Map Makers
Not surprisingly, I met Alex Miller - president of ESRI Canada - at last year's conference of the Association of Canada Lands Surveyors in Yellowknife. ESRI is a world leader in GIS (Geographical Information Systems) technology. The world's first GIS was developed in Canada for the Ministry of Forestry by Dr. Roger Tomlinson back in the 1960's.
Basically, GIS is a way of layering different kinds of data on maps. It's how we come to recognize patterns in everything from disease to demographics, from consumer habits to military maneuvers. And what is Six String Nation in not a map of Canadian history, culture, music and memory layered onto an acoustic guitar?
I'll be doing a couple of presentations for ESRI Canada in the coming year but I was very pleased last night to launch the series with a small event at the Kingbridge Centre with a handful of ESRI staff and clients. Following a delightful dinner, I did my presentation for the assembled guests and ESRI employee Peter Miller (pictured) finished things off with a couple of Neil Young tunes. Nicely done!
If you want to see some GIS in action, check out ESRI's free ArcGIS app for iPhone/iPad and for Android devices.
Special thanks to Alex and Mary-Charlotte Miller. Thanks also to Alia Kotb and my great team at the National Speakers Bureau, especially Soniya Tolani and Kimberly Biddlecombe.
Posted at 9:41 AM
Suddenly Stephanie
Stephanie Marshall (pictured) has been a long time friend and a long time supporter of the Six String Nation. I've known her as a new media producer, MBA student and now communications executive but of late she's revived an earlier aspect of her character: the singer-songwriter.
I was away for her public re-debut at the Free Times Cafe a few months ago but that's OK because it meant I got to provide Voyageur for her to play for the first time in public at her special birthday show at Graffiti's in Toronto's Kensington Market last night.
Just to build the suspense, bandmates Nathan Bishop and Vivienne Suen each took a turn with Voyageur first before Stephanie finally closed the circle on a decade's worth of support for this project. It was a sweet moment.
On the way home, we stopped in at friend John Oswald's new gallery/bar called Art + Drinks. John is one of the world's great electronic music pioneers and theorists so it was extra fun to finally put this acoustic guitar in his hands!
Posted at 10:20 AM
Among Old Girls and New
Among the "Havergal Old Girls" - alumni of one of Toronto's more prestigious private girls' schools - is friend Margie Zeidler, now head of the UrbanSpace Property Group, who are behind two extraordinary buildings in Toronto that support artists and social entrepreneurs. An invitation from Margie back in 2004 lead ultimately to the extraordinary connection with the community on Haida Gwaii and the acquisition of the piece of the amazing Golden Spruce that is in many ways the face and voice of Voyageur.
So it was an extra pleasure today to be the keynote speaker for Havergal's Partnership Day - a day dedicated to encouraging students to think about the ways they can make a difference in the world. Music teacher Paul McCulloch had written a song for Voyageur just for the occasion and scored it for the school band and orchestra with student Elie Park playing Voyageur for the assembly.
It was an amazing day and an honor to be among some other extraordinary guests who came in to inspire the students, including pal Mark Kingwell, Bishop Mark MacDonald - Anglican Bishop for Canada's Indigenous Peoples - and civic engagement guru Dave Meslin.
Very special thanks to the day's organizers, old friend Ann Peel and new friend Jocelyn O'Connor (pictured) for inviting me to be part of the day. Thanks also to principal Dr. Susan Groesbeck and all the staff and students at Havergal.
Posted at 5:45 PM
Hard to Forget: Ariana Gillis
Labels: Ariana Gillis, Bernie Taupin, Dave Marsh, Elton John, guitar, Voyageur
Just wanted to mention that one of our favorite people in SixStringNationdom, Ariana Gillis, has a new CD out called "Forget Me Not". We attended the launch tonight at Hugh's Room and it's such a pleasure to see her extraordinary talent blossoming as it is.
Those who have followed Six String Nation for a long time will know that Ariana first played Voyageur back on June 8th, 2007 at the Zooma Zooma Cafe in Jordan Village Ontario. Her father/guitarist/music-director David Gillis invited us to be part of the show with himself and Tony McManus as the main event. Ariana - then aged 15 - played a short set and I was absolutely blown away by her songwriting skills then. It was clear she was going places and I think the new album is clear evidence of that. It's attracted the attention, famously, of Elton John lyricist Bernie Taupin and one of the great rock and roll writers of all time, Dave Marsh.
I'm very proud that Ariana performed at the launch of the Six String Nation book (which makes a great Christmas gift, BTW) and I hope you'll check her music out and help make it the success it deserves to be!
Photo by Doug Nicholson.