McInnis

The picture in the Guardian reminded me of that visit. Back then, the road in the picture was less than a path in the woods, grown over from decades of neglect.

Panmure Island was always mysterious since it was sparsely populated. At night it gets black as coal and the ghosts are out.

Martha Graham, my mother-in-law now deceased, told me the safest way to the graveyard, which dates from the 1800's, was along the beach. Martha baked the best apple, lemon and blueberry pies which has nothing do with this story but everything to do with why I was in Murray Harbour North that day.

Martha was born and brought up on the island and knew its stories and ghosts. In the 1980's I satisfied my curiosity taking that beach route. The graveyard is on a point of land at the end of the island in St. Mary's Bay. I found it easily with Martha's instructions.

The headstones of Island sandstone were embedded in the earth, most were not vertical. Time had worn off the engravings and what you could read was pretty vague. Still it was exciting to find it. Inside the cemetery surrounded by the trees was an ethereal peace. I sat on a rock and contemplated the place and who might be buried here.

A decade later on a hot August day I drove up to the road or path and thought this might be the day to proceed directly along the road to the cemetery, even though Martha said it was not easy to find via the road. I had an SUV then but it wasn't going anywhere.

My sons Will and James started out walking with me but they turned around when the mosquitoes started biting. I laughed them off and kept pressing forward.

The brush on the road seemed thicker and the mosquitoes were getting peskier. What's a sub-gram insect to a human? They can't conquer me. I pressed onward in the heat into the dampness of that swamp.

Constant swatting was having no effect. I was entering a zone of solid, flying insects. However, I was a man and no bugs would stop me.

In between flailing arms and hands, it dawned on me that I was breathing them in. They were inside my ears, nose, and mouth, down my shirt, in my eyes and on my eye lids. I panicked. I couldn't take it anymore.

Turning right 90 degrees I set off in a mad dash across some fallen spruce trees. No hurdles in the Olympics could pose a more formidable obstacle in the race to the beach.

The black dead branches were like soothing balms wiping the bugs off my arms and head. Underfoot were even more dead branches that grabbed each foot and held them fast.

I can't really run, it's like a fast walk in three steps - one, two hop - not pretty. However, I became an Olympic athlete in an instant. An attempt to jump over a spruce tree hurdle resulted in severe pain in the groin. I landed in a clump on the other side and the damn bugs were on me again.

Pain or not, I jumped up and headed across no man's land and bolted for the beach. I could see it through swollen eyes. Bloodied and bruised I threw myself across the last tree and onto the beach.

Throwing my sneakers off, I ran head first into St. Mary's Bay and dunked under the cold water to elude the pursuing enemy. Coming up for air, I looked and the devils were gone.

In their place was an elderly couple walking their dog. They gave me the oddest look. I smiled wanly and searched for my shoes.

Trying to look sane I sat on the beach and sunned for a few minutes until they disappeared around a corner.

Even though I could see the cemetery, I had no heart to enter the woods again to battle the mosquitoes. Perhaps one would return another day.

Back at the truck, Will and James were doubled over in laughter. They had heard blood curdling screams from the deep woods and imagined Panmure Island's ghosts were awake in the heat of the afternoon.

No use telling them my story so I saved it for you.

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Big Blast at Old Home Week fizzles on poor sound

What a disappointment the Big Blast Concert Series was last night at Old Home Week. Held in the Trade Centre building, capable of holding 4,000 people, the concert with Sloan and Slowcoaster had the worst sound in my memory.

When the music started, you could tell we were in trouble. The sound was reverberating off reflective surfaces of the metal ceiling, brick walls and cement floor. With no absorbing materials it kept bouncing around until the words were unintelligible.

The attendance was surprisingly low for those two bands which have big followings in Charlottetown.

Slowcoaster, one of my favourite bands, was a mishmash of noise and occasionally intelligible words. I've heard them in so many venues and this was awful. If you stayed real close to the stage it was sorta almost bearable.

The hard surfaces fostered the creation of standing waves which sucked all the energy from the low and mid sounds in the music. For Sloan that took the energy out of the music. The drums and bass sounded weak and the vocals got lost in the reverb. It sounded like the singers were coming through a megaphone or long tube.
My partner who is a big Sloan fan wanted to leave mid way through their set that's how bad it was.

The sound guys were trying hard but no one could have fixed that. The Trade Centre is just the worst possible room for acoustics. A tent would be better.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Tell Tale Signs: new definition of page turning, free download

It was a pejorative to describe a web site as mere "page turning."

Well Sony's promotional page Bob Dylan's new CD set Tell Tale Signs page has taken it to a new fun level.

The page has the graphics for Bob's singles over the years. You can click an arrow and it will cycle through them.

Trying grabbing the upper outside corner and turning the page as you would a real book page. Cool.

Right up there with your own words on the video cards for Subterranean Homesick Blues.

The new CD is Bootleg # 8 and can be pre-ordered in three versions:
1. 2 CD's with 27 songs US $19
2. 3 CD Deluxe set with 39 songs, a mini vinyl LP and a book US $129
3. Limited Edition 4 vinyl LP's with 27 songs and a smaller book US $99

If history is anything to go by, the Deluxe and Limited Edition versions will sell out and the 2 CD regular version will suit most people.

I have many of the songs as bootlegs and they are worth listening to. It will be great to have them on official releases. The audio is always cleaned up.

For a limited time, Bob Dylan’s website is offering a free download of “Dreamin’ of You,” from Dylan’s 1997 Daniel Lanois-produced Time Out of Mind sessions.

"I think it can be easily done, just take everything down to Highway 61."

Monday, July 28, 2008

Tour de France 08

The Tour de France is over and I'm disappointed. I thought it would go on forever, not just three weeks.

Since July 5th it's been fun to turn on the sports channel and watch those guys pedaling away day after day. 3,500 kilometers of cycling in packs -wow that must have been one party. True to its name, they just stay inside France with no side trips to St. Petersburg or Athens.

Were there any gals in the race? I know gals cycle because Cynthia Dunsford shows up in one of those tight suits at the Farmer's Market, with colorful markings all over. Those snappy spandex outfits didn't reveal any curvaceous curves on the TV. I'm wondering if non racing cyclists can wear those things, maybe just casual cyclists?

There are even cheats in the Tour de France. Some riders try to get behind someone else and ride their slip stream. Somebody got kicked out for using drugs. That would kill my chances: I'd need painkillers all day long for that run.

No matter what time I turned on the telly, those boys were at it. Like right before Jay Leno's jokes I could check up on my cousin. And they were pedaling their little Ruby Keeler legs off just before my afternoon nap.

Oh yeah, didn't I tell you me cousin Danny Pate was in the Tour de France. He was 3rd on leg 15 - cool eh.

I kept searching the pack for Lance Armstrong but he wasn't there. He could have been like on a motorcycle or in a convertible waving to the audience at home.

I was rooting for my cousin who was 100th overall last week and ended in a close photo finish at 95th. Way to go Danny.
So now it’s over and I will have to go back to watching girl wrestling.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Cure for Alzheimer's

While scientists search for a cure for Alzheimer's I think it's already here. At least I've got the canary in the coal mine.

Billions are being spent around the world to find a cure for Alzheimer's. The current FDA approved drugs as a treatment include donepezil, tacrine, galantamine, rivastigmine and memantine.

Who made up those names should be writing "name our child" books for new parents. They have distinction versus the current crop of Aiden, Kaden, Caleb, Ava, Caitlyn and Olivia. (Note to reader: if you have one of those names, I love it!)

Let's get back to the cure.

Every new consumer electronic item I get has a manual with hundreds of new commands, procedures and steps to take. "Hit this button once to advance Function A and hold for 5 seconds to change your destination." The smaller the item the more arcane commands.

Computer programs are worse "Ctrl right click shift displays the object properties. Shift left click selects the focus item." How do I send the email is all I want to know?

Music and recording equipment is worse. They bury arcane commands down 89 levels of menu's just to add some reverb to your voice.
While I complain about having to memorize all these commands, screens, clicks and pops, the mental process is exercising my brain more than watching Canadian Idol or the National. In fact, I have no time for TV with 20 manuals to study and learn right away.

So if you see me lose interest in acquiring and learning new technology, it might be time to see if the canary is still alive in the bird cage. In the meantime I'm learning a recording control surface that has an 8 page manual with 100's of unexplained technical features. It's supposed to make recording easier. Who cares since the purchase price is my Alzheimer's insurance.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Is eBay gone to the dogs?

eBay is gone to the dogs? It has been taken over by fraud artists and cons. The only safe way to bid is with Power Sellers who have no or few negative ratings.

This year I've been hit by three different scams: no product, rigged bids and inflated product descriptions.

Here's how no product works. You bid on something like a camcorder and win. That's cool until all communication with the seller stops and the product doesn't arrive. My guess is they are taking orders and then trying to source it cheaper on eBay. Or they are just crooked.

Rigged bids are cute. You see an item you see at a good price and Watch it. The price stays low until 2 days before close. Then 2 or 3bidders move the price up double or more of where it started. Checking who they are, you'll find the bidders only bid on this Seller's auctions. Golly gosh Batman does that smell or what. If you want to get ripped keep bidding.

Inflated description is the worst since you win, pay the freight and are disappointed when the "Like New" item arrives and is worn out and probably not working. This happened twice this year to me. Duh eh?

If you get ripped you can ask PayPal to mediate. Never send a money order - that's goodbye money time. Better yet use a credit card on PayPal. Most credit cards allow charge backs for goods not received or fraud. Check yours.

Usually you get your money back, but not always. Sometimes you lose $30 to $100 for freight. Each bad deal takes 1-2 months and a few inches off your life.

I still use eBay but I've sworn off the stunning deals from small Sellers.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

On seeing a photograph

Photo: Stephen Pate

By Stephen Pate

How many years before you're old
And all the senseless stories told
Forgotten like leaves in autumn
Lining up grievances in columns
This one forgotten this one not
Caught in your brain like a clot
Lying on your cot in slow pain
Resurrecting your mother again

Thank you YouTube

Thank you YouTube and Blogger, and Google and Facebook. Because of you I have 68 videos published with over 38,000 viewers.

OK some people have millions. Mine don't have breasts or the promise of breasts or quasi sex acts so they get a more views for that promise. And they're not about famous people for the most part.

They're just things Michael LeClair and I put together with Trisha Clarkin plus some I did on my own and a few I stole.

If I did a film and showed it in Charlottetown, how many people would see it? 15 maybe 50. Thank you YouTube.

I need to get a new camera.

Tim Chaisson at Confed Centre

One of the best entertainment bargains of the summer was the free outdoor concert at the Confederation Centre - Confederation Bridge Concert Series.

First it was free. OK so instead of 25 or 80 couple, you and all your friends could listen to the music for free. They had a bar. The seats are concrete a cushion was handy. Mine comes with the wheelchair.

We enjoyed Tim Chaisson and Morningfold plus the blues master Chris Colepaugh and the Cosmic Crew. Enjoy the Tim Chaisson video and I'll try to make up a Chris Colepaugh one over the weekend.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Red Shea passes

Gordon Lightfoot, Red Shea, John Stockfish 1969

See related story Six degrees of separation

Toronto Star obit
'Red' Shea, 70: Influential folk guitarist
Jun 12, 2008 04:30 AM

GREG QUILL

Renowned Canadian guitarist Laurice Milton "Red" Shea, who helped define the groundbreaking musical styles of legendary Canadian folk artists Gordon Lightfoot and Ian and Sylvia Tyson and others, died Tuesday morning after being diagnosed two weeks ago with pancreatic cancer. He was 70.

A self-taught musician, Shea is noted in the Canadian Encyclopedia as one of Canada's most influential folk guitarists, along with Amos Garrett and David Rea. He played with the Good Brothers, hosted his own TV show, and was a staple on Canadian country music star Tommy Hunter's CBC-TV show.

"Red was irrepressible, he had boundless energy, and he was always ready to keep on picking when the rest of us were heading off to bed," Sylvia Tyson said.

Shea backed the Tysons in the pioneering country rock outfit Great Speckled Bird, and was musical director of the national CTV variety program, The Ian Tyson Show, in the 1970s. He also recorded with Ian in those years.

"He was the kind of guitarist I really love - inventive and rhythm-driven," Sylvia added. "And he was always telling jokes - great jokes."

Shea is universally credited with having been Lightfoot's most distinctive and original supporting player, adding his lucid filigree lead runs seamlessly into the famed singer's trademark finger-picking patterns to produce fluid, layered textures and crystal overtones that enhanced enhancing Lightfoot's recordings from 1966 through 1975. Shea was part of Lightfoot's touring band till 1971 and was an in-demand as a guitar teacher.

"He influenced so many guitarists," singer and multi-instrumentalist Bruce Good said. "He was the reason so many of us picked up guitars in the late 1960s and 70s and started fooling around with finger styles.

"(American folk-rock star) Dan Fogelberg dedicated on of his albums to Red, and the Guess Who paid tribute to him by naming him in their song `Lightfoot'."

Also an in-demand guitar teacher, Shea gave lessons "for many years" to Good's son, Travis, a member of Toronto neo-country rock band the Sadies.

"He instilled in Travis - much against his will - the importance of learning to read and playing classical styles. I can hear so much of Red in the Sadies.

"He was a unique musician, and always a student. He was always listening to other great guitarists and extending their ideas. Red was also an amazing human being, immediately likeable. He was more than a friend to us - he was like family."

Shea had a regular feature spot from the late 1970s till 1992 on the long-running country music program, The Tommy Hunter Show, ad-libbing tall stories and handing Hunter a guitar for his next song.

"His parts were never written, and we never knew what the joke was until the punch line came," Canada's "Country Gentleman" said. "He was a great and original musical stylist, but to me he was also a great television personality, a really good entertainer. He was a very happy and upbeat guy, a magnificent player and a generous teacher. He'll be sadly missed."

Shea is survived by his wife Lynn and children Colleen, Scott and Brett.

Visitation will take place at Thompson Funeral Home, 530 Industrial Pkwy. S., Aurora, Thursday from 7-9 p.m. A memorial servicewill be held at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, Bloomington Side Rd., Aurora, Friday, at 11 a.m.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Electronic Newspaper

The Guardian, formerly the Charlottetown Guardian, has evolved into a pretty cool example of a paper on the internet. It is updated fairly often and has interactivity.

The update stories all day and throughout the weekend, although I think they put it all to sleep on Saturdays. If you want to see what's happening just click throughout the day and new stories are posted. As I am writing, they update a plane crash story 3 minutes ago.

Reader comments are a super part. It's like the wild west some days with people slamming each other, politicians and humble servants like myself. The dialogue is unpredictable but fervent. Politicans should pay attention although I doubt they do.

Usually I only comment on advocacy issues but every once in awhile I allow myself the luxury of what ever is on my mind. Today I got to comment on hockey.

There are videos, both Guardian developed ones and reader submitted ones. They have blog listings for several local blogs of varying quality. You be the judge.

Today they posted a Google map showing building and other permits denied or allowed by the City. That was very cool.

I still read the Guardian every morning but turn to the on-line version throughout the day.

The Guardian website is a smart move on the publishers part

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Day One of Busking - Cmon Down and Sit a Spell

Tuesday was the first day of busking downtown and the sun felt good.

So good to be warm and let it burn your skin, just once before the goo goes on.

I was late setting up so things were rushed at noon on the corner of Queen and Richmond. Like who cares if I'm late: it's not a job where you punch the clock.

Settling in - I got down to business and ripped through some originals like I Can't Get Over You, Your Song, Don't Quit on Me Tonight, Up on a Landing and Dan Aykroyd Tequila. A busker joined in with lead on I Can't Get Over You which was cool.

Friends stopped by in the droves, so much that performance stopped by times. Danielle came over just as I was playing Mean Hearted Woman, the song she claimed as hers! Can you believe her?

Nick, Ted, Daniel, Kier, Jen, Gordie - the parade was endless. My bad-boy role as disability advocate had a few philistines heading for the opposite side of the street. What a hoot.

Then I played Dylan: Watchtower, Knockin on Heaven's Door, Things Have Changed, Don't Think Twice and an amazing acoustic Like a Rolling Stone. How does it feel to be all alone with no direction home.

Sunburned, hot and happy I quit. Ted Simmons came back so I gave him the corner, packed up and went home.

I love taking music to the streets. Yeah!

The Island's singing storyteller

By Stephen Pate

An excerpt of this article was published in the Guardian Voice for Seniors June 2008

Lennie Gallant writes and sings of the Acadian and Celtic traditions that make Prince Edward Island unique reflecting our rich heritage. His stories are the stories of our Island.

Born in Rustico, PEI Gallant has been performing for three decades since he was 13 years old. He performed in a variety of local bands in traditional and rock and roll styles, including the Speed the Plow.

In 1988 he released his first solo CD, Breakwater, which demonstrated his traditional Island roots and story telling abilities. Since then Gallant has traveled the world telling his stories about people, places and especially about PEI. His 7th CD When We Get There (2005) was nominated for a 2007 Juno, his third JUNO nomination.

It was the PEI stories I wanted to explore when I met Lennie Gallant in downtown Charlottetown in February. He was here to judge the David Foster Star Search.

What keeps him writing and singing about PEI? I asked.

“PEI is definitely my home,” he said. “I live in Halifax because my wife has a job there and it’s easier for me to move around than for her. I’ll be back here eventually.“

"My family is the oldest (European) family on PEI, the Gallant family" he said tracing his ancestry to Michel Haché-Gallant who lived from 1662 to 1737.

Growing up in rural PEI, Gallant was close to the land. “I’ve worked on farms. I’ve worked on fishing boats. I’m pretty close to what we’re all about here.”

Peter’s Dream is a song about fishermen and the hard times they faced. “I wrote it in Rustico Harbour one morning,” said Gallant. “I woke up at 6 am just in time to hear the put-put of the boats going out.” The song tells of a fisherman who drowning in despair sinks his ship in the harbour.

The first CD Breakwater displays Gallant’s talent for story telling and his Acadian roots. One song, La Tempête, is entirely in French. Destination is a bilingual song that became so popular Gallant performs it at almost every concert.

Island Clay, from Breakwater, was inspired by a poem by Island historian Harry Baglole. It is the touching story of an 80-acre family farm auctioned off to pay the debt. “Another part was inspired by Maggie Carmichael who was in the first edition of Speed the Plow,” said Gallant. “Her family owned a farm like that.”

The song also echoes Gallant’s roots. “I lived in a small farm community and I did all the work, baled hay, picked potatoes and all the work you do in a farm community. I have a great affinity for Island farms and the farm way of life. The song came from that life.”

At Rendezvous Rustico which takes places each July, Gallant sings Going Back to Rustico. “It’s just a fun song to get you to come home to PEI and hang out with your friends and family."

Ghost stories are also part of Island tradition. Gallant remembers Antoinette Gallant, a story teller, who told them of a phantom ship. Gallant said he incorporated this tale into his song Tales of the Phantom Ship.

The last verse tells of the drowning at sea of six hundred Acadians trying to make their way back after the expulsion. Years later he was given a book by a woman who attended a concert in Victoria, PEI. It had the exact same story of an Acadian ship that went down off the north coast of PEI. Gallant added, “It was exactly like the last verse that I thought I had made up about Acadians who didn’t make shore.”

That song seemed to make strange things happen. “We lost power in concerts while playing that song so many times, we put the song at the end so it wouldn’t end the concert early. We lost lights. We shut down the Vancouver Folk Festival in the middle of the Festival over that song. We we’re playing a TV show with Rita MacNeil and a wind storm came up. We’ve had three lightening storms in the middle of that song,” said Gallant.

I felt the old story teller was weaving her story through Lennie Gallant as he recounted the unusual events that accompanied Tales of the Phantom Ship.

Gallant says he will return to PEI for four or five concerts this summer. We also can look forward to the Lennie Gallant Songbook coming out later this year. It will include his stories in song with the music and guitar chords.

More information about Lennie Gallant is available on his website.

Lenny Gallant is also on MySpace and Facebook.

Monday, May 5, 2008

Angele Arsenault saluted at Les Eloizes

Abrams Village chanteuse awarded Prix Hommage

Guardian Staff

Acclaimed Acadian chanteuse Angele Arsenault was honoured Saturday night at the Éloizes Awards in Charlottetown with the Prix Hommage for a lifetime of achievement in the arts.

Angele Arsenault

The Abrams Village native, known affectionately in the Acadian community as the 'Star of the Island' because of her vast body of work, was one of more than a dozen artists, arts organizations and events honoured at a gala awards ceremony in Charlottetown.

More than 800 people attended the ceremony which saw artists honoured in six artistic disciplines: literature, visual arts, cinema-videos, dance, music and theatre.

Arsenault was the first Acadian woman to promote Acadie outside of the region.

Her recordings still enjoy immense popularity throughout the country.

She enjoyed her first taste of success on the national stage with the release of her Libre album in 1975. That record was certified triple platinum.

A prolific artist with more than 20 albums to her credit, Arsenault has the recipient of numerous awards.

Her career highlights include being inducted into the Order of Canada in 2003.

"Her fans admire her for her simplicity, dynamism and contagious joie de vivre," a statement from the organizers said.

"Through laughter and tears, Angèle Arsenault carries the torch . . . for hope . . . for all Acadie."

The Éloizes, which take their name from an Acadian word for lightning, are juried awards in which the recipients are chosen by a jury of their peers.

Following are the winners of Saturday night's other categories:

The night's only double award winner was Sofi Langis, named artist of the year in cinema-video-television and new artist of the year.

Manon Melanson was named artist of the year in dance.

The award for artist of the year in theatre was presented to Claire Normand.

Serge Patrice Thibodeau was named artist of the year in literature.

Joseph Edgar, lead singer of the group Zéro° Celsius, was named artist of the year in music.

The award for artist of the year in visual arts was presented to Raymonde Fortin.

Danny Boudreau was presented with an award for having the largest impact outside of Acadie.

The award for show of the year was presented to Carte blanche aux artistes d'Ode.

Le Courrier de la Nouvelle-Écosse received the award for best media coverage.

The award for event of the year was presented to the Frye Festival.

An award for support for the arts was presented to La Coopérative de Caraquet.

The award for support for artistic production went to the Association régionale de la communauté francophone de Saint-Jean.

The 2008 Éloizes Event was presented by the Association acadienne des artistes professionnel.le.s du Nouveau-Brunswick, in collaboration with the Fédération culturelle de l'Île-du-Prince-Édouard, the Carrefour de l'Isle-Saint-Jean and the City of Charlottetown.

Friday, May 2, 2008

UFile maybe for you but not for me

I've been preparing personal tax returns on a computer of some sort since 1981. During that time, the quality of the tax software has gone from marginal to excellent.

Up until this year I was using Quick Tax by Intuit. I also use their corporate T2 software. I like the company, the products and support. However, $39 for one return seems steep.

So I tried out UFile a $19 competitor. While UFile did my return this year, I'm not likely to use it again.

What did you use this year?

The software is clearly not was well written as Quick Tax. Moving through the screens it feels clumsy. Forget something? It will not allow you to move randomly throughout your return.

I missed the preview Quick Tax has on the left which shows how your taxes are going up or down which is good for tinkering or planning. The return calculation is done in batch mode, not real time which is a relic from the past.

The data entry screens gave me this vague feeling like "what is going on?" The medical receipts entry screen does not check for valid dates.

Support is non-existent. I was never able to connect with their site to register, update the software, or send them an email. Their servers were always busy or down. I don't know if the software is current or not. Since it wasn't current, I couldn't efile for the first time in years.

I have friends who swear by this software so it must have a market at the $20 price point. It makes me nervous.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

If Best Wishes Were Fishes

by Stephen Pate

If best wishes were fishes
Then who'd do the dishes
Or who'd be ambitious
To cook meals delicious
I'm somewhat suspicious
T'would not be propitious
Then let's dismissus
And live by our wishes
To savour frittatas, gnishes
And other succulent dishes

Copyright 2007

Friday, April 11, 2008

Never-before-seen photos show Elvis at NY's Madison Square Garden

Elvis Presley, Madison Square Gardens 1972, George Kalinsky

4/9/2008, 7:18 p.m. EDT
By COLLEEN LONG
The Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — Never-before-seen photos have surfaced of Elvis Presley rocking Madison Square Garden in all his jumpsuited glory.

The images were taken in 1972 by legendary photographer George Kalinsky, the official shooter of the famed arena, the singer's estate said Wednesday.

Kalinsky came across the photos while working on a campaign for a billboard company called "Great Moments in New York." One of the only photos he printed from the 1972 show is currently on display as part of the campaign on a three-story billboard atop the Virgin Megastore in Times Square. The iconic image shows The King glancing up, his outstretched arms holding the cape of his glittering jumpsuit.

Elvis Presley, George Kalinsky

Kalinsky needed to get permission from Elvis Presley Enterprises, the business arm of the performer's estate, to reproduce Presley's image for the campaign. The estate asked if he had any more photos, and he came back with about 40 unpublished images from Elvis' second night performance at the Garden in 1972, said Kevin Kern, spokesman for Elvis Presley Enterprises.

Kern said the estate has thousands of photos of Elvis and a team of archivists well acquainted with publicized images of Presley who could not find any duplicates of Kalinsky's photos.

"What came from their mouths was 'Wow!'" Kern said. "These are very crisp, clear, professional photos of Elvis. It's such a rare find."

The collection will be displayed at Graceland, Elvis' mansion in Memphis, Tenn., starting Memorial Day weekend as part of "Elvis Jumpsuits: All Access," a fashion exhibit that will also feature more than 50 of Elvis' famous stage wear jumpsuits.

Kalinsky said he didn't realize at the time that he had so many good shots.

"When I photographed the show, I thought I only had a few good ones," he said. "I just never really looked at the files until recently."

Elvis Presley, George Kalinsky

He said he remembers going backstage to meet Presley.

"He was electrifying in his white jumpsuit, with his cape on," Kalinsky said. "He was quite humble, but he had an aura. There are very few people who have triple-X charisma, and Elvis was one."
Kalinsky has been the official Garden photographer for more than 40 years. He's also the official photographer of Radio City Music Hall and a special photographer for the New York Mets.

Kalinsky has photographed scores of celebrities and famous athletes, including Muhammad Ali, Frank Sinatra, Luciano Pavarotti and Pope John Paul II, and his images have appeared in Life, Sports Illustrated, Esquire, Time and Newsweek. Kalinsky's images of Jimi Hendrix and Frank Sinatra are also part of the Times Square billboard campaign.

Elvis Presley, George Kalinsky

He said he's also working with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on a photo exhibit.

Presley was born in Tupelo, Miss., on Jan. 8, 1935. He died at Graceland on Aug. 16, 1977. He is buried in a small garden beside the famous white-columned house.

© 2008 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

Apple's Safari malware storm continues

Last week I wrote about Apple trying to install Safari, the internet browser, on my XP computer when it updated iTunes.

The malware attack from Apple continues this week with two attempts to install their software not accompanied by iTunes. I beginning to lose my trust for Apple.

I said no the first time and I mean no. What gives Apple the right to invade my computer like a Trojan or malware and attempt over and over to install something I don't want.

The problem is getting notice in MacNewsWorld Mozilla Chief: Safari Push Borders on Malware Tactics where "Mozilla CEO John Lilly has called out Apple for its practice of making the installation of Safari 3.1 an opt-out feature of its latest Software Update. Software Update is used by many iTunes users running PCs, not all of whom may want Safari installed. Was it a simple mistake, or is Apple trying to leverage its dominance in music to strengthen its other platforms?"

On CNET some users complain and some defend Apple Buzz Out Loud Lounge: What's the big deal about Safari push?

I think it is a shady, low practice. I can see once with an update to let you know its available. But to keep coming back is an invasion of my computer. Might take the polish off Apple.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Bob Dylan's a genius but that's not news

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan got a Pulitzer citation for

his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power.

That's nice. The stories are pouring in from every newspaper and they are fun to read.

But I've known he was special since 1963 when I first heard him.

Bob Dylan is one of the most influential artists of the last century. He defined musical genres before anyone knew what they were. He moved us in new directions, created more than 800 songs that always intrigued and challenged us.

He is entertaining which is important since great art must have a great audience.

I am constantly reminded of his appeal when I meet young people, 17 to 30 year olds, who discovered Dylan and hold him dear.

Enjoy.

Bob Dylan wins rock's first Pulitzer

He's given a special citation, and composer David Lang's 'The Little Match Girl Passion' wins the music award. Two UCLA professors are among book winners.

"Theme Time Radio Hour With Your Host Bob Dylan," a two-disc set available as an import in the U.S., contains 50 of the most colorful records played on the show. (AP)

Tribune news services
April 8, 2008

How does it feel to share the limelight with rock legend Bob Dylan?

This year's Pulitzer Prizes in honored two musical innovators who tend to reject categorization: A special citation went to singer-songwriter Dylan, and the annual music award went to composer and Los Angeles native David Lang.

In an interview Monday, Lang enthusiastically mixed metaphors: "You know, I am not fit to touch the hem of his shoes. Bob Dylan is the only artist who's in heavy rotation in my household."

He added, "I told my children I won the Pulitzer, and they were like, 'OK, big deal.' But when I said, 'OK, they gave a special award to Bob Dylan, just like me,' they said, 'Oh, this is really something.' "

The 66-year-old Dylan, who said he was "in disbelief," was cited for "his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power." His award marks the first Pulitzer given to a rock musician.

Lang, 51, co-founder and co-artistic director of the New York music collective Bang on a Can, won his prize for “The Little Match Girl Passion,” which premiered in October at Carnegie Hall in New York.

The piece, Lang said, was born of his personal struggle with the fact that much of classical music is rooted in Christian tradition. "It's a very strange thing for a Jewish composer like me to deal with. The Bach St. Matthew Passion is one of the greatest pieces of all time and one that is not particularly good for the Jews."

Lang said he decided to use the text from the crowd scenes in the Bach piece and, wherever there was a reference to the Crucifixion, substituted a reference to the death of the little match seller from the Hans Christian Andersen tale, who freezes to death on a city street on New Year's Eve.

Lang, who spent his L.A. youth selling records at Tower Records and Wherehouse Records, said he tries to avoid labeling his work, including with the wide-open category "new music."

"My whole life was about records," he said, "and when you go into the record store, you see the world divided -- here's rock 'n' roll, here's jazz, here's opera. I am someone who wakes up in the morning and goes out of his way to make sure that my work does not belong in one of those boxes."

This year's arts awards also included playwright Tracy Letts, a longtime member of Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company, for his critically hailed Broadway tragicomedy about a dysfunctional Oklahoma family, "August: Osage County." New York Times critic Charles Isherwood called it "probably the most exciting new American play Broadway has seen in years," adding: "Oh, forget probably. It is."

In literature, Junot Diaz won the prize for fiction for "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao." The novel, Diaz's first book since his hit short-story collection "Drown" in 1996, concerns the "ghetto nerd" of its title, an awkward teenager who aims to become "the Dominican Tolkien." Profane, street-smart, erudite and at times graphically violent, the novel juxtaposes a personal coming-of-age story in contemporary New Jersey with flashbacks to Dominican history.

Holocaust survivor and UCLA faculty member Saul Friedlander won the general nonfiction award for "The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945." UCLA professor emeritus Daniel Walker Howe won for history for "What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848." John Matteson won for biography for "Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father."

For the first time in Pulitzer history, two prizes were awarded in poetry, to Robert Hass for "Time and Materials" and Philip Schultz for "Failure." Hass, an English professor at UC Berkeley, is noted for drawing on everyday imagery, often from the California countryside. Schultz, the author of five collections of poetry, including the National Book Award nominee "Like Wings," founded the Writers Studio in 1987.

diane.haithman@latimes.com

Times staff writer Scott Timberg contributed to this report

Monday, April 7, 2008

Nat Hentoff - music and social activism

Google sent me an article on the Terri Schiavo right-to-live case written by Nat Hentoff. I was stopped in my tracks. This was Nat Hentoff of Down Beat Magazine fame. Apparently Hentoff has two sides to his writing career: jazz music and civil rights.

When I was a young lad in the 1960's, Hentoff was an idol/model. He wrote jazz articles for Down Beat and Hi-Fi Stereo Review. Both contained record reviews and Hentoff was a prime contributor.

Hentoff was the writer on jazz. He wrote Bob Dylan's liner notes for Freewheelin Bob Dylan and interviewed Dylan several times. Hentoff was an icon.

I wrote "Steve's Record Review" for the Halifax Mail Star and learned a lot by reading Hentoff's articles. I covered rock, folk, jazz and pop. I actually wrote him a fan letter.

So here we are at the other end of life and I discover we are both social activists with a passion for music and music writing. Awesome.

Friday, April 4, 2008

Would Apple stop downloading Safari on my computer

Apple is trying to get a piece of the XP broswer market by forcing Safari down our throats.

Everytime iTunes or QuickTime are automatically updated they try to sneak Safari on your computer. Once it gets there is tries to make itself the default browser.

Say no once and it tries again and again.

Isn't that like a virus or a trojan horse?

Doesn't Apple have any manners?

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Bob Dylan Modern Times pre-sales start

By Stephen Pate

Tickets for the Bob Dylan Modern Times Tour at Moncton, Halifax and St. John's went on pre-sale today.

Reviews of his Southwest, Mexican and South American performances have been glowing.

This is Dylan's only Northeastern tour until mid-summer. After St. John's, Dylan heads to Europe.

St. John NB doesn't have pre-sales yet.

The open sale starts Saturday (check the venues for times)

Sales are brisk. I could only get mid-way along the lower bowl at supper time.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Bob Dylan to tour Atlantic Canada May 08

I couldn't be happier than to find out Bob Dylan and his band will be playing 4 cities in Atlantic Canada this spring.

Starting in St. John NB on May 19th, he will move to Moncton on the 20th, Halifax on the 21st and St. John's NF on May 24th. Must be taking the slow boat to Newfoundland.

This is the same tour he did a few years back, only in reverse.

This is a don't miss tour. I saw Dylan 3 times each during the summers of 2005 and 2006. The music was awesome. The crowds super filled with everyone from babies to boomers.

Guess where I'll be that week.

Tickets go on sale March 29th.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Leonard Cohen the best singer songwriter?

By Stephen Pate

With Cohen touring we are getting lots of newspaper inches about how wonderful he is. Nice to see the accolades but please ladies and gentlemen, let's put it in perspective.

The Guardian called Cohen "arguably the greatest singer-songwriter of modern times". I guess the key word is "arguably" in the phrase. The line is fluff from his official webpage.

Cohen is the child of Bob Dylan who clearly holds the title of greatest singer songwriter. Dylan created the modern poet singer songwriter and keeps creating at over 800 songs. Most modern singer songwriters credit Dylan as a main influence. He even influenced the Beatles.

On hearing Dylan, Cohen is reported to have said - if he can do that so can I.

What about Paul McCartney and then the duo Lennon/McCartney? Then there's Tom Waits and Paul Simon and a host of others.

Here's the BBC poll on Dylan's 60th birthday of top singer songwriters.

Bob Dylan: 32.65%
John Lennon: 18.83%
Bob Marley: 13.64%
Paul McCartney: 8.47%
Paul Simon: 6.73%
Cole Porter: 5.63%
Jim Morrison: 4.44%
Eminem: 3.50%
Joni Mitchell: 3.47%
Irving Berlin: 2.64%

Cohen doesn't make that list but he is 6th on the Paste Top 10

The Top 10

10. Prince
9. Joni Mitchell
8. Elvis Costello
7. Brian Wilson (The Beach Boys)
6. Leonard Cohen
5. Paul McCartney (The Beatles, Wings)
4. Tom Waits & Kathleen Brennan
3. Bruce Springsteen
2. Neil Young (Buffalo Sprinfield, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)
1. Bob Dylan

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

A different St. Paddy's Day

St. Paddy's Day usually presents itself as an opportunity to connect with Irish roots, as opposed to dark roots, in a loud and liquor filled place. All good and all done many times before.

Yesterday my procrastination got the better of me and I was working feverishly on a story about Lennie Gallant, ok maybe just working would be accurate. The deadline was midnight - no article, no party.

I missed the Richard Wood and Robert Arsenault performance at Brennan's at 4 pm since my friends called me when it was over. That would have been sweet. Kier Kenny created the event on Facebook but neglected to invite anyone except Trudi. I'm trying to date a clairvoyant so I can know when they are doing fun and imaginative things at Brennan's.

Just as my story was done, Pierre Bujold called and wanted to go to Churchill Arms. So off we went for a few brews. Joining us was Dave Prendergast back from Halifax and a whole cast of characters from the pub like Richard Kurial and…well we won't report names.

We had the bubbly Irish music. People were dancing up near the smoking door and of course the Guinness flowed freely.

We talked art and music and no politics. For the first time in years I remember what happened.

Monday, March 10, 2008

U.K. will investigate Microsoft for consumer rights violations

By Preston Gralla

An investigation by the U.K.'s National Consumer Council has recommended that Microsoft and 16 other software companies be investigated for unfair practices related to End User License Agreements (EULAs). The investigation found that as a result of the way the EULA are designed and written, consumers agree to unfair terms, and sign away their legal rights without realizing it.

The NCC report found that software companies, including Microsoft, "mislead computer users into signing away legal rights." It concludes that Microsoft and other software companies, "are shifting the legal burden onto consumers who buy computer programmes, leaving them with less protection than when they buy a cheap biro (pen)."

According to the NCC report:

The survey found a widespread lack of clear, upfront information written in plain English. More than half of the 25 products surveyed did not mention on the packaging that the consumer has to sign an end user licence agreement (EULA) before they can use it.

Among the offending products are Microsoft's Microsoft Office for Mac standard edition) 2004, and Microsoft Office 2007 (standard edition).

Microsoft isn't alone in their practices; the NCC is recommending that 16 other companies be investigated as well. Here's the entire list: Adobe, Microsoft, Apple, Chief Architect, Symantec, Magix, Nero, Corel, Sega, Nova Development, Britannica, Sonic Solutions, Twelve Tone Systems, THQ, GSP, McAfee, and Kaspersky.

Here are the main examples of EULA problems the report found:

* complex wording and widespread use of legal jargon

* legal uncertainty, with frequent references to legislation in other countries

* immediate contract termination rights for the provider

* the right for the provider to remove services without notice

* ambiguous references to ‘statutory rights’

* restrictions on the transfer of the users’ rights to a third party

* excessive exclusion of liability.

Does any of this surprise you? Me, neither. No one I know bothers to the read incomprehensible legal rules embedded in a EULA before installing software. They take for granted that the game is fixed against them.

The NCC is asking that the European Commission investigate, and has also referred the matter to the UK’s Office of Fair Trading (OFT). I'm not sure if anything will come of it, but here's hoping it will. If you want to read the full report, by the way, here's where to get it.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Jeff Healey 1966-2008

PerryInk: used with permission

Friday, February 29, 2008

Tremtones Tribute

PEI’s “first rock and roll band” receives Stompin’ Tom Award
by Stephen Pate

After waiting 51 years to receive acknowledgment of their music The Tremtones walked away from the 2008 East Coast Music Awards (ECMAs) with a major piece of prize hardware.
From left: Doug Carmody, Doug MacEwen, Billy Roy Murnaghan, Niall MacKay

“It feels terrific to win the Award,” said Billy Roy Murnaghan Tremtones founder. “It took a long time. We didn’t expect it. It came out of nowhere.” Murnaghan, who now lives in Barrie, Ontario, travelled back to PEI for the awards ceremony.

“There were two Doug’s at the Awards, Doug MacEwen, Doug Carmody, Niall MacKay and I,” said Murnaghan. Fellow band member Niall MacKay of Montague said the Award “was humbling to think we deserve it after all those years.”

The Tremtones, PEI’s first rock and roll band, were awarded the Stompin’ Tom Award at ECMAs in Fredericton. The Tremtones were formed in 1957 and played in and around PEI and Atlantic Canada for the next ten years.

The Stompin’ Tom Awards are given annually to the unsung heroes of the East Coast Music industry. “These well-deserving recipients have all made significant contributions to East Coast music…” says Wade Pinhorn, of the East Coast Music Association.

Murnaghan who had been playing in country bands recalled how the Tremtones started. “The band started in the footings of Birchwood High School,” said Murnaghan. “Gordie Ferguson and I were working digging the footings. We sat down next to each other one day at lunch. We got talking about music and Gordie said ‘I just got a new guitar, one of those Sears Harmony Silvertone guitars.’”

“I decided to work with him,” Murnaghan continued. “At age 17, I’d been playing guitar for 4 years. Next in was Gordie MacEwen the keyboard player and Dave Mills on drums. After that we were the Tremtones.”

“There weren’t many basses back then,” recalled Murnaghan. “The first bass was made from an old jukebox guts. We drove over to Moncton and bought an old jukebox from the distributor. We made a bass amplifier from the guts and the big speaker.”

Playing around Charlottetown, the Tremtones covered rockabilly, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Gene Vincent, and Eddie Cochrane among other popular artists of the day.

“We did a lot of Elvis,” said Murnaghan. “I still do a lot of Elvis in the old folk’s homes. Elvis is popular. When I sing ‘Don’t Be Cruel’ I get the audience to sing the ‘Oooh oooh oooh’ to make it fun.”

“We did Jerry Lee Lewis ‘Great Balls of Fire’ and that became the theme of our reunion at the Rollaway,” said Murnaghan. “That was an historic club for us and PEI. Don Messer and the Islanders played there along with lots of other musicians.”

“Our favourite fast songs were ‘Don’t Be Cruel’ and the Jerry Lee Lewis ‘Whole Lot of Shaking’. The crowds loved Ricky Nelson’s ‘Lonesome Town’ for a slow song,” said Murnaghan.
The Tremtones at Prince of Wales College, circa 1958. From Left Doug MacEwen, Gordie Ferguson, Billy Roy Murnaghan, Dave Mills

“’Oh Donna’ was a big favourite for snuggling,” added Niall MacKay who variously sang, played bass and drums with the Tremtones. “We made a lot of people happy, made them smile. We played one end of the Island to the other, sometimes 6 nights a week. CJRW Radio would broadcast our dances at the Cahill Stadium.”

“My biggest regret at the ECMA’s was not having a chance to pay tribute to our fallen members, Gordie Ferguson, Dave Mills and George Halliwell,” said Murnaghan.

In their 60s, Billy Roy Murnaghan, Niall MacKay, Doug Carmody and Doug MacEwen are still performing in public. MacKay has been dubbed the ‘Grandfather of Rock and Roll’, a title he likes.

Old rock and rollers don’t fade away. They just rock on, their music still popular at dances and parties across PEI.

A song to sing - Open mikes popular with all ages in clubs and community centres on the Island

Stephen Pate, Nick Teter and Ted Simmons, Baba's Open Mic

SALLY COLE
The Guardian

Ed: Excerpt. see link to Guardian for the complete story

There’s an air of professionalism at Babas in Charlottetown where musicians are taking their music to the next level.

The place is a gathering spot for burgeoning songwriters who come to test out their new material.

“Anyone who has just come is invited to come up and sign the performance list,” says host Nick Teter, adjusting microphones for musicians Andrea MacDonald, Ted Simmons, Stephen Pate and a poet simply known as Alan.

As the emcee, he spends the evening mingling with artists, keeping their sound levels and spirits bright.

“If you play, you get a free glass of draft for your 15 minutes of fame,” says Teter, who has a definite knack for making people feel at home.

“It’s important to welcome people, especially if they’re new. If no one comes over to talk, sure, they may get up to play once, but they may never come back.”

The artists like the time that Teter puts into the show.

“Nick encourages everyone and is not afraid to show his appreciation. That’s why I come here — for the camaraderie and a chance to play my own compositions,” says Pate, after testing out his latest song.

For Simmons, the draw is getting to play in front of a live audience.

“I come every week to practise my live stage show. I really enjoy the atmosphere here,” says the singer-songwriter who performs a dynamic version of Bob Dylan’s North Country Blues.

Meanwhile, Teter gives a sigh of relief that all the music slots have been filled.

“My biggest fear is that no one will show up and I’ll have to play a lot of songs.

“While that normally isn’t bad, it’s not my show. It’s about the artists,” says the singer-songwriter.

A few blocks away, the mood is warm and relaxed at Hunter’s Ale House where artists have gathered for another open mike night.
Blake MacIsaac and Daniel Bowlan, Hunter's Open Mic

Hosted by Danielle Bowlan, the Monday night gig is the highlight of her week.

“It’s fun, and interesting. We are always getting to hear new music and meet new people,” she says.

During the show, which also includes performances by Jessica Keough, Kassandra Veenhuis and Blake MacIsaac, she and Laura Oakie team up for some tight harmonies on Volcano and Nine Crimes and are rewarded with applause for their efforts.

“We’re constantly singing together. We enjoy coming here,” says Oakie, who is also a member of the Disco Rockin’ Llamas.

Daniel Bowlan and Laura Oakie, Hunter's Open Mic

After playing together week after week, it feels like home, says Bowlan. “We’re all friends here so no one is afraid to go on.”

After playing together week after week, it feels like home, says Bowlan. “We’re all friends here so no one is afraid to go on.”

Saturday, January 26, 2008

X Marks the Spot

Everywhere I go in life, X is there too.

I love X. It' exotic. X adds spice to life.

Sex is great but triple XXX has that je ne sais quoi as the French say.

I like to be impulsive but feel even wilder when I'm quixotic.

X rarely disappoints except in novels by Cervantes about Don Quixote who is some wimp with no X appeal.

The same thing has happened to Xerox, who despite their double X can't get it on anymore.

I enjoy marriage because it comes with an ex.

To show my affinity for X, I moved to a neighborhood with the postal code of C1A 8X4.

X marks the spot. Exactly.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Technology is not like farming