Page D2 of the Culture section in today's Edmonton Journal features an article about pre/post, an excellent up and coming local band that is playing on Thursday as part of a fundraiser for the Heart of the City Festival. The festival also got a major plug in the article's last paragraph - check out some of the names of performers -- at least one of them should be rather familiar . . . :-)

I'm finally back in the saddle again, so to speak. Which means, I am riding around the city with a camera in tow. Which means, it's time for Paula's Great Bicycle Adventures, Version 2008.

On May 1, we marched from Tipton Park to MacIntyre Park led by a group of pipers and drummers, and backed up by the moves of Mile Zero Dance. Artist Memi von Gaza made large migratory birds, which represented the foreign and transient workers being exploited in Alberta. At MacIntyre Park, Bill Bourne played, Mile Zero danced, and workers interacted in solidarity. Here are the pictures (54 images) at RaiseMyVoice.com and Flickr. As well, here are two videos: one of the march (3:27), and another in the park afterwards (3:54).

A group of university students walked from Calgary to Edmonton to raise awareness of the genocide going on in the Darfur region of the Sudan. They finished their walk on May 4, as around 500 walkers marched from the south side to Grant MacEwan College downtown. At one point, the entire span of the High Level Bridge was filled with walkers. I managed to catch the group just as they were heading to the bridge - here is a brief look (3 images).

The April/May issue of Our Voice: Edmonton's Street Newspaper hit the ground running last week. The main focus of the issue is "Celebrate Fair Trade" and features front and back cover photography by yours truly. It also has the latest installment of "Active Observer" that you can read here.

Our Voice can be purchased at the Old Strathcona Farmer's Market on Saturdays, all along Whyte Avenue pretty much any day of the week, and on 101 Street and Jasper Avenue on most days in the latter part of the afternoon. Please purchase from tagged vendors only.

Two years of editing Boyle McCauley News is signified with the publication of the May 2008 issue, which hit the streets this weekend. Here is a look at what is inside:

*Annual Clean Up This Month
*Boyle Renaissance: The Community Speaks Out
*ESPC Conducts Renters Survey
*ARTery Pumps Blood Into Heart of the City Festival Fundraiser
*Recycling Made Easy
*Big Bin or Bulky Bob's?
*Celebrating Green Growth
*Beyond Cars

To download a copy of the paper in PDF form, click here.

This is my first guitar instructional video. It was filmed by request from a fan on YouTube who wanted to learn how to play "Solo le pido a Dios."

This is the most recent song I have written, about homelessness in Edmonton. I wrote it from the point of view of one person, but also in a way that can be taken as a collective experience.

By request from one of my YouTube fans, I am singing "La Colina de la Vida by León Gieco, in Spanish. This was a big challenge to play and sing. León Gieco is a songer/songwriter from Argentina.



And, a look at the "real" version:

I have been playing the drums for about two months now. Here is a look at some of the rhythms I have been working on. I've been told I can actually keep time, so I take that as positive.