Saturday, August 8th/09, GCFB’S, St. Albert AB

Camping rules. The whole process, the tents, the fire, the vulnerable foliage, the wildlife, it’s pretty amazing to me. Most of the time there’s swimming or fishing involved, and lots of partying, hard. For some reason, we have this compulsion to go to the nearest outdoor gear store, spend hefty dollars, drive out to the middle of nowhere, or sometimes collectively to places they have dubbed “campgrounds,” light a fire in the middle of a severely flammable area of the world and drink a small village’s worth of alcohol, pass out under the stars. The next morning you probably feel pretty haggard, eat breakfast or something, but that’s the point. It is very reminiscent of a tour. I’ve always enjoyed camping, the time spent with friends, the fun that was had. This summer I’ve been too busy with work and touring that I have not had the time to take in the outdoors, to jump in the lake or launch my bike into it (like the Gob video, so awesome) What I would really like to do is chill out on a tree branch with my imaginary tiger friend and live out each summer Huck Finn style, cut-off everything, flip-flops, the whole feel-good Jack Johnson thing, or something. That would be just fine by me, I think.

We woke up late afternoon, in the sun, at Tyson’s Brother’s house. I unfortunately did not have a tent, nor sleeping gear as I left it at Trisha’s the night before, so I missed out and slept in the van, which is actually pretty alright until about 9:00am when the sun comes out. We went to the Strathcona farmer’s market and got some delicious and trendy, organic produce, which was like heaven in our mouths (which I could have phrased better but didn’t) It was hot out, hotter than usual, but that’s not a complaint, we soaked up every inch of sun we could and got to the venue around 5:00pm, a church basement in St. Albert. The show, a free BBQ and a surgery fundraiser for a little girl from Burundi, went well and we were so happy to have helped out in any way. The bands played great, The Maddigans, Define The Line, Mapping The Escape, a couple bands dropped off the show due to complications, which was unfortunate, but they had to rock somewhere else that night.

We adjourned at Trisha’s once again that night for some beverages and late night activities which included storytelling, acoustic jams, sewing circle and my personal favorite, being really loud until 5:30 in the morning and upsetting a police officer and his dogs (sorry dude) It was a wonderful summer evening and we felt that we had accomplished a few things. We had made new friends and allies. We had played a tight set to a few new faces who were really into it and most important of all, we polished off an entire 40oz bottle of some dark brown liquid, kind of like what you would call in your country “bourbon,” the brownest of the brown liquors, that apparently lowered our inhibitions and gave us the confidence we needed to stay up all night… I am as baffled as you are!