Patron Saints
St. Cecilia is actually the Patroness of musicians but St. Joseph did the trick for me today in St. Thomas Ontario.
Yesterday was certainly less harrowing than it could have been with a disabling injury to Voyageur occurring in Huntsville. It was nobody's fault but some 200-year old oak and the prognosis for repair is good. Still, I had three presentations to deliver today at St. Joseph's Catholic High School in St. Thomas and I didn't want to disappoint people with the news that the guitar wouldn't be playable – usually such an important part in each of our school presentations. Fortunately, I have that amazing video and audio from Paul O'Brien's extraordinary performance with the SMUS music students so that was our performance stand-in today.
The first presentation of the day was actually for visiting middle-school grades from nearby Monsignor Morrison Catholic School. Young musician Gabriel Cairns was lined up to play Voyageur for his classmates so I had to break the bad news to him and to his parents, who had come to see his performance and the presentation. My profound apologies to them.
Teachers Gus and Mark were slated to play for the afternoon presentation for the St. Joseph's students and any of the folks who came to the evening presentation would have been welcome to play had the guitar been in working condition. I pledge to Gabriel and Gus and Mark that we will recreate the opportunity before the year's end.
Thanks again to Dave McCormick, the Arbour B&B, Principal Peter Cassidy and the staff, students and community of St. Joseph's Catholic High School in St. Thomas Ontario.
Posted at 11:06 PM
Triage with Dr. Gunning
It was a long drive with a wounded guitar from Huntsville to St. Thomas.
The St. Thomas part of the trip was originally planned to be part of a house concert with Nova Scotia songwriting genius Dave Gunning, whom I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts. It was Dave McCormick’s idea to hook Voyageur up with Gunning on this trip since he is such a great storytelling songwriter. The timing didn’t line up to do the show but Dave also convinced a local school to bring me in on Monday and he had me put up at the same B&B where Gunning and his crew were staying.
Thank goodness the bridge didn’t snap in the middle of a Dave Gunning concert, but thank goodness also that Dave, his crew and our hosts were up talking and playing guitar when I arrived. Dave knows a lot about guitars and took a good look at the split on the bridge (pictured) and the piece that we retrieved from inside the soundhole. In his opinion, the piece can easily be reattached with epoxy and possibly end up being stronger and more stable than it was before. I’ll have to do the presentations at the school tomorrow without being able to offer Voyageur to be played but at least I can sleep tonight knowing that the situation is not catastrophic.
Thanks to Dave Gunning and special thanks to Peter and Jennifer and their wonderfully cozy and historic Arbour Bed & Breakfast in Southwold ON.
Posted at 12:25 AM
Up the Road and Up the Other Creek
I was especially looking forward to today’s trip to the Deerhurst Resort in Huntsville ON to speak to the Ontario Cooperative Education Association Conference - my first official speaking engagement for the National Speakers Bureau! It was a great audience assembled in a spectacular setting but it turned out to be a much more historic event in the life of the Six String Nation than I might have hoped.
We’d arranged that one of the OCEA board members would play a song on Voyageur to wrap up the presentation. We did a soundcheck in advance an everything was sounding great. Now, I should say that Voyageur’s bridge is made from a piece of the Machault, a French frigate scuttled in the Restigouche River in 1760 and dug up from the mud in the 1970s near Atholville New Brunswick. Although it looks like ebony from all the mud, it’s actually red oak and, like most oak, a bit porous and prone to splitting. A couple of hairline fractures had emerged on either side of the saddle in the last year or so and various luthiers and technicians have been keeping an eye on those cracks - waiting to decide how best to handle the situation. The decision has now been made for us.
Just before 3:00pm on Sunday October 17th in the Peninsula Room of the Deerhurst Inn, I finished my presentation and handed Voyageur to Guy Brisson. He said a few words and launched into a version of Bryan Adams’ “Summer of 69”. He got part way through the first verse when those hairline cracks opened up and snapped the front part of the bridge right into the soundhole. It was as if a cannon had been fired in the room. It took a few seconds for me to realize exactly what had happened. There was a stunned kind of silence as I went up to take the guitar back, tell everyone what had happened and reassure Guy that it wasn’t his fault. I know there are some who will blame Bryan Adams as well - but it's not his fault either. In fact, that's one of my favourite of his songs.
I have a long drive ahead to my next event in St. Thomas and I’ll have to think about how to proceed. I’m sure it’s a solve-able problem. For now, both the OCEA members and I have a good reason to remember this an historic day in the Six String Nation.
Special thanks to Mary Davis, Julie van der Weeden and Guy Brisson from OCEA, Gary from Tel-AV and Kathy McRae from NSB.
Posted at 4:15 PM