An East Coast Summer Recap
6 days on a train, and I arrive at a different ocean….drenched to the bone as if I had jumped in the ocean….I know I am in Vancouver….haha.
What a summer it was, and thanks to all those who followed the journey and offered their support and kind words of encouragement along the way. There was a great deal that happened, and I have done my best to represent it on the webpage and through facebook, but there are so many fun details, so I thought I would post a very quick summary of as much as I could remember. If you would like to hear more about any specific point(s), send me a note, and I’ll take you out for tea :).
Here we go! Highlights of Summer in the east coast 2013, in no particular order:
Busked my way to owning a fiddle, had first fiddle session jam with JP Cormier, played my way on Via Rail across the country and back, met Dave Gunning, jammed with Charlie Acort, caught up with awesome east coast musicians Jim Dorie and Kev Corbett, crossed paths with the entire Plaskett family..multiple times, volunteered in 2 festivals, played in one of them on my first open air stage, met Jian Ghomeshi, camped on the north and south shores of PEI under star lit nights, camped on the east shore of newfoundland over looking the ocean from high cliffs, did 6 CBC interviews, had my first TV interview on Corner Brook Cafe with Wendy Woodland, hung out and jammed with Sherman Downey and his wicked band, hiked with the Island Trails Group in PEI, lost 9 pints of blood to mosquitoes on one of those trails, had a few articles written about the adventure, busked on the Halifax and Charlottetown Harbour fronts, walked barefoot in white and red sands, saw a Spirit of Newfoundland Dinner Theater, shared the stage with the Irish Decendents/The Pathological Lovers/The Sadies, walked approximately 500 kilometers, picked wild blueberries in the outback of Newfoundland, stood on the furthest east point of Canada, bought a bat-moose t-shirt, played on the Atlantic Ocean on the Marine Atlantic Ferry..saw whales and porpoises during this time, played at the famous Agricola house Open Mic in Halifax, played The Dunk in PEI twice, kayaked the Charlottetown harbour, swam in a gypsum quarry lake near the bay of fundy at sunset, wrote a ton of new songs, made recordings of 6 of them, wandered around Twillingate Isle and played at the Anchor Inn 2 nights, tried blueberry iceberg wine infused with Screech rum, taught and gave a performance in my first school event, learned a bit about playing the button accordion, met and stayed with a traditional Acadian family, developed a stronger relationship with the elements…particularly the wind, spread some of my dad’s ashes near the sea, connected with people who jammed with my father in the Yukon in the mid 70’s, bumped into people I hadn’t seen from the Okanagan in 16 years, played several open mics/house concerts/random street/coffee shop performances, met Leah Parsons – changed my life and am now motivated to help bring more awareness and education towards bullying and sexual assault, held community group walks, teamed with Hike Nova Scotia for one of them, played a home festival event called Shedfest, frequented many Tim Horton’s for my office spaces, hiked a portion of the east coast trail, moved a heck a lot of festival barriers, saw my first firefly, learned that “lunch,” to the Irish means “late night snack,” slept in a park in the middle of St. John’s, attended a “Flash Park,” attended a Pictou Garden Club event, ate wonderful farm/garden grown food, tried the Haligonian “Donair,” and although it is good, I’m not all that crazy on the “Donair sauce,” everyone raves about..haha, learned what Mummuring means, still don’t understand how you can say “Yes b’y,” to women, learned many awesome Newfoundland phrases, met three conspiracy theorists while busking, nose flute soloed with Amy and Rachel Beck in PEI, made my first fire on my own, slept in my tent on a bouncy bush, skyped a whole lot, met a legion of Volkswagon van die hards, missed every busker festival and Great Big Sea numerous times….celebrated the birth of a new niece from very far away, enhanced my understanding of what I want in life, increased desire to build a house and grow a garden, had some great discussions about important topics, drank ginger beer, discovered the beverage “Dark and Stormy,” shed some tears, had some great laughs, met so many wonderful caring people, and overall……..loved every blinkin minute of it!
Thanks again for all that shared in the beginning of this quest. Looking forward to catching up with old friends, and seeing new ones in the east in about a year :).
Open Air Festival Debut!
This entire adventure has been special beyond my wildest dreams…..literally…and the magic continues! So get this……
2 years ago, when I lived near Jericho Beach in Vancouver, I had the pleasure of seeing Sherman Downey and his band (at the time The Silver Lining, now Ambiguous Case) at a house concert in the building I lived in. Sherman is an incredible artist, a Newfoundland native now residing in the west coast town Corner Brook.
I wasn’t sure if I was going to stop in Corner Brook, as I didn’t know anyone there. I decided to google it and noticed Sherman had hosted an open mic at The White Horse Lounge before, so I sent him a note to see if it was still happening. He replied saying yes, and that if I was around for the weekend, it would be good to check out the first ever 3 Bear Open Air Festival. So I planned on staying.
I have done a lot of volunteering at music events in the past few years, and thought 1……I’d ask the festival organizers if they needed any more help, and 2….if they had any ‘Tweener,” spots available. A tweener is performance slot at a festival on the main stage between major acts to fill the transition time with something interesting for the crowd.
After dialoging back and forth a bit through email, both options were YES’s, and I was on my way to Corner Brook!
I was so excited!! All my life I have wanted to play on an open air festival stage, and it was finally about to happen! Thursday and Friday held amazing jams at the White Horse Lounge with Sherman and his buddies, as well as The Pathological Lovers – another fantastic Newfoundland Band. Friday was also met by moving around a plethora of festival barricades with the 3 Bear festival team. My ripped factor just increased exponentially!
Enter Saturday….I walked into the festival gates to pick up my volunteer pass, which I quickly obtained. A few moments later, while I was taking in the beautiful day and scene, Neil Targett (Bass player for Sherman, and one of the festival organizers) approached me with an “Aritst,” pass…………….Now, this hadn’t even crossed my mind at this point, but when Neil handed the pass to me, it hit pretty hard in all ways awesome, as this was the first time I’d ever been given an official artist pass!! I wasn’t pumped at all as you can tell…..
Anyway, I played one of my tunes, one of my Dad’s (Little Red Wagon), and then played the recording of my Dad’s tune “Take The Time,” over the microphone for the audience. It was a super special moment, and wouldn’t have traded it for anything in the world.
Thank you so much to Sherman and friends of Corner Brook, and all the organizers of the 3 Bear Open Air Festival. It was such an honour to be involved with the debut of this amazing event, and I look forward to watching its continued success in the future.
I was super fortunate to have Tom Cochrane, the team’s social media man, film my first ever outdoor stage performance, and I am so happy to be able to share this with you all. Thanks Tom!!
*From this wild chain of events, I have been given the opportunity to play my own night at The Whitehorse on Tuesday evening, so if you are in town and want to see/hear more tunes and stories, I’d love to meet you and shake your hand.
Thank you world and all your kindness!