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Monday, November 5, 2007 - Breathless I just had the most brilliant weekend! Somehow, I managed to strike the perfect balance of friends, rehearsals, and work. When I found myself alone, the creative juices were so overpowering that I sat down spent hours painting canvases in my kitchen by the heat of my wood-burning stove. On Friday night, on the way home from my friends’ home, a riff popped in my head. Not wanting to lose it (as I’m notorious for doing), I came home and wrote a song. (This, my friends, RARELY happens to me. It takes me months to write new songs. But there’s nothing like a deadline that leaves me perpetually inspired. I’ve got eight weeks to finish writing all the new material for my album, bring it to my band, sort out arrangements and polish it before heading back into the studio in January.) Yesterday afternoon, I took time away from rehearsing to catch Kellylee Evans at the Black Sheep Inn. I had shared the stage with Kellylee at the CBC Diva’s Concert last Monday. And, part of my job as a musician is to attend shows to support my peers, hear what other people are doing, and to learn, learn, learn… I’ve written about why I play music in the past. And I’ve written about acts that inspire me. Being a professional musician is a very difficult life, and there are moments where I need reminding of why I do what I do. Seeing Kellylee’s show yesterday served me as such a reminder. It was one of the best show’s I’ve ever seen, and by far, the best show I’ve seen put on by a woman. Her musical talent, strong songwriting and skill as a performer left me absolutely breathless. She owned that crowd. And by the end of her show, she had everyone out of their chairs and jumping up and down (and I should mention that the average age of attendees was about 50!!!). At the end of the show, I was DYING to get home. Not to toss out my instruments, and find another career path, however. I wanted to get home to bask in the memories of what I had just seen, heard and experienced and somehow, let it channel my creativity through osmosis. I ended up going out for dinner with friends instead, and got home too late to do anything else but go to bed. But, today is another day…
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