The North-West Passage: Canada's Alternate Anthem

November 29th 2009... It is 60 years since Stan Rogers was born in Hamilton Ontario and only 26 years since his passing, on June 2nd 1983.

I feel, given significance of the day that I should share my favourite Stan Rogers moment.

I was watching T.V. flicking through the channels, working my way up through the 50's and 60's where you rarely find anything worth watching. but every so often you find a gem. This night would turn out to be one of those nights, As I flicked to this lonely forgotten channel, in the forlorned 50-70 range, I heard a song, It was solemn, lonely, sincere. It was mournful, and painful,

it was beautiful

i had never heard a song like this, I watched and listened attentively, it was as if i was having a musical epiphony.

I remember hearing the chorus

ah, for just one time
I would take the North-West passage
to find the hand of Franklin
reaching for the Beafort Sea
Tracing one warm line
through a land so wide and savage
and make the North-West passage
to the sea.

This was instantly imprinted in my mind, I ran to the computer to look it up on youtube, and probably listened to it 40 times over.

Everybody has had that moment, where a song just speaks to them, in some instances it is because the song is applicable to their situation at that very moment. Clearly I wasn't stranded in the North Exploring, I was sitting in my Toronto home in the middle of winter, but something about that mournful wail, something about Stan Rogers spoke to me. For weeks I was singing this song, humming it, whistling it, listening to it, learning the words, I was borderline obsessed.

But Winter turned to spring, and other songs filled my head, and while it was still a favourite, it wasn't at the forefront of my musical ventures any more, it had moved to the back of my head, with all the music I already knew and loved, pushed aside by other new music, other music that I was hearing for the first time.

Spring eventually turned into summer and I was excited to be volunteering at Mariposa Folk Festival, in Orillia Ontario, but on the saterday afternoon of the festival, I was particularily excited.

Nathan Rogers, the son of Stan Rogers, was playing the main stage. Nathan doesn't look much like his father, other than the fact that he as well as his father both began balding at an early age. But as soon as he started singing one of his songs; that was when you knew more than anything else about him, that he was the son of Stan Rogers, he had that exact same, shantyman baritone voice, that so many people adored.

Towards the end of his set, he made reference to his father, and a song that he thought was sort of an unrecognised alternate Canadian national anthem, and he asked everyone to please sing along, and as he started playing The North-West Passage, he sounded hauntingly like his father, everybody sang along, realising that in the world today, this is as close as you can get to Stan Rogers, this is his flesh and blood, these are his words, and his voice, out of another man. And though it was the middle of summer, I felt I was there, trying to navigate the North-West passage, with "David Thompson and the rest".
What I felt is inexplicibly hard to describe, I guess the best way to put it was, that it moved me, it touched me in a way that no song had before, and probably no song ever will. It would be like if you saw Johnny Cash playing hurt, which he cannot do beause unfortunately he has passed away.
So seeing Nathan Rogers was like seeing Stan Rogers play, because if you closed your eyes, Stan Rogers is who you would hear.
Later on that weekend I ran into Nathan Rogers, and I told him my story, of how much it meant to me, to hear him play that song, I forget what he said to me, but I could tell that he was glad to be playing the song, because it reminded him of his father, and he was happy to hear my story, happy that in a world moving so fast, where pop hits are coming in and out daily, that his fathers music, Now his music, could still move somebody this much.
Happy Birthday Stan Rogers
May you Rest in Peace.

Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage
To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea;
Tracing one warm line through a land so wild and savage
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea.

Westward from the Davis Strait 'tis there 'twas said to lie
The sea route to the Orient for which so many died;
Seeking gold and glory,
leaving weathered, broken bones
And a long-forgotten lonely cairn of stones

Three centuries thereafter,
I take passage overland
In the footsteps of brave Kelso, where his "sea of flowers" began
Watching cities rise before me,
then behind me sink again
This tardiest explorer,
driving hard across the plain.

And through the night,
behind the wheel,
the mileage clicking west
I think upon Mackenzie,
David Thompson
and the rest
Who cracked the mountain ramparts
and did show a path for me
To race the roaring Fraser
to the sea.

How then am I so different
from the first men through this way?
Like them, I left a settled life,
I threw it all away.
To seek a Northwest Passage
at the call of many men
To find there but the road back home again.

Ah, for just one time,
I would take the North-West Passage
To find the hand of Franklin
Reaching for, the Beaufort Sea
Tracing one warm line
Through a land so wide and savage
and make the North-West Passage
to the sea.

PV

Five Days

Guy:
It's been five days, and countin'
counting the days, its been
since you left
it's been five days, and countin'
been dancin' my way
all along the treble clef

it's been five days since i saw you
saw you walk out that door
in so many ways, i miss you
i need you more, than ever before

it's been five days and i'm countin'
i'm countin' on a miracle
it's been five days, i know it's been too long
does it count for something, that I wrote you a song

it's been five days, since i called you
your silence, is killing me
it's been five days since i told you
please baby please don't leave

it's been five days
since you packed your bags
you've gone away
your gone to stay
i hope and pray
that i'll see the day
where i'll hear you say

Gal:
it's been too long and I miss you
hey baby can I kiss you

and I know

it's been five days, and you've been countin'
countin' the days it would take
for me to call, and you to answer

it took five days, of countin'
wont be counting again no more
you're coming back
you'll be walking through that door

you walk in, we embrace
like a million times before
and i love you
you're the one,
i adore

My Great Canadian Week

The Great Canadian Week: Wednesday, see the Tragically Hip, score a ticket to the after party, meet the band; except Gord (who was watching hockey), have pancakes the following morning with real 100% Canadian Maple Syrup, followed by Timmy's and a Maple Donut; Saterday see The Joel Plaskett Emergency, before the show run into Stewart Mclean (host of the vinyl cafe on cbc radio 1) as well as Julie Penner (Music producer for the Vinyl cafe and also plays with Broken Social Scene) after a fantastic show of improvised lyrics, sing alongs, clapping and dance, run into Jian Gomeshi (host of Q on cbc radio 1; as well as playing with Moxy Fruvous) then drive home, make a couple cars on a Rogers Phone (Rogers is a prominent Canadian Company, founded by Ted Rogers, who passed away recently, and i believe he was 78, but i could be wrong) get home and find my T.V. on the CBC, still on from watching Hockey Night in Canada earlier in the Night; Luckily Sid the Kid and the Pitsburgh Penguins won, which not only is good for Canada because Crosby is arguably the best Canadian player, but it also helps me out in my hockey pool; this is a pretty good run on sentence i've got going here, so bewtween, Joel Plaskett, the Tragically Hip, Stewart Mclean, and Timmy's it really has been; a Great Canadian Week.

PV

Just Thinking

So this is my first real Blog entry, not sure what exactly a blog is for, but as a kid who sometimes contemplates being a writer it seems like it could be neat. Should i say what's on my mind? should i say how i feel? should this be a journal, a diary where i can write down my thoughts? who knows, likely no one will ever read this, so i wouldn't even have to worry about writing anything that i might regret, i guess for people to read this there really should be something to read, content, purpose, anyway that's it for now, the "gords gold" post is something I wrote awhile ago and multi grain tostitos are much better than regular tostitos.

that's all for now

PV

The Spring of 09 has been full of great shows, bewteen Joel Plaskett, Bruce Springsteen and the Tragically Hip, all three of which coincidentially had no opener. But that got me thinking, what was the best show i've ever seen? That is not an easy question to answer, becuase every concert is a different experience. Some of the concerts i've been too were legendary, others were just a great time, and others just satisfying because you finally got to see that artist in person, even if their show was relativley shitty. Bob Dylan was definitley the latter, being a fan of Bobby his was a show i had to go to, i heard he wasn't much of a showman... i didn't realise how true that was, the sound was awful and you could only understand every seventh word. He did not move away from the keyboard all night, which would have been okay if i had been sitting opposite of where i had been, so i had a great view of his back all night. Luckily the FooFighters opened and introduced me to the wonders of a triangle solo, so the night turned out pretty well. On the other hand Bruce Springsteen is ever the showman, as well as an engaging lyricist, i've had the good fortune of seeing him four times now, and the shows are never the same, and you always puts everything into it. Another great show was see Down with Webster at the beaches rec centre next to Glen Ames, i went to both shows, but the first one was best. They only did one set, which was disappointing, when the concert ended, i thought it was jsut an intermission so i was hanging around afterwards, wondering when they were coming back on. But that was a great show because the crowd got so into it, and everyone was jumping and dancing and knew all the words, and it was so hot, and everyone was jsut drenched with sweat, it was super grimy, and just a totally different concert experience. Every summer for the past 3 years i've been volunteering at Mariposa Folk Festival, which is one of the oldest in Canada. I have had the opportunity to see and meet many great musicians. Like Feist before she came out with "1234" and got on the i-pod commercial, and Ron Sexsmith who i got to talk to for a good 10 minutes back stage, before his set. It was at Mariposa where i first saw Joel Plaskett, doing an acoustic set, and now i jsut saw him at Massey Hall, and man can he put on a show. He is quickly becoming the pride of Nova Scotia, and maybe even Canada before long. But i would personally say the most awe inspiring person i've ever seen or met in my life is a man by the name of Gordon LightfootI remember it had been drizzling all day on and off, and there would be patches of sun, followed by dark clouds that would always blowover and give way to more sun. By evening the pattern had changed, the small drizzle clouds were being pushed aside by huge storm clouds, which did not look good, because Gordon Lightfoot was the Sunday Head Liner, returning to his home town of Orillia to play at Mariposa Folk Festival. Gord rolled up in a limo, drove right into the back stage area, treated as V.I.P. , he shook a few hands and then we escorted to his trailer, along with his band. Now here is just some back ground information so you can truly appreciate the magnitude of what Gord did at Mariposa. Gordon Lightfoot was born November 17th 1938, making him in his early 70's, in 2003 he underwent four abdominal surgeries and was in a 6 week coma. He made remarkable recovery though and was playing again by july 2004.Gord took the stage to storms clouds and tremendous applause, he started with a song i had never heard, but i like the way his band played, and i was digging his voice, and his lyrics. By the second song it had started spitting rain, nothing too bad, but a few people left. Gord didn't mind though, he just kept playing, in the middle of hte fifth song; a huge flash of fork lightning split the sky, and the rain began to pour, a few unfaithfuls left, but most of the people jsut beared the brunt of the storm, and moved closer to the stage to occupy the vacant spots of hte people who had left. Gord didn't mind hte rain though (the stage did have a roof) he just kept playing. He was captivating, no one could take there eyes away, clapping and seeing along. The wind picked up, the rain came down harder, every 5 seconds there wouldb e a flash of lightning always followed by the boom of the thunder. Gord said "just one moment please, we're having some technical difficulties up here" as they took a moment to lower the roof of the stage a little, after the short intermission, and in the midst of the worst part of the storm, all i can remeber is hearing the mournful intro of "The wreck of the edmund fitzgerald" and as he played that song, i remember thinking, that this was exactly the kind of storm those poor people would have been in, on the Edmund Fitzgerald, it was almost as if Gord was the captain of his own ship, and standing tall on the bow, playing through the storm, and giving his crew; the band hope, that they would make it out of there okay, that they would brave the storm, and see another day, In the end Gord played for a good 45-60 minutes, non stop other than the two minutes to lower the roof. I remember he went back to his trailer after the show, to change, dry off and hopefully let the rain subside. I remember i caught his eye ashe was making his way back to his limo, and he stopped, and let me come over, i shook his hand and said "Sir you really are a trooper" and he smiled and moved on, making his way to the Limo and eventually getting in, and driving away, maybe to go visit some family of his that live in orillia, or maybe he still has a house there. But of all the concerts i have been to, i have never seen anyone that dedicated, or happy to play for his home town, it was really an incredible experience, and one i will never forget.