Western Tour - April 2011

We are already one third of the way through the tour and this is the first chance I’m getting to blog.

Because we have lived in both Winnipeg and Saskatoon, that part of the tour was a trip down memory lane and the opportunity to catch up with family and friends.

Our tour kick-off show at Sam’s Place in Winnipeg was, in a word, all kinds of awesome. Wait, that’s 4 words isn’t it?

We had a full house…I think there was one empty rocking chair left in one of the book aisles. Brock Peters joined us on bass and did a fabulous job. The folks that run Sam’s Place are great and the performance space has a good sound system and spacious stage.

The following day we started heading west…next stop Saskatoon, but not without an overnight stop on the way. Us city folk who don’t own a car aren’t used to sitting for long periods in a vehicle. After a 5 hour drive, upon arrival in Yorkton I said to Dwight “Let’s live here.”

Well rested by the next morning, we cruised on to Saskatoon. Must mention the breathtaking beauty of the Prairies here…bright blue skies and endless horizon. Never truly appreciated it when we lived out here. Funny how that is.  

Oh, and Dwight wants me to tell you about the Boh Phenomenon…cases of Bohemian brand beer tossed in the ditch at many points along the route from Yorkton to Saskatoon. Not sure how they ended up there and why only that brand. Another question for the ages…like how did they build the pyramids and who’s responsible for crop circles?

The first of our two shows at McNally Robinson started off on rocky footing sound wise. For some reason we had difficulty getting a clear mix with any volume (aka Oomph) to it. And there was a mysterious chatter coming through the speakers…like a talk radio station horning in on the frequency. Shades of Spinal Tap! Got that sorted out for the most part and while the sound wasn’t ideal, we did have a great crowd out so had a fun night just the same. Strangely, on the following night the sound was good and we had none of the issues we’d experienced the night before.

After a day off to visit with friends, we headed west to Edmonton. Must mention the breathtaking beauty of the Prairies AGAIN here…more bright blue skies and endless horizon and we even saw bison. Oh, and a giant pysanka in Vegreville!

Even though we were pooped from our almost 6 hour drive, last night we decided to check out an Open Stage at a place called Devaney’s Irish Pub in Edmonton. It was one of those great finds. Got to play half a dozen songs to a responsive audience and enjoy the music of other singer songwriters…and eat some delicious sweet potato fries!

Tonight we have our show at The Druid to look forward to.

Bye for now. We’ll check in again soon as the tour moves along.