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This week on Swim Drink Fish Music, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper and our Canadian partner groups on the Fraser and Ottawa Rivers launched the newest song in our music club. This is an important one.
http://www.swimdrinkfishmusic.com
The song is called Ballad of a Fisherman’s Wife, and it was inspired by the situation in the Gulf. The group Great Lake Swimmers (awesome name) led by Tony Dekker wrote and recorded the song JUST for us.
Here’s Tony’s quote:
“Great Lake Swimmers’ “Ballad Of A Fisherman’s Wife” was written after hearing, with great dismay, news about the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Most striking and heart-felt to me were the sentiments of outrage from those who made their living in and along these waters, especially the fishermen, and especially their wives. I wanted to comment on this ongoing crisis from that very specific viewpoint,” says singer-songwriter Tony Dekker.
Please check out the song at http://www.swimdrinkfishmusic.com. It’s an incredible honour to see artists from one area stepping up to support the issues of Waterkeepers in other areas.
The Swim Drink Fish Music Club Announces Ohbijou as Feature Artist
Indie-pop sensation donates “Tour Song” to support clean water
http://www.swimdrinkfishmusic.com/
The Swim Drink Fish Music Club is an online music and audio experience @ http://www.swimdrinkfishmusic.com developed by Lake Ontario Waterkeeper in collaboration with other Waterkeeper organizations across Canada. Bringing together artists, activists, and citizens who care about clean water, the Swim Drink Fish Music Club invites people to become members and celebrate the Club’s exclusive and rare music while at the same time contributing to the fight for swimmable, drinkable, fishable water in their community.
New featured exclusive songs are created by artists who care about clean water and uploaded once a month. Artists such as Broken Social Scene, Sarah Harmer, Bill Frisell, Gord Downie, Chris Brown, Kate Fenner, Stars, Dave Bidini, Bruce Cockburn and Tony Scherr all founding members of the club.
Artists confirmed for upcoming features include, Apostle of Hustle, Ghost Bees, Tony Dekker of Great Lake Swimmers, Holy Fuck, Land of Talk, Matt & Jill Barber, Neko Case, and Wintersleep as well as artists such as Brent Randall, Brian Borcherdt, Green Go, Immaculate Machine, and Julie Fader.
This month’s featured artist is Ohbijou:
“We are very proud to be a part of the Swim Drink Fish Music Club, and to support the good work done by a growing number of dedicated Waterkeepers in Canada. Tour Song was inspired by our first trip as a band to the east coast, and a late night dip in the Bay of Fundy. It will forever remind us of summer adventuring and enjoying the good and golden things that are so easily taken for granted in this world. We are very pleased to have Tour Song counted among the many wonderful songs available to SDFM Club Members, who generously support the vital cause of preserving and restoring the heath of our lakes and waterways, and all things near and dear.”
“Ohbijou’s ‘Tour Song’ is a perfect complement to the Swim Drink Fish Music Club” says Mark Mattson, Waterkeeper & President of Lake Ontario Waterkeeper. “It captures the spirit of travel, of the sea, and of moving towards a place worth being. That’s the life of the musician as well as the life of an environmentalist.”
In addition to the featured songs, Swim Drink Fish Music Club membership provides other great material:
- new bonus tracks from Lameck Williams vs Harbour Sharks available now
- additional bonus tracks coming in May from Lady Hayes and The Mermaids
- episodes of Living At the Barricades, the weekly radio program produced by Lake Ontario Waterkeeper and broadcast around southern Ontario. Many of the Music Club members are frequent guests on the show.
- a made-for-Canada edition of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s Ring of Fire program, broadcast on Air America radio in the United States.
The $10 annual membership fee allows unlimited access to the website for one year. Members can download the songs and play them on any portable music device. Plus event invitations. Plus more.
Every song has its story.
The Swim Drink Fish Music Club Announces Ohbijou as Feature Artist
Indie-pop sensation donates “Tour Song” to support clean water
http://www.swimdrinkfishmusic.com/
The Swim Drink Fish Music Club is an online music and audio experience @ http://www.swimdrinkfishmusic.com developed by Lake Ontario Waterkeeper in collaboration with other Waterkeeper organizations across Canada. Bringing together artists, activists, and citizens who care about clean water, the Swim Drink Fish Music Club invites people to become members and celebrate the Club’s exclusive and rare music while at the same time contributing to the fight for swimmable, drinkable, fishable water in their community.
New featured exclusive songs are created by artists who care about clean water and uploaded once a month. Artists such as Broken Social Scene, Sarah Harmer, Bill Frisell, Gord Downie, Chris Brown, Kate Fenner, Stars, Dave Bidini, Bruce Cockburn and Tony Scherr all founding members of the club.
Artists confirmed for upcoming features include, Apostle of Hustle, Ghost Bees, Tony Dekker of Great Lake Swimmers, Holy Fuck, Land of Talk, Matt & Jill Barber, Neko Case, and Wintersleep as well as artists such as Brent Randall, Brian Borcherdt, Green Go, Immaculate Machine, and Julie Fader.
This month’s featured artist is Ohbijou:
“We are very proud to be a part of the Swim Drink Fish Music Club, and to support the good work done by a growing number of dedicated Waterkeepers in Canada. Tour Song was inspired by our first trip as a band to the east coast, and a late night dip in the Bay of Fundy. It will forever remind us of summer adventuring and enjoying the good and golden things that are so easily taken for granted in this world. We are very pleased to have Tour Song counted among the many wonderful songs available to SDFM Club Members, who generously support the vital cause of preserving and restoring the heath of our lakes and waterways, and all things near and dear.”
“Ohbijou’s ‘Tour Song’ is a perfect complement to the Swim Drink Fish Music Club” says Mark Mattson, Waterkeeper & President of Lake Ontario Waterkeeper. “It captures the spirit of travel, of the sea, and of moving towards a place worth being. That’s the life of the musician as well as the life of an environmentalist.”
In addition to the featured songs, Swim Drink Fish Music Club membership provides other great material:
- new bonus tracks from Lameck Williams vs Harbour Sharks available now
- additional bonus tracks coming in May from Lady Hayes and The Mermaids
- episodes of Living At the Barricades, the weekly radio program produced by Lake Ontario Waterkeeper and broadcast around southern Ontario. Many of the Music Club members are frequent guests on the show.
- a made-for-Canada edition of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s Ring of Fire program, broadcast on Air America radio in the United States.
The $10 annual membership fee allows unlimited access to the website for one year. Members can download the songs and play them on any portable music device. Plus event invitations. Plus more.
Every song has its story.
We are seeking environmental authors to collaborate with us to promote our Reading Series, which is an effort to educate (and entertain!) members of the community on environmental issues. The Reading Series will consist of an author reading from one of his or her books focusing on wilderness, natural resources, conservation, or other similar topics. The book may be non-fiction, prose, or fiction. After a brief reading and discussion of the book, the author may answer questions, and sign and sell copies of his or her book.
We plan to hold three or four Reading events per year, each one lasting about two hours.
Fraser Riverkeeper and partner H2O Plus launched our first of the series at H2O Plus’s store on Robson to celebrate World Water Day this year. Jordan Scott read from his poetry chapbook Silt–poems related to the Fraser River. During this series, H2O Plus donated a portion of sales during the in-store event to Fraser Riverkeeper and offered event shoppers a discounted coupon.
To get involved, please contact Mary at Fraser Riverkeeper.
Thanks to a generous grant from Norcross Wildlife Foundation, and donations from friends, Fraser Riverkeeper acquired its own vessel in the summer of 2009, which ensures long-term sustainability and increases operational capacity, while engaging in pollution patrols on the Fraser River and surrounding waters. The new boat is a critical component of Fraser Riverkeeper and serves as the main platform in fulfilling the program’s mission.
If you would like to help Keep the Boat Afloat, please see our Donate Now button.
The vessel enables a true on the water presence, demonstrating to the community and potential polluters that Fraser Riverkeeper has taken responsibility for protecting the river and surrounding waterways. The boat serves to deter polluters and identifies the Riverkeeper as a source for first-hand information to the media, public officials, and the community. The vessel also lets Fraser Riverkeeper expand its pollution patrols, community outreach, and scientific research in support of its advocacy work — thereby providing unlimited opportunities to involve the community at large.
Riverkeeper Doug Chapman has extensive experience as a boatman. For over 40 years he was either a captain or navigator on sailing and motor vessels making passages across the Great Lakes as well as the Mosel, Rhine, and Rhone Rivers in Europe. He has sailed the Caribbean and Mediterranean Seas and the Atlantic and Pacific coasts for years. He has also fished commercially on the British Columbia Pacific coast for years in a 37-ft. wooden salmon troller, which he captained.
Doug and his first mate, board member Kari Siirala, have had a few excursions down the river with several Fraser Riverkeeper staff and volunteers.
Fraser Riverkeeper is implementing an exciting new book club that will connect environmental authors with friends and members of our organization. We plan to host several reading events this year, and would like to invite you to be a guest speaker at one of our meetings. If you are interested in donating a couple hours to a book club event, please contact Mary.
Authors may bring copies of their books to sign and sell. The venue will be casual and educational for the audience, and will be promoted among our members and contacts. Our venue will include the following:
1. A coffeehouse, pub, or other location decided upon by Fraser Riverkeeper and the author.
2. A guest author giving a brief presentation of his or her book, and being open to a question-and-answer period.
3. A speaker from Fraser Riverkeeper introducing the author and tying up the event.
4. A place at the venue for the author to sell and sign books.
5. A growing network of author and reader relationships, which will enhance Fraser Riverkeeper’s community-based educational and advocacy programs.
Welcome to Fraser Riverkeeper’s interactive map. When you click the map link, note that you can zoom in and out of the map area and click the layer filters (points of interest, FRK events, etc.) to find only the information you’re looking for.
We want to thank IM Rivers for their generous donation of a one-year license to Fraser Riverkeeper in 2010. IM Rivers provides an interactive mapping interface for river network organizations wishing to provide their communities with updated information on the state of their waters.
Our map is under construction, and has some of the following areas added, but will have much more in the coming weeks and months. Please check back.
1. Recreational, historical, and conservation points of interest along the Fraser.
2. General data findings on FRK’s water sampling and what this means for the health of your community and marine life.
3. General updates and findings of other organizations on the state of our river.
4. Risk profile: a swim, drink, fish index project that we will incorporate with IM mapping to provide advisories, alerts, and information dealing with how safe it is to swim, drink, and fish along the Fraser and its lower mainland tributaries.
5. Event mapping.
The public has a right to know about the state of its river. It is crucial that we share all investigations/findings with the public. FRK disseminates information to the public through newsletters, website and the media, including information pamphlets and brochures, research documents, public conferences, and student training/internship opportunities.
Network of Eyes and Ears: We are reaching out to people and building alliances as well as a network of eyes and ears throughout the watershed.’
We will be expanding our “public right to know” campaign in the future, to include water quality reports, an expansive news section, and more community events!
Full-Time Citizen Presence: It is vital that FRK maintains a full-time citizen presence on the water by engaging in regular pollution patrols by boat. By doing so, FRK’s presence not only serves as a deterrent to potential polluters, but it allows FRK to investigate citizen complaints about pollution issues. FRK must monitor water quality, become familiar with the river and track changes over time, map important ecological features, meet people who are using the river and educate them about FRK. FRK can bring media and decision-makers onto the river, promote stewardship and be a visible presence, all while learning from the river.
Full-time Riverkeeper, Doug Chapman, patrols the waters in, and surrounding, the Fraser River by boat, responding to community pollution concerns, monitoring water quality, and defending local waterways, to protect and enhance the Fraser’s aquatic integrity.
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