Daily ticket stories
On January 17th, 1987 I huddled in the cold with my back pressed up against the front door of the Moncton Coliseum. I arrived two, maybe three hours early for the show and was among the first in line to get in. Back then I was a rail-hugger…
On January 15th, 1997 I drove to Montreal to see Tricky at the Spectrum. A hard-grinding rap artist like Tricky would normally have been well off of my radar but I was dating a girl with a very good, eclectic musical foundation that she eagerly shared with me…
This torn bit of paper is emblematic of how rabidly I collected ticket stubs back in the early days. This is hardly a ticket stub; it looks more like a section torn from a handbill of upcoming nightclub events…
My first experience with Lyle Lovett dropped my jaw…
On February 24th, 2016 I went to see Harry Manx. The ticket was a birthday gift from m’lady and the gift also included a copy of Manx’s most recent cd. The presents were very apropos; not only was I generally a fan…
On June 30th, 2015 I spent my evening downtown, abreast of the Rideau Canal at the Ottawa Jazz Festival. The main stage headliner was a fellow named Jamie Cullum, a very popular British jazz pianist that I had never heard of…
On March 15th, 2015 I went to the wonderful Capitol Theatre just this side of NYC to celebrate the 75th birthday of my favourite living bass player – Phil Lesh – with a concert by…Phil Lesh…
This is the last concert I saw. Covid was just ramping up when I attended this wonderful show featuring Angela Hewitt playing the music of Bach, and while I enjoyed it immensely I sure am looking forward to seeing another concert sometime soon. Not since I started going to concerts at the age of fourteen have I gone a year without sharing a live musical performance with thousands of strangers, and I’m dying to do it again.
I was in line for a Jack & Coke when the music started. I could hear that it was Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes playing the great Duane Allman instrumental track Little Martha. Drink in hand I flew up the stairs and caught the last bit of the opener as I was finding my seat…
Right around the time I was starting to scramble for a Secret Santa gift for my guitar-playing friend Dave I received an email announcing Ottawa’s upcoming annual Chamber Music Festival…
Todd Man Out 