Whatcha readin' this week? I recently finished "The Storytelling Animal - How Stories Make Us Human" by Jonathan Gottschall, and it is a wonderful book!
#WhatchaReading #WhatchaReadingWednesday #ReadingChallenge #ReadingBooks #ReadingRainbow #JonathanGottschall #TheStorytellingAnimal
An update - not having social media apps on my phone is like getting part of my life back. I now read or write in my notebook when I ride the subway. Highly recommend everyone give it a try for a while!
Whatcha readin' this week? This is from around Christmas or so.
How about you? Have you read any Iain Banks lately, or any stories about working musicians? Lemme know...
#WhatchaReading #WhatchaReadingWednesday #ReadingChallenge #ReadingBooks #ReadingRainbow #IainBanks #EspedairStreet
No matter what else you see on social media today, you should know that a friend thought of you, and smiled!
Coming up in just over two weeks - I'll be singing in the bass section of the Cecilia Chorus of New York for this fantastic concert at Carnegie Hall!
www.ceciliachorusny.org
Whatcha Readin' this week?
I've started re-reading some of my Guy Gavriel Kay books - "A Brightness Long Ago", followed by "All the Seas of the World".
#WhatchaReading #WhatchaReadingWednesday #ReadingChallenge #ReadingBooks #ReadingRainbow #AllTheSeasOfTheWorld #ABrightnessLongAgo
Today, International Transgender Day of Visibility is more important than ever, with trans rights under attack from many directions!
Trans people are beautiful, courageous souls who dare to see the world and themselves in a different way.
www.hrc.org/campaigns/in...
Books I've finished reading in March -
Ariana Franklin, “The Serpent’s Tale”
Jonathan Gottschall, “The Storytelling Animal – How Stories Make Us Human”.
Books still in progress -
Neal Stephenson, "Quicksilver"
Olly Richards, "Short Stories in Spanish".
An interesting experiment - no social media on the phone. I don't know how long this will last, but for the moment, I'm doing without all that stuff on my phone. I'll keep you posted if I'm any more creative, happy, or productive in a couple of weeks. Or if I've succumbed to the pressure of FOMO...
Chroí tour, second week - The Steep Approach to Orangeville. (No, that's not a trad tune that I know of, but it ought to be!)
Orangville this evening, Burlington tomorrow afternoon, and then home to the quiet of NYC.
Chroí performance number one in Oshawa is in the books. On to Mississauga today!
From right to left - Paul Ormandy, Christopher Dawes , Jenna Gallagher, me.
#Chroi
The first time I played with Chroí was June, 2016.
Many concerts and a long hiatus later, we're playing together again tonight. I was thinking as we rehearsed last night, how lucky I am to get to play and sing with these great musicians.
When you fly between NYC and Toronto, you often have to 'gate check' your guitar.
But what amuses me about this tag is - the musical instrument depicted is cleally a bass! As Jay Leonhart has said, "You can't put a bass upon a plane!". 🤣🤣🤣 They freak out enough when they see a guitar!
Whatcha Readin' this week? This week, I'd like to talk about a book that I finished a couple of months ago, but haven't yet got around to talking about. This is "What We Can Know", by Ian McEwan.
Highly recommended!
Another clip of me practising for the upcoming Saint Patrickstide tour with Chroí. This is "A Stor mo Chroí" - Treasure of my Heart.
Hoping you can catch us in Oshawa, Mississauga, Orangeville, or Burlington!
A short clip of me practising for the upcoming Chroí Saint Patrickstide Tour.
It sounds even better with the rest of us! Hope to see you there!
I don't think Mr. Chalumet's remarks have changed the number of people passionate about ballet and opera at all, but I don't think I've ever seen so many people expressing their passion about those art forms in such a vigorous way!
Coming up in ten days - my friends Kenyon, Ivan, and Alex, fellow choristers under Raymond Trapp will be performing at Plymouth Church.
Sunday, March 15th at 2 pm - don't miss it!!
Whatcha readin' this week? I'm still catching up on books I finished a while ago that I haven't had a chance to talk about. This week, it's "Cloud Cuckoo Land" by Anthony Doerr.
#WhatchaReading #WhatchaReadingWednesday #ReadingChallenge #ReadingBooks #ReadingRainbow #AnthonyDoerr #CloudCuckooLand
My friend Anh Phung on flute with Palladium, doing the music of Wayne Shorter at Roulette last night. It was a fantastic show!
Just released today - the Winter Challenge, by The Aluminati. The Aluminati met thru the Modes I and Modes II courses taught by Trey Gunn. We participate regularly in these collective musical challenges. Have a listen and see what you think!
aluminati.bandcamp.com/track/winter...
Books I finished reading in February, 2026 -
Feb. 4, M. R. Carey, “Outlaw Planet”
Feb. 14, Guy Gavriel Kay, “A Brightness Long Ago”
Feb. 16, Cory Doctorow, “Enshittification”
Feb. 23, Terry Pratchett, “Jingo”
Feb. 26, Genevieve Barlow and William N. Stivers, “Historias de España”
Whatcha Readin' this week? Allow me to talk about "Feet of Clay", "Hogfather", and "Jingo", part of my Terry Pratchett reading project.
#WhatchaReading #WhatchaReadingWednesday #ReadingChallenge #ReadingBooks #ReadingRainbow #TerryPratchett #FeetOfClay #Hogfather #Jingo
Photos of Carmansville Park, Trinity cemetery, and Audubon Terrace from my walk to the gym this morning.
...which was closed!
Still, I'm hoping the penguin walk there and back counts for something!
I have my mum's old 'Presto' pressure cooker, and I'm using it more and more often.
My mum used it for really tough cuts of meat - being vegetarian, I don't need it for that. It is, however, incredibly useful to cut down the cooking time on high-fibre grains like brown rice and barley!
I had a lovely lunch with longtime friends Rebecca Hass and Mike Lenz - Rebecca's piece "The Song Blanket" opens tomorrow, Friday, Feb. 20th at 7:30 pm at Symphony Space in NYC, so she's really busy, but we couldn't all be in the same city at the same time and not see each other!
Whatcha readin' this week? Well, I just finished this book, and it's recommended reading for all of my friends! The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.
#WhatchaReading #WhatchaReadingWednesday #ReadingChallenge #ReadingBooks #ReadingRainbow #CoryDoctorow #Enshittification
Okay, coming up next month - I'll be performing with Chroi for four shows surrounding Saint Padraig's Day.
March 14 - Oshawa, ON
March 15 - Mississauga, ON
March 21 - Orangeville, ON
March 22 - Burlington, ON
Looking forward to playing with Chroí again, and hoping to see you at one of our shows!
Whatcha readin'? Well, this week, I want to talk about "Lies my Teacher Told Me – Everything your American History Textbook got Wrong" by James W. Loewen.
A well-written and highly recommended book, and a suitable companion to Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States".
NYC friends! Next Friday, Feb. 20, my long-time friend and frequent colleague Rebecca Hass will be performing "The Song Blanket"!
More information and tickets at
www.sparksandwirycries.org/sparkslive-2...
