As discussed in part one, Edmonton has a rich arts and culture scene, maybe surprising to some for a city of its middling size and northern isolation. This is amply demonstrated by the versatile and classy Citadel Theatre and in Edmonton’s long-standing main jazz club, the “Yardbird Suite.”
As its Charlie Parker-inspired name signifies, the club is operated by people who know and love their jazz, namely the Edmonton Jazz Society. Imagine that, a jazz club run collectively by …
I’ve always had mixed feelings about Alberta and have come to understand this ambivalence recently – I don’t care much for Calgary, but I do like Edmonton. Calgary is very head-office, a button-down, corporate oil town with all the character of drywall. Edmonton though is funkier and more interesting, with a much stronger arts and culture presence, which was hammered home for me this past weekend. “The Flying Beavers”, as I’ve dubbed the trio of John Alcorn, Reg Schwager …
Earl Weaver’s death over the weekend was a jarring and unpleasant surprise, but coming as it did on a baseball-themed cruise, it was maybe an appropriate exit. Earl loved to hang out and talk baseball with anybody who would listen – old players, young players, reporters, coaches, fans – I can just see him on the cruise ship, bending an elbow and yakking it up in his scratchy, hoarse voice. There are worse ways to go and given his …
This past weekend brought momentous baseball news – the deaths of all-time Cardinal great Stan Musial at 92 and celebrated Orioles’ manager Earl Weaver, suddenly on a baseball-related cruise at 82. Because Musial was older and his career more distant, I read less commentary on him, so will deal with him first and Weaver later, in a separate entry.
“Stan the Man”, baseball’s “perfect, gentle knight”, suddenly gone at 92. It’s perhaps not appropriate to mourn the passing of …