So pondering my own image, I wander downstairs to the cafe and take my breakfast. The impossibly cute and beautiful young and tattooed waitresses don't seem to recognize me at all— I'm just the guy with the mocha and the mexican breakfast wrap. This reality is not nearly as interesting as the parallel one forming in my mind, yet there seems to be no escape from it. I eat my breakfast annonymously. Fortified, I make my way to the used bookseller and purchase Hermann Hesse's Demian. I wanted The Glass Bead Game, but looking at it on the shelf I know it is simply too large, too demanding for the Tour. Besides, Demian is small, and I can't remember it. Strangely, I do remember the Glass Bead Game. Why this, when some of Blind Willie Johnson's most profound works have escaped me time and again? And why Hess today?
I'm on the road to Canadian Tire. I buy 4 litres of oil, and help some Ozzie guy navigate the isle of patent medicines for cars. It's pretty amazing— a magic potion for everything. Broken rad? Pour this in it! Cracked block? Use this! Spewing smoke? Try this? Old car? Make it young again! Chief Thundercloud would of loved all this stuff. I sure do. I could WORK this isle on commission. I could sell this stuff on the Tour!
I hang out in the Canadian Tire parking lot for a while, adding oil, checking the tires, transmission fluid, changing a burnt out fuse for the air suspension. It's not running too bad. I add some stuff to the gas tank. Yeah. It promises to clean the fuel injectors and give me better mileage while I drive...
The road to Nanaimo is rainy and scarfy. It doesn't take too long to get up to it. The road. And then Nanaimo. This is a bone of contention because the ticket prices in each town are quite different. I thought there was enough distance between them that it wouldn't matter. Anyhow, my first stop is Long and McQuade Music where I'm scheduled to do an afternoon masterclass.
There is a small PA set up and waiting for me, and quite a number of people have come in for the workshop. In 45 minutes I skip through the history of resophonic guitars, the blues, delta blues, fingerstyle playing, slide guitar, how to make slides, guitar set up, string gauges, open tunings, songwriting in the tradition... It's a very friendly atmosphere, and afterwards I sell and autograph a large number of CDs. The cool thing for me is that there are some teens who caught my show last year— back for more. One kid is holding a Les Paul, and he's clearly pretty good. He tells me about playing his first gigs over the summer. His folks call from outside— they're waiting. We shake hands and I say "keep at it, see you next time."
I've left the Tour camera in the car, so I hope Long and McQuade will send me a few shots for the Blog. I load out, and it's GPS time to get down to Headliners. An easy drive and I'm there. It's getting dark and it's pouring rain. At least I'm able to park right at the door!
Headliners director Manda Chelmak meets me at the door and introduces me to Tom, my young sound tech for the evening. The room is new, well appointed, and very nice. It's going to be great to play in. I'm excited to see a room like this one because I know that a whole musical community can quickly build up around it. Manda has got the right idea and runs a slew of youth programs to develop musicians and bands. They also do theatre, film and video in the space— and put on concerts like mine. It's a school for the performing arts as well as a developing community hub for performance.It doesn't take Tom and I long to get set up, and before long the place is filling. Ed Poli, the president of the Nanaimo Blues Society has come out with a table of folks. They are co-producing this event, and I'm very pleased to see them. Billy Boy Lucas has tried to get me on his radio show before the gig, but strangely his email does not reach me until hours after the fact. Damn! I'll just have to come back in the good weather! It's a good crowd here tonight, and I can do no wrong.
Home town kid David Gogo doesn't show up— it would be a good opportunity to promo his own solo gig tomorrow night. I mention it anyway. Maybe I'll be able to check it out if I'm not too tired myself. That's really how it works. Anyway, another blues pal, Donna Konsarado arrived at the show— and will hopefully play this room herself soon. I did a couple of festivals with Donna and Ken Hamm and really enjoyed her singing and playing. But now the BIG moment... Tour jacket winner!!! Ya Ya Ya! This gal came all the way down from Port Alberni to catch the show, so it's kind of cool that she won the coat! Congrats!
The night seems to end too soon. It's a nice finish, and I'm able to stand near the door and give my personal thanks as the crowd files out. I've got a real motel tonight, just up the road— and it won't be long until I'm on my way to it. Now I'm breaking down, packing up, loading out, saying good-bye and thanks to Manda. Now it's night time Nanaimo in the rain. It's a hard ass town when you get away from the charming main streets. Tonight there are lines of teenage hookers, wet under the dim lights, unblinking as my big Lincoln sweeps past. My motel door stands wide open when I get there. I go in easy, turning on the lights, watching my back. My stuff was in my car, so I'm not worried about that. The hotel TV apparently wasn't worth stealing, so all is good. Well, OK, I guess. It's as cold in my room as it is outside. I close the door, bar it, and crank the heater. It ought to be warm in here by morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment