I have to say an enormous thank you to the Ottawa and Montreal Blues Societies for throwing the IBC’s First Great Canadian Polar Bear Blues Showcase and the Kooky Canuck for hosting it, as this ensured that I got to see all the Canadian acts I’d been promising to watch and didn’t need to worry about competing times in the program to catch them all.  And wouldn’t you believe it, one of the acts I fell in love with was just a stones throw away from where I live, on Vancouver Island, Jesse Roper with The Roper Show.

Filmed more great Blues from Canada that day, so this is just the beginning of what we’ll be sharing here and on Roamancing.

Thanks to the International Blues Challenge and Memphis, Tennessee, for showcasing all the great Blues artists, and to all the sponsors, including Canada.  And congratulations to this year’s IBC winners, Canadian born Ray Bonneville in the Solo / Duet Category and The WIRED! Band in the Band Category.  I was lucky enough to see Ray perform and would have to agree that he was brilliant.

Polar Bear Kisses,

Emme xoxo

Jesse Roper playing at the IBC Canadian Showcase

As far as week’s go, this past week has been pretty damn fantastic ~ enjoying my first music pilgrimage into the history of Rock & Roll and the Blues in Memphis, discovering some bloody fantastic Blues talent at the International Blues Challenge, cheering Canadian Ross Neilsen on in the Semi-Finals of the International Blues Challenge, and coming home to discover some simply beautiful music that Chris Blake has written for Roamancing.  Now to top it all off, I went to pull the name of a winner for Studio 58‘s Julius Caesar tickets and was thrilled to pull Kelly Lui’s name, who interned with Ahimsa Media this past summer.  To make this especially fantastic, I went to congratulate Kelly and discovered it was her birthday!  Happy Birthday Kelly!

For those that entered, but didn’t win, we are entering you for a second chance at the tickets on Roamancing’s site.  For anyone unaware of the contest, that wishes they’d entered, you can still do that on Roamancing’s site until midnight.  Just drop us a comment with which Shakespeare play you would most love to see as a gender bender (ie. with men and women playing opposite gender role). Here’s a little of what you can expect from the play:

Catch this gender bender of a Julius Caesar at Studio 58 in Vancouver, February 2nd – 26th, Tuesdays – Saturdays at 8 pm and Saturdays & Sundays at 3 pm. Tickets can be purchased here.

Loving the Blues, Southern hospitality and good ol’ Southern home cooking!

Kisses,

Emme  xoxo (with an extra long smooch for the Sleep Inn at Courtyard Square for ensuring I get my beauty sleep)

The upswing of Alyzee and I missing out is that Langara College’s Studio 58 has decided to extend our two tickets to you delightful people in a little theater giveaway for their latest play.  I’ll get to that in a minute, as first I’ll fill you in on the play.

Photographer: David Cooper

The play is Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, but Julius Caesar with a twist, a Julius Caesar gender bender.  You see, when casting for the play, Director Scott Bellis decided to break with tradition and offer the parts of Caesar, Brutus, Cassius and Octavius to women.  I must say this very much tickles my fancies, as traditionally the parts of women in Shakespeare’s play would have been played by men.

For those of you not familiar with Julius Caesar, it is Shakespeare’s masterpiece of political power-play and manipulation, examining the conflict between one person’s ambition and the good of the state, all set in a life-and-death struggle for control of Rome. As Director Scott Bellis puts it, this is very much a tale involving traditional male roles and a story of ‘honourable men’. “In this alternate telling, we are discovering what it means for a male Mark Antony to avenge a female Caesar; what a same-sex marriage looks like in the house of Brutus;  and how being a ‘man’ can say more about your social status than your gender in this very different vision of Rome.”  Sounds fascinating!  Would love to see how all of this unfolds.

And if you are curious about Studio 58, you can read of Alyzee Lakhani’s most recent experience there with The 13th Chair.

So the Giveaway.  We have a pair of tickets to giveaway here and a pair to giveaway on Roamancing (stay tuned for that giveaway in a day or two) with your choice of Wednesday February 8th at 8 pm, Thursday February 9th at 8 pm or Saturday February 11th at 3 pm.  For the giveaway here, to enter:

• Comment below with which Shakespeare character, of the opposite sex from you, you would love to play;
• Deadline Thursday February 2nd at midnight PST.

To be entered a second, third and fourth time:

• Tweet this post with me, @EmmeRogers and #VancouverTheatre somewhere in the tweet, so I see the tweet;
• Share this post on facebook and include @Roamancing in the text when you post it (this should link Roamancing’s facebook page, so I’ll see the post); and/or
• Share this post on G+ and include @Emme Rogers in the text when you post it (this should alert me on G+ of your post).

I shall pull the name of one lucky winner from commenters, tweeters, facebookers and G+ers, and announce the winner on Friday February 3rd.  Very much looking forward to making somebody happy!

Oh, and if sadly you don’t win, the play is running at Studio 58 February 2nd – 26th, Tuesdays – Saturdays at 8 pm and Saturdays & Sundays at 3 pm, and tickets can be purchased here.

Kisses,

Emme xoxo

We didn’t know it at the time, but this was the boys third last performance together.  So glad we caught it, as they were damn fine. Looking forward to seeing and hearing what comes next with Ross Neilsen Music.  Might call for another road trip for Lucy and I!

Kisses,

Emme  xoxo

Even the urinals were decked out for the party.

I happened upon the setup for a Sweet Sixteen today in my travels at a local Community Organization, and have to admit to being a bit of a noisy Parker, wanting to sneak a peek at each of the spaces they were transforming into what reminded me of a something from a Disney Winter Palace for a teen Princess.  It was really something else, as I am sure will be the actual party later today.  Oh to be a fly on the wall.

The establishment I was at I was not a part of, but I did hear the community’s opinions – both favourable and unfavourable. Part of me wanted to tell people to mind their business and just let the family enjoy their day, but it did get me thinking as I wandered home.  The flowers and decorations, from what I saw would have amounted to a sizable down payment on a house, and that’s before the food, entertainment, facility rental … etc. All for a Sweet Sixteen.  What would this kid’s wedding look like later on?

This got me wondering, by giving our kids so much at such a young age, are we giving them unrealistic expectations from life?  Is this what creates some of the self-entitlement issues that we are currently facing in the Western World?

Feel free to weigh in.  Would love to hear your thoughts.

Kisses,

Emme xoxo

… but it got me wondering.  I already spend way too much of my time online.  I don’t want my whole life here, and as much as I see and hear the irony in what I am saying, I don’t want my most intimate moments here.  It is probably why I struggle with internet dating, and quite frankly suck at it.  I’ve been online all day, I don’t then want to go hang out in the virtual bar to meet someone, I want to go to the real bar (especially as I prefer real drinks to virtual ones).

So would I want a guy to propose to me with a virtual tool, no matter how creative?  HELL NO!  It’s also so public, and I’m of the believe that a proposal should be a personal moment between two people, not the entire web. So yes, in case you’re thinking of proposing to me, that also means that proposals on Sporting Screens (or trons or whatever the hell they call them), at a party surrounded by friends, or over dinner with the families, is also out. Take me for a walk, a hike or picnic.  Somewhere where it is just you and I.

So am I alone here?  Would you want to be proposed to via an internet video?

Kisses,

Emme xoxo

If you’ve yet to hear of the Whistler Sabbatical, Roamancing covers the What? and the How to Enter? here.

So what are my chances?  Well, I have entered almost every week, just need to catch the last couple and to get caught up on a few missed weeks over the Holidays. And then there is tackling the question of who to take?  Maybe it’s time to find a lover, as the idea of a roaring fire and hot chocolate, snuggled up with a cuddly creature really is rather appealing as a part of my Whistler Sabbatical.

Although they may already have me covered for that man issue:

He’s none too shabby on the eyes.  And really, who wouldn’t want to spend time and learn from this talented cutie?

Kisses,

Emme xoxo

PS. And if you beat me to the prize, be warned, I bite.

“SUPER CUTE and SUPER TALENTED!!! Emme Rogers”

I was just a little perplexed by the rest of the tweet though.

“(owners/handlers Beth and Mort) . . . what will you accomplish in…”

… so I clicked on the link before blowing kisses to the tweeter.  This is what I found …

Courtesy of TOPS Veterinary Rehabilitation

Seems I have a canine namesake and while I’ve never won a Beauty Pagent, she has. Hmph!

A True Fan

Having been a season’s ticket holder with her husband for many dedicated years, this was the first game she had ever gone to by herself.  She thought about just staying home, but decided to go down to the Staples Center with the great intention of giving her tickets away in a random act of kindness type of moment.  To her surprise, no one would take her tickets.  The gift was too great and people felt it must be some suspicious trick.

Unwilling to give up, she made the choice to go inside and find two fans sitting higher up and offer to trade tickets with them.  While grabbing a bite to eat she met a father whom she thought would be elated to give his child the experience of sitting in prime seats, but he declined.  He also did not trust the situation.  She kept on trying to give and it took until the second quarter for her to have a taker.  A very lucky young man heard, and believed her when she said that she was at the game alone sitting in incredible seasons tickets seats and that she had an empty seat beside her available.  He decided to join her and he was the most grateful person for the gift he had received.  An ear to ear grin and a slowly whispered “Thank You” was the perfect end to her night.

We chatted passionately on the subway about the state of human nature.  Is it that we don’t give enough so people aren’t used to receiving?  Is it that scams do happen so often making us reluctant to trust anyone? Do we trust some people and not others based on appearance, age, or other factors? The way fellow fans reacted on that night left her feeling that a bit of the latter was true.  Before we parted ways she revealed to me that she has wealth beyond comprehension including jewels, incredible cars, and a high heel shoe collection to die for!  She stressed the importance of being kind to every single person you meet because you never know their story.  We shared a big hug and I have been thinking about her story ever since.