The lucious west coast

For the first night, I sleep in utter luxury at a friend's home in Calgary. The house is up on a hill, overlooking the city, with huge windows to watch the moon travel, a slow train across the sky. The show at the Marquee is groovy, with sexy red lanterns and lots of friends. A delicious start.

The next night I am in an RV, parked among the trees and mud at the acreage that will be transformed into a music festival by the next day. The grounds are expansive, with an enormous pond and those thick BC trees drooping over it, hovering above the water. I'm performing at Jammin' 4 Jay in Langley, a festival that commemorates the life of Jay Drew. The festival is organized by Jay's passionate parents who are determined not to let reckless driving continue to take the lives of children. So it naturally caters to children, with stilt walkers and horse rides and an enormous blow-up fire engine to slide down. I join the six year olds in line a get a pony ride in between my sets. But I'm not so brave as this one for the stilts....



The RV is totally deluxe and I'm quite happy there during the festival, but by the time I arrive in Victoria, I'm ready for a hot shower and plumbing! My next bed is in a hostel downtown, where I'll camp out for a few days and work with some local musicians before the next show. The hostel is tiny!! The walls touch each side of the bed. At the foot, there is room to...stand. My suitcase is stowed under the bed, the head of which touches the base of a large window. Thank god for windows! The rooms are small. The walls are so thin that I can't help but overhear the ecstasy of the woman in the next room. Vive Victoria! Ah, such displays of passion seem out of character for this conservative, colonial city known for its retirement community!

Can't wait to tour around the island up to Nanaimo for a show tonight with Wynn Gogol and Katherine Dennison. Wynn and Katherine are great friends, and they'll start the set tonight doing some songs together. They gave me a taste of the music they do, singing together in harmony and gazing into each other's eyes while they play. The song, the performance is so intimate that I feel as if I should turn away. But I can't! I'm drawn into the chemistry of these newly weds and am hypnotized by each note on their lips.

Which makes me long for my own lover. And the longing is sweet and delicious and will be rewarded by his arrival on Thursday for my show at Hermann's. Vive Victoria indeed....