Tales of the East Coast

Ahoy mateys! Greetings from the East Coast (or the South Shore of Nova Scotia)!

It has been brought to my attention that I've been slacking off on my blog, which, truth be told, I must admit I sort of forgot about when I reached my destination of the Atlantic Ocean. Really, I've just been having a good time living in the moment, forgetting to document events. Better late than never though, I say!

My first tasks in New Brunswick involved crossing the world's longest covered bridge (1,282 feet) in Hartland (home of the famous Covered Bridge chips, which I am eating as I type) and of course the world's largest axe, in Nackawic.

Monty poses in front of the World's Longest Covered Bridge,
Hartland, NB

Monty poses in front of the world's largest axe,
Nackawic, NB

My first night was in Fredericton, where I stayed at a crummy motel because I had nowhere else to stay and I proceeded to write a song about being lonely on the road. I think the feeling was amplified by walking into a pub by myself to get some dinner and both waitresses proceeded to ask "Is anyone joining you?" Our society certainly doesn't encourage being on one's own - but that could be a whole other blog topic. Anyway, that feeling evaporated the next day, when I went down to the university radio station, CHSR FM for an interview with Mark Kilfoil - you can listen to the whole interview here! That night, November 14, I had a show at The Roxstone Cafe, just on the outskirts of downtown Fredericton. I shared the show with local musician, Cory Paul Hill, a most excellent singer-songwriter and overall musician. The show was different than any of my other ones on this tour, as it was really just a casual collaboration between the two of us. We played along on each others' songs, improvising and harmonizing with each other. After doing solo shows for nearly two months, it was great to spontaneously collaborate with another musician. The audience consisted solely of Cory's family and friends, all of whom were very supportive and they all bought my CD! Afterwards, Cory and his buddies showed me some East Coast hospitality, taking me out to the local bar, The Capital, to see some fantastic bands, including Adam Baldwin, This Ship, and Michael Bernard Fitzgerald. My friend Adam Cormier, whom I once played with in Twisted String, happened to be on stage playing drums with Michael - the Canadian music circle is indeed a close-knit one!

Cory Paul Hill with Shelder the Electric Clamfish
at The Roxstone Cafe in Fredericton, NB

So after my fantastic introduction to the Maritimes, I then headed to Saint John (where I wrote my last blogpost) and visited my friend Kate, another trumpet player whom I first met in music school. We watched the Santa parade and went to the old theatre to see The Sound of Music, which I had never seen live before. I took the ferry (my first ferry since leaving Salt Spring) from Saint John to Digby, Nova Scotia, where I rewarded myself with a lunch of Digby scallops. I spent a few days at Twisted Brook Farm in the Annapolis Valley, near Middleton, playing music with my good friend John Muller and threshing beans with my new friend Owen. Below, you can check out a music video of John and I playing the classic "Farewell to Nova Scotia" on a blustery day in Margaretsville:

 

Old Annapolis Valley barn

After some relaxed days at the farm, baking numerous banana goodies (so as to use up the excess baking bananas that happened to be at the house), John and I headed to Halifax. We played a casual show at Cafe Cempoal and a concert the next night at The Big Blue House, which was a goodbye party, as the landlord is now selling the house. The crowd at the Big Blue was very enthusiastic and supportive - a great introduction to my time in Nova Scotia. I was also blessed to have my new friend Courtney Harris do some projections along with my music - the first time I've collaborated with a visual artist!! 

The magical crowd during my set at The Big Blue House

I stayed at Big Blue for nearly a week, during which time I played a few rousing tunes at the legendary Open Mic House, celebrated my 27th birthday, found a really sweet place to live for January and also found a job. I'll be working at Andrea's Music Studio in January, teaching private piano, brass, ukulele, guitar and voice lessons to kids. With that job, I'll be here at least until June (or maybe longer) so I won't be going too far anytime soon. But I'll still be able to get away to places like PEI or Cape Breton for gigs. I'm already booked to play the Wolfville Market on March 7.

For the month of December, I'm hunkered down at a 176 year old farmhouse in West Dublin on the South Shore, in Lunenburg County. It's the home of my friends Jude and Charlie (Pennybrook), both of whom are very fine Celtic and folk musicians. I'll be recording my first full-length album with Jude here in the new year. I'm spending my time practicing lots of music, reading lots of books (I'm just finishing up a new pirate song about the legendary Oak Island treasure so I had to do some research for that) and learning how to tune pianos - already, five people have said I could use their pianos for practicing my tuning exercises. We've been having regular Saturday night jam sessions at the farmhouse, with some local musicians - that's been my first regular weekly event in a long time, seeing as I haven't spent more than a week in a single place since the end of June! Last week I took a quick trip to PEI for the Charlottetown Tuba Christmas. I play every year in the Victoria one so I wanted to see if there was one in the area and the closest one happened to be in Charlottetown. Good excuse to get to PEI! I enjoyed driving across the longest bridge in the world (over ice-covered waters that is), looking at various lighthouses, and also playing in my first East Coast Tuba Christmas. I plan to return again to do more shows and also drive around the whole island, visiting every lighthouse and camping as I go. Now that leaves just one more province to cross off my list!

The Confederation Bridge, from New Brunswick to Prince Edward Island

With PEI Tuba Christmas conductor, Gregory Irvine

A PEI lighthouse on a red sand beach, Covehead Harbour

Immediately after playing in Tuba Christmas, I hopped back into my Echo and headed back to The Bridge, as I was scheduled to open for Pennybrook's show at the West Dublin Hall (5 hours and 10 minutes according to Google Maps) and I had 6 hours to make it. I took one designated bathroom and refuel break and lo and behold, I made it with about 40 minutes to spare! I even had time to scarf down food and warm up a little bit. I enjoyed playing at the old hall, as it reminded me of the Ag Hall on Mayne. That was my last scheduled performance of 2014, although I'm sure there will be a few more impromptu jam sessions before the year is out! 

And thus ends my 2014 East My Friend tour. I'm not sure when I'll be making my return journey out west but my return will be inevitable, as I have numerous things stored in boxes at my parents' house that I am yet to deal with. And I know the road will call again, for there is still much in this world to discover. For now though, I am going to enjoy creating and recording more music, learning how to become a piano tuner, teaching music to kids, and booking shows in the Maritimes (I still need to play an Electric Clamfish show on PEI and also Cape Breton, Newfoundland and Les Iles-de-la-Madeleine). I have met some truly amazing and generous people on this journey and have learned that if you remain open, the universe shall provide. Here's to following your passions and dreams, whatever they may be!

I'll do my best to update this thing periodically in the new year, but until then, have a wonderful Christmas holiday wherever you are and a Happy New Year! I shall leave you with the song I started writing in that lonely Fredericton motel room...