the winner

the winner
Originally uploaded by art_mangostein.

Here is the winner of the 2005-06 Nickelodeon Guitar Raffle.

the Nickelodeon guitar

the Nickelodeon guitar
Originally uploaded by art_mangostein.

This is the guitar we raffled off at the Nickelodeon Music club this year.
All the artists who performed during the 2005-06 season signed it including Amos Garrett, David Wilkie, Patty Larkin, Tracy Grammer, Terry Tufts, the D-Rangers, Nathan, Chuck Brodsky and more.

Nathan Rogers

Nathan Rogers
Originally uploaded by art_mangostein.

Nathan Rogers playing the Nickelodeon Guitar Raffle grand prize. Nathan bought a ticket as did many of the artists who signed the guitar.

Vic Bell and Michael MacLeod

Vic Bell and Michael MacLeod
Originally uploaded by art_mangostein.

Vic and Mike choose the winner of the Nickelodeon Guitar Raffle.

Mangosteen - it's a hell of a fruit but I don't think it'll cure cancer or raise the dead.

I was in a Chinese restaurant the other day with some of my colleagues. It was a lunch buffet. It wasn't one of those horrible ones with 500 choices where every dish is as bland as the last. It was a good one. This was really really REALLY good Chinese food.

One of my co-workers brought her plate of fruit over to my boss. She held up a piece and asked what it was. It turned out to be dragon fruit also known as pitaya.



I thought "cool - another new fruit to try" and then I asked my boss "have you ever had mangosteen?"

"Mangosteen? What's that?

I told him what I knew.

"It's reddish purplish and you peel the skin off to get at the white sweet fruit that has the texture of a green grape without the peel. It is very sweet and delicious. It is sort of like a pomogranate in that it is a lot of work and a bit of mess to get at the fruit and - I would say - well worth the work and mess."

They look like this.

And my other co-worker added "I have alway wanted to try one. I have also heard they are very good for you - you can buy mangosteen stuff in health food stores."

Health food stores? I remember buying them at little fruit shops in Chinatown in Calgary,Vancouver and Toronto and it has been a long time since I have been by to find some. Health food stores? It's fruit - no better or worse for you than apples and plums you buy at Safeway or the Co-op (a Calgary grocery chain).

Then I did a Google search on mangosteen.

Holy crap! Everybody is trying to make a buck off these things. They're flogging the juice and dried mangosteen as some kind of miracle elixar. And in typical internet fashion, the marketing is linked up everywhere. In fact I am betting my text ads at the bottom of this page pick up on this post and I too will - against my will - become a shill for some snake oil mangosteen salesman.

I did some Googling and I found a great article The Mangosteen Myth.

Here's a quote

I investigated mangosteen earlier this year.There is a teensy bit of basic science (test tube studies finding that mangosteen, like ten thousand plants, has antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral actions) but ZERO meaningful clinical research that shows it has any useful action in human beings. Mangosteen juice is just a random product-of-the-year sort of thing, a marketing initiative like so many others, conceived in the spirit of profit, and no more likely to produce any special health benefits than any other plantchosen at random out the botanical universe.

In the famous Mel Brooks 2000 year old man sketch, Mel calls the nectarine "a hell of a fruit." I would say the same about mangosteen. (It also has a hell of a name - like a Polynesian Jewish guy!)

My advice, go to an Asian fruit shop in your local Chinatown and shell out to try it. (It is rather expensive.) It is yummy.

Miracle fruit?

I think not.

Penguin Eggs
Spring 2006
(Canadian folk roots music magazine)
critic's albums of the year

1. Lynn Miles - Love Sweet Love
2. Eliza Gilkyson - Paradise Hotel
3. John Prine - Fair & Square
4. Le Vent Du Nord - Les Amants du Saint-Laurent
5. Amadou & Mariam - Dimanche a Bamako
6. The Duhks - The Duhks
7. Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate - In The Heart of The Moon
8. Tom Russell - Hotwalker
9. Melwood Cutlery - Campfire
10. Terry Tufts - The Better Fight

The Better Fight - Review from Penguin Eggs - by Mike Sadava

"It's hard to dispute Terry's promo material. The guy has a rich voice, nimble fingers and serious songwriting ability. This album should give Tufts more of a national stature. There's a lot of depth here, a lot of reasons for coming back to this disc. He can write a convincing love song, an edgy polemic, perform a worthy cover of the Isley Brothers I've Got Work To Do and work an instrumental along the lines of Don Ross.

Like many other Ottawa folkies, Tufts has absorbed the Bruce Cockburn influence. That might be my one criticism. There's nothing wrong with political engagement, but like Cockburn, Tufts is just a tad too serious for my taste. Hopefully in future outings he'll lighten up and get the message across with a little more subtlety and humour."

George Bush, "I'm fallllling!"

http://www.planetdan.net/pics/misc/georgie.htm

Mike Stevens should be a lot more famous.

Okay, if you are into bluegrass music or you are a harmonica freak, chances are you already know Mike Stevens. But he should be even more famous than he already is.

Mike plays the blues harp - the little ten hole diatonic harmonica. He can gets sounds out of it that are amazing.

He has played the Grande Ol' Opry over 300 times, many of those with Jim and Jesse and the Virginia boys. But don't pigeon hole Mike. He is equally comfortable playing straight up blues, rock and experimental music. (Check out his CD Normally Anomaly - it is wonderful and bizarre in places). He also plays as a duo with an incredible banjo/fiddle/guitar player Raymond McLean.

Mike is also deeply involved in bringing music (and musical instruments) to First Nations People in Northern Canada.

He has a couple of folk-roots CDs on the Borealis label. You can get all his CDs - folk, bluegrass and experimental through his website. And if he inspires your inner harmonica player, Mike has an instructional book.

I am addicted to magazines.

There are a number of reasons.

I want to get mail that is not bills. Subscribing to magazines (at least the ones I get) guarantees I will get at least some good news in my mail box. Gas bill, electric bill, cable, **sigh** - the latest copy of MOJO -- aaaahhhhh.

Mojo is one of the magazines to which I am addicted. It is a British mag about rock and pop music. There are about 1000 CD reviews in every issue (that's not true but it seems like a thousand) - everything from electronica to folk to heavy metal head banging to reissues of obscure one off garage bands from the American mid-west that you would never expect would be reviewed let alone reissued.

There's also a great bit at the front of the magazine where celebrities talk about the tunes they are listening to, the first record they bought and the performer they would like to be if they weren't already a stinking rich rock star. A lot of times it is a British celebrity I have never heard of which makes it a bit useless for me anyway.. (uh.. what's the point of knowing what they listen to if you've never heard of them?). Useless, but I like it. And.. of course there are ones I have heard of. Peter Gabriel is in the issue that arrived today. He's good, I've heard of him.

In the back of Mojo there is something called Hello... Goodbye. A former member of a band talks about how he or she (mostly he) joined the group and then what shit hit what fan when he or she left. Okay.. many times it is a really obscure band.. and it is often just whining and complaining over "artistic differences" (probably money and drugs.. ) but I love this part of the magazine too.

And sometimes they run out of ideas. In the latest issue is about Chaz Jankel who helped establish Ian Dury and the Blockheads with the late Ian Dury. I guess he came and left the band a bunch of times, and now that Mr. Dury has left us, he's running the Blockheads. So, Chaz really didn't say good bye, Ian did.

That's my long winded way of saying.. sometimes they stretch the story to fit.. but you know what? It's always a good story.

Best of all? There's a CD with each issue. It's like getting something for nothing. Remember how much you paid for your very first CD? $20? $30? This one is free. It is usually not crap music.. sometimes it is crap but it is always FREE.

A magazine from the states does one better in the "it seems like I am getting something for nothing but I am not" department . Paste covers independent music, film and independent other stuff. Most issues contain only about three or four hundred CD reviews (not really but it seems like it) but you get a free CD and a DVD in most issues. They are both usually pretty good - chalk full of indie tunes and short independent films and music videos - not videos you see on Much Music or whatever you local teenybopper music station is called (MTV or whatever). They are videos that would be on the video station you wish existed but doesn't. (if you hear of one.. call me)

Am I getting money or stuff or even free mags for going on and on and on about these magazines? Nope. I am writing about them because I like em.

I also subscribe to No Depression (alt country) Penguin Eggs (Canadian folk music) Vintage Guitar (duh!) Acoustic Guitar (duh! again) and Guitar Player (did I mention I am addicted?) - and that's just a partial list.

Not really free stuff with those magazines but there is always a contest to enter and not win.

Len Wallace should be a lot more famous.

Len is a singer-songwriter accordion player extraordinaire.

He plays fast and furious. When Len Wallace attacks the keys you can see smoke rise from his fingers. Len's music is a unique style he calls celto-slavic fusion. He goes from jig to reel to polka and then back to a reel in a heartbeat.

How about this quote from Billy Bragg - "What can you say when the accordion player rocks more than the main act? . . . Len Rules!"

As a songwriter, Len write about issues facing working people. He is a labour activist. He wears that on his sleeve (right wingers stay away)

How about this quote from Pete Seeger - "A great accordionist, singer and songleader."

And he also has a sense of humour. You should hear is polka version of the BTO hit Takin' Care of Busines. We're all waiting for a new solo recording from Len. Meanwhile you can find out more about him and his band the Diggers from his website.

So this is the beginning of the end of (King) Ralph Klein.

We are certainly in for a sea change in Alberta politics. The provincial PC party has decided to do to its leader what the federal party does to (used to do to?) its leaders.

It is weird to see Ralph standing there with a knife in his back. Although he sort of asked for it. The announcement that he was leaving, eventually, certainly hasn't endeared him to the fellows waiting to take his place. Those waiting for his job are chomping at the bit.

And what a sorry lot they are. Actually I wouldn't give you a can of beans for any of the crew running the province right now. I had a nice chat with a former Lougheed cabinet minister who said there is no vision there, just a bunch of opportunitsts. And I agree. If handing out $400 cheques is their idea of how to plan the future of the province, while our health care, schools and infrastructure are crumbling under the crush of growth, we are in big trouble. I can only imagine how much more trouble we would be in if we weren't benefiting from $60 oil.

The Calgary Herald and the Globe and Mail say Preston Manning is thinking about going for the job. I may not agree with his politics but at least he is a thinker. His views on the environment are pretty interesting. I don't think it would be a bad thing. I also think we should take a long hard look at the provincial Liberals when our next provincial election draws closer.

Back to Ralph, I remember reading he had been elected mayor of Calgary while I attending journalism school in Ottawa. What a shock. His reputation at the time was as a somewhat goofy City Hall reporter at a Calgary television station. I remember being slighly ashamed. Little did I know I would be covering his second election victory as mayor as a radio reporter. He obliterated his opponant (Sue Higgins). If I remember correctly he maintained his populist touch and he wasn't half bad as mayor. I left Alberta about the time he became premier. Now I am back and he is about to be replaced. Frankly I'd like to see a bigger opposition in Alberta or, dare I say it, I different party in power.

As for Preston taking over? It could work.

For people who love vintage guitars...

I can't believe a TV item I did on guitars for CBC television in Saskatchewan is still on the web.

It is all about a little music shop in Saskatoon that sells vintage guitars in the shop and on ebay. It was my first solo story as a video journalist. I shot the pictures and wrote the script. I didn't edit it though. If you want to have a look at the video go here. If you want to read the text go here. I do love guitars and I am taking guitar lessons. I will update my progress on this blog once in a while.

Terry Tufts should be a lot more famous.

Terry is a singer-songwriter and guitarist who lives near Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He writes wonderful songs about relationships, the environment and tabogganing. He is also an incredible guitar player.

Thanks to the wonders of the internet I don't have to go into a lot of detail about Terry. I can just link you to his website and his record company's website. Read his bio, buy his CD's or pay to download his latest, The Better Fight, at emusic.com. You can find one of his truly wonderful guitar instrumentals on a compilation called Six Strings North of the Border, volume II.

My smart, talented and lovely wife has a blog. Here is some information about it. Check it out if this interests you.

Name:Holly Zenith
Professional woman by day, netpreneur by night. I started out as something lower than a file clerk before launching the career of my dreams. Now my passion is helping other women get un-stuck so they can follow their passions.

Greg, Murray, Jeff, Anthony

The Wiggles are the coolest band in the world.

Not just the coolest band for kids, the coolest band period. I will arm wrestle anyone who disputes that, and I will probably lose, but it's still true.

Before my daughter (who's 4 now) was born, I interviewed Greg for a short radio spot (I was a broadcast journalist at the time). I was impressed with his politeness and professionalism. At the time I didn't realize I was talking to Paul Mcartney in Australia's version of the Beatles for pre-schoolers.

If you want proof of just how cool this band is listen to one of their CDs. I mean listen to the music. Set aside the lyrics because, well, this ain't Richard Thompson or Elvis Costello - and that's okay because those guys don't appeal to pre-schoolers anyway. (I suppose maybe very disturbed pre-schoolers.)

The arrangements are wonderful. They bring together a mixture of classic pop rock music conventions with world rhythms, r&b and, every once in a while a shot of dixieland and celtic folk - sometimes all in one song. One of the features I have come to appreciate is a wonderful (some might say slightly bizzare) use of Mexican style horns. I am not sure where an Australian children's group picks up this kind of influence but it works for me. (Maybe it's because I am a fan of bands like the Mavericks and Calexico)

By the way two of the four Wiggles, Anthony and Jeff, were in an R&B band called the Cockroaches. (If a name like that doesn't help qualify them as being cool, I don't know what else would.) Anthony, Greg and Murray studied early childhood education - hence the band.

It's one thing to succeed in the recording studio, quite another to shine playing live and these guys are great live. We took our daughter to see them in a hockey arena last year. We scored third row seats and I am telling you the Wiggles are the hardest working guys in show business. And yes, I have seen James Brown and these guys qualify for the title.

One of the coolest things?

They actually sing and play their instruments on stage.

They run and jump around and dance and do prat falls. They could easily resort to lip syncing and frankly I wouldn't blame them, but they don't. Trust me. I was in the third row. I could see the sweat and I could tell they were playing. Take that Britney!

Do I love everything about the Wiggles? No. Their DVDs cheap out on the production values and they do that Disney thing of recycling stuff. Songs and videos appear and reappear in various forms and formats. Nothing seems to make it to the cutting room floor.

On the other hand, these guys have become millionaires because they are really really good at entertaining pre-schoolers and they deserve every penny.

The incredibly shrinking record cover - If Leonardo Divinci created the Mona Lisa on a canvass the size of postage stamp I bet it wouldn't be hanging in the Louvre.

You may remember when the music industry warned that CDs would replace vinyl LPs forever, there was an outcry from music fans. It wasn't only the analog versus digital argument, although that was long and loud and persists in some circles, it was the disappearance of album cover art. The example I remember repeated over and over was the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper cover would never have been approved if it had been designed for a CD jewel case.

Of course the nay sayers have been pretty much proven wrong. Graphic designers and artists have risen to the challenge and have created some wonderful CD covers (booklets? jewel case card inserts?) even though their canvass has shrunk. One of my favourite designers is the award winning A Man called Wrycraft. His website is currently under construction.You can see some of his designs here.

As anyone who owns an ipod can attest, the canvass has shrunk yet again.

Whenever I drive my daughter anyplace we listen to her music, and "Can I hold the disc, daddy?" is the cry from the back seat (she's 4). I became the proud owner of a 30 gig ipod last Father's Day and I promptly filled it up with about 5 thousand songs including a dozen or so of her favourites albums (The Wiggles, Wizard of Oz, Sesame Street). I hooked the ipod through the cassette player and ZAP - instant access to the music in the mini van. But when it came time for her to make her usual request - daddy couldn't deliver. The CD cover, which she usually held in her hands and perused for the entire trip, was a digital image on the ipod, the size of a postage stamp. Sure I have most of her music in CD format at home but anybody who downloads has a ton of music with no jewel case and ultimately no artwork to show for it save that tiny digital image.

This all suggests the cover is at the edge of oblivion. That's sad. I am a tactile person. I used to love bringing home records with that new vinyl smell (formerly the music lover's equivalent of that new car smell). I also enjoyed devouring the info on the sleeve (and in the jewel case) - who played bass, who sang back up, who the band thanked - god, mom, dad, the ol' lady - and possibly a cryptic message that one or all the members of the band were dead, or were not dead.

Now all that information is on the website. And you can't flip through a website in quite the same way - and you certainly can't sell if on ebay for a fortune like the Beatles' butcher cover.

Maybe the record cover has already been replaced by the website, and maybe down the road that will be replaced by some kind of digital holographic video thingee that eminates from whatever replaces the replacement for the replacement of the ipod. I just hope that, whatever it is, it's bigger than a postage stamp.

One more note about the record cover. Forget about the incredible shrinking cover. How about the incredibly ugly cover. There a number of sites displaying some of the weirdest bizarre ugliest record covers ever.

They are great for a laugh.