Josephine Foster & The Victor Herrero Band - "Puerto De Santa Maria"

Edmund is flying. West in blind pursuit of the sun. To a conference for his 4th career. On the back of the headrest in front of him, he can see that he's somewhere over the prairies. Out the window, it looks like a cloud carpet, lumpy in spots, shifted perhaps from the gods making love on their floor. Next to him, a chubby fellow in a tight t-shirt, camera dolloped on his stomach. Edmund crushes the rest of the ice in his teeth, and fills his cup with the napkin, a perfect unit of refuse. Now the tray is up and he'll have to focus on keeping his leg from bouncing until the attendant picks up his trash. Flying makes him so emotional.

He can look out at the sky, have the sun break through from around the front of the plane, and it will bring him to tears. Vast majesty, etc. Below are all the things he's done and seen and wanted and lost, and for now he will never return. From up high the world seems like a pretty fuckin silly place, and this is delightful to him, and depressing. Kevin is down there, trying to lose weight. Frank is probably running, against his will, home. Jen is down there, texting, or laughing with Tate. Alison is probably, as always, on the brink, with a drink. Carolyn is nuzzling something, undoubtedly, be it Melon or Garry. And he is here, the parent and lover and husband and son, that doesn't ever seem to quite fit. As if, collectively, they had ejected him out of their lives with such force that he popped like a cork 30,000 ft into the sky.

He makes a decision. Suddenly, like when the tail of the plane ducks under choppy air, he makes a decision: I want to marry May. I'm going to ask May to marry me.

"Can I take your cup?" her nametag reads Helen, and she leans over the sleeping chubby. "Oh, yes, sure." He squints when he feels there are tears on his cheeks. "Thanks, Helen."

[still on myspace]

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Josephine Foster & The Victor Herrero Band have done it again. A lush, brilliant, sun-dappled treasure, called Perlas will be released May 15, and with it it will bring all of summer, all at once.

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Also: Tomorrow night, Wednesday April 25th, at Comedy Bar (945 Bloor West) in Toronto, the second installment of For My Own Benefit will take place. A very special and extremely high-quality comedy show for the benefit of pancreatic cancer research. Presented as always by The New Humourists, they will perform one of their written works in its entirety, and will be joined by stand-up comic Tim Gilbert, and sketch troupes Bronx Cheer and Tony Ho. Capping off the night will be the touching improvisational, Craigslist-inspired show Personals. Come see, it will be grand. [Facebook event]