April 10

Disclaimer:  This is not me posting.
Well, it is.  But through the magic of technology, I think I have set this up so that some time on Wednesday afternoon, this post will appear to the public.  The twist being that it's 9:00 on Tuesday, and I am working ahead.  Imagine that!

Unfortunately, this is not entirely out of initiative. Although writing these blog posts is certainly proving to be a convenient way to procrastinate more real work.  Especially when I can write about Kim Jong Un on 4chan. But I digress.  I am not writing this at posting time because I will not be here.  I will, at the time of this post, be driving in to Winnipeg, to see a Billy Bragg concert with  my grandparents.  There's a lot of elements of this that don't necessarily need explaining, but I need content, so I'll explain anyway.

First of all, why am I going to a concert with my grandparents?  It's a reasonable question to ask a teenager. The story goes back several years.  I think it started somewhere around my 10th birthday, I'm not really sure.  But I know for sure that by my 10th birthday, I had never been on a plane.  I had scarcely even been to an airport.  My idea of a big city was Winnipeg, and a long trip was a weekend out to Kenora or something like.  My grandparents got this great idea that since I was so determined to change this, they could start giving "experiences" as gifts, rather than physical objects or toys.  They didn't want to make trash, or relics.  They wanted to make memories.  So for my 10th birthday, I was awarded a trip with them to Toronto! By plane!   I was quite excited.  This was the coolest thing I'd ever received.

Ever since then, 2 traditions have taken hold on the Barnett side of the family:  Each grandchild gets a trip to Toronto on their 10th birthday, and birthday and christmas presents are given in the form of experiences.  Recently, for me, this has taken the form of concerts.  I have been, in the interceding 7 years to: tapings of The Vinyl Cafe, tapings of The Debaters, and a few other concerts.  One year we made chinese food for dinner.  Another year, we went out for fondue.  The experiences and memories are still there, unlike any toy or game would be.  So this years gift/experience is again a concert.

Why Billy Bragg?  Another good question for someone in my demographic.  He's been out there writing folk music for at least 3 decades, probably more.  In the musical world, he's a relic.  But that's part of the appeal.  For one, this legendary man seems unstoppable, but at the same time one begins to wonder if he'll tour through Canada again.  I've seen him at least 3 times that I remember, probably more.  4 if you count as an unborn child,  but that's a story for another post.  But those times, it never ceases to amaze me the musicality, the skill, and the political perception this man has.  He speaks more intelligently about Canadian politics than most Canadians, and he barely spends a fraction of his time traveling through the nation.  So I want to see him again.

This has been the longest explaination ever, and I think it will do.  After all, I'm writing my second one for today!  But through dark, mysterious magic, you'd never know...