Alanna Kurtis and the Tumblers

I'm not a big country music fan. Ask my girlfriend, she'll confirm this.
That's kind of odd, considering I'll do tend to dip into a lot of different genres (yes, even after they cease to be fashionable).
Might have something to do with the fact that my parents listened to nothing but country when I was a kid. Everyone's gotta rebel against something, right?

Anyway... Having said that, I will say that if you are in Toronto on the 19th of September you should hie your ass down to the Rivoli for 9:45 and check out Alana Kurtis and the Tumblers.
I've seen them a couple of times now and it ain't your father's country music.

Hmmm, on second thought, maybe it is. Maybe that's why I'm enjoying it.

It is certainly a hell of a lot more country than the thinly disguised pop that has been packaged as country for the last 15 years.
Alana has a hell of a voice and an excellent lyrical pen,and her band the Tumblers are definitely not skill-deficient. Come out on Wednesday and give it a listen.

Short rant on Large Orgs

I've been buried inside the bowels of one of the country's larger financial players, working with management solutions.
I have never been a big fan of the large organizations; I have always maintained that there were too many layers of bullshit, petty empire-building and people being assigned to roles, not because they had any aptitude or interest in it, but because they had been there so long.
I've worked at government clients in both Canada and the US, and the madness, bureaucracy and waste in those environments has nothing on what happens in a large, profitable FI.

I am glad I spent almost a decade in a variety industries working for small and medium businesses. I learned a lot doing that.
In a large environment like this, I think I would have lost more than I would have learned.