Walking on Sunshine
Very excited about this weekend's Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts - even getting here was exciting!
The Air Canada flight to Vancouver was flawless and they took care of Voyageur beautifully as usual. Plus I watched Paperman and She's Out of My League on the flight, which were pretty good - but the real thrill was the flight up the Sunshine Coast to Sechelt in a DeHavilland DHC-2 Beaver float plane. Of course, part of an original '50's-era Beaver is in the guitar (on the rosette) so it seemed only fitting. That's pilot Chad Bayes at the Seadock in Sechelt.
Ian met us at the dock, got us to the hotel and oriented at the Rockwood Centre - a beautiful facility built for the festival. My appearance tonight was brief: a quick teaser just before Nino Ricci went on but we did get to hear Nino and Ian Brown speak and meet some of the people involved with the festival - including the lovely ladies of Talewind Books who will be our neighbours in the festival tent over the course of the weekend.
Long day. G'night.
Posted at 11:17 PM
Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand
I was invited down to the Tranzac Club tonight on the occasion of a visit by a singer songwriter from Belfast by the name of Anthony Toner (pictured). We have a mutual friend who thought we might like to meet and I'm very glad they made the introduction. First of all, he was a delightful guy, and second: he is a terrific songwriter and player. "East of Louise" was a particular favourite for me tonight. I often find that folks not from Canada but who have an enthusiasm for the country (I believe Anthony's partner is Canadian) have a particular affinity for Voyageur and it's always a pleasure to hear it come alive in the hands of musicians with that kind of feeling and appreciation.
As a special extra bonus, Anthony was the guest of Kyp Harness' set in the front room at the Tranzac. If you don't know Kyp, you ought to - and maybe you do know him and just don't know that you know him. He's an extraordinary lyricist, great songwriter and a guy with at least 25 years slogging it out on the Toronto music scene (though he still looks about 28 years old!). He did me the wonderful honour of playing one of my favourite of his songs, "Thumbelina Farewell". You might know it as covered by his pal Ron Sexsmith on the Blue Boy album.
Thanks to Pat Thompson, Anthony Toner, Kyp Harness and all the friendly people tonight at the Tranzac.
Posted at 12:01 AM
Voyageur vs. the Terra Cotta Warriors
We were so busy at the Royal Ontario Museum this weekend that we didn't have a chance to see the exhibit of the famous First Emperor's Terra Cotta Army but I know it's been packing them in. However, I am proud to say that for at least one ROM patron who gave the exhibit a miss in order to spend time at the Six String Nation presentation and get his portrait taken with Voyageur, we triumphed over an army of thousands.
Patti McCabe is an old friend now doing some event programming at the ROM and she was responsible for bringing us in and she did so in grand style. The presentation took place Saturday and Sunday at 1:00pm in the Eaton Theatre downstairs but the portrait station was set up smack dab in the middle of the expansive Michael Lee Chin Crystal entranceway atrium to the museum. Everybody got to see what we were up to and we did a ton of portraits over the two days we spent there.
The presentations went very well but were made truly remarkable by the presence of a couple of fine musician friends, Marc Merilainen and Donne Roberts - who each took the lead on a couple of duets using Voyageur.
Thanks to Patti, Donne, Marc, Danah, Lori, Danielle, Sheila, Jason and all the other staff at the ROM who helped make this such a first class experience for us.
Posted at 11:36 PM