An Alright Saturday Night

Forward: Well, the big Saturday night I was looking forward to ended up going alright. Only made it to one out of the four -- the big jam show at Forward Hall. Almost was a bust too -- we ended up late because we took Townsend home and took our time getting back.

First act on stage was this guy named Matt. I immediately recognized him from open mic nights at Clancys. He does the singer/songwriter thing but plays alot of old obscure blues stuff. Played about eight songs, some electric and some acoustic.

During his act he mentioned something about a CD he had if anyone was interested. To get in to this show, there was a $7 cover. Amanda and I took our friend Lori (who is a DJ at the club we go to) and she really didn't seem to enjoy it all that much. After Matt mentioned his CD, she joked, "For this price and for this show, I better get it for free!"

Second act was Gypsy Dave and The Stumpjumpers. A lot different than what I pictured them as. I listened to a online radio program from Knoxville last week and heard them and the band seemed pretty good. Anyway, they played for about forty minutes and it was good! They weren't anything floor rattling, definitely mood music. Have a very core audience. I can't imagine them getting big and selling out a stadium. But what band does anymore?

Third act was Rachel Eddy. She's a fiddle player from Nashville. Think Kathleen Edwards without the Sheryl Crow side of her. Pretty cool. She played with Fred Parker and Billy Smith, both pretty big bluegrass people out in the "sticks". I was impressed...although Amanda seemed to have a problem with the fact Rachel was wearing Crocs. *shrug*

Last band on was Shotgun Jubilee which featured an old high school mate of ours, Ryan Bartosek, on bass. He was as good as he was back then, probably better...the band was decent but we left early cuz it was getting late and I had to work pretty early.

Definitely worth the $7.

By the way, the Otters lost in Guelph on Friday night (5-1) and beat Kitchener 4-0 last night. Their record stands at 2-2. Not bad.

An Interesting Five Minutes: Yesterday one of our long term guests, I'm gonna call him , called 911. He's an elderly guy that has stayed here for a long time, and in recent months has had some bouts with his health.

I ran down to his room (after calling the boss for split second advice) and got in there. He was coughing alot and having trouble breathing. I didn't panic (it doesn't help anyway) and sat with him until the paramedics got there. Had to calm him down because he was seriously freaking out over the fact he couldn't stop shaking. The paramedics were there in about ten minutes and they took him to the hospital.

Found out later in the evening that he has pneumonia and that he should pull out of it with some treatment...he's had a couple episodes this year and hopefully everything turns out fine.

New Developments: Possible new career move on horizon...I am looking forward to another chance that has come up in the last few days. I'll keep you posted as much as I can with that...you can email me if you want to know more, not much I can say publicly.