Duplex! played the first of three shows at the cultch tonight, and I love a show that starts at 7 and ends at 8 – much more civilized! It just goes to show you, I love rock’n'roll, but the hours don’t really suit me.

It’s odd to say that I’m finally feeling more comfortable with the songs even though we’ve been together for something like 6 years, but we seem to do an annual show and that’s it, and then I end up having to clear out chord changes to make room for other mundane things like, don’t forget to pack the kids’ lunch! It seems for every show I’m having to relearn them. Not to mention I’m not playing much bass guitar these days, and for most of the practices the dominant feeling is “ow! ow!” because my fingers are hurting from all that walking around after no exercise. It makes such a difference to feel confident though, you end up having a much better time. I don’t think Justin was feeling quite as happy as me, I had to elbow him in the ribs to shake him out of it. By Sunday we’ll be rockin’.

I took advantage of the poor lighting to play around with my new toy, the Vistaquest 1015 keychain camera in all its one megapixel glory (hey, they’re cheaper on ebay! and don’t you love the pack of smokes size reference?). Of course it was gorgeous out the day I bought it, which was followed by days of unending sunshine, and then it clouded over the minute I pulled it out of its package. I haven’t had great results with those looming clouds sucking up the light, and even less still in a darkly lit theatre. But it was my first day out with it, and I absolutely love it – I’m hereby dedicating my whole life to toy camera photography.

One of the great things about playing in a band with a school teacher is that she comes to practice with some preprinted charts and sharpened pencils, so you can dutifully take notes for your upcoming recording session, and see all the things that you better get working on. We’re finally going to finish the Onward Voyageur cd that we started almost a year ago, and I have about a week to fix all the lyrics and guitar parts that aren’t quite up to scratch.

Its quite a challenge mind you, as I’ve had a few Duplex! rehearsals for tonight’s show in Veda’s backyard, as well as picking up the drums for my son’s best friend’s band, Youthful Exuberance. Its fun to be the old lady on the drums behind a 12 and 8 year old songwriting team and we worked pretty hard on convincing their Dad to play bass, in spite of his conviction that one should not be playing a gig after one day playing bass – he isn’t taking into account his inherent musicality. Playing drums is fun fun thing. Anyone out there need a drummer whose meter isn’t too bad but never does any fills? (but I don’t own my own drum kit).

And Duplex! sure is fun, because after being a bass player for many many years, I suddenly find I rarely play it anymore. Since Duplex! averages about a gig a year I find I’m losing a lot of flexibility in my hands…is it time to start playing with a pick? And I can’t even begin to tell you how much fun, and difficult, singing harmonies and playing bass is.

Oh, and just for fun, I was messing about with a band photo. What do you think? This is just a first draft.