North to Port Hardy, BC

We stopped by a graveyard on Hornby Island. I'd noticed this place in the past but had never had the time to stop. The unusual markers had caught my attention. I like them, and I probably would of liked the people they serve. The bike, with its antler handlebars is especially cool. I guess no one else could ride it following the death of its rider. Perhaps it was a bit like the bikes in "The Third Policeman," where over time the molecules of bikes and their riders became mixed... Rough roads, you know. Anyway, we're off on a travel day and need to meet our ferry.





This is a magic island, and we are always sorry to leave. I'm jealous of Dave, who will be coming back here for a week in the summer to teach at the Blues Camp! Nice gig, Dave. It sounds like an amazing time. Ah, here comes the boat. We've two of these to catch— travelling first to Denman Island, and then across the short straight to Vancouver Island.



We are quite looking forward to the drive north today. I've never been to the top end of Vancouver Island before, and I'm always excited about driving unfamiliar roads. Dave and I stop at the ferry terminal on the Vancouver Island side, or rather at the general store that is next to it— and buy coffee and popcorn for the ride. The big bags of kettle corn will probably last for days! This road is looking good already!




It is a scenic ride, becoming more and more isolated as we progress. I'm glad we are rolling on a full tank of gas, that's for sure. We reach Port Hardy before dark, find the ferry terminal, find a motel, go to a sports bar for dinner. Tomorrow the Northern Adventure will meet us at the docks. Tonight I'm going to try and get an internet connection out of the lobby of this motel. It's patchy and slow, but good enough for email.

Rest Day on Hornby Island, BC

Woke up to this view this morning in the beautiful Ocean House. It is the second time we've stayed here, and we are really, really thankful for the hospitality! While Dave goes out to breakfast with some friends, I suit up and go for a run on the other side of this remarkable island. I'm sorry I didn't bring the camera— sometimes it is a bother to have it bouncing around in my pocket over distance. I go about 10- 15 km, mostly on trails high on cliffs over the water. A thrill. It did get a little wild at times, and I wondered how long it would take to find me if I were to have a mishap out here alone. But all was well, and the go to and come back part of my run were on roads like these—



Later I go for a bit of a drive and see the roads and hall by daylight.






Hey, this is a rest day. Dave and I are going out to dinner with some friends. Bye for now. Do you like my hat?

Hornby Island- A Magic Night

The little Dutch diner/cafe shop in Naniamo, BC is closed when we stop this morning, so we continue up the highway and stop at a fancier coffee place. I call David Gogo to give him a hard time about not coming out to our show last night. Big Dave says Gogo was out of town on a gig, and I agree, but figure I'll call him anyway as it's early... Ahh, no answer. I'll have to wake him up some other time, maybe next year. Before you know it we are at the ferry to Denman Island and Hornby Island. We cram a couple of backpackers into the van. They say they've paid for tickets. We say we believe them. The ferry guys don't ask. Both these women have black eyes— they look like they've been in a bar room fight somewhere. They look tough. But they are quite polite, and we take them as far as the community hall on Hornby.




We check in at the venue, and as it happens, we are early enough that we can go to our digs and relax for a while prior to showtime. Nice.


After a lovely meal, we head back to the Hall. There have been quite a few advance tickets sold, and we're expecting to have a great show tonight. This hall is made of wood— it smells nice, sounds nice, looks nice. Soundcheck was wonderful.





We have a great time. Dave and I are really hitting our stride with this presentation. I don't review our shows in this Blog— that's up to you folks— but I must say that it seems our audiences are enjoying these shows as much as we are— which is a whole lot! Thanks for helping to make these nights so much fun.


Of course there's a big raffle here on the island— plenty of interest in the Tour jackets! And here's tonight's lucky winner! After the show we pig out on the little, and big, left over dessert and snack items. Pie, cookies, red wine. The night seems black as there are few street lamps on the island, and the sky is hidden by clouds. When we load out the wind is picking up through the trees. Back at the house I have a glass of wine and listen to the wind, the water, the rain. Sleep will come easily. I'm going to run in the morning.

Naniamo: Long and McQuade, Caprice Theatre

It's an easy drive from Duncan, BC. First we pot around town looking for a good, bacon and eggs kind of breakfast joint. I don't think there is one— plenty of chain food around the edges, but that seems to be it. We stop off at the Garage again. The downstairs cafe is pretty good, but they always stop serving breakfast before we can get there.. so it's muffins and burritos, or something like that. We stop by a giant Thrift store and wade through rooms of stuff and more stuff. Nothing we can't live without, so we are gone.

Our first stop today will be Long and McQuade Music in Naniamo. Of course we are looking forward to this. With the help of the GPS we are in the L&M parking lot almost before we know it.


As always, Longs is friendly. It's still a little quiet, but we are early, so we have a relaxed set up, meet Larry and the staff, and check out the store. This is a really well designed place, with plenty of light coming in from outside, warm wood fixtures, and a nice display configuration.



Dave looks as though he'll probably be loud enough for the workshop! We're starting to have a few people come in, and it's nearly time to start. We've had a fair amount of advance press for tonight's show at the Caprice Theatre, so the Long and McQuade workshop has attracted more than a few blues fans— some equipped with shoe-phone video cameras to capture the event.


These workshops differ depending upon who comes out and what they'd like to learn, but generally we talk a bit about the history and construction of resophonic guitars, and then demo them in various fingerstyle blues traditions. Usually we discuss set-up, strings, slides, pick-ups, mic techniques as well.


Today we field more questions about the blues and its history, and demonstrate a couple of different tunings.


It's always kind of neat to remind people that they don't have to play their guitars in the key that they are tuned to! In other words, you can play in a variety of keys using each tuning. For variety, I accompany Dave on the washboard for a couple of selections. Longs could sell these, if they could get 'em. Lots of interest in the washboard today.


Eventually we need to wrap and be on our way to prepare for this evening's show. Thanks for the hospitality, Larry! Nice store! We'll look forward to dropping by on our next visit. After picking up some harmonicas, picks, and strings, we make our exit.

It's late afternoon, and we hope to get a little nap in at our digs before soundcheck. First we need to find the place...


This IS pretty nice. We could get used to this. All we need is a dock and a boat... and maybe Steve Cropper to lay down a few tracks with us...




The boats are actually pretty big— the ones that are moving by out there on this Bay. There is a BC Ferry terminal nearby, so we are seeing their ships come and go. We settle in to snooze for a couple of hours before heading down to soundcheck. Our host, Tom Dodge, has enough gear set up in his living room for a band. Great view. Nice couch. Warm. Very good.

By the time we get down to the venue it is more than dark. It is still early evening as we drive up and down, searching for the rear loading docks to the Caprice Theatre. This back street looks pretty rough, and I decide immediately that I will NOT be parking the truck here for longer than it takes to load in. While we are stopped, squinting at the buildings, there is a knock on the truck window. "Are you fellas looking for a good time? I can help ya— give ya a great deal tonight." This young hooker is all of, maybe, sixteen. Dave tells her that we are looking for the Caprice Theatre. "That's it, over there." She seems disappointed, but asks if we have any spare change, or drugs, to spare. For better or worse we give her all our spare change, and make a quick U-turn to the Theatre entry gate. It's an ugly little scene, on this little side street, with people lurking in every alcove and streetlight.

Tom and his co-producer, Manda Chelmac, are quick to rally their Sky High Productions crew. Plenty of hands help us load in and set up. I slip out and drive the truck several blocks away, where I park it in the more brightly lit club district.

Sky High Productions is part of the Sky High Performing Arts Academy. This is actually an alternative high school program— and all the young persons helping out here tonight are aspiring performers themselves. They get high school credit while they learn the business and the art. This seems like a wonderful program— I wish there were many more like it across the country.

Of course, the price to be paid for all this help is also a little bit of hurry up and wait. There is a little bit more fussing over set-up and soundcheck than we would like— but for a good cause, so we take it in stride. Dave explains our basic mic choices and acoustic mic technique, while I conduct a mini workshop in the lobby about merch, sales, percentages, spreadsheets, manufacturing costs... It just seemed right to talk to these kids as much as possible as we went about our work.

It's pretty clear to me that the hot meal specified in our agreement isn't going to happen here. There is no food, and the hall is starting to fill up. We haven't had lunch yet, so we'll be playing our show without dinner as well. No snacks in the green room. No wine, no beer— I think there is pop and popcorn in the lobby, but we're busy now, gotta get suited up and get at it!

And our lucky tour jacket winner! We had a good crowd of blues fans come out to this show. The theatre was quite cool— a big, high stage, plenty of depth, and a deco come 1950s kind of decor. A great vibe for a blues show, and a nice hall acoustic sound. Dave and I both had some old friends come out to the show— always great when that happens, but never enough time to properly talk to people as we are so busy before, during and after.

I went and got the truck, and we loaded out into the night. Down on the main drag the police were busy keeping an eye on the partying folks around the dance clubs. Our little side street was less busy, but still active. Now it is late and we are still looking for food. It seems like everything is closed now, but for some fast food places. We do a drive through and Dave orders some kinda mini-baby burger things. I don't order at all— I just can't face eating this kind of stuff. Dave is hungry! I'm beyond that point now.

Back at the digs we have the place to ourselves. It's time to do the books on the show. You can tell I'm tired, and Dave is, too. Soon we'll climb into our bunkbeds and bring this day to a close.

Another Nomination! Big Dave- "Acoustic Act of the Year"

Wow. We just got word that Big Dave has been Maple nominated "Acoustic Act of the Year." This nomination is a real honour as it recognizes nationwide achievement. Blues fans can go to the Maple Blues website and register to vote, online, for all categories. I want to encourage our fans to take a moment and give Big Dave your vote. A few votes can make all the difference as there are always several great artists nominated in each category! I've sat next to Big Dave on the Century Blues Tour every night for over two months, and it's been a real pleasure to hear him play. He's got my vote!

We're in Duncan, BC, this morning. It's raining and we're on our way to Naniamo to do a Long and McQuade workshop this afternoon, and then a show at the Caprice Theatre this evening. This Island, this coast, and it's people are amazing and we are very, very pleased to be made so welcome here. More details soon!

Duncan Garage Showroom— Capacity Show!

It's a short ride to Duncan, BC today, so we take our time leaving— it's still wet and raining most of the time, and people have dropped by this morning to socialize. We drink coffee and hang around. I do an inventory of merch, a re-pack of cd boxes and jackets, a re-pack of the carry-in merch bag, a check of the merch sheets... Recycle trash from the van... Gear in. We're finally gone down the little lane, out to the Big Road. We are pretty wired and don't require any more coffee for the ride. In fact, we're probably going to have to stop a couple of times. This is old guy blues territory— the stop the van business— we don't remember having to stop so much back in the day! But it is a nice ride, even on a rainy day in November. The Island shows off its lush greens, low clouds, and varied topography.

In town early, we book into a moderately cheap motel, to snooze for a couple of hours. I'm supposed to be catching up the Blog from October, but we've had other challenges rise— there is a crazy legal action somebody has launched to try to prevent us from performing under our own, legal names! I don't fully understand it yet, so I won't talk about it here— beyond stating that it is stressful, distracting, and exhausting. I'll work on that problem instead of sleeping or working on the Blog. We have a tremendously good lawyer, whom I've dealt with for the better part of thirty years now, plus Canada's foremost entertainment publicist to assist us. So hopefully this will all work out.

I noticed this weathervane on our way to soundcheck.

It's always a pleasure to play the Duncan Garage Showroom. Proprietor Longevity John has no end of crazy decor around the place (check out the piggy banks and sperm banks above!). But in a serious way, this is also— in my opinion— one of the best acoustic rooms in Canada. It's simply a pleasure to play every time. The room is a great little theatre, the audiences are smart and well informed, the sound is always top notch. John does all the right things and keeps standards high for the room. It's always fun, and tonight is no exception! Dave and I have quite a few fans, both old and new come out this evening.


A good looking bunch, as seen from my chair on stage.


Jacket winner!! Yeah, yeah! You GO girl!! Congrats. This was fun.


Lots of blues friends, and great to see everybody. Thanks for yet another wonderful night in Duncan!