I think it’s key to find a variety of people to work out with, to find a variety of activities, and to work with people at different experience and comfort levels.  Generally, I prefer working with people who are on the same level as me in terms of motivation, but it’s also great to work with those who are more experienced that can help coach you and broaden your skills.  The motivation with other new people can be attributed to a few factors – but the underlying theme to them all is the common bond of taking on a new challenge.  It’s different going with someone who would go to the gym anyway, versus going with someone who is there because you’re there as much as you’re there because they’re there.  Did I use enough pronouns for you in that sentence?

I miss my workouts with ML.  He would stop by the office after work, and we’d both moan about not wanting to do this but we both knew it was good for us and we needed to do this.  Most days, no matter how strong the desire to skip the gym was, we made it.  As I said before, some days, we let ourselves say “no, no, today is not a work out the stress in the gym day, today is a bottle of wine and brie day.”  ML was a pretty stellar gym buddy and he’s an even better wine-buddy.  A key factor in our success, inasmuch as we were successful for a time, was planning ahead of time when we would go to the gym – the commitment.

Unfortunately, on a regular basis it can be difficult to find someone who has the same schedule as you – as much as I prefer to work out with people, it’s not always feasible.  Everybody’s work-out plans are unique to themselves, which is fantastic, and that means different gyms and different schedules.  Even when there is overlap in your plans, it can still be difficult to follow the buddy system at all times because everybody’s lives and schedules are different in general.  So, I’m going to try making myself accountable through the blog – making anybody who’s reading this one of my accountabilibuddies.  I’m going to do this by laying out my rough plan for the week, and being honest about how I am sticking to it.

So, what’s my plan for this week?

So, the measurements, the things to track: I’m going to track both basic physical measurements as well as some fitness measurements.  Naturally, I’m not anxious to publish certain details like my weight or my waist size.  But here we are, at the beginning, so I’m going to start at zero and tell you about my progress in plus/minus terms.  I’ll be more forthcoming with the fitness stuff, because I hope that it will be less embarrassing! ;)

Physical Measurements

• Weight: 0 (Ideal @ my height and age could be anywhere between 135-175lbs)
• Measurements (Bust/Waist/Hips): 0/0/0 (Obviously depend a lot on the weight!)
• Resting Heart Rate: 0 (Average is 72bpm, normal is anywhere from 50-100, and should decrease as my fitness level increases)
• Blood Pressure: N/A (not yet measured!) (Should be in the 110/70 to 120/80 range)

So, let’s just say that I need the weight and measurements to show up in this blog as big minuses, and a little minus action in the resting heart rate and blood pressure categories would be alright but I’m quite comfortably in average/healthy ranges there.

Fitness Measurements

My super-awful workout earlier this week was my fitness testing baseline, which I hope means amazing progress soon since I felt so crappy the whole time.  I did five fitness tests to measure strength (2), flexibility (2), and endurance (1).  I’ll do the tests again in two weeks – the tests were:

1. Strength: Core Strength Test
2. Strength: Push-Up Test
3. Flexibility: Sit & Reach
4. Flexibility: Shoulders
5. Endurance: One Mile Run

I did (1) terribly in the core strength test (making it through only 30 seconds of a 3 minute test), (2) so-so in the push-up test (able to do an acceptable number of modified push-ups), (3) so-so in the sit & reach test (which I’m not really measuring the way you’re supposed to ’cause I’m definitely not buying a box to do the measurements properly, hah!!) and (4) fine in the shoulder flexibility test.  I did terribly in the one mile run, which I will chalk up to being so low energy lately.  I’ll give some more detailed info on these tests in two weeks when I try them again on hopefully a less asstackular day.

My plan for tomorrow is to hit the gym for some strength training and light cardio before an evening obligation (weather permitting).  Friday will be a rest-day as it’s the end of the week, and on the weekend when I have far more time and hopefully energy get some solid work-out time in (including, I hope, an early a.m. run on Sunday with Coach H., CT and CB – aka Coach’s Sunday Run Club).

What are your fitness goals?  How closely do you monitor your progress?

I’m still going to do that, just … not today.  I’ve spent the last four days or so with my energy level at zero, and the four or five days before that barely above zero … basically I’ve been living the life of a cat, I putter around a bit, nibble here and there, but otherwise I’m essentially down for the count.  Had my B12 shot this morning, but still super lethargic today… hoping that tomorrow I’m feeling more refreshed and up for things.

My plan tonight was for a light work-out that would include my fitness testing – which I did, and it was terrible.  I don’t remember the last time I had a work-out like this.  Usually it takes me some time to get psyched up for it, and I procrastinate, but then I’m into it and it’s a great feeling.  That didn’t happen tonight… but the important thing is that I did it.

Today’s lesson: “Do not consider painful what is good for you.” – Euripides

The expectation I always have when I start a new routine is that I’m going to adapt to it quickly and I’m going to love it ’cause I’ve planned it out so well this time and I’ve been realistic or I’ve got an important goal.  Inevitably, I have a minor set back and then another hiccup and the next thing you know I’m out of the routine completely and back to the part that I actually enjoy – planning.  So I suppose tonight I’m writing this blog post to remind myself that there are days I’m not going to want to go; I’m going to have bad workouts; some days, I’ll even skip it entirely.  But the important thing is to treat this as a more fundamental change to my life as I have done with other areas, and recognize that it’s okay not to immediately adapt and be successful.  If it wasn’t hard, we’d all have superstar athlete bodies.  Change takes time, and I can do this.

Tomorrow I hit the gym with the buddy system in full force, and it will be a better day.

Vitamin B-12 plays an important role in the normal functioning of the brain and nervous system, as well as the formation of blood; it is normally involved in the metabolism of every cell of the human body, especially affecting DNA synthesis and regulation, but also fatty acid synthesis and energy production.  Basically, it’s kind of a big deal.  If you don’t have enough of it, you will suffer from anemia (low red blood cell counts, which basically means you’ll feel weak, lethargic or fatigued among other things), you may experience some gastrointestinal symptoms and neurological symptoms (like a decreased sense of soft-touch, absent reflexes, and even more serious psychological problems like dementia).  So, yeah – kind of a big deal.

I recently discovered that I have a vitamin B12 deficiency.  So recently that I don’t really know the cause yet, but due to hereditary factors (my mother and grandmother both having the same deficiency) I suspect that my problem is not dietary (though as a vegetarian my consumption is certainly not ideal).  I’m several days away from my next injection.

Did you know that historically a vitamin B12 deficiency (pernicious anemia – basically a deficiency due to lack of absorption not lack of consumption) was fatal?  My wikipedia-ing tells me that the disease was first described in the mid-19th Century, and in the early 20th Century the survival rate was, on average, 1-3 years for those with pernicious anemia.  A friend of mine recounted similar discoveries several years ago when he was initially diagnosed, and I recall shared a similar sense of shock – people used to just flippin’ die from this!

In 1920, George Whipple (who, for you Grey’s watchers is NOT the Whipple of the pancreatic-cancer surgery “whipple,” but an UNrelated, though contemporary and apparently lifelong friend, of that Whipple.. his name was Allen) thought that maybe raw liver would be a good treatment … which he discovered by experimenting on dogs.  A couple of other guys, George Minot and William Murphy, furthered Whipple’s research and ultimately the three men shared the 1934 Nobel Prize in Medicine for their work.

During the mid-20s, folks with pernicious anemia ate at least a half a pound of raw liver, or drank raw liver juice, every frickin’ day.  By the late 20s a liver extract concentrate became available, and in 1948 the active ingredient was isolated by chemists Karl A Folkers and Alexander R Todd: vitamin b12.  In the ’50s, the new vitamin was purified and other methods of producing it from bacteria were developed, continuing to increase the ease with which sufferers of pernicious anemia could be treated – sparing people like me today the uber-yucky fate of having to live on a diet of massive quantities of raw liver.  So, thank you for that.  Seriously.  Medicine’s pretty amazing.

My iron levels have typically shown in blood tests on the low end of normal, but still normal.  In recent years I’ve found myself increasingly lethargic – and concerned that the lethargy (among other things) may be symptomatic of some kind of thyroid issue.  My most recent physical and blood test confirmed that my thyroid is behaving exactly as it should be, but fortunately we also checked out my B12 levels and discovered this deficiency.  My reading was a little over half the low-end of normal, and I was able to get a B12 shot right away.  The next two weeks I felt a noticeable difference in my energy levels, and the last two weeks I seem to be feeling a return to what had become normal – in other words, blah.  Hopefully in the coming months my B12 levels will stabilize through the injections, and all will be well, though this essentially will be a lifelong treatment kind of deal.

Some dietary sources of B12, excluding all the meat and fishy goodness you omnivores eat, are:

• Fortified breakfast cereals (unfortunately this doesn’t include my favorite cereal, Special K Vanilla Almond! though DOES include multigrain cheerios)
• Dairy products like yogurt, milk and cheese (all of which are super tasty)

For me, I will need monthly shots (December, January, February at minimum) and then will have another blood test.  This will be followed by trying a daily dose of B12 in pill form, for a time, and then another blood test.  At that point we’ll know whether the problem is primarily absorption or consumption and which will be the route for me – shots or pills.  Either way, sure beats the prospect of death vs a half pound of liver a day… YUCK!

Okay, well it kind of is.  But this resolution started in the fall, took a break during the busy-ness of the holidays, and is getting kick-started now that we’re into the new year.  I’ve never been a runner – I’ve tried and failed at it repeatedly.  I’ve also tried and failed repeatedly to get a solid, ongoing workout routine happening.  What works best for me is having a workout buddy – having someone that I don’t want to disappoint or let down by not being there, someone who will help kick my ass on those not-at-all-few-and-far-between moments when I want to do anything but go to the gym.

Sports have always worked for me.  Several years ago I got back into the sports thing, starting with some volleyball and then getting more regularly into soccer, ball hockey and curling.  But these beer-league sports are once or twice a week at best, and not really enough to be fit.

Several years ago I also started taking way better care of my mental health – cutting out negative influences and toxic people from my life, and working diligently to become more open to the people and experiences around me.  It’s been a stellar ride, and I’m sure I’ll blog more about that journey later.

But the resolution thing.  The not really a resolution but kind of a resolution thing.

A colleague of mine was involved with organizing a charity spinning event/fundraiser in the fall, and after surviving our spin-a-thon a few of us went out for a celebratory drink.  It was during this time that we were chatting about fitness and my Non-Runner status came up.  Another colleague swore that he could get me to like running – maybe it was the post-spinning endorphins, maybe it is my positive attitude these days, but probably it was the wine I was drinking – I said “you’re on!” and we’ve been off to the races ever since.

The three of us began running – Coach H., CB and me.  Along the way we’ve inspired some participation from other friends as well, and been inspired by friends of ours who began their own fitness journeys around the same time (that’s right, shout-out to the Army Run 5K girls).

Our first run was supposed to be something like two kilometers on a beautiful day after work.  That day we actually ran about four.  The next run was about the same.  And at the end of week one, we made our way – through a walk-run routine – to a full 10K, our ultimate goal.

Anybody who saw the Coach’s plan thought this was insane – and it was.  But the goal of doing 10 kilometers right away wasn’t to run 10 kilometers well, or to run it entirely, maybe not even to finish it.  The goal was to see what it meant – what we were doing – that 10K was both a big deal and also a totally achievable goal.  It was great.  No matter what the distance we ran after that, we knew we could do it and we were building towards our ultimate goal of ‘for real’ doing 10k.

Unfortunately, due to rotating illnesses and then the busy-ness of the holidays, as a group we’ve kind of been slackers for a little while.  We’re ready now, though, with another goal – to run a 10K in a race.  So, this is the beginning.

The goal for now is to re-map, more or less, the same 10K build-up as before over the coming weeks while also integrating some strength training, which was not included in my routine before.  I think that in addition to my work-out buddies, Coach H. and CB, blogging will help me through this as well.

I’ll blog about physical challenges – like being an old person (sometimes 29 feels ancient), and some other basic / minor but challenging issues.  I’ll blog about the mental game, and I’ll blog about the physical progress.

So, let’s get started, shall we?

Some of the downsides: the new layout caused problems with getting around the festival in the main stage area as the beer lines and crowd melded more than ever and the sound bleed was a constant presence with the new orientation – so bad in a number of instances that performers commented on their stages about hearing the main stage.  There were major communication issues during the storm that nearly – but didn’t – rain out the Black Keys.  And of course the final night’s awful stage collapse, something that was certainly a freak accident.  More on that later.

The upside is always the performances themselves, and the chance to run into lots of people – this year I spent most of the festival with Anya, but also caught up with Melissa, Caitlin, Catherine, Isabelle, Chris, Angela, kevin, jon W, Al Yang, Sabine, Carmela, and if I missed anyone in that list I apologize.

So here’s who I saw:

WEEK ONE:

1. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
2. The Flaming Lips
3. Soundgarden
4. Tegan & Sara
5. Bootsy Collins
6. Bedouin Soundclash
7. The Roots
8. Skrillex
9. Ben Harper
10. Girl Talk
11. David Clayton Thomas
12. Steve Miller Band
13. Cage the Elephant
14. Blue King Brown
15. Harper & Midwest Kid
16. Cavaliers
17. Hey Rosetta!
18. Erykah Badu
19. The Tragically Hip

WEEK TWO:

1. Trevor Alguire
2. Andrew Jr Boy Jones
3. Ian Kelly
4. Buck 65
5. John Fogerty
6. Trampled by Turtles
7. Imaginary Cities
8. Metric
9. My Morning Jacket
10. Buddy Guy
11. Classified
12. Big Sam’s Funky Nation
13. Blue Rodeo
14. Death from Above 1979
15. Alex Cuba
16. Jane’s Addiction
17. Lupe Fiasco
18. Cheap Trick

MISSED BANDS DUE TO EXTREME WEATHER:
The Black Keys
Ra Ra Riot
Joe Satriani
John Butler Trio
Death Cab for Cutie

Highlights of this year’s festival performances include, but are not limited to:

The Flaming Lips

This was my second time seeing The Flaming Lips, the first being at last year’s festival through a VIP hook-up!  It was a different experience given that they were not the headliner that night, and as wild as their show is it was not quite as crazy as last year.  Still, The Flaming Lips are so entertaining, great tunes (She Don’t Use Jelly, Yoshimi, Yah-Yah-Yah, Do You Realize?), and I would recommend them to all.

Tegan & Sara

Another group I’ve seen before, but this time not so recently!  I saw Tegan & Sara at Capital Music Hall with Cat, back when Capital Music Hall was where RJ’s/Liquor Dome/now a Condo is.  Their music has really changed since then and is much richer and fuller as their albums have progressed.  It was exactly the same kind of show, though, with a lot of chatting and interaction with the crowd.  As well, it was great to see a far more diverse crowd due to the festival atmosphere enjoying their music – especially as Soundgarden performed on the main stage.  They played new tunes, old tunes, and were enjoyed by all it seemed – I do hope to see them again!

The Roots

Can I just say again that I want to have Kirk Douglas’ babies??  It’s always great to check out someone you haven’t seen perform live before, and The Roots were phenomenal.  My favorite moment of course was when they played “You Got Me,” with Douglas going off into some great solo-work.  Just awesome.  Search it out on YouTube, it’s there and it’s AWESOME.  Also The Roots are just so damn cool.  It would’ve been sweet to check out Questlove spinning at Ritual Nightclub after the show, but I’m an old lady and apparently so are all my friends ;)

Girl Talk

“COME WITH ME, FESTIVAL PEOPLE!” – nothing says super fun, hot, sweaty dance party for ninety minutes like a live set from Girl Talk.  Saw him a couple of years ago on a much smaller stage with Mya, so I was definitely stoked to see him again.  This time, Anya and I crammed our way up to the front and had a great time dancing away – until the moshing ridiculousness started, and the crowd surfing that seemed to keep coming our direction only to fall near us and land on our heads.  So what makes Girl Talk an interesting live performance is that he doesn’t just hit play on the laptop and go from there – he’s putting together familiar samples while also setting up and testing out new samples on the spot.  It’s pretty awesome, especially for the “musically ADD” I call it.  It’s just a lot of fun if you truly do have varied tastes to try and pick everything out of these stellar mash-ups.

Hey Rosetta!

I dunno how many times I’ve MEANT to see Hey Rosetta!, unsuccessfully.  Was so glad to finally see them, even if it was only briefly.  Hey Rosetta! were amazing, great music, great crowd atmosphere, and none of that could be dampened by the downpour we experienced that evening.  Several songs in, with the wind and rain picking up, festival organizers had to pull the plug on the show at least temporarily.  The crowd was relentless, however, chanting “LET THEM PLAY!” – figuring the Newfie band was used to a little rain.  One of the best moments of Bluesfest all time happened when – after the stage crew had covered all of the instruments on stage in tarps, and while they were working diligently to mop the stage and keep things safe – the folks from Hey Rosetta! picked up some instruments, unplugged, and came out into the crowd to play.  It was so *so* cool – those of us that remained at that point, hushed and listening closely while they wandered up and down the sound-guy/security aisle between the barricades, eventually encouraging the whole crowd to sing along.  Amazing, and a real class-act move in appreciation of their fans.  They became an instant fav!

The Tragically Hip

This was my …. seventh? time seeing The Hip I think.  I saw them years ago at Bluesfest, when it was held in Confederation Park.  I don’t even know if they had more than one stage for the festival at that time.  This was during my time at Carleton and was a riot.  I saw them a couple of times at the Corel Centre, including during the “Evening With The Hip” tour which was like seeing The Hip twice in one night – SO GOOD.  I travelled to Buffalo NY with Meg to see The Hip during Music @ Work, and have seen them at several Bluesfests since.  As always, The Hip are phenomenal.  You just have to love these sing-along type bands, and the high energy of Gordie and the boys.  The evening was made all the more enjoyable by the company, the highlight of which is Mars’ ability to move a train of people through a massive shoulder-to-shoulder crowd and find up front space.  Wicked.

Buck 65

Another repeat performer for me, but it’d been quite some time and I actually didn’t catch most of his set the last time I saw him.  It was the first year I went to Bluesfest at City Hall and checked out multiple stages and really got a sense of what the festival was all about.  This was my discovery of Buck 65, and it was great to get a chance to catch him again – even if it was only half a set so I could check out some CCR.  Highlights of Buck 65 include his dancing, and his humour – covering some Fogerty and noting, “it’s all good, he’s gonna do a Buck 65 cover later.”

John Fogerty

It was fuckin’ Fogerty, what more can I say?  After some Buck 65 I made my way over to the main stage for some classics and it was great.  Monster crowd, stellar performance, and again the kind of night where every song you’d want to hear was played.  I left during the encore to beat the rush, but stopped to grab a drink on my way out – the guys at the booth thought it was neat that Fogerty was “doing a Tina Turner song” as he played Proud Mary…. D’OH!

Trampled by Turtles

As much as I bitch and moan about certain things the festival does differently each year that pisses me off, they also always add something awesome – with the move to Lebreton Flats and the Canadian War Museum it was the addition of the Barney Danson Theatre for some more intimate performances.  This year, it was the free giveaway of iTunes Gift Cards with 31 songs by Bluesfest performers.  This was fantastic not only because free stuff is good stuff, BUT, also because it gave you another way to check out some musicians that you might not have otherwise.  I really hope that they continue with this, because it helped me to discover even more great music.  One such discovery is Trampled by Turtles, who perform a bluegrass meets pop meets crazy insane amounts of energy for an awesome time.  So enjoyed them.

Blue Rodeo

I am in love with Jim Cuddy, and I’ve never not had an amazing time at a Blue Rodeo concert.  I must’ve seen them nearly a half dozen times by now – though nothing has compared to the first time I saw them at the Molson Amphitheatre in Toronto with Laura and Helene, my last night living in the city before coming back to Ottawa for the fall semester to begin.  This year Blue Rodeo was joined by Cuff the Duke for some tunes, which was great.  Not so great was noticing Keelor having to leave the stage due to health problems.  Hopefully that ends up resolved, it would be a shame for him not to be able to continue.

Alex Cuba

Basically all I can say is that I must see him again.  He’s been in Ottawa a few times recently and I hadn’t managed to get out to see him, so that I had a chance at Bluesfest was great.  He’s super talented, and covered Blue Rodeo’s “Bad Timing” in Spanish, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  I did snap some pics but none turned out I’m afraid… must’ve been too dazed from HOPE beach that day!

+++++

So for the Sunday stage collapse, it was the wildest thing I’ve ever seen.  I arrived in time to catch most of Lupe Fiasco’s performance, which I also thoroughly enjoyed.  Met up with Carm & Chris, and shortly before the end of the set we made our way over to the main stage to get a good, close-up spot for Cheap Trick.  While we were there, the Mayor took the stage to present Bluesfest organizers with a proclamation of Bluesfest Day in Ottawa in recognition of the success of the festival for the original founders/organizers.  It wasn’t long after that, that Cheap Trick took the stage and played a few somewhat familiar songs before launching into I Want You To Want Me.  I was enjoying the show, but also somewhat distracted by a few things – I was keeping an eye on my watch so that I could make my way over to the next show (Ra Ra Riot at the River Stage) since there was so much I wanted to see on the closing night.  The wind was picking up and many fans seemed to be taking notice of the dark gloomy skies, worrying that we could be rained out again, though never anticipating the events that were about to unfold.  Lastly, something that really stood out in my mind was the swirling confetti, rising up off the ground from the previous night’s headliner show Jane’s Addiction.  It just seemed so weird.

By about the fourth song into their set, half-way through the song the sound seemed to cut out.  I’m not sure if it was somewhat muted to the whole audience, or if we just heard things from the monitors and other on-stage equipment, because we were super close.  The band played on, as professionals do, assuming that this minor technical glitch would be resolved shortly.  The wind was really coming and by now the odd drop of rain was being felt – so the crowd was getting restless, since the previous week’s rainy night was such a communications disaster for the festival.  As the song came to an end, a couple of stage crew members rushed onto the stage – some to take down equipment, and another to urge the band to bolt as fast as they could off the stage.  Then everything happened insanely quickly and in slow motion all at the same time.

I remember watching the band start to run towards the back of the stage, followed by one of the giant Bluesfest banners on our side of the stage coming loose at the bottom and flapping in the wind out into the crowd.  I don’t know what other people noticed that caused them to run, because I sure didn’t notice it, but the next thing I know my sleeve’s being tugged on by Carm to start running.  In the few seconds that we ran backwards away from the stage, I’m yelling “Be careful! Be careful!” terrified that people are going to be trampled.

Then we stopped.  We turned around, and watched the stage come down like a house of cards.  It was as if the whole thing just deflated in front of us – and I don’t remember much crashing or banging or popping type sounds like you’d expect from the collapse of a massive steel structure like that.  Instead, all you heard were gasps and shouts of “oh my God!” or “oh no!” from the crowd.  It settled, and the next thing I know I’m running back towards the stage.  My two concerns were if any of the stage had come forward and injured anybody who hadn’t moved as far as quickly as we did, and also if anyone had been injured in the rushing crowd.  Everything seemed strangely calm when I reached the barricade – the stage hadn’t come forward at all, and no one seemed to be hurt from the mini-stampede.  I shouted “Can you see anybody? Did everybody get out?” and moved back and forth along the gate trying to see, hesitating while I thought about hopping the fence.  Before I could, a security guard came rushing by screaming for people to get back.  A rush of people were at the front of the stage area now, surveying the scene, so I started to walk back to where I’d left Carm and Chris.

I didn’t find them in the crowd, so I began my walk out of the festival site.  By this point, it was pouring rain and even hailing.  I called Carm first to let her know where I’d gone, and that I was now leaving.  Then I called my mom, worried that the news would break quickly and that my parents would worry.  Then a fury of text messaging/Blackberry messaging began to try and track down everybody I knew who was on site that day, and more and more relief as I learned that people had safely exited the site.

I knew there was no way that I’d catch a bus, so I continued my walk up Albert Street towards where I’d left my car downtown.  All I could think was that there was no way that people on the stage made it off in time.  It came down incredibly quickly, and with no warning it seemed though I’m sure those on/back-stage had a different perspective than the crowd.  I hadn’t seen the back of the stage, and had assumed that it had just collapsed in on itself towards the centre and not that it had essentially leaned back and tipped over as it did.  People in the street were chatting with one another while walking through the rain, amazed at what they’d seen and concerned that people may have been seriously injured or killed.

By the time I arrived about a block from my car, I’d seen toppled trees, lightning strikes, and think my clothes weighed an extra 20 lbs from all the water.  I got in my car, made a quick phone call, and then started to drive the rest of the way home, anxious to see what the news was.  Even by my place there were sirens everywhere as TONS of emergency vehicles made their way to the scene.

Thankfully, there were only a few injuries and though they sounded awful at first all of the injured people were released from hospital in a matter of hours.  It’s an absolute miracle that the whole situation wasn’t far worse.  There has been a lot of talk/reporting about the fast-action of staff and volunteers, and while I’m sure there was, the fact is that the majority of what kept the situation as “at bay” as it can be considered is dumb fucking luck.  My thoughts on why things weren’t worse:

1. It was daylight, so you could see everything, which I’m sure helped to keep the panic at bay.
2. The crowd was sizable, but not huge – not like The Hip, not like KISS, not like some of the humungo acts that headline have seen.  You were able to move around quite freely and easily.
3. It was quick.  You weren’t in a sense of ongoing danger or urgency, other than the fear that *other* people had been hurt.  I never felt like all of the tents would blow away or that other stages would come down – I honestly thought the worst thing would’ve been lightning in the field.
4. The storm was awful, so regardless of what was going on you just wanted to get out of it.  People weren’t rubbernecking the situation as much as they would have, surely, had the weather not been so bad.  Were it some other kind of incident, crowd disbursement would’ve been more difficult without the rain and hail; in fact, loads took shelter in the museum to wait out the storm.

It was a bizarre thing to witness, and would’ve been truly traumatic had there been more serious consequences.  I think that even though it was a total freak accident type of situation, the festival will still have to take a hard look at some issues and make some changes for emergency situations in future.

My regular Bluesfest Buddy, Anya, was in Belgium this year — I must say, my dear, that you were missed! But I GUESS being in Barcelona during the World Cup Final would’ve been okay too. ;) I did get to enjoy the shows with Bambi and her friend Sharleen, James and Karen from soccer, Mya on a couple of nights, Meaghan, and ran into James and Alex from curling as well. Cat joined me on the night I won free tickets through Spectrasonic, and we caught up with Mars and her boyfriend, and on another night also ran into Rowland. Lots of others I know were at the festival, but didn’t have a chance to run into — I hope the shows were enjoyed by all.

Here’s who I saw this year:

• John Butler Trio
• Hole
• Joan Jett & The Blackhearts
• Metric
• Roger Hodgson
• The Flaming Lips
• Brothers Chaffey
• Moneen
• Steve Dawson’s Mississippi Sheiks Project
• Sarah Harmer
• Arcade Fire
• Drake
• Stars
• Great Big Sea
• Weezer

The 2010 highlights include:

Hole

I first saw Hole back in high school with Lisa, I’m pretty sure it was at Edgefest at the Rideau Carleton Raceway (other acts I think included Dave Matthews Band, Gob, and Finger Eleven — shortly after they became Finger Eleven from having been the Rainbow Butt Monkeys — seriously). These were the days before everybody had the Internet, and if you tried to “webcrawler” search lyrics to songs by your favorite bands like “Hole” or “Bush,” you were going to come across trouble and nothing else. It rained on that night, just as it rained this time. I remember my expectations of seeing Hole back then, and they were high, as Lisa and I both thought Hole was totally amazing — and it was kind of disappointing, when Courtney Love was the exact kind of shit-show we’ve come to expect. The songs were good, but she was clearly fucked up and (a) we were pretty young then and (b) you got way less of a sense in those days of just how fucked up some people were, when you only got it from magazines and the occasional BIG story on Much Music, not the 24-7 barrage of the Internet that we have now.

This time around, “what kind of shit show will this be?” was half the draw — none of the original band members are with Courtney Love anymore; Melissa Auf Der Mer having gone one to a marginally successful solo-career, and I hear will be in the soon-to-be-revived Veruca Salt via Bambi; the lone male of the former Hole, “sickly Eric” as I recall Lisa and I calling him, was not on stage he has been replaced by other similarly odd-and-lanky-seeming male bandmates. This time any disappointment was in how much of a shit show Courtney Love WASN’T, truth be told. Any of that disappointment was brief, however, because she was actually pretty charming and was able to really rock out and she can still wail at 46 (the show was on her birthday).

She opened with a newer song, mixed with a bit of a cover of the Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil” – teased the Canadian crowd that she’d considered teaching the band some Bryan Adams or Alannah Myles, which was ultimately unnecessary as they knew some Leonard Cohen (“Take This Longing”). She played a lot of old favs from Live Through This like Violet, Doll Parts, and Miss World as well as Pretty on the Inside. “Newer” hits (for me anyway, since this was around when Hole disappeared in my books before now) like “Celebrity Skin” and “Malibu.” The closing was a cover of “Thirteen” by Big Star, which was a definite highlight. All in all, a good way to remember a lot of the good things about angstier days.

Joan Jett & The Blackhearts

Joan Jett is one of the ultimate women in rock & roll, and at 52 is still 100% badass. With a new Greatest Hits album out with The Blackhearts, everything you’d possibly want to hear was played – from the opening of “Bad Reputation” and “Cherry Bomb” to classics like “School Days,” “Love is Pain,” and “Do You Wanna Touch Me.” Joan Jett rocked “I Love Rock n’ Roll” with the whole crowd belting it out along with her, and I just about died for “Crimson and Clover.” She did not play “Love is a Battlefield” or “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” since she is not, contrary to popular belief, Pat Benetar. Joan Jett closed with “Everyday People” which was a really excellent choice to end the show — I had fully expected any one of the aforementioned songs to be a closer, but the absolute right choice was made.

One of the best things about Bluesfest is that it draws absolute icons of the music world out to Ottawa in an outdoor festival setting, which is definitely one of the best ways to see music. Sure, the acoustics aren’t as great as many indoor venues, but the vibe is right, man, the vibe is right.

The Flaming Lips

Truth be told, I am not particularly familiar with the Flaming Lips beyond a few classics — like “She Don’t Use Jelly,” which they played early on, “Magic WAND” and “Do You Realize?,” which has to be one of my all time favorite songs – sad and uplifting all at the same time. Still, everything I’ve heard I’ve enjoyed, and beyond that one of the big draws is the total circus that is The Flaming Lips stage show.

I had VIP entry this evening and brought Mya along as my guest — this was my second time doing the VIP thing at Bluesfest, and it is a welcome break from an otherwise exhausting couple of weeks. After spending the day at the HOPE Beach Volleyball tournament, it was a welcome change to sit back in a chair — enjoy Metric’s initial show — and later catch The Flaming Lips from the comfort of a chair and access to a private air conditioned port-a-potty! The show began with the silhouette of a dancing woman on the massive on-stage screen, before her lady-bits were highlighted and zoomed in on for the band to appear through in a door on this screen. All but the lead singer emerged in this way – the lead’s entrance instead was in a giant man-sized hamster ball, which rolled out into the audience for some crowd surfing. Other appearances included enormous amounts of confetti, dry ice, strange dancers, giant bouncy balls, and a man in a bear suit. The tunes were great, the chatter with the audience was excellent, and the show is just as crazy as you’d think. An excellent ticket.

Steve Dawson’s Mississippi Sheiks Project

One of the few nights that I was there fairly early and able to catch a few shows ahead of my main draw, Cat and I enjoyed a number of performances compliments of tickets I won through the Spectrasonic Facebook Group! This was the most “Bluesfest”-y night, for me, which was part of why I enjoyed it so much. Having gone early enough, we were able to check out a couple of things we hadn’t really heard of, and caught parts of shows that were really great like the always fun Brothers Chaffey and the enchanting Sarah Harmer.

In between shows, we caught some of Moneen, who we thought sounded familiar. The familiarity was in band-name only, because when they started to play it was really neither mine nor Cat’s cup of tea, so off we went to explore and see what else we could find. We made our way to the Hard Rock Stage for Steve Dawson’s Mississippi Sheiks Project, essentially a cover/tribute to a string band from about the ’30s. They included a variety of performers playing old blues, ragtime and bluegrass, on stand-up bass, acoustic guitar, steel guitar, slide guitar, and more. It was something totally unlike anything else we were seeing that night, a lot of fun, and a thoroughly welcome change. A really great find! Also fun this night was seeing so many people – including running into former soccer coach buddy, Katie Roberts!

Arcade Fire

The band I was the most excited to see at this year’s festival was Arcade Fire, although I didn’t realize what a rare occurrence it was for them to appear in Ottawa, despite their connections to this city through members of the band. I’d never seen Arcade Fire before, and like basically everybody totally dug their album Funeral and have been itching to see them ever since.

They DEFINITELY did not disappoint, it was probably the most into it I was at any of the shows over the course of the festival this year, and I was surprised at how much of it I knew. The band was surprisingly unpretentious, the energy level was absolutely off the charts, and the crowd was phenomenal. If you haven’t seen Arcade Fire and the chance arrises – jump on it.

Weezer

I think I’ve been listening to Weezer since about the sixth or seventh grade. With that in mind, I had high hopes for a lot of older tunes — classics from Pinkerton and the blue album mostly was what I wanted to hear, with a dash of newer hits. After just getting back from a weekend in Sudbury for my cousin’s wedding, I made it to the festival grounds just in time to meet up with everybody who’d been at the festival throughout the day and settle in, somewhere towards the back of the crowd. Normally I am one to try and get up relatively close (without being an arsehole pushing my way about) but as tired as I was, I was glad to hang back.

Weezer is one of the bands that through the years I was surprised I never got around to seeing, so I was incredibly excited for this opportunity. After the first couple of songs, which were a good start, I was ready to grab some water at one of the vendors on site. Just as I started to walk away “Undone (The Sweater Song)” came on and I couldn’t pull myself away through that, “Say it Ain’t So,” “El Scorcho” and “Buddy Holly.” Enjoyed “Island in the Sun” and “Beverly Hills” (despite the fact that the green album wasn’t as great as the blue album – nothing is!), and Weezer doing MGMT and Lady Gaga was also awesome. One of their most recent releases, “If You’re Wondering if I Want You To (I Want You To)” rekindled my love of Weezer and I loved hearing it live. While I usually am really into bands that are super interactive with the crowd, I was really not into it in this instance because Rivers Cuomo essentially sounded like an idiot…. but what can ya do, I got to belt out “Say it Ain’t So” along with the band and not just in my car, and that was pretty darn cool.

All in all a good end to the festival, though I must admit some sadness as I miss the disco craziness of previous years, because a fun disco dance party is just a good upbeat way to end the week…s.

I hope next year to return to the full pass, but hope that the prices don’t continue to jack up the way they did this year. While I certainly did miss my regular outings with the full pass, there is no way I was going to pay $300 for it! Time to start investigating Folk Fest…