May18, 2005
It was an honour. It was exciting. It was intense. It was amazing. Mostly it was scarey fun singing for the Queen, her husband and about 600 other guests at the Premier's Luncheon held in Lumsden. It took some major yoga the weeks prior to be able to stay grounded and do what I was invited to do. My song, "Who's That Man", helped get me this prestigious gig. It's the 60th year of the vet and the Queen and her husband hold the veterans close in their hearts. I was invited to sing "Who's That Man" for them to offer an angle to WWII that isn't often talked about. For those of you who don't know, this song is about my dad as a four year old boy finally meeting his dad for the first time when he returns from the war. You can hear "Who's That Man" right here on my website under music and if you like it just click over to merchandise and get yourself a copy. Enough self promotion.
My maternal grandmother came from England and she has always shown interest in the monarchy, but I've felt quite removed from the whole thing. But to be able to see The Queen up close and watch her people work around her was fascinating. Security was intense. I was told that there were a couple dry walk throughs involving 57 people from Buckingham Palace, Ottawa, the protocol office in Regina and who knows from where else months before the Queen arrived. Every minute of the luncheon was sheduled. I think I sang at 2:07. I didn't actually meet her, but her table was right in front of me as I was singing. She looked beautiful, kinda like a grandma and her husband looked very handsome. They both appeared to be interested in my song. I had Ray Bell playing guitar with me and the performance went very well. I remembered the words, the chords, but should have remembered to breath a bit more. I had a lot of people come up to me after to say they loved the song. Too bad I didn't have a merch table there. Next time, I'll ask for that in my contract (just kidding).
Thank you so much to the people in Lumsden planning the Queen's Visit, the protocol office in Regina for putting my name and music forward to the Premiere for approval and pushing for me to perform "Who's That Man", "O'Canada" and "God Save The Queen" for The Queen. It was a huge honour that made national and international news that could only happen because of the help from the local people that know and love my music. I appreciate their support so much and I really hope I did them proud.
Take care and I hope to hear from you soon.
Marny
