| Barras in Toronto |
| A few months ago, Andi made it possible to get a Cape Breton music fix in Toronto. The day after school ended for the 2006 school year, I shuffled off to Buffalo to pick her up and take off for Hugh's Room in Toronto to see the Barra MacNeils. The ride up was uneventful, Thank God, and fairly quick. I made it in only 7 hours! Andi got off work at 4 PM and was nice enough to agree to drive. I was well and truly sick of driving at that point and she knew where we were going. |
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| So, even though the map program says it would take longer, with andi driving, we made it in a little over an hour. And that was with this bumper-to-bumper stuff on the QEW! We saw some interesting sights like this bus atop a building which sells school uniforms, and I watched with fascination as a windmill appeared on the horizon. I took a few photos. I was surprised to see it in such close proximity to the city. |
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| When we finally reached the city, we stopped in Chinatown for some bubble tea. I love bubble tea! That's where we saw this strange sign and the unusual moose. |
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| After we checked out the moose, we wound our way thru the city to Hugh's Room, where the Barras were set to play. It's a cool venue, with tables set up for supper near the stage, like a dinner theatre. Andi was given her table assignment and we waited for someone to show us to the table. When the young man came over and asked what the number was, Andi told him and he replied with a smile, "Oh, you're the one with the really long last name!" What a surprise to find someone we knew from the Gaelic College three years ago sitting at the table behind us! It was also a huge surprise to find out we were practically sitting on the stage. I could easily reach out and touch any number of things laid out on the stage before me without even leaning over! Supper was good and before we had finished our coffee, yet another surprise came along. Two young ladies walked out on stage and picked up a fiddle and a guitar. Mad Violet were there to entertain us for a few minutes before the Barras came out! They played 3 songs from their new CD which is being released at Hiugh's Room next week. When they introduced themselves, the fiddle player said she was named Lisa MacIsaac. We wondered if she was related to Wendy MacIsaac, one of our teachers at the Gaelic College. There was no doubt they were related when she announced she was from Cregnish, Cape Breton. That's where Wendy's from! As she packed up her stuff, we asked her if She and Wendy were related. She told us that Wendy was her first cousin! |
| The Emerald City - I felt like I was entering OZ! See the windmill balancing out the CN Tower? |
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| Guess why I snapped THIS photo? Can you find The Hard and the Easy CD cover? |
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| Mad Violet is made up of two talented young ladies. Thge first song they played was called I'm Your Lady and the next had an unusual name, Jesus You're Stubborn! Both talented performers showed their stuff and then rushed off to another gig they had that night. |
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