Jodie Ponto Photography

I’m coming to you from the Vancouver International Airport t-minus 20 minutes from boarding a flight to jolly ol’ London, England.  I’ll be spending 7 weeks with Miss Quincy & The Showdown on the the wrong-sided motorways of the UK, the pee-your-pants fast autobahns of Germany, and the rule-less roads of Italy.  You can check out the whens & wheres below after looking at this photo from once upon 2011 that shows the real reason we tour in Europe:

Mar 30 – LEEDS, UK – The Duck and Drake
Mar 31 – PRESTON, UK – Fort San Antone
Apr 04 – SOWERBY BRIDGE, UK – The Puzzle Hall Inn
Apr 05 – YORK, UK – House Concerts York (w/ Rachel Ries)
Apr 06 – LETHAM, UK – Letham Nights (w/The David Latto Band)
Apr 09 – NOTTINGHAM, UK – The Malt Cross
Apr 10 – BIRMINGHAM, UK – Cafe Ort (w/ Nic Bennett)
Apr 11 – TORQUAY, UK – The Blue Walnut Cafe
Apr 12 – LONDON, UK – The Green Note
Apr 13 – ROPLEY, UK – Ropley Music Nights

Apr 16 – BERLIN, DE – White Trash Fast Food
Apr 17 – BERLIN, DE – Badehaus Szimpla-Musiksalon
Apr 18 – HAMBURG, DE – Club Am Donnerstag
Apr 19 – HAMBURG, DE – Mobile Blues Club
Apr 20 – DORTMUND, DE – Subrosa
Apr 24 – AMSTERDAM, NL – Maloe Melo
Apr 26 – LUNEN, DE – Das Greif
Apr 27 – BAD NIEWESCHANS, NL – De Oude Remise
Apr 30 – JENA, DE – Fiddler’s Green

May 03 – CANTU, IT – 1&35Circa
May 04 – POGGIO BERNI, IT – Circolo Dei Malfattori
May 05 – CIVITANOVA MARCHE, IT – Raphael Beach
May 06 – TBA
May 07 – MILAN, IT – Nidaba
May 08 – TBA
May 09 – RIVOLI, IT- Maison Musique
May 10 – SAVONA, IT – Raindogs
May 11 – ZOAGLI, IT – Il Banco
May 12 – PIOMBINO, IT – Gattarossa (morning show)
May 12 – PAVIA, IT – Da Trapani (evening show)

What most people don’t know is that touring musician is really a synonym for trucker. The vast majority of time on tour with a band is spent in a vehicle. Life becomes a series of whizzing dashboard scenes and you become more intimate than you ever thought was humanly possible with gas stations, CBC radio, side of the road pee stops, and creative methods for amusing yourself and staying awake on long-haul drives.

That said, here is what 7,500kms of BC and Alberta roads looks like through my iPhone and the Vangina windshield.

Banff National Park, AB

Jasper National Park, AB

Crowsnest Highway, AB

Crowsnest Highway, AB

Medicine Hat, AB

Kootenay Pass, BC

Highway 95, BC

Kootenay National Park, BC

Kootenay National Park, BC

Here are a few backstage black & whites of Miss Quincy & The Showdown’s fabulous transformation from road nasty to stage hot.

Bar bathroom at The Last Drop Pub in Revelstoke, BC.

Barb & Walter Hackett’s bathroom in Lacombe, AB. Click on the panorama for a closer look in the mirror.

Backstage at the Ironwood in Calgary, AB.

Here are a few backstage black & whites of Miss Quincy & The Showdown:

Miss Quincy & Shari practice a communication exercise prescribed by the band’s therapist.

Set-List writing.

Miss Quincy channels her inner tin-foil-mic karaoke star.

Every once in a while there’s a tour stop that’s so much like a vacation you can’t believe you get to call it work.  For example, the past 2 days Miss Quincy & The Showdown and I spent at the Long Beach Resort Lodge in Tofino.

Home sweet rainforest cottage.

Cox Bay panorama #1. Click on the photo for a bigger & better view.

Cox Bay panorama #2. Click on the photo for a bigger & better view.

Winter Surfers.

Fun with bull kelp.

Pre-show cottage rehearsal.

Post-show cabin jam with The Poor Pistols.

Shari channels her childhood violin lessons.

It’s the eve of yet another tour with Miss Quincy & The Showdown.  Once again, I’m packing all my worldly possessions into a suitcase smaller than you would ever think is possible to live out of and climbing into the Vangina with 3 other ladies.  This time around we’re going for a 3 week winter spin around BC & Alberta before heading across the ocean for a spring UK/Europe tour and festivalling the summer away.  We’ll be hitting 21 towns over the next 25 days, so chances are if you live in the West we’re coming to you!  You can check out the whens & wheres below after looking at this photo from January 2011 entitled The Joys of Winter Touring.

March 1 — PINCHER CREEK, AB — Castle Mountain Resort
March 2 — MEDICINE HAT, AB — Ye Olde Jar Bar
March 3 — COLEMAN, AB — Blackbird Coffee House
March 5 — FERNIE, BC — Northern Bar & Stage
March 6 — CRANBROOK, BC — Byng Roadhouse
March 7 — KASLO, BC — BlueBelle Bistro
March 8 — YMIR, BC — Ymir Schoolhouse
March 9 — NELSON, BC — The Royal
March 10 — BANFF, AB — The Rose & Crown

A few excerpts from the Trout Forest Music Festival in Ear Falls, ON … Or, as we like to call it, Fredstival (after Fred Penner, who was without a doubt the highlight of the weekend).

Miss Quincy & The Showdown at the Trout Forest tavern.

Although Miss Quincy & The Showdown may have mean reputations, nothing can reduce them to a gaggle of giggling 6 year old girls faster than hanging out with Fred Penner for the weekend.

Poor Choices Christmas card shot with Andrew Neville.

Ross Roeck, King of Hospitality & Master of Midnight Pulled Pork.

Jonathan Byrd and Corin Raymond, 2 of this continent’s greatest songwriters, rehearse for their set.

Shari grows a horn (or drinks a viking festival goblet beer).

Post-festival van & trailer fumigation.

Here’s an absolute once in a lifetime photo adventure — Full moon light so bright that the sky & lake both shine hints of blue and a night & water so warm that no one hesitates to dive in naked for the 30+ second exposures required to make silhouettes appear.  All light in these photos is solely from the moon.

Oyama Lake by full moon light.

Midnight moonlit swim in Oyama Lake.

Miss Quincy & The Showdown moonlight as Sailor Moon.

Attempting to awaken Artemis.

How many upright bass players do you know who can hold their big brown friend above their head for 30 seconds while submerged naked in a lake? I only know one — Shari Rae.

You may remember meeting Ruby last year, Miss Quincy’s 1974 Trillium trailer.  We lived large in her for one whole week of tourcation before a misadventure with a tow truck driver left her stranded in Jasper for the rest of the summer.

After a year at the trailer rehab center, Ruby is not only back on the road with us, but has been revamped into a little jewel that would give even the most modest vintage trailer enthusiast a boner.

Ruby parkin’ with the big boys.

The newly revamped insides of Ruby (click on the panorama to get a better look). Yes, those are pin-up girl curtains.

In true trailer trash fashion, using an extension cord to steal power from the venue so I can compute and Miss Quincy can blow-dry her hair.

Curbside dressing room.

Miss Quincy on-demand silkscreens a Pussies Are For Eating t-shirt in Ruby after a show.

Having a beerverage in Ruby with C.R. Avery and Noah Walker (The Broken Mirrors) at South Country Fair.

Jamming in Ruby with Scott Cook at Freedom Fest.

I don’t know how many nights I’ve spent at Tracks Pub in Olds, AB … But more often than not it all ends in 3am table-top dance parties, inventing new interpretive dance fueled drinking games like Beer Pass, or one of the band members’ moms having to come pick us up in her pajamas late night high school style because none of us are fit to drive.

(Photos from Miss Quincy & The Showdown‘s July 14, 2012 show)