November 27-28 2009 Castlegar-Calgary

(…written on the Departure Bay Ferry to Horsehoe Bay B.C.)

1) Leave the Island…………..

Hey man!!!! What up?

….that was Scott.

/\————-We are on the 5:15am Departure Bay Ferry,
heading towards the airport in Vancouver.
It is still dark out, black sky.
Sky black.

Scott has his Izuzu trooper, black truck,
truck black,
downstairs,
on the middle car deck, in the middle,
and is looking for an eggwich.

Early mornings to catch flights.
Sure beats the coal mines.
Like the one Great Grandpa Gogo died in.
So yeah, life is good.
Now.

I have a new HP notebook.
How do you like it so far?
I think I dig it.

Brought it on this road trip to see if it is fun. If I have any questions, like, how it works, I will ask Craig (lighting director) ‘cause he knows basically everything that mankind has assembled as knowledge, so far. I will ask him if there is a spell-check on this thing, and how to restore the toolbars that I just lost………blah blah blah, poor guy, knowing me.

2) Why no road reports…………..?

So far, this is fun!
Ok, I bet it has been over a year since the last Gogo Road Report,
which is nuts, sorry ’bout that.
After about 10 years without a break at all,
why the sabbatical?

a) Lazy (kidding)
Dealing with couch injuries.
Suffering trauma from getting up too quickly.

b) All the other road reports were from scraps of paper, notes I amassed as I traveled with our beloved Trooper band, and I would sort them out and type it out when I got back home. Yeeeeee….I am the worst sloppy typer, and this would take a bit of effort, and it turned out that life’s twists ate that last bit of productive leisure time.

——————————————————————-
Hey !
The sun is up now, halfway across the Georgia Straight!
I love these huge modern ferry boats.
Beautiful!
Big hollow metal thing that floats.

Cell phones don’t work here.
But the violin still does.
Have had many good jams with people I never even spoke with,
and will never see again,
on the decks of the B.C Ferries, in good weather.

One hippy on banjo hated me.
It was probably my red summer hospital pants.
Oh well, the tambourine girls are okay with it all.

Or we could just sit, chat and have some tea.
Maybe lay around on the deck and get some sun.
In the summer…………long ago………long forward……

Have seen schools of porpoises lately,
and several Orca whales, all jumping around
and blowing water into the sky.
All very joyous, and a good reason for
everyone to actually stand up for a minute.

It’s funny how so many people from the Island complain
about boring ferry rides. I love it.
You don’t have to DO anything!

Did I mention how many schools of dolphins
and gangs of killer whales we saw this year ?

(…written in Scott’s truck on the way to the Vancouver International Airport)

c) I guess the big thing was with my Mom ailing last year, and me becoming a primary care-giver, she passing away……..My Mom was cool, a total genius, but I am sure I wrote all about that experience; one that I don’t wish on anyone, yet we all must endure.

I refused to have the family house sold……..so the only option was to buy it
…so..all of my other projects got put on hold.
I am a Taurus of simi-Dutch descent,
a stubborn breed of funkster.

So, I managed to hold onto this huge mega-awesome Victorian Mansion that I grew up in.
I did NOT grow up rich, am still not RICH, (nor have I grown up)
but we had, and I have, a gigantic and very cool house, ‘cause we had a lot of people,
who were also very cool. I grew up the youngest of 7, with 2 parents, and 5 tenants.
Multiply that by the square root of every teenager in town,
and divide by a lot of burning toast.

(…written at the gate of our West Jet flight to Castlegar B.C)

Uncle Mike offered to co-sign the (also huge) mortgage, (thank you) in order to buy out the estate, and I leveraged the Protection Island proprty, and we took on a frightening 10 month restoration project. Fire code updates (new 5/8 drywall and 20-minute doors)..everything possible cosmetic and functional……We had to have rooms ready to rent out for September.

I also had no idea what to do with the house. It was too big for me to live in.
The race was on, on all fronts, to prepare and to figure out what it was being prepared for.

We now have 8 international high school students living there (and one Mexican boy on the living room floor.) And that is a lot of empty milk jugs.

Just like that!

That explanation is greatly over-simplified, ‘cause it was all a TON of work, politics, planning, finance, and more work, and planning. A lot of heart, a ton of prayer, add a dash of panic. There was also a ton of resistance to work against from within the estate itself. Not easy. But we did it.

The project is one-of-a-kind; a breakthrough in modern student housing. Nobody in the city has ever housed this many students in one house, and up until now, it was not allowed on any front. I have quickly become some kinda expert on International student housing and the University is suddenly asking me for advise, ‘cause they are hoping that I may have started a social trend. Good timing too, ‘cause they expect twice as many students in January, and there is NOWHERE for them to stay.

Other than the HoJo.
Or the clink.

So, well over 100 gallons of paint later, and over 50 truck loads to the recyclers bins, to the Music Conservatory, and church office……..my old family house was emptied, cleaned, repaired, refinished, and now looking good. That is 50 years of archives (junk), all sorted; we were talking 16-hour days, every day for almost an entire year. There were 49 large full boxes of newspaper clippings alone, not including stuff to do with the church, or family archives. I can not explain how much stuff was in this house, and it all had to be sorted, as we scrubbed and painted and ripped out carpets……

The house also ate a ton of cash, everywhere, and will continue that feast on greenbacks well into the summer. Whewwwwww…………..but what an amazing project. We created a mini United Nations (and a new shower.)

The house sold out of vacancies immediately with kids from Japan, Germany, China, Mongolia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam……….half boys, half girls…..way more fun than I had imagined. Great sing-a-longs, killer meals. Tracy-Lyn helped a whole lot with all of this, and we have our friend Rose helping out as well, keeping the vibe up. I could talk about this all day, and I do………….but you get a picture here. Huge 3-story, downtown Nanaimo, high-tech-fireplace-insert blasting, dinner bell ringing, kids mopping floors…….me explaining and strumming E minor……I will update this topic as we go along with this, ‘cause this story has just begun!

(…written on the airplane………..)

d) I had to get a new computer, ‘cause my formerly top-of-the-line IMAC didn’t do what it used to do so well anymore. Sometimes my sent emails would get lost ‘cause the computer clock decided that it was 1914. Strange options….I am told that Mac has rethought some of those features…

It took me a while to walk down to the Harbour Park Mall and lay down the new infinite Avion Card, again. Ahhhhhhhhh………..the Avion card, they don’t give those to just anybody you know!!!!! (I always quote that Dan Akryod line at grocery stores)………….I think I have 5 credit cards now, and settled on that one, thank you.

So I had to buy this little HP notebook for the purpose of trying to reset the high-speed wireless at GOGO MANOR (turns out I just had to plug stuff in in the right order)………..so let’s use it for a new road report! I can also now tell you how a modern sump pump works, and how to divert flood spring water, and save a basement from disaster…….stuff I never thought I would even think about.

I can also recommend a decent plumber.

I have 6 buildings now, and the ones I designed are on the tops of hills.
Don’t like floods.

e) Also, and most importantly, I fell in love with the violin…….something I have played with, off and on since I was 13, after seeing Eddie Jobson play with his band UK. I have lately amassed a collection of fine violin instruments, have taken more lessons, decided that tone IS important, and committed to a practice schedule that leaves little time for other projects (other than babbling on Eddie Jobson’s public forum).

I love the violin, even play it in my dreams. It makes me feel, smart, elite and fancy.

I have taken on acoustic gigs, with banjo and piano as well, just having a gas……but I gotta take the violin seriously. It is that difficult.

It is all in the bow.

Here is a quick example of how I babble on Eddie Jobson’s Forum
(feel free to skip over this………..)

Re: Music that freaks us out.
Author: gogo Date: 12-21-09 23:16

You know what kind of music freak me out
but in a BAD way ????????????????????

The kind that involves people…..all talking,
or even one person talking……………
REALLY loud over top of a sing a-long

This had ben my MAJOR gripe for years.
Try to host a campfire sing-along
and half of the people are singing
…and half are trying to talk
louder than the singers.

So what I do is just cut a song short and stop.

It drives me nuts.

Years ago it didn’t bug me as much.
But I take it as such an insult now.

But really, can they not just
talk their crap later ?

I mean, they can talk ANYTIME
but how often do they get a genuine sing-along ?

What is worse is when you play piano,
quietly and it is like they are YELLING.
It is like a chicken coop on steriods.

I was at a dinner party last night
and the host, well into his 80s
………not THE 80′s
but HIS 80′s…….
he asked for a rare piece that I
am happy to fake…………and I had to walk.

You know, you are listening so close to what you are doing
and where you are going and all you hear is

“OH MY GOD DID HE REALLY !?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
AND WHAT WAS SHE DOING WITH HIM ANYWAY !?!?!?!?!?!?!?
AND NEXT TIME I SEE HIM …….I AM GONNA TELL HIM……!!!!!!!!”

……….and then the terrible story of some car crash
and then the guy who got dehydrated on the flight
back from Mexico and he had to lay down in the asile..

So forget it, I must take a break
and soon enough go sing Happy Birthday
with everyone starting on a different note.

love
Gogo

Re: Music that freaks us out.
Author: gogo Date: 12-21-09 23:39

You know,
my Dad was a far more hard-core
sing-along master-spazz than I shall ever be.

He had a case with binders FULL of songs,
hundreds of songs, all in categories
——-Irish…….Scotish………Show Tunes……

He also had one gripe about the scene.

He didn’t think that people should
get drunk at their gigs.

He said “If you work at a bank,
are you going to get drunk on the job ?”

I always agreed with that one.

But a drunk bank teller may be funny
and good for some extra loot.

So life was always confusing, especially
if you were a big fan of the Guess Who

Yet, other than my early bands,
and my fabulous heavy metal bands,
………who were all pretty serious………
I have managed to gig with a few lushes in club acts.
And they manage to not fall down too much.

I had a fill-in drummer actually pass out onstage once.
Years later someone told me that he was on heroin.
Glad I didnt know that at the time
or I may have done something rude about it all.

But then again……I guess Dad never said anything about
not doing heroin at a gig.

I guess there are some things that
people gotta figure out for themselves.
Even the most obvious stuff…….

Re: Music that freaks us out.
Author: gogo Date: 12-21-09 23:49

Another thing that my Dad did
that was odd……..was dress like Santa
and spend the day at the hopsital.

He would go from room to room,
and visit EVERY person in the entire facility.

Well, I inherited his Santa Suit
(a really good one……..)
and I figured I woudl try that this year
for the heck of it……….

But there are new laws
that deal with the confidentiality
of who is in what room
and you can’t do that any more.

(When I had pneumonia in grade 9,
nobody knew who I had in my room…..)

Anyway, I am sure that we all hate hopsitals,
especially if you HAVE to be there…….
so I figured this was a good year to
rock them all out with some caroling.

So today, Tracy-Lyn, Rose and I
got all dressed-up and tried
our best to get two groups of people
to sing, and drum…….

We sang up and down the hallways
and probably woke up some people
who have been trying for weeks to get to sleep……….

It was all fun for a while
but it got pretty depressing
cos a lot of these people have
just let their spirit fade……..totally given up on everything.

The staff was into it,
even the Sea Hag
who expected the 12 days of Christmas
(I am not into howling that one…..)

We needed a code to get out of there.
The people are actually locked in.

Don’t wanna end up like that.

Or if we do, someone please come along and sing for us…………

love
Gogo

Re: Music that freaks us out.
Author: gogo Date: 12-23-09 00:33

This forum has never been an open gripe opportunity,
but I can see that my last mini-rant is not finished…

What I think is RUDE in the audio-arts………

I never liked it when people shush each other with a shhhhhhhhhhh,
you know…….the big horrible demeaning 4K white noise……….
sshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh……..maybe with a pointing finger
in front of thier lips………(whatever that was ever supposed to mean)…….

I always found that noise to be more offensive
than whatever it is that it was supposed to be combating,
and really, have you ever seen that tactic actually work ?

People that get the shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh never shut up as a result.
I have never seen it, anyway.

I know a folk guy,m who’s wife goes into the crowd
and stares-down the chatty-people.
That works.
Kinda wierd, but it works.

That is a little too “grass-roots” for my taste……..
But what-you-gonna do ?

love
Gogo

Re: Music that freaks us out.
Author: gogo Date: 12-23-09 00:44

So anyway………a few days until Christmas
and I drag my Carol-weary carcass to the Church
for the LAST choir practice until the big Midnight Mass gig
(speaking of free concerts…….)

And I told you how my Mom would
YELL at the choir, and not waste time…….

Well, the new lady, God Bless her, of course,
she gets everyone to stand and sing EVERY verse
of EVERY Carol…..which is also good,
I suppose…..and after a few I sit down………..
and by Oh-Little-Town-Of-Bethlehem……..I am passed-out on the pew.

Which I imagine is also fairly rude
but I never thought it to be a big deal
who’s eyes are open, closed, or doing what.

So they wake me up to conduct the next piece,
cos it is odd, and I pretend to know what I am doing.

Classical people can be funny that way.
They don’t just wanna jam.

And then we watched a film about Mother Teresa,
which was good, cos I really did need the extra sleep.

Peace
Love
Gogo

———– so that is why I have been so lax on the road reports.
I have had many requests from Trooper friends and fans to get this going again, so thank you for that support and encouragement.
Trooper is all about the fans.

Thank you
Love
Gogo