I just got back from a Great Big Sea concert. Had a great night, drank all my money and got propositioned by hookers, just an average Sudbury Saturday Night.
This is the fifth or sixth concert I've seen at the Sudbury arena. I think so anyway lets recap:
Blue Rodeo
Bob Dylan
Bryan Adams
Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings
And now...Great Big Sea!
I left the hotel a little later than I usually do which was perfect. Got in just as they were finishing off the safety procedures speech. I was sitting for only a few seconds before the opening act, Jeremy Fisher, came on. He played a forty minute set give or take. I got one of his albums about two months ago and enjoyed it. It was just him, an acoustic guitar and a harmonica. He talked a lot between songs which was nice. He even through in a few covers including "Girl From the North Country". Neat, I saw Bob Dylan play that song standing in almost the exact same spot. Afterwards he came out to the merchandise table and I had a brief meeting with him. Nice guy.
Shortly thereafter I returned to my seat and Great Big Sea took the stage. They opened with "Donkey Riding" then went on to "Captain Kidd". They played most of their hits including:
General Taylor
The Night Pat Murphy Dies
England
Helmethead
Consequence Free
Mari Mac
Ordinary Day
When I'm Up (I Can't Get Down)
When I am King
A Boat Like Gideon Brown
Ferryland Sealer
Sea of No Cares
Scolding Wife
Love Me Tonight
Clearest Indication
Fortune Set
Excursion Around the Bay
The Old Black Rum
And a few others that i cant recall off the top of my head.
About halfway through the show they did a little medley of covers including Summer of '69/I Fought the Law/Sweet Dreams (are made of this)/Bohemian Rhapsody and some more stuff. They even gave Stompin' Tom's "Sudbury Saturday Night" but that didnt last long. For this section of the show they played their instruments and got the audience to sing. That combined with the various sing alongs throughout the night took my voice. I even gave the old black rum a shot in honour of Great Big Sea but my voice is still gone. Oh well, not like I need it right now anyway. Alan Doyle is still sporting a beard which he grew for a part in a Ridley Scott movie. I'm pretty sure Russell Crowe is going to be in said movie. I bought a DVD of theirs called "Courage, Patience and Grit" about two years ago and have wanted to see them ever since. I must say though that tonights show was far better than the DVD. Live bands tend to have that effect.
They left the stage three times and came back twice for encores. For the encores they did another cover but this one I did not recognize. Something from the 80s. The other three songs in the encore were theirs. Finishing with "The Old Black Rum" was great for a number of reasons. 1. Its really fun to sing. 2. Its just a great drinking song. 3. It encouraged me to go get some.
When I left the hotel I was on the verge of falling asleep and now I want to keep going all night. I guess thats another sign that it was a really good show. Unfortunately I forgot my camera so there will be no videos or pictures as there have been for most of the concerts I've been to. I know, I know. I am saddened by this as well. If you ever get a chance to see them you must go.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Long Road
I woke up the next morning before dawn. Had a shower and listened to some music. I then just waited for the time when I would leave. The bus was to leave Sudbury at 7:30 AM. Heres a video I did before leaving the Hotel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVjFm23C-wE
By the time I got to the bus station it had already been there. There were quite a few people there who were waiting. In the end two buses left Sudbury, both were completely full when we left. I sat at the very back of the bus directly beside the bathroom door. There I would stay until we switched buses in Winnipeg the following morning.
A few hours into the trip my back started to hurt which was a bad sign for me. Afterall I had another two and a half days to go before I'd arrive in Vancouver. The stops proved to be very helpful. We stopped for lunch in Sault Ste. Marie. The last time I was there was for the Neil Young and Gordon Lightfoot concerts back in April. Over that weekend I got to know the downtown area fairly well which came in handy. Most people went to Tim Horton's, I went to The Pita Pit which was around the block.
Shortly before The Sault a 19 year old aspiring sci-fi writer came on the bus. For about two hours I listened to him talk about a world he had created for his stories. I asked him a few questions about how its society worked and things like that and was surprised when he had an answer and explained many things in great detail. I eventually got bored with it though and started listening to some podcasts from the CBC. He quickly found another listener though. Eventually he pulled out a laptop and started writing. I was tempted to do the same but I had three days and one battery to live off. Instead I just took in the scenery.
After The Sault there is a lot of great views of Lake Superior. The last time I had travelled that far on the Trans Canada Highway was 1998. I was 10 and was with my grandmother and an aunt. That trip took me to Schreiber for about three days and then to Thunder Bay overnight. That was as far west as I had been up until this trip. Along this route I found myself remembering that trip from 11 years before. That was the first time I had seen one of the Great Lakes and it was quite a sight. It was the first time I had seen water stretch out beyond the horizon, even now that type of view has an effect on me. I find myself wondering what lies beyond even though I do know, Michigan, and Minnesota.
Also around this leg of the trip I met a Viet Nam vet who I would end up talking to regularly all the way to Vancouver. He told me that he makes this bus trip from Windsor to Vancouver several times a year. I asked him if one gets used to such a long trip, "Sort of". He was very open about his war experiences which interested me greatly. He had been wounded several times and even lost most of one of his arms a month into his second tour. He moved to Canada less than a year after returning from Viet Nam. I never got his name unfortunately. Actually, I never got a name from most of the people I met on the trip.
I watched a movie later that night about the aftermath of Gram Parson's death. Pretty funny but I dont remember what it was called. When I looked up after the movie was over I could see the Sleeping Giant. I knew then that Thunder Bay was near, as was the dividing line between the known and unknown for me. By the time we actually got into Thunder Bay it was dark. We were there for about an hour or so. I had something to eat in the restaurant and met someone else who was going to somewhere in Alberta. We started talking about Henry David Thoreau as we were both reading the same edition of "Walden". I was only about fifty pages in at the time and he was almost finished. We only talked about five or ten minutes before we both returned to the actual book. Also in Thunder Bay I bought a phone card as my cell phone was not getting any signal, and hadnt been since shortly after leaving The Sault. Thunder Bay was the low point of the whole trip. I had been on a bus all day and was not liking it. I asked myself if I was crazy for getting myself into this. I wanted to sleep in a bed. But I pressed on.
We left Thunder Bay shortly after 11. I would not see another lake til we got into British Columbia. At around one in the morning I took a swig from my bottle of nyquil which quickly took effect. I awoke the next morning shortly after dawn literally seconds before crossing over into Manitoba. I was amazed at how quickly the landscape changed from the rocky Canadian shield into the vast open Prarie. To my right was the north and to my left was the south and both were completely open as far as the horizon. Ahead the Trans Canada highway went in one straight line towards the horizon as well. I had never been in a place so wide open. It was the first of many such moments I would have on the trip. Also when I woke up that morning a peaceful feeling came over me. I guess I had accepted that this bus trip was going to be a long one and it no longer bothered me. From then on long bus rides stopped bothering me at all. A few hours later we arrived in Winnipeg where we would transfer to another bus. By then my cell phone worked and I noticed its time had automatically switched when we changed time zones. I really liked the look of Manitoba, very clean from what I saw of it. After we arrived I took a walk around the downtown area seeing as we had a few hours to kill and the weather was great. Down the street from the Greyhound station was the provincial legislature. I found it kind of odd that it was the first one I had ever seen. Even now I find it odd that Ive been to the capital of every western province but I still have never been to Toronto. Oh well, maybe someday. Its not really on my to-do list though. The only sight I wanted to see in Winnipeg was the grave of Louis Riel. To me Riel is one of the most interesting figures in Canadian history and to see his grave would make him more real. I had calculated in advance how long it would take me to walk to his grave and back to the bus station and unfortunately it was a little to risky to make the trip now. Had I gone it was possible I would miss the bus out of Winnipeg and have to wait 10 to 12 hours for the next one.
Part III will come at a later time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVjFm23C-wE
By the time I got to the bus station it had already been there. There were quite a few people there who were waiting. In the end two buses left Sudbury, both were completely full when we left. I sat at the very back of the bus directly beside the bathroom door. There I would stay until we switched buses in Winnipeg the following morning.
A few hours into the trip my back started to hurt which was a bad sign for me. Afterall I had another two and a half days to go before I'd arrive in Vancouver. The stops proved to be very helpful. We stopped for lunch in Sault Ste. Marie. The last time I was there was for the Neil Young and Gordon Lightfoot concerts back in April. Over that weekend I got to know the downtown area fairly well which came in handy. Most people went to Tim Horton's, I went to The Pita Pit which was around the block.
Shortly before The Sault a 19 year old aspiring sci-fi writer came on the bus. For about two hours I listened to him talk about a world he had created for his stories. I asked him a few questions about how its society worked and things like that and was surprised when he had an answer and explained many things in great detail. I eventually got bored with it though and started listening to some podcasts from the CBC. He quickly found another listener though. Eventually he pulled out a laptop and started writing. I was tempted to do the same but I had three days and one battery to live off. Instead I just took in the scenery.
After The Sault there is a lot of great views of Lake Superior. The last time I had travelled that far on the Trans Canada Highway was 1998. I was 10 and was with my grandmother and an aunt. That trip took me to Schreiber for about three days and then to Thunder Bay overnight. That was as far west as I had been up until this trip. Along this route I found myself remembering that trip from 11 years before. That was the first time I had seen one of the Great Lakes and it was quite a sight. It was the first time I had seen water stretch out beyond the horizon, even now that type of view has an effect on me. I find myself wondering what lies beyond even though I do know, Michigan, and Minnesota.
Also around this leg of the trip I met a Viet Nam vet who I would end up talking to regularly all the way to Vancouver. He told me that he makes this bus trip from Windsor to Vancouver several times a year. I asked him if one gets used to such a long trip, "Sort of". He was very open about his war experiences which interested me greatly. He had been wounded several times and even lost most of one of his arms a month into his second tour. He moved to Canada less than a year after returning from Viet Nam. I never got his name unfortunately. Actually, I never got a name from most of the people I met on the trip.
I watched a movie later that night about the aftermath of Gram Parson's death. Pretty funny but I dont remember what it was called. When I looked up after the movie was over I could see the Sleeping Giant. I knew then that Thunder Bay was near, as was the dividing line between the known and unknown for me. By the time we actually got into Thunder Bay it was dark. We were there for about an hour or so. I had something to eat in the restaurant and met someone else who was going to somewhere in Alberta. We started talking about Henry David Thoreau as we were both reading the same edition of "Walden". I was only about fifty pages in at the time and he was almost finished. We only talked about five or ten minutes before we both returned to the actual book. Also in Thunder Bay I bought a phone card as my cell phone was not getting any signal, and hadnt been since shortly after leaving The Sault. Thunder Bay was the low point of the whole trip. I had been on a bus all day and was not liking it. I asked myself if I was crazy for getting myself into this. I wanted to sleep in a bed. But I pressed on.
We left Thunder Bay shortly after 11. I would not see another lake til we got into British Columbia. At around one in the morning I took a swig from my bottle of nyquil which quickly took effect. I awoke the next morning shortly after dawn literally seconds before crossing over into Manitoba. I was amazed at how quickly the landscape changed from the rocky Canadian shield into the vast open Prarie. To my right was the north and to my left was the south and both were completely open as far as the horizon. Ahead the Trans Canada highway went in one straight line towards the horizon as well. I had never been in a place so wide open. It was the first of many such moments I would have on the trip. Also when I woke up that morning a peaceful feeling came over me. I guess I had accepted that this bus trip was going to be a long one and it no longer bothered me. From then on long bus rides stopped bothering me at all. A few hours later we arrived in Winnipeg where we would transfer to another bus. By then my cell phone worked and I noticed its time had automatically switched when we changed time zones. I really liked the look of Manitoba, very clean from what I saw of it. After we arrived I took a walk around the downtown area seeing as we had a few hours to kill and the weather was great. Down the street from the Greyhound station was the provincial legislature. I found it kind of odd that it was the first one I had ever seen. Even now I find it odd that Ive been to the capital of every western province but I still have never been to Toronto. Oh well, maybe someday. Its not really on my to-do list though. The only sight I wanted to see in Winnipeg was the grave of Louis Riel. To me Riel is one of the most interesting figures in Canadian history and to see his grave would make him more real. I had calculated in advance how long it would take me to walk to his grave and back to the bus station and unfortunately it was a little to risky to make the trip now. Had I gone it was possible I would miss the bus out of Winnipeg and have to wait 10 to 12 hours for the next one.
Part III will come at a later time.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
August 4th, The Concert.
I parted ways with my father in mid afternoon on Tuesday, the night of the concert. I had spend the previous four days in North Bay with him and the visit went very well all things considered. He had to head back to North Bay for work the following day and I had the concert and the beginning of the long awaited trip the next day. Earlier in the day I thought for about a minute that I would not be able to take the trip. I had gone to the Greyhound station in Sudbury to claim my ticket to Vancouver which I had already purchased online. The man at the counter told me that they had a record of the purchase but the ticket had been erased and could not be recovered. We argued for a few minutes and eventually the man relented. He wrote out the ticket by hand and I was satisfied with this. I hoped I would not have to deal with this everywhere I went on this journey.
At about 7:45 PM I left the hotel to go to the arena for the concert. The main event was to be Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings, formerly of The Guess Who. I didnt have to wait long before they let us in, I noted that the apparent lack of security. When I had come in November to see Bob Dylan there were dozens of security people everywhere. I went to my seat and noticed half the floor was empty, and remained empty for the whole night. I looked at the areas I had sat at or stood at for previous events in this arena and remembered some things from those nights. I've been to more concerts in this arena than any other place. On the screens adjacent to the stage they were playing a video from the making of Bachman Cummings "Jukebox" album from a few years ago. Unfortunately the sound was too low to really understand much of it. The opening act was Booker T and the MG's, much to my surprise. Most of you have probably heard "Green Onions", even if you dont recognize the name. It was an early hit of theirs back in the 1960s. They played a forty five minute set and at the end Booker T handed a member of the audience a copy of their latest record. After about twenty minutes the main event started. They opened with an early Guess Who song, "Runnin' Back to Saskatoon". It was a pretty good show. They played stuff from the Guess Who, Bachman-Turner Overdrive and from Burton Cumming's solo career. I noticed Burton Cummings was wearing a t-shirt with an image of Jimi Hendrix on the front. Interesting choice. They played most of the hits, "No Time", "No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature", "Let it Ride", "Break it to them Gently" and the obligatory "These Eyes" and "American Woman". For "American Woman" there was an extended intro in which Cummings took quotes from several songs by The Doors. I remember seeing an interview of Cummings spoke of how on his first night in Los Angelas he met Jim Morrison and went on quite the adventure for a few hours. Cummings did most of the talking. He introduced "Hey You" as a 'song Randy wrote when he wasnt very fond of me'.
When they came back for the encore they each held one end of the Canadian flag for a few minutes before returning to their instruments. The final two songs were "Share the Land" and "Taking Care of Business". It was a very good concert. I never thought I'd get the chance to hear these songs performed by the people who wrote them and did them originally. I've heard a lot of them performed by bar bands but coming from those who wrote them is something special. I went back to the hotel and stayed up for about an hour before going to bed. It would be tree nights before I slept in a bed again.
At about 7:45 PM I left the hotel to go to the arena for the concert. The main event was to be Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings, formerly of The Guess Who. I didnt have to wait long before they let us in, I noted that the apparent lack of security. When I had come in November to see Bob Dylan there were dozens of security people everywhere. I went to my seat and noticed half the floor was empty, and remained empty for the whole night. I looked at the areas I had sat at or stood at for previous events in this arena and remembered some things from those nights. I've been to more concerts in this arena than any other place. On the screens adjacent to the stage they were playing a video from the making of Bachman Cummings "Jukebox" album from a few years ago. Unfortunately the sound was too low to really understand much of it. The opening act was Booker T and the MG's, much to my surprise. Most of you have probably heard "Green Onions", even if you dont recognize the name. It was an early hit of theirs back in the 1960s. They played a forty five minute set and at the end Booker T handed a member of the audience a copy of their latest record. After about twenty minutes the main event started. They opened with an early Guess Who song, "Runnin' Back to Saskatoon". It was a pretty good show. They played stuff from the Guess Who, Bachman-Turner Overdrive and from Burton Cumming's solo career. I noticed Burton Cummings was wearing a t-shirt with an image of Jimi Hendrix on the front. Interesting choice. They played most of the hits, "No Time", "No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature", "Let it Ride", "Break it to them Gently" and the obligatory "These Eyes" and "American Woman". For "American Woman" there was an extended intro in which Cummings took quotes from several songs by The Doors. I remember seeing an interview of Cummings spoke of how on his first night in Los Angelas he met Jim Morrison and went on quite the adventure for a few hours. Cummings did most of the talking. He introduced "Hey You" as a 'song Randy wrote when he wasnt very fond of me'.
When they came back for the encore they each held one end of the Canadian flag for a few minutes before returning to their instruments. The final two songs were "Share the Land" and "Taking Care of Business". It was a very good concert. I never thought I'd get the chance to hear these songs performed by the people who wrote them and did them originally. I've heard a lot of them performed by bar bands but coming from those who wrote them is something special. I went back to the hotel and stayed up for about an hour before going to bed. It would be tree nights before I slept in a bed again.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
The End of Summer, Perhaps
I've noticed that the sun has been coming out more often lately. Strange considering how elusive it was all summer. Then again there was a bit of a heat wave in June but that was about it.
This summer was quite exciting. Well, three or four weeks of it anyway. I saw Blue Rodeo for the fourth time, then went on to see Sam Roberts, The Tragically Hip and Bachman Cummings. Too bad the latter cant use The Guess Who name anymore, seeing as about half the songs they play are from when they were The Guess Who. After that I went on an epic road trip across Canada that took me 13,374 km over the course of three and a half weeks. I'll go into far more detail about that trip at a later time.
I have no idea how much I'll "blog" on here. I haven't been in the habit of doing these in a few years now. We'll see.
This summer was quite exciting. Well, three or four weeks of it anyway. I saw Blue Rodeo for the fourth time, then went on to see Sam Roberts, The Tragically Hip and Bachman Cummings. Too bad the latter cant use The Guess Who name anymore, seeing as about half the songs they play are from when they were The Guess Who. After that I went on an epic road trip across Canada that took me 13,374 km over the course of three and a half weeks. I'll go into far more detail about that trip at a later time.
I have no idea how much I'll "blog" on here. I haven't been in the habit of doing these in a few years now. We'll see.
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