Breathe, breathe in the air

I can breathe again.....sort of.

What a crazy few weeks. Between the gigs (Lee Aaron, FP, and the Ham/Mak Proj), the half marathon, and "other things", I haven't had a chance to breathe lately. Until now. I feel as if summer can officially start (like it really needs my sanctioning....arrogant ass; perhaps too many Ayn Rand books).

Jazz fest was/is good. Played with the Quartet yesterday. Everyone sounded great with one rehearsal although I had a moment of complete meltdown. The stage at Georgia and Granville is notoriously the windiest stage in the jazz fest. The backdrop of Pacific Center creates nothing short of a wind tunnel on a NASA-training like scale. I was prepared however with my industrial strength clips. The tunes are almost all 3 hole punched and any loose papers I tucked into the back of my binder and clipped open any of the tunes that we were doing. We were playing on a tune of Chad's called Non-Fiction and of course it's the hardest tune we play and in 5/4 no less, when my binder gets blown to the last page and all the loose pages go everywhere. One thought comes to mind: the show must go on. I eared my way through this and "tried" to hack out a solo, but.....

Anyways.

I was happy to hear a few of my originals that had never been played before. Halfway to the album. This time next year.

The Thunder Bay show was amazing. Got a chance to hang with Nancy Wilson although Anne was a little more reclusive. Nancy is so cool and so beautiful and can totally ROCK!!!! Lee's showed kicked ass as well. People totally freaked at all of her hits. It was great to totally rock out for a change. So much power (musically and spiritually) in an E chord through a Mesa Boogie and a Marshall stack.

Totally scored at HMV tonight: Chris Potter Vertigo which I've been trying to find for a while. But cooler than that was the very rare and totally unbelievable For Django by Joe Pass. If I can find Intercontinantal, I will have crossed off all the rare Joe albums from the list.

Oh yeah. I played the NHL awards after party at the Commodore and just before we went on. I looked off to the wings on the other side of the stage.....

Oh my God! It's the freaking Stanley Cup!

So I had to get a pic. My be my last chance to get a pic before it resides in Calgary next year. Go Tanguay! Darryl Sutter has officially declared war.

Check the running blog soon for my half-marathon thoughts. I'm done.

Hands On

Here we are in Thunder Bay. It reminds me in some ways of Calgary. The same 60's type tract houses. Soundcheck's in an hour and I'm gonna do my damndest to corner the Wilson sisters from Heart for autographs. They're soundchecking right before us. Brad said he'd be my wingman.

I am definitely IN CANADA right now. The accent, the look, the attitude....totally cliche Canadian and in a very great way. Everybody kinda reminds me of Ricky from Trailer Park Boys; I mean that as the highest compliment too. Salt of the earth and friendly people here. My cabbie this morning was awesome. Could barely get through a sentence because of the emphysema, but that didn't stop him from trying to make conversation.

OK gonna run these tunes one more time.....whatcha do to my body, body

My music at work

If you haven't read the running blog yet, I bought an ipod. So awesome. I have somewhere in the neighbourhood of 1200 CDs, many of which I have now converted to MP3 on my computer (I'm sure Kaaza, Limewire, and all the other looters would love to share my hard drive). I went and bought the 60 GB ipod which is the big kahuna in order to accomodate my collection. It's so great having my collection in the palm of my hand....in fact, this is really one of my life's dreams realized. Seriously. I have loved collecting albums since I was 4 and to finally have them organized so that I can instantly access any of it almost brings a tear to my eye.

I bought a Tele yesterday...again. I probably shouldn't have, but this one was special and I got a hell of a deal. A few years ago, I had a sunburst Japanese re-issue Fender Telecaster with the white binding around the body, ala Andy Summers of the Police fame. I "pimped" it out with a Gibson humbucker, Gotoh bridge and machine heads, and removed the finish from the neck and replaced it with a tung oil finish for a more natural wood feel. This guitar was the envy of many a Vancouver guitarist and it sounded and played great.....until it was stolen. SO, the other day this guy comes in with the exact guitar minus the "pimping" and I couldn't say no when Neil put it aside for me. I'm going begin the pimping process again when I get back from Thunder Bay next week; so excited to hear and possibly meet Heart. Currently re-doing my Washburn 335 with a Gibson Humbucker in the neck and a Seymour Duncan Jeff Beck Trembucker in the bridge, that is if Neil ever finishes it.

I call it, ’Olga Waits;
The Cloud That Entertains
The Dim Possibility of
Showing Some Restraint.’
The rain came down berserk.
My music at work.
My music at work.