I know it’s almost a week since Valentine’s Day, and my excuses for this delay are no more scintillating than usual.
But I wanted to let you know THIS: my Hubbibi and I had a DATE. On Valentine’s Day, which has basically never happened. (We always figure it’ll be too crowded to do anything, planning to pick a different date for dinner, and then usually forget about it.)
Auntie Em generously offered to look after our kids not just for the duration of the concert we had tickets for, but also for dinner out. ALONE. What?? I know.
Of course a dinner reservation on V-Day is hard to get. Here’s my tip: try a vegetarian restaurant. That’s where we got in (the Magnolia Cafe). And it was tasty, too. (It’s always weird for me to look at a menu and know I could order anything on it. I have trouble deciding when there are lots of options.)
We enjoyed having time to walk around downtown a bit in the snow, passing our old apartment building and reminiscing about how much sex free time we used to have back in those days.
Then, we got to go see David Myles and The Good Lovelies in concert!
David was up first, and his rapport with the audience was immediate. He’s full of energy and charm. He got us all singing right away.
In case you’re not familiar, David Myles is the guy with the glasses and the melody in Canada’s most successful rap song ever (so far), “Inner Ninja.” One of my favourite stories of the night was about a pseudo-fan saying to David, “Hey! You’re the guy who plays the nerd in that video!” and him being all, “Um, no, I don’t play the nerd. I AM THE NERD in that video.”
Even better, he played a bit of the song onstage, and since Classified wasn’t there to rap, David made eye contact with a kid in the front row who “looked like he would know the words” – and he sure did. Ryan was maybe ten years old, and he hopped up onstage and just rapped a verse with David Myles. Whatevs. It was awesome.
Sean’s favourite number was “Drive Right Through”, for all the New Brunswickers out there 🙂 (David lives in Nova Scotia but is from NB originally).
David is a self-professed sentimental romantic who dropped out of a career in political law to write love songs (much to his dad’s chagrin). He was unabashed about his attachment to Valentine’s Day. Two of my favourite love songs were “Tell Me What” (Level 3 Audience Participation) and “Turn Time Off” (the guys in this video and the above are the same two who performed excellently with him that night); but he also sang “How’d I Ever Think I Loved You” for those feeling not-so-mushy.
The Good Lovelies were indeed good and lovely. And pretty, and funny, and cute. And preposterously talented. I adore their music: three beautiful voices (those of Kerri Ough, Sue Passmore, and Caroline Brooks) that create even more beautiful harmonies often dubbed “retro” (think 1940s, Andrews Sisters-ish)… plus thoughtful lyrics, some of my favourite stringed instruments, friendship that can be strongly felt in the music, and, in the case of this concert, plenty of endearing – and sometimes quite odd – anecdotes. (And backup bassist and steel player with serious skills.)
Last summer, I listened to my own Good Lovelies CD (containing their eponymous first full album and their second, “Let the Rain Fall”) on repeat in the car while driving to Camp. They helped keep me calm through an insane rainstorm in hill country where the visibility sometimes ceased altogether. Who could be stressed listening to a song like this?
I was really glad they played “Down Down Down” (“for the guilty Catholics out there – which is all of them”) – it’s one of my favourites, being so sweet/simple and hard-hitting at the same time – and “Sleepwalkin‘”, which makes a lot more sense now that I know it’s about taking the leap from a stable government job into a music career. (E is partial to this one, for the line “I’m a little fish in a big ol’ pond.”)
And even better was the Good Lovelies AND David Myles and all the backup folks singing “Lie Down.” Basically a perfect song, IMHO. And on Valentine’s Day, it was good old Canadian music love-in, since each act made no bones about being thrilled to share the stage with the other.
The only dumb part was how, just like at the last concert we went to, I was seized by shyness. I didn’t exploit the opportunity to chat with any of the artists out in the foyer… sigh. Maybe next time.
So, to sum up: if you have the chance to go see any of these awesome people, DO IT!
And hurray for date night!
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