...Brian Borcherdt - Coyotes

Give a talented musician an acoustic guitar and ask him to record an album (on mostly first takes) in a living room and Coyotes is what you get. It is this simplicity, that musicians often have with their first albums, that can be forgotten in later albums. As they drive to expand their art it generally means more instruments and more sound. For this reason I’m often a bigger fan of musicians' earlier work and it is rare that albums from big bands do it for me (although Im a sucker for the big band live sound). Brian Borcherdt has gone against this trend and allowed us to appreciate his songwriting talents, those of which we have not seen since the Remains of Brian Borcherdt, by releasing this stripped down album with songs which can leave you feeling like they are demos from an up-and-coming artist.

Borcherdts past solo works (Remains of Brian Borcherdt Volume 1 and 2, Moth) and his group work (Holy F*ck frontman) are anywhere from electronica to rock but some of his previous works (‘Motel’ and ‘1000x’) did allow for a little foreshadowing of his acoustic prowess that can be seen on Coyotes. To say Coyotes is a simple album might be an understatement. He doesn’t use complex guitar strumming to carry the song (like a Jose Gonzalez does) and his voice is usually a quiet hush but Borcherdt somehow conveys the emotion of the song with ease. Even in Borcherdts live act he seems to whisper at the mic and yet his haunting voice surrounds the venue and there is no demand for more from the stage. Here is to hoping that albums like this garner attention to ensure that if musicians want to strip it down and go for a raw sound they know people will be accepting. Again, here is a Camera Music video and picture of me with Borcherdt.

...Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels

Some bands/musicians reach a point where they have generated enough attention with their music that when they put out a new album it pushes them to exponentially increased fame (as Malcolm Gladwell would say a “tipping point”). The solid group of fans they have formed and the hard work from previous tours makes it almost unstoppable for them to not garner significant more attention with their next album. Often the assumption then follows that said new album contains the best music to date by this band, but often this is not the case. I feel this applies to the latest album by the Great Lake Swimmers, Lost Channels.

Do not get me wrong the latest Great Lake Swimmers album is full of worthwhile listens with Tony Dekkers’ luminous voice leading the band through well built folk songs. But this album misses a song which can carry the album (or as the music industry calls it a single). ‘Pulling on a line’ was put out as the single for this their 4^th album but for me it (and any other song on the album) doesn’t hold a candle to some of their other great hits; ‘Your Rocky Spine’ and ‘Passenger Song’ from Ongiara, ‘Moving Pictures Silent Films’ from Great Lake Swimmers and ‘I Saw You In The Wild’ from Bodies and Minds. I take a lot more enjoyment out of these albums, especially Ongiara. I know these past albums drew some attention but I feel that GLS has gotten more praise for this album than previously; with a Polaris Prize Shortlist nomination and attention from down south (see this NPR video).

Nonetheless, I love their old albums and Dekkers voice and therefore they deserve all the praise they can get. Unfortunately sometimes the industry gives recognition at the wrong time, possibly based on cumulative work. They have been one of the named bands to be showing up at Whistler for the Olympics and I look forward to seeing them again. Also check out this Camera Music video of 'Your Rocky Spine', my favorite song and a cool setup here.

...Vancouver

Some of the things Ive learned while in Vancouver
- Sushi can be affordable and still taste amazing. Non-crazy prices for sushi has made this a staple of my eating-out diet
- Dont sit in the front row at stand-up comedy shows
- Blenz coffee is as evil as Starbucks
- Cities with numbered streets are easier to get around
- Canucks fans are as crazy as Leafs fans. Im starting to realize the fanatical level of absurdity towards hockey found in canadian hockey cities.
- Car accidents are daily stories here while in middleton they are the story of the day
- I thought I had experienced the life of university student but after visiting UBC I realize that most students get the big-school atmosphere. You cant be a student and be clostrophobic at UBC
- Even in a city of over a million, it is an incredibly small world. From meeting my brothers, some old friends or a complete stranger who I recognized from Peterborough it is a nice feeling to have familiarity in the unfamiliar
- Music will continue to be one of the most exciting parts of me life. As such, I will probably to turn this blog into music oriented writings as I dont have much else I can say too much about. So if you have any interest in that, you can keep coming back. If not thanks for keeping up with my (our) travels.

...Hope (Nat's Bday)

So after a couple of days settled in Vancouver, I went and picked up Jordan (my younger brother) in Tsawwassen and we drove out to Hope to surprise Nat on his birthday. He did not know that we were in BC (let alone living here). Jordan had kept quiet and now that I had arrived we could surprise him. In turned out the day that was best for us to surprise him was on his birthday so it was twice as significant. We stopped in at his work where we completely surprised him. His boss was nice enough to allow him to hang out with us while he was working for a couple hours and then we met up with him again after work. Hope is a beautiful town on the Fraser river with mountains surrounding and Nat seemed to have a good setup with lots of nice friends surrounding them. We captured a little of the reunion on video and it can be found here

...the Rockies

Big thanks to Mary and Kristyn for letting us crash in Calgary (downtown nonetheless) for a couple days and for showing us around. We left Calgary at 10am and were not sure if we could make it all the way to Vancouver but we were going to try. It did not look likely early on as the snow (yes thats right, snow) slowed traffic down significantly. But after Lake Louise it cleared up and we were able to make some good time. Sorry for the lack of pictures of the Rockies but we were not in tourist mode anymore but instead hurry up and get home mode. We arrived safe and sound around 10pm to Katies place in Vancouver. Let the adventures begin!!

...Calgary

Before we made it into to Calgary we took a quick stop in Drumheller (a spot in the Alberta badlands known for its collection of dinosaur fossils). After seeing many changes in landscape over the last few weeks, this one was the most drastic with the change from prairies to badlands to mountains. We made it to Calgary to stay with Mary for a couple of days. Its nice to have a sleep without an impending drive the next day. We walked up and down 17th avenue and ate out at a nice restaurant called Farm. Found a wicked record store and bought the Acorn album i had been looking for, for quite some time (see what im listening to on the right!). Currently we are lazing around but plan on seeing some more attractions before heading out for Vancouver! The final stop!

...Saskatoon

We drove into Saskatchewan and briefly stopped in Regina to pick up some caffeine (this trip has added to my liking of caffeine with a large need to stay alert while driving). After Regina we drove on to Saskatoon where we were staying with Renis and Robert Shannon (friends of Katies parents). They had a beautiful (hard to find) house and we were treated again to a lovely meal (turkey- early thanksgiving). We were truly blessed to be able to stay with so many friends along the way and not have to eat sandwhiches out of our car for every meal. Saskatoon was very nice and you definitely got the feel of a blossoming city (maybe the sunflowers are doing good right now (see below), go Saskatchewan!).

...Forrest

Forrest is located five minutes north of Brandon, MB and it is the home to Jon and Twylla Burtons family farm. Big thanks to Andrew for setting up the opportunity to stay with his parents on there farm. It was a great place to stay, as we were shown the farm and described the everyday operations, fed delicious food and got a good nights rest. They have a wonderful farm where they grow canola and wheat grain on 1000 acres of land. It was also great to here all about Andrew growing up. While in Manitoba we also got to check Winnipeg and saw the river forks and the market there.

...ThunderBay/Kenora

We spent a night each in TBay and Kenora in Northwestern Ontario. We didnt do to much exploring in these cities. In TBay we stayed at a hostel which was ran by a 70-yr old and was literally her letting strangers live in her home. It was nice but we just stuck in our room and finished season one of the wire (3 episodes straight, the show is as good as everyone had told me). Just before TBay we saw the Terry Fox memorial which was very moving and found out some interesting stuff about it (also check out the documentary Steve Nash made for ESPN which comes out soon). In Kenora we stayed at a motel cause now we were getting lazy and scared of the inevitable cold of camping in N. Ont in October. Kenora seemed like a cozy town, situated on the Lake of Woods.

...Lake Superior Provincial Park

As it was October 1st, the day of Katie's birth, we decided we would not do much driving and we would get the most out of Lake Superior. We had great weather which helped our adventures. We found some nice beaches and got in a 8km hike around a lake which bordered the 'freshwater ocean' (Lake Superior) and a white water river. We finally got some pictures worth seeing so check them out below. The site we found for camping in the park was another great one, bordering a lake (which had some beavers who visited us).

...Sault Ste Marie

On are way into Sault Ste. Marie we started to see some of the beauty of Northern Ontario. The fall travels do make for some great colours on the trees. We arrived into Sault Ste Marie and instead of heading into the city we went to our campground instead, as we had heard it had a hot tub and sauna (and in the north, these are things of importance). We had a beautiful site which we hoped would continue for the rest of the trip.

...Parry Sound

We left Peterborough on the afternoon of the 29th of Sept and our first stop was the Parry Sound. We found a campground (basically an RV stop like most the campgrounds we find) at a place called Honey Harbour and set up there. The lady working laughed at us for camping this late into the summer/fall and she was probably on to something because her campground was on a small strip of land jutting out into the Georgian Bay. Although beautiful it made for a windy and chilly night. We realized that we were probably in for a cold trip but hoped that this spot was just a bad pick.

...Peterborough

Arriving in Ptbo on a Saturday, for a Wednesday M.Sc. defence, we were able to catch with old friends at a Two Hours Traffic show. Great band with some catchy tunes made for a fun return. Without going into too many details, my defence went great and am now a M.Sc. graduate. We camped the whole time in Ptbo (10days) in Kaitlin/Andrea's backyard (big thanks to them!!) and managed to refine our camping skills for the rest of the trip. Ptbo was great to go back and visit and with a proper goodbye to thefriends, the music (Sunparlour Players, Elliott Brood and Wooden Sky all while we were there) and the places (Haasletons and Natas) I felt ready to move on to bigger (and hopefully better) places.

...Belleville

We got to visit Christie in Belleville and stayed with her parents for a night. We got in some good relaxing time after a long drive from Montreal. Witnessed a guy break and enter at the next door neighbors house (who apparently are strippers), which was our excitement for the stop. Also got in a bunch of good ole talk about Acadia which brings you back to the glory (inglorious) days of undergrad. Well rested and full we hit the road for Destination A, Peterborough.

...Montreal

We arrived in Montreal with 2 days to spare and 4 eyes ready for new seeings. Luckily we were staying with Andrew (Katie's brother) and April (his gf), who were ready to show us the sights. They lived right downtown which was great for short walks/bike rides to great food, as demonstrated by are walk to grab a delicious souvlaki as soon as we arrived. The food was a highlight with great breakfast diners (Andrews fav spots), a cool vegan restaurant and of course the Montreal bagels (which we promptly ordered three dozen of) (also check out the pic of the montreal smoked meat store lineup below). We also did a long bike tour which really showed the variety of sites in the city. Got a show in at the Divan Orange which was a cool venue which demonstrated the vibrancy of the music scene there. Montreal was definitely original, it didnt fit into any city 'pigeon hole'.

...Fredericton

We headed west to NB after a night in Antigonish in order to meet up with my sister in Fredericton. My sister, Elizabeth, had just started university at Saint Thomas University. We checked out the campus and her dorm room and then headed downtown. Its a very nice downtown and although we did not see any there was a big blues festival going on. We went to a nice (probably too nice for us!) restaurant called the BrewBakers (fittingly). After dinner we met up with my dad, who was actually on his way to Montreal just like Katie and I, and hung out a bit downtown. We managed to find a nice riverfront campsite along the St. John River which was a nice spot! We figured wed get in all the waterfront sites before it got to cold!!!

...Cape Breton

So officially the beginning of our cross-country trip began with a little detour to Cape Breton. We were visiting Duncans relatives land and were glad that this was the start of our trip. We went to a place called Round Island about 30 minutes from Glace Bay. Beach lounging ensued and it was a good way to relax before the whirlwind of travelling. It was the first time I had gotten to see some of CB's beauty and was glad I was able to do it before leaving NS for good. While there we saw the motorbike group just recently up from the biker festival in Digby and we also saw some other interesting sights (see below). After this detour we officially started the trip to destination A of our journey.

...Little Tancook

The other weekend we bussed down to Chester with Holly and Glen and took the ferry over to the island known as Little Tancook. The Tancook Islands located 45-minute ferry ride out into the Atlantic Ocean are well known for their production of sauerkraut. Little Tancook only has roughly 25 cottages and one of those was owned by Holly's parents. Their cottage was a tiny, cozy and warm place with a deck perfect for a weekend of lounging (see below). Looking back into Chester (for the busy regatta weekend nonetheless) we able to spot both a pod of dolphins and a seal. Duncan and Kate joined us for Saturday night and we got the fire going and let the music entertain.

...Nictaux

Since the beginning of September (after Katie graduated from her dietetic internship, see below) we've been living at Pauls (and now my moms) place in Nictaux. Lionel, my mothers trusty camper (see below), has been a great place to stall before I return to Peterborough to defend my M.Sc. thesis. This has meant that we've had a minivacation with lots of U.S. Open, hot-tubbing, washers (the prototypical Nictaux sport), playing with my mothers 3 dogs and 6 cats and visiting with old high school friends who have all left me behind and started grown up lives.