I plotted out the chromatic scale on a chromatic harmonica that I picked-up on EBAY, and I am sorry to say that my notes run out completely at this point. How long this tour lasted and where we went, I do not recall. I remember one big arena show with Streetheart at some point before we shut down the touring season, and they sounded the best that I had ever heard them. I saw them in ’79 opening for RUSH in the Nanaimo arena and all my grade 9 friends were there smoking grass.

Oh yes, the Streetheart gig, I remember. We showed-up early enough to see their set, at a Grey Cup football party in an arena in Regina Saskatchewan. The crowd was going insane for them. The singer, Kenny Shields (our huge buddy now) walked around the stage and held up a banjo and the crowd went totally berserk. He didn’t even play anything on it. I didn’t quite understand what it was all about, other than they are very much loved in the Prairies. They were really excellent. We were on next, then April Wine, who got the last and latest spot with a worn-out crowd. There was lots of hanging out backstage between band members, and I saw a huge pile of guitar cases with BIG SUGAR written on them behind the stage: one of the last gigs those guys were to do before they called it quits. I saw an interview with their guitar player on TV around that time and he said “there is a point where if you do this for too long it gets retrograde.”  I have met and chatted with him (Gordy Johnstone) a few times over the years. I like him and I am sure he knows his stuff!

The other thing that stands out about that year’s Grey Cup party was the moment when the entire Roughrider’s cheerleaders ensemble walked across the stage, danced our last song and did the big bow with us. The entire stage was covered in these cute gals. I wish someone had taken a picture of THAT! They were so sweet, signing a beautiful calendar for us that we later looked at in the van. I kept it and gave it to my 16-year-old nephew Jacob. He has red hair, and also a red face when he opened the present.

ODD BITS OF STUFF

Sorry to end the last tour like that!

I did find an itinerary later, and there are many missing gig stories here……..

We did a one-off on Salt Spring ISLAND. THIS WAS A CONCERT AT THE FULFORD HALL, THE TOWN HALL ON THE LARGEST AND MOST POPULATED OF THE GULF ISLANDS. Sorry again, the caps lock was on.

Salt Spring has an upper class of wealthy people, and some huge estates. Tracy and I took a day and drove around Salt Spring a couple of years ago to see if it was a good place to buy a lot. I found that the best beaches had HUGE private estates built around them. (The best beaches on Protection Island are all parks).  There were also big DO NOT ENTER signs here and there, which I found quite unattractive on Salt Spring Island. Nonetheless, it has attracted landowners such as Sting, Peter Gabriel, Randy Bachman and a bunch of Hollywood movie stars. There is a ferry and a floatplane directly into Vancouver, so it is not so isolated, and very beautiful, of course. It is a very political, cliquey and polarized society so, forget it, I ain’t gonna move there.

Our friend Bill Henderson also lives there. Ra contacted him before the show and we arranged that we would play his early Chilliwack hit Crazy Talk with him at the show. We met him at a pub across from the hotel for dinner, Tracy and I explored the shops full of glorious homemade soaps, and I caught a mini nap. Our beloved, yet loud, friends from Nanaimo showed up at our hotel and we had some funny chatter.

(As I write this, Ra is playing The Cat Came Back in the van on the way to Regina.)

I have been a serious Chilliwack fan since Expo ’86, when they started to play around Vancouver a lot after having their early ‘80s break. I opened for them a few times and went out of my way to go hear Bill with different variations of the group, including: UHF, The Bill Henderson Band, Dream Time, and The Collectors reunion gig. So, I am a fan. Bill is also an email buddy for me over the last couple of years.

So, the idea of actually playing music with Bill was quite fun for me. I was sure not disappointed. He showed up at the gig with his guitar and amp and hung out backstage. Ra, Bill and I sang harmonies backstage to Old Collectors songs such as Howard Christman’s Older and to my surprise, my loud friend interrupted with “You guys aren’t going to sing church music tonight are you?” Embarrassing, but whatever.

I got to ask Bill a lot of questions, without being a pain in the arse, and he stood in the wings, stage right until his cue came up. Ra had a surprise for the band, and quite a good one.

When Ra had discussed the gig with Bill (emailed) the idea of what to play came up. Bill said that in the old days, when guys would jam, they would actually Jam. Just start playing and make it all up. So, that was the surprise. Bill walked onstage, plugged in his guitar and started a groove. I am really proud to say that we all joined in, and the result was very musical, tasteful and not overdone, no stepping on toes, and Bill and I got to trade riffs on piano and guitar. Bill is really good.

Then, we broke into Crazy Talk. Bill sang like the monster that he is, and Ra got to do some trade off improv vocals in the middle break down.

Salt Spring Island, having a huge artist community, was the perfect audience for this concert. They listened and responded to everything, beautifully. It was just a shame that the mob of teenagers outside were not allowed in. They were sure excited about the show and stood outside the door and sang along to every song. Scott did a casual gig on Salt Spring a week later and signed a million autographs for enthusiastic teenagers.

Yes, Bill was awesome; the gig was amazing, including the food backstage (in the basement of the hall.) Gary VanderHoooovering  (sorry about the spelling) was there for fun, nice to see him again, and we had a great time hanging out with the locals at the T-shirt booth later.

The only sad part of this tale is the fact that we (Scott, Tracy and I) had to get up at 5:30 am to catch the first ferry back to Vancouver Island. It would have been lovely to take that Sunday, sleep in and spend the day exploring Salt Spring again, but I had agreed to help a friend move that day. By 9 am I was carrying heavy boxes into a truck. The move was brutal, as all moves are, and I was sore for a couple of days. The good news is that I had some great old friends at the move, so it was a total laugh-out session, and my friend who was actually moving is a computer genius, and the guy who made all of my text and images into this. It was just ironic that he moved on the ONE day that month when we had a cool out-of-town show!!!!!

Bill continues to be an email buddy, and our latest conversation revolves around the 18’ teepee that Rick and Valley gave to Tracy and I. It is new, 30 years ago, and never used. Bill has the experience of having lived in a TeePee on Salt Spring with his wife, 2 daughters and cats and dogs for 2 winters and one summer in the ‘70s. Our TeePee has no poles, and I am considering a wire-rope suspension system, or the use of long PVC pipes to support the HUGE canvas bag that it is. Bill doesn’t like either idea. “You gotta do it right, man,” he writes.

More on this topic later………………(one bag of canvas got wet, and I found a stack of wet INSTRUCTIONS  in the bag later)