Saturday, August 3rd, 2002
- Volunteer Firefighter's Dock Dance - Bowen Island, BC:
I'm standing at the back of the water-taxi, in the open sea air, just relaxing
after the gig, while being shuttled back to the mainland... the moon is reflecting
off the surface of the water and it's quite warm... and I'm thinking to myself
that, while there are many people in the world who make a great deal more money
than I do, I can't think of many who enjoy their work as much as me... have
you ever said to yourself, "it just doesn't get much better than this...", or
something to that effect?
... anyway, you get the
point I'm sure... this is one of my favourite gigs to date... okay, flashback...
cue the lights and the weird spirally effects... We're picked up by the water-taxi
midday, and our stage equipment and us are shuttled over to Bowen Island for
the dock dance... the water-taxi is mostly covered - six rows of bench seats
on each side of the boat and a small open air deck at the back - no problem
for the amount of gear we're packing...
... when we dock at Bowen,
there are several volunteer firefighters ready to help with the gear... we load
it into their trucks and cart it up to the stage... it's a beautiful day, warm,
and the sea is probably my favourite smell in the world, so things are looking
pretty good... the stage set-up is great... Robert Eccles painted a giant slug
wearing a firefighter's hat on the backdrop behind us...
I should mention here
that this dance is put on by the volunteer firefighters of Bowen Island - there
are only two paid firemen on the island; the rest are volunteers... and they're
doing this party up right! In behind the stage and up a short path is our 'dressing
room'... it's actually a house, occupied by what seems like a never-ending supply
of the most hospitable people you could ever meet... Norma opens her house up
to us, really looks after us and shows us the spirit of Bowen Island... thanks
Norma!
The gig? The gig is 1000
people crammed onto the dock at Bowen Island, drinking 18 kegs of beer, and
2 of cider... all of them dancing, smiling, having a great time... no one gets
out of hand; everyone has fun... what else do you want? There's something about
playing outside, right beside the ocean, with 1000 bodies all bouncing up and
down in front of you... I don't know, stuff like that can make you forget about
a desk job pretty quickly...
...after the gig, our plan
is to get back to the mainland, sleep for a few hours, then head straight to
the airport to fly first to Prince George, then get picked up there and driven
to Vanderhoof for the Rockfest the following afternoon... well, two encores
later, it's well past the one o'clock finish time... oh well, maybe only a couple
hours of sleep then... Goodnight! CU in Vanderhoof!...
Marc.