Hello, folks and folkettes!
We're currently driving from Vancouver to Kelowna, so I'm racing my laptop battery, but thought we'd better get a little further caught up, before the brain hits "reset"!
A nice relaxing Sunday (Feb.6, aiyaiyai, I'm the Queen of "behind"!) at Sandra and Landon's house. By Sunday, we had mastered their son's cappuccino maker (day one was a little less successful), so life was good. Landon had to work once again, but the three humans and Amber spent most of the day chatting and puttering away at various chores and work. Once Landon got home, we headed up early to our gig in Duncan.
Did I mention we were born in the wrong province??? The drive was absolutely gorgeous, despite the fog and rain that prevented us from viewing the scenery in all its glory. Probably a good thing, or there may have been a call put in to our real estate agent... Ocean, mountain and rainforest... followed by ocean, mountain and rainforest... followed by ocean, mountain and rainforest. Do people who live here ever get blase about such beauty?
Sandra's mom lives in Duncan, so the four of us met up with her for dinner at... oy, this is why I should blog every day on tour -- I've completely forgotten the name of the pub!!! So much for my restaurant report... It was a lovely place, though, with a bunch of local brews on tap -- unfortunately, we couldn't partake as we still had to work that night! I had a delicious vegetarian / mediterranean pizza (or rather, half of it -- the other half was taken home for lunch the next day), and Don had the BBQ chicken pizza (we had to take off early for sound check, but the other three had a much more leisurely meal).
Then we were off to the Duncan Garage Showroom. What a beautiful little theatre it is -- nice and cosy, with great art all over the walls, and an eclectic collection of... well, collections! From an old dentist's sink to a sculpture of the proprietor, Longevity John. John and Georgia are such warm and generous hosts, we felt welcome immediately. Georgia looks after the wee cafe, John looks after the music.
The venue has been put together with great care -- John says it was all done for his friend, Willie P. Bennett. Quite the labour of love -- Willie P. would be happy to have inspired such a place. When we arrived and started setting up, Don (being the technical geek) was practically drooling over all the equipment in the hall. And John sure knows what he's doing on the board -- got our sounds up and sounding great in no time!
Did we mention that one of the most common comments we've heard on this tour was "I wish there were more people here to enjoy you"? Well, this night was kind of the pinnacle of that one -- we'd have heard it a hundred times, if there had been a hundred people there. Unfortunately, as we realized on our beautiful drive up, it was SuperBowl Sunday... AND there was a big dance happening right next door. So our audience was... well, rather tiny. Very enthusiastic, but... tiny. Oh well, we had a fun evening, anyhow, and John and Georgia have given us a bunch of contacts for the next time we come out -- and we made a few new fans in the area, too. We also got some fantastic quotes from John, so... we may not have made thousands of dollars at this gig, but we certainly would consider it a success.
The evening was videotaped as well, so as soon as we get home we'll transfer some of it on to our website so you can see us in all our lonely glory. :-)
OK, the battery is getting low, and we still need to do a couple o' things, so we shall cover our Monday trip to Gabriola after some laptop rechargins.
Musically,
Alyssa (and Don, who's busy driving right now, and keeping an eye out for coffee shops!)
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Catching up on the BC backlog
Hello, folks and folkettes -- we've had the wonderful problem of having too many people to visit on our BC tour, so have been pretty terrible at blogging thus far. Our apologies, we aren't lost in the Rockies, just swimming in socialness. :-)
Take a quick peek at Alyssa's blog post at http://alyssawright.blogspot.com/2011/02/life-and-living.html for a toe-dip into our time at the Victor Wooten workshop at The Haven -- there will be much more to come from that week, we're sure!
In the meantime, to keep Alyssa's obsessively chronological side happy, we'll try to get back to where we left off -- essentially, the beginning!
Spent a lovely first day in Victoria with our host Sandra and dog Amber (unfortunately, Landon was hard at work, so we had to wait for a visit with him). We got a lovely tour of the city and discovered a tasty bakery in Oak Bay (mmm... fresh bread!) before heading back to the house for a light supper before our show. Then it was off to Pondside!
Pondside Music is a house concert series hosted by Juliana and Douglas McCorison -- a lovely home, nestled between the ocean and a large Koi pond. This was our first time meeting them in person, although Alyssa had played on her CD (with Don recording) several years ago. What a delight to finally meet in real life!
We were greeted by a melange of dogs and cats, all super-friendly. The white cat (whose name I forget, now that it's a week and a half later) attempted to set up shop inside our cajon -- fortunately she was caught in time, or she (and we) would have had quite a surprise once the concert started!
The jet-lag did have a bit of an effect on our energy, but we still had a fun time, and didn't forget TOO many lyrics. We received many comments at break and after the show about how much fun we seemed to have playing together, so we obviously weren't as dazed as we thought we were. :-)
"From the moment you two started to play, I could just feel the joy coming from you and filling us all. It's so great to watch, and be a part of!" [Douglas McCorison, our host at Pondside Music]
It seemed that almost half the audience that night were musicians themselves, so we had a great time at the break chatting with everyone and trading road stories. We have definitely gotten the impression that not many people in Victoria (or on Vancouver Island, for that matter) are local -- we've met many Ontario transplants on our travels here!
And so, our first concert in BC went very well, and we met a bunch of new friends. Another comment which we've gotten used to on this trip has been "I just wish there were more people here to enjoy you!" -- well, we're ever-so-likely to be back in September, so tell all your friends, and there will be! :-)
Juliana and Douglas suggested we check out the Victoria Folk Music Society, which we did the following week... but once again, we're getting ahead of ourselves. More later, we've got a lot to catch up on and not much internet time!
Musically,
Alyssa & Don
Take a quick peek at Alyssa's blog post at http://alyssawright.blogspot.com/2011/02/life-and-living.html for a toe-dip into our time at the Victor Wooten workshop at The Haven -- there will be much more to come from that week, we're sure!
In the meantime, to keep Alyssa's obsessively chronological side happy, we'll try to get back to where we left off -- essentially, the beginning!
Spent a lovely first day in Victoria with our host Sandra and dog Amber (unfortunately, Landon was hard at work, so we had to wait for a visit with him). We got a lovely tour of the city and discovered a tasty bakery in Oak Bay (mmm... fresh bread!) before heading back to the house for a light supper before our show. Then it was off to Pondside!
Pondside Music is a house concert series hosted by Juliana and Douglas McCorison -- a lovely home, nestled between the ocean and a large Koi pond. This was our first time meeting them in person, although Alyssa had played on her CD (with Don recording) several years ago. What a delight to finally meet in real life!
We were greeted by a melange of dogs and cats, all super-friendly. The white cat (whose name I forget, now that it's a week and a half later) attempted to set up shop inside our cajon -- fortunately she was caught in time, or she (and we) would have had quite a surprise once the concert started!
The jet-lag did have a bit of an effect on our energy, but we still had a fun time, and didn't forget TOO many lyrics. We received many comments at break and after the show about how much fun we seemed to have playing together, so we obviously weren't as dazed as we thought we were. :-)
"From the moment you two started to play, I could just feel the joy coming from you and filling us all. It's so great to watch, and be a part of!" [Douglas McCorison, our host at Pondside Music]
It seemed that almost half the audience that night were musicians themselves, so we had a great time at the break chatting with everyone and trading road stories. We have definitely gotten the impression that not many people in Victoria (or on Vancouver Island, for that matter) are local -- we've met many Ontario transplants on our travels here!
And so, our first concert in BC went very well, and we met a bunch of new friends. Another comment which we've gotten used to on this trip has been "I just wish there were more people here to enjoy you!" -- well, we're ever-so-likely to be back in September, so tell all your friends, and there will be! :-)
Juliana and Douglas suggested we check out the Victoria Folk Music Society, which we did the following week... but once again, we're getting ahead of ourselves. More later, we've got a lot to catch up on and not much internet time!
Musically,
Alyssa & Don
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Kicking off our first BC tour... and getting kicked back
Hello, folks and folkettes!
Yes, we are well into our first tour of the "left coast", but this is the first time we've had a spare moment to chat.
The adventure began last Monday, a few days before our Friday departure, when we discovered that, under new guidelines, my cello is now too big to be considered oversize luggage -- i.e., the airlines won't take it AT ALL. Not that Big Blue has put on any weight, mind you, just that the rules have changed. Surprise! OK, nevermind, we can send it cargo. EXCEPT... oh yeah, the cargo office closes at 5pm on Friday and our flight doesn't arrive until 9:30pm. How be we pick it up Saturday instead? No, the office won't open again until Monday morning. But Monday we're supposed to be on Gabriola Island after having played two gigs with aforementioned cello. Sorry, nothing we can do.
Hmm...
Call the friendly FedEx people. If we can get the cello in to the Barrie depot by 4pm, they can have it at our friend's house in Victoria by Friday afternoon. Although... if the truck hits bad weather at some point along its route (geez, what are the odds of a truck hitting bad weather at some point along the route in a Canadian February?), it might not get there 'til Monday... Ship by air? Yes, of course we can do that... FOR $986 PLUS TAX AND INSURANCE!!!
I will not panic, I will not cry, I will not panic, I will not cry...
A few tears and panic attacks and phone calls later, we finally get it organized. We CAN ship the cello via an earlier WestJet flight, and get our dear, darling, angelic friend Sandra to pick it up earlier in the day. PHEW!!! This necessitates a drive to the airport the day before, but what the heck, the cello will get there!
So... Big Blue made her first solo flight on Thursday, Sandra had some quality time with her Friday, and we joined them both Friday evening. Don's guitars also made it with us, safe and sound, despite one of the worst landings we've ever experienced (during the stopover in Calgary, where a mighty wind was blowing), and the clearly-marked "fragile" stickers being ignored as the cases got tossed on the conveyor belt with all the other luggage.
The joys of touring... ah, the glamour!
But we're fine, the instruments are fine, neither one of us forgot anything important (well, Don forgot his deodorant, but as all you avid listeners know, "I don't like my men too clean", so that's actually a GOOD thing...)
Picked up our rental car at National, where the guy at the counter was an incredibly nice guy (honey, this ain't the Toronto airport!) who -- after chatting us up for half an hour -- handed us the keys to a nice Subaru Outback. Nice vehicle -- at least to ride in, Don didn't hand over the driver's seat even once, but he says it drove like a charm. :-)
And so we got to Sandra and Landon's, and were greeted by the big, beautiful Amber (golden retriever). We can't tell you how much we've missed having a dog lean into us, or rest their head on our feet. Yes, even the slobber and loose hair have been making us very happy people, indeed! Oh yeah, and Sandra and Landon are great too. :-) Better than great, they were lovely, generous hosts all weekend, and we're looking forward to another weekend with them once our workshop is finished.
Ah, but I'm getting ahead of myself... Must get back to class right now, but will fill you in on our Saturday and BC debut at Pondside Music later on.
Musically,
Alyssa
Yes, we are well into our first tour of the "left coast", but this is the first time we've had a spare moment to chat.
The adventure began last Monday, a few days before our Friday departure, when we discovered that, under new guidelines, my cello is now too big to be considered oversize luggage -- i.e., the airlines won't take it AT ALL. Not that Big Blue has put on any weight, mind you, just that the rules have changed. Surprise! OK, nevermind, we can send it cargo. EXCEPT... oh yeah, the cargo office closes at 5pm on Friday and our flight doesn't arrive until 9:30pm. How be we pick it up Saturday instead? No, the office won't open again until Monday morning. But Monday we're supposed to be on Gabriola Island after having played two gigs with aforementioned cello. Sorry, nothing we can do.
Hmm...
Call the friendly FedEx people. If we can get the cello in to the Barrie depot by 4pm, they can have it at our friend's house in Victoria by Friday afternoon. Although... if the truck hits bad weather at some point along its route (geez, what are the odds of a truck hitting bad weather at some point along the route in a Canadian February?), it might not get there 'til Monday... Ship by air? Yes, of course we can do that... FOR $986 PLUS TAX AND INSURANCE!!!
I will not panic, I will not cry, I will not panic, I will not cry...
A few tears and panic attacks and phone calls later, we finally get it organized. We CAN ship the cello via an earlier WestJet flight, and get our dear, darling, angelic friend Sandra to pick it up earlier in the day. PHEW!!! This necessitates a drive to the airport the day before, but what the heck, the cello will get there!
So... Big Blue made her first solo flight on Thursday, Sandra had some quality time with her Friday, and we joined them both Friday evening. Don's guitars also made it with us, safe and sound, despite one of the worst landings we've ever experienced (during the stopover in Calgary, where a mighty wind was blowing), and the clearly-marked "fragile" stickers being ignored as the cases got tossed on the conveyor belt with all the other luggage.
The joys of touring... ah, the glamour!
But we're fine, the instruments are fine, neither one of us forgot anything important (well, Don forgot his deodorant, but as all you avid listeners know, "I don't like my men too clean", so that's actually a GOOD thing...)
Picked up our rental car at National, where the guy at the counter was an incredibly nice guy (honey, this ain't the Toronto airport!) who -- after chatting us up for half an hour -- handed us the keys to a nice Subaru Outback. Nice vehicle -- at least to ride in, Don didn't hand over the driver's seat even once, but he says it drove like a charm. :-)
And so we got to Sandra and Landon's, and were greeted by the big, beautiful Amber (golden retriever). We can't tell you how much we've missed having a dog lean into us, or rest their head on our feet. Yes, even the slobber and loose hair have been making us very happy people, indeed! Oh yeah, and Sandra and Landon are great too. :-) Better than great, they were lovely, generous hosts all weekend, and we're looking forward to another weekend with them once our workshop is finished.
Ah, but I'm getting ahead of myself... Must get back to class right now, but will fill you in on our Saturday and BC debut at Pondside Music later on.
Musically,
Alyssa
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