Monday, March 29, 2010

Thrush Hermit. . .

We have a habit.

When our babies are 4 months old, we attend a kick-ass rock and roll show.

Kind people watch our babies late at night.

And we go to bars where our favourite musicians destroy us.

With little Peja, our good friend, and one of the original Barn Flyz, Brent "The Wheel" Ferris gave us his time so we could see an amazing set from Hayden. And with Echo, Sienna's childhood friend Carolyn and her buddy Mark-Jan, did their very best to keep our little monster happy while we relived our youths at Lee's Palace.

Thrush Hermit was introduced to me by my good friend Grady Kelneck, and seeing them live was probably the first toronto bar show I ever saw. I believe it was in 1997, and the gang of us walked to the venue (The Opera House), about 60 blocks, because we didn't understand the idea of "transfers" allowing us to get on buses after riding the subway. We got there at like 6pm or something, hours and hours before the show, because we wanted to be in front of the stage. Thrush hermit pulled up in a rented RV, because their venerable short-bus had broken down. We helped them carry in their gear, including their famed rock&roll sign, and hung out in the bar until they kicked us out before sound check. They were the 5th band on the bill, and after the 20 miles we had walked, and the three hours of standing in line, and the 2 hours of standing at the front waiting for them to play, I was pretty much ready to curl into a ball and sleep for a thousand years. But right as I was ready to die, they played this song "sorry if your heart as no more room" and it just connected with me and I didn't feel tired, my feet stopped aching, and it was perfect.

Sienna and I had a similar day, with a baby in tow, with a 2 hour train ride, miles of walking, but when Thrush Hermit took the stage on Saturday night, every single song had the energy to lift our spirits and heal our wounds. I have never enjoyed a show more. They made me believe in rock and roll, and I don't care how lame that sounds.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Our New Stereo




Our New Stereo is amazing.

It streams music from our computer's hard-drive wirelessly.

It can be controlled by our i-Touch or our computer.

It was set up in 5 minutes.

It is completely self-contained, speakers and all, in a 16"x5"x10" space.

It sounds awesome and huge.

If we buy more, they will talk to each-other and play the same music or different music at the same time.

It remembers my birthday.

It makes breakfast.

It writes letters to my aging grandmothers and asks them how they are doing.

It gets up with Peja when she has nightmares and plays soft music until she falls asleep.

It changes Echo's shitty diapers and washes them out in the toilet.

It is magic.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

P-Guy's B-Day Bash

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Back in K-town after 4 days in Orillia, including a party down in Barrie with my nephew Peyton, who celebrated his first birthday. Happy birthday P-guy!


One of the Kevins moved to Ottawa, one is on vacation, and one is in Toronto. At rehearsal today, it was quickly voted that we should have a snack and answer emails. And we did.

Busy preparing applications for Summer festivals. Oh, the summer festivals. Cross your fingers, and you might see us on a big outdoor stage nearby somewhere.

Hope all is well,

Jay.

Saturday, March 06, 2010

Garden Show - Portsmouth Harbour




So, after a rousing performance described by some as "that was nice" and others as "can you turn it down a bit" three years ago, I returned to the Portsmouth Harbor building and played again for the Lung Association's Garden Show. It's a background music thing, so people can mill around and look at landscaping fabric solutions. I played super mellow, which was handy, in that my voice hasn't really returned from the cold Peja gave us all.

Apparently, someone had seen me before -- they recognized my guitar. . . Which is kind of like being a model and being remembered for your watch, but I'll take what I can get.

Thanks to Nancy the volunteer for fixing the spelling of my name on the sign, and for buying a cd -- awesome!

The April 10th show will definitely involve Kevin Bowers, and most likely Me Man Jack. More details as they come into focus.

Hope you are well.

Thursday, March 04, 2010

April Show

Hey everyone, we're heading back to NeXt church on Saturday April 10th.

Other Acts TBA
Time/Cost TBA

Bake sale? Oh, there'd better be a bake sale.

Hope you are well.

Oh, and thanks for watching our YOUTUBE channel so much. . .

Take care,

Jay.