Ahh, my birthday! I turned the ripe old age of 31 this evening!! As it was my birthday, I was delayed as I went out for supper to La Bodega. As a result, I missed all but the last 2 acts.

This was the line-up:
6:00pm - 6:45pm - MIHIRANGI
6:45pm - 7:30pm - MOTHER MOTHER
7:30pm - 8:45pm - IRIS DEMENT
9:00pm - 10:15pm - BRUCE COCKBURN
10:30pm - 11:45pm - MICHAEL FRANTI & SPEARHEAD

Tim and Jason raved about the Mother Mother set -- wish I'd gotten there a little earlier. As it was, I arrived for Bruce Cockburn. My mom and dad being hippie's -- I grew up listening to "the Bruce" so I was pleasantly surprised that I recognised a fair number of tunes. While I'd probably never pay to go see him again, he put on a good show. Here's a clip of a very familiar tune.

Next up, Michael Franti & Spearhead. If I could use one word to describe the set, I'd say "energy!" They came out with a bang! The sound cut out twice in the first song and it took a long time to get the sound system back up each time. Lesser bands would have struggled to fill the void, I have to give Michael Franti credit -- he kept the crowd going through the set-backs and once the sound came back, put on a fantastic show. While he clearly had reggae influences, I thought he truly shined when turned down the pace and performed his acoustic songs. Have a listen:

I am way behind in updating my blog and much has happened. I need to go back a week and review the Regina Folk Festival. Overall, I highly enjoyed the weekend.

Friday's Line-up:

7:00pm-7:45 SARAH SLEAN
8:00pm - 8:45pm THE HYLOZOISTS
8:45pm - 9:45pm LOS DE ABAJO
9:45pm - 10:45pm BUCK 65
10:45pm - 11:45pm CITY AND COLOUR

What can I say about Sarah Slean -- she is simply fabulous. If you get a chance to see her live, you should go - breathtaking! By far the best of the night.

Here is a video clip from her set (yes, it's sideways -- no, I'm not fixing it, I don't seem to have access to software that will fix it here....)

The Hylozoists were okay -- an instrumental group that prominently features the Vibraphone. While I can appreciate the musical skill, they were too mellow and quite boring to watch for 45 minutes.

Buck 65 is just not my cup of tea. Personally, I thought it laughable.

Last but not least, City and Colour was cancelled due to inclement weather. We stayed till the bitter end, until the show was officially cancelled and we were thoroughly soaked. Have a look!

***Videos should now be working!***

At long last, Tim and I finally got to see B.A.R.K.

B.A.R.K. is Tim's favourite band. I'll admit, I quite enjoy them myself. They were simply wonderful live. The show started out with a newcomer I'd never heard of, Romi Mayes. She was quite good (amazing voice) -- though perhaps more country than I prefer (a touch on the twangy side)... still a very nice opening set.

B.A.R.K. came out and had some initial sound issues but once they were fixed up the show went off without a hitch. We saw them at the Broadway in Saskatoon which is an old movie theatre they've converted into a concert hall. The show was almost sold out but we ended up in the 6th row or so and had fantastic seats.

Overall, I'd see them again gladly.

Here is a couple highlights:

This one starts out sideways -- I'll fix it later -- need to find some video editing software...

To cap the night off, we got a picture with the band (I took the photos so I'm not in them) and autographs.

Naturally I have been doing everything in my power to ensure that I will have forgotten something... why do I do this? I am leaving for 3 weeks. I have to attend a baptism and a wedding -- both of which require that I bring some "nice" clothes -- read not jeans/shorts/capris/or my newfound obsession: yoga/stretchy pants -- and here I am posting a post about nothing. I also, modified my blog template, played on facebook for about an hour, made an elaborate/huge breakfast for me and Neil, and am still lounging around in my jammies at 2PM.

I got the nastiest sunburn/heat rash while camping. You know the term "pizza face"? Well I have "pizza" shoulders that are currently slathered with Aloe Vera gel. My legs are also burned so bad that they too are slathered -- to prevent me from scratching them. Neil, in an attempt to stop my incessant whining about the itchiness/heat/pain emanating from my various burned appendages, offered to amputate my arms and then proceeded to ominously chase me around our bedroom with a huge bread knife.

He just took off to his office for a few hours of work this afternoon and left me alone to try and cram all of my clothes in one suitcase. I know I will end up taking two -- but I always start off thinking I can do it in one.

Shit! I just realized that I haven't printed my boarding pass... guess I'll start there!

Next time I post, it will be from the Vag. Heaven help me.

I know that as part of your Canadian education, you learn that the Great Lakes are big. Neil and I are not sure we realized just how big until this last camping trip we took up to Bruce Peninsula National Park. I mean, on our drive out east we noticed that it took two full days to drive around the top half of Lake Superior... but it wasn't until we were out on the water that we realized that there are points where you cannot see a point of reference along the horizon. The islands off the tip of the Bruce are scattered just like the Gulf Islands off the West Coast of BC -- the big difference being that here we are on a lake and not transversing the Strait of Georgia out into the Pacific Ocean. Neil said that you get an idea of scale when you realize that our campground was at the tip of the Peninsula that juts out into Lake Huron and our campground was located on a rather sizable lake in the middle of the Peninsula.

Thursday, we left for one night of camping. We'd have liked to camp two nights but we could only reserve the one night and we had hoped (fingers crossed) that we could find something for Friday night. In the end, we just had two very long and hot/humid days. The drive started out in true K & N fashion... I gave Neil the map and soon we were 40km in the wrong direction. Not a problem, he realized the error of his way and we were soon turned around. We made stops to look around in Owen Sound and in Wiarton. Arriving in Tobermory, we made our way to the campground, set up camp, browsed the trail maps and then set out in search of a swimming hole. Let's face it, the big draw of the area is the crystal clear blue waters of Lake Huron. The water was cold but it felt very nice given the humidity and the excessive sweating that occurred as a result. The horse flies were really bad and we got very bitten. The biggest downside was that between sunscreen, bug spray, bug lotion, sweat, dirt from the hike back -- we were DISGUSTING when we got back to our site and there were no showers at our campground. Upon arriving back, I can to the realization that I'd have paid upwards of $20 to be able to shower.

We had hot dogs and beans for supper (classic campfire fare) and then I roasted marshmallows. It never really cooled down until about 10 minutes after we went to bed. Then began the intense lightening and thunder... and then the heavy downpour that lasted about 10 minutes. It was enough to clear up some of the horrible humidity as the next day was hot and dry. The next morning found us paying for showers at a highway gas station. Sounds gross but these showers were coin operated and super clean. We then ventured into town for breakfast and an Island tour by boat. We figured that since we had to drive back that night we'd have a lazy day -- so we went on an hour and a half boat tour... saw some shipwrecks and islands. We'd have liked to disembark on Flower Pot Island but we decided to save that for another time.

I've got pictures in a Splashr presentation here.