Regina book launch at the Fainting Goat

It was a long haul through five provinces, and now the first leg of the Adventures in Solitude National Book Tour is complete. Sandwiched between book events in Toronto, Ottawa, Halifax, Montreal, and Regina were music industry conferences, galas, and seminars, a non-stop daily schedule that kept me on my toes, kept a beer bottle near my mouth, a boarding pass in my hand, and sleep to a minimum.

I had a fantastic time in Regina on the weekend. Everyone told me it would be so, SO cold, so I was kinda freaked out about it, but what they didn’t tell me was how beautiful it would be. There’s truly something to be said for a majestic late fall day on the Canadian prairie, everything covered in a few centimeters of snow, a brilliant blue sky overhead that stretches from horizon to horizon. It certainly didn’t FEEL like -23 in that type of stunning sunshine and sky, the scope of which we just don’t get on the west coast with our towering mountains that love to keep the clouds close. I found the prairie weather invigorating. And no, it wasn’t windy. Apparently that makes all the difference?

Many thanks to Judd and the Fainting Goat for hosting the book launch. The Fainting Goat is a fantastic little restaurant in Regina, easily my favourite eatery in the Queen City, with their 100 km menu of excellent local foods, beer, and wine. Also thanks to the sultry Belle Plaine for performing a couple of songs that perfectly fit the mood of the book and the afternoon, and to the many fans-who-have-become-friends that were in attendance, some having braved the snowy roads from places like Moose Jaw and Swift Current.

Matt Lawson truly went out of his way, not only decking me out in the finest Roughriders apparel but also supplying fresh banana bread (courtesy of his Mom) to go along with my reading of the “Nude Potluck” story. Judd served up warm slices to all the patrons. It was perfect; both the moment and the banana bread! Thanks to Jenelle for selling every single book I brought.

There was concern that the book launch would clash with the Roughriders football game, but not only were we able to wrap up the event before kickoff, I was also able to join a group of friends at O’Hanlon’s Pub to watch the team win the semi-final and march to Edmonton this Sunday for the Grey Cup. I’ve seen a lot of sporting events in a lot of places but I have rarely seen the type of pure passion I saw in Saskatchewan this weekend. Thanks to Jason for the slip-slidey ride back out to the airport.

The next book event is this happening this Sunday in Winnipeg at McNally Robinson Books, 2pm, with music from Del Barber. Yes, that threatens to compete with the Grey Cup too, but I guarantee we’ll be done before the game starts!

Oh yeah… here’s my favourite quote overheard in Regina: “I’d love to go curling tonight, but my jeans are just too tight!” Love it.

Jill and Grant at the double book launch at FRED in Halifax. Photo by thee Steve Poltz!

If this is Thursday, then I must be in Montreal. The last week has been somewhat of a fun blur… we’ve had three amazing Adventures in Solitude launch parties in Toronto, Ottawa, and Halifax in the past week. Thanks so much to everyone who has come out to show support from so many different areas of my life, be it CBC Radio, The Smugglers, hockey, or simply because people have heard or read about the book.

Gotta give Halifax a shout out of thanks to the staff at FRED for hosting the “double book launch” for Jill and me (Jill just put out a baby board book called Baby’s Lullaby); to the many musicians for being there; to our many East Coast friends who came in from all over Halifax and Nova Scotia; to Stephanie Domet for hosting; to Jim Bryson for being our surprise musical guest; and to Danny and Jon from In-Flight Safety for looking after the sound!

And yes… now I’m in Montreal for a couple of days for a music conference called M For Montreal… I interviewed Gene Simmons from KISS today and look forward to sharing that interview with you on CBC Radio 3 when I get back to Vancouver… eventually. Tonight, it’s off to rub (more) shoulders with music industry representatives from around the world here at M For Montreal.

Next stop: Regina, Saskatchewan this weekend!

Partying it up at the Drake Hotel post-reading.

Who knew a book tour could be so… fun? I’m sitting in an Ottawa hotel room reflecting on a great weekend. First Toronto: it was an eerily foggy night in Hogtown, but I kinda loved it, and was humbled to see so many friendly folks come out to the official Toronto book launch at the Drake Hotel Underground. Besides my fine friends from the CBC Radio 3 community (pictured above), the collection of amazing people in the room included thee head honcho of CBC Radio, a Stanley Cup winner, a winner of the Radio 3 Sexiest Canadian Musician Award, the owners of the rock ‘n’ roll crossroads of Canada, the man who declared in song that he knows he’ll be spending the rest of his life in Canada, a girl called “Bangs”, the man who invented the Polaris Music Prize, and many other friends, musicians, and family.

Thanks hugely to Michael Barclay for MCing, Jill Barber and Matthew Barber for performing, Type Books for selling, the Drake for hosting, and to Toronto for coming out in friendly force!

Ottawa was also amazing… an afternoon event at a lovely little joint called the Raw Sugar Cafe. So great to see all sorts of friends from various “eras” and times of my life in that little space, be it rock ‘n’ roll, hockey, CBC, Smugglers, or R3 bloggers. There were also lots of new babies with names starting with “E”.

Huge thanks to Mr. Community, Jonny Bartlett of Kelp Records, for presenting, Andy Swan for performing (“Can I Pay You With Sunshine”!!!), Raw Sugar for hosting, and Collected Works for selling books. I had a fantastic time in both cities.

Next up… Halifax!