I wrote a song right before going on this tour called "Hold On, Maria" - I've been playing it out here and one of the last lines is:

One more town, Maria, and I'll come home
You can hang up now, Maria, but please don't let me go

Well it's one more town and one more show in Vancouver before the end of my big West of Wherever tour. After a somewhat regretful car switch at Enterprise (from my new blue car to the older red alberta car with the bald all-weather tires and the sullied lock), I head to a Starbucks for internet (which doesn't work), then head to another Starbucks (which does) and then wander around looking for more presents for girls and cats back home.

Eventually it's time to meet up with an old friend, Tony, from high school back in Ottawa. Turns out he's now working for IBM in Seattle and is up in Vancouver for the weekend for Cthulhupalooza - an annual fest of all things Cthulhu... what's that? What's Cthulhu? Well of course, it's a fictional giant squid faced monster, one of the "Great Old Ones" in some of H. P. Lovecraft's stories. According to wikipedia, Cthulhu is "often referred to in science fiction and fantasy circles as a tongue-in-cheek shorthand for extreme horror or evil." And my friend Tony is going to watch bands, movies and other things inspired by him. Tony, as it turns out, also wears a kilt - or a Utilikilt(TM) - as he happily endorses.

It's great to see Tony - he seems totally cool and happy and we catch up on over 10 years of not seeing eachother. We hang out at Starbucks, catching up on what old friends and then go to an old Polish restaurant for an awesome all-day breakfast. I wish Tony could see my show (he's at Cthulhupalooza) and I kinda wish I could see Cthulhupalooza. I also wish I had a Utilikilt.

I have a bit of time, so I stop at English Bay, because I'm a ridiculous Blue Rodeo fan. I write Irene's name in the sand and get cooed over for being a romantic by passing joggers.

Next, I head over to see Ray and Connie's place for dinner. Connie's place is an amazing condo in the sky near downtown Vancouver - pretty cool. After possibly the best dinner of the whole trip, I head to the last show of the tour at The Wired Bean.

It's raining though and I get a little lost - my GPS refused to believe that such a place exists, but eventually I find it. The Bean is a cozy little coffee shop. I was playing last with two other local musicians, Debra Whyte and Brandy Gibb. Debra runs a recurring music night there and Brandy has brought out a ton of her students, all very excited to be calling her "Brandy" instead of "Miss Gibb."

I trundle in and out forgetting a million things and feeling kind of rushed. I have an unfortunate tradition of having less-than-stellar final shows on tour and am a bit concerned. Still, everyone seems totally nice. Both Debra and Brandy play sweet sets. I thought there'd be a quick break between Brandy and my set and end up getting introduced while in the bathroom.

Brandy's students stick around for a couple songs, but everyone else stays till the end. I'm a bit worried about time, since I have to drive 4 hours to Kamloops after the show, but I'm having a totally fun time - and Ray and Connie have arrived, so it's a pleasure to play to old friends - especially Ray, who, just days before, I played all of these tunes...

What a nice show - Ray gives me a big bear hug and tells me to phone to tell him I made it okay - everyone else promises to stay in touch - and when I ask for caffeine, I get a big ass coffee... I even sip some of it in the hopes of staying awake... before remembering that I don't really like coffee. And then I'm off. And the long trip home is another story entirely.