| Bound Down for Newfoundland |
| Wednesday, August 6th REGATTA DAY! The day dawned beautifully and the steady stream of humanity walking past our hotel started early. King's Bridge Road is closed to vehicular traffic. The Royal St. John's Regatta is the oldest continuously held sporting event in North America. It is a civic holiday in Newfoundland's Capital City. Everyone who is anyone is traveling up King's Bridge Road to Quidi Vidi Lake. I am anxious to see the event in person. Vic would much rather watch it on TV. "If I can't row in it, I am not interested." Maybe we'll have to work on that, We ate breakfast at the hotel and watched some races on TV in the lobby. I was itching to go and went upstairs to get ready to take the walk up the street to Quidi Vidi. When we got upstairs, who was being interviewed on NTV? Mr. Bob Hallett himself! Looking very dapper in his sunglasses, he gave a wonderful interview. He said how they missed Darrell but all wished him well. "10 years touring with GBS, 280 days a year away from your kids is hard." He welcomed Murray and joked about dressing him in a Puffin costume, compliments of Kris. He talked about the upcoming CD to be released "in the new year," recording it with a view of the harbour in St. John's, and about the DVD which is set to come out in October 2003 and about the almost constant touring, and trying to break into the American market being so hard. Bob told us the DVD would have the GBS Live Special on it, plus videos plus what he termed "bloopers, and embarrassing backstage and onstage antics." He talked about how hard it was to play at home, wanting everything to be perfect for your family and friends. When the interviewer expressed surprise that everything would NOT be perfect at a GBS show, Bob said it was not often perfect. The most embarrassing gig was their first National coverage on TV. "It was early 1995. We flew the 'red-eye' to Toronto. No sound check or sleep. We were on at 7 AM. Alan broke a string during the song, so we had to do the song without the guitar. That was our worst case scenario so everything was up from there!" I was so excited to know that he was there and I was just down the street, I practically FLEW out of the hotel to the Regatta. I could not believe the sea of humanity when I got there. What a crowd! I also could not believe what a long walk it was for me. I did manage to catch the back of Bob as he wandered thru the crowd. He has a very distinctive walk and I recognised the shirt from the TV. I think he may have had a relative in the Regatta as I saw a Lisa Hallett listed in one of the boats on TV before I left. And Sean's brother apparently was in an earlier race - Glenn McCann was on the Newfoundland Screech team. They came in last, I think, in their heat. Too much Screech I guess. LOL! I walked along the perimeter of the lake and people watched. The most curious thing I noticed was not many people were actually WATCHING the regatta. Most were playing the carnival games, lining up for food (any kind your heart desires!) perusing the craft booths or in the beer tent. The families were all over on the amusement ride side having fun. I sat on the shore and watched the heats for about 45 minutes. Then I got hungry and bought a couple hotdogs and a couple cans of Coke and headed back to the hotel. I had neglected to bring my hat with me and I was beginning to get sunburned. A couple hemp and bead bracelets caught my eye and I bought them from some young girls in the parking lot and began the walk "home." I really should not have walked up to and walked around because my ankle was beginning to swell and the other knee wasn't feeling too well either. The hotdog disappeared on the way home when I rested on a wall. I did manage to have SOME self-control and saved Vic's hotdog for him. |
| We lounged around, debating going to the barbecue along the lake that we had been invited to earlier. Too much humanity in one place, Vic decided and we stayed at the hotel till dinner. While watching the other races on TV, I downloaded my photos to my laptop and began editing. I got a lot done and stopped for supper. We called Jim and Lillian to invite them to dinner, they suggested eating at Dexas above the Sundance since it was right next to Club One where Jim's group was doing sound check tonight. We were invited to the sound check, totally not knowing what to expect. I thought it was fun to be eating at a place (Sundance) mentioned in a GBS song, The Night Pat Murphy Died. That turned out to be the least of the thrills that night. |
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| The family fun side of the lake |
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| Girls row too! |
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| On your mark! |
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| And you thought people were here to watch the rowers? Here's a contestant who garnered some attention. I don't know if he won or not. |
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| We arrived at Jim's to find a stranger answering the door. It was Lekbir Halili, the only member of the Musaik we hadn't met yet! We tried to get him to go to dinner with us, but he had a performance the next evening with a bunch of other musicians from St. Pierre on an exchange type program and he wanted to visit with friends. He said he'd meet up with us later at Club One. The other big surprise was that we were hauling all the instruments over to the Club before we ate! LOL! Vic has a 7-passenger long Caravan. The list of things/people we fit into the car: Various roadtrip supplies from our trip, including 2 suitcases, and then their gear - three saxophones, a trombone, a large box of whistles/harmonicas, a guitar, an accordion, a djembe drum, a mandolin, a keyboard,plus Jim, Lillian, Thierry, Vic and I. Everything JUST fit. It was a strange/marvelous feeling to be unloading all the instruments on the sidewalk and telling the guy at the door, "I'm with the band." Wow. The inside of the Club had this HUGE electric guitar replica above the bar. It was amazing. It was all black inside too, like the Trocadero in Philly. We dropped the instruments in the Club and went into Dexas thru a special door to eat. Inside we met up with Joy, one of the backup singers on the CD, who joined us at dinner. She works for Garrison Guitars. We ordered all kinds of things for dinner - not one repeat in the bunch and had a grand time chatting, waiting for the dinners to come out. Joy was fun to talk to and the conversations flowed easily. Dinner came in short order and we chowed down. I had a very delicious chicken parmesean and Joy let me taste her Pineapple Breezer. Mmmm. The whole bill for the 6 of us, drinks and appetizers included came to under $100. Talk about a pleasant surprise! Too soon it was sound check time. We threaded our way thru the connecting hallway and I sat back while Jim and the sound man, Rick, tried to put the soundboard back. The last band that had used it really had messed it up and Jim and Rick had to take it completely down and start from scratch. It was just amazing to watch/hear the two of them adjust the levels on 22 different channels. Thierry busied himself with unpacking all his instruments. Everything except the keyboard and guitar was his! As the evening wore on, I chatted with Joy about living in St. John's, Jim, singing, jobs, tattoos, extra-terrestrial life, and dogs. She lives on a street I had taken photos of that day. What a coincidence! Time rolled by and more band members rolled in. There were two more saxophonists, a pianist, a bass player, a harpist, a drummer, another guitar player and Lekbir came later in the evening with his gabochets, a fascinating instrument like a big castanet made out of huge metal bottlecaps. When we had arrived, Jim said we'd be out in a couple hours. Thierry whispered "more like midnight" to me, which was 4 hours later. LOL! He was right - almost to the minute. |
| As the night wore on, I was not bored at all. Jim is a talented musician and producer and surprised me more than once during the evening. If he wanted an instrument to sound a certain way, or be played in a certain rhythm, he'd explain it, sing it, and then if need be, play it on the instrument of choice. I think he played all of them that evening. With ease. And sounded good. What a talent here in St. John's! Probably the best part of the evening though was when the drummer hadn't shown up yet and they needed to soundcheck the drums. Lillian marched Jim right up to the drum kit and he was in his glory! Even though he has classical piano training, I think his love is percussion. He was just having so much fun behind that drum kit! When the whole band finally assembled, it was a real treat to get a sneak preview of their CD release show the following Sunday. It was a special session for me because I had to leave Newfoundland on Saturday to get to the Gaelic College in Cape Breton by Sunday. I would miss the CD release party that I had planned on attending. *sniff* But Vic promised he'd take pictures and allow me to relive the experience thru him. While Jim was messing with the drums, Thierry came over and gave me a quick lesson on the piano accordion. What patience he has! With him as a teacher, I might be able to play it! He teaches music on St. Pierre. He definitely knows his stuff and has the patience to share his talents. I am happy to count him as a friend. Plus he is funny. He and Jim are a dangerous comedy team. The best part of the evening was watching/listening to Bob Marley's "Jammin'" played by Jim's band with Jim on the drums. What fun! But the evening allowed me to experience a tedious part of a musician's life. I was entertained all evening watching/listening to the whole process but I imagine it can get old real fast. Plus Jim was due to have a couple interviews the next morning with NTV and the CBC about the new CD. I can't imagine doing this sound check thing every single night of a long tour. God bless touring musicians! At midnight, we pack up the instruments and take Jim, Lillian and Thierry home. Home? No. Can't be out with Jim and not visit Erin's Pub! So off we went down the street and around the corner for "just one drink." I had several “Gypsies” with rum and coconut stuff. HA! Lekbir told us about his house, which apparently has artwork all over it. We talked soundman jobs with Rick, who has worked all over the world. We chatted with Mike Hanrahan who was singing again and joined us between sets. Arthur O’Brien was there too and sang a song or two. Laughed and enjoyed ourselves as usual. Never promise anyone "just one drink." It never happens. 4-6 drinks later we finally left Erin's, 2:30 AM I think. One more night out late drinking. I am really turning into a "Downtown Girl", aren't I? Oh my. Thanks Jim, for the memories. |