Record Store Tales

#1141: 100 Years Old and Counting! Weekend Report – Parties Complete, CD Re-organizing Continues

RECORD STORE TALES #1141: 100 Years Old and Counting!
Weekend Report – Parties Complete, CD Re-organizing Continues

It’s official!  Grandma turned 100, and she had not one but two parties.  Seems appropriate given the circumstances!  It was a whirlwind of a weekend and difficult to sum up.

Friday afternoon began with a reunion of cousins!  I have not seen Cousin Geoff in over 10 years and I swear he is still growing.  I gave him a big hug, and the chitter chatter did not cease for the entire time.  It was like no time had passed, even though we had so much to catch up on.  He’s now a dad with two kids.

That day, we had a birthday party at the home for Grandma.  She was fashionably late, as is her right.  She received some nice gifts and plants, but was not impressed with her letter from King Charles.  The plants she got from people she knew meant a lot more than the King.  I am sure that Charles is now weeping at this rejection.  He certainly tried!

Funny thing about 100th birthdays.  They are very difficult to find cards for.  In fact, Grandma received three identical cards due to lack of selection!

We had a barbecue for family that night, and resumed the 100th birthday party the following day.  This party was for family only, which didn’t stop a couple people from the old folks’ home from trying to gatecrash!  I can’t say I blame them.  The food and cake were incredible.  The cake was probably the best I ever had, while I also stuffed myself with six sandwiches.  By the end of the celebrations, I think I was as exhausted as Grandma.  But that wasn’t the end of the weekend for me.

Who knew that a 100th birthday party would be so exhausting?  I’ve never even met a centenarian before, let alone partied with one.  I can tell you that centenarians like cake.

As for me, I had CDs to file.  I bought a third shelf, assembled it, and began filing.  I am done A and B, moving onto C.

It feels good to have all of A and B on shelves again.  I keep finding the odd A and B within the rest, but we’re getting closer every week.  I’m going to buy a couple more shelves in the near future, but here’s what the situation looks like this week.

I have also repaired my Metallica Live Sh*t box set lid.

It’s not perfect, and you can see the glue from the inside easily, but it’s solid again.

Things are finding themselves in order again, though it will likely take the rest of the summer to get everything organized again.  Which is good, because when Grab A Stack of Rock returns for its 3rd season in the fall, I’ll be really ready to grab stacks of rock once again – in alphabetical order!

Next party:  mine!  Join us Friday at 3:30 PM EST. Let’s keep it rolling.

#1140: Happy 100th Birthday to my Grandma

No show today, as we celebrate this centenarian!

RECORD STORE TALES #1140: Happy 100th Birthday to my Grandma

100 years ago, Doris Ann Drumm was born.  With a name like “Drumm”, I suppose it’s no wonder that my sister and I grew up to be so musical!  In fact, my grandmother can trace her family line to Alsace-Lorraine, and musicians on her side of the family.  As for her, even though she likes singers such as Michael Buble, she had no problem buying me Ozzy Osbourne and Van Halen tapes when I was a teen.  Later on, she’d just write me a cheque for my birthday.  “Buy one of your CD records,” went the inscription inside one birthday card.

The pandemic was hard on my grandma.  In the first three months, we lost my Uncle Don Don.  That was difficult for everyone, but especially her.  She still lived in her own home at age 96, and losing Uncle Don Don left her lonely.  Due to pandemic rules, we couldn’t hug her when we went to visit on her back porch.  At age 96, you simply don’t want to take any chances.  Though she survived two rounds with Covid, she got depressed and we nearly lost her three times.  The last time she came so close, I took half the day off work and wrote her obituary.  That’s how bad she was, February 23 2023.  Fortunately now she’s now in a good senior’s home where she doesn’t miss meals or medication.

Today, she’s happy living in her new home, and making new friends.  She still misses her old house, and her old cottage, but she recognizes that it wasn’t sustainable.

She likes to sit with us out in the courtyard of her building, in the shade, enjoying the weather.  She enjoys watching the Blue Jays on TV, even when they’re not doing so well.  She loves to talk!  All she needs is an ear to listen.  I enjoy bringing over my cottage videos, and watching them with her.  She hasn’t been to the cottage in a decade.

I’m so happy we made it to this incredible milestone.  It seemed like it was not going to happen.  But it did and here we are!  She’ll be receiving a letter of congratulations from the King, and family is flying in from Alberta to celebrate.

People always told us that grandma looked like the Queen.  To us, she is the queen!  Leave a happy birthday wish for my grandmother, and celebrate with us on this special day!

#1139: Bonfire at Lake Water Stones [VIDEO]

RECORD STORE TALES #1139: Bonfire at Lake Water Stones

More people, less wildlife.  That’s a rule-of-thumb at Lake Water Stones.

Why “Lake Water Stones“?  That was a childhood nickname that I had for Lorne Beach, on Lake Huron.  Now in my 52nd summer at the lake, I realize more than ever why it had that name.  As before, I took the drone up to the cottage and filmed lots of video.  I also took the drone far lower over the water, and through the crystal clear ripples, you can see countless stones…rocks upon rocks upon rocks…as far as the eye can see.  There are very few sandy patches at Lake Water Stones this year.  It changes from year to year.  The winter always brings in a new landscape, and seascape.

Back to the wildlife.  On our last trip to the lake, we witnessed our friend the fox, four wild turkeys, and a skunk. There was hardly anybody there that weekend, and it was very quiet.  This time, there were many neighbours.  The animals made themselves scarce.  There was no danger of tripping over a skunk this time.  Even our friend the chipmunk was barely to be seen.

On the flipside of this, we had the chance to meet the folks next door, a newlywed couple we’d never run into before.  Having a drone is a good conversation starter!  Neighbour Danny was treated to the best air show I could offer.  I swooped it down closer to the surface, and buzzed him from a safe distance as he swam.  Later on, I pulled the same stunt while Jen was swimming, and I came within an inch of crashing into a rock.  It was a close, close call and I will not be flying that fast, that close to the water again!  It’s all on video.

Danny invited Jen and I to a big bonfire that night with his wife.  I’m not usually the social type, and as of my friends who have not even seen me yet this year can testify to.  In the interest of doing new things and trying to be social, I decided to go.  Of course, I brought my drone to film it from the air.  It was an impressive fire.  And truthfully, it was nice to be social for a change instead of a hermit.

That was the one new thing we did this weekend, in a summer of trying new things.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about the music we played in the car, and on the porch.  On the way to the lake, I wanted to try one of the new albums I bought when Aaron and I went to Toronto.  I chose Don Dokken’s Solitary, which as I surprised, was an acoustic album.  I enjoyed it, but Jen did not like his cover of Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” one bit.  I’m undecided.  I don’t have to decide until I review it.  After that, we needed a palette cleanser so I put on Back for the Attack by Dokken.  Not one bad song.

On the porch, I asked Jen to pick bands, and then I would pick a song.  She started throwing me curveballs by naming bands like Judas Priest.  I would then shake it up by playing an atypical song.  In Priest’s case, it was “Before the Dawn”.  When she picked Guns N’ Roses, I went for “Better”.  This fun game kept us entertained for an hour or so.

Saturday morning was spent listening to the best of Kansas, in preparation for the afternoon interview with Tim Durling.  Jex Russell and I had the time of our lives talking to Tim about all things Kansas, and he should know!  A great show, though Amazon failed to deliver my copy of Point of Know Return as planned.  It just flat-out never showed up and they refunded my money.  All I had to show off for the interview with Tim was my copy on 8-track, that he gifted me last summer!

Another triumphant weekend at Lake Water Stones.  It’s wonderful to be able to keep these memories on video.  I hope you enjoy it.

#1138: ‘Twas 30 Years Ago, at Stanley Park Mall (Story & Video featuring Robert Daniels)

RECORD STORE TALES #1138: ‘Twas 30 Years Ago, at Stanley Park Mall
(Story & Video featuring Robert Daniels)

Since 1991, The Beat Goes On was the easiest place for me to buy new music. The selection wasn’t great, and the prices were high, but it was just a 10 minute walk from my house. When Motley Crue released their long-awaited new album in the spring of 1994, I just grabbed it on my way to school. I bought a lot of important music at that store in the early 90s. Mr. Bungle was my first purchase, as I recall, $14.99 on cassette. I picked up the debut by Fight, the Very Special Christmas compilations, and the Wayne’s World soundtrack.  No, wait – I got Wayne’s World at Zeller’s because the owner was too busy talking to a girl to help me!  When I finally got his attention, he was sold out of Wayne’s World, so I bought it at Zellers down the hall!

I wasn’t the most regular customer for the first three years, because of the pricing.  As a small independent store in a mall, rent and overhead was high while margins were low.  Then came used CDs.

The owner likes to tell the story.  “I came in with a single tray of used CDs and put them on sale,” he said.  Initially our prices were $9.99 and $11.99 for used CDs.  I walked in one day in early July and bought Kiss My Ass, which was two or three weeks old (June 21 1994 release date).  What a steal!  I didn’t want to pay new prices for a handful of songs that I wanted.  I was impressed.  I planned on making my visits much more regular.

Two weeks later, I was working there behind the counter.

Stanley Park Mall was an important location to me, all my life.  I had worked there in 1989-1990 at the grocery store Zehrs, and my dad worked at the bank there through pretty much all the 1980s.  Now I was calling it home again, as I worked the summer of 1994 at The Beat Goes On, learning the used CD trade and rocking the suburbs.  The mall was an ever-changing landscape of stores.  When I started, many were already long gone, such as the comic book store and video rental place.  Today it’s even more of a wasteland, with very little to attract teen mallrats today.  There was once an A&A Records; that closed in 1990.  There were once two banks, a diner, a liquor store, a camera shop, a Zellers with a restaurant, even a video arcade once upon a time.  The mall is barely recognizable from that day I was hired in July of 1994.

When I started at The Beat Goes On, there were just two of us.  I was replacing a part-timer named Craig Herner that was leaving for school.  It was just me and the owner.  It was a pretty incredible time to be at the start of something.  Used CDs were taking off, and we had two tables of them as opposed to one little tray.  Grunge was still powering the charts, with Soundgarden and Alice In Chains lingering near the top.  Kurt Cobain was dead but the music was still selling like mad.  On the other side of the ailes, MuchDance was popular, and there was a new rapper named 2Pac that was making waves.  The soundtrack to Forrest Gump was selling steady despite its high (2 CD) selling price.  “Somebody’s getting rich off that Gumbo thing!” said an old man who didn’t buy it.  It wasn’t us getting rich!  April Wine had a new album, there was a ZZ Top blues compilation hitting the shelves, and it was just generally a brilliant time to be alive.

30 years is an eternity, and the mall has changed, but here we are!  Recently, Rob Daniels joined me for a stroll around Stanley Park Mall, to see what has transpired.  We strolled the hallways, remarked on the stores now long gone, and explored what’s there now.   Enjoy this video documentary on the changes endured by Stanley Park Mall over the last 30 years…three decades to the week since my hiring at The Beat Goes On!

 

#1137: A Little South of Sanity: What I’ve Been Up To…In Photos

RECORD STORE TALES #1137: A Little South of Sanity: What I’ve Been Up To…In Photos

Madness reigned.

As you may be aware from the last cottage video, disaster struck when we returned home on June 23.  My old shelves, which I’ve had over 40 years, finally fell apart, and a few hundred of my precious CDs hit the ground.  Some were damaged, some just have broken cases.  This was a pretty traumatic experience for a collector.  After considering quitting the hobby for good (more grief than it’s worth?), and wasting time and money with a carpenter, I decided to rip my music room apart and see what I could do.

I moved everything around to make space, and then got to work.  I chose a couple bookshelves on Amazon.  They’re not ideal for CDs, but the music is off the floor now.  Shelves are better than floors, even if the discs are in stacks and not rows.  The two shelves I chose can hold 350 lbs each.  More than enough.  They arrived on Saturday.  In the time it took to listen to all of Aerosmith’s double live A Little South of Sanity, Jen and I had the shelves built.

A Little South of Sanity more than describes the week I had, mental health-wise.  I told people I was done with physical music, and therefore the show and site would be ending.  I’d move on to drone videos.  I really was ready to sell it all.  Looking at my damaged Metallica Live Sh*t box set, which was mint when I bought it in 1997, was heartbreaking.

The new bookshelves were so surprisingly easy to put together (even we could do it!), that I ordered a third to replace an old ugly wooden unit.  Then, I began sorting.  I’m maybe halfway through putting everything back in alphabetical order.  The discs used to be scattered through three rooms.  Now I’ve got it down to two!  In the end, there will be two CD towers, three of these new bookcases, and a few shelves for box sets.

It’s a work in progress.  On Sunday, I spent six hours filing.  It felt amazing to see my entire Iron Maiden collection in one place again (excluding box sets and abnormal sized boxes).  Soon, all my Deep Purple, Marillion, Aerosmith and Kiss will join them.  It’s a long process hindered by a shortage of space, but it’s coming together.

By Saturday, my mental health was good enough that Jen and I went out to the Farmer’s Market for the first time together since her dad was alive.  We stocked up on schnitzel, sweets and cheese curds, but the main reason we went was actually quite epic, and relevant.  We met, in person, the incredible Nurse Kat.  She is the first Grab A Stack of Rock guest that I didn’t know previously, that I have now met in person.  And she too had great success, finding lilies to replace the ones eaten by a rabbit.  In happy coincidence, both she and Jen were decked out in AC/DC gear.  So it was success all around!

I will say with cautious optimism that this summer is looking up.  Wish me luck and hope that nothing got permanently destroyed in my music avalanche of 2024!

 

 

 

#1136: Prophets of Disaster

RECORD STORE TALES #1136: Prophets of Disaster

A teaser for the 30th Anniversary story & video of my hiring at The Beat Goes On

From day one at the Record Store, there were always the doomsayers.  The people who expected us to go under any day now.  The prophets of disaster, who say the ship is lost.  It was almost like they wanted us to fail.

“How’s business?” people would ask.  My boss taught us to always answer this question simply.  “When people ask you how business is going, just answer ‘good’.  Don’t tell them you’re having a great day, or a slow day, or offer any details of any kind, OK?  Just say ‘business is good’.  That’s all.”  This was very shrewd.  If someone sniffed out that there was a lot of cash in the register, you could have just made your store a target for a break-in.  And, of course, you never wanted to give the impression that business was slow, even if the store was empty.  “Always look busy,” the boss told us.  “Don’t let the customers see you leaning and chatting behind the counter.  Always be filing, organising, cleaning.”

When I first started working alone in late 1994, at Stanley Park Mall, I encountered my first doomsayer.

“So, I heard you’re closing soon,” said the man as I rang in his cassette purchase.

I took a moment, and answered simple, “Not that I know of.”

“I heard this place is going to be a shoe store,” he responded.  I shook my head no.

Of course I told my boss about this encounter.  I didn’t think we were in danger, but I did think he should know what people were saying.

He shook his head.  “Mike, people have been saying that since the week I opened.  They said we wouldn’t last a month.  Then they said we wouldn’t last a year.  That was three years ago.  See, this is why I told you never to say anything other than ‘business is good’.”  Smart man.  The thing about it that bothered me is these people sometimes seemed to be taking pleasure in telling me we were going out of business.  Like, what did we ever do to you?  Lowball you on a CD you sold to us?  How about supporting your local business?

I bet those guys loved going to Future Shop to buy their music.  They always had plenty of Skynyrd, cheap.

It kept happening, when I moved to manage my own store in the Canadian Tire plaza in 1996.

“I hear you guys will be closing soon,” said one guy.

Deciding to play with him, I answered, “No, we close at 9:00.  Lotsa time.”

“No, I mean I hear you guys will be going out of business soon.”

“We just opened three months ago,” I answered, smiling politely.

“Lotsa luck,” said the guy as he left, buying nothing.

That store is still open today, in a new unit at the same plaza.

At one point, there was a rumour going around that one of the unpopular employee’s dads was going to buy us out.  A few people were spooked by that.  I considered for a moment, but told them, “I’ve seen the old beater that he drives.  He drives her to and from work.  He doesn’t look like he’s swimming in excess cash.”

This July will be 30 years since I started working at that store in Stanley Park Mall.  While we weren’t exactly winning the lottery at that location, we definitely did well enough for the owner to expand to the many locations he has today.  He could not have done that if the original store was not a success.  Thanks to a lot of hard work (including two years of dedication at that location from me), he thrived and grew.  No matter what the naysayers claimed they heard.

I really don’t get it.  We’re supposed to be supporting local.  Why did some people seem to want us to fail?  Did they find a cassette tape cheaper at Zellers?  Was it personal?  I’ll never know.

#1135: The Triumph and the Tragedy – Cottage Weekend June 20-23

“I am inevitable.” – Thanos.  Also my CD shelves.

I couldn’t wait to get my drone in the air when I got to the cottage.  We made it up in good time, all to the soundtrack of the Beaches.  I managed to pick up their first two EPs in Toronto with Aaron the week prior (paying through the teeth).  With very little traffic to deal with, we ran through The Beaches, Heights, and Blame My Ex before arrival.  Then it was time to fly!

We only had two good days for flying, Thursday and Friday.  It started to get rainy on Saturday which made it the proverbial “indoor day“.  Still, we celebrated our three day weekend with great food and excitement.  It was a brilliant weekend for nature sightings.  We spotted plenty of the usual chipmunks and squirrels, but we were treated to a rafter of wild turkeys, who lingered long enough to be filmed.  There was even a curious seagull who swooped in to check out my drone.  We also spotted our unafraid fox, Eric, who strolled directly past us twice without fear or hurry.  I was unable to get my camera out either time, which is a shame.  He was mere feet away.

My Amazon delivery this time was a new landing pad for my drone.  I discovered that landing in the grass was difficult, so the landing pad gives me a flat square anywhere I go.  Amazon showed up during my interview with author Angie Moon on Grab A Stack of Rock, which was funny to me.  Until recently, if you wanted something like that you’d have to wait until you got home to the city.  Now, Amazon can be there next day.  Unbelievable!  For most of my young life there, we didn’t have phones or cable TV.  Now we have wi-fi and Amazon delivering priority parcels in the afternoon.  I cannot say that I mind.  One thing that I used to miss during my teenage cottage weekends was access to my friends and record stores.  Now they’re all there at a touch of a button.

The drone footage was exceptional, and made up the bulk of the video for the trip.  And why not?  It’s my new toy and I love it.  It’s so easy and intuitive to use.   It has given me more options for being creative.  I simply could not wait to get home and start editing my new video.

And that’s when disaster struck.

What happened?  Watch the video….

Music credits:

  1. “You’re All Heart” by The Candidates
  2. “Annie Waits” by Ben Folds
  3. “Cash Money” by The Candidates
  4. “Leave You Now” by Gypsy Jayne
  5. “Blind” by Dr. Kathryn Ladano

 

PHOTO GALLERY: Vinyl, CDs, DVDs, and Cassettes! Mike and Aaron (and Aaron’s Dad) Return to Toronto 2024! (RST #1134-B)

RECORD STORE TALES #1134-B:  Vinyl, CDs, DVDs, and cassettes! Mike and Aaron (and Aaron’s Dad) Return to Toronto 2024!

 

To read about our Toronto trip, click here.

Here is the full photo gallery of every picture I took, hunting for records in Toronto.  For all our scores, you will have to watch the video at bottom.  Here are the still shots.  Enjoy!

(There’s one awesome photo of Aaron as the 9th Bosstone that he will not let me post!)

Thank you Aaron & Wayne for this awesome trip.

VIDEO: Vinyl, CDs, DVDs, and Cassettes! Mike and Aaron (and Aaron’s Dad) Return to Toronto 2024! (RST #1134)

RECORD STORE TALES #1134:  Vinyl, CDs, DVDs, and cassettes! Mike and Aaron (and Aaron’s Dad) Return to Toronto 2024!

 

For the first time since 2018, we returned to Toronto.

Aaron and his dad picked me up in Kitchener around 10:00 AM.  Of course, I made them pose for a drone photo before we left!  BMV in Toronto opened at noon, so we had plenty of time, and conversation was good.  The weather was cool, breezy and sunny.  It was the perfect day.  In fact it may have been the most perfect weather we ever had for a Toronto excursion.

I gifted Aaron a copy of Tim Durling’s Y&T book, Down For the Count, and Aaron gifted me two T-shirts, two CDs, and one Hot Wheels.  You will see these in the video that I spent the day filming.

“I’ve never seen somebody so excited for video editing!” remarked Aaron.  Of course!  When you had a day like we had, you can’t help but be eager to show it to the world!  I spent 2.5 editing it on Monday night.  The video tells the whole story.  We strolled the streets of Kensington Market, and we sifted through the aisles and aisles of CDs.  We only planned on hitting two stores:  our regulars, BMV and Sonic Boom.  We had a bonus stop at Paradisc Bound (first visit since 2012).  We scored at every single store!

“We’re going to do best at BMV,” predicted Aaron, who was correct, but we didn’t do poorly anywhere.  BMV won for prices and used CD selection.  Sonic Boom, unfortunately, has started pricing certain discs according to Discogs highs.  An old copy of Iron Maiden’s No Prayer for the Dying was jacked up because the cover art changed on the remastered editions.  An out of print Helix Get Up! EP was going for a ridiculous $40 on CD, even though all the songs are duplicated on the Power of Rock and Roll album.  Used cassettes, the kind that people used to dump in Thunder Bay landfills, were sometimes $10 each — same as they sold for when they were brand new.  A Razor album was $200 on used CD.  These are things they never jacked up back in 2018 when I was last there.  Something has changed, and it wasn’t cool.  Ultimately I did pay a lot of money for two used CDs at Sonic Boom.  Ultimately I decided I wanted them, even though I was paying way too much.

BMV was just awesome.  I scored eleven CDs and four records there, for a total of $107.  Some were things I was trying for the first time, others were albums I needed to help complete some collections of certain bands.  (One record was a gift that shall not be appearing here, for obvious reasons.)  We lost track of time easily.  I have no idea how long we were in BMV, but long enough to find what we wanted and then some.  Of note:  Their old 3-for$10 bin has changed.  It is now simple $2.99 each.  Perfect!

Aaron’s dad was exploring Toronto on his own, but was waiting for us when we met up for lunch at Pauper’s Pub.  There are so many great places to eat in our little area of Toronto, but we hit the Pauper’s Pub every single year.  That’s an endorsement.  Service was great and so was the food.  I had some blackened salmon, and unlike many places, it wasn’t dry and tasteless.  It was tender and loaded with flavourful roasted veggies.

We made our way through the sights and smells of Kensington on our way to Sonic Boom.  There, a giant Arkells display took up the front window.  The band played there two weeks prior, selling copies of their new 7″ single “Big Feelings”, which was sold out in one day and not in stock.  In fact they only had one Arkells left in stock, period.

We did well enough at Sonic Boom, though the store is becoming more…corporate?  “Like a bigger Sunrise Records,” said Aaron.  Lots of Reaction figures, Funko Pops, socks, and other assorted accessories.  We were not there for those things.  Reaction figures are $30 a pop now and prohibitively expensive, even though they had Phil Lynott, Cliff Burton, Lemmy, the Beastie Boys and more.  When we come to Toronto, we focus on the real deal:  the music.  I bought two “holy grail” items albeit overpriced, that I was hoping to find in Toronto but didn’t expect to.

I grabbed a Mango Pepsi to wet the whistle as we walked back to the car, meeting up with Aaron’s dad along the way.  He was a little bit behind so we had to kill 15 minutes.  Paradisc Bound was right there, and they had a record that I had been wanting since I first started in music retail back in 1994.  It was right there in front of me.  It was meant to be!  For $15, I added one final score to my tally.  The funny thing was, I had just been talking about this record with Jex Russell last week…and there it was.  Elvis truly is everywhere.  (That’s a clue, though you will see the record in the video.)

The drive home was a little stoppy-starty, as Toronto traffic is.  It took us one hour to get back up to Highway 401, and another hour back to Kitchener.  Aaron and his dad drove two more hours back to Owen Sound…and they wouldn’t let me pay for lunch!  Nice guys, those two.  Aaron had to work Monday morning, too!

If you want to see every single thing we scored, check out the video.  Can’t wait to return!

#1133: Mike and Aaron Return to Toronto – Today!

RECORD STORE TALES #1133: Mike and Aaron Return to Toronto – Today!

It has been a long, strange last few years, hasn’t it?

Aaron and I went record hunting in Toronto almost annually, for years, ever since 2012.  The goal was to buy music.  Lots, and lots of music.  Records, CDs, whatever.  We always did very well, and I began documenting everything for YouTube.  The video series has proven to be very popular.  But Aaron and I haven’t been to Toronto since 2018.  Why?

2018 was our annus horibilis.  Jen was sick.  Cancer.  She survived.  Her mother did not.  The only reason I went to Toronto with Aaron that summer was because “Mum” insisted.  “Go with your friend,” she told me.  Within six months of Jen beating cancer, we lost “Mum”.  I loved her mom.  I don’t say that lightly.  We were very close.  Because Jen is the kind of person who can sleep in until noon given the chance, her mom and I would patiently sit together, drinking coffee and watching old movies.  Our favourite topic to discuss was, of course, Jen!  Jen didn’t like this too much.  She hated when we talked about her!  God, I miss her mom.

2019 was the summer we spoiled ourselves, and I elected not to go to Toronto that year.  Jen and I celebrated our 11th anniversary, since we missed our 10th in a hospital waiting room.  In 2019 I got fat, grew my hair long, and spent as much time at the cottage as I could.  Since 2018 was the year without a summer, I vowed to take advantage of every minute from that moment on.

We all know was happened in 2020, which dragged on into 2021…

I became something of a hermit during this time.  Most of my friends would tell you they don’t see me often.  The one I’ve seen the most is Rob Daniels.  (Watch this space for a video!)  I haven’t seen Meat in over two years…Scott Peddle I saw last year…same with Max the Axe.  What friends have I seen?  Not many.  I’m an introvert by nature, and if the pandemic did any damage to me, it was to give me an excuse to burrow into my little hole and not come out.  And so I haven’t gone to Toronto with Aaron since then.  I did have lunch with him in Port Elgin last summer, but our record shopping excursions remained on hold.

It takes a lot of mental energy for me to force myself out the door and to be social, but Aaron really makes this easy.  He does all the driving.  He’s pleasant company.  So is his dad, Wayne, who also comes with us to Toronto.

So, today, Aaron and I return to Toronto with Wayne.  We’ll be hitting up BMV first in the morning.  Then Pauper’s Pub in the afternoon, followed by the finale at Sonic Boom.  I am not bringing a list.  I’m winging it.  I am waiting to be surprised and ready to be spontaneous.

Wish us luck.  Mike and Aaron are returning to Toronto!