As well as playing a dozen musical instruments and singing the blues, iconic Victoria musician and entertainer Dave Harris has recently added another string to his bow. He has completed a monumental work, a veritable encyclopedia of One Man Bands, entitled, "Head, Hands, & Feet: A Book of One Man Bands." I am pleased to present a short review of this book by ricky JaK, local music journalist. | Heads, Hands, & Feet by Dave Harris OMG someone has finally compiled a book on OMB. In today’s modern world I frequently browse the internet for interesting music. Recently I discovered a video of 5 people playing one guitar, amazing it is but something I have never thought of checking out is OMB. WTF is OMB you are probably thinking. OMB means “One Man Band.” Recently this heavy book was placed on my kitchen table on just this genre of playing music. I have to say my own personal experience of seeing a one man band is the bearded hippy guy that plays his one man band in the inner harbor of my hometown Victoria…. and oddly enough this very one man band is Dave Harris the author of this book! Dave has been playing in our harbor for as long as I can remember. Dave researched this OMB hardcover book that clocks in at over 400 pages of text and photos. The book starts with some history dating back to the 1700’s, it then flows into a visual of instruments a one man band would use. Apparatus, back rigs, foot drums, guitars, harmonicas, horns, washboards and kazoos are all shown. Then the book takes you on a worldwide journey from the USA to the UK. The book also takes you from the Blues, Folk, Country, to Punk. No stone is left unturned and this book is hard to digest in just one sitting, it will supply days of reading. One downside of this book does not come with a LP record or a CD, but what it does come with is most of the websites of every performer. This means I just spent my afternoon listening to Jesse Fuller, DR Ross, Hasil Adkins, Bob Log III, to Joe Buck Yourself. Even a few OWBs “One Woman Bands” are represented as well as hundreds of other OMBs from all over. Amazing it is and if you’re a music fan and have never ventured into the world of OMB, this book is your gateway to hours of absolute one man music. -ricky JaK (journalist for Absolute Underground, Offbeat, Journal of Madness, Verbal Abuse, Zort, and one of the compilers of the Monday Magazine award winning book “All Your Ears Can Hear” Victoria Underground Music 1977- 1984.) shameless plugs. |
 | Looking a little lost and displaced, the center section of the Johnson Street rail bridge sits in a parking lot at the edge of the Gorge with the Bay Street Bridge in the background. It was cut loose and lifted onto a barge by the enormous marine crane that can be seen to the left. It now sits on a part of the Point Hope shipyard and I suspect it will be cut into smaller pieces there. A new bridge is to be erected adjacent to the site of the old bridge, which is still being used for car traffic. |
We've had some bright, sunshiny days lately though they have generally been accompanied by a cold wind. Here's another of my favourite heralds of spring, this old tree that flowers beside the derelict Janion Hotel on Store Street. Often this is one of the first to bloom in the city because of the extra warmth it gets from the Janion's aged bricks soaking up the sunshine.
Another favourite harbinger of spring, these crocuses are popping up in gardens all over the city. Their brilliant yellows and purples always remind me of Easter and I wonder if the association of those colours with Easter is because of the flowers or for some other reason.
More spring colors! I don't know what these are called. They look like some kind of miniature Iris.
Here's another look at downtown Victoria. This is the "main" street, Douglas Street, looking northwards from the corner of Fort and Douglas Streets. On the far right side can be seen Victoria's City Hall with its red tower. The large tan building on the left is the facade of the Bay Centre, our downtown mall.
The Chestnut-backed Chickadee pictured last week was nicely perched on the branch of a tree since that is where they are usually seen. Today's bird is on the walkway since these birds, the Dark-eyed Juncos, prefer to forage on the ground. Apparently ornithologists are still sorting out bird taxonomy and though I have formerly identified these local residents as Oregon Juncos, it seems that the latter refers to a sub-species and our local birds may or may not be members of that sub-species since there is a great deal of variation within the genus. In any case I always like to see these neat, busy little birds no matter what they are called.
