Spring Forward

Ten minutes to showtime and I still hadn't figured out the coffeemaker.

It was the night of our big "Feels Like Spring" concert, which proved to be an ironically amusing title. I'm not what you'd call an ironic songwriter (which is perhaps unfortunate in an age of stylish post-modernism) so holding a "Feels Like Spring" concert in the middle of a freezing slush storm seemed particularly daring.

Anyway, we were prepared. We had created see-through green bookmarks and given them away as a souvenir in the program (yes, a program!) so it could feel like spring no matter what. Also, the concert had chanced to fall on "spring forward" night, which allowed me to sing my lyric "turn your clocks forward, don't you fall back, don't get tripped up by those things you still lack" with extra enthusiasm.

More than 80 people turned out for my show last night at our nearby community centre. (It's a lovely place, a big historical building, but not well known. To direct people to it I found myself referring to Jilly's, the better-known strip club a block away.) My bandmates for the night, Noah Zacharin and David Woodhead , played brilliantly. As for me, I decided it was best to simply sing and not mention the coffee-making debacle.

I've heard it said that when you're a mother, you're also a nurse, short-order cook, teacher, coach, cleaning lady and child psychologist. It's probably equally true that independent musicians are often publicists, event coordinators, caterers, couriers, set decorators and e-mail marketers.

At one point, when people were arriving, the decorations weren't quite up yet, the CD and food tables were a work-in-progress and I still hadn't figured out the coffee, I started to panic. A kind musician friend took me aside and reminded me that no matter what, I could just get up with the band and sing the songs and everybody would have a good time. I realized she was right.

We had hoped the weather would be perfect on April 2nd, and we'd hoped to have every single detail perfectly in place hours before the show. But that doesn't really feel like spring at all. Spring is known for its slush storms. And community events are (in my experience) known for their mystifying coffeemakers.

After talking to my friend, I looked around the room again and saw that miraculously the room had been transformed. Lights glittered on the ceiling, colourful paper flowers bedecked the floor and the CD and food tables looked fantastic, all thanks to many talented and generous friends.

The show went forward. It did "Feel Like Spring". I'm told the coffee was excellent...and so was the music.


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Our family spent the day recovering from last night's show...but we had enough energy to watch the Juno Awards, which were held in my hometown, Winnipeg, this year. We all jumped up from the couch and cheered when Ron Sexsmith won Songwriter of the Year.