Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Frankie Cosmos, Healing Wounds & Honest Ed's

Weekly Update 2017-09: The beautiful angelic voice of Frankie Cosmos, thinking about how time heals all wounds, and saying farewell to Honest Ed's. For the last time.

Music: Frankie Cosmos
AKA Greta Kline, Frankie Cosmos has a new place in heart as the sweetest little female singer/songwriter with an angelic voice. I could coast on her music for hours at a time. It's kind of garagey, poppy, do-wop, you could hear it blasting from the speakers of Pop's Chok-lit shoppe on an episode of Riverdale. Take a listen below:


I can't wait to see her live, opening for Real Estate in May at the Danforth Music Hall :)

Accomplishment:
This past Sunday, I was waiting for my instructor to finish setting up his drums before the band could start playing. To my surprise, he asked me to lead the band until he was ready! What an amazing opportunity. I know the beats really well now, after about a year of playing, so I was able to do it without much difficulty. Even the rest of the band was impressed! I'm happy to mark this as a milestone in my career with the band, going from nothing to leading in only a short year.

On top of that, the beginner class, who's only been playing together since September, will be playing a real show, marching in the Easter Parade this year! I can't believe that I'll finally be performing with my repique in only a few weeks.

Goal:
This week I'll still be focusing on FriendCanoe, and organizing my photos.

Random Thought: Time Heals All Wounds
I did something embarrassing this weekend. I'd rather not even say what it was. But the whole ordeal, which seemed like a big deal at the time, honestly seems like nothing only three days later. I started to think about why this change in my mood had happened.

I am naturally an analyst of all sorts of things, I like to turn ideas and thoughts over and over in my mind until I understand them from all angles. So when I think about how time heals all wounds, I feel like any situation can be understood or at least accepted with time and analysis.

I wasn't always like that, though. I used to try to avoid bad feelings by shutting those sorts of thoughts out of my mind. Instead of thinking about why a bad situation happened or what I could do to avoid making the same mistakes, I would try to forget about it completely and hope that it wouldn't repeat itself. I suppose you could say that time healing all wounds applies to this situation as well. Humans have the divine gift of being able to forget about situations that make us feel uncomfortable, which can be healing.

It seems obvious to me now that while either approach to getting over grief/loss will be somewhat effective, it's definitely better to fully embrace my feelings while they are fresh, understand, take note, and move on. We are rarely afforded the opportunity to change our actions, but we can always use mistakes as opportunities to grow. And I feel like I am starting to master this idea. Even if it's in a small way.

Inspiration: A Farewell to Honest Ed's
This weekend was the grand finale party for the closing of a neighbourhood landmark that has held a special place in my heart since I was young. Honest Ed's was the most wonderful department store, filled as much with whimsy as it was filled with affordable goods for the middle and lower classes of Toronto. Many immigrants to the city would shop there because it carried almost everything you could need, and the prices were always kept competitive. Over many visits, I have purchased my favourite 3-pack of tube socks, the tube of toothpaste I am currently using, my first Christmas tree, and even held a Secret Santa scavenger hunt with friends in 2015.

This weekend was extremely cathartic for me, starting off with a free hour-long ukulele lesson held by the talented K-Funk and Lady Ree. There were sooooo many people there to learn Rent's Seasons of Love together, probably over 300. So many people in fact, that they all couldn't fit into the room. After the lesson, we all met together in the alley way to play together in a huge crowd.

Hey, I'm in this photo!

After that, I returned with my roommate to check out the art maze. What an excellent use of the building! Not only did many of the unsold items in the store make it into their own creative art pieces, but the administrative offices were also opened up to visitors (which I had never been inside before). The whole thing was delicious eye candy, and we definitely got lost more than once.
















I'll miss you, Honest Ed's. Ever since I started going downtown on my own, I have always loved the vibe of the Annex. And what's more annex-oriented than Honest Ed's? There'll never be another one like you.

No comments:

Post a Comment