This week Canada lost a modern troubador and patriot in the person of country-folk artist, Stompin' Tom Conners. Whether you liked him or not, I bet you know the words to his songs. It is difficult to choose a fave -- Sudbury Saturday Night, Bud the Spud, Good Old Hockey Game or one of the hundreds of others. His work is a narrative of Canadian life -- an amazing body of work that will tell generations to come about the last 50 years of Canadian life.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2013/03/06/stompin-tom-obit.html

 

Choosing one song to represent this repertoire is a daunting feat, but I've settled on one that has always made me smile. The lyrics have been made into a wonderful children's book. I chose this one due to its relationship with the food system -- one that is fairly local for me (PEI is within 100 miles -- much less as the crow flies). If you are at all familiar with Stompin'  Tom, the song is already clear to you -- but just in case, it is 'Bud the Spud'

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNEg65rlnu4

Media 'Created' Idols

Specter provides intriguing points in this New Yorker story. The current Lance Armstrong situation shows just what a mediated construction 'lance armstrong -- cyclist' has been -- and may continue to be. Media can craft amazing idols -- and then turn on a dime to destroy the pedastol the idol stands upon. And, just as many other idolized folk, the media works with what it is provided -- neither side is fully responsible or innocent.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/sportingscene/2013/01/what-lance-armstrong-did.html