Where has the time gone. I planned on updating this blog back in mid-March but the plans of mice and men... etc.
OK. Let's see. What has
Grateful We're Not Dead done since the beginning of the year. March and April were busy by our standards. Us old timers don't want to be tied down too much to this fame and fortune thing especially when we're at the age where we'd appreciate the services of a roadie more than those of a groupie.
(Gord just told me to speak for myself).
Monday, February 9The band entertained the residents of Park Lane on Merivale Road. This was a slightly early Valentine's Party and the music provided tended to of a more romantic theme than raunchy.
Monday, February 16The band was part of the entertainment at a concert held at St. Paul's University for the
Women Building Peace conference. Many talented artists performed that night including Christina Marchant and friends, Evelyn Voigt and Peggy Friday, Kristine St. Pierre, Ross McNaughton and Marguerite Bilodeau.
Grateful We're Not Dead performed a number of songs as well as providing backup vocals and instrumental accompaniment for the poetry of Evelyn Voigt.
Saturday, February 28Grateful We're Not Dead joined with the improv comedy group,
Something's Missing, to entertain at a dinner and comedy night,
Desperate For Laughs?, at the Perth Civitan Club in Perth, Ontario. The evening was sponsored by
Something's Missing and the
Civitan Club as a joint fund raiser in support of Perth Community Support Service and Perth Union Library Kindergarten Reading Program. The band provided instrumental material prior to the dinner and then played a set of their
boobs and beer music during the show.From the laughter it appeared that the material was well received.
Saturday, April 4The beginning of April provided Grateful We're Not Dead with an interesting experience. We were one of the two bands booked to play for the
50th Wedding Anniversary of
Stuart and Joyce White in the Carleton Place Community Center. (Stuart and Don are first cousins). That night we had the pleasure of working with the
Bowes Brothers, an extremely popular country band out of Carleton Place.
Grateful We're Not Dead does not normally work with a drummer as we usually play shows instead of dances. However, that night we had the good fortune to have another cousin of Don's,
Dave White, sit in on the drums for our first set. (Thanks, Dave)
Saturday, April 18For the third year in a row
GWND became the ad-hoc house band for a night of entertainment for St. Brigid's Parish. This year the event was held at the church hall in Enniskerry, Ontario.
Thursday, April 23One thing you can never turn down is an invitation to perform for 200 women. The
Perth Lionesses invited
Grateful We're Not Dead to entertain at their
Spring Fling in support of the
Perth and District Memorial Hospital fund . The band played instrumentals while the ladies arrived, bought their drinks and got settled at their tables.
This event was an evening of enjoying drinks, home made desserts and comedy. The only men present were the bar tenders, servers, one comedian and of course,
Grateful We're Not Dead. The other entertainment included a lady clown and three standup comedians from the improv group
Something's Missing.
Grateful We're Not Dead was the final act and we started our show with a bit of a handicap: the organizers had asked us to not play
Puking in the Parking Lot. Seems they were worried about all the drinks and dessert that the ladies had consumed. However, we did include most of our other "Socially Significant" songs including
Grateful We're Not Dead,
Over Sixty Blues,
At Least Once Every Minute,
Ain't Never Gonna Do That Again. And of course, we finished the night with J.D. Wilson's
Boob Song. I can only imagine what some of these ladies were thinking as we performed, seeing as the entertainment for the previous two years had been the author,
Mary Cook.
At the beginning of the evening, the Lionesses had given us an envelope containing $100 to cover travelling expenses. In order to not destroy our reputation of only playing for food and beer, the band donated the money to the hospital fund at the end of the evening. We quite enjoyed the evening, ladies, and hope to see you again.
Saturday, April 25Grateful We're Not Dead entertained at a spaghetti supper in the hall at Pierce's Corners held as a fund raiser for the
Ottawa Valley Aid to Chernobyl Children. We must have been well behaved because they've booked us to entertain at a chicken dinner on Canada Day in North Gower.
Wednesday, May 27The band provided the sound system and some music at COAT's protest against the 2009 CANSEC Arms Show. Protest was held at Southminster United church in Ottawa. Music was also provided by
Just Voices and
The Raging Grannies.
Grateful We're Not Dead appears for 12 seconds at the 48 second mark. Also for 32 seconds at the 1 min 32 second mark providing backup accompaniment to Ottawa poet, Evelyn Voigt. Originally, the band's name was spelled incorrectly in the video but the videographer, Bill Clennett, quickly corrected the error and posted a new version. (Thanks, Bill).
Of course, along with these outings we've also attended the monthly Music Nights hosted by Gord Breedyk and Evelyn Voigt.
So that's what
Grateful We're Not Dead has been up to for the last few months. And I see that it's way past my 9 o'clock bedtime so I better find my groupie and hit the sack.
Grateful We're Not Dead
Now I must admit, upon seeing the name Psychogeriatric Team Exchange when they contacted us last year, some weird images ran through my head: psycho = crazy, geriatric = old, team exchange = wife swappers???. Hmmm, what are we getting into here? However, it turned out that's not what it was about at all. What we encountered was a fun-loving group of people ready to party and capable of dealing with some of the more socially-significant material in the Grateful We're Not Dead repertoire such as At Least Once Every Minute, Don't Look Now Mama's Got Her Boobs Out, Show Them To Me, The Day My Wife Met My Girlfriend, Dear Penis and The Boob Song, amongst others. (With apologies to Rodney Carrington and J.D. Wilson)
May I say, that Grateful We're Not Dead thoroughly enjoyed the evening. And we'd like to take a moment to thank Kim Schryburt-Brown of the Geriatric Mental Health Community Outreach Teams of Lanark, Leeds & Grenville for asking us to perform for their function and making a donation of $150 to the Alzheimer Society as compensation for the entertainment. Apparently, Kim first heard the band on CBC Radio's All In A Day while travelling between appointments. She then tracked us down on the Internet and got in touch via email.
Grateful We're Not Dead
All joking aside, this is an amazing group of people who on a daily basis provide services for adults with severe and moderate mental health concerns, including support for primary mental health problems such as depression and anxiety as well as more chronic illness such as schizophrenia and manic-depressive illness as well as dealing with senior adults experiencing dementia and other related concerns. I would like to raise our Grateful We're Not Dead hats (both cowboy and boob) in a salute to all those men and women who carry out these difficult tasks.
