A wonderful opportunity for Creative Non-fiction writers and students: the CBC has posted the five finalists for their CNF prize on-line, giving Canadians the chance to read them all and vote for their favourite. Why don’t you read the five the judges chose and ask yourself why? Decide what you like, and just as importantly, what you don’t, and vote yourself. I have entered the competition and been shortlisted three or four times, including last year, but have never won, and didn’t enter this year. Next, for sure. You too?
The Grand Prize winner as decided by the jury will be announced here on Monday, July 23.
Aaaagh! That’s not singing, that’s terror.
PS I just wanted to check what the playlist was for the Beatles’ concerts I saw on June 20 1965 – was about to go upstairs to find my diary of the time when I remembered that it’s 2012 and there’s Google. So I Googled, and what came up was more than the playlist – it was actual video and audio footage of the concert! Incredible – I was able to listen to it all again, all 12 songs, and then watch the boys doing their thing – when the camera swept the audience, several times I saw a girl who looked a lot like moi, though hard to tell for sure, it’s so blurry. But I was in the 8th row centre, singing my heart out along with them. The sound is laughably bad – nothing on stage but drums, a few small amps and two mikes. They fade in and out, Paul muffs the lyrics to “She’s a woman” and grins at his buddies, and they just ROCK. The last song, Paul’s “Long Tall Sally,” is the essence of rock ‘n roll, right there, everything you want to know about the best of our music then. Talk about full of life. Lucky, lucky us.
