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[caption id="attachment_10480" align="alignnone" width="497"] A Cossack horsewhips one of the members of the band Pussy Riot. From the video.[/caption]

This morning The Province newspaper had a story straight out of the history books; apparently Cossack militia (also known as "thugs") attacked the anti-Putin agit-punk group Pussy Riot with horsewhips on Wednesday in Sochi, Russia, for trying to play their music in public under a sign advertising the Sochi Olympics.

Cossacks? Horsewhips? Wow! Russia really does still have one foot firmly planted in the 18th Century. But their other foot is on the gas pedal of a brand new Beemer and they also have the latest model iPhones and high-speed Internet.

So hours before I saw The Province I had already seen what I took to be smartphone footage of the attack in the music video Pussy Riot put out on the Internet this morning for their very excellent song "Putin Will Teach You to Love the Motherland."

Singer Madonna, a vocal supporter of Pussy Riot, posted a still of a Cossack swinging his whip at one of the band members to accompany her amazed tweet this morning:

"Are you kidding me? Are the police in Russia actually whipping Pussy Riot for making music on the streets? Is this the dark ages? GOD bless P.R. They are fearless!" she wrote on Twitter.

Madonna also included a link to an International Olympic Committee spokesperson describing the pictures and the video as "very unsettling."

I agree with the IOC flack that the pictures are unsettling and with Madonna about Pussy Riot being fearless. And while I do not love the Motherland I do really like the song.

This is a treat someone left against a dumpster -- Two live James Brown concerts wrapped in a comic book. The "graphic narrative" is in French, and I can't actually read, speak, or write French, despite seven years of French classes as a child (Merci Mlle Manti), despite the fact it's one of our two official languages, and despite the fact I listen to loads of French pop bands, and have been "reading" French magazines, and graphic novels since the 1980s. Click the images to enlarge them.

It'a a hot, sunny, sultry afternoon in Fairview. What do my ears hear as I ride through the back alleys in search of cans, and bottles? Well, let's listen -- cars, people, lawn mowers, birds -- and one viola. Surely Fairview is the only neighbourhood on Earth where you can bin for bottles to musical accompaniment!

Sure enough, in a back alley, a woman is standing in a parking lot, playfully plucking a viola. Nicole is getting some face time with the Sun, and practising for a gig next Tuesday, when she'll be joining friends on stage at a local bistro. Looks like she's just fiddling around, but Nicole is a professional musician -- "a versatile violinist, composer and singer," as she writes on her Web site. She's also teaches music. Through stringalliance.com. She offers "Progressive Music Instruction For All Ages and Levels ... Specializing in Violin and Fiddle." Click on the images to enlarge them.

[caption id="attachment_3204" align="alignnone" width="497"] The camera refused to focus on it's job. Mr. Cassel isn't this fuzzy in person.[/caption]

Here we see musician David Cassel, better known as The Ukulele Bandito, recording a song in his tricked-out Fairview garage. You can get more information about him, along with a taste of his music on his Web site, otherwise you can often find him busking somewhere on Granville Island. Click on the images to enlarge them.

Another cool garage workshop ►

I wish I could have recorded them. Rode past the surprising sight and sound of a classroom's-worth of kids all playing their recorders outside, inter-mingled in the play-set area of a school yard. This was in the Fairview slopes near Alder and 15th. Not yet Noon. Sunny spring day, bordering on Summer. What an unexpected thing. All these kids sitting and standing amongst the swings and monkey-bars, and stuff, and all playing recorders; not together -- that was weird -- each doodling their own tune -- weirder still, it sounded really nice. I would've stopped and listened, but bad optics in the 21st Century. It's a sweeter memory for being so fleeting.

Great illustration nicked from here

[caption id="attachment_292" align="alignnone" width="497"] Papa Emeritus II, second from right, and Ghost B.C. play Vancouver, B.C. on Monday -- Getty Images[/caption]

When I saw that a metal band named Ghost B.C. will be playing The Commodore Ballroom tonight, I took it as read the B.C. stood for British Columbia; apparently though they are from Sweden, which is probably not anywhere near Smithers. They formed in 2008. and their debut 2010  debut album Opus Eponymous, was nominated for a Gramis (a Swedish Grammy). They've even covered ABBA'a I'm a Marionette. Their online petition to have lead singer Papa Emeritus II elected pope garnered 10,000-plus signatures.  -- Ghost B.C. spread doom rock

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cj2l9q9Y1Io