silliness in the rain at the north country fair... my hands-down favorite festival, a solstice celebration on lesser slave lake... 2003 was the rainiest fair I remember, but as our friend v said, "more sleeping bags were dampened than spirits."
our
motorbike hero, scotty rabel,
in the lead on our way out to
darryl
flew into
the best
view we had of
at the edgewater pub in comox... doug cox, todd butler & sam hurrie host an amazing blues guitar jam (& we mean amazing blues guitar) there every wednesday & the crowd is great... they let us play a few songs & pat, the house drummer, cut it up reggae-styley for us. many thanks to the guys & the comox people getting down...
from the ferry over to quadra island
our camp spot at morte lake, on quadra island... we slept out there after a hike in. went to cortes the next day... played an impromptu, unamplified show at the tak & had a couple sweet sunset jams at smelt bay & starry nights out at hague lake
daz
& I reasoning on the boat... this is from the sweet day-long ride up the
inside passage between port hardy &
sea stories
pulling into
road life - setting up camp at the edge of the world festival
jamming... mike "nubie" wheaton, center, our last-minute savior & replacement drummer, came on the bus to meet us in prince rupert... we got in some acoustic jams at the festival but our first jam with the kit was on stage saturday afternoon
still jamming
...& jamming
looking north along the east coast... a shot our friend anna took by the festival... haida gwaii is wild & beautiful... we saw eagles all day long over the ocean, & whales
danny
& amy, from
nubie in his palace
these two are way too street thug for this festival
& these two...
thanks Vern for the beer run
the edge of the world festival, in tlell, queen charlotte islands... a sweet, perfect little festival. this year had great tunes from the kinky sextet, mose scarlett, the painting daisies, glenn garinther, rae spoon, yael wand, raghu lokanathan, the twisters, roly thompson, & loads more... the food was great (thanks ruth) & the outhouses were fantastic (thanks kris et al), complete with candles, incense, sawdust on the floor & a scoop of peat moss to keep the smell down...
laughs - introducing us is frank wall, who invited us up
anglers at the edge of the world... (well, actually it looks like daz & I are over)... this & more great shots to come by scotty rabel
the people are enjoying a rare sunny break at the moment but for most of the weekend the big tent came in handy. mike took this shot from behind the kit
broke a string in the first song... glenn garinther loaned me his guitar & saved the day
ty & scott fox, who we met on the boat
danny, who we also met on the boat; he blows a mean harp & plays bells on his ankles
roi yalte & scott fox helped us out on djembes for a couple numbers
bass face
mike
ty & I
leaving the charlottes
mike, anna-rei & jade on the boat home
dwayne,
who lives just across the water from
the good folks on the boat
sunset on
our way to
wake
at our newfound friend lori's place in smithers with folk mc glenn garinther... we met up with glenn, rae spoon, & adam nation after their gig at the alpenhorn that night (which we missed dilly-dallying) & went back to lori's to swap songs...
at amy's place in smithers... we played a show at mountainside cafe the night before & met the locals at her place afterwards... she even gave the rock pod a jumpstart. smithers folks rule!
leaving smithers, with danica, anna, & the rock pod
homiez
darryl finally spotted his spiritual brother, a small (but powerful) bear, outside of smithers... ty & mike jamming at one of many sweet campsites
stoked about pastries in jasper
the famous venook brothers, after our gig in jasper... chuck jammed piano with us & we had some big laughs after the show
the
striking poses by beautiful bow lake
if daz was a hibiscus... south country fair,
playing south country fair... it was good to be back; I wrote fish jumpin there years ago... was everybody else's first time & it was sweet. we were unbelievably well-hosted at this festival & would go back there any time... it's north country's southern sister, but a bit smaller, & maybe a wee bit tidier too... good people & a beautiful hot weekend on the prairies by the oldman river
"we're the band with the most gear!" ...mike & pascal rock out on two kits
the oldman river, where we kept cool... we heard some amazing tunes over the weekend, including comlicated mediterranean rhythms by the rembetika hipsters, cowboy soul by rae spoon, dark waltzes by wendy mcneill, darren johnson, the inimitable geoff berner, & lester quitzau & mae moore... as usual 'lotus land' was happening with spoken word as well... heard great poems by mica (last name?) & my buddy steve aka eatlardfudge, cowtown poet.
anglers horseback
at the stables in waterton after the ride
evan & jenika, who we met at the fair, invited us out... we played a racous gig at the thirsty bear that night & got a horseback lesson the next day on a ride to the swimming hole... picked berries from the saddle & dug the sweet scene... daz says "horse ridin's good for the roots cred."
at katherine's friend jodi's farmhouse in nobleford
"...daz - possibly the idiom's most original composer since duke ellington" -downbeat
we come in peaaace! the tourist mecca of vulcan, alberta
ty playing by the river at the sasquatch festival, our friend andy chilling... photo dave williamson.
sasquatch is john armstrong's baby--he plays bass & theremin for SMAC & runs brass monkey productions... it's a small, perfect festival--maybe 200 people this year, no food vendor even, but a giant potluck on saturday... the last two years were graciously hosted by bob & june on their land along the north saskatchewan river... pascal rode up by canoe... the tunes were great this year--the anglers say big ups in particular to edmonton jam-rock kings knee deep in grass, SMAC & their trippy yigi yigi sounds, wendy mcneill, who enthralled us all unamplified when the sound system didn't co-operate, kevin cook & his band, mike mcdonald & his band, kenneth brown, john gorham, terry morrison, brian gregg & patsy amico, steven johnson, greyhound tragedy, and everybody else, for that matter... sunny weather, northern lights, & even the sasquatch himself made an appearance
more great shots by dave williamson... www.tribaltreats.com
patsy amico & brian gregg at sasquatch on saturday... brian & patsy (& jan) run the little flower open stage at the rossdale hall, by telus field in edmonton, every wednesday... the music is always top-notch & the folks are friendly
the anglers at sasquatch... photo steve teeuwsen. we got on an hour & a half late (or rather right on sasquatch time) saturday night, & we were glad for it... night fell & people were ready to dance.
we were backed up by mike & pascal on two kits & chris cook on congas. photo by dave williamson
shooin the blues away with a 1/4 oz. of prevention... photo dave williamson
on the right, babe lloyd & his partner lisa, who were "married" (give or take a justice of the peace) with a sweet, simple ceremony & a drum jam to follow on sunday after sasquatch.
the oh so
lovely & talented emma hood, who sang on the
record, & is on her way to big places,
& me, working out songs in the studio
bob cook at the helm in his basment studio... he does great work. (www.bobcook.ca) ...slick drummer & bicycle daredevil pascal lecours
scotty rabel working the desk at our cd release, at fiddler's roost (the old city media club on 99th, for those who can remember) in edmonton... lots of friends helped us out & our old friends ryan & becky anderson & emma hood sang some sweet tunes to open the evening
it was a
kicking party, a depressingly rare thing in deadmonton,
it seems... a lot of good people we met over the summer & some old friends
came out & danced... joe & alex from
funny stories... daz
& I are on borrowed axes because this was a "release" party in
two senses... that is, we didn't have the CDs (duplication took longer than
we'd thought), nor did we have our guitars (stolen the week before from a calgary roadside on a drunken morning after our friends'
wedding), but we were "releasing" it all anyway... I flew back to
