Time Travellers from the last century

I'm glad I am not the only dinosaur on the block. The man with the best possible career as a pianist excluding Iturbi and Liberace is Sid Wright, still active and starring in "The Three Pianists" concert. He is 89 and not a household name but worked in London solidly and simultaneously on radio, TV and in clubs for half a century.

I have just reconnected with my favourite entertainer of the 70s, Adam Timoon. Here he is playing Malagueña just a few weeks ago. He use to pack Adam's Inn at the Seaway Hotel when I was working at the Barmaid's Arms, both Toronto hotspots. Click here: Adam - Malaguena

London Bobby

Time traveller from the last century

Do they think we are idiots?

Buy one DVD for $9.95 and get a second one free.

Or buy three for so much and get a fourth one free. I will absolutely never, ever, buy anything that is priced like that.

London Bobby

Time traveller from the last century, when you could buy one necessary nut in a hardware store for a few cents, not a packet of twelve, eleven of which are still cluttering my workspace years later.

Politics

Moderating the conversation around a piano-bar was an important part of entertaining on a cruise-ship and when politics reared its ugly head I always interjected, "Oh, we don't allow politics or religion to be discussed here, just sex!" Of course we didn't permit ungentlemanly sexual comments either but it got a laugh and diffused the situation.

However, I am not working for the cruise companies here, so…

I am a swing voter. I voted for Trudeau once (and lived to regret it), I voted against Chretien but cheered his stand against American bullying to join in the invasion of Iraq, and I voted for Harper. I had the impression that his personal beliefs were more extreme than I like but he would subdue them in the national interest.

Now I'm not so sure. His high-handed conduct of parliament is an affront, after all we elected the members to represent us, not to be marginalized and now his former spokesman, Kory Teneycke, is heading up a bid to bring "Fox News North" to Canada. There are suspicions of attempts to bully the CRTC and it appears likely that Teneycke was aware of or even instigated an illegal attempt to discredit a petition organized by Avaaz.

And speaking of being high-handed, the disgraceful abandonment of civil rights during the G20 could only have occurred with the highest levels of government turning a blind eye, to say the least. Is this the only way that life and property could have been protected from marauding goons? If so then the only locations for future G20 meetings are China or Russia or Iran where they are not under the illusion that they have a democracy, as we are.

London Bobby, time traveller from the last century

My geekability is slipping

Before I chucked it all to become a pub pianner-basher, I was an engineer. I designed things, control systems, complicated stuff. So when personal computers came along I was in there, bought a TRS-80, went to TMUG meetings, learned to program in BASIC . But now I don't want to be a geek, I wanna be a user and record music, edit videos without having to delve in to the operating system. I don't want to know what an iDisk sparsebundle is or why I should have to worry about it.

I have an old car and I like to keep an eye on other owner's problems but I think I am going to give up. I thought it it was just computer geeks who confuse me but here is advice from an owner:

Re: Reatta quits running when it reached operating temperature

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Yes the crank sensor can be replaced,with out pulling the balancer, I have done it on the 1989 and the 1990 years. It may be different on the 1991 . Use brass feeler gage to set the clearence to the inner fins.You have to turn the crank to get the balancer set so you can slip the crank sensor threw the fins, there are gaps in the fins or rings what ever they are called. Some use a match book as a feeler gage. The unit must be set to clear all the fins or it will rub and damage the sensor. nemo

__________________

About the only term I understood was match book.

London Bobby

Time traveller from the last century.

About not feeling old

I don't think old, I still appreciate a well-turned ankle, to use an old phrase. ('Cute bum', to use my terminology, 'cool frame' for today?) But every now and then I get hornswoggled. When I think I am playing more modern music I find there are people in the audience who think Elton John and Billy Joel are from the last century, which they are, like me.

Here is what clobbered me today. In an effort to keep up with eReaders I am installing 'calibre', a program to create or convert eBooks. I am happily reading along until I come to this:

A great example of this is the old books people read back in the 90's on their PDAs.

Whoa! What do you mean, back in the 90's? That is just yesterday, earlier today, to me. I only found out what PDA meant about a year ago so steady on, there. Anyway, I am convinced I will soon have converted all the text files on my "English Lit." CD to ebook form and then I can enjoy reading them on my iPad. So there.

Bob, time traveller from the last century.

Bouquet for Ontario Ministry of Transport

I passed my old geezer's driving test today. No road test, they know we old geezers have the skills, but written and eyesight tests and a subtle general (mental) evaluation at a seminar for forty of us old fogies. From now on I have to pass this every two years. I must say the quality of the employees at the Ont Ministry of Transportation surprised me, efficient, friendly, concerned, not at all the cold uncaring civil servant bogieman we all dread to meet.

Self-assessment was one of the watchwords they pushed so no more long-distance driving for me. City traffic I can handle. Compared with Europe, Mississauga roads are well laid out and full of gentle folk and well-behaved motor-cyclists.

Bob, time-traveller from last century.

When is it time to quit?

I have seen video of great artists performing when they were really past it, disappointing and somewhat upsetting when their previous great performances are still fresh in your memory. So I try to monitor myself. Voice: not too bad, appearance: not bad considering extreme age, piano technique: not as slick as it was, memory: senior moments occur, comedy: good! stage movement: lousy. So I had a committee meeting with myself and decided if impresarios still want to pay me, if anybody still wants to see me, I would still perform. So I am back in Toronto and not retired yet. My next gig is at the Nexus Piano Bar in Brampton, it is a particularly good restaurant in my humble opinion.

http://www.nexusfinefoods.com/

Fine dining at a reasonable price, nice ambience, a large saltwater aquarium and a grand piano, it's hard to beat the Nexus Piano Bar. I'll be playing there Thursday, Friday and Saturday this week, 6:30 to 9:30PM.

I would be tickled pink if you come.

Bloom's Day Wednesday June 16th

Bloom's Day is another great opportunity to be Irish for a day so I will be visiting the Ceilli Cottage, 1301 Queen St. E. in Toronto. They have a piano! What more can I say?

Temple Grandin on Visual Thinking

Something to think about, those amongst us labeled autistic or Aspergers, far from being considered disabled, should be carefully nurtured and helped to develop special and extraordinary skills. These are the inventors, the Einsteins who give us our future technology.

On being Canadian

I have been a card carrying Canadian since 1960. I chose to emphasize my English heritage in my entertainment because I saw and heard very little Canadian or English content on radio or in the bars and theatres, just American music and Irish groups in the bars. So begat London Bobby. When I emigrated from England I had the choice of becoming American or Canadian and Canada won.

But Canada may lose an insidious war that is presently being waged and we can lose our Canadian identity through neglect and inaction. I believe that it is necessary to be especially wary of big money entities that are supra-national and have no moral heritage or self-regulating discipline, only the need to grow bigger regardless of local consequences. With such huge funds at their disposal we need to be especially careful that out government is not being subverted. A free and Canadian press is our first-line defense.

As for the United States, they are completely blind to the opinions of Canada or anywhere else. Their policy is one of myopic self-interest. They are aggressive and invasive. It is less than two hundred years since they invaded us, not long in historical terms. I believe it is essential that Canada's media and communications companies should be effectively owned and controlled by Canadians as specified in our existing laws. I am greatly concerned that the government has overturned a CRTC decision and allowed an Egyptian-controlled company to start up a wireless network in Canada. I believe this will lead to foreign control of other wireless companies, and that cable monopolies, satellite companies and broadcasters will demand equal treatment -- gutting several generations' work to build an independent country on the northern half of the continent.

And so a question for Mr. Harper:

Dear Mr. Harper, I want to know if you will actively defend Canada's cultural sovereignty and I also want to know what you will do to ensure that our laws defending Canadian ownership and control of media and communications are respected and enforced. Your response will affect my vote in the next election.

Yours truly,

Hugh Robert Smith

aka London Bobby.

The Three Pianists Concert

No grumble today except, perhaps, that my video camera is about three generations out of date in, it seems, about two years. The vicar's wife bravely held the heavy old Sony Camcorder for an hour to make this video. Thank you, Jette, and we excuse the shaky bits and love the selection of shots.

The Three Pianists Concert

It worked! How can I tell you about this and still be my usual humble self? We were sold out and the audience gave us a standing ovation. That's it. Now it is over I can relax.

Heather Bellene was most impressive, she gave a faultless performance. Sid Wright was loveable as he gave us a review of his life in music. I bumbled about in the beginning but got into my stride quite quickly because the audience was so supportive. I suppose, living in Spain, they must be starved for entertainment in their own language. They were wonderful to play to.

So we made money but, to tell you the truth, I enjoyed this so much I would have paid for the privilege to do it. Now for the next concert...

The Three Pianists

Never mind The Three Tenors, have you heard The Three Pianists? Artists are Sid Wright, accompanist to the stars who was at the Talk of The Town in London for sixteen years, Heather Bellene, concert pianist and London Bobby, pub pianner basher. First concert will be in Spain, Mijas Costa, Friday January 29. Right now, five days to go, busy with last minute promotion, rehearsal and production details. Nice feature article in The Costa del Sol News with this picture nicely displayed. More details: www.thethreepianists.com