neuf neuf neuf neuf neuf

One fresh January evening a frenchman is bragging to his friend about this pig he has.
He says:"My pig is tres amazing. Did you know he can do math?"
His friend says: "Don't be silly. I don't believe you. You are a french liar."
The frenchman replies :"Here, I`ll show it to you."
So he turns to his pig and says: "What's 3 times 3?"
The pig says: "..neuf..."
"See?", the frenchman says, "I told you so."
"This is truly incredible", his friend replies, "show me more".
So the frenchman turns to his pig again: "How much is 5 plus 4?"
Once again the pig says: "...neuf..."
"Aha! Wait a minute!"the friend says,"Can he do any calculation that doesn't end in 9?"
The frenchman squirms a bit, looks around, and finally replies: "..um..yeah, yes of course he can! Sacre bleu! I'm no french liar!"
"Let me try" the friend says accusingly: "Hey pig, how much is 4 plus 4?"
The pig sniffs the ground silently.
The frenchman, not wanting to be exposed for the french liar he is, grabs a stick and shoves it up the pig's rear:
"HUUIIIIITTTT!!!!"

That was a 2009 joke. It has a 9 in it.
But it also has an 8 in it. This is significant.
I feel removed enough from the recently-departed year of our lord 2008 to discuss it openly now.

i don't remember a lot of the things that happened in it, and many of the things i thought of to discuss actually happened in 2007 or the late eighties, so there's that.

i liked some records from 2008. That part i usually remember.

these were some of them:





















but certainly not all of them...

what else happened in 2008? Lots of things. Too many to report probably. I think as long everyone just keeps in mind that 2008 was the year :

- kraft foods introduced "bagel-fuls"
- of european intercultural dialogue
- "10,000 b.c" came out
- the large hadron collider hit the scene
- the seven NEW deadly sins fell from heaven

happy new year though.

i will leave you with my tea-leaf predictions for 2009:



- bobby pins will continue to be made shittier and shittier
- olympic fever will divide vancouver
- golden retrievers will enjoy a comeback
- david sedaris will keep annoying me
- people will keep trying to tell me to give david sedaris a try
- the blues will remain blue

i spared no expense

it is really difficult to find info about having moose in your dreams.
i had a two moose dream last night. two moose in the water. and me in the water, in a canoe, behind the moose. they were swimming. i was paddlin'.
i choose to believe that instead of indicating that i am both strong and gentle, this moose dream i had instead represents my subconscious link to the moose plight of Newfoundland (http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2008/07/23/moose-mystery.html)
I read about it this morning after waking from my moose dream:

Parsons Pond resident Earl Keough, an avid woodsman, said formerly healthy moose have wasted away by an illness that appears to hit their digestive tracts.

"[A] few months ago, there was a very large bull that [got sick] up there by the side of the pond and died with this disease — whatever the disease is," said Keough.

"The moose got the diarrhea, and they just eat and eat, and they starve to death. They literally die on their hoofs. They become skeletons."

They literally die on their hoofs. They become skeletons.
Lovely imagery. Maybe i get to dream that part next.

But enough about my pseudo-psychic connections to the animals via dreams. Let's get down to brass tacks- Dawson City Music Festival. Just finished. Well still it lingers to be honest, but it's officially done. More rain than ever before. Perhaps more consecutive rain in dawson than i've ever seen even. And it too still lingers. But despite the bullgang related challenges offered by the rain, the festival was one hell of a time.

I don't really take rock band photos, much the same way i don't "schmooze" with bands; i am just plain too good for it. Do i look like my name is cam? no, thankfully i don't.
at any rate due to my misguided self pereception and subsequent stubborn resistance, i cannot regail you with pictures of the actual musicians from said dawson city music festival. i can tell you that Black Mountain were super and i really "felt" it. The Sadies and The Good Family [who i refer to collectively because the boundaries were very blurred and there was an excellent deal of interchange] knocked socks off. All socks. They were so passionately energetic and all such skilled musicians, and then you get to meet them and they're just so delightful. Ya. They have it all. Did more Palace Grand watching than usual, and i remain indifferent. The workshops and smaller performances i attended were definitely amazing as well.
Does this sound too civilized? Like all i did was watch and appreciate music?
Not so.
I don't entirely know how to explain the levels to which i extra-curricularily enjoyed myself at the festival, but i will provide you with a few key images from the weekend.
Pictures and louder and words or something like that...






Starts with a second, ends with a coming.

my sincere hope for next year's end of festival jam: Spirit in the Sky