Jobfest 2012 Blog (Entry 9)

May 8th and 9th

Dan Ball: “Dude, wanna go for a walk? I think I sourced out some slices up the street.”

Jeff: “How do you know that? We just got here.”

Dan Ball: “I just know.”

The towns grow smaller as Jobfest 2012 rages on like a party that can’t be stopped!

And this is by no means a bad thing! We have met so many incredible and thoughtful people in all the tiny towns and villages on our way up North to Kitwanga, one of the many historic sites that make up the Gitxsan Nation. It is cold enough to snow up here, and as our the road continues through the mountains and alongside the Kitwanga river, we can feel our cell-service weaken and our hopes for easily accessible wifi internet diminish. It is now up to our imagination and wit, you know, that almost forgotten human interaction, to keep us going. All joking aside, we are absolutely looking forward to the next couple weeks up here, visiting the small off-the-map districts, learning a new arsenal of ridiculous cover songs, bonding with our amazing Jobfest tour-mates, making friends with all the amazing and talented local people and of course, becoming one with nature and all the amazing wildlife we are seeing every day. Seriously, we saw a herd of caribou today and they weren’t moving out of the way for anything. They own the land up here.

We spent the night in New Hazelton, one of the three Hazeltons, and approximately 50 km from Kitwanga, at the local pub and loading up our hard-drives with nature documentaries before we entered, as our new Jobfest friend Devan put it, “radio darkness” for the next couple weeks. So stoked for Frozen Planet. Really.

The following day on site at Jobfest was a day worth celebrating. After the hail and wind gusts that moved the site inside, once again, we all had our auras read by an amazing local man named Alfred, who was eerily accurate and thorough, and also one of the kindest souls. Every one one of us had a blast working with the Kitwanga community, sharing the stage with the local talent (shredding “Joe Daniels,” and an impromptu blues jam with “Norm Mclean Jr” featuring Cody and Dan) and we are eternally grateful for having such a lovely audience for all 3 of our performances, one in which the “space-delay” button or whatever on the mixer was accidentally hit and unable to be located for almost an entire song, confusing and even frightening a few people. As usual, we blamed it on ghosts.

When things were wrapped up, we all had the distinct privilege of eating a monster called the “Bubba Burger” ordered from a local burger shack called “King’s,” which is easily 1/2 lb home-made all-beef patty on a butter-toasted bun (just like Wendy’s) with tons of bacon, mushrooms and mozzarella cheese. No vegetables. Before the coma set in, Dan found our friend Becky’s banjo and played all the classic rock hits from 1971-1979.

It was an awesome day, and we personally want to thank our new friend Alfred, for cleansing our auras, all his heavy-lifting, and praying for our souls, our van and all of our future travels. He is a wonderful human being.

Really can’t believe we’re here, friends. Thanks for reading! We’ll talk to you in Iskut!

– Jeff, and those bros in acres