Pete Gray's Weblog » Around Toronto

Old Web, New Web

Pete — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 03:43:04 +0000

I noticed these two spider webs had slipped into a shaft of sunlight in the back yard today, and I wanted to get a picture of them. I don’t know if these belong to the same spider, but it seems pretty clear that one is fresh and new, and the other is old and not much use any more…

Some caption that seem obvious for this photo:

- Keeping up with the Joneses

- There goes the neighbourhood

- Benefits of the home renovation Tax Credit

- Web 2.0

- Movin’ on Up…

Feel free to leave a comment of a funnier caption, if you like.

The Promise of Music

Pete — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:59:03 +0000

Gravity and I have been working on a one-page website for “The Promise of Music”, it’s all about this:

Venezuela’s revolutionary music education program, El Sistema, founded under the leadership and vision of Dr. José Antonio Abreu, has transformed the futures of millions of young people through the power of music and has produced one of the world’s foremost orchestras.

http://www.thepromiseofmusic.ca/

I think it sounds like a great idea.

A Cool Approach to Jazz in the Park

Pete — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 01:00:49 +0000

Jazz in the Park is a neat little series of concerts they have at Coxwell and Danforth in Toronto, every Wednesday during the summer. I’ve gone up with the girls a couple of times. Now, this ain’t the best type of outdoor jazz for wee ones with high energy levels. The park is fairly full of mature people in folding chairs, and there is no space for the wee ones to dance and jump and sqeal and giggle without disurbing the jazz-rapture of nearby attendees. We much prefer the Woodbine Park portion of the Beaches Jazz Festival, due to the endless amounts of space around the venues for wee hyper ones to be wee and hyper.

Even so, one trivial aspect of Jazz in the Park was so charming, so surreal, so groovy, so urban, and so atmospheric, that I thought I’d mention it here in my new blog. Here’s a map, that shows what I’m going to talk about:

Map showing Laneway to Jazz in the Park

That “S” in the yellow dot shows where the stage is. Take the laneway up from Hanson Street – the laneway runs halfway between Coxwell and Rhodes – the laneway that ends right at the stage. You can see the tent, and sorta hear the music waaaay down at the south end – and by the time you get there, you burst out from behind that ugly block of a building you see there and are right on the fringe of a big, sunny, outdoor, sophisticate, upscale, snotty, funky cool jazz concert.