There is a physics adage someone told me once, the science of which I haven’t checked, that illustrates the complexity and diffusion of matter. Say you fill a jar with water from the sink, colour every water molecule in it so you can see them, and dump the water down the sink. If you then make your way to the sea, where that water would eventually end up, and dipped your jar in, there would be a few of those coloured water molecules floating around in it.
I believe this is unlikely, but I choose to accept this “theory” as metaphorical, about how we also disperse and spread out after being together in one place, and you can find a few of us coloured molecules anywhere you look, no matter how vast the population and geography we’ve dispersed into.
For instance, it was in the summer of 1983, when David Bowie was at the absolute top of the Rock music heap, and on a world-wide tour to support his hit record “Let’s Dance.” He was playing Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton in August. Opening acts were the San Francisco band The Tubes, and Peter Gabriel, former lead singer of Genesis.
This concert ended up being the largest in Western Canada up to that time, with more than 60,000 in attendance. I went there (from Saskatoon), along with people from all over the prairie provinces (Bowie also played Vancouver two days later, and Winnipeg in September).
In subsequent years, wherever I went, over and over again I seemed to be running into folks who were there. When I moved to Cranbrook, I was surprised at the number of people now living here — including some of my colleagues — who told how they’d hitch-hiked there, or caught the bus from their Edmonton homes, or drove down from places like Grand Prairie, to attend the gotta-be-there concert of the early 1980s.
It was the ‘80s, after all, so there wasn’t the socio-historical heft of something like Woodstock. But Bowie’s “Serious Moonlight” tour was certainly a landmark musical event for those of us whose life soundtrack was the music of the ‘70s and ‘80s.
Like that jar full of water molecules, there were enough of us there that we spread out of Commonwealth Stadium to colour the sea. Perhaps achieving equilibrium.
I mention this 1983 concert because of the three acts that day, I was most taken with Peter Gabriel, and have been a huge fan ever since. And I just happened to score tickets to his Vancouver concert in October. Hope to see you all there.
If you were among those at the David Bowie-Peter Gabriel-Tubes concert in Edmonton in 1983, send me an email - barry.coulter@cranbrooktownsman.com
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I was at the music store in downtown Cranbrook where I spend a lot of my time, and money.
“I can’t believe you’re raising the price of guitar picks,” I said to the man behind the counter, who sells me my picks and other things. “That’s thrown the whole local economy out of wack!”
“We’ve been selling our picks at 1960s prices,” he said. “We can’t continue to lose money just to please you. And they’re only going up a few cents, ya cheapskate!”
It’s true. For decades, the music store has been selling picks for 50 cents, and if you buy 10 they throw in an extra two for free. And I buy a lot of guitar picks — they’re always falling out of my pockets, like a trail of bread crumbs through the enchanted forest.
But now, the price of guitar picks is going up — the last consumer product to do so.
“You know how much the price of carrots is?” I said. “Do you know how many picks it would take to equal the weight of a single carrot? Carrots have gone way up in price. Do the math!”
“Name me one person who ever lost money selling carrots,” he said. “And besides, your comparison is unsound. It’s apples and oranges, so to speak.”
“You know how much the price of oranges is these days?” I said. “Do you know how many guitar picks it would take to equal the weight of one orange? Do the math.”
“In a pinch,” he said, “you could always grow your own carrots, or oranges. If you refuse to pay a few lousy cents extra for a guitar pick, you could always whittle your own.”
“I need a lot of guitar picks, Man!” I said.
“You could always use dimes, or plastic bread tags, like you did when you were a kid.”
“I still use bread tags,” I said, “‘cause I’m always losing my picks.”
“The price has gone up,” he said.
“I’ll take a dozen,” I said. “That should last me the week.”
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Cranbrook actor Martin Lindquist, currently living and plying his trade in Toronto, is set to appear on the next episode of the long-running and immensely popular CBC series “Murdoch Mysteries,” Monday, March 20, according to inside sources. The episode is called “Murder in the Key of F Major.”
Lindquist has appeared in numerous films and TV series such as “Rogue,” “Bizarre Murders,” and “Suits” (featuring Meghan Markle, doncha know). He had a part in the TV movie “9/11: Cleared For Chaos,” which is ironic to a degree, because Lindquist arrived in New York City to go to theatre school on September 11, 2001. He subsequently related his experiences to the Townsman of making his way into town during that fateful day.
Lindquist last took to the Cranbrook stage in 2003, appearing as Judas Iscariot in the MBSS community production of “Jesus Christ Superstar” (also featuring Patrick Gilmour and Candice Fiorentino).
Murdoch Mysteries has been on the air since 2008, and runs in several countries, including the U.S., U.K., Australia, Greece and France. Set in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the show follows the adventures of Detective William Murdoch of the Toronto Constabulary, who solves many of his cases using methods of detection that were unusual at the time.
So switch your dials to CBC at 9 p.m. MT, and check out Martin Lindquist on Murdoch Mysteries.
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There have been some excellent acts at the Key City Theatre lately. Ballet Kelowna took to the stage at the Key City Theatre Saturday evening, March 11, with “taqeš and Other Works,”an electrifying program of contemporary Canadian dance, including taqeš, created by Ballet Kelowna’s artist-in-residence Cameron Fraser-Monroe, with music by composer and singer Jeremy Dutcher; Guillaume Côté’s riveting Bolero; and “Split House Geometric,” choreographed by John Alleyne. After the performance, the Corps de Ballet took take questions from the audience and told all. Ahead of Ballet Kelowna were dancers from Aspire Dance Academy and Kootenay Dance Academy, with three pieces: “Sticks and Stones” (Aspire, with Kayleigh Waugh, Belle Keil, Eliana Schutz, August Kennedy, Lauren Jensen, Kate Bowers, Eliza Schutz, and Marlee Wallace), “Tiny Hands” (Kootenay Dance Academy, with Shelby Atwood, Sophie Babuin, Theo McAra, Denay Portman), and “Howling” (KDA, with solo dancer Maddie MacArthur).