Acoustic Harvest and Stargate Goodies!

[rusty_armour]

Last night, I had the pleasure of attending an Acoustic Harvest event with my good friend bakerybard at St. Nicholas Church in Scarborough. Acoustic Harvest is basically a folk music organization that arranges concerts showcasing folk artists, many of which are local. Last night's concert featured music by Rosemary Phelan, who played an interesting selection of songs ranging from Blues to Celtic Folk. While not all of her songs appealed to me, I thought she had a beautiful voice and a great stage presence. I was also impressed by the other two musicians on stage -- dobro player Jason LaPrade and bass player Murray Foster. Actually, Murray Foster is the reason why bakerybard first learned about the Rosemary Phelan concert, as she's known Murray for years.

I wasn't exactly sure what to expect at a folk concert being held in a Scarborough church, so I was surprised by the amount of audience participation (mostly singing bits of chorus) that was involved. Some audience participation (in the form of light-hearted heckling) wasn't something the artists asked for, but they took it in stride. I also didn't realize that the Acoustic Harvest committee would organize refreshments and a draw, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised considering that we were in a church basement. *g*

After the concert was over, bakerybard got a chance to catch up with Murray before we headed back out in the cold to catch a bus to Victoria Station. In a highly unusual occurrence in Scarborough, a bus pulled up to the bus stop almost immediately and we made pretty good time back to Eglinton Station. Not wanting the evening to end just yet, we went to Tim Horton's for some hot chocolate and a blueberry muffin. Well, I had the blueberry muffin because I was hungry. In any case, we had a nice long conversation about fic and fic-writing among other things. Then, to my absolute amazement, bakerybard gave me a scarf she had knitted. But it wasn't just any scarf. Oh, no, my friends, it was a Stargate scarf!



bakerybard had offered to knit me a scarf if I agreed to come to the Rosemary Phelan concert, but I thought she was joking! Well, apparently she was, but then she decided that it would be a fun project and set about knitting the coolest scarf ever! :-D

While I'm on the subject of awesome Stargate-related gifts, I thought it was high time to share pictures of the wonderful Stargate paperweight dubghall gave me for Christmas! Check it out!



And, once I remembered the Stargate paperweight, I also remembered the three Atlantis-themed CDs that pyrateanny has kindly put together for me the last couple of months and rushed off to take more pictures!

The first Atlantis-themed CD is The Adventures of Dr. Rodney McKay on Planet Claire, which involves a cool mix of space-related songs by various artists. Uh, I have no idea what "Planet Claire" could possibly be referring to! *g*



The second Atlantis-themed CD is Atlantis Rising, a compilation of New Age songs revolving around the Lost City of Atlantis, the ocean, space, etc.



The third Atlantis-themed CD (which I haven't even had for a week) is Atlantis Techno. This will probably surprise you, but it is a collection of Techno music about Atlantis, the ocean, space, etc. I've actually found this CD very useful while working on the rough draft for the latest installment of my current fic. And, hey, you've gotta love the cover!



All I can say is that I've got some very generous, talented and rather freaky friends! I'm extremely grateful for all of them! :-D

Comments

[dubghall.livejournal.com]

Cool scarf! I would have to agree that you know some relatively freaky people.

[bakerybard.livejournal.com]

whew! Good to know I'm not the only one, 'cause that'd be, like, way too much pressure...

...and hi scarf, looking all pretty on the internet!

...and I still haven't thought of anything that recurs every five years.

[radiogaga80.livejournal.com]

Having met two of the mentioned friends, I have to agree completely with your conclusion. ;-) I still get visions of a fridge filled with Guinness-cans whenever someone or something mentions Stargate. *bg* But I admit - you got some cool gifts! :D

[rusty-armour.livejournal.com]

LOL! I'd forgotten about the Guinness! That one drinking game was pretty potent! *g* And, yes, it amazes me how lucky I've been to be the recipient of these very cool gifts! :-)

[rusty-armour.livejournal.com]

Well, my original goal was to showcase your beautiful scarf alone, but then this post seemed like a great opportunity to display pictures of dubghall's groovy paperweight. Once I had decided that, I felt guilty for not mentioning pyrateanny's impressive CDs. So, yeah, you're not the only one out there. *g*

I was very pleased by how well the pictures of the scarf turned out. They do look all pretty on the internet! :-)

Sadly, I haven't thought of anything that takes place every five years either, but I'll definitely let you know if I do come across anything.

[rusty-armour.livejournal.com]

Cool scarf!

Yes, the scarf is extremely cool! It was a very pleasant and unexpected surprise! :-)

I would have to agree that you know some relatively freaky people.

I guess you would know! *g*

[radiogaga80.livejournal.com]

Well... ehm... we celebrate Liberation day every 5th of May (end of WW2) but we only get a day off every five years. Does that help? In fact, if I'm right, it were Canadians who liberated my part of the country. ;-)

[rusty-armour.livejournal.com]

That's really interesting! I didn't realize that Holland celebrated the day they were liberated, not that it's exactly surprising. I mean, who wouldn't celebrate being liberated? It's strange that you're only given a day off every five years, though. It doesn't seem to fit the spirit of being "liberated," you know? *g*

I know that Canadians were responsible for liberating at least one part of Holland during the war, but I'm ashamed to say that I can't remember any specifics. It would be awesome if it was your part of the country! :-)

[radiogaga80.livejournal.com]

It is a bit odd, I admit but often it collides with spring breaks so kids usually have free. Just people with job have not. I think the reason is that we celebrate Queen's day only a couple of days earlier - 30 April. But in general, Holland has few holidays, mainly because we're not a Catholic country, I think.

As for Canadians liberating Holland... I discovered they liberated my hometown! In fact, a Canadian grenade hit the local castle and nearly set the place on fire.

I already liked the Canadians but now I like them even more. :)

[pyrateanny.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous scarf, Rusty! I can't wait to see you wearing it. BakeryBard is very talented indeed!

And that paperweight from Dubghall looks both functional and decorative.

I should point out to everyone, though, that the CD mixes I gave you were actually THANK YOU gifts for the ton of SGA swag that you have so generously lent me on an on-going basis. I'm really grateful to you for feeding my Shep addiction! LOL.

Speaking of addiction -- that Guiness-SGA drinking game sounds like fun!

Cheers, Pyrate Anny

[njc2007.livejournal.com]

OMG. I love the scarf. You have some really dedicated friends.

[rusty-armour.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous scarf, Rusty! I can't wait to see you wearing it. BakeryBard is very talented indeed!

If it's still cold enough the next time I see you, I'll be sure to wear it. Hell, maybe I'll wear it even if it isn't cold enough. *g*

And that paperweight from Dubghall looks both functional and decorative.

As it's currently weighing down a note I'll need later in the week, it's definitely functional as well as decorative. :-) I also have a thing for paperweights, so I was excited about it even before I realized that it had the added bonus of being a Stargate paperweight!

I should point out to everyone, though, that the CD mixes I gave you were actually THANK YOU gifts for the ton of SGA swag that you have so generously lent me on an on-going basis. I'm really grateful to you for feeding my Shep addiction! LOL.

Well, I've been more than happy to share my SGA swag with you. It's always more fun when you can share that geekish fandom joy. *g* All the same, the CD mixes were very much appreciated, so if I've helped to feed your Shep addiction then I'm glad. :-)

Speaking of addiction -- that Guiness-SGA drinking game sounds like fun!

Actually, the drinking game took place a number of years ago, so it was SG-1 instead of SGA. And it was really potent because one of the rules was to take a sip of alcohol every time someone said "sir". As SG-1 is set on a military base, you can probably imagine how often we were raising our glasses! *g*

An SGA drinking game would be a lot of fun. I wonder if anyone has created one. If not we should come up with one ourselves!

[rusty-armour.livejournal.com]

It is beautiful, isn't it? Yes, I definitely have some really dedicated friends. :-)

[bakerybard.livejournal.com]

um... it might also have been really potent 'cause nobody quite realized that the drinks I was mixing had three shots of liquor in them... and I didn't realize that that might make a difference. oh, how young we were! *g*

[bakerybard.livejournal.com]

Dedicated to sitting on my futon watching dvds, that's me! It's all part of my cunning plan to learn to knit by learning to knit scarves. And nothing else.

[rusty-armour.livejournal.com]

LOL! Yeah, maybe that's the more likely cause! *g*