A Tale of Two Tours part 1

Tour Number One: A Couple of Hooligans 

I awoke at seven on Friday, May 4th, showered, finished packing, breakfasted and bid my wife and son goodbye around nine.  I had to bus over to my buddy's house in town to pick up my gear for the weekend, then bus/seabus over to the North Shore to meet Dave.  Dave and I were playing as a duo, performing blues and soul covers, as well as some of our originals.  This required me to pack three guitars (three different tunings) and my personal luggage on public transit.  Miraculously, I was able to get a ride to the Seabus Terminal and arrived an hour ahead of schedule.  Dave arrived to pick me up mostly on time and we proceeded to the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal to catch a ferry to Vancouver Island.  

  On the ferry, Dave and I had the first ever rehearsal of our duo-  although we've played dozens of gigs in that format over the years, we'd just never found the time, so we used the nearly two hour sailing to our advantage.  It was an easy rehearsal; I was already more than well acquainted with the material.  

  Soon we were back on the highway, driving toward the town of Courtenay, B.C., which was about an hour and a half's drive away.  We chatted endlessly about the tenuous nature of our trade and how touring had changed, gig money getting hard to guarantee and gas prices steadily rising.  Both gigs on this trip had no guarantee, and the gig we thought was our sure thing (Nanaimo) was teetering on the brink on being cancelled due to low ticket sales.  

  We arrived in Courtenay not sure of what to expect of the venue, and after a couple of minutes of confusion and a somewhat irregular traffic maneuver, we found the club.  Immediately we liked both the joint and its proprietor; both are eccentric in the best possible way.  

  Dave was lending me his beautiful old SuperReverb amp for the weekend, so I hauled it up the stairs and started to set up my gear and tune up the guitars.  I was packing my '93 ES-335, my '62 Kay Speed Demon (open A), and my Danelectro '63 reissue (open  D), and my signal went to a Boss TU-3 tuner, Fulltone Plimsoul overdrive/distorion, Danelectro mini tremelo, and Maxon analog delay.  After a quick sound check, we had just enough time to eat and hear from the next gig's promoter: dismal ticket sales had forced her to cancel the gig.  More frenzied phone calls ensued and a deal was hashed out that saved the night- no hotel rooms (we have friends there), and no soundman: roughly a $350 saving for the club.  Nanaimo is salvaged.
  Great, now it's time to do tonight's show.  It goes well.  Not hugely attended, but enthusiastically received.  It is, however, the weekend of the so-called "supermoon", and I am a confirmed lunatic.  Eventually I would find myself on top of a table, standing in the shards of its former candleholder, with three inches of cable to spare as I rock out on the last song of the night- I'm a big believer in making a big  impression when you're out travelling.  Give the audience something to talk about.
  Many beers and a significant quantity of Jack Daniels prepare me for sleeping on a particularly squishy couch, and shut off my seething post-gig brain.
  Courtenay is holding an arts festival that weekend, so we tour about town after breakfast and chance to run into a friend of mine, the excellent Blaine Dunaway, master of the violin.  He invites us to see a performance of his, so we have a smoke together then wander in to be utterly transported by his stellar playing.  But soon the schedule catches up with us and we're off to Nanaimo, to our formerly cancelled gig.
  When we arrive at the venue (Diner's Rendezvous), we find that our decision to axe the soundman, in favour of a small club system was, well, sound.  A simple Mackie mixer with two EV powered fronts is ideal for this short throw room with natural reflection.  It takes me all of five minutes to do the necessary eq tweaks and mix our vocals.  It's a beautiful sounding room and requires little fuss.
  We stop off at the promoter's apartment to grab a quick shower, then back to the club for a pre-gig dinner.  As we walk in the door I see another old friend who had threatened to show up.  We all sit down for dinner, and shortly thereafter, Dave and I hit the stage.
  Playing in a harp-guitar duo is a lot of hard work; essentially the guitar becomes the whole rhythm section and the harp is the horn section.  I have a lot of experience playing singles, and I have the ability to play two or three parts simultaneously or intermittently to cover the bass, chords and leads.  That night I was getting a prominent and musical thump from my foot-stomps being picked up through the stage; it became such a part of the music that night that I couldn't really stop (oh great, another part for me), and was left with a very stiff leg the next morning.
  Anyway, we played a barnburner of a duo gig- really good energy, variety and big full sound.  So it was off to my buddy's house to play his guitars till the wee hours and liberally sample his reposado tequila.  I do love a happy ending.  Also, there was a real bed!  Success!
  We had faced the possibility of a cancelled gig sinking our expenses for the trip, and leaving both a promoter and a club disappointed; instead we thought on our feet, salvaged the gig, left both promoter and club happy, had reasonable cash in hand, and spent time with old friends.  Oh yeah, and we rocked the duo in fine style!  All in all, a good trip.



http://davehoerl.bandzoogle.com

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