Wayne D's Blog

Please note, all the pictures in this posting are thumbnails, click them to see the full size picture

 
Last weekend we made out annual pilgrimage to Owen Sound to attend the Summerfolk music festival. This three day festival has main stage converts on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings with workshops featuring different combinations Saturday and Sunday during the day.  We arrived in Owen Sound Friday afternoon and check into our motel where we were greeted with the artwork you see here. Yes, it's painted on velvet.


The we headed off to line up. Lining up is one of the Summerfolk rituals.  In order to get a good seat in the amphitheatre it's necessary to line up a number of hours in advance. On Saturday and Sunday morning that means anytime between 6 and 7 a.m. for gates that open at 10:30 and 10:00 a.m.  The good news is that sometime between 8 and 8:30 the organizers come down the line and hand out numbers so you can go back to your campsite or motel and come back just before the gates open to go in and place your chairs in the amphitheatre for the night concert. On Friday we arrived at the front gates between 2 and 3 and set up our chairs to wait for the 5 p.m. gate opening time. The two highlights of the Friday night concert were Dala and Ruthie Foster.  Dala are two 20 something women who have the sweetest harmonies.  Though I am generally not a big fan of the blues, Ruthie Foster manages to combine the blues, gospel and folk singing to a style that all her own. Two other notable acts from Friday night were Steve Dickenson and the African Guitar Summit.


Saturday morning Steve and I woke up and 6 a.m. and managed to get ourselves in line by about 6:40 a.m.  We were quite proud of ourselves considering we didn't have an alarm clock in the room and the motel didn't do wake up calls. For this Herculean effort we received numbers 23 and 24.  Back to the motel for a quick nap and then back to the festival site at 10:30 to set up our chairs.  Throughout the workshop schedule on Saturday we managed to catch Dala, hear the Wyrd Sisters sing about how one can have fun in the tub, catch the guitar greats and be introduced to the phenomenon that is the Chucky Danger Band. These four guys from Charlottetown, PEI dress in white shirts and black pants, have their hair cut short and are quite popular with the young ladies.


Our favorite artists from Saturday night were David Sereda, John Wort Hannam and Fig for a Kiss. The skies opened during the Wyrd Sisters set and we dived under our tarps. The rain stopped after about 30 minutes. One memorable moments of the weekend was watching one hardy soul dancing up a storm during the short downpour.  We decided to skip Rita Chiarelli's Italian Sessions and Jane Burnett's Guantanamo Blues set and head down to the beer tent where we caught the end of Dala's set along with the The Undesireables before we headed back to the motel to sleep.


Sunday morning saw Steve and I in line promptly at 6:30 where our efforts netted up numbers 11 and 12.  After a short nap we were back at 10 a.m. for the morning gospel workshop where the mixture of gospel, traditional hymn tunes and other inspirational songs was the perfect way to start off a Sunday morning.


Highlights of Sunday's workshops included the session in the Children's village where a number of the artists explained their instruments and jammed together. Did you know a Celtic harp has 31 strings and at least on Sahra Featherstone's harp the coloured strings help her to navigate? Or that a playing a Cajon doesn't hurt you fingers if you take it easy and don't get too excited? Joe Phillips ukulele playing was also first rate. The fiddle session where Anne Lindsay showed and played the Swedish nyckelharpa and the Finnish jouhikko, two instruments she learned for her Lord of the Rings gig, was also memorable . During this workshop Sahra Featherstone and Duncan Cameron from Fig for a Kiss danced a spontaneous waltz during Anne Lindsay's performance. The dinner show from Flamenco Caravan brought the day to a close that couldn't have been better.


Sunday nights most memorable performances came from the Anne Lindsay Band and Hart Rouge.  Steve Dickinson also impressed when he played three or four covers with audience participation while filling in the time while Prairie Oyster was setting up. I regret that a lack of attentiveness on my part meant that I missed John Somosi's performance.



At 12:30 we hopped in the car with four CD's, Fig for a Kiss, Chucky Danger Band, Dala and Ruthie Foster for the trip back to Richmond Hill. It was a great weekend of music and we will be making the trip again next year. If I have one suggestion for the artistic director next year it's that they program a little less world music on the main stage. Lyrics are an integral part of music and when I can't understand them I feel like I am missing something.

Before I go any further I must inform you that the person holding the guitar in the picture at the top of this posting is not me, it's Jowi Taylor.


Sometime around Canada day I saw a documentary about Jowi Taylor's eleven year quest to build the Six String Nation guitar. The Six String Nation guitar is a guitar which incorporates more than 60 pieces of  wood and materials from places and items that span the breadth of Canadian history and culture. Pieces from a Massey Hall seat, Pierre Trudeau's canoe paddle, the Centre Block of Parliament have all found a new home in the guitar. Cape Breton steel, Fort Smith mammoth ivory, Saskatchewan moose shin bone and silver from Rocket Richards 8th Stanley Cup ring adorn the fingerboard.  Details on all the pieces found in the guitar can be found on the Six String Nation website.


I didn't know the guitar was going to be at Summerfolk, the annual music festival my family and I have attended for the last five years or so. I was spectating at a workshop at the Gazebo stage on Saturday when I saw someone standing behind the stage with a guitar.  I mistakenly assumed it was another player waiting to go on but the man kept standing back there holding his guitar. It wasn't another musician waiting to go on, it was Jowi Taylor. Partway through the workshop he handed the guitar over to one of the players on stage. I'm not sure if it was then or another time during that day that Jowi told us about his booth, where they had pamphlets about the components in the guitar.  He also mentioned that they were taking pictures of people holding the guitar, for free, and emailing them. After the workshop was done Jowi was standing behind the stage again, holding the guitar and chatting with people.  I walked over and took the pictures you see at the top and bottom of this entry.


For some reason I had decided that I didn't want to have my picture taken with the guitar. Perhaps I was worried that if I touched the guitar it would shatter the symbolism. It would be the same as meeting the Queen and realizing she was just another little old lady. The booth for the guitar was close by to the General Store (the merchandise tent) where the CDs, T-shirts and other stuff was being sold, outside that tent was the signing tables for the artists and just past that was the beer tent. This made it almost impossible not to walk past the guitar booth multiples times during the day. I stopped by one time with my family to look over the brochure that detailed all the various pieces of the guitar. Another time on Saturday I went to the merchandise tent to buy some CDs and on the way back found myself standing in the short line that had formed of people waiting to get their picture taken with the guitar. The line wasn't moving and I walked away.


The guitar appeared a few more times that day in the hands of various artists at different venues. As time passed my resolve weakened. Perhaps none of the magic of the guitar would be lost if a hack player like me was allowed to hold it. Sunday afternoon there was a gap in the workshop performances when no one I wanted to see was playing so I told my wife I wanted to check the artists signing schedule for the day and off I went.  I had seen Fig for a Kiss the previous year and wanted them to sign a copy of their new CD.  I'm pretty sure that subconsciously I had already decided what my real purpose for the trip was.  I found out when Fig for a Kiss was signing, almost talked to Ruthie Foster then turned to face the guitar tent. The line wasn't too long and I joined the end.  I filled out the requisite paper work, was handed the souvenir guitar pick and waited my turn.  Just before it was my turn the daughter of the man in front of me in line showed up and started to fill out the form so she could get her picture taken with the guitar too. A quick discussion ensued and she decided to have her picture taken with her father instead. She held the guitar, he stood behind her beaming, perhaps hoping that she would one day appear on the main stage at Summerfolk. Then it was my turn.


The photographer adjusted the strap, made sure that I wasn't going to drop the guitar on the ground and then he disappeared. I was left standing all alone in the tent holding the guitar. I guess the photographer was trying to sort out the paperwork so that everyone got the right pictures, especially with the father and daughter filling out two forms but then deciding to get in the same picture. I had a pick and I had a guitar so I started to play some chords. Not loudly of course, I didn't want anyone to hear me and perhaps ask me to play a song, that's way beyond my guitar capabilities.  I gently strummed for what seemed like forever but was in reality perhaps a minute or maybe two. I didn't hear anything else, no one talked to me, nothing disturbed my moment with the guitar.  Then the photographer asked me to verify the spelling of my email address, he stepped into position and unhurriedly took 4 or 5 shots. He asked me to change poses and when he was done helped me to remove the guitar making sure I didn't bump it into one of the bars supporting the tent.


I picked up my jacket and hat and started to walk away. Jowi Taylor was standing alone a few feet from the tent.  I hesitated to speak to him, I didn't want to disturb him but plucked up my courage and went over and said hello.  We chatted for a few minutes about the guitar project and the documentary I had seen on CBC Newsworld about the guitar.  He told me that the documentary was produced by Newsworld and that they were working on  one of their own.  His passion for the project was obvious.  He told me about some of his plans for what was next, a U.S. nation guitar with two pieces from each state, an Africa guitar, a Middle East instrument that would bring together an Israeli and Palestinian instrument maker and perhaps others which I had forgotten by the time I wrote this.


I'd taken up enough of his time and I'm sure my wife had begun to wonder where I had disappeared to.  I said goodbye and he thanked me.  I don't think I thanked him, I should have both for all his hard work in getting the guitar made and then for touring it around the country.  He reminded me of a proud parent, who had nurtured his child and was now watching it make its way in the world.


It's a beautiful guitar, if you get a chance to see it as it tours around the country you should take the time.  Stories about the guitar's travels and where it can be found on the six string nation guitar website. 


I've decided that it's time for me to pick up my guitar, which has been lying idle for a few months and learn a few songs so if I get the guitar in my hands again I can play it proudly.


Click on the guitar image below to see a detailed picture I took.  When my picture arrives in two or three weeks I'll post it here for you to see.

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While my family was away visiting my wife's parents I had an opportunity to catch up on some movies I wanted to see. You've already heard about Alien vs. Predator and Clerks II, now I'll update you on the rest.


Supersize Me - A very scary movie, it should be required viewing by anyone who has ever eaten at McDonald's. Ber sure to watch the smoking fries outtake on the DVD.


Showgirls - Yes it's bad but not as bad as the classic "Plan 9 from Outer Space. As mindless entertainment goes I've seen worse.


American Splendor - A biographical movie about Harvey Pekar, the comic book author. I thought it was very good but I suspect many may not find it to their tastes. If you are a big action adventure fan this is not the movie for you.


Underworld:Evolution - The first one was better but this one was still quite watchable. Anyone who likes vampire movies and who liked Underworld will find this movie of interest.


Sahara - Lots of shooting and chasing, not academy award material, two thumbs up.

I watched it last night, it was ok. I guess if you have nothing to do in a minivan on a five hour trip you might watch it more than once.  Sigh I just realized that I managed to orphan most of my old pages so the search engines can't find them, have to fix it later, I have a concert to attend.

Update on the webpage situation, I managed to break three of my Rogers supplied geocities.com website  accounts so that I can even connect to them anymore.  So I had to move my website to my backup ISP.  Sigh. 

On Tuesday I got back from a six day canoe trip to Killarney provincial park. Our group of eight people with four canoes paddled and portaged from the Willisville access point through Charlton Lake, Howry Creek to Murry Lake our first day. When we arrived in Murray Lake late that first day we found that both campsites were taken even though we had a reservation. Unfortunately you reserve a lake and not a specific spot so we didn't know which of the two groups were interlopers. With only 30 minutes of light left we found a rock outcrop with enough flat spots for our four tents and made camp. The next morning we started out early and continued through Howry Lake, Gem Lake and Fish Lake to our second night campsite in Great Mountain Lake. Along the way we paddled through the incredible scenery of the Canadian Shield alongside the La Cloche Mountains. The La Cloche Mountains have been eroded over eons to such a degree that they aren't really mountains anymore but they are still impressive.

The water was warm and the weather was good, after we made camp we swan in the lake and relaxed after our two days of traveling, portaging and paddling. We were awakened the next morning by the sound of chain saws and hammering, people were working on a cottage site on an island in the middle of Great Mountain Lake very close to our campsite. Sigh, why doesn't our government buy these people out and keep the park for everyone. We spent a rest day in Great Mountain Lake taking a side trip to Gail Lake. Gail Lake has a really nice campsite on a large rock outcrop the comes up out of the lake.

On our trip back we decided to risk the portages from Fish Lake to Goose Lake even though we had been warned when we checked in that the portages had not been maintained. The first portage from Fish Lake to Round Otter Lake had about five or six trees across the trail at various points. It would have taken at most an hour with a chain saw to clean them up, I wonder what we pay camp fees for? Though strong winds a few weeks before had blown over many trees throughout the park it was obvious from the state of the foliage on these trees that they had been down for quite some time. During this leg of the trip we saw three moose, a cow and a calf and a solitary moose at another point of the journey. We also saw a pile of bear poop festooned with berries right in the middle of the trail. Things went pretty smoothly until we left Goose Lake to enter Rocky Lake over what was supposed to be a 50m portage and found that a beaver dam had pretty much dewatered the eastern quarter of Rocky Lake. All that remained was a narrow mucky channel. After we tried pulling the canoe over the grass, poling it with a paddle that would sink two feet into the muck and pull the paddle out when I tried to extricate it from the mud we hit upon the idea of tieing two ropes on the front of the canoe and having one person on each bank. Before coming up with this method I sank up to my knees in the muck at least four or five times as I tried to pull the canoe along with one rope. After we came up with this method we almost flew through the rest of the tow. After a few beaver dam liftovers it was back in the canoes through the rest of Rock Lake and Grow Lake to our campsite at the east end of Van Lake. A nice campsite on a pretty lake but we were unable to find the KYBO that is supposed to be placed at each campsite. What do we pay our camp fees for?

The next day it was through Van, then Van Winkle Lake paddling into a strong headwind. We then traveled through Harwood and Leech Lake to our longest portage of the trip, 950m. Through the trail was relatively flat the large number of trees that had been allowed to obstruct the trail made for a difficult slog through the rocks and trees. Judcious use of a chainsaw by the rangers would have been appreciated. After the portage we were back in Murray Lake and stopped at one of the campsites we were supposed to have our first night out to eat lunch and recover from the efforts of the portage. We then retraced our route out of the park stopping to camp at the site of an abandoned cabin in a unamed lake on Howry Creek.

The next morning it was up at 6 a.m. to paddle back to Widgawa Lodge, where we had parked the vans, load up the gear and head back home.

Things to remember for next time

1. Wear socks all the time, the scabs on my ankles haven't fallen off yet
2. Wear water shoes with stiff bottoms, the bottom of my feet are still sore. The cheap water shoes are fine for the beach but for a portage old running shoes are better

The picture at the top of the posting is from www.leslierohonczy.com.
I didn't take a camera because I didn't want to worry about losing it, if you want to see Killarney Park pictures try http://friendsofkillarneypark.ca/photogallery/
I'm still waiting for a spellchecker Yahoo 360 development team.