This past summer, I booked my entire July off of work to focus on life, family and building a new house. Last year, I also booked a month off in the summer to move, explore my new community, and just slow down and enjoy the fleeting good weather. I feel incredibly fortunate to have this choice and flexibility. I haven’t been able to take this much downtime in almost 30 years!
But of course, just like everyone else, an extended break also meant a huge work load when I came back to the scene. I spent 9 days in Georgian Bay playing 7 shows of “Tom Thomson’s Wake” at Meaford Hall (pic of me in the dressing room above), the Rockin The River event in Wasaga Beach, and a film recording session in the Blue Mountains. Last week, I played at Barrie’s Georgian Theatre for “Tom Thomson’s Wake”; then a couple days at home to help with the build and practice before I was off again to Toronto for a big corporate solo performance where I played AC/DC’s Thunderstruck …. complete with a tear-away long gold-skirt that revealed my rockstar outfit mid-song. I admit I was inspired by Next in Fashion‘s episode on quick change outfits, and a live quick change I saw on stage at a Ted Outerbridge magic show a few years back:) Add in a few high kicks and a full on light and smoke show…. and it made for a very Rockstar moment that work everyone up that morning!
Later this week, I’ll be back on the road at the Gravenhurst Opera House, Showplace Theatre (Peterborough… woohoo hometown fun!), Empire Theatre (Belleville), Victoria Hall (Cobourg), Aeolian Hall (London), Kiwanis Theatre (Chattham Kent), Riverun Centre (Guelph) and the Sanderson Centre (Brantford). Immediately following will be run of shows with the same fabulous crew for their World War I production, “100 Years From Now”.
Somewhere in all this I’m squeezing in some recording sessions, rehearsals and my own writing and compositions. And of course the endless hussle of running a business and marketing my shows like the Travel By Sound series. I also just got accepted to an Honours BA in Philosophy at Trent University which I’ll be starting in the winter term, fresh off the heels of my earning a Certificate in Horticulture from the University of Guelph. More on my academic curiosities another time… !