tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2320098871161644279.comments2023-09-24T11:18:11.345-03:00Blinking Lights and Other RevelationsAmelia Chesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15463411526126166470noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2320098871161644279.post-79103413252211131602022-12-06T18:39:00.458-04:002022-12-06T18:39:00.458-04:00I still remember Dave and Mona and the Country Gen...I still remember Dave and Mona and the Country Gentlemen. Memories Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2320098871161644279.post-82288855754723977792020-04-16T14:46:23.169-03:002020-04-16T14:46:23.169-03:00Thank you so much, Amelia
How wonderful this piece...Thank you so much, Amelia<br />How wonderful this piece was<br />All the best!<br />ALT<br />ALThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02583833989720577305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2320098871161644279.post-81178753329655418242019-10-04T00:09:04.362-03:002019-10-04T00:09:04.362-03:00Thank you. A wonderful eulogy.
G.Thank you. A wonderful eulogy.<br />G.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2320098871161644279.post-82939270818388710512015-03-06T18:32:44.637-04:002015-03-06T18:32:44.637-04:00Finally responding to your comment from forever ag...Finally responding to your comment from forever ago, Sean, which was much appreciated and, I think, a good description of where things were at.<br /><br />I definitely have a different perspective on our relationship and on you than I did when I was so close to it, and so much of it has to do with getting older. It's pretty amazing to look back on those things and recall that I was just in my mid-twenties, and you were in your mid-thirties. Things were a lot heavier for you and we were (and are)in many ways the same kinds of people with the same kinds of values. When I was that age I really wasn't thinking about a career or being responsible of any kind of a future. I know I should have been, but of *course* I wasn't. I still felt like - and I still was - so young. <br /><br />But things started to feel more serious in my early thirties and I knew I had to get my shit together. We were of course long broken up and in different provinces by then, and although we have always stayed close, we weren't always in each other lives every day like that, so we really know each other and remember each other best at a really specific time. <br /><br />You were so unhappy and I really didn't get it, I just didn't have the experience. I think what you said here is so true: "The friction was unmistakable and present between us but I don't feel that we ever truly faced it in the honest, open and direct way in which you have addressed it here. Perhaps at the time that would not have been possible." <br /><br />It is so awesome how we made it through all that and now we talk like this about it.<br /><br />Sean and Katherine, I love you both so much. Grateful all the time there are people who know me so well. Amelia Chesterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15463411526126166470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2320098871161644279.post-37076468353429858472015-01-07T13:01:10.800-04:002015-01-07T13:01:10.800-04:00It's interesting for me now, all these years l...It's interesting for me now, all these years later, to hear your inner dialogue from those days. I was not aware back then of these deeply personal thoughts, feelings and impressions of yours. <br /><br />Like many couples I think we often fought and argued over the little things like household chores and the dynamics of with living with others let alone ourselves. These were difficult times indeed, financially, personally and socially. Upheaval was in the air. Things were changing. We were witness to a shift. And it was cold. <br /><br />9/11 had just happened and the entire world had grown paranoid, uncomfortable and uneasy. A dark cloud was hanging over us in Halifax. My income had been cut in half. I was making minimum wage which, at the time, was $4.90 an hour in Nova Scotia and the record store chain I was working for was on the brink of bankruptcy. <br /><br />The three months of endless hours spent serving customers picking the bones off a once proud record store wore us down day by day and damaged our psyches. And then one morning we awoke to the strange news casually uttered through the speakers of your crackly clock radio that George Harrison had died. The world and that little dark space we occupied in it was closing in. I found it hard to breath. <br /><br />We mourned George and faced the very real possibility that our time together in Halifax was coming to an abrupt end. Once the record store had been liquidated I would be out of work on a cold January morning in a frigid snowbound Halifax with no money for rent let alone oil to heat our cold apartment. So much for “a new career in a new town”.<br /><br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVTlKZEFoe0<br /><br />Back then the move to Halifax appeared to be an utterly devastating failure. Everywhere I looked I saw nothing but despair and hopelessness. These were truly trying times, some of the most difficult and stressful I have yet faced. And so the self medicating began to a degree not previously known to myself. <br /><br />The friction was unmistakable and present between us but I don't feel that we ever truly faced it in the honest, open and direct way in which you have addressed it here. Perhaps at the time that would not have been possible. Perhaps a measured distance from those times and events was necessary for a proper perspective. <br /><br />Thank you for having taken the time to write it down. Reading it for me was a dreamy if not uneasy visit back to the ether of a shaded past. I have always been interested in your voice as an author and have delighted in hearing it. You should write more. You have stories to tell.Seanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15431202434750417957noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2320098871161644279.post-18673342686040903222015-01-03T17:37:04.477-04:002015-01-03T17:37:04.477-04:00Thank you so much for reading, Katherine, and your...Thank you so much for reading, Katherine, and your thoughts on this are greatly appreciated, as you are one of the best writers I know and you also, of course, have a great insight into many of the things I talk about in this blog. <br /><br />I have not done a great job keeping up with this, but I did start this blog in 2008, and have many more entries from earlier years. I mean to write more, and am glad I could start the new year off doing this thing I have been meaning to do! The second last entry, Thunder Road, was written largely about Richard, so you may be curious to read that one. It was written a couple of years ago though!Amelia Chesterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15463411526126166470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2320098871161644279.post-84659169321944589182015-01-03T15:46:04.935-04:002015-01-03T15:46:04.935-04:00Hi Amelia. Andrew read me this latest blog entry ...Hi Amelia. Andrew read me this latest blog entry yesterday evening while I was in early stages of falling asleep. I issued the instruction that he let you know our impression in brief, crude measure: "that we thought the writing powerful and beautiful". Upon waking, it struck me that I ought to have said more. Your piece - expert, I would say, in its simplicity - contains a moment of radiance. It is radiance to whose complexity more complex language would have done less justice. Alice Munro writes that way. She leads us, directly and even humbly, straight into the subtle centre of what phases of a human lifetime can mean. As we tingle, it makes its modest, its beguiling departure once again. In my own writing, I labour for this very effect - and my labour is in too great evidence. My writing becomes congested with wanted sophistication the way one's head becomes congested with (unwanted) mucous during cold infections. Also, of course (and this is an inevitable contributor to the difference between our styles) my personal essays illuminate a philosophically pent up and fragile protagonist. Yours reveal you: a sensitive person but one of serene resource and utterly frank, pure, and just relationship with the world. Please share more: I'm your biggest fan! <br />Love, KKatherinenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2320098871161644279.post-26325048742039211952015-01-02T19:34:36.998-04:002015-01-02T19:34:36.998-04:00Hi ameila! That was powerful and beautiful. Thank...Hi ameila! That was powerful and beautiful. Thanks for sharing it. And the song is utterly brilliant.<br /><br />Take care,<br />Andrew and KatherineAndrew and Katherinenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2320098871161644279.post-4762662992154475272011-11-29T04:47:04.670-04:002011-11-29T04:47:04.670-04:00Lovely people. Thanks for being so generous on wha...Lovely people. Thanks for being so generous on what you are doing.injection port linershttp://www.visacon.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2320098871161644279.post-37037426618272894952010-08-25T13:11:17.133-03:002010-08-25T13:11:17.133-03:00Thanks for sharing. Any friend of Todd's is a ...Thanks for sharing. Any friend of Todd's is a friend of mine.Eric Kincaidhttp://www.facebook.com/erickincaidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2320098871161644279.post-83639009470573527642010-06-18T14:59:14.730-03:002010-06-18T14:59:14.730-03:00Oddly enough, I can't think of the Rheostatics...Oddly enough, I can't think of the Rheostatics without thinking of you, Amelia. :)<br /><br />I also vaguely recall a friend of yours with a rubber chicken...?Nicolehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13391060843569789720noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2320098871161644279.post-92184360562601427432010-01-22T13:35:19.289-04:002010-01-22T13:35:19.289-04:00I don't mind at all. Thanks for reading!
Did...I don't mind at all. Thanks for reading! <br /><br />Did you read dave Bidini's piece in the National Post?<br /><br />I've never tried to link to anything in the comment box before, but here goes...<br /><br />http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/afterword/archive/2010/01/21/dave-bidini-pays-tribute-to-paul-quarrington.aspxAmelia Chesterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15463411526126166470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2320098871161644279.post-11102845273430041822010-01-21T21:46:34.173-04:002010-01-21T21:46:34.173-04:00I feel like I'm reading my own introduction to...I feel like I'm reading my own introduction to Rheostatics, and then to Paul Quarrington. I hope you don't mind if I link to your post since you've basically expressed how I also feel today. Thanks for sharing.Candicehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18103543209909479984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2320098871161644279.post-50757935788923501782009-12-17T16:57:10.063-04:002009-12-17T16:57:10.063-04:00Although "Shaved Fish" was released Octo...Although "Shaved Fish" was released October 24th, 1975 (exactly one month and a day before you were born) the song in question; "Happy Xmas (War is Over)", was actually released as a single years before on the 1st of December 1971 in the U.S. and the 24th of November 1972 in the UK respectively. But regardless, of coarse, it will always be your and your Dad's song. Thank you for your reminiscences. They were a joy to read.PEIgeisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18378549577259815914noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2320098871161644279.post-61434595433400927472009-08-28T16:49:43.497-03:002009-08-28T16:49:43.497-03:00God, I forgot about the awkward brilliance of that...God, I forgot about the awkward brilliance of that masturbating line. It was fun to sit in an audience and watch people's reactions.<br />=-)Ryan Pateyhttp://www.ryanpatey.canoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2320098871161644279.post-45218326507201271032009-08-09T18:41:48.625-03:002009-08-09T18:41:48.625-03:00Yes! Yes! So glad you're posting again.Yes! Yes! So glad you're posting again.Stephnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2320098871161644279.post-68597030851584540842009-07-23T01:38:55.885-03:002009-07-23T01:38:55.885-03:00Thanks for the kind words, both of you.
Patey, I ...Thanks for the kind words, both of you.<br /><br />Patey, I often associate Joel Plaskett with you. He and Sarah Harmer were pretty much the default artists-that-Ryan-and-Amelia-can-agree-on when we were both stuck working the counter at Sam's. And that time we drove to Saint John. Holy hell, that would have been a long drive with a Wintersleep soundtrack. ;)Amelia Chesterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15463411526126166470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2320098871161644279.post-70820250438424722502009-07-18T03:33:37.125-03:002009-07-18T03:33:37.125-03:00I get Plaskett blog alerts, so ran across this one...I get Plaskett blog alerts, so ran across this one. Very thoughtful and well-written. I moved to Halifax in 1992, and was involved in the scene myself. I actually shot the final Thrush Hermit show at The Marquee and wound up part of Plaskett's management team. He's worth his salt in every way...<br /><br />Anyway, recognized Ryan and thought I'd remind him that I started the Month of Mondays in Hell and Plaskett's run during that promotion was my favourite month of the whole series - as I knew it would be. Remember Tim Brennan's Lou Reed take?<br /><br />Hope you're well. Drop in to the best new live venue in Halifax (which Plaskett opened, of course), The Carleton on Argyle Street...<br /><br />CampbellMike Campbellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14165479402325748020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2320098871161644279.post-26891625216756583162009-07-18T01:17:04.348-03:002009-07-18T01:17:04.348-03:00Between Wintersleep and Joel there are a million m...Between Wintersleep and Joel there are a million moments in my life that were connected to a song or a line, and it may be part of the reason why I have found this city hard to leave at points. I was worried I would not see them that often, if at all, if I lived somewhere else.<br />Of course, now that they're both bigger I can move pretty much anywhere and pay the old cover price I once payed at Hell's Kitchen to see the JPE on a month of Mondays.<br />=-)Ryan Pateyhttp://www.ryanpatey.canoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2320098871161644279.post-55508200740799832482009-04-22T23:29:00.000-03:002009-04-22T23:29:00.000-03:00Such a great song. I'm still waiting for that mome...Such a great song. I'm still waiting for that moment at an airport.Ryanhttp://www.ryanpatey.canoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2320098871161644279.post-78202624336351064932009-04-09T21:07:00.000-03:002009-04-09T21:07:00.000-03:00Tor: I haven't heard that song! Thanks for the hea...Tor: I haven't heard that song! Thanks for the heads up, I'll look into it!<BR/><BR/>Steph: A much belated: It was great to see you! Again soon?<BR/><BR/>And Ryan: Holy smokes, have you seen how they've gutted the place? They have totally gutted Ginger's. At least they're doing *something!* I have such fond memories of the ceilidh connection, too, especially as I was working across the street at united when it was around. They were all regular customers. That Barrington street community is so amazing. Thank god for just us! If that place gets starfished I don't know what I'll do.Amelia Chesterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15463411526126166470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2320098871161644279.post-81891695575711955282009-03-27T01:21:00.000-03:002009-03-27T01:21:00.000-03:00I still work seconds away from all of these places...I still work seconds away from all of these places, and I still know a lot of the people in the area by name.<BR/>I lost a venue/gathering place that I worked at as well, and Sam's will always be a big empty space in my heart now. It hurt to walk back down that block when I came back from Winnipeg...<BR/>If only the Tim Horton's had shut down before any of the places that now lay empty or replaced by a damn sub/pizza shop.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2320098871161644279.post-19507369245346514312009-03-09T23:04:00.000-03:002009-03-09T23:04:00.000-03:00Have you ever 'eard Lord Sutch's "Blinking Lights?...Have you ever 'eard Lord Sutch's "Blinking Lights?"https://www.blogger.com/profile/03037704048671379868noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2320098871161644279.post-1051203649734112492009-03-07T19:32:00.000-04:002009-03-07T19:32:00.000-04:00That's the song that's been on repeat for me, pers...That's the song that's been on repeat for me, personally, for the past two weeks.<BR/><BR/>I can't wait for our next coffee.<BR/>I can't wait for your next post.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2320098871161644279.post-65428589966039704142008-12-13T13:30:00.000-04:002008-12-13T13:30:00.000-04:00Yeah, I really love this song too. I find that peo...Yeah, I really love this song too. I find that people are unduly tough on this sweet, sad, and undeniably Christmassy tune. I'm really not one for holiday music of any kind, but this is one song I really adore.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com