Angkor Wat: Welcome To The World’s First Super City…

by Brett Atkinson on

If you’ve ever been to the Khmer architectural wonders at Angkor Wat in Cambodia, you’ll know that you need to be super-organised to see the different sites arrayed near the Tonle Sap lake.

You’ll be up early for sunrise at Angkor Wat, and after the journey to the Bayon at Angkor Thom, it’s onto temples further afield by bicycle or tuk tuk. New research by the Greater Angkor Project at the University of Sydney in Australia has now revealed that the size of the urban sprawl surrounding the temple at Angkor Wat is actually ten times larger than previously thought. The combination of aerial photography, on the ground research, and radar has revealed that the ancient conurbation covered nearly 3000 sq km. Almost 100 new temple sites have been discovered, and it’s now estimated the overall population of the area may have topped one million between the 9th and 16th centuries.

Mind you, if you’ve visited the rapidly expanding town of Siem Reap recently, you may think that a similar number is sometimes approached during the tourist season.

Thanks to dragon caiman on Flickr for the great shot of monks at Angkor Wat.

Jack Keroauc’s On the Road Turns 50

by Jamie Rhein on

“What is that feeling when you’re driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing?- it’s the too-huge world vaulting us, and it’s goodbye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies.” Part 2, Chapter 8, page 156 (From Web site Book Rags: Quotes from Jack Keroauc’s On the Road.)

Isn’t this just a perfect sentiment about what travel feels like sometimes? When I think of travel, Jack Keroauc comes to mind. Yesterday I came across articles about this being the 50th anniversary of the year On the Road was published. Growing up with that traveler gene, I missed out on this book, but carried its title with me in my head until I read it sometime after my Peace Corps days. Still, Keroauc paved the way for those of us with a passion for travel, pondering and writing about those experiences, hopefully touching on what is the soul of those we meet along the way–and ourselves.

If you want to brush up on Keroauc, here is a link to an NPR show about him. There are some terrific photos, anecdotes and audio tapes of him reading from his work. Here’s another link to the New York Times Arts Beat section where people are currently leaving comments about the book’s lessons. This is what tipped me off about the anniversary. There were 154 comments last I checked.

Elvis Presley: More Than Graceland

by Jamie Rhein on

I’ve been to the gates of Graceland. I had grand plans to visit a year ago, but since my direct flight out of Columbus was canceled and I was rerouted through Detroit, I arrived in Memphis 15 minutes after closing. I was on my way to Mississippi and had no time for a tour the day of my return flight. A minor disappointment.

I did see the special Elvis exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame years ago. One of the TVs Elvis shot was on display. There was much more than that, but who can forget a TV with a bullet hole?

For folks who seek out anything Elvis, and I’m not saying I’m one of them, there’s a new tourist site in the works. Some people already show up in Palm Springs, California wanting to go inside the house where Elvis once lived. The couple who own it want to return it to Elvis’s glory days splendor and have an idea that it might also attract people who might want to get married there. That’s not so far-fetched. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law got married by an Elvis impersonator in Las Vegas. Not that the place in Palm Springs would have an Elvis impersonator who performs ceremonies, but that would be an interesting addition, come to think of it. The photo is on AOL’s homepage today. Click on it for a link to an Elvis quiz also on AOL. Just a little something extra.

Band on the Run: The Swelling of Art in Wells, BC

by Ember Swift on

The little town of Wells, BC is as cute as they come. It’s snug in the valley between several mountains, (one of which is mysteriously called “Island Mountain”), and it’s a eastward turn off of highway 97 that connects Prince George, BC with Williams Lake, BC. I had never made that turn until this weekend and it took me along highway 26 for about 90kms into what is an historic hotbed.

Here’s some history: Wells, BC is really close to what is known as “historic Barkerville.” This area was bursting with activity during the mid 1800’s with the Cariboo gold rush. During its heyday, Barkerville was the largest town west of Chicago and north of San Francisco. However, with the death of the gold mining prospects there, the town died and sat abandoned for seventy years until the provincial government decided to restore it and bring it back to life as a tourist centre.

That was obviously the definition of a ghost town. I’d love some of those stories!

Wells, BC, on the other hand, was built in the 1930s as a company town for the Cariboo Gold-Quartz Mine. This mine was discovered long after things had died for Barkerville and represented yet another modest boom for the area. Wells enjoyed about a thirty-year burst of activity and prosperity before, as it always happens, the Earth could not sustain such abuse, gave up the last of her jewellrey in disgust and then forced the mines down.

Everywhere in Wells are mining or panning-for-gold references and old-fashioned images of the Wild West. By that, I mean rickety but colourful storefronts, paintings of covered wagons, and lots of puns about nuggets and gold dust finding their way into the names of restaurants and shops.

The people there welcomed us with big grins, hippie beads and sun-kissed shoulders.

The festival we performed at is called “Arts Wells Festival.” I love the double meaning when it’s said fast, although the logo doesn’t highlight the “swells” part of the festival name so I never did ask if it was intentional… but, I’m going to assume so. After all, in an area that has experienced significant swells in growth for destructive reasons, why not encourage the swelling of arts and community — constructive swells in Wells. (Well, that’s where my mind took me, anyhow!)

We arrived at around four o’clock on the last day of this long weekend festival. That was the soonest we could get there and it felt as though we arrived to a house party that was long underway. People were comfortably hanging out front of the century-old Sunset Theatre that was a wood frame building no bigger than a one-room school house with a stage and a front lobby and a tiny backstage tucked behind a musty old curtain. It reminded me of the school/church from Little House on the Prairie.

Everyone was either dusty from a long weekend of barefoot dancing at the main festival site (the local school down the road) or was damp from having just taken a dip in the river that ran right behind the theatre.

I wandered into the crowd unnoticed and found my way to the inside and the merchandise area looking for someone who could let us know where we needed to be and when. I found two smiling women selling CDs and eager to check in our items before the four o’clock show ended. We were scheduled to perform at five o’clock and were the final performance of the festival. It didn’t take me long to see the lay of the place and know that it would be a simple set-up and easy load-in.

I returned with a stack of CDs and was awarded two wooden festival badges with strings to hang around our necks. They are, by far, the coolest festival badges I have ever seen. Handmade and completely in tune with the vibe of this place; it was a family atmosphere and “homemade” seems to define everything that this festival is about.

I walked back outside then to get my gear and introduced myself to a couple of funky looking guys sitting on the outside steps. Turns out that most people here for the event were from Victoria or Vancouver, but a few were locals and everyone was super friendly – so friendly, in fact, that someone offered to go home to his house to get his amp for me to borrow. He hopped in his station wagon and was gone and back within five minutes. The tube amp under his generous arm as he made his way backstage made me smile immediately. There’s nothing better than tubes with my electric! (And of course, his smile to return my smile made me smile even wider.)

Just before four-thirty, I had myself organized enough to take in the last fifteen minutes of an amazing four-piece, spoken-word, beat-boxing group from Victoria called “Odditory Presence.” They were amazing. In the few songs I caught, they made me laugh, think and want to dance… and there was no instrument on stage besides their mouths and their minds. The mouth is an extremely important instrument for change. They’ve certainly got that covered.

When we stepped on stage, the place was full and looking onwards expectantly. Microphones were hardly needed thanks to the fact that it was built for optimum acoustics from a time when microphones weren’t even a consideration. It was intimate, to say the least. We laughed and were really casual on stage, playing a few old songs (“Goldilox” from our 2000 “The Wage is the Stage” release as our encore!), lots of new songs and telling long-winded stories. All told, the place embraced us and when we finished our encore, we were invited into that established group of friends that had long forgiven us for our late arrival.

The evening wore down then into dinner and drinks and a late-night jam. Well, it wasn’t too late, really. We headed back to our billet’s house before midnight knowing the long drive back to Edmonton the next day was going to hurt if we kept drinking wine and “scream singing” cover tunes!

A sunny-smiled woman named Kate who lives in a log home and is a massage therapist there in Wells put us up for the night. Her house smelled of cedar and incense. We both stepped in and knew we’d have a hard time leaving. Even the soap in the bathroom was handmade and all natural. And, the fact that her backyard is the foot of a mountain doesn’t hurt either. Her spices lined the kitchen counters in jars – counters that are homemade with tile tops and framed by pine – and the old fashioned stove top kettle reminded me of my grandma, its spout ornate and swooping upwards like a raised eyebrow lifts a question.

When we pulled out of Wells the next morning, I really didn’t want to leave. Just a taste of this warm community was a tease. My heart swelled with fondness when the drivers of two pick-up trucks that passed us coming out of the café in the morning as we were balancing steaming travel mugs honked and waved, the driver of one leaning out the window with “great show last night” catching the wind and making its way to our ears. Maybe next year (if they’ll have us back), we’ll plan a longer stay.

Yes, I think that’s in order.

Historic Opera House: Philipsburg, Montana

by Jamie Rhein on

Four years ago, when I went to an Opera House Theatre production for the first time, I was hooked. This past Sunday I did a double, taking in the afternoon performance with my daughter and son and then heading back solo in the evening. I may be able to get the third show in before we leave town.

Each season, this theater company in Philipsburg, Montana puts on three different melodrama plays, one full-length and two paired with old-time vaudeville variety shows, but updated with original skits. Throughout the summer the plays rotate so, in two days, you can see all three. I always look forward to the laugh fest. It’s not often you can find theatre that satisfies children’s to adults’ tastes. Sunday my son and daughter were guffawing at the same time and the grandparents in the audience were just as loud.

Over the years I’ve seen the company change art and music directors without losing what I found so charming the first time I sat in the audience. During the plays, like with theatre back during vaudeville days, actors are accompanied with piano music that captures the flavor of the action and dialogue. This isn’t over the top entertainment, but sophisticated, tongue-in-cheek fun that satisfies a 21st century crowd. This year’s cast has some of last year’s members and a couple new ones. Part of the fun is watching the same people perform various parts between the shows. That’s a lot of lines to remember.

The Opera House building is part of the show. Claudette and Tim Dringle who own the building and the company took on this labor of love about five years ago by repairing and refurbishing it. Even though it has been in operation since the 1800s when Philipsburg was a thriving mining town, it needed an overhaul. Still, the doors have never closed making this the oldest continuously operating theater in Montana. The backdrops used in the productions are the original, hand painted sets and several of the vaudeville acts are culled from the theater’s original collection. Selection depends on current tastes and what is considered politically correct–nothing offensive here.

I wish I could transport everyone I know here for a show since its survival depends on an audience and I certainly want to be able to continue getting my belly laugh fix every time I come to town.

The photo from the front is from the Opera House’s Web site. This is a past production, but you can see the back drops.