So I Sit All Satisfied

After 90 concerts and 18000km of driving since the middle of February, I've finally made it out to St. John's, Newfoundland. This is as far east as you can go in Canada and in keeping with my go east when the wind blows west mantra/mentality, it makes perfect sense that I should be on my way to Vancouver right now! Selling CDs for whatever anyone was willing to pay for them, I've now sold nearly 500 numbered copies of Wild Life Sketches for as much as an eagle feather and as little as a hundred dollars. Yes, I've had a great time ramblin' around on my own and will keep it up for another week but then and sweet goodness THEN, starting in Toronto on the 21st of July, THEN I will be joined by a troop of friends and musicians who have revolutionized this blink of an eye that I call my life on earth. After 5 summers of touring up and down the Italian Peninsula in a van full of madness with the Anti-Tapas crew (and an entourage of barmen, butlers, circus performers, photographers that only wear red high-heeled shoes, pizzica players, etc...), I suggested that this year I show them my country. A lot of the motivation for touring so intensely across this big place over the past few months has been to get ready for this big trip and I'm happy, astounded, and frightened to announce that it's happening and will be beginning in 10 days! Stops are planned in:

Toronto ON,
Guelph ON,
Bracebridge ON,
Thessalon, ON,
Terrace Bay ON,
Thunder Bay ON,
Morden MB,
Christopher Lake SK,
Sylvan Lake AB,
Banff AB,
Victoria BC,
Nanaimo BC,
Port Alberni BC,
Ucluelet BC,
and last but not least,
Vancouver BC!

...And of course there will be music and madness on the road in between all of those places, last minute concerts to fill in some gaps, many many lakes to swim in, starry nights, forest hikes and dare I say it, maybe even the school bus I imagined before I started this crazy trip.

And it goes without saying but I'm going to say it anyways: I have nothing but endless gratitude for everyone who has helped me along the way and am truly awe-struck by the kindness of people all across this country that have made my improbable trip possible. I could start naming names but quite literally thousands of people have turned this adventure from dream to reality so I will simply say THANK YOU to all those who hold "El Derecho de Ser Felices."

See you very soon and, of course, stay tuned for news about the East coast tour at the end of August ;)

Silver Shadow

Here is a song that I wrote by the light of this year's 'Super Moon' while camping at Miles Bay on the Bruce Peninsula. Hope you enjoy it and BIG thanks to Antoine and Jennifer for recording this video outside their yurt in Douglastown, Quebec.

I see 67 hundred million burning lights

Beyond the silver shadow of an afternoon

Blazing through this sleepless night

To serenade the crickets

As they dance beneath the moon

And I'm waiting

Waiting for the Sun

Still beyond the silence

I can feel a sinking urge that I call

Hope to find a remedy

Ever present, Ever clear

Ripples form an orchestrated march that's everlasting

And the loon has finished calling on her mate

All the birds have left the scenery

To let the night-time sparkle on a lake that I have known since I was young

And I wonder

What have I become

And I'm waiting, waiting for the sun

And I'm waiting, waiting for the sun

I hear buses full of hopes and dreams

Rumbling down the highway somewhere distant

Orion, arms and legs out wide

Hung up on the sky

Just like the fly stuck on my windshield

Hear the highway crying wolf

I will not shy away from any place

That leads me through this silky haze of mystery

I cannot see the road beyond my nose

But I can feel it moving quickly as I run

Into the morning sun

 And I'm waiting, waiting for the sun

And I'm waiting, waiting for the sun

....

New Video!!! Another Evening at the Theatre

Thanks so much to Daniel Robbins at DR Media!

From Vancouver to... Thessalon?

After a lot of driving and a lot of concerts I'm back in Ontario! BIG thanks to everyone who came out to the shows in Vancouver, Kelowna, Banff, Canmore, Sylvan Lake, Edmonton, Christopher Lake, Brandon, Winnipeg, Kenora, Dryden, Thunder Bay, and Terrace Bay. What a long strange trip it's been! I got the beer-making supplies to RJ, loaded up on Allman Brothers, Grateful Dead, The Band, Otis Redding, Buddy Holly, and even Jimmy Buffett at the flea market in Enderby and have been rocking my way across the incredible landscapes that make up this country. Here are some pictures from the road. Other highlights that can't be pictured: watching the stars from a mountaintop outside Canmore AB on my last night in the rockies; an amazing Northern Light show after leaving Edmonton that forced me to stop driving until the sun came back up and I could finally stop staring; arriving bedraggled in Thunder Bay and hearing the CBC plug the rest of my Ontario tour! At this point that means:

May 29 - The Round Barn in Sowerby

May 31 - The Old Station in Bracebridge

June 1 - The Wolf Den in Oxtongue Lake

June 2 - Farmer's Market in Kemptville

June 12 - The Spill in Peterborough (TBC)

June 13 - Milk Coffee Bar in Windsor

June 14 - London Music Clob in London

June 15 - Farmer's Market in Toronto

June 16 - The Cornerstone in Guelph

June 19 - The Sleepless goat in Kingston (TBC)

June 20 - The Griffin Pub in Bracebridge

June 21 - Relay for Life in Goderich

June 22 - Habits in Toronto

See you soon! For now, enjoy pictures from the road:

 Preparing for a big trip

Leaving the Okanagan Valley

 Tour bus shopping near Revelstoke, BC

 

 Banff Hot Springs - Thanks Jess!

 Leaving the Rocky Mountains

But not without a party with these kids...

Back in the Prairies - storm clouds move in

 Mildred does not fear storm clouds

Sunrise after the all-night Northern Light Show May 17-18

Some days I fee like Kowalski

Prairie Sky, Don't Look at me That way. Roadside Picnic Paradise.

What do I do with it?

5 sets - one night - WOW

 The stages is finally sleeping

Another roadside attraction

Come get yer Smokies

All the world is a stage

Calling all breakers

Long winding road up and over Lake Superior.

Birch trees everywhere!

There she is

 Shine your ever lovin light on me!

 Pit stop

Dead End

Blast from the past

Fill 'er up

Where am I???

Tree planting season has begun - Mildred makes friends

This waterfall is Mesmerizing! So much water. This is in Terrace Bay - home of the best home-made Gnocchi and meatballs on this side of the Atlantic!

 ....Car spotted moving east

Vast empty expanses of trees and hills and trees and hills and trees and hills and trees!

...and lakes

Please use detour

A calm evening over Lake Superior/Agawa Bay

Ojibwe pictographs! This is Mishipizheu, who can calm the waters or anger them by lashing his tail.

Four orbs and a rider.

 I forget :(

 Ripples

More Ripples

 Blue lakes and rocky shores, I will return once more

Salamanders?

Crevasse

I don't know why I like abandoned gas stations

Footprints of the giants?

 Abandonment issues

You could be my broken window

I've seen better days

 How many captions must a man create before you can call him a man

Add it up

Sun sets over Lake Superior!

That's all for now. See you soon!