Jann Arden~Free

Hello, hello! Wow, it kind of felt good to have a whole week "off" after the insane 4 day hospital-going marathon, followed by surgery on Monday. I didn't have a single appointment after Monday (for once!) and I actually got to rest, snuggle with Indy, (If you want a sensitive and faithful dog, get a Lab) spend some quality time with my son and my sweet husband took care of the cooking.


Thursday night, I came into some free tickets to Jann Arden! I'd heard about the concert and I kept thinking how much I would like to go. Somehow, I just knew with great certainty that I would end up there and I was right!


My son went with me. We had just enough time to have dinner at Fatbuger. It's brand new and I got really excited when I spotted it across the street from the skytrain station. Carver heard they were opening a few here in BC and he was as excited about it as I was when he saw it.


I know, it's probably just run of the mill to those of you south of the border, but I was introduced to Fatburger a few years ago when I went to my first Artfiberfest. My pal Carol and I had had enough of the bad food at the venue where AFF was hosted and so on the last night we escaped to Fatburger. Being Canadian, this was a new thing for me and I still remember how YUMMY the onion rings were. (Three guesses what I ordered this time!) That dinner with Carol was wonderful-not just because it was the best meal we'd had in days, but also because we laughed and laughed-Carol is outrageously funny. I have only good memories of Fatbuger and the one we went to before the concert did not disappoint!


Afterward we walked a couple of blocks down to the Queen E, made our way up to the balcony and got settled. While we waited for the concert to start, I pulled out my iPod. Carver and I shared the headphones while he checked out my music. We do this every now and again and he's always surprised when I have songs from artists he doesn't expect me to like. I always find that amusing.


This time he said "Hey I didn't know you liked country music!" I think I had some Alabama and some Brooks & Dunn. (He likes Brooks & Dunn.) I'm pretty eclectic in my musical tastes. As a result his exploration of my iTunes, he's now hooked on The Travelling Wilburys, specifically "Tweeter & the Monkey Man". *laughs*


Just before the house lights dimmed, he turned to me and said "You know, this is my first concert." I hadn't given that any thought and now I'm thinking it's not going to make for a very good story-what guy wants to say "My first concert was Jann Arden, with my mum."?!? They want to say something like "I went to Whitesnake with the guys." You know your son loves you when...


Jann was fantastic-she's quite a character. Some young girl in the audience presented her with flowers and Jann said would try and watch the swearing. Jann promised that if she did swear, she'd give the girl $100, cash. True to her word, her young fan walked away $300 richer!


The best part of the evening for me was when Jann sang "Unloved" with just her acoustic guitar for back up. You could have heard a pin drop. I always find that really powerful-being in a large audience where everyone is focused and so present in the moment, listening. It allowed us to hear the beautiful layers of Jann's voice, in a way you can't appreciate quite the same with a back up band. Sometimes, beauty is in the simplicity.

I also really enjoyed Allison Cornell, who plaid violin, along with many, many other instruments and sang. I am always deeply impressed when when a musician shows such versatility and adeptness. Allison is incredible. It also made my night to hear one of my favourite strings instruments eing played, the mandolin. There really ought to be more mandolin included in music!


Her new album is called Free and I love it. You can read the story behind each of the songs on the album here. It's always interesting to hear what the artist was thinking or feeling when they wrote the lyrics. It's hard to pick a favourite when each song has something that speaks to me, but All the Days is so pretty and wistful.

"When I am old
I'll think of all the all the hearts I've broke
to be here, with you
When I am grey
and somewhat faded to confused
I know that I will still remember you the very most

And all the days will wrap around our fingers
they'll hang around our hearts like bits of stars
and all the tears we've counted
and all the memories that we thought would linger
disappear, they disappear..."


Thanks Jann for beautiful music, exceptional lyrics and for helping to create good memories. I am always grateful to the artists that have become a part of the soundtrack of my life.