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)

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

… 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.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy Kwanza, and absolute delight in whatever your winter festivities are!

Kisses,

Emme xoxo

Which means an evening road trip for little ol’ moi, as these are the Blues Boys I met road tripping #CrossCanada.  Can’t have Ross Neilsen & the Sufferin’ Bastards playing so close and not go to see them live … where would the love in that be.

If you aren’t able to catch them tonight, here are a few of their other stops on their way home to New Brunswick:

• Dec 8, 2011 10 pm TBA
• Dec 9, 2011 10 pm Irene’s Pub, Ottawa, ON
• Dec 10, 2011 9:30 pm Pub St Alexandre, Quebec City, QC
• Dec 16 & 17 2011 10 pm Red Herring Pub, St Andrews, NB

5th December – ‘Cantina Band’ by John Williams from lewisnluke on Vimeo.

Please tell me that they are single.

And as this is after all an Advent Calendar, I don’t think it is too much to ask that somebody tie them up in a bow for me and leave them waiting under the tree for me on the 25th.

Kisses,

Emme xoxo

Sadly only one of the men was naked.