I need to make it a point to go see Kathleen Edwards. The first time I checked out her live show, she was opening up for John Mayer at the Scotiabank place. I was sitting pretty far away and she didn’t say who she was – I wasn’t totally sure until I heard “Back to Me” which was her big hit at the time. I started listening to her songs after that and got hooked on her catchy alt-country tunes with great lyrics.

At Bluesfest in 2008, Tyler played in a band that was on stage at 6pm, followed by Kathleen Edwards later that night. We stuck around and watched, and then went to say hi backstage. Since then, she has become a fixture on my iPod, and CBC Radio 3 playlists.

Last night was the third time I have seen her perform and she has become so comfortable with herself – telling funny little stories, getting personal, letting emotion shine through in her vocal delivery, and rocking out on her electric guitar. This was the one of the best concerts I had seen. My friend Sarah sent me a message around 6pm saying she got free tickets to Kathleen Edwards and was I interested. Um….you bet! I drove around town, collecting Sarah, then the tickets, then onwards to the Bronson Center. As we approached the venue, we thought we were late, but soon saw a huge line of people winding down Bronson, around the corner, and on, and on. We dutifully got in the back of the line and hundreds more starting filling in behind us. Once we got in, we luckily grabbed a couple of seats in the third row – against the far wall, but we could see perfectly.

Hannah Georgas opened the show, mixing sweet vocals with interesting song arrangements – a few of her tunes had an 80s flair, with drum machine accompaniment and synthesizer sounds. I thought she was great and I’ll definitely check out her album.

When Kathleen Edwards took the stage, she was welcomed warmly by her hometown crowd, and I could tell we’d be in for a good night. She started out with a couple of new songs, then launched into Asking for Flowers, belting out clear vocal tones charged with energy. Her show quickly took on a rock edge, and while I was expecting a bit of a country sound, I loved the way she presented her songs.

Shen talked about making her new record and after going through a divorce, said that it felt like open heart surgery, but the result is some highly emotional songs. Pink Champagne for example – she said that everyone thinks it’s about an ill-fated wedding, but in reality she wrote it about a night in Calgary when she drank too much champagne and was sick everywhere. The song itself was lush and slow, with poignant lyrics, and she delivered it beautifully.

image cc Bruno Schlumberger, The Ottawa Citizen

After telling a quiet story about moving into a new house, plastered the walls, tending to her garden, feeling pride in what she’d accomplished, but then having to let it go, and realizing that a house was just that – a house. “Home is not a place, it’s what you make it,” she said, starting House Full of Empty Rooms, another new song that was gripping and seemingly full of raw, intimate pain. It also featured a haunting trumpet line that gave me a chill.

A long time buddy and bandmate, local guy Jim Bryson took the stage for “Hockey Skates” and even though he has a 2 day old baby at home, he still managed to rock out with the band and added a great feel of camaraderie to the stage. I fell in love with another of her new songs, A Soft Place to Land, and the last song of her set, Change the Sheets, is also from her recent album – she carried through it with a spark of great energy, garnering a rousing reaction from the crowd.

After an encore that featured Hannah Georgas as well, the crowd just wouldn’t stop cheering for our girl, and Kathleen came back out with just her acoustic guitar and sang “Our Town,” throwing in a few references to Ottawa. It was such an energetic, emotionally charged evening, punctuated by a few jokes and truthful moments. I adore her, and am going to buy her CD right now. Next time she is in town, I’ll be sure to buy tickets well in advance.

Check out Kathleen Edwards online or buy her music - highly recommended!

Sleepless night, restless dreams, and an early morning. Then a buzzing, busy day – no time to take a deep breath, close my eyes, or brew a second cup of coffee. Brain jumbling and mind swirling, no one here to spill out my insides to, or to take my hand and remind me to relax.

Stepping outside made it all fade into tranquility. Filling my lungs with crisp cool air, fresh and quiet. Everything felt still and hushed. Just listening to my boots slide over icy slopes and crunch down on the white crystals beneath my feet. Watch the sun turning the tips of the trees golden. My friendly little companion running joyfully at my side.

With this much beauty in the world, it’s hard to feel anything but thankful. Glad that it is a cold and perfect day. And tomorrow is brand new.

Just got home from a great road trip to London, Ontario with my mom and sister. My big brother, Steve, has been working as the associate musical director and keyboard player for the national tour of Fiddler on the Roof over the last year, and although the show travels far and wide across North America, it only just arrived in a location close enough for us to go watch.

My mom and I went to Toronto and stayed overnight at my sister’s place there, and set out for London on Monday. It’s about a two and a half hour drive and we were pretty lucky with the weather (it started snowing just as we got there). We checked into our hotel and met Steve, newly arrived from Detroit, on the tenth floor. Here’s the tour bus they all spend a lot of time on:

After we freshened up a bit, we walked through the snowy streets to the John Labatt Centre, taking a quick look around London as we went. The arena is huge, and it took us a few minutes to locate the proper gate and box office. Once inside, we got our tickets and followed Steve through the makeshift backstage area, already filled with racks of costumes, for the soundcheck. Since the arena floor, covered with black board, is circular, it was halved by black curtains to divide the backstage area and the stage, with folding chairs set up on the floor in front of the built-in graduated seating and the stage in the middle of where the ice normally would be.

The soundcheck really opened my eyes to the nitty-gritty details of how musicals operate. Most of the cast took the tour bus over to the theatre, and the musicians shook the snow off their coats and warmed their fingers up over their instruments first. Steve was actually taking on the role of the Music Director for a few shows, and was in charge of conducting the entire cast and orchestra – a big job that he took on board and did very well!

The sound lady checked all of the instruments with each musician – it gave me chills to hear the fiddle tuning up to the familiar opening strains of the show. The cast took the stage next, to check each mic, and to move around a bit and get a feel for this stage.

Imagine performing on a different sized, and feeling, stage night after night – I guess they learn to size up the space that they have quickly, seeing how much room there is to dance and where the sets will go in relation to them. It was interesting also to see the cast in their sweats, and in this show many of the performers take on multiple roles. So one girl was playing a young daughter, as well as the grandmother!

Fiddler on the Roof is one of the best known musicals of all time and centres around Tevye, a poor Jewish milkman and his family, with a wife and five daughters living in Russia just before the revolution. The shows takes a few twists through his experiences in reconciling the changes in traditions that are taking place, in the world and in his immediate family as well: the 3 eldest girls getting married to men against their customs, and the villagers being expelled from Anatevka, their home, at the end. Some of the more well-known songs are Matchmaker, Matchmaker, If I Were a Rich Man, Sunrise, Sunset, and Far From the Home I Love.

In the middle of the sound check, the girl playing Fruma Sarah realized that her high notes weren’t coming out right (she must be getting a cold) and her understudy had only been chosen 3 days before – and the part involves being a ghost in a dream sequence, sitting on someone’s shoulders and waving her head and arms around crazily while singing. Not easy! They tried a few times but her voice just wasn’t cooperating. So they decided to get her understudy to sing the part off stage and do her best to match the lips of the performer onstage. Stephen spent some extra time after everyone had left to help the offstage singer (an adorable 21 year old girl who also played one of the little sisters) to learn the cackling lines. She did an excellent job and I’m sure no one could tell a thing.

After the sound check, we met Jake and Rebecca, other friends from Toronto, out front, and we also realized that we could buy food (like popcorn!) to eat during the show from the concession stands! Not your typical theatre atmosphere, but I tried to munch quietly and not disturb anyone.

The show was amazing! I was impressed by a lot of the dance numbers that filled up the stage, people weaving in and out, lighting effects creating silhouettes to perfectly accent the memorable songs. Tevye had a lot of character, and great delivery – I found myself giggling along with some of his funny lines and expressions. Golde was a clear singer and played the role of loving, long-suffering wife extremely well.

I was so happy to see how nice everyone was too – it makes me glad that my brother has this family on the road that cares about him. Many of the actors and musicians came over especially to introduce themselves and say hi, and to tell us how well Steve was doing. In addition to being great performers, they all seemed to be genuinely nice people too. At the end of the night, the man playing Tevye even got up and toasted Steve, saying that he did a great job. I was so proud of my big brother and was very happy to see him making his way in the musical theatre world.

We woke up very early on Tuesday to make the 8 hour drive back to Ottawa, and were rewarded with this beautiful sunset from the hotel room window.