Cat Jahnke Mews

10/8/07 – Day Off, Calgary

Well, this was the busiest day off in Cat Jahnke “Day Off” history. I burned more calories in ten hours than I’d burned in the last month. I did my best to be calm, cool and collected while I got my photo taken, and I think I succeeded by complaining about other things as a distraction (being cold, bummy knee, stupid hair). There was really no need for concern however because I was in very good hands.

Rod Hiebert of Memory Makers Photography out here in Calgary worked his magic with what God gave me, and I’m eager to see the results. We’ve got actions shots, we’ve got experimental lighting, we’ve got casual Cat. It was a real treat to work with a photographer who had ideas and gave instructions and wasn’t put off by my timidity around cameras. (I have no qualms about making faces while singing in front of a thousand people, but ask me to do the same thing in front of a lens and I’m shy. What?)

They each had a solid argument…

10/7/07 – Day Off, Calgary

My life is like the earth shrunk down to the size of a ping pong ball: smooth. There could be huge mountains and valleys of inconvenience, turmoil and even downright misery, but, in the grand scheme of things, there’s very little I could honestly complain about.

Then I hear about the Canadian Food Grains Bank and wonder how personally we should take Thanksgiving. There is so much in my little bubble of a life to be grateful for and I feel ironically guilty for having the opportunity to be so grateful! When even the farmers, ESPECIALLY the farmers, are starving in other countries, or are being taken advantage of right here in Canada, I feel like there’s no amount of gratitude that could pay for my standard of living.

And so my appreciation seems petty. I don’t even have to be concerned with injustices that would touch my life today. I can worry about wildlife habitats being underfunded, I can worry about the sale of resources that should be available to everyone for free, I can worry about the environment, the potential for war, the family unit. All of this worry is made possible because I have so much leisure time that isn’t spent worrying about getting fed, being sheltered, staying alive.

Thank you for a delicious brunch buffet brought to us by some generous parents, thank you for an outlaw exploration of the airplane hangar where all rockstar dreams come true, thank you for an amazing family Thanksgiving dinner in the middle of our tour away from home, and most of all thanks for an educational evening learning about the Canadian Food Grains Bank and how much I have to be thankful for.

Bon Voyage!

It’s even louder when you turn it on…

Hangar Rage

Before the Bounty

10/6/07 – Quincy Marie’s, Airdrie

Tonight was my last show in the Calgary area during this tour. It feels inaccurate to define this past week as part of my “tour”. It’s more like I’ve temporarily moved to Alberta and I’m just gigging. And I even get Thanksgiving Sunday and Monday off! That’s not nearly uncomfortable enough to validate my “Road Warrior” badge.

This cushy situation is coming to an end on Tuesday, when the real character-building mountain-driving begins.

All week I’ve been meaning to get a picture of this field of Wal-Mart cargo trucks; it is seriously acres and acres of 24-hour/day movement. This was my last chance and it proves that we need a new camera. How could I have let this photo opportunity pass me by? And not only should it depict the grotesquely large fleet of consumption transporters, but I actually had a clear shot of Big Foot. Well, I shouldn’t get ahead of myself. It MIGHT have been just a plain old werewolf… Either being equally as frightening as my intended subject matter.

The best (and loudest!) midnight snack

10/5/07 – Gitter’s Pub, High River

I’m not one to believe in hocus pocus. At least I don’t think so… I like to think that my faith in the humongous order is complemented by a mere tolerance for the strangely coincidental. For example, during my fifteen minute expedition into the wilds of the Sun Ridge mall today, I happened to run into my new friend from the Rocky View School Division. Weird? Yes. Fateful? Not yet.

So check this out: I didn’t sleep very well last night but I did remember my dream, which is pretty unusual to begin with. Then while I’m schmoozing with the crowd at Gitter’s Pub this evening, I realize that the woman I’m speaking with was in my dream. “But you had long blond hair”, I tell her. “I just got it cut and dyed”, she says. ???!

What does this mean? Does this mean anything? Should I be hiring existential investigators to help me find the meaning of life or to help me accept that there isn’t one? Was I simply projecting similarities post-emptively?

Then comes the greater question: why? What do I gain from manufacturing such a fluke? Why can’t I just tolerate this strange coincidence? Does hocus pocus have a hold on me?

Do you think we’d get a Chinook while in AB? Nope. We bring hail. It has actually been 15 degrees warmer back home in Winterpeg! (Peep the vantage point: I must have grown a full inch! I’m almost as tall as the patio furniture!) – click the image to watch the video.

10/4/07 – Quincy Marie’s, Airdrie

I have a new supporter and he’s really tall.

Me and Brian Jackson from the Rocky View School Division

I am honored when folks tell me that they have enjoyed the words I offer in my songs. It fascinates me to hear what meaning was gleaned, and I am even more intrigued when the significance differs from what I had intended. For that reason I rarely offer my own specific muse.

It is most likely selfishness then that was the main thrill when I learned that a few of my songs might be discussed in a classroom setting. Of course I’m excited that Canadian content music is being brought into schools as a learning tool. Of course I’m excited that music in general is still cherished. (I remember hearing Celine Dion’s “Incognito” – in my French immersion classes!) Of course I’m excited that a whole new generation of young songwriters will be coming up to crowd the already competitive independent music scene!

Thanks so much for your support Ralph McCall School!

The new manifestation of Quincy Marie’s vegetable torte. Dee-licious!

10/3/07 – Redstone, Red Deer

Oh – My – Goodness! I’ve been spoiled. I’ve yet to see Big Night, but the climax of the film seems to be in line with what I’m feeling now. I’ll never have asparagus like that again!

The last supper…

The last dessert…

Close-up of delicious!

10/2/07 – Day off, Calgary

Stop the presses and mark your calendars: Darren and I made plans to meet at a restaurant for lunch and it worked out!! We didn’t get lost, there were no plan Bs, and no one was fired. That’s a good lunch date in my books!

It’s kind of strange having sushi for breakfast, but I can never refuse a good avocado roll. Well, unless it’s after I’ve been making them for the last 2 hours, at which point I’ve lost my appetite for sushi entirely… But you can still eat it!

Cat-brand sushi!

Side note: My first taste of sushi was in San Francisco and I hated it. I’d been a vegetarian for several years by then, and it just tasted like fish. I was terrified that I was cheating on my morals. Now I can’t get enough, as long as I’ve got a glass, some ice, and a can of ginger ale to wash it all down.

10/1/07 – Ironwood, Calgary

As a singer/songwriter, I do my best to be approachable. I want people to relate to my music and so I want people to relate to me. One of the benefits of having a roadie along for the ride is that I can spend my time after a show meeting and talking with folks, instead of packing up.

Despite the weight that I place on interacting with supporters, I’m sure they all understand that there is a level of intimacy that can never be attained in a five minute, post-performance, venue’s-closing-in-half-an-hour, kind of conversation. My brain may be scattered because I can’t eat my dinner until after I play. My attention might be interrupted by CD sales or gear inventory. BUT I STILL TRY TO BE ME!

I have a huge problem with talk for the sake of talk, for strategic flattery, for false confidences. If you want to be genuine, I’m grateful for kind words. If you want to tease, I’ll laugh at your sugary insincerity. But don’t try to sell me dishonesty; there’s no bang for the buck.

Anyways, it was another good night at the Ironwood: familiar faces to sing to and AMAZING food (holy cow their soup is killer!). I got a kick out of the colored lights.

At the Ironwood

9/30/07 – Day Off, Calgary

Would you rather have the big luck or the little luck? Big luck: Great job but you always drop things? Or little luck: Crappy relationship but you never miss a green light?

I’m pretty sure I’m blessed with the first. I love what I do. I love my friends. I have a great family. I feel supported and cared for and in the broad sense of it, my life is awesome. BUT, every once in a while I get struck by this strange luck.

Often it involves weather (blizzards coming out of nowhere on the day of an important show, rain following me around) but more recently it has involved the unexpected closure of each and every restaurant I appeal to for nourishment. We got a taste of this in Lloydminster but we chalked in up to a worker shortage. Surely it wasn’t my presence that caused Pizza-73’s number to ceaselessly ring, or the Cheers restaurant to have closed five minutes before we made our final menu decisions. Family Pizza, Boston Pizza, Panago, the list goes on…

We left those coincidences behind us and traveled on to Calgary to enjoy a much needed day off. Our fine hosts Adelee and Rod had prepared a scrumptious meal of stuffed green peppers before remembering that Darren is a picky brat and won’t eat them. No worries, there was a yummy veggie casserole for Plan B. Unfortunately it had mushrooms in it, another delicious food Darren refuses to consume… (Meanwhile Cat’s mouth is salivating profusely just thinking about it!)

So on to Plan C. Indian food from their favorite restaurant, part of their usual Sunday schedule. Ring! Ring! Ring! ad infinitum. Now this is really a waste because it takes me forever to decide what suits my palate at any given moment. After several more unsuccessful attempts, we decide to go with Plan D.

Their favorite Thai place is another restaurant that has served them well in the past. Before making our choices we discuss our previous luck in Lloydminster, joking that our fortune has the power to close down the entire food industry. On the phone again to the Thai place and this time our efforts are rewarded by a recorded message stating that the restaurant will be closed on Sundays until further notice.

???

I love food. I love eating. I love going out to eat amazing food. But I feel it is my duty to report my track record and let potential restaurants decide for themselves whether they would like me to be within 100 feet of their establishment.

9/29/07 – Full Of Beans, Irricana

Once again the crowd in Irricana brings out the best in me. I don’t even know what I can legally say about what happened this evening. There was booze, there was debauchery, there was a midnight break-in into the local fire hall… Oops. I might have said too much!

We arrived at Full Of Beans two hours early and only started a half hour late. It might have been Dan’s cute baby who sang along with my sound check. It might have been the five dozen t-shirts that needed sorting and folding. It might have been the fact that just as I was preparing to get started I noticed a familiar face in the back of the room…

Twice now in the past few months my sister has showed up several hundred kilometers away from where I would expect her to be. Each time my jaw muscles get a hardy workout. I was glad she was there to party with the rest of the Irricaners, but I was sad that she was a witness to my foul mouth and the crude response it incited from the crowd. And that she could go home and tell my mother what a bad girl I was being…

Then I found out that my Elvis-inspired, sexual-connotation-laden coming-of-age ditty was a favorite with my father.

Well Irricana, thanks for the rum. Thanks LESS for the strawberry milk tequila.

A most meaningful segment of the evening: a toast to buying my CDs…

Darren was hoping I was the kind of chick who got a kick out of a man in uniform.
I just wonder how he’d carry all my crap with that axe in his hand.

Cat = 100 lbs
Firefighter’s Gear = 100 lbs
Who ya got?

Unfortunately (and honestly) this is one of the
only pictures of the two of us. Christmas card?