Fred Eaglesmith

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Kate and I caught some of the Fred Eaglesmith Charity Picnic held for several years now at the Springwater Conservation area just outside of Aylmer. It's about an hour south of our home.

Audrey Auld (sometimes just Audrey, other times Audrey Auld Mezera) was there as was Slaid Cleaves. Both really important artists.

Washboard Hank, Roger Marin, Willie P. Bennett and the rest of gang rounded things out nicely.

And the weather was lovely to sit in the sun and enjoy some music.

25th Anniversary

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For our 25th Wedding Anniversary (August 2, 2005) we had a party with family and friends at the London Music Club on Colborne Street in London with 63 Monroe as the headline act. They took the occassion to celebrate their 25th anniversary as well — 25 years of playing as 63 Monroe.

On our wedding night, 25 years earlier, we had gone out to see them at the Cedar Lounge with a couple of friends. At that time they were playing under the name NFG but soon after changed to 63 Monroe. They had recently reformed after a long hiatus so we were really excited to have them play again. We got hold of Scott Bentley and he was happy, even keen to have the band play for us. He suggested the London Music Club which had recently opened under Peter Denomme. Scott said it was a good place for the event and it certainly was.

Kate, unfortunately, was in a wheel chair and on crutches. She had broken her ankle in late June and had to have it put together with pins and a plate. She wasn't up to dancing that day but we certainly had some fun. See her "couch dancing" in the photo above.

We had some private time with family and friends at our home that afternoon and before opening the doors of the London Music Club to the public when 63 Monroe took the stage. We had a very nice buffet dinner and some music by friends at the club. Peter Denomme played a song for us, Sam Wells played one and I sang Fred Eaglesmith's "Wilder than Her" (which got a good reaction in spite of the fact that I cannot carry a tune). I was helped along by our "No. 1 son" Christopher Fry who was visiting from Germany. Chris was an aspiring photographer and took most of the pictures in the album; others are by Peter Marshall; I didn't take many. We then had my brother Larry and his band "The Good Time Blues Band" play some classic blues numbers. My sister Ellen joined in with them; she often sang with Larry. They were quite good, I still have a recording of their set that Kate's brother Gord made. 

After this private party we opened the doors for the mayhem of 63 Monroe. This lineup was Scott, Markii, Peter, Brad and Brian. You can see from the pictures that we had a pretty crazy time dancing to the punk tunes of our misspent youth. Scott tells me it was a classic 63 Monroe event. Fun as all get out! The set list for the music they played that night was:

1. Dear John
2. Horizontal Hold
3. Hijack Victim
4. Party Time
5. Cyanide
6. Give'm Up
7. Possibilities
8. Henry 8th
9. Teenage Kicks
10. Wrong To You
11. Shakin' All Over
12. At the Boot
13. Pils
14. 2 minutes 38
15. Weekend Punx
16. Wild Thing
17. Blitzkrieg Bop
18. Keepin' Me Away
19. Encore: Subway Train
20. Encore: Roadrunner

Markii wrote us to thank us for including 63 Monroe in our 25th anniversary. He said he had a wonderful time and enjoyed the Free Press article. He closed with "See you on the 50th". At this writing that's coming up soon... I replied:

"It was a wonderful time and we wanted to extend many thanks again to you, Scott, Peter, Brad and Brian. We got hot and sweaty, danced our buns off and partied like we were kids again. It wasn't our parent's 25th Anniversary — it was ours. We especially liked that you guys took the occasion to celebrate your 25th. Many folks commented on how tight the band was and what great fun they had. I was worried we might collapse of heat/sweat exhaustion. It was a great show and precisely what we had hoped for. Can't wait for your new CD.

I don't know if we'll survive another 25 years (our relationship will but god knows how long the old body will last). But every day we're here we'll have great memories of your shows. Hope to be able to come see you again and build some new memories."

Scott wrote to say what a great time they had and hoped it was everything we had imagined it would be — it certainly was! He added that it was a typical Monroe show: at the end of the night, when the van wouldn't start, they were all drunk trying to figure out what their next move was going to be and were laughing through it all. What a party.

The photo album includes the set list they used and also a scan of the Free Press article by Ian Gillespie that Markii mentioned.

Ps. truth be told, she's wilder than me.

[This note composed during the COVID Pandemic of March, 2021.]