Last week, between the rain and the new physio exercises getting to me, I wasn't at the barn nearly enough and when I was we didn't do much. So by Saturday I knew I had to at least longe Mitzi or Lease Girl would have a crummy lesson.

It was cold and windy and Mitzi not only spooked at bits of paper coming into the barn, she actually shook on the cross-ties because she was so hyper. (With that said--the spooks were the old "Eek!" ones where she didn't do anything, and she stood still and shook. Credit where it's due.)

Anyway, I got her wrapped and booted and we went out to the ring--

--where we discovered the gang of local teenage boys who work around the barn (in exchange for garage room for various project cars, as far as I can tell) were shoring up the arena fence over by the driveway. There was much shovelling, hopping over fences with shovels in hand, and some flinging of dirt.

Mitzi completely forgot that these are the same young men who give her hay most evenings, and it took a while for her to stop imagining they were going to chase her down and eat her. I had to get after her to stand still while I closed the gate, because ooh! Scary! (Mitzi, as you may be aware, has a vivid imagination.) Anyway, she did the tail-in-the-air snorting thing, the I-want-to-run-in-circles-because-I-feel-safer-that-way thing, and the drop-and-spook thing for the first few minutes.

She got a lot better when I started singing "Happen Now" to her. I'm just sayin'.

And in case you're not familiar with that song--here you go.

As noted, Dave Marsh (of the Joel Plaskett Emergency) and his solo project (including Paul and Scotty) are going to play a few songs.

There is a slight possibility Joel himself might stop by and sit in.

I would so be there, if I wasn't there already. So to speak.

Since I was expecting to be standing up in a crowd I didn't bring my bag with me on Saturday, so I didn't have a notebook, so I didn't write down a set list. But I did write down the songs I remember hearing. If anyone is interested in helping put these in order, bueno!

Absent-Minded Melody

Million Dollars

Forever In Debt

When I Have My Vision

She Made A Wreck Outta Me

Clueless Wonder

Blinding Light

Passionate Kisses (cover, w/Ruth Minnikin)

Another cover I can't recall right now

Catchin' On

Cry Together

Come On, Teacher

Extraordinary

Work Out Fine

Happen Now

Natural Disaster

Love This Town (which he played in the second set, after shaving off the beard during the intermission. I mention this solely because he concluded the song with the adlib "sometimes I play slow, and sometimes I play fast. When I was backstage, I considered a mustache..." And then Joel paused to giggle, and the audience, possibly picturing Joel with a full-on 70s pornstache, began to laugh and cheer, which made Joel laugh harder, which made the audience react, so it was at least two minutes before he could actually end the song. It was really funny.)

Drunk Teenagers

Snowed In/Cruising ("for this bullshit weather we've been having!", including a stray cats in the snow rap--"where are they gonna go?")

Nothing More To Say

Face Of the Earth

Waiting To Be Discovered

All the Pretty Faces

Nowhere With You

Fashionable People (second encore, Joel on drums, which ended with Joel wishing everyone a good night, urging us to drive safely and put out food for stray cats)

There may be more about this at some point today. It was a really good show!

After a bit of a wrangle with TicketPro, I did in fact get a ticket to Joel Plaskett's show at the Marquee last night. I'm on a computer at the public library so I have very little time for this entry, I'll try to write a better one tomorrow. However, for the moment let's just say this: about halfway through the evening, enveloped in the warm fuzziness that is the Power of the Plaskett, it occurred to me that a lot of aspiring performers have the wrong idea about rock 'n' roll charisma. The cut-and-paste "rocker types" who end up on American Idol turning everything into a Nickelback cover, and the nameless band from the Seahorse last week apparently think that if you strike the right post, you'll acquire charisma.

To which I can only reply that if you've got it, you can lope out onstage wearing a sweater vest and have the crowd eating out of your hand.

[Okay, I've only ever seen Joel play on home turf--he is something of a diety in Halifax--but the press coming out of his now-regular Australian swings also indicate by the time he's through with an audience over there, they want to follow him home and bake him muffins, too.]

Joel also played the first set wearing a beard, which was new. Ordinarily he looks more like a librarian than I do. When Matt Mays takes to the beard he tends to look like a sweet-tempered werewolf. Joel... kind of looked like a librarian with a beard.

And then he shaved it off during the intermission and reappeared all shiny.

Speaking of the sweater vest, he was wearing a new one last night (the original was the colour of a Siamese cat's chest, this one was grey.) Joel delightedly (he looked delighted in general last night, but at this moment in particular) explained that Becky had made this one as well. "There's love in the air--and I'm wearing it!" he proclaimed. Indeed.

Special guests included semi-regular Peter Elkas, former Guthrie Ruth Minnikin, and an extended appearance by Mr. Bill Plaskett, the finger-picking genius. There was at least one occurrence of the young male voice hollering "I love you, Joel!" Joel acknowledged requests from the audience, in one case honouring it with a rendition of "Extraordinary," and in another replying, "That's a legitimate request but I'm afraid we can't play it tonight--next time, I promise." I didn't hear the request but I have every confidence Joel will live up to his promise.

I had been a tad worried about standing up all night, but I found a chair in an elevated location and by the end of the night my cranky hip muscle, responding to the vibe as much as anyone, didn't even hurt when I stood up.

In my attempts to learn to like vampire fiction, I kept encountering the idea of vampires using mind-control on their human victims, overcoming their puny will and bending them to the vampires' bidding. I thought about that briefly last night. There was a vibe coming off the stage that infected everybody, so you felt like nobody in the Marquee had ever had a mean thought in their lives, and I allowed myself to imagine one of those vampires trying mind control on Joel--and recovering consciousness some time later with vague memories of not only not wanting to bite anybody, but also having helped old ladies carry home their groceries and possibly having rescued a stray cat from a tree or something.

Truly, this is a power that should be used for good and not evil. But that goes without saying.

I didn't get a true set list but I remember a lot of the songs, so I may put something together tomorrow. And with luck, bearded photos will turn up on Flickr.

In the meantime, maybe I'll get my Natal Day tickets this afternoon. A good jolt of positive energy and good music is nothing to be careless about.

In case anyone has missed it, bluesenough has created a sparkly new LJ community called downatthekhyber, and if you recognize the reference you know who it's dedicated to.

Joel Plaskett, that's who.

Okay, so he deserves garlands of flowers and baskets of muffins, but the community is good, too.

In the most recent post, bluesenough reports that Joel has won the Billboard World Songwriting Contest.

It's a short step now to world domination. Although really, who would bother resisting?

Okay. In case anyone out there ever has occasion to purchase concert tickets from TicketPro, do yourself a favour: just go to the nearest location and buy them in person. It's a great little system, the tickets are called up and printed on the spot, and you just carry them away.

Unfortunately, I got tied up and kept forgetting to go over and buy a ticket to the Joel Plaskett show at the Marquee on March 29th. And I heard they were going fast and about to be released to the general public. So one lunch break in January, I placed an order online for mail delivery.

And I am still waiting.

Today, I hunted out the transaction record and called TicketPro. Apparently there is some sort of internal change happening, so it took me four calls to three different numbers (or was it five calls to three different numbers?) before I found someone who could confirm that my ticket has been sent, and the address given was correct.

Which means the mail is moving V-E-E-E-E-R-R-R-Y S-L-O-O-O-O-O-W-L-Y, or the ticket is lost.

Which I eventually learned means that if worst comes to worst, I can call them back on Friday the 28th, have them void the old ticket, and print me a new one at the door.

But man! The trouble I could have saved myself by simply remembering to walk across the fucking street!

Loser.

Fortunately, Joel will be totally worth the aggravation.

Joel Plaskett kicked butt at the East Coast Music Awards.

Which were not televised. Possibly CBC didn't want to go up against the Grammies (which I ignored, but presumably other people watched) or maybe the show was too expensive to mount. But I always thought the stuffed-with-music ECMA show was the best awards show going for just that reason. And CBC's assurance that they'll give a much better feel for the weekend with a one hour special televised next month is just silly. And I have nothing against Steven Page of the Barenaked Ladies, but why again is he hosting? Barenaked at the ECMAs may indeed prove to be a fun show, but it's hard to believe they can show more in one hour, including the celebrity host stuff, than they used to in three.

It's hard to pick an icon for this post, since I am variously disappointed and pleased!

Owing to a certain amount of drama occurring in the lives of a few people who read my LJ, I offer you my sure-fire de-stressing technique:

Joel!


And!


Bunnies!


Always works for me...

...it's not that I'm jealous of Toronto...

...it's just that I'm jealous of Toronto...

susano did say this was in the works...

At long last: I remembered to bring in that set list from last Saturday. Sorry it took so long, tigereyed24!

Set List

Shine Shave Shower (Lefty Frizzell, apparently to go with his awesome Roy Rogers shirt)

Love This Town

Before You Leave

Down At the Khyber

New Scotland Blues

Non-Believer

Wishful Thoughts

Television Set (at the piano)

Long Way Home (for his grandmother)

She Made A Wreck Outta Me (I think this was when his dad joined in hurrah)

Natural Disaster

Soundtrack For the Night

Nothing More To Say To You

A song by Joel's dad

Happen Now (and that may have been the last with Mr. Plaskett, but if anyone remembers better please comment!)

Nowhere With You

Light Of the Moon

Extraordinary

Drunk Teenagers

Fashionable People

Please Don't Return

Absentminded Melody (with his dad)

Any errors are due to breakdowns in my abbreviations, memory, or ability to read my own scribbles-in-the-dark. For a guy who'd been up since four and just flown in from Dallas, (I have done that run and it's not a good time!) it was really impressive!

Okay. I forgot my set list at home (in my other handbag) so I'll have to post that tomorrow. I was writing in the dark but it's mostly legible.

However--as I said in the fast post on the weekend, Joel did not disappoint. (I know, I know--could Joel disappoint? I suspect the answer is no.) Anyway, the show was held at St. Matthew's Church at the foot of Spring Garden Road on Barrington Street. This edifice was constructed in 1749 so it's seen a lot, but you have to ask yourself, has it ever seen anything quite this adorable?

Not likely.

Okay. The nice thing about this whole Halifax Pop Explosion deal is the fact that multiple bands play every show, so if you're like me and you're not really up on who to check out (or, um, you're old and work early in the morning) you can still see some good bands by going to the ones you already know about. Like Matt Mays with Gloryhound & the Skyhawks. (Although obviously I already knew about the opening act before that show!!)

I sat in the choir loft, in the second row. My sight lines weren't fabulous but they weren't bad, and the acoustics were great. Also, it was fun trying to follow the maze-like seats to figure out where I could sit down. I felt like one of those little games we used to have as kids, where you'd roll the tiny metal ball around through the maze to get it into a pocket.

Anyways. There were actually three acts on the bill, the first were from Toronto and were called Forest City Lovers, and I'm not linking to their home page because it's badly designed and has almost no content. I wasn't sure what I was going to think of them because their first couple of songs sounded a little bit self-consciously arty. (The nice woman who sat next to me used the word "feathery" while mine was "precious." But only for the first two songs.) On the third song their drummer joined in, and even using mostly wire whisks he added a very likable swing. The band consisted of two women (guitar and lead vocals in one case, violin and xylophone, yes, xylophone in the other) and two men (bass and guitar, drums) and by the end of the set I was thinking they sounded sort of like a cross between Ruth Minnikin and some chanteuse in a French movie, not that I watch French movies.

I ended up buying their CD in the break before Joel's set. It came in a weird handmade case involving two folded pieces of cardboard and a clear plastic sleeve, which I'm keeping it in and sincerely hope Gloryhound does not use for their imminent CD. Cute, but not at all practical.

David Myles came out next, looking spiffy in a dark charcoal suit, shirt, and tie. He as almost ridiculously charming and funny and his songs were lovely. And he was as excited about seeing Joel as anyone--"I think I'll sit right there--"points at steps in front of stage--"if that's cool with you folks." Fanboys are so cute, especially when they are also talented.

I also bought his CD.

I was okay for Joel CDs.

Anyway, Joel and the Emergency have been playing the States opening for the Tragically Hip and Joel flew in from Dallas, Texas for the show. Which, as he noted, explained his shirt (it's actually even cooler than it looks, because the flowers are all decorated with sequins.) He was tired, poked fun at his own hoarseness, and was just all kinds of funny and charming. Apparently St. Matt's is the church his grandparents used to take him and his sister to when they stayed with them, and the last time he was there was for his grandmother's funeral. She was 92 and has featured largely in his stage patter over the past couple of years, so it wasn't surprising when he played a new song for her and noted that he used to sit in church bored to death "but I'm not bored now, Gran!"

And neither were the rest of us, as he played a nice mix of old and new material including a couple that haven't been recorded yet. His dad joined him for several songs including one of his own (Mr. Plaskett is an ace guitar player and it's a treat to watch the two of them watch each other onstage.)

There were a few singalongs that made Joel feel the place sounded like his kitchen (see: post title) and at one point he remarked that people passing by the church were going to be pretty confused.

I didn't hang out after the show, I had parked down at the parking garage across from Tribeca so I stopped there to see what was going on. Scotty was outside having a smoke and when I told him I'd spent the evening in church he laughed at me, and then when I explained he admitted he'd passed the church on his way into work and had wondered what was going on. Hah!

Updated: Set list is here. It was a lovely evening and a great end to a couple of good weekends of music.

I have nine minutes left on this computer so I will simply note for now that Joel did not disappoint. And the other two acts on the bill were really good, too. I ended the night with two new CDs. I wonder if my folks want to go to Ginger's next weekend when they are in town and David Myles is too?

Set list tomorrow. I think I can even read my own handwriting...

Okay, the Joel Plaskett show I'm going to on Saturday? It's billed as "Joel Plaskett and Friends," which I assumed meant other musicians would be joining him onstage. Which will probably happen, but it turns out there's an opening act, a guy named David Myles whose stuff I have heard a limited amount of and whose CD is on my list of Stuff To Acquire. The warmblood mare's owner told me last night that the record is stellar, and I've been wanting to check him out, so this is totally two birds for the price of one. Woo!

David Myles is also, so I am told, in the running for Tallest and Nicest Musician in Halifax. Based on a couple of encounters with Matt Mays I would say that's a crowded category anyway, but the funny thing is the acknowledged current holder of the title is, in fact, one Joel Plaskett.


David Myles @ Tribeca


Joel Plaskett @ Tribeca

All the best stuff happens @ Tribeca.

Also, I'll probably end the evening with a crick in my neck and a smile on my face. Again--woo!

...and an even smaller city.

I was just helping a student (a career-change type who's older than your average undergrad--very common in health professions and library programs!) with a wonky email attachment, and I remarked that the default file type might be the problem. It seems to be a new thing. I noted that I'd saved a couple of articles about Joel Plaskett as that file type recently and it was the first time I'd ever seen it.

I have no idea what prompted me to mention the name.

Anyway, once we had her issue straightened out, she had another question: what is the significance of Joel Plaskett, whose name she sees everywhere and whose mother is an old friend of hers?

I explained that he is a very popular local musician. I made not a single reference to baskets of kittens and who is cuter than one. It took great restraint. I was so proud of myself!

However...



Cute, too.

My tickets to the Matt Mays & El Torpedo show at the Cunard Centre arrived in the mail this week. Sadly, they do not have "with special guest Gloryhound & the Skyhawks" printed on them anywhere, but I am definitely getting into the show.

Also, my contact in Truro is holding a ticket to Rustler's for the show the week before.

And I got the Joel Plaskett ticket for the acoustic show the day after the Cunard Centre one.

Whee!

Thanks to susano I found out about the Joel Plaskett and Guests (please, please let his dad be one of the guests!) show in October. Tickets were on sale at the newstand across from my apartment building. How very convenient.

Yes, of course I bought one. What's the Halifax Pop Explosion for, except to see musicians?

And in honour of the event, here's a video of Joel and his father playing "Love This Town," including the story of why he claims to hate Kelowna:

(Well, all except the fact his wife was apparently born there...)

... to illustrate the old adage, "There's nothing cuter than a baby horse in spotty pajamas."

(It is so an old adage--I've been saying it for years!)





Seriously, if I had to say who was cuter, this colt or Joel Plaskett

I don't know what I'd tell you.

Click the link on the left bar to get there. It's the first thing you'll see today.

I especially liked the reference to Joel's "slightly unhinged and always impassioned tenor [voice]." Yes.

Our man Joel was on the cover of this week's Coast. It was a nice little article largely about his growing profile in Halifax and how he's dealing with it. It also includes interview bits with both his parents.

The best bit was the part where his mother notes that Joel at six months weighed the same as Joel at eighteen months. He was apparently a chubby baby and then... "stretched out."

No, really??

Also, regarding the local-profile thing, it's obvious he's grateful for the local support but notes that it would be nice to get to the stage where he's met everyone and could just wave. Because he didn't get to spend a lot of time listening to the White Stripes at the recent concert--people kept coming over and wanting to talk to him.

(In case you're wondering, no, I wasn't one of them. I didn't see him. And even if I had, I wouldn't have gone over. I am a circumspect stalker. Just ask Matt Mays--he has no idea who I am, despite the number of Gloryhound shows we have both attended. But I digress.)

Anyway--very nice article. But then, it would be...

Okay. After a blitzkrieg of reading, the secrets of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows are now known to me. I picked the book up at Chapters last night, or rather this morning, at a quarter to one.

Being a good citizen of the Internet, that is all I have to say on the subject.

The temptation to post spoilers might have been greater had I not been party to even more potent magic last night. Yes, the one and only grand musical wizard of Halifax and environs was abroad last night, casting spells on the hallowed ground of Alderney Landing. latsyrk (who has heard more than enough about the Mighty Joel Plaskett and the baskets of kittens of which he is cuter than and also the batches of muffins you end up tempted to bake for him), along with her husband who is always up for fun, as well as my brother (totally under the spell these many years) and his friend, were all party to the adventure.

It rained all day yesterday--torrents, my dear, accompanied by such thunder and lightning that it seemed advisable to delay a necessary trip into town to order a backup pair of glasses (once they arrive I can send my first-stringers for repair--first time in over thirty years I've had a busted nosepiece and I'm still not sure how it happened.)

It was a wild day, but by the time the show got underway things had settled down to fog and mist. As we left Silver at the parking garage and made our way to the ferry, it was so foggy you couldn't seen Dartmouth across the harbour. We missed the opener, Jenn Grant, but were on time for Peter Elkas (I would need a little more exposure to Peter to decide how much I liked him. I suspect he'd grow on me.) And the interesting thing was, you could see the fog swirling around the stage, right? In great silvery swathes? And you know how when it's foggy your glasses persistently mist over?

Well, mine didn't. Didn't have to wipe them even once. I put that down to the sort of silvery light that circled round the concert grounds. I couldn't tell what shape it was taking but the thought occurred to me: if Joel Plaskett conjured a Patronus, what shape do you suppose it would take?

I mean, forget the Heir of Slytherin. If there was an Heir of Hufflepuff, he would be very tall and thin and wear a sweater vest.

Which he did, at least at the beginning of the evening--after a while the mixture of fog and humidity got confusing and he had to take it off ("I don't know whether I'm hot or cold," he explained, and then looked flustered by the "Woo!"s from the people right down front.) He was in fine form--he and the Emergency were augmented by Peter Elkas on keys, guitar, and harmonica, as well as Gordie Johnson of the late great Big Sugar (as I remarked to my brother, that was one guitar you would expect to be about eight times as loud as everything else onstage.) The recitation from Instrumental was given in person by the knitter of vests herself, although I didn't notice her in the wings until Joel interrupted his guitar work to blow her a kiss as she left the stage.

They played most of Ashtray Rock, there was a brief intermission when the band left the stage and Joel's dad came on to chants of "Bill, Bill, Bill!" to join him for "Love This Town" and "Happen Now," and "Maybe We Should Just Go Home" turned into a tribute to Bo Diddley and then Bob Switzer, late founder of Taz Records ("Bob is gone, but Taz Records lives on and on...") before going all voodoo at the end. And the encore performance of "Come On Teacher" turned into "Diggin A Hole" and then "Hot For Teacher," which I think was the point when Joel was laughing so hard he could hardly sing.

The evening finished with "True Patriot Love" and as we made our way back to the car, both latsyrk and her husband were heard to ask one another whether the baking implements were unpacked and whether they had any muffin tins within easy reach. I didn't ask why they needed them. The Heir of Slytherin might demand power and riches. Other sorts of magical creatures are perfectly happy to accept tribute in the form of cranberry-orange muffins.

Anyway. A magical night was had by all. In this case, there was no question the good guys would win in the end. The only question was who would bother fighting them.

Not even Severus Snape, I'm thinking...