Thanks to everyone for all the birthday love and facebook swarming! Had a great day, got up and lazily got ready for the radio show where I was joined by my old (but not quite as old as me) buddy Ambrose Marsh who came over from Victoria to help celebrate. Home for a quick dinner (rack of lamb!) and old-fashioneds both concocted by my sweetie, the lovely and talented Sarah Ballantyne - and then off to a Jazz Fest birthday marathon. Perfworks for Ambrose Akinmusire (from one Ambrose to another), to Ironworks for the amazing Darius Jones & Tarbaby, over to the Vogue for a spiritually uplifting performance by Charles Lloyd (with Gerald Clayton and Gerald Cleaver in tow - incredible!) and back to Ironworks for a fantastic wind up set by the full complement of Pugs and Crows (with Cat Toren making a hometown visit from NYC) and special guest Tony Wilson! A short hang afterwards chatting with friends (catching up a bit with Ken Daskewech with a promise to follow up more in the future) and a short chat with Gerald Clayton who came to check out the locals (he certainly looked pleased, saw him going over to chat with Meredith and Chris - the latter having done the opening set for CL). And then back home for a wee dram before resting up to do it again today - since 1986 Ive always celebrated my birthday with the jazz festival and its always great, but I have to admit that this years lineup is a real knockout punch; thanks to Coastal, Ken Pickering, John Orysik, and all the other great folks who put it over the top again and again .... N
Posted on: Sat, 28 Jun 2014 18:03:01 +0000