Ball and Chain Show a blast!

Ball and Chain

Wow! What a show on Thursday night.

At first people are not expecting a lot because of rain.

The band troops in, sets up while people are on another floor eating.

The focus is on a great setting of fine dining and wine.

The Bass connects on a primal level and heads lift from dessert plates, feet tap in time; drums set the beat as the colored lights go up on stage and bang !

Food is left far behind as lift off sets in.

Sonja - looking like a sleek million bucks as her velvet tones grab hold and she gyrates to the vibe. We're all under her spell. Roger weaves the lead riff in and out. Two magical musicians who with the support of a great band have us all at their mercy. Sorry I was too busy having a good time dancing to do a video this time.

During the evening Sonja had Ricky Rice surprise us all with some great blues numbers. There were also a few others thrown in to keep things interesting with their own brand of entertainment. You would have been suitably amused.

But here are a couple of shots of some old friends you might know. These shots are from before the music had me nailed to the dance floor.

Rick Rice & Hopeton D'Aguilar

Charile Ghoarayeb's daughter sits with Karen Deegan Capelli and Sonja (not Ball) looked over by Bob Houston.

Cindy Houston and Barb Zimmerman 

Lorraine Robichaude -D'Aguilar and Leslie Rice

Bob Houston, Karen and Sonja Martell

Charlie, Tom and Danny

Danny Houston and Gino Martell

Sonja Ball (+ Chain) with Roger Sarazin playing Thursday 23rd at Capiche

Charlie Ghorayeb has done it again!

This time he is bringing in Sonja Ball and Chain to his lovely restaurant.

While the food and wine is fabulous, he is topping it off with a 'kick off the summer' terrace party.
People will be coming in from Ottawa, Toronto as well as the surrounding area (Chateauguay + Montreal) - many of those you may remember from High-School!

Topping the Bill will be Sonja Ball (+Chain) with Roger Sarazin on guitar.

You can come for Dinner or just for the entertainment.
I'm buying the dinner and entertainment combination ticket.
This is going to be great!

Good food, great wines and great entertainment ( hopefully on the back drop of a beautiful sunset).
For more information call Capiche Restaurant at 514-975-2665.

Now -to see the band playing, scroll down through the Archives here to December 2010 and click on it.

Then scroll a little way down in the actual entres to Dec 18 2010.

You'll see the "Hold On I'm Comin' MP4 caption with the arrow. Before you click on the arrow, make sure you plug your speakers into your lap top or standalone computer.
OK. Click on the arrow now and enjoy. Get up and prance around the room too-if the speakers are on...
There is another song just below this one I entitle"Circles and Wonder.MP4". There are two songs here not just one!

AHHH Thursday will be so cool!
Rumor has it that Ricky Rice might show up. Wow! Imagine if he got up to play something too!
(Hey Shel!.... if you are coming down from T.O....bring your guitar! Hope...bring your bass!)

Helping The children left after the HIV /AIDS affliction in Africa

To all my friends,
I’m taking part in Stride to Turn the Tide, a national walk organized by Canadian grandmothers and grand”others” for the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign of the Stephen Lewis Foundation.
I am walking to raise funds for African grandmothers living in communities hardest hit by the AIDS pandemic. These indomitable women are not only caring for their grandchildren orphaned by AIDS , but leading the way in innovative grassroots responses to the pandemic – responses  that are transforming their communities and helping to turn the tide of HIV and AIDS.

Help me reach my fundraising goal! Every dollar counts! It’s easy to contribute. All you need to do is click on the link below - or copy and paste it into your browser - and then click on the Donate button in the top-right corner of my walk page.

Click here to sponsor me!
Go to my Event Page

Every dollar raised and put into the hands of African grandmothers supports their efforts for health care, nutritious food, emotional counselling and a hopeful future for their grandchildren. Thank you for helping me and the grandmothers of Canada Stride to Turn the Tide.
Check back regularly to see how I’m doing!

Thanks so much,

Leslie Mcconnell


Spread the word about my walk!
Go to my Event Page

Join a walk or register your own team to walk! Visit Go to my Event Page

The Stride to Turn the Tide is a Grandmothers’ Campaign initiative. All proceeds support grassroots organizations in sub-Saharan Africa run by and for African grandmothers and the children in their care.  To learn more about these organizations and how they are working together with African grandmothers to turn the tide of HIV and AIDS in Africa, please visit: www.stephenlewisfoundation.org

Mary Poland

Every now and again I will receive an e-mail out of the blue which takes me by surprise.

I received one of these two or three weeks ago from someone who I have always held in high regard.

There are some people in high-school I experienced head on, face to face and down right physically. With guys it was in sports, body checking, tripping, fighting, slapping on the back and in mock grown up style -shaking hands. With young ladies it was to perhaps explore worlds that were really quite unknown to me that had a more biological imperative, which during those years did not really go more than first or second base in my case ( if I am to mix metaphors). I guess that side of the contact while less pervasive on the physical side, did give me a wonderful look at the psychological and social.

Women in high school I found to be enticing new flowers trying on their colours and fragrances at the expense of, or despite the longings and pseudo agonies of the hound-dog side of the species.

Alas, I was able to discover an approach to things in grade ten and eleven which while not getting me any further ... in my would be sexual endeavours, did provide me with at least an intellectual sense of calm and insulation.

I tired to associate with women on an intellectual level devoid of the male/female pretense or mask over the smoldering lust beneath the social surface. I was able to occasionally develop an approach to the opposite sex which was like using oven-mitts in the kitchen on hot plates and yes, while cumbersome, did provide ample protection from harm in that arena or "kitchen". In short ...(as I was short) I dropped the idea of 'scoring' physically and began exploring the idea of connecting with 'minds' and watching modes of behavior - in class, the halls, doing the cigarette thing behind the church, at parties and dances, almost as if I was in a lab.

I tried (not always successfully) to objectify my presence and create a safety zone so that the vibe women would pick up on, would be less of overt silly teen sexuality and more an objective observer who would not cause any harm. I know -contrived, but socially effective.While this worked as I gained trust, it certainly also succeeded at a cost - a profitable sex life. Yet, despite my big mouth, I found I had developed a modest sense of discretion. However, I digress.

It was in that state of  would-be 'objective tourist', that in my observances, I could not fail to notice others that seemed to be like myself - adrift and yet connected, those who could link in to most groups without being an intrinsic part of any one of them; other 'observers,' patiently waiting for their respective time in the venerable institution to end so they could get on with what life had to dish out.

It seemed to me Mary Poland was a kindred spirit in this guise. But I think she was much better at it than I.

Her smile in the hall when passing, always conveyed a warmth buoyed by ever sparkling eyes, comments always couched in gentle sardonic wit with just a hint of intellectual prowess that promised far more if one dared to take up the challenge.

It is this impression in particular, -always evoked when I think of Mary Poland, another 'observing tourist' in the glass hallway, linking up, letting go, retreating back to the self-port and then back out to other academic endeavors and social distractions.

At the end of the day, even though I contemplate my memory of Mary, I think it would be accurate to say we all were somewhat caught up in the steps of this dance in the continual search for warmth in the night of transition- yet perhaps some got precariously closer  to the fire than others.

But the connection in the hallways with Mary was always in the smile, the eyes and finally in her comments to me- generous, but laced with sardonic intelligence underscored with a spirit of caring.

So when recently I received Mary's e-mail - ( message in a bottle) - to reach out to her and help in a personal quest to join the war on cancer by donating to her 'walk', my thoughts went back to that time.

I then checked out her website and invited her to lunch- which we did a week or two later.

Such courage and determination!

For those of us to whom mobility has been the norm, a 'walk' of such length around the city in this 'march' of determined souls, would be like a few rounds of 18 holes in golf, but Mary has an impediment to the fluidity of motion we all take for granted - even though she certainly could dance back then and gracefully in her way.

She has had to endure much discomfort in this life, that we will never have to deal with. I have known only two friends who experienced Polio and they both seem to have a greater sense of life appreciation than me. They also have developed the ability to keep their mask on without perhaps shrieking at my complacency and that of many who take our existence and lack of 'discomfort' for granted as we complain about the red light days in the traffic of our lives.
I invite you to click on the link below to visit Mary's web site, -see her picture...and while you are there, do as I have done - find your way up the screen to the big green 'donate' button and donate some money to a worthy investment to our society, children's future and higher cause. L.

Click here to visit my personal page.
(Mary Poland)

Dispel Shadows for the Now

I know it can't just be me who needs to dispel the shadows of the past and see you ...
as you are now.

Feel it in your Heart, know it in your dreams.

The sense ...between the spaces,
side long glances ...of just missed faces,
those moments after a touching movie or
having read a book that holds a nuance
that sparks the mind,
the song, your song, our song...
to go back - just for another glimpse
held prismatic
in memory.

I heard the brook-trickle magic laughter,
turned my head to catch it...
Was she here?
Was he there?
I know that lingering fragrance.
Is that her daughter?
Is that his son?
The spitting image, the twinkle in the eye,
the curl in the corner of the smile,
the suggestion of an overbite...
and it all comes rushing back.

While for many of us it is the need
to see her or him
just one last time
before we go.
-No recrimination, no judgement
-we were kids back then,
trying on what we thought to be grown up.

My what a shock
reality to be
later on.
Sometimes a disappointment, a shattering spell.
Why go back to the past?
It is not.
Reunion is a move forward to the now of future
ever after
- settling.

But then it is beyond one person too.
It is the sense of unfinished business.
There is the guy  teased mercilessly or spoken ill of behind his back.
I must show him I am not that little child
and that I have a soul that has grown.

It is to come full circle
simply by being in the presence
of those who were very young
but have now come of age
and are wise.
To see them now.
Can they still laugh
and cause me to split my sides in pain
or give me a bleeding nose
simply hearing one of their own funny jokes.
Jack? Steve? Ricky? Debbie? Jackie? Jimmy? Bart? Art? Barry? Cathy? Donna? Kathy? Susan? Ian? Brian?
Graham? Frankie? Michael? Linda? Layla? Shannon? Roddy? Lesley, Lorraine? Hopeton, Vera? Herb? Ron?

And so many more who haunt
the center world.

Can they still dance?
Do they still have the magic?

I have seen for myself,
despite the grown up shape,
years after child birth
definitely not the spry young thing,
and
him with gut of age and shining top;
I have seen for myself,
some of those we held so high
of grace and beauty at 17 now somewhere between
parent and grandparent arthritic guise;
I have seen for myself
that look peering out from those eyes!
You are still there!
In side ...
come let me see you
let us all
know our smiles
from within the other side
the looking glass of life.

Feel us in your heart,
know us in your dreams
those of us who are
remaining.
We wait for you-
may it not be too late
to hold you in our smile
just one
last
time.

But alas,
some prefer the prison
of imperfect and unblemished past
fixed black and white and
fading sepia illusion.
Come forth
into
the light.

LM