Dunaber Music

Allemande Left (Nod to the Judge)

Last night’s final of the Toronto Branch of the Pipers’ & Pipe Band Society of Ontario’s amateur knock-out was a first-class event. The morning after listening to a dozen excellent amateur pipers go through their paces got me to thinking. OK. I was thinking about this last night, but I’m still thinking about it this morning.
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Oldtime Maxville

I’ve had this ripped page from a really old magazine ad hanging around my desk for ever – on my handy magnetic bulletin board, to be precise. I don’t know about you but I tend to put stuff up on the fridge or the bulletin board and have every intention of “doing something with it”. Clippings, photos, ticket stubs, all kinds of bits and bobs, I set it aside and the only thing that happens is I forget about it all – and corners curl from age (kinda like pipers). I can’t remember where this particular bit of paper came from. Maybe someone gave it to me. It looks like it came from Popular Mechanics or a mag of similar dimensions. But it’s kind of interesting. So, here’s me doing something with it.
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Google Me a Picture

I sometimes find Google’s search prompt annoying. It can be a distraction when I’m impatiently on the hunt for some bit of info. It’s way too easy to get drawn in to other lines of thinking, other searches and subject matter. Looking for a new Indian restaurant? Well before you know it you’ve got “indian names”, “indian consulate” and “indian railways”. Too many interesting prompts and challenges for my modest attention span. The prospect of a tasty new palak paneer dish just has to wait while I’m whisked away to some helpful, yet unplanned, visit to completely unconnected websites. Who knew that the Indian railway system carries 18 million passengers a day? Not me – until today.
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CBC Radio One Interview

An excerpt from a piece produced by CBC Radio’s Aparita Bhandari. Broadcast January 25, 2010.
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Bagads: The Long and Short of It

Yesterday morning I dragged my ass out of bed and caught most of the bagad performances from the season’s first bagad championship. The camera work wasn’t especially sophisticated but the sound seemed pretty good and I was really thankful that a TV network in France opted to stream the contest live. Very, er, tres cool.
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A Silly Valentine

Surely, one of the most naïve Valentine cards of all time!
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A Good Reed Soaking is What You Need

My first email of the day was a seriously laugh-out-loud experience. I mean LOL in the real sense. Not just the sort of thing we all do when we often send a sort of nondescript note or text and add “LOL”: “I backed out of the driveway today and nearly hit the neighbour’s cat LOL”. Well, I’m sure you wouldn’t write that, but I know you get my gist.
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Happy New Year!

All the best to you and yours for a happy New Year – may it be the best ever!

And here’s one of the oddest postcards I’ve ever seen; someone actually posted this – in 1912!
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10 Favourite Musical Memories of the Noughts

Yikes. Its two days to 2010. Cliché alert: it seems like yesterday … we were all freaking out about the apocalyptic possibilities of a new millennium. Then, as now, I was working in the technology field and clearly recall being assigned a “war room” shift. For those not familiar with the tech business staple of system recovery, the “war room” is a small group of multi-skilled people charged with restarting failed computer systems. I was the scribe of the group (an important role, of course). With black marker at the ready I was set to record the crashing systems and falling sky. Continue reading 10 Favourite Musical Memories of the Noughts…

Merry Christmas!

Here’s a bit of a Christmas laugh for one and all: a Toronto Police Pipe Band Christmas Greeting (none of the elves, by the way, know they star in the show [oops] – but you may recognize Ian K MacDonald, Doug Stronach, Malcolm MacLean [of Ardnamurchan], Angus Douglas Lampkin and me).
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