Tele-spruiking

Looking east onto North Pender Island from the Gulf of Georgia.

Looking east onto North Pender Island from the Gulf of Georgia, taken as I write this post.

I write from the ferry between Victoria and Vancouver, in the territorial waters of British Columbia/Washington State/British Columbia. It’s Wednesday 20 February here in North America, but en Nouvelle-Zélande it’s a Thursday at a particular time of the month. This means Song Sale is on in Dunedin!

Now, it is a little odd and a little superfluous for me still to be spruiking for this monthly gig. Yes, I founded it in Dunedin and it was my baby, but now that Daddy has moved to a new city some foster parents have taken responsibility for the rambunctious toddler. Or something. I’m not good at parent-and-guardian analogies. read more

Postcard piece

Juliet Palmer, a New Zealand-born Toronto-based composer, alerted me to Redshift Music Society the other day.

This Vancouver new music outfit has put out a call for scores, with a deadline of 1 March. Basically:

The idea is simple: the entire score, musical concept or set of instructions for the piece has to fit on a postcard.

Also:

Please submit by REGULAR MAIL only! (not email)

As I was coming to the end of my travels in Spanish-speaking countries (Cuba and Mexico), I figured I was finished hearing a particular type of sound: the pregón. The dictionary definition of the word is ‘proclamation’ or ‘announcement’, but more typically it refers to the repetitive patter of street vendors, market stall-holders, touts, jineteros, etc. read more

Where

Che to the left of me, Fidel to the right...

Che to the left of me, Fidel to the right…

I’ve been travelling for a bit. I lack the discipline to organise my thoughts into blog-length discursive reads, but if you’ll forgive bullet points, here’s where I’ve been. Pictures are on Facebook. One is also here.

Thu 10 Jan: Flew AKL-SYD-DFW. Met a friend in Old Sydneytown and saw the Chinese Garden. Because of flight delays, Qantas put me up in an airport hotel near Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.

Fri 11 Jan: Flew DFW-CUN, got a shuttle from Cancún Airport down to Tulum. (Mexico.) Pottered around Tulum. read more