Thu 27 Sep 2007
9/26/07 – Turk’s Coffee House, Prince Albert, SK
OK. Here we go again. I think I made it halfway through my last tour blog before the posts became sporadic. And by sporadic I mean
If you were to ask any of my close friends how they would describe me, and if you assured them that absolute honesty was necessary, I have no doubt that each and every one of them would mention something about how I’m always late. Most often it’s harmless and they forgive me quickly for leaving them to wait. Today I’m embarrassed…
It is 7:30 pm in Saskatchewan and I’m due to play in Prince Albert at 8 pm. I am 250 kilometers away. Thankfully the venue owner Rick is a cool cat and will take advantage of my tardiness by offering a drink special to the few who (hopefully!!) stay until I arrive. How did this happen?!
The last few days have been nearly more than my body can take: preparing to leave for tour, falling in love with a sewing machine and doing my best to provide some “fair trade” options for merch sales, recording a Christmas album that will be with me on the road, and trying trying trying to get some quality time in with the kids before I say goodbye for a month. Several things have been neglected in order to make that happen: eating, sleeping and bathing.
Yuck.
At 8 am this morning I was catching the only winks I’d get all night, crashed out on the floor of our isolation booth while Darren finished mastering the Christmas tunes. Needless to say, less than restful. Unfortunately my moniker doesn’t come with any perks, like the ability to stretch out on a rug in a sunbeam and recharge within minutes.
Up, packed, loaded, gassed, on the road. Awesome. Then the exhaustion set in. We were several precious kms away from home when we realized that a crucial element of the album (we’d killed ourselves to complete) had been forgotten when the songs were bounced. That warranted a rapid homecoming. All right – re-bounced and checked and double-checked and thrown up onto the server in case of emergency. Away we go.
We were several even MORE precious kms away from home when we realized that we had also forgotten to pack my microphone. It was still back in our studio, plugged in as the talk-back mic. (Apparently brains work better when they’re fed and rested.) Homeward bound once more, and now several hours late.
When it comes to gigs, I’m sure that I have left some promoters a little short of breath, but I always arrive in the nick of time. (A trick I learned from my bass player – thanks Patrick!) But if Rick’s holding his breath now, he’s a goner. Let’s hope I’m as playfully nervous after the show has hit the fan…
BEAUTIFUL sky today and I would have loved to share it here. Unfortunately it did not translate on our outdated camera – Darren astutely offered that taking a picture of a sunset is like taking a picture of a comedian and showing it to people to prove that the fella/lady was funny – so instead I present a piece entitled Glints Off The Carcasses.
***
Wow. Artists: if you want to play to a great crowd, go to PA!
I arrived at Turk’s Coffee House and some boys were playing guitar, jamming in the corner. People were chatting, clapping, drinking coffee. I show up with 17 loads of gear and trample all over their nice, quiet evening.
It was getting late, and as people were trickling out during our setup I was concerned that our rushing and anxiety and expenditure of our few remaining nonessential calories on lugging would go to waste. I was SO wrong!! This was the perfect way to start a tour. Great people, great room, great host, great sound gear. Despite my lack of sleep, my lack of food, and my obvious “car make-up” I had an amazing evening. Thanks so much to Rick and Nathan for having me play. I can’t wait to come back!!
After the show I spoke with Becky. She is taking environmental biology in university. She told me some pretty disgusting things. Check this out:
Now I don’t claim to be educated on the reasons WHY this would seem like a good idea, so if anyone out there has any suggestions, PLEASE let me know. I’m glad I’m so tired or I’d be too riled up to sleep.
Speaking of migrating birds, today we saw an absolute HURRICANE of fluttery goodness. The most impressive photo I took (which wasn’t much to begin with) was ruined even further by my curiosity. I pressed a button to “enhance” the photo and it saved the changes permanently. Yah, I definitely think all those red dots are an improvement. I think you can still get the gist of the tidal wave of geese.
