Earth Hour in Duggan

Last night I played a house concert in the living room of Edmonton's equivalent to the Brady Bunch. Margo and her three daughters and Mike and his two sons. There was a great spread of food and booze. There was a famous athlete in attendance, Lori-Ann Muenzer, Canada's first Olympic Gold Medalist in Cycling, something like that. Everyone had a great time, it was my first full night show without the splint, I have essentially learned to not use my third finger, but I am really looking forward to having it back.
The first half of the concert took place during earth hour, so they killed the breaker and lit candles, it was well enough lit and made a good mellow atmosphere. The next set felt like the earlier set cause of all the lights.
Margo put the show on because she likes my music, that means the world to me, being invited to play cause people like what you do., as opposed to being hired to sell beer. I feel lucky everytime I get to do a concert, even when there are a dozen in a row. I would like to play ten months worth of the year, all over the world. Better start planning my world tour!

BC Tour Jan 13, 2009

So far its been a pretty great year as far as music goes. First in January I was off to BC to tour for two weeks with my friend, excellent Singer songwriter type 'Bob Kemmis.The good was the weather, we missed all the floding and kaos by days, the bad, well, in my exctement at travelling to balmy BC, I decidedly stuffed my sweater into my already stuffed suitcase,which was filled with cds, electronic tuner, my suit, my clothes, my laptop and without realizing it rammed my finger. When I took my hand out I didn't notice anything, after I dropped my guitar off at the oversize luggage area, I thought to myself, hmmm? my finger feels numb and when I held it up, at the top knuckle it was bent at a perfect 90 degree angle. No amount of will or squeezing my eyes together like a superhero could convince it to straighten up. A doctor sitting nearby overheard me telling my girlfriend on the phone what had happened and advised me to get a splint, so I called the paramedics and they came in a pair with all their equipment, tape, popsicle sticks you name it, they gave me a splint and I gave them a few laughs in exchange and off I went to board my plane wondering how the tour was gonna go NOW???
That night with a brand new store bought splint I took part in a songwriter in the round organised by Shari Ulrich on behalf of the songwriters association of Canada. All in all it went well, I played newer simpler chords in newer simpler ways and the audience didn't mind a bit, which led me to add some good one liners to my show like " i've been playing just fine without the use of my third finger, which leads me to believe it hasn't been pulling its weight all these years' which the audiences seem to like !
The rest of the tour was a lot of fun, we playe a brewmaster's dinner at the highest restaurant in Canada, located 7700 feet above sea level.Bob and I got to try 5 different scotches and five different beers.We played house concerts and bars and got through it pretty well. in between gigs, I stayed on Bob's couch (thanks Bob) and intermittently watched The Last Waltz over the two weeks and ate all over Vancouver. Stacy Burke joined us for a couple shows and it was fun to have her along, we stayed at a sketchy hotel in Duncan one night where stacy got to witness first hand my mortal disgust and fear of bedbugs (yech!!!)We slept above the sheets in our clothes. The next morning I showed the manager pictures of hair and dirt between the mattresses and he informed me that he had just been approved to import Filipina Chambermaids and in the furture this would no longer be a problem and that next time he would give us a deal, rrrrrrgh. looking back is always funny.
Played a great concert in Lantzville organised by banjo picker and concert organiser extraordinaire Donna Konsorado, one of the many people I am so glad to know. I am happy for the friends I have made on this music journey!