Montreal man back home after ordeal in Indian prison
The Montreal businessman who became a cause c l bre as he suffered through 10 months of deplorable conditions in an Indian prison returned to Canadian soil on Friday afternoon.
In The Key Of Fire
Today on In The Key Of Charles Gregory lights a fire, musically speaking, exploring music connected in some way to fire. Hmm, Stravinsky’s Firebird, I bet. Arcade Fire? Cash with Ring Of Fire? I’m not sure, since the complete playlist isn’t yet available. (Don’t worry, it will be!) Though you know that it would be untrue if I claimed no knowledge at all — and yes, I do know he’s playing some Stravinsky and Arcade Fire, so I’m making an educated guess on the Stravinsky front. (Where there’s smoke, after all.) Anyway, there sure is no shortage of fire related songs, band names and puns to spark ideas and music for a fire programme from Gregory. UPDATE: The playlist is up now, right here.
A Glorious Racket — Bagpipe Documentary
In the shortlist of instruments which tend to be, how shall I put it, the stuff of good humoured jesting, the bagpipe rates high. There are even websites devoted to poking fun at the poor pipes. We can only pity people who adopt this attitude, as pipe music can be an absolutely beautiful thing, as well as a rather intense thing. And as Karl Turner points out in his documentary airing this week on Inside The Music, there have been some rather famous players of the pipes — contrary to popular belief, Nero didn t play the violin, he played the bagpipes. (Somehow, “he piped while Rome burned” just doesn’t have the same ring though.) Anyway, Turner’s documentary, A Glorious Racket, explores the revered and reviled instrument which is now more than five thousand years old. He looks at the rise, the fall, and the revival of the instrument, and interviews include Paddy Moloney, the leader of The Chieftains.
New Vermont judge takes over case of Montrealer charged with killing son
A new judge has been appointed to preside over the Vermont trial of Montrealer Louise Desnoyers, who is accused of murdering her son in August 2006.
Cruelty bill inadequate: animal-rights protesters
A federal bill proposing stiffer penalties for animal cruelty doesn’t go far enough, protesters in Vancouver and six other Canadian cities said Sunday.
Questions remain after deaths of seal hunters
The death of four sealers off the coast of Cape Breton continued to raise questions Sunday about events leading to the accident that took their lives.
Quebec hockey league pledges to help curb fighting
On the heels of a highly publicized brawl involving Patrick Roy’s son, the Quebec government is urging the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League to help draft rules aimed at curbing on-ice violence.
A Creative Spark
Some funny kind of coincidence, or is there a similar creative spark fueling some of R2’s producers and hosts this weekend? Tomorrow on In The Key Of Charles, (Sunday 10:00 a.m. on R2, 9:00 a.m./10 a.m. Atlantic on R1) Gregory Charles’ theme is fire-related; today on Tonic (6 p.m.) Tim features fire tunes, along with music from Andrew Glover, Dianne Schuur and Metalwood. And speaking of fire…yes, I know I’ve put this up before, but it’s SO great, and blogs being what they are, it’s easy to miss posts… so once again, here’s Leonard Cohen with Sonny Rollins doing whatever the tenor sax equivalent of shattering glasses is, on Cohen’s Who By Fire. Sonny Rollins, just incredible. By the way, if you want to see any of the videos that have been posted on the blog, please go to Radio2Tube.
Concerts On Demand Revamped
I suspect that some weekend blog readers do not read the weekday edition, so I wanted to re-post this update on the state of Concerts On Demand (COD). CBC Radio 2’s online and ever-growing concert library is now running its new and improved version, what mastermind Peter Cook calls “COD 2.0.” It slices, it dices! Or at least it makes it much easier to find concerts by using the keyword filter (searching by artist last name, group or event name). Plus, those of you into “social networking” can easily link to concerts from your Facebook, MySpace etc. accounts. (Those of you into anti-social networking, you’re on your own. Heh.) There are other nifty features too, and more to come. So go nuts! Or don’t, but do check the COD out. P.S. Yes, I know, you eagle-eyed ichthyologists, that’s not a Cod in that photo, it’s apparently a Yellowtail Snapper. (But why, you may ask, is that woman pretending to play French Horn with the fishes? The answer is this. Because she was at the Underwater Music Festival in the Florida Keys.)
