Well, Tom Thompson came paddling past
I'm pretty sure it was him
And he spoke so softly in accordance
To the growing of the dim
I'm pretty sure it was him
And he spoke so softly in accordance
To the growing of the dim
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Happy National Scotch [Whisky] Day! 🏴🥃🚱
Music for the drive to, during, or the drive back from canoe trips?
- Thread starter Glenn MacGrady
- Start date
Well, for my road trip to northwest Ontario I downloaded a bunch of new music (mostly older country) from Pandora…unfortunately Pandora doesn’t work in Canada. So I sat in silence, but I did find a nice station in the Ottawa Valley that played 50’s country, a lot of it local talent. That was pretty interesting, and it brought back memories from the late 50’s when that was all we could pick up in the “valley”
On a group trip years ago, while sitting around the campfire I said “22 minutes”
My Canadian friends asked what did I mean.
I said that was how long it took before I heard my first “Lover Boy” tune being played on the radio after crossing the Thousand Island Bridge into Canada!
Just kidding of course, lots of great music coming out of Canada.
On a group trip years ago, while sitting around the campfire I said “22 minutes”
My Canadian friends asked what did I mean.
I said that was how long it took before I heard my first “Lover Boy” tune being played on the radio after crossing the Thousand Island Bridge into Canada!
Just kidding of course, lots of great music coming out of Canada.
I never listen to music on the trail or water, or in a campsite. Driving TO it -- whether a long drive to a weeklong trip, or a day trip -- I listen to a mix of rock (mostly classic or progressive), classical, jazz, blues, and new age space music. I like the contrast, so I might be listening to Beethoven, followed by Johnny Winter, followed by Robert Rich, followed by Pink Floyd, etc. Especially with a canoe trip, near the end of the drive I tend to listen to some calm new age music, like "Nest" by Robert Rich, or "North of Niagara" by Mychael Danna & Tim Clement, to drop into the right frame of mind.
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Just spent a short vacation in West Virginia and the Poconos for Maggie's birthday and listened to the Blend station for the first time, including while waiting 2 hours in Pennsylvania road construction delays. We both liked it—indeed a nice blend of good songs from many decades. After failing to find any of @lowangle al's wood canoes in the Poconos, we settled for spa and casino music.
Music was sooo much better in my adolescence than today….funny but that’s the same thing my father used to say about music from his adolescence in the 40’s….and he was right too! That big band stuff is awesome.
Yep, it should be added to the list. Death, taxes, and things were better when I was a kid.
Alan
When my late father was in recovery for a serious health issue he was advised to get out and about going for walks. In addition to that he acquired a treadmill. I remember he mentioned the tediousness of it all, so I thought I'd be helpful by gifting him a new fangled portable tape cassette player with earphones. Rather than guessing what he might like to listen to I dove into his record collection. My mom only let him spin his vinyl on rare occasions in the livingroom on the brand new hifi, and once they even cut the rug on a lazy Saturday afternoon showing me their dance moves from the Swing Era. At every wedding reception they and all my many aunts and uncles used to take over the dance floor disproving the saying "you're only young once". My dad had collected just about everything from the Big Band years so one mixed tape became two, became four...I did this all in secret as I wanted to surprise him. I think maybe I did.
When I gave him the compilation and nifty cassette player/phones he looked at me and said "Just how far do you expect me to walk!?"
The hours I spent listening to his history of Swing on vinyl became an enjoyable kind of time travel for me, and I developed an appreciation and respect for when those old kids were forever young.
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Delilah was also on the radio up here, i liked her show too..What kind of music do you like to listen to on long drives to and from canoe trips, and, if you do so, while paddling or in camp? As a more specific subset of this topic, you could list favorite canoe related music as Kevin Callan did in this article:
Kevin Callan's Top 15 Songs About Canoeing
There is something magical about paddling in Ontario. Listen carefully to the lyrics of these talented musicians who share what it means to them.northernontario.travel
When all I had was old time AM and FM in my old time vehicles, I used to like to listen to whatever was on the local music stations in the parts of North America I was in. Some of the stations were very funky and creative, unlike the computerized song list stations that now seem to dominate.
When I got an MP3 player I downloaded a lot of music from Napster (and its predecessor). I mostly like 50s-60s rock & roll, 40s big band and crooners, Irish/Celtic music (Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem), folk music (Joan Baez, Weavers), and certain classical.
Now that I have Sirius radio in one vehicle, I listen mostly to the 40s, 50s and 60s stations.
I don't recall ever listening to music while I paddled. I do occasionally listen to AM stations evenings in camp when I can get a signal on my multi-band two-way radio. Whatever's on. In the American South, I used to like to listen to female radio host/DJ named Delilah.
I usually start out very early in the morning (3 to 4am) and have a 3-5 hour drive, so it is ambient music on the way up all the way to the put-in: Erik Wollo, Tom Eaton and/or David Helpling. On the way back, it's almost always the Grateful Dead (live concert soundboards). The year varies, but most often: '72, '76, '77, '78 or the late 80s (87-89). No music on the trip - just the sounds of the place where I am.
On the way to, I listen to the radio.
Oddly enough, even though I have 18 FM presets in the CRV, all buttons lead to WEQX.
I've been listening to that same progressive rock, independent radio station (from Manchester, VT) since they came on the air nearly 40 years ago. In a world of homogenized, corporate owned banality, they are truly unique. Before that, I listened to WQBK, a legendary Albany, NY station that had a similar format. Until they didn't!
EQX reaches into most of the ADK's, when the Canadian station on the same frequency begins to bleed in, I switch to a CD.
Yup, CD. I have quite a preference for singer/songwriters, whether solo or with a band.
Neil Young, Beth Orton, Bob Mould, anything by The Cure, B52's, Lemonheads, David Lowry in any incarnation, I don't really have any favorites.
On the way home? Nothing, no CD, no radio, just my thoughts and fresh memories.
Oddly enough, even though I have 18 FM presets in the CRV, all buttons lead to WEQX.
I've been listening to that same progressive rock, independent radio station (from Manchester, VT) since they came on the air nearly 40 years ago. In a world of homogenized, corporate owned banality, they are truly unique. Before that, I listened to WQBK, a legendary Albany, NY station that had a similar format. Until they didn't!
EQX reaches into most of the ADK's, when the Canadian station on the same frequency begins to bleed in, I switch to a CD.
Yup, CD. I have quite a preference for singer/songwriters, whether solo or with a band.
Neil Young, Beth Orton, Bob Mould, anything by The Cure, B52's, Lemonheads, David Lowry in any incarnation, I don't really have any favorites.
On the way home? Nothing, no CD, no radio, just my thoughts and fresh memories.
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I am pretty much stuck in the 60's and 70's. Pink Floyd, Moody Blues, the Eagles, The Dead, ELP, Fleetwood Mac, Three Dog Night, Black Sabbath (hey, it's protest rock). I'll slip in some Benny Goodman in the right mood, and if I'm feeling a little melancholy...Gerry Rafferty. I'll go through bouts of classical - Scheherazad, Peer Gynt, Rite of Spring....Those really melt the miles. Heck, I'll listen to just about anything but rap or hip hop - but never on the water or in camp. Somebody wants to bring a harmonica? I'm in.
70's classic rock to and from. Nothing in camp while tripping. On a hard crossing I'm apt to play "The Immigrant Song" by Led Zepp in my head (see signature).
I never play music while I'm out paddling but always have music on in the car. I despise the radio and always have, it's very repetitive and extremely limited.
When I was a kid songs that were 20 years old were considered oldies, now most radio stations are still playing the same boring rock songs that I grew tired of in 1978!!
I don't even want to get started on the hip-hop country that's on every channel that's not playing classic rock or lame rap music.
When I was a kid songs that were 20 years old were considered oldies, now most radio stations are still playing the same boring rock songs that I grew tired of in 1978!!
I don't even want to get started on the hip-hop country that's on every channel that's not playing classic rock or lame rap music.
For those who haven't had the pleasure of meeting Swiss boogie woogie virtuoso, Nico Brina, when paddling or camping on a river, here are two short riffs by the riffles:
The last time I went to the Allagash solo I had the book 'Dune' on CD. A perfect one I picked up for a road trip headed south was
Born to Be Hanged you got to love the pirate books
Boogie woogie fanciers will already know of these performers, even though they don't do any "by the crick" performing (that I've noticed).
From England, based in the London area, are Brendan Kavanagh and Terry Miles, who have a large following, both playing public pianos, I think mostly in the London Airport. They often work together, but you'll usually find them separately. They can be quite funny, drawing people in starting with classical or pop pieces and then breaking into boogie woogie versions of same. Fantastic pianists, both of them. Lots of feelgood performances. You'll find them on Youtube. They have lots of proteges who perform with them, some quite young but very good. If you'd rather stick with the Swiss connection, Ladyva is another boogie woogie specialist from that country. She prefers the pronunciation "La Deeva" (as in La Diva) to the "Lady Va" form. She's on Utoob, too. There are hundreds more.
Yes, Nick, I'm a huge YouTube fan of all the boogie woogie artistes you mention.
Terry Miles has an interesting set of videos in which he pub crawls all over the UK and even Japan to find pubs with pianos, and when he does, he goes in and rocks the joints. Unfortunately, only a few pubs remain with pianos; and even more unfortunately, pubs are declining in the UK because of Covid, the bad economy, and perhaps changing demographics in some places. (Muslims, strictly, are forbidden to drink alcohol.)
Nico Brina often plays boogie outdoors. We have members here from Alpine countries such as Switzerland, Germany and Italy, and at least one member who has climbed in the Alps. So with those few drops of relevance, here is Nico playing with the panoramic Alps in the background:
I'm not gonna add more vids to the pile here as I don't think many of these Youtube celebs have anything that can easily be listened to in the car on the way to and from trips without some work on your own. Ladyva does have some albums of her boogie woogie music (and others?) out that could be purchased for those lovers of the genre, but it would surprise me if Dr K (Brendan Kavanagh) or Terry Miles do. I haven't checked though.
I do have my own video favorites, like when the two dress up as pilots and play in the airport, wowing the crowd, and when Dr. K dresses as a UPS driver or a maintenance man, complete with tool belt, and plays heavy classical for an audience. Those are all improvisational and wouldn't have the necessary impact without the accompanying video, which a vehicle driver with a boat on the roof shouldn't be watching. Lots of feelgood stuff too, with audience members dancing to the music and other background antics going on. They sometimes get to keyboard swapping, where they're playing as a duo, one playing the high end of the piano, and will run to the bass end and the other slides over to the high end. And Dr. K when alone also does a lot of pranking, often pretending to be a beginning pianist who has to be shown where middle C is on the keyboard and then a couple minutes later breaking out into a complex classical or heavy boogie piece. Really funny to see reactions to some of those.
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Music was life until a few years ago. I played in enough bands that I'm mostly deaf in my early forties.
Today I listened to Slipknot, Jeff Beck, Hildegard von Bingen (or rather the music she wrote), and Missy Mazzoli.
I don't take music on outdoor trips but occasionally I'll take a HiFi Walker loaded with podcasts to help me sleep.
Today I listened to Slipknot, Jeff Beck, Hildegard von Bingen (or rather the music she wrote), and Missy Mazzoli.
I don't take music on outdoor trips but occasionally I'll take a HiFi Walker loaded with podcasts to help me sleep.