The drive down the Fraser Valley is incredible - breathtaking canyons and mountains and waterfalls. Apparently I missed a huge storm that is still threatening to flood much of BC, but my day is sunny for the most part, or, when it rains, it's light.
On the other hand, it takes a looooong time to get to Vancouver. Still, it's pretty and the curvy roads keep you alert and interested/awake.
I finally get into town and thanks to my brother-in-law, Scott, who happens to be in town for work, I navigate successfully to where I'm staying (thanks to Carol Pearlstone for putting me up), drop my stuff and then head out to dinner with Scott.
I'm playing at Limerick Junction - which is in the heart of the infamous East Side - and the East Side is a doozy - many poor people asking for change, a huge crowd of people (what I've been told are drug dealers and hookers, but mostly everyone just looks poor as I pass by).
The show is a round-robin, which means there are 4 of us and we each take a turn playing a song going in a circle. I've never done this before, but have seen them - still, it's kind of funny to be on stage for 3 songs just looking at the others. The others, by the way, are fantastic, Bobby Slack, Che, and Wynston (I'll have to come back to put in their full names and websites) - really, really good songwriters with great voices and styles. They all raise the bar with each song. They're all from Vancouver and make plenty of Toronto jokes. Eventually we all make friends and start to harmonize, solo, and play on eachother's songs, which the audience likes a lot. Bobby plays harmonica while Wynston solos over Caroline - lots of fun.
In the audience, I need to thank Leslie (from the Moose Jaw show - and originally from California) for coming out, Scott, my roadie, brother-in-law, and helpful direction giver, and Mark Hopkinson, an old friend of Irene's from York days - we hang out for a while and catch up. Then Mark offers me his 12-string guitar! He says he's basically getting rid of it and do I want it?! Eventually I manage to at least trade him a CD for it, but Mark, I'm still considering this a loan if you ever want it back! Thank you though. It's a beautiful guitar!
Nice to have old friends at a show and nice to make some new ones. I wish I could have seen more of Vancouver, but I have to leave early the next morning for Victoria, to be on TV!
