This little angel is at Fratelli in the Glebe

Dandelion

Lights at Lansdowne Park

Quiet Riot

Live Earth

I’m watching the Live Earth concert from Australia. Not sure what it has to do with saving the earth, what with flying the musicians all over the place and the humungous tour buses and everything, but it’s a great concert… and any excuse will do.

I just saw Toni Collette, the Australian actress, do a set with her band. She was in Little Miss Sunshine, The Dead Girl, and other movies. (Oh-oh, she can’t sing. But she’s a good actress.)

Collette and her band on the telly

Anyway, what I wanted to mention is that this is a large outdoor concert and there is not a lawn chair in sight. I’d like to add my voice to the rising clamour to ban lawn chairs from Bluesfest.

Oh! Now the concert has jumped to Tokyo. Hmmm, no lawn chairs there either…

While I’m banning things, the next thing I’d like to ban is cell phones in cars. As a habitual walker and cyclist I often have a feeling that I’m probably going to buy the farm at the hands of some moron making a right turn on a red light while talking on a cell phone. That’s at least three more things than the average motorist is able to manage at once.

Come to think of it, banning the right turn on red would be a good start. It’s by far the most dangerous traffic manouevre, and it tends to flatter drivers into thinking they have more rights than cyclists and pedestrians. They should cool their jets and wait for the green.

Now we’re in London. Guess what? No lawn chairs.

That’s all! (For now) (Until I think of more things to ban)

My remarks about the Live Earth venues not having any chairs are off-base, I realize, because those concerts were all in arenas. Arenas have seats for those who want them or need them. It’s just that they aren’t up front. If you’re at an arena show and you want to go stand in the infield, as close as you can get, you’re free to do so.

What I don’t like about the lawn chair people in Ottawa is that they use their chairs to reserve seating for themselves. I don’t think having a chair gives you the right to reserve a (large) space at the front and hold it all day, whether you’re in the chair or not. I wouldn’t have a problem with chairs if people picked them up and took them with them when they drifted off to another stage or went to get a beer. I think if you leave your chair you should expect to come back and find it stacked at the side of the stage and somebody standing in your spot.

But over all, I think the best Bluesfest strategy would be this: Have a small chair, take it with you when you walk around, and don’t expect to always be able to sit on it.