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Good-bye PEI Shuffle
My name is Stuart Hickox. I’m a 35 year old writer and dad, born and raised in Prince Edward Island, now settled in suburban Ottawa. I’m going to Brazil to get some groove.
The city that gave the world the Girl from Ipanema has given birth to a new sound that is poised to sweep North America. Axé (pronounced ash-hey) is a hot fusion of African percussion (blocos do Afros), and samba-reggae with a black-power edge. Axé was created in Salvador, on the north-east coast of Brazil. The city of 3 million was once the gateway to the South American slave trade. The current population is 80% of African origin, and the combination of African and South American cultures has created a carnival town that never stops partying. Axé music makes you jump to your feet and get with the beat.
OK, it’s not a beat. I can’t get the lingo right any more than I can dance to it. My problem is, I don’t have rhythm. I’ve always kind of known this, and regretted it. Is rhythm something you can learn or “get?” Growing up in Charlottetown, music appreciation and rhythm were defined by stiff Sunday pews and toe-tapping under the table to bluegrass. Pickin’ & grinnin’ ain’t no samba. PEI music was always just short of letting go. I always wanted to, but just couldn’t. I knew I had to do something about this when, two weeks ago, my wife looked me lovingly/sadly in the eye, mid-step on the dance floor at a wedding and said, “You gotta get some rhythm.”
I am going Brazil to experience Axé at the source. I propose to record it live in the clubs and on the streets, and to talk to the artists who bring it to life. I want to soak it up and to bring it back with me to Canada. I’m going to Brazil to lose my Island shuffle in the heat and rhythm of Brazil.
>> Check out Axé music.
Legacy
of Angus (April, 2002) Potato
Diplomacy in the Middle East (December,
2002)
Jordan
2002. >
A Little Closer to God and Bombs >
Streets of Amman Click through photos from in and around the cabin.
Find how to rent Walden Cabin.
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Buddha Boot Camp: Ten Days to Frighten and Enlighten (August 4, 2003)
"I'm now an intimate of my sciatic nerve. It's a relationship that is defined by violence and hatred."
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Full Circle (June 9, 2002)
"As soon as my pants and briefs hit the floor of the lunchroom, I
knew Stephanie Knickle and I would be forever linked." A story from late-1970s
PEI.
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In search of Prince Edward Island potatoes in Jordan.
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Greenwich (May 26, 2001)
"This shore is an emissary bearing two essential truths: Life is
hard, but it's also beautiful."
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Notes from the field (or desert):
> Balloon Animal Diplomacy
> He Shoots, He Scores
> Pillar of Salt
> Ahmed the Spud
> Rana and Honour Killings
(06.27.2002)
Driving with Grandpa (who died in 1976)
Observations after a quarter-century underground. Read.
A Buddhist Funeral Welcome.
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(02.26.2002)
Mohamad Mohamad: Ready for winter.
>> See the photos from our Mid-East dinner party.
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>> Have a Middle East dinner party: Recipes here.
Digging in. Walden tree day 1995
Chestnuts and crazy volunteers
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Walden Cabin 1996
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Head for the Hills of
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Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
Walden; Or Life in the Woods
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