I spent an hour the other day doing a post here, only to have it disappear into the universe when I pushed the "post" button. LOL. Talk about ripping yer hair out! Then Rogers went down-no internet, TV, or phoning anyone. WTF??? Hopefully this post will see the light of day...
Been spending much of my time doing the U.S. work permits for RokIsland, which takes place on January 18th in Key West, Florida. I thought it would be easy doing this gig 'cos Lynda and I live in North Fort Myers from November to April, but I was to get a rude awakening as soon as I talked to the Musician's Union. Get this-I have to come back to Canada, re-enter with the band, fly to Key West and play the gig, and THEN FLY BACK TO CANADA, turn around and fly back to North Fort Myers. Meanwhile, there's 25,000 illegal immigrants streaming across the Southern U.S. border every day. Does this make any sense? Doesn't matter, cos that's the law, and with property in North Fort Myers I won't be cutting any corners. Oh well...
With COVID f**king everything up for the last couple of years our band ryder is out of date as well-especially since we have a new guitar player in the name of Mark Chichkan. So before I can send out the contract for our German date in 2023 (to be announced at the end of the summer) I need to re-vamp that. Add to all this sh*t the shows we have coming up starting next weekend in Kitchener (July 23rd w/Lee Aaron & Trooper), July 29th in Minnedosa, July 30th in Kenora, August 6th in Prince George, B.C., and Aug. 21st in Saskatoon PLUS teaching Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and it's a full slate. Lynda and I are also running an Airbnb, which is booked until the end of October. Both of us are just now getting over COVID, which messed up our holiday plans up in Tobermory for the Canada Day Long Weekend. By the way, thanks to all of you who sent us birthday greetings-we appreciate them all-it's just we were sicker than dogs when we got 'em. So thanks.
Last week I spent several days putting together a scrapbook of loose photos, ads, and posters from between 1974 and 1979. I have so many photos, that once I'm gone nobody will know who the f**k is in the picture. Ever had that happen to you? Someone in the family dies and you're left with a big box of photos of people with no names and not a clue as to who they are. Kinda like that...So before I donate this stuff to the University of Toronto for a tax deduction, I need to write down what everything is. Ironically, I just happened to be over to see my mom (who lives with my sister Donna and her husband Angie) and Angie showed me a little gadget he bought off the internet for transferring slides to digital pictures. I have a box of slides, some of which I had no idea of what they were, so he gave me the little gadget to try out on my own. It's pretty simple: you put the slide on the glass at the bottom and your phone sits about 2-1/2 inches above it and takes the picture. Below are some of them. The ones where we're on a stage were taken at Centennial Stadium in Kitchener in 1976. Also on the bill was ZON and the R.C.M.P. riding troupe. The MC was Gordie Tapp, who just happens to be from London, Ontario and is Randy Heywood's second cousin.
