Night Music: Tubular Bells

OK, so tonight’s music selection takes some commitment.  It takes 25 minutes to watch, and might mean absolutely nothing to anyone born after, say, 1960.

This is a live BBC recording of Mike Oldfield’s glorious Tubular Bells, an important artifact of the post-hippy lyrical movement.  This was recorded in 1973, about forty years before much of today’s electronic wizadry was available. It is, I believe, one of the very few truly symphonic pieces to have emerged whole from the chaos of those days. Listening to Viv Stanshall’s droll roll-call of the instruments near the end brought back so many good memories.

 

 

Commercial & Broadway: The Future

 

Here is an important date for the calendar for anyone interested in the future of Grandview, especially regarding development on its southern border.

On Saturday 8th October Westbank Properties will be holding an open house information session on the future of the Safeway site at Commercial & Broadway.  The session will be from 11am to 3pm at Federico’s Supper Club, 1728 Commercial Drive.

The City’s vision for the site is for multiple towers from 12 to 24 storeys with a central public plaza. I believe they also propose that Safeway become a two-storey store. However, at City Hall in June, Safeway/Sobey’s said there was no way they would accept a two-storey grocery; a position that could adversely affect the space required for the public plaza.

It will be interesting to see how the developer is planning to square that circle.

 

Poem: Forward

 

The forked tongue of the future lies ahead

Beckoning us forward.  Advance!  Progress!

Regardless of the perils and our dread

 

Of failure, ever onward must we tread.

And no matter how much we feel the stress,

The forked tongue of the future lies ahead.

 

And whether we fly the black flag or red,

The same indignations we must address

Regardless of the perils and our dread:

 

The starving masses, children barely fed;

And even for those who have even less

The forked tongue of the future lies ahead.

 

So throw away your doubts; let us instead

Rejoice in future’s coming, and impress —

Regardless of the perils and our dread —

 

Our generation’s mark.  Let it be said

We lived, loved, built, and understood that, yes,

The forked tongue of the future lies ahead

Regardless of the perils and our dread.