Running Away From Home

Last Thursday Mr. Happy announced that he was taking Friday night and Saturday off (nothing revolutionary for those with 9-5 jobs, but quite out of the ordinary for him). As soon as he said it, an alarm went off in my head:

Me: Let's run away.

Mr. Happy: Ok, where to?

Me: We have a gift certificate to Oak Island! [1] Ohhhhhh... we can watch cable TV!

Mr. Happy: Ohhhhhh, that's right! Let's go!

So we set out for Oak Island. After checking in, we decided to drive back to Chester for supper. We ate in the F'ocsle Tavern (delicious pan fried haddock) and then, as it was a relatively rain-free evening[2], decided to walk around the town.

Just as we were about to enter a corner store, Mr. Happy noticed a Chester Playhouse sign stating that Old Man Luedecke would be playing there, that night! We turned around and saw that there were people standing outside the Playhouse - it was our lucky day - intermission!

We ran over and talked to the lady in charge. She let us in for 1/2 price and we got to see the rest of the show! While we waited for intermission to end, Chris (aka the Old Man) came into the lobby. He was surprised to see Andrew there and came over to talk. It was the first time I had had a chance to meet and talk to him. What a great guy; he's just as genuine as his music. With intermission ending, we went in and found a seat in the playhouse.

If you haven't heard him before, please check out his music. It's not every day that I fall in love with the music of a banjo player.

Here's his web page and here's his myspace page

Mahone Bay in the fog

The next day we had breakfast at the hotel and then headed to Mahone Bay where, of course, I went to Have A Yarn. I've been meaning to pick up yarn to try out a particular baby sweater pattern[3]. If you are pregnant and a friend of mine, this may or may not be for your baby. It may just be going into my gift stash. Yes, I have a stash of gifts for young and old alike. No, I don't think it's weird.

Here's a picture of the cuff:

I also picked up some Lana Grossa sock yarn to make socks for my niece. They're quite splashy. Despite having already cast on for this project, I have no photo of it. The yarn is from their "Sunset" collection - It's the sock in the middle of the picture Girls just wanna have fun, if you know what I'm sayin'.

We left Mahone Bay and headed back "up the coast" to Chester where we wandered in and out of a few artists' shops. Then we had lunch at the Kiwi Cafe.

I fell in love with the colours in the cafe. It was so cheery on that overcast afternoon. Mr. Happy ordered the Adult Grilled Cheese (so delicious - on homemade bread) and I ordered the Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato soup. We did a little sharing:

It was a short trip, but it was really nice to get out of the city and slow down for a while. I'm headed into a very busy time at work, and I know that I'll be thinking of the music in the Chester Playhouse and the visit to Mahone Bay when I'm standing at a booth at some conference this fall.



[1] Thanks again to the very, very kind friends who gave this to us for our anniversary.

[2] There's been so much rain here lately that we no longer classify things as sunny, we classify things in terms of dampness.

[3] I fell off the "Knit the Stash" wagon quite a while ago, but must note that I have definitely curbed my insane yarn-buying habits. I've decided that this "knit the stash" plan is more of a lifestyle change than a cold-turkey diet. Whereas before I treated the LYS as a all-you-can-knit buffet, I’m trying to make better, healthier choices. It’s much easier to do now that I don’t visit my LYS every single weekend. I've got my eye on some of the new Trekking tweed, but I'm going to wait until I get a couple more projects finished before buying it. See? Old Stephanie would have bought it the first day she saw it.

Photo-stalking - the lazy woman's version

It seems that Mike has pulled off his riding glove and hassmacked me with it. Dueling cameras on the waterfront at dawn!!!

I'm feeling lazy tonight, so I searched iPhoto and found that, while I did not have the exact photos Mr. Mikestand was looking for, I have some photos that might be considered roughly equivalent:

Mike was riding on this:



When he took a photo of this:



And while this:



Is not the Clock at Citadel Hill - it is a building atop a fort (i.e. Cabot Tower on Signal Hill).

Ok, ok... I'll get around to it.

In the meantime... hey, isn't that Ron Sexsmith?

Red Carpet Concert

I'm catching up on all the news from last week... and am realizing what a busy week it was!

So, to review:
Tuesday: Knitting with the Gang at KOL
Wednesday: Pop In Sessions with Buck 65
Thursday: Well, I guess I should tell you about Thursday, shouldn't I?

Thursday morning the illustrious Uncle K, Aunt K and Cousin Jenny arrived from Alberta. They had taken the red-eye flight and were just waking from naps when I arrived home from work.

After a quick supper, we geared up and headed downtown. The Westerners aren't accustomed to the damp air here on the Atlantic ocean, so Uncle K borrowed a tuque:

...and a wooly monster.

Since there were many things going on downtown (translation: there would be little to NO parking), we took the bus across the bridge and walked to our destination: The Atlantic Film Festival Gala on Argyle Street. Here's Henry, posing on the red carpet. (I'm sure he's going to end up in the paper as the "best dressed".)

Soooo, what were we doing on the red carpet? We were with the band, of course:

The Heavy Blinkers played! (Mr. Happy is the guy in the hat at the piano.) They played songs that are going on the new album - my favourite being, of course, one that Mr. Happy wrote. (With apologies to Jason, who seems to be reading a lot of knit blogs these days.)

After the band played, I was talking to some friends and other band members when I turned around to see this:

Henry in a lip lock with Ruth Minnikin. Her boyfriend is NOT going to be happy about this. Henry is really taking this "Wooly Mammoth" stage personality too seriously. Speaking of Wooly Mammoth, his new hero played after the Blinkers:

We had to drag him home.

Oh the Excitement!

Okay, I just watched the new CTV comedy, Robson Arms. There were back to back episodes tonight, but I watched specifically for the episode "The Eyes Of Grandma Tan".

Want to know why?

Because they played a song by Andrew's band! In fact, not just any old song, but a song that Andrew wrote and sang called "Filtered Light". YAY!

Mind you, it's played during a scene when Grandma Tan is smoking pot and reminiscing about the good old days, but who cares??????

My honey sang on National TV tonight!!!!

I'm so proud.

Suck on that, Canadian Idol.

My New, Not-So-Secret, Crush

Wow. I've been absent for a while now, haven't I? ok, ok. I know you all think it's because I'm still bitter that I couldn't go to Maryland Sheep and Wool, but it's not. I've just haven't had a chance to blog since last Friday. I really shouldn't even be doing this now because I'm pretty much exhausted and I doubt that I'll be able to infuse this entry with as much humour as I would like. So, for the sake of sanity, it will be point form for me, please and thank you:


Saturday:
- Got up and organized self for day on the town. Threw together bag of wool and Boa for overjoyed Janey who was in Halifax for a meeting. Planned meeting time: 10:30am. I am notoriously late for everything. At 10:08am, I hopped into car, drove across bridge, and was cruising through the downtown core, feeling quite self-satisfied at the fact that I was clearly going to be early for this meeting as it was only 10:15am and I was almost to the meeting place and that's when I realized I didn't have the bag of wool for Janey. The words that came out of my mouth... well, let's just say, the sailors at the crosswalk were aghast. I managed to turn around, go home, pick up the yarn and get to the meeting place by 10:34am. I didn't tell Janey any of this when I saw her... so you heard it here first. I hope you're enjoying the yarn, and yes, that pattern you sent the link for is GORGEOUS.

- Picked up our former boarder, Serge and his delightful gal pal, Paula and went out for b-fast. It was so good to see them both, and despite the fact that they had been out late the night before, they were both in great spirits. I think the breakfast locale helped that along (Cora's, AGAIN!). Paula and I then ditched Sergio-ti-Oh at home and hit the mall for some spontaneous shopping. Gosh I miss having those two in our house. Paula and I used to hang out in our jammies and watch movies all day long. It was like having a built in party when they were here.

Sunday:
- in pajamas until 3pm.
- went to Blue Rodeo concert. Andrew and I were early. I pulled out the knitting. Andrew was a bit shocked by this behaviour at first and actually hissed the words "Put that away, people are watching!" as if I had suddenly pulled out drug paraphenelia or a coffee table version of one of Madonna's scandalous photo books. I told him to suck it up and that I was spreading the good news of knitting through my glorious example (the lace camisole from vintage knits, using Rowan 4-ply). Soon enough, though, he realized it was amusing to watch all the people watching me... 'cause you know they were wishing they had brought something to do too.

This Is The Part About the Not-So-Secret Crush
Ok, so the reason we were at the B.R. concert was because Andrew had been given two tickets by one of the guys in the band for whom he had done a favour last year. This man must be incredibly thoughtful or incredibly organized to have remembered the favour, whichever the case, we were thrilled to get the tickets, not just because B.R. are a very talented band with quite a few recognizable (to Canadians at least) hits, a phenomenal amount of energy (these guys have been doing this since, uh, the early 90s?) and great stage prescence, but also because Matt Mays and El Torpedo were opening for them.

Andrew has known Matt for quite a few years now and recorded him in various stages of his music career over the years. It was a huge thrill to see him and his band, El Torpedo rocking out on the stage at the Metro Centre. We were sitting in view of the bands as they came out before they went on stage and their bass player, Andy, who also knows Andrew from a way back, had seen us earlier and knew where we were sitting. Being the total geeks that we all are, we were waving as they came out and exchanged the old "rock on" signs with the band. Next hand gesture we should have done? L for Luh-hooo-sers. I'm such a geek for this kind of stuff. And I swear to you, I'm not telling you all "we know the band" stuff to seem cooler than I am, 'cause I'm totally not cool, I'm just telling you because I'm just so freaking happy to see a band from here doing well. It's been a long time since Sloan left Hali... we're due for some fame around here.

Anyhooooooo... The band blew me away. Andrew had picked up their cd for me a while ago and I had been really enjoying it. But seeing them on stage, with their heads thrashing around and Matt singing away... well, I think I developed a little crush on the band. So, Matt, if you've done the unthinkable and you're reading this because you googled yourself and here you are: Uhhhhhh... yes, well, you guys were, uh, hot onstage and I really wanted to be there in the gaggle of girls asking for your autograph after the show, but Andrew refused to let me embarrass you in front of real live fans. (Andy Patil, you can just stop laughing right now. Your girlfriend knits and if I get to meet her, then you'll be buying yarn at every stop the band makes.)

As for B.R. well, they just rocked for 2 whole hours. I was mentally exhausted at the end of their 2nd encore. I can't begin to tell you how great it was to see a band like them still playing and still churning out great music after all these years. And it also appears that none of them have had to sell their souls to do it, a la R0lling St0nes.

Monday:
- Painted Serge's old bedroom. Needed a fresh coat. Because I didn't bother to 'cut in' around the trim, this was achieved in record time. I know, I'm a painting slacker. I'm going to painting slacker hell. Shoot me. The room is "done" and looks all nice and fresh for next weekend when we'll have company.

Tuesday:
My cousin came over for supper. Spread the good word of knitting to her. Taught her how to knit. The bugger started knitting semi-continental style. With no prompting from me whatsoever. I'm a thrower. She was throwing with her left hand, but I'm sure with practice, she'll be picking in no time. I don't know if she'll go home and find a knitting group or a shop, but perhaps IF THERE ARE ANY KNITTERS OUT THERE FROM THE CHARLOTTETOWN AREA OF PEI, Please let me know if there are any classes, knitting groups over there, k?

Wednesday:
JAK and the Curious C came over tonight with their new puppy! Please see JAK's blog for a photo. His name is Harley and he's just over 3 pounds! He's a little Shih Tzu and he's so cute you want to smooch his little face about a million times. I would have had a photo, but my camera was dead. I took film photos instead.

That's all for now folks. It's late, I've got granola bars in the oven, bread that needs to come out of the pans and a bed that is hollering my name. Gotta run!

Everyone Loves A Man Of His Word

Last year Andrew's band played at CMW (Canadian Music Week). They were honoured to have the horn section from a great Canadian band to play with them. Some of the other members of this band came out to their show.

After the show, one of the band members said to Andrew, "The next time we come to Halifax, we'll give you a call. We'll get tickets for you and your wife to come out to the show." Nice of him, but we never expected that he would remember.

Last night, after having supper with the family (the lemon meringue torte was a smashing success - a vote was taken and the recipe stays on the roster - my BIL took a photo of it for me), we came home and checked our messages. Guess who called?

No really, guess.

The band is on CBC's 50 Tracks list. Go here to see if you can figure out which band we're going to see.

Andrew joked that with this new studio he'll be getting calls from all sorts of obscure musicians. He's such a goofball. In the car this morning on the way to work he was saying:

"Hello? Andrew? Yeah, this is Roger Wh*ttaker. I'm in town next month doing a show and I was hoping you could swing by, check out my new stuff, maybe talk some business."

See? Goofball. And we're both so small town. Totally excited about the concert.

Did I mention the Back Stage Passes????????

EEEEEH!

Spring Has Sprung, Some Knitting is Done!

Soundtrack: Belle and Sebastian "Tigermilk"

It is a bee-you-tee-ful-day here in the City of Lakes. I took the Pipster out for a walk this morning and had to take my hat and mitts back to the house. It's gorgeous out. I love it when the first day of spring is like this. It gives us hope that we can survive the dreary time when the snow is melting: our lawns look depressed and flat from the weight of the snow, everything seems kind of dirty and the layers of poo the dogs have deposited over the winter slowly surface like some sort of fecal archaeoligical dig. A day like today makes you forget all that and instead you think of crocuses and tulips and gardening!

I spent 3 hours in Chapters this afternoon. I had cwaffee with JAK and her son, the Curious C. We had cafe mochas and treats. Then we had a lovely time sitting in the Knitting section (we sat because JAK fell over - tee hee) looking at every single book. We even perused the gardening section.

Here's what I bought:
Lois Hole’s Perennial Favorites
It’s a great little reference book. Our gardening neighbours on our old street had this book. Over the years I have discovered that I am not a gardener. I really WANT to be a gardener, but I’m just not. I am a pretty good gardener in June and July, but by August I’m ready to throw in the trowel. It pains me that I can’t keep my interest in the plants for more than two months. I have so many things I would love to grow in my garden, but I am just not committed. I’m hoping this will change with age, but right now, I just don’t enjoy it. My evil plan is to plant shrubs and perennials and then ignore the garden for a few years.

I also bought this. I’ve read two of her other books and loved them. I read “The Cure for Death By LIghtening” on my honeymoon almost 7 years ago (gasp, 7 years!). I think I’m going to put it on my re-read list.

The Curious C kept finding these great books on movies. One was called “1001 movies you must see before you die”. That’s a threatening title, dontcha think? What happens if I don’t see them all? I took a course in university called “Narratives in Cinema”. Best damn course, ever. It was an English course. We watched a movie a week. Some guy brought popcorn one night. The prof kicked his arse. I loved that course and the prof. He changed my taste in films... Hmmmm... I feel a post on movies coming on.

I have yet to see The Yarn Harlot’s book on a bookshelf. I think I’ll call the local indy bookseller and see if she has it yet.

So, I know the title promised knitting that is done. Sad story. The French Market Bag left the house without a proper photo. I gave it to my MIL yesterday morning when she and my FIL came over for breakfast. It looked more like French Market Blob when I did photograph it. Use your imagination everyone: It had a black bottom and handles and the contrast colour was done in Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Aubergine. The shape was ok. I think my MIL liked it. She was surprised. It matches her new winter coat - that she won’t be needing soon! Yay spring.

Moving on. Here’s the Sophie bag...

See the stray felted pieces? They are going to become a flower with a leaf and stem. Perhaps that will happen tonight. The bag was knit with cascade 220, as was the orange piece. The green is BSLP in Key Lime Pie.

As I write this I have a very hyper puppy trying to get me to play with a tennis ball. My typing keeps getting interrupted as I retrieve the ball from under the radiator - ok, I put something in front of the radiator - my yarn basket. He promptly went for the Berocco suede - smart dog! Argh, no!!!!!!

Another FO for the books:

This is the Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf - the instructions for which can be found here. I did this using some leftover Cherry Tree Hill silk stuff (dog is now between me and the door - I'm not walking over him to get the tag). I did the pattern over 30 stitches on the nice Clovers that Angela sent to me. Silk on wooden needles. Nice.

NOW PIPPIN IS DROPPING THE BALL SO IT GOES UNDER THE DESK! AAAAAAAHHH!!! Ok, there's a bag in front of that now.

New soundtrack: Joel Plaskett

Argh - my browser quit on me. Thank goodness I had the foresite to copy this post into Appleworks.

I have other photos to show you, but I’m going to hold off. I can’t give away the farm today.

One quick story - Andrew is still down in Austin, TX. He called yesterday and told me that they met Brian Wilson. His bandmate, Jason, saw Brian walking by the club they were in. Jason sprinted down the street after him. I’m just going to imagine that for a moment. I’ve never seen Jason sprint, ever.

He is the biggest BW fan I know. And by fan, I would like to emphasize that the word is a shortened form of FANATIC. Jason is a BW fanatic. He will die a happy man. He gave BW’s manager a copy of their cd. Apparently, BW doesn’t listen to music because he is worried that if he wrote a song that sounded like someone else that he would get sued. Makes sense in that weird BW way. Of course, it could just be a polite way of saying “Keep your CD kid, you aren’t the first one to force your music on me, and you won’t be the last. I probably won’t listen to it.” I hope that’s not the case. Maybe he will listen to it. Maybe, he’ll produce their next album and I’ll get those new shoes after all (Whenever someone looks for a cd for free I always say “Buy it. The children need new shoes.”).

Ok, gotta eat. Until next time!

Husband is Away - Send More Creme Eggs

Yesterday morning, in a flurry of frenzied activity (is that redundant), we managed to get Andrew packed and out the door.

I say "we" because he got home at 5:30am, then got up at 8:30am and started packing. He was in no shape to pack, much less put his keyboard into his homemade carrying case (God love him, he made it out of plywood before the last time the band flew to Toronto - he even put wheels on it!). I took one look through his suitcase and wondered how he would ever survive without me in his life (although, he might survive better if he wasn't working so many bloody hours). ok, ok, he would survive, but he would have gone with a toothbrush and NO toothpaste, shaving cream and NO razor, hair but NO shampoo (they're billeting)...

I know, I know, it's not like he couldn't have bought those things; but knowing that his wife made sure he had everything he needed - despite my readiness to pack ALL of his clothes and tell him that he might as well spend ALL of his time at the studio - instead of just the 20 hours a day he's currently spending - well, knowing that his wife does love him enough to make sure he's got toothpaste and a razor, it'll do him a world of good.

The band is now in Austin, Texas for South by SouthWest. They play at Latitude 30 later tonight. 1am to be exact.

They come home on Monday. Let's hope they survive until then.

In the meantime I will be hanging out with our 4-footed nephew, Pippin. He's just a puppy and I'm very exciting about his visit. Andrew's sister, her husband and their kids are going skiing for a week. So we get the Pipster. He stayed the night a few weeks ago as a trial run - and he did very well. He's quite well behaved for a puppy. Perhaps he'll be a guest blogger. Minou can't have all the fun, can she?

So, I'm wondering - Easter Creme Eggs are a seasonal indulgence for many of us - anyone out there have any stories of their ECE obsession? I do believe that someone has been supplementing her diet with a daily dose of ECE. I, in fact, sat behind a closed door in a coworkers office this morning (sorry J) as we obsessively ate our respective eggs and discussed some of the finer points of ECE consumption. She told me that if I hadn't been in the room, her egg would have disappeared in half the time - she was practising restraint on my behalf.

Anyone else out there? Special ECE rituals? Do you remove the foil in a single piece? I've been known to do that on occasion. Does anyone out there start at the BOTTOM of the egg? Anyone out there popping regular-sized ECE's into their mouth whole?

Angela suggested Easter Creme Eggs and Strawberries. I'm thinking Easter Creme Eggs and a gin and tonic. Might get me through this whole "starting-up-a-new-business" thing. Might land me in rehab (more for the eggs than the alcohol, I'm sure).

Oh. My. God. I just realized that NEXT WEEKEND IS EASTER!!!! The ECE's disappear after next weekend!!!!! Is anyone else out there planning to stock up? I mean, I almost bought 4 of the three packs last night. I'm thinking that I need about 8 to get me through until spring "really" arrives. A two-four of ECEs, if you will.

Geez, you would think I would mention knitting around here once in a while!

First, I Would Like to Thank...

Rachael for posting the link to my blog on hers.
and I would like to thank all the people who stopped by yesterday. For those of you who said hello, well, thanks. All your little notes brightened my day. I feel like a real blogger now. People I don't know stopped in AND FELT COMPELLED TO COMMENT. Wow.

Claudia (is it this Claudia? I've got to get that whole comment thing worked out so people can leave their URLs) mentioned that she would like a link to the band.

Here is the band's website. It's in hard shape and needs work.

Here is their record lable. You can order an album from here.

WARNING: They do not do rock and roll. They play what has been described as Orchestral Pop. Their latest album is called "The Night and I Are Still So Young". My hubby wrote "Filtered Light" and "Silver Crown" on that album. He wasn't in a good writing mood that year. Yes, I'm thanked in the liner notes... in 3 of their four albums.

Also, as I am drunk with the power of having had an audience yesterday, here is a link to another tutorial for life skills. This one is written by my friend's Chihuahua.

Must go. I'm heading to MEC to spend $$$ on gear for my bicycle! Woo hoo. Saddle bags!

Tutorial

In light of all the online tutorials I've been seeing, I thought I would draw on my experience and offer up the following (light-hearted) tutorial:

How To Be A Musician's Wife

Those in same gender relationships, please adjust pronouns, etc, as required. :)

1. Be eccentric enough to serve as a muse for your husband's writing, but not so strange that you end up having him write a song with your name in it. If your name appears in the song it is the kiss of death for your relationship. Just take a moment to consider Billy Bob Thornton singing "Angelina". Luckily, my name isn't easy to rhyme. A love song can be about you or for you or whatever, but should never, ever, include your name.

2. Allow the band to practice in your basement. Plan evenings out when this is going on: Use it as an excuse to go to the movies, or Chapters, or pick up groceries. If, however, you don't go out and are, instead, at home for the majority of their practice time this will allow you to achieve number 3, which is:

3. Know all the words to his songs. It doesn't mean you have to be able to sing them. You just need to know them in case he has a rotten memory and forgets them himself. That way you can write crib notes before he goes on stage. Yes, this really does happen. It happens to my husband and it even happened to David Bowie - I have that on good authority.

4. Be nice to the band members. I have been known to bake brownies (no, not hash brownies) or vegan snacking cake on the night of band practice. This lulls them into a false sense of security and makes it more effective when I holler down the basement stairs to remind them that the unwritten neighbourhood policy states that band practices must end at 10:30pm (I happily thank my neighbour for having a drumming son).

5. Go to all the shows. There are several reasons for doing this:

a. Crowd Report: This allows you to scan the crowd, count people and see their reaction to the band. You can report later to your husband who can't see all the smiling, dancing people from the brightly lit stage. The crowd count is important to band morale (and to collecting their "door" money).

b. Work the Merch Table: Even though you may have a regular 9-5 job with benefits like dental and medical, working the merch table is the ultimate sacrifice. Merch tables are often tucked in horrible corners. You end up talking to music geeks (yay) and giving bathroom directions to a jock who doesn't really like bands he can't blare on his stereos while driving his shiny penis, er, car around downtown, and who is only there because of the girl he sees as hot because he's had a few too many wobbly pops.

c. Fend off the skanks: Yup, even at indy pop shows, the skanks come out in force. They arrive because of the wobbly pop-drinking jock with the shiny car, er, penis. They stay because they caught sight of the token cute band guy. They will dance with their drink held in the air. This method of dancing is not necessarily to avoid spilling one's drink, ('cause those chicks are spillin' everywhere), but it is to lift their tiny shirts a little bit higher. When the skanks get too close to the stage, or seem to be making googlie eyes at anyone in the band (you must protect the entire unit - one rotten skank spoils the whole bunch), grab the nearest firehose and shoot her with a steady stream of high pressure water until she's pinned to the back wall of the club, gasping and sputtering with mascara running down her shocked face. Or something like that. Use whatever method is appropriate for the location and for the level of club security.

6. Be a Roadie: Only do this when the band is playing in town. Help them load gear into the club. This gets you off the hook for working the merch table later that night. Suggest to other band members that someone else's girlfriend or wife or the best friend of the band should work the merch table.

7. Be supportive of their touring: Touring gets them out of your basement for weeks at a time. It allows you to have quiet time at home. It allows you to have the car all to yourself. A word to the wise: No matter how cool it may seem, do not go on tour with the band. No one likes a Yoko (with apologies to the Ono-Lennon family and progeny - tell me that kid is not in therapy!). If you desperately want to see them on tour, plan to meet up with them in a big city for one gig, but you should not be expecting the band to feed you or to drag your ass around. Get your own accommodations and transportation. *ahem*

8. Believe in his talent: Hopefully he's got some talent. If he sings like that guy from American Idol, you know which one I mean (Oh baby, she moves!), then you are only doing him a favour and saving yourself from a lifetime of headaches by telling him to get a day job. On the other hand, if you are there for him when he can't write a note, much less a jingle to save his life or pay the mortgage, then he'll be there for you when you decide to leave the job with dental and medical. Standard husband and wife rules apply to musical families too.

Ok, so, he's a musician and he might not remember to put the toilet seat down, he might not be proactive with housework, and he might even be cultivating the current indy musician look (read - hasn't had haircut in months and has questionable fashion sense), but he's your partner. For life. For better or worse. And if you're nice to him and do ok at mastering 1 thru 8 then maybe he will write a song about you (sans your name) but he'll definitely put your name in the liner notes. If you're really lucky, you'll live happily ever after... with a soundtrack.

I Think I'm Falling Apart...

I've had a crick in my neck since Sunday... and yesterday I developed some sort of lower back pain that went away after I heard an ominous crack. And then, this morning, it was back.

Andrew is back from the ECMAs. It was just as we expected: his band did not win their category. The guy who won has been much more visible on the Canadian scene - I guess that touring England, France and Germany did nothing for Andrew's band's ECMA profile. I was a bit disappointed, but realistically, we had predicted who would win the category when the nominations came out in December.

The point of him going up there was not for an acceptance speech, it was to schmooze with the musicians and industry types. He made lots of business contacts, saw some people he hadn't seen in years and heard some great bands. I really want to drop the names of the people he talked to but I won't, 'cause it's just the stupid small-town girl coming out in me.

Okay, just one: He was outside the hotel in the morning and Shelagh Rogers was out there. He was talking with someone that she knows, so she joined the conversation and he told her that his wife is a big fan of hers. Did he tell her that he's in a band? nooooooooooo... will the wife be sending Ms. Rogers an email about his band? yesssssssssssssss.

Anyhoo... on the knitting front - I pulled out my stash on the weekend. While I don't have nearly as much as most other knitters, I do have a fair amount of yarn kicking around here for someone who hasn't been knitting very long. The funny (?) thing is that I don't really have enough of any one yarn to make something substantial, like, oh, I dunno, a sweater? Ok, I do have the Rowan Cotton Tape to make Carla. But it's been sitting there since I bought it on sale last fall. Blah.

I seem to have developed some sort of malaise about my knitting lately. Just when I got to the point where I would add straps to the French Market Bag, I abandoned it to do a multi-directional diagonal scarfey thing with some Cherry Tree Hill silk stuff. And now, I'm thinking "Geez, I really want to make mittens to wear with my shining star hat when I'm in Toronto next week." Argh. Ok, I'll finish the French Market Bag tonight, then I'll see if I can pull off the mittens before the weekend.

Gah. I'm in this crazy state of mind lately. It's like I'm on a hyper-active roller coaster. I can't be serious about anything. And I don't just mean commitment-wise. I've been cracking jokes that I don't think anyone gets but me. I get like this when I'm nervous. Andrew is making me nervous with this business venture. Somebody, take my husband, please!

High Fidelity and the Equal Chance My Ass Awards

I just finished watching High Fidelity for about the 20th time. I don't know what it is about the movie that makes me like it so much... John Cusack's portrayal of the brooding mixed-up Rob Gordon? Jack Black's surprising rendition of "Let's Get It On" at the end of the film? Is it the music? Is it the way the film picks apart the mentality of music lovers?

I am, by no means, a music connoisseur of the same degree as the characters in the movie, but I do think of myself as a music snob - I DO NOT listen top 40 radio, but instead choose to listen to CBC Radio One, EXCLUSIVELY. I can't do top 40 radio. It makes me gag, shift uncomfortably in my seat, break out in hives, whatever, it is a very rare occurrence for me to hear a song I like on top 40 radio. That's just me, though, and I'm sure that there are songs on top 40 now that will eventually end up on my hit list, but I don't want to take the time to pull the pearls out of the poop, if you know what I mean.

There are moments when I switch the dial to the oldies station, but they are few and far between and usually involve long road trips. I do this in search of classic rock songs. As a friend and entertainment columnist once wrote, there are classic rock songs and then there is "classic" rock. It was a great article.

A classic rock song would be an anthem, something that resonates in your soul; a song that quite possibly changed your life or changed rock and roll FOREVER; a song which, when it comes over the speakers in a store or at a party, everyone sings along and talks about how great that song is and all too often they discuss what a shame it is that the band broke up or that the lead singer's life was cut short by fast times and hard livin', even though, deep down, everyone knows that it is quite possible that no other song the band could have produced would have met our expectations or the needs of our souls.

Then there is "Classic" rock. That's the (to borrow a line from Jack Black's character, Barry) crappy pap that no one wants to listen to. "Classic" rock people, you know who you are, and you should be ashamed of yourselves. You make my long road trips absolute hell on wheels. Every pun intended.

Sooooooo... here's hoping for some performers and awards that promote classic rock tonight on the EAST COAST MUSIC AWARDS. 'cause if I have to watch Great Big Disappointment get up there are get yet ANOTHER award for having good hair or for making the most effing money, or group of the year AGAIN, then I think I'm going to use my knitting needles to gouge out my eyes. I apologize to all the Great Big Fans out there, but really, how many years is it polite to have your name in the hat for this award? Where is Emily Post when we need her? Gah!

But, if you happen to be watching tonight, and in the event that they happen to televise the award for Best Alternative Band, then there is a slight chance you'll see a flash of my husband's face on tv. 'cause he's there. And, although we're all pretty sure his band has a snowball's chance in Arizona to win the award, it would still be cool to hear the band's name on a Canada-wide broadcast. Not that they haven't been on Much or Zed before, but it's just nice. You know what I'm sayin'? But their category probably won't be televised. 'cause it's not sexy. Oh well, one can live in hope, can't one?

CBC TV, 8pm Eastern time. The live broadcast. Watch it! Support the locals. 'cause you'll look stupid when they come back from Europe or Japan or the USA and they are the next big thing and you didn't know it because you've been listening to that top 40 crappy pap all this time!

The Cake Is Made

...and after the unhappy discovery of mouse turds in my cupboard this morning (that explains all the vacuuming this morning - for which I should probably apologize to my neighbours - I think it was an ungodly hour) ...the cake layers are now sealed in plastic wrap, inside of the giant bowl I use for making bread, and atop the cake pedestal. It's all sitting on my stove. With a small sign that says, "Rodents: bugger off!" I even went so far as to place a large glass plate on top of the cake layers. I was thinking about installing a security system around the cake, but I think that even if the mice have mountaineering equipment, they will have a difficult time getting into this cake.*

And the mousse-like icing (which is this absolutely calorie packed type mountain of sin in a bowl) is chilling in the refrigerator. mmmmmmmmmm... checked the recipe tonight - the cake is supposed to make 12 servings. There are 672 calories per serving. Hee hee it is an 8064 calorie cake.

Note to self: Add mousie ear drum blasters to the "Crap, we forgot to get..."shopping list for hubby.

Now I just need to get ready to head to the club for hubby's gig. They don't go on stage until 12:15am. It's the Halifax way. Live music has to carry on until 2am. I'm going to be asleep at the back of the bar - the sad thing is, I have done this before.

Happy note for the evening: My husband's band was nominated for an East Coast Music Award! Scroll down the page to Alternative Recording of the Year. And there they are The Heavy Blinkers. Yay! It's a small Canadian award ceremony; the big Canadian award ceremony being the Junos. This is their second ECMA nomination.

They were nominated a few years ago when the ceremony was held in PEI. That trip wasn't the best experience for us as we were all pretty much broke, there was a blizzard (it's held in Febru-freaking-ary) and we got a flat tire. I'm hoping that this time they'll get an award. They're up against some people who have had some really good press recently. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Must get going. Just got the "aren't you dressed yet?" phone call from the bar.

Oh hey, did I mention that I'm getting a cold?


*You know, I'll probably end up making another cake tomorrow because I'll come home to find a miniature ladder propped up against the bowl.