W10 Drive to Canmore AB 885kms
Left the night before, picked-up Scott, drove onto ferry, drove to hotel, drove to Smittys, drove to Canmore. Talked the whole way. Despite my best efforts to pack a day before, take the day off of Protection Island landscaping, and generally prepare, the day before is ALWAYS a panic.
Saw, and fell in love with, a shapely aluminum boat alongside of the highway. It has been there for years, now I know where, cause I never remember where is what. I will need an aluminum boat, you know, because they are tough, all winter beats, and this one has a small enclosed section. I made a note to check it out on the long drive home in a week or so, at 3 am, or whenever we pass that way.
Canmore, like a mini-Banff, SUPER friendly and happy young people, people with skis walking down the streets. I had a huge jog in the snow, along a frozen river, surrounded by HUGE Mountains. Marveled at the $800,000 house prices. This, and other small towns were dumpy little mining towns in the ‘80s that were a drag to play. Now we sit in a lodge by a fire and eat gourmet Thai food while looking at the scenery that some Japanese people save up for years just to look at. So, I have fun.
The venue is a small club, packed with people and enthusiasm. Met the new lighting guy, MIKE STOBER his nickname is different than that, and I think I have it right. We are discussing the spelling in the van as I write this, on the way to Brandon Manitoba.
I recall the last time we played Canmore. I had my IMAC computer on the road, was videotaping everything and editing all day, and hauling way too much luggage up the outdoor steps, through the ice to the hotel room. This trip was to be more relaxing. I didn’t bring any extra jobs or hobbies with me. It’s bad though; every time I close my eyes I see boats.
T11 Calgary AB 115kms
Serious adjustment to being back on the road. Everyone has been really excited about getting back at touring after the little break, and in truth I fell into road mode in about 2 days, even though I was still sore for a week from all of the wheel barrowing of seaweed the week before.
We played at the Back Alley and stayed at a hotel across the street. It is not the most interesting part of the city, as far as walking around goes. I did spend some time at a HUGE hobby shop, watching model trains run around on a track, but no boat toys. There were 2 serious heavy Metal band opening for us in Calgary, and all the musicians were fabulously friendly, chatty, and a couple of guys were dressed like Guns n Roses.
F12 Edmonton AB 295kms
Scott and I seriously need some reading material. We sat around in Calgary all day watching the TV flick around stations. Scott got his hair dyed at the west Edmonton Mall (the hotel was down the street so we all took the van the 5 blocks). I also walked around the mall, had some hot and sour soup with Ra at the food court amongst the noisy fountains. I had spent about an hour in a discount bookstore finding NOTHING, talked to a local native at a display with a TeePee.
The gig was ultra-packed and awesome at REDs that evening. My cousin and her niece and her man were there as my guests, so we all had a party backstage, lots of people, total laugh-out. There was a chiropractor backstage, the same one we had met last year at a Kim Mitchell bill. This fellow had been around the world since, treating tennis players at Wimbleton, and track guys here and there. He wears total ‘50s horn rim glasses, is an Ex-football player, totally tall and strong as an excavator. He has his portable bench, cracks your carcass, aligns your brain, and no matter what, you cannot make him laugh. Forget it, he is serious and not going to fall for my cheap gags.
S13 Saskatoon SK 525kms
This was where we played the BRIER national curling event. We stayed at a hotel on the outskirts of town and Scott, Brian and I drove to the venue for free dinner. We were handed a coupon good for any one thing from any one of 9 vendors. There were bands playing all day and a few thousand people in a big room, some eating, some drinking. We got some Chinese food, went backstage and hung-out with the crew. Smitty talked about guitar tuning a lot for the first few days, being that the new lighting guy is also the guy who rigs-up and tunes Smitty’s guitars.
You know Smitty has taught a lot of guys how to be a guitar tech over the years, including my big brother Lawrence, who runs lights at Vancouver’s Commodore Ballroom, and also my local Nanaimo buddy Jim Survis, who spends about 8 months on the road each year teching for Aerosmith.
The Brier audience was 5000 when we started, and then the 2000 people waiting outside were let in for free, and from what I saw, it was elbow to elbow to the back of the room. Everyone singing, all smiles, all directed our way. If you can’t have fun with this, then I don’t have any cure for yer blues.
The opening act was our friends THE POVERTY PLAINSMEN, a prairie group we bill with every few months. Good pals.
S14 DAY OFF IN SASKATOON
Scott and I found books. He had the 7 Laws of Spiritual Success by Deepak Chopra (highly recommended). I have been into Chopra for years, and anyone who isn’t is missing out. I bought The Complete Idiots Guide to Boating and Sailing. The rest of the tour was spent with me staring of the pages of this excellent beginners boating guide. Lucky for me, Smitty is a Power squadron graduate, so he can answer any question that I have.
M15 Lloydminster SK 275kms
Pretty relaxing tour so far, hey? The hotel in Lloyd was not my favorite; too old and dusty. I guess I wasn’t feeling so great, either the dust or I was getting a cold, don’t know yet. Tried to jog, but just not into it. There was an oversized discount, bankruptcy, liquidator store across from the venue, just down the block and I told Scott that I saw golf clubs there for $6. He had just bought perfectly new-used gold shoes the day before. I spent a lot of time in the discount store looking at junk, and to my amazement there were 3 new, boxed, inflatable seats for the exact model of French Zodiac-style boat that I had acquired about 2 days before leaving on this trip. I mean, how esoteric can you get? $20, awesome. I am a big yuppie shopper now.
The gig was full of super friendly, but kinda shy people. The staff was awesome, but the audience all stood back from the stage, not crossing a blue line painted on the floor. They all had fun and the compliments flew afterwards, so I call it a success. It was funny how small the dressing room was, a tiny office, and the staff had a continuous laugh with us.
T16 NIGHT OFF IN REGINA 535kms
Lazy day. Is Martha Stewart going to jail? Dunno.
We had what seemed like a longer drive (all short drives on this tour hey!?!?!?) and by the time we got to Regina, I was ready to get out and do something. So what to do other than go for a super long jog with boundless energy over the frozen ice and snow of the residential area behind the hotel beside the highway.
By the next day, the temperature was up again and you couldn’t get out of the parking lot without mud on your shoes. If you walked across the highway to the Home Depot, you would get pretty wet.
Fortunately, the people here are so friendly that they actually slow down as they drive by you so you don’t get sprayed by the puddles. People talk about the East coast of Canada being the friendliest part of the country, but I also nominate Saskatchewan, in general. I went to the Safeway store and 2 people asked me if I was ok, could I find what I was looking for, do I need a basket? Everywhere I went people said HI and appeared quite happy.
W17 Regina SK
Smitty phoned me from COSTCO and told me that there are amazing rain jackets and pants on sale; awesome quality for $50 per outfit. I figure that it is time to stop showing up on Protection Island with wet track-suit asses after one wave hits the canoe.
I caught up with Smitty and bought a set of rain gear for myself, and one for Tracy (surprise for my gal!) and then we went to the venue for dinner. Awesome stir-fry, and everyone at the venue said hi to me and called me by name. Friendly, yes. Scott had dinner with his relatives and later gave the total approval for my rain outfit, saying that it is great quality at an amazing price, and Scott does know about these things. The only clothes I seem to buy on the road are funky old groovy shirts and stuff from 5th hand stores.
The opening act in Regina was THE GRIMSTONES, and you gotta see their huge tour bus; a converted school bus with a great flame paint job. They sounded to me like a really good KISS, not to undermine their originality, ’cause we only heard the last song through the ceiling of the backstage basement. There were chips backstage, and HUGE strawberries with a toothpick through a grape. I don’t know who the people were backstage, but they were super nice.
At the T-shirt booth, we saw a guy who drove up from the States and I had a nice chat with him and his buddy. Friendly people, Oh My. Whatever their secret is, I wish they would enlighten the rest of the world. I love Sask people. My mom was born there you know, but my Grandparents got out when: 1) the bucket of milk has ice on it by the time it got carried as far as the kitchen, 2) some prick burnt their crop one year, 3) the West Coast wasn’t as hard hit economically in the ‘30s. Less dust, more trees to cut down.
T18 Brandon MB 335kms
I am getting a good hour or so in with Smitty’s computer in the van, writing this stuff, until the batteries hit about 60%. The hotel at Brandon had a dinner voucher for each of us, a main course with a choice of HUNTER or GYPSY SAUCE. The hunter one had mushrooms, the gypsy one had peppers. Awesome dinner. I sat with Ra and Smitty in the restaurant and had some creamy cauliflower soup, and took the main course upstairs to the room where Scott was watching golf on TV.
The hotel and pool are filled with high school students, all JAZZ musicians who are to perform at a festival. That explains the boures and pork pie hats. It also explains the trombone cases and the jumping around in the room next door all night. Good for them having fun. I hope they make the nationals, so our Nanaimo players can show them up.
The show in Brandon was sold-out way before we got there. I got to talk about modern synths with the monitor man backstage, and the crowd greeted us with girls on guys’ shoulders, teenagers singing every song; a proper rock concert. Super friendly mob scene at the T-shirt booth afterwards, featuring a lady with wild tattoos, the excellent guy with the high voice and a big black guy who plays bass. They were my main chatty pals anyway.
Deli tray, 2 aluminum roasting pans, one with buns and cold cuts, the other with fruits and veggies, all covered with saran wrap and cold. Excellent.
I went back to the hotel room and saw a 1970s soul music reunion concert on PBS, you know those shows with a million excellent old American bands. This one was amazing and I thought it would be too late to call Ra and tell him about it. The Stylistics were awesome, very classy and full of love for the music. Ra has had a cold (so has Frankie, I just got it, and now Smitty) so I thought not to call Ra. A mistake, the next time I will so he won’t miss such great great music coming from these unbelievably great singers.
Other than that, all I do is read the complete idiot’s guide to boating and sailing. There is much to be said about tides, winds, PFDs…….
F19 Winnipeg MB 200kms
Ok, driving toWinnipeg now, so I guess this report is about caught up. We have a multi-hour rehearsal scheduled for today. The guy, Peter Jordan, from the CBC show It’s a Living is doing his last episode and will include us into his concept of “the show is over now, what am I going to do for a living?” Should be a howl. He is a great guy, tons of fun, and I was astounded at how excellent the episode was put together that featured us into a SABIAN cymbal factory tour, last year (just before Lance left). I email back and forth with Lance fairly often, wishing to keep in good contact throughout life. He is a great guy, and as we all know, THE MONSTER DRUMMER OF THE UNIVERSE.
Also today, at rehearsal, Fred Penner, who had his own CBC kids show for years, will bring his guitar so we can run over his hit song The Cat Came Back to surprise the crowd with tonight. We also invited Fred Turner, (the two FREDS from Winnipeg) to come to the show and jam, but he is in Halifax with BTO. LOVE Fred Turner.
Fred Penner is also a very cool guy, super nice, smart and personable. Remember the last time we saw him was in Newfoundland, he did a garbage can solo with Frankie onstage, and the time before that was at Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, where he taught us a few phrases in Inukituc. Cool guy. Looking forward to rocking his tune up a wee bit. We gotta get some girls up onstage to sing the MEOW part. Just stopping at a gas station here, Smitty is getting some lasagnas. Ra and Scott are talking about a Deepak Chopra breathing technique that equalizes the hemispheres of the brain. Wow, and is it windy outside! Sailors take warning, not that that matters here so much. Yes, Smitty thank you for the lozenge, and the breathing technique is working well and is quite meditative.
S20 Saskatoon SK 815
Driving to Saskatoon now, 14c below, had to put on a jacket. I watched a movie with Ra, using headphones on his Powerbook. Maroon Wedding, a movie from India about love, family and change. Beautiful. Made me cry three times. Then we listened to the opening band’s CD 4 play (bad name, guys) that was really seriously excellent and should get really popular. Quite original, fun and reggae-ish pop. They were all really nice polite and handsome young guys with everything going for them, except that they only played old covers at the gig.
Oh, the gig! Ok, we got to Winnipeg yesterday in time to check into the hotel and then walk into the venue and greet Peter Jordan, his producer, and cameraman for his hit show It’s a Living. They are taping the last episode of the show and invited us to be a part of it. The premise is that the show is over, and the host is looking for a new job, so he walks onto our stage while we are doing a sound check, and asks us if we need an extra cymbal player. Then, he asks us what type of music he should get into, suggesting classical (Smitty said “you mean sympathy music?”) and every time he suggests a different genre, there will be a cut to a different section of the program, such as him playing bagpipes, or country and western. We had lots of fun with this, and lots of laughs. At one point Fred Penner (famed Children’s music entertainer) stepped forward and said “have you considered getting into Children’s music?”
Oh ya! Ra had contacted Fred earlier and invited him to the gig, so it was arranged that he would show up for sound check and we would run over The Cat Came Back with a cool intro, segue into Hit the Road, Cat, and a big ending. I shared sunflower seeds with Fred and he turned me onto a HUGE barrel of peanuts. It was a big clean nightclub with polished OSB flooring, covered in peanut shells, and a staircase behind the stage that had lights in every step as you put weight on them. This way, Fred could appear from above the stage and make a grand entrance.
Ra set it up perfectly at the gig, got us into a fake jam of the song, got some people up onstage to sing (the WHOLE crowd sang the song by themselves as soon as Ra mentioned the title!) and then to the audience’s surprise, Fred appeared. The background singers got scared, I think, and they all but 2 scattered!
The crowd went NUTs for Fred Penner. He is SO well loved, seriously! When he walked to the front of the stage, every hand went up to slap, and he is so nice, so cool and just doesn’t milk it. He is really a great guy, so tasteful and kind to people. His whole demeanor on stage, and at the T-shirt booth was indicative of the spirit of kindness and caring that he holds for music and people.
It was a sold-out show, big crowd, total theatre-style concert. There was a big rack of costumes backstage and I got to wear a big Kooky-auchie jacket with multi-layered colourful sleeves on stage later, at the T-shirt booth, a lady said “you made me laugh all night,” which is nice, I guess, and then she ruined it with, “your nose is a bit red, but other than that you are OK.” Kinda stupid thing to say, like, “your teeth are the shits, but I’ll accept you anyway,” but what the heck. Wha wha wha.
A big private dressing room with big security guys and a complete table full of sandwich materials and fruits, veggies and orange juice. Lots to share with the opening act, and Fred, who stayed up late with us talking about everything from THE MOMENT, to minimoogs. He was full of compliments, really had fun with my keyboard solo, and I know that he really had a good time all-around. I was so happy to see how well respected he is. Also, before he left, he said, “now we have a number we can play together anywhere we meet!” This is totally relevant, because we have gigged with him as far East, and as far North as one may dare venture in this great country, without going out into the Atlantic or the arctic. Fred is a great brother to the band, like Bill Henderson, and the Brotherhood grows with every great gig we do.
Getting ahead of myself here. Windy yesterday. Scott went for a jog on the streets with branches blowing around. I am taking it easy because of this cold in the throat.
Had a nice salad bar dinner with Ra and Brian at the venue restaurant after the rehearsal. Then, time for a serious afternoon nap, (I never nap at home!) read about boat engines and get ready for the gig. A great day all around.
S 21 DRIVE BACK TO VANCOUVER, drive to ferry… 1575kms
Easy. Just eat whenever we stop, read about boating, look at the countryside, chat with Scott about the 7 spiritual laws of success and make sure my huge collection of bags, orange juices and shopping items are ready to be unloaded quickly when we get to Smitty’s house.
I didn’t see the aluminum boat that I was looking for on the way back, because it was night time, and I think the Lord doesn’t want me to buy another boat just yet.
My car was waiting there with a flat tire, which I groaned about. Scott and I had it changed, had the car loaded and moving through the dark evening towards the ferry in 15 minutes. Funny to be in the tiny old Toyota after a day in the big van. Always a treat to drive onto the ferry, chat some more, read newspapers from the recycling boxes, drinking 3 HUGE cups of tea, go home and SLEEEEEEEP.
Our Super Groovy Band Joyride! CDs were being printed and pressed while we were away, and I was delighted to see and hear how nicely they turned out. Our next batch of time off was to be spent researching where to demo out promo copies and do so. Hours and hours of computer fun, which delayed this road report one step further.
Here is a direct link to The Supper Groovy Band songs, in short form (just a few seconds of each song) http://gogo.trooper.ca/html_joy_lyric.html
And here is a link to 3 full videos off of the album http://gogo.trooper.ca/html_video.html
And here is the home page where I can be contacted if anyone wants to say HI or suggest anything http://www.thesuperGroovyBand.com/
I will have some copies of the CD on the road on the next Trooper trips if anyone wishes to check it out.
Ok, that explains what my big effort is these days.
Every effort needs a counter balance, and YES! We got our lawn planted on Protection Island! It took about a week for this part of the Earth to heat up enough to warrant buying 2 HUGE bags of grass seed to slather over the city lot that Tracy and I have spent a year clearing (with no machinery or burning, did I mention?) A few weeks later, here we are ready to canoe over and see the tiny little cute green grass blades pop up everywhere! MAGIC! BEAUTIFUL!
Tracy and I actually had a guy complaining about his neighbours who “Imported 20 dump trucks of top soil and made perfect manicured lawn! Why don’t they just live in the city if that’s what they want to do!?!?!?!” People like that, who don’t like nice lawns and homes are becoming a dying breed on the Island. And they know it. A friend of ours, super sweet guy, got his jazz guitar busking license taken away from the city, got a janitorial job, and is now moving off of Protection Island because he can now afford rent in a house with water and electricity. He has lived rent free in a cabin for 5 years with an illegal pipe to the city water, which rusted and got shut down.
One more super nice guy to leave the Island, as more nice people (with $) move on, tear down the cabins and old homes and build new ones with big beams (from Uncle Mickey’s mill) and talk about what a nice day it is, with German accents. We are seeing this happen, and we have a nice lawn.
Funny how I can get so excited about a lawn. Always wanted one. Wasn’t going to happen at any of my apartments in Vancouver.
Before I kill the subject, Tracy and I have 100 5-gallon buckets, mostly borrowed from friends in rural areas. 66 are full of washed sand from the city work crew (gave me sand while they replaced the pipes in our ally in town), and 33 buckets of 1/2 to 3’4 inch river rocks. This will make our navy jack, for our concrete footings for our cabin restoration. On Friday, in 6 days, we, and some friends (including Scott Brown) are going to haul all of these, plus 3 pick-up trucks of HUGE lumber onto a 22’ barge, for 2 trips, load onto a pick-up on the other side…….I must ORGANIZE!
It is a lot cheaper than hiring cement truck on a HUGE barge, but a bit more work, which I enjoy. Each bucket of sand is 50 pounds. So, 5000 pounds of sand and rock, each one loaded onto, off of, onto and off of a truck and barge in 6 days. It is funny to me, a lady in a new HUGE waterfront home with Uncle Mickey beams said to me 9 (few days ago), “The one thing that you won’t like about living here is that you have to haul your own groceries.” And they have a new Ford Explorer in their back yard, and a private dock. Thank GOD for these people, they pay HUGE taxes and never worry about nude swimmers on the beach.
OK, this word program is working strangely now and starting to drive me crazy. We have 8 arena shows with NAZARETH coming up in a couple of weeks. We have a gig in White Rock, a convention, on my birthday. Also the birthday of Brian and Joanne’s son Aaron, who tragically passes away about 10 years ago, you will recall.
Ok, Tracy LOVES her new rain outfit from Regina. Perhaps we will try it today. I am taking a break from linking up to band websites and researching college radio stations, and from EMAILING big shampoo companies that should use the song I like your hair in their TV commercials.
It’s good to get outside, you know. Pierre, sax player, is offering to go to Protection Island with us today, assemble the picnic table that Tracy and I just restored (belt sanded and painted green and yellow).
This sounds nice. Ok, I am gonna go….thanks again for spending some time with my thoughts and adventures. Thanks for going to our Trooper shows, we always have fun. This summer will be amazing, I just know it!!!! RAZAMANAZZZZZZ!!!!!!!!!
LOVE TO ALL
GOGO