Auld Acquaintances
Hey everyone, I wish you all the best in 2023.
Every New Year’s Eve I’m sure most of us think about how the next year could be better. That’s what resolutions are all about. For me, the bar isn’t very high. Simply not getting Covid twice would put ’23 way ahead of ’22.
I shouldn’t complain, I lead a charmed life. As a gentleman, I should leave the whining to people who deserve it. Like lead guitarists, drummers, and bass players.
I’ll bitch anyway, but I’ll balance it with an appreciation of the good sides, when there were any, of 2022.
The Nadir Was Early
We began our concert year January 30th and 31st in Royal Oak Michigan, basically Detroit with good PR. ed: thanks JL
The second day there were rumblings of a major winter disturbance poised over the western states like a vulture trolling for road-kill. A slow moving stormasaurus would likely plow east of the Mississippi late the next day.
And It Did
February 1st we had a show in Champaign, Illinois. Our plans were to fly to Greensburg Pennsylvania the next day. Nope. A blizzard with high winds and white-outs was in full force the morning of the 2nd. We literally didn’t step outside the hotel for two days. Well, one of us did. I ventured out to a CVS just across the street that closed ten minutes before I got there. It was dangerous. There were three-foot drifts.
In retrospect, being stranded for three nights wasn’t so bad except for the lobby bar running low on vodka by late afternoon the second day.
The Last Show…. No Show
This was the same trip I tested positive for Covid along with Gord and his wife Kim, our lighting director James, and tour manager Warren. We skipped the final show and the healthy ones flew home. The covid barred us from air travel into Canada so we drove seven hours to Buffalo and crossed the nervous border the next day.
In ordinary times, covid could easily have been the runaway story of the year. But competition loomed early in 2022.
The Mouse That Roared
On February 24th the relatively small Ukrainian Duchy of Grand Fenwick was invaded by the mega-immense Russian military. They considered Ukraine to be a small troublesome rodent easily crushed by their elephantine armed forces. There was a loud squeak though, and Jumbo hesitated. Around the world post-Soviet oligarchs suddenly became yacht-less and cold, their bare assets frozen.
Barely halfway to Kiev the crusade of mostly young Nikolais wearing large fur hats ran out of fuel and vodka.
The movement stalled and fell off the front page in a yawn of western ennui where it remains almost eleven months later. Estimates of more than ten thousand deaths are considered conservative and are ongoing, but how do you hold the media’s attention with the likes of Harry and Meghan sobbing about royal abuse and trump wanking philosophic from Mar-a-Lago?…….Now that’s entertainment.
A Big Loss
A sad note. My dear friend and musical cohort, Shirley Eikhard, passed away a few weeks ago. When I collect my thoughts I’ll write a tribute.
A Novel Idea
By comparison, the rest of my 2022 stories are prosaic at best. Except one particular story, “The Apothecary’s Garden”, a best-seller released in the summer and written by my girlfriend, Jeanette Lynes. You rock Genie!
Grateful Optimism
The good news for me is that Jeanette, my family, friends, and music continue to enrich my life. And Gord is still touring which means I’ll see a lot of you again in 2023.
Happy New Year!