My Summer

 I first discovered Toad the Wet Sprocket when I saw them on Letterman in 1996, playing Something's Always Wrong off their album, Dulcinea.  I was immediately smitten with their music, even if none of my friends knew who they were.

They broke up before I ever got to see them live, making them one of a handful of bands I would forever carry that longing for.

After they broke up, the lead singer, Glen Phillips, went solo, & I bought & loved every album, but my favourite was 2005's Winter Pays For Summer.  I fell in love with the first track, Duck & Cover, which contains these lyrics: 

"Seems like life is a palindrome.
Cry when you die, cry when you're born.
In between, it's all about the ups and downs.
Add them all together, they cancel each other out.
...
'Cause one way or another, the winter pays for the summer."

I've always believed that you have to know the bad to know the good, but this put it so much more eloquently than I could ever hope to.  This is life, in a nutshell.

2 months ago, I was delighted to discover that Toad The Wet Sprocket would be playing in Orlando, the week we would be there.  When I say delighted, I mean I had tears in my eyes.  They had been playing shows on & off for the last few years, but never near Toronto, so this was the first one I had a chance to attend.  I was ecstatic, & it was one of the best concert experiences of my life.  Glen Phillips was barefoot (this made me oddly giddy), & they began with Something's Always Wrong, the first Toad song I ever heard.  Magic.

I don't know if I've ever been in an audience of so many HAPPY people.  Later, they played another Toad favourite of mine, Crazy Life.

I contacted Glen several weeks ago, before I named my blog...it seemed wrong not to.  He replied graciously, thanked me for asking, said it would be fine, and wished me luck.

This is my summer.

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