Megève’s a stunning place to see Snow and Ice, something I don’t know!

I’ve always wondered what it’s like to be in the Alps in winter. The cold, the snow, the strong biting sun but I’ve never had the chance, until now!

Megève from high up on the slopes

What we call mountains in Australia doesn’t really compare to what is the real alps scattered around the rest of the world. When I finally saw those mountainous rocks piercing the sky on my first visit to Megève in the summer of 1992 for my sister’s wedding I thought to myself, “these are real mountains!” …And as I left I wondered what it would be like in winter.

Now I’ve seen a real winter scene.

Megève at night

Coming from the sub-tropics, a real winter as experienced by most people is something that I’ve always wondered about. Sure I’ve experienced some cold moments in my life but never the ice and snow of the French Alps and all that it entails. It’s far too easy for me to have no idea what to do and how to live in this environment but there is also the fun of seeing for real what I’ve only every seen in film and images.

• My first step when I arrived involved sliding on the ice. (The ground isn’t supposed to be slippery).
• How do the hedges survive under half a metre of snow.
• Amazement of the strength of the building to hold tons of snow on the roofs.
• Icicles forming from dripping water on the gutters.
• Bitting cold that saps the warmth from every exposed or poorly covered part of the body.
• Snow that remains dry and powdery even after days of warm weather.
• Ice that melts (sublimates) to dryness without ever being liquid water.
• How much air is in freshly fallen snow.
• A large mouthful of snow results in very little water to drink.
• Ice is really hard to walk on in leather soled shoes!
• The comfortable inside temperature is no indication of how cold it is outside.
• Ice crystals growing on the snow over the several days of fine weather .

An Alpine Village

Megève is a quintessential French Alpine village with all the cultural aspects that come with that. The people are fiercely proud of their farming heritage even though tourism has developed into a major part of their community. The local produce from cheese to cured meats is of the highest standard and in no time at all you can indulge way too much of the good life.

Mixing it with the Locals

If you’re inclined and can afford it I would whole heartily recommend Megève as a place to visit and enjoy.

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Tycho
“Hours” (mp3)
from “Dive”
(Ghostly International)

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Letting life unfold as it will…

What will happen, will happen and we can do nothing about it because we don’t have any control despite the illusion that we do.

This, to my understanding is the way of life. We live an illusion that we make decisions about all manner of things but the reality is every decision we make is based on the sum total of experiences that we’ve had in our life. At the most fundamental level we are our genetics and our totality of experiences, nothing more. And those two criteria are all that we are and every decision is based on those things. We make our decisions based on this criteria but who are we, if not our genetics and our experiences which drive our decisions?

Todays Your Story Addendum episode is from the departure gate just prior to boarding my flight to Europe.

I’m off on a trip to Europe for 2.5 months. Initially I’ll be in Megève in the French Alps as a guest of my sister and her family then I’ll be heading north to spend a couple of months in Berlin.

Did I make the decision to go?

On My Way to Europe

Well, I may think and feel like I did but the reality is I simply reacted to the situations as they presented themselves with the final upshot being I’m now on my way as I write this somewhere over Indonesia. But more to the point this trip is about creating situations that could provoke opportunity.

In my everyday life I have a routine of situations and people who are a constant with little variation and without breaking away from the status quo I’ll continue to have the same opportunities.

It’s crunch time!

For five years now I’ve been working on Your Story and Create Your Life Story, to learn the skills and develop the sites to where they may be able viable as more than just hobbies. I’ve tried a few things to develop them but to date these things haven’t worked and it’s time to see if there may be some other opportunities that I haven’t considered.

Staying in my home environment will maintain a similar situation to what’s been the case for these last five years but travelling to Europe may, just may, create an environment that is different and present opportunities that I couldn’t find at home.

Everyone who’s had any level of success will be the first to credit the good fortune in their lives that has lead to them becoming who they are (actually that’s the same for all of us, good and bad), and that good fortune could turn up anywhere. It’s just that if you get around, meet more people and be in different situations there is a greater chance of that good fortune turning up.

It isn’t choosing anything!

For me this is just about putting myself out there where opportunity may arise and allowing things to unfold. When we think about it, that’s how life is for all of us.

I don’t know or can’t imagine what may come of this trip. Maybe something, maybe nothing but as I said when I started on this adventure of learning how to podcast I’d rather give a red hot go, than stay in the certainty of routine.

What may come.

I’ve a few ideas for content for Your Story. We may get to revisit some past stories to see how they’ve developed over the last few years and I’m sure we’ll discover a few new stories. I’m hoping to produce both video and audio content and I’ll be putting it out in all the usual channels.

Since my last trip social networks have continued to develop and with the power of my new iPhone 4S along with the video, photo, audio sharing networks there is an opportunity for me to put out a variety of content through multiple channels.

If you want to find all the major social channels that I use go to About.me/IanKath where you can link across to see all that I produce over the next many weeks.

If you have any ideas for people to meet of place to visit in Berlin please let me know using the contacts above.

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Using their pleasure for tango to help others who desperately need it

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We’ve all had the experience where we’ve gained so much value from people or an activity that we feel a need to return something. It called reciprocity  – the desire to do something in return.

Cheryl & John

In this episode of  Your Story we talk to John and Cheryl Lowry about how they have fulfilled this desire in themselves for all the pleasure that they’ve had from being involved in learning and dancing tango. They’ve returned the favour not to the greater tango community but by using that communities desire to dance tango socially as a means of generating income to support disadvantaged children in Argentina by setting up Para Los Niños children’s charity.

Internationally supported

The charity is supported internationally to enable income to be generated through milongas (tango dances) which is then used in Argentina to support many desperately in need children to have what we would call the necessities of life.

Here is an example of one of the Milongas that has been orginised in aid of Para Los Niños.

The charity website for Para Los Niños is paralosninos.net

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.

Music is from

Che Papusa
“La Milonga” (mp3)
from “Buenos Aires Tango Dance”
(Suramusic S.R.L)

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Juanjo Hermida and Gabriel Merlino
“Sauvage” (mp3)
from “Tangos En Duo”
(Suramusic S.R.L)

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One of the great pleasures of having a blog is being able to be self indulgent  -  This is one of those self indulgent posts.

As you may know I dance tango for pleasure, a great pleasure! Sure I’m still learning after 3.5 years but I think tango is one of the life passions that is all about learning and the journey rather than the destination. To that end I’m slowly, very slowly becoming enamoured by this most wonderful of dances. If you have no idea of what I’m talking about I suggest you go and watch Sally Potter’s The Tango Lesson and you may get some small idea of what I’m talking about… But that is not what this post is about.

On twitter I’ve made the acquaintance… (yes that’s right, a small friendship that is possible to be generated on twitter), with a quite spectacular musician in Sean A McGee and his ElectroTango (read nuevo style) music.

I must admit that when it comes to dancing Tango I tend to be a bit of a traditionalist (it’s what’s familiar), only occasionally dancing the more modern styles of tango that have become popular with Gotan Project and Carlos Libedinsky. But when it comes to listening pleasure I adore the electronic blends that are this style of tango music and I much prefer to listen to it over the traditional (Piazzolla and a few other excepted) music.

To give you a bit of a taste here is a player of some of Sean’s music. Click away and imagine being in one of those wonderful milongas in Buenos Aires, like the image above, when I was there last year, and the rich tapestry that is that city, that is the very heart of Tango.

The album Nebulosa is out in September so if you like his music go and buy it… go on, you know you’ll love it

 

Welcome To Episode 53 of Your Story.

In June 2009 I had the good fortune to travel to Buenos Aires to experience all that you can in such a short time and to partake of some of the Tango Scene from the city where Argentine Tango originated.

While I was there I spent some time with Tango teachers and performers Fabrizio Forti and Celi Arias in their home El Sol that is a tango studio and tourist accommodation for travellers to this city of 13 million people.  I’ve already produced several episodes of my time in Buenos Aires while I was there but lately Fab and Celi were here in Brisbane and I thought that this was a good time to talk to them about the life they have in Buenos Aires, travelling and teaching and some things about the wonderful dance that is tango and how it is different to most of the other dance forms.

They were here in Australia conducting workshops and classes followed by a trip to Wellington for the new Zealand Tango Festival.  I hope to get a copy of their performance for the Kiwis to show you very soon but in the mean time here is a video from last years festival.

Website is elsoldesantelmo.com
Email is elsolst@gmail.com

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Music is from

Chocolate
“Libertango” (mp3)
from “Chocolate 3″
(WorldAnd)

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Gitano Experience & Friends
“Tango No2″ (mp3)
from “Gitano Flamenco”
(TOOST Music)

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Beau Bledsoe
“Histoire du Tango” (mp3)
from “¡Olé! ¡Che!”
(Tzigane Music)

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This morning my good friend Adam Daniel Mezei who I had on the show while I was in Prague asked on twitter what I thought of the Argentine Beef and how much did I eat.

Mmmmm well.

As we know Argentina has a long history within the beef industry being one of the largest exporters in the world. The main reason for such an extensive industry is due to the Pampas, a huge treeless area of South America, much of which is in Argentina cover in rich grasslands perfect for grazing and fattening beef cattle.

I learnt most of what I know about the Argentine beef industry from the show episode that I did with Mike where he explained the difference in the methodologies of raising cattle between Argentina and the US. He wrote an interesting article on how the industry is changing in Argentina and the compromises that he is being forced to make. Suffice to say, what I learnt and tasted of the beef in Argentina is that it is different to what I’m familiar with, particularly in flavour.

I’m not a substantial meat eater, I’m not vegetarian but I eat a primarily vegetarian diet and add meat protein from time to time. My favourite these days is kangaroo for the health and environmental reasons but I do eat beef occasionally. Going to Buenos Aires I ate beef more than I had in many long years which was a bit of a shock on my system but as they say “when in Rome…”

I observed some interesting differences with the way beef is used in the Argentine culture. The retail of it is everywhere. It’s possible to walk into a small corner store and out the back someone is breaking down a side of beef placing chunks of it in the refrigerated display cabinets. At the markets huge quantities of it are just hanging in different stages of butchering as you walk past, next to the cheese and vegetables. It’s everywhere, raw and real, rather than in plastic wrapped Styrofoam trays, just like the old days.

When I say chunks that’s what I mean. It’s as if they don’t seem to have the elegant butchering style that I’m familiar with. It’s more like a cow has been forced through a course tree chipper and the chunks that come out are what you get. Random pieces of meat, fat and bone all to be thrown on the Asodo and cooked over the smoking coals adding more flavour.

I found the taste quite strong for my palate which could be for the dietary reasons I mentioned above but also as Mike mentioned the cattle in Argentina are grass feed, older and free ranged(exercised) so the meat is stronger both in flavour and in texture. I enjoyed the beef that I had while there but I must admit that after four weeks I was getting a bit over it and searching out alternatives. It was good to return home to a lower meat consumption but a great opportunity to embrace the culinary culture of Argentina.

Yes the Argentines love their beef, they have a lot of it, it’s a distintive style and it’s prime quality. I hope that they don’t go the way of the feed lots and maintain this resource in the style that is theirs alone. As for me, by time I return hopefully in two years I’ll be over the quantity I’ve recently been through and I’ll be ready to tuck in again.

 

It’s taken some time but I’ve finally finished the video of my trip to Buenos Aires in July. It amazing how long video takes to edit but it’s now here.

Like everything in this world of online media production I’m continuing to learn and yet again there are many things that I would do differently, especially while I was in Buenos Aires recording. However this is a good overview of what we got up to.

Enjoy

Please leave a comment either here or on Viddler. I’m interested in your feed back

 

Welcome To Episode 44 of  Your Story.

Frank Almeida migrated from Chicago USA to Buenos Aires with his wife in 1999, where after a couple of business ventures left the corporate world and in time established a gourmet cookie manufacturing company Sugar and Spice.

Sugar and Spice is the first and only serious Gourmet cookie manufacturer in Argentina using the best of ingredients to make the biscuits that our mother would make at home. That’s the philosophy that is still carried out in his model manufacturing facility.

Frank showed me around and although a large quantity of product is produced there were people hand cutting chocolate, sifting ingredients and hand filling packaging, just like you would do at home. It’s just the quanties and machinery are larger but it’s basically an overgrown home kitchen.

He currently supplies nationally, including to major corporations and is credited with starting the trend towards gourmet cookies within Argentina.

Frank arrived before the financial crisis in 2001 and had to deal with the shutdown of the banking system followed by the slow recovery and improvement of the economy. It’s fascinating to think just how we would get on if the banks refused to allow us to access our money or it was suddenly devalued, this is what frank had to deal with. Frank shares what is good about the Argentine culture and how having a low standard of living and high quality of life means that he is happy to stay, to grow his business and family in Buenos Aires.

Frank gave me a huge bag of goodies which I relished on the flight back home a few days later. Thanks

His website is sugarandspice.com.ar
Email is pedidos@sugarandspice.com.ar

Frank is another person introduced to me by Fred from Silver Star Transport in Buenos Aires that I mentioned on the last episode

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Music is from iodaPROMONET

Green Tea
“Cruise Control” (mp3)
from “Places & Spaces”
(PLUG Label)

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Welcome To Episode 43 of Your Story.

Deby has been in Buenos Aries as a visitor and now permanently since 2000. Originally coming to Buenos Aires to surround herself in the world of tango, she sold up everything in California in 2004, relocated to Buenos Aires and is now looking forward to becoming an Argentine citizen.

While falling in love with lifestyle here she has had the experiences of someone learning to understanding a new culture in order to become part of it. Now she is fully immersed into the life as a local and defends it vehemently.

Deby explains how it is for a local, how when you don’t earn in another international currency and the multiplier effects of exchange rates how difficult it is to live here. She gives us a small overview of the world and industry of tango also taking us on a discovery of the cultural differences in the way men and women interact compared with her home country of the US.

Several days after this recording we meet again at a milonga where we spent a few lovely hours together with friends. I look forward to returning to Buenos Aires again one day and this time with more time and experience on the dance floor I look forward to having a real tango with her.

Her website is tangospam.typepad.com
email is info@lavidacondeby.com

I mentioned in this episode about the great transport and travel advice that I received from Fred at SilverStarCar.com. If you’re ever in Buenos Aires and would like to travel in comfort from the airport or around the city, consider giving Fred a call and see if the service he offers suits your needs. In case you wondered I’m receiving no kickback from Fred for this, he’s getting this plug simply because he offered me great service and it deserves to be mentioned.

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Music is from iodaPROMONET

Katona Twins
“Milonga en re” (mp3)
from “Le Grand Tango”
(Channel Classics Records)

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Juan Carlos Abitabile
“El Choclo” (mp3)
from “Tangos En Piano Bar”
(Suramusic S.R.L)

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Welcome To Episode 42 of Your Story.

Today we talk with Eric, a local Argentine, born and breed in Buenos Aires, about his journey and frustrations of feeling that he was independent in his thoughts on how to live a good life and how by chance he came across Dr Ron Paul during the 2007 US Republican Presidential Campaign. Discovering that his ideals and beliefs resonate with others and that there are opportunities to share these opinions. Motivated by what Dr Paul was doing Eric established a Spanish Version of the Ron Paul web site to help facilitate his message and to help expand the concepts that he lives by. Eric and I discuss how he came to develop these ideals, the importance of thinking for ones self and his motivation for the site.

We also chat briefly about life in Argentina, the potential that has been missed in this once great country and the current personality of the culture, just one day before Independence Day on 9th July.

Eric has asked to remain anonymous and to allow his work to speak for itself.

His website is RonPaulSpanish.com
email is RonPaulSpanish@gmail.com

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Music is from iodaPROMONET

Carlos Bertonatti
“The Little Things” (mp3)
from “Times Are Good”
(The Rosemine Group)

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Argentine Libertarians

While sitting in the airport waiting to head back to my home in Australia I thought that it was time to share my thoughts on my time in Buenos Aires, it’s time for a wrap up on my visit. So I pulled out my Zoom H4 here they are, additional to the last Your Story Addendum where I sat down with my friends to give you an overview.

I also mention that I spent some time the night before with some Libertarians who mentioned  some interesting political points.  I would have loved to have recorded some of these conversations but alas it’s not possible on this trip and hopefully by staying in touch with them through some of their online systems, when I return I will have the opportunity to share some political stories and history of this once and maybe future great country.

 

Ian, Heather, Alex & Bernard

Welcome To Episode 22 of Your Story Addendum.

Here is something a bit different for you.

I decided to sit down and have a brief discussion with a few of my friends of our appreciation of Buenos Aires, now that we have been here a few weeks and it’s time for a few of us to start heading home.

What is Buenos Aires, and how do we appreciate it from an outside view, without the cultural understanding of the people who live here. We chat casually about the character of the people, the shopping, the food and how it would be for someone similar to us visiting here.

We recorded this on the roof of the house that we are staying in and in amongst the conversation there is the din of the city in the back ground, the sound that is impossible to avoid and a constant curse to find somewhere quiet.

Shops, Shops, Shops.

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Welcome To Episode 41 of Your Story.

Yanqui Mike, as he is known here in Buenos Aires now lives a life of duality as a migrant from the US to Argentina. From a corporate career in transport logistics in the US, living in the Mid West and Chicago, Mike has learnt and now continues his wife’s family heritage as a rancher in Argentina.

Over a few beers (and many more later) we chatted about what brought him here and what keeps him living a country life on the Campo and a cosmopolitan, cafe life in the heart of Buenos Aires. His love for the people and culture and why he is happy to stay in Argentina and not to return to the United States of America.

Contrasting his love for Argentina, Mike is heavily involved in the US ex-pat community having started Democrats Abroad in Argentina and takes great pride in being involved, in his small way towards the election of Barack Obama, involving the US citizens here, with the aptly named Drinking Liberally.

Late Addition 13/01/2010 I’ve just found in my iTunes a file that I recorded with Mike on my iPhone after I turned my recorder off and thought that as it’s such wonderful content I’d put it up as a bonus Easter Egg. It’s only 2 minutes but worth listening to.

His website is yanquimike.blogspot.com

email is letters@yanquimike.com.ar

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Music is from Diego Arolfo

from the Album Haciatuencuentro

diegoarolfo@yahoo.com.ar

 

While walking through La Boca in Buenos Aires with Bernard and Heather we had one of those experiences of travel where an opportunity grabs you, that insists that you experience something unique.

We were checking out the numerous market stalls and engaging with the roving cafes and restaurant hawkers who constantly encourage us to come inside for a coffee, meal or whiskey. Anytime we stop to watch the street side tango displays in front of the businesses designed to slow our movement, they were on to us.

Then ferreting our way down a quiet lane to see what we may find, where few people lingered we heard the sound of the traditional tango music played on a Bandoneon by a single busker in the window of a store.

We all agreed that it made us feel like dancing so Bernard and Heather put down their goods, embraced each other and on impulse danced street tango. Nothing flash, without the show and pizzazz that was all around us in the main street, but in the style of two people connected in the moment, carried off with the music.

I whipped out my phone and grabbed this video of them. A moment that the three of us will cherish, along with the 20 something crowd that stopped to see the true essence of tango. Spontaneous, carefree and uniquely Buenos Aires.

 

As part of this trip that I’m on here to Buenos Aires and as part of getting into the whole tango scene we went last night to the Carlos Gardel Tango Show.

Carlos Gardel is the Tango hero of Argentina, with his beautiful baritone voice and matinee idol good looks he rose to fame in the 1920′s before dying in an aircraft accident in 1935. He was the Elvis of the tango scene and like Elvis even though he is dead the legend continues to live and grow, maybe even more than when he was alive.

Due to the idol status of Carlos Gardel there are images of him everywhere with themes and memes that permeate so much of the tango and Argentine culture. Including in the cultural theming is the show we went to, and what a show it was.

The venue is a brilliant purpose building with a huge stage and dinner seating on three levels for 500. The quality from the entrance to exit of everything from decor to meals to show were perfect in every respect. The staff were stunningly efficient at insuring our wine and water never stopped with a quality restaurant meal that would shame most high end establishments.

During the meal a film showing the history of Tango and Gardels roll in it was screened before the live performance that transitioned from the older traditional tango towards the modern styles now being developed. The quality of the performances took our breath away which has to be seen to be realised but I did manage to find this clip to give you a bit of an idea of the standard.

 

Yesterday I had the good fortune to have my first lesson with Pablo Nievas and Valeria Zunion. I’ve heard, over the last couple of years a great deal about this professional couple and their amazing tango skills but until now I hadn’t had a chance to take a lesson with them despite the fact that they have been to Australia on several occasions.

After 90 minutes of learning this sequence I have only the rudiments of the sequence but with some practice I look forward to reinforcing it and eventually developing the skills to feel comfortable with it.

This little video is what we recorded as a take away to remind us of the sequence to add to the knowledge that they gave us. It’s actually quite difficult to remember the sequence and it’s a huge help to have this resource.

The grace and ease in which they move is a far cry from where mortals like I live but being in their company give others the chance to learn from the masters of this dance form. Check out their site from the link above.

I thought I’d share it with you here.

 

I’m in Buenos Aires, Argentina on a trip with some friends doing Tango and having a look at the culture of this European city in South America. After several days off settling in, getting my feet and dealing with a bit of a cold(that I think I’ve thrown) I’m now able to send you this quick addendum episode about my inital reactions of arriving in Buenos Aires.

I’m still getting things orginised and hopefully soon I’ll have more content out for you.

 

Welcome To Episode 38 of Your Story.

Bernard King intrigued me when I first meet him 6 months ago. I’m sure you know the type of person. They are the quiet individuals who remain discreet, don’t say a lot but have a particular grace and efficiency with movement, words and thoughts that convinces you that there is more to them than is at first obvious.

Bernard is one of these people, quietly spoken but the waters run deep, but how deep?

That’s the reason for asking him onto Your Story and as it proved he shares with us a life of becoming the Junior World Ballroom Dance Champion at 15 and 16 years of age. Dance was eventually left behind but not before moving into professional stage and cabaret.

He tells of the life of Reilly in his youth as a qualified hairdresser living for years in Spain and Italy mixing with the European Royalty and the Glitterati  of the ’60′s. Amongst those he brushing shoulders with were  Grace Kelly and Jackie Kennedy. But not all is as wonderful as it may at first seem and there is a price to be paid both for the famous and also for him moving amongst them.

In the mix of a full life Bernard happened to be held hostage not once but twice, first by The Kray Twins in his teenage years and later by The Red Brigade in Italy.

Tragically later in life Bernard describes how difficult it was to lose his wife and soulmate to the slow slide of Alzheimer’s Disease. How difficult it was to care for her and how the person he loved turned into something that was not her but the illness. Despite this Bernard has a lightness about his life with positiveness for the moment. Enjoying the day as it is.

Soon he and I along with a group from our tango class will be going on a 3 week trip to Buenos Aires. I look forward to what else he my tell me.

Note: Bernard recently came third in the state qualifying round of the Australian Tango Championships. Seems you just can’t keep him back.

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Music is from iodaPROMONET
Seis Luces
“Un Amor Sin Igual” (mp3)
from “Tango Bizarro/ Bizarre Tango”
(Suramusic S.R.L)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
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More On This Album

 

Welcome To Episode 19 of Your Story Addendum.

Hello all. I’m in Sydney catching up with friends, making new friends and recording a few podcast episodes so I thought, as I like to do, give you a quick opinion of my thoughts of Sydney and a few of the things that I’m up to.

This is short and sweet little episode and just dropping in basically to say Hello.

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As it’s now the end of 2008 I thought I’d just like to reflect briefly and thank everyone who has been on this journey with me.

Thanks Nikki J

I had only just launched the podcast at the start of the year. Since then I’ve posted 30 Your Story Episodes  and 18 Addendum Episodes. Along with many blog posts about the things that interest me. I’m reasonably happy with that

Initially I was still struggling a great deal with the technology but I had a few goals of what I wanted to achieve and I had a strategy in order to achieve them.

They were to finance the equipment that I needed to be able to travel and post episodes. Then I wanted to test the methodology with a trip to Melbourne in preparation for the eventually trip to Europe. And what a wonderful experience that was. I meet, recorded and spent time with wonderful people in Berlin, Prague, Vannes, Paris and London. That experience is here on this site if you want to explore it along with links to my flickr account.

The surprise is, I’m amazed at the depth of friendship that I have achieved through the social networking aspect of the Internet particularly twitter which enabled me to connect with so many interesting people through #TUBS here in Australia but also to connect with people interstate and internationally, some of whom I have meet personally during my travels. Also as I spend time talking internationally I’ve noticed and  I commented just the other day how I’m now starting to think in international timezones and can happily say good morning in my evening. Rather bazaar. Is this what a global citizen is?

As for next year I have a few ideas to change my income earning to include these new technologies and another trip overseas but more on that as it evolves.

To those of you who care, thanks for being here for me, it’s not always easy to work in the vacuum of producing a podcast but the occasional comment does more than you can imagine to motivate me.

And to the people I’ve meet, some of whom I’ve recorded, thanks for you involvement, it’s been a great ride so far, I’m interested to know where it’s gong.

Here Comes 2009… Stay tuned…

 

Welcome To Episode 18 of Your Story Addendum.

Saturday 13 December 2008 saw rallies around Australia in all capital cities against the Australian Federal governments plans initially to trial and eventually introduce a mandatory ISP level filter. In Brisbane several hundred concerned people turned out to speak and make their feelings heard.

Sam Clifford from Queensland Greens summed up the majority of points about the filter and to read his full speech go to his site. On a personal note Mike Fitzsimon showed how medical support research would most likely be shut down by the filter due to the use of inappropriate terminology that the filter would flag.

I’ve mentioned previously that I feel that this is an appalling idea so to add a little weight to the protest I went to listen and participate in any way that I could. In the crowd I managed to catch up with Cameron Reilly from The Podcast Network, Ben Grubb from Tech Wired Australia, Michael Meloni from Somebody Think of the Children and Anthony Voevodin.

The speakers and each of the people that I spoke to added a little to the information that is out there. If you don’t know what the filter is about these people will help to give you a bit of a grounding on the debate.

This episode of Your Story Addendum is of some of the speeches and a couple of quick impromptu interviews from some of the people on the ground at the rally.

Additional information go to:

nocleanfeed.com
nocensorship.info

To automatically receive this podcast freely to you, click on one of the links to the left or search in iTunes for “Your Story.”

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Back in July when I was staying with the wonderful Romy she would mention from time to time that during the summer months musicians would wander the streets filling the air with exotic carnival sounds looking for donations and adding to the general festive atmosphere that is Berlin during the these months.

Well, quite a few times she brought this up but they never arrived and I started to pay out on her that they didn’t really exist and that she said this just to make Berlin sound more interesting or to encourage people to come and stay with her. The same complaint was made by many of her friends as they had never seen them either when she mentioned that they were about which added more fuel to the fire of my good natured ribbing that I was giving her.

Then one day this happened…

So now we know.

Romy is correct and the added atmosphere that they give to the streets of Berlin is something that lingers in my memory as I look back on this video of my time with her in Berlin.

Thanks again Romy

 

Welcome To Episode 28 of Your Story.

Today we talk with Colin Kerr who is my sisters father in-law who generously shared some time with us about his early life in Britain, dealing with life as a teenager during the war years and the fascination that only a 15 year old can have in war time despite the dangers of the blitz. As a young man he spent time in compulsory military service in the early ’50 and shares the wonderful life that could be had in the military during peace time.

Colin explains his experiences of understanding both the British and French cultures and how he feels to be primarily European rather than being specifically British. He shares his thoughts on the British attitude towards involvement in external affairs of other countries and the impact that has on life in the UK going back to the influx of migration from the fifties and the impact of the IRA through to the involvement in the affairs of Western Europe and the United States of America.

As is often the case when I record these episodes of Your Story the conversation that I have before and after I start recording is often interesting. In this case I turned the recorder back on and recorded a more casual conversation with Colin. At the time he didn’t realise that the recorder was on but when I mentioned it to him he was happy for me to use it in the show. I was originally going to edit it in but on reflection I feel that it is more valid as a postscript to the original conversation. I’ve simply added it onto the end of the episode as an Addendum to the main portion. I think the continuing chat we had has merit.

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Music is from iodaPROMONET

Backrow Politics (mp3)
Buy at iTunes Music Store
More On This Album
Immergent
Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band

 

Welcome To Episode 27 of Your Story.

Today we talk with McConnie E. Providence who approached me while I was walking down Whitechapel Road in London. He had noticed my Matrix Crew Jacket that I was wearing while fumbling around in my bag to get my recorder out. He ask me a few things about my involvement in the Matrix Films and I mentioned that I had worked on them as a special effects technician when they were being made in Sydney.

Coincidentally McConnie had been involved with Keanu Reeves along with many other successful young students in Canada while running a Drama Youth Programme many years ago while as an undergraduate at York University in Toronto.

After a brief exchange I mentioned what I was doing and McConnie agreed to come on Your Story to  share his passion for music composition, conducting and performing. Where he came from in St Vincent in the Caribbean and the way music was a major part of his upbringing and the developed through his life in Canada and his travels around the world.

He describe how he feels about being a conductor and the importance of being involved in the music as an interperitor of the composers expression of what was wanted to be achieved when the music was originally composed. He helps to share what it is like to be deeply immersed in the composition as a conductor and the reverence that is required towards the composition.
email is edfordmconnie@hotmail.com

Below is the introduction of the episode that I videoed with the full episode available as the podcast.

To automatically receive this podcast freely to you, click on one of the links to the left or search in iTunes for “Your Story.”

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Welcome To Episode 26 of Your Story.

It’s been some time since there has been a Your Story Episode, unfortunately the constraints to produce an episode while on the road travelling made it difficult to find the time required for the standard necessary to do justice to the wonderful people that I meet.

However now that I’ve returned to Australia it’s possible to finish the necessary work required to get an episode out and here it is.

Today we talk with Michael Kierans who in is a Canadian migrant living with his Czech wife in Prague, Czech Republic. He is established as a successful business owner of two cafes bars having moved from his successful life as a lawyer in Canada to Prague after the fall of Communism. Michael explains the difficulties of dealing with a different cultural and mental attitude that permeates all aspects of life in the Czech Republic from organising the necessities of running a business to the way that the government and politicians operate.

Michael explains the ever so subtle differences that he is able to be aware of now that he has been in Prague for a considerable period of time. He explains why the personality of the Czech people is the way it is, due to the long history of the Czech Lands and the impact that this history has had on the culture particularly during the communist era. Also he shows his enthiusium for this country and why there is an exciting time for the Czech Republic into the future as the next generations come through with their new and different mindset and continuation of their cultural heritages.

Impressively Michael explains what keeps him in Prague and why he loves it so much to make it his home.

His website is kava-coffee.cz

email is kava@mbox.vol.cz

To automatically receive this podcast freely to you, click on one of the links to the left or search in iTunes for “Your Story.”

Subscribe freely in iTunes by Clicking here.
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I asked a few questions that I would apprediate a quick response to if you feel inclined to help me with understanding the direction to direct Your Story. Please send you thoughts to chat@yourstorypodcast.com.

• Am I hitting the mark and what is it that interests you about Your Story?

• What is it that you like or don’t like?

• What type of personalities would you like me to find and what interests you?

• Did you enjoy my addendum episodes or would you rather I just stick to the main Your Story episodes?

Music is from iodaPROMONET

Time Machine
“The Groove That Just Won’t Stop” (mp3)
from “Life Is Expensive”
(Glow In The Dark Records)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at Napster
Stream from Rhapsody
More On This Album