June 19 - 22, 2002 - Mad Trapper's Inn, Inuvik, NWT:

Inuvik. Pronounced inUvik. It's a name that, when used as the answer to, "Where are the Slugs playing next?", invites laughter, culturally interested comments and queries, but mostly the response, "Why the hell are you playing way up there?" None of us knew the answer to that question prior to June 19th, 2002...

24 hours of daylight brings its own set of unique challenges and considerations... Alcan and Reynold's Wrap must do great business up there as almost every house has tinfoil lining its windows, protecting - ensuring - the few hours of daily sleep the residents get during the summer months... One of the owners of Mad Trappers - Marty - informs us that most of the locals sleep between 3 and 4 hours a night in summer. By way of comparison, consider that during winter months, (about 2 hours of twilight and 22 hours of darkness), those same residents sleep between 13 and 14 hours nightly... and no, I'm not talking about the polar bears... but basically that's what these people do... they hibernate. Anyone who's worked graveyard shift for longer than a few months won't be surprised by this... the sun energizes you... that's why we sleep while it's dark... no sun = no energy... I worked graveyards for about a year... I was constantly tired it seemed, no matter how much sleep I got...

After sleeping most of the winter away, it's no wonder they're ready to party! No surprises here... Mad Trapper's was completely sold out for 3 of the 4 days we were there... and damn near sold out the remaining night... we see many of the same faces coming back night after night, which is quite amazing, because these people know how to knock back a few pints! The bar is dimly lit, smoky (everyone in Inuvik smokes), wood floored, and holds less than 300 people... or at least it's supposed to... without actually counting heads, I'd have to say they're pushing the top end on some of these nights... we play an encore every night to very enthusiastic responses...

We even try rehearsing one day... what the hell? we're in the same place four days in a row, so why not? Well, because... that's why. Because the people that are drinking in the bar at 2 in the afternoon think they're getting a free show. And because they dance to the song we're rehearsing and get upset when we go over the same part repeatedly, or stop and start etc., And because they request that we play 'Too Bad' or 'Makin' it Work', and then just don't 'get it' when we try and explain that we're rehearsing. And because the applause and comments are distracting. That's why. So I think rehearsal lasts approximately 12 minutes... the futility is fairly obvious by then...

Vince, Marty and Dave are the owners/management at Mad Trapper's and we got to know all of them fairly well over the 4 days. Marty is one of those people that came up to work for one summer to make some quick cash... that was 15 years ago... If you're a hunter or a fisherman this is the place to live... you have better success looking for a caribou or bison burger in this town, than you do trying to find a hamburger... the trout are as big as sharks and, I guess if you're the adventurous type, you can head not too far north for polar bear...

On our last day there, Marty arranges for us to go to Tuktoyaktuk... (hereto after referred to as 'Tuk') via a little 10 seater plane... well Doug and Elio aren't too keen on flying in the first place, so they don't come with us, but the rest of us fly north to this place that most people can't even pronounce, let alone try and spell... all of us dipping our hands in the Arctic Ocean... the air is so noticeably crisp, almost raw feeling, sharp... Mervin Gruben is our guide up there and we couldn't have asked for a better or more hospitable one... Gruben Enterprises owns most of the town... our two pilots up to Tuk look like Nicholas Cage and someone from the cast of Top Gun (sorry guys - you were awesome!), and one of the coolest things I learn up here is when I learn about the Pingos. It's not some weird sort of Tuk animal... I thought it might be at first... First, you have to know that in Tuk (and in Inuvik as well) there is permafrost about a foot below the surface... this stuff never leaves, even in the middle of summer... so you can't build your house on the ground (you'd never be able to heat the downstairs - it'd be freezing); so all the houses are built up on pylons... some are even built on metal structures that can be raised up or down on one side or the other if the permafrost beneath them shifts... but in Tuk they have these Pingos... It's a geographical phenomenon... the summer thaw creates scattered pools of water all over the land between Tuk and Inuvik... when these refreeze, somehow they react with the permafrost and force the ground upwards, creating what is known as a Pingo... some of these things are not just small hills either... their landscape (and think about it - the view from their houses), constantly changes... another thing I found fascinating is how the people living there are forced to change their method of transportation seasonally... in the wintertime the ground is frozen so solid that they snowmobile on an ice road between Inuvik and Tuk. In the summertime it completely thaws, and the only ways to go from one town to the other are by water or air. And this: bananas are $2.49 per pound; 2 litres of milk is $5.89; 2 litres of Pepsi is over $6.50... OUCH!!!

Anyway, it's an amazingly intense 4 days... we all have a really good time and the hospitality up north is everything you've likely already heard it is!!!! Next stop, Kelowna... Cya! Marc.