Had a wonderful time in my country’s capital region on Friday.
The day started out pretty sketchy…
I was in Toronto for a few days last week working on the debut solo album of Sarah Greene with David Celia and Chris Banks. Check this out:
Anyway, I was setting out to drive from Toronto to Ottawa Friday morning. Was due to be in Ottawa for the in-store performance at Octopus Books at 2 pm. I was very proud of myself for getting on the road at 7:45 am.
And then, 30 minutes outside of Toronto, I ran over a white Home Depot container on the 401. It was lodged between my front right tire and my car. I had to wait 30 minutes for the CAA and the guy, Mitch, was very nice, and he removed the container, but he was worried that my tire might blow if I keep driving. So he insisted on towing me 200 km to Napanee.
I spent half the drive with him in his truck, shooting the breeze. Sweet guy. From Newfoundland. Moved to Toronto when he was a tyke. But he has dreams of retiring in Newfoundland, just like his dad did.
So in the end, the Canadian Tire in Napanee said I’d be fine to keep driving and that my tire wouldn’t blow, but that my 2 front tires are worn in general and it’s only a matter of time….
I made it to Ottawa an hour late but did my in-store and had a lot of fun. Thank you, Jenn Farr for organizing it and to Lisa and Richard for having the idea and putting me up.
Here’s a link to Jenn’s photos on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=471612&id=891065550&ref=mf
And then I was stuck in traffic and got lost a bit on my way to the evening show at the Blacksheep Inn in Wakefield, which is 40 minutes outside of Ottawa in Wakefield, QC. As soon as I got there, though, I was hit by how beautiful it is there in the summer. The vibe was great!! It’s on a river, the Gatineau, and there was this huge makeshift raft made out of wood and stuff that kids in their early twenties have been making from scratch every Canada Day. They were just relaxing and playing guitar on it. The day was splendid.
The show at the Blacksheep was very memorable for me. The audience was very responsive and we had a lot of fun together. We all listened to the rhythm of the train passing by and snapped along with it. The audience sang a great version of “Sweet Emma’s Group”, and I also invited an accordion player, Shirley, who I had met earlier that day at Octopus Books to come up and play a song. She played and I sang “Carolina in the Morning”, an old song I had sung a few weeks ago with Andy Creeggan in Montreal. I forgot a lot of the words, but everyone was very forgiving!
Thanks to Paul and Stephanie at the Blacksheep for having me back. And thank you to all the new friends I made that night. It was wonderful to chat with some of you after the show. And thanks to Kenny Voita for closing the night. He was great and did a beautiful duet with his girlfriend that just knocked out everyone in the room.
Ottawa and Wakefield – I’ll be back soon….
Actually, I’m driving back tomorrow to do some recording with my friend Craig Cardiff for his new album. He lives about an hour outside of Ottawa to the west.
One more thing… I also spent a couple of days at the Ottawa Folk Fest this weekend and had a blast. My highlight was seeing a workshop in the Dance Tent with members of Arrested Development, Hidden Cameras, Bruce Peninsula, Hoots and Hellmouth and Jill Zmud. Such beautiful volunteers at the festival too.
Okay… talk to you guys soon…. can’t wait to be playing a lot more regularly.
Love,
Mike
