Yet my inner 14 year old is feeling calmed and cleansed by this latest offering from Little Big…I can’t stop chanting the chorus. I find it absolutely cathartic. I hope it does the same for you. If not…well, please just unclutch those pearls and click away from ye olde blogge.
This continues to be a strange week and I am on pins and needles along with my US friends. My fervent hope is for a peaceful and safe return to decency, kindness, science-based decision making, and love – instead of fear, lies and hatred. And the end of this 4 year nightmare known as the Trump Presidency.
Anyone who knew me as a young teenager knew that one of the artists whose music I was obsessed with was Elton John (not yet a Sir). (Aerosmith and Queen were among the others, in case anyone was interested.)
1975. 16 year-old me at Camp Wabanaki sporting my Elton John t-shirt. Wish I still had it but I wore it to death, like most of my clothes from that time period. Also still wish I was at that weight. I remember wishing I could lose about 10 pounds, back then. HAH. Young, dumb and broke, indeed!
I first saw Elton John live in Orchard Park (just outside of Buffalo) in 1976 (or maybe it was 1975? Doesn’t matter. I think EJ likely didn’t know what year it was either 😉 ). I took a bus down to the US, with a high school friend. Elton was headlining, and Boz Scaggs and J.J. Cale opened for him. I don’t remember much more from that show except I got rained on, and Elton John DID NOT play Crocodile Rock, much to my absolute fury crushing disappointment dismay. Even though the whole stadium was screaming for it. Instead he told us he was gonna play “Your Song” – apparently a real fucking treat for us poor slobs as he hadn’t played it live in a long time. I was not impressed. I LOVED Crocodile Rock and had no idea at the time that he did not actually like this song, thinking of it as “disposable pop”. Really, Queen Elton? I still shudder at some of the crap you put out when you were a drug-addled mess,in years to come.Makes Crocodile Rock sound kinda alright now, don’t it? But you know me – I do don’t hold a grudge.
Anywho! Ahem. Back to the NOW, sorta.
Two years ago I heard Sir Elton was doing a farewell tour. So I joined his RocketClub fan club in order to have a better chance at decent tickets. Well, my name wasn’t drawn for the those shows so I thought it wasn’t to be. BUT then he announced he was coming back to Toronto the following year and whaddayaknow this time I got an email saying I was being offered the chance to purchase tickets more than a year in advance. Yup – October 9, 2018 I purchased 4 tickets (maximum allowed) to the October 23rd, 2019 show. My sister was staying with me at the time and immediately she snatched up one of the extra tickets (and my good friends Kenn and Jonathan seized the other two). In order to get these decent seats, I had to buy something called a VIP package, which came with a bunch of stuff that I promptly forgot about until I came home from Vancouver Island to find a big box of goodies delivered in my absence.
Inside the box was this “lithograph” accompanied by a certificate of authenticity – what anyone else would call a poster, I guess. But we have to be ultra because ELTON JOHN. You can see I framed it and hung it on the wall already. Because OBVIOUSLY. DUH!More of what was in the box – 1 of each for each ticketholder, along with the poster lithograph. Tote bag, journal, pen and pencil set, passport holder and luggage tag, key chain, and VIP lanyard and “pass” which got you exactly NOTHING at the show. Except maybe, I dunno: bragging rights?!?
Finally the long-awaited day arrived and we made it to Toronto, to the ScotiaBank Arena, for THE SHOW!
How excited are me and Sister Badass for the show to begin? PLENTY. PLENTY EXCITED. Jonathan, Kenn, and I. Also plenty excited for the show to start! I really must get better at this selfie thing. Sheesh.The Stage. Pretty damn ornate, if you ask me. You can barely see it in the next photo – how the edges of the stage are “carved” with symbols representing Sir Elton’s interests and career, e.g. the GUCCI logo was one of them.One of the cool graphics playing on the huge screen. The many faces of Sir Elton John.The man himself. First outfit of the night. EJ wheeled out this demure number after he got changed during the spooky intro to Funeral for a Friend. I love his brooch. Must be a favourite piece as I have seen pictures of it numerous times, pinned to His Person.Good ol’ Captain Fantastic! I think this cartoon ran during Someone Saved My Life Tonight. (from the Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy album)Psychedelic graphics – forget to which song. Too busy rockin’ out. Sorry. Not sorry.
The show was incredible, and Elton’s voice was still strong. I had low expectations because I knew he had had throat surgery and couldn’t reach the high notes anymore. I was blown away by how good his voice still was. He really belted out those lyrics.
And…HE PLAYED CROCODILE ROCK! I also had no very low expectations of that happening and just about passed out with joy when the song started. No matter that he could no longer sing the falsetto “lah lalalalalahs” – WE sang them for him. “For the fans” flashed across the screen during the number – his not-so-subtle way of letting everyone know he still hates this song, I guess.
It only took 43 years, but I finally got my wish and heard Elton John play Crocodile Rock live. So,
SirElton Hercules John, if you’re reading:
All is forgiven.
Love,
The Widow Badass
As if all the wonderful music wasn’t enough (none of the his “coked-out MOR crap” dreck made it to the set list, thankfully), it was also heart-warming to hear him speak of his life and his struggles, and to see his emotional response to us – wiping away tears caused by the love the crowd was showing him.
I probably won’t ever see Sir Elton John in concert again, if he makes good on his promise of no more world tours. But I saw him on Wednesday October 23rd, and once before when I was very young (probably not a Wednesday though), and that will have to do.
Rock on,
The WB
P.S.
Elton’s Memoir – I was going to wait and get it from the library. Then I read all the great reviews on GoodReads so decided I couldn’t wait. And then I was going to get a digital copy. Because of: Moving to BC. Until I realized the photos would be much easier to see in hardcover. I should have this book done by the time this post is published. Yet one more thing to pack. So worth it. It’s all good. Hehehe!
…I’d have taken better care of myself. “- Eubie Blake
This week I got some news that I’d been waiting for – my health traits analysis, from My Heritage. They were able to pull this information from the sample I had submitted last year, for my genetic makeup.
I was absolutely sure that I would be told I was at increased risk for cardiac disease, given my history with TIAs, and my family history (father dying at 63 from a massive heart attack, younger sister experiencing a heart attack, other relatives with coronary artery disease). However, I am only at average risk for this and other biggies that people don’t want to know about – like Alzheimers and Parkinsons. My Heritage warns you before they give you the data that this information is in there, and asks you to assent that you actually do want to see your genetic propensity for these devastating diseases. Of course, I clicked a resounding YES. Information is power, people. If I am at an elevated risk for Alzheimers, damn straight I want to know about it so I can plan accordingly!
Long story short – I am at average risk for heart disease, various cancers, Crohn’s disease, some stuff I never heard of, and the aforementioned Alzheimers and Parkinsons. Whew!
I am slightly increased risk for Celiac disease. Hmmm…perhaps this explains my heartburn when I eat wheat, currently under control thanks to modern medicine?
And last but certainly not least, my health report states I am at significantly decreased risk of developing age-related macular degeneration – this is a relief, especially for someone with plans to play a lot with paint in retirement!
So now that it looks like I might live a lot longer than I had anticipated, maybe it’s time to take better care of myself. I’ve noticed I’ve been in a gradual decline of energy this summer.
I’ve been severely anemic before, and this is starting to feel a lot like that. Brain fog, overall fatigue and lack of stamina, lack of focus, falling asleep whenever I am “quiet”. I couldn’t even whip up the energy to make it to Riverfest Elora last weekend so there went the $99 I spent last August on a weekend pass for this year’s festival…ah well, that water is so far under the bridge, it’s already made it to the ocean. 🙂
This is so not me.
I did save my energy so I could go see P!nk on Sunday night though – the ticket was a birthday gift from a good friend of mine!
P!nk performing Just Like Fire. Guess who forgot her good camera at home, and had to rely on ye olde iPhonne? See aforementioned brain fog…sigh.So What? She’s still a rock star, and she flew all around the arena in that harness. While singing. And doing all sorts of acrobatic maneuvers. BADASS.
OK, where was I? Ah yes. Feeling anemic. I mentioned in a comment to Donna, of Retirement Reflections, that I was needing an iron supplement to keep up with the schedule of things I have lined up. She thought I was joking. I was not, Donna! Behold:
This wonder elixir made me feel 20 years younger when I was anemic, years ago. One week after taking this liquid, I felt restored, and back to my old go-get ’em self again. Something months of swallowing iron tablets failed to do.
I purchased a bottle this week and will be taking it faithfully. My iron levels are on the low side of normal at the best of times, but I feel they may have slipped even further as I haven’t been eating a lot of red meat for many months now (and I’ve started really craving beef – another sign from my body that iron is needed). If this doesn’t pep me up, I’ll be making a visit to the doc for a thorough checkup.
Also on the self-care theme: I splashed out today on a Philips Sonicare toothbrush. My faithful Oral B toothbrush is showing signs of imminent battery failure, as it needs to be charged every other day now…and I am on my last brush head before needing to buy more. So it was definitely time to fish or cut bait as I’ve been dithering about what to do next for the past few months of watching my Oral B steadily go downhill.
This was a pretty expensive purchase. What to do? Get another Oral B, go back to a regular toothbrush, check out the Sonicare…Ultimately I decided on the latter. These were the thoughts that were going through my head:
I’ll be retired in a matter of months and won’t be able to afford it as easily then. (Already I am having these fearful thoughts about no more paycheques…shit!)
What’s the most environmentally friendly option? (Probably rubbing at your teeth with a twig…sigh. Moving on…)
I spent 6 grand on my smile these past 2 years (hello, Invisalign!); an electric toothbrush is protecting my investment.
I’ll have to pay for dental benefits once I retire and my coverage might not be as good as when I was employed; I’d better take the best care possible of my teeth. (More fearful thoughts! Double shit!!)
So, this is what’s going on with me at the moment – trying to get back some energy, and trying to keep my mouth healthy. And realizing that I am worrying already, about finances post-work life. Even though I have done the math over and over again. And my head knows I WILL BE FINE.
What about you, recent retirees or old hands at it? Did you have fearful thoughts about finances when contemplating your retirement? Do tell…
This post was supposed to be created last night (Monday) but unfortunately the author crashed hard after work because she can’t party-hardy for an entire weekend anymore like she used to. C’est dommage! Yes, it was that great of a Blues Festival and I am going to sorely miss attending it when I move to Vancouver Island.
This entire festival (after the fund-raising opener on Thursday night) is FREE. And there is even an app you can download to see the schedule and stages, and highlight the performers you want to see (which then automatically inputs into your Google calendar, with alerts on your phone an hour before the performance. HOW COOL IS THAT?!?)
Volunteer-run and sponsor-supported, it is truly a great one and next year it will be its 20th year of existence! That is quite an accomplishment. I did what I could to pour money into this event to support it and the artists, coming home with a bunch of purchases and then buying music when I got home. If I wasn’t moving, I’d be volunteering next year when I’m retired.
Of course, I made sure to attend the Thursday evening fund-raising show – Misty Blues Band and Tom Cochrane & Red Rider. My pal Kath gifted me with a ticket because she felt bad I was cheated out of Roxodus. So sweet!
Misty Blues Band – what a voice this woman has! So warm and lovely in person too.Tom Cochrane and band gave a great show. He is great at connecting with the audience with his stories of his long career playing across Canada. Life IS a highway, dude!
Friday afternoon selected performances started with watching the Grand River Blues Society Youth Camp performers put on a show. These kids really rocked!
I wonder how many will make a career of performing, eventually?
At the conclusion of their show, all the performers marched through the audience playing their instruments. I thought that was so cool. But apparently not everyone (cough*Jimmy*cough) shared that sentiment. More on that later…
Next up (for me) was catching Wild T and the Spirit’s set. The man could play a guitar! After Wild T, came Erja Lyytinen from Finland. Another great artist.
After these 2 artists came a tribute to the 50th anniversary of Woodstock, with various performers including Wild T doing – of course – Jimi Hendrix. I was too busy singing and rockin’ out to take pictures by this point.
My friend Kath (and my host for the weekend) and I rockin’ our Friday night at Bluesfest, with our Bluesfest T-shirts on.
Saturday’s picks started out at noon for me – with Bill Durst – thanks to a recommendation from Kath and George’s friend, Jimmy. How had I never heard of this man before??? I became an instant fan of his music. Plus, you gotta love any man who can rock a beard/pony/braid thing.
I stan Bill Durst, as the kids say.Susan (Mrs. Jimmy) and I with Bill. One of the great things about this festival is getting to meet the artists after their shows. Bill’s wife (also named Susan) was selling these bracelets she made from used guitar string ball-ends. Blessed by the music, she said. Shut up and take my money, I said. Later, I stayed at the Clock Tower Stage to watch The Northern Pikes put on a killer show including mashing together AC/DC and Aerosmith with their hit “She Ain’t Pretty”. What a really great band! Jimmy and Susan meandered off to watch some other artists.
I guess I should talk about Jimmy now. I don’t like saying negative things about people on ye olde blogge, especially if I like them. But since I told the same stuff to Jimmy’s face I will say them again here. And it’s kinda funny. At least, he made me smile. 🙂
Jimmy is a blues aficionado – he really knows his stuff (and disclaimer: I do like him!). Jimmy also has strong opinions on just about everything and is happy to share whether you want to hear them or not. When I told Jimmy (and everyone else) how wonderful I thought it was that the Blues Camp kids marched through the crowd playing their instruments, he scoffed at me and said “everyone does that”. I told him to quit raining on my parade.
Spoiler: He didn’t quit.
L-R: Jimmy, George and Susan at the Vanessa Collier show. George was my science teacher for grade nine and is Kathy’s husband. My career is all his fault. 😉 And this is Jimmy. Jimmy is a buzzkill. Don’t be a Jimmy.Big Dan and the Topsiders. I thought Big Dan was fantastic and had a great voice. Jimmy thought his playing was “pedestrian”. Ahhh, Jimmy…Darby Mills growled and rocked for almost 2 hours, and she’ll be 60 in a couple of months! Susan and I were thrilled and amazed. Jimmy said nothing to me about her, thank goodness. For his sake…Vanessa Collier is another artist I fell hard for. Woman writes, plays guitar, sings and blows a killer sax. And makes eye contact with everyone in the audience. EVERYONE.Vanessa walking through the crowd during a 10 minute sax solo. Jimmy to me: See, I told you they all do that. Me to him: Jimmy, does the term “buzzkill” mean anything to you?!?Of course I had to buy this T-shirt, referencing the lyrics to one of Vanessa’s songs – one inspired by her mother.
We saw one more act on that amazing, music-filled Saturday – Cedric Burnside, who played authentic, hypnotic “hill country” blues, according to Jimmy. He was great, but the music reminded me of how damn tired I was by this point, so I couldn’t stay for his whole set.
Sunday morning brought the last act I had any stamina left for – A Beautiful Noise – the annual gospel breakfast by various artists.
The amazing Michelle White at Sunday’s Gospel Breakfast. She doesn’t want to be lost when Jesus comes – no thank you, ma’am!
After the gospel breakfast it was time to pack up, thank my wonderful hosts, and head back home (and collapse on the couch, truth be told). I barely had the strength to go onto iTunes and purchase the music from the artists I saw…sigh!
Here’s something that bothers me – people were saying that artists aren’t paid by iTunes and you should buy the CDs at the show if you want to support them. But I don’t want to buy a bunch of physical copies of the music (especially since I am moving AND my only CD player JUST died) – I’d prefer to have all my music in my iTunes library at this point. Is this true, that artists don’t make anything from iTunes? And how can that be? Why would anyone agree to have their music on iTunes if they weren’t being paid, or paid properly for it?
I bet Jimmy has an opinion on this. Too bad he left before I could ask him. 😉
In an alternate universe, I would be rocking out right now, up at the Edenvale Airport, instead of sitting in my dining room hammering out this post. My ticket money has been completing refunded as of Wednesday (thank you, EventBrite!) so I am not out any $$$ because of Roxobust, unlike many others who spent thousands on airline tickets and hotels, yet…
What could have been and never will be…
Here is a list of concerts I took a pass on because of blowing the entertainment budget on Roxodus: The Killers, Muse, Florence & The Machine, The Black Keys, Arkells, Cheap Trick (who played last month in a wonderful venue close to me BUT WHY WOULD I GO SINCE I WOULD SEE THEM SOON AT ROXODUS…ARGH).
Looking at the bright side (or is it more the Sour Grapes Department? No matter): I wasn’t looking forward to seeing Kid Rock – probably would have left early that particular night. Also on the bright side: I hadn’t transferred any money electronically for food, drink and other festival purchases onto my “bracelet” for Roxodus’s cashless system, despite their urging concertgoers to do so right up to “the end”.
I am so impressed by those that stood up for the cheated fans. Particularly EventBrite, who stepped in to refund money to everyone who bought tickets. They did not have to do this. They were not obligated to do this. Yet they did the right thing for the music fans while Roxodus promoters did…uh, nothing. Nothing except make lame excuses and blame each other for the fiasco.
Huh…what happened to the “festival grounds too wet” excuse? Seems to have melted away as quickly as a morning frost in May...
Shout out also to other music festivals, who stepped up to offer free tickets to Roxodus ticket holders – you guys rock! So far Slamfest (in Kitchener last weekend) and WTFest (in Brantford later in July) have offered good numbers of free passes to those burned by Roxodus. I passed on Slamfest and already have a ticket to WTFest. I won’t be taking advantage of these offers…I have my money back so I prefer to let someone else have the chance to one of the free tickets.
I’ll still be up in the vicinity of Roxodus this weekend – CJ invited me to come up anyways, and hang out at her place at the Beach. So that’s where I’ll be heading after work tomorrow. And I’m delighted to do so.
Taking pleasure in others’ misfortunes; that’s me in this particular instance.
I’m also delighted to see the shit raining down on the Roxodus promoters as the days go on. Bring. It. On. Yes, I am that type of person – call me The Widow Schadenfreude Badass. Not only is the OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) conducting an investigation, and EventBrite promising to aggressively pursue Roxodus for $$$…now the local conservation authority is investigating these guys for clearing hectares of trees off of the Roxodus property without the proper permits and approvals.
It’s kinda entertaining, to watch and read about all the blame-gaming and finger-pointing and mounting legal issues resulting from the collapse of this event. Not 4-days-worth-of-music-festival-entertaining…but one must take amusement where one can find it, in this ridiculous affair.
Perhaps this will result in a business school case study one day. Or a documentary. In the meantime, I am still mightily bummed and finding it hard to…
Summer in Canada is a lot of things to a lot of people. One of the things summer means to me is the opportunity to attend music festivals. So late last December, when my friend CJ let me know that her family was buying VIP tickets to Roxodus (July 11-13, 2019) and that I was welcome to stay at her place nearby for the duration of the festival, I jumped on board too despite gagging a bit at the price – at $600+, by far the most money I have ever paid for a single event. For comparison, I plunked down $99 for another 3 day festival happening in August of this year: Riverfest Elora.
Initially the festival was running for 3 days but this spring they added a 4th day (Sunday) at no extra charge (with headliner, Aerosmith, one of my all-time favourite bands!!!!) so this got even better and I was beyond thrilled to be going. I had taken advantage of the early bird pricing; got onto the easier-to-swallow payment plan; it’s all good, right?
Wrong. With a week to go, the organizers pulled the plug on the festival, citing wet grounds as the absolutely bullshit reason. The first day of the announcement, there was a statement on the website that information on refunds would be available soon. The next day this statement disappeared. And I got pissed. And I (and 20,000+ other ticket holders, vendors etc.) had no direct means to contact the organizers, who were incommunicado. With no other outlet for my frustration, I took to social media with this meme, as this particular moment in this particular film represented my mood:
For those of you not familiar with the film, The Big Lebowski, it refers to this scene:
And if you’re not familiar with this cult-classic movie, I urge you to immediately get your hands on a copy and watch it. It’s a great movie that has launched a thousand t-shirts, memes, bumper stickers, social media groups, and even a religion, based on the character of The Dude (the victim of the toilet dunking) as well as other characters in the film.
There are developments happening every day with this Canadian “Fyre Festival”. And the story is still unfolding. I won’t go into the details here – if you are interested, just google Roxodus and you will see it all as it is happening.
On the urging of Mimi (another blogger friend to the rescue – goddess, how I love this community!), I had contacted my credit card company to report my purchase as fraudulent and to see if they could do anything for me. I was told they would start a file with my details, and to call back after 15 days (once the festival dates had passed and the slimeball jerkface promoters had been given every opportunity to make restitution).
Then this morning I received an email from the wonderful amazing good people at Eventbrite (who handled ticket sales), saying that they “set up an Eventbrite-funded Fan Relief Program to make all Roxodus ticket holders whole while we continue to aggressively pursue the return of funds from the festival’s creators.”
Current mood: Much less orange is the new black
And also in the email they let me know how much they were refunding. One teensky weensky problemo: in the email I noticed that they were refunding me the money only from my second-to-last payment on the payment plan. No mention of the rest of the money owing to me.
I emailed them back to let them know that there were still 3 other outstanding transactions that also require repayment before I would be “whole”. And now I wait, confident that Eventbrite will continue to step up, and make good on their promise.
I still hurt for those that invested much more than me into this event – people who booked flights, campsites, hotels, arranged their summer vacations around this event…I hurt for all the businesses small and large that also invested heavily into Roxodus happening.
The only people who aren’t hurting are the bands that were scheduled to play – apparently they were paid 100% upfront.
I used to take certain things for granted. One: that when I bought a ticket to an event, it was most likely going to happen. Two: that if it didn’t happen, I would get my money refunded immediately. I don’t think it is unreasonable or naive to think either of these two things when plunking down hard-earned $$$ for a show. I (and other concert-goers) deal in good faith and expect the same in return.
I will never think this way again. Thanks shitheads Roxodus.
My now-worthless Roxodus wristband
If you’re still reading, thanks for letting me rant. Has something like this ever happened to you? Do tell, in the comments.
The first weekend of August was reserved for the Mill Race Festival of Traditional Music.
I enjoyed listening to the world music brought to this festival. This year, I listened to an artist from Afghanistan:
Qais Essar getting ready to play a 2500 year old instrument – the rabab
And one originally from West Africa, now based out of Montreal:
Zal Sissokho playing the kora – an African harp. It was magical.
The second weekend of August was KW Bluesfest, starting on Thursday night with Rik Emmett (formerly of Triumph):
Rik Emmett and RESolution 9
And then it was Jonny Lang’s turn:
Jonny Lang
Saturday afternoon, I watched Magic Dick (of J.Geils Band) work his harmonica magic:
Magic Dick and Shun Ng
Saturday night it was the Ghost Town Blues Band – highly enjoyable – so much so that I forgot to take any pictures!
Sunday morning it was gospel for breakfast:
Quisha Wint at the Gospel Breakfast
Then my daughter and her guy left for BC and I fell apart, and into a frenzy of cleaning:
Washed and resealed the slate floor in my bathroom. On my hands and knees. Ouch.
The third weekend of August was set aside for Riverfest Elora.
Friday night, July Talk hit the stage:
Leah Fay of July Talk
More July Talk, a really great band
Riverfest has gained popularity. It was quite crowded this year. Grrr.
The Beaches’ set at Riverfest
Dear Rouge – another great Canadian band I was privileged to see.
The final weekend of August was for connecting with friends and recovering from all the festival action.
Then a few days ago, I took some time during the week to go to Stratford with Joanne of My Life Lived Full, to catch Rocky Horror at the Avon Theatre:
Waiting for Rocky: Let’s make silly faces, she said. OK, I said.
The next day we got even sillier on the Speed River. Not really, although I did get baptized in the river when my kayak entry went awry (first time, ever!). Thankfully no undignified pictures were snapped because Joanne is a FRIEND first and blogger second. 🙂 Check out her kayaking photos here.
And that pretty much wraps up the month for me.
The Changing Seasons is a monthly blog challenge hosted by Su Leslie of Zimmerbitch.
August is a great month. Fresh corn, peaches, and tomatoes are all available. I have music festivals lined up for each of the first 3 weeks. I’m seeing The Rocky Horror Show in Stratford during the last week of August. It’s my son’s birthday next weekend and I’m throwing him a birthday dinner to celebrate.
What is not to love?
Well, my daughter, who has been living with me for the past 2 years while pursuing her MSW, and her boyfriend, who has been living with us for the past 6 months, are pulling out of Ontario mid-month to start a new life out on the west coast, in British Columbia.
I’m very happy for them. This is the right move for them, for many reasons. And I’m a wee bit envious of their grand adventure. But I’m also going to miss them like crazy.
My place is going to feel very empty for a while. I am going to have to deal with coming home every day to an empty house, again.
Don’t get me wrong – I love living alone.
I want to live alone.
I deserve to live alone.
But every time I have people stay for a length of time, when they leave I have to get used to living alone all over again. And having a child not only leave but move 3-fucking-thousand miles away is going to multiply my alone-feeling exponentially.
I don’t want this to happen:
Hehehehe…the opening of this movie continues to crack me up every time I watch it.
But seriously, I don’t want this to be me.
So I am drafting a bit of a plan, to adjust to being alone again.
Instead of eating or drinking my feelings (a real fear, people), I plan to exercise them. Instead of moping around the house, I plan to clean and organize it. Instead of being my introverted, antisocial self, I might actually call a friend and make a plan to go out.
OK, maybe that last one is a bit of a stretch. 😉
I feel good that I’m anticipating my sadness and have a plan to deal with it.
Today’s post was supposed to be about what a great time I had last Friday at the spa with fellow bloggers Karen and Joanne, and then the continued birthday celebrations at home Saturday, and then meeting lovely Karen The Unassuming Hiker (another blogger I admire) and her equally lovely husband for lunch on Sunday, and how bagged I am from all the socializing and then having to do the job of 2 people at work all week, and my need to recover from all of the above. Whew.
But instead this is what I really need to write about.
I go to a fair number of live rock shows and festivals, even at this age (almost 59). #stillnottheoldestpersonhere.
At least I try to get out there, because I love the energy of a live performance. And I love the energy of the crowd. And I enjoy most of them.
But every once in a while along comes an event that just blows all the others out of the water. A perfect concert for the ages.
One that exhilarates and drains you at the same time.
One where the crowd (whatever size) and the band come together as one in such a feeling of intimacy and joy and love of the music.
One that you still remember and think about months and years later.
I can only count a handful of them out of all the shows/artists I have been privileged to see. Those that come to mind that I have seen in the past decade are: Leonard Cohen, Paul McCartney, Arcade Fire, and now the Foo Fighters/The Struts/The Beaches Show on Thursday night.
Rock and Grohl. Dave Grohl and band bring the love of rock to 50,000 souls at the Rogers Centre Thursday night.
It’s been 2 days since Mizz J and I attended the Toronto Foo Fighters show and I am still bagged. It didn’t help that I hadn’t slept since 2 am the morning of, and didn’t get home till 2 am the next morning – meaning a full 24 hours without sleep. And that I had to go into work the next morning despite having booked the day off, because I knew my staff needed help to get through an unexpected workload.
I purchased these tickets last October (!!!) so even though work was already crazy on Thursday morning, I WAS GOING. Even though there was increased security/police presence around the venue due to an unnamed threat to public safety, I WAS GOING.
What the hell?
No one….no crazy incel or terrorist or looney with a beef was going to stop me from getting to this show. Fuck all of you creeps, I AM GOING. (And I DID. AND IT WAS FINE. THANK YOU INCREASED POLICE PRESENCE.)
For months I had been watching the @foofighters twitter feed, and seeing individual posters for and before each show being tweeted. I wasn’t sure if this was fan art or actual legit concert posters, but I was hoping…oh, how I was hoping…that there would be something for sale at the Toronto show, and that it would be wonderful.
And it was. Like it was made specifically for me.
One of two versions of the Toronto Show poster. Already framed and hanging on the wall. If you come to my house, it will be the first thing you see when you exit the bathroom. Yer welcome!
I know allmost some of you are thinking: Eeewwww. How creepy!
But for me, this is the perfect rock poster, for where I am in my journey. I see in it the Triple Goddess and the Queen of Wands (rock and roll version)…and it looks like the artist was stylistically channeling an absinthe-drinking Alphonse Mucha – on a bender. In other words, plenty of the symbolism and artistic inspiration that I am already attracted to, for this badass widow and wanna-be artist. Plus skeletons don’t bother me at all. I think they are beautiful. I am not afraid of death because it is part of life, and I love life. I believe you can’t fully live if you are afraid to die.
This was the other version of the Toronto show poster, for sale:
Foo Fighter alternative Toronto Show poster – Meh. Although, it IS cool Dave is wearing a Rush image on his shirt. He did mention Rush during the show and thanked Canada/Toronto for giving the world Rush. And Taylor (drummer) wore the same image on the back of his tank that night. Très cool homage to another great band.
I’m so happy thrilled I experienced this show, and got the poster, and a couple of t-shirts too.
I wonder how many more extraordinary concert moments are still in the cards for me. For sure, I will be taking advantage of any that I can, even if I have to go solo.
What about you? What would you not miss for the world, even if meant you had to go alone?
Here in Ontario we have elected our own mini-Trump as the head of our provincial government, in the form of Doug Ford. Remember Rob Ford – the late, infamous crack-smoking mayor of Toronto? Beloved of late-night talk show hosts? If you don’t, feel free to Google him.
And yes, this is his brother, who is going to get rid of sex education but give us cheap beer. (What could possibly go wrong?) On the bright side, this week the Canadian Senate voted to legalize recreational use of marijuana.
Who’s with me on spending the next 4 years high and drunk on Ford’s Buck-a-Beer?
Just kidding. I only drink craft or imported beers. 😉
On the bright side, I enjoyed a riveting talk yesterday, put on by the Fashion History Museum, on providing clothing for the film industry. Ian Drummond regaled us for over an hour with his tales of working on film sets such as Chicago, Hairspray, Dark Shadows and the Rocky Horror Picture Show TV reboot. He brought along a couple of outfits worn by actors, that now belong in his “hall of fame”. I asked for permission to take and post these photos:
Top half of pantsuit, worn by Michelle Pfeiffer in Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows
Sweater worn by Tim Curry (!!!!) in TV reboot of Rocky Horror – adorned by film set IDs Ian has collected over the years
Also on the bright side, I am going to see The Rocky Horror Show in Stratford later on this summer. So excited! I may or may not dress up. I have a concept for an outfit gelling in my brain which I can pull together practically entirely from items in my closet. Which tells you something about my closet. Which might scare you, actually. 🙂 However it will be age- and body-type appropriate, I can assure you!
And finally:
Way back in April, when I was slogging through the A-Z Challenge as well as a heavy month at work, I received my DNA results from MyHeritage. My intrepid genealogist friend recommended I take another DNA test from this company, as it apparently has more European customers and information.
Here are the results:
And here’s a link to my previous results, from Ancestry: Here
I find both the similarities and the differences between the two sets of DNA analysis very interesting. The mystery Jewish grandfather is still very much in evidence! And unfortunately, I am still no closer to finding out who he is was. (I have to keep reminding myself that he is almost certainly no longer with us by this time, unless he is still kicking at ~100 years old.)
I was really intrigued to see the Central Asian component pop up. It makes me wonder: could I have some of Genghis Khan’s blood in me? Apparently the man really got around.
And it gives me an excuse to provide a link to this song and video – both of which I absolutely love. Indulge me please:
