I just finished doing a phone interview with the Winnipeg Sun. I usually feel like an ass after doing one of those. I don’t mind the talking it’s just after I feel like a wanker. It’s inevitable. I’m not very good expressing myself in conversation. I’m much better at writing. But whatever. It’s press. It’ll be what it will be.
So I got back from the tour on Saturday. After 20 shows in 20 different places all over Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario, I played in Crystal City, pop 419 and I played in Dauphin where the audience was a party. Those Ukrainians know how to have good time. My first show on the tour was Gimli. In an old movie theatre and it was a packed house and they laughed at it all. They laughed at the setup and the punchline. Then I did a show in Strathclair where I put on the wrong skirt at the wrong time and did one paragraph of the show TWO TIMES. Oops. It was the 6 show in a row week. I started speeding through it. Took 7 minutes off the running time but forgot to TELL the story.
In Eriksdale someone asked for a doughnut midway through a scene. She asked her friend who was sitting behind her. I performed at the Aud in Virden which is a beautiful old vaudeville theatre and at the Roxy in Neepawa. The theatre in Brandon was magnificent and the one in Dryden was brand new and lovely. Sometimes I played in high school gyms or halls. People came. In freezing weather and snow and bad economy. They came and saw the show and they were lovely audiences. Really.
I met some wonderful people. Brief snapshots. Sylvia who ran the hotel in Atikokan. It was an old hotel that she herself renovated and restored. She also cooked us the best meal of the tour. We all voted. Ribs. She came to this place at 19 and thought it would be for 3 years and hasn’t left yet. Or Gail who ran a bed and breakfast in Pilot Mound after being a farmer for years. The room I stayed in had not one but two snake skins on the dresser and a deer head in the living room. She made us a great breakfast and midnight snacks and treated us very well. Her place was really nice and comfortable.
The tour is officially over. Last stop was Churchill. Which is North on the Hudson Bay. There are no roads that reach up that north so the only way to get there is by train or to fly. It’s where people go to see the polar bears and the whales. But I didn’t see a polar Bear. It’s off season. Supposedly Halloween is a great time to be there. If you see a bear wandering through the streets you can call a hotline 465-BEAR and someone will come and scare it away. If there’s a troublemaker bear then they tranquilize him and put the bear in a “jail” which is by the airport. We drove past it on our way to the airport.
It’s like being on the moon. Churchill. Nothing around. Small trees that look like optical illusions from far away. The Hudson Bay is vast and endless white. One of the women on the Arts Council comes from a family who were fur traders. She said they crossed the Hudson Bay on a dogsled with a baby. It’s humbling.
The show was good. They were a quiet audience and I hadn’t done the show in 4 days so it was harder then usual. But they seemed to like it. Now I open it next week in Winnipeg.
Things I learned on the tour. Don’t overpack. Take two smalls suitcases so you can leave one in the van. A gym or treadmill in a hotel is more important than a pool.
In rural Manitoba there is going to be a lot of garlic toast. There is going to be plenty of overcooked steak. And sometimes going to the grocery store and eating yogurt for dinner is not such a bad idea. Especially when you are in your underwear on stage.
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