My presentation on the “Kings of Friday Night: The Lincolns” (Nimbus Publishing) was warmly received by about 60 people at the first meeting of the Truro Probus Club in a year and a half.

The power was back.

I do not mean the electricity in the outlets—though that too was back on after a power failure cancelled the book launch / Lincoln show the day before.

No, I mean the power of music and stories.

On Oct. 18, 2021, at Truro’s Marigold Cultural Centre, under the glow of a rising giant moon, The Lincolns put on a magical show, while I told some of their stories to an audience that told us after the show was over that they loved every single minute.

Two members of the band—Rod Norrie and Layne Francis—have been Lincolns for 62 years; others have been playing with them for over 50. And though they reunite only now and then, they are still able to bring it, rocking the crowd.

It was the first time Paul Eisan sang with the band, and he was great, singing seven numbers. Then, as a surprise to everyone, Charlie A’Court made a guest appearance, enthralling the crowd with “Dreams to Remember” as a tribute to the late Frank MacKay.

Followed by a moving recording of Frank singing “Danny Boy.” When the music and talk was over, it was time to speak with the author and the band, and get books and CDs signed.

The power was back.

It’s what this shot doesn’t show that was the real highlight of the moment.

On Friday, I was at Skmaqn—Port-la-Joye—Fort Amherst National Historic Site on PEI. I was there to be interviewed on camera for a film about the history of the site.

The location selected to film my bit—which probably took 30 minutes—was a wooden folding chair located surprisingly close to the edge of sandstone cliff. Maybe a foot from the edge. The drop over the edge was perhaps 12 to 20 feet.

It was when I was first seated in that chair, that I took this shot.

I wouldn’t have been injured too badly had the chair collapsed—it was ocean below not rocks. The chair stayed where it was put, and I didn’t lean back at all. And the interview went well everyone said.

Had I been facing the other way, and seen how close I was to the edge, I might not have been able to find my words as well as I did.

The fellow seated on the left, with papers in his hand, is Jesse Francis. He and I are soon to release our second book, “Ancient Land, New Land”, which incidentally is about the same site where this filming took place.

Also noteworthy in the photo is the fellow on the far right. He was not dressed warmly enough for the seaside location, so Parks Canada’s Barb MacDonald went into the nearby visitor centre and found something for him to wear. Yup. It was a Compagnies franches justaucorps exactly like those worn at the Fortress of Louisbourg.

October is proving to be a busy time, thanks ultimately to scientists whose names we may never know.

I refer to those women and men working in labs in different parts of the world who came up so incredibly quickly vaccines that work on COVID-19. Millions of lives have been saved and millions more are getting something close to their former lives back.

In my case, over the next dozen days I will be on PEI appearing in a film about a national historic site (Skmaqn—Port-la-Joye—Fort Amherst), on stage at the Marigold Centre with The Lincolns reading excerpts from my book and then a few days later speaking to the Truro PROBUS club about that same book.

Meanwhile, the digital file for my next book, co-authored with Jesse Francis, has just been sent off to the printers.

Busy times, thanks to unknown scientists and to hundreds of millions of people who are getting vaccinated.

There comes a time … and for me that time is now.

It’s time to begin culling some of the many books and journals I have accumulated over the years.

If I have 500—and it could be a higher number—then I’m going to aim shrink that to 100. After all, I have lots of titles that have been sitting quietly for decades, waiting for someone to take them off their shelves.

Many are going to book-sale charities, like Women for Music who support Symphony Nova Scotia.

Others, those that contain my own articles on Louisbourg and other topics, like some of the ones pictured here, I will send to the Beaton Institute at Cape Breton University.

Somebody, someday might like to read the original paper versions, rather than the digital ones online.

After a 19-month delay caused by Covid-19, the Marigold Cultural Centre in Truro, Nova Scotia will soon be hosting a combined concert and book launch event. The Lincolns will be back on stage and my book, Kings of Friday Night: The Lincolns (Nimbus Publishing) will be ceremoniously released on October 17, 2021.

For details, please follow the link below.

Celebrating the Kings of Friday Night — Marigold Cultural Centre (marigoldcentre.ca)