"Best of the season to you, folks. Newsletter time...
This is always a busy and stressful period of the year for everyone, so I won't drag this out, and I'll let you get back to your shopping / partying / caroling / humbugging / contemplations of peace & love, etc., asap.
Quickly: the P.R.O. 2010 tour wrapped up with a gig at Koerner Hall in Toronto, then a Xmas charity show out in Ajax last week, and it all felt very fitting and fulfilling. There will be another run of dates in Quebec at the end of February and the beginning of March 2011 (and in particular a gig in Kingston, February 28th, that has a charity tie-in, so we'll be promoting that one with gusto over the next few months) - then we're out to Alberta at the very end of March... So a chapter barely closes and another one begins...
Same for the Troubs: Dave and I had a lot of fun doing a very private affair in Burlington, Ontario last night, and we'd had a really successful run through Cambridge, Philly and New York the week before that, so we're full of ourselves and eager to try some new things together. But Dave and I will close out the year with an orchestra show in St. Catharines Ontario December 3rd, where I'll play my "Guitar Heroes" set of classic electric rock with the Niagara Symphony - which will finish the gigging year for me. (And not a moment too soon, considering the college term will be drawing to a close, with an avalanche of marking & grading to do...).
Just in case you folks don't visit the website's Network forum, you might be interested to know that I've acquired two new electric guitars for my 'harem' - a beautiful used Gibson CS-356, which I've named 'Ruby', and a white Fender Stratocaster which I've imaginatively dubbed 'Becky'. My wife allows me these small affairs without jealousy, and seems glad that my obsession is not with, ohhhhhh, European sports cars that cost six figures. ;-)
I'm getting together with Mike and Gil to toast the season (it's a new tradition), and my wife and I are committed to some parties before Xmas. As is the custom we will be having our extended nuclear family over for Xmas Eve, and then a much more private and quiet Xmas Day, as our brood go off to spend THAT day with the families of their Significant Others. BTW - there seems to be a lot more efficiency to Xmas shopping nowadays, since the advent of email means the sharing of family Wish Lists occurs before the US Thanksgiving weekend hits.
Since I won't be bugging you again until the New Year, please allow me to wish you and your families the happiest of holidays, and I'd like to take the opportunity to thank you all again, so very much, for the support you've shown throughout 2010. It has been (astonishingly) one of the most successful years of my long and checkered career, rich with facets of a professional life (PRO, Troubs, band gigs, orchestra shows, teaching gigs... website and indie label to run, endorsements, blogs... ) that keeps me hopping, and my head filled with repertoire that confounds a 57 yr. old brain (I mean - how many different arrangements of 'Lay It On The Line' can one human being attempt to hold in their memory?). But I'm not complaining or protesting - I am delighted by the challenge, and I can't help but get an anticipatory tingle that 2011 could prove to be even more fun, as "Marco" FINALLY makes it to the public (by the time you read this, a few tiny tasty Sneak Preview guitar pieces should be making themselves available through the social media sites and rikemmett.com) and I have a few more tricks up my sleeve, so stay tuned.
Merry Christmas to all, and Happy New Year, all the way along The Network, and across the digital highways. May your holiday season be filled with good health, happiness, love, and the profound joy of good music.
Cheers, peace & love, Rik."
Rik Emmett & Dave Dunlop (The Troubs)– Magic Power
City Winery – New York, NY - November 7, 2010
