About 10 days ago I began a string of gigs and now I am on the last day of my Spring Mini Tour. Today is Sunday and last Sunday I started getting a sore throat. Knowing that I had lots of singing to do I really took it easy, drank a ton of peppermint tea.
By Tuesday's show I was struggling to hit any high notes which I have to do often in my own songs and in the covers that I play. On Wednesday I woke up and my speaking voice was a mess. At this point adding coughing to the mix I knew I needed to get something so I bought some generic Cold and Cough stuff. I don't think it did anything except for cost me way too much.
Wednesday night I was in London with my buddies' Hooper and Neil playing at St. Joseph's Hospital Annual fundraiser and with the help of my sister's boyfriend coming along and singing a few songs, we made it through and it was a great event.
On Thursday I had a much needed day off so I slept and had lots of tea but things appeared to be getting worse. On Friday morning I had to drive to Downtown Toronto and pick up the CDs that I had printed at Indiepool. Then I continued on to Brooklin, ON where I was playing with my friend Jonathan Manafo at a pub on a golf course called "The Hound Over the Hedge stone".
My voice was a mess at this point and the worst part was that I had no confidence in it at all. It was a horrible feeling knowing that I still had to play Saturday night and twice on Sunday.
I hacked through the first 2 sets and Jonathan Manafo helped me out for the third set by singing a bunch of covers and once again we got through it.
Saturday was spent on the deck at Walkdown Sound with my good friend Matthew Fretz. I lazed around all day alternating between hot and cold drinks with a mid day trip to Baldwin St. Burger. I was still feeling poopy though so Matt and I took a trip to Shoppers and bought a bottle of Buckley's. On Saturday night the Buckley's must have been working because I felt like I was starting to get some of my voice back. That night I was once again joined by Jonathan Manafo on bass and Jonathan McMurray on drums. As we started into the first set I was flying. I had about 60% of my voice, Matt Fretz was mixing and had us sounding really good and the band was having tons of fun playing through popular covers and the original songs that I thought I could still hit.
The 2nd set was also good but I started noticing that I didn't have any voice when I tried to hit high notes. This was freaking me out once again but the band and I kept jamming out the instrumentals and kept a brave face. Jonathan McMurray sang a few covers from the drums which helped us get through set two. When we took a break before set three I knew that I still had my Sunday shows to do and didn't want to totally lose my voice so Jonathan Manafo took the 3 set and sang a bunch of high energy covers that he does and I got to rock out on my electric guitar. Our 3rd set was definitely the most spirited. When we ended last night it was a little after 1am and we still had to pack up and drive 30 mins back to Walkdown Sound. All of that worked out and I got a good night sleep. So here I am now, still with about 60% of my voice and I'm heading in a few minutes to Jonathan Manafo's church to sing some songs and share some stories.
I am so thankful for so many great friends who have surrounded me this week and filled in gaps when I couldn't. But by the grace of God the support of Hooper, Neil, Manafo, Fretz, McMurray and Buckley's go I.
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