I’ve been talking to folks at CBC about a cool concert that we’d like to do during the festival. We’re hoping to pair up a B.C. singer-songwriter that we love with a great local singer-songwriter and do a joint concert for broadcast on Canada Live. Things have been moving along nicely, and then yesterday I found out that the local guy may have a new gig that takes him out of the city beginning in March. Sigh.

But wait, says CBC. Maybe we can do it with another local singer-songwriter. It’ll still be a great show, and the two musicians have the exact same initials. How perfect is that

Now, I’ve heard of this nice singer-songwriter, but I haven’t actually listened to any of his music. So I loaded up his website and it became clear from looking at his photo that this concert is meant to be.

To most of you, there’s nothing in this photo that screams “FATE!” If you look closely, however, you will notice that the artist in question is wearing a “Hilltop Fish & Chips Hespeler” t-shirt – the very same Hilltop Fish & Chips my family frequented every week when I was growing up.

Hilltop was one of the constants of my youth. It operated out of a Little Short Stop convenience store, and it was only open on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. I used to love driving there with my Dad to wait in line with the rest of the locals. They wrapped up the servings in wax paper and newsprint, bound with twine. Sometimes the man would give us a fifty-cent piece or a silver dollar, which we’d show off to all our friends.

In any case, this is a clear sign that this concert was meant to be. It’s nice when Fate intervenes so I don’t have to struggle with these kinds of difficult programming decisions. I just wish I could find a photo of another artist wearing a Playfair Bowl t-shirt so I could stop worrying about whether to book him for the festival or not.