Bob’s into Heavy Metal now
by Robert LaFrance
Saturday,
July 20, found me in Woodstock, NB (as opposed to Woodstock, New York or
Woodstock, Ontario) and doing something I never would have predicted in a
million years, or at least 100,000. I was sitting in Woodstock, in a Dooryard
Festival venue tent and listening to ‘heavy metal’ music.
And
enjoying it.
One of the
featured groups was a 4-member band called Monteith, and one of the featured
musicians in that band was my son Kinley who is officially now ten times the
guitar player I ever was. Not a fan of heavy metal music generally, I decided
to go to the live show so that my son would realize I supported him in whatever
he did. And Wow! I really enjoyed myself. The rest of the band – Dan Monteith, Shaun
Monteith, and Chaddus Provost – were great too and made the show into something
to be remembered.
I
especially enjoyed a DragonFire cover they did called “Through the Fire and
Flames”. The guitar solos were not possible, but they did them.
I think the
band has a great future if that July 20 show is any indication. Very
professional and very skilful! Based in Northampton, across the St. John River
from Woodstock, they have performed in many places now, including Fredericton,
Saint John (where they won a Battle of the Bands this year), FollyFest in
Gagetown, Moncton, Listugij, PQ, Tracadie, and other places. Go for it guys!
*****************
In other
observations from this area: As I write these immortal words, I am getting a
bit hungry because my wife Darlene is in Montreal where she is visiting our
daughter, son-in-law and a little girl named Violet Grace.
My wife has
been gone two days and I am hungry for some good food. The problem is that she
was so eager to see our grand-daughter that she forgot to show me where the
electric stove is located so I can’t cook something, and she only left me five
dollars and some change in case I want to buy groceries or eat out. Barely
enough for a bottle of beer plus tip.
Before she
left though, she did list the more-or-less edible items in the fridge so I
wouldn’t starve to death on the kitchen floor. “There are some cooked new
potatoes from last Tuesday, some beets, ice cubes, Lady Ashburnam pickles, rye
bread you bought in April, and I think there’s some milk.” She sure looks after
me.
To bring a
little truth into this story, I should mention that I was cooking 7-ingredient
omelettes when she was going into grade one. I was just looking for sympathy.
*****************
My friend George staggered into the
club last evening, although he has been more likely to stagger out. He was
tired after staying with his son while his wife was away. (It must be
catching.)
“I just finished watching a cartoon with my son,” he began, after
ordering a tall cold beer. “The cartoon was about two mice called Pinky and the
Brain. Brain says to Pinky, who for some reason has an English accent:
"Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"
Pinky answers: "I think so Brain, but how are we going to get
the Lady Gaga in a helicopter?” That more or less describes how things are
around my house. I ask my son how his
day went. "Saturday afternoon I think.” comes the answer. I asked my
youngest daughter what she plans to plant in her little garden and does she
even want one, and she answers: "Chocolate, but is it tall enough?”
Is it television, computers, our
diets, nuclear testing, or is it just me when I say people rarely LISTEN to one
another any more? What? Where was I anyway? What am I doing here? What is this
thing with letters and numbers on the little keys?
I know of a person who paid so
little attention to his or her car that she put 35,000 kilometres on one oil
change. I know a man who went out to get the mail and forgot his pants. (Not
me.)
It could be that there's so much
information out there that every last one of us is suffering from overload. If
we could just re-format our hard drives (clear out the old brains) back to a
point where we could start learning again it would help our general well-being.
Or not.
Talking to a farmer on the weekend, I may have gotten an idea. He
was saying that some years he doesn't do anything with certain fields; this has
the effect of rejuvenating them. It's called "lying fallow". Maybe
that's what we all should do for a spell each year.
*****************
A final note: If any of
my readers are carpenters I have some advice for them. I am not referring to
the old saying ‘measure twice and cut once’ but another warning – don’t build a
sawhorse unless you have a sawhorse in the first place to hold the boards and
2x4s you will use to make the sawhorse. I
bought some lumber last week to make a sawhorse but when I got it home I
realized I needed a sawhorse to cut up the boards.end
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