Griff's Village

Once a year--excluding a few COVID years--Ottawa hosts a music festival knowns as Ottawa Bluesfest. Despite the name, all genres of popular music are represented: rock, pop, rap, country, and, yes, sometimes even blues. This is always exciting because Ottawa is not a musical city. Most big musicians only visit here every couple of tours, if they ever do. That's one thing that I've always envied about Toronto, who seem to get all the best concerts. But there's always something for me to look forward to at Bluesfest. Foo Fighters put on a legendary show  a few years back, and they're making their return this summer. Aside from seeing Foo Fighters again, I'm looking forward to Weezer (who I have never seen live before) and Tegan and Sara (who I have seen live several times). Granted, a Bluesfest show does have its drawbacks. I'm at the age where my back protests if I stand for too long--and since Bluesfest is an outdoor concert, standing is the norm. Bands also usu...

Lately, I've been thinking about the recently-announced revisions to Roald Dahl's children's books. For those who haven't heard: the late Roald Dahl's current publisher, Puffin, has hired sensitivity readers to help bring his classics in line with modern sensibilities. The removal of references to ugliness and obesity are getting the most attention, though I've also read that they updated Matilda's taste in literature. (Kipling's out; Austen's in.) Personally, I'm not one to tell other people what to read, or to let others tell me what I can read. If there's a market for the edited versions of these books, then so be it. These are children's books, after all, and although I'm quite happy to read classic children's books myself from time to time (Thurber's  The 13 Clocks  is one of my favourites), I realize that an adult reading a children's book is probably going to have different experiences--and different tastes--than a ...