I'm back at work. Well, I'm at work every weekday so that's not surprising. I can't believe I didn't post about seeing Denison. Denis, I'm sorry. Hahaha. He opened the show in the middle of June for Copeland and Rainer Maria. It was late so I didn't stay for the them. Melanie got called into work that day so Mike and I drove to Toronto where we hooked up with Todd Brown and Luke Allen for some grub. It's always great hanging out with Todd because his good looks are surpassed only by his dry, dark sense of humour. It was also nice to finally meet Luke Allen, who has been talked about (mostly good things, Luke, except that one "accident" with Bechard) for several years in that social circle. We kicked it, ate, laughed like fools and then proceeded to the Kathedral/Big Bop. We were waiting outside for Melanie to meet us there. Mike and Todd were hilariously debating the merits/demerits of 'Star Wars Episode III' when Melanie drove by. I ran down Queen Street to catch up with her, scared the shit out of her by knocking on her window and then headed back to the club. I chatted with the merch boy (I think his name was James but I'm not sure - sorry, duder) and then the man of the hour showed up. We talked briefly and then it was time for his set.
As always, he brought the love. He only played for 30 minutes but they were glorious minutes I tell you - glorious! A few new songs (I think 'Little Flowers', 'Everything But Sleep' and 'Are You A Dreamer?') were mixed in with some older material ('Stations', '24 Turned 25'). I can't remember the other songs, though I did record them to video if you are interested in seeing them. After his set, we gabbed a bit more before I started pestering him for the new record. Todd contributed by physically intimidating the much smaller DW and soon we had ourselves a pre-release copy of 'Are You A Dreamer?' Dang, yo... I listen to this constantly now. It's an excellent sing-a-long record. It hurts me not to share it with everyone I know. But you should go buy it ASAP. Thanks for not forcing us to beat you down, Denison. I look forward to seeing you again when you're back in Ontario.

I've got two personal phone calls today at work. One was normal (Taxman was checking in to see when we could workout) and the other was great but odd. Gunner from C101.5 Mohawk College Radio called me at work (unless he called my home and Melanie forwarded it to me at work) to answer my question about a song. I kept hearing this song on the station that was really great but I never heard the song title or artist. It was driving me nuts so I called the programming director last night (after previously e-mailing the station and calling the request line with no responses). The message today was Gunner playing the song - 'Counterclockwise' by Roger Clyne (formerly of the Refreshments) - on my machine and said he was going to play a three song set of Roger Clyne and send it out to me. Rad! I'm pumped to finally know the name of the song. My experience with C101.5 has been so good. Sure, there's lots of stuff I don't like (I'm not crazy about musical/show tunes) but I've found several good artists I hadn't heard before (including Ray LaMontagne and The Forecast).

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I'm back at work. For you, it was instantaneously. For me, multiple days were involved (from Friday to Monday). The weekend was good. On Friday night, I worked out with Taxman (a good leg-back combination effort), we had a BBQ with Melanie (the best hostess you've ever met) and then had Chad & Cheri-lyn join us. We went out and rented 'The Jacket' with Adrien Brody and Keira Knightley. It was good. It could have been better with some obvious questions being answered about major points in the plot. I won't say them here because you might want to see the movie and that would ruin it for you.
On Saturday, Melanie and I went to Niagara-on-the-lake and wandered around. It was a nice day out. We ordered pizza and watched 'Finding Neverland'. Of course, I didn't rent it; I bought it. I find it difficult to rent movies when I can often buy them used for just a bit more money. It's almost $6 to rent a DVD and I was able to buy it for $12. I also picked up the recent release, 'Festival Express', similar to the original Woodstock concert film, that documented the 1970 travelling festival featuring the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Band, Buddy Guy and some others. It looks pretty cool.
Sunday had us attend church before going to Melanie's parents' house. We chowed down and swam. I actually conked out for at least half an hour in a lazy boy before we went to a big BBQ for church. We got to gab with Darren Salmond, Mike Slack, Andria Harvey, Mike's sister Melanie (who was up from North Carolina), Jen Eitel, Rich (forget his last name) and Melanie's sisters, Katie and Jenn. A good time and excessive amounts of sugar were had by all. We then returned home and kicked it with Mike and Sandi for a couple hours before I had to go to sleep. Belanger called me last night... At 12:40AM. Twice. Fortunately, Melanie had turned the ringer off on the phone. He called me from the Kenny Rogers concert to tell me it was "awesome." The second call featured Jon singing along with Kenny to 'The Gambler'. Jon was more prominently featured in this version than Kenny. It was very funny (though I suspect it would be less so if the ringer had been on). Thanks, Jon! I am jealous!
I'm just awaiting a client to show up. Half of my team is away today so it's just Taylor, Copeland and me. Oh, and Kevin. I have two weeks left of work before I have another week off, then I've bumped up my vacation in August to two full weeks. Woo hoo! Of course, that will leave me with only three and a half weeks for the rest of the year. I hope I can make it through... Of course, it might be more if as I accumulate more overtime. Sorry, don't mean to rub that in, Bill. Hahahaha. Hope you are all well.