In a long and event-filled
career spanning electric blues to the psychedelic era,
Matthew Kelly has played with some music’s legendary figures, including B.B. King, Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker,
Albert Collins, Bobby Bland, Luther Tucker and Mel Brown and more. But his biggest claim to fame was performing with the Grateful Dead, one of the most respected rock bands of all time. Now happily settled in Pattaya, Matthew can still be persuaded to turn out for the occasional gig, as he did recently at the Royal Varuna Yacht Club
Inspiring people often come from humble beginnings. Prior to meeting Sovoeung Chann, he said, “I am a small guy. You’ll notice me easily as my right leg has polio.” True to his description, his frame…
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If you give a boy a pair of skates, he’ll want a stick and a puck to go with it. You’ll buy him a stick, and then a helmet, gloves, and the rest of the equip- ment. The boy will ask you to drive him to practice, and to watch his games. The games will be played in different towns and cities, and each year they’ll be further and further away. Sometimes, it’ll take longer to drive to and from the games than the one-hour game that is played.
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Canada’s identity is maybe better defined by C what it isn’t, rather than what it is. We’re a country born without a mission statement. Fame is not a Canadian experience. We go south for that. Neil lives on a California ranch, Celine resides in Vegas, and Bieber lounges at Snoop Dogg’s house. We’re the hole in the donut. But without it, Tim Hortons can’t call it a donut.
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A shot was fired. One man lay sprawled on the floor still flailing in his battle-like equipment. Seconds passed before he knew what happened. The shooter, wearing a uniform emblazoned with the word DE-STROYERS, towered above the fallen man.
Details (See page 22 in the link.)
Almost anyone who knows ball hockey in Asia has witnessed Mekong Moments. These are times during the annual Mekong Cup Ball Hockey Tournament, when eyes widen, jaws drop and sounds are uttered in gasps.
Details (See page 26 in the link.)
To spin a yarn is to tell a story, usually a long and fanciful one. A good one will spin a big crisis for entertainment value rather than to communicate important information. However, Mook V’s yarns are for serious concern.
Details (See page 22 in the link.)
RORY RAWYLK was told to leave the gym immediately. He was only halfway through the morning fitness test. Standing 6’5” he doesn’t scare easily. He would soon exit the building to a whirl of police cars and fire trucks.
Details (See page 29 in the link.)
“We know that hockey is where we live, where can best meet to overcome pain, and wrong, and death. Life is just a place to spend between games.” Fred Shero, Coach, Philadelphia Flyers, 1971-78
Details (See page 30 in the link.)
The Bangkok Brewsers were a hapless bunch during this year’s annual Mekong Cup. Winless in six games and scoring a tournament low eight goals, they salvaged their only point in a tie to the Vietnam Vindicators. But the Brewsers scored big after the tournament.
Details (See page 24 in the link.)
George Orwell said, “To see what is in front of one’s door needs a constant struggle.” Business leaders must continually look beyond the door. What do they see now?
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MMike Nightingale has laced up the skates with Keanu Reeves. They had played on the same team in Los Angeles, along with fellow Canadian, actor Kiefer Sutherland. (Reeves, a goalie, showed off his hallucinatory Matrix-flexibility; Sutherland is chippy on ice, off ice he’s blatherskite chirpy.) This week, however, Nightingale is in Bangkok for the annual Land of Smiles Ice Hockey Classic. The tournament’s in its 26th year. He’s played in it every year since 2010.
Details (See page 32 in the link.)
It was the shot heard round northern Thailand. Dan Sinaguglia looked up at the clock. Less than ten sec-onds remained in the period. Standing beside his own goalie, he wound up for a slapshot. The golf equivalent to scoring from this distance would be to get a hole in one on a par five. His missile screamed its way for 50 meters – sizzling passed eight players – to needle its way by the opposing Hanoi Donkeys goalie. Players
were in dumfounded belief as the buzzer sounded to end the period. Bangkok’s Thai Stix had just taken in a 2-1 lead into the final period of the championship game of the LANNA Cup Ball Hockey tournament.
Greg Beatty didn’t expect to be writing chil- dren’s literature. Growing up in Canada he played hockey, often sitting around the locker room with teammates comparing missing teeth, facial scars and broken bones. He was recruited to play varsity hockey in the US at Colby College in Maine. Upon graduation, he went to law school in Boston and laced up his skates for the Bruins Old Timers, a team of retired professionals.
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A s Yogi Berra famously quipped, predictions are hard, especially about the future. One year ago, nobody would have believed it would be a low tech (or no tech) mask that would get us through the current pandemic. But we still need to rely on vaccines and other technology solutions for a permanent fix.
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Predictions are hard, especially about the future. One year ago, nobody would have believed it would be facemasks that would get us through the current pandemic. But we still need vaccines and technology…
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The poet Robert Graves wrote of life in the trenches during WW1, “noise never stopped for one moment – ever.” This year feels a bit like that. It’s the screaming that comes across the sky in Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow. Vulnerabilities have been exposed by trade tensions, a highly charged political climate, and now a global pandemic. Though our circumstance falls short of war, 2020 is a cacoph- ony of dire news headlines, Zoom meetings, and we can’t get on an airplane to escape ourselves.
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Neighboring countries weren’t accepting tour- ists. But I had to leave Thailand and re-enter on a new visa for a new employment oppor- tunity. Thus, a twenty-four thousand km roundtrip to my home country, Canada, then come back to the place I was already standing. A Kafkaesque plot was unfolding.
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COVID-19 has disrupted everything with whiplash effect. The science is unsettled, there’s no single approach by governments, and news coverage is schizophrenic. Let’s examine what is expected for society, community, family and personally.
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Artificial Intelligence (AI) stakes a claim on productivity, corporate dominance, and economic prosperity with Shakespearean drama. AI will change the way you work and spend your leisure time and puts…
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