Guitars, Paddling and Festivals....

Greetings from Ontario!  I just finished playing some gigs here with Grant Simpson and Keitha Clark.  At Blue Skies Music Festival in Clarendon Ontario I acquired my brand new guitar, custom built by Oskar Graf.  It has been a long-time dream of mine to own one of Oskar's guitar, and it truly still feels a bit unreal.  My friends and I paraded down the gravel road to Oskar's house on a rainy morning to see the new guitar.
 

I was able to participate in a workshop at the festival that featured many of Oskar's guitars.  Anyone at the festival who owned an instrument made by Oskar was invited to show their instrument to the audience and play a tune.  It was the 40th anniversary of Blue Skies, and also the 40th anniversary of Oskar's time as a luthier.

Grant Simpson, Keitha Clark and I performed at Blue Skies together.  We opened the festival on the Friday night.  During our sound check there was thunder and lightening and the whole stage was shut down.  The storm cleared just in time and we were able to perform, right on schedule.  It felt really good to have my Yukon friends at the festival and to share that experience with them.

Just before coming to Ontario I spent 16 days paddling on the Snake River, in the Peel Watershed, Yukon Territory. This was an amazing experience.  Every day was different with mountains changing colour and texture, the river growing from a small creek - barely deep enough to paddle to a full sized river with huge standing waves and rapids.  I'm still processing this trip and have started to write about it.  I was in the Peel Watershed about 8 years ago when I paddled the Bonnet Plume.  It felt really good to be back there and be awe struck once again by the beauty that exists here in Canada.  There is movement afoot to develop the Peel Watershed and access the mineral resources in the area.  As our trip neared it's end, our group contemplated the future of the Snake River.

I'm gearing up now to head back to China for the Nanjing Jazz and World Music Festival with Grant Simpson, Keitha Clark, Rob Bergman and Duncan Sinclair.  After that, Grant and I will play some shows in Ontario and then head to the East Coast for a Home Routes house concert tour.  It should be a fun fall!