September 7th, 2005    Cambridge, ON    Little Big Horn

September and it is still swimming season. I insist. I refuse to let this summer end.

7pm, Scott and Dave show up at my studio and to the ferry we go, 3 teas later, the Alercorn hotel, sleep. Oh we sat with Boink, a great soundman we know, and Dave Hampshire, our new road manager made a great new friend. I brought music notation books to read, thinking that I should do SOMETHING other than swim, eat and music, well, this is music I guess. This trip wasn’t to be a whole lot of sleep for the crew, but a major opportunity for relaxation for me, the fab and over-relaxed keyboard player.

I met a yoga teacher at the Toronto airport. A brilliant young man. He had studied with his father in India, leads canoe adventures on the off season, and back to Mexico to teach yoga teachers again. He told me some great yoga ideas, not all which I fully understand, but did anyway. This guy could not stop smiling. My super-happy yoga master dude. Cool! I wiped his permanent smile off of his face when I told him that Gilligan (Bob Denver) just died. It was true, and I had the newspaper magazine to prove it. So the Yoga guy and I mourned Gilligan at the airport and everyone got their luggage from the carrousel. The Gilligan death is heavy on us. I fear mass Jonestown action on Protection Island. The whole way of life there is based on Gilligan. I guess we are all on our own now, to live the teaching of Gilligan in our own way. I think I have been doing a fine job so far. I gave up on trying to be the Professor long ago, even though he does it with Mary Ann. THIS I understand.

So some girls danced onstage to my purposely bizarre keyboard solo in Cambridge. I played the most insane stuff that I could muster (never used that word before!)  Mike Pacholuk joined us in doing sound for this tour. The other Mike soundman left the tour, and the organization in general, and we are all still friends, and he is still an AMAZING sound tech with an international career. He wasn’t having a good time with us. I am.

Pacholuk wore a Southern rock cowboy hat, smiled the whole time and spoke fondly about the brotherhood, and he did a wonderful job of front of house sound. He is a serious vintage bicycle collector and restoration man, so I listened closely to great moments of advice.

Also, I was thrilled when Ra informed me that he had assembled booklets of 50 campfire songs, just as I had, not knowing that each other had the same idea. How serendipitous is that? I can’t wait to see his selection.

Here is a bit of my campfire selection from my book:

IRISH
…Farewell to Nova Scotia
…Cockles and Mussels
…The Unicorn Lyrics

WILD
…The Williams Lake Shuffle
…Oh, You Can’t Get to Heaven
…brand new key
…Love Will Keep Us Together
…He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands
…When Johnny Comes Marching Home
…Alice the Camel
…Runnin’ Bear
…Oh, Dear! What Can the Matter Be?
…The Fox
…If You’re Happy and You Know It
…This Old Man (Knick-Knack Paddywhack)
…hurdy gurdy man
…honky tonk man
…mellow yellow

PIRATE
…Michael, Row the Boat Ashore
…Blow th’ Man Down
…Sloop John B Lyrics
…Row, Row, Row Your Boat
…Gilligan’s Island Theme Song
…My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean
…The Paddle Song
…Jamaica Farewell
…Sailing, Sailing
…Banana Boat Song

September 8th, 2005    Liverpool, NS    Astor Theatre

Craig drove a vintage bike onto the Theatre stage during the drum solo. Craig was really funny during this outing. He didn’t stop smiling. I had NEVER seen him smile before. He is kinda mono-mood. Scott was all excited about the idea of having a piano sing-along at the pub at the historic hotel we occupied, so at the right moment I entered the pub at the hundred-plus year old haunted hotel, to great cheer, and ran through my little list of favorite tunes. It is a serious maritime moment to have an entire pub singing FAREWELL TO NOVA SCOTIA. Kinda proud of that.

September 9th, 2005    Glace Bay, NS    Savoy Theatre

Mini van. 6-hour drive, music notation. Great theatre crowd. People here really listen, and react, and that makes me play better music, play music better, both. Best laugh of the whole tour backstage when the stage camera got a shot of the manager bringing us a pizza backstage. Why that was so funny, who knows. We all laugh like mad men backstage, all the time. Delicious wet pizza. Ra held his pizza with a towel. That was funny too. Mike had a wonderful time laughing with the boys again.

I drove the van back from Glace Bay to Sidney and stopped at the the World’s largest illuminated fiddle so we could all dance around. I had spent a bit of the afternoon at this huge metal structure, during my waterfront jog, watching a video of the giant fiddle being made and became the perfect tourist.

September 10th, 2005    Bouctouche, NB    private corporate function

Drive up to Moncton, hotel swim in excellent outdoor pool all day. Actually meditated in the pool, total zone out, deep enough to dive. Great pool. No one around. 45 minute drive to gig, a historical Accadian village Island with a wooden bridge connecting it to the town. A totally silent old Maritime guy drove us across the bridge in an oversized golf car limo, and I almost passed out when I saw about 60′ of tables, all covered in wild food. I believe an oil company put this gig on for their employees, and we were told that it might rain, so they spent $20 000 on a tarp. I say let it rain, my keyboard is insured, I will use an umbrella, give me the cash I say. YAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The stage was wooden, the entire floor of the amphitheatre wooden, and the side walls historical buildings, like a mini city scene from a different century. Quite beautiful. Some people were moved to tears by our show. Unfortunately for me, the guys in the band wanted a quicker leave from the venue than I, so I made them wait a bit, cos we were given the green light to the food tables. I insist on having MY moment, being the keyboard player and all, you know. Enough gourmet food to feed a thousand people, and there was perhaps 300 there. Salmon skewers, wild nachos, prawn kabobs, so I packed some party cups to take with me. This was the jackpot of food parties. Where was this in the ’80s when I needed it? I have to make up for my starving days all at once.

Late 2:45 leave. I had quiet time at the hotel, zoned in the pool again. Read music books. I even watched a movie on TV. Every movie had Robin Williams in it. Did you know that he lives on Salt Spring Island?

We followed the sunset home. The plane took forever to get home. I sat by Frankie. We destroyed our headsets and made punk rock hanging mobiles out of them. Other passengers were happy about our modern hanging junk art sculptures.

I probably didn’t capture 1/3 of the funny stuff I saw on this tour. I know that I lost some pages with scribble notes, so several shows are lost into my summer sunburt memory. It is all one plane ride, one crowd, one salad bar. .

Oh, this is good:
Did I mention the flight where I looked at the seat behind me and thought “Hey, that is the guy from the Irish Rovers!?” Easy to recognize if you ever watched Canadian TV in the late ’70s. He is the guy with the Irish hat.  So I said “HI Will Miller!” And he instantly turned into my best friend. At the next airport we were still hanging out, he telling great stories of Peter, Paul and Mary. I just love that guy. I have the greatest respect for veteran musicians and LOVE to get the chance to hear their stories of life. He was quite concerned that everyone be aware that his last drummer was pulled through a chipper and mushed to death. “All that was left was the boots”

Yes, it’s all true.
It struck me recently that I could write any crap here, make stuff up, and it would be easier than remembering details of passing moments. But you know, Ruth is stranger than Richard, and who would even think of raunchy school bus bouncing over moon-scaped roads in Northern reserves? I think this stuff is really fun, and I am proud to be a part of it.

What a great summer! This is my simple little window into this touring world, one simple little perspective. The soundman would write a completely different story, same place, some of the same people, same music, but angles.

We are blessed to see the greatness of this land, and to share it with the great people.

Before I split, let me show you what music has been playing on my ITUNES while I type this>>>>>>>>>>>
Do You Feel Like I Do? – Peter Frampton
Battle of Evermore – Led Zeppelin
Pantagruel’s Nativity –  Gentle Giant
Shine On Silver Sun –  Strawbs
the four seasons – Vivaldi
Love My Way – Psychedelic Furs
Carpet Of The Sun –  Renaissance
Eddie Jobson Violin Solo -UK
After The Ordeal – Genesis
Hello Hurray – Alice Cooper
Blues for Organ – Jimmy Smith
Funny Ha Ha – Slingblade
How Deep Is Your Love – Bee Gees
Midnight Cowboy – Harry Nilsson
Out Of The Blue – Roxy Music
Motor Head  - Eat The Rich
Puppets -Curved Air
Songs From The Wood – Songs From The Wood
Utopia Theme – Todd Rundgren & Utopia
Free Bird – Lynyrd Skynyrd

Thank you for being at these shows.
May the Angels continue to guide over you.
love Gogo