Steamshovel Nightcap
John Greene had told me about a regular Friday night jam session at the local Legion and I thought it would be fun to bring Voyageur by after the presentation at the Miner's. I was looking forward to my first Legion appearance but the jam got moved to the Flying Steamshovel pub instead, which was just fine.
I was pretty bagged from my long day but it was a pleasure to get a little down & dirty for my last night in Rossland. The band was a 3-piece with Ken on bass, Jim running the show from behind the drums and Jon Burden on guitar.
John lead off the show using Voyageur for three tunes: Neil Young's "Harvest", The Band's "Cripple Creek" and a Willie Nelson/Jerry Jeff Walker tune.
After that (and thanks for the drinks, Jim!) it was back to the Greene Family Guest House to recap with Rick and Sue Greene before heading off to bed.
Thanks to Jim, Jon, the Flying Steamshovel and my wonderful hosts in Rossland, Rick and Sue Greene.
It's early and I'm writing from Castlegar Airport on my way to Vancouver.
Posted at 11:40 AM
Working at the Miner's
The Miner's Hall is a beautifully restored union hall from Rossland-Trail's glory days as a gold-rush town. Teck-Cominco is still the largest lead and zinc mine in the world but only Trail BC – down the hill from Rossland – retains the working-class vibe of a Canadian mining town.
We managed to get all the tech stuff working perfectly with the projector and sound and John Cullen arrived to test out Voyageur for his performance following the presentation. Café Books arrived to set up a book table – presided over by the adorable Skuce girls and their mom (OK, mom was actually running things but the girls were super helpful).
It was a wonderful event and a very easy crowd to talk to. I felt like I was going on too long but everyone seemed to want to hear more and there were lots of questions. John did three songs starting with a beautiful original in an open C tuning, a Bruce Cockburn tune and a blues. He was terrific.
Lots of people came up afterwards to ask questions and see and hold Voyageur. One who was especially moved by the presentation was Wendy, who was particularly touched by the stories of Joe Labobe and the Golden Spruce. Her emotion was infectious and I thank her for sharing.
Special thanks to Sharon, Paul and Charlie for help at the Hall, John Cullen (pictured), the Skuce girls and Café Books and everyone who came out.
Posted at 11:27 AM
Turning Pro
When I asked Nancy Greene-Raine for one of her skis to become part of the project, she dispatched her brother John to go and pick one out from the home base in Rossland. As I found out yesterday, John actually took it from a collection that was on display at the Red Mountain Lodge, which their father helped to found.
John (pictured) owns the local Pro Hardware store and asked me to come by after my visit to Nelson. We set up in the middle of the store and all kinds of people came by – folks John had called up to come in and regular customers as well. It was a nice way to meet people and have nice relaxed conversations about the project, guitars in general and all kinds of other stuff as well as people came in for plumbing fixtures and chainsaw repairs. I brought a copy of the book for John in appreciation and, in return, John gave me a book hot of the presses about the history of Rossland.
After hanging out at the store for a while, John and I went up to the lodge to see if we could meet anyone there but it was all locked up so I went to check out things at the Miner's Hall for later in the evening and then grabbed an early dinner at the Flying Steamshovel, where I would also return after the Miner's Show.
Thanks to John Greene, the staff at Pro Hardware and all the folks who dropped by the store to meet Voyageur.
Posted at 11:15 AM
Daytripper
Ever since seeing Steve Martin's "Roxanne", I've wanted to visit Nelson BC, where the film was shot. Nelson is about an hour's drive from Rossland so I decided this was my best opportunity. It was a beautiful drive and Nelson is just about as picture-postcard as it was in the film.
My first stop was Otter Books – just to see if they had Six String Nation in stock. They did and, happyily, as I was signing the copies, the lone customer decided to buy one! The folks at Otter suggested I pop into Eddy Music down the block, where they thought I'd find more enthusiasts. Sure enough, a clutch of people gathered around as I walked everyone through the guitar and passed it around for people to play. In the store at the time was Andreas, a cartoonist with the local paper, the Express. He took me around the corner to meet the editor who took me back out onto Main St. to get some photos and do an interview.
While we were there, a musician came by and asked if I was about to start busking in that spot (I guess it was prime territory) and I told him it was all his but asked if he'd like to play Voyageur. I told him a bit about it and he eagerly picked it up for a song. His name was Sebastian Atlan, aka Sonico (pictured).
I was due back in Rossland at 1:00 so I had to move on but it was a a great way to spend a couple of hours. Thanks for the day-trip, Nelson, and I hope to visit again.
Posted at 9:31 AM
Selkirk and the Peace Bench
Arrived at Castlegar effortlessly and picked up the rental car. Handily, my first stop was Selkirk College, right across from the airport tucked into the mountains. In a remote corner of the campus, down a gravel road, is a quaint red brick house that's been converted into classrooms and seminar rooms called the Mir Centre for Peace Studies.
Students began to drift in around noon as I did some last minute touch-ups to my presentation. I hadn't realized that this had been one of the Doukhobor settlements so I wanted to include my video of Alex Sherbastitoff and the grain elevator at Veregin that is the spine of the guitar.
Even though its almost fall, it's mid-summer-hot here in the Kootenays (as it was in Calgary), so after the presentation we headed outside to the Peace Bench – a beautiful and functional wooden sculpture overlooking the mighty Columbia River. Tammy McCluskey, my contact at Selkirk, had found a busking group in Rossland days before and invited them to join the class. Out by the bench, people gathered and spread out on the grass to hear Dandelion & the Ditchweeds (pictured) bring Voyageur to life. After that, it started getting passed around and before long it had played some alt-rock, some contemporary Japanese classical, some Quebec folk and and an old Scottish tune by various students, staff and guests.
Once I'd packed up, I headed down the road to the Doukhobor Village hoping to get some perogies at the Bistro but it was closed. A quick stop in Castlegar for some lunch and I was back in the car and on my way to Rossland where I'm writing from the Greene Family Guest House. More later.
Posted at 11:02 AM
Thank You Calgary
Yesterday was another rat-a-tat-a-tat days with events scheduled one after the other. I LOVE it! The only break was CityTV not showing up to our scheduled interview at Pages Books on Kensington – after we got Lorrie Matheson out of bed to come and play for the spot!
However, that did give us the opportunity to get out to Inglewood a little early and pop in at Choklat (well worth doing next time you're in Calgary).
Made a return to the Ironwood Stage and Grill to find lots of the folks who welcomed us there more than a year ago. This time, the occasion was a top-secret taping of a pilot show with John Rutherford and Tom Phillips.
I'm very fortunate to have been in Calgary for the announcement of the winner of the architectural competition to move the Cantos Music Foundation and museum into new digs at the old King Eddy hotel. The winning bid was Allied Works Architecture and local partner BKDI in what they hope will finally be a national music centre for Canada.
Executive Director Andrew Mosker kindly asked me to say a few words and introduce Voyageur on stage as a special surprise. After I said my bit, I handed the guitar off to the lovely Matt Masters, who last played Voyageur on Breakfast TV in 2008. It was a banner day for Matt since he had just been awarded the Mayor's Prize for arts innovation and his father was on the winning bid for the new building. Congrats all around.
Then, it was just a few blocks to the event at the John Dutton Theatre at the Calgary Public Library. As usual, I got a bit teary talking about the Golden Spruce but so many of the people in the audience said they felt the same thing so I wasn't alone. It was a great group. I only wish it had been larger. Kris Demeanor once again brought the guitar to life with his stunning song "One Shoe" – about Neil Stonechild, the Saskatchewan Cree man left on the outskirts of Saskatoon in the freezing cold by SK police.
Thanks to all in Calgary with special thanks to Susan Toy, Andrew Mosker, Lorrie Matheson, Kris Demeanor and Sarah Jones. And Greg Godovitz... great to see you looking so happy in Calgary!
Posted at 12:28 PM
Western Swing: Calgary
Now, if every day could be like the one I had in Calgary yesterday, that would be just great!
Perfect weather her in Calgary. Susan met me at the airport in the morning and got me settled at the hotel pretty quickly. After that, we were pretty much on the go all day with things lining up a la minute while we were in the car.
I started with a terrific lunch meeting with my friends at WhiteIron TV and then raced to an interview at CBC Radio in Calgary for today's Eyeopener morning show package. Very nice to meet Chris dela Torre, who plays well upside down (he's a southpaw), which is rare. It'll be about two minutes on air and I think if you happen to tune in to CBC Calgary the moment this is posted, you might hear it. Never mind, I'm on the afternoon Homestretch show today so that'll be a bit longer.
Not as luxurious, though, as the wonderful interview that followed yesterday afternoon with Dave Ward at CKUA – the radio station that is the envy of the rest of Canada. We spent about half an hour on the air together and it absolutely flew by. It got a little touchy at points because I think we were both as emotional about the subject as the other. Thank goodness you can throw to music and news.
From there it was on to a drink with Andrew Mosker, director of the Cantos Music Foundation – home of some innovative programming, an extraordinary instrument collection and the proud owner of a storied Calgary music venue called the King Eddy, about which there will be a major announcement today. Andrew's asked me to be there for the big moment.
And finally last night, pizza at the Hop In Brew. I'd invited some friends to come out and we had a great time, with John Rutherford playing Voyageur for a while.
My busy Calgary schedule resumes in a couple of ours with our first media appearance on GlobalTV at 10:00am with our old friend Kris Demeanor playing the guitar. After that, the wonderful Lorrie Matheson plays it at Pages Books in Kensington for CityTV. After that we'll pop in for a mystery visit (and lunch) at the Ironwood, another visit to WhiteIron TV, CBC Homestretch at 4:15, the Cantos announcement reception and the grand finale: my presentation (once again with Kris) at the John Dutton Theatre in the Central branch of the Calgary Public Library. The show starts, I believe, at 7:00. If you're in Calgary, please come down.
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Special thanks to Susan Toy, Dave Ward, Lyndee Hansen and Kerry Clarke.
Posted at 10:03 AM