16) So we gotta drive…………..

(…written in the van, early afternoon in the Kootneys………..)

We are going down hill now, highway, in the snow storm, this is freaky. This kinda stuff never used to bother me. It is not like I have never been through a snow storm on the road before, a million times. I dunno.

Update: snow stopped, and we stopped, in Creston. Coffee shop, a granola bar with almonds and cranberries, the Something Buffalo Coffee House, across from the Big Foot Lounge, by the Sleeping Sasquatch……man, these little towns have become so funky and cool.
ZZ Top could have gone unnoticed at this cafe, next to the other beard guys.

Ok, our Calgary gig is packed already,
and we are on in 6 hours……..hope this next flight is not cancelled too.

17) ….but only to the next airport.

(…written on a Central Mountain Air Flight………..)

Now, we are on a really small narrow cute plane, now flying towards Calgary, with a 4-hour waiting time to join the 5000 waiting at the Telus Convention Center. I predict a wild crowd tonight. The place has been packed since noon, (we are told) and we are on at, what 11pm, or something. If people go out, the cops let more fresh people in. This is The Grey Cup party.

OK there is the landing gear, I should put this away…….

(…written in the hotel in Calgary….before the gig…….)

We have almost an hour in this new hotel, and off to find the venue. I am going to read these notes so far and clean them up a bit………

(…written in the hotel in Calgary…….after the gig….)

We circle some blocks, get directed to the loading bay and walked through a city block labyrinth of underground hallways. Presented with Saskatchewan Roughriders jerseys, (thank you !)..we are ready to hit the concert stage, facing a sea of green sports fans, the craziest in the world. Chanting, hat throwing…..

You know what thousands of people cheering sounds like…loud, and I love it…..by the end of the night, with friends backstage (including the most excellent comedy writer Harry Dupe) I was feeling it…….bagged. All my energy was spent onstage.

I feel that it was the uncertainty of the day that caused the run down, I mean, we have tons of long travel days……we do two shows in different towns in the summer….but this travel day was kinda heavy…….and now arriving at the hotel, 2am…….I drove the band back to the hotel again and went by myself to park the huge new SUV. It took me a while to figure out how to turn the lights off on this spaceship, and to deal with how awesome the stereo sounded.

(…written in the hotel in Calgary…..in the lobby……)

18) My early morning grumppy spazz…..

I text Scott, from my room, to see if our lobby call, leave time, is for 5am or 5:30. I can not really go to sleep until I know. Well, I have the truck keys, not like they are going to leave without me. That is 2am attitude logic.

We always set a leave time at the end of every gig, or at least text each other with a leave time. I got left out this time ‘cause I was out parking the truck, I guess.

I guess Scott was asleep already, at 2 am, and did not get my texts, so here it is 5am, the alarm went off 3 hours into a disturbing dream. What should I do now?

Not much I can do, other than wake someone up and ask them when I am supposed to wake up.
So I get dressed, bring my stuff to the lobby and wait for everyone, and here I sit now, by a beautiful gas fire, with really loud soft jazz over my head.

6:30 and the rest of the band arrives. No, Scott did not get my texts ‘cause I am using an old phone and he has a new number now. Technology. Bullshit. You spent $300 replacing one part of a broken electric car window. We had a ‘fridge from 1930 that still worked in the ‘80s.

Those are my grumpy thoughts after 3 hours sleep.

(…written in the van going to the Calgary Airport………..)

So really, my options in retrieving leave-time information are to actually phone someone, or knock on someone’s door, risking waking them up……like the old days….or I could get an iPhone, I am the only guy in the band without one………I am also the only guy in the band that buys a new synth every year…….or I could switch to the newer cell phone that Scott just gave me.

Yes, this is my brain on not much sleep.
Yesterday was a bit of a burn.

I know very well that this is all really stupid, and a terrible way to end this road report, and that I really should delete this last section. I can rant that modern stuff is all useless……but I did enjoy having this little notebook in the bathroom listening to Gino Vinelli
“It hurts to be in loooove…”…………youtube, stuff we didn’t even dream about to discuss at teenage stoner parties in the ’70s. Amazing.

19) let’s try GOOD MORNING !!!!!!!!

(…written in the Calgary airport, past the security gates……….)

Yes, let’s try this again.
It is a beautiful morning.
I met up with the guys, Scott navigated the huge SUV to the airport, passed the gas station that was still closed…. and boarded a 3-week old jet; the newest one in the fleet. Clean, smooth…I love new stuff !!!!!!! The Prairie sunrise was stunning. I even ran into the drummer from Chilliwack at the terminal.

A great early flight gets us home early.
Perfect.
And I sit here by the new little airplane window, with no water vapor, no scratches…Craig in the aisle seat, his 2 computers going on the other 2 fold-out trays…….and in 2 minutes he had answered all of my PC questions, set-up my machine and made me confident to run this new computer safely. For this I am thankful.

I think we all played well on this trip as well. Clayton in particular, makes us sound like a record, like a live album. I am astounded at how tight he and Scott are sometimes. Other than that, it is just one big groove that we all settle into. No problem getting into the zone. These are the good times.

(…written on the B.C. Ferry ride back home to Nanaimo………..)

We mildly said Merry Christmas to each other as we waited for the special baggage to unload all the instrument and monitor cases at the Vancouver Airport. I grabbed my keyboard and Scott’s bass as he went to get the Izuzu Trooper, and the crew loaded everything into the van that Joe arrived with. Scott and I took off to catch the 10:15 am ferry back to the Island, and got hung-up in the ferry Terminal lobby waiting for the Chinese food place to open. You could see all the food but couldn’t get any, yet.

I always just get a nice bowl of rice, ‘cause I love rice, and as soon as we sat down to eat, I said “hey doesn’t the ferry go in 5 minutes.” We looked out the window and the cars were all driving on already, so by the time we walked across the parking lot, the truck was standing alone, with a BC Ferry guy parked next to it. So we got in the truck and happily we didn’t miss this ferry. It would have been totally our fault. I think we are all a bit tired, that was a pretty full weekend.

There is an old lady snoring on the ferry here, and another old gal just asked me if that was my cell phone making that noise. Didn’t she read earlier where cell phones don’t all work on the ferry? Sounds more like a big cat. I can’t believe how many people are passed out here, Sunday, at 11am. We have bearded touque-hippies, cowboys, Indians, two Elvis tribute artists, a plethora of elderly…………..I slept on the last ferry back, and woke up so stiff I had to use my arms to get myself standing up again. Richard said that he thought he was going to have to call a paramedic for himself. These ships are not built to sleep on. Not like the old ones with the big McDonalds orange benches, which were also pretty cheesy at the time.

I don’t expect to go home to any emergencies, other than 2 kids (international students) need to be picked up at the ferry sometime today. One of the students has a drivers licence, and as long as he is OK with doing some of that, he can use the car too. Why not hey. As long as I can get up to the pool or over to the Island. That is my plan for the rest of the month.

According to Smitty, this was the most difficult Trooper tour ever assembled, between himself and Annie the travel agent……….and for only 2 shows. That is why the crew had to drive to those two shows, leaving after the gig to pull-it off. Between 3 airlines, it was not possible to do this smoothly. The details are far too nasty to publish here, and I can not follow it anyway.

20) ……………..thank you………

My closing thoughts:
———Happy first day of Advent…….

———Ra found it strange to see a young person talking on a payphone,
at the airport, another airport………

———And I never did stop singing the soprano vocal solo from Harry Chapin’s Taxi
Baby’s so high that she’s skying,
Yes she’s flying, afraid to fall.
I’ll tell you why baby’s crying,
Cause she’s dying, aren’t we all.

You know, the ’70s could be brutal.

And now we get to watch singing parrots on Youtube,
any time of the day. Life is good.

Thank God for Canadian rock and roll, hey.
———And Thank You
for reading this
and for going to our shows

———–I am going to get some sleep now……….

LOVE
GOGO

end of 2009

12) Welcome Steve Crane…………..

We have a new guitar tech, Steve Crane, and he just practiced some guitar changes with Smitty at soundcheck….it was like watching modern rock ballet. He is SO fast. Amazing. ..we have all known Steve for years. He is an amazing guitar player, a veteran of the Vancouver music rock scene since the ’80s. He is one of us! I faked Classical Gas on the digital piano at soundcheck, and he liked that.

I have known Steve since the famous Vancouver Summer of Love (Expo ‘86) when he was with a band from Calgary. He was also huge buddies with John Stoltz, former Trooper drummer..hey !.they were both in that band….Kay-lee-reesh……..however they spelled it. Cool band. But good luck finding that on youtube. Too bad all our old bands, (that never got record deals), all disappeared like that, hey.
Nowadays you don’t exactly need a deal to make a video or a CD!

My Dad had a 3-piece folk group in the ’40s when he was a teenager. They made a record, a 78…… I wonder where that went? We cleaned out the house as quickly as we could. …wheww………you know…..I am still bringing truck loads to the recyclers. There are 2 outbuildings, both really cool cabins at GOGO MANOR, I live in one, and the other is what I am so excited about rebuilding….as soon as I get all the last dead lawnmowers out of it. Everything from now on will have heated electric floors.

See !?!?!?!
No matter what, I end up thinking about that stuff.

Let’s hope that Steve Crane has a gas and that there are lots of stories to share, soon.
This is his first night with Trooper, as tech, so I don’t wanna hassle him too much.

(…written in a van, sitting next to Scott, with Clayton behind………..)

13) Flight Cancelled………………

The crew had to drive on this tour, as the band flew, and that very, very rarely happens. Once every several years, I bet. The flights were goofy, including the one that just now got cancelled, in Castlegar (Cancelgar)……as we start a new day here on the road..so I am now back in the bus with the band, adding to this report, driving through the snow to Cranbrook…..we gotta get to Calgary like NOW.

The mood of the band dropped the moment we heard the words “flight cancelled”.

You know the song WHITE BIRD, by the band It’s A Beautiful Day……..I am singing that now.
Smitty loves that song too.

It is 1pm, and word is that there is already a huge line-up to get into tonight’s gig (we are on in 8 hours) and the show is sold out twice capacity. It is THE party of the Grey Cup, and I know that the Telus Convention Center holds an easy 5 000 people. Yeah we gotta get there.

We are soon to hit the highest Pass in all of Canada, we are going 120……it is snowing, We just slowed for a curve…..Salmo Creston pass, here we come…….we are still in the low land, here, and it is snowwing like mad……….this is actually a bit scary. Writing this helps at this point. I have a rosary too.

The pass is 5887 ft, 1774 meters. We are still going uphill, so it is not so bad, all fresh snow. Quite beautiful, really. This is the first little blast of Christmas. I just phoned home, the kids are all eating French toast, there is a fire going, and the Mexican guy is hanging in there, with no privacy. All is well…………..I reminded them of the Church Bazaar today.

The International students are SO excited to see snow, and to experience Christmas. They had a howl at Halloween….each kid carved a pumpkin, and we lit them up and placed them with a thousand others along the side of a road. We have fun. And I have fun shopping for them. Did I tell you that my side gig now is grocery shopping ?

You know, the whole plan of today was for a late hotel check-out, an easy one hour flight, and hang out at the hotel all day. (Not for the crew, who drove, two hours after we got off stage last night.) But this gives us some time to tell more stories, and for Ra to show us the totally cool films that he entered into a film festival.

I can talk about myself.
Rather than talk about everyone else all the time.

Also, since last time I wrote any road report, I have become an even huger religious fanatic. I sit in on classes, read a lot, and am really having a gas with it. This is not the website for that topic, but anytime anyone wants to chat about God stuff, in person, I will take up the topic.

Doesn’t mean that I have to live differently than ever before, other than the odd bread and water fast, but I still hang out with the same gang, and have the same kinda fun. Religious nuts get a bad name in society, sometimes, ‘cause some are quite goofy, but I think there are goofy people in every interest group.

14) Last night’s road block in Castlegar…………..

(…written past midnight in the hotel after the Castlegar gig………..)

The guys were still laughing this morning about a road block we drove through after the gig last night. I rant and ramble on the Eddie Jobson Forum a lot, like over 3000 posts, ‘cause I am such a huge fan of my fave violin player, and this morning, of last night’s roadblock I wrote:————————————

Had that vocal solo
from Harry Chapin’s TAXI
going all night last night.

Tried not to drive everyone nuts.
They think I sing like an old lady.
And maybe they are right.
Sometimes.

I gotta delete that song from my mind
before getting in the bus
with the guy’s today.

Hey, I drove the gang back from the gig last night
and hadn’t planned to,
so I had my licence at the hotel,
………and got pulled into a road block

I told the cop that we are the rock band Trooper
and we just played the Bar and Grill….
and he asked how it was.
I told him that “there were tons of people,
mainly chicks, yung ones up front, old ones to the side.”

He liked that and waved me by.
The guys could not stop laughing.
It was the stupidest thing I think I had ever said.
But what the heck hey…….go where the spirit moves you, I guess.

15) Disclaimer…………..

You know I am just kidding, right?
We are all spirits, all equals.
I don’t care where the young people are!

9) Fun stuff always happens…………..

I am, also, of course, still thrilled to hang out with Ra and Brian Smith, after all these wonderful years. They are always full of great advice, and fresh modern spirit. They remember all the details of past conversations, and we can start up 15-year-old topics where they left off.

There are so many funny things going on, I am sorry that I didn’t write down more stuff this year.

At the last hotel, Clayton was sleep-walking and ended up in the hallway, locked out of his room in his underwear. He had to take the elevator down and get a new key from the front desk in his gaunch. It was late and there were two guys who thought it was funny.

This is the kinda thing that gets mentioned, and then the next one moves it backwards.

He says he hasn’t gaunch-walked like that since October 2002, Stoke-On-Tent, England, on tour, on his birthday. A modern Ikea-looking hotel, ended up outside, no elevator, had to walk down 2 stairs to the front desk.

I never wear anything in the hotel, especially shoes and socks……I don’t think anyone does really, so he was lucky that way.

I know a guy, a bass player, who is a huge big galute, who slept walked into a lobby in New Orleans, totally nude, and apparently it was a big scene. Everybody freaked out. What a way to wake up, hey.

10) Fire can be bad…………..

Ra and Brian have heard all of my stories. Brian likes the one about the forest fire on Gogo Mountain in the 1940s, where Great Grandpa Gogo got so bummed-out that he wrapped up in a blanket and sat under a tree. He figured that was it. That was going to be his last stop. No more traveling Vaudeville, (he was in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show)…….no more rope tricks, no more signing his name with an X……..My Dad and my Grandpa had to rescue him. It was a tough grind back then, working in coal mines, clearing land by hand.

I still don’t like the idea of a forest fire on Gogo Mountain, but I don’t think I would wanna just pack it in. I wonder what kind of timber value we have up there now? Let’s clear-cut it. NOT. I can show you a fir tree that is wider than an elephant. Probably 1000 years old. Tall, too!

100 years of paying taxes on undeveloped land, I figure I can brag a bit about the stuff that only the bears get to see.

Did I tell you about the house across the street from us on Protection Island? The guy accidentally left open the door to his wood stove….went outside to have a smoke…..his house caught on fire, ‘cause it was full of stuff, and I mean FULL…..and speaking of smoke, more black smoke than our harbour has seen for years. From downtown Nanaimo, it looked like it was my place on fire. A bad feeling, for sure. His house burned to the ground. Just a pile of burnt junk, no house.

All the Protection Island fire team could do was to water the other houses and not let the blaze spread. And we just had had 3 days of rain, after a dry spell, thank God, or the whole Island would have gone up. Fires are not good things on Gulf Islands. We gotta be SO careful in the summers.

He had no insurance. And through the generosity of fellow Islanders, now has enough donated money to clean up his site, barge away all the burnt crud, and build a new house to lock-up. We had great fund-raising concert parties, where my big brother Johnny and I played together for the first time in 20 years (he is a great singer!!!) Three rich familes donated a bulk of the cash to rebuild. That is the kind of society we have there.

Now, next door to him, (right across from me)….a super rich developer-family is building a 2700 sq ft cabin for their mom, in a beautiful swamp lot. I guess they bought the lot in the summer when it is dry. It is now like a lake across the street, trucks getting stuck; trucks barged over to unstuck the stuck trucks. Excavators……..people fighting over lot lines and what rocks belong to who.

Don’t ever try to rip-off a shovel of dirt on an Island. It is like gold.
It is also that kinda society.
Dynamic. I love it.

Tons of rich folks moving to the Islands these days. I see barges go by with one car or truck on them. People moving almost empty barges around, at $300 an hour, on their own ‘cause they don’t need to buddy-up. I am OK with it all, of course. Means that if I ever have to go next door to borrow some tea, I will get the good stuff……..Not that I will ever run out of my own stash. Did I ever tell you about my tea collection? Massive, including the tea museum, complete with Oregon Chai I stole from Neil Young.

11) The Protection Island Cabin…………..

Our Protection Island cabin has a finished interior now (other than the heated floor not installed yet). All the rescued and recycled yellow cedar that we have been deconstructing, de-tarring, de-nailing, sorting, storing, moving, planing and sanding for the last 5 years is now a shiny floor, with 7 coats of heavy varnish.

Seven coats for the seven seas, I always say……. like a classic wooden sailboat.

There are uncountable hours into that floor. I killed 3 belt sanders on it. I calculated the hours for several sessions and lost track. One night I was over there until 3am, with one weird green lightbulb.

The place looks amazing. High-end West Coast Modern, almost Japanese. All the new furniture has also recently been barged over. Will Chadwick has a new aluminum barge, with wheels, so it trailers on land. With a truck on each island to tow it, you get door-to-door service. It is about the coolest thing I have ever seen. Fun trip, too!

When Trooper starts our winter break next week, I will ZODIAC over more often, crank up the sauna and bar-b-que and set the furniture up for real. But first I gotta get the rain water out of the boat….by bouncing it onto the dock….we had the wildest rain in 40 years last week………like our regular rain wasn’t wild enough already(?)……..don’t let that scare you, though. It just means that campfires are allowed.

I miss the steam sauna with the red hot rocks.
This is real West Coast Island life.

The whole experience of lighting the fire, cooking some food, singing some songs, and shoveling the glowing sandstone rocks into the cedar-lined little sauna room, is some kinda ritual. It brings total peace, and it warms your bones. I sat for 3 hours a while ago just looking at the fire. No instruments, no books, no wood whittling.

I let friends all stay at the cabin whenever they want to, of course, and some do. I have a special rate also for Trooper fans. Free, but you gotta at least play bongos at the campfire jams.

I also noticed at Gogo Manor, since the big high-tech fireplace insert was installed, nobody watches TV anymore. I watch the fire, and the students all have laptops. They think TV is all garbage. Poor old TV is gonna disappear from society, like the gramophones, hey.

But the fire stays, ‘cause I get free lumber tailings from Uncle Mike’s sawmill………like truck-load after truck-load of it, all bundled up. I hire a chainsaw guy (Trooper players don’t use chainsaws) and I stack tons of firewood way up high, just how my old Dad showed me, so many years ago.

Wood heat is the best.

(…written in the hotel in Castlegar after soundcheck………..)

OK, it is now 9pm, lobby call in less than 2 hours. I am lounging in a KING bed at the Sandman, back from dinner at the venue, the Bar and Grill in Castlegar. BEST blackened halibut. Thank you. Funny how we always leave the coast to have seafood. Great rock and roll room, cool blue lights on the stairs, CLEAN!…..super high stage….huge bar all lighted up from below, cool blue tones…..acoustic duo opening, sounded great during dinner.

This new toy computer has been eating my day, as you can tell…..have not even turned the TV on yet. Life on the road can be run run run, and some days, like today, quite relaxing for a few hours!

We always fly home on Sundays, so when everyone else is in church, I am watching The Sopranos with little earbuds, sipping tomato juice and eating those raunchy bits and bites. I love it, great combinations, hey.

3) Ok, we made it to Castlegar…………..

(…written in the hotel in Calgary………..)

Ok, this all off the top of my head……….

4) Last week in Edmonton……………..

Last week, Scott flew out of Victoria, ‘cause he was gigging there, and Richard Nott (stage manager and guitar tech) and I flew out of Nanaimo on a sea plane…….well, ‘cause we drove to a ferry at 4:30am that was not running. Winter schedules, don’t you know. Richard has one favorite little word that he uses a lot to express dissatisfaction in these situations, and it never helps move stuff along, but he likes it. So we drove back to his house, and got online to book seaplane tickets and eat olives with crackers. I am OK with all this, ‘cause I am a big fan of strange events at strange hours.

The seaplane is more fun than Disneyland on your birthday. Not that I know. It is best to go to Disneyland on a cloudy day (or Superbowl weekend)……the seaplane flies really low and you can see what is going on with the little boats and island cottages. You can see details of the ocean. I hear these planes take off in the harbour every morning. And yeah, I love that too…..and the train honk honk. I especially love huge spooky boat horns at night. So I think Richard had a good time. It was his last show with Trooper, as a full-time guy, so it was important that it be special.

We went to Edmonton to play John’s surprise 50th party, in a warehouse, put on by his company, AXE MUSIC. There were a lot of techs and rock musicians there, and an open bar, so I figure Richard had a good gig, along with the invited audience. Other than being kicked out of a cab, and having to walk to the 7-11 at 4 am, he was fine.

5) A mini Richard tribute…………..

I will miss Richard. Hey, another reason I didn’t write road reports is ‘cause I was too busy talking with Richard on every trip over to Vancouver. He is brilliant; a really funny conversationalist. Anything you throw at him, he can summarize and throw back with a twist. He can quote the Bhagatta-vita, but Krishna knows where Richard left his cell phone. We rode every long ferry ride, and waited every missed sailing, together (along with Scott of course!) and I watched him eat a ton of Chinese food.

Richard became famous for leaving things everywhere, like his pack sack on the floor, in an airport. He left all his keys in his hotel room after his last show. I will miss watching him search for Scott’s truck on the ferry. Trooper has been so blessed with such extraordinarily great crew people. Richard is great. He lives about 2 blocks from me, downtown Nanaimo, and I bet that I could start his car with any one of my Toyota keys that I amassed from my old cars over the years………..

Richard is also a great rock guitar player, as Smitty let the crowd know at the last gig.

Richard was waved onstage, handed Smitty’s Les Paul, and he got to trade-off tasteful solo riffs with Sean Verreault, as we jammed along with Saf on drums. This is 2/3rds of our fun-fave band WIDE MOUTH MASON, of whom we have become quite close. Sean opened for us, as a solo act (along with Connor McGuire and the Lives of Others), and Saf, the drummer, has told me about his side career as a lawyer during a bus ride on another trip out last summer. Cool cats, and no dummies either. No, they ain’t no dummies.

Sean is amongst the greatest of Canadian rock singers, along with Ra, Bill Henderson, Larry Gowan…….and others perhaps less known Chriss Cumley (Megalicious)……Ricky the Nobb…Darcy Deauche………….Gary Gillespie……..

So much has gone down, what an amazing busy and successful year………we have been on 50 flights every summer, and I think that our schedule is the reason why Richard had to leave his position with the band. After 4 years, he found himself pretty busy at home as well, being the front-of-house guy for the Cowichan Theatre and in-demand tech at the Port in Nanaimo. He works all the time, also as a guitar builder, rebuilder. He just got back from a tour of China with Michael Kaeshammer, in fact, and tried every strange food that he could think of. Richard is busy. We were very much blessed to have had him for so long, and he is forever a Trooper brother, in fine, fine company with many of the finest techs and players in Canada. And yes, I am proud to still be here as well.

6) Trooper is special…………..

Trooper is a very special band in this land of ours. I feel it at every airport, every hotel check-in, and oh, yeah, at every gig. It is very much a loving vibe. A Mobile party of good times……..and I refuse to live life any other way. To play such music, from such a great nation, with such fun people………amazing. I think that anyone who reads this far into this road report can feel that.
If you were new in Canada, you could go to any Trooper gig and make a whole lotta new friends, ‘cause that is where the fun people are.

Over any given couple of years, we play with every great Canadian classic rock band, in one form or another, or at least go out and visit them at different venues. Red Rider’s bass player, Jeff Jones, invited me to the Cummings/ Bachman gig in Victoria…(I am such a HUGE Guess Who fan)……… And we get to hear all the fun stories…..Robbie King, bass player from the Stampeders, lays on the goods every time we see him. Last time, he had Jose Feliciano and Wolfman Jack quoted in a hotel party story……

I really like all of these guys, and am proud to be this closely associated with folklore. I would say that my best band run-in all summer was FOGHAT at the Vancouver airport, everyone waiting at special baggage together………..

7) Fun in Airports…………..

Every time we see musicians in airports, well, anyone with instrument cases, we get to find out where they are going, and what is going on……and where they have been…..

Of course, anyone can chat up musicians at airports. I just happen to be in airports a lot, and I like to chat with musicians, ‘cause I find it really interesting how people approach the scene. How they deal with this life in the arts. I ran into a 7-piece Cuban band yesterday, and the sax player had 5 times as many effects pedals as Smitty. I wrote down their name, on the boarding pass, and I am sure I stuck it in some book about Mother Mary, in my backpack.

(No, it was in my back pocket…the Lexi Borows band………..let’s YouTube search that one).

The most fun I had recently with traveling musicians was coming home from the last show in Edmonton, where the band followed Ra into a HARVEYS, and I spotted a lady setting up a harp. I introduced myself as she plugged in, and she said I should jam along. Well, I just kinda wanna hang back.

8) The Harp Chick…………..

Sometimes it is nice to give people their time and space, and not feel judged, like I always did at every family reunion. I don’t exactly feel that way any more, but I guess my years at music education and classical dance festivals, where there is a table of adjudicators, it was hard to shake the idea that people are all critics……… but 2 songs into it, I said, “Can I really play along?” ‘cause I figured I could follow her patterns and progressions. She was delighted……. and there was a full digital grand piano right next to her (!)….so I got to fake my way along 4 songs with her until I was pushing it with getting through security.

I could have played with her all day.
She was having so much fun that she was laughing.
Me too.

Laughing means different things to different people, you know.
In Indonesia, people laughed when they were nervous.
Here, I take it as bliss.

www.harpchickcanada.com
Beautiful flowing music. I held back when I was unsure of anything, as we played together, of course, and Scott said that it sounded like we had practiced and that it was all arranged music. I countered some or her rhythms and arpegios, avoided cliches, and played melodies with trills. And I held down some bass notes, but not all the time. Not too much of anything, you know. Sprinkle ideas and techniques like you are making a delicious pizza. My kinda fun. It is a real ear test not to mess up something that is already so undeniably and remarkably beautiful.

A nice crowd gathered, and the airport people liked it enough to take a nice picture for their website. The harp lady told me about the symphony she plays with, and all the tons of gigs a harpist gets. I always thought so. If you play a harp, you will NEVER be out of work. Cool. Could you imagine living with a harpist? With that music playing in your house? Talk about a no-stress life, for the listener anyway……..those things are way more difficult than they look.

I totally wanted to play violin with her as well, and I was carrying the one that I just inherited from Uncle Tony, who was the best musician in my family (my Mom said). He passed away from bone cancer 3 years ago. I am ultra-honoured to have his perfectly set up 100-year-old French violin. It sounds amazing. Especially when someone else plays it!

But I practice, and at the Edmonton hotel, the bow broke, actually exploded while I was playing it. Right by my head. Freaked me out, for real. So no bow, no sound. No jamming with the violin and harp. Arrrrrgh.

Yeah, I like artists.
I like musicians.

Remember Scott and I in a hotel lobby in Toronto while this new band, Nickelback, tells us about their record company negotiations? Neat, hey!

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