Beautiful weekend in early August. Band consists of WB and SR, with drumming duties to be supplied on-the-fly by RV drummer.
Trip starts with an On The Buses moment when SR, who has called in sick to avoid his mailman duties for the day, emerges with gear from Jam Spot to find his Canada Post supervisor standing outside discussing mail delivery with building owner.
What are the chances!?
He furtively ducks back inside, Stan Butler style. Eventually he makes it over to collect WB, then Jeff Younger, who will play guitar for Ross Vegas.
Off to Nelson BC via the Crowsnest Highway. I’m embarrased at my lack of experience with the BC interior. I had only been on this route once before, but it was a memorable trip that I associated with the end of one phase of my life and the beginning of another; in fact, it was the beginning of my favorite era.
And now I was back weaving down the same road. JY was quiet in the back, deftly deflecting SR’s attempt to recruit him on bass for the two gigs to come. SR’s driving style reminded me of my late father’s, who once advised me that following the preceding car at a close distance had the advantange of not allowing ‘some bugger’ to sneak in front of you. The same philosphy seemed to be at play now, except at higher speeds and on a weaving mountain road.
We reached Nelson by late afternoon. We loaded gear into the venue and checked into a hotel, declining Hey Rock’s offer to bunk in ‘the sound man’s basement.’
Nelson is a wonderful little town. It was some years since the film ‘Roxanne’ was released, and thankfully there were no advertisements for ‘Roxanne walking tours,’ but it is pretty.
We had dinner in a funky restaurant, then headed over to the venue.
It was a Friday night, and it was an adequate crowd. The drummer picked up on the tunes quite well, considering he’d never heard them before. WB was in pretty good form in his guitarist/pseudo bassist capacity. Regrettably, SR had the volume turned down on his accoustic. This made for some sound issues.
Still the set was decent, and the rest of the evening was fun. Ross Vegas played well with a set of covers and some originals; Smash, the bass player, nailing Bob Marley bass lines that we had been listening to in the car one the way up to Nelson. A good time.
Next morning good breakfast at the hotel. Kicked around Nelson a bit then spend a pleasant afternoon down the highway with some friends of SR.
Then off to Rossland. Very small town in mountains. The venue was ski pub/restaurant. Very nice.
21TR set lasted about 12 minutes. Perhaps I’m exagerrating, but not by much. It was Ross Vegas’ evening.
The staff were very friendly, but I confess the evening dragged on. Not musically; it’s simply that you’re done and have no further role. I wandered outside for a while under all the stars. At one point, SR and I devised a plan to cut out later in the evening and get part way back to Vancouver. We’d crash in a roadside motel, then be ahead of the game in the morning.
In the end we accompanied the rest of the band to Hey Rock’s parents house where everone fell about the place, to quote Thin Lizzy.
We were up early the next morning, a Sunday. More hot weather and blue skies. Our first stop was at a cafe in Rossland for coffee and to-go snacks, SR’s mind-of-its-own car alarm announcing our arrival.
After that, back to Vancouver, with Jeff Younger and Smash in the back. Or was Smash in the front?
Perhaps he was, because my chief memory of the trip was a series of conversations between him and SR. Something about SR having his own TV show. The name Fire-Man came up. SR also touched on his efforts to sell jingles to advertisors, and how he had written a candy-bar jingle.
“Did you send it to anyone specifically?” asked Smash. “Or did you just address it ‘Chocolate Bar People, New York, New York?’”
Smash bought everyone milkshakes in Cawston, the we followed the winding Similkimeen back toward the Lower Mainland.
Jeff Younger chills out in the background while Smash and Super Robertson discuss their next move just outside of Hope en route back from the Interior.