PROPS to my boss Mr. Giambra for introducing me to what the cool kids are listening to (showed me on his lovely iPad no less!)
Thank you Faith No More for my first song of the morning on the drive to work.
Epic. Love that song.
I just got one of the first US Spotify accounts because I have Klout! #SpotifyPerk Find out if you’re eligible: http://t.co/7fJZkl9
Thank you for giving me Lowest of the Low.
Photo by Robert Kirkham, Buffalo News
And Ron Hawkins.
Photo from JoNana’s Posterous
Lowest of the Low rocks the Wharf
“Kinda the Lonely One,” “Eternal Fatalist,” “For the Hand of Magdalena” — these were played with a brisk garage rocklike offhandedness that served them well. The crowd, of course, hears these songs as journal entries in their own lives — snapshots of a bygone era that was indeed a formative one, and remains relevant today.
“It was all about as much fun as one can have legally.”
Oh goodness. Talk about taking me back in time. What an AMAZING CONCERT last night. The evening was perfect. Beautiful weather, beautiful location and the music…oh the music. All old school Low! What a treat!
I *think* I tweeted most of the set list, I might be missing one or two.
Kinda the Lonely One
Westminster Taxi Squad
Eternal Fatalist
Gamble
Just About *The Only* Blues
Hand Of Magdalena
Out of the Black
City Full of Cowards
Salesmen Cheats and Liars
St Brendon’s Way
Your Birthday Party
Darkhorse
Letter From Bilbao
Under the Carlaw Bridge
Rosy and Grey
Gossip Talking Blues
Henry Needs a New Pair of Shoes
Bleed a Little While
AND! I got to hang out with Erin—in BUFFALO for once! (Last few times I’ve seen her have been out of town—Fredonia, Washington D.C. and Cleveland!)
This is a photo of Tall Man who decided to sneak in a space in front of us.
I was not going to let Tall Man obstruct our view so I kindly tapped him on the shoulder and reminded him that he was, um, tall. From that point on I made a new chatty friend HUGE LOTL fan “from his days back at Fredonia State in the early 90′s.” Yeah, yeah…me too buddy…now make sure your cute tall self stays over to the side so I can see Ron thank you.
Tall Man left at one point to go back to his friends…but came back and bought me a beer. Cheers! Every free drink is one less drink I have to buy! (Or He Who Makes Me Smile) Ha.
Anywho…good times.
Ran into Angie at the end of the concert. (One Half of the Good Canadian Uses)
And then continued the night with Ms. Shea. (Which surprisingly didn’t end up dangerous and late!)
PERFECT SUMMER NIGHT.
See you boys at Town Ballroom on NEW YEARS EVE!!!
Straitjacket Love by Ron Hawkins
“You thrill me like a Tilt-o-Whirl…”
Loving the new Ron music! Can’t get Prairie Girl out of my head.
Featured Artists: Great Big Sea, Barenaked Ladies, Kardinal Offishall, Running Red Lights and Comedian Calwyn Shurgold
When I saw the announcement that one of my all time favorite bands GREAT BIG SEA would be performing a FREE New Year’s Eve concert in Niagara Falls, Ontario I had NO CHOICE but to go…of course! Lucky for me, my friend Melissa loves the boys as much as I do and wanted to come along. Oh Canada!
We arrived quite early because we needed to get a decent space near the front (stage Murray) for the band. After a bite to eat we sauntered down Clifton Hill only to discover rain clouds opening up in the skies above. Boo. Neither one of us brought rain appropriate wear, so Melissa ran into one of the gift shops quickly to see if they had any cheap plastic rain ponchos.
And they did! (No these are not feminine products…)
Check out those Maple Leafs! Excellent! And we are ready to rock!
Or at least stand in the rain for the next 7 hours…
We were only standing around for a few minutes when a tall, dark, handsome glasses wearing man asked the two of us hotties if we wanted to stand in front of him since he was taller and could see over us. Quite nice!
Hi Adam! Turns out our new friend Adam drove up from Connecticut to see Great Big Sea! Very cool.
The evening was hosted by ET Canada hosts Rick Campanelli and Cheryl Hickey. Rick wore wonder pants, super stitching to accentuate his…um…yeah. And Cheryl was very pretty and sparkly and furry and had um, a skirt on maybe?
Oh Canada!
I wish I could have seen the Global Broadcast of this event. Being so close to the front and wearing an awesome poncho and penguin hat I’m SURE I made my Canadian National TV debut. However I can’t seem to find an online stream of the event, so I’m left wondering. Oh well.
The first band to play was called Running Red Lights they won some sort of contest…and were pretty good. The lead singer had on a houndstooth cropped jacket and SEQUIN black hot pants and a sequin beret which made me smile.
Next up…a hip hop band called Kardinal Offishall. Again, I enjoyed the music. Although I am not good at putting my hands in the air. Nor do I know any *new* music from 2010 that plays on 98.5 (and I don’t ever want to…) so the set was one that I felt a little out of place with since everyone else seemed to at least know the covers they played. Of course I DID know the Old Skool medley “Down with OPP…” “Hip Hop Hurrah, Ho…” Felt just like being back at the Frat Parties at Allegheny. One of their songs was a rap that mentioned Eskimos. (I kid you not.) AND they performed a cover/twist/ripoff of Blondie’s “The Tide is High” which is called “Numba1.”
Next up…ugh, I don’t even want to mention it was THAT BAD. A comedian got on stage to do a little 5 minute act and it was SO BAD that NO ONE in the audience basically made ANY NOISE. No laughter no cheers nothing. Which is NOT GOOD when taping for a New Year’s Eve Nationally Televised Program. So, about 2 minutes into the horrible, horrible sketch the sound guy stopped the act and said to the audience that there was something wrong with the “microphone” and he was going to start over and we were to CHEER AND LAUGH reminding us it was being TAPED FOR TELEVISION. Yeah, um…THAT pathetic. Embarrassing.
Our band friend Adam found a youtube link to the actual act which makes me shiver. “People talking bout me, talkin, talkin bout me.”
Make. It. End.
NEXT! BARENAKED LADIES!!!
BNL? At 8pm? Really? Is this what happens when Steven Page leaves the band? Poor Ed Robertson. Poor adorable, handsome Ed…
Turns out that the first BNL set was basically a warm up for the same exact set they would be playing LIVE two hours later. Grrr. Ok, not EXACTLY the same but pretty darn close. Plus, they weren’t um…(shhhh) that good. Sad.
FINALLY! GREAT BIG SEA! Who played a great set…both for US and for LIVE television. Whoooo! Totally worth standing in place in the rain for hours to see that smile of Alan’s up close…
BNL came back out for the LIVE portion of the concert, which was the same set for the most part (snooze) and then…
2011 and fireworks!
All the bands came out at the end of course for Auld Lang Syne and champagne from the stage landed all over the first few rows (me!) of the audience. A few short minutes later I started moving my legs again for the first time in about 6 hours and oh.my.goodness did I feel OLD! Also, where did these 1000′s and 1000′s of people come from? Melissa braved the bridge traffic and we got home…late (early?) in the New Year safe and sound and smiling.
Good times. What a way to ring in a New Year!
Last night, I found myself at Club Diablo for a Cockabilly Carnival of sorts. To think the original plan was Shakespeare in the Park to see the all female cast of MacBeth!
Thankfully, Magic Joelle Ball picked the perfect event for the evening. BFF thinks I should start a weekly “Joelle Picks What to Do in Buffalo from Philadelphia” feature on All Things Jennifer. Sounds promising. Somehow this woman just KNOWS what event is gonna kick serious ass. Of course, when you are a rockstar with never-ending personality, sass, brains and looks it is rather easy to always have an excellent time.
Quite a handful…
Anyone who encourages me to wear pigtails…is a friend to have!
Rockin the pigtails. And a skull hair piece that I chose to wear as a pin . Rest of the outfit? A black tiered ruffle dress along with fluer-de-lis stockings and my new damask print Keds.
Sassy, perhaps. But what am I supposed to wear to a COCKABILLY SHOW at Club Diablo? I thought my flowery peasant sundress with thigh highs and garters but opted for the simple black. I did have a white blouse on while at dinner however as soon as after dinner drinking began, shirt off. (That’s what she said?)
Joelle made it to the front of the stage, in true Joelle form and rocked out all night. I made it to the corner seat at the bar where I thought about rocking out until I decided to engage in conversation with a man in black who apparently likes to wear bow-ties, but by chance did not have one on that night. Yep, my pheromones can hunt down a bow-tie loving man from miles away, even at Club Diablo!
Ah, what a night. Early morning. Whatever. 
I haven’t had a night out like that in a long, long, long, long time. I think it might be good that Ms. Joelle lives so far away, I would never be able to keep up with her.
Good times. Good friends. Good smelling cheap body wash.
It happened more than once. More than twice actually. When Mark and I were dating and out and about for some reason people thought he was a saxophone player. Somewhere in the universe a look-a-like Sax Mark must exist. I always got a kick out of it too…Mark was artsy, but not musically inclined. Although he did look good holding a saxophone…
My mind wandered down this street last week while I was at Rockwell Hall watching the Clara String Quartet play. All my life, or at least most of it that I can recall…I’ve had a crush on the Cello. I played violin in elementary school for two measly years but really wanted to play Cello. I quit at the time because our string teacher was, how does one say this? Awful. I wanted to learn more. I wanted to read music. And my little sassy 6th grade self decided the old lady teacher wasn’t worth it and I stuck to chorus instead.
But I always wanted to play Cello.
Weird, right?
I never came back around to the instrument…once I got to High School I found myself consumed with chorus and art classes instead. All things, ya know? In college I also sang in Choir and took one wee semester of Class Piano, because well, it was a fun thing to do. But I never had the inclination to succeed and study and persevere and fall in love with ONE thing. One art, one instrument, one…anything actually. I would say the closest I’ve come to a true love would be writing…I took all the creative writing classes in High School and a few in College but…again, tis one thing I enjoy more than anything but not THE ONE THING.
Sigh.
I’m not a one thing kind of woman, artistically speaking. 
I want to paint. I want to sing. I want to write. I want to take photographs. I do all these things, but not one defines me.
Tis very interesting to me to meet and become friends with professional musicians. People who found their true love back as a child and have worked and worked and practiced and succeeded all their life, and are able to get paid to do what they love, to have that one thing they excel at above all others.
As a scatterbrain with many interests in the world who seeks out many and excel at none…I wonder what that’s like?
Just something I was pondering…
My Ron Hawkins iPod is killing me right now. All Ron all the time on shuffle and yes, there are too many favourites to count. However…
Rumours and Whispers is one song that always pierces through me. Not one to listen to when trying to NOT think about boys. And love. And life. And loss. And wanting. And and and.
Saints or defectors – all this conjecture can’t make a lover stay. Are we the true ones or just the new ones – only the years can say
All things hidden in the word “discreet”
Intuition of the night I’d meet your body in the sheets
And those three little words and those glimpses of curves
And the almost unbearable heat‘Til it feels like it’s always been this
Infinite, all-encompassing kiss
Just we two in the whisperingness
