Masonic Week in Alexandria

The first week in February saw Masons who are also members of various York Rite bodies congregate at the Hilton in Alexandria for national meetings, installation ceremonies, dinners, and other fun side degrees. It's generally called "Masonic Week" or "AMD Week" (AMD = Allied Masonic Degrees, of which I'm a member of actually.)

Anyway, the timing of me working here and Masonic Week were more than a coincidence, I believe, because there were several brethren whom I've known in the Masonic online community for years, and finally got to meet in person, as if the GAOTU bought us together in fellowship and Masonic enlightenment.

Also, I was fortunate enough to be invited to an historic dinner at Gadsby's Tavern in Old Town, Alexandria, with some of the brightest minds and authors in North American Masonry of my generation. The dinner conversation focused on how many of our own Masonic lodges have already reinvigorated themselves to be THE place for men to gather in harmony, enlightenment, and progressive knowledge, and how we can offer support for brethren seeking the same in their own jurisdiction.

But I digress... Back at the Hilton... some highlights...

My dear friend, known online as "Fylfot", and I were given tickets to a dinner for the Knight Masons Occidental (I have no idea what Masonic body that is). A couple brethren mentioned they had visited Alberta and the mountains in particular.

Then we went across the hall and participated in the "Elevator Degree" performed by the Pacific Northwest Players (see cheese hat photos in slideshow below). The "degree" was a satire on how some Masonic jurisdictions have experimented with what are known as "one day classes", fast tracking men through all three degrees of Masonry, often right through to membership in Shrine, all in one day. The performance was hilarious and I laughed throughout.

The brethren of the Pacific Northwest Players had hosted a wonderful hospitality suite for the week, and Fylfot and I had spent much time there getting to know the Masons we've only known online, as we had been doing that week ourselves. That was a great highlight and I hope to meet them again one day soon, hopefully in lodge.

I should mention that the first few photos in the slideshow below are me visiting Alexandria-Washington Lodge No. 22 at the George Washington Masonic Memorial. The gentleman in the royal blue collar with me is actually one of my favourite Masonic authors, Worshipful Brother W. Kirk MacNalty. Some of his books include:

Freemasonry: Symbols, Secrets & Significance

Freemasonry: A Journey Through Ritual and Symbol

The Way of the Craftsman

and an article published in "Heredom" 2005 called "Freemasonry for Bobos". That evening, he gave a presentation in lodge on the spiritual Masonic journey through the powerful symbolism presented in the degrees. He ended with a statement about what happens when we finally reach the "sanctum sanctorum" of our inner temple that I simply cannot publish.

Okay, photos...

Alexandria, Virginia!

For this prairie boy Canadian, I've only seen the Washington Monument and Capitol in movies, pictures, and Legoland replicas. So when you land at the Reagan National Airport, which is just south of DC, those two structures glow and certainly standout on the other side of the Potomac River, and I couldn't believe I was actually here, soon looking forward to seeing them up close, and being in a place where so much history has taken place in the name of freedom and democracy.

Speaking of "freedom", today is Martin Luther King Day and offices were closed, yet I still had a 9am meeting. ..lol..

But I digress. On my drive through distinctive and historic Old Town, Alexandria, I then got lost, and I knew I went too far because back behind me was the George Washington Masonic Memorial standing out, lights glowing upon it in the night, like a beacon, saying, "Mike, come back this way."

So I turned around and followed the roads that led to it, back into Old Town, finally driving down King Street with this view, and five minutes later, I found my hotel.


Magnificent, isn't it? I'm visiting Alexandria-Washington Lodge No. 22 on Thursday.

Okay, food notes so far: fish is okay, pizza is tasty, and I hear the Greek is very good.

TV: Same crap.

Roads: Immaculate, but instead of driving you're better off taking the Metro into DC as parking is pretty much useless. The Metro goes everywhere here.

Alexandria Architecture: American Colonial, matchbox row housing, lots of brick, and distinctive. Parts reminded me of row housing in London.

I've already met one of my Masonic brethren who happened to call me at the exact time I was lost driving back to my hotel from the office, and he then directed me to his office only a couple miles away. After knowing him only online for over three years, it was good to finally meet him.

So now that I'm settled in here, I'll have continual updates on my tour of area, what's good, what's not so good, and my infiltration of a Canadian into the Barack Obama campaign.

But be prepared for a lot of Masonry comin' at ya, 'cause next month is George Washington's birthday and there's a tonne of stuff going on, with the lodge, parades, and events. Oh, I saw the Anglican church he went to. More to come!

Chicago, Vegas, Virginia

On New Year's Day, I travelled to Chicago for 5 days, stayed at the Hotel Blake again and worked a few days. The next evening, I met up once again with the brethren from Oriental Lodge and we had a great evening over scotch and some food.

The next day, a friend of mine flew down and we spent an evening at The House of Blues and watched four tribute bands (Jimi Hendrix, REM, The Police, U2) which was very good. We also saw some live jazz, a dueling piano bar, and met some marines from Virginia, which was coincidental as I'm "stationed" there soon. Then the next day we went to the Field Museum of Natural History.

I really like Chicago by the way.

I then spent a few days at home before I headed to Vegas with 10 other friends for a stag week. We stayed at New York New York which is pretty cool, went to many clubs, bars, casinos, restaurants, etc. I gambled for the first time and won! (YAY!) A lot of other things happened that will definitely stay in Vegas (as the cliche goes). But a real highlight was seeing BLUE MAN GROUP at The Venetian. I gotta tell ya, YOU HAVE TO SEE THESE GUYS. An amazingly interactive show.

Most of all, for five days, I never laughed so much in my life. It was truly great spending time with ten good friends, making jokes (mostly about each other), recovering daily only to get back in the mode again.

More pictures are coming for all these trips soon.

"Why do you leave the West and head toward the East?" Here's why...

I'm now headed to Alexandria, Virginia for more work through to April. I will be back to Edmonton on a few occasions, but am really looking forward to visiting some Masonic lodges there and all the historical Masonic and American government architecture evident in the DC area. Especially the following:

George Washington Masonic National Memorial
Home of Alexandria-Washington Lodge No. 22

House of the Temple
Supreme Council 33 Degree
Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry
Southern Jurisdiction

I will be touring these magnificent buildings with my good friend Adam, a brother Mason from California the first week of February and meeting up with several other e-Masons I've known online for quite some time. I finally look forward to meeting them face-to-face.

I get the feeling that I'm supposed be there. Indeed.

My kind of town, Mine All Mine, New Laws, and Books

While spending two and a half weeks in Chicago in December, I was asked to return for a few days in January. So here I am on New Years Day. One of my rules about flying is that's it's not a good idea to have a hangover. Trust me on that. So luckily, after partying with friends all night, I was excited to get on a plane and start 2008 in "my kind of town".

Mine All Mine...

After a couple try outs, I also just received news that I was accepted as the new bass player in an Edmonton area based rock band called Mine All Mine. After spending a few years as the bass/keyboard player in my old band, Dexter Thorax, and still reminiscing on what an entirely fun experience that was, I still had the bug to play, create, and perform progressive rock.

And I wanted to join an established band that was creative. So thankfully, there was a band looking for a bass player as posted on a musician classified ad site that described themselves as "progressive". Being a crazed lunatic fan of said style, continuously listening to bands such as Yes, Rush, Kansas, and any type of rock music that was outside the norm, this bass player was mighty happy when he first tried out for Mine All Mine. I could hear all sorts of influences from every band I've ever liked. "Mike, see if you can follow along with this one. This part is in 27/13 time" or something like that. I love a challenge. Keeps the mind fresh.

So check 'em ... er, I mean, "us" out. While you can't hear me playing on the songs, I will be. And I'm really looking forward to heading into the studio for their (our) second album and playing gigs. Stay tuned to the website http://www.mineallmine.ca or hop on The Official Mine All Mine Facebook Page. Also try the My Space site.


My Kind of Town...

Ok, back to Chicago. I'm meeting up with the fine brethren of Oriental Lodge #33 for some suds. Any Masons reading this, I'd highly recommend you visit this lodge. Excellent ritual and fellowship. Great guys all around.

New Laws...

Today being Jan. 1st, not only did the Goods and Services Tax in Canada drop another point to 5% as promised and actually delivered by the government, but Illinois bars will no longer allow smoking. Not smoking a cigar in a Chicago bar is rather untraditional don't you think? Being a nonsmoker with chronic sinusitis, I do welcome this.

Books on the go...

I month ago I finished a book titled "One in Fifteen Million", an autobiography about a Ukrainian professor in the late 1930's who was put in a Soviet prison with no trial. The descriptions of the absolute horrible conditions in the prison and how the prisoners were abused and tortured go beyond humane.

A book I'm almost done is "Solomon's Builders" by Christopher Hodapp, whom I've met in person when he visited Edmonton in October 2006. This book simply tells the truth of the anticipated myths coming out of Dan Brown's next book, "The Solomon Key" about Freemasons, the Founding Fathers, Washington DC, and Masonic/American history.

I'm also in the middle of "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson. It's a fun yet seemingly thorough timeline of the history of the development of science. If you like science, read it!

And finally, I'm almost done "Right Side Up - The Fall of Paul Martin and the Rise of Stephen Harper's New Conservatism" by Paul Wells. This is a detailed account of the 2004 and 2006 Canadian federal elections and all the good stuff in between. If you love federal politics, read it!


Common theme throughout all this? Progression.

There's no place like home, home on the range...

After spending the first 7 months of this year in Kansas and getting to know a lot of fantastic people there, originally it was all foreign to this humble Canadian, but now, I have to say in the immortal words of Dorothy, "There's no place like home."

Since December 4th, I've been in Chicago on a contract for the past couple weeks. But being in the American Midwest neighbourhood, I thought I'd take the Dec. 9th weekend, make a short flight to Kansas City and drive over to dear ol' Topeka to the best pub in the world.

I couldn't wait to get back to Frances O'Dooley's to visit with all the great friends I made during my stint and sing those oh so fun Irish tunes, especially my favourite, "Big Strong Man". My good friend and Masonic brother Mikey B. let me stay at his place. When I arrived, I was greeted by two big dogs, and he set up my bed and room with cute little night table and lamp, a couple Masonic books, an airplane bottle of Schnapps, and a prophylactic. Hilarious.

His roommate, Tom, a local cop, drove us to the pub where I was proud to display my Edmonton Oilers jersey--probably the first time that the Oil have been represented there.

My good buddy Rich "The Irish Rebel" Stevenson greeted me and all the other barmates were there. Throughout the night more and more friends arrived. I never realized how much I miss them so. It was a fantastic night. I told my friend Chasmo that I had to get this need to reconnect with these people in person out of my system.

So let me share something personal about this experience...

Looking back at that part of my life, it's like it was all a dream--that it didn't really happen. All the weekends I spent at a really fun Irish Pub, playing guitar, singing, and meeting people were all wonderful memories I'll never forget.

When I arrived at the Kansas City airport, everything was so familiar--the rental car place, the drive to Topeka, meeting up with friends and going to that Irish pub where most of my friends were all in their same stools.

I really couldn't believe I was actually there. It felt like a dream. It was truly a surreal experience. I've never had this feeling before. It was strange to me, but it felt great.

Believe it or not, but Kansas was a great experience for me spiritually. A lot of strange but meaningful coincidences happened to me. The latest coincidence was me being able attend Mt. Zion lodge for their installation. Being that I was sent on contract to Chicago and my company being able to fly me there for the only weekend I could have gone there, the timing could not have been better.

So I now wonder what was the cause, perhaps alchemical, of this odd feeling. Is it simply the massive amount of positive energy I received from these wonderfully friendly people? Is it the perfect pints of Guinness? Is it the wonderful harmony everyone experiences when we're all singing those familiar Irish songs together? Is it the witty remarks we belt out causing much laughter and frivolity? Is it the intelligent discussions on religion, politics, and philosophy we had around the table?

If someone has experienced something like this, please do share.

If you have an explanation for it, especially give some insight.

And finally, let me ask you this ... isn't this the feeling we should be having in our Masonic lodges and amongst our brethren?

And if our lodges are representative of our own spiritual temple due to the harmony and positive energy in it, what's so different about this humble little Irish pub and a good lodge?

What's been great is combining a positive Masonic experience with that Irish pub in Topeka. The brethren of Mt. Zion Lodge #266 and I have in the past gone to have dinner there after a few meetings now.

My congratulations go out to Worshipful Brother Chad Brewer on his installation as Master of Mt. Zion Lodge and a warm thank you to the brethren of that lodge who always make me feel at home in true Masonic spirit. The political discussion at dinner was great, proving that although we are prevented from talking about partisan politics and dogmatic religion inside the lodge room, with open minds we can most certainly talk about them outside the lodge, even at dinner or festive board.

Overall, I do look forward to my next visit to Kansas again. Here are the photos...



Next post... living and working in downtown Chicago and my Masonic visit to Oriental Lodge #33.

Ottawa Part Deux avec un peu Cleveland

This is way overdue. Below is a slideshow of me and my dear friend Rose in Ottawa (by any other name?), getting ready for the Rush concert and taking an outdoor tour of the Parliament Buildings of Canada, some shots in the Market area of town, and a few from Cleveland, including the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame.

I already described the Ottawa Rush concert, but allow me to now tell you about them there govamint bildins. Well, they are absolutely amazing--breathtaking really. I'm sure the good folks who live and frequent Ottawa perhaps don't appreciate it them.

Nah, how can they not! But for this armchair political analyst who watches Question Period in the House of Commons online and seeing the beautiful gothic architecture, the statues, the spooky bell, and the grounds way up from the Rideau, is an inspiring experience. The war monument and unknown soldier inspired me the most though, thinking about how many Canadians fought, suffered, and died in all those wars, just so I could stand there, free, and proud of my country. Ottawa is a beautiful city in autumn and I look forward to visiting there again.

Later that night, Rose and I met up with my fraternity brother Wolfie, went out for dinner and some drinks at a pub in the Market area of Ottawa, which has tonnes of bars, pubs, and restaurants. I made contact with my old friend Jamie, who told me that night she's moving to Pakistan for a while. Writing this now in December while that country is under emergency rule, I wonder if she's okay.

After Ottawa, I spent six days in Cleveland, on a work contract, obviously. That said, I met up with my Deke brethren from the Beta Chi Chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon at Case Western Reserve University who were gracious hosts. I got a tour of their house, which had a stairwell of various fraternity shirts that I got a chuckle out of. One of the guys and I went down the street from the house to this wee red decor bar. The bartender, humble in his ways, perhaps didn't realize how freaking familiar he looked. I ordered dirty vodka martini, and let me tell you, it was one of the best I've ever had (although I'd probably had about a dozen in my life up to that point). I then told the barkeep that he made a very good drink and that he looked EXACTLY like Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Same hair style and colour. Same eyes. Same bunny rabbit teeth configuring the same smile. I wish I took a picture. Anyway, a good night.

Wednesday night I drove from East Cleveland to downtown to go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Now this was interesting. Authentic everything--clothes, posters, instruments, autographs, and more. The Doors, Pink Floyd, and The Clash had their featured exhibits in separate floors. Outside was Johnny Cash's tour bus mysteriously established in the drizzling rain, which I had to take a picture. The whole front of the museum is protected by dozens and dozens of large decorated guitars.

The next night, I met up with the Dekes again and we headed to a campus bar which had an odd dual electric-techno neo-prog band playing while undergrads droned on. The local beer was good, from what I remember.

But for the week, I'll never forget what is probably the nicest restaurant I've ever been in, and it's attached to the hotel I was staying at. The sea bass was exquisite! And again, the dirty martinis were delicious. So if there's one thing I learned about Cleveland was that 1) it rocks! and 2) good dirty martinis. Okay maybe that's two things. Plus, I've never seen so many huge big houses along a city street. Then again, I'm still travelling around.

So, without further Rideau...

Chicago!

Yep, looks like I'll be goin' to Chicago for a good part of December working right in the downtown loop. I've only heard great things about that city and how much I'll enjoy it.

For my Kansas friends, I'm going to do my darndest to make a weekend trip to see you all at O'Dooley's. I might as well since I don't know anyone in Chicago. I sure do miss that little Irish pub and all of you in it. Stay tuned!