Elgan speaks
...and her words thunder across the land

Yesterday, my troubles seemed paramount.

Saturday, Sept. 23, 2006
9:21 a.m.
I really wanted to write about the concert last night as soon as we got home, but my husband insisted that I not closet myself away from everyone at the computer, and by the time I could have updated I was totally exhausted and just went to bed.

Yesterday was a full day, fuller than I would have liked for having to perform in the evening. I dropped Hubby off at the department with all his gear and then went around town putting up posters. At only one place, the butcher’s, was there a poster for last night’s concert. Otherwise, there was a paucity of publication for our events. I left one with the butcher and asked him to put it up after he took the other down, and I also posted them at the Captain’s, the biker’s pub (which, even though no one has supposedly smoked in there since May 1, still smells like an unwashed ashtray and I couldn’t get out fast enough), the healthfood store, the bakery (where I also bought a blueberry pie, they looked so good, made with plump, fresh blueberries), the discount store, the used-book store and the Java. Not a single one of those places had any advertising for last night’s event. Tsk tsk! However, I did see lots of posters up for the cultural gala in which I’m also taking part next Thursday.

Then we rehearsed for three hours in the percussion studio (what a friend of mine calls “the box”, going through the first half of the blues concert material. I was totally exhausted, even though I tried saving my voice. When we got home I threw myself into bed, after taking a couple of pain killers for the amplifier-induced headache, and feigned unconsciousness for about half an hour before heating up a frozen pizza which Hubby and I consumed for lack of other nourishment. Then I got all gussied up (gold dress, gold high-heeled sandals, lots of makeup [gold eyeshadow, of course] and glitter on my shoulders and in my cleavage [of which I was revealing plenty], and gold sparkly jewellery; even my nails were painted gold--both finger and toe) and Hubby packed up his classical guitar and we headed back to the department.

He was on near the beginning of the first half, and I closed it, so I didn’t get to hear him play, but he said it was perfect, and so did a few other people. Before we left the house I had prepared a thermos of my special agrimony-mint tisane, which really is a wonder remedy for tired vocal tracts, and I sang much better than I’d hoped or dreamed. The tone was excellent, but I think my accompanist got a little excited and the tempo was faster than I could manage in my exhausted state, so I had to gulp breaths where I normally don’t. The audience was definitely enthusiastic, though, and I got tons of compliments. The fact that the piece had a ton of runs and high notes and lasted for a full nine minutes could also account for their amazement. I’ll have to hear the recording to make my own judgment on this matter.

The students had prepared the usual reception and I snagged a glass of red wine before they all disappeared, plus a few grapes. When we got home we sat up listening to blues on the internet, Hubby, Little Princess, her BF and I, and drinking beer (them) and Irish Cream (me). Now I have to remove the nail polish, which is already starting to chip, do laundry (there’s already a load in the washer) and gird my loins for another exciting and fun-filled day.

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