BUT WHAT IS SHE DOING?

You might well arsk.  I arsk meself too.

The fact is, I'm not doing a lot of gigs these days.  One does get weary of bars and restaurants that don't want to pay musicians (oh, but they do want you to bring a "following" to fill up their place).  Funny, isn't it?  You wouldn't ask your doctor, or your plumber, or your mailperson to give you their services for free - or just for the love of doing it - but they seem to think that musicians should.

OK, mini-rant over.  And if I'm not performing at a lot of gigs, what am I doing?

I'm getting ready for a really big, super-fun extravaganza NEXT YEAR.  That's right.  All the way to July, 2015, if all goes to plan, I'm hosting another CD launch, as well as a huge celebration for myself on my birthday.

So in fact I'm very busy these days, but it's all prep work:  the songs, the musicians, the decisions about recording, etc. etc. etc.  And the venue too, bien sur. because we want to have a lovely time, along with good food.

This morning, as I sat in my back garden (I'm lucky to have one), I thought about St. Stephen's Green in Dublin, which I recently saw for the first time and loved, and about many other beautiful places in the world, and I thought those well-worn thoughts that "there's no place like home", because my garden was lovely, and peaceful, and just a few steps from my piano and my food.  What else does a girl need?

Here's my garden:

The irises are lovely in their purpleness, yes?  and that unusual outdoor art board is my contribution to the 'good fences make good neighbours' idea, since the neighbours I'm blocking from my sight are actually miserable sods.  I've improved the view.

and so i'll add building to my at-home activities, and also going out to the burial of a friend's ashes in the colourful and restful grounds at Mount Pleasant Cemetery last weekend, (although this photo was in the subway):

Sadly, I'm attending another funeral tomorrow for a woman I knew many years ago.  Pat McDonagh was a very well-known clothes designer, in Canada and the U.S., and her creations earned her a name on the world stage of fashion.  She died last week.  I still have, and wear, a dress she made for me when she first started in Toronto.

Stay tuned for updates on the big bash.  and in the meantime, some of my songs which to date have not been available, will be up on itunes in the coming weeks. 

SPRING HAS FINALLY SPRUNG!

I've been away for a bit, and am very much behind, for all you millions of my blog readers.

so today, we'll start with the photos from the gig at the French restaurant "Le Nice Bistro" back at the end of April:

First one shows myself and Danny hard at work. You can tell I'm "on" by the eerie light on my cordless mic (no, it's not a pacemaker). Towards the end of the evening, we were joined by John Deehan and his amazing saxophone.    Beaucoup de fun; on s'amusait bien.

Now, if I have time, I will add some pics from my trip to Derry and their jazz festival:

the beautiful green

singing at the tower hotel, derry

just arriving in derry

liked the guinness lined up

again at the tower hotel, with a different band

derry's gay mcintyre, a wonderful musician

singing at bentley's in derry

at the hostel in derry; Kate works there, the others were Canadians like moi

the sign says it all

HAPPY EARTH DAY

yes, i know it was on tuesday, but i just seem to be a little behind lately.  and my little behind needs to get moving.

alas, nothing brilliant in my mind, so i'll just remind everyone of the gig next

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, 2014   7PM
THE NICE BISTRO
WHITBY, ONT.

i think the details are in an earlier blog, but you can always google the venue.

I'm singing jazz standards, including many en francais, and Danny McErlain will be accompanying me on piano. 

we promise a great night, and the food is fabulous!

and there's no snow!!!!

the next day, May 1 - i'm off to the Derry Jazz fest in Ireland.  yay.

WILL SPRING EVER COME?

I know it's not the most urgent problem in the world, BUT - it certainly is dreary out there, and not many signs of future improvement.
i'll have to resort to my imagination.

so last weekend was the big 2 gigs on friday and saturday, and that was great.  i do have photos; see below.  it's so great to be able to perform with the musicians i do.  i'm a lucky girl.

and on top of all the existing luck, i'm heading to Derry city in ireland for the jazz fest in may.  if my luck holds, i might be able to sing at a couple of venues there, thanks to my good derry friend and sax player, who will pass on some contacts to me.  won't that just be the grand time?

perhaps that's why the weather is so shitty here - raining and all.  it's a kind of preparation for the 'wet' over there.  well, 'that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be soaking wet'.  bring it on.  i've got irish AND sicilian blood.  i can take lots of oppression, and still smile.

but before derry, i have two gigs in april, and we're not far away:

Dorset Community Centre
Friday, April 11  6:30pm
with John Deehan, saxophone
the annual artists and artisans exhibit
Dorset (Haliburton county), Ontario

and

The Nice Bistro  Wednesday, April 30  7-10pm
117 Brock St. North
Whitby, Ontario
with Danny McErlain, piano



John Deehan, sax; Zoe, vox; Ron Johnston, bass; Mike Allen, guitar at the Uptown Wine Bar

same as above; Mike is to the right, not visible; this is Gate 403

UPCOMING GIGS

March 21,2014   8:30-12:30

The Uptown Wine Bar

473 Cosburn Ave.

Toronto   425 2020

 

I'm singing; Mike Allen, guitar; John Deehan, sax; Ron Johnston, bass.  Lots of cool tunes, and the wine is great, plus food available too.  Please join us. no cover.

 

then - 

March 22, 2014  9pm to 1am

Gate 403 Restaurant

403 Roncesvalles Ave.  toronto

416 588 2930

Trio as above, with meself, on vocals.   No cover, great food, and lots of wonderful tunes by us... 

then,

April 30, 2014   7-10pm

THE NICE BISTRO

117 BROCK ST. N.

WHITBY, ONTARIO

905 668 8839

ZOE CHILCO, VOCALS, WITH DANNY MCERLAIN, PIANO.  JAZZ STANDARDS, FRENCH AND ENGLISH.

DINNER AND PROGRAM, PRIX FIXE.

just trying to remember what it's like in summer, with some warmth

CARRYING ON IN THE COLD

This morning marks one week since I returned from a sunny and warm land to this country of cold, cold cold.
But the sun was shining here, reflecting all the white snow and bouncing it all around my kitchen, so I decided to take advantage and get out there.  First problem:  couldn't open the back door - the snow has hardened into a pile of ice-encrusted cementy-type stuff - do the inuit have a word for that kind?
Out the front door with me and to the back gate, frozen into place by the same piles - even higher ones that had slid off the porch roof.  But i'm pretty skinny, so i forced my way through a very small opening and got busy with the pointy shovel- the one for gardening or digging post-holes, but the one with a sharp tip to cut the ice.
as i dug i thought of my cousin- a lovely man who died this week, very suddenly, doing just this activity.  it's a strange world, with the good people dying and so many evil rats living long and rich lives.  dig, zoe, dig, i said.  enjoy the sun, and even the cold, which turned warm enough, with all that effort, to force my jacket off.

when i finished, i was craving more sun still, so decided to go for a walk, but got only a few yards down the road to the park at the end of our little dead-end street.  and there, the iron bench, surrounded by even more stretches of lovely white - not the black mounds at the sides of the roads - it beckoned to me, and i lay me down.  yes, i did.  just like a summer's day in the hammock.  i was warm and cushioned well by all the layers of clothes - snow pants, down-filled vest and jacket, two pairs of mitts, and the crowning glory: my father's special hat for shoveling the driveway.  i put it on and in my head i hear, "Joe Chilco here!" - just the way he used to answer the phone.  and then when i put on my glasses, the picture is complete.  as i get older, i look more and more like both my parents.

I lay in the sun and thought more about all the cousins, a lot of whom I saw yesterday, and all the cute little faces, now also aging along, and i couldn't get myself to get up and get going anywhere.  just seemed like lying there and going back in time, and thinking about the shortness of life was more important.  also, the sun was lovely, the air was clean - far enough away from the fumes and exhaust of the roadways; no snotty-nosed children like the ones i used to teach, or desperate subways riders hacking their germs all over me; no radio or tv with their crap-yap of commercials or stupid reality shows.  Hey, man - this is reality!!  Quiet peace and gentle warmth.  And then a propeller plane went overhead, and even though it was friday morning, not sunday afternoon, when that sound is particularly nostalgia-producing for me, it just completed the scene.

Of course, I did get up eventually, but not before trying to burn the experience into my brain, for further recall.  Life is short, one piece of the mosaic of our family fabric is now gone, even as new pieces get added.  And on it goes.

the picture of two people in an embrace - life and death together - was taken on an archeological dig when they were found.  Maybe all the love feelings and thoughts get fossilized somewhere, and live on the same way.

PLEASE, GOOGLE, TALK TO ME

can't help being very annoyed with google.  every time i'm not at home and try to blog or get into email, they say "who are you?  what's the answer to these (sometimes years old) questions?" and "let us confirm with you via mobile phone".  don't have, don't want a mobile phone, google.  so what then?
i'm just a little frustrated.

fortunately, I set up an email and a blog that is not google, to stay in touch with the world.

when I get home, there's an email on the account I couldn't access with the information that 'someone' tried to access my account from where I was. sent from a "no reply" address.
brilliant.
useless.
leads-to-drinking.
please, google, figure out a way for users to let you know when and where they're going to be, if not at 'home'.
please let me like you.
please stop the blocks.

two recent 'away-from-home gigs:    may the music live on......