Categories
Spacing, a magazine/blog/movement started in Toronto and dedicated to all sorts of things about urban life and public space, is in the middle of a cross-Canada Road Show. Matthew Blackett, the publisher and “face” of Spacing, is spending the summer visiting cities across the country and holding events where presenters talk about what it means to be in a city and everyone shares their ideas on how to make them better places to live, work and play.
The Spacing Road Show comes to Alternate Accordion City — a.k.a. Ottawa — tomorrow evening (Tuesday, July 19th) from 7:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.at the National Arts Centre (53 Elgin) and will feature a panel discussion with the following people:
- Matthew Blackett, Spacing publisher, as moderator
- George Dark, partner at Urban Strategies, urban designer and landscape architect
- Allegra Newman, community planning advocate
- Evan Thornton, editor of the Spacing Ottawa blog
I’ll leave it to the event’s Facebook page to explain more:
This event will be held in the 4th Stage part of the NAC.
In support of Spacing’s first national issue, publisher Matthew Blackett is heading out on a cross-Canada tour to celebrate the launch of the national issue and to lead discussions on urbanism and city design in the nation’s big cities.
The eighth stop on the tour is Ottawa! Come out to our event/party and pick up an issue. From 8-9pm, the Spacing team will be joined by three local panelists to discuss the top 10 public spaces in Ottawa as well as the state of good design on the streets of Ottawa. A more casual party will follow.
COST: $5 (gets you a copy of the new national issue)
I’ll be there, and if anyone want to join me afterwards, I plan on holding court at D’Arcy McGee’s fine drinking establishment across the street afterwards.
Categories
Scenes from BarCamp NOLA, Part 2
The second article in my series on BarCamp New Orleans is up on the Shopify Technology Blog. This one’s topic: The Schedule Grid, the heart of every BarCamp.
After leading a Bastille Day parade with the accordion down the less cheesy parts of the French Quarter’s narrow streets (photos and story later), Edward and I took our new local friends Amanda and Emily out for drinks and then to Cafe du Monde. On the way to the cafe, we passed by Jackson Square and came across this gentleman with a decent-sized telescope offering views of the moon in exchange for donations. We took him up on his offer, and were treated to some spectacular views of the lunar surface.
And then…beignets!
Hey, Hipster Boy! Get off your phone, enjoy the beignets and make some conversation with our gracious hosts!
I had a great time taking an airboat tour of the swamp and seeing ‘gators, except for this incident.
(Actually, once people saw me pose like this with the alligator statue, everyone started posing like me. People know a good idea when they see one.)
While walking down Canal Street and making our way to the French Quarter, Edward and I heard a live brass band playing and decided to investigate. It turned out to be the Free Spirit Brass Band, playing away at the corner of Bourbon Street. Two birds with one stone: we’d found Bourbon Street without really trying, and some live music to boot!
They were drawing a crowd:
Here are a couple of quick videos (each about a minute in length) of the band in action:
After their performance, the band were happy to pose with people for shots.
The tuba player said “Accordion! Oh, I gotta get in on this!“
The trombone guy asked if I could break out with something “suitably funky” on the squeezebox. The trumpet player had already been doing a hip-hoppy line in B flat, the key to which many brass instruments are tuned. It’s a key I’m a little weak at playing in — I’ve gotten terribly used to the “piano-friendly” keys of C, D, F and G and the “guitar-friendly” keys of E, A, B and C# — but I needed the practice.
Luckily, I’ve been listening to a fair bit of Trombone Shortly lately and started playing an improvised line based on his stuff. The band seemed to like what I was doing:
…and it turned into an impromptu jam session!
A pretty good start to this trip, if I say so.
Categories
Advice for Creatives
Sound advice from Ira Glass, whether your creative medium is words, paint and canvas, code, concrete and steel, whatever! (Found via Slava Sakhnenko who in turn found it at My Modern Metropolis.)