On The Road
I’m caught in a whirlwind of fun, laughter, boos, hisses and cheers. Since arriving back at school there has been no down time. I have only moved from classes, to reunions, to work, to parties, to concerts and other fun events. A wednesday which consists of classes from 8:30 am to 10:00 pm with only two hours of breaks, is only matched by the first weekend of the school year.
Yes, I am on the road. Drained, tired and moving a 100 miles per hour. Heeding the advice of those older to me saying “do it while you’re young” I am indeed trying to do as much as I can. Thursday I went to see one of the coolest bands around southern ontario, Bruce peninsula. Different members of the band comprised the opening acts, with all 8 members coming together for the final set of the night.
Now Bruce Peninsula may get lumped into a genre of folk, but their music is anything but folk. It is much more similar to afrobeat and jazz when you look at their music in detail. The drummer who takes in the odd time signatures with ease and produces a beat that drives the melodies and crowd. Then there are the singers. The lead singer having a deep raspy voice, sounding at first listen, to seem as though his vocal chords were run over by an 18-wheeler, smoked and then dried out in the sun for too long. Similar to Tom Waites but, perhaps not as wild. This leading vioce complimented by 3 women who project their voice into a choir of 100. The one is the absolute redheaded reincarnation of Jannis Joplin, with out the excessive amounts of wisky. Bruce Peninsula played just about every song in there 2 album catalogue, making for an amazing night.
There are times like this when everything comes together. Friends, music and an incredible atmosphere. Everyone is caught up in in the moment oblivious to everyone around them except the ones your sitting with.
Thursday night was only a precursor for the friday’s evening. Woke up for 8:30 class friday and was in class until 3:30 that day, after which I tended to the climbing gym desk for an hour. After that it was home for a quick nap and off to a potluck. From there we went to see These United States and met up with some others. This show was truly amazing, as it was just my friends and a group of 3 others that were there to see the show. At first it was wierd and we felt bad that no one showed up to see such a talented band. Then the band asked for the lights to be dimmed in order to play a slow dancing track. It was then that the 15 of us watching all joined in a group hug and swayed together, oscilating as a single unit for the song. After that they played the classic “Honour Amongst Thieves” causing the music, dancing and general atmosphere to pick up tremendously. It seems the band originally depressed, was begining to feed off of the small crowd to deliver an amazing and incredibly intimate show. The encore was given as a request where there was actually an open discussion with the crowd and band in deciding what the last two songs would be.
We all talked and had a drink with the band after. The opening band (who I missed) actually ended up staying with my friends for the night. They drank beers, and had an awesome jam session in the morning. And from the recording of their jam session, I am a little upset that I missed their show. Still after parting with These United States, the night was young so a few friends and I hopped on a bus to go downtown. We ended up at the Albion Hotel, which is really not surprising. We danced well into the morning hours, played the very out of tune piano which sits at the wall. With morning light nearing, and the bars closing I had to part with my dear friends to stagger home even though the fire was still burning in me. I arrived home to see my roomate and a friend had been drawing and making collages drinking all night, so I joined them a wrote some truly terrible poetry. It was a blast to do even though you can’t really expect anything great to be written at 4:15 am.
Saturday arrived all to early the next day, yet there were pancakes on hand, and the weather was warm and sunny. I took to finally finish reading my novel in the park and getting a start on the pile of school work. That didn’t last too long as I was soon off to jam with some friends. I got the chance to play a 6 string fretless bass, which was challenging and very fun to do. No time to rest afterwards, as I raced home to make dirty curry with some friends and go out to a kegger. Now this was a night where, I should have stayed in but I went out and stayed out late.
I woke up this morning to enjoy some coffee with my neighbor, before heading to the library to get some serious work done. Oddly enough sitting on the first floor of the library was Edwin, the violinist for the Wooden Sky. I have heard rumors about them playing a free show at jimmy jazz, so maybe they are currently in town in which I will make a point of finding out tonight. From the library it was to the climbing gym to finally put up the boulder problem I had been waiting to set all week, and from there it was home to make dinner leading to now. Yet there is still the remainder of this evening.
I am heading to see Karkwa play at the ebar, but I’m going to check out jimmy jazz for the rumoured Wooden Sky show. On the road, you ain’t goin’ nowhere.
