Recently, I returned to
the land of my birth to play Music and have some much needed
downtime.
The Harvest Jazz and
Blues Festival was nothing short of SPECTACULAR! With the number of
acts available, and the fact that I didn't arrive until the day
before it ended, I missed a great deal of it, but what I DID manage
to see was superb! Of course, I had to miss Aerosmith in the process.
Big booooooo on that.
The reason I went of
course, was to perform with Highway 125 at the Hoodoo House on
Saturday night (Sept. 13) and I must say, it was an EXCELLENT way for
us to cap off our summer season. I'd say if the room wasn't sold
out, it was very close to being so. I'm very proud that my nephew
Randy got to perform at the Galaxie Barracks tent. I hope this is the
beginning of better things to come for him. Shortly after his show,
Highway 125's Curtis Matheson took the Siemens Acoustic stage on the
steps of 527 Queen St. Not what one would expect in a “stage”
but it worked well and Curtis put on a tremendous solo show. I
thoroughly enjoyed Ross Neilson's high energy performance with my
buddy Karl Gans on drums. After our set I took a walk with two
friends from school, Ellen-Anne Bubar, and Cyndy Hood.
Sunday saw me
rehearsing for a reunion of a band I'd been a part of in the 1970s;
Cozway. We hadn't performed together since 1977, so it was a real
treat to have the opportunity to get together again and prepare for a
show which took place on Saturday Sept 20. While the event was
poorly attended due to lack of advertising and the fact that another
event (a fundraiser for another former classmate who is dealing with
some serious health issues) is coming up this weekend, it was a real
blast to be on a stage again with the members of Cozway who have all
continued to grow as Musicians.
The rest of the time I
was on a much needed vacation. I took Mom out to dinner on her 91st
birthday, after which we visited with my cousin Pat Dunphy. I was
delighted to find that Pat's sister (and obviously also my cousin)
Faye Noble and her husband Richard had arrived the previous day. After I
dropped Mom back at her apartment, I managed to squeeze in an
all-too-brief visit with my Cuzz, Roxi.
There were as well, the
hours spent with special friends, new and old, but I spent most of my
time revisiting those special places that have meant so much to me
since I was a child. Of course, I didn't manage to get to them all,
and the ones I did manage to get to held a strange sense of confusion
for me. I found myself longing to linger for as long as possible; to
hold onto the moment and savour the memories, while simultaneously
feeling the need to rush to the next location and do the same.
The one moment that
stood out as “defining” to me though, was when I participated in
a Meditation for World Peace, led by my new friend, Coralee Cole.
I've been meditating for years as a way to ground and centre myself,
and I've done solo meditations on Peace, as well as group meditations
on other subjects, but this was the first time I'd participated in a
group meditation where I'd been born. Somehow, that location
(Officer's Square in Fredericton) made it more meaningful. Thank you
Coralee and the others for allowing me to share this special time
with you.
~Still Wandering
