Beaches Jazz Festival, Toronto; Panamania Arts and Culture Celebration, Toronto; Battle for the North, Toronto; Clawson, Michigan; Washington, Iowa; Fairfield, Iowa; Port of Dubuque, Iowa; Oregon, Wisconsin; Chicago, Illinois; Warren, Michigan.
Woodbine Park Main Stage jazz: @ParcXTrio from Montreal @BeachesJazz playing intensely. Audience seeking shade on a bright summer day, a few chairs with canopies on a large field of grass. Park ringed by food trucks offering a variety of cuisines. (Woodbine Park Main Stage, Toronto) 20150718 Photo album at http://www.flickr.com/photos/daviding/sets/72157653719486144Taddle Creek Park. Ilan Sandler (2009) “The Vessel”, 4 kilometres (the length of Taddle Creek now buried under urban Toronto) of stainless steel rod bent into shape. Water flows into an underground cistern for reuse to irrigate the park. Installation was commemorated in June 2011, commissioned by the City of Toronto. (Taddle Creek Park, 40 Bedford Road, Toronto) 20150720Beaches Jazz Festival: Workshop by @occhipintimusic and @pilar_tw for @beachesjazz on “Turning Pop and World Roots Music into Jazz”. Intimate audience in church basement. Michael Occhipinti started with recordings of original pop songs (Broadway, Beatles), compared to jazz interpretations. Pilar joined for duos with selections from the Sicilian Jazz Project repertoire. (Mennonite New Life Centre, Queen Street East, Toronto) 20150721 Photo album at http://www.flickr.com/photos/daviding/sets/72157655775030139
Panamania: Outdoor stage @youareStars @NPStoronto @TO2015 Games #Panamania Arts and Culture Program, with Pat McGee on drums, Torquil Campbell vocals, Amy Millan vocals. Plaza filled with fans, girls singing along. (Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto) 20150722 Photo album at http://www.flickr.com/photos/daviding/sets/72157656240622815B-Boy competition: Battle for the North #BFTN2015 @TO2015 #Panamania Arts & Culture Program, The FAM as hometown favourite. Sold out community event, children in the front row, international judges will run workshops over next few days. (Young Centre for the Performing Arts, Distillery District, Toronto) 20150723
Sushi in Clawson Michigan. Adam ordered 50 piece party platter for three of us, just before kitchen closed. Noble Fish is reputed to be the best sushi around Detroit, and we agree it was great. There’s a few tables and a sushi bar at the back of a Japanese grocery store, so a lot of clients prefer takeout. This is walking distance from Adam’s place. (Noble Fish, 14 Mile Road, Clawson, Michigan) 20150724Regional cuisine in Iowa: Enjoying lunch just off town square, at a classic locale in small town Iowa. Seated at the round table, as depicted in the painting on the wall: a group of locals that used to meet everyday for breakfast, and then again for lunch. Restaurant had been in operation done the 1960s, now on third owner. The walleye serving was mammoth, a great order of fish with battered fries. (Frontier Family Restaurant, Washington, Iowa) 20150727Argiro Student Center queue: Vegetarian lunch was a good excuse to visit the Maharishi School of Management, but the lineup to enter the cafeteria servery was too long. We ran up the exit staircase to peek into one dining hall, where finding a table for a group of four would have been a challenge. Lots of people moving around with food on trays. Parking lots outside were full. With the menu of the day feature Chinese sweet and sour tofu, we opted for the buffet at Pizza Ranch in town (and ate too much, there). (Argiro Student Center, Maharishi School of Management, Fairfield, Iowa) 20150729Ice cream! Dairy Bar is a local institution since 1950. Sundaes and soft serve ice cream cones. Picnic table outside in the shade. Unfortunately no choices for people sensitive to milk. (Dairy Bar, Fairfield, Iowa) 20150730Starboard paddlewheel. Artifact from the National Landmark Steamboat William M. Black, now on dry land at Paddlewheel Plaza at the National Mississippi River Museum. Only a brief stop on the drive from Fairfield Iowa to Madison Wisconsin, just before crossing the river eastbound. (Port of Dubuque, Iowa) 20150731Systems science summit, Wisconsin. Closer to home than #ISSS2015 Berlin, Timothy FH Allen and David Ing, ex-presidents, met to exchange ideas. Small sandbox discussion, could have accommodated more guests for the barbeque. Diana enjoyed watching the horses out back. (Oregon, Wisconsin) 20150731Overlooking Chicago River: Lunch in River North, hosted by Charlie and Marianne, who bought me into their family when I was a graduate student in 1980. Discussed their children Michael and Cathy, who are now in their 40s, married and with their own children. Ongoing commentary about the water craft passing on the river below: kayaks or power boats? (Chicago Chop House, River North, Chicago, Illinois) 20150801
Sunday morning dim sum. Routing back home, Adam and Ayaka hosted us for brunch at a Chinese restaurant nearby. The popular dim sum selections are available from the pushcarts, and we ordered rice noodles from the kitchen. Clientele was predominantly non-Asian, so some entertainment from first-time diners at the next table. I now have a little headache and a slight feeling of depression, so it’s either the warm summer humidity, or the MSG level is higher than back home. (Golden Harvest, Warren, Michigan) 20150802
