The Penguin Café Orchestra…

…started out as an imaginary ‘concept’ ensemble following a dream [Simon] Jeffes had during a severe bout of food poisoning in 1972. In its earliest incarnation the PCO existed only as a recording project. Over the next 25 years this gradually fleshed out into a unique, 10 person hybrid of pop, avant garde and chamber music which fetched up performing all over the world.

Founder Simon Jeffes died in 1997. Listen.

I don’t really know what this is. But it has a certain addictive beauty.

The International Symbol of Access:

The same symbol, as rendered in the Fitzroy Parkade in Charlottetown:

From Pedro comes a pointer to Torino Colors:

Torino colors rappresenta un caso unico di mappatura urbana cromatica complementare a quella toponomastica. Un criterio intuitivo con cui è possibile orientarsi all’interno della città, migliorandone la fruizione, da parte di chi la vive, permanentemente o occasionalmente. Un unicum, ambizioso ed impegnativo, ma con ricadute, per l’immagine interna ed esterna della città, sicuramente straordinarie.

Or, for those of you not familiar with the Italian:

As Pedro describes it:

The Torino Colors project aims to change the way we navigate a city, the image I’ve reproduced here is the colored map for the Torino city in Italy. The idea behind it is very simple:

STEP 1: pick a color for each region of your town.

STEP 2: paint all the city appliances and structures (like trash bins, light posts, sign holders, etc.) with the corresponding color…

With a little twist and it’s here that this idea really get interesting:

STEP 3: As soon as you start moving in any direction, you add some blending to starting color, or simply put, when you walk in any certain direction towards another part of the city, the color will react to your movement and start to blend with the color selected for the region where you’re headed.

Anonymous friend of the blog Murky has created a much more interesting mix tape than the one that I threw together yesterday (although I would argue that my inclusion of a Fleetwood Mac track gives mine a certain kind of something). Listen:

Found here today: an MP3 of Nebulous by the Leslie Spit Treeo.

Back in my radio days, I had the Leslie Spit Treeo in the studio at Trent Radio for an interview. Somehow they ended up interviewing themselves, which was okay by me. Then then went next door to the Jolly Hangman and put on a barnburner of a show.

One of the best experiences I’ve ever had buying clothing was the time I walked into Hambly & Innis Men’s Wear Clothing on University Avenue looking for a pair of pyjamas. Clarkie Innis sized me up, went into the back and found me a pair of flannels that I’m still wearing 10 years later. It felt like it was 1922.

I’ve walked by Hambly & Innis on my way to work almost every morning for as long as I can remember; although their stock was tilted about 30 years older than my demographic, rare is the day that I haven’t entertained the thought of finding a reason to by a fedora, or a yellow and blue checked spring jacket.

John Clark Innis died yesterday at the age of 94. His obituary reads:

A well known and respected Charlottetown businessman, John Clark “Clarkie” Innis, died on Wednesday, March 26th, 2008 at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. He was 94 years of age.

Both Clarkie and his son Kenny operated a very successful Hambly & Innis Men’s Wear Clothing Store in downtown Charlottetown with a history that dates back to its inception in 1949. Up until recently he worked in the day-to-day operation of the family business.

Mr. Innis was the beloved husband of the late Kathleen “Kay” (nee Acorn) Innis, and dear father of Gloria (Ross) Gilmore of Dartmouth, NS and Ken (Pauline) Innis of Charlottetown. He will also be sadly missed but fondly remembered by his grandchildren, Jason (Karen) Gilmore, Jill Gilmore both of Dartmouth, Ryan Innis and Kyle Innis both of Charlottetown; and his numerous nieces and nephews.

The last surviving member of his family, he was predeceased by his parents, Roderick and Laura Jane (Clark) Innis, sisters and brothers, Arabelle Baillie of California, Charles Innis of Ontario, Jean Grenier of BC, Eleanor Innis and Smith “Doc” Innis both of Pictou County, NS.

As Hambly & Innis closes — as The Guardian reported this morning — Charlottetown will lose its last real haberdashery and, in Clarkie Innis, it’s last real haberdasher.

Thoughts tonight to his friends and family.

The lads and I took a run out to the shore this afternoon on a secret recon mission. My GPS receiver was streaming position to my phone all the way, and the image below is a chunk of track, superimposed on Google Earth. Can you identify our stop on the way back into town?

Here’s a close-up:

Here’s the Google Earth KML file of the entire trip if you want to see it in living globe.

Amid the torrent of snazzola that flows through my RSS every day Mixwit stood out. I am marking my age by admitting so, of course: I can only imagine that 4 or 5 generations of kids have grown up who’ve no idea what a cassette tape even looks like. But I found the process of putting a virtual one together completely compelling. Here’s what I came up with: