Pop In Sessions III

Last Wednesday, Ms. Extremities, Henry and I went to see Buck 65 perform at Mr. Happy's studio.

As the studio's air conditioning system would interfere with the sound quality of the recording, the audience was quite warm. Henry chose a spot near the door, where the air was cooler and where he had a good view of Buck.

He's made of wool; I think this was a smart choice - he might have felted more in the studio!

Henry's musical tastes are broad at best. He's declared his undieing love for every single Pop In Sessions performer. After Wednesday night he has been playing Buck 65's albums, one after the other... and I found his copies of David Myles' and Jim Bryson's albums being used as coasters. (Sorry guys.)

While the rest of the audience was filing out of the studio at the end of the show, Henry hung back near the door, hoping to talk to Buck. Finally, Patrick, a friend and one of the cameramen for the evening, pushed him forward and asked Buck for a photo. Buck was very gracious and posed with Henry at the turntable.

Henry has this photo on the refrigerator and has taken to calling himself "Wooly Mammoth". He thinks it's a cool stage name. He's been wearing sunglasses and one of my bracelets around his neck.

Last night I discovered that he had emailed some mp3s of his rap songs to Buck. I don't think I've ever heard Merino used in quite that context ever before.

Lifestyles of the Green And Fuzzy

On June 15th, Henry and I went to Mr. Happy's latest Pop In Sessions Concert at his studio. We were both really excited to be there, and arrived early.

I acted as ticket agent, bouncer and MC that night. Henry, on the other hand, acted the clown in the empty studio, running from the control room, to the sound-proof booth and then, finally, hopping up on the grand piano in an attempt to look seductive:

At one point, he grabbed a microphone and sang "Stardust". Thank goodness no one recorded it. I'm still twitching at the thought of it.

He was quite well behaved when Mike arrived. Yes, Mike! We finally met him in person. Henry suddenly became camera shy (it sometimes happens to him around local celebrities) and we missed our photo opportunity. TLW (The Lovely Wife) was unable to make it to the show, so we had to make do with just Mike. Yeah, we were slumming. You know how it is.

David Myles and Jim Bryson played for two and a half magical hours. Despite some technical difficulties, (a speaker which was kicked to the curb before Saturday night's performance), the audience seemed completely enthralled by the two musicians. I think they could have played the entire set while wearing Underoos and capes and the audience wouldn't have noticed a thing. (Having accidentally walked in on David while he was changing, I can assure you that he wasn't wearing any such costume under his suit during his performance. Mike can attest to this fact as well.)

After the show, Henry managed to stop gushing about Jim long enough to ask for a photo:

Jim Bryson is a very talented musician and while Henry was happy to have his photo taken with Jim, I think he was secretly checking out the Avacado-shaped shaker. He's been asking me to fill his butt with rice ever since. He wants to go on tour as a percussion instrument.

While we didn't get a chance to take Henry's photo with David Myles, we did get a photo of him sharing some laughs with another musical David, Dave Carmichael in fact. That's David Myles in the background, ignoring Henry:

I keep telling Henry that David Myles was not snubbing him - Since he lives in Halifax now, I'm sure there will be other opportunities for them to get to know each other.

After audience had gone home, we ended the evening with a rare, spontaneous performance from Mr. Happy:

Henry fell asleep in my arms before the last chord. Aw.