alisonboston.com

Same Rain: Different Town
I’ve managed to get to four small music festivals in-between my 6 weeks of work here in England this summer, and each has provided something unique.
At Finsbury Park’s FREE Rise Against Racism Festival earlier in the summer, it was three poets and a French duo (names and photos to follow). A […]

So, I put together this event with Phamie whom I met on one of the rare evenings that I left my bike at home and decided to walk. She was playing in the street.

That’s a custom-built, one-of-a-kind harp she’s playing. She’s sponsored by Camac Harps, France.
She plays on this […]

Ari Up and Paul Zasky of Dubblestandart on stage at the Bayou Bar
….plus MPG at Fisherman’s Wharf (keep reading….it’s there)
Austria’s Dubblestandart had an instant crowd of dancers last night at the ICA Folk Fest in Victoria. It was great to hear this band live and move to the rhythm. When Ari Up joined […]

Tumi and the Volume delivered a jazz-punk-hip hop fusion that had the Victoria audience hopping on the Bayou Barge at ICA Folkfest. Even the security guards couldn’t stand still. Cute website (cute? hip hop? Yeah really - check it out.) The Volume
Okay, so I have to learn how to […]

Niyaz (USA/Iran) were the closing main stage act last night for the opening of the Victoria ICA Folk Festival. Azam Ali entranced the audience with a sweet voice spinning poetics of Sufi wisdom. Even the most reluctant dancers were on their feet moving to the seductive rhythms of this blend […]

Yup, it’s true. I’m back in Canada.
In keeping with this site’s focus on my daily cultural activities, I feel some sort of comment is in order.
Yesterday I took my 88-year-old father for a stroll in his wheelchair through downtown Victoria. A few observations I made (besides how very odd it feels to […]

Well I did it. I went running today through the slums of the 8th district and along the litter ridden Duna to the decadent Palace of Arts…and back. I plugged my nose, and closed my eyes and turned away from the lusty stares as I bounced along.
On the plus side, I ran through, […]

I don’t have much writer in me these days even though I’ve been out and about and have things to write about. In fact, I have a CD that was given to me over a month ago that I haven’t written about. Not because I don’t like it; on the contrary - I love […]

…that’s the name of the compilation CD I am on. My first CD. Now I have to join one of those songwriter’s associations so I can get my 50% of 1/13th of proceeds (after all the admin type people have taken their bite) from the sale of the CD. I need a manager […]

I performed at Labyrinth’s monthly reading on Friday night in Vienna to a packed house at Cafe Kafka. My poems were very well received. I performed: Wake up Time, Tribute to Ani, Easier Said and Bad Choices.
Rebecca Fromherz, an opera singer from Vienna, read some of her own poems during […]

Hólyagcirkusz is a company unto itself. The show I saw last Friday - CSŐDCSICSERGŐ - is set in a theater. The characters are all musicans, playing bizarre instruments - conceived by Szőke Szabolcs, based on a dream he had, which arose from his work experience in a music shop where antique instruments were built.

One of the things I enjoy most about Budapest and Hungary is the music. I think the country’s geographic location lends itself to a natural fusion of ethnic influences creating a unique Magyr sound.
The world music quartet Ektar is no exception.
I stumbled on them almost by accident, and that is another magical element […]