How I Spent My One-Week Vacation, Part 1

Ola. Long time since I last rapped at ya. But my lumbago has been acting up and I've got a tetch of the misery and my trick knee keeps going out so I haven't really felt like blogging. What with all the physio I have to do. And on top of all that last week my Ford Fiesta died. No, wait a minute, that was Jim Anchower's car.

My car is running fine actually. Mavis and I gave it a good workout (gas-pedal and back-seat,) during the one-week vacation I'm just finishing up today. I bet we went through every small town in this part of of Ontario and beyond in the past 10 days.

From the Niagara region to Sarnia to North Bay. And you know what? All small towns don't look the same. Oh sure, they all have two churches at the second intersection off Main Street, and they all have an LCBO on the outskirts of town and they all have a Sobeys but other than that they truly are different.

Anyway. Got off work Friday morning at 7:00, had a quick nap and then drove up to Welland for an outdoor Andy Kim concert. They have this night-time music-series called 'Illuminaqua' set along the recreational canal. A floating stage just off the bank, and surrounding that about 100 of these pod (think of the bottom half of a very-big Weber round charcoal barbeque) things sticking out of the water on both sides and behind the stage. Guys in gondola-looking kyacks come along, fill them with firewood and then light them about dusk. It's an outdoor concert so you can hear it from anywhere and people line up on both sides of the canal to hear it for free - not unlike 'Rock the Park' at Harris Park. Or you can pay the giant sum of $10 for reserved seating to sit in the amphitheatre set-up they have in front of the stage. I decided to splurge and spend the 20-bucks. What the hell, it's 'vacation' money.

There was an opening act. This girl from Quebec with an acoustic guitar and someone else accompanying her on guitar. She sang these folk-music type songs with a bit of melodic pop feel. I think there must be some big federal-government grant money given to support Illuminaqua (hence the subsidized price of the tickets - It's 30-bucks a ticket at every other Andy Kim concert I've been to this year,) because the girl sang every song in French. And Welland is known for John Deere, not for having a big French community.

So part of the appeal wasn't just Andy Kim but what a great venue.

And it occured to me that London, Ont. could do the same type of thing at the Forks of the Thames. But that will never happen because for one thing, with Springbank Dam being busted for the past three years or so there's not enough water deep enough at the forks to keep afloat a kyack let alone a canoe, let alone a gondola-type vessle. At the moment, you could probably walk across the river-forks and yes, you would get a 'soaker' but you certainly wouldn't get your knees wet. If you were wearing shorts - even Burmeudas - they'd still be dry.

And of course, this being London, we have a City Council that just wouldn't go for putting on a cheap concert-series with 'name' acts for the people who live here AND tourists. City councillor Paul VanthemanBeergarten would oppose it for the same reason he opposes anything involving the Arts. Because he hates spinich. Even though it would create a few jobs. Summer jobs, but jobs just the same. And the usual grandstanders and wagon-hoppers would go along with him.

So let's face it. Something like Illuminaqua just ain't gonna happen here. To quote Michael Todd when asked about the danger of a Link Wray concert selling out at Call the Office - "That ain't gonna happen. Yer in London, man."

Anyhoo, the Andy Kim concert was as good as the post you can read below of his show in Belleville two months ago. Afterwards he sat down at the merchandise table to sign stuff. Here's a couple of things I like about the guy. When told by the Parks & Recreation people that he would only have 20 minutes because they wanted to go home, he said, "No, I'll be here until all these people in line have been taken care of." ... during the concert, he played one of a few new songs and thanked the audience for their indulence in politely listening to his first album of new material in 20 years - and then talked about how happy he was to be given the opportunity to have this "second kick at the can."

And lastly, when Mavis and I were at the merch. table and got to shake the actual hand which co-penned 'Sugar, Sugar,' being the considerate fan I am, I gave him a gift in return - and he was genuinely pleased. You can see it at the top of this post. One of two sheets of uncut jukebox title-strips. One was for his first single, 'How'd We Ever Get This Way.' The other for his last Number 1 song - the self-financed (making him one of Canada's first truly indie-artists,) 'Rock Me Gently.' I gave them to him 'framed' in a couple of empty CD 'jewel' cases.

And got him to sign the extra strip I had for myself. He was quite taken aback at these objects and said, "I have to ask, Sonny - are you in the jukebox business?"

Nope. Bought them on Ebay. Where else? But I thought it rather astute of the man to think that I might still be making a living at a business which has been dying a slow death for well longer than the past decade. Story of my life.