Remember that time I met Jann Arden?
Look at me, blogging regularly. This is most likely because I have had so much going on the past few weeks that I need to document it somewhere so I can look back on my life one day and remember all the amazing things I’ve gotten to do! As I’ve mentioned before, I am a bit of a contest junkie. If I see a contest, I enter it. Especially if it has to do with music or travel. Once upon a time I was the unluckiest girl in the world, never winning anything! Well, that’s changed a bit. These days more than one person has told me I must have a horseshoe up my…
Sleeve. Yes, a horseshoe up in my sleeve. That’s what they say. 😉 In the last five or so years I have been super lucky to win a few fantastic contests. This weekend was no exception! On Friday I travelled to Toronto with my girlfriend Laura, compliments of Dose.ca Canada.com and LiveNationON to MEET JANN ARDEN.
Two lovely fate like coincidences – just the week before I was in Memphis doing a showcase at the Folk Alliance International music conference and I covered Jann’s song “Hanging by a thread”. On Monday February 27th when I was flying back from Memphis, Jann was playing her show at the Jube in Edmonton, and I was so heartbroken to be missing it. Now I would get to see Jann live from the front row in Massey Hall in Toronto, AND meet her.
We flew into Toronto to greet a bit of a blustery blizzard. We caught a cab to the lovely Westin Harbour Castle Hotel. The blizzard died down and we spent the afternoon wandering downtown.
At 6pm we headed over to Massey Hall for our meet and greet. Like the slightly silly gushing fan that I am, I brought along a copy of my own record “Prairie Belle” to hopefully hand over to Jann at some point. I’m not sure what I expected, because I do know that Jann is a super friendly and genuine lady, but she still exceeded my expectations. She was warm, sweet and delightful. What could have been an awkward “hey, I’m like, a huge fan of your songwriting” moment was really relaxed and casual. We chatted a bit about Laura & I flying from Edmonton to meet her and see her show, to how I missed her concert in Edmonton because I was on my way back from Memphis, to talking about her new book and cover album.
When we were about to pose for our picture is when I pulled my album out of my purse and told Jann I too, was a songwriter. I told her that her songwriting style really inspired and influenced me and that I’d really love to give her a copy of my album. She seemed kind of touched and thanked me like she really meant it. We posed for the picture, her cd in my hand, and mine in hers! What a great moment.
Laura and I thanked her, and went on our merry little way to find our seats. Which were, like I previously mentioned, FRONT ROW. I’ve never been to Massey Hall, and what a beautiful venue it is. The sound and light techs were obviously skilled. The musicians were fantastic (knew a few of them too!) and Jann was her typical witty, comical and endearing self. Her voice was strong and gorgeous. I couldn’t have enjoyed myself more.
After the show Laura & I headed to a pub for a few drinks & some snacks, and then back to our hotel. We were off the next morning, back to Edmonton just in time for the Prairie Belles Podcast Birthday bash! Which I’m happy to say was a total success! When we landed back in Edmonton and I turned my phone back on my text inbox went crazy. We had a really lovely little article in the Edmonton Journal by Sandra Sperounes about our party that night. I’ll be debriefing about this entire experience and more on this week’s podcast to be posted tomorrow.
I’d like to say a special thank you to Jason Tiangco the Marketing Coordinator at Canada.com who coordinated everything for our trip to meet Jann. He did a fantastic job of taking care of every detail, checking in on us while we were in Toronto, and following up with me when I got back.
All in all, an amazing experience that I will never forget. Lovely quality time with my friend Laura who is about to have her first baby, a once in a lifetime experience to meet one of my great songwriting influences, and a killer concert. All because I took two minutes to enter an online contest. Thank you Canada.com!