I think this is what 2019 is going to be all about:
“There are things you do because they feel right & they make no sense & they may make no money & it may be the real reason we are here: to love each other & to eat each other’s cooking & say it was good” — ©2000 Brian Andreas
Guess what? I have to write a column today. It’s supposed to post tomorrow (Wednesday). I should have it done today but……. I don’t have writer’s block. In fact, I have far too much to write about. All kinds of music and such I’d like to share. Events past, just happened and future. Problem is, it doesn’t in fit in a single piece. This is not a “one size fits all”, the old 500 words or less…. Nope, I’m beginning to feel like the late, great, Frank Gutch Jr. I don’t think anything less that 5,000 words could pour out of his brain. I think he got up to 13,000 at one point. I’m neither that verbose or knowledgeable but we did share a deep passion for music and for sharing it. I fear it’s gonna be a very, very, very late night…………………….
I’m leaving my personal thoughts and musings to the end time……I’m still catching up with the summer and all the wonderful music I heard, the people I met and all those little moments in between.
So….starting with London Bluesfest….my inner teenager was agog, amazed and humbled by the lineup this year. Performers I never had a chance to see and performers that brought back some wonderful memories. I arrived in London on the Friday, just in time to pick up my badge, connect with friend Elaine Sawyer (whose company Wich is Wich was catering the event) and catch Savoy Brown and Foghat.
“Time is the indefinite continued progress of existence and events that occur in apparently irreversible succession from the past through the present to the future.” — Wikipedia
Why is time so important? What is the value of time? What is the meaning of time in our lives? Can we really manage time? Is time a commodity to be bought and sold? Why does time go forward and not backward? Is time really the progress of anything? What is “wasted” time? What does time mean to you?
Fall has finally arrived (weather wise) and September’s been busier than stink. Extremely exciting things happening in the life a young singer/songwriter friend….finally….it looks like gingerpennies may become a full-fledged business, loads happening in the clubs around Toronto (and a couple I completely forgot about)….that was a major “squirrel“…..writing copy for a website out of Birmingham and the AirBnB thing is non-stop. Another year older but not necessarily wiser. My battery hasn’t run down yet and it can always be recharged. Life is good.
Well…..it’s confirmed. Mother Nature has definitely got the time of the year completely messed but who’s complaining. It was an absolutely perfect day for an outdoor wedding last Friday. Sunny, gorgeous, colourful….we could not have been blessed with a better day. Sam Taylor sang his heart out, entertaining the guests as they were seated, serenading the bride as she cruised down the aisle and again during cocktails. The guests were raving about him and his voice well into the evening. A very well documented wedding it was with two official photographers (not including me….I wasn’t ‘official’) and three videographers. They all made sure every teeny tiny moment was captured, including a few late-night wipeouts on the dance floor. The younger set were thoroughly enjoying themselves. My niece Annie and her new husband Jesse are chilling out in Montego Bay as I type this. This spectacular weather remains with us until September 25 (how fortuitous!) and then apparently Fall is due to arrive, albeit a few days late….temperature wise anyway.
Holy summer!!! The weather is simply gorgeous. Warm and sunny….Mother Nature has apparently had a relapse or she’s feeling a bit guilty about the rather insipid summer we just…..I don’t know…..experienced? Let’s see…..what else…..day-to-day shit you don’t need to hear about but I will say this, the homemade grape jelly IS AWESOME!!!! Made from my own concord grapes, the vines are now 20 years old. Every year it’s a battle between me and the urban wildlife. Just who plucks the most grapes? The ones left behind or dropped from the vines eventually ferment, providing the neighbourhood with a little late night comical relief as the raccoons waltz about, stumbling and bumbling until they flop over in a deep slumber. The following night is unusually quiet as they nurse their hangovers.
My heart is heavy and my brain is trying to digest what has happened because it doesn’t make any sense. But then, suicide never does, at least not to the living. ….and so I start with the first new column in five weeks talking about a topic that has been highlighted in the news far too much lately……but the famous are not alone in their despair. I know, I know, not a very uplifting subject but it’s one that has hit precariously close to home…..twice in exactly one week.
Bullseye Records of Canada
Segarini: Don't Believe a Word I Say 