Happy Birthday CBC!

Today is the CBC's 75^th birthday.  Each time I live as an expat I feel even more appreciative of it - great quality [radio] programming (with a few exceptions, and I'm not including TV here either) that ties our country together and helps tell our unique cultural story.  For $35/year/Canadian, I think it's totally worth it (that's including the TV, which I would happily sacrifice to save our radio if need be)!

Now that I live in the States, I listen to NPR almost as much as I listen to CBC, and although there are a few programs I love, the pledge drives and lack of cohesion between stations are things that make me long for the good old CBC.

Jian Ghomeshi had a nice essay on his show Q that pretty much summed it up for me.

In the Key of Inanity: gregory sings

My new favorite blog.

Let's Be Clear About This...

When it comes to Sunday night radio:

1) 8PM: "Inside the Music" (CBC Radio 1) = Awesome. I learn something cool every time I listen, from documentaries on making movie music to tonight's "If It Be Your Will" documentary on Leonard Cohen. *claps*

2) 9PM: "In the Key of Charles" (CBC Radio 1) = Terrible. People have tried to explain how bad it is, but it never seems to do it justice. From last week's "Butterflies and Rainbows" theme to this week's theme of "Home", the music ranges from boring to awful and the host seems to have been chosen to match. Please CBC, for goodness sakes get rid of him, I know the rating slot is not worth much to you, but anything would be better than this!

3) 10PM: "Lights Out" (Rock 101) = Great, as long as they don't play Baby Schnooks. Has the added bonus of being on at the same time as Gregory Charles (see #2).

I ♥ CBC & VSO

Last Friday, I woke up just as the Early Edition was doing their weekend prize pack giveaway. Since one of the best parts of the prize was tickets to one of the concerts the VSO is putting on as part of their Beethoven Festival, of course the question listeners were asked to answer concerned Beethoven.

At last, all those years of piano lessons and music history have paid off! After countless times not getting through, I actually did this time, and I knew (guessed!) the answer to the question too. So tonight I went to hear Beethoven's 4th and 5th, which were both awesome (although they really outdid themselves with the 5th).

There are two things I took away from this. First of all, CBC is great. The prize not only included the concert tickets, but also tickets to a play, tickets to theatre sports, tickets to Maplewood Farms, and some Lang Lang CDs. As grad students, we don't often have the time or budget to do these kinds of things, so it's really nice to win such an extensive prize. Also, when you live on a mountain, it's difficult to get away to attend events at all these different places.

Second, I think I was the youngest person at the concert. It's sad. Tickets for students are extremely cheap - if you get the free student access pass, tickets are $10 for most concerts, and you can bring a non-student friend for $15. If you aren't a student, rush tickets are $15. Granted, you can't always get tickets this way, but there's usually a pretty good chance. I've never seen a crappy VSO concert; they've all been absolutely fantastic. The last one I went to was Sumi Jo, but I saw some piano concertos last year that were excellent as well. There's something about hearing [classical] music live that you just can't get from an mp3, CD, or even vinyl (if you can find a player for it!). So why aren't more young people going? I worry that once the current population of attendees is gone, there won't be enough support for the VSO.