Teasers

A couple of quick teasers for things I'll be writing about soon.

* I have plans for my basement. And I have an eye out for the UPS guy, who should be delivering a few packages in the next couple of days.

* In my last post, I mentioned that Rosewood has an upcoming gig on lucky Friday the 13th. We're working on some new songs, and one may have a surprise guest vocalist. Here's a hint - she's from north of the border. Sarah McLachlan? k.d. lang? Good guesses, but you'll have to come out to St. Peter's Bakery to find out!

A Musical Weekend

We just wrapped up a very musical weekend. Four separate events in two days has to be some kind of a record.

1. West Chester Area Community Chorus concert.
Darling Wife practices with the chorus every Monday night, and their winter concert was Saturday afternoon. A big snow was forecast, and we were ready for it to be postponed, but we got much less than forecast, so the concert was on. Darling Wife was front and center, and they did a great job. It was an hour of very pretty vocal music. Darling Wife was happy, and we were proud of her.

2. Celtic Spirit at the Sly Fox
Our friends from Celtic Spirit had a gig at a Phoenixville pub on Saturday night, and we arranged with some friends to be there. Also, it wasn't just an ordinary gig, it was Robert Burns Birthday Celebration. To celebrate Scotland's most beloved poet, there were men in kilts, bagpipers, haggis, etc., etc. All this, and Celtic Spirit playing too.

There was much hilarity. Anyone who went up to the mic and read a Robert Burns poem between songs got a shot of Scotch. There were Burns poems floating around, and I read one (and got my shot.) I also ate a bite of haggis - it was kinda nondescript at first, but it had a bit of a nasty aftertaste. I was also invited up to play bass with the band on one song, which was great fun.

3. Acoustic Jam
Sunday afternoon was the monthly acoustic jam meetup. This is always fun, and it was nice to be back yesterday after missing the December meetup with holiday busyness. We took a song that we learned and especially liked in the sea shanty meetup. (What's that? I haven't written about the sea shanty meetup?) Drink to the Laddies is a fun song, and went over well. I had my Martin and my mandolin with me, and 2 1/2 hours disappeared in a flash.

4. Open Mic at Chaplin's
I've been rehearsing with Rosewood, and we've been working on new songs in addition to polishing up old favorites. We've gone a while without playing out, and our next gig is 2+ weeks away, so we decided to play the Sunday night open mic at Chaplin's. We've done that before, though not for a little while, and it's always fun. They have a professional stage and sound system, and it's very cool to play in that environment.

The open mic is hosted by the inimitable Ted the Fiddler, and he was happy to oblige when we asked him to join us for a couple of songs. We extended the songs and gave him some room to stretch out and and jam, and he seemed to enjoy it as much as we did.

Rik Emmett

I recently saw that a FB friend posted a pic of himself with guitarist Rik Emmett, taken last week after a performance at a local club. It triggered a full-fledged "holy smokes, where did the years go?" reaction.

Rik was the guitarist/singer in Triumph, a Canadian rock trio that Leo introduced me to in high school. We both had their album "Just a Game", and we played it a lot. FYI, the album sleeve actually opened up into a board game - and yes, we actually played the game a couple of times.

In the fall of 1979, Triumph came to the Tower Theater, and I went with my cousin Bethanne (the first of many concerts we attended together.) We were both fifteen (i.e., without driver's licenses), so we took the trolley into 69th St. It was my first concert at the Tower, and we were toward the front of the balcony - great seats. I remember the show as being very high energy. They opened with American Girls, which was one of my favorite songs from the album, and they rocked the house for two hours.

Then....

Another of my favorite songs from that album was Fantasy Serenade, a solo acoustic guitar instrumental that sounds almost classical. I can still remember Rik playing that alone at center stage - just in awe that anyone could play such an intricate piece, standing alone in front of an audience, without any fear of making a mistake. When he finished, the crowd roared, and he took the acoustic guitar off and tossed it through the air to a roadie offstage. Wow...could it get any cooler than that?!?

Seeing the picture of present-day Rik made me curious, and a little Googling showed that he is indeed still playing. Here's a clip of him playing Fantasy Serenade live in 2011, and he's as good as ever. I also couldn't resist looking up a tab, and I may take a crack at it (very very slowly, of course.)

Interestingly, in the intro to the recent live piece, he says he composed the piece while at Humber College, which I've driven past any number of times with Darling Wife in the west end of Toronto.

...and now.

Update: Darling Wife both attended Humber College, and knew of Triumph playing all over the T.O. area before they broke into the (relatively) big time.

It also occurred to me that it might be a long-shot, but maybe I could find some details about the 1979 Triumph concert I saw. Sure enough, there it is, October 19, 1979. Sadly, no set list. But the previous show (Oct. 13, Oshawa, ON), *does* have a set list. And it looks like the show I saw. Wow!