Your Story : How We Play the Game of Life

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

 

 Your Story Ep 27 [47:03m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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.

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 Your Story Addendum Ep 17 [9:39m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Welcome To Episode Sixteen of Your Story Addendum.

I’ve been nearly eight weeks away from Australia experiencing all that I could of the culture, sights but particually the people that I met and had a chance to commune with as I drifted from home and country of one person into the life of another. It was an amazing trip as all trips that people do and it was a trip that will impact in ways that I cannot fathom yet. That and getting over a bit of jetlag is the reason that it’s taken a week to get this episode out but here it is.

It’s best to just let you listen to it. I thought about rerecording it but decided to leave it as it is as it shows the confusion that I have about a few things as I continue to settle back in.

I said it on the show but I’ll also say it here, Thanks!

Thanks to everyone who emailed me, connected with me on twitter or commented on the posts or my Flickr photos.

Particularly I want to thank the hospitality and friendships that I was shown from Claudia, Eve & Romy in Berlin. Adam Daniel Mezei in Prague. Todd & Rozzen in Vannes and Madeline in London.

Thanks all, you know what you mean to me.

I’m as interested as anyone to know where this is going so let’s hang on and see what happens. I’m already planning for the next trip but more later.

Links

Reichstag Fire

Kristallnacht

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 Your Story Addendum Ep 16 [4:44m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Welcome To Episode 10 of Your Story Addendum.

My training post school was as an apprentice Pattern Maker. A beautiful craft of making patterns from primarily timber, to be used to produce the moulds that metal castings are made in. As I learnt the skills I developed an interest in how things are made and the manufacturing processes. So just before leaving on this trip I heard about the Whitechapel Bell Foundry from listening to This Week In London Podcast I knew that I needed to come and see it while I’m in London.

The Foundry is a modest but profound affair to me. There is a small museum and shop along with offices in the front of the old building on Whitechapel Road. Then out the back is the foundry where the bells are made, which isn’t large by foundry standards and seems to employ a dozen or so people.

But the history is staggering. They have made the two most famous bells that I know of. The Liberty Bell in the US and Big Ben here in London. They have recently made the new bell for the finally completed St Johns Anglican Cathedral in my home town of Brisbane. They are the oldest manufacturing organisation in the UK making bells for over 500 years and the history goes on and on. If you want more history here is the link to it.

For me to smell the grit and burnt sand of my trade, to see men still making things in an age old tradition and to consider the long and continuous history of a relatively modest concern was a wonderful experence  and if your into making things and manufacture I would strongly suggest that you drop in if your n the neighbourhood.

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 Your Story Addendum Ep 15 [7:42m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Welcome To Episode 10 of Your Story Addendum.

For a reason that I don’t understand I have an affinity towards the sacrifices made by the Australian troops particularly in World War One. So while here in London I went on a mission to see the Australian War Memorial at Hyde Park Corner.

On the way I was surprised to discovered the Canadian memorial in Green Park and the New Zealand war memorial near the Australian Memorial. Around these old British colonies war memorials is the grandiose memorials of old empire and militarism. The comparison for me was profound and I thought it was worth a comment.

Later in the day I had an opportunity to attend a performance at Shakespeare’s Globe of The Merry Wives of Windsor. I had a wonderful time laughing at a classic play performed in period Elizabethan costume in the worlds only open air Elizabethan play house . The costumes were impeccable in construction and function. The acting was the best in the world. The building that is the theatre is awesome in its style, function and construction.

The entire night was truly a wonderful experence in every way and I would strongly suggest that it’s a must see if visiting London.

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