MADD - Map Attention Deficit Distorder

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have always been mysterious to me. I distinctly remember during my grade school day when these Baltic Beauties were a part of the Old Soviet Empire. Their names poetically rolled of my tongue while their capital cities appeared dark, mysterious and more fairytale then real places with real people. There was something about these three former Soviet satellites that has held my attention to this day. 

Then, in August of 1989 came the Baltic Way. Approximately two million people joined their hands to form a human chain spanning 690 kilometres (430 mi) across the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (Wikipedia) which lead the way for independence from the failing Soviet Union. Lithuania's parliament declared independence on March 11, 1990. Estonia and Latvia's parliaments soon followed. The Baltic states regained independence and were admitted to the United Nations on September 17, 1991. The Baltic History is dark and troubled. The occupation of the Baltic States during the 20th Century was unsettling and one can only imagine a struggling to create a life in such uncertain and perilous times.

 

When planning a trip I have MADD, Map attention deficit disorder. For Example I will start by looking at the Baltics, but that will also include Poland, and since I am so close my not Czekia and Slovakia. If I am in Prague it is easy enough to visit Dresden the of course Berlin. No problem, all within easy and logical travelling. HOWEVER, my heart is set on going to Afghanistan and in order to do that I will need to get my tourist visa which means an in person interview. The Taliban can refuse visas are acquired in Europe so that leaves me going to Dubai or Islamabad/Peshawar. Cool, I have my sights on Pakistan and the K2 Base Camp Trek. Now here is where I start to wobble.

Dubai is a major international hub so flights from europe are considerable less expansive so it makes sense for a bit of time in UAE. Now timing is everything and since my Afgan hour is in September and I am leaving in late March it would make sense that I could hit up Turkey along the way. Now as I traverse Eastern Turkey that leads me to Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Don't forget that Cyprus is an easy flight or ferry from the Turkish coast and climbing Mt. Olympus would be well worth the trip alone. Cyprus easily leads to Israel and Lebanon, which would make me get my "travel game face" on as those areas are a bit sketchy as I type these words. 

But fast forward over to Dubai and off I go to Afghanistan. From there I could fly to Islamabad and spend some time in Pakistan and with time permitted before the winter snows I have the option of the other "STANS" or get on a plane an get to Mongolia for the Fall Festival season. That will bring me into Asia and I can now regroup with the trip I had planned for the fall of 2024. Now I will find myself in S. Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, N. Vietnam, Laos and either Thailand or the Philippines for a long rest in a beach hut to regroup. Then were? You see where I am going with this. It am not about counting countries visited, although a nice number to accumulate it is not an obsession for me. Neither is Vlogging or trying to monitise my travel. I am not that interesting. 

Here is the rub. I am getting older and I am not sure how many "long trips" I have left in me. My days or staying in cheap dorms is well in the rear view mirror but I am not opposed to it when necessary. I am looking at you Dublin, although when an old guy sets up camp in a 10 bed dorm it completely crushes the sensibilities of anyone born after 1990. Couchsurfing is a nice random option but in the end the world has become expensive so dealing with it is the only option. So, if I can plow through a MADD trip, maybe a year to 18 months that will be it. The rucksack will not be put away, but I figure that my future trips will be shorter and more dedicated. I guess that is the evolution of travel.

So be it.  

The Nostalgia of Music

I recently finished the first draft of an original fiction novel. I was inspired by a TED Talk about motivation (as they are) and accomplishing goals. The speaker's quote was "I wrote a book, and it sucks," made a huge impression on me. He went on to talk about how finishing it was the task, not trying to make it the next great award winner. With that I signed up for a free course from Michigan State University and followed along. I completed my novel in 3.5 months. 

With that being said I now try to write daily which includes the edits and rewrites on my novel. My grey matter fired a couple of neutrons and reminded me that I have been messing about with this blog for quite a few years. So, while I continue with the research and planning for my upcoming trip I am going to use this blog as a forum and write about an what I think are interesting observations on the world around me. I will do my best to keep away from Politics or any other soul sucking noise that we are surrounded by. Mobile devices and Social media will not be off limits so let's just see where this journey takes us. Maybe you will enjoy it, maybe not, so, here goes..

The Nostalgia of Music

I recently attended a concert where David Wilcox was the opening act for Kim Mitchell, two very find Canadian Guitarists. For a bit of context, I first saw Kim Mitchell when he was with a band called Max Webster and they were the opening act for RUSH at a show at the old Maple Leaf Gardens on New Years Eve, 1978. Yes, I am that old. It was only a few years earlier that both bands were playing in local clubs such as Uncle Sam's in Niagara Falls, as well as doing the Univercity circuit. 

David Wilcox

Growing up, I was never a huge David Wilcox fan as my musical tastes had not developed the love for the soulful playing of blue's guitar. Years later Wilcox was a regular at the The Kee To Bala resort in Muskoka as well as The Dardanella Beach Bar (The Dard) in Wasaga Beach, Ontario, both a few hours north of Toronto. I was living and working as a bartender in Collingwood Ontario at the time, about 20 minutes from Wasaga beach and an hour from Bala. Interesting enough, Kim Mitchell had a chalet in Collingwood at the time and would frequent the bar I was working at, Jozo's at Blue Mountain. 

Mitchell, Wilcox and RUSH where integral parts of both my youth and the evolution of music appreciation. It is no secret that the music you listened to during your formative High School years fundamentally sticks with you forever as you expanded from youthful innocence into a budding confident adult.  I will never get the whole Elvis thing, but then again I am not a 1950s teenage girl and my great aunt was a rebellious Flapper, whose stories I still faintly remember. Every generation says that their music was the absolute best, which I will append that their music was the very best of the time, much like mine.

The concert I attended was at the OLG Theatre in Niagara Falls. An excellent 5000 seat venue with outstanding acoustics. The stage is flanked on both sides by huge LED screens that display the stage show but there are directed camera angles which is a nice feature but I find it can be a bit distracting. I get it, there are screens everywhere we go now and sensory overload is mandatory to keep societies goldfish attention span engaged.

As with the excited crowd, Wilcox and Mitchell are aging. Wilcox is 75, Mitchell is 72. The setlists were great, Wilcox's voice was crystal clear and his guitar playing was as expected, exceptional. The poor guy did not move around much and needed to be assisted in walking off the stage. You do you David. Mitchell was relax and cool. He told short stories and shared antidotes of his career and the band that he had assembled for this tour. His music, much like that of the Tragically Hip is synonymous with summertime at the beach or chilling around a snapping campfire, the flames dancing in harmony with the chord changes. All was good musically and nostalgically.

I have been to a few shows at this theatre and a very normal observation are patrons recording the show with their phones, but they are pointing their phones at the screens that hover above and to the side of the stage and not the stage itself. They are watching the show, through their phone pointed at a projection on a screen and not watching the real, live in 3D performance. 

You know as well as I do, that these videos do not live long. Sure they may be share a bit on social media or youtube but the lifespan is short. I can not believe anyone thinks, I want to rewatch that song I recorded of Mitchell two months ago. OK, maybe they share them with friends while having a pint or coffee, who watch for a few minutes, say "cool", them move along.

Secondly, way too many others that were  were taking photos of the real stage (that is a positive I guess) and then spend most of the time sending the photos via text or posting them on social media and getting engrossed with the feedback and texting about it. I guess we all need the endomorphic rush of validation.

These actions in no way affected me and my ability to enjoy myself. The grumpy old man in me just thinks that we have turned into a society that needs to tell people about the cool things we are doing, but not actually being present and enjoying the cool things we are doing. 

Kim Mitchell

The Nostalgia of Music is about what music moved us, and maybe still does. I do want to talk about when my musical era hit a seismic shift right before my very ears and thus started on it's journey to becoming the best music of my generation. 

The Orange and Black of Stamford Collegiate was home to Horny Hornet  (Try and have that mascot name today) The sounds of Springsteen, Neil Young, Zeppelin, The Stones, Bowie, Styx, Supertramp and long list of other established plus up and coming bands and artists circa mid 70s which crawled into the post high school 80s, filled our airwaves and we could not get to enough live shows.

Horney Hornet in all his micheavous glory

Q107, the ultimate rock station out of Toronto had a yearly New Years Day countdown, the top 107 songs of all time. Naturally, it would be skewed to the playlists and format of Q107 so there was never any Elvis, Chuck Berry, BB King or the laughable Disco that somehow was popular. Confidently we all lived with the fact that at the end of every high school dance, the final song was always going to be the same one that finished Number 1 on the Q countdown every year without fail, Stairway to Heaven, by Led Zeppelin. It was a forgone conclusion and gave us the simple element of consistency we required in our Teenage Wasteland years. (Yes, I know the song is Baba O'riley).

There was a complete musical shift that simple 1985 New Year's Day. The music of my youth was about to start slipping into history with the changing of times and musical tastes. Listening to the top 107 was a New Year's Day tradition. We would gather at someone's apartment and yes we had our own apartments when we were in our early 20s. Unlike today we could not get out of the house fast enough and NO we did not have the money to lead extravagant lifestyles that the youth of today require. There would be beer, bongs, cigarettes, pizza and games of euchre. We took great pleasure in arguing about bands, songs what the top 10 would be, or the top 5 or who had the best chance to be number 2, because the musical universe always comforted us with number 1. It was announced and a joint would be lit, the music would be turned up and we would sit quietly for 8 minutes and 2 seconds (I had to look that fact up) and we would get lost in our own personal Stairway to Heaven. 

On this day as the top 10 became the top 5, then 4 and 3. We would get quiet to see which person argued correctly who and what would be number 2 that day. Scruff Connors was replaced halfway through the countdown with The Iceman, Bob Segarini and as he started to take us to our inevitable destination, there seemed to be a sadness in his voice, an almost disbelief as he started his quipe "now number 2 on the Q107 top 107 songs of 1984", remember this is New Year's Day 1985.

We all sensed it, something was wrong and as we looked at each other through glazed and glossy eyes the tell tale and most recognized chords to an opening of a song drifted with meloncollie through the stereo. "What is happening?"

Now, I don't actually remember what was said, some 40 years go by a group of young 20 something very stoned guys and girls, but I will say it was a mixture of disbelief, anger and confusion while Q107 and the Iceman took the brunt of all. Robert Plant's voice filled our very own echo chamber with angelic melodies while Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham built the song to it's inevitable crescendo. We were each taken over by the power of the song and mellowed into silence. This song was to be listened to and respected.

It was when the Lyric "it really makes me wonder", and  remember this as clear as if it was today, that I asked, "yes it really makes me wonder, what will be number 1."  The group of fire red eyes turned to me in sudden realization, "who had the balls to dethrone Stairway To Heaven."

This was followed by "Who the fuck are the Smiths?" came a chorus of 70s teenage stoners in unison a few minutes and a couple of long agonizing commercial breaks later, at the announcement of " How Soon is Now by the Smiths came across the radio waves. "Seriously, who in the what the fuck are the Smiths. That's the shit they play on CFNY." CFNY was the enemy station out of Toronto that used the catchphrase "The Spirit of Radio". We hated that station and everyone who listened to it. As an aside, I remember that my sisters boyfriend picked a bunch of us to head to the beach and he put a Erasure Cassette into the deck. My buddy asked to see it and promptly tossed it out the moving car window.

Our ranting and raving went on for the rest of the afternoon and quite possibly for weeks. What our not yet fully developed brains had not realized was the titanic shift that was happening in the music world. Our music tastes had actually started much earlier than the 70s but we rode that cresting wave into the 80s. Yes Gonzo and Keith Moon had both OD'd and died we would alway have Zeppelin and the Who. What we could not comprehend was that the next generation had slammed into us without any recourse. MTV in the States and MUCH MUSIC in Canada were jamming this new music right into our living rooms. "Music Video's, WTF. 

If you had an open mind, once you got past the angst,  introduced us to REM, U2, the Cure, The Smiths, The B52's and the Talking Heads, groups we could not comprehend. It also brought us Metallica, AC/DC, Guns and Roses and thankfully the beauty of Factory Records.  I understand the Nostalgia of Music, I am listening to Crime of the Century right now.  It is never lost on me that I pay a monthly fee to listen to music that I bought the Album, Cassette, CD and in some cases the 8 Track of each release I listen to now.

David Wilcox and Kim Mitchell, and many of the great groups of our youth continue to play into their 70s and 80s (I am looking at your Roger Daltrey). Personally, I am don't  pay hundreds of dollars to see the groups of my youth in order to hang onto that part of me. (My tickets to this show were free). I am not begrudging anyone who does, if it makes you feel good, then do it. However, if you are going to do it, put the phone away, put your arm around your girl, look at the stage and listen to the songs that you same to hear. 

Nobody actually cares that you are there.

"Youth is the gift of nature, but age is a work of art" --  Stanislaw Jerzy Lec.

*** If you have any feedback on this post as a change of pace from my travel posts I would appreciate it. There is a a feedback form on the left hand side, under the countries visited map.