I lost touch with Bill and Anne Osborne many years ago. An online search tells me that Bill died in 2018; Anne is likely still living in Victoria somewhere. (Please forward this blog to her if you are in contact with her.) We shared music, church, and the arts together in the mid-1970s. Bill was... Continue Reading →
From Adam Chan CHEK TV News Two pillars of the Victoria art scene are set to close down next month. Hermann’s Jazz Club and View Street Social will close their doors permanently on April 30, 2026. The Arts On View Society announced the upcoming closure on Thursday, saying the “difficult decision” came after extensive reviews... Continue Reading →
[Ken Gray] I spent my first nineteen years in Victoria. I return to visit frequently. I have lived in neighbouring communities from Sooke to Sidney and places in between. I know it well. Obviously things change over time; I get that. But what Gene Miller proposes below is a transformative vision which could, if enacted,... Continue Reading →
Now fifty years since I graduated from Victoria’s Oak Bay High School I have fond memories of wood shop class. Lacking an eye for detail coupled with insufficient powers of concentration I particularly loved making bowls on the wood lathe. I likely created more shavings than bowls, but it was wonderful fun. When invited by... Continue Reading →
One word: Photography. My favourite activity when on holiday is taking pictures, no less so then during our extended staycation in Victoria, a five-week adventure that will end this coming weekend. Home feels good, but it’s been a blast in the meantime. I blogged a few photo shoots here. There are too many more to... Continue Reading →
I walked onto the rooftop patio of Victoria’s Strathcona Hotel to meet almost one hundred members of my high school graduating class. Now fifty years after the actual 1975 graduation ceremony at Victoria’s Oak Bay High School I wasn’t really thinking about the effects of the passage of time. Temporarily befuddled, a server pointed me... Continue Reading →
Rodney David Rhys Smith, 1945 – 2023A reflection by Ken Gray I told Rod many times, that when the time comes for his funeral —and if I am invited to officiate—that I get the last word! And so I did, as about seventy-five family and friends gathered at Sequoia Gardens in Victoria recently. They laughed,... Continue Reading →
Juno, in the home of Jan and Knut In the Biblical Book of the Acts of the Apostles the narrator begins: In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven . . . Well I cannot pretend to... Continue Reading →
Take Note - Reflections on life, music, politics, retirement and more by Ken Gray 