Random Ramblings

There aren't many people who will get me to do a 3-hour drive on unlit highways at night, but Heather Dale is one of them. So it was that Jeanne and I hit the road at about 7:45 on Saturday morning to drive to Caldrithing's practicum event. The drive was thankfully uneventful, with dry highways the whole way down, and we arrived with plenty of time for Jeanne to make her 10:30 class. I, meanwhile, changed and found Heather (excuse me, Mistress Marian of Heatherdale) and exchanged lots of hugs. I also found Louis, who I hadn't seen in quite some time, and gave him hugs as well.

( The day continues behind here )

For those not in the know, Heather Dale will be playing the Yellow Door Cafe next Friday, October 15. And -- shh! -- there may be a special on-stage cameo by everyone's favourite Pocket Bard!

Hope to see you all there!

I hereby declare the house concert to be a complete success. There were about 16 audience members, plus Kaia (who might be a bit young to be considered a true audience members, but seemed to enjoy herself nonetheless). Between Heather, Ben, Jason, and John, there were probably enough instruments to outfit a small country, but they all got played.

The concert itself was wonderful. Small, intimate, lots of really good interaction between the performers and the audience. They played a lot of songs from their new album, The Green Knight, and their next-most-recent album, The Gabriel Hounds. I mouthed the songs to myself off to the side. It was lovely.

Afterwards, the 6-7 people who were left sat around and chatted while the rest of Heather's band packed up the instruments. I told Heather she could blame me for sitting and not talking. "Yes, I'm forcing here and making her sing me songs! (Was that loud enough, Heather? Should I say it louder?)"

Clean-up only took about 30-45 minutes, and now I'm sitting here listening to the new CD and just finished posting some pictures from the concert on my facebook, which you can see here.

Ta for now!

It's time for another invitation! Join Heather Dale, Ben Deschamps, and the two other members of the Heather Dale Quartet in an intimidate, living-room environment at my house. There will be munchies available, but more are always welcome.

It's on July 5th, from 2 pm to 4 pm. Doors open at 1:30.

After the concert, if people are interested, we might let our hair down for a jam session / bardic circle. That's right! A bardic circle with Heather Dale herself!

Come for the music! Come for the munchies! Come because you know you want to!

Suggested donation: $10-15.

Heather Dale's website is http://www.heatherdale.com

If you need directions, please email me at julie.golick@gmail.com or give me a call. The Facebook page for this event is right here.

Heather will officially be playing at Kaleidoscope Gathering on Wednesday, July 30.

Just thought all those KG people might want to know.

She will not, alas, be attending Pennsic.

Today I more-or-less finished up my classes for the semester. Social history was nice and lively (given that we were talking about executions, crime, prostitution, etc., how could it not be?). Afterwards the prof bought us coffee and other hot beverages, which was very nice of her. After a quick lunch at Massey, I went to do the midterm / sight passage for Latin. I thought it went fairly well, actually. A few phrases were a bit tricky, but otherwise it was fine. Then was Materials, which ended about an hour early (yay!).

I went home, attempted to do work but actually got very little done. At about 7 I was considering not going to Heather Dale's concert, and then I realized how foolish this was. So I bundled up and headed out east. I met Heather when I arrived at the Renaissance Cafe and she was really happy to see me and genuinely thanked me for coming. (Have I mentioned how utterly amazing Heather is?) We sat on comfy couches and watched some open mic performers who were surprisingly good.

Then Heather performed. She's doing some new harmonies with Ben which add a nice dimension to it. I discovered a new song, "The Devil and the Farmer's Wife," which Heather has promised to teach me on Tuesday if we're both at SCA practice. I also bought the only of Heather's CDs I didn't yet own, and I'm listening to it now. I love Heather's music.

And that's it for me. I have Latin tomorrow and next week, but otherwise my daytimes will mostly be taken up with paper research and writing. Tomorrow night some friends of mine are premiering the latest episode of Pure Pwnage, so I'll go to that. Otherwise.. I'm going to bed soon. G'night all!