Oct 22, 2011
Fan Tan Return

It's great that my friend John Hamilton has loaned us a place to stay in Vancouver but we haven't actually spent that much time there yet! After our two days/one night in Seattle, it was on to Victoria. There are lots of great reasons to visit Victoria - apart from it being a rather pretty place. My sister, niece and nephew are there for one. The pacific oysters are amazing. And of course, Voyageur includes a piece of Fan Tan Alley - Canada's First Chinatown - in Victoria. It's also the home of Lisa Cole, one of Six String Nation's biggest fans on the west coast. Last time in Victoria, Lisa organized a concert event. Yesterday, it was an in-store appearance at Long & McQuade on Hillside Ave.

I'm not sure they knew quite what to make of us at first, but we just kind of set up the screen and projector in the central space there and pretty soon 25-30 people had gathered around to hear the presentation and meet the guitar. It turned out to be a really great event and we made lots of new friends. One of those new friends was Bruce Ruddell. Patricia Costa Kim at the EMP in Seattle had told me about Bruce's work with the Seattle Symphony and I called him up wanting to get in touch with him about his oratorio, "The Spirit of Haida Gwaii". Luckily, he lives in Victoria and came out to meet me and Voyageur and was so inspired by the encounter he suggested he write a new work for the guitar!

Thanks to Annalisa, Neil, Callum, Anika and the Willows Park Grocery, Lisa Cole, Bruce Ruddell and the staff of Long & McQuade Victoria (pictured).

Posted at 2:51 PM

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