We All Want A Better Life...

All I have to say is I had a great weekend, and I really only got to experience a full 24 hours of it!

I hope everyone who celebrated Pride, enjoyed it. I went to a "Big gay BBQ" on Saturday, after celebrating my girlfriend’s birthday with friends on Friday night, which was a heavy, intense night of laughter, good conversations, food, sharing deep dark secrets, and almost no sleep.

After the BBQ, I spent some QT shopping with my amazing mother, who then dropped me off in the village for more Pride festivities.

Voglie (a cool little bar) was bumping with MJ's greatest hits and drunken girls dancing on tables, fire escapes and chairs. Everywhere you turned there were hugs and kisses and greetings of "Happy Pride". My marvelous friend "D" and her lovely girlfriend "A" introduced me to their friends and supplied me with endless entertainment for the couple of hours that we sat at Voglie. I'm so glad they were around, because otherwise I probably would have wandered aimlessly for two hours waiting for Esthero to perform.

Esthero. Esthero. Esthero.... is 'heaven sent', to quote her lyrics and one amazing gay man's t-shirt.

The main reason I had come to the village was to see Esthero. I love that woman's music and have wanted to see her perform live for probably ten years. Her 35 minute set started at 6:00 and "D", "A", and I rushed over to wait in line and see that beautiful woman up close.

With a horn section, guitarist, keyboardist, bassist and two back up singers (with a lot of attitude), Esthero's voice and band rang out over the crowd and got everyone moving. I've never seen an artist get an entire crowd to clap for almost a complete song, or to raise their fists in support of a "Musical Revolution" (which was her final encore). "We all want a better life" could be heard out of the mouths of everyone watching, people were ecstatic.

Esthero, with a smoke in one hand, mic in the other, brought her mom up on stage for a dance. Then, as I alluded to previously, a gorgeous gay man whose t-shirt read, "Esthero is heaven sent", was brought up on stage to dance with the lovely lady. There was talk of pride, human rights, and Canada as the best country in the world. When her encore performance was complete, the crowd went absolutely wild (again), leaving the singer choked up, and visibly humbled to tears.

I didn't make it to enjoy any other Pride activities, or Jazz Fest performances, but Esthero's performance, the atmosphere and spirit, and the friends I experienced it with, made me so grateful to be where I am.