Island Show next Sunday

Now that the municipal workers' strike is over, plans for Matt's Island Treasure Hunt are back on. On Sunday August 9th, we will all over take Toronto Island for a day of music.

This is the event's third year and the line-up is as good as ever, with sets from some of our favourites... Feuermusik big band, The Silt, Castlemusic, Isla Craig, $100 and many more. We'll do a short acoustic set as Bruce Trail sometime during the day. For all the pertinent details, as they get nailed down, stick close to the Stillepost thread.

Homebodies.

We're home. The basement is littered with gear and we're trying to sleep in and love our loved ones as much as possible. Hillside was a big sloppy finishing move that couldn't have been more awesome. Maybe just a little less rain would have helped but, even that, we wouldn't trade for anything.

Now it's on to the next plan. We're working out the trajectory for an Eastern Canada trip in October and putting together a couple of home town parties too. It's nice to be away from her every now and then but Toronto really is a catch and we'd like to rekindle our romance. Now, if the ferries would just start running again, we'd be in business.

Sept 19th we're at LOLA in London. We're probably playing somewhere close on the 11th and 12th too. October 1st we're at the Shoe in Toronto. More announcements to come, but we need a couple of days to recouperate.

Ontariariario

And so begins our slow descent towards our home turf. Excuse the lack
of updates over the last handful of days but we've been busy living
(driving mostly, actually).

On Monday we linked up with our friend Jon-Rae Fletcher and his
wonderful band in Vancouver. It was sad to say goodbye to our new
friends in Rock Plaza Central but they were statebound. JR and company
welcomed us with open arms and BC showed up in droves to see us.
Biltmore Cabaret was a blast, the ferry to Victoria and subsequent
party at Logan's were pretty special and Kelowna ran a tight ship and
offered up lots of eye candy.

The drive from Kelowna to Lethbridge, hugging but never crossing the
US border, is one of the most beautiful treks you'll ever see in this
country. Any country, for that matter. If you ever have the chance, we
strongly encourage you to see it with your own eyes. The show in
Lethbridge was tough to get through after 12 hours of driving but the
crowd were glad to see us and that's gotta count for something.

Then last night came the thrilling surprise of the tour - Regina. Who
would have thought that this unassuming town would come out with such
force? We've been playing in Ontario for three years and still, we
likely haven't faced a crowd that went so bonkers in all that time. We
are all getting a little tired from all the driving and floor sleeping
but Regina was a paddle to the chest that has us grinning ear to ear
today. Thank you to everyone that made us feel so good on the last day
of the Western leg of this tour.

Now we are on our way through monstrous Ontario again. On Tuesday we
land in Montreal, then QC, then Ottawa and Hillside. Daniela will be
rejoining us after a short detour, and Thom, Leon and Tamara are
coming to join in on the fun.

It'll be nice to be back on familiar ground but we can't help but feel
that it all went by a little too fast. Oh well. There's always next
time.

Old Albertan Crawl

So, it seems that Albertans are some of the kindest and most
hospitable people in Canada. Obviously a thankful nod should be given
to Rob and Fran and Rich and the beautiful people of Saskatoon before
we get to the Albertans but it's hard to think when there's a stack of
Danishes in front of you.

On Thursday, Andrea's family were nice enough to let us loiter on the
hardwood floors and couches of their beautiful suburban Edmonton home.
And last night we were treated like kings in Calgary, with beer and
pizza to greet us at Jules and Eric's cozy cottage house. It really
rejuvinates your van-overloaded mind when people go out of their way
to make you feel comfortable at their home. Thank you. A million times
thank you.

The shows have been great too. Been able to try out each of the new
songs once so far and will keep doing so as the tour progresses. Oh,
and we had a good time performing at the Calgary radio station
yesterday too.

Onto Canmore later today, but not before some much needed R&R. Taking
it easy with coffee and Danishes, showers and laundry. What a life.

Zoski's

In the van and headed for Saskatoon after playing Winnipeg last night.

Yesterday we splurged and got a couple nice rooms with a kitchen and
made a big pasta dinner before we went to play the show. We can't be
doing that every night or we'll come back broke but it was nice to
have a solid shower and sleep before this gargantuan drive today.

Thanks to the nice folks in Winnipeg for coming out on a Tuesday night
to listen intently.

We just stopped for gas and the kind old men hanging around the garage
bullied us into singing for them. Hopefully we can post a video in the
coming days. That's just one of a few strange things to happen to us
so far. More to come, to be sure.

Day One

Sitting in the back row of our big ass desiel van and thought now was
as good a time as any to start our tour blog.

We've already listened to two records all the way through; an old one
from Tony Sherr and a new one from Wilco. That doesn't bode well for
our relatively small CD wallet. A couple of audio books should take a
fair chunk of time to get through, but I have a feeling well be coming
back around to Sherr before the trip is through.

We've got about 9 hours until we hit the Beaver Inn in Wawa, where
we'll be recieved by the conveniently named Bruce family.

More to come. This is just day one.
xo BP

(oh, so you know, these posts are gonna be written on an iPod so the
messages won't go up until the next time we hit a wi-fi signal. If the
date above doesn't correspond with what we're talking about, that's
why!)

Boot Camp

Well, here we go. The all-consuming month of July.

It's Canada Day today so we're taking it (relatively) easy today. Just
doing some laundry and trying to learn a couple covers. Tomorrow and
Friday though, we mean business. We are hellbent on bringing our two
newest songs on the road with us and we seem to be getting close. By
the time the weekend is over, they should be ready to join the pack.

Saturday night, Matt's Goin' Steady dance party celebrates it's fourth
year anniversary at the boat but we're still gonna get him up bright
and early on Sunday morning so we can get to Wawa by dark.

We are still looking for some kind folks that could offer us floors or
couches to sleep on, or at least to suggest a cheap motel, hostel or
dorm room we can inhabit for the night. We have some places already
but we are still scratching our heads about Winnipeg, Saskatoon,
Edmonton, Lethbridge, Regina, Quebec City and maybe Ottawa. Leave a
comment or email us at brucepeninsula@gmail.com

Ok, wish us luck! Check back here for occasional musings from our trip.

xo BP