Stand Up Against Poverty

Today, my school participated in the Stand Up movement, which is an event put together by the organization Make Poverty History. I read the Stand Up Pledge over my school's PA system during the morning announcements and asked everyone to stand up as I read the pledge. Here is the pledge that I read:

STAND UP PLEDGE

We are standing now with millions of people around the world
on this historic day, to show our commitment to the fight against
extreme poverty and inequality. We only have six years left to the
2015 deadline to realize the Millennium Development Goals.

Today, we Stand Up together to say to our leaders:

Act now to achieve and exceed the Millennium Development Goals.

Commit to bold leadership at the G8/G20, to combat extreme poverty,
transform global economic and financial systems, tackle the impact of
climate change on poor countries and eliminate poverty in Canada.

We will continue to Stand Up, not just today but every day, to say:
No more Excuses, End Poverty and Inequality Now!”

In total we got approximately 600 people to stand up as I read the pledge, and I put our contribution on the Stand Up Map on the Stand Against Poverty Website.

Celebrate For Change!

Yesterday was my 13th birthday, and I celebrated by having a "Celebrate for Change" birthday. This is where I asked all my friends to bring money instead of presents, I will soon donate that money to Free the Children. "Celebrate for Change" is a fundraising event with Free the Children, and the premise is that there are 50 million children born each year who's births aren't recorded. So official these children are "invisible". Often, these children are forgotten, and they end up in dangerous situations of child labour. For more information about "Celebrate for Change" and about Free the Children, go to the Free the Children website at http://freethechildren.com/.

I tried to invite as many people as possible, so that I could raise as much money as possible. In the end, we raised $550, $50 over my goal!!! It was a great party and everyone had a lot of fun.


Setting up for the party. I put maps up everywhere around the back yard, all the maps were of places where Free the Children worked.


We had lots of fun at the pool part of the party.


Rebecca with cape, guitar, and friends.


We didn't have any candles, but the sparkles worked out just fine.


The group photo at the end. In the end, 21 people came!

This was an amazing experience, and it was so cool to see everyone so into the fundraising part. We also made two big posters that has everyone's name on it that we will send to Free the Children with the money. Thank you so much everyone for coming, it was so fun!

Wawa, North Bay

This evening we made it to North Bay, Ontario. This is our third day driving in Ontario, and all of our driving's been through Northern Ontario. After spending 3 days in pretty much empty Northern Ontario I have already begun to notice how much space we have in Canada. I mean I knew this already, but the drives that I've done before have mostly been between Edmonton and Winnipeg, and even through the prairies there are towns located all the way along the highway. In Northern Ontario it seems like there could be many many kilometers in between towns of only a few hundred people. It's kind of amazing to experience that.

In the past two days we drove between Thunder Bay and Wawa and between Wawa and North Bay. Here are some pictures of those drives...


Right after leaving Thunder Bay we stopped at the Terry Fox Memorial. After driving farther east in northern Ontario it was amazing to think that Terry Fox had run all that way with just one leg.


Near Ouimet Canyon Provincial Park we stopped at the longest suspension bridge in Canada. It's 150 feet longer than the Capilano Suspension bridge, but not as high. There were two suspension bridges there, one longer and one shorter, here's a view of the shorter bridge and of the canyon from the longer bridge.


The next day after leaving Wawa we stopped in Lake Superior Provincial Park to see the Agawa Bay Pictographs. Here's one that was probably made between 150 and 400 years ago.


At the pictographs I jumped in the water to swim around the rock face to see some more pictographs at a cove only accessible by water. Swimming in Lake Superior was amazing, the water was cool and unbelievably clear.


Driving through Sudbury we had to stop at the giant nickel. This nickel is the largest coin in the world!!!

Tomorrow we will be driving to Ottawa and staying there for 2 nights. We are getting a private tour of the Parliament Buildings and Senate, and will be going to the National Art Gallery and the Museum of Civilization.

I will be posting a full photo album documenting our trip to Quebec after we get back to Edmonton.

Stay tuned for more updates about Ottawa!

Yorkton, Winnipeg and Thunder Bay

This evening we arrived in Thunder Bay on the third day of our road trip to Quebec City.

We left Edmonton early in the morning after a late night at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival. That day we drove to Yorkton, Saskatchewan, and the next day onto Winnipeg, Manitoba. We stayed in Winnipeg for the full day the next day as we had family there, but then the next day (today) we left to Thunder Bay. What we wanted to do on this road trip was take our time while driving and stop at some of the roadside attractions and "Big Things" that towns have as mascots or attractions. We also tried to take a picture of all the "welcome" signs for towns and provinces that we drove through.

Here are some pictures of our trip so far, but I will be posting a full photo album at the end of our trip.



We stopped at a ghost town in Saskatchewan. It used to be a CN Train station.



In Langenburg we stopped at a huge swing off the highway (you can't see, but it probably about 10 meters high!). It was attached to the ground though, so we couldn't actually swing on it...



We stopped at a small town in Saskatchewan called Elfros that apparently has a big Icelandic history. I knew that Manitoba had Icelandic history, but I had no idea that Saskatchewan did too! Here is an Icelandic monument in the heart of small town Elfros.



On to Ontario (I did take pictures of Manitoba, I will post them later)! In Kenora we had to stop at Huskie the Musky. It's huge!!!



Just before Thunder Bay we stopped at Kakabeka Falls. They were amazing, and we took tons of pictures. I will put some more up later.

Tomorrow we will be going to Wawa, Ontario and then onto North Bay. Stay tuned as I will be posting more pictures and my thoughts on our big road trip to Quebec soon!

One More Post... Steven Page and Danny Michel... One More Memorable Moment for the Folk Fest

I think everyone here who stayed for the final main stage performance at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival may have just witnessed one of the most amazing moments in folk fest history.

Steven Page, the headliner for Sunday nights performances brought out another Canadian musician, Danny Michel in the middle of his set. He said it was to pay tribute for the musicians that we have lost this year. Danny Michel started playing guitar and they began playing a great rendition of Michael Jackson's Billy Jean. The performance got the whole crowd cheering and singing along.


Danny Michel rockin' on stage to Billy Jean.


Steven Page doing his version of the moonwalk.


All three of them (Danny Michel, Steven Page and the cellist, sorry, I don't know his name...) performing on the main stage during the last performance (well except for Four Strong Winds of course) of the 2009 Edmonton Folk Music Festival.


Steven Page and his cellist.

As for the rest of Steven Page's performance tonight, it has been absolutely amazing! He is playing at the folk fest with a cellist that is touring with him, and between the two of them the music that they produce is awesome! He has been playing some Barenaked Ladies songs, but also some originals as well.

OK, now this is my last post. Stay tuned for more updates, this time about my road trip to Quebec.

So to all the folk festers, I'll see you next year!

Final Post for Folk Fest 2009

I'm afraid that I will have to cut my live blogging short for the Edmonton Folk Music Festival 2009. We have to go home earlier tonight to start packing for our big road trip tomorrow. Me and my mom are starting a road trip to Quebec tomorrow (we will be driving to Yorkton tomorrow). I will be posting more about the road trip as we go along (it will be a 3 week road trip).

But more about the folk fest... Israeli band the Idan Rachiel Project just finished playing their concert on the main stage, and they were amazing. I did have an interview with Idan Rachiel himself, but things just didn't work out. They blended traditional Israeli music with Ethiopian music and many, many other genres. For part of their concert, they brought out someone from the band Arrested Development who performed on the main stage over lunch time. Together they blended even more cultures and genres to sound excellent! I might be posting a whole overview of the folk fest tomorrow, so tune in at least once.

I will be putting most of my interviews and a few reviews in my July/August issue of Die Zeitung. So if you haven't subscribed to my newspaper or bought just that one issue, please do so so that you can get full interviews and more awesome coverage.

And as I said I will be going on a road trip tomorrow, the destination is Quebec City. It will take 3 weeks there and back, but I will try and post updates every few days.

So please keep reading my blog and thank you very much to everyone who tuned into Who's Left and Who's Leaving for their live folk fest coverage.

Here are some pictures that highlighted my folk fest weekend...


Watching and interviewing 13 year old Quinn Bachand, who plays some awesome guitar! Check out my interview with him in the July/August issue of Die Zeitung.


An amazing shot of the downtown Edmonton skyline from the Edmonton folk fest site.


Neko Case playing the main stage with her drummer in the background. She played a great show, and she was way better live then on the CD.


Johnny Flynn, a new favourite of mine. He is absolutely amazing and I need to get his CD, but they're all sold out of the merchandise tent!!!


Iron and Wine playing main stage last night. He was also very good and played some great guitar.

So that's all for this year... I'll see y'all next year!!!

Joel Plaskett Talks About His New CD "3"

Today I got my 3rd interview of the Edmonton Folk Music Festival with Nova Scotia musician Joel Plaskett. He told me a bit about his new CD 3, his inspirations and about traveling. This will be my main interview for the coverage of the folk fest in my July/August issue of Die Zeitung. Here's some highlights of the interview.


His new CD 3 is all about 3s. It includes 3 CDs, and most of the songs titles are a word or phrase repeated 3 times. "It's a traveling record so it's kind of about going away, being alone and returning home. It's a long record because I wanted it to feel like a journey."

In many of the songs there are also phrases that are repeated, like the Berlin wall and good things come... "It's good things come to those who wait, but as the songs came it was good things come to those who run, and good things come to those who roll."

Joel Plaskett also travels a lot, mostly all over Canada, and because Canada is so big, I thought maybe the audiences could be different in different provinces or cities. "Well there's maritimers all over Canada, so they make a lot of the shows feel very much like home."


I will be putting some pictures up later, but now I have an interview with Israeli musician Idan Rachiel. So stay tuned for highlights from that. If you would like the whole interview with Joel Plaskett, subscribe to my newspaper Die Zeitung or buy the July/August issue of Die Zeitung if you haven't done so already.

So stay tuned if you weren't able to make it to the folk fest. But if you are here, I'll see you on the hill!

The Next Generation... (Danny Michel, Joel Plaskett, Sierra Hull, Johnny Flynn)

The morning of the last day of the Edmonton Folk Music Festival brought another great workshop. The workshop was titled "Next Gen" and included Danny Michel, Joel Plaskett, Sierra Hull, and Johnny Flynn).


This was another awesome workshop, especially as it included three of my favourite performers here at the folk fest, Johnny Flynn, Joel Plaskett, and Danny Michel. With this workshop they artists mostly kept to their own songs, and didn't provide the musical "fusion" so much, but they still did a little. And with these musicians, I think it was the perfect amount of "fusion".


Danny Michel was pretty much same old same old, which is fine... his same old same old is pretty good. He started off by playing some songs about not wanting to have to sing and perform at 11:00 AM, and then after that still stuck with the whiny songs :).


Joel Plaskett was really great. He played some songs that I had never even heard of, which was awesome! He played pretty much the whole set slow soft songs, he said it was to wake up. I want to mention that I'd been up since 6:00 AM for the colour raffle, so I had already woken up a long time ago!


Johnny Flynn was excellent, as usual. He started off with what he said was the saddest song he knows. He then went into a song about football. "What do you people here call it?" he asked. "Soccer? That's stupid...". He was absolutely amazing and made me want to buy his CD even more, though unfortunately all this CDs were sold out!


Sierra Hull, a bluegrass musician from the US was surprisingly OK. I'm not a huge fan of bluegrass, but with Sierra Hull played an amazing group. Everyone in her group was extremely talented.

In other news, I interview Joel Plaskett about an hour ago. I will be posting some highlights of the interview on my blog shortly. In about an hour and a half, I will be interviewing Israeli musicians Idan Raichel. So stay tuned throughout the rest of the day for one of my busiest days at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival yet.

For those of you who weren't able to make it to this year's folk fest, stay tuned! If you were able to make it, I'll see you on the hill!

Iron and Wine Provides a Great Show Saturday Night

The third performance of Saturday night at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival was Samuel Beam, better known as his stage name Iron and Wine. Beam provided a great mix of songs including slow, soothing songs, and faster, more upbeat songs. Iron and Wine met my expectations for sure, at least in the performing aspect.



But, I also heard from other media persons at the Edmonton Folk Fest that at Iron and Wine's last performance, he did not let the media in the area in front of the stage to take pictures for the first 3 songs, like he and all the other artists are doing here. Samuel Beam's excuse for this was that the clicking of the cameras bothered him, but I hardly believe he could even hear the cameras from the stage. Also, Iron and Wine did not do interviews with any media people. So, Iron and Wine did meet my expectations for the performing aspect of the night, but not other aspects.



Still, he performed a great show and I'm sure that the whole crowd was pleased with his performance. His voice is absolutely amazing, it can be soft and soothing, yet strong and powerful at the same time. He was all alone on the stage, just him and his guitar, yet his music was so powerful it could be heard all around.



That's my last post for tonight. But please tune in tomorrow for updates and reviews of Sunday workshops, highlights of an interview with Joel Plaskett, and reviews of main stage performances. Tomorrow the main stage performance that I am particularly excited to see is the Idan Raichel Project.

To for those of you who weren't able to make it to the Edmonton Folk Music Festival this year, tune in tomorrow for updates. And for everyone, good night!

A New Folk Fest Favourite (Johnny Flynn)

After today's workshops and main stage performances I must say that I have a new favourite from the Edmonton Folk Music Festival. His name is Johnny Flynn and he's performing with his band the Sussex Wit. I saw him in the workshop that I wrote about earlier, and I saw him on the main stage this evening.

I also got a spur of the moment interview with Johnny Flynn which sent me scrambling to think up some questions to ask him in 10 minutes. I figured out some questions and I think the interview went rather well. Here is a preview of the interview that I will be putting in my July/August issue of Die Zeitung.


Johnny Flynn's first instrument was the violin but he can now play the guitar, mandolin, banjo and even more! Before he was a musician, he was a stage actor, and a lot of his songs are inspired by literature, especially that of Shakespeare.



Johnny Flynn singing on the main stage, his voice was also great and unique.


"Sometimes Shakespeare feels to me like an extremely complex and metaphorical poem," Flynn said in the interview. As for how his previous life as an actor has effected his songwriting, "Sometimes I try and use the same things to write as songs as we would to work on a play," he replied.



The Sussex Wit's great keyboard player!

I wondered what he thought about the use of classifying music by genre, as his music is very unique, and doesn't really have a distinct genre, "I really only think the use of classifying music by genre is if you're going to try and find a band in a record store. I really don't like it when someone says 'oh you should quit this for that'".



Cello player for the Sussex Wit.


If you want to read more about Johnny Flynn and hear about the rest of the interview, subscribe or buy the July/August issue of my newspaper, Die Zeitung if you haven't already.

Still coming this night is Iron and Wine, which will probably be a fantastic performance. So stay tuned if you're not here at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival, but if you are here at the folk fest, I'll see you on the hill!

13 Year Old Quinn Bachand Rocks the Stage With Fiddler Ashley MacIsaac

Earlier today Ashley MacIsaac played his concert with 13 year old guitar accompanist Quinn Bachand. The followings are highlights from an interview I did with Quinn earlier today.


Quinn grew up as part of a musical family. "I started playing violin because my two sisters were also playing violin", he said. One of those sisters is Qristina Bachand, who is also a great traditional Celtic fiddle player. Qristina and Quinn often play together at Celtic music festivals.

Quinn, a guitar and violin player who started playing music when he was 6 years old, met Ashley MacIsaac this march, and has been playing concerts with him every once and a while ever since. "I've been listening to him all my life" Quinn said about MacIsaac, who mainly plays traditional Celtic music. Quinn also plays Celtic accompaniments on guitar. Celtic may seem like a strange music choice for a teenage but as Quinn told me, "I just get inspired by Celtic music."





Ashley MacIsaac performing at his concert on a side stage on Saturday at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival. His fiddle playing is so full of life, and even though I am not usually interested in traditional Celtic music, his fiddle playing was mesmerizing.


"I also like jazz, and some classic rock", Quinn said, so Celtic is not his only music choice. And, as he said, "I can't imagine my life without music" and I guess that means jazz and classic rock, not just traditional Celtic.




Quinn playing guitar was Ashley MacIsaac on Saturday at their concert on a side stage at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival. I also play guitar, so I feel like I can truly appreciate Quinn's ability on the guitar, and he is amazing. His guitar playing is also very rhythmic, so it almost seems to serve as the rhythmic section for their songs aswell.


I will be putting my full interview with Quinn Bachand in my next issue of Die Zeitung, which will be coming out at the end of August/beginning of September. If you have not bought the single copy of the issue or the full subscription of Die Zeitung, please do so.

In other news, I got a very spur of the moment interview with Johnny Flynn, who played at the workshop I wrote about this morning. Johnny Flynn is also playing main stage tonight, so I will put some more pictures up and a review later tonight. Playing main stage tonight will also be Iron and Wine, so stay tuned for that too.

So stay tuned for more live updates if you weren't able to make it to the Edmonton Folk Music Festival this year, but if you were able to make it, I'll see on on the hill!

"Talkin' Bout Our Generation"

I just got back from what I must say was one of the best workshops at any folk festival I have ever been to. The workshop was called "Talkin' Bout Out Generation" and featured Joel Plaskett, Johnny Flynn, Jill Barber and Ben Sures. I really enjoyed Johnny Flynn, Jill Barber, and of course one of my already favourites Joel Plaskett.

I thought that this workshop was really great because it combined the artists performing there own songs alone, and them performing together. Joel Plaskett and Jill Barber, both coming from Nova Scotia, were great together and played many of each others songs together.


Jill Barber singer on stage. She had a great and unique voice. Her music is kind of hard to describe. I guess you could say it was folk rock, but whatever it was, it was excellent!



Joel Plaskett playing a tiny keyboard that he bought at Value Village during his song Rewind, Rewind, Rewind from his triple album 3. Jill Barber joined Joel in this song and it sounded amazing!



Johnny Flynn, joined by his band the Sussex Wit, was also very good! His music was also very unique, mixing folk, country, blues and rock. It was an amazing fusion of genres and it all came out into excellent music.



All of them joined in the end for one song. Together it was mega-amazing, with all their amazing musical powers all blending into one :). It was fantastic.

Johnny Flynn is also playing on the Main Stage tonight at 6:00 PM, so visit this blog for a review and update about that show. Also playing tonight is Iron and Wine, who will probably also have an excellent show.

So for those of you who weren't able to make it to the festival, stayed tuned, but for those of you who are here, I'll see you on the hill!

Neko Case the Star of Friday Night's Performances

Neko Case's performances tonight at the Edmonton folk fest was absolutely amazing. She showed great personality on stage and of course performed a great show. I haven't heard a lot of Neko Case's music, but from what I've heard on CD and live, I can definitely say that she is a performer that is much better live.

Neko Case's voice is also amazing. Cory, a musician and friend of mine (who was also part of our alliance in the colour raffle ), once said, "Neko Case has the best voice that country music has ever seen", and after hearing her live, I might have to agree with him.

Her personality also shone through in her live performance. Before each song she told us what inspired the song, or what the song was about. Usually they were very interesting... and sometimes a bit strange too. For one song, she told us that it was about her first boyfriend that she ever had... and he was invisible. Seeing her live and hearing what she thought that the song was about, really added to the experience, and you could enjoy the music more.



Neko Case singing on stage. As I said, her voice was amazing, possibly one of the best voices in country music...



Neko Case and band performing on stage. I saw her on a side stage earlier, where it was just her and one of her guitar players, and I must say that I enjoyed her music much better with the whole band.



OK, first of all, I am very proud to have taken this photo. Here's what I think is an excellent photo of Neko Case singing and playing guitar, while Neko Case's drum player plays drums in the background.

I think this is going to be my last post of the night. But tune in tomorrow for highlights from my interview with 13 year guitarist Quinn Bachand. I will also be posting highlights from Saturday workshops and one or two posts about the main stage performances.

So tune in tomorrow if you weren't able to make it to the folk fest, but if you are at the folk fest, I'll see you on the hill!

Good night!

Friday Afternoon Workshops (Joel Plaskett, Kathleen Edwards, Neko Case...)

The workshops at the folk fest started today. For those of you who don't know, a workshop is a concert at a smaller stage that usually has 2 - 4 different artists performing at them. It's great to learn and hear about new music, and hear everyone performing together, to create a musical "fusion".

The first workshop I went to today, was with Joel Plaskett, Alex Cuba, Chloe Albert, and David Francey with Dave Swarbrick. I mainly came to this workshop to see Joel Plaskett, but also became to know and enjoy Alex Cuba and Chloe Albert. This workshop was really great in hearing all the artists performing together. At some points during the performance, you could hardly tell who was part of what band!




Joel Plaskett and his father Bill Plaskett. They played lots of songs from Joel Plaskett's newest album 3



The whole stage with Joel and Bill Plaskett, Alex Cuba and band, Chloe Albert and David Francey with Dave Swarbrick and band.

The second workshop, which was right after and at the same stage as the first, had Kathleen Edwards, Neko Case and Chuck Brodsky. I really enjoyed both Neko Case and Kathleen Edwards at this workshop. What was different about this one from the first, though, was that they all played their songs separately, there was no collaborating or "jamming", which was really great too, because we really got to know each artist.



Kathleen Edwards, who played some great tunes including a "child friendly" version of her song the Cheapest Key that she had to write for CBC Kids.


Neko Case with Paul Rigby (I think...). They played some great, soft, country songs that I quite enjoyed.

I also wanted to let everyone know that I did get an interview with Joel Plaskett. The interview will be on Sunday at 1:30 PM, so stay tuned that day for some highlights of the interview.

For those of you who weren't able to make it to the folk fest, stay tuned for more live updates from the festival. And for those who are at the folk fest, I'll see you on the hill!

Thursday Kicks Off What Should be a Great 30th Edmonton Folk Festival

Last night was the first "real" (yes, i know, it was also on Wednesday) day of the 2009 Edmonton Folk Music Festival. Four performers shone last night, including Breabach, Kathleen Edwards, Steve Earle and Boz Scaggs.

Breabach from Scotland kicked off the night with some traditional Scottish folk music. With double bagpipes a fiddle and a guitar, this band really filled up the stage, and the whole festival grounds with their fast rhythms and energy.

Coming from Ontario, Kathleen Edwards was up next. She put on a great show, with a mix of country, rock, and folk. Right from her first tune that she played, you could tell that the crowd was really into it. I think that possibly Kathleen Edwards could have been one of the performers at this years festival that people hadn't really heard of before, but now she might be one of their favourites. She played some great songs from her latest album Asking for Flowers such as The Cheapest Key, I Make the Dough, You Get the Glory, and title track, Asking for Flowers.

Steve Earle from the US took the stage next. In his music you can really tell that he writes from experience. He's a political activist and prison survivor and that really shows in his lyrics. Though his music was technically "country" it seemed like the kind of country that I could deal with and actually like. Earle was all alone on the stage, but his music was very powerful and you could hear it all through the hill.

Another American, Boz Scaggs was up next. And surprisingly, he felt like one of my favourites of the night. His songs were very 70s and kinda cheesy as my mom said, but even she had to admit that he put on a great show. His songs were a bit jazzy and seemed very traditional rock and roll... with a bit of folk mixed in I guess. We had to leave about 10 minutes before the end of his show, and even as we were walking to his car, we could hear his one last, long drawn out encore.

I put some pictures of the performers last night, but here are some pictures of the folk fest in general.



Folk fest goers watching the stage.



The hill full of people.



The full of people at night, lots of people had their candles out already. I was hard to get a good shot of this, as you can see...

Now I gotta go to a traditional Friday morning High Level Diner breakfast, but stay tuned for more updates later, and if you're going to the folk fest today, I'll see you on the hill!