Calgary to Seattle to Vancouver

The following post refers to a mini-tour to Calgary with Damanta and a Tarkin Show in Seattle on the Weekend of May 22-25, 2008. This post deals with some hard travellin' from Calgary to make a show in Seattle on Saturday May 24th.

CALGARY, AB 6:45am MST: Cell phone alarm goes off and I briefly question where I am...Right, Jess's Brother's place in Calgary. No time for a shower--just enough time to pack some things in the van (Elegwen will pick it up later) and jump in the car for a ride to the airport.

7:00am: We are on the road and stop for gas. I need to be at the airport by 7:30 but we need to stop for gas. I try to contribute but Sean refuses. We speed through the deserted Calgary highway system past strip malls and car dealerships under a heavy downpour.

7:33am: Electronic Check in. No checked bags. I will try to bring my banjo, banjo pre-amp, bodhran, and it's microphone as carry-ons.

7:40am: Through security with no real problems. I guess they are not counting bags today.

7:48am: I am one of the last people to board the flight and I get everything in the overhead. I want go through some receipts for gas and the rental car but I lose the battle for consciousness before the safety announcements are done.

ABBOTSFORD,BC 8:35am PST: I am blinking in the bright sunshine of a West Coast morning as one of my chauffeurs for the day walks across the Abbotsford Airport Parking Lot. I would not be able to make it as a full-time teacher and part-time folk star with out the help of people like Heidi. My parents have cut me a lot of slack over the years and my sister Leiana in Vegas allowed me to send a lot of music gear to her place so I could save on shipping and duty. My sister Dawn has covered my butt at school more times than I probably even know. These combined with all the friends like Heidi and even complete strangers who have provided rides to and from shows and airports/ferry terminals as well as places to stay have really made it possible to play enough to get to this next level.

VANCOUVER, BC 9:10am: Heidi naps on the couch at my place while I shower and try to organize myself for a trip to Seattle. I can't find my passport and I fear that I may have left it in my other bag in Calgary. I dig out my birth certificate in hopes that one can still cross with it and a driver's licence and we head out for breakfast at Little Nest on Charles at Commercial. Amazing food, fresh squeezed grapefruit juice at a sidewalk table. Such tranquility seems a little unfair after last nights' mayhem.

10:58am: Back at my place load my instruments and bags back into Heidi's car before passing by her place on the way to her hair appointment at 11:30 on Granville Island. Good Deal for me--I'll just head down to the public market, grab a coffee and read in the sun. It is quite surreal to thing that 15 hours ago I was fighting back sleep while driving through the driving rain to a show in Calgary.

12:52pm: We are slogging up Main Street for our 12:45 meeting Rachael and Ben Young who will be our drivers to Seattle. I jog up to the Van with the stuff and we are on the road. We've got 2 guitars, my banjo, bodhran and microphone, a mandolin and a 3/4 upright bass and stand. It is a little tight with four people but it gets the job done.

1:41pm: We hit the lineup at the Peace Arch border crossing after tossing out an apple core. The lineup is only 15 minutes and we are through.

MT. VERNON, WA 3:12pm: We pull into an organic food coop in Mt. Vernon for some lunch. I get stuck at the beer cooler as I am sucker for US micro brew. This is OK because it takes the girl at the counter 20 minutes to slaughter the chicken and harvest the grain to make the sandwiches Rachael has ordered.

4:48pm: We hit the Seattle traffic just south of Everett and flow with it until we hit the bridge into town. After the exit it is a parking lot until we reach Seattle Centre where the festival is. Highlight of the traffic jam has to be the people walking down the street with a dog while carrying a rowboat... We have event parking but will have to shuttle the instruments across the crowded fairgrounds to check in.

SEATTLE, WA 5:10pm: After hauling all the gear (two guitars, one banjo, upright bass, bodhran, guitar stands, cables, pre-amps and microphones across the grounds in now stifling heat we arrive at the hostility, er, hospitality room for performers. There are at least five different jam sessions going on simultaneously. The gear check girl who is volunteering to earn tips for her high school marching band is clearly overwhelmed when we show up with enough gear for a six piece band, half of which is in a lil'flyer wagon

5:25pm: The band and our new roadie Heidi are too tired to chase down the best performances so we lounge on the green in the center of the grounds and take in a panorama which includes: hackey-sac performance artists, an old time band-complete with clogging guitarist, some nearby exhibitionistic couples (free love baby, yeah!) and two androgynous performers on a side stage. Dreds, hemp clothing and sun burnt skin are legion.

6:15pm: We are beginning to wonder when we will hear from Vanessa, Marc and Amanda who should have been here by now as we head back to the hostility tent for our gear and another cross-fairground slog to our stage where we are on at 7:00pm

6:50pm: It is time for sound check and we only have half of the six Tarkins required for our set. As we set up the equipment we brainstorm how we can fill the set with just the three of us...

6:52pm: Tarkin is re-united at long last. Seems that a hotel mix up required them to cross Seattle in holiday weekend traffic. We scramble the stage set up under the now cranky stage manager's careful scrutiny. The engineer can't get my drum mic to work but there is no time to trouble shoot...we're on.

7:02pm: The set list says we are playing The Minto off our new album, "Charming to the Last" but as I pass Ben the banjo, Rachel says Vanessa can't play so we are doing on of my songs, "Outport Rebel," first...Gulp...I was not mentally prepared to go on right away.

7:05pm: It goes a little rough. I have been playing my Martin vintage guitar for weeks with Damanta but it is back in Calgary. Playing Rachel's guitar is a bit awkward as it has a much thinner neck profile. I over-reach for some chords resulting in awkward chunky changes. Great start. The vocals are actually pretty good considering we had no warm up.

7:30pm: Set order gets mixed up and turned inside out by Vanessa being in and out of the formation. I don't really understand what is going on but I have a good time singing "Grand Hotel" from our first CD, "The Ghost of that Whisky," complete with some audience participation and after a great response to "City Boy at the Country Bar," I spontaneously decide to tell the audience that, "...I'm Johnny Oswald"

7:40pm: We wrap a chaotic set that got better as we went along, strike our gear as quick as possible and try to sell envelopes that we will put the new CD in and mail as soon as it arrives. Two people bite.

7:45pm: The second act on the Canadian Showcase launches into their first number singing about West Virginia. Ben says he's proud that we sang about BC loggers, paddle boats, snow in Vancouver and Newfoundland Outports for our piece of the Canadian Showcase.

7:58pm: After stumbling around trying to locate every one's gear and make sure I'd have everything I'd need in Calgary, I finally hear what happened to Vanessa-she had heat stroke and felt faint. So faint that she actually had to use the stool we brought on stage for Tarkin's expecting mother, Rachael. I am surprised she could even play at all!

8:32pm: Ben and I have brought the van around to the front of Key Arena and begin loading out the gear.

8:45pm: We are ready to go. Nobody is carrying boats down the street on our way back to I-5.

9:03pm: Darkness is falling on a hectic day but the conversation as we head north in the car is hilarious. However, it is not quite stimulating enough to keep Heidi awake. We'll cut her some slack as she is not used to the rigours of the Folk Star Lifestyle. You know, where you do 50 times the heavy lifting and grunt work to get that same performance rush of a pro but get paid...oh, yeah, next to nothing.

VANCOUVER, BC 11:45pm: We arrive back at Heidi's. I call my friend Paul, who designed Tarkin's album art, for a ride back out to Abbotsford at 5:15am. Mercifully, he agrees. Next I have to book a ticket home from Calgary as the Pooka (Damanta's van) will not be making the trip Monday as it is still in a Canmore, AB garage

12:31am: Home at last. A quick re-pack and I am in bed at 1:15am for a 1/2 night's sleep. I've just jet-setted from one show to another and driven halfway back. Ahh, so this is the life!