The Rest of My TO Adventures...

OK, so here's the rest of my adventures in TO...

Saturday was so much fun. I was hanging out with Matt Barber and Lindsay Ferguson in the morning. Lindsay and I had crashed at Matt's place the night before. We sat around drinking coffee and eating fresh pastries as Lindsay serenaded us with her "Mosquito Song" and other favourites. Good times...Smiles all around.

Then my mom picked Lindsay and I up to drop off all our stuff at Lindsay's van. Lindsay was leaving for Belleville that morning to go to a party there while I remained in Toronto. Well, here comes the sad part. Somehow Lindsay's guitar was left on the street after we unloaded it from my mom's car and Lindsay ended up driving to Belleville without it in her van! She only realized that it was missing by the time she got there and called my Mom in an absolute panic. Lindsay's guitar case not only had her favourite guitar in it, but also a number of other things, including her songwriter's book which had over two years of writing. Needless to say, this was an extremely devastating moment for Lindsay. The good news is that since then, the guitar has been found, thanks to an honest stranger who found it and reported it missing through an online classified. Just found out the news this afternoon and I was relieved along with everone else who was worried sick. We had already started planning a fundraiser show to get Lindsay a new guitar.

So back to my Saturday...I left my mom and Lindsay to go meet up with other Ear to the Ground programmers at Exhibition Place. Man, Ear to the Ground is going to be a great festival, I can feel it already. I'm so excited. I can't tell you what the main acts are yet but let's just say that it's a great lineup.

Then it was off to meet Yael Wand at University of Toronto's CIUT radio. We recorded three of Yael's songs and were interviewed as well. That was such a great experience. I really love playing for college radio. It's always such a different experience everytime. I was sad after it was over as I realized that it will be a long time until I see Yael again. She's off to Hamilton next and continues her Canadian tour until she reaches BC to play at a few summer festivals. It's always such a wonderful experience playing with that girl. Her music soothes the soul. I miss her already.

Well my day didn't end there...

I was supposed to have a photo shoot with the In Support of Living boys but it was cancelled last minute. So what did I do instead? I made plans to go out and have a good time! Pete Carmichael of The Diableros had invited me to a birthday party/concert out in Oshawa and so off I went with those folks to party it up. Oshawa is definitely not a special place but the bar we partied at that night certainly was! It's this small cozy bar called the "Velvet Elvis" which reminds me a lot of Ottawa's Cafe Nostalgica. The place had the coolest vibe and was well worth the trip to Oshawa. The Airfields, The Diableros and Jon-Rae and the River all performed an amazing show that night. I even performed a tune with Jon-Rae at the very end which made my night as I love those folks. Well, we all partied until the wee hours of the morning and then went back to Toronto where I ended up partying with the ISOL boys when I got back.

The ISOL boys were going strong when I arrived at 3:30am! They didn't stop partying until 7:45am when the birds were singing and the sun was shining bright. I had to get up at 8:45 for a family brunch and was hurting a little when my Mom rang the doorbell, that's for sure! But hey, it was worth it as those guys were so funny that night. We played lots of great vinyl, had an interesting piano fight and laughed the night away. More good times. Not sure I could ever go as hardcore as those boys go but I try...

Then it was a quick stop to Chinatown for some yummy fruit and then to Acton (It's worth the drive!) to visit my oma and great aunt who was visiting from the Netherlands. Although I hardly slept the night before, I still managed to stay awake the entire day for a lovely visit. I heard so many amazing stories about my oma and opa growing up in Maastricht. So many amazing stories and I soaked it all in. Sunday was the first time I had been in my oma's house since my opa died last September. It made me miss him so much and I wished so badly that he could be there. He would have loved to have seen his sister again. We had a beautiful bottle of wine from my opa's wine cellar that afternoon, a 1989 Mouton Rothschild. I savoured every drop and kept the bottle for my candle collection. It was such a lovely visit. I'm hoping to see my great aunt at least once more before she leaves. She's a truly special lady, one I admire very much. If I can be half as beautiful, graceful and loving as her when I get older, I'll be happy.

After a yummy meal of seafood gumbo which my mom made for us, she drove me to the bus station and I was off on the bus to Ottawa. Time flies when you're having fun...

OK, so there you have it. You got all the details of my trip, even if it bored you to read it all. Can't wait to do it again in a few weeks at NXNE!!!

Love Rozalind