Issue #946
Including:

From Russ

The Ontarion

Hi All,

Seems to me I had said last week that I’d talk about playing at the BAG this time around, so I guess I should, given that I did indeed do that…. Here’s the thing, there is really no where these days to play in public as all of that kind of thing had been shut down. The ‘BAG’, as its called is the Brackendale Art Gallery. It’s owned and run by an old hippy named Tor. The place is kind of like a hippy commune village, and very popular with the locals. It also feels like a fire trap and I hate being inside and avoid it whenever possible. We have been there for some concerts as well as some jam sessions and I can never get out fast enough. Its freezing cold in the winter and stifling hot in the summer. As well, old Tor is squeaky cheep, and never misses a chance to extract a fee from anyone and everyone who enters his establishment. So it was quite a surprise when he came up with the idea to put on FREE Sunday afternoon concerts for the neighborhood. He’s not charging the audience who come with their lawn chairs to sit, spaced out, on the parking lot which is roped off to keep vehicles out, and, he’s not charging the performers to perform which is also out of character for him. The way it works is he calls various performers and invites them to play on a given Sunday, as volunteers of course, and just one ‘act’ per Sunday so there is no mixing of people outside their own bubbles. And thats fine, it gives us an outlet. It gives the audience something to do. It’s a win-win situation. Some Sundays its a whole band playing, other Sundays its single performers like me.

My turn was last Sunday and something worked out very well from me this time. For the first time that I’ve played in public out here, Ryan was available to help me with the sound setup. You know, to get the balance right, the volume right and so on. (He seems to know a bit about that kind of thing). He’s also young and strong so he carried my heavy speakers etc up the steep narrow steps to the balcony we play on. The ‘BAG’ building is closed, the musician(s) play on a high balcony overlooking the parking lot. I didn’t have to be concerned about any of the technical side of my performance, just had to strum my guitar and do my thing. And I must say, judging by the audience, it went over very well. Doing a concert as a single performer is a lot of work and sure leaves you warn out by the end but its worth the effort. There is something about being able to do a one man show and being appreciated for it thats hard to explain. Not everyone could, or would want, to do it. I was sure glad he was there though because like I said, I was pretty well beat by the end and all my equipment had to be carried back down those stairs.

And, would you believe, it wasn’t raining. It was quite sunny and warm. We are not used to that at all. It had been cold and rainy all week, and the cold and wet came back the next day but the weather actually worked out quite well for that day. Don’t know how I managed to luck out that way but I did.

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Ok now this is a bit different. I finally figures out how to convert videos into a format that I can upload to my web site and have them see-able by anyone clicking on the link. I’ve been trying to figure out how to video some of my music but still have more questions than answers. Easiest way is to use my iPad but while the video component is fine the audio is crappy, that tiny little mic just can’t do it. I need to figure out how to run my mixer into the iPad for the audio component then I can get a bit better volume as well as filter the sound a bit instead of having to listen to the raw sound mix which is not at all flattering. The iPad records in .MOV format and therefore a simple song eats up well over 250 mg. I found a free Apple app for my desktop computer that can convert various formats into other various formats, so, I can now convert into MP4, at way less than a tenth of the file size and my site can carry them. I’m still at a loss as to how to edit them but that will come as I plug away at it. I had uploaded this video to my Facebook page as a test run, pretty rough but oh well. Anyway, if you want to kill 3 minutes, just click this link and you’ll get the simple mono vid without any extra tracks such as harmony or instrumentation, as raw as it can be. Have fun.

And by the way, I don’t do this kind of thing because I think anyone might actually want to watch or listen to me or this stuff, or even be interested in it. I do it because I want to, as my way of dealing with the world, the weather and everything else going on these days. For the diversion. And I do it for the technical challenge and perhaps thats my biggest reason of all. So if I have to fight with it, thats a win-win all around. Oh, and it gives me something to put in the letter…...

http://www.thedougsite.net/Songs/Videos/GuessItNeverHurts.mp4

doug

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From Russ

Book

At first it sounded like a good idea. When I stared writing it was fun. Now, heavily into my 2nd week it’s becoming challenging. Carol and NS Sue have been very helpful in providing their ‘family’ information. (I sent an email to Sharon, but it must have been wrong as it came back, ‘undelivered’). Please, does anybody have Sharon/Gary’s email?

Dearest Carol informed me that on October 26th of this year, Wilbur and Emma Brubacher would have celebrated their 100th Wedding Anniversary! Now, I’m thinking the Book should be about the ‘History of the Brubacher family in Historic Waterloo Township”. As we ‘follow’ our parents moving from village- to-village, it’s noteworthy, that we were never too far from the Grand River, and always close to Chicopee Hill.

The ‘seed’ of the History of Waterloo Township, in my Book is from a Paper I found, by Ken Seiling Waterloo Region Museum. ( and I still have to get their permission to access it). I don’t intend to ‘Publish” my Book, only to print a number of copies to distribute to our families.

In honour of Evelyn Mansz, with her great memories, who always wanted to write a “Family History”, but died before she could; I’d like to invite Lorne, Howard, and Evelyn’s children to be an important part of this History by sending me something you’d like remembered.

Am I foolish – starting a ‘huge’ project like this at my age?

Don’t answer that question

Your Old Uncle Russ.

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THE ONTARION REPORT

Hello everyone!

I hope you’re all enjoying this lovely heat we’re experiencing here in Ontario! I know that you all aren’t living in Ontario but surely you must have heard about our Ontario heat wave by now! Unfortunately, this heat is having a detrimental affect on the crops that our famers have planted this year! With rain predicted for the coming weekend, there is some hope for recovery to the crops. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that things will get wetter and better if we get the storms predicted for the coming days.

I took a chance and fertilized our lawn today with the hope that we’ll get the rain predicted for tonight. If not, I’ll have to drag out the sprinklers and hoses to wet the lawn down and activate the fertilizer! It seems we really can’t count on the accuracy of the weather reports lately! Oh well, really, when have the weather reports ever been very accurate? With this really hot weather hitting us our new roof has melted enough to seal the shingles properly for sure. To top it all off, the power roof vent that I installed 20 years ago finally gave up the ghost last week. Adam climbed up onto the roof and removed the fan motor from the vent so we could once again get the vent moving heat out of the attic. As it turned out, it’s a difficult motor to locate and replace. I took the defective one to Shiel’s Electric Motor Service to order a new one. Unfortunately, they located one but it was very expensive and not available until the end of August! We would like to have the vent working again long before that date so the only alternative was to search and find one on the internet that might be available sooner. Adam located one on the net and ordered it to be here within a week. Much better than waiting until the end of August for sure. The cost of the one from the net was only $100.00 plus tax and the shipping was free! Now we just have to wait a little until it arrives via UPS or whatever! Once this power roof vent is operating again it will make a huge difference in the temperature of the upstairs of the house. Since our bedrooms are on the second floor it’ll make sleeping much more comfortable for sure! The motor service price for the same motor was $168.40 plus tax so the one we ordered from the net was a much better bargain! I initially thought the problem with the fan was caused by the roofers when they redid the roof last week but they came and checked it out for me and found it was the fault of the motor after all these years! Oh well, nothing lasts forever does it! I guess we were lucky to have had it last for 20 years. If the new motor lasts that long, it’ll likely outlast me! LOL!

Another piece of my machinery that I’m waiting for is my Echo Leaf Blower that I took to the Mennonite farm equipment repair shop two weeks ago. The owner of the business told me to call him in a few days and it would be fixed. However, as I said, it’s been two weeks now and he still hasn’t called to say the repair is completed! I guess at this time of year he’s pretty busy with more important repairs to farm equipment so I’ll just have to be patient with him. It’s just that I use my leaf blower every time I cut the lawn so I miss having it at the ready. It’s just fortunate that with this hot dry weather I haven’t had to cut the grass for over two weeks so, not having the blower hasn’t really been a tragedy! Hopefully he’ll call in the next few days and I’ll have an excuse to take the MG out for a drive to go pick up the blower! It’s a 30 km drive to his shop and a nice one at that. The repair shop is out in Millbank and it’s a nice drive through the countryside to his shop so I am looking forward to that drive whenever he finally calls! It seems there’s always something that needs repair so I’m waiting for the next problem to crop up. As my mother used to say, “Everything happens in threes!” So there’s one more problem somewhere in the wind! Maybe the next surprise will be one of a positive note! Fingers crossed, it’ll be a nice big Lotto win! LOL! What are the chances of that? I’d say, “One in 18 milllion or thereabouts!” LOL! Oh well, one never can tell can one!

That’s about all for this week folks!

Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!

Bye for now … Greg

PS: Something To Think About>
Some people have said that “rules are made to be broken”, Those people don’t work here anymore!

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