Undersea Gardens Demolition, 2014

Shot on June 9, 2014 along Harbour Road opposite Point Hope Shipyard.

Victoria Steam Expo II, Craigdarroch Castle, Sep 24-25, 2011

The second Victoria Steam Expo will be held in and around Craigdarroch Castle on September 24 and 25, 2011. A ticket for the two-day extravaganza will set you back $40. Featured guest are San Francisco's "glam-noir siren" Jill Tracy and Vancouver Island steampunk artistic genius Kyle Miller, whose business is Thin Gypsy Thief Studios.

Uploaded "Shades of Asperion" excerpt to SoundCloud

You have some technological angst and consider yourself a barbarian among the automated? Have a listen to the excerpt from my "Shades of Asperion" on SoundCloud. I only discovered after I'd finished the piece that there's a hospice in the state of Georgia named Asperion, along with a hotel in England, both of which might be haunted by their own shades. Given the coincidental occurrence of the second Victoria Steam Expo, I might have been channeling some of my steampunk's muse into this piece.

Extreme Symphony Sports, only in Victoria, BC

In what's being called a first, brave members of the Victoria Symphony Orchestra will take part in the first Victoria Extreme Symphony Sports event following the mountain bike JumpShip event on a barge in the Inner Harbour on June 10, 11 and 12, 2011. This is all in anticipation of a new program as part of Victoria Symphony Splash, details as yet to be released by organizers.

Ok, I made all that up, but to give you an idea of the possibilities I've concocted this artwork from a couple of items from the Microsoft Office clip art gallery.

Sir Elton John and me

Back when Sir Elton John was in Victoria I was cycling around downtown and went past the Parkside Victoria Resort and Spa on Humboldt Street. I noticed a couple of TV cameras and some other people standing around outside by the back entrance. There was also a black SUV with tinted windows parked there. Ah ha, said I, that's where Sir Elton is staying. I stopped by my former place of work and mentioned that I knew where Sir Elton was staying, at the Parkside Victoria on Humboldt. I don't think anyone believed me.

I was happy therefore to read in the Victoria Times-Colonist on February 26 or 11 days after his second concert performance here that he had indeed been staying there. The Parkside Victoria's blog has more stories about his stay including a link to a CHEK TV News story.

SwarmJam opens in Victoria

The Victoria daily newspaper the Times-Colonist through its parent company Postmedia is helping sponsor SwarmJam, an group or collective online buying/shopping service that launched for Victoria residents on December 1, 2010. Having participated in a group online buy in the past through an individual vendor, I can attest to the deep discounts are possible. Of course you have to be into online shopping and pay attention to e-mail notifications in order to make the most of the daily shopping opportunities that are presented.

And no, I haven't been paid to endorse this service.

First big snowfall of the season for Victoria

The meteorologists were right about the effect of El Nina on Victoria's weather for the coming winter. The first hard snowfall at sea level started coming down on the morning of November 22, 2010. The Canadian government weather office Web site is calling this "flurries", but it looks like a solid, socked-in snowdown to me.

"Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow" TV movie shoot in Estevan Village, evening of November 1, 2010

There was a TV movie shoot taking place on the evening of November 1, 2010 in Estevan Village, a neighborhood shopping district in the municipality of Oak Bay. The shoot was entirely confined to the barbershop. It looked to be a professional effort as there were several big trucks parked on Musgrave Avenue. There were some lights set up so the barbershop appeared as it would in daylight. Walking on the other side of the street I was practically blinded due to the angle of one set of lights.

According to a newspaper article on November 9, the shoot was for a TV movie starring Richard ("The Waltons") Thomas and titled "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow" for airing on the Hallmark Channel in 2011.

Friends of the BC Archives talk on early BC photographers from Great Britain

Yesterday (October 17, 2010) I gave a talk to the Friends of the BC Archives called "Wild and Picturesque: The British Contribution to Early British Columbia Photography." Much of my time over the past couple of months has been devoted to that project. Thanks in part to a wonderful editorial by Times-Colonist journalist and BC historical research booster Dave Obee on October 15, 2010, Old Photographs Help Us Explore B.C.'s Past, the Newcombe Conference Hall in the Royal BC Museum was filled to capacity. I knew many people in the audience from my years working on the reference desk at the BC Archives, so that made it easier and a more pleasant experience to share some of research into the lives of BC's 19th century photographers from the British isles. If you were there, thank you very much for turning out on a beautiful fall day!

Uploaded "Morning on Mount Baker" excerpt to the Internet Archive

Inspired by a morning view of Mount Baker in Washington State from Willows Beach in Oak Bay, BC, I laid down a MIDI track, ran it through some software synthesizers and a drum machine, and came up with "Morning on Mount Baker," what I hope is a soothing listen in the ambient groove.

"Through Her Lens" Knowledge Network short on Hannah Maynard

I was hired to do some research and writing about 19th century Victoria portrait photographer Hannah (Mrs. Richard) Maynard for a video short, one of a series called "The Edge of the World," that's available for free online viewing on the Knowledge Network. The title of the short is "Through Her Lens". I'm credited at the end of the video.

For a treatment of Hannah Maynard within the developing cultural community of arts Victoria, see Karen Finlay's exhibition catalogue "A Woman's Place" (2004).

Uploaded excerpt from The Paint Machine Mix to the Internet Archive

While at a local Home Hardware store, I recorded with permission the sound of their paint mixing machine and incorporated it in a highly altered state into this 22 second excerpt from my Paint Machine Mix now available for your listening pleasure at the Internet Archive.

Uploaded my The Sprinkler Mix sample to the Internet Archive

I worked on a new piece of music I call The Sprinkler Mix. It features two field recordings of lawn sprinklers accompanied by some melancholy strings (violins and the like). You'll find a 1 minute, 40 second sample of The Sprinkler Mix on the Internet Archive. I hope you enjoy it.

Summer at last

Victoria is finally getting the heat wave that's affecting the northeastern North America. On the news last night a weather broadcaster in the United States was complaining about the lack of cold air (Arctic air inflow) from Canada. In winter of course they also complain about the Arctic air inflow from Canada and we get blamed for those blizzard conditions that blanket the U.S. Northeast.

Here's a random photo taken on June 12, 2010 of red poppies that I digitally altered for a colored foil look.

You too can get Behind the Scenes at the Royal BC Museum

You too can enjoy the privileges and pleasures of going Behind the Scenes at the Royal BC Museum. Part 1, on the Natural History collections, opened this morning, a great ceremony capped off by young Master Jack Campbell who looks to be destined for childhood stardom on screen or stage perhaps. The exhibit is an impressive testament to the natural history sciences within BC and all the people who have managed those treasures since 1886. Congratulations RBCM!

Warriors in the City public art fundraising campaign for 2011-2012, how about it BC Lions Society?

Update of June 24, 2010:

A highly reliable source in the Royal BC Museum confirmed for me today that the BC Lions Society has taken up this suggestion, which was also made by a RBCM staffer, and that the Warriors in the City will be standing guard in Victoria probably some time in 2011 to coincide with the exhibit.

Original post of January 29, 2010:

The Royal BC Museum is one of the four Canadian venues in the exhibit The Warrior Emperor and China's Terracotta Army that begins at the Royal Ontario Museum on June 26, 2010. Visitors to the Victoria Bay Centre, a downtown shopping center, may recall the shopping mall version of these clay pieces. This touring exhibit, however, is the real deal courtesy of the Chinese government. The RBCM will host the army of clay in late 2011-early 2012.

As part of that exhibition I'd like to encourage the BC Lions Society for Children with Disabilities, who are currently sponsoring the Eagles in the City fundraising campaign, to consider the possibility of replicating either a warrior or perhaps a horse for a Warriors in the City fundraiser. Previous public art exhibits of this nature by the BC Lions Society included Orcas In The City and Spirit Bears in the City (the URL http://www.spiritbearsinthecity.com/ gave a MySQL database error when I tried it on January 28, 2010). The RBCM had sponsored the Eternal Egypt Orca which was decorated by staff member and artist Adrienne Aikens.

CHEK TV interview, fleeting 5 seconds of fame about VIH heli lift of RBCM new HVAC equipment

I was down around the Royal BC Museum early this morning to watch and photograph the VIH helicopter lifting the museum's new HVAC equipment on to the roof of the exhibits building. A CHEK TV cameraman approached me for an interview. I'd talked to him earlier and he asked who I was, so I guess he thought I'd make an interesting talking head. It was all of 5 seconds or so that aired, but I was misidentified as another fellow he interviewed who appeared before I did.

The story appeared on the CHEK TV News at 5 pm on May 16, 2010. The story is currently online under the title "Museum Lift". Due to the way WordPress.com handles security, I'm unable to embed the video into this post.

Yes, TV news anchor Tony Parsons shops like a man for his own groceries

While out grocery shopping today I ran into Tony Parsons (Wikipedia entry), former Globa lBC TV Newshour anchor who retired from there and now lives in Victoria and performs the 10 pm news for CHEK TV. Said hello and asked how he was enjoying life on the Island. He said it was great, but groused about the weather which he hoped would perk up soon. Couldn't agree more. He is much shorter in person than he appears on TV, but I think he knows that. I've also run into Global BC Legislative reporter Keith Baldrey at the same location.

It was a dark and glowing day

Here's a photo I added a little artistic effect to. It was taken on a bike ride on March 3, 2010 at the corner of Lansdowne and Henderson looking south towards the Olympic Mountains.

Digging for answers: take the RBCM hole poll

[polldaddy poll=2716432]