I would walk 500 miles....

Ever been at a show where you find yourself singing along at the top of your lungs and you're not even drunk?

That was me at The Proclaimers show last Friday, along with pretty well everyone else in there, including some of the staff.

Sure the lads are not the skinny rosy cheeked neo-folk/punk/blue eyed soul/pub rockers that used to nearly die of exhaustion on stage anymore, but they have their act down pat, with a very tight band, and true to the recordings arrangements. They mixed up the new and the old, singing favourites like Letter from America, 500 Miles, Cap In Hand and the like, but also throwing in some fine contemporary work.

Of course it was the audience that struck me when I finally got in the door. The security on the outside was like frickin' Heathrow, which was made so laughable once you got in and saw who was there. I wonder how many people had their knitting needles confiscated at the door? I don't think The Who were talking about this generation, not anymore, anyhow.

Yep, I was pretty well totally immersed in my own demographic.

The sound was very reminiscent of The Committments - white boy, blue eyed soul. The newer material definitely leans that way. But the social conscience that was most obvious in Cap in Hand ("and I don't understand why we let someone else rule our, land, cap in hand...") is still there in songs like New Religion, with a lyric like this:

"Evidence of a new religion
Meeting a human need
fertiliser for the brain
Feeding the weakest seeds."

Attacking the crap we get from the modern media and entertainment business. This was a pretty cool song.

They take a wicked shot at the rockers who are now lining up for knighthood in the UK, I mean, how can't Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney respond to this:

In Recognition of your 100 million album sales
In Recognition of your popularity
You take your gaudy prize from people you said you despise
You wear your self-respect upon your bended knees.

In spite of all your claims
It looks like you’re just the same
As every other clown, who likes put the crown
Before or after their names.

Even the title song from their new album, called "Life with You", has an edge to it that keeps it from being sappy. The words are, but the song isn't.

Mojo magazine described the brothers' stage presence as having the "tenacity of two Jack Russels on rabbit duty". I can see that.

I'll finish with the best snippet of lyric from their new album, from the song "The Long Haul"

"I miss the days
When the threat to our position
Didn't come from some religion
But from godless Communism"

Hard to argue with that one.

Wine of the Month - Gaspereau Vineyards Rosé

It is time to start thinking of spring. Yes, it was 14 degrees in my yard today.

And spring demands Rosé.

In Nova Scotia we make great rosé. And my favourite for a day in day out quaffer is Gaspereau's 2006 version.

Try it. The price varies depending on where you get it.

Drink it outside on a deck in the sun, to watch the light gleam through it.

jane's great next door adventure

I just finished eating my first dinner carried home and cooked by me, from jane's next door. Jane Wright (jane's on the common) has taken advantage of the storefront in the space she rents next door to the restaurant. This is a place for people who don't feel like really cooking, but are not into eating out either.

My tortiere is currently digesting happily in my tummy.

The sandwiches looked awesome, real roast beef, and the Propeller Sodas are a great local accompaniment.

There are jane's famous soups to heat up at home, chicken pot pie, a curry, and yes, you can by an entire hazelnut torte...

And for a lot of us, it is right on the way home!

UPDATE, June 1: I am now an addict. Just had the Cassoulet for the second time, and it is great. The lamb shepherd's pie rocks, and the soups are to die for.

Takin' the "Eh" Train

I'd planned on taking a trip back to Halifax from Montreal sometime this year, and the half price sale Via put on was the edge I needed.

One of the best things you can do in Canada is take this train trip. There is a choreography to the journey that lends itself to major relaxation, and achieving a kind of rhythm that really allows you to rest.

If you like to sleep in a moving bed, that is. I do.

You board the train in time for the 6:30 departure from Montreal, and book a seat for dinner at 6:45. You then have the best seat for dinner in the eastern part of Canada (if there is a similar experience in the Rockies, I'll bow to that). The sun is setting behind Mount Royal as you glide (in fits and starts) down the Saint Lawrence River Valley, the villages and towns and their cathedrals passing by as the light fades.

The meal is okay, in winter. I hear it gets better in summer, when ridership increases. I had a roast pork, cranberry sauce, mashed potato and green bean dinner ($18)that would have been much better if it had been served with some jus, but, with a glass of Jost Trilogy was not bad. All the wines were Nova Scotian, and they were obviously selected by someone who knew wine.

Sleep came later, somewhere around Riviere du Loups, and I awoke outside Bathurst, with metres of snow outside the window. We were slowed by a young teenager moose on the track, trotting along in front of the train, hemmed in by the 3m snow banks on each side. Eventually the moose took a left at a crossing, and headed into town, and we hit the tracks for Moncton.

Home in Halifax, I arrive rested, and ready to start work after a fun short vacation.