Can You Hear Me Now?

Tuesday was a very quiet day I spent resting in my hotel room. It was around this time I realized I would not be making a visit to Paramount Pictures to catch up with my old boss there. (It’s not like we keep in touch anyway… but I thought it might be nice to see him and say “hello” if I had a chance, like I did last time in 1997). With my busy nights, I just did not have the energy to get up and go every day and spend hours gallivanting around Toronto (not to mention my ankle was shot and walking was a bother) and then head out for the night again (plus, on Thursday I was checking out and heading to Acton to stay at my cousin’s, a good hour outside of Toronto)… So I dropped some of the plans I’d hoped on, like visiting Paramount and tracking down my old friend Keith and meeting up with him, as well as my friend Blair and the drummer boy. I decided to stick with meeting up with the people who had also made efforts/shown interest in seeing me too! The most I did this day was wander out to buy a gossip magazine so I could have something to entertain me for part of the day between “Ellen” and “Oprah”. I have never read “In Touch” magazine before, and most likely never will again LOL Tooo funny, the shit they come up with… I also made phone calls to arrange to meet with my cousins later, and for dinner with Jerome. He suggested we meet at “The Jug”, which was “right beside Grossman’s” (where he was playing later and I was most certainly going!)

I took a cab down Spadina and since I couldn’t actually see anything called “The Jug”, I just had the driver drop me at Grossman’s and then I started walking up the street looking for “The Jug”. It dawned on me that this little Chinese restaurant with a very long name, one of the 4 words being “jug”, was probably what Jerome meant. I went in, grabbed a table in the corner and hoped I was in the right place. Jerome’s arrival a few minutes later confirmed I was. We ate some of the best Chinese food I’ve ever had! The spring rolls and hot ‘n sour soup were delicious and we shared some sort of spicy chicken dish that was mmmm mmm good. We chatted about relationships, meditation, my health, people in our lives, Solomon (his son), music, and the fact that he was retiring from the bar scene. In fact, he casually mentioned tonight’s gig at Grossman’s was his final gig there. Ever.

Woah, hold on a second… so what you’re telling me is… almost 18 years ago, at one of (if not THE) first gig you ever played at Grossman’s, I was there and that is where I first saw you… and now, TONIGHT, after 18 years of playing there ALL THE TIME, you are doing your FINAL show there, and I am HERE for that????

This was HUGE for me. Talk about going full circle. Jerome has decided that he is going to have Solomon 2 weeks out of each month and home school him (mom is re-married and lives on a farm outside of Toronto). He is not going to play in bars anymore, he is just going to play and tour with Jimmy Bowskill, who does festivals and theatre venues. Then he can bring Solomon to shows when he’s got a gig. Being Dad is #1 with Jerome, and I am so proud of him!!

I also mentioned Jim from Crawlers and Jerome exclaimed “oh wow, did HE ever LOVE you!!” Jerome said he just went on and on and on about me after I left, how happy he was to have met me and how much he liked me. Hee! He was such a nice man, and I think Crawler’s Calgary could definitely be an enjoyable project for me.

After (Jerome bought me) dinner , we walked over to Grossman’s. He wandered around and took down his posters and erased his name from the chalk boards, seeming to take pleasure in finalizing his presence in that club. He showed me pictures of Solomon (gorgeous boy) and had gathered up a bunch of his CDs to give me (I was missing a couple). I insisted on paying for one of them! But the other two were burned copies and demos, so I accepted them as a gift. On one of them he wrote “welcome home to T.O.” - on this trip, it really did feel like home to me!

He also gave me what he called “the greatest gift of love I could ever give you”… a pamphlet he had been given a couple years before, about “Vipassana Meditation” by S.N. Goenka. He said it changed his life forever and wanted me to have that too (we had been talking about meditation over dinner, and how I wanted to learn it, it has been very beneficial to many with conditions like MS). Since I believe my thought patterns helped create MS in my body, I also believe changing them will help heal it. Anyway, that’s a whole other entry. Bottom line is, I have this pamphlet to read and learn from, and Jerome says they hold courses in Calgary as well and it is all free… 10 days that will change my life. So I’ll be looking into that!

My cousin Sherry and her 19 year old daughter Sara were there (they look more like sisters!) It was Sara’s first time in a bar! Sherry was joking about how it was her first time in a bar and she is with her mother. Well, when your mom looks like your sister and is taking you to see a cool band, that’s not so bad!! We took a few pictures before anyone else got there.

L-R ~ me, my cousin Sherry, and her daughter Sara

I guess I’m learning the Godboo thing of not looking at the camera too!

I’ve graduated from just kissing musicians on the cheek. Hee!

Shortly after my cousin Carrie arrived with her boyfriend Matt and their room mate, also named Carrie (my cousin is in the middle).

Carrie and Matt are brilliant students… he is getting his Masters in Social Work and she her Masters in Religious Studies. Then she will go on to get her Ph.D. Her and Matt have been together for years, but this was the first time I’ve met him. He’s a sweetheart!

Tonight’s show was called “Blues Monkeys” and featured Jerome and a couple guys from his regular band - Al Webster on drums and Leo Valvassori on bass. On guitar is Shawn Kellerman, who is incredible, and he is taking over “Blues Monkeys” on Tuesdays at Grossman’s from now on.

I still can’t believe I was in Toronto for Jerome’s last couple bar gigs that included a CD release and his FINAL show ever at Grossman’s. Fate, I tell ya, this whole trip was fate!!

After the show everyone went home and I only hung out with Jerome for a few more minutes. It was 1:30 a.m. and I was tired. So he walked me out to catch a cab and gave me the last hugs and kisses I’ll be getting from him for awhile!

Up next… Wednesday with the wonderful Lindy!!