Vancouver Adapted Music Society's 25th Anniversary Concert, Nov. 30, 2013

Vancouver, one of the country's centres for research on spinal cord injuries, had two celebrations this November.  ICORD celebrated its 5th anniversary at the Blusson Centre, and VAMS (the Vancouver Adapted Music Society) held a concert in honour of its 25th anniversary.

VAMS was established so that musicians with spinal cord injuries could relearn/learn musical skills.  The "adapted" aspect of the project involves the clever ways musicians and technicians make it possible for disabled people to perform music once again.  The therapeutic value surely must be great--even I find weekly choir rehearsals to be fantastic therapy.  Professionals willingly donate time and talent to working with their friends, sometimes for years.

The concert was held in the Fei & Milton Wong Theatre at SFU (Simon Fraser University) in their Woodward location downtown.  There were ten sets, each staring different performers and being prefaced by a brief video introducing the musicians.  (I should confess that this was my very first rock concert.  The volume of sound was about right when I removed my hearing aids.)

I believe VAMS started with the ensemble Spinal Chord, a quartet of musicians, two of whom have had to use wheelchairs after suffering serious spinal cord injuries (often during a sporting accident).  The gentleman on the left is Sam Sullivan, former Mayor of the City of Vancouver.   I believe a skying accident partially paralyzed him in his late teens.  His pre-injury interests in music were continued post-injury, eventually leading to the formation of VAMS.  His Spinal Chord ensemble disbanded when he entered politics, but they held a reunion to perform once again, after some 25 years, at this celebratory concert.

In the next photo, Richard Quan is seen playing electric guitar.  He had been a virtuoso teenage guitar player, but when he became disabled, he had to figure out how to play it all over again.  He has managed to overcome limited finger control and the impossibility of holding the instrument in the customary fashion.  His ear is uncanny.

The recording vocalist, Joe Coughlin sings classic jazz just wonderfully.  He was accompanied by four pros.  My favourite was the bass player.

The programme brochure said that Gerry "Burner" Burns is also competitive in the world of disabled sailing.  When he came out on stage, he somehow managed to do a 'wheely', roaring out on his motorized wheelchair and then going on just two large wheels.  Great entrance--and I was too stunned to shoot it!

Their song had the refrain, "That's what she said!"  I loved the way the keyboardist joined in with his whole heart.  By the way, his sweater looks like a Cowachin, which is one of the warmest sweaters available in Canada, made by the Cowichan people on the SE part of Vancouver Island.  These First Nations artists combined their ancestral Salish ways of spinning and weaving with what they learned from European settlers.

Rolf Kempf, guitarist-vocalist-harmonica player, has to walk most gingerly as he negotiates with two arm crutches.  He is such a talented musician.

Some rap music was included, with words flying by faster than my hearing aids can comprehend (let alone my brain).  I believe this is Greg "Spokes" Labine with his lyrics writer (standing), Kyprios.

Being a fan of choral singing, I enjoyed hearing this little choir practice in the afternoon and then perform in the concert with backup instrumentalists and vocalists.

Finally, the Grand Finale, "Hello, Hurray" with everybody joining in while Rolf Kempf led the vocals.

You can see about 130 photos of this event on my flickr site:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/evankreider/sets/72157638300532796/

Seattle's Green Lake Park, mid November

We visited Seattle's lovely Green Lake Park November 17th.  The sun was casting long harsh shadows, but people were out and about, usually well-prepared for the stiff breeze that blew across the lake.  People were jogging, walking briskly, sitting in the sunshine, carrying coffee (it's Seattle, after all), and of course checking smart phones for messages.  Some people were strolling together, as in the first photo, but more were enjoying quiet time by themselves.

Strasbourg, people on the street

People can be endlessly fascinating.  Introvert that I am, I would rather observe people from a distance than be engaged in conversation  with them.  Photography enables this, especially when I struggle with my telephoto lens.  Unfortunately the large lens attracts attention, so there is tension between my observing on the sly and my being seen as intruding into their lives.  We get along somehow.

The first shot was taken from our window in Ibis, one of the hotels which faces the train station.  On the patio below, men were finishing coffee.

This chap decided to check his email while sitting on the paving stones in front of the hotel.

As I stood near Ibis, looking toward the sun, I noticed this conversation under sunlit leaves offering a quiet moment in an otherwise busy city.

One of the streets leading away from the train station was being repaired, but its cafés and shops were still open.  This man was counting his change, possibly in the hope that he could get another beer.  The matron seemed quite content as she surveyed the scene. I wondered whether she was Eastern European.

This lady is on a tram, with the late afternoon sun warming her conversation at the end of a work day as she heads back to the train station.

I did not see many beggars in Strasbourg, but this one was reasonably fashionably dressed.  The tall stand (back left) is where you purchase tickets for street parking.

Doubie (weed) in hand, she created a work of art, using catchup.  While she was posing for her friends, I brazenly took a photo, and they enjoyed my amused interest.  The wine glass with a green stem is ever so Alsatian.

I came across a book market one late afternoon.  They were prepared for rain, but none came.  I wanted to buy lots of books, but knew that we were surely at our weight limit for flying home (we were over, but a kind agent waived us through).

Yes, they look just like potatoes, but they are confectionery.  This was a very classy establishment.

Even though many streets are a bit cramped, bicycles have ample room.  This quiet means of transportation seems so civilized in a crowded city.

As evening descends on the plaza facing the cathedral's facade, people sit outside, enjoying one of October's final warm dry weeks.  Most people are enjoying a beer or coffee, but the tourists are already starting supper (tourists eat much earlier than do the locals).

The timbered structures attract my attention each and every time.  I find their lines so satisfying, the structural thrusts so convincing, even though I know there has to be more to it.  The old-style roofs are quite steep, even over the dormers.

There was a flea market one day we were visiting, rather upscale.  Business was obviously slow rug-wise.

This woman is an actress, not a typical resident.  They were shooting something (commercial? scene?) I watched several retakes, each lasting but a few seconds.

Hence the great shirts and bow ties!  ("Thou shalt not covet they neighbour's shirts and bow ties.")

I looked at the art work and artifacts, but at my age one is supposed to be downsizing.

Even if I don't eat at most establishments, I like to pursue their offerings and glance at their patrons.

A busy café offering people a place to sit and relax late in the afternoon on an overcast day.

When people were walking home, the low sun cast interesting shadows and made hair glisten.

These young people are in front of, and oblivious to, the cathedral.

 Janice asked me to take the next two photos for her sisters Judy and Betty.  Beautiful pin cushions!

I came across an art class just as it was leaving one of the river banks, drawing pads in hand or in satchels.  I would guess they were lycée (high school) students, but don't know. I followed them in the streets.  They were so engrossed in conversation, or lost in thought, that I was invisible to them.

Smoke break on a quiet day.

Inter-generational conversations are not as common as one might think.  The older of the two is seated on his bicycle, pausing to greet someone he obviously knows.

These students were in front of the cathedral, waiting for the next part of their tour.

This lady, for some unknown reason, was demonstrating how to use a hoola hoop.  Equally inexplicably, we were photographing her.

I watched these young lads watching something else down the river, but never found out what was so fascinating.

The young lady is walking through a short tunnel under an elevated road which crosses the river at a height allowing smaller boats to continue unimpeded.

The smart phone is far more interesting--and urgent--than the river which has been there all your life.