River City Writer

I wrote a review of this year’s Sobeys Symphony Under the Sky over at my other blog.

Because I don’t really have the energy required to run multiple blogs, I will likely not be posting to this blog anymore. I won’t take it down, but my Edmonton-related posts will now be posted to the other blog (see above) instead of one this one.

If I change my mind in the future, I’ll make a post on both blogs so that you’ll be aware of the change.

The following is the letter that I sent to Edmonton City Council (I emailed my councillors directly and CCed the general address):

Dear Councillors,

I am writing to you as a citizen who wishes to see the Edmonton City Centre Airport closed. While the ECCA has served the city well in the past, today it has become little more than a private airfield for a privileged minority and it limits Edmonton’s future growth.

Rather than maintain the status quo, I urge you to vote to close the airport.

Closing the City Centre Airport and redeveloping the airport lands is an incredible opportunity for Edmonton. It will help to revitalize the downtown core by removing height restrictions from the Outer Surface area. It will allow NAIT to expand the existing campus instead of building a new institution elsewhere, which will benefit NAIT students and also help to prevent urban sprawl (a problem that seems to plague our city).

The redevelopment of the airport lands must be well thought out, however. We cannot simply close the ECCA and hope that something wonderful will appear in its place.

Not only must the redevelopment plan honour the historical significance of the City Centre Airport—which can be done by maintaining and possibly even expanding the Alberta Aviation Museum—but it must also focus on building a sustainable and innovative community in our city core. If the airport remains open, the opportunity to build such a community will be lost, and Edmonton’s growth will continue to be defined by unsustainable urban sprawl.

If we truly want Edmonton to be a world class city, we must attract and maintain the type of young, creative professionals who define cities like Vancouver and Toronto. If we continue to grow the city via outward sprawl, rather than infill and urban redevelopment projects, these same young people will continue to ignore Edmonton as a potential home and those who currently live here will continue to view central Canada or the west coast as greener pastures.

With the points I have outlined in mind, I urge you to break from the status quo and vote in favour of closing the Edmonton City Centre Airport.

Sincerely,

Adam Snider

Edmonton City Council will be voting on the issue on July 8 or 10, so please email your City Councillor at councillors@edmonton.ca. For more information, visit notmyairport.ca.

I’m in favour of closing the City Centre Airport. While I haven’t blogged about it until now, I’ve made my opinion fairly well known on Twitter and in discussions around the barroom table with friends and family.

My reasons for wanting to close the airport have been expressed by a number of other people who are more eloquent than I am, so I’ll keep it simple: we need to close the airport because doing so will benefit the majority of Edmontonians.

Leaving the airport open only benefits a very small group of people, many of whom aren’t even Edmontonians (sorry Northerners, but this is our city first; we appreciate your business and all, but Edmonton has to do what’s best for Edmontonians). Essentially, leaving the airport open would leave the majority of city residents subsidizing a convenient landing strip for the private jets of a very small minority of business people. (Yes, I’m over-simplifying, but the point stands.)

Far more people will benefit from the closure of the airport than from leaving it open. It’s as simple as that.

For others who’ve expressed my opinion more eloquently, check out the links below:

• In favour of closing YXD – Adam Rozenhart
• Muni is not ‘my’ airport – Lorne Gunter
• Not My Airport – Mack D. Male

Just an update for everyone wondering about Gilbert Bouchard’s memorial service. The service will be held at 2pm on Saturday, June 27 at the Unitarian Church of Edmonton (10804 119 Street NW).

If you’re on Facebook, view the event page for more information.

I’ve never really thought of Edmonton as a hipster enclave. Sure, we’ve got kids who wear thrift store cardigans and Buddy Holly glasses when they head out to the indie rock show, but what city doesn’t?

When I think of really hardcore hipsters (if such a thing is possible), I tend to think of places like New York or L.A., Toronto or Vancouver. Those are the cities were you find these fucking hipsters.

Yesterday, though, I encountered the ultimate hipster (female variety). Perhaps she isn’t the world’s ultimate hipster. She is, however, one of the ultimate hipsters in Edmonton.

I was driving at the time, so I wasn’t able to snap a picture. But, let me describe the scene for you.

She was riding down 104 Avenue on her fixed gear bicycle, wearing a miniskirt and ironic cowboy boots. Of course, that’s not enough to make her the ultimate hipster. She also wore a sock monkey toque, a tweed blazer, and (of course) thick-rimmed glasses. She was probably listening to music on her iPod Touch, too.

I wish I had a picture. She was the ultimate hipster.

As you have likely heard by now, Gilbert Bouchard has passed away. His body was found in the North Saskatchewan River on the weekend. It’s a sad thing to report, and it’s a sad day for the many communities that Gilbert was a part of—the arts community, the local media, the Unitarian Church of Edmonton—and it is, of course, very sad for his family and friends.

The only solace for them, I suppose, is that at least now they know for sure. There will be no doubt in their mind. They’ll be able to move on, eventually, instead of being stuck with the faint hope that, maybe, he’s still out there somewhere. That is something to be grateful for, I guess.

There will be a memorial for Gilbert held at the Unitarian Church of Edmonton, on Saturday, June 27. I don’t know the exact time yet, but I’m sure it will be announced on the Facebook group dedicated to Gilbert’s memory, as well as at the Unitarian Church (where I am a member, so I will report back if I hear anything).

I will report more details as I hear about them, so that those who want to celebrate and remeber Gilbert Bouchard’s life will be able to do so.

If you’re a frequent reader of the Best of Craigslist, you’re probably already familiar with the girl who wanted to have sex while playing World of Warcraft. If you’re not, I suggest you go and read that ad—authentic or not, it’s pretty funny stuff.

Well, now Edmonton has its very own version of that ad. Except, in our version, it’s a dude who wants to have sex with a woman while she plays Super Mario Bros. It’s probably fake, but it’s hilarious. And, it caught the eye of the perverts over at Fleshbot (NSFW).

That’s right, Edmonton is now Internet Famous because some dude has a fantasy about having sex while playing classic NES games.

UPDATE: The ad has been removed from Craigslist, but the Fleshbot post contains the entire text of the ad (it’s also not remotely safe for work, so don’t click it unless you’re at home).

I’ve noticed that I’m updating this blog less and less often. There are a variety of reasons for this, that I’m not going to get into; I mention this only because it’s caused me to question the future of this blog. I may or may not continue with it.

I do blog elsewhere on the web, though, so if you enjoy my writing but are frustrated that I don’t update this blog very often, you can also find me at:

• AdamSnider.com – my personal blog, wherein I write about whatever catches my fancy. There is no central theme, but I like to think that it’s an interesting read; and
• Exploring the Spirit – a blog about my personal spirituality. It’s not for everyone, but if you’re interested in spirituality without dogma or a defined creed, feel free to check it out.

I got this email last night, but wasn’t able to post it until now. Hopefully, by reposting it here, the search can be expanded and Gilbert will turn up safe and sound very soon.

Dear Members and Friends of UCE,

A serious situation has arisen concerning UCE member Gilbert Bouchard. If you don’t know him from church, you may recognize his name from his role as visual arts reporter for the Edmonton Journal and CBC Radio.

Gilbert has not been seen since late Monday night. He has been declared a missing person by the Edmonton Police Service and the family is asking all of his communities for assistance.

Gilbert has been suffering from depression and is off his medications. His disappearance is highly unusual behaviour for him. If you see him or have helpful information, please contact his family at 780-761-4156 or call the church.

I am sure we all are hoping and praying for his safe return.

Brian Kiely

There has apparently been no activity on his bank account since he’s been missing, either, which makes this even more concerning. If you have any information, please give his family a call or call the EPS at 780-423-4567.

I’ve included a physical description, a link to Gilbert’s Facebook profile, and a picture of him below.

• Description: Gilbert is a white male, stands about 5′10″ and weighs 250 lbs with brown hair and blue eyes.
• Gilbert’s Facebook profile

On Thursday, April 16, I was invited—along with several other local bloggers and twitterers—to attend a performance by the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. In addition to live tweeting the event (check the #eso hashtag for those tweets) and being interviewed about the role that social media plays in promoting the arts (those videos should be up on the ESO blog in the near future), we were asked if we would blog about the concert.

I’m not a music critic, so I’m not going to give you a review of the concert, other than to say that it was excellent (I don’t think I’ve ever seen an ESO concert that I didn’t enjoy) and that you need to hear the giant pipe organ at the Winspear if you ever get the chance. That thing is amazingly powerful and the sound is great—it almost drowns out the rest of the orchestra!

Instead, I’m going to take a suggestion offered by ESO new media guy, Philip Paschke, and write about the importance of sharing cultural events—and the symphony in particular—with a friend.

Why take a friend to the ESO? Well, aside from the fact that I got a pair of free tickets, cultural events are always better if you have someone to share the experience with. Movies aren’t even half as good if you’ve got no one to talk discuss them with afterward. The same goes for the symphony.

Unlike a lot of popular music, orchestral music tends to fall into the realm of “high art.” Now, I don’t like to draw a distinction between the highbrow and the lowbrow—especially since so much of art manages to successfully combine the two—but let’s be honest here. As much as I love a good rap song, if you strip away the lyrics the music is pretty boring most of the time. Rarely is the music particularly thought provoking sans lyrics.

With classical and orchestral music, however, the music stands alone. Rarely is there a vocal component to voice the story that the composer is trying to tell. The music must do this on it’s own. Because of this, it can sometimes be hard to decide what sort of story is being told. Is this song about love and heartbreak, or is it about the horrors of war? Is this song a tribute to the composer’s god, or is it meant to conjure up images of the glory of nature?

With the variety of possiblities out there, having someone to discuss the concert with is all the more important. Not only can you talk about how good the music sounded, or how entertaining the conductor’s jokes were (I’m looking at you, Mr. Eddins). You can also discuss what the music was trying to say. Interpreting music—or any art, for that matter—is much more interesting when you have a companion to bounce ideas off of (or to debate ideas with, depending on what your idea of fun is).

The same is true of any sort of art. Whether you’re going to a horror movie or a performance by the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (which I highly recommend), bring a friend. You’ll get much more out of the show because of it.