My Week Part 1 - Music

This week has been a good one, although not quite as productive as it should have been, but good nonetheless. I got a double dose of music and Mississauga, with a cherry on top in the form of euchre. To keep these posts to a bearable size, I'll post in 3 installments, the first of which will be on music.

Although I've blogged about him before, I have never gotten the chance to see him live, until this past Wednesday. All I can say is 'FRIG!!!!!!' I am an even bigger fan of Chisai Jackson than ever before. He was part of the 4 voices tour, and although the whole entire show was really great, I was kinda partial to him because I've heard his stuff before. I absolutely love the way he crafts melodies, the way he explores his vocal range, and the textured sound of his voice. On top of that, in one of his songs, he reproduced a bang on trumpet sound with his mouth!! When he started going, I literally thought to myself 'who brought the trumpet?' When I realized that Chisai was doing it, my jaw literally dropped to the floor. After the show, I got a chance to chat with him for a bit and I told him how much I loved his music, but even more, how much I respect him as an artist to have endured the games the music industry plays. During our brief conversation, it was absolutely evident that he is brimming with humility and gratitude for being allowed the opportunities he has been afforded. I'm hoping to check out one of his future shows, whether it be in Toronto or Hamilton. But know this, if he's ever at the FRWY again, count on me being there front and center.

I've also previously blogged about the other musician I saw this week, Carrie Catherine. Her performance this past Friday was just as spectacular as her last one at the FRWY, except the crowd was not only a bit thin, but rather interesting, to say the least. The songs she sang were spectacular, and her voice is both unique and sonorous, blended with class and attitude. To top that off, she is an amazing guitar player!! If a girl can play a mean guitar and has a voice of an angel, she's all good in my book!! The only unfortunate thing about the evening was the sparseness of the crowd. In total, I'd say we had no more than a dozen people in for a spectacular show, including the baristas, all of which left before she was done. With 2 songs left, there was just one customer, Kaelyn, Adrian, Reg and myself. To top that off, we had one person who I think was drunk, high, or just plain crazy come walking in and start randomly clapping and requesting songs that she could dance to. She kept saying 'Hey sweetheart, can you play something I can dance to? Can you play Mustang Sally? I really like that song.' I could tell that this was starting to not only kill whatever vibe was in the place, but bothering Carrie because she jokingly said 'It's nights like these that remind me to not take this music thing seriously.' After hearing this, I decided to play the bad guy and ask this heckling woman to leave. I felt really bad, but it needed to be done. Hopefully I didn't hurt this lady's feelings.

After her set, we got a chance to chat briefly after her show, and like Chisai, she was pleasant, kind and thoroughly enjoyable to talk to. Hopefully this experience doesn't taint her image of Hamilton, because it would absolutely thrill me to no end if she came back and played another show in the future.

Well, that's it for the musical portion of my week. Stay tuned for the next installment: Mississauga