This was my weekend:

Saturday

I woke up at 09:30 and had breakfast an hour later. I then read the newspaper.

I called the president's son (PS) at around 12:30. We planned to meet each other at Scarborough Town Centre. Roughly an hour later, I was in front of the movie theatre, waiting for him in my car.

We went to Shopsy's for lunch up in Markham. PS went with the Philly cheesesteak. I had the salad with all sorts of deli meat. It was yummy, but huge! We both split mild wings. The wings were pretty good there. We talked. Well, I did at first. He joined in towards the end.

We then proceeded to Caynes. I bought a crock pot cookbook, a Brita water filter, and an ice pack for my cooler. PS went nuts on Tupperware, a chopping board, an ice cream scoop, and much more! He's odd in that he charged his goods on three different credit cards. It's not that he doesn't have enough money. He actually places a $300 spending limit on each card each month.

Afterwards, we went to Centerpoint Mall. It has changed since I was last there. I got some batteries for my digital camera. We then headed down Bayview Avenue. I stopped at York Mills to take out some money at the Royal Bank. PS is cheap. I asked him if he wanted anything to drink at the mall. He said no. I then asked him outside Shoppers Drug Mart if he wanted anything. He said yes. Of course! He's not footing the bill on this and he's a cheapskate. He didn't even bother getting out of the car.

Anyway, I accidentally spilled some water on my left thigh. My capris absorbed the spillage. Luckily, it was cotton. By the time we got down to Queen's Quay, my capris were dry.

I was pleased that PS paid $10 for parking. We went to Loblaws to get a bite to eat. I went with the whole wheat tuna wrap. He then copied me. I said something about not being able to decide for himself. He then got the egg salad sandwich. I wanted the slab of tiramisu, but it was huge. I went with a yogurt parfait. It was bad. The fruit was frozen, there was perhaps a tablespoon of yogurt, and the granola was soggy with all those raisins. I was not impressed.

Doors at Kool Haus opened at 19:00. I had to check my camera in, with a charge of $2.50 to do so. That was okay. I got a cute Joss Stone tote bag for $20. We then walked in.

The first opener was Javier. He commented that the stool he was sitting on was a "futuristic anal probe" to him. It was funny. The stool was oddly shaped and was metallic in colour. He sang and played his guitar. I enjoyed him.

The next act was Ryan Shaw. He blew me away! He has such stage presence. He was a bundle of energy and soul. I wanted to get his CD, which he was signing right there. However, I didn't have enough money on me and PS doesn't carry cash.

Joss Stone came out at around 22:00. She had a long, white hairband, and wore a nice blue-pinkish blouse with a short, white skirt. She looked cute. She came on-stage without her shoes on, as expected. The stage was nicely carpetted for her.

I was a few feet away from the stage. She was terrific. I enjoyed this show more than the one at Massey Hall a couple of years ago. She giggled now and again, but it was more controlled. Her booming voice came out a few song later. It was kind of like she was warming up for the big finale.

She admitted that she falls for the wrong guys. She got the crowd into her show nicely. I estimate that it was a full house there.

The show ended at around 23:15. I had a great time. I think PS did, too. I guess buying him a coconut rum and coke helped... ha!

Here's the review from the Toronto Sun:

Kool Haus, Toronto - June 2, 2007
Stone skips over songbook
By JASON MACNEIL -- Special to Sun Media

TORONTO - Now three albums in, Joss Stone's latest record apparently is her way of reintroducing herself to the public. However, basically shunning her first two albums isn't the best way to go about things, especially in a live setting.

Although Stone's performance Saturday evening at the Kool Haus had its moments, her reluctance to go back and mine more material from The Soul Sessions and Mind, Body & Soul resulted in a decent but far from outstanding set that clocked in at just over an hour.

Aided by a tight 10-piece supporting cast including two horn players and three backing vocalists, the 20-year-old Stone got things started with the feel-good, party-starting Girl They Won't Believe It. But Stone's signature powerful, hair-raising pipes took a while to warm up, coming to life occasionally during Headturner and Jet Lag.

"Hello, how are you feeling? Really, that's it?" Stone asked the far from sold-out crowd who also took a while to warm up. Fortunately, the singer took things up a notch with Super Duper Love (Are You Diggin On Me?) Pt. 1 from 2003's The Soul Sessions. Cupping her ear and holding the microphone out caused a give-and-take with the audience singing along.

But Stone still sensed that things weren't exactly gelling. "There's only one of me and I'm making a f--k of a lot of noise," she said soon afterwards. From there, she churned out the melodic soul ditty Tell Me What We're Gonna Do Now from the new album, which garnered a great reaction.

Stone, who played a last-minute show in January at The Docks while rehearsing for this tour, is often at her best when pushing herself to the limit with Joplin-like wails. Following a funky groove that fuelled the slower but solid Music (Outro), the singer let loose during Put Your Hands On Me as Stone ended the catchy number with a big smile and bangs hiding her eyes.

Perhaps the biggest high of the show was the combination starting with Bruised But Not Broken that had her hitting the softer notes delicately while reaching deep for a big, beautiful finish. And after taking a few moments to braid her hair, Stone delivered another quality performance during the horn-accented Bad Habit.

Yet with plenty of original material and a healthy dose of covers -- she's known for such as Son of a Preacher Man and The White Stripes' Fell in Love With a Boy -- Stone finished her main set with Tell Me 'Bout It, one of the better songs off Introducing Joss Stone. The track also had each of the 10 backing musicians giving a mini solo, with guitarist Raphael Saadiq looking like a youthful and dapper Ike Turner.

Coming back for the encore, Stone had a brief fit of the giggles prior to Right to be Wrong which displayed more of her pipes. Fans left content but a few more songs certainly wouldn't have hurt.

Opening up for Stone, and darn near upstaging her, was 26-year-old Georgia native Ryan Shaw. Shaw's stellar 45-minute set was an old-school mix of soul in the vein of Sam Cooke, Wilson Pickett and Otis Redding with highlights being the infectious, groovy Nobody and We Got Love.

I took the Gardiner-DVP and drove PS home. The drive home was great. I enjoy drives home at night with music off my iPod coming out of my car speakers. I got home well past midnight.

Sunday

I woke up at around 10:30 today. It was nice. I had turned in at 03:00 earlier today.

I spent the morning making my lunch and then cleaning up around the house. I had lunch rather late. I believe it was closer to 15:00 this afternoon.

I am trying to catch up with my taped episodes of Heroes. I am incredibly behind in this department. I watched one episode where some of the local commercials had shots of snow on the streets of Toronto. Yikes!

There's not much to report today. I exercised and had dinner this evening. I then chatted with Selkirk boy on Gmail's conversation feature. He asked me to do an online survey to help him out. I agreed. It wasn't a long one. We then caught up with our lives. It was good to chat with him.

I'm now listening to Erasure's new album. I dig it plenty.

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Song that's stuck in my head: Joss Stone's "Tell me 'bout it"
Yummy food eaten today: Chicken wings
What I crave: More music and sleep

Recent thoughts:
Readings, lights, and random thoughts - 2009-03-15
Thoughts about work, school, and peeps - 2009-03-09
Working from home and a mini life update - 2008-12-19
The weekend is here! - 2008-01-06
A new year - 2008-01-01