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Where to start? As I’d previously mentioned I’ve adopted WordPress as my platform of choice for this blog and today the founding developer of this open source application, Matt Mullenweg [wiki], gave the conference key note. Okay, I don’t mind admitting that I knew nothing about Matt other than his WordPress and Akismet achievements so it was both refreshing and surprising to find out that the guy’s not even reached his mid 20′s yet. What I really find refreshing is that Matt seems to be indicative of what this community is about, open, approachable and ready to share experience.

I was briefly speaking with my wife, Lesley, this morning and, okay, a touch heavy for 8am on a Saturday morning, but I was remarking on how I felt that as a tail-end ‘baby-boomer’ and pre Gen-Xer, there are times that I feel I sit in both camps, or indeed neither. I don’t really subscribe to the material wealth and financial security thing on one hand, but through years of work there have been times when reasonable financial reward has led to what could be suggested as a comfortable life. But what’s been the end result of the years of toil?

Emigration to Canada has allowed for a real time of reflection as I view a healthy but declining bank balance, and no property, nor the likelihood of affording property in this white hot market. Some might say what a travesty, what a waste, but my values have been shifting for some time and, I seriously question what I’ve achieved over the years. I don’t fit the boomer profile of achievement, nor failure for that matter. To use that ‘oft quoted tech phrase, it’s been a vanilla life. Go figure. Now don’t get me wrong, a fantastic marriage and 2 great kids rate right up there as relationships are the hardest thing to maintain – it takes effort, but what else? Again, some might say that I should be happy with that (marriage and kids) as a contribution and for some that’s fine. Some isn’t me though. Mid-life crises I hear you cry, well maybe that’s a name that’s too often used. I’d prefer to call it reflection rather than crisis. Crisis is really associated with calamity or catastrophe, and reflection to me is more about a period of introspection before moving on. However, moving on to what?

That’s where I come back to the keynote. Matt touched on bloggers seeking expression through the presentation of their blog as well as the content – the need to personalise, not just fly with a standard theme or template. I actually think, that’s where I’m at, not wanting to fly with the standard template. Matt also suggested that from a communication perspective, form dictates writing and this led to his assertion that software should be invisible to facilitate creativity. I’m with him on that, open the world to non-tech savvy and a greater pool of talent will hopefully appear. Other areas covered were about respecting people’s time (something that rarely happens in this 24/7/365 life) by being able to filter the noise that can exist online from advertising. In a final pitch for participation in developing open source applications Matt used a nice paraphrase from JFK – “It’s not what your software can do for you, it’s what you can do for your software”. Feedback helps developers and better apps will be crafted by constructive feedback, so be involved.

This really didn’t end up as the post I’d thought it would be. It’s strange how listening to what many would consider to be a geeky keynote, can spark the mind off in all sorts of directions. Hey, the joys of blogging.

A good start to the day, Matt was engaging, humorous and thoughtful. I wish him every success in his life.

Come the afternoon, come more sessions.

Although I’m fairly well read in some areas, wiki’s are still an area that, if not a black art, are still unfamiliar. What better way to start to plug the gap than by checking out wiki101 with Stewart Mader. This was a really useful session as it opened up a new ways for me to consider how or why I would use wiki’s in the future. Again, for the uninitiated a wiki is a website or page that can be edited anyone, or protected if that’s what you want. The biggest challenge for someone just entering business i, if I was to use a wiki, how much would I put ‘out there’. There’s the chance that allowing collaboration will create a better end result, however, I wouldn’t want to give away the crown jewels either. One to think about.

Next up was a session on SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). It wasn’t what I was expecting but still dead useful as Linda Bustos provided some great examples of how sites, using the power of keywords, tags and titles could rate really highly in the cherished search engine front page stakes. I think the gem for me was, in my words, go viral, get noticed.

Towards the end of the afternoon I finally bumped in to John and Rebecca. We haven’t seen each other since first meeting in June 07, so it was great to at least say hi. The bonus was some top tips from John on dissecting WordPress. John’s pulled WordPress around a number of times and his work for a friend traveling the world is top quality, check out John’s post and move on the NoBoundaries.

Last session of the day was an inspiring walk through what can be done with WordPress as a Content Management System [wiki]. Alan Levine of CogDogBlog took us on a tour of “really cool sites that don’t look like blogs, but run on blog software”. I use WordPress to power this site and even though I’ve hardly touched the theme, it’s really encouraging to see what can be done using the platform. Both John and Alan have fired me up to use WordPress as the engine for my next business website.

Final thanks of an enjoyable first day must go to Rahel of Intentional Design Inc who kindly gave me a lift home and is also providing a lift on Saturday.

When I take in to consideration the facilities, lunch being provided, the quality of speakers and the sense of community, day one of Northern Voice 08 was worth the $60 conference fee alone, and day 2, the ‘real’ conference is still to come.

One great thing about being in BC is the easy access to events that would really bypass sleepy Kent back in the UK. Today was my introduction to Northern Voice, a 2 day blogging/social media event, held out at UBC. If I’m honest, the journey took as long as it would have taken to get in to central London, but hey, the mountain views are better here.

Something that may be unfamiliar to some is the concept of the unconference. Put simply, participants create the sessions at the event. So, rather than hit the pre-announced sessions I decided to check out the ad-hoc sessions. There’s nothing like diving in, and my first session was the political use of blogging, which actually turned out to be a fairly civil event. The presenters, Kathleen Milberry and Marc Lee outlined their use of blogging in the world of activism. Nothing earth shattering from either presenters or delegates which in some ways I find encouraging. Even though I’m late to the game, my hands-off, watching how blogging has developed over the last few years, has stood me in good stead and I’m comfortable with the hows whats and whys.

The next session was loosely based on citizen journalism, led by Lisa Johnson of the CBC. It seems that the Your Story pages of the CBC website haven’t existed for that long, which I found surprising as Sky and the BBC have been providing this kind of space for ‘Joe Public’ for what seems like an age, especially the ‘your photos’ areas. Many people I speak to have the perception that Europe/UK is ahead of Canada in a lot of respects – environment, mobile phones and banking to name a few. It would seem that I need to add Citizen Journalism to the list.

A fair start and there’s lots more to come over the next day and a half.

You may remember, back in 2004, the launch of a new, high quality bottled water, Dasani. It was launched in the UK by Coca Cola amid a £7 million marketing push. Unfortunately for Coke, it was discovered that this top quality, pure bottled water was pretty much nothing other than Sidcup tap water, originating from the Thames [tgwwc] and it’s high tech purification process was well, domestic grade really.

So, imagine the smile on my face when I discover that Dasani is everywhere I look around Vancouver and the lower mainland. In fact, it would seen that it’s everywhere other than Europe [wiki]

Interestingly, when I followed the link ‘About Dasani’ (I can’t add a link as it’s a flash based site) I found that far from hiding the fact that Dasani is local water (although no mention is made of ‘tap’), Coke are making it a selling point. They do still insist that the purification process is state-of-the-art, which is probably true, however the state-of-the-art process, reverse osmosis [wiki], is also widely available for domestic grade purification units [supplier]. Coke also add that once purified a special blend of minerals are added to enhance the taste – darn it, got me on that one.

So, Canada, enjoy your enhanced tap water. Dasani disappeared from the shelves in the UK as quickly as it had appeared, although I don’t think there was a £7 million campaign associated with it’s leaving the market.

Things go better with truth, eh!

As the photo collection expands and having decided to go down the Google Picasa route for no other reason than it works seamlessly with iPhoto I thought I’d better come up with some album titles for throwing in pics that just really don’t fit in to their own section. So, do visit ‘on the street today‘ from time to time as it’ll contain all those out and about shots that I take. I’ll also expand the ‘Gigging in Vancouver‘ album as I get out to see more bands.

Actually, one of the real positives of this relocation has been my ability to re-start my enjoyment of getting out to see live music. My recent post, Jam Today, starts to capture some of my enthusiasm for live music. Back in days of yore, my best year was 1980 when I managed 24 gigs, mainly punk and post-punk bands whilst based at an RAF station within easy striking distance of London.

The best run I had was actually the following year when I managed 3 bands in 4 days (the joys of working shifts and being able to sleep in), taking in New Order, Echo & the Bunnymen and Pauline Murray. Thinking about it, these were possibly 3 of the best gigs I’ve attended – and that’s not just a sad old man reminiscing (much).

New Order were very much in their early days and it was fascinating to witness the fragility of the band at that point in their career. In truth, the sound was pretty indifferent and due to a lack of material it was a case of 45 mins and we’re off. Who would get away with that now?

The Bunnymen were still around a year from really breaking in to the mainstream and the tour was to promote their second album Heaven Up Here. To me this was a great point in their career, the music was developing and I loved the driving, bass driven, guitar licked, obscure lyric sound.

Pauline Murray was on a solo tour (following the demise of Penetration) and provided the real highlight of the week. Her energy on stage was absolutely electrifying and the songs from her ‘And the Invisible Girls’ album were delivered so very well, a great sound mix, really clear and a entrancing show.

Back to reality. Has music really changed over the last 28-30 years? I’m not too sure that there’s been any significant advance. Yes, trends come and go, but all 3 of these artists are still around – okay, in Penetration’s case there was a 20+ year gap before re-forming, but the reality is when I take in current bands, the influences from yesterday are there. One of the sad truths about age is that when listening to music there’s a tendency to murmur to oneself, “sounds a bit like…..”

Next month it’s British Sea Power, who are a bit Bunnymen like at times, but I’m not sure if there’s a Doors influence.

“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again, there is nothing new under the sun” Ecclesiastes Ch 1, Verse 9

I like my live music and being close to Vancouver where a lot of bands and artists stop off has allowed me to gig on a regular basis rather than the once or twice a year it had become when living in Kent.

A few months back I posted an entry following Editors gig at Richards on Richards. Since then I’ve seen a few more bands, Athlete, Suzanne Vega, Maximo Park (surely the best support act I’ve seen since U2 supported the Bunnymen in 1980) and Travis.

Around Christmas I was chatting with my long time friend Mr C. He’d recently seen From the Jam playing and, despite my initial skepticism (could it ever be the same without Weller?), he convinced me that he’d had a fantastic night. So, when I noticed that messers Foxton & Buckler were rolling in to Vancouver early in the new year I decided to go for it.

I was still unsure about the idea of resurrecting that part of my younger days. There are occasions when maybe it’s right to leave things for that time, fond memories best left intact. As Richards started to fill up I realised that this could be an interesting night. This could be the ultimate ‘mosh pit’ for the late 40′s and over. I was about to witness multiple hernias, could the health care system cope? Would the lights have to be kept at a really low level to prevent the blinding reflections from semi-bald pate’s?

I noticed Richards were dishing out beer in plastic glasses. Was this to make the predominantly Brit crowd feel at home, or was it that the proprietors feared the worst from a drunken hoard of fun seeking 40 something blokes? Well, despite my concerns the evening was a resounding success.

I’d quite forgotten how well the Jam had bonded with their fans, and despite the absence of Paul Weller, I soon realised that it was actually about the songs. Musically, the back-catalogue has stood the test of time and with 2/3rds of the original band playing the gig had so much more going for it than a tribute band could ever hope to achieve. I can remember the fantastic energy generated at Jam gig’s back in the late 70′s and it was present again at Richards. The crowd, despite having the average age of a chartered accountants gathering, were in good voice throughout and the atmosphere was actually better than I’ve experienced recently for current bands. Impressive.

As usual, click the image for the full sized version

Full marks must go to Russell Hastings who’s had to step in to Weller’s shoes, an unenviable task, but he really delivered a passionate performance. As Mr C had said, ‘close your eyes and you’d be hard pressed to know the difference.’

The set was an unashamed stroll through ‘In the City‘ to ‘Town called Malice‘ and even though so many great songs had to be left out, it was simply one memorable tune followed by another, every note transporting me back to various gigs – Rainbow, London, 1980, Going Underground straight in at No.1, Guildford Civic Hall, several times whilst living in the area, Poole Arts Centre warm up gig for the Sound Affects tour and so on.

As I previously mentioned there are times when the past is best left as it was. However From the Jam proved to be the exception, in fact they proved to be exceptional.

More pics from the evening (Hugh Cornwall was the excellent support), plus pics from the other gigs mentioned are up on my Picasa site, have a browse by clicking here.

As a footnote I used my new Canon SD1000 (Ixus in Europe) to take the evenings pics. I’m still getting used to using a semi-auto digital and even playing with the manual settings struggled to eliminate blurring. Having said that it’s a giant leap forward from the Nokia pics.