Category: Blog Notes

The Harmony Chronicles

Artistic illustration representing music with various instruments like a guitar, trumpet, and keyboard, surrounded by musical notes and a prominent 'MUSIC' text.
Created by me. Not for commercial use.

Here is a story. I once edited and wrote for a short time for a now-dormant online magazine, The Harmony Chronicles. It was a magazine dedicated mainly to independent artists of any genre, recipes, self-help, and anything else we considered interesting. We, as several partners, willingly gave our time. We aimed to make a go at a collective dream. We wrote about what we loved.

It was a good time for all, but it became all-consuming. We wore ourselves out editing, interviewing, and creating material. We hoped this material would interest the public. It basically fell apart from there.

Enough maudlin! I recently felt the urge to start something like this again. I initiated contact with my friend Don (more on him later). The website for his online radio group was active (obviously). Luckily for me, the blog we had started to help out the magazine still existed.

With his and Sam’s (more about him later) permission, I again have access to that website and will begin writing again on various subjects that I love, not just music, but slanted in that direction.

I hope to start churning out some new material very soon, and I will post here and there simultaneously. All articles here will be mirrored on the Kat Radio Group site at HARMONY CHRONICLES

At this point, I am calling any musicians or groups that would be willing to interview for some free publicity. Send your request to johnlorieh@gmail.com

In addition to interviews, I am working on several new recurring series and resurrecting some old ones. Stay tuned.

The Voice – A New Series – The Intro

Have you ever wondered what happened to that voice, the one you liked in season something? Did they continue their careers, or fold their tent and join the labour force? In this series, we will touch on some of the over 1000 contestants that have appeared in this franchise, at least the American version. I hope you find this interesting. I follow independent artists and offer support wherever I can. Most of these artists, who have continued, are basically independents. I found a list on Wikipedia and will use a random number generator to tell me which artist I will follow up with. I will also attempt to make contact and hopefully produce an interview. There should be some interesting conversations.

Blog Notes

Kootenay Lake, British Columbia, Canada

Good day! These are just a few notes that have been building up inside that need to be removed.

First off, returning to blogging and writing. My first impression is Holy Crap, the format here has changed radically. Going to take some time to relearn some things and become a proficient user once again. Similarly, the site’s look needs some updating, which is a second learning experience. I think I’m up for it.

Second is the format of the site itself. Lori and I have visited many places, but nothing recently other than Mexico. The travel side of things will consist mainly of recent reviews and photos in Mexico, mixed with some of our movements around our places in Alberta and British Columbia. I have a few items on Mazatlan that I am currently working on, which should drop over the next few weeks.

I will also review all the sites I have on all social media, delete some, and connect everything left to this brand. This is another goal that may take some time. It is amazing how these collect, almost like they self generate.

Another big part of our life is music. Posts will appear regularly and highlight new music, independent music, Canadian music and some top 10 list things. I did some interview work with a magazine I once affiliated with, mostly independent artists, and I will try to get back to that somehow. I have a couple of dormant X and Facebook sites with many artists that I follow and follow back, and I will work to revive them and renew some contacts.

A third set of topics will involve our journey to retirement. It is not so much an advice column but more of a journal of how we are moving to retirement and how our progress toward that goal is coming along.

Another feature that we will include is to share our favourite recipes and wines. Cooking is therapy, and wine augments the experience.

In closing, we look forward to touching base with everybody and will try to be a much more regular contributor, while learning to put forward a quality product. That will take some time.

Blog Note

Merry Christmas and happy holidays. Just back, but posting will be light over the next few days . Have a several events and then some travel.

Yes, we are outta here. Heading to Mazatlan, Mexico for the next 3 months. Been doing this for a few years now. This time I’m going to do my best to give the reader a taste of what our winter home has to offer. Restaurant reviews, night life, things to do, we will give an overview of a great city.

A Mazatlan sunset. Taken by myself.

Who’s Out There

Photo by Oleksandr P: https://www.pexels.com/photo/orange-safety-ring-on-man-shoulder-near-body-of-water-319930/

I’m kind of taking a stab at making a go at things once again. I’ve been doing a lot of travelling around, listening to lots of music and taking many photos. Generally speaking, I have a lot of pent-up brain fill to regurgitate. 

I had a stint editing a magazine, which we will leave nameless for now. It was music and lifestyle oriented and I interviewed quite a few independent artists. I have an interest in that and will incorporate these into this place.

That brings me to my point here. At one point in time, there was quite a community of kindred spirits on here, and it makes me wonder who is still out there. Drop me a comment if you remember me and we can hopefully reconnect, even if you are not actively writing on here anymore.

I missed this, and I seem to have found some time available to me to actually try this again. I will likely be sporadic for a spell as I rebuild the site and figure out what has changed, technically relearning WordPress.

That’s all for now. Hope you drop me a line.

What’s Up Next – Some Notes – December 10, 2021

It’s Friday, and a good week it was. Just a reminder, we are looking for contributors to the blog. We are planning on expansion in the new year and it is your opportunity to get in on the ground floor. Do you like music, sports, food, beverages, travel or just like to write, then we have a place for you as a weekly, monthly, daily or your schedule contributor. Reply to this post or email me at johnlorieh@gmail.com.

Now a look at the next week. The weekend will see some musical posts on random bands (Sylvia Tyson is up next) and we continue with our countdown of Canada’s top 100 rock songs.Starting Monday, we will have another Saturday special recipe. We have a new post from Dean and Laynni, who are on their way home from Cyprus as I write. Safe travels. Our interview with Maddisun will be up during the week, we had a nice conversation on the 9th.

If you are an active musical artist and would consent to an interview, please contact me at johnlorieh@gmail.com and we can have a chat.Have a great weekend all.

What’s Up Next – Some Notes – December 4, 2021

First a tip, don’t expect to fit in writing when you are a 10-day vacation at a beach, in Mexico, in November, when you live in Canada. Having said that, I apologize profusely if you were missing us. We will work hard over the next while to maintain our flow of information and entertainment.So, what is up. Let’s see. We have 2 interviews going up, one with a Cranbrook, B.C. indie artist, Maddisun and another with long time indie artist from Toronto, now in Los Angeles, Betty Moon.

We have a new Saturday night recipe for you, from Mazatlán of course. There will be a new article from our happy wanderers, Dean and Laynni. There will also be a new random Canadian band, and likely a couple of Canadian hits from our Canadian Top 100 of all time.I also hope to add a new feature this week, which will chronicle pieces of musical history. I am still looking to finalize a format as it is a big topic. It may (or may not) incorporate birthdays, remembrances, and a look back at historical album releases. Kind of memory jogger of things past.

We are continuing our search for contributors as well. If you are interested in writing, I would love to hear from you. Drop me a line at johnlorieh@gmail.com if you have the itch to write. The musical history articles may be just what you’re looking for to get the juices flowing. Hope to hear from you.

A Note To My Followers

Been a long time since I’ve been on here. figured I’d pop in and drop this here as it seems people still drop by. Actually thinking of adding this to my group of current blogs. I miss a lot of people that were here with me.

Good morning friends. I recently took on an editor position with an internet radio station and will be administering their various columns on their social media sites and their online magazine. We have an opportunity available for people to contribute columns and posts to these sites, which includes the online magazine. This would be on a volunteer basis, fully attributed and linked to your site. This should increase your readership and assist you if you have monetized your site.

We are looking at a true online magazine which will be separate from the station, Kat Power Hits Radio, and has complete freedom to post about any topic that meets our editorial standards. Travel, short stories, poetry, humor, current events, you name it, we’ll look at it.

If this interests you, please contact me at: johnlorieh@gmail.com

JohnLoriEh

Good Day

Been on another hiatus, nice to see you all.  Lori and I have had a very busy summer.  During our vacations, we decided to work together on a new project, incorporating a variety of social media platforms.  The gist of this idea is to chronicle our journey towards retirement.  We’ve been working towards this goal for about 10 years now and have made many left, right and 180 degree turns.  We have come up with many plans that cover both our economics and our wish list, while discarding some, expanding on others andrevisiting many.  There have been many twists and turns, but we always move ahead and grow in the process.  We plan to chronicle our journey from this point on and take a look backwards on how we got to where we are today.  We look forward to your comments and help in helping us figure out what to do next.  At the same time, we hope that we can help you in your journey in some small way.

 

Here are the links to the various sites.

JohnLoriEh on WordPress

JohnLoriEh on Facebook

JohnLoriEh on YouTube

 

This site will continue, with the variety of posts that I’ve become accustomed to placing here. So if that is what you enjoy, that will not change.  The same goes for its sister site, The Real Canadian Music Blog.  If you are interested though, I have posted the links to our new project below.  And, if you are wondering, JohnLoriEh is the name of our 1979 25 foot O’Day sailboat that we have docked on Kootenay Lake in the Canadian Rockies.  You will see a fair bit of our adventures in that setting.  Here is a glimpse of that.  Hope to see you on the new site.

40 Incredible Secret Places Most Travelers Don’t Know About. The Last One Blew Me Away…

Palácio Nacional de Sintra
Palácio Nacional de Sintra (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Hi everyone.  Been a real busy month, and it is only getting busier.  Off to Candle Lake this weekend, back for a few days, then off to Kaslo.  Also planning our next big adventure.  In case you missed me, i have popped up a quick link for you, showcasing some amazing places.  I am 1 for 40, Sintra being the one. If the other 39 are anything as incredible as Sintra, then they are very worthy to visit.

 

40 Incredible Secret Places Most Travelers Don’t Know About. The Last One Blew Me Away….

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