Just when I thought the production blitz was over (4 newsletters in two weeks) I have to get ready to jump right in to the MapleBlues December issue. Tomorrow night I've got a gig. Saturday night is the Women's Blues Revue which I would not want to miss, Sunday it's Pat Carey's CD launch, then Monday, we have to put together a newsletter.
I have to start going through the pile of listings tomorrow because Jacquie, my assistant, just did something to her knee and is in excruciating pain. She's been to the emergency ward and tonite she called to say she won't be able to help with the listings. Oh, woe is the Toronto Blues community now...no one could be as meticulous as Jacquie. Let's see who falls through the cracks
I took a moment after speaking to her to get into the right state of mind for reiki - did the Cook's Hook-up (left ankle over right ankle, left hand on right thigh, right hand over on left thigh, tip of tongue on roof of mouth) and started thinking of Jacquie, visualizing her left knee (I had to call to find out which knee it was). Then I just put out my hands, letting the reiki energy flow through like I usually do when suddenly my right arm was "pulled" suddenly into a full extension, fingers extended, and it continued to pull me right off the couch at which point I just left my eyes open enough to avoid tripping on anything and it pulled me right across the room, quite quickly, and led my fingers over a pile of papers and dug right in at the back of the desk, trying to get under a speaker. As I was standing there trying to figure out "what's under that speaker" I realized that my hand was resting on an ashtray that had been a favourite of my mother's. In fact it's the only hand-me down from her in that room (if not the house). There isn't even a picture of her in that room (I'm embarassed to say) even though there's pictures of bandmates, friends and my two sisters. The immediate message I read into this is that "she's OK" - which I might not have thought. I had a similar "message-from-beyond" experience from my father which I took as his acceptance that I was playing music (he never approved). You can read/see about that experience on my old Blues Diary on the icomm server. visit http://www.icomm.ca/jazz/b/BD801030.html
This afternoon I dropped by the rehearsal for Women's Blues Revue. Haven't seen some of those girls since last year. Serena Ryder was there rehearsing and as they were leaving her manager turned to her with one of the newsletters and said "look they called you punk folk in here too!" and I had to cringe because I seem to recall that at the programming meeting I heard her being described as some wimpy folksinger and I said (having seen Serena play for the first time at the Peterborough Folk Festival) something like "she's more like punk-folk", thinking of Ani deFranco. Well she did not like being called "punk-folk"(maybe Ani doesn't like it either) (maybe I should forget about putting labels on people) and we had to change it on the website. I hate it when I have to face my incompetence like that - I know, I know, I just do too much. Lat time this happened, I checked the listings in the jazz newsletter and made a special trip to the Rex to see my buddy/bassman Victor Bateman doing a reunion of a famous group he led in the 80s (Vektor). Anyway, I got there and it was Tony Quarington. I had the wrong date in the newsletter...hopeless.
Tomorrow night I'll be doing a special evening in the Main Hall at the Tranzac. I was just running over a few tunes, but I don't think I'll be playing that much because Paul, my sound tech has rounded up a whole crew of musicians from Stratford and I will be the host-with-the-most. I'm sorry I lost my house gig but at the same time I'm glad to have my Thursdays off. It was a good run. I have been replaced by a band that plays very scronky jazz but who apparently have a big student following. Well, it wouldn't take too many students to surpass the bar sales that were generated by my tea-sipping fans. Jeremy Jenkins, who was always at my gigs wrote to say he didn't like the new set up very much. I guess I have to look for another house gig - but now I realize that I'm no good at promoting these gigs. At best, I get out an email on the day before - half the time, I forget to do that.
I hope some people do show up to hear these great kids from Startford.