The Wedding Day - Part Six

Mr. Cal Schaub (courtesy of the Ontario college of art and design) at our request and with a little pushing to encourage, arrives with a small sampling of his portfolio and sets up a mini gallery in our family room for everyones viewing pleasure. Mel and I were fortunate enough to attend a private exhibition, put on by Cal recently in downtown Toronto. Cal is an up-and-coming artist utilizing multiple media to create unique abstract paintings in acrylic and oil, to name just a few. Some of Cal's work can be seen by accessing his website which shall be provided shortly

Jim Armstrong, Mel's cousin, heads to the back yard and ignites our outdoor, portable fire pit. He knows all about it cause he and his son Craig split two cords of wood for us late last summer in anticipation. A crowd soon gathers. And with some seated in the Muskoka chairs and others milling about, the camp fire is enjoyed by many for the remainder of the party.

The windows of the living room overlooking the fire are cranked wide open and in addition to those seated up stairs, everyone fireside is able to enjoy Mr. Matt Wilhelm, tenor extraordinaire (courtesy of Wilfred Laurier's School of Opera) at the electric piano. He is followed by Mr. Jason James (courtesy of Wilfred Laurier's School of Music) also on piano. Then, a gal so dear to Mel and me, the most lovely and talented Miss Amy Carson Hunter (courtesy of YouTube and a bucket load of charisma and talent) --- with a little coaxing from me and the personal delivery of my Larrivee six-string guitar --- preforms a set of her own original material to the delight of all. You can hear more of Miss Hunter on YouTube or Myspace accessed here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ahunterr or,

http://www.myspace.com/amycarsonhunter

She is awesome. Check her out if you didn't have a chance, live, up front and personal.

At 9 o'clock, as previously billed, the headline act takes the stage downstairs in Sanglier Studios. Awesome! The boys are rockin' in no time and the room is filled with dancers, standing-room only. Their repertoire includes Blink 182 and a pile of other current R&R and Blues and they execute oh so well. Mr. Bowes is performing his vocal acrobatics and the crowd is totally enthralled.

David Wharry, blues harp wizard extraordinaire, steps up and requests a spotlight at a microphone from Will and Will graciously steps aside. Dave queries Ryan, "Stormy Monday?" Ry turns to Andrew. Stormy Monday in 'A'. And away they go, just as I happen to walk in the door. I have had the pleasure of hearing Dave many times, often while backing him on guitar and sometimes from his recordings. But never have I heard him handling both the vocals and the harp with such enthusiasm while backed by a fabulously capable band. Dave delivers up a scathing rendition. Intense, high-octane lyrics and waling harp solos. The man stuns the crowd.

Melanie is ushered into the studio. Bro Jim, the band and I play, "Shave yo' Legs" by Keb mo' to the bride. I am told later she could be seen with tears in her beautiful eyes.
Carol Comley arrives at the studio door and sizing up the situation, which was essentially a pile of young folks dancing, she slowly crouches to the floor and executes her signature Crab Walk to enter the dance floor. She morphs to her other well known to some, Dance of the Seven Veils and the crowd goes wild. All the young ladies surround and Will Bowes bursts through, gliding up behind her and settles into spooning, from the rear, mirroring her every move. The music continues to pound out. The serpent gyrates as one and the revelers are mesmerized. The song ends and the group dissipates back to the confines of the room, breathless. Will approaches Miss Mel. "Who was that vision," he asks. Mel replies, "That's Carol. She's over 50"! Will thinks for a moment and quietly, more to himself than anyone, mutters "I could do that". That's our girl.