Can You Hear Me Now?

So now it is Sunday (the 19th). Saturday was a long day with a lot of walking and activity, so I took it easy Sunday. Needed to conserve energy for the next few nights!! I did wander up to Queen Street again and enjoyed coffee and lunch at ‘Still’ again, and enjoyed the sun for a couple hours in the afternoon.

I got in touch with my dear old friend Anna-Marie and we decided to get together for a bit that night. I met Anna-Marie when I was about 19, and she is now married with two young boys. She picked me up (she looks fantastic) and after hugs and kisses, we headed down to The Danforth to a pub I had read about in “Where Toronto” magazine as “one of Toronto’s most popular hangouts” called Allen’s. I was very happy to see I could get my Big Rock Grasshopper beer there! I ordered their chicken curry dish and it was DELICIOUS. We just spent a couple hours there yakking, about her kids and marriage and the wedding she was preparing to attend Saturday. I never got to meet her boys… this was not the best week for Anna-Marie as she was super busy, but next time I come I will probably stay with her part of the time and get to know the boys.

On the drive back, we passed the (new, to me) Covenant House shelter. I had lived there for a few months when I was 18, but it was a different, much smaller location back then. I wish I had thought to pull out my camera!! Do they ever have a nice building now (as you can see in that website’s picture). Anna-Marie told me her story of having lived there too at 16, and being scared into sucking it up and going back home, where she really was better off! That place has helped a lot of kids. It’s an awesome shelter and program.

Monday ~

Around 1:30 p.m. I called Steven at the Orange Record Label and said “I’m leaving now” so he’d be all prepared for my grand arrival. Orange is up 3 big flights of stairs, so I would need Steve to come down and help me with the freight elevator. Ha ha ha what fun that was!! I buzzed Steve and he came down to walk me outside around to the back alley where the elevator was. He tossed garbage bags out of my way and we squeezed between trucks to get back there. The freight elevator was situated quite high up from the ground because it was made for big delivery trucks to back up and unload there. Figuring I’d never get up there, Steve offered to go back upstairs and get a chair for me to step up on first. He came back with a chair, but even with his help I just could not get my leg to support me up onto the chair. So I ended up just crawling on my belly, hands and knees into the elevator, knocking over empty beer bottles with my feet LOL Steve lifted my walker on and I used that support to stand back up. Finally I was on my way up to the Orange offices! Grand arrival, indeed.

Outside of the building… silly me totally forgot to whip out my camera once I got inside. Sorry. I’m kicking myself too…

The third floor is mainly the Orange Lounge studios (you can see pictures of that here).

On that floor I met Daryn Barry, who produced Lindy’s fabulous CD so I was very happy to meet him (and he liked me right away because I’m a Lindy fan!) I was introduced to “Dave” who was working in one of the studios. It was only later that I realized I had just met Dave Ogilvie, THE Dave Ogilvie, super producer (Nine Inch Nails, Skinny Puppy, Marilyn Manson) and the man/mind behind Jakalope.

I dropped off the box of Purdy’s chocolates I had brought with me from Calgary (can’t get those in T.O.!) at the front desk, which were apparently gobbled up very quickly and thoroughly enjoyed. After the tour of that floor, we took the elevator up to the 4th floor where most of the Orange offices are, including Steven’s. After getting the tour and meeting Jill Snell, we ended up in Steve’s office where we chatted for awhile, and I pitched a couple artists at Steve. I mean… I can’t go to a record company and not PITCH something!!! So I gave him CDs, bios and chatted about a couple of my faves, New Zealand singer Phil Madsen (who I’d love to see get distribution in this part of the world!) and of course, the Polyjesters, my most favouritist band ever.

As for the rest of it, well, as Steven said “what happens at Orange, stays at Orange” I did, however, manage to get out of there with a couple Billy Klippert posters and Lindy’s CD singles of “Witness” and “Beautifully Undone” (four remixes of that one!! Wheeee!!)

By 4:00 I was back at my hotel to rest for a few hours before heading out for the night. Tonight was the CD release for Jerome Godboo’s “Pain and the Glory”. I have known Jerome for almost 18 years, so being in Toronto for his latest CD release was very special! The show was at Healey’s, (Jeff Healey’s nightclub), a place Jerome performs at often. I arrived early and was the first one there (as I wanted to be!) I chose the perfect table and was claiming it with my purse and coat when Jerome came over. We hugged and kissed and “you look great!” back and forth for awhile. I last saw Jerome in 1997 (the last time I was in Toronto). Since then he has had a baby (Solomon is 5), recorded several CDs, and joined Jimmy Bowskill’s band. Jimmy is a (just recently turned) 14 year old blues guitar virtuoso. Jerome discovered him a few years ago, and invited him into Healey’s to join him and Jeff on Stage. Since then Jimmy Bowskill has made quite the name for himself performing at Blues festivals around the world.

Jerome is - to say the least - the best blues harp player in the world!! He is an amazing performer and his stage presence draws you into his world so that you can’t help but feel the music the way he does. It was his ability to capture my soul that first drew me to him 18 years ago… I saw his band at the time, The Phantoms, live at Grossman’s Tavern one night and thought “I want to be a part of this!!” and within a few months was working with the band (and seeing them perform several times a week!!) Jerome has become a close friend over the years and I absolutely love and adore him.

Jerome’s latest CD is executive produced by “The Crawlers”, a group of Toronto businessmen who love and are very passionate about music and help support independent artists by helping them make more money at their gigs and raise money to make CDs. The Crawler’s were presenting the show Monday, so the head of Crawlers was there, Jim. Jerome introduced us, and we got chatting about Crawlers and Calgary, and how Jim would love to start Crawlers out here (he used to live here and loves Calgary). I said “I’m your girl”, as I have named myself one of the biggest supporters of local independent artists in Calgary… I do, after all, have a mile high stack of independent CDs made by Calgary artists and go out a lot to see them live. I told Jim “I work to support my music habit”. I gave him my card and he said he’d be in touch. I think this could be a really good thing!!

Anyway, my friend Anna-Marie and her husband Jack met me there, and they stayed for the first set. Jimmy Bowskill showed up too and joined the band on stage for a couple songs, as did Suzie McNeil (future Rockstar: INXS star and good friend of Jerome’s). I sat with Crawler’s Jim and his buddies for the second set. It was a great show and a great night! Jerome has changed a lot in 18 years… and it’s obvious having a baby has “softened” him somewhat. He was taking requests at the end and I yelled “She Be Mine”! (A real in-yo-face, almost to the point of being scary - at least the way he used to perform it - yet oh-so-exciting song). Jerome said “Gee, someone has known me a long time… She Be Mine?” and I held up my hand and said “that would be me”. He looked at me and said “I don’t do that anymore. That shit is violent!!” Another difference I noticed between Jerome performing now and Jerome performing then, is that he used to take his shirt off during the first few songs. Tonight it was removed during the encore ha ha ha I teased him about that (he is, after all, not in his mid-20’s anymore!) and he said he rarely removes his shirt at all during a performance (gasp!) His performance style has changed and grown, as has his swingin’ single musician lifestyle, as fatherhood has taken the front seat. He told me that night he’s going to start home schooling his son this week! I think that is just awesome.

The band is Damian Arokium on guitar, Leo Valvassori on bass, Al Webster on drums, and of course Jerome Godboo on vocals and harmonica.

Add 14 year old Jimmy Bowskill on guitar for a couple songs…

That’s the back of Mr. Crawlers, f.y.i.

It’s a “Godboo thing” apparently… not to look at the camera.

After the show I chatted with Jerome and we made plans to meet for dinner the next night. I was going to stay at Jerome’s for the next few nights, but when I learned of the stair climbing involved to get to his bathroom, I bowed out and decided staying in my hotel would be the best idea! All I really hoped for was a chance to visit with Jerome outside of a gig and a bar. So that was set for the next night. And having been flattered considerably throughout the evening by Mr. Crawlers, well, I left a very happy girl

To be continued…