Relay For Life - please consider sponsoring me?

My mom died of cancer in 1989; it's strange when I think that this happened when she was only seven years older than I am now. I've thought of her so many times since then, imagined so many conversations we would have had. I remember feeling so helpless, watching her die, frustrated that there was nothing I could do. Since then, I've seen other loved ones taken by cancer (like my Aunt Agnes and my grandmother) as well as those of friends and family.

This year, I've signed up for Relay For Life, an event run by The Canadian Cancer Society, intended to be a celebration of survival and a tribute to the lives of loved ones who have been touched by cancer. My cousin Daniel is organizing our team (Team Hope), and we'll be take turns running and walking for 12 hours in an overnight non-competitive relay on Friday, June 22nd, rain or shine.





My music group, Urban Tapestry, performed at Relay For Life in 2002, and we found the event emotionally moving as well as inspiring. Here's a photo that my friend Reid took at the event:



I'd be grateful if you'd consider sponsoring me. ANY donation amount, no matter how small, would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Here's more info about Relay For Life:





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Peanut Butter and Strawberry Jam (and Worms)

I've uploaded the sound files AND lyrics to "Hey, J.K.", "Peanut Butter and Strawberry Jam", and "Walter" to the FilkArchive. The FilkArchive is a collection of filk recordings, generously maintained by Martin Gordon-Kerr. You need to register to download songs, but it's free! Anyway, here are direct song links, if you're interested:

Peanut Butter and Strawberry Jam (and Worms): children's song, by me (I wrote it in the shower -- songwriter's cliché, I know, but true). We debuted this at a children's concert at FilKONtario earlier this year. To those with kids or who perform kids' concerts: The main melody is short and easy, and the arrangement highly adaptable to different numbers of vocalists and types of sandwiches. Anyway, this recording was done VERY informally, basically with a microphone stuck in front of us in my living room, and in one take -- we only had a few minutes left in the practice, and we wanted to get at least a scratch version for our own archives. It sort of degenerated into a gigglefit in the middle but since this is fairly typical of an Urban Tapestry practice, this is the version I'm going to keep. :-) We'll probably record another version for our children's CD, though.

Walter: By me, inspired by Urban Tapestry's friend, Walter Korynkiewicz. It was also a revenge song, a payback for certain practical jokes that Walter masterminded in Atlanta earlier this year. Again, the recording was done informally, with one microphone between the three of us since we just wanted to get a version recorded for our own archives. We debuted this at a children's concert at FilKONtario earlier this year.

Hey, J.K.!: Lyrics by Urban Tapestry, music by me. Our musical plea to J.K. Rowling about the last book in the Harry Potter series, resulting from an argument we had at one of our practices. No spoilers, just lots of rampant speculation. I'm mailing a copy of this to J.K. Rowling today. :-) We debuted this in our concert at GAfilk in Atlanta earlier this year; it will probably be the ONLY time we perform "Hey J.K.!" in concert since the song has a limited shelf life.






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Blood Ties coming to Canada

I recently posted an Inkygirl interview with Tanya Huff, the author of the novel series upon which the tv show Blood Ties is based. In my comments section, children's author Arthur Slade posted that one of the screenwriters for the series has his own blog, Dead Things ON Sticks.

Intriguing blog title, I have to say, plus I like the tagline quote: "One of the few good things about modern times: If you die horribly on television, you will not have died in vain. You will have entertained us." -- KURT VONNEGUT



Anyway, according to this post by screenwriter Denis McGrath, Blood Ties now has official air dates in Canada:

Citytv Toronto and Winnipeg - Mon @ 8PM, starts August 13

Citytv Calgary and Edmonton - Thurs @ 8PM, starts August 16

Citytv Vancouver - Sundays @ 8PM, starts August 19



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The battle continues....

Our friends Trish and Walter were over this afternoon, and while describing my recent run-in with the local squirrels, Jeff found yet another abused seedling that the squirrels had dug up.

ARGH. The chipotle pepper did seem to be working until there was a thunderstorm and the rain washed the pepper away.

The battle in the garden continues...






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Self-referential signs

Above: Self-referential signage. Photo by Jeff.



I'm delighted to report that it looks like I may be writing for BlogTO. I'll be posting mainly in their Food & Drink and Books & Lit sections, occasionally in others.

For those not familiar with the site, BlogTO focuses on Toronto culture including the arts, music, film, fashion and food, supported by a collective of more than 20 contributors.



For Tanya Huff fans, my friend Walter has pointed out that Tanya will be at Bakka-Phoenix (697 Queen St. W, Toronto) today to promote her newly released hardcover, "The Heart of Valor", starting at 3 pm. Jeff and I are hoping to go, but we also have a family commitment later today which may conflict. In case you missed it, I recently interviewed Tanya for Inkygirl.

Links O' The Day

Artlogs.org: If you have a blog where you post art of any kind (not just drawings, but also music, comics, photos, videos, crafts, etc.), you can register your blog for free. For those who appreciate any of the above-mentioned activities, this site is a great place to find artsy blogs.

Google Maps Street View: I *so* hope they do this for Toronto! If you're outside of North America, here's how you can access this view.




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