Postcard from the North Coast
The Capital Letters is on the road again. This time, it's a two-week sojourn into the British Columbia interior, but before I regale you with tales of wintry afternoon sleigh rides and harrowing Greyhound bus trips on slippery, desolate roads, a few notes about Ottawa.
It finally snowed. For real. And of course it did so on the precise morning I was trying to get somewhere by plane, which led to a whole host of delays and rushing airport scenes in order to make my necessary connections. My sources tell me the snow and cold weather remained, but the jury's still out on whether or not the canal will freeze.
Before I left Ottawa, I had two adventures to share. The first was a screening of Shut Up and Sing at the Bytowne. This is the doc that follows the Dixie Chicks before, during and after their unintentional run-in with the limits of free speech in George W. Bush's, post 9-11 America. To put you in the loop, lead singer Natalie Maines said she was "ashamed" Bush was from the state of Texas between songs at a 2003 show in London, England. What followed was a downward spiral for the Chicks - the country music establishment turned its back on them, radio stations refused to play their music, former fans protested outside their shows, and one man allegedly threatened Maines' life. Undeterred, the Chicks stood by each other (not to mention what Maines said) and eventually released another album (yes, the one with that "Not Ready To Make Nice" song).
The film was a fascinating and intimate portrait of the Dixie Chicks, if a little thin in terms of analysis. I guess I wanted someone to be taken to task on camera for what happened to them, and that didn't really happen. The closest was a clip from a U.S. Senate Committee hearing in which Arizona Senator John McCain blasts one network for blacklisting the Chicks by not playing their music. Go McCain!
Incidentally, I saw the film two days after Bush announced he was sending 20,000 more troops to Iraq, creating an interesting backdrop for a film in which many Americans interviewed on camera reiterated that the U.S. was winning the war and would be out of Iraq in no time. Oh, the lessons of time.
The next night was a far less political affair. It was the Rock Plaza Central show at Zaphod's. A good crowd turned out on a cold night to see the Toronto band, who put on a decent, but not exemplary, show. Still, it was worth it just to hear lead singer Chris Eaton explain that the band's most recent album, Are We Not Horses, is about steel horses who think they are real horses.
Now, Ottawa couldn't seem much farther away as I look out on the Prince Rupert harbour from the window of my hotel room. Perhaps that's part of Prince Rupert's scrubby, oceanside charm. I was in Smithers last week and, as always, was captivated by the reliability of its beauty. Some friends and I spent an afternoon on a gorgeous horse-drawn sleighride over the rolling hills east of town before taking in a concert at The Old Church Hall that night.
Yael Wand, a young singer-songwriter who moved to Smithers recently from Wells, BC, was magnificent, as always. And she's heading out on a cross-Canada tour soon and plans to stop in Ottawa, so that will be a fine chance to bring two of my favourite places together.
From Smithers, I took a Greyhound bus west to the coast. It was a long and, at times, harrowing ride through snow and slush and darkness, but we made it. It's a clear day here on the coast, the rain at bay at least for now.
The Oscar-nominated film The Queen is showing at the theatre in Prince Rupert. Last night, I was all alone for the 9:10 pm screening. It was amazing to have the theatre all to myself. And what a film. Believe everything you've read or heard about Helen Mirren's performance, for she was incendiary as Queen Elizabeth II. Having said that, for me the real enjoyment came from the performances of the supporting cast: the portrayal of the Queen Mum as old, fat and bitchy and of Prince Philip as a blustering, homophobic jerk were my favourites. The film also sheds an interesting light on the early days of Tony Blair's government, and foreshadows just slightly on how even he too will eventually come to disappoint the British people.
And while we're on the subject of disappointing Prime Ministers... today is Stephen Harper's first anniversary. In his speech this morning at a rally in Ottawa, Harper quoted none other than Vancouver art and lit darling, Douglas Coupland. Oh, to be one of the birds Coupland lets into his kitchen this morning.
It finally snowed. For real. And of course it did so on the precise morning I was trying to get somewhere by plane, which led to a whole host of delays and rushing airport scenes in order to make my necessary connections. My sources tell me the snow and cold weather remained, but the jury's still out on whether or not the canal will freeze.
Before I left Ottawa, I had two adventures to share. The first was a screening of Shut Up and Sing at the Bytowne. This is the doc that follows the Dixie Chicks before, during and after their unintentional run-in with the limits of free speech in George W. Bush's, post 9-11 America. To put you in the loop, lead singer Natalie Maines said she was "ashamed" Bush was from the state of Texas between songs at a 2003 show in London, England. What followed was a downward spiral for the Chicks - the country music establishment turned its back on them, radio stations refused to play their music, former fans protested outside their shows, and one man allegedly threatened Maines' life. Undeterred, the Chicks stood by each other (not to mention what Maines said) and eventually released another album (yes, the one with that "Not Ready To Make Nice" song).
The film was a fascinating and intimate portrait of the Dixie Chicks, if a little thin in terms of analysis. I guess I wanted someone to be taken to task on camera for what happened to them, and that didn't really happen. The closest was a clip from a U.S. Senate Committee hearing in which Arizona Senator John McCain blasts one network for blacklisting the Chicks by not playing their music. Go McCain!
Incidentally, I saw the film two days after Bush announced he was sending 20,000 more troops to Iraq, creating an interesting backdrop for a film in which many Americans interviewed on camera reiterated that the U.S. was winning the war and would be out of Iraq in no time. Oh, the lessons of time.
The next night was a far less political affair. It was the Rock Plaza Central show at Zaphod's. A good crowd turned out on a cold night to see the Toronto band, who put on a decent, but not exemplary, show. Still, it was worth it just to hear lead singer Chris Eaton explain that the band's most recent album, Are We Not Horses, is about steel horses who think they are real horses.
Now, Ottawa couldn't seem much farther away as I look out on the Prince Rupert harbour from the window of my hotel room. Perhaps that's part of Prince Rupert's scrubby, oceanside charm. I was in Smithers last week and, as always, was captivated by the reliability of its beauty. Some friends and I spent an afternoon on a gorgeous horse-drawn sleighride over the rolling hills east of town before taking in a concert at The Old Church Hall that night.
Yael Wand, a young singer-songwriter who moved to Smithers recently from Wells, BC, was magnificent, as always. And she's heading out on a cross-Canada tour soon and plans to stop in Ottawa, so that will be a fine chance to bring two of my favourite places together.
From Smithers, I took a Greyhound bus west to the coast. It was a long and, at times, harrowing ride through snow and slush and darkness, but we made it. It's a clear day here on the coast, the rain at bay at least for now.
The Oscar-nominated film The Queen is showing at the theatre in Prince Rupert. Last night, I was all alone for the 9:10 pm screening. It was amazing to have the theatre all to myself. And what a film. Believe everything you've read or heard about Helen Mirren's performance, for she was incendiary as Queen Elizabeth II. Having said that, for me the real enjoyment came from the performances of the supporting cast: the portrayal of the Queen Mum as old, fat and bitchy and of Prince Philip as a blustering, homophobic jerk were my favourites. The film also sheds an interesting light on the early days of Tony Blair's government, and foreshadows just slightly on how even he too will eventually come to disappoint the British people.
And while we're on the subject of disappointing Prime Ministers... today is Stephen Harper's first anniversary. In his speech this morning at a rally in Ottawa, Harper quoted none other than Vancouver art and lit darling, Douglas Coupland. Oh, to be one of the birds Coupland lets into his kitchen this morning.
posted by Capital Letters at 1:04 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home