| Atlantic Crossroads Newfoundland 2005 |
| Wednesday, June 29th
The Festival is over. It�s a day off for everyone before the Gala tomorrow. NOT! Even though there are no concerts scheduled for the day, it is anything but a day off. I awoke at 9:30, the time we were supposed to be at the Arts and Culture Centre for rehearsal with the rest of the gang. I woke Jim and Lillian and we hurried out of the house. Jim had scheduled about 45 minutes for each person and a little more time. Luckily, Darrell Power was the first one scheduled this morning and he�s done enough soundchecks in his life, he didn�t need any �outside� help. Ten years of that at 200 days a year qualifies him for "experienced" don't you think? There were two waves of rehearsals, AM and PM. Individual performers were scheduled for the morning and everyone for the afternoon session, with all to be done by 5 PM. I got to watch from backstage and talk to people. It was a different view than out in front, for sure. In addition to soundchecks and mic assignments for songs, the dancers had to practice as they�d be dancing for three numbers and the whole gang had to practice the closing bows. THAT was hilarious! You wouldn�t think it�d take that much instruction, but trying to get 13 performers to do ANYTHING at exactly the same time was a real challenge! Hugh Scott ended up being the bowing expert and took care of demonstrating exactIy how Jim wanted it. I ran errands for Jim and Lillian and dropped Colleen off at her house. She was trying to tie up loose ends before her trip to Stanfest in Halifax on Friday. She was performing on Saturday or Sunday and leaving via Port aux Basques ferry. Ron was also traveling to Stanfest, but he was singing on Friday and thereby traveling by plane to Halifax. One of these years I�ll make it to Stanfest, I suppose, since it�s so highly recommended by the participants. It was extremely windy today and we wondered whether we�d end up having the boat ride tonight. You should have seen the clouds speeding by the parking lot as people went out for breaks during rehearsal! |
| The band having played with everyone, the dancers having practiced with the performers and the bows down pat, we left the Arts and Culture Centre at 5 PM and went to Bridie Malloy�s for supper. We ate outside on the windy deck. The food was good but the service slow that evening and we had to scramble to run home, pick up what was needed and get to the boat by 7 PM.
I had parked on Water Street near the Celtic Hearth and we met the gang already gathered on the dock. All the Irishmen went, including Val and Moray. Jim and Lillian, Hugh and Kathy, and Darrell�s sister represented the Newfoundland contingent. Jim had also invited the volunteers, which I though was so nice of him! Susan and Dave, Susan�s friend, whose name escapes me, and I rounded out the volunteer contingent. Deejay Charters supplied the Shanadithi II, is a Coast Guard approved 42' Cape Island style tour boat, and a personable captain and crew. There may have been other people on board the boat whom I didn�t see because I scrambled right up to the fly bridge and stayed there through the wild ride with Hugh, Kathy and Susan and Dave. We�d get lots more company as the evening continued. I made a boo-boo with my camera earlier when we went home to grab things before supper. I removed the film from the USB thingy before I clicked on remove hardware from the computer. This had the result of making the film card unusual and I didn't have time to fix it. So the trip on the boat was sans camera unfortunately. Just as well, I don't think I could have held on to the camera and the rail and keep my balance on the wildly rolling boat. It was quite the ride and resembled a roller coaster a good portion of the evening. We had the best seats if you wanted the roller coaster version and were eventually joined by all the Irish thrill seekers (some for only a few minutes). Jim wisely stayed down on the first deck but Lillian came up to share the wine that I had picked up in the afternoon. It was delicious! Locally bottled wine called Rodrigues - I had purchased blueberry, cranberry and another kind. The strawberry was sold out and that was the one I really wanted to try. But that's okay because it gives me a good excuse to try it the next time I'm up in Newfoundland. The combination of wine, beer and the rolling seas were the downfall of some of the revelers, but we were fine up on top. II think I must have been a sailor in a former life. I just love the smell of the sea air and the feeling of spray, I have a spiritual connection with Signal Hill, and I am happiest on vacation when I can see the ocean. The captain, for the most part tried his darnedest to keep the rolling of the boat to a minimum, but when whales were sighted, we had to plow right through the waves across the length of the bay. While that delighted us hard-nosed sailing types, it had a distressing effect on others. We got wet several times and I stopped bothering to clean off my glasses after a while. I was dressed in several layers, with my hoodie providing ear protection but the Irishmen were not prepared for a wet evening with wind. Susan had brought eight jackets and sweaters and some of the musicians availed themselves of them. Poor Niall was frozen and Clare didn't look much better. The Newfoundlanders, on the other hand, came prepared for anything, clothing-wise and I happily grouped myself with them tonight. At one point, Ger made the mistake of standing up on the box on the top deck to glance at the whales just as we plowed through a wave. His feet left the surface of the box and 4 of us grabbed at his legs to haul him in. He only did it once. A mama humpback whale and her calf swam around but didn't breach. A group of Minke whales stuck around, too. The caplin hadn�t come it yet and some of the Newfoundlanders seemed surprised to see so many whales. They must have known something we didn't. After circling around so everyone could get a good view of the whales, we headed over to Quidi Vidi harbour. I have never been there by sea but I remembered the harbour entrance was pretty narrow. On the way over, past the Narrows, it began to storm up. We took a quick glimpse at the quaint outport village of Quidi Vidi in the heart of St. John's. There is a brewery there that makes a decent beer, I am told. When a lightning bolt hit the water not too far from the boat, we decided it was time to head back. By that time, everyone on the fly bridge had crowded into the lower deck under the little awning. Inside, Mark Greville had begun a singing session. He was great for doing that. He would have made a superb doo-wop street corner singer! We left the Shanadithi II a soaked happy group and split up to get some last minute entertaining in before tomorrow, the big Gala day. Dave Panting was playing again at Erin's and I got to talk to Vic on the Ham radio, since I had finally figured out how to enter the frequencies in memory. I was a soaked but happy camper. Thanks, Jim and Lillian, for the boat ride! |
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| Jim and Paul showed how they feel about the coming smoking ban in bars in Newfoundland. It was the perfect photo with Jim in his Newfoundland Liberation Army T-shirt smoking next to the no smoking sign. Doesn�t he remind you of Che Guevara? As of July first, smokers will be SOL in pretty much all buildings except their own homes. It�ll make us non-smokers very happy but the bar owners are worried about business. It�s no big deal right now to go outside and smoke, but I wonder how the scene will be played out in December. |
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