Spring is doing its best, so let’s all breathe a little sigh of relief for that. We have just returned from our Western Canada tour, and are holed up in our respective hearths, getting ready for a busy spring of solo touring. You can see a great tour album, with photos by Adrian here. Check them out– Adrian got into photos in a BIG way. Picture lots of meandering drives around the photogenic foothills of the Alberta Rockies. If you are wondering why there is a picture of a cat in this post, lemme tell you, nothing says, “welcome home from tour” like a cat looking skeptically at a picture of a squirrel. This is documented. Bowie is always saying.
And here is a brief summary in words, organized with no particular organization:
- We toured with Tanya Davis, an amazing musician\poet from Halifax, via P.E.I. She rocks! We discovered that there is nothing more endearing than a P.E.I. accent saying the word “window”. We experimented with imitating this accent relentlessly, finding every possible excuse to say, “window”. Thank you, Tanya, for being a good sport!
- We drove through a blizzard, an ACTUAL BLIZZARD, on our way out from Winnipeg to Saskatoon. Big, fat kudos to Brendan and Adrian for not killing us. We passed 17 car corpses in an hour-long stretch of the drive. The wind made howling noises more normally associated with werewolves in Gothic thrillers. Even more impressive, the ACTUAL BLIZZARD started the night before, at the same time as our show in Winnipeg. It was still packed. Winnipeg, once again, we salute you.
- Brendan McLeod almost ate an eraser! This might not be interesting to anyone, except for his little cousin, Emma. She left a very sweet note for us, along with some candy, and a tiny little horse, for decoration. Brendan ate the candy, and tried to eat the horse. Emma got a big kick out of this. So did I. What a galoot.
- Team Accordion won our last tour’s t-shirt competition, even after giving Team Guitar and Team Banjo a six shirt lead. No big deal. Team Triangle thing experienced some unsettling set-backs in the Canadian prairie, but is looking forward to a strong showing during our Eastern Canada tour, in markets where triangles generally slay. Team Straight White Male with a Guitar still struggles, even with its current design (“Team SMWAG”), but it does appear to be struggling less, which can only be good news. Team Banjo has returned to its historically strong position, following a strong campaign by Chris Suen, which featured many leg kicks on solos.
- We witnessed the work of the road rescue team of Boundary, B.C., and even had Americanos, made by the head of the Disaster Response team. How is this, you ask? Well, a huge truck bailed across the highway, blocking all traffic on the #3, in both directions. No one was hurt, thank goodness, but our 10-hour haul from Vancouver to Fernie started to look even longer. We went back to Boundary, to wait it out in a coffee shop. We were wondering how long things would take to clear, when the guy making us coffee got a call about the accident on a walkie talkie dangling from his belt. He finished making all of the coffees. Foamed the milk. We got the picture. It was a long wait.
- We went snowshoeing in Onanole, and had our very first Naked Baby Running Across the Stage Incident at the show that night. Those things are not really related, but maybe the point is that we had a very relaxed and warm night in Onanole, with our good friends Celes and Sue Davar. Thank you!
And so many more thanks to all our friends and fans who came out to see us on this trip. Special thanks to Karen, Graham and kids in Saskatoon, to Brendan’s family in Calgary, to Jane Stewart and her roomie in Winnipeg, and to the nice guys at the Card Lock gas station in rural Manitoba, who saved us from having yet another, “The Fugitives run out of gas in the middle of nowhere” story.
We are gearing up for an exciting couple of months of tour this Summer, starting off with another fun trip with Tanya Davis in June. We’ll be hitting Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes. In July, we’ll be galloping around to a bunch of Folk Festivals. If you live in Canada, we want to know you this Summer. Come and see us soon, and for now, big, sloppy hearts from our home hearths!
The Fugitives
Attention Vigorous Westerners!
