Category: Music

Dancing

Went dancing with Katie K, aka Kopper.  It was mostly an older crowd so it was all classic sixties R&B with occasional pokes into the 90s.  We ate before the dance at Vera’s, there being no room at the inn at the Raincity Grill.  I had a simply lovely time and only drank two beers.  Laughed my ass off, repeatedly, danced ass off, rinse, repeat, drink more water.

Took a cab from Edmonds to Planet Bachelor to feed Kira; both of the denizens are out of town at the moment.  She was powerful glad to see me.  Said cab, driven by an immaculately mannered young man whose immigration to Canada seemed obvious, but whose ethnicity was not, then conveyed me to my domicile, where Miss Margot waited on the back deck.  She scarcely mewed when she saw me; she’d had no difficulty staying out of trouble in the interim.

Now sleepy-byes.  I hope Eddie and Gizmo, both of whom are out catting, have the courtesy to give me at least 4 hours of shuteye before Eddie starts making Doleful Moan on the back deck.

Church tomorrow.

Joke of the day

A mathematician walks into a bar and asks for ten times the number of drinks anyone else normally has.

“Wow!” says the barkeep, “That’s an order of magnitude.” (Stolen from the front page of reddit).

Okay, so yesterday was a little intense.  I got up thinking “I am a lazy sea cow,” and immediately went to the computer and, start to finish, got “Brew Your Own” done.  Chords, lyrics, da works.  Then I went to the kitchen and cleaned it, including the bottom of the stove where gross stuff had leaked out of the last couple of pies, and putting away everything that had gone ahoo, and taking out the recycling, and cleaning the sinks, and the stove top and the counters.  Then I shined two pairs of shoes, dusted the treadmill, ran a load of laundry, hung pegs in the hallway, hung my guitar hangers, and then Katie came over and got completely caught up with True Blood and showed me her new tattoo (Katie has ONE SIZE IN TATTOOS. LARGE), so Kiss it and a big pair of lips are now tattooed on her butt.  I am very glad Katie is living where she is as she is obviously much mentally healthier than she used to be, but she’s turning into a damned big canvas.  Next tat will be a Tenniel illustration, either the caterpillar or the cat, behind her ears.  Anyway, while Katie was here I wrote two new songs and wrote down the lyrics… I’ll be practicing the songs enough today to be able to transcribe them into Songwriter. At this rate I’ll never catch up, but I’m smiling this morning… and I got enough sleep, too.

I think I should always be taking vitamin D, the change in my mood since I started taking it has been amazing.

long post

I bagged on the puddle yesterday, but in good news, I have lost ten pounds since I quit working and the trend continues.  Who the hell knew that eating less and exercising more would work?  I am looking forward to v..e..r..y slowly losing the rest of it.  Keith is dragging me out to exercise today. Paul and Keith and Katie went jogging on Saturday, can you credit it?  I thought it was happening at one, so I was shopping on Main St. I bought…. a pick guard.  Two instrument wall hangers.  A gig bag to replace the trashed one which Eddie whizzed on.  It was trashed before Eddie whizzed on it; I hated the damned thing and the zippers were junk.  I came this close to getting a guitar stand, but no. Margot continues to enjoy her cat toy, to the extent that she came and slept with it while it was charging on my bed last night.  Although her appearance in my room was probably triggered by Eddie permacrabbing at her in the hallway last night. Yes, I permanently mounted a power bar a railing on my bunk bed.  There are four items plugged into it currently, three of them chargers for various gadgetty things. Nascar yesterday.  I am starting to like it, because when I watch it I go into this really creative zone.  Whatever works.  I solved a story problem while watching the race yesterday and went upstairs to write it down.  At one point a car spun out, exploding grass divots into the air at 150 miles an hour, and then ‘wearing’ said grass divots as it went into Pit Road.  Keith and I looked at each other, and Keith said, “Camouflage; you’re doing it wrong!” which cracked me up.  It even went back onto the track with grass stuck in the bumper, reminding me irresistibly of a muscleman with spinach in his teeth. I can’t leave a message for Katie because Daxus filled her mailbox.  Katie just shrugs.  Since the phone’s in my name, I’m going to block it his number for her; she’s looking for work right now and it’s essential that she have access to her voicemail. Thursday Brian C. and Chari are coming over for dinner and la musica.    Mike will be free that evening and bring that sweet electric twelve string he recently rescued from his parent’s basement.  It makes everything sound like a Byrds song. Today…. all the things I haven’t been doing, like getting my taxes mailed off and booking a truck to empty the storage locker, and maybe, just maybe, knocking off another song.

lily from Cousin Gerald

I love it when men send me flowers 😉

lily

I finished Beloved Coworker – I am Very Happy with the way it turned out.

Keith is here and we’re going to go to the puddle later.

Jeff finished my taxes (I only gave him the last of the missing paperwork this past week) and according to the numbers they owe me money.  This also means, that Katie can get HER taxes in and thus get about 800 dollars back.  w00t, as they say.

Okay, back to the homily.  I will kick ass, in a respectful way, if the universe hangs that way.

Mike brings dinner and “something for the kids”

Mike brought marinaded chicken, with a side of rice, and I made salad and bought tiramisu cups from Langley Farm Market, and we watched the latest episode of True Blood and T2.  (After Keith and Mike had a Star Trek match).  My new fave movie scene is Linda Hamilton’s escape from the fool farm.

Mike said, “I brought something for the kids” which proved to be one of those motorized balls that wibbles and wobbles and scoots all over the floor.  The boys ignored it.  Margot LOVED IT, but doesn’t actually play with it, she just chases it around.  Will provide video once it’s available.

Mike recently had the astonishing experience of having an ex a) apologize for any harm caused and b) repay the money owing.  The universe did not fall off its axle, but I damn near did when I heard about it.  Wonders cannot cease while we live.

Today, return library books, add receipts to our monthly who-owes-what-to-whom reconciliation (grr, I lost my second biggest receipt this month), tweak various recordings for posting and adding to running-total list of songs, clean house from top to bottomus, prep for dinner with Tom and Peggy, try to get hold of Cindy to see if she can come tonight as well, laundry, and mow grass.  I will try to squeeze one song in there if I can, next up is “Beloved Coworker (I guess I never felt this way).  Which I wrote in Montreal.  I wrote “She” and “Evening News” in Montreal; my dwelling there was an interesting failed experiment in many ways, but at least I got some good songs out of it. Living in Montreal and Toronto have definitely brought me to a finer appreciation of Vancouver; with all its flaws it’s a very good place to live.

The weather has been overcast, occasionally rainy, and cool. Feels like fall already, but we had a deliciously hot summer and I had lots of beach days so no whining here.

Off to do the first load of laundry now….  Should think about what to bring up from the freezer while I’m down there.  It’s cool enough I could cook indoors, and I’m thinking meatloaf?  with spuds and veggies?

Snakes, dogs, Wagner, hail

Wagner was very smart and very musically influential. Even if he believed some nutty things.

Yesterday I walked with Paul in Robert Burnaby Park, a nice long walked that stretched my legs.  We saw a woman who runs a doggie daycare (Canine Corner in North Burnaby) and she had 7 dogs off leash with her (and only the terrier barked, of course, but not at me.  For some reason my ability to interact appropriately with dogs has magically improved over the last year).  We talked to her for a good long while – she also has an elderly orange cat who was a Katrina rescue.  In exchange I told her about Molly. Anyway, if her ability to cope with 7 offleash dogs is any recommendation, I recommend her facility.  She was amazing, and those were very happy dogs.

Then we went into New West and went to the Deli on 6th Ave. next to Galloways which we also shopped at and got food for ourselves and Katie.  Then I found out my bank card was compromised AGAIN and was declined, call bank.

I had cash to pay for the transaction, but I didn’t have any ID, which was naughty of me because as is customary these days, I drove.  I went to the TD Canada Trust on 6th St. expecting to be told to go home and get picture ID, but wanting to know what happened to the card.  Ross said, Tell me about your accounts, which I did, down to the penny in some cases, and then answered a couple more questions, and then bingo – he was getting an override from his supervisor and I had a new card.  Total turnaround 5 minutes.  I was astonished and pleased, and even happier than normal that I bank with TD Canada Trust.

Then Paul and I went to see Katie.  Kashka was the only other roommate home, which meant SNAKES.  Yes, they have a rosy boa (a boy, Speck, finger thin and 18 inches long) and a ball python (a girl, Opal, pushing 5 feet and forearm thick and very large for her age not to mention bloody strong) as well as a mini dobie named Piper, who jumped into my arms as soon as I saw her and a ten week old black kitten named Pan(dora). And dead rats in the freezer.  Opal was traumatized by a live rat once and now she only eats drowned thawed ones.  Anyway, we got them out and handled them, and we took some amusing pictures which I am hoping to coax out of Paul if chance affords so I can repost them (including one of Speck hanging out in my hat).  Speck likes noses, Opal likes to drape herself around necks.  Both have recently shed their skins and have a healthy glossiness that anybody who loves animals would rejoice to see.

Then I went home and tried to write down “Back in the City” and got about two thirds of the way through, I will finish today. It’s done now.

Then, True Blood from last night.

I just leaped up in consequence of hearing hail and got Granny’s chairs off the back deck.  It was 5:52 in the morning when it stopped, and as is normal around here, it was heavy rain mixed with graupel.  There was a bit of lightning too.  Noisy!  It was pinging and spoinging all over the show.

apropos of nothing

Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s acoustic version of Blue on Black.

I was sitting in the driveway of a friend’s house rolling the dial up and down when I caught the first few bars of the guitar, and then sat mesmerized while I listened.  It took me almost ten years to figure out who it was singing it; the song’s been out since 1997.  It’s on a kick ass rock and blues album called Trouble Is…

Beautiful day

It’s difficult, when you’re not an art historian or otherwise an art geek, to assess the value of seeing a real Vermeer or a real Rembrandt.  But it is supposed to be good for one, so I accompanied daughter Katie to the current exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery and was happy to be thrust 350 years into the past, when the current ideas about what constitutes the middle class were putting down sturdy roots. I looked into portraits whose faces bore the stamp of This is my Relation; I was struck, over and over again, by the beauty of details, clouds, ships, insects, trees; by the shine of the silver, the connections to the Dunnett books, and the pushing of art into places where it had never gone.  Why draw a dead and a dying horse side by side?  Why depict the interior of a synagogue (showing the mothers attempting to ride herd on their kids at the back of the shul)? Why elaborate on a new fashion of depicting happily married couples in a fantastic amalgam of backgrounds – he set amid his globe and his expensively bound volumes, she sweetly tugging at him to go into the garden for a moment?

It was the Art of Middle and Upper Class White Folks, writ large and small and in brilliant detail.  As a result, it is comfortable art.  Not challenging, not disturbing, not heartbreaking.  English contemporaries commented on the Dutch mania for everybody, from the greatest to the meanest, having pictures on their walls.  It’s pretty standard now, that your house isn’t a home until the pictures go up, and now I have a solid sense of where that notion came from.

Katie really enjoyed it.  She particularly enjoyed the paintings with trees, the detail and substance of them. We also agreed that the paintings on copper were the most beautiful, texturally.

I only played Art Troll once, forcing her to stand in front of the Vermeer, telling her that it was the first time in 50 years that a Vermeer had come to Canada and that she bloody well better look at it.

Then we wandered up and down Granville looking at the trendy shoes and clothes, I stepped into Tom Lee for a couple of packs of strings, we had a beer and cocktail (Sex on Wreck Beach, fancy that) respectively at Speakeasy, and headed out for Metrotown where she bought hair gunk and I heard the siren song of new smallclothes.  We parted at Edmonds Station.

Then I went to Planet Bachelor to hang out with Keith and Paul (Keith bailed on karate) and sing and play for a while.  Watched the 1929 documentary about the Peking (4 masted barque) again; I never get tired of watching that. I was very out of kilter and didn’t do anything very well; couldn’t remember lyrics etc.

Katie and I had a very good day, and I get some more Katie, greedy me, when she comes back today and I get my hairs cut.

Then she’s off to the PNE and I’m going to cut grass and tidy the kitchen and put away my laundry (finally) and start figuring out how to transfer the John tape onto another tape so that Phyllis can hear her son singing, and get ready for the small dinner party tomorrow night, which will consist of me, Jeff, Keith, Suzanne, Mike and Paul.

John’s interment in London is tomorrow.  Ruth and John and the kids will be going; I don’t know if any other relatives will be there.

Bob Dylan’s New Year’s Day is done

I have always been much more fond of the lyrics than the tune on this one, but I don’t mind. …. I remember the day I wrote it… on the subway, coming back on New Year’s Day from crashing at Dave’s the night before.  Toronto seems so very far away from me now.  And yet thither must I go.

The landpeers are power washing the back deck preparatory to painting it.

I had lunch at Himalayan Peak with Hardeep, Trevor, ScaryClown and Robof9 yesterday, and hung with the folks in the cafeteria after that.  LTGW encouraged me to go to the 4:24 showing of District 9, but I wanted to get home and make dinner.

and now for some math tattoos.