November 18, 2007
Posted by Li Robbins on November 18, 2007 at 04:05 PM
Andre Alexis is doing double host duty today and tomorrow, today hosting his weekly Skylarking, Monday morning you can hear him in the Here's To You chair. But as it is Sunday, what you want to know about is what's on this evening's show.
And I will tell you, verbatim from the horse's (producer's) mouth: "Get set for a bucolic Sunday - from heaps of sheep to Beethoven's pastoral, Andre Alexis covers everything that the countryside has to offer, musically that is."
Heaps of sheep indeed. Almost as good as one of my all time favourite rhymes, found in the following lyric (think Peggy Lee, Julie London, Barbra Streisand): "You told me love was too plebeian. Told me you were through with me and..."
November 04, 2007
Posted by on November 4, 2007 at 04:00 PM
One day, on a hill overlooking Peterborough, Andre Alexis wondered where he could find a good burger and listen to local music. This day, on Skylarking, he brings you the music he found. (And perhaps reviews the burger, that I can't say.)
I know that I once had one of the oddest salads I've ever had in Peterborough, but then again, I've also heard some great Peterborough-based music, (Rick Fines, as just one example that comes to mind), so perhaps it all evens out.
And just in case you want to know what's doin' in P'borough, aside from what Andre tells you about, here are a couple of starting points, Peterboroughjams and Thousand Pounds Of Sound.
October 28, 2007
Posted by on October 28, 2007 at 04:00 PM
This week on Skylarking, you can hear Andre in conversation with author/playwright Don Hannah, who will read the words of Dante Alighieri. There's also music from Spike Jones. Say what? That's Skylarking for you...rarely an expected moment.
October 21, 2007
Posted by on October 21, 2007 at 04:00 PM
Ever wondered if there's someone out there with your name, someone just like you, someone who drinks whiskey and carnation, like you do? In Andre Alexis' case there is such a someone and he's a well-known writer. Hmmm. Mysteriouser and mysteriouser. This week on Skylarking, join host-Alexis as he interviews the author-Alexis.
October 14, 2007
Posted by on October 14, 2007 at 03:30 PM
This week, Skylarking is presenting a philosophy slam. I'm guessing that's like a poetry slam, but not delivered in one of those poetry-reading voices.
In fact, Andre Alexis promises that this philosophy slam will have "hootin', hollerin' and speculation about Wittgenstein's philosophical mistakes."
Is it possible to actually make a philosophical mistake though? Given we're not talkin' science here. Perhaps that's a question that will be raised. Or at least hooted at, hollered at, or speculated upon.
October 07, 2007
Posted by on October 7, 2007 at 02:30 PM
Skylarking has moved a little later in the day on Sundays, now it will be heard at 5 p.m. But it's still the same short strange trip with host Andre Alexis. (Andre, you don't mind that description, do you? What a short, strange trip it's been...just a little musical aside. So "strange" in the best sense...)
Now, Skylarkin' listeners answered a 13th century riddle with no problem. You're a brilliant bunch. But do you know your vis art? This week Andre describes three well-known Canadian paintings and dares you to name the three artists who painted them. Skylurkers, come on out...
September 23, 2007
Posted by on September 23, 2007 at 11:30 AM
Singer Patricia O'Callaghan gets together with Andre Alexis today for a little Skylarking. Ms. O'Callaghan is a good sport alright -- she agrees to play Stun The Soprano, in which she is confronted with vocal music from Mars. I'm not kidding, that's what Andre says, from Mars. Guess you (and I) will just have to tune in.
Mars!
Sorry, can't get over it. What would music from Mars sound like? We just don't know. But we do know what music was played on the Mars rover Spirit mission in 2004. A playlist for Mars that included everything from Rodgers and Hammerstein to The Ramones.
September 16, 2007
Posted by on September 16, 2007 at 01:45 PM
Skylarking asks that you make sure you’re somewhere where you can stand up this Sunday when you listen to to the show. Not only will Andre Alexis and friends sing the national anthem, but they’ll also ask that burning question: “Beaver – sacred animal or what?”
I'm glad that Andre is encouraging this singing of anthems. I know some people view anthem singing as some kind of misguided nationalism that divides us from personkind, but I don't look at it that way. I look at it as a chance to celebrate the place you live. Granted, some anthem lyrics are more orientated that way than others, something that is frankly obvious at Jays baseball games, when both American and Canadian anthems are sung. But if the lyrics disturb you, you can always hum, and stare at Vernon Wells and Frank Thomas, willing them to become the heavy hitters they truly are. Even if it is too late for this season.
Or, you can forget about the whole anthem thing and just ask the burning question: "Beaver -- sacred animal or what?"
September 09, 2007
Posted by on September 9, 2007 at 02:00 PM
Hey, a contest. Who doesn't feel a small thrill of potential victory when entering one? Even if, speaking from personal experience, one never seems to win. (Unless you count the giant stuffed animal turtle I once took home from a fair as an eight-year-old. Of course, it couldn't really improve on than that, could it.)
Today some lucky Skylarking listener can take home a great novel by Spain’s Javier Marias. (Note how easy it is to slip into "contest speak?" Step right up, lady luck is riding with you today.)
And Mr. Alexis will give one lucky listener Marias’ When I Was Mortal.
And now we get to the radio prize. No, not an actual radio, silly. A satisfying radio moment, when Andre Alexis reads from When I Was Mortal.
August 26, 2007
Posted by on August 26, 2007 at 01:45 PM
Andre Alexis asks this question today on the radio: "What does it mean to feel someone else's pain and, in the scheme of things, does it make you a better predator or a worse one?" Hmm, predator, and there I was about to get all weepy, thinking about how he's struggling with an unanswerable question. But maybe he's exploring both empathy and its counterpart...schadenfreude? Will have to tune into Skylarkin' to find out...
August 19, 2007
Posted by on August 19, 2007 at 01:34 PM
Ever find yourself skipping merrily home? Laughing because the sun's shining on a cricket crawling on your back porch?
Not me. I'm more of the sloping down the street, staring at rooftops kind. The "worrying about how I'm going to get that cricket out the door without actually touching it" sort of person.
Yes, what is viewed as one of "the wonders of the world" is a pretty individual thing -- one man's sun-glinting cricket is another woman's squeamishness about bugs.
However, I completely relate to the subject of Skylarking today -- that the wonders of this world can at times make one almost unbearably happy. Host Andre Alexis explores this notion: "Happiness, curse of the sensitive class."
Now, has he ever noticed how, at a certain time of day in mid-winter, the sky above the roof line becomes tinged with pewter, cast in the yellow early setting sun, and the snow begins to flurry, a gentle frenzy of tiny snowflakes that is so perfectly ephemeral that suddenly the unbearable happiness strikes? No? Well, maybe he's still happy it's summer, unbearably happy even. Like I say, to each his or her own wonders.
August 12, 2007
Posted by on August 12, 2007 at 02:00 PM
Three completely different and yet satisfying listening experiences ahead this afternoon. In other words? Same same, but different.
First Skylarking host Andre Alexis turns Book Reviewer and tackles three weighty tomes, of which his favourite is "Aaargh, Billy: Piracy in the Work of William Shakespeare". ("Ever been to sea, Willy?")
Then Roots & Wings features Zack Condon (a.k.a. Beirut) a 19-year-old trumpeter and singer who had a soft spot for The Smiths and then discovered Lou Reed's album Berlin and the trumpet sounds of Balkan brass superstar Boban Markovic. The musical results? Dreamy Balkan music.
And in the hole, Fuse, with singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist Royal Wood's encounter with Priya Thomas, also a singer-songwriter multi-instrumentalist, but musically the two seem about as different as could be. Think romance/heartbreak vs. barb-wire guitar and scotch-soaked drums. Should be very interesting to hear what they come up with together.
July 29, 2007
Posted by on July 29, 2007 at 12:45 PM
André Alexis remembers the old prose poem by Gertrude Stein, called "It was black, black took."
He can even quote it "Black ink best wheel bale brown. Excellent not a hull house, not a pea soup, no bill no care, no precise no past pearl pearl goat."
Sounds like a song, no? In fact it has been set to music, by Charles Shere.
This week Skylarking separates the music from the words, to make a sound collage, a sound collage such as Gert did, God bless her pointy little pearl pearl goat.
July 08, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on July 8, 2007 at 01:13 PM
This afternoon on Skylarking with Andre Alexis, we imagine the gentle meeting of things we love: the music of the Malian group "Tinariwen" and the writing of Yasunari Kawabata, the first Japanese Nobel prize-winner. A Skylarking that imagines shifting sands, first love, and the secret connections between distant worlds.
July 01, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on July 1, 2007 at 01:13 PM
Today's edition of Skylarking with Andre Alexis is a repeat of what he called his "U.N. Show" - though I'm not quite sure why he called it that.
But then, he also told me it was sponsored by Adolfo's on the Danforth: "you can't window shop at Adolfo's, but you can buy beer for your bees and other insect intoxicants".
He is a strange, strange man. Nice.... but strange.
June 24, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on June 24, 2007 at 01:13 PM
This weekend I'm taking in the Dragon Boat Race Festival in Ottawa. It's a ton of fun - lots of great music, food, colour and.... oh right - dragon boats!
Everyone knows that Ottawa (the Capital) can be a frustrating place - but that may be exactly why Ottawa (the City) does so much to displace any bad vibes emanating from the halls of power.
In my books, they've been pretty darned successful but they've really done a number on Andre Alexis. That's why this week's edition of Skylarking is all about Ottawa love. Yes, it's a rare disease, but Andre has it bad.
Catch the show before Andre turns into pumpkin, the only known (and incurable) end for one who loves O-Town too much.
June 17, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on June 17, 2007 at 01:13 PM
Empathy…
What does it mean to feel someone else's pain?
And in the scheme of things, does it make you a better predator or worse?
These odd questions and more, this week on Skylarking with Andre Alexis.
June 10, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on June 10, 2007 at 01:15 PM
I didn't get any advance information this week about Skylarking with Andre Alexis.
Whenever that happens, that Tom Waits piece always drifts into my head:
"What's he building in there?"
June 03, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on June 3, 2007 at 12:44 PM
Tonight is the last of three performances of "Book of Longing", the new work by Phillip Glass centered around the poetry of Leonard Cohen, following the world premiere Friday night in Toronto as part of the Luminato festival.
Not to be outdone, Andre Alexis turns his attention to Cohen's work this week onSkylarking with - including Cohen's own vintage readings and good old "Bird On a Wire", which has to be nearing the "Yesterday" mark for number of cover-versions out there.
I expect Andre to be arpeggiating all over the place!
May 27, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 27, 2007 at 12:46 PM
Okay, here's what host Andre Alexis says about this week's Skylarking:
"This morning I woke up, spent a lovely morning in bed drinking hot chocolate and listening to the Singing Nun ("Dominique nique nique, s'en allais tout simplement..."). When, all of a suddenly (well, "all of a sudden" after I grew a bushy tail), I realized I wasn't awake at all. I was still sleeping, still sleeping, still sleeping...
Makes you think, don't it?"
May 20, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 20, 2007 at 01:01 PM
In High Park, near where I live in Toronto, there's a bench overlooking Grenadier Pond. I found myself in a melancholy mood one day sitting on this bench watching the geese and the afternoon anglers when I noticed a small plaque on one of the rungs of the bench. It was inscribed with a fragment of a poem by Rilke that read:
I am circling around God, around the ancient tower,
and I have been circling for a thousand years,
and I still don't know if I am a falcon, or a storm,
or a great song.
The plaque was dedicated to a young man who had died at age 18. It was the perfect message at the perfect time in a perfect place.
Continue reading "Pure Poetry" »
May 13, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 13, 2007 at 12:51 PM
So, I haven't actually heard all the programmes in advance, as I'm sure you've already assumed. What I do get are advance notices from various hosts and producers as to what's coming up. The blurbettes I get from André Alexis and/or Ruben Maan about forthcoming episodes of Skylarkin' are always distinctive - if not exactly descriptive.
This week's blurb is fairly descriptive but I have to make the sad confession that I'm unfamiliar with the emotion of which it speaks. If you are, more power to you and I'm sure you'll want to tune in today. Here's the blurb as I received it:
Ever find yourself skipping merrily home? Laughing because the sun's shining on a cricket crawling on your back porch? Do the wonders of this world make you almost unbearably happy? Well, don't despair. We sometimes feel the same way. Today on Skylarking…Happiness, curse of the sensitive class.
May 06, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 6, 2007 at 10:51 AM
This week, in a program dedicated to Victor Frankenstein, PhD, Skylarking host André Alexis offers more collage: poems, bits of prose, songs, songs songs and then some more songs. He throws the switch of his wit to animate it all.
If you don't like the show, assemble a mob and get yourself some torches and pitchforks. But you'll see that the show really just wants love.
April 29, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on April 29, 2007 at 01:00 PM
Do you remember that old prose poem by Gertrude Stein, called "It was black, black took"? How did it go? "Black ink best wheel bale brown. Excellent not a hull house, not a pea soup, no bill no care, no precise no past pearl pearl goat." This week, Skylarking separates the music from the words, to make a sound collage, a sound collage like Gert did, God bless her pointy little pearl pearl goat.
April 22, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on April 22, 2007 at 12:49 PM
Last week, I was trying to find out what was coming up on Skylarkin' with André Alexis and he sent me this impenetrable paragraph - but that's OK because it's André and I know that no matter how whacked it might read on paper, it's going to sound totally coherent on the air.
Of course, someone out there assumed I wrote the paragraph and accused me of being deliberately obtuse. Clearly, they weren't familiar with the show.
However, this time, André may finally have gone off the deep end: he's going to do the show LIVE. No net. No retakes. This will be like Wilder Penfield prodding in the brain of the patient while they're still awake. I half expect to hear him shouting "I smell burnt toast" halfway through the show.
April 15, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on April 15, 2007 at 01:11 PM
What if Andre Alexis spoke only Hindi?
What if he spoke Spanish, Dutch or French?
Answer: he could easily get a job with the U.N.
This week, Skylarking is so grateful to Mr. Alexis' benefactors, they're dedicating the show to the United Nations.
(Sponsored by Adolfo's on the Danforth: you can't window shop at Adolfo's, but you can buy beer for your bees and other insect intoxicants.)
It's a very strange world at Skylarking.
April 08, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on April 8, 2007 at 03:07 PM
Coming up this afternoon on CBC Radio Two:
David Byrne teams up with a roots-rock band to cover a classic Brazilian folk tune; music from the only Afghan woman in known history to ever be granted the title "Ustad" (master) and a wicked tuba solo in the midst of a little Balkan surf-rock? That's on Roots & Wings with Philly Markowitz at 4:00 (4:30 in Newfoundland).
An hour later on Fuse with Alan Neal, Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo teams up with the extraordinary Oh Susanna for some sublime music-making.
And then at 6:00 (6:30 in Newfoundland), Tonic with Tim Tamashiro features music that's been featured at one time or another in commercials. It's quite the list and filled with more than a few surprises.
I've put the times in, but of course you can listen to any of these shows at 5 different times using the handy Listen Live panel right here on this page.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on April 8, 2007 at 01:32 PM
"Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious skylark by some guy from York and all the clowns who glowered at the king's dome were buried in the spacious bosom of a woman from Peterborough".
These words, the first words of Shakespeare's Richard the Third are not heard, this week, on Skylarkin'. A lot of other poetry is, though. And you should listen because, you know, trust me, it's good for your soul, like chicken soup, eh?
April 01, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on April 1, 2007 at 01:46 PM
And yet, this is not a post about the show Fuse (which is pre-empted today by the Juno Songwriter's Circle - more on that in a later post) but rather about today's editions of Skylarkin' and The Signal.
I know I've already written glowingly about the new CD from Tinariwen but I'll do it again. It's called "Aman Iman: Water Is Life" - perhaps not a surprising sentiment from a band whose home turf is the edges of the Sahara desert in Northern Mali. Their music is raw and insistent - the very basics of rock and roll bound up with the traditional modalities of the Tamashek people. It's been in very high rotation in my iTunes lately.
Well, on Skylarkin' with Andre Alexis today, he finds in that desert common ground between Tinariwen and the writing of Yasunari Kawabata, the first Japanese Nobel Prize winner for Literature. A Skylarking that imagines shifting sands, first love, and the secret connections between distant worlds.
Later, on The Signal with Pat Carrabré, world music meets classical, featuring songs by Iranian-Canadian santur maverick Amir Amiri and New Zealand Maori singer Mihirangi. Also, a work commissioned by CBC for turntable and ensemble. Call it a concerto for turntable: Montreal composer Nicole Lizee's "This Will Not Be Televised," a world-premiere performance recorded at Winnipeg's New Music Festival.
March 25, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on March 25, 2007 at 01:47 PM
I'm not real good with pain. I can't even walk barefoot on a beach that might have a couple of stone on it.
So imagine my horror when Andre Alexis walked into my office a week or two ago with a peculiar whistling lisp in his speech. The cause was made clear when he opened his mouth to smile - revealing a gap right where one of his front teeth used to be.
"It was rotten and in pain and I couldn't wait to get to a dentist and my sister advised me to just go ahead and yank it out because that's all the dentist would do and charge me for the privilege - so I did".
I would have been on so much giggle-gas I wouldn't have felt a thing but he did it the good old-fashioned way and he deals with it on the show tonight. Consider it topical pain relief and a whole lot more.
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