Hey… our fresh little city by the sea has turned a very young 125 years old TODAY!

This city has always been my home, I’ve never lived anywhere else, I’ve turned down great jobs in bigger cities because I didn’t want to leave, I convinced my wife to move over 5,000 kilometres to join me, and every time The Smugglers went on tour, when we got home we collectively agreed that, through all the cities and towns and countries we visited, we never saw anything more drop-dead gorgeous than Vancouver.

Way back in 1991, at age 19 I wrote an ode to Vancouver, creatively titled “Vancouver BC“, and the reason I wrote the song was two-fold.

I loved “geography songs”; the naming of cities and towns and provinces and states in lyrics. Chuck Berry and Stompin’ Tom Connors were my faves at that art. The second reason was  in the late ’80s and early ’90s, everyone in our music scene was really down on Vancouver. The poker-hot punk scene of the late ’70s and early ’80s had dried up or gone into rehab and the scene was suddenly most definitely 3 hours to the south in Seattle.

I loved Vancouver and wanted to show the pride in song, beauty and warts and all. “Vancouver BC” was released on the first Smugglers album, At Marineland, and then again in 1993 on our first CD, a compilation album called In The Hall Of Fame (cover design by Neko Case!) released to introduce us to the United States. In the early spring of 1992 we made this video with our filmmaker friend Glen Winter (he either directed or shot all of our videos). The video was received warmly on MuchMusic and played many times throughout the years and remained one of our most requested songs at our concerts all over the world throughout our “career”.

In the video you can see what we, and Vancouver, looked like twenty years ago, including Nardwuar, Terry David Mulligan, and our banger friend Fred Thorsen who plays various unsavoury characters. Also note director Glen’s mammoth cell phone. And yes, Dave really did get in a helicopter and fly over the city to get overhead shots (some deal his Dad set up). And that’s Adam Woodhall on the hooky, honkin’ harmonica.

Nineteen years later, we still love Vancouver BC.

Have moonshine will travel... from PEI to BC

You may recall, just a couple of months ago, I visited Calgary for a book event. There I was greeted by James, originally from Prince Edward Island, who had read Adventures in Solitude and took note of the many pioneering stories within that involved guzzling illegal moonshine. Seems this is still a tried and true tradition on PEI, and so James brought me a sample, disguised in a plastic Smart Water bottle, some 4,000 kilometres from PEI to Alberta.

At the book reading, I promised him I’d smuggle the moonshine the rest of the way, over the Rockies and down to the Pacific, into Desolation Sound. This past weekend I was able to do just that, as I set foot in the Sound for the first time in 2011. I swung by Lund and had lunch at Nancy’s Bakery, then picked up a cold six pack at the Lund General Store, then hopped into Big Buck$ and motored to the cabin.

It was awesome to be back up in the Sound… the weather was a mix of gorgeous and treacherous… spectacular, warm and sunny on Saturday but so bad on Sunday that it was all I could do just to get out of there before the storm trapped me. I saw eagles and mergansers and ravens and a very curious river otter, who was swimming along the rocks and stuck its head out right in front of me, eyeball to eyeball, before diving under.

And yes, I sampled the moonshine… on the rocks, literally. After that things become a little foggy… but I filmed it, and I’ll post that soon. Thanks James and the moonshiners of Watervale, PEI! You can check out more photos here from the first weekend back.

Hope to see you in Winnipeg this weekend!

A log cabin museum. Another reason why I love the Yukon.

It’s a Stompin’ Tom Connors lyric and my reality for the past three bright, sunny, long days as I made my first trip back to one of my all-time favourite end-of-the-road destinations in Canada: the Yukon Territory. This time I got to hang out in the amazing little city of Whitehorse, where for 72 hours I worked my caboose off in seminars, meeting with the inspiring and amazing music community of the Yukon.

In preparation for the 2011 Western Canadian Music Awards, which will be in Whitehorse this October, I met with all types of Northern musicians at various stages of their career that all had one thing in common: pride in the place they come from and passion for their art. Can’t ask for anything more than that.

I also squeezed in a book event at thee perfect venue for me, a long cabin covered in antlers and furs, namely the MacBride Museum of Yukon History. It was great to reconnect to many friendly folks who I have met over the years in Whitehorse and Dawson City. Thanks very much to Dave White from CBC North for hosting the event, the Museum for holding it, Mac’s Fireweed Books for selling (incredible bookstore), and the lovely and talented Brigs for performing.

Oh yeah, and my favourite place to eat in Whitehorse was a great new place called Burnt Toast. I liked it so much I ate their twice… in one night!

Next up… the Winnipeg Comedy Festival for a special live DNTO taping!