Sunday, February 1, 2009

I'd like to rest my head on yours with the horses right there beside us.

Last night was interesting and slightly spur of the moment. I hadn't decided whether or not I was going to the concert until about an hour before I left. I'm glad I made the decision to go, though. It was an altogether beautiful night, I think, and rather a perfect start to this perfect month that will be February.

George's is a little bit of a walk from anywhere, it's well down the road, but every time I've made that walk it's been worth it. This time, the snow was coming down, but not so heavily as it could be noticed. Just heavily enough to be lovely, that snow that is beautiful and unnoticed as an inhibitor to anything. And then I arrived.

The show opened up with what might as well be CHMA's house band: Field Museum, who had recorded a little EP especially for the occasion. The band is Mark Brownlee, Matt Sarty, and now Corey Isenor. It was a pretty decent three-piece rock show, and it looked to me like they had an awful lot of fun up there. I, as I do, picked up one of their records. Production quality isn't the greatest, as is to be expected, but it's a good little recording, I think. And they put on a good show. And they're good guys. So, take a listen to their myspace or to this track here:

Field Museum - Kids in Town

Pat LePoidevin, I honestly never know what to say about this fellow. He makes some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard. This time it was just him, his guitar, and his ukulele. And his looper pedal, of course. He creates such beautiful, layered sound, and his voice is to die for. The most beautiful part, I think, was when we as the crowd began singing along. His album doesn't come out until March 13th, but just about everyone there knows his music. Oh, Sackville, you fosterer of beauty, of community, of music! Even hungover Pat was too pleased by the singing of his words back to him by the crowd, his joy was apparent. The atmosphere in that place became so... perfect. I don't know how better to describe it. The communal joy...

Pat LePoidevin - Toumba, Texas

I'll be honest. Before his set started, I had never before heard the night's headliner, Justin Rutledge, but apparently he's kind of a big deal. His Neil Young-sounding folk music was interspersed with stories about inappropriate jokes, about Halifax Donairs, about Michael Ondaatje (with whom he is collaborating on a 'production'), after which he proceeded to play a song written about Cooper, a professional gambler from Ondaatje's novel Divisadero. At a later point in the night, he called Pat on stage for an impromptu cover of Neil Young's Harvest, with Pat playing his tin whistle to Justin's guitar and voice. It was quite a lovely cover, it must be said. I'm still overflowing with the joy of that night and the magic of symmetry, as you likely can tell. The night ended on a sing-along, dozens of us sat on the floor around the stage there in George's Roadhouse, and Justin sat on the edge of it, feeding us the words to Don't Be So Mean, Jellybean as we sang them out. It was a lovely moment in time, and a lovely cap to the night. I am almost too glad that I made the last-minute decision to get out to this show... simply beautiful.

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