On stage I had Juno and Maple Blues Award winners, Canadian jazz greats, Canada's pre-eminent music attorney, the head of music at the Canada Council, and a historic reunion of two Canadian folk icons who hadn't performed together in 30 years, Fraser & deBolt (pictured above with me in the middle)
As someone remarked, it's pretty nice to have an event like this while you're still alive - not at some memorial service when you can't be around to enjoy it.
The Silver Dollar never looked so good - Elaine Cooledge transformed it with so many little touches - some things I didn't even notice until I was looking at a picture then I would see a little shiny "60" in the background. If anybody's having a 60th birthday party, contact ecooledge@hotmail.com because she's got the fixins - lots of shiny 60's and much more. Come to think of it, maybe it could also work for a 90th:)
My heartfelt thanks to those who came out and played: Julian Fauth, David Rotundo, Dan Dufour, Paul Sanderson, Mr. Rick, Tony Quarington, Marg Stowe, Suzie Vinnick, Lily Sazz, Ed Vokurka, Allan Fraser, Daisy DeBolt, Donna Louthood, Mark Sepic, Gary Kendall, Michelle Josef, Zoe Chilco and Tony Springer. There were many more great musicians who never quite made it to the stage - Mike Fitzpatrick and Ric Levenston come to mind but I know there were lots of players who wanted to come (thanks for your good wishes) and lots more that I meant to contact myself but never quite did (and I've heard from a couple of you, too). The Colorblind Coordinating Committee consisted of Alyson MacGregor, Lily Sazz, Mary Jane (MJ) Russell and Barbara Isherwood but there were lots more folks working behind the scene to make a smooth party and to help with my general career development (as much as you can develop a career at this stage in the game).
Thank you to Rob Boyd, the Dollar's sound guy extraordinaire and Jon Long for putting together the back-line. Hey musicians, Long & McQuade is having their "Attic Sale" September 22nd and 23rd at the Bloor Street store only.
Sorry that I got so smashed at the end that once I crawled onto that stage I never made my way off to say goodbye to anybody. Thanks to everyone who came out to "make my day."
You can view party pics by visiting www.flickr.com and searching for "Brian Blain". If you took any pics yourself, please feel free to add them to the gallery.