Velvet

Mayhaps we should split a room bouche?

I very much doubt that.

We're gonna be neighbors! I look forward to welcoming you in person.

Question period in the House Of Commons. The Canadian Mint. War Museum.

As our priceline bids increase I'm wondering about just booking a place straight up for the Hip show in Montreal. Any suggestions on a good cheap place to stay near Metropolis?

That's the dude.

A final detail - when we were picking up the car from Valet parking at our hotel Jay recognised the doorman as Judd from Survivor Guatemala. Nice fellah.

With any luck Jeff Beck won't have Jennifer Batten noodling over his subtle brilliance.

The Easy Way To Quit Smoking, by Allen Carr $20, one time dose, no side effects. Why not try it?

I highly recommend Allen Carr's book too. Even if you got it beat, drop the $20 and read it. Quitting smoking is the most important thing you'll ever do, and you need all the ammo you can get to fight it even (especially) if you think you got it beat. Allen Carr guy really had it all figured out. No substitutes, no bad days, no cravings, and all from a short poorly-written book. Really, I can't recommend the book enough. I've bought copies for at least four people.

So far I think I'm most excited about Jackson Browne.

Incredible. Are busses there for the passengers or the drivers?

I had a feeling they started with three colours.

A world of encouragement and congratulations to you. I am approaching six months tobacco free and I can't say enough what a life improvement it is. Just this weekend I said out loud at least three times, "Wow, I'm glad I don't smoke anymore!" From someone who has quit and restarted lots of times, allow me to share with you why I have succeeded this time (I went cold turkey - no substitutes): I have a postcard of two clean and healthy lungs that an artist friend painted and mailed to me from a previous quitting episode. About two or three days into quitting this time I was in the throes of the worst part of quitting and I picked up the postcard and read the back. It was full of encouraging words congratulating me on making it however many weeks without smoking. I looked at the date and saw it was sent ten years ago. So that means I had gone through this bullshit a decade previously, had pretty much had the monster beat, and something made me have a cigarette. Of course I don't remember that first cigarette, so it couldn't have been that wonderful. Doing the math, I figured that since that cigarette that restarted me smoking, I had smoked about 90,000 more cigarettes and spent about $30,000 on them in the process. So the few times I get tempted (and don't be fooled - restarting months into a successful quit is very very common) I just think about the fact that one smoke will cost me at least $30,000 more dollars, and there's no way a cheap bastard like me can bring myself to give in. Again good luck to you Basher, and to all that try and quit the nastiest of habits.

Okay, the names are starting to come...according to http://consequenceofsound.net/festival-outlook/ottawa-bluesfest/ the fest will also include: Chris Smither Crooked X Dave Mason Kiss NewWorldSon Sugar Blue Jeff Beck Plus I just remembered that CR Avery told me he'll be playing Blues fest too. So, the list thus far (to hell with the dates): Alan Parsons Project Mick Taylor David Lindley Jackson Browne C.R. Avery Chris Smither Crooked X Dave Mason Kiss Los Lonely Boys NewWorldSon Sugar Blue Jeff Beck

http://www.theinsider.com/news/1767528_JACKSON_BROWNE_Extends_2009_World_Tour_with_North_American_Dates has Jackson Browne playing Bluesfest July 10th, so: Jackson Browne: July 10 Los Lonely Boys: July 10 Alan Parsons Project: July 16 Mick Taylor: July 16 David Lindley: July 18/19

Los Lonely Boys: July 10 Alan Parsons Project: July 16 Mick Taylor: July 16 David Lindley: July 18/19

First night was my favourite.

What she means is WE would be most grateful (right?)

Lordy. I'm just glad I don't have to sell a Phish ticket to go to this show!

The house posters came in two colors; I grabbed two and sold one to gentlemonkey. I like the design a lot. That was the design on the tickets too.

I think phorbesie will back me up that the were playing Other One, but we could be wrong. I do believe there's an error with the asterisk part of the above setlist, in that I don't think Taj Mahal came back onstage until well into (ahem) The Weight, so didn't play on the first two tunes in the second set.

Stardate 031009 We left Hampton at 10:30am, pointing the truck north and forsaking the 26 degree weather. Without an atlas we were left to follow the internet directions we had, which brought us right into downtown Washington and got us lost. What would normally be a very enjoyable day of driving for me was an exercise in frustration and restraint. A few more fast food burgers and almost nine hours later we made it to NYC. We had pricelined two rooms for cheap at the Wellington though upon arrival we found them overbooked; they had moved us to their sister property, the Blakely, a four star place around the corner with fabulous rooms. Not bad for $80 a room, all in. We had almost no time to spare so a quick rye and coke later we hailed a cab and made our way to the Beacon. Wolfed down a slice that was heated to molten and booked it into the venue. The show started as we entered the building, and on our way up to the balcony I stuck my head through the curtains and watched Derek and Warren finish up Little Martha, I believe it's the only time I've seen it played. We had gotten our tickets during presale and ended up with the last row of the balcony. Why they release the last row of a venue for presale is beyond me. Also beyond me was the fact that there were people in our seats. Their tickets must have had them on the roof or something. Anyways, we found places to be and settled in for the show. The room certainly is a wonder to behold, though at almost 14 million in renovations how could it not be? With such a small venue that price tag works out to about $5,000 per seat. Nice seat, I'll admit, but I wasn't feeling the five grand plush. They musta dumped some of that money into electrical or something. The bar is extensive and expensive, but that's NYC right? When I returned from a getting a round I found Taj Mahal on stage sitting in with the band. He stuck around for about three songs and the set ended. When the lights went up for setbreak one could really appreciate the gaudy over-exuberance of the place. Someone did a helluva job, and I assume that will guarantee the Beacon will keep being a venue for years to come. With the lights up I noticed another drumkit onstage, and by the time the second set started the auxiliary kit had been placed at the front right of the stage. The second set started with the Levon Helm band sitting in. Again, three numbers, this time all from Levon's setlist, with Taj re-emerging for The Weight. A sit-in within a sit-in! Perhaps my first! Along those lines when we were back to just the Allmans onstage Derek played the Purple Haze riff during their cover of The Other One, a cover withing a cover! Okay, a tease within a cover, but whatever. Soon enough the show was done - not the best Allman's show ever, but a special one to be sure, and it really made me want to come for a few shows next time. We opted to walk back and made it an earlyish night in hopes of having a few hours before checkout to do a walkabout. I do enjoy this city. All in all, a fun long weekend away of special shows.

I found out people don't like Contact when their eyes would roll whenI said I was hoping to hear it. Stone Mtn was the man who first played me the tune, so I knew he was in the club!

"screw Phish, go on Diesel Dog tour. These types of issues don't seem to arise with them." Ironic, as I believe Diesel Doug was at the shows.