On October 11, after a wonderful Canadian Thanksgiving dinner, the family all headed out to the event Lit Up: Oeno after Dark at the Oeno sculpture park. It was a little chilly, but not too chilly to hang out and be part of the drumming circle in the drumming tent. It was hosted by interactive percussionist, Jesse Stewart. He provided bespoke instruments that invited exploration. From ages 2 to 102, everyone entering the tent tried their hand at making a beat. See what you think as you listen to my soundscape of one of the many groups that gathered in the tent that night. It starts a little haphazard until a beat is finally found.

Listen here: Oeno Percussion Circle Soundscape: 6mb 3m44s

Hardware and Software Used: Zoom H4 Recorder in 2 channel surround sound, Windows 11, Audacity 3.7.4

On a hot summer late afternoon, a city bus detours up our street. It is raining steadily and a plane flies by overhead. This soundscape is best listened to in a quiet environment with headphones on.

Hardware and Software Used: Zoom H4 Recorder in 2 channel surround sound, Windows 11, Audacity 3.7.4

On Christmas day 2024, Special K and I took a stroll around the bay in Wellington Ontario in the beautiful County of Prince Edward. The only people around were the two of us, so my soundscape is pure Canadian Anatidae. It was difficult to determine which ones were duck geese or swan. Though I think all these types of Anatidae were present, ducks quack, geese honk. and swan make a trumpet sound. Listen and see what you think.

Ducks, Geese and Swan on the Bay: 5mb 2mins0sec

Hardware and Software Used: Samsung S22 for recording and photos, Windows 11, Audacity 3.7.1, Best listened to with headphones.

Listen : 3m14s


Equipment used: ASUS mixer, Apex Microphone, Windows 11, Audacity 3.7.1, Imagination

With a shoutout to Kaz (@artbykaz.ca insta and threads) who reminded me that poetry is important too.

The CNE, otherwise known as the Canadian National Exhibition, runs for a little over two weeks at the end of the summer.   The grounds are very near the northern shore of Lake Ontario in Toronto, about one to two kilometres away.  One of the highlights of the CNE is the Air Show that features U.S. and Canadian Forces jets and planes.   Sitting on the border of downtown and midtown in Toronto gave the neighbourhood a good chance to see the roaring jets flying overhead. Amid the cicadas, birds, insects, and random comments, the jets drowned out nature.   Have a listen to the sound scene I captured of the air show overhead on its second to last afternoon, ahead of Labour Day 2023. Best listened in a quiet room with headphones.

Listen Here: 12.1mb 05m05s

Hardware and Software: Zoom H4 Recorder in 4 channel surround sound, Windows 11, Audacity 3.1.3, Samsung s22 Ultra for photos. Best listened to on headphones.

The garden tour is finally done. Peaceful, but not quiet, the bullfrogs, insects, and birds are settling in for the night on June 13, 2023, 9:00 pm.

Listen Here: After The Garden Show (13mb 5m34s)

Hardware and Software: iPhone 12, Windows 11, Audacity 3.3.3. Original recording by L.E.E., postproduction editing by Ninja Notion. Best listened to with headphones.

Ninja defends Buck Angel and Madge defends Dave Chapelle . Madge doesn’t see the point of fanning the flames of the culture wars.  Ninja frets about her powerlessness over the existential threats facing humanity. Those threats include AI, climate change, and nuclear destruction. Madge imagines in a thought experiment that she could be the only conscious being in the universe.   We discuss the ethics of using AI to create a show where Joe Rogan interviews Madge.  Madge likes that idea and asserts that we could use AI to subvert the messages of Donald Trump.  Check out the Madge’s version of this show at YR1609.

AI Generated Robot Pic With Human Features

Listen right here:  RebelMatters241 170mb 1:34:35

Other things discussed:  Donald D. Hoffman – Is Reality an Illusion?   Is Lex Fridman Just Another Celebrity Kiss-Ass?, Archive Org, digital hoarding, child labour 

Movies mentioned:  The Whale, Once Upon a Time in the West – Spaghetti Western from the 1960s

TV shows or characters mentioned:  Ted Lasso, baby Yoda, The Mandalorian filmed on a round stage using game tech, Uncle Fester, Abbot Elementary

Books discussed: Greta Thunberg’s New Climate Book, Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, Moby Dick – An American Classic

Other Important Links:  Pride48.com, mynoise.net – bespoke soundscapes, meditation, and tinnitus relief, www.drobo.com – Direct and Network Attached Storage solutions (DAS and NAS), Lily Pons

At the end of January, Special K and I went to the Toronto Tea Festival.    The last time we were there was February 2020.   It’s the first time it has been held since the pandemic started.    Speaking of the pandemic, we are still in it as I post this episode in February 2023.    It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost three years since the pandemic was declared, but here we are.   I know, you possibly think it’s over.  Maybe you’re not wearing a mask anymore.  Anywhere.  Well, I still am.   Everywhere I go.   Five vaccine shots and one Covid infection later, I am still wearing my mask.   It was no different going to the tea festival.   The venue was very small.  And quite crowded.  Everyone there wanted to taste the best teas the world has to offer.  So, with the few exceptions where I tasted tea and talked to vendors, Special K and I kept our masks on.    The festival has been held annually except for 2021 and 2022 since, well, sources differ on when it first started, but it might have been 2014.    It is set up in what I think is too small a space for the number of people who attend, in the Toronto Reference Library steps
from one of the most famous intersections in Toronto – Yonge and Bloor.  

There were a total of 41 vendors at the festival and I started my journey at table 41 Daniel’s Chai Bar.  Daniel has even served tea to HRH King Charles III.    I asked him to share a few words for ninjaradio and then moved on to talk with Isabelle and Nickola who have what I can only describe as the smoothest teas I have ever tasted.   A more frothy mellow matcha latte I have never had.   

We then headed over to the David’s Tea booth where we chatted for a long time with Nadia, the Director of Sustainability for the company.  We were rather intrigued that a Tea company would have such a position defined.  But they are committed to fair trade and eco-responsibility.   They have a partnership with Teahorse.ca, a women led indigenous owned company out of Thunder Bay. The featured tea from this partnership is Manoomin Maple.  Manoomin is Ojibway for Wild Rice. 10% of the proceeds of their maple tea will go towards the David Suzuki Institute to support Indigenous communities.   

Finally, we tested the award winning Cream of Earl Grey at Blink Tea, where I had a chat with the President, Michael Prini.   It is astounding how many different types of tea there are and the history and rituals that surround them.  I’ve put some links in the show notes if you want to explore further.  Have a listen here to my conversations with experts in the field.    Enjoy the show. 

Listen here: HotFRM 240 35m59s 65.96mbs

Links:

Annual Toronto Tea Festival

Daniel’s Chai Bar

Seta Organics

Moringa

Cordyceps Mushroom

https://www.davidstea.com/ca_en/

https://www.davidstea.com/ca_en/steeping-together-podcast/

Indigenous owned from Thunder Bay:  Teahorse

David’s tea ethics, sourcing, and sustainability efforts:    https://www.davidstea.com/us_en/sustainability/

Michael Prini’s Blink Tea

When Special K and I stepped into the AGO in Sep 2022,  the dulcet tones of Jónsi, the Icelandic artist and singer/guitarist for the band Sigur Rós, reverberated in the hall. Drawn onward by the music I listened and poked my head into the dark room. The exhibit is called Obsidian in English and Hrafntinna (Hrawftinna) in Icelandic. The piece I was about to see is inspired by a volcanic eruption in 2021.  The text panel says that Jónsi ’s, “…work in the visual arts draws on the genre-blurring atmospheric effects of his music.”   In this installation, Jónsi  “…imagines the sensation of being inside a volcano…”  Also on the panel is a description of the installation:  “A single circular light stands in for the summit of the volcano.  A sixteen-channel audio composition resonates through 195 speakers; a sweet and smoky scent fills the air…”  In bold, the panel warns the participant that it features low lighting [which did take a few minutes to adjust to], scents, sound reverberations and occasional flashing lights. Visitors should exercise caution.”  It’s described on another panel as a “…sound installation…” with “…chandelier, speakers, subwoofers, carpet, and fossilized amber scent.”  

I take issue with the term “visitor”.   It is too immersive an experience to not be a participant.  I’m hoping my audio keeps to the spirit of what my experience was.   Let me explain further.   There is a video on the Art Gallery of Ontario website about the exhibit.   The audio in that video is very different from what I actually recorded.  The promotional video no doubt used many mics and professional mixing to convey the aural message the artist wanted.  I love the sound on that video – of course-  it’s Jónsi , but I like the sound my Zoom audio recorder captured too.  I lay back on a carpeted circular platform that others were laying back on, listening, watching the light show, and smelling the smoky scent.  The only mics were on my two ears in a particular position in the room.    As a participant, I felt the reverberations directly.  I hope the audio I captured achieves something close to that same experience, if you listen to it in a relaxed quiet location with headphones. You might just feel the rumble and explosions of the volcano.    You will hear what I heard, from my vantage point, using binaural earbuds, albeit, rendered digital. 

If you live in Toronto, or even if you don’t, I recommend this installation.    I can only provide an audio interpretation of what I experienced, and sound is only one aspect of it.   Missing is the darkness that surrounds the participants, the amber scent that evokes ash and fire, the sensations of a moving earth, and the light above, sometimes dark, sometimes bright, sometimes flashing.  We were after all, supposed to be inside the belly of the volcano.   It’s not clear when the exhibition leaves the Art Gallery of Ontario.   You’ll have to check the AGO website for that. 

Here’s the audio (Hotfrm239 – 24m05 44MBs):

Full Album: Jonsi’s Obsidian on Youtube