DIARY: SEPTEMBER 15, 2021: "The End of Trapper, and The Start of Smooth Sailing"

When you think you might die, that’s when you start making time matter. Or you run around scattered. Or you do stupid things. Or you do meaningful things.

Over the past year and a half I have been writing with Sean Kelly, from Trapper. He IS my musical twin — joyful in his heart, and consistently saved by things like Britney Fox albums and Eddie Van Halen solos. It makes no sense for a grown man to be talking about Winger in 2021, but hey — I get it. This week we had a tough call to end Trapper and embark on a new venture called Emm N Sean’s Electric North. Even though all we wanted to do was rock this pandemic in the band that we opened for Def Leppard with, we have found it difficult to “be a band” in this time — some internal overwhelm, some health stuff, some impediments. And since I’ve already been through a band that was tricky to navigate (Trent Severn - it’s ok, we’re still friends but it took a while) I wanted to make sure that there is always love and good energy in all projects I do. So we made the decision to wrap up Trapper with one last EP. I can’t wait to share with you this new Loverboy-esque song we made called “Almost Forever” which is sort of a swan song to an ex…but now kind of one for our band, too. Emm N Sean’s Electric North isn’t going to be my main project, but it’s a chance for two music geeks to play the highlights of our career, 80’s covers, holiday classics and do a duo show in theatres or wherever it makes sense. The seed of it really came from wanting to bring a rock n roll holiday show to theatres when the time is right. Anyhoo, you’re the first to know this news — it was a draining weekend of working through these internal struggles, but we’ve come out on the other side with a clear path. That’s all you can do — clear the path. Make difficult decisions that make new decisions easier. I wonder what you all have been doing to clear your own paths. Do comment below or we can chat about it at our ZOOM COFFEE HANG!!!!! on Sept 26!!!! (so excited for this.)

My books are in. Due to Covid it might be hard for some of you to get your orders in a timely fashion, but I encourage you to order from the indie bookstores. A few bookstores I’m doing events with WILL ship to you!! Just get your order in and one day when I see you I will sign the book for you! Here’s a link to where you can order. I had a heartwarming moment of box-opening. I’ve opened up LOTS of boxes of albums but not too many book boxes!!!! It took 3-4 days for the shock to set in: I am an author!!!

By the way, a new event has popped up. Oct 1 at East End Books in Provincetown, MA. 5pm. Does anyone know anyone in Cape Cod? Send them down!

Yesterday I went to go see a sailboat in the marina in Sarnia. As part of “diving in” to making my dreams come true and singing and doing stuff I love, and also partly inspired by writing a yacht rock album…(which is another fancy way of saying…a California 70’s-inspired album), I have a plan for July 22, 2022 to play the entire Christopher Cross debut album on a sailboat to raise money for his GBS Fund. During COVID, the crooner became paralyzed due to Guillane-Barre Syndrome and his story moved me. He created a fund to find a cure. If anyone of you know anyone who has been affected by this disease, could you please message me? I’m hoping to speak to as many survivors as possible. Anyway, long story short, the mayor of Sarnia cleared the city’s entire calendar for that day and John Hazen (my sound tech) and I scouted the area yesterday to make plans for the big day next year. So far, learning the Christopher Cross debut album has been daunting. Folks from Toto played on it and the arrangements are not as smooth as the sound of “Sailing”. But I believe in learning other people’s music - as I write about in my book - as a way to learn more about songwriting. Plus, it’s SO ME to do a wacky idea like this. Playing on a massive sailboat in a harbour — what could go wrong? Below is the boat in question. I loved meeting the owners, Robin and Tim. They are beautiful people and that’s part of this journey too, just being open to learning about others. What led them to this life on a boat? What trials and tribulations brought them to be able to live a life on the high seas, carefree and full of generosity and curiosity?

Sending you courageousness this week, love and massive hugs. Until next week, Emm