Canadian Club, Part Two.

Saturday morning, and I had a full day to goof off and see Vancouver. Up and out at about ten o’clock, down to the main drag, turn left and explore. Some places along Granville Avenue look like a movie set from some Bowery Bums flick; old school seedy. Quarter Peep Shows, clothing stores, and McDonald’s – the Canadian McDonald’s with the little red Maple Leaf in the middle of the Golden Arches – all vie for what will be prime real estate when the Winter Olympics start up early next year. Construction is everywhere. The huge Tom Lee Music Store wasn’t quite open when I went by the first time.

I walked until I ran into water. Well, not literally; I would have had to make my way across a cruise ship the size of Emeryville. The port, the new Convention Center complex, and the attractive Port Walk with the historic plaques full of stories of local color, good and bad, really add to this city’s beauty. To stand and watch a seaplane arc out of the sky and skim down on the bay gave that kid-type thrill you don’t get too often.

Vancouver, like San Francisco and New Orleans, is surrounded by water, and so is geographically limited. As I walked back to the other end, it’s clear that the high rise apartment building is King here. There’s a huge marina, some beautiful parks, and a ton of balconied apartments overlooking it all. There’s a whole walkway along the shore, and it felt like you could walk around the whole peninsula. I found a very cool AIDS memorial, made up of large metal plates, with the names of the fallen cut out. People had left flowers and ribbons in the cut out names of their loved ones. It reminded me a lot of the Vietnam Memorial Wall in D.C., the most amazing public memorial I’ve ever seen.

After a little more strolling around, I went back to my room, and Robert had left, but had made Hotel Room Coffee. This brought the rest of my Cup o’ Soup memory back into focus; I was definitely in the right hotel, and it wasn’t a microwave. I had heated water in the coffee pot for my soup! Road Resourcefulness.

As it happens, the Yale hosts a blues jam every Saturday afternoon, and I decided to go check out the local talent. Ronnie, our drummer was there, and we hung out and he convinced me to sign up. He was a little put off by the guy running the jam. It seems that he was also the drummer from the late band the night before, and when Ronnie tried to give the guy a little respect, he got blown off. We watched the jammers, obviously, most if not all were regulars. I watched one bass player get up and play three times. As we got closer to the end of jam, Jam Boss comes over and tries to figure out if we’re worthy of a slot. He looks me in the eye and says “Well, I dunno…are you any good?” Yeah. I’m pretty good. Ronnie and I got up feeling like we had something to prove, and we just burned! I don’t even remember what we played, or much about who we played with, but we brought it. The drummer who ran the thing was gone before we got off the stage.

Two hours later we were back on the same stage with the band, and we played much, much better. Ronnie and I had a little more time working together, we had had a chance to go over rough spots from the night before, and playing the songs a second time in two days gave everything a more solid feel. Another big crowd, a perpetually full dance floor, and a fine time was had by all. In fact, a bunch of videos can be found on YouTube, if you search “Red Hot Blues Sisters”. Great night! A friend from BABP, a bass player forum I frequent, who lives outside of Vancouver came and brought his wife and some friends. Meeting “Internet Friends” in real life is always a treat. Sometimes after the gig, when you think it might be fun to hang around and bask in the afterglow, the whole mood in the club can shift. Saturday night was one of those nights, and pretty soon a girl who had too much to drink was yelling and fighting with a guy who – surprise surprise – was trying to leave her. I know, right? Weird. We had an early lobby call anyway, to make our way across the Trans Canada Highway to the next day’s festival in Oroville, Washington. Wherever that was.

A couple of uncategorized Vancouver facts; evidently, the city is home to the most extensive Saxophone shop in the western hemisphere. Robert and Jay spent a lot of time there. The restaurant at the Quality Inn is not the best place to eat. We had breakfast, and the buffet was $15. Menu items included Salsa, for $2.65, and Slice of Cheese, $3.25. The place to eat is The White Spot. A little pricey, but really, really good food. So much for the travelogue!

Part Three coming soon.