We just returned home from a mini tour out west, combining music with some visitng. It was a great two weeks. We love living in Toronto but it’s always nice to revisit other places we’ve lived and the friends and family there. We had hoped to blog from the trip but ran into some connectivity issues so I will have to rely on my memory to tell you about our adventures.

For the first leg of the trip, we flew into Winnipeg and rented a car to drive from there to Saskatoon. We decided to take the more scenic Yellowhead Route, which we hadn’t been on since we lived in Saskatoon years ago. In those days we drove between Winnipeg and Saskatoon regularly and took for granted the beauty of the prairie sky. It really is incredible…the land is so flat in places, you feel like you can see forever. And those “prairie skycrapers” (grain elevators) are a thing of beauty.

It seemed whenever we made a turn or stopped the car, I would notice a strange rattling sound that sounded like it was coming from under the car, so we got out to investigate but didn’t see anything unusual. Finally, I reached under my seat and found the culprit…a full bottle of Labatt’s Blue. Not sure if that is some kind of frequent renter perk
 
Saskatoon was a real trip down memory lane…we drove past our first apartment, our first house, visited some of our favourite old haunts and even ordered a pizza from our former corner pizzeria, the Venice House on 8th St. It was as delicious as we remembered it. We stayed with friends in Saskatoon, which was fabulous. I’ve always appreciated my friends but as I get older I think I realize even more how important it is to have good friends. You know, the kind where you don’t see each other for ages but when you get together you easily pick up where you left off.

On our last day there, some friends took us up to Batoche for the day. We hadn’t been in years so that was a real treat for us. The song ‘Maria’s Place’ by Connie Kaldor was going through my head, the whole time. Now I can think of all sorts of adjectives to describe the feelings evoked by walking on the grounds of the Northwest Rebellion…moving, powerful, haunting…but do you think I could when I was signing the guest book in the interpretive centre? No…so forever recorded for history is that I thought it was “very interesting” Sigh.

Saskatoon wasn’t all just fun and visiting though, we did play two shows while in town. Okay, they were fun too. We played at the Prairie Ink Restaurant at the McNally Robinson bookstore on 8th Street. The McNally bookstores are great supporters of Canadian artists…writers and musicians. And their clientele reflects that too.

The next leg of the trip was to the family cottage in the Whiteshell (Manitoba). We left Saskatoon early in the morning and drove straight through…about 11 hours. That’s a lot of driving for folks who don’t normally drive or even own a car back home! This time we took the Trans Canada Hwy. A little less scenic than the Yellowhead but 4 lanes, so less chance of being stuck behind large slow moving farm equipment for stretches en route. We arrived at the cottage in time to see a beautiful Manitoba sunset. The next few days were spent just hanging out reading, canoeing, walking, communing with nature, and playing music on the deck.

During the hours on the road I had finally finished writing a song I’d been working on over the past month (the third in my “girl power trilogy”). I played it for Dwight at the cottage for the first time. After a few tweaks…he thought one line was a bit cliche and I agreed…we began working on an arrangement. He was, and a lot of other folks it seems will be pleased to hear that this song will feature the beloved “Hohner Stud”. Yes, that little accordian gifted to us by our friend Kevin Quain, has proven to be a fun addition to our show. Who knew accordians had such appeal! 

While out at the cottage we did a radio interview with Leanne Doty of CKLQ in Brandon, where we’d be playing our next show. There’s no phone at the cottage so we called in and did the interview from a phone booth outside a little store at Peniac Bay. It was going along smoothly until, in the final moments of the interview, some dude pulls up on an ATV, doing wheelies across the parking lot. Ha ha!

Next stop…gig at the Lady Of The Lake Cafe and Pub. We picked up our bass player, Brock Peters, in Winnipeg and made the two hour drive to Brandon. Hey what a coincidence that our bass player has the same last name as we do! It’s not really. He’s our nephew who happens to be an amazing bass player. Dwight sent him some charts for some songs and the others he just winged brilliantly. What a treat it was to have him join us. Lady Of The Lake is another awesome venue to play.

Then it was back to Winnipeg for the remainder of the trip. We had two gigs scheduled…the first at the Prairie Ink Restaurant at the McNally Robinson bookstore at Grant Park. The place was packed…some of our family had to wait til after our first set ended to get a table. It was an awesome night. We were so thrilled when one of the salespeople from the Music Dept. made a point of coming to tell us they’d sold several of our CDs and we’ll have to send more! Our second Winnipeg show was a private party…a birthday celebration for the sister of a good friend who comes out to our shows whenever we are in town. The party was held in a stately home on Wellington Crescent…it was a really beautiful afternoon.

We had an unusual adventure while in Winnipeg…we found a toddler!!! One morning on our way to meet friends for breakfast Dwight says “Look at that!!” I had been rummaging in my purse and when I looked up, was shocked to see a baby, clad only in diapers and holding a bottle brush, standing in the middle of the road…no adult in sight. I hopped out of the car, ran over to him and said “Hey what are you doin’ here?” He smiled and reached up for me to pick him up. I carried him to the boulevard and started asking him if he knew where he lived or where his Mommy was. He was babbling a blue streak and of course none of it made sense.

So I called 911 and was assured by the dispatcher that this was a priority call…oh, and would I stay with the child? Ummmm…yes of course I would. That question seemed ridiculous until a woman from a nearby apartment told me she had witnessed the car ahead of us veer around the baby and keep driving. After 20 minutes and no sign of the police, she said it looks like I would have to keep the baby, adding she thought he kind of looked like me. So naturally I dialled 911 again and was again assured by the dispatcher that this was a priority call. In normal time 20 minutes isn’t long but it seems long when you are trying to corral and entertain a toddler within a few feet area around a tree…the only shady spot in the vicinity. Long story short, after another 25 minutes (45 in all) and still no sign of the police, the baby’s frantic mother came running from across the street. She thought he was upstairs in his room but the little monkey had let himself out. One more call to 911 to cancel the “emergency” and we were on our way. Luckily I was able to reach the friends we were meeting and let them know we would be late…they agreed finding a toddler was a pretty good excuse for being tardy.

The rest of our time in The Peg was spent visiting and eating and eating and did I mention eating? Seemed like we ate constantly and still couldn’t make it to all our fave places. Oh well, next time.

Back in Toronto yesterday for our last Cameron House Matinee before taking July and August off. We continued our residency through the last two Summers but this year we decided to take a break cause we plan to do some travelling in Africa next month. What a wonderful send-off…a bunch of great friends came out and we had a lovely afternoon. We are going to miss our weekly show but look forward to resuming our weekly schedule again in September…hopefully with some new songs inspired by our travels! 

Yesterday we played our first House Concert. If you aren’t familiar with the concept here’s a brief description…House Concerts are usually held at someone’s home or other small private venue. The Host invites people to attend and asks them for a donation in order to pay the artist.

Yesterday’s concert was hosted by a wonderful Toronto poet, named Allan Rose, who we met at The Cameron House. The concert took place in the backyard of his home, which overlooks a ravine. What a treat it was to play outdoors in such a beautiful setting, on such a gorgeous afternoon.

There were little birds chirping in the tree beside where we were playing, robins were working the greens, and big fluffy white “Simpsons” clouds filled the bright blue sky. I noticed all of that because I am trying to stop and smell the roses more often…you know, take a moment to look around and really see what’s there. It’s not as easy as it sounds, at least for me. As someone who can be easily distracted or worried about what coming up, I can forget to do that. But I am working on it!

The audience was amazing, with everyone listening intently. In between sets they were invited to read poems they’d written that reflect the themes of our music. We really enjoyed that. It was an eclectic mix of people and we were fortunate to get to chat with many of them throughout the afternoon.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, the concert was followed by a great BBQ!

All the way home, that song ‘Perfect Day’ from the movie ‘Legally Blonde’ was going through my head…how appropriate!

Someone asked me, the other day, when I planned to blog some more about busking in the subway because they enjoy reading about “life down under”. So I thought today was as good a day as any. 

I went out looking for a spot after 11 this morning and was lucky to find Dundas available. I’m becoming a bit of a fixture there. I know that because of the many Hellos and waves from familiar faces. I was there for about 2 hours.

Things started out well, with the perfect balance of busy-ness (i.e. people traffic) and noise level. I don’t like it when it is too busy because I feel like I get drowned out.

About an hour into my “shift”, a maintenance guy who was pushing a big bin piled high with garbage bags parked it a few feet directly in front of me then chatted loudly with a fellow worker for about 15 minutes. “Helllllooo I’m doing something here!” Well, I said that in my head anyway.

So, after he moved on, it’s going along great and then the announcement about a “medical emergency at track level” shutting down subway service on the Bloor line, started up…every 3 or 4 minutes for almost an hour…completely drowning me out. I was annoyed but then felt a bit guilty for feeling that way because a “medical emergency at track level”, lasting that long, probably means somebody was going through something pretty terrible.

I forgot to mention that when I started out today I couldn’t find my Lucky Turkish Twonie. It is a coin that I use as “seed money” in my guitar case…you know, just so there’s a little something there when you first get started. It looks like a real Twonie but is just a tad smaller in circumference. Perhaps the missing LTT was the reason for the oddities today. I am happy to report I found it when I got home!

There were good things today too. A big group of school kids passed through and three cute little guys came right over and dropped some coins in my case. One of them looked at the US dollar bill, someone had put in earlier, and his eyes got real wide and he said “Wow, you got some real money in there.”

Another funny thing happened…a young man was walking by eating one of those yogurts they advertise with the belly dancer stomach action. Know what I mean? I think it’s called Activia. Anyway, I’m singing and he points to his yogurt, my guitar case and then to his stomach with a shaky kinda motion. Ha ha…what the heck was that all about?!

Well, there you have it…another fun day down-under!

Two very strange things happened this week that I thought I’d share with you. I’ll start with the most recent while the memory is fresh. Gorgeous Saturday weather here in Toronto yesterday and things started out a bit slow at our weekly matinee. But there were some great folks listening intently, so we were enjoying it.

About halfway through our first set, a small group of people came into the club to help their friend dismantle the art show that had been up all month. She had taken a few of the pieces down before we started playing but I guess needed some help with the harder to reach ones and was waiting for her crew to finish the job.

So there we are, mid-set, mid-song, and they pull out a 10 or 12 foot ladder and start climbing it and pulling down the art. They were calling out directions to each other, all right in front of the stage, completely oblivious to the fact that we were performing. We soldiered on for a bit although it was incredibly distracting…until….they started asking the people who were trying to listen if they would move so they could get at the art behind them. Now it was not only distracting, but slightly dangerous for the audience who were shuffling to get out of the way of the ladder while trying to pay attention to us.

First time ever, we stopped wthout finishing the song and said we were going to take a break until they were done. As we were putting our guitars down, Dwight and I looked at each other and said “There’s one for the memoirs” at exactly the same time…ha ha!

We received a “Sorry, but…” apology from the crashers. Not sure how they felt any “but” attached to the sorry was justified. They didn’t seem to get it. One person there said “If I didn’t see it for myself, I wouldn’t have believed it.” Coincidentally, Dwight is reading a book right now called ‘Roadkill On The Three-Chord Highway’…we feel like we added a new chapter yesterday.    

Okay, so here is the other weird thing that happened this week…I was busking at Osgoode station for about an hour around noon on Thursday. Occasionally looking down at the coins in my case, I started to notice that, although people were dropping in Loonies and Twonies, the amount of money in the case didn’t appear to change at all. I even checked around the case to see if the coins were landing outside it, but there was nothing there.  It was the oddest thing, like my case was a big Black Hole! Now I’m not an expert on quantum field theory, but hmmm!

I thought I’d share some memories from this past wonderful weekend of music. It started early with the Winterfolk Launch Party on Thursday night. It was great to mingle with other artists and volunteers and you could feel the excitment building for the festival. This year I’ve gotten a bit addicted to Facebook and have also joined a folk music List Serv and have communicated on-line with a lot of people in the music community. So, when I actually got to meet some of them face to face it was great. Then of course there are all the fabulous people we’ve met over the past few years since we’ve been in this business and it was great to reconnect with them. We were all telling each other when our shows were and at that moment all had great intentions of being at every one! In reality, because there are six stages presenting music simultaneously over the three days of the festival, you just can’t be everywhere. But we did get out to see quite a few when we weren’t performing ourselves.

Our first show of the weekend was 11pm on Friday at The Mambo Lounge, a great little Cuban restaurant on The Danforth. We heard from folks who ate there that the food was wonderful…it sure smelled great, and they serve a tasty German beer that you can’t get anywhere else on the avenue! We went on after Hotcha! who were in great form. They do a smokin’ verson of ‘Old Man Mose’. It’s a song from the 1940’s that we had hoped to cover at one time but it just wasn’t right for my voice…but Bev nails it! 

We were so happy…wait, I need a bigger word…THRILLED…to have Shelley Coopersmith join us on violin and mandolin for our Mambo Lounge show. She plays on the CD we are currently recording and we’ve become accustomed to hearing that haunting violin on certain songs, so it was a treat to have her join us live. It was a small venue and we were expecting to do our own sound but Craig and Paolo arrived to set things up for us and they did a fabulous job. The show was fun. The audience was warm and listened intently. Afterwards, some came up to chat and buy CDs. One fellow gave us a lovely compliment, comparing our songs to those of “a young Gordon Lightfoot” who he used to go see at coffee houses in the 60’s. Sigh…that’s the kind of thing that makes it all worthwhile.

On Saturday we played our weekly 3:30-5:30pm matinee at The Cameron House. It was a busy afternoon…along with the familiar ones that we appreciate so much, there were lots of new faces in the crowd throughout the afternoon. Shelley joined us for our second set, a welcome surprise. She plays with The Cameron Family Singers who come on at 6pm. We had to dash out when we finished playing to make the trip across town to our 7pm show upstairs at The Black Swan.

We were part of the ‘Love At Winterfolk’ evening. It was great. Andy Frank hosted the stage…he’s such a great supporter of local music. We had a super soundman…D’arcy. The Black Swan has amazing lighting which makes you look real good on stage. However, it also makes it difficult to see more than a few feet into the audience. I like to look at people when I sing to them so I was happy when a group of women sat at the tables right up front where I could see their faces. Again, we were pleased to have a real listening audience that evening. After our show, we stuck around to see Treasa Lavasseur. Wow, she was awesome…amazing stage presence.

With the last of our weekend shows behind us, we headed back to The Danforth on Sunday afternoon. Dwight had volunteered to do sound at The Black Swan and I club-hopped. I stopped in at The Willow to see the some performers in The Moonshine Cafe showcase. I was happy to see Paul Rooney and Alan McKinley, who were both wonderful but unfortunately (for me) the place was jammed so I couldn’t get a seat. My next stop was The Mambo Lounge where I hooked up with my friend Kim Cole (another singer-songwriter) to catch Peter Verity. He did a great set. It was packed there too but we managed to score a table.

After that I headed over to The Black Swan to see Crabtree and Mills. There has been such a buzz about their new CD and I was looking forward to catching one of their shows. I loved it. I could really relate to their music. I particularly loved their social justice songs. And they did one song that actually moved me to tears…kind of embarassing for me, cause I was sitting right up front and had to fish in my purse for a kleenex. I found them quite inspiring.

That was the last show of the day so after that, I went down to meet up with Dwight. He was busy doing teardown at the stage he’d done the sound for. So I stood around chatting with other musician friends…some new and some I’ve known for awhile..till he was done. All the way home we compared notes on our afternoons. Well, you just read about mine and Dwight had the best seat in the house at the soundboard for Nancy Dutra, Bill Colgate & Cam MacInnes, Danny Marks, and Wendell Ferguson & Friends (impressive friends like Michael Brennan and Shawn Brush).

Even though we saw a ton of great music, there was still lots more that we couldn’t make it to. If you haven’t been to Winterfolk, make sure you take it in next year. It’s organized by Brian Gladstone who does it purely for the love of music and community. I know this is unbelievable but, with the exception of one stage this year, the festival is FREE….no cover…no tickets. What kind of crazy good deal is that?!

Well, I’m not off to the greatest start with my New Years Resolution to blog more frequently…it’s the middle of January already. 

For those of you from other parts of the country and world, it’s important to know, before reading any further, that we are experiencing a colder than normal January here in Toronto. Yesterday the temp was around -20C (windchill -30C) so I stayed in all day. But the whole time I was just itching to go out and busk.

Well today, my desire to busk overruled my common sense. I rationalized that it was only -15C so it was definitely warmer than yesterday. I decided on Dundas station because the spot isn’t located too near an outside entrance.

My first two songs were carefully chosen…”Prairie Girl” to remind me of my hearty Winnipeg roots where this would be a balmy winter day, and then “Mercury Rising” to conjure up thoughts of warm temperatures. In theory it was a good idea. In practice, not so much. 

Dang it was cold! I was well bundled but of course, my fingertips were exposed to play guitar and they froze up real fast. I didn’t want pity money from passersby so I smiled and tried to appear as comfortable as possible. I don’t think I was fooling too many people though, judging by the many smile-at-the-crazy-person type smiles I got.

My friend Maria, a fellow busker, was passing thru the station and stopped to say hello. She didn’t have her guitar…she’d wisely decided it’s too cold, if not for her, for her instrument. I felt a bit guilty subjecting my Norman to these conditions. So after a total of almost 30 minutes, with numb fingers, I packed up and headed for home. I hope this cold snap doesn’t last too much longer.

One year ago, almost to the day, I posted the blog ‘Happy Subway Musicians’. Today, not so much. I just went down to get the mail and found our letter from the TTC had arrived. Another big dip on that rollercoaster ride…we went from #7 this past year to not getting a regular licence at all this year. Thankfully, because of the Auxiliary Licence program offered to previously licenced musicians in good standing, we can continue playing in the subway. We just won’t be on the official rotation schedule and can be bumped by musicians with full licences.

I know the judging is subjective but that doesn’t really lessen the sting of not scoring well at the audition. I had a feeling at this audition that we weren’t well received by the judges. I’ve mentioned that to a few friends over the past month and I love how they have become indignant on our behalf, unequivocally sure the judges weren’t qualified to make a decision not in our favour. Of course they are, the judges all have impressive music backgrounds, but I still love it when friends rally.  

I often think I don’t have a tough enough skin for this business but hey, I just realized I may be toughening up a bit…so far, no tears (although the day is still young). I think that’s a good sign!

Inspired! That’s how I came away from seeing Sylvia Tyson perform on Thursday night. I wasn’t sure what to expect and even waffled til the last day on whether to reserve tickets or not. If I had known how wonderful it would be, I would have booked ages in advance to get one of those primo front row seats at Hugh’s. Of course my sitting right up front with that goofy smile I had plastered on my face during the whole show might have been a tad distracting for her! I couldn’t help it though. I was totally blown away. She was beautiful, has a fabulously rich voice, and had the audience hanging on every word.

I loved that, with a couple of exceptions, the show wasn’t a trip down memory lane of the Ian and Sylvia days. The concert featured the music that Sylvia has written and co-written with a variety of other artists. It’s always nice to hear old familiar hit songs but I think what I found most inspiring was that they weren’t even necessary. I mean, the show was strong enough without them. Her career continues to move forward and her writing reflects the journey, gaining new fans like me along the way.
 
So, here’s the only downer of the evening. When the show ended and I left the club I noticed Dwight wasn’t right behind me as I thought he was. A few seconds later he came out and said “Hey, did you see Sylvia was sitting by the bar?” He had stopped to talk to her. How did I miss that? I would loved to have told her how great she was and I missed my chance. Dwight tried to persuade me to go back in but then I felt too shy, so instead I’ve been just kicking myself for not doing it ever since. Sigh.

We just finished a four day stretch of scheduled afternoons at Bloor Station. Even at off-peak hours it’s still one of the busiest stations to play at. And one of the most popular stations among TTC buskers. There so much going on there, I thought just for fun I’d share some observations…

- It’s surprising how many people risk life and limb (their own and those of innocent bystanders) running full-speed to catch a train, even though the next one will be along in just a few minutes. Not only does it look goofy but it is so dangerous. I can’t count the number of near collisions I witnessed.

- On Sunday afternoon, one older gent walking by stopped for a second to listen to us, made a face like he’d smelled the worst stink of his life and then walked away. Nice.

- There are more than a couple of men who look like Elvis walking around.

- Bloor is such a noisy station…when trains are arriving simultaneously in different directions, we can’t even hear our own guitars.

- The lottery business is booming in the kiosk across from the busking stop. Same goes for the photo booth.

- I always think it’s so interesting (nice) when people toss money into our guitar case and THEY say “Thank You”. That happened several times over the past four days.

- Today, a woman with a small baby strapped to her front stopped and the two of them bounced along to the music. Then an older woman, who they didn’t know, stopped and danced along with them. It was really very sweet.

- There is so much going on at Bloor station…people coming and going from all directions…that it’s easy to get distracted (i.e. forget lyrics and chords)!

- Lots of Ian and Sylvia fans pass through Bloor station..we’ve been playing the songs we’ll be performing at The Riverboat Revival at Hugh’s Room on June 27th.

- This isn’t exclusive to Bloor station, but it’s surprising how many people stop right near the busking spot and start digging earnestly in their purses, wallets, or pockets. The whole time you’re thinking…”Wow, they must really like us to go to all that trouble.” And, then they walk right past without putting anything in the case. Ha ha ha!

- There seemed to be an inordinate number of people carrying instruments (many guitars, violins, a cello, an accordian) passing through the station over the past four days.

- And why were so many people with luggage (multiple large suitcases) passing through the station this afternoon?

- I’m never really up on the latest fashion trends, but Middle East style scarves seem to be a really hot item…especially with a black and white print.

- This afternoon a young woman with a white cane was asked by at least a dozen people if she needed assistance as she stood waiting for a friend not far from the busking spot. Nice to see caring people.

On Friday, June 27th we will be part of the Toronto City Roots Festival opener at Hugh’s Room. The show celebrates the famed Yorkville coffee house called The Riverboat, which was a Mecca for musicians on the folk scene in the 1960’s and 70’s. On this special night performers who are scheduled to play at the Toronto City Roots Festival in the Distillery District that weekend, have been invited to cover songs of icons who played at The Riverboat during its heyday. We are going to cover the music of Ian and Sylvia!

Not long ago, after more than a few people had asked us if we could play one of their songs, we pulled together the words and chords for ‘Someday Soon’ and ‘Four Strong Winds’ and have been playing them in the subway ever since. We had also started working on ‘You Were On My Mind’. When the call came for the Riverboat Revival we thought, this is great, we already know their songs so it should be an easy prep.

After listening to an Ian and Sylvia Greatest Hits CD, I realized that we were doing a version of other versions of those songs. Their music has been covered by so many artists over the years, that our memories of the songs were a composite of all those interpretations. Not only had phrasings and tempo changed with recordings by various artists, but in some cases the words had changed quite significantly.     

We decided to go back to the original and work from there. We are not trying to do an imitation but we figured we will perform our version of Ian and Sylvia songs, not our version of Judy Collins, We Five, or Neil Young doing their versions of Ian and Sylvia songs. I have always liked them but over the past few weeks I think I’ve become a real fan of Ian and Sylvia. I hadn’t realized what a huge impact they have had on music in Canada.

Hope you can make it out to the Riverboat Revival on the 27th. There is a whole roster of great performers covering the music of folks like Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Steve Goodman, and Phil Ochs. I think it will be a great night. Here’s a link to the details www.torontocityroots.com