This past weekend, I played KINGFEST, an amazing 3-day music fest in King City - featuring performers like Jim Cuddy, The Salads, Sarah Harmer, Sloan, Bruce Cockburn, The Trews, The Joel Plaskett Emergency, Justin Rutledge, Oh Susanna, & many more.

THE SHORT VERSION: 3 days of blues, folk, rock, and roll featuring hundreds of comics about me, stealing Jim Cuddy's fruit plate, Jim Cuddy stealing my shirt, a show at Second City, a wedding proposal, crowd surfing to Sloan and an absolutely amazing weekend! I played a great show, sold some CDs, t-shirts, and made some new friends. Awesomeness.

THE (PROBABLY TOO) LONG VERSION:

FRIDAY:

Actually, maybe I should start the week leading up to it, when I naively decided to make a Kingfest Comic Book. "That shouldn't take too much time," I thought. ha ha ha.

Days and hours of frantic drawing, designing, writing, etc. lead to 2pm on Friday, with my entire department at work helpng to fold and staple the damn things. My co-workers are either awesome friends, or desperate to do anything else but their normal work.

With one hand stapling comics, I phone my t-shirt guys in Etobicoke who tell me that the shirts won't be ready till 5pm. I'm supposed to be in King City for 4:45, so this isn't great. PLUS, I still have to pick up the tickets - Kingfest gives me a pass on the day of my show, but I had to buy tickets for myself and Dayna (my "support person" - Kingfest lets you bring in one "support person" with you and Ms. Dayna Hawerchuck, friend to the stars, has nicely volunteered). As I was buying tickets though, Dayna won tickets in a contest, so I now have to scalp my tickets.

Big deep breath.

I bolt out of work with an armful of 100 comics and get the tickets at the only ticketmaster location on Danforth - a bizarre Greek music basement store. Then I speed out to Etobicoke, where the guys are frantically trying to box my shirts (which look great, by the way - you should all buy 2, because you will wear through the first one).

The radio is playing Kingfest ads and as I pull off the 404 I see signs leading to Senica's campus. This is my first big festival and I'm still overwhelmed by its scale.

I get up to Kingfest for 7. Dayna has the patience of a saint. Still, we catch most of The Salads kickass opening.

I drop off the comics at the merch booth - I'm a bit nervous about how they'll be taken, but everyone loves them. Jeanne, a cool volunteer, started handing them out to everyone who came in the tent. Walking around I started seeing my comics everywhere - which was great - except it meant I needed a LOT more for the next two days.

The rest of the night is awesome - Joel Plaskett & The Emergency kicks ass and I am buying all of his CDs. I got to give him one of my comics afterwards and he seems totally cool rocking out in his homemade sweater vest.

The Trews blow the stage up. They're from Antigonish, but always feel like neighbours because their manager used to live next to me and they were always on his porch. John-Angus does things with a guitar I've never seen. They were recently dropped from their label and it's ridiculous because the crowd loves them.

Finally Sloan comes onstage. Chris Murphy is a huge ham - and is brilliant at working the crowd. He's also having so much fun - the whole band is - like they've got nothing to prove. And they don't - the place is packed with moshing, crowd-surfing Senica students chanting the sloan anthem ("Slooooo-ooooan") over and over. A fight breaks out in front of us over whether one guy dropped another while he crowd surfed. A group in front of us keeps, um, sucking on another guy's jacket, which looks bizarre until they decide to offer Dayna a suck from their bag of whiskey they've hidden in their jacket. She politely declines. Behind us, someone keeps yelling drunken encouragement to the band - "You're doing great, Sloan!" "You're at the top of your game, Sloan!"

The night ends and we agree to meet back at noon, giving me enough time to make a ton more comics and maybe, sleep a little.

SATURDAY:

The next day I'm up early printing off hundreds of comics and sitting with a stapler folding and folding and folding and folding. I boot it up to Kingfest, getting there late (Dayna = very patient) and we head in. We drop the shirts and CDs at the merch booth where they find me a corner next to Jim Cuddy's stuff - which makes me pretty happy.

Here's how festival merch works. Since Kingfest benefited Habitat for Humanity, everything gets marked up - it also makes it easier for everyone if all shirts are the same price, etc. So my $15 CDs became $20, and $20 shirts became $25. But it's all for a good cause, so who cares. Still, I get permission to undercut HFH and sell off the stage after my performance for cheap.

Dayna and I grab the staplers that I've "borrowed" from work and head to the Habitat stage, where I'll be playing, to sit and staple and fold and fold and fold.

Onstage we catch the Senica Independent Music program grads and students. It sounds like School of Rock for the college crowd - I wish I'd had something like it - some are more impressive than others, but overall they're a pleasure to listen to - there should be some cool talent coming out of Senica.

While we're stapling, Steve and Shannon from Kingfest introduce themselves - they're the folks who booked me and are both totally nice. Steve's very excited about the comic books and hands it out to all the Kingfest crew who all come over to say hi. Comic books rock.

My friend, Snoovy arrives and buys my extra tickets. We finish up a couple hundred comics and drop them off at the merch tent. I think neither one of us wants to see a Staple for a while.

We hang out in the beer tent eating lunch and watching a fiddle workshop with Anne Lindsay, Jim Cuddy's violinist, and an amazing soloist. Dayna introduces me to her. Then we watch Jack D and Japhy Ryder, funky rock bands, play back at the Habitat stage. The Habitat stage (short for Habitat for Humanity) is aimed at showcasing up n comers like yours truly. The bands are diverse, but all really quite good.

Dayna, who I swear knows everyone, introduces me to Suzie from Oh Susanna and her husband Cam, who drums for her. Their son Sal is passed out in a buggy. I saw them play recently at NXNE, so I'm a bit aflutter, but they're really grounded, down-to-earth folks. They like the comic too. We also meet Lynne Miles, who I've never heard before - also very nice.

Two little girls are selling water from the back of a plastic wagon. They offer me $2 for 5 comics, but I refuse the toonie and give them as many as they want. The next time I see them they're shouting "Water bottles! One Dollar! Free comic with every bottle!" VERY cute.

Back in the food area, I make friends with the nice water people (whose daughters are the little entrepreneurs) and they hand out my comics at their booth. I also catch up with Merchants of Green Coffee, friends of friends and providers of some of the best coffee in Toronto (I hear).

Finally we go see a "heartland workshop" and pass out in the sun listening to beautiful fingerpicking and piano tunes.

Later I geek out and take pictures of my merch intermixed with Jim Cuddy's.

Back at the mainstage, it's a totally different crowd from last night's Moshers. People have come to listen, chill out, and smoke up. Oh Susanna plays - Suzie and Cam putting on a great show, while their son, Sal, gets bounced by Anne Lindsay backstage - she even lets him hold her violin.

Jim Cuddy arrives and a massive line of girls cue up to get their picture with him. Dayna offers to introduce me, but I'd rather meet him when I'm not one of the lineup.

Justin Rutledge plays a sweet set, followed by Lynne Miles, who's playing with Lyle Molzan - the drummer on my album. I see him by the stage and we catch up a bit. He plays a great set with Lynne (whose music is lovely, btw) and he's playing Sunday with a kids group called "Sho Mo & The Monkey Bunch."

Inbetween Al Simmons hams it up. At one point, Snoovy gets grabbed to read the list of sponsors, for which she is rewarded with "Jim Cuddy's food!" He grabs her and they run backstage, giving her the option of a veggie plate or a fruit plate. She shares with the crowd, but Dayna and I eat a fair bit - Jim Cuddy's fruit tastes better than normal fruit.

Finally Jim Cuddy comes on and Dayna, who's seen him a million times, wants to get up and dance - but the audience is comfy and happy and the 20 or so dancers get asked to sit down.

I'm a big fan of Blue Rodeo and Jim Cuddy, so my biased review is that they rocked like crazy. Anne Lindsay does a completely Keelor-esque crazy solo and Justin Rutledge and Kathleen Edwards both guest on vocals. Prairie Oyster comes on afterwards and plays some sweet laid back acoustic-rock. I'm not familiar enough with their stuff, so just before they finish, we leave.

On my way out I pass out a couple more comics - and run into an old friend, Carol, who recognizes my name on them! I haven't seen her in years! She says she'll come see my show tomorrow.

It's late, but I head over to Shannon's bar, the Hunt Pub - a cozy place PACKED with people. Jack D has come over to jam and afterwards, the Sofa Kings, the house band, invite me up for Magic Carpet Ride and Brown Eyed Girl, which I trash my voice on a bit - but have a great time.

On the way home, Irene asks me to pick up some groceries from Shopper's. Yep. Nothing says "independent musician" like grocery shopping at a drugstore at 2 in the morning.

SUNDAY:

I'm actually on time today - and Dayna is late! Ha! I get to park in the "artist" parking lot, and checking in I get my Kingfest lanyard ("David Hein of David Hein"), my wristband, and directions. Volunteers offer to help move my stuff and I feel very official.

Dayna and I head to log cabin - the backstage area for artists, which we're now allowed into - complete with breakfast (there's even beer available at 10am!... I opted for a muffin and juice), working bathrooms (no more porta potties for us), and other sleepy artists to mumble at. Still, it feels cool to be there after watching Friday & Saturday musicians troop in and out.

I'm playing relatively soon, so I head over to the stage to tune up and ask Dayna to pass out the rest of the comics. Onstage is the local Schomberg Idol winner - a 12 year old girl who does a mean KT Tunstall and then turns on the Broadway. She's really good... I hope I'm as good as her. Following her is Dr. Joel - an amazing blues musician who recently was diagnosed with cancer and channeled his emotions into recording a CD - a sweet, awesome guy. He's played Kingfest 3 times now and pulls out a crowd - most of whom disappear after his set.


I hang out next to the stage in the tent there - which I imagined was full of coolness, but in reality is just an empty tent - but still the shade is fantastic - and I get to warm up out of site. After a whole week building up to this, I'm nervous, but I get on stage and it's all just business as usual. John & Rob, the techs set me up and I joke with Steve, who tells me that based on my comic, I'm his "blatant self-promotion inspiration."

The show is great - totally fun. There's only about 50 people there for me at noon, but I can see toes tapping, people dancing and smiles all around. Everyone claps through "The Show Must Go On" and afterwards I thank everyone for coming to the "main stage", but encourage them to check out the up n comers at the end of the lane - "last night I saw a new guy named Jim Cuddy who I think will really go places." My voice is a bit rough from last night's rockin', but I cruise right through it. The sun is out. It's warm and I'm at a big festival having the time of my life.

Afterwards, Shannon tells me I was "charming" and everyone congratulates me on a good set. The next act, Poor Tom (two women doing beautiful folk - one of whom is a minister and had a service earlier) gives me props for being able to make jokes during songs. My friend Carol, an old theatre friend, loves Stagefright and a bunch of other friends have made it out. I sign a lot of CDs. I'm pretty happy.

Unfortunately I can't stick around. Irene's in her big Second City conservatory show downtown and I wouldn't miss it for the world - although it sucks to leave, I rush off, passing by Sho Mo & The Monkey Bunch singing an alphabet song to Dayna & a bunch of kids. I give Lyle a thumbs up and jump into my car.

Since this is my music blog, I'll just say the show was amazing and I've got no talent compared to her.

I get back to Kingfest around 6:30ish - half an hour after I've told everyone I'll meet them at the merch tent - a theme for the weekend. At the merch tent, Jeanne buys a CD and I sign it for her. I find Carol in the crowd and then get found by everyone else - apparently a big blonde guy in a David Hein shirt is easily spotted.

The rest of the day flies by. I meet up with Kim, an old teacher and friend of mine, who used to be in a band which opened for the Crash Test Dummies. I get chicken and little potatoes backstage - free band food tastes better than normal food.

Sarah Harmer does a great set - I hang out with Mary, another cool Kingfest crewmember who knows EVERY word and wants to volunteer as her understudy. Then suddenly in the middle of her set, the crowd starts applauding like crazy. At the front of the stage is a man down on his knees and a VERY surprised woman, wearing a ring. Awwwww. We all cheer like crazy and Sarah changes the lyrics (so Mary tells me) to fit the occasion.

We take a quick break to cash out at the Merch Booth. Not bad. I sold a bunch of CDs and t-shirts... one to Darryl - and we all model our team-shirts.

Apparently there's a discrepancy. They're missing a t-shirt of mine - and the money for it - but agree to pay for it. Our theory: I had one blue shirt mixed in with Jim Cuddy's, so we think Jim made off with it in retrobution for the fruit plate. On the way out, one of the merch booth volunteers follows me after to grab a CD for the lower, less-marked up price.

Bruce Cockburn is the only mainstage artist who doesn't play with a band. Not that he needs it. His thumb plays a bass line and his pinky drums, while the rest of his fingers pick the most beautiful tunes ever.

John, the sound guy from the Habitat stage welcomes me backstage, and I hang out with Shannon, John and Rob, singing along to "Wondering Where the Lions Are." Shannon wants the crowd to start clapping along and says she going to jump on stage to tell them. We tell her security will take her down and she says, "Are you kidding? Security wants to date me!"

Later I stand four feet away from Sarah Harmer, but she's talking to people and I'm tired... oh well. Next time.

Bruce sings every hit. Waiting for a Miracle is stunning. I find a chair and watch him from behind, blissing out on the endless night and the stars. I wish he'd played "If I had a rocket launcher" (or "lawn-chair" as John calls it) - we guess that maybe he doesn't feel as angry now.

I lose them all on the way out, but catch up with Dayna, Darryl, & Cheri. They help me throw all my stuff into my car and then they head home. I go home too... and find a huge party going on on my deck. Everyone from Second City is chilling out. For the first time the whole weekend, I have a beer and chill out too.

Best weekend ever.