The Oppenheimer Report 7/2/13

A belated Happy Canada Day to all the Canadians among my twelve loyal readers, and an early Happy Fourth of July to all my friends stateside! Our little lake was lit up with fireworks Sunday night and coincidentally, a lot of people lost their dogs that night. Over the years we’ve had several dogs that were petrified of fireworks. Weather wise it was a bit of a bust up here in the Great White North, but even rain beats a sunny week spent visiting someone in the hospital. I hope my father-in-law is going to recuperate, because this latest stroke knocked the stuffing out of him. Once again, I am thankful we have caregivers in place and more and more it looks as if they are doing a pretty good job. That is the big thing I have to be thankful for this week. All the other stuff is gravy.

Last Saturday, my plumber and local get-off-your-ass-and-see-some-music influence called me and reminded me about the Burk’s Falls Rodeo happening last weekend. It wasn’t really boating weather so I hopped in the car and drove over to the nearby Burk’s Falls fairgrounds to see what was going on. Not much as it turned out. When I got to the entrance gate, the bored girl selling tickets took one look at me and gave me the senior citizens discount. It is the second time this has happened to me locally, and I’m not sure how to feel about this.Still, I never look a gift discount in the mouth. When I drove in there was a bandstand set up similar to the one I described at the Stisted fairgrounds a few weeks ago, some concession stands selling cowboy stuff, and about 100 yards away there was a horse ring and a lot of pens stuffed with livestock. The event was badly under-attended, perhaps because it was not properly promoted, but there was live music before and after the rodeo events, and I’m always up for seeing the local talent. The sound man was a local musician whom I wanted to meet and I had plenty of opportunity to chat with him during the shows. He knows a lot of the best local musicians and is a good guitarist himself. He’s been known to produce, and I’m hoping he can help me record proper demos of some of my songs. I’m in the middle of writing a theme album and I could use some guidance. After the rodeo events were over it was time for the two main acts: Mike Lynch and Jamie Warren. Both were pretty good, and although I’m not a huge country music fan, more and more lately I am impressed with the songwriting. It’s all about telling a story, and the country guys seem to be doing that best right now. I talked to Mike Lynch after his set and he knew my buddy Tim Hicks (Google Tim Hicks' “Stronger Beer” ) because they both hail from St. Catherines in the Niagara region of Ontario. All in all it was a successful outing and I’m glad I went. I only wish more people had been there to listen to the music.

For well over a decade, Shauna and I drove out in Banff, Alberta every summer, and our stay always coincided with the running of the Calgary Stampede. The Stampede is a big rodeo, but we never went. Somehow the prospect of driving back out of the mountains to attend a crowded event down in Calgary was not all that enticing to us. I would have enjoyed seeing some of the musical acts, but frankly, I’ve never been particularly interested in rodeos. That probably has something to do with my parents. They were horse lovers and they strongly felt that some (not all) of the rodeo events were cruel to horses, and probably to other animals as well. Indeed, it seemed as if every year during the Stampede, there was some news story about a bad accident involving the chuck wagon races, wherein a horse was badly injured and had to be destroyed. Mom and Dad also did not like thoroughbred racing for the same reasons. I used to joke that the only reason I might have wanted to attend the Calgary Stampede was to disgust Shauna by sampling the local delicacy, Rocky Mountain Oysters, A/K/A bull’s balls.   

Final notes … It’s wildfire season, and fires are blazing all over North America. There was a tragic story the other day about an entire elite team of firefighters from Prescott, Arizona, the Granite Mountain Hotshots, wiped out when a shift in the wind left them with no escape. Nineteen of Arizona’s finest died in that fire, and no one is sure yet exactly what happened. Those guys were the Navy Seals of firefighting, and they were well trained to handle almost any emergency. In last week’s abbreviated report I failed to mention that actor James Gandolfini, A/K/A Tony Soprano from The Sopranos, died suddenly of a heart attack while vacationing in Italy. I loved that show! Apparently the opposite of the character he played on the Sopranos, Gandolfini was not only a great actor but a generous and humble guy as well. He was 51. Last but not least, Egypt is once again in the international headlines as crowds of protesters gathered once again in Tahrir Square, this time calling for Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi to step down. Sounds like the military is about to step in, and if I can believe the Western Satan Dog media, this is what Egyptians want. Are they back to square one?           Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c2013 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED