May 6th and 7th

“I’ve been eating only chips this entire tour. I’m actually developing acne for the first time in my life.”

– Dan Ball, digging deep into his giant bag of Szechwan flavored Dutch Gourmet, thick cut, potato chips

The Jobfest 2012 adventure continues up the Nisga’a highway, friends!

We have finally arrived in the beautiful village of Gitlakdamix (New Aiyansh), in the heart of the Nass River Valley, where it seems the scenic drives never end. It is truly wonderful, to be up here in this part of the province, surrounded by snow-capped mountains, overlooking an ancient lava flow, endless fields of volcanic rock covered in lichen that grows half an inch every 15 years, swift currents and natural hot-springs that you fill up and control the desired temperature yourself. It’s a dream, where unfortunately, I have to see Dan’s naked body more than I care to, but a dream, regardless.

Unfortunately, we were only able to hang here for 2 short days, so we couldn’t make the 11km hike up the Tseax Cone Volcano. But we were able to reside in an amazing wooden lodge, the Tseax Inn, which serves as a Bed and Breakfast, where we had the privilege of meeting the owners Susan and Sid, and their dog Rusty. They are two fabulous people who made us feel right at home by making us the best complementary breakfasts and letting us lounge around their living room to be disgusting and watch hockey when we weren’t exploring or playing songs around the village. They filled us in on the geology and history lessons the area had to offer, and about the local wildlife. Apparently, they have a giant grizzly that lives in the woods beside their lodge so we didn’t wander too far off the beaten path at night. City boys and all.

We set up Jobfest inside the New Aiyansh rec centre this time, it’s giant totem poles welcoming us, on account of the weather, and performed our sets in the giant gymnasium. It was a beast of a room to tame, but we made it work and it was so great to meet so many awesome people from the community, who were very enthusiastic and talented, I might add. Easily one of the loudest and “danciest” audiences we’ve had so far. We got to play with “Sabretooth Mountain-Lion,” a two-piece ensemble who are currently drawing the “best band name ever” card, and we even learned and played Joan Jett’s “I love Rock and Roll” on-stage with a group of kids who called themselves “The Blackouts”, on the spot, no rehearsal. True rock and roll fashion.

We will miss you New Aiyansh. Your beauty and kindness are unsurpassed and genuine. Thanks for being so good to us!

And it’s off to Kitwanga we go, with our new besties, the lovely crew of Jobfest 2012. MEMORIEEEEEES!

– jeff, and those other critters in Acres