Tim Buckley was one of my favourite singer/songwriters in the 1960s/early 70s. He was odd but had a very distinctive voice and style. He committed suicide in 1975. Tim had a son - Jeff Buckley. Jeff too was a favourite singer/songwriter. He put out one album before he tragically drown in the Mississippi River in 1997 at the age of 31. The album titled "Grace" was brilliant, but he will always be remembered for his version of the Leonard Cohen song "Hallelujah". This song is covered over and over again, but none equal his version. He had a sweet, sweet voice.
Morgan James enters this story by covering not just a Jeff Buckley song, but by paying tribute to him by covering the entire album - thoughtfully and with passion. At times Morgan sings as Jeff, and at other times she extends what he was trying to do - perfectly. I am a big fan of Jeff but I really appreciate her spin on his songs. Morgan's husband Jeff Wamble plays guitar throughout this session. He replicates "dead" Jeff's guitar sound very well.
As I work through the pile of newspaper clippings and properly category and file them I occasionally come across a stumper. This morning it is two obituary clippings for a WWII and Korean war RCAF fighter pilot named David Ashleigh who died in a plane crash in 1979 near Oshawa. He was an RCAF Ace. I believe that this meant that he had shot down 5 enemy aircraft. I was pretty certain that a quick Google would bring up lots of facts about David - not so. The internet was bare excepting one entry in a website Fly For Your Life that is dedicated to RCAF history. They have no photograph or other information - just that he was in the RCAF. I am in touch and will supply them with what I have. Hopefully we can track him down and make certain that the clippings find a place to survive.
to "see a man about a dog", and have lunch with Dave and Olwen.
Update: bought the dog.
Next year this photo will be 40 years old. My . . . .
Back: Susan Campbell, Fred & Carol & dau Bronwen Appleton, unk, unk, Howard Campbell, Nancy & son Mark & Mike Dillon
Front: Ann Donaldson & son Braden, unk, Betty's dau Sarah Campbell, Nancy & Scott & Steve & Michael Sinclair, Betty Campbell
Erin stayed with Apple and Grumpy while Bronwen and Glenn had a little honeymoon.
OK, I could not resist putting up a video of Postmodern Jukebox (PMJ). Scott Bradlee the piano player is also the founder of PMJ. PMJ is a musical collective of about 70 performers. No two videos have exactly the same performing combination. There are multiple singers, at least three piano players and many multi-instrumentalists. Their hook is that they take a song from one genre, rework it and perform it in another genre. So, as in this video they take a fairly new Radiohead song and perform it as a vintage jazz tune. They are wildly popular these days with more than one touring group coming out of the collective.
Earlier I posted a video about Morgan James - she is one of the vocalists who work with Post Modern Jukebox. I originally sent this video to Bronwen because of the clarinet.
I might as well get all of my music tips out in the open this morning. Playing for Change is the brain child of Mark Johnson. Mark is a music producer from LA who came to the conclusion that some of the best music that he has heard is on the street. He put together the technology so that instead of bringing musicians to the studio, he could "take the studio to the street". For a single video he might record six street performers in different locations around the world and then mix them to create one arrangement. Think about this - guitar on the canal in Venice, vocals in Vancouver on the beach, rhythm in Kenya, and backup vocals from New Orleans. This is fun stuff.
Morgan James is a pretty good singer. At 14 she had a repertoire of 200 songs that she sang a capella in her home town restaurants. At 18, she was enrolled in the Julliard to become an opera singer. After graduation she worked in Broadway musicals. Now 36, she has put out a couple of albums and is doing a "whirlwind tour". She is the best singer that I have heard in a long time.
I should have posted about this months ago. It is just one of the things that got dropped as I took a vacation from The VOX. Somehow back then I got myself in communication with the moderator of a Royal Canadian Navy online historical project. I do not know who found who because I have occasionally sent old RCN photos to their museum in Halifax for preservation and display and they have contacted me about these photos or I may have contacted them. Regardless the person who I was in contact with introduced me to For Posterity's Sake a website "dedicated to the men and women of the Royal Canadian Navy and the ships they served in".
I was invited to contribute obituaries and summarized service records for my father and for Carol's father. I did and they are present on the site. My father had collected some group photos of his ships crew and they were also very pleased to get these.
- my Father - scroll way down.
- His service record - name mispelled.
If you have old photos of RCN ships, pictures of relatives who served, or their obituaries please let me know and I will help you get digital copies displayed in this memorial. I can also help you find war-time service records if they would be of interest. Anyways - a great tribute to those who sailed for Canada.
Look for people to be standing in this scene in about 48 hours.