TV show

So the TV segment wasn't too bad. I still talk a bit too quickly at times, trying to get out the things I wish to say. But overall I'm OK with how it went.

There doesn't seem to be an embedding feature on the CBC's website, so here's the direct link to the show. (My segment starts around 6:57).

If the link fails for some reason please go to the show's website and search for "Thursday March 5".

Me on TV

In January I was asked by CBC-TV to do a short feature on cycling and trailering my drums in the winter. Later that month on a nice crisp day I met up with reporter Amrita Singh and a cameraman at Bank and Sparks. The program will be aired this Thursday at 3pm, and available online afterwards.

Below are the details from the CBC:

Thank you for being part of Living in Ottawa. Your story "Drum Bike" will be aired on Thursday, March 5...

... Living in Ottawa airs at 3 PM on CBC Television. See below for a list of CBC television channels in our area. After the initial airing the episode will be posted online and will be accessible to your family and friends to watch at www.cbc.ca/livinginottawa. Click on “search videos” and search by the airdate or segment title to find past episodes. Where to find Living in Ottawa on CBC Television: Channel 8 - Rogers Cable, Channel 208 - Bell ExpressVu, Channel 303 - Star Choice Channel, 4 - with antenna Channel 2, - Videotron Cable - Gatineau

re-Cycles media coverage

In last Thursday's Ottawa Citizen the bike co-op was featured in a story titled "Five great places for a bike tune-up". The online edition only shows one photo, but the print version had all five shops across the top of the page, with re-Cycles featured first! There are a few inaccuracies - in our case our overhauled bikes do not range from $25 to $75 (our As Is bikes are in that range, while overhauled ones start at $100), but at least they didn't get our address wrong as they did for McCrank's!

And while it's nice to get the press attention, I was uncomfortable with the photo shoot. They want a photo of one person, since the photos would be small, and of course the want the "guy in charge". Easy to do with the other shops, but since ours is run as a collective I get a little uneasy when I'm singled out. Sure, I'm the Director and at times that will mean being viewed as a figurehead, but re-Cycles only works because of everyone involved.

I've been blogged...

... by Kirstin Endemann of the Ottawa Citizen. She contacted me regarding the re-Cycles Co-op for an article she was writing, and we found we had a music connection as well.

Radio interview

Last Tuesday around noon I received a phone call from Adrian Harewood, the host of CBC Ottawa's afternoon show "All In A Day". He had invited Charles Akben-Marchand, fellow cycling activist and President of Citizens for Safe Cycling, to speak on the show about winter cycling, and when setting this up Charles had had given him my number. So Adrian and I chatted for about ten minutes and then he asked if I'd like to be on the show as well! But of course, says I, making a quick schedule change and heading there for 3:00.

Our segment was recorded and posted to the CfSC website.

In the News!

Last week I was interviewed and photographed for a feature on winter cycling here in Ottawa, and it was printed in today's Ottawa Citizen. The reporter, Patrick Dare, is also interested in doing a feature on my cargo trike in the Spring!

media attention

My cargo trike is the subject of a cover story in the Fall issue of "Better Bicycling", published by local organization Citizens for Safe Cycling.

I've not done much in the way of promoting Kyoto, other than just riding it on city streets to do the jobs I built it for. So when CfSC contacted me for the story I was happy to oblige. Other than one slip-up ("it’s a single-wheel recumbent bicycle" should read "three-wheel") it seems to be a good read. What's next? Front page on the Ottawa Citizen, or how about the Globe and Mail? Maybe I should head straight for TV coverage - where's my agent?... :D

Ottawa Citizen: kiss my musical ass

A open letter to the Ottawa Citizen:

Regarding your coverage of this year's Jazz Festival, I do not understand why you chose to ignore the Impressions in Jazz Orchestra's performance at the NAC. No reporter sent, and not even a mention in your wrap-up review (in which you do find time to whine about the jam sessions...).

Why were we overlooked? Is it because we're "local", and thus perhaps perceived as untalented or not worthy? It could not have been the music; it's not every day you get to hear an augmented Big Band (standard line-up plus 2 French horns and tuba) play music by Ellington, Coltrane, and Kenton; music that is rarely heard because it needs a large and expensive group to make it happen; music that in many cases has never been heard in Canada before. No, it couldn't be that... it must have been because we're local.

Look - we were the only Ottawa group to take part in that NAC series, with over 20 of Ottawa's finest professional musicians. And Adrian Cho worked extremely hard to bring us all together (imagine trying to schedule rehearsals with over 20 busy people?). And we musicians got paid, but he did it all for free. He even paid for the arrangements that came in from New York out of his own pocket. That's called dedication, out of a desire for nothing more that to hear this great music get played.

And it seems that you people could care less. Thank you so much for being a true supporter of live music in Ottawa. Any wonder there's no real jazz scene in this city, when you know the local papers won't bother to tell anyone what's going on! Maybe you'll enjoy a jazz festival full of "acts from elsewhere", because if local talent cannot find work (due to lack of promotion) it either 'quits and gets a day job', or just moves (as many have) to become part of that great "elsewhere".