Metchosin, BC

All Points West

CBC. Downtown Victoria. Today Dave and I are guesting on All Points West, one of British Columbia's most listened to radio shows. As it happens, we get a parking spot right outside the studio!!! I bet they can hear us in Prince George! It is pretty loud. We've got Albert King on the jukebox this morning. "Hey, you! Honk if you love the blues!"

As usual, we dial in our own sound effects! The crew quickly gets over this, and we have a great time on air.

Before you know it our 15 minutes of fame are over, and here we are back on the street. Just two more bums with a fat, smokin' Lincoln.

Victoria- Island Audio: Loud Me Up

Off the Lower Mainland! The ferry is ready for me this morning. There is no wait, and the coffee is flowing on board. I settle in to enjoy the view.

It's a big system, linking all these Islands to each other, to the rest of British Columbia, and the world. Lots of ferries coming and going, different shapes and sizes.

It takes about an hour and a half to get from the mainland terminal to Swartz Bay, near Victoria. Traffic is pretty civil here, and it's a stress free trip in from the ferry to downtown Victoria. Here's today's destination- Island Audio!!

Ian is expecting me, he's a blues guy, bassist about town, a member of the McKinley Wolf Blues Band, and he's been brainstorming the project.

Something like this, Doc?

OK, let's strip it down and build it up as we go! We'll need a powerful amp/mixer to run the mic and the music through...
Tim, the installer genius, has the basic chicken coop construction laid out. It is not long until the speaker horns are mounted up. We elect to begin with a fairly simple look, focusing on the horns.

Do you think it will be loud enough??? We'll come back in the morning to continue the install.

Meanwhile I'm off to Ian's place for a great dinner, a jam with Ed and Dallas- other members of McKinley Wolf- and finally a trip out to play the last set at a local club. Drummer Andy Grafitti runs the jam, and it's a lot of fun with some really good local players. Ian, Ed and Dallas know some of my tunes, and it's a real treat for me to get to play with McKinley Wolf backing me up. We stay up too late, but so what? Big fun is good.