Around and About the Shop This Thanksgiving Week

THANKSGIVING WEEK HUSTLE AND BUSTLE, WITH ONE OF OUR TEAM-MATES PLAYING AROUND IN NASHVILLE

IT'S A SOCIAL TIME AROUND HERE, MORE SO THAN USUAL - AND THAT'S WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT. PROFIT? THAT'S FOR ACCOUNTANTS TO FIGURE OUT

     Alright, alright, all ready! We're slackers. Country folk who like to smell the coffee and listen to loons, lounging on the verandah we didn't use all summer, and occasionally venture out in a canoe when the speed boats are safely in dry dock. Go ahead, make us feel bad because we snuck an extra day off. We'll call the kettle black and all that, "let's be honest stuff." But no way will we offer an apology for enjoying Muskoka like tourists! It's only fair! We need down-time from shop-keeping, after the incredibly busy summer season; which by the way carried on into September, which should make local businesses owners happy.
     We took a long weekend, and felt guilty as sin (if you could read our minds), this past Sunday and Monday. We were going to be down staff anyway (we don't have staff, just a foursome of owners), because Andrew was off galavanting in the north country, visiting a girl friend, in the charming rural community of Novar. Veteran pet groomer, Sarah Rogers, well known in the Huntsville area, for her kindly and experienced pet handling techniques, and let's face it, making dogs in her care, look uber-fantastic, has just recently opened her own pet grooming studio and boutique, in Novar, called "Dog On The Run" (you can look it up on facebook or email her at "dogg.on.the.runn@gmail.com"). We of course wish her the best of luck, and maybe one day it'll turn into a franchise. She'll be able to tell everyone that it all started in uptown Novar, the jewel of the north.
      And our other business partner, who we now refer to as "Prodigal Son Robert", has been on a week-long vacation (last fall it was a whirlwind tour of 18 European airports with Luke Thompson); this tour is with Dave and Sharon Smith, and Sharon's sister, Kathy Deans, on what can only be considered a musician's no-holds barred investigation, of what makes Nashville so darn popular. Today Robert let us know they had visited the Country Music Hall of Fame, which he noted as being "freaking incredible." How's that for a quote? Dave apparently has taken his guitar, intent on jamming with the legends of country music, or if that fails, anyone who happened to have a musical instrument in their hand, a song in their hearts, and an open chair beside, keen (or totally unaware) to experience a little Canadian content. Robert said he'd be willing to provide vocals if the need was to arise. I dare say, he might also be keen to dance for quarters, like he does outside our shop on slow days. The Smiths may underestimate Rob as being the strong silent type, but give him an audience, and he's a chip off the old Buck Owens.
     Andrew, not quite as prodigal, has been running the music component of the shop, since Saturday, and at times, especially after particularly demanding customers leave the building, he sounds a lot like Yosemite Sam, grumbling away about this and that, mumbling about how much he would rather have been a rodeo clown, or steamship captain; it was a close call twelve years ago, when he was pondering his future, and thinking he might like to pilot the RMS Segwun one day. Or the arena Zamboni. But then music consumed him, his brother and then us, by happenstance, and here we are today, running a shop in Uptown Gravenhurst; which is sometimes Downtown Gravenhurst depending on who you talk to, and their disposition at the moment.
     The Thanksgiving week is also neat at the shop, because a lot of folks we know, from the city, will pop-in while passing through the region to partake of dinner with family; or we'll get a long visit if they happen to be staying locally. The boys will get a lot of their school and musician friends, in for social calls, and we get quite a lot of music action going here, if you happen to be in the shop at the right time, on the right day, and it could include walking through a jam session in the back room, or having to side-step a unplanned performance, overflowing from the studio, that can suddenly break out when enough pent-up musicians get bored with everything else in the shop. It's all part of running a vintage music shop, with a lot of old stuff, like me, hanging around. So far, Rob picked a great week to be absent. The store has been crazy wild, Andrew has enough repairs until snow flies, his mom has been selling paintings, crocks, kitchen gadgets and the woollen underwear she makes for us tough guys, who want the lumberjack feel in our shorts (colder weather inspires warm thoughts). We've been mildly swamped, but loving every minute of it; we will not be complaining about the poor sales of the fall season in Gravenhurst. It's actually been quite exciting, and this week, despite the fact we took an extra day to shop for inventory, the place has been humming; antique hunters who hum because they want to, and musicians who hum to figure out whether they know the words of the song they want to play. It's a social / cultural week with many pleasantries being exchanged, as you might expect of the Thanksgiving week. Well, for one thing, we're thankful for the support of our customers, so many of them being folks who have been coming in here, and visiting for more than a decade now, and we love it. Except when they eat all the fresh baked cookies Suzanne prepared, and only leave me the crumbs.
     Drop in for a visit if you're around this week, or weekend. We will be closed on Thanksgiving Sunday and Monday to enjoy, first of all, a really big feast at Birch Hollow, and on the second day of the holiday, a really big dinner of left-overs, which will carry on through the week, meaning that lunches and dinners will be heavily influenced by what we didn't eat on Sunday. Breakfast is exempt except if one of our inmates prefers cranberry as a side dish, and left-over stuffing instead of toast.
     When Robert comes back, he will immediately be expecting his birthday present, and all the festive fare that goes along with getting another year older. Boy oh boy, do we have some treats for him. Andrew said he's taking a week off to retreat to a monastery, where he will take a vow of silence for a week, and Suzanne and I are going to travel to nowhere in particular, but definitely not a monastery, (cause I can't stop talking or I'd hear someone else's point of view), but I will assure Robert we will check in with him now and again as he operates the shop solo. No, not quite solo. He will have Muffin the dog, to handle small delivery responsibilities, like going for coffee, and butter tarts (she eats half of them before she gets back to the store as we first detect as crumbs catch in her beard), and angrily barking at customers who ask for discounts. We've had a little cart built for her, and it's big enough to handle some small customer purchases, that she may have to assist with, from time to time, to help customers to the front door.
     Is it obvious, we're a little over-worked, and a lot less sensible than we were at the start of the summer season? I'm willing to bet there are thousands of Muskokans, who work in the service and retail trade, who would vouch for the fact, this was one heck of a tourist season, at a time when honestly, we wondered if it would be a slow summer and slower fall due to economic conditions. The low dollar can stay low, as far as we're concerned, because it was obvious, talking to our customers, that Muskoka this year, was a very affordable place to visit. We had lots of visitors from China, Germany, England, New Zealand, the United States, and even tourists from British Columbia and Alberta, which is most unusual for us during the summer months. And they were very complimentary about our town, and the district, where they found lots to do for recreation and entertainment. This is front line reporting, and after three and a bit months, honestly, we're looking forward to the respite of a blustery November, to get up the gumption, to get ready for Christmas. The Christmas season last year was huge for us, and it's without question, our favorite time of year; Andrew has always been a Christmas nut, and as festive-commander-in-chief, he's in charge of all in-store decorating. Last year he bought a great 1960's vintage, eight foot tall, plywood- backed Santa Claus, for the front of the shop, that if it accidentally fell, after getting run over by a reindeer, would flatten me to pancake thinness. It might be a good look for me. The plywood Santa, and thousands of other Christmas theme lights and decoration, are to let folks know, the only "correctness" protocol we follow here, at Currie's Music (and Antiques) is that we celebrate Christmas with old fashioned Muskoka gusto. Aye, we've got a lot to look forward to, this fall and winter. Don't be a stranger. If a "festivus for the rust of us," breaks out while you're here, for gosh sakes, play or sing-a-long. If we can't have fun at this business thing, we don't want to play any more. So far, we're having fun. Lots to go around.

     There is a rumor trending now on social media (yea right), and I'm treating it as such, that Dave and Robert, on individual challenges, wearing cowboy attire, buttless chaps, and ten gallon white stetsons, were on the losing end of a Nashville mechanical bull. No injuries reported. Just red faces. Boys will be boys.
     The last word. Well, of course, that's my privilege. Truth is, we'd all like to be with those Nashville gad-abouts today. No fooling. When I asked if I could go, Robert enquired with a trademark Currie smirk, as if I didn't know the difference between country music and reggae, who I wanted to see most, perform on a Nashville Stage. "Tennessee Ernie Ford," I said, with considerable, but reserved hubris. "Well then, you'll just have to wait until you get to heaven, provided that's God's intention for you. Tennessee Ernie is flying with the angels now dad. I'm surprised you didn't know that, being a big country fan and all!" The next ten country stars I named, were also of the deceased variety. Makes me feel rather poorly lodged beneath this cowboy stetson. Better put my Titleist cap back on, and stick with stuff I know.
     Robert's gal-pal, Bette Smith, a talented singer / musician / song-writer, by the way of public information, is off on the silver rails of the trans-continental railway, performing her music for train passengers, all the way to British Columbia. She will have a several week lay-over in B.C., where she plans to perform at numerous venues, before heading back to Muskoka. She is also filming portions of her on-train solo performances, for a documentary the CBC is producing, on, well, "musicians who are hired to perform on this iconic Canadian train, travelling across the country." What a hoot! She has been a travelling musician, riding the silver rails, in this fashion, numerous times in the past, making her a veteran of the cross-Canada singing experience. We've asked for regular updates. Best of luck to her.