UPCOMING GIGS

  • June 10'20 Nice Bistro Whitby, ON
  • Apr.15'20 Princess M Hospital Atrium
  • Apr.11'20 HIRUT 2050 Danforth Toronto
  • Dec.14 '19 HIRUT 2050 Danforth Toronto
  • July 26 2019 Gull River, Minden ON
  • June 19, 2019 The Nice Bistro, Whitby
  • Sun.May5, 2019 Hugh's Room, Toronto
  • Sat.April 6, 2019 The Old Mill, Toronto
  • 15 marzo 2019, el gallo restaurant, san pancho, mexico
  • Feb. 26, 2019 Relish Bar/Grill, Toronto
  • Jan.23,2019 Nice Bistro, Whitby
  • Sept.29,'18 12:30-3:30pm; Glass Eagle Studio, Haliburton
  • Sept.19, 2018 Private Function, Toronto
  • July 27&28, Haliburton Arts&Crafts2-4pm
  • June 6, 2018 The Nice Bistro, Whitby, ON
  • Feb.23,2018 San Pancho Music Festival, Mexico
  • Jan.20,2018 The Old Mill Toronto, Home Smith Bar
  • Sept.30,2017 All That Jazz & More, at the Minden Legion
  • Aug. 5, 2017 Private Party, Carnarvon, ON
  • Aug. 4, 2017 Music by the Gull, Minden, ON
  • Aug. 2, 2017 The Nice Bistro, Whitby ON
  • May 17, 2017 The Nice Bistro, Whitby, ON
  • April 29, 2017 Minden Cultural Centre, Minden, ON
  • March 24,2017 The Old Mill Toronto, Home Smith Bar
  • Feb.26,2017 San Pancho Music Fest. Mexico
  • Nov.5, 2016 Radio Hall, CanoeFM, Haliburton, ON
  • Nov. 2, 2016 le Nice Bistro, Whitby, ON
  • Sept. 4, 2016 The Red Umbrella Inn, Minden, ON
  • July 26, 2016, Head Lake Park, Haliburton, ON
  • Jan. 29, 2016, The Home Smith Bar at the Old Mill, Toronto
  • Oct.23, 2015 Gate 403
  • Sept. 9 The Nice Bistro, Whitby, ON
  • August 22, Gate 403, Toronto
  • August 14, Music by the Gull, Minden, ON
  • July 29 Hugh's Room, Toronto
  • June 13, Gate 403,Toronto

Monday, September 18, 2017

SOME LIKE IT BLACK

Got the big sanding and staining job done on the deck so it's all renewed and gorgeous. Here I am relaxing and feeling proud after all the work:

a woman's work is never done....

che bella, si?

no more splinters

MEANWHILE.... as I preserve and cherish the wood here, my former home, originally beautiful, warm cedar logs, has now been blackened - literally - by the new owners.
Who covers lovely, glowing natural wood? And who paints it BLACK!!!?
The Rolling Stones sang "No colour any more, I want to paint it black"
Or it could be the evil witch's house from a Grimm's fable...
It is grim, for sure, - and ghastly - but I will focus on my deck.



The destruction begins....



and continues, as the sun lights up the disappearing beauty


at best it looks like a steel garage door now.
Some pseudo-designer's wet dream, I reckon....

Thursday, September 7, 2017

MINDEN, ONTARIO GIG

Yes, we will be there, at the Minden Legion, a very lovely open room, and we will be playing jazz standards and a few blues tunes - all inviting you to dance and enjoy.  Here's info about the musicians accompanying me, and for those who don't know, Minden is in Haliburton County.

           
             Mike Allen, guitarist. Playing in the GTA for almost 40 years, with artists such as Patti Page, Zamfir, the Nylons, George Olliver, John MacDermott, Bob DeAngelis; also played pops concerts with orchestras in Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo, & Windsor, as well as in shows Mamma Mia, All Shook Up, Saturday Night Fever (US tour), & ShowBoat, among others..
           
            Ron Johnston, bassist. Past member of "Kollage", co-winning band of the National Jazz Award for best acoustic group in 2004. Played with Peter Appleyard, Earl Hines, Jodie Drake, Ada Lee, Maxine Sullivan, Doc Cheatham, among others; performed on many TV shows and was in the Oscar-winning film "Chicago".
            I'll be singing and when I'm not, the band will take off with some favourite instrumentals. There will be room to dance! And of course, the bar will be open for business.
            And here's the best part: the cost will not blow your budget: $15. per person, or $25. per couple. Like it says in a well-known Canadian song - "Good Times Guaranteed."
           
            Saturday, September 30, 2017    8-11pm
            The Minden Legion
            Hwy. 35 and County Road 21
            Tickets available at the Legion 705 286 4541 or at Canoe FM 705 457 1009
           


Tuesday, September 5, 2017

PLEASE LET MY SITUATION TOUCH YOUR HEART

That was the 'subject' on some spam/junk mail that I got today. I didn't open it, of course, but I couldn't resist using the line.  It pleads compassion, something the world could use more of, and I would no doubt do well to express it more often too. God knows, I can be as thick-headed as the next person. Maybe I could get a T-shirt with that printed on it; start off every contact with others in that submissive and self-effacing manner; a little bit of Uriah-in-your-eye, instead of the traditional mud.

There are times, furthermore, when I need a little compassion, for those days when I write something like the paragraphs below, which in turn flow from feelings that tend to lower the fun meter of life. Those days which I refuse to ignore, but which I rather take to myself as rich in some hidden wisdom. One hopes, in any case, and one writes. Perhaps other readers may take comfort in knowing that the dark side hits everyone from time to time:

And so days pass, and the knotted stomach weaves a rope that the snake of anxiety will climb up and up, curving from side to side to the seductive strains of hypnotic hidden memories, up and up to the murky darkness of the mind, there to settle in a soft grey fold of tissue and wait. No rush. No limbs. No light necessary. No yes or no.

            What happens in the dark recesses, stays in the dark recesses. It's the unwritten code of the soul, protection of the fragile essence that is each person, guarded by the immortal and muscled security spirit that never sleeps on the job. A holy champion that hopes to return its charge unsullied to the gauzy serenity of the heavens. Don't worry. It's alright. You're alright. Focus on the colours of the inner eye. Love conquers all, - not the ego-serving emotion that the world mistakes for love,-  but the hushed mission performed mutely, obeying timeless laws.

            "My life is good, you old bag". It's a line from a very funny Randy Newman song, a smart-ass reply to a mean and miserable teacher of his child, representing the prevailing and ever-present snobs of the world, ready to claim superiority over your pitiful life and lifestyle. It's a reply to that internalized nasty voice too, the voice that won't let you be, the lie you swallowed at some point. It's a flippant and flawed emulation of the spiritual guardian, but it gives voice to an attitude and fight you have to assume into the woven rope of anxiety that would be your spine.

            Rain falls, drops slither down a piece of tent screening, fabric bent in loose folds that move slightly in a breeze, weeping onto the wooden floor. The morning quiet is unbroken by jays or sirens or weekend do-it-yourself carpenters. Life having a lie-in.
           

            One wonders at the labyrinth that becomes a life; the different paths chosen of free will, that bring us to a certain place where we are left simply standing in emptiness. The people and efforts and victories we have met are all there, strung on ribbons, encased in pretty-coloured glass balls that light up at night. The joys and sorrows and little walks in the park, the laughs, they're not gone, but they are not relevant somehow to the decisions that you know are now necessary. They tinkle in the wind, make a delicate, distracting sound; they can give you comfort. But they cannot lead you in any meaningful way. So you wait. No rush. No limbs. No necessary light. No yes or no.

Angst.