Rhapsodic Tour 2005: Canadian Epic Poetry

End of Tour statistics

2005-05-31T23:33:00.000-07:00

[Atop Signal Hill in St. John's; behind me, in the distance, Ireland]

As mentioned in the Water Ceremony post below, the Tour is now officially over, and tomorrow we turn the car around. Notice, I beg, the licence plate in the photo above: how many cars reach St. John's with California plates? No one has commented on them since Montreal, but on this blog the world can behold our vanity.

Speaking of vanity, here are some end-of-Tour statistics.

Total days of Tour: 50
Days featuring a performance: 28
Days driving: 15
Days off / devoted to logistics: 8
Ferries taken: 7
Total kilometers travelled: 11 675
(=Total miles travelled: 7,254)
Total cups of Tim Horton's coffee enjoyed: as countless as the grains of sand in the Libyan desert
Total hours of documentary digital video footage filmed: 46
Total gigabytes of documentary digital video footage: 552
Number of print interviews given: 4
Number of radio interviews given: 7
Number of TV interviews given: 1
Number of blog entries: 61
Total schools performed at: 16
Total school performances: 29
Total public performances: 13
Total performances: 42
Total audience for school shows: 1315
Total audience for public shows: 292
Total audience: 1607
Average length of performance, in verses: c. 450
Total verses performed: c. 18900
Total verses in the Iliad: c. 16000
Average length of time to deliver one verse, in seconds: c. 5
Total length of time spent performing verses, in hours: c. 26

Dave and I would like to thank all the hosts at public shows and teachers at school shows along the Tour, without whom the project would not have been possible. Lorenz von Fersen and Jim Oborne provided invaluable assistance; our parents, Marg and Jim, always thought that we would make it to the end. Moira Johnson and Tracy Theobald at Moira Johnson Consulting did an extraordinary job on the publicity. Rudyard Griffiths and Alison Faulknor of The Dominion Institute, the Tour's sponsor, lent their remarkable talent for organisation and coordination to The Plains of Abraham Project, and the dedication of Annie Forget, who lined up all the venues (an immense task) and liased from start to finish, was almost superhuman. Lastly but most warmly, we feel a great debt of gratitude to the Tour's patrons, who believed in Canadian epic poetry. I hope we have been worthy of their trust.

He's looking away from the screen now, so I can sneak in one last comment: in praise of Dave. You know, there's not many people who could put up with a guy like me for a week, must less six -- and that almost 24/7. What a brother. What a guy. He's been as busy, or busier, than I've been the whole time, and he only grumbled when he saw I didn't want to grumble alone. Behind the cameras, at the wheel, on the phone half the time to media and contacts days in advance, his dedication is what's kept me going. I can't imagine a single instant of the Tour without him (and there wasn't one!); I'd take my hat off to him if I were the hat-wearing type. Salve, frater!

[Dave on the (Atlantic) edge of the continent]

Water ceremony - a mari usque ad mare

2005-05-31T21:40:00.000-07:00

Just got back from the last show of the Tour, at the LSPU Hall Gallery in St. John's. The last show, can it be true? Well, it is, though I frankly cannot come to terms with the fact right now. Fortunately there is the "bonus" Tour-capping show coming up in Quebec City on Friday.

We celebrated with pan-fried cod at a pub on Water Street. Absolutely delicious. One really does begin laying plans in the back of the brain of how one could move to Newfoundland.

No pics yet from tonight's show, but it had a good success: about 12 people in the audience, and fine art by local artists on the walls of the Gallery around us. It was strangely hot under the lights! Also got the chance to shake the hand of Mr. Justice Malcolm Rowe, who stopped by and also warned us about the Moose on the Trans-Canada. I hadn't realised it, but they are apparently attracted to headlights, so there are effectively several hundred thousand two-ton antlered torpedoes out there on the Rock, ready to zoom straight for you. Will I sleep better, knowing this?

Tomorrow we head off bright and early, but I can't forbear from blogging the Water Ceremony of yesterday afternoon.

[Bottling the Pacific]

The keenest reader of this blog may have forgotten that back on 11 April, the day before the Tour began, I wandered down to English Bay in Vancouver to fill up a bottle in the Pacific ocean. Dave and I pondered whether we should play it safe and use a screw-top bottle -- eliminating all chance of spillage -- or go for the classier wine bottle. The wine bottle won because we couldn't find a screw-top bottle, and every now and then throughout the Tour I would notice the bottle sitting in the trunk and think, "Whoa Nellie! I hope the cork doesn't come out." I had explained, you see, to Dave that, based on my experience on Epic Tour 2000, when I likewise brought a bottle of water a mari usque ad mare (emphasis on usque), the shelf-life of bottled seawater is short. In fact, when I had opened it up in my grandmother Affleck's living room in 2000, I had unleashed an unholy odour.

But the cork held, and yesterday afternoon -- a gloriously sunny day -- I ceremoniously dumped the Pacific into the Atlantic. And Dave, standing 10 feet away with the camera with a strong breeze blowing, commented on the particular tang in the air.

[Pouring the Pacific into the Atlantic]

A mari usque ad mare. Literally, that motto encompasses more than the mind can easily conceive. This Tour has taught me a lot about this country and its people: we've seen mountains and prairies, vast lakes and quick brooks, islands and immense cities, snow and sunshine, and of course two seasides. But it's the people that make the nation, the young and the old; and even as we plan for the days to come, I hope we continue to look with interest to the epic past.

CBC radio interview in St. John's

2005-05-31T03:04:00.000-07:00

The interview I'd given yesterday to Heather Barrett of Radio Noon was broadcast today -- and in a most wonderful way, as they played clips of one of yesterday's performances throughout the hour! Here's an audio file, in Quicktime format:

Radio Noon Interview in St. John's.mov

I've cut out most of the other material on the show. I was pretty wrecked -- had just performed 3 times and (you'll be amazed to read) signed many an autograph -- when I spoke to Heather, but in fact I'm oddly coherent (if I do say so myself)!

St. John's school shows

2005-05-30T20:16:00.000-07:00

[3rd show at Prince of Wales today; note stand-up mic in front of me]

Had a splendid time performing at Prince of Wales Collegiate today, the last school shows of Epic Tour 2005. Nice to go out with a bang! The students are really engaged, obviously bursting with creativity -- one had even constructed a diarama of the battle. Our host, Mr. Keith Samuelson, is really the paragon of the committed, can-do, think-outside-the-box high school teacher: one felt superbly energised in his presence. I was pretty impressed by St. John's already, but if this is what the city's youth are like, this province is headed for a bright future. (I see I'm mentioned on the school page, at the link above, with a picture; one student also added some flattering comments to the Final map of Tour route post below.) Thank you, PWC!

[2nd show. I used the projection screen to provide a white backdrop, which worked quite well]

Of the three shows, the third was the best, and also the first I've done in front of a stand-up microphone (which was collecting material for the Radio Noon broadcast tomorrow; see post below). I didn't quail in its presence, though it did forbid sweeping hand-gestures; but I didn't feel as cut off from the audience as I'd have expected. Still, I don't think I'll have one in front of me in the future if it can be avoided. Total audience today was about 130.

Alas, though, no more school shows! It feels eerie to have no more to look forward to. I'd had my doubts, before the Tour began, about the prospect of performing in front of younger audiences -- wasn't I reviving an essentially elite art form? Didn't that mean that only a few could understand it? Yet some of the best performances, and the best responses, have certainly been at the schools. I guess I hadn't hung around much with people aged 12-18 for a good while: the fact is, they should never be underestimated, personally or in their ability to understand and appreciate art. I will miss performing for them.

Quebec City confirmed

2005-05-30T19:38:00.000-07:00

We have confirmation on the date, time, and location of the Quebec City show. I will be performing the poem at 8pm in Kirk Hall, 44 St-Stanislas St. in the Old City (sponsored by the Literary and Historical Society). Here's a useful map; Kirk Hall is just across the street from Morrin College.

Of course, the final official stop on Epic Tour 2005 is tomorrow in St. John's, at 7pm in the LSPU Hall Gallery (Resource Centre), at 3 Victoria St. (itself usefully mapped). I just gave another interview (7th and luckiest?) for CBC Radio today; it will be airing on the Radio Noon show and will, I hope, help attract a large audience.

Final map of Tour route

2005-05-28T23:20:00.000-07:00

Having reached St. John's (see post below), I feel free to upload the final map of the Tour, covering the whole thing from start (in Vancouver, 12 April) to finish (well, we're not finished yet, but we're not leaving St. John's before it's over!).

Final map of Epic Tour 2005.gif

We passed the 11 000 km mark today, just after Gander. We're now 200 km closer to Minsk than we are to Silicon Valley, where the first entry on this blog was written.

St. John's reached

2005-05-28T22:40:00.000-07:00

[view from our hotel window overlooking St. John's harbour]

We have reached St. John's. 10 hours it was indeed, but through some of the most beautiful country we've seen so far. This island is rugged! Uniquely, too, the Trans-Canada is not populated in this province, instead acting as a highway linking regional highways, along which the many towns of Newfoundland are situated. So we saw a great deal of completely untouched wilderness: lots of gushing rivers (it rained most of the way), lots of towering rockfaces, miles and miles of trees (some strange kind of cedre; pine; avenues of budding birch), breathtaking vistas across lakes and sea inlets, and the whole topped by gigantic banks of fog, into which the hilltops receded. It was quite low-lying, and the last 100 km through the Avalon peninsula were completely fog-bound: I could only make out the highway signs as I passed underneath them. No traffic.

[fog on the TCH]

One of the great delights of travelling through Newfoundland is the way the towns and geographical features are named. A certain amount of whimsy went into naming this province, eg. Deep Bight, Mistaken Point, Witless Bay, Heart's Desire, Heart's Content, Little Paradise . . . Here's a fuller listing. My all time favourite is Random Sound.

[A detour, by chance?]

What little we've seen of St. John's (est. 1497) is really a delight. The freshness of the seabreeze permeates even the architecture; everyone is friendly. More to report on the scene here in days to come; for the moment we are going to fall fast, fast asleep (perhaps while watching the Memorial Cup -- gad, why can't the NHL be like this? And why are Ottawa teams a joy to watch in every hockey league?)

And lo & behold, while I've been typing this the fog in St. John's harbour has lifted.

Last stretch of Trans-Canada

2005-05-28T09:01:00.000-07:00

[added this evening: known blogger blogging in Port-aux-Basques]

Reached Newfoundland safe and sound late last night (only got in at 11:00pm -- 11:30 in Newfoundland). Judging from what we can see from the parking lot, this is a beautiful province! A thick fog fills the harbour of Port-aux-Basques this morning. We are about to head off into it -- a good long (at least 10-hour) drive through the whole island to reach St. John's.

On the Ferry to Newfoundland!

2005-05-27T19:20:00.000-07:00

[The yawning maw of the ferry to Newfoundland]

So, we are on the ferry for Port-aux-Basques, Newfoundland; amazingly, there is a first-rate internet kiosk here. No pic upload, of course. [Further Update: have now added pics in St. John's.]

[Dave at the ferry terminal in North Sydney]

We set forth yesterday morning from Charlottetown, taking the ferry from the Island to Pictou, NS. It's been raining fairly heavily for the last three days; our current ferry to Newfoundland was delayed four hours for rain and fog. Dave nobly drove from Pictou to Cape Breton, while I snoozed.

[aboard the ferry from PEI to Pictou, NS]

In St. Peter's on Cape Breton (the capital of Richmond county, the bottom quarter of Cape Breton) I performed at the Bras d'Or Lakes Inn; about 10 people in the audience, and about a 35 minute show.

[The Bras d'Or Lakes Inn in St. Peter's, Cape Breton, NS]

People seemed to like it, however, though the sound system gave me a strange falsetto.

[performing in St. Peter's. For the occasion, I used a special extended rhabdos with a light fixture on top]

This performance wasn't part of the "regular scheduled" programme for the Tour, but Mr. Richard McIntosh of St. Peter's had written me such a friendly note, asking if I might stop on the way to Newfoundland, and I've always held Cape Breton in such high regard as a centre of Canadian culture (particularly the musical aspect), that musique obligeait. The wind howled, like the Micmac beasts of legend only, past the window long past the time I fell asleep.

Rose bright and early this morning, and have now read every column inch of today's Globe, waiting in the ferry terminal. This ferry, I must say, is absolutely immense. Few passengers today, but one can guess what it would look like at high season! I am entirely surrounded by charming Newfoundland accents. We will be stopping tonight in Corner Brook, to cut down on the long drive tomorrow. How exciting to finally see the Rock after all these years!

----

Update: We're now about halfway to Newfoundland, and I'm reading Lieutenant Hornblower so as to profit from these nautical surroundings. This is certainly as far out on the briny deep as I've ever been -- I'm starting to see what they mean when they talk about "swells," for instance. But it's really quite calm, even for an Ontario stomach. I just had a full conversation with a gentleman from Newfoundland -- very friendly, but I have to admit I only figured out what we were talking about at the end of the conversation. But we were standing out on deck with the wind whipping by, so I don't feel too bad.

I guess we have now reached our sixth time zone! (Newfoundland is 3 1/2 hours behind GMT.)

New Toronto show confirmed

2005-05-25T21:20:00.000-07:00

It's been confirmed that I'll be performing the poem once more in Toronto this year, on June 30th at 7pm or just after, at The Cameron House (408 Queen St. W). If you're a Torontonian who missed the Toronto show this May, or you want to see the poem again, here's your chance!

Yes, Lord Sidious

2005-05-25T00:25:00.000-07:00

Palpatine: Ah, there you are, Master Yoda.
Yoda: Morning, it is good, Chancellor.
Palpatine: Now then, Yoda, what's this I hear about young Skywalker?
Yoda: What is it you hear, Chancellor?
Palpatine: That's what I'm asking, Master Yoda. What do you make of it?
Yoda: With respect, Chancellor, what asking are you, I, Jedi Master though I be, uncertain am.
Palpatine: What I'm asking, Yoda, is, is whether you sense a disturbance in the Force this morning.
Yoda: Many are the disturbances in the Force, Chancellor, and many the nondisturbances are. Whether a disturbance is a disturbing disturbance, or whether, balance on, a disturbance, though disturbing, found to be a nondisturbance is, for the Jedi to decide must be.
Palpatine: Thank you, Yoda, I think I'm perfectly capable of deciding whether the Force is disturbed on any given morning, don't you?
Yoda: Of course, Chancellor. That's why you're the Chancellor, and we are the Jedi.
Palpatine: So I am capable of that, we're agreed?
Yoda: We're agreed that you think you are, Chancellor.
Obi-Wan: Anything less would be disturbing.
Palpatine: Thank you, Obi-Wan.
Yoda: You mentioned young Skywalker, Chancellor?
Palpatine: Yes. I want him to serve on the Jedi Council. Be my liason, my eyes-and-ears, you understand. Just to keep me up-to-date.
Yoda: Ah.
Palpatine: Ah?
Yoda: Ah yes, Chancellor, an excellent idea you have. Skywalker on the Council must be. When mature his powers are. When the time ripe is.
Palpatine: No, Master Yoda, I mean today. As of now.
Yoda: In what sense do you mean "now," Chancellor? The Jedi all things, all times must care for. For us, the future, the past, all one are.
Obi-Wan: I don't think the Chancellor means that Skywalker should serve on the Council in the past, do you, Chancellor?
Yoda: Using the word "past" to refer to your own place on the Council are you, Obi-Wan?
Obi-Wan: No, Master Yoda, I only mean that when the Chancellor uses the word "today," he is making a temporal reference, and a temporal reference really takes its meaning with respect to the moment of utterance, so when he says he now wishes Skywalker to serve on the Council, then "today" must refer to today's today, not to a hypothetical today which we, as Jedi, might perceive in the past, nor to a potential today which, though not operative today, might be tomorrow's today, or the day after tomorrow's, bearing in mind that tomorrow must come after today.
Palpatine: Thank you, Obi-Wan, that is exactly what I mean. I want Skywalker to serve on the Council as a Jedi Master. Starting today. This instant, in fact.
Yoda: Really, Chancellor, so certain are you? Untried young Skywalker is. Untested. Unready is he.
Palpatine: Untested? Didn't he just save me from that kidnapping attempt? I didn't see you piloting a flaming starship down to Coruscant, Master Yoda. You were probably testing out this office, just waiting for the Chancellor to go down in flames, is that it?
Yoda: I, Chancellor? Humble Jedi Master am I, not Chancellor. Not wise in the ways of the Senate am I. No desire has the Jedi Council to take over the Republic.

Etc. . . . . . Gotta admit, the resemblance disturbing is.

Quebec City interview

2005-05-24T19:31:00.000-07:00

Just gave another radio interview, this time to CBC in Quebec City. We don't have an audio clip of it, however, as it was live and I only heard I was going to do it a few hours ago. This makes six radio interviews all told! What invaluable people publicists (like Moira Johnson) are -- everyone should have a publicist.

[introducing poem & period before the performance at Bluefield. Note exquisite hand-drawn map]

Today I performed at Bluefield High School in PEI. What an intelligent bunch of students -- a Grade 12 History class no less, so they were very much on the same page as I was. I have to confess it was particularly nice to perform for older students, essentially adults.

[performing at Bluefield]

It had not occured to me, but of course the students, as Grade 12's, were in University-contemplation mode, and I fielded lots of questions about Classics. I could truthfully say that Classics is an excellent field of study in this modern world of ours, because it develops an understanding of language. One needn't have poetical ambitions to benefit from that; in fact, as the general level of literacy declines, there is more and more demand for people who can both write well and read very carefully, which is essentially what the intensive study of classical texts teaches. It's analogous to my own efforts in epic, actually. I recall having dinner with Egbert Bakker and a friend of his one evening, and at one point (it must have been 2am, after much wine) I began remarking that there wasn't much appreciation for performance-based verbal art these days. Bakker, with a sensible Netherlandish eye for the bottom line, commented that neither was there much performance-based verbal art being produced, and I might feel glad at the low supply and consequent high demand. I must admit that he was right!

By popular demand, in fact, I've added a show to the Tour and will do two more performances after St. John's. The first will be on Thursday evening in Cape Breton, at the Bras D'Or Lakes Inn at 7:30pm. It's not a very long drive (max 4.5 hours, including ferry) from Charlottetown to St. Peter's (the town where the Inn stands), so it seems well enough to try performing on a driving day (which I have not done so far).

Of the post-St. John's shows, the first will be in Quebec City (I was in part pitching this on the interview just now), either on 3 June or 4 June (haven't quite figured it out yet). This is great because I had been feeling fairly guilty that the Tour would not include Quebec City; as soon as I know more I will add time&date to the schedule and to the entry at the bottom of the welcome page of the website. The second post-Tour show will likely be in Toronto on 30 June -- details TBA. In the meantime, I will perform at Stanford University on 9 June, in the Terrace room in Margaret Jacks Hall (the English dept. building). I had to turn down a further invite for Quebec City for 2 June -- "I've got 1000 Ontario high school students coming on Thursday," the guy said. Alas, we can't, geographically speaking, make it to Quebec from St. John's in two days. It never rains but it pours, as they say quite often in Vancouver.

[PEI countryside]

I should add a word in praise of PEI; this will be superfluous for anyone who's ever been here. Basically, everything is exactly the right size. There are rolling hills, but they don't roll too much or too far. There are beautiful country houses, but they are neither too elegant nor too utilitarian. The people are friendly, but they don't want to be your best friend before they've learned your name. The sky is blue, but not oppressively so. The only extreme is the colour of the soil, which lends a seriously surreal edge to everything: the rich dark red of it brings all the other hues towards the front of the spectrum.

[the rich red earth of PEI]

Of course, the Island struggles with a sort of curse, which is the Anne of Green Gables legacy. This attacts tourists from every corner of the earth -- most of all from Japan, where the Anne books have a major cult following -- and brings in untold billions every summer. For unquaint economic reasons, therefore, large sectors of the Island economy must embrace quaintness.

[Gable-free house in PEI]

Myself, I have never found the Island quaint. It is not living in the past. You can go for the Gable here, of course, if you feel so inclined; but most of all the natural scenery, and the experience of a society which, though modern, has not been super-sized, is a wonderful balm for the spirit.

[Trees and field]

I don't know if that's much of an encomium; obviously I could deploy adjective after adjective in praise of the vistas, etc., or indulge in cliche/. But Gorgiasm and cliche/ alike are profoundly alien to the Island sensibility, as I've observed it. It will be sad to leave, as on Thursday we must. In the meantime, tonight we're going to grab a lobster roll and see (at last!) the new Star Wars movie. The suspense is intense: will Anakin embrace the Dark Side, or will the Dark Side embrace him? Will Yoda embrace someone? Will all 1,100 unresolved questions about the saga plot be gathered into a single skein? And what exactly does the best lobster taste like?

Charlottetown show

2005-05-23T22:27:00.000-07:00

Just got back from the Charlottetown show. There must be a Harley rally going on -- either that or per capita Harley ownership is enormous here on the Island. We must have passed five or six on the way back to the hotel. No sign of the tourists yet: The Season is yet to begin.)

(This is really the ideal hotel, incidentally. Affordable, tasteful, free (and good) breakfast, reliable Internet access, hot water. What more could one ask?)

Right, the show. For starters, I performed inside what is arguably Canada's most historic building, Province House, where the Fathers of Confederation met back in 1864. A web pic:

[Province House in Charlottetown. It looked just like this today, with half as much sunshine, some cloud, and fewer flowers]

One naturally wonders if Confederation would be in better shape these days if our patres conscripti (and matres conscriptae) had continued to meet beneath virtuous Doric instead of laviscious Gothic.

The show went quite well, though turnout was modest. I may have gone slightly overboard in the "song tones," though Dave assures me all was well. My voice began to give out towards the end; I'm still recovering from my Saint John cold.

[folding brochures prior to the Charlottetown show. Everyone gets a brochure]

I need to start thinking of how, eventually, to perform other segments of the 1758-1760 cycle of material I've developed. I presume that the main focus of popular interest will continue to be the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, since that's by far the most famous event before Confederation. But perhaps I can someday collect a large enough group of fans that I could try a two- or three-day series of performances. Or should the Tour Episode be extended significantly? One presumes that this is how the Achilles story, which is the main plot of the Iliad, was filled out to 14 000 verses: people just wanted more and more Achilles, and what had been one incident among many at the Siege of Troy gradually usurped the whole cycle, gobbling up minor incidents as it grew.

[simile in PEI]

The similes went particularly well tonight -- that is, I could feel the audience enjoying them. Funny how some like them and some don't, for no discoverable reason. Interesting, too, that I feel more of a bond with audiences now than when I began the Tour, not less, despite the fact that I really have a set text memorised by now, from which I depart only at will. (Though lately I have been bungling the burial of Montcalm in various ways; there must be some internal illogic to the sequence of details there which my subconscious keeps coughing up -- I shall have to review it.)

We have, alas, accidentally deleted the pics from St. Paul's in Halifax; to make a long story short, Spektakl' imyel bolshoy uspekh.

Congrats to my good friend Don Lavigne, who just hours ago defended his doctoral thesis at Stanford! Don is an expert the anti-epic poetry of Archilochus and Hipponax, and will be professor next year at Texas Tech. Io doctorem!

Charlottetown reached

2005-05-22T22:26:00.000-07:00

Well, as noted below, it was one heck of a storm swept through the Maritimes today. But if we had to drive through the rain, at least it was driving rain, eh? Eh?

We have reached idyllic PEI, after a mini-Tour of part of Acadia. Foreign readers may not be familiar with the Acadian flag, which flies proudly throughout the region: it's the French tricolour with a gold star in the top-left corner.

[Acadian flag (below Maple Leaf) on a stormy day in Memramcook]

Acadia is really one of the most beautiful, and most civilised, areas of Canada. Of course, it's been under cultivation for longer than anywhere else (vanished Iroquoian cities apart) -- it was first settled in the mid-17th century. But the whole region is beautifully tended, on a house-by-house, field-by-field basis. Few areas or towns would look good in weather like today's, but Acadia looked great. It's a tribute to the inner spirit of its inhabitants that they take pride in outward form.

[view from our friends' Nick and Elodie's place, looking towards the village of Pre-d'en-Haut; the vast Petitcodiac river to the left]

We stopped in at our friends' Nick and Elodie's place for a splendid lunch; and also saw (briefly) Sackville, NB. Besides being my birthplace, it's also the birthplace of the Tour Episode (the segment of the larger cycle of material I have), as I composed the first version of it in the bohemian Bridge Street Cafe there, back in 2000. We had a quick cup of coffee to commemorate that manic 9-hour burst of inspiration.

[Bridge Street Cafe in Sackville, NB]

It's a slightly complicated story, but I had stopped in Sackville on my bike when I first was going East -- just to see the town I was born in, which I had only visited once (when I was 9) since my first months alive. Eventually I found myself in Louisbourg, NS (which we will soon visit again on this Tour), where I camped under the shade of a single tree for four days, hoping I could work the material I had into a useable, performable chunk. There I realised that my initial idea, which had been to start the story at the beginning of the Siege of 1759 (in June of that year, with the arrival of the British taskforce), was unworkable. So I sat trying to square the circle under my tree, until (under the strain?) I lost a contact lens. The pain, I recall, was brutal. My parents had sent me some more lenses, however; but they were sitting back in Sackville, many hours' ride away from Louisbourg. Not entirely daunted, I rode out to Sackville, claimed the lenses, camped in the rain, and that morning found myself drinking coffee at the Bridge Street Cafe. For whatever reason, the stars aligned and I generated the first version of this Tour Episode sitting there all day til closing.

To get back, though, we're now in Charlottetown, having crossed the enormous, 13-km long Confederation Bridge, which joins Prince Edward Island to the mainland and is now the main artery for on-Island, off-Island traffic.

[Dave filming the Confederation Bridge (on the PEI side). Only a very small part of the bridge is visible, of course. Note the red soil of PEI.]

The experience of driving onto the bridge from the mainland side is one of the most vivid memories I have of the 2000 tour: the highway appears to vanish somewhere in the clouds, and you just keep going up and up and up for about 4km. It's a little less breathtaking in a car, where you're lower down and can't see above the traffic so well; but still a great experience.

Now we're in Charlottetown. I will save description of PEI for later: we're here for three days, with the public show tomorrow at Province House Theatre (7pm). Speaking of public shows, I see I promised pics & desc of last night's Halifax performance in St. Paul's Church; but the sinews are weakening, the fingernails brittle with fatigue. I must sleep the happy sleep of a Prince Edward Islander.

Farewell to Halifax / Dartmouth

2005-05-22T08:08:00.000-07:00

[took this picture (looking across the harbour from Dartmouth to Halifax) minutes after blogging the below: note whitecaps. Incredibly, 9000 people were running a marathon in Halifax today]

Just about to hit the road -- shall blog last night's Halifax show this evening -- through what looks, from our window, like the Great Halifax Wind & Rain Storm of 2005. The wind is positively screaming past our window.

Dave: "Jesus! Look at the rain! It's horizontal!"

Visited the spot of the first ever performance of the poem last night, on the Halifax docks; and lo & behold there was a lone busker there, playing the accordion. Finding we were from Ottawa, she inquired if there were many squeeze-box virtuosos there in the summer, and basically decided then and there she would move her operation West. An eerie repeat of my own busking experience as epic poet on that spot.

Dave: "A suggestion? Let's do the Drive Through at Tim Horton's. Let's not get out of the car."

We are indeed sad to be leaving the Tim-Horton's-rich enviornment of Halifax. We had breakfast at one down the road here in Dartmouth, walking a record four blocks before we found one. Only to discover later on that there is one actually on our block. This is indeed Timmie's Eternal City; Nova Scotia his Papal States. The Dominion Institute may be sponsoring this Tour, but the Tour is sponsoring Tim Horton's rather heavily. (Question at one of the Halifax West shows on Thursday: "How many times have you rolled up the rim?" Answer: "As may are the grains of sand in the Libyan desert . . .")

Globe and Mail piece

2005-05-21T11:02:00.000-07:00

So, I'm in the Globe! It's a fairly extensive profile, by Julie Traves, in the Review section (page # varies by region).

Needless to say I'm feeling extremely pleased this morning. I just tried nipping out to the dep, but it was closed unil 9am. Dilemma: do I buy all the copies of the Globe at a given store, in a spending spree of vanity, or do I let them be bought by the regular patrons and thus spread my kleos in Dartmouth?

Update: Finally managed to find a copy (3 copies) of the Globe, and have scanned in the photo you see above, which isn't available online. It's the work of Mr. Brian Atkinson, a talented photographer and heck of a nice guy; he told me he's about to travel to southern Africa these next few weeks, in keeping with his international career.

Halifax school shows

2005-05-20T18:14:00.000-07:00

[me with Mr. D. Smith and Mr. B. Khan, teachers at Halifax West High School, yesterday after the fifth performance. Like many a teacher along the Tour, these gentleman gave us a warm welcome]

Two more schools today, Prince Andrew High School and Caledonia Junior High: one show each. Good students, I must say; probably 60 between them. Seven shows in two days! I'm fairly beat, but in good spirits. I think Tour's end and poet's end may coincide.

Seriously, though, they were good shows. Lately I sometimes lose track of what I'm saying, without missing a beat or losing any degree of expression; is this what it's like for Shakespeare actors at one of those ten-year runs of The Taming of the Shrew? What a cushy life!

A couple of notes: halfway through the performance at Prince Andrew today, the PA system (ironically enough) interrupted to make an announcement, and straight away you could see the students rubbing their eyes and coming awake, literally as though they had been dreaming. (I don't usually get to see this, as I bow my head modestly during the applause at the end of shows.) It took a special effort to get them back in the game after that -- it happened just at the death of Wolfe -- but most interestingly I myself was thrown off a bit, not on delivery or memory but on my train of thought: I repeated two key lines without realising it! They were:

But as he spoke, a man rode up : a trusty friend and aide-de-camp
He cried, "They run, my lord! They run! : The French, they flee in headlong rout!"
But red-haired Wolfe just closed his eyes : and with a groan he answered thus
But as he spoke, a man rode up : a trusty friend and aide-de-camp
He cried, "They run, my lord! They run! : The French, they flee in headlong rout!"

You can see that only someone who had been mentally discombobulated could make this kind of error (a sort of aural homoioarcton).

We are looking forward to scoping out the venue for tomorrow's show, St. Paul's Anglican Church in downtown Halifax, before the performance at 7pm. While we're doing that, we shall also visit the site of the first ever performance of The Plains of Abraham, the Halifax docks, where on a bright brisk day in June 2000 I set up shop between two talented Cape Breton fiddler buskers and hoped for an audience. I didn't yet have the big white "Epic Poem" sign featured a few posts ago (I only got it in Sudbury); rather, I had fashioned a very primitive sign out of two brown paper placemats I had stolen from a nearby fish-'n'-chips restaurant. I still have them somewhere.

Tomorrow there should be a piece about me in The Globe and Mail. Needless to say, I will blog it immediately.

Ongoing octametric coverage

2005-05-19T17:16:00.000-07:00

Okay, this is frivolous, but I doubt anyone else is providing up-to-the-minute octametric coverage?

So then, behold, the House of Commons : that most glorious institute
Where never member squawked : in days long gone : nor hooted like a bird
Upon the nineteenth day of May : convened upon the lonely Hill
And many were the squabbling parties : bickering amongst themselves
And they were four, the NDP : the partisans of Douglas' name
And Layton was their glorious leader : bearer of a bold moustache
The Tories too were there : an ancient group : the party of Sir John
The great Sir John, a mighty man : who liked a scotch in th' afternoon
And when the sun was sinking back : and falling to the Western sea
And when at morn there rose : towards the east : the soft pink palm of dawn
And they were led by Stephen Harper : sombre in his sombre suit
And then the fearsome Bloc : which led the charge : to ruin Canada
When once upon a time : Lucien Bouchard : the single-legged man
Had founded them, in ancient days : amid the smoke and blood of Meech
And they were led by Gilles Duceppe : the Maoist of steely gaze
And last of all the Liberal Party : legacy of Jean Chretien
The Government indeed : for many years : yet shorn of power now
For when the votes were counted last : they had but a minority
And Martin was their glorious leader : patient through the empty years
So now when all had found their places : there upon the lonely Hill
So then, behold, the Speaker rose : and opened the profound debate
And first of all he named the member :

. . . will be updating this as soon as somebody says anything interesting on Cpac.

---

Update. So, the NDP amendment passed, Cadman voted with the Government, and the Newfoundland Tories were spared their decision.

Such was the excitement, however, that I feel rather burnt out; also, I wonder if octameter is really the right metrical genre for covering these things. Something Aeolic, perhaps, would better convey the sensation of Cadman's rising for Yea. And lyric has no place on this blog.

One last outburst: Obviously the Tories are now in a serious bind. They've pledged to let the Government govern after this, so barring some unforeseen development (and how rare those are these days) they can't, politically speaking, table a confidence motion. But what do they do if the Bloc irritably tries for their own confidence motion? Do they vote that they have confidence in the Government?

Lastly, Dave raises the interesting question of what would happen if the NDP amendment came up for third reading (this was, I believe, the first reading -- or was it the second? No, the first). The Speaker, as he made very clear in casting his tiebreaker today, votes to continue debate; he does not vote to accomplish anything. What then would he do in the case of a third reading? A vote with the Government in that case would be a vote to approve the amendment, ending further discussion. (Update: a constitutional expert informs us that the proper course is for the Speaker not to vote to defeat the Government, as makes sense.)

Epic budget vote

2005-05-19T16:34:00.000-07:00

[Kilgour & Cadman]

Just got back from the 5x30-40 minute show stint at Halifax West High School -- c. 175 students in the audience in toto today. I would be absolutely shattered, but for better or for worse I'm glued to the TV (Cpac and Newsworld). Dave just stepped in the door with rootbeer, beernuts, and 5 Alive: this could be a long haul.

My foreign readers will need some explanation. Basically, the minority government of the Liberals is being challenged on its budget. Budget votes are "confidence votes," which a government must win or else resign (go to an election immediately). The governing Liberals have forged a shaky alliance with the socialist party (NDP), at the price of a budget amendment which sends more money in the direction of social spending. Opposed to them are the official opposition, the Tories, supported by the separatist Bloc Quebecois; both are keen to bring down the government because the Liberals are suffering heavily under the scrutiny of the Gomery Inquiry into Liberal corruption in Quebec. As of Monday, the Liberals and NDP together had 150 votes; the Tories and Bloc had 153 votes; there were three independents.

Sensationally, however, on Tuesday the fair Belinda Stronach, political newcomer but apparently fearless political virago, "crossed the floor" from the Tories to the Liberals (she received a mid-level Cabinet seat), ditching not only her party but also her boyfriend, the Tory Deputy Leader. This means it's all tied up, because the Liberals have one of the independents (who had been kicked out of their caucus for being anti-American):152 pro-budget, 152 against, with only two independents -- David Kilgour of Alberta (a former Liberal) and Chuck Cadman of BC (a former Tory) between them deciding whether the budget will stand or fall, and whether we will get an election pronto (or not). Of course, there are a number of wildcards, including whether various MP's will show up to vote, be hauled to hospital (as happened yesterday), etc. etc.

Update: David Kilgour has just announced he will vote against the NDP budget amendment (though apparently in favour of the Liberal budget itself). Chuck Cadman . . . I very much doubt he will back the government after l'affaire Stronach. I would be amazed, myself.

The Tory MP's from Newfoundland. It's all about the Tory MP's from Newfoundland. You read it here eighth.

Actual epic note: I tried the experiment of using the "song tones" / quasi-chanting manner of delivery with some audiences and not others; and the palm certainly goes to the song tones, which undoubtedly enhance audience focus and concentration for the whole poem. I had suspected this was the case, but it's reassuring to have made this empirical comparison. I should blog more on this, but I simply must get back to Cpac. (How many times have you heard that in your life, I wonder?)

Halifax reached

2005-05-18T15:28:00.000-07:00

We have reached the great city of Halifax (or rather Dartmouth . . . if I crane my neck from the hotel balcony I can sort of see Halifax). A very pleasant ferry ride into Digby, NS, this afternoon over calmest seas. Dave fell asleep reading about the Spanish Civil War (he informs me that 1930's Spain makes 14th century France look like kindergarten), so I took the opportunity to smash the Ms. Pac-Man record at the ferry arcade (pushing it to 420289). Unbeknownst to most, I retain awesome Pac-Man skills from days long gone. Unfortunately, the game is so primitive (c.1981; of course, I was only 4 when it came out) that it doesn't let you input your initials. I can only hope some hapless ferry employee will come in tomorrow morning and find his precious record blasphemed. Only he will know.

I see that the Ottawa performance was written up in Embassy Magazine (11 May), read by the diplomatic community in Ottawa. Perhaps, even as I type, a cultural attaché is drafting a note to the Swedish Academy:

Ottawa native Jack Mitchell is reviving epic poetry for Canada. Drawing from the classical Greek tradition of the epic, Mr. Mitchell, currently a Ph.D. candidate at California's Stanford University, blends his love of the classics with his pride of Canadian history into a 50 minute epic poem performance delivered in verse recounting the 1759 Battle of the Plains of Abraham, which took place in Quebec City with the English defeating the French as part of a series of battles for control of North America. Mr. Mitchell was in Ottawa May 8 and 9 performing his epic poem, the sixth of eleven stops on a cross-Canada tour, sponsored by the Dominion Institute. Now Canadian history's Gen. James Wolfe and Marquis Louis-Joseph de Montcalm have all the glory and heroism associated with Homer's Achilles and Hector at the Siege of Troy.

We must run to get food, we are famished. Tomorrow is a big day: I'll be performing at least 5 (perhaps as many as 8) times at Halifax West High School. This may smash the endurance epic record set at York Street Elementary on May 9th: was that Ms. Pac-Man game an omen?

Saint John Miscellany

2005-05-17T18:56:00.000-07:00

[me in Sault Ste. Marie during the 2000 Tour; this was the sign I used to attract audiences. I had a taste for loud shirts in them days]

Well, it's certainly been an interesting day in Canadian politics, by golly. I've finished the Barbara Tuchman book about the 14th century, though, so nothing fazes me anymore. No one has even been poisoned yet.

In other news, I just noticed that www.plainsofabraham.ca has been moving up the Google rankings. It's #1 under "plainsofabraham" (displacing www.plainsofabraham.com, the American rock band's site), and #9 under "plains of abraham" (following, in order, someone's pictures of their trip to the battlefield; the Battlefields Park site; the CBC People's History TV segment; wikipedia; and two history-oriented sites). As Google rankings pretty much dictate the divine will by now, this is nice to see.

(Update: #1 for "plains" & "epic"; #1 for "abraham" & "epic"; a dedicated link to the site at #3 for "epic" & "canadian." Not even in the Top 10 for "epic" & "performance," however.)

Speaking of random Google searches, I noticed some rather striking, Ani DeFranco-esque lyrics to a song titled "Plains of Abraham." Yet more proof of the strikingly Biblical resonance of the battlefield's name; it goes to show that once a phrase gets out into the popular consciousness it will be reinterpreted. What, one wonders, is the imagined relationship between plains and Abraham? Caanan is not, to my shoddy recollection, described as flat. In my mind, Abraham is associated with mountains. Does he walk across plains to get to the mountain? I can't find anything about that in Genesis, though Cecil B. DeMille would certainly have insisted on it.

The true story of how the Plains of Abraham (Canadian version) got their name is that they were named after Abraham Martin, called "The Scot." (This Abraham was a pilot; piloting was a very international profession at the time.) He apparently settled inland from the shore upriver from Cap Diamant; the Heights along the shore were thus called, logically enough, the "Heights of Abraham," while the plateau at their top was called the "Plains of Abraham." Curiously enough, the battle is still known as the "Battle of the Heights of Abraham" to the British. Even though this phrase would seem to correspond more adroitly with the Patriarch's story, it seems that the word "plains" carries a much more biblical resonance in and of itself than does the word "heights" (which has all but disappeared in contemporary speech except in the "fear of heights").

People sure are friendly in the Maritimes. There I was today, driving like mad to reach a rendezvous with a Globe and Mail photographer at Fort Howe downtown and faced with an unexpected toll bridge across the bay; and not a single coin on me, or anywhere in the car. (I know; I searched madly while actually parked in the toll lane at the machine.) And what happens, of course, but the big pickup behind me starts honking its horn and blinking its lights, and the thought is crossing my mind that I'm about to be scaled, when lo & behold the guy walks up to my car and hands me the coins for the toll with a smile. Perhaps this is a regular occurance here, or indicative of something or other, but for someone used to the take-no-prisoners highway ethos of California, it was deeply unsettling.

Tomorrow morning, we take the ferry to Digby, NS. My memory of it from last Tour is less than 100% cheerful: I had camped in the Annapolis valley somewhere or other, in the pouring rain, and was profoundly damp all the following day, crossing in the other direction to Saint John.

Route up to Saint John (map link)

2005-05-16T23:43:00.000-07:00

Here's an updated map of our route so far. We've come 9 052 kilometers, or 5,624 miles. The car is in great shape, but I must say one looks ahead to the Newfoundland portion of the Trans-Canada with something approaching dismay (or so one would if one hadn't heard of the spectacular scenery there and the fine city at journey's end -- neither Dave nor I have ever been to the Rock before, and we are psyched in that regard).

Route up to Saint John.gif

Once again, your browser will probably shrink the map to fit it; click on the image to zoom in.

I'm to be interviewed again tomorrow, this time for Radio-Canada's Atlantic radio; and will be photographed here for the Globe and Mail piece. I believe both will appear on Saturday.

Religion in the poem

2005-05-15T23:02:00.000-07:00

Having just returned from the Saint John show, where I performed in St. Paul's Parish Centre (adjacent to the church itself), I thought I'd briefly comment on the role of religion in the poem, and the audience's view of it.

First of all, though there is a bit of religious background in the poem, it couldn't remotely qualify as a religious poem. Religion is basically confined to the following points:

when Wolfe's soldiers burn a church ("Ste. Anne's inviolable temple") and kill its priest, the latter's "dying cry" for vengeance is responsible Wolfe's sickness
Wolfe's dream mentions that "the angels and the saints" now refer to the Plains of Abraham as "the Fields of Grief"
in some performances, "gentle sleep" is shed by "some demon" on the sentries' eyes at L'Anse-au-Foulon
whenever the Ursulines appear, they're described as having vowed to be "the brides of Christ"
occasionally a priest says Mass, in which case the following 2-line formula is deployed:

And there the holy priest : with silent step : brought forth the bread and wine
In pious sacrifice to God : the vessels of the Word made flesh

The mother of the Ursulines at one point prays to the Virgin, and in response the Virgin is explicitly said to weep (resulting in "mistiness and fog" on earth)
they bury Montcalm in the chapel of the Ursulines, which is described as "the holy place of Christ" a couple of times
various references throughout (in lines of 3-part metrical shape) to "Heaven's power"

It will be seen that these "religious" points basically add period detail: everything is implicitly "focalised" (perceived from a character's point of view), perhaps through the habitants, as in this couplet:

And soon they reached the holy chapel : where the painted altar stood
Before the English soldiers came : across the cold Atlantic sea

and this applies even to the Virgin's tears as rain on the battlefield. Also, everything is quite vague. In this, I follow Homer, whose religious material is Panhellenic in scope, incorporating no local peculiarities and consequently representing a Greek religion that is, as it were, slightly out of focus. In my poem, I'm vague precisely so as to maintain that inclusive point of view.

(Sometimes, indeed, I am apparently too vague -- or too Homeric. All the way across the Prairies, Dave, who has never tried to pass for a theologian, kept discreetly mentioning that one line, in the mouth of the mother of the Ursulines no less, was perhaps rather theologically incorrect:

And none was yet to woman born : who tasted of eternal life

Being stubborn, I tried to defend this, but ultimately there's no denying that this idea doesn't sound authentic. So I dropped it for a while, though I'm now saying "Few were yet to woman born" etc., which I think is OK.)

To return: could one compose a poem whose action takes place in New France and not mention religion? I doubt it. Yet it remains a tricky subject. Partly, there are a lot of secular people around who just get a bad taste in their mouths at mention of the word "God" -- as do a lot of religious people. (A secular person myself, I think such a reaction is foolish -- an inherited peasant superstition if there ever was one.) Partly also, "religious" people nowadays don't know how to react to my injection of the fairly Gothic, quasi-medieval 18th-century Catholic point of view, the Christian religion being basically unrecognisable these days (very Jesus-oriented, I find, even apud Catholicos). A couple of times, older women have sheepishly blessed me after the show.

Overall, though -- and this is the important thing -- nobody minds the presence of religion in the poem; the worst reaction I've had was at a Catholic school, where the students temporarily lost interest at the first appearance of the holy priest's silent step (neither he nor the Ursulines reappeared that performance). No one mistakes me for an 18th-century Catholic; no one accuses me of propagating some heresy. I attribute this excellent response to the ability of epic to present potentially divisive things -- first and foremost the English-French rivalry, but also religion -- in an elevated manner, separate from reality and therefore detached from the real purpose of the poem, which is historical.

This is fortunate for me, because while I've had to eliminate almost all supernatural elements from and can't get away with having Olympians charging to and fro across the battlefield (much less debating the plot chez Zeus), I seriously wonder how else I could achieve the instant long-term perspective you get by invoking things like Fate, Heaven's power, etc. I would have to digress every time in order to achieve that, using five lines where I can (as things stand) use half a line or less -- thanks to the shorthand we call religion.

Saint John reached

2005-05-14T19:04:00.000-07:00

[Me in front of the Longest Covered Bridge in the World, in Hartland, NB]

So, we have reached Saint John, NB! This is officially our fifth time zone (after BC, Alta/Sask, Man, Ont/QC). If I could smell anything, I would probably smell the unresting sea.

[Besides driving heroically, Dave elected to make an extraordinary fashion statement today]

It was a long road: 12 hours door to door, probably our longest of the Tour. The cold has hit me full force; Dave magnanimously took the lion's share of the driving, and moreover during my stint he read aloud from Barbara Tuchman history of the 14th century. But I am dosing myself with OJ, and frankly a bit of stuffiness rather pales in comparison to the Black Death.

[Dave getting footage of sunset over the St. John River]

As to performance tomorrow, I am hoping for the best. Many times I've noticed that my use of "song tones" in the performance of the poem (which gives each line a melodic contour, emphasising meaning and metrical structure) has the additional benefit of allowing me to project my voice no matter what shape my throat is in (and it is often fairly wrecked at the end of an hour-long show). Hopefully this will also deal with any sinus issue tomorrow evening.

[Onstage in front of the Regimental Colour of the 78th Frasers yesterday. Who could guess I was about to keel over?]

Re: feeling wrecked, I must say that it's a great pleasure, after the show, to answer questions from the audience about the poem and the Seven Years War, which I always do; and to chat with people after that. But I often find that by then my mouth is simply no longer working! My cheeks seem to go flabby, and the tongue does not obey the brain. No complaints, of course! Perhaps this only strengthens a listener's impression of "divine frenzy" on my part: surely someone as inarticulate as this could not have delivered the poem we just heard? Ah, but yes, the power of the Muse! The Muse, my dear! In fact, post recitationem omnis poeta tristis est.

PofA implicated in commandites?

2005-05-14T07:23:00.000-07:00

[a modern peavey; ours is much older, much badder]

Before we hit the road in a few minutes, driving the length of the St. Lawrence in Quebec, I wish as a matter of prudence to make two announcements:

a) we happened to pick up a peavey in an old junk shop here on Thursday. For those who do not know the peavey, it's a logging tool: you put the log between the claw and the main stick, and the claw automatically grips the log as you pull. It is essentially the most brutal instrument Medieval Germany never invented.

b) the report in La Presse is perhaps less alarming than it might seem. The truth is, the poem did not even exist in 1998, and in any case I have submitted multiple drafts of earlier versions of the poem to the Gomery Inquiry. But I felt particular consternation, as I stopped for a beer in St. Henri on Tuesday (prior to being photographed by Christian Fleury), to read sentences like these:

Dans son témoignage devant la commission Gomery, le 17 mars dernier, Bernard Thiboutot, fondateur de Commando Communications, avait souligné avoir embauché quelques firmes de consultants en 1998 pour une stratégie de mise en valeur des plaines d'Abraham.

. . . .

Or, a révélé M. Bastien il y a quelques jours, le mandat de 10 000 $ accordé par M. Thiboutot n'avait rien à voir avec les plaines d'Abraham.

. . . .

«Je n'ai jamais fait de contrat pour les plaines d'Abraham. M. Thiboutot m'avait appelé pour avoir des fiches d'information sur les régions du Québec», a précisé M. Bastien, qui est actuellement chef de cabinet du ministre de la Justice Yvon Marcoux.

In other words, with the populace as peevish as it is these days, it never hurts to own one's own peavey.

Farewell to Montreal (catch-up)

2005-05-13T23:03:00.000-07:00

Farewell to . . . ? What the . . . ?

Yes, we are about to leave Montreal tomorrow morning, heading to Saint John, NB. I just took a Tylenol PM, so I may fall headfirst on the keys before this post is done; but let's back it up a little.

We left Toronto feeling great, after the successful performance at Fort York described below. Never did the road from Toronto to Ottawa -- well known to both Dave and me since we could drive -- seem shorter! It was a happy homecoming. On Sunday we had the Ottawa performance, in the afternoon at the theatre in the Public Library.

[taking questions after the Ottawa show]

The show went quite well indeed, I may say: a good-sized audience of 55, and I was pumped up. Not only was the show on Mother's Day (with our dear mother in attendance), but it was also the 60th anniversary of VE Day. Very nice to see many friends in the audience; Christina Leadlay took a number of pictures of the show, and will be writing it up in Embassy magazine.

A minor note on VE coverage these last two weeks: while often very moving, the various specials on TV could have used a bit more hard fact, IMHO. It is extremely important that we remember our soldiers' sacrifices, but somehow the purpose of the sacrifice was always glossed as "defending freedom," "liberating Europe," etc. This is quite true, but the sacrifices were also for things like: taking the last bridge; cutting the German resupply line; securing the hilltop; etc. Perhaps TV commentators think this sort of thing is boring or somehow requires more knowledge on the part of viewers than they possess; but that's a self-fulfilling logic if there ever was one. I get the impression that the Canadian army never once doubted that it was freeing Holland from brutal tyranny, and that this idea was always a sustaining factor through those last few months; but that idea is easily grasped today. What is more difficult for us, in our peaceful era, to imagine is that a man could be blown to smithereens with the single idea on his mind that he would shortly have to advance across a small field and find cover in the next hedge. Or that this was the last machine-gun nest his company would have to clear out that day. Or what have you. But this is not an opinion blog, so I move on.

Ah yes, Ottawa. Having spent a good deal of time praising other cities, I deserve a few sentences on my hometown. How perfectly Ottawa in the summer expresses my idea of the good life! The cafes are full of people; the food is affordable but well cooked; the conversation is heavily political (as it was in Athens, Rome, 17th century London); no one spends any time whining at the federal government. People are bilingual; no one flinches when you resort to a French expression. It is taken for granted that relaxed civilisation is the foundation of true friendship.

Okay, back to the diary. This Monday I had my only Ottawa school visit, at York Street Elementary -- just a few blocks from our house there. Though it was only one school, I performed it six times in one day: twice in the morning and four times straight in the afternoon (with just enough time to glut my thirst between classrooms). I'm not sure this is the most effective economy of performance, but I was glad I made it; admittedly, the shows were only 20-25 minutes long. Still, by way of endurance epic, this must be some kind of record.

That evening, after a nice farewell dinner at Chez Lucien (terrific pub, I must say), I drove to Montreal; Dave stayed for a couple days as he had a couple eye-doctor appointments to take care of (he had the laser eye surgery a couple of months ago). Rolled onto the Island with "White Rabbit" playing off the iPod; some David Bowie, too, IIRC. How strange to be passing in the car, and visiting on foot, all these places I know so well after so long being unfamiliar with my surroundings!

Yes, we have no passed the 1 month mark in terms of the Tour -- yesterday, in fact. Should have blogged it, but I'm staving off a cold (whence the Tylenol PM; it hasn't kicked in yet). I had two school shows here, on Tuesday at Options II High School in St. Henri, and then on Wednesday at Lower Canada College in NDG. They both went quite well, though I kept to 30 minutes for both. Once again, it was shown that socio-economic status has absolutely zero to do with aesthetic response to epic poetry; not that the LCC students were less interested than the Options II students, but I become more and more aware that Plato was entirely right about the ethical bond between performer and audience. And philosophical ethics of this sort are non-cultural.

Well, maybe the Tylenol is kicking in after all.

[music, passion, and Portuguese soccer are always in fashion here]

In summa: I visited the Copacabana bar on the Main, that perfect establishment, on Tuesday, seeing my old friends Michel and Quinlan, and supped chez Q the following night. All my old friends here now have beautiful and accomplished francophone girlfriends. Dave got in that night too, and we had a pleasant day off yesterday. Woohoo! He is reading about the Spanish Civil War; in between bouts with the ancient Homerist named Aristonicus, I'm reading Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror, about the end of the Middle Ages. Much recommended. We've had such pleasure just walking around; the weather has generally been wonderful here (26 on Wednesday), releasing legions of Montreal women onto the streets after a long winter. One formulates a new theory about their collective beauty every time one comes here.

Tonight was the public show in Montreal, at the Stewart Museum on Ile Ste.-Helene (specifically in the Large Powder Arsenal). It went quite well: I started weakly, without much passion, but by the time I reached the deaths of the two characters I was doing my best impersonations yet by quite a bit. It's curious how the feeling of imminent doom prior to performance is crucial. This was the epicentre of Fraser Highlander activity in North America, site of the original garrison: Bruce Bolton of the Stewart Museum was most welcoming and helpful, and I got to meet the OC, a fine gentleman just back from Holland: he had been at Juno Beach. My great aunt Jean was also there.

I have a lot more to write, but I can feel the medicine spreading past my kneecaps. Or is that the effect of reading too much Minority Government Gossip in the papers? Dave and I are working up a Star Wars: Episode III allegory for it all; we note that holding the budget vote on May 19th, which just so happens to be the release date of the final movie, may be the most underhanded parliamentary ploy yet.

Toronto show - du succes

2005-05-09T18:01:00.000-07:00

[view from our Toronto hotel room]

I am just about to leave for Montreal, as there's a school show there tomorrow morning. But how could I fail to try and describe the last few days?

The performance at Fort York, on Friday in Toronto, was (if I may say) a huge success. A correspondent mentioned a while back that I seem to say that of most shows; but there's a logical explanation which doesn't involve self-boosterism. Basically, our standards are rising! At the beginning of the Tour, a successful performance involved few missed lines, an attentive audience, no technical breakdown, and sincere applause. Nowadays, it means flawless meter, spellbound listeners, complete video and sound, and a sustained ovatio. That, modesty completely aside, does describe the Toronto public performance.

[Getting ready for the Toronto show]

In fact, the audience was particularly appreciative -- which meant all the more in light of its constitution. The whole of the "Epic Tour Team" was there, for starters: Annie Forget, Alison Faulknor, and Rudyard Griffiths (as well as Dave and myself, of course); Prof. Jonathan Burgess, eminent Homer scholar, and Prof. Alison Keith, both of U of T Classics; numerous luminaries of the Toronto literary scene; my cousin Madeleine and her family; many old friends of mine; a number of Fraser Highlanders of the York Garrison (including Mjr. John Stirling, OC, who gave a great historical introduction).

[Mjr John Stirling introducing the poem, prior to the introduction by Rudyard Griffiths]

The audience size was quite large, for word had been spread by print and radio: about 65 in the audience, bringing the total number of listeners at public shows over the 200 mark. The venue was acoustically perfect: though I was wearing two wireless mics (one for the documentary video, one for the CityTV camera, which was recording the show), I was performing in my natural voice, and the Highlanders at the back heard every word.

[Performing at Fort York; in back row are Highlanders; CityTV cameraman at rear]

They later gave an impressive display of musketry outside, loading and firing authentic Brown Bess muskets; one remarked that he could fire 3 rounds a minute, which is excellent even by 18th century standards. They let me fire a round; what a huge explosion those things make! I have to admit I blinked hard when it went off. One old friend of mine, Madhava Enros - a talented photographer - took some fine pictures of the event, posted and described on his elegant blog. You can see me about to fire the musket in one of the shots!

Ah yes, I was interviewed by CityTV for the Books program, which should be airing soon; I sat atop one of the walls of Fort York with the CN Tower in the background.

[Sitting atop the wall being interviewed for CityTV]

I had meant to include in this post a description of the Ottawa shows -- the public one was a big hit, the school shows today were intense, 6 in one day! -- but we are about to head off to a farewell dinner with our dear parents. (It was particularly great to do the public performance here yesterday on Mother's Day, with my mother in the audience; and on VE Day, with commemoration in the air.) Farewell -- because I head off to Montreal tonight! Yes indeed, the pace is intense; Ion had nothing on me.

2 more radio interviews

2005-05-09T14:25:00.000-07:00

Am about to post a description of the last few days, but I thought I'd throw in a couple of audio files: these are two interviews which just aired over the last 48 hours. The audio quality is not quite 100%, as Dave was recording them off the car radio en route to various places, with his mp3 player. (We will write away for official CBC tapes at some point.)

The first is a segment from that wonderfully creative radio program Bunny Watson, hosted by Bill Richardson. I talked to Bill in Vancouver as the tour was beginning (on the first day, in fact). This aired on Saturday at 7pm and on Sunday at 4pm on CBC (Radios 1 and 2 respectively). The episode was about itinerant performers: I am by no means the only travelling artist on the Trans-Canada this spring!

Bunny Watson Interview.mp3

The second was done live this afternoon on the local Eastern Ontario CBC afternoon program All in a Day, hosted by Brent Bambury. What a great guy. You'll see(/hear) that I've gotten a bit more at ease with studio speech during the last month!

All in a Day Interview.mp3

We did not, unfortunately, manage to tape the interview in French which aired on Friday in Toronto, on Les arts et les autres, where I talked to Alain Godbout. Listeners have told me I sounded quite good, but who believes them? Where, one wonders, is the digital proof? We shall hopefully get our hands on an official CBC tape soon; meanwhile, I may have another interview en francais coming up in Monckton, NB.

Must blog but cannot

2005-05-08T12:29:00.000-07:00

Am too short of time to blog properly -- about the great success of the Toronto show, the happy homecoming in Ottawa -- but will do so soon; the Ottawa show starts in just an hour and half! We are out the door. The Bunny Watson show in which I feature was aired yesterday at 7pm, and will be on the air again today at 4pm EST. (There should be a streaming audio link at the show site, if you're interested in listening in!). I was also interviewed for TV in TO, and will try to put that up when it appears. Must run!

Radio interview: CBC Toronto

2005-05-05T18:05:00.002-07:00

Here's a sound file featuring the interview I gave on Tuesday to CBC's Here and Now, the afternoon show for southern Ontario; the host was Marichka Melnyk:

Here and Now Interview.mp3

I rather wonder how many people this will bring out to the show at Fort York tomorrow. We stopped by today to see the venue: quite a spacious hall, and hopefully large enough for the big crowd I anticipate! I've been sleeping up, so I should be in top form tomorrow evening.

Am working on a transcript of the St. John's High School show, to bring out how it differs from the "canonical" version; this is a bit slow-going, but I hope to have it up soon.

A relatively lazy day today. I spent blissful hours watching Gomery gossip on CBC Newsworld. Before Canadian readers of this blog, having absorbed that last sentence, call 9-1-1 on my behalf, I should add that I really consider it Fate's little gift to me that I should happen to be touring the country at a moment of national political crisis. Sure, I'm competing with the likes of Chuck Guite for front page coverage, but I get to see how each region responds to sustained dysfunctionality. My general conclusion: the country that plaints together stays together.

And then there are the moments of sheer bear-baiting excitement, like Question Period yesterday. In contrast to all other segments I've seen for, oh, about ten years, there were lots of apropros questions, posed passionately from the opposition side and answered with Gladstonian dignity by the Government. Layton was quite suave, indeed as airbrushed as ever; the PM looked primeministerial. My own MP, Mauril Belanger of Ottawa Centre, answered a question well, though he seems to have bought a huge 70's toupee since last election flyer. Scott Brison is looking more and more like a minor Father of Confederation. The highlight was Rahim Jaffer's departure from the script when he was ragging on Joe Volpe: you could see him getting more and more worked up as he read from his prepared question until at last, rapt in rhetorical rage, he couldn't focus on the printed page and instead just went with it -- "or will the Prime Minister fire this embarassment to Canadians?" He was on all the newscasts, too: MPs should take the lesson and quit reading their questions. It looks terrible. Not as bad as schoolboy heckling from the back benches, that disgraceful practice, but terrible nonetheless.

Deixis

2005-05-04T22:05:00.000-07:00

I've been using more deixis in performance. I hadn't meant to, but it's crept in.

Deixis literally means "pointing" (deiknumi, to point or show). It's a linguistic term which describes the way in which language can "point to" the here&now, usually with words like "this," "that," etc. For instance, "The tree is green" is a sentence not marked by deixis, while "That there tree is green" or "Yonder mountain-top" are marked by deixis, because "That there" and "Yonder" only take their meaning with reference to the moment of utterance.

I first heard about deixis from the esteemed Egbert Bakker, now of Yale, when I studied with him as an undergrad in Montreal. As Bakker has emphasised, deixis is important for Homeric poetics becuase a poetry of performance melds the present instant (of the performer performing) and the past (of the story told). So when epic talks about "this here chariot" or what have you, it uses a type of linguistic marking (namely deixis) normally restricted to the here&now, but it applies that here&now marker to something which would normally be distant, namely the heroic past. Thus the heroic past becomes the here&now, for the duration of performance.

Well, on stage of late I've had recourse to deixis quite often. Instead of saying "the soldiers clad in red" for instance, I would say "those soldiers clad in red" or even "these soldiers clad in red." The effect on the audience is quite different: with "the" they are merely hearing another detail of the story; with "those" they are themselves referring a new detail to something they've already heard, and this knits the tale together in their minds, reassuring them that there is a continuity between what they've already heard, what they're hearing, and what (presumably) they are going to hear. This is particularly useful for ring composition, where the poem departs from the main story-line for a few verses and then returns to it, usually to accomodate brief description: by using deixis at the end of these little ring compositions, I signal to the audience that we have returned to something they already know. An example:

So there, behold, upon the left : he passed the holy nunnery
The sacred order of the nuns : as ancient as the citadel
The sisters Ursuline : who made the vow : to be the brides of Christ
So there, behold, upon his left : stood thirty ladies clothed in black
Those sisters Ursuline : who made that vow : to be the brides of Christ
And then the Marquis of Montcalm : perceived those holy women there
And straightaway he turned his steed : and reached that holy nunnery

Ah, the joys, such were the joys, of deixis!

Route so far (updated)

2005-05-04T20:57:00.000-07:00

Here's a map of our route so far, up to Toronto. I've added in the spots we've stopped with blue dots, and noted the date of various journeys alongside.

Route up to Toronto.gif

Many browsers will scale down the image initially: click to zoom in and scroll right (it's a big image).

Blogs of omission

2005-05-04T20:25:00.000-07:00

I've been a bad blogger of late, but a good interviewee: since arriving in Toronto I've done two radio interviews (one with Here and Now, the CBC Toronto afternoon show; the other with Les arts et les autres, the Ontario Radio-Canada noon show), and one newspaper interview (today, to The Globe and Mail). The Here and Now one was live yesterday; we made a recording but haven't had a chance to put it up yet. Les arts et les autres may air tomorrow at noon; the Globe piece may be a few days coming. (No word on the CP story as yet.)

Whew! Talking to the media is always a pleasure, but the interviews seem to happen right before or right after a performance. If they're before, I'm in the process of psyching myself up; if afterwards, I'm usually in a state of mental exhaustion. But I think they've gone well; I rather dread hearing what my accent in French sounds like -- sort of like hearing your own voice on an answering machine as you make multiple grammatical errors -- but maybe our digital equipment can correct my vowels when we get it up online.

It's great to be in Toronto. What a place, especially after so long on the road! The drive down from Sault Ste. Marie was nice, though marked by the hail/rain/sleet/freezing rain combination we are now used to (and which has incidentally 150% justified the decision to go by car this time and not by bike!). We continue to have Internet accessibility problems, perhaps because our hotel is not top-of-the-line (rates being very high here); and by God it's slow. My mind continues to boggle that this essential service should be so hard to secure. The best connection we've had yet is still the little motel in Revelstoke on our first night on the road.

And surfers shake their heads : but in their hearts : a dread and wonder dwell

to paraphrase myself.

Two school shows here in Toronto so far, both to Grade 7 and 8 classes. I think this is the most challenging age group, being neither fish nor fowl; but no one has attacked me yet. The shows are good, and would be better still if I took care to get more sleep. The public Toronto performance is on Friday at Fort York (7pm); this will probably be the biggest audience on the Tour, especially as I advertised it on the radio yesterday (with a listenership of several hundred thousand). The show will also be featured on BookTelevision!

Full-length performance video! Good sound!

2005-05-01T23:51:00.000-07:00

Not to overshadow the North Shore post below, but here it is, a full-length video of the performance at St. John's High School in Winnipeg on Wednesday. The audio is great, and the fades are (IMHO) quite cool. This is the definitive video so far, no question: kudos to Dave for tireless and outstanding work as cameraman, sound technician, and editor.

Download the St. John's performance video clip.wmv

Some observations: Again, you may wish to enlarge the window of the video player. At many places the "text" departs from the script; there's a good deal of improvisation, both invisible and visible. I'm thinking of transcribing the video as we drive down to Toronto tomorrow, to bring out the difference between the "canonical" version and the version that appeared this time. Will try to do so, though time is scarce these days.

May Day in Sault Ste. Marie

2005-05-01T20:08:00.000-07:00

We have reached the worker's paradise of the Soo, having passed the longitudinal meridian of Canada (the day before yesterday), the Arctic/Atlantic watershed (yesterday), and the mid-point of the Trans-Canada (today). The half-way point in terms of the schedule will be the public show in Ottawa on Sunday (2pm at the public library on Metcalfe). Here's an updated map tracing our route!

The day began in Thunder Bay, where our hotel window looked out on the Sleeping Giant, who rests on his back in front of the city:

[Sleeping Giant near Thunder Bay]

In case you can't quite see it, or dread waking him up to ask, here's the Sleeping Giant's anatomy:

[the Sleeping Giant explicated]

Get it? Well, apparently I didn't, because the explanation above is Dave's, which happens to coincide with the city of Thunder Bay's. Here is how I was seeing it:

[Sleeping Giant explicated acc. to Jack Mitchell]

Also near Thunder Bay, we of course visited the Terry Fox Memorial. Terry Fox is one of the greatest Canadians who ever lived; his story is inspiring and tragic. In brief: afflicted with cancer, which had taken one of his legs, he decided to run across Canada, from Newfoundland to the Pacific, in a Marathon of Hope to raise money for cancer research. He made it to Thunder Bay, where the cancer finally forced him to stop, and he died not long after. It is absolutely staggering that he made it half way across. Dave remarked to me, "Every kilometer we drive from now on, he ran with one leg." The 25th Anniversary was April 12th, day of the first public performance on this Tour.

[the Terry Fox Memorial]

The drive along the North Shore of Lake Superior . . . they always tell you, "Boy, it's farther than it looks, especially along the North Shore of Lake Superior there. You'll be amazed, believe me." Having been told this fairly often throughout my life, I was not amazed, and it actually seemed to go by fairly quickly. Of course, it's the largest lake in the world, so driving around it does take some time.

[the big lake they call Gitche Gumee]

Along the way, we were rather surprised to pass hundreds of inukshuks, piled atop the many cliffs along the side of the road. This is an Inuit word meaning (I believe) something like "humanitans," or something that takes the place of a human being in the landscape (usually to indicate directions). It's a pile of rocks shaped (usually) like a person; the word's been in the news recently because it forms the basis of the recently announced 2010 Olympic Games logo.

[an inukshuk]

This being Canada, some (not the Inuit themselves) have objected to the use of the inukshuk as a symbol, on the grounds that it's an Inuit, as opposed to pan-Canadian, practice. But something tells me that thousands of Inuit have not built navigation markers along the North Shore of Lake Superior; rather it really is true that a great number of Canadians have taken up the inukshuk.

[another inukshuk]

Their position on the Trans-Canada at this point is somewhat strange, I suppose, because there is only one way to go!

Oh, and we made it past Wawa safe and sound.

In Thunder Bay

2005-04-30T21:02:00.000-07:00

[reading my handy all-in-one Homer edition en route]

We're now in Thunder Bay, fairly tired. A beautiful drive today: one climbs into the Canadian Shield very quickly (it happened when Dave was changing tapes, so the camera missed it!), and the change from flat, tree-speckled prairie to embouldered, lake-bearing Shield is very striking. We also passed across the Arctic/Atlantic watershed line on the Trans-Canada (not far past Upsala, if I recall correctly). Some splendid pics for upload, but I'll add them to this post a bit later.

Internet access . . . well, it's working, isn't it? It's easy to forget that there are large chunks of the world, say 99%, for whom the Internet is somehow not as important as toothpaste. These fine folks do not suffer panic attacks when unable to check their email every day; they still know how to use the Yellow Pages; they wonder who the guy is with the bags under his eyes sitting in the lobby of their hotel, his power cable fully extended as he stretches his laptop towards the one known wireless node, clutching his brow as the signal sputters. O sancta simplicitas!

---

Added on May Day: pics as promised

[into the Canadian Shield: note rocks, hills, trees]

[Dave at the watershed line; behind him, things are flowing into the Arctic]

[me at the watershed line; behind me, things are flowing into the Atlantic]

Farewell to Winnipeg

2005-04-29T23:32:00.000-07:00

Pardon the blog's silence these last 48 hours; it's been a hectic, though altogether rewarding, time in this fair city. Here's a pic for the blog's loyal foreign readers:

[Winnipeg, April 27; the white area is snow-covered, eh?]

This was the view from our hotel window two of the last three days; it has also been hailing intermittently. But I dare not show my trepidation, lest I provoke the contempt of these stalwart all-weather Winnipeggers. Entre nous autres, however, the wind is icy.

We just came from the public show here, at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. An impressive building, and an impressive venue: a 200 seat auditorium, complete with expert lighting technician, which we managed to fill to about 1/5th full. Not bad!

We also had the pleasure of seeing Annie Forget at the show, the program coordinator at the Dominion Institute; and many fine members of the Fraser Highlanders were on hand. Mjr James Oborne, who is an authentic modern fur-trader and a director of the North-West Company (which still exists and does a flourishing trade throughout the North, just like back in the 18th century), is their officer commanding, and he gave a very interesting introduction to the poem and to the historical period. He was particularly pleased at the references to the Fraser Highlanders and their key contribution to the British effort in the Siege and battle; I've been working to include more of this, and I'm glad to see it paid off: the Frasers are exigent historians, and they approved.

[Mjr. James Oborne introducing the poem with historical commentary]

The show itself could have gone better, from my POV as performer; I stumbled twice, and there was a good deal of (invisible) stitching and improvisation. Also, I need to work on air/lung-management, especially on spontaneously enjambing lines: being reduced to a desperate, brave, unyielding croak is great for death scenes (of which I have at least two, of course), but a couple of times this happened inopportunely, as in

The officers and volunteers : whose glory now shall never die

which doesn't really get the message across, acoustically speaking.

[onstage at the Winnipeg Art Gallery]

We hit the road bright and early tomorrow for Toronto, passing through Wawa on Sunday. I will try and post (we have another, better video in the pipe) but may be at the mercy of Internet-accessibility. Our gas guage has begun working again, though, which is perhaps all too reassuring.

----

Added note: I've at last got the Video Clips and Digital Pics archive going on the website: there you can find all the video clips posted to the blog, plus a good number of never-before-seen-photos of both tour and trip.

Full performance video!

2005-04-27T13:41:00.000-07:00

Here it is, a full video of the whole performance at the Western Development Museum in Saskatoon (this last Sunday). Click on the following link!

Saskatoon performance.wmv

Notes: It's a large file (112 mb) but I hope it will stream. (If not, we will take it down and fix it.) You may wish to increase the size of the .wmv player (it doesn't lose much in quality). Also, the sound could be better; we had a technical glitch on that front.

I just performed at St. John's High School on the North Side of Winnipeg; about 60 students in the audience, and we should have better sound for the footage we got. We are working to upload this show too -- quite soon!

Was interviewed the The Beaver this afternoon; they are doing a profile of me, which will likely appear in the August-September issue.

Winnipeg reached

2005-04-26T22:37:00.000-07:00

We have reached Winnipeg. What a fine city. The streets hum with life; history lurks on every block. It's a mite chilly today, at least for those of us used to the perpetual 20 degrees celsius of Silicon Valley; it was about 3 degrees on the Yellowhead, the great northern branch of the Trans-Canada which links Saskatoon to Winnipeg, or say minus 15 with the wind chill.

Tomorrow I start the Winnipeg shows with a performance at St. John's High School; a writer from The Beaver magazine will be there covering the show, and there are rumours of further media coverage for Thursday and Friday. Tonight Dave and I happily reunited with our paternal grandmother, Mary Lamont, one of the country's great readers. The Lamont branch of our family lives here, and we are preparing to meet more relatives than we knew we had, at dinner on Thursday; tonight we saw, besides our grandmother, two great aunts, one step-second cousin, and the sister of our first-cousin-once-removed-in-law. It was thanks to the Lamont clan that I learned my genealogical terms.

We are once again on the cusp of a major video upload. The proof: we just upgraded the video-rendering computer by 1 gig of RAM. Stay tuned; we're psyched.

Three Weeks on the Road

2005-04-25T22:23:00.000-07:00

Just noticed that we've been on the road for three weeks: we left California on April 4th. Of course, the Tour proper did not begin until April 12th, or two weeks ago tomorrow, but physiologically speaking that's a footnote! We've driven just under 4000km so far. One certainly loses track of the passage of time; there are no "normal" days, and glancing at the schedule I see there are not likely to be any in the future! A few very stray notes:

We continue to roll up rims, and to win nothing.
Our schedule is nowhere near as intense as Blue Rodeo's, who played tonight in Saskatoon (just after I mentioned their great live show on this blog; we thought of going but had a lot to do; also, they're playing in Winnipeg later this week!)
We are rather afraid of the upcoming drive from Winnipeg to Toronto. Not only is it three 10-hour days, with doubtful Internet-accessibility, but we will have to pass through Wawa, the Bermuda Triangle of the Trans-Canada.
We are acquiring books at a reckless rate. Part of this is owing to my dropping off brochures in bookstores prior to the public shows. Since many of these are used book stores, a) a lot of time is wasted in wandering around the stacks, and b) I have to face the fact that I have a problem. (Just picked up three stray histories of New France, for instance: Thomas Costain, The White and the Gold; J. L. Rutledge, Century of Conflict; W. J. Eccles, Canada Under Louis XIV. The first is both jocose and appallingly racist; the second is rather romantic; the third is outstanding & much recommended. Dave also found two ancient Greek textbooks from way back when at a bookstore in rural Alberta; he's making amazing progress.)
Today I bought a new pair of black pants, to be featured in future performances. "Pure polyester!" the salesman remarked with great satisfaction.

Saskatoon show at WDM

2005-04-24T22:24:00.000-07:00

[onstage in Saskatoon]

We just got back from the Saskatoon show, which was at the Western Development Museum. It was probably the best show to date.

[facing the audience]

I improvised a good deal, but in a seamless manner (if I do say so myself). In one line there were two extra syllables, but I enjambed straight into the next line so it didn't faze the audience! Nearly a full 700 lines, but only one guy at the back was fidgeting. My goal remains to hold the whole audience, though, so there is room for improvement. We are planning a huge video upload from this show, so watch this space.

[Main Street in Boomtown]

The venue was superb. If you're ever in Saskatoon, you must see it. It's one huge space, an indoor Main Street from 1910 (of a fictional "Boomtown"). As much of it is the result of volunteer labour, one comes away (yet again) with admiration for the civic spirit of Saskatchewan.

We also ran into the great Dan Ring, a semi-legendary figure, who works at the Mendel Gallery. I had stayed at his place on Rhapsodic Tour 2000, when the bike all but died literally as I rolled up his driveway (after a 10 hour ride from Winnipeg). So I was his guest that year for rather longer than he anticipated, drinking Pil in the warm prairie summer sun; I gave my interview to As It Happens sitting on his living room couch. A pleasure to get the chance to introduce Dave to him; the guy is about the most bohemian person ever to walk the face of the earth, with a bottomless store of amazing stories. We had some good Pils tonight too, at a bar where he used to play guitar while chairs were broken over people's backs.

[a Pil]

Prairie tour video

2005-04-24T10:38:00.000-07:00

Dave has been working overtime with the video material, and here's a taste: a short (2 min) little montage of us driving from Calgary to Saskatoon.

It features the song White Rose by Slaid Cleeves, off the tribute album to Fred Eaglesmith.

We're hoping to upload a full performance video before long; possibly the upcoming one at the Western Development Museum in Saskatoon, today at 7pm (mapped here).

Foreign readers may be mystified by the reference at the end of the clip to Tim Horton's, the strangely potent, certainly ubiquitous national coffee&doughnut-shop icon. No kidding, it's a cult. We have so far rolled up the rim and won nothing eight times.

Route so far (map link)

2005-04-22T23:46:00.000-07:00

Out of sheer idleness, and because Google Maps is so cool, I've put together a little map showing our route so far.

Across the Prairies to Saskatoon

2005-04-22T23:34:00.000-07:00

[the prairie in April]

We've made it to Saskatoon after a, well, epic drive across Alberta and up through western Saskatchewan.

It's hard for a non-native to talk about the Prairies without falling into clichés, so I'll just say it: the prairie is incredibly flat, and it's incredibly beautiful. And the beauty lies in the flatness. The whole way to Medicine Hat I kept telling Dave, who periodically remarked that things were looking rather flatter than they had been around Banff, that he'd as yet seen all but nothing (beautiful as the Alberta grazing lands are). Then he took to observing that, while a certain levelness was never very far off, the fabled flatness of the Prairies was broken by some rolling patches, wasn't it? But by the time I took the following picture --

-- there was no more room for light-hearted debate. Saskatchewan has the purest relationship to earth and sky of any region of the world, and you feel your mind adjust. It should be humbling, but it also makes you feel more important. And we've been comparing notes on how friendly the people are, which has got to be the effect of this unearthly, yet so earthy, enviornment.

[barns on SK Hwy 21]

All this, of course, should set the simile-producing gears going in my brain; I can't help thinking that my prairie simile --

As when upon the western plains : the threat'ning thunderclouds approach
And all at once a dreadful rain : pours down in thick and lashing drops
It floods a peaceful river valley : drowning man and beast alike
And from a lonely knoll : survivors gaze : and weep for ruined life
With just such sudden force the English : fired against the charging French . . .

is rather inadequate, and not only because it was pretty cloudless. But then the idea behind the similes is to use Canadian landscape to express action (in contrast to Homer, who in his similes mostly expresses character through non-human animate life); and what sort of action is worthy of, or equivalent to, the Saskatchewan sky? Perhaps the battlefield the morning afterwards? That could be quite moving; but the Tour episode ends the night of the battle.

Quite a lot of driving.

[me hurtling down the road]

The Calgary-Saskatoon road music was mostly from the tribute album to Fred Eaglesmith (including White Rose, performed by Slaid Cleeves); Radiohead's Amnesiac; and of course the Blue Rodeo live album (disc 2) which we listened to several times. Blue Rodeo is really one of the great live bands of all time.

Calgary school shows

2005-04-20T16:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday and today I performed in the two school shows, one at Richmond Elementary School in a residential neighbourhood of Calgary, the other at Chestermere Secondary School about 10 minutes outside town on the Trans-Canada. They both went well, but I had quite different audiences for the two performances: at Richmond, the kids looked to be about 9-10 (I know, it's appalling that I can't say for sure; they were small, though), while at Chestermere they must have been between 14 and 17. About 50 students in the audience at Richmond, and perhaps 150-180 at Chestermere.

For the young kids, the key thing was to abandon anything harsh and forbidding about the performance style (i.e. no "song tones" or quasi-chanting -- just plain metrical storytelling in my normal voice). Also, I managed to compress the story down to under 20 minutes, which was key. We had questions before and after -- extremely interesting ones, I may say: what bright kids -- and I think I held their attention completely after the first two or three minutes (it always takes an audience some time to adapt their minds to the meter, and then they're hooked).

At Chestermere, with older students, it was more difficult to guage what they would like; also, whereas I'd been in a fully lit room (the library) at Richmond, here I was in the gym with the lights on me and the audience in darkness. In some ways it's easier not to see the audience, but the intimacy of a fully lit room is also nice; hard to say which is better, as fundamentally different as the two spaces (lit and non-lit) are. Anyway, the Chestermere show today also went well, though I felt very tired by the end; I'm looking forward to a brief break as we head to Saskatoon. I also signed some autographs!

The technical end of things, both in terms of setting up sound and light and in terms of video recording, is going so well. Dave has really mastered all this stuff, and I'm so grateful for his untiring labour: I don't know how this Tour could happen without it.

Here are some snapshots of the Chestermere show:

[getting ready for the show]

[speaking in character]

[I think this is the description of the "solemn Ottawa" (the First Nation, not the town poised for the PM's sudden Party Political)]

["Behold, the bright red blood flowed forth : and spilled across his coat and clothes"]

Update: I forgot to mention that there are a few pics of our trip through the Mountains, added below.

Octameter vs. Tetrameter

2005-04-19T15:17:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure of getting a good metrics-oriented email from Professor Reviel Netz of Stanford Classics the other day, and I thank him for letting me put it up. Regarding my remarks on iambic octameter, he writes (with links added by me, for some metrical terms readers may not be familiar with):

I still doubt that your poem is in octameter. I am not sure octameters exist. This is rather like saying that elegies are written in hendecameter. I do believe your poem is written in tetrameter with a fixed relation between odd and even lines (which has the same character as, say, that of the rhymed lines in heroic couplets). The theoretical reason to doubt the existence of lines above the 6-7 feet length has to do with the assumption that prosodic units are marked by hierarchical structures, so that we have morae - syllables - feet - cola - lines; with each level containing 2-3 constituents from the level underneath it. One can say that it is a matter of terminology, then, where we stop and call a level a "line"; but the recognition of a structural level makes it at least clear that the pentameter in an iambic pentameter, as well as the hexameter in epic, as well as the hexameter in Alexandrine, as well as the classic Russian tetrameter, all belong to the same level, whereas your 16 syllables belong to a higher level.

These are excellent observations and, I believe, quite true, especially as regards the basic, two-part line which structures c. 80% of the verses in the poem. Audiences used to compliment me on my tetrametric (4-foot, 8-syllable) consistency, at which my heart would sink: the idea behind the meter was to develop a line of a weight equal to Homer's dactylic hexameter, not to pair courtly tetrameters (as much as I appreciate that mode).

But I think Prof. Netz is right to note that we are dealing with a question of terminology. Certainly, it is the case that the dactylic hexameter --

~ u u ~ u u ~ | u u ~ u u ~ u u ~ ~ [or]
~ u u ~ u u ~ u | u ~ u u ~ u u ~ ~ [with ~=long, u=short]

-- was, in the hands of the skilled Alexandrian and Roman poets, a complete unity; this is why we speak of hyperbaton and not enjambment; indeed, a Latin hexameter (or pentameter for that matter) is hardly a hexameter without necessary hyperbaton.

Nevertheless, I believe the startling regularity with which the Homeric hexameter breaks its lines at the medial caesura (I forget the exact figure, but it's over 80%; and the remaining 20% might also qualify if we allow for artistic overstepping of the caesura; it's really only Rising Threefolders [~ u u ~ | u u ~ u u ~ | u u ~ u u ~ ~] that break the pattern) is traceable to the very origins of the hexameter, as suggested both by Nagy and West: the original independent metrical unit, expressing a single thought in (usually) two morae, and which has come to be called a colon, and which would have fit Prof. Netz's definition of a "line" (on par with Russian tetrameter, for instance), would have been something like:

x x ~ u u ~

evolving into something like

~ u u ~ u u ~ [a hemiepes]

give or take a syllable at the beginning or end. These would then have been paired in a manner characteristic of Indoeuropean poetry (and other poetries) in general -- a sort of couplet. For instance, in Beowulf, we find the line (101):

fyrene fremman : feond on helle
[to fashion evils, that fiend of hell]
  

Thus, in Steisichorus, we find the altogether unimaginable (for Homer) scheme:

~ u u ~ u u ~ | u ~ u u ~ u u ~ ~

and similar syllable-variation at the beginning and at the caesura, surely pointing to a phase in which the first half-line and the second half-line had not been welded together into the regular Homeric hexameter. (I believe no one has ever studied this on a formulaic level -- hearken, fellow young Homerists, this would be very interesting!)

So, what are we to call the un-hyperbaton-ised Homeric hexameter? A line (in Prof. Netz's excellent terms) with two cola, or rather two lines welded together? Is it perhaps somewhere in between, with lines like

(I.80)
[He is mighty among the Argives, and the Achaeans obey him]

being (diachronically, but also synchronically) two lines welded together, and lines like

(I.92)
[Who now claims to be by far the best of the Achaeans]

being complete wholes, and thus single "lines" all by themselves? Prof. Netz is entirely right that my "iambic octameter" is only octameter in the sense that I.80 above is true hexameter, as we know it from a later period; but full Steisichorean freedom (allowing feminine end in the first half line but beginning the second with an unaccented syllable) does not work with my verse -- indeed, I've noticed that the odd slip in this regard distracts the audience out of its semi-hypnosis. Perhaps I'm exploiting the grey area between line and colon?

First Experiment in Amoebic Verse : Gomery Inquiry

2005-04-19T10:09:00.000-07:00

[Judge John Gomery]

"Amoebic verse" sounds pretty cool; contrary to what you might suspect, it's a term used to describe verse-making in which one person provides the first verse, another person the second verse, the first person the third verse, the second person the fourth verse, and so on, responsively.

Theoretically, iambic octameter, the meter of The Plains of Abraham, should be good for this. (More soon on whether the meter is actually octameter or in fact paired tetrameters . . .) So, while driving from Lake Louise to Calgary the other day, Dave and I tried it out.

Here are the downloadable results of this first amoebic experiment, a digital video clip in .wmv format.

Update (Feb 2007) I've now uploaded the videos to YouTube.com, which means we get a nice streaming version!

You may have to boost the sound on your computer, as I was holding the camera and not speaking directly into the mike. Also, you'll see that we get better as we go along. We chose the hottest item in Canadian politics these days, the Gomery Inquiry into the Sponsorship Scandal, as our subject.

Here's the transcript -- HTML is wary of leaving you multiple spaces, so I've indicated caesuras (regular breaks in the verse) with colon marks [:] --

Jack. . . . Lake Louise. And Dave and I, keen political addicts, decided that we're going to see what we can do in terms of alternating lines describing the ongoing Gomery Scandal, in spontaneous composition. So, we're going to alternate lines, right?
Dave. Well, we're going to try.
J. We're going to try.
D. . . . And all the nation then : did hearken unto Gomery
J. Judge Gomery, a noble man : who sat before the tribunal
D. Tis bad, he said, and tis corrupt : but worse it is, but small-town cheap
J. Just so indeed Judge Gomery : declaring things to Jean Chretien
D. And then he turned unto the scoundrels : to the men of bad comp'nies
J. And many were their disgraced names : and sprung from far and wide they came
D. And first among them was Jean Brault : the president of Groupe Action
J. And he it was whose name was foulest : of the advertising chiefs
D. And yet in turn, when th' inquiry came : 'twas he who turned his back on sin
J. And yet he could not stain his name : more deeply than it had just been
D. For pure indeed was his reliance : on the federal sponsorship
J. The scandal of the sponsorship : the most disgraceful deed of all
D. And next to him was Corriveau : an ageing man of silver hair
J. Unyielding was his will : and stern his glance : but bad his memory
D. For like unto the Alzheimer's : was the disease which racked his brains
J. And yet some said, in whispered words : it was not illness in his brain
D. But rather it was his cowardice : for well he knew the guilt was his
J. And yet he did not speak : on each in turn : he laid forgetful eyes
D. Polite to him were all the lawyers : [who] asked the questions at th 'inquir[y]
J. Six million dollars in cold cash : he'd walked away with, on a time
D. Yet scornful were the nation's papers : scornful most in proud Quebec
J. And then behold, the Globe and Mail : and even that Toronto Star
D. Did yell and shout and fill their pages : with their bold denunctiat[ions]
J. And then the editorial boards : did gather up within their groups
D. And boundless words did they opine : in columns, banners, op-eds too
J. And all the public did come forth : and sit before the tribunal
D. For many days was it blacked out : and none allowed to cover it
J. And yet they knew there was a blog : some said, in Minnesota's land
D. From which one could, in dark of night : read details, even testimon[y]
J. And all the journalists indeed : knew of this blog, yet could not speak
D. And deeply did it grieve them thus : that they should know and not send word

Breaking news: We just heard that Ratzinger has been chosen by the Holy Spirit as Pope Benedict XVI. Apparently Dave hedged his bets and actually put a euro on this outcome, which at 16-1 covers all his losses. (He had been unable to find out if hedging one's bets on papal elections was covered by the 1591 papal bull which forbade betting on this sort of thing.)

Fort Calgary show / composition-in-performance

2005-04-18T22:36:00.000-07:00

Egad, I'm tired. We had quite a nifty little show at Fort Calgary this evening: the first full hour of performance I've tried, and it went well. A wonderful theatre space there -- many thanks to The Dominion Institute for a spot-on booking. The length resulted from my slowing down the delivery somewhat, and including more or less each episode. Of course, each performance inevitably misses some lines, as well as adding some: I invented several describing the Mother of the Ursulines, and reconfigured Donald MacLeod's lament on the fly.

Here, for instance, is the "canonical" version of phantom Abercrombie's speech to Wolfe. (He appears to Wolfe in a dream, early in the Tour episode; diachronically, he is the angel Gabriel in disguise, but that aspect was taken out as I removed supernatural elements.)

Now listen to me, General Wolfe from Heaven I have come to speak
Now here you lie in bed and toss and turn as sickness burns your cheeks
You won't go back across the sea nor see again the English shore
But now it comes to pass that by your deeds the town of Frontenac
Shall fall at last with bloody slaughter as was prophesied of old.
Assemble all the men you can and cross the cold St. Lawrence' stream
And I shall guide you to a cove which lies beneath a dreadful cliff
L'Anse-au-Foulon it's called which guards a path which climbs the dreadful cliff
And at the top there stretch the fields men call the Plains of Abraham
And yet the angels and the saints describe them as the Fields of Grief
And there you may fulfill your vow to seize impregnable Quebec.

Here's how it manifested itself in the performance tonight (as transcribed from Dave's videorecording):

Now listen to me, General Wolfe from Heaven I have come to speak
For now you may fulfill your vow to seize impregnable Quebec
Though now you rest in bed and well you know this sickness is your last
I shall direct you to a cove which lies beneath a lofty cliff
L'Anse-au-Foulon it's called [etc.]

This isn't a very radical example, but you get the idea. We'll try and transcribe more in the weeks ahead, as this is an interesting phenomenon with regard to composition-in-performance. Again, I'm not trying to vary things, I just have to go with whatever has started its way out of my mouth. All this is getting much easier, and there have only been 7 shows so far! It is interesting to note that the difference, from an audience's point of view, between 45 and 60 minutes is practically nil: the only thing they're concerned about is that nothing, especially in the second half, be extraneous.

We had the benefit of two great audience members tonight, from the University of Calgary, one interested in mythological history and one an expert on James Wolfe. The latter was able to tell me that Wolfe was not initially struck on the left-hand wrist, as I'd had it, but on the right-hand wrist -- talk about accurate historical feedback!

Tomorrow I perform at a local elementary school, and Wednesday at a highschool not far outside town. Many thanks to the Saskatoon readers who wrote in about the typo on one of the flyers: the show is indeed on Sunday the 24th, not on (the nonexistent) Sunday the 29th.

Calgary reached

2005-04-18T09:16:00.000-07:00

We have reached Calgary, and are just about to go off to Fort Calgary to scope the place out (it's tonight's venue). Meanwhile, Dave, never much of a betting man, and not a Catholic, but a great patriot, and caught like millions worldwide in a fervour of speculation about papabilitas, has placed a small wager on Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte of Montreal. The Holy Spirit, he reasoned, has always been very pro-Canadian, and certainly has never been daunted by odds of 100-1.

[Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte]

Update as of Monday: Here are some shots of us going through Roger's Pass and the Rockies on the weekend:

[The mountains seen from the Trans-Canada; it was a view like this every five minutes]

[Dave in Roger's Pass; the Illecilewaet glacier is just over his left shoulder]

[Me (with rhabdos) in front of accumulated snow in Roger's Pass; mountains in BG]

And, for good measure, here's a pic we took in our Calgary hotel room of the Scottish broadsword which Jim Mair lent us in Vancouver; given that the rhabdos comes up to my elbows (and I'm 6'2"), you can see how big this sucker is:

Carnegie video clips

2005-04-16T23:57:00.000-07:00

It's after midnight, but I finally got some (short) video clips up:

Carnegie Centre (Wednesday) - Beginning of the Poem
Carnegie Centre (Wednesday) - Wolfe's Plan (end of his first speech)
Carnegie Centre (Wednesday) - Charge of the French (simile)

Can't help thinking I need more energy - the Friday show (at Windermere Secondary School) was full of zip, and hopefully I can get some clips of that up soon also.

Video clips and digital pics will be going up on the Images and Digital Clips page (www.plainsofabraham.ca > English > Tour > Images and Digital Clips).

Beautiful Revelstoke reached

2005-04-16T18:06:00.000-07:00

Nice day of driving today, though by the end my spine had begun to press my internal organs against my ribcage. Apparently this is the car version of "Trans-Canada Butt," which I experienced on the GS850 last time round. We are now in Revelstoke; as I type, the CPR is chugging past the window, headed for Roger's Pass.

[Driving into Revelstoke]

The scenery here is utterly beautiful. We had the feeling of rising into the clouds as the altitude increased and the clouds stayed put. Everything is pine and cedar, seemingly, and the air is fresh (though wet). We had some fine sun in Kamloops (we went up that way by the Coquihalla, the finest highway in Canada), but up til Hope it rained and then again once we hit the mountains.

[Dave in car; kids, don't take pictures while you drive]

We do a lot of wondering about geography / climatology as we drive. Dave was speculating that the valley-oriented topography of the Interior of BC would definitely have made for a lot of quarrelling princedoms if, for some reason, Renaissance Italy had been transported hither. I guess that's why Europeans, like my friend Lidewijde, like taking trains through the Rockies: they're amazed there aren't dilapidated castles on every ridge. And there are a lot of ridges.

[The glorious Coquihalla highway]

True to my vow to note the music we've been listening to, I give the list of songs we had on Repeat (alphabetical like iTunes likes it - we're broadcasting from the iPod to the car radio):

A Whiter Shade of Pale - Procul Harum
Anarchy in the UK - Sex Pistols
Angel Baby - Rosie and the Originals
Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen - as we crossed the summit of the Coquihalla
Clocks - Coldplay
Come Together - The Beatles
Comes a Time - Neil Young
Copacabana - Barry Manilow - as we drove down into Kamloops
Creep - Radiohead
Enter Sandman - Metallica
Farewell to Nova Scotia - Various Artists
Four Strong Winds - Ian & Sylvia Tyson
Four Strong Winds - Neil Young (live)
God Save the Queen - Sex Pistols - we've been talking Charles, too . . . will he change his name?
Happy Together - Simple Plan - a great cover
Happy Together - The Turtles
Hey Hey My My - Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Hey Joe - Jimi Hendrix
Hey Jude - The Beatles
Home for a Rest - Spirit of the West
Hotel California - The Eagles
I Am a Child - Neil Young
I Love Rock & Roll - Joan Jett
Imagine - John Lennon - not very bloodthirsty
Marseillaise - Edith Piaf - quite bloodthirsty indeed
Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien - Edith Piaf
Northwest Passage - Stan Rogers - Dave and I sang along; we're sort of seeking a Southeast passage
Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison - made me think this is the ultimate rock and roll song
Roxanne - The Police - no Guinness to go with it, but heck
Soviet National Anthem - Russian Red Army Choir
Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
Steel Guitar - Fred Eaglesmith
Sunglasses at Night - Cory Heart - Dave and I agreed the man is a genius
White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane - several times, driving up into the mountains
Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald - Gordon Lightfoot - we know the words to this guy too

[The miracle of iTrip with iPod: easy iListening for iTravelers]

Farewell to Vancouver

2005-04-16T09:34:00.000-07:00

I can't, alas, write as much as I'd like -- every blogger's excuse, and thank God for it -- because we are minutes away from stepping out the door and driving to Revelstoke. We've been staying at my Uncle Peter's apartment in the West End of Vancouver; a great spot, very central, and (we discovered) in range of some naive Samaritan's non-password-protected wireless station. What more could you ask?

There have been two shows since I last blogged. The first was at the Vancouver Museum, a very fine hall, where the Fraser Highlanders introduced me: both verbally and with marching bagpipers, everyone in full Highland uniform. (The Fraser uniform is interesting because it displays no insignia, medals, or anything of that sort, being a throwback to the semi-civilised costume worn when they were making the transition from clan warfare to 18th century-style drill fighting.) Jim Mair, who introduced me, very kindly lent me his Claymore (huge broadsword, which the Highlanders still used in those days as an alternative to the bayonet), which I will have with me for the rest of the Tour. The audience was small, but extremely appreciative, and it was wonderful to have the view out over English Bay towards the West End. (We are still working on video clips for upload, but those will come soon!)

The second show was at Windermere Secondary School, where I gave what was undoubtedly my best performance yet. There were about 250 Grade 9 students in the auditorium, and the poem definitely kept their attention for about 45 minutes. That, if I do say so myself, is no small feat. I never stumbled -- except for one point where I had to correct "the soldiers of the Eng--" to "--of the King of France" hastily, as you can't get a piece of info like that totally wrong -- and I think that is key. The poem really is internalised by now. I can pick and choose as I go which episodes to include, allowing myself the time for expansion when the audience is looking benevolent and speeding up the compression when I need something exciting right away. Everyone continues to express amazement at the feat of memory, and are less and less inclined to believe me when I assure them that it's not memory, just visualisation; but that is more and more the case. The "secondary reality" I'm trying to create has to start with me, and that's coming along pretty well! Also, as we had some wireless mic problems, I did the whole thing viva voce; nice to know that's still possible, even with the current length. Your lungs do feel a bit tired after 3/4 of an hour of projecting, though! How did the old orators do it?

As I say, video clips and pictures coming soon. We had sushi last night to celebrate; also saw "Ocean's Twelve," an enjoyable flick.

Now, back to the open road!

Vanity Strikes (egad!)

2005-04-14T11:01:00.000-07:00

Forgive another pic upload (from yesterday's Carnegie Centre show) -- I'm not used to looking kind of cool in photographs, and can't resist . . . This shows the three things I'm using in performance: facial expression, gesture, rhabdos.

First Public Show

2005-04-13T22:19:00.000-07:00

This has been something of a blog of firsts, so far: first performance, first Tour performance -- and now first public performance. This evening I performed at the Carnegie Community Centre ,at Hastings and Main in Vancouver. I'm pretty wrecked and don't have the strength to give it a good description; in brief, it was a marvelous audience (who literally didn't move a muscle during the whole 45-minute show: more confirmation of my meter theory, extremely appreciative of literature. One only has to spend a few hours in that beautiful building to see how much it means to the community there -- and there really is a strong and friendly sense of community, such as one does not meet every day.

As to the show itself, it featured a great deal of impromptu description and even an impromptu lament (for Wolfe, by a Highland soldier). I have been working on some Highland material for future shows, when I may have the privilege of performing in front of officers and men of Highland regiments, but I hadn't internalised it. The moment came, and I decided I would try it: total improvisation. Frankly, I'm amazed I didn't have a paralytic stroke, but though it was fairly rough I think it worked decently. I'm mulling over the idea of improvisation, as a concept, quite a lot, and will doubtless post at length about it later -- a key issue.

The filmmaker took a great deal of footage, I believe -- I rather dread watching it: if one's voice sounds weird on an answering machine, how much weirder must one look in front of a camera? -- and he says it's good stuff. Also on hand was the great Bill Richardson, making an audio recording and finally seeing the poem in performance; I had the great pleasure of being interviewed by him yesterday evening. I think I will feature in some way in a Bunny Watson segment in a few weeks' time. (If you don't know Bunny Watson, you really should listen in: this is creative radio like you've never heard before.)

For the life of me, I can't remember what I said in the interview . . . I know I couldn't remember any Sanskrit verse to recite, which was embarassing; but then there are probably more fluent speakers of Sanskrit in Canada than there are fluent speakers of Latin worldwide, and God knows how much contemptuous mail CBC would get if they heard me mispronounce my velar consonants.

Anyway, here are some images of myself in performance at the Carnegie Centre:

On the front steps, after the performance.

Probably invoking the "immortal angel" at this point (my modernisation of the Muse).

And, for that Photoshop fetishist in all of us, a little paranormal rhapsodising . . .

First shows of Epic Tour 2005 - Mulgrave School

2005-04-12T14:02:00.000-07:00

Just got back to downtown Vancouver from West Van, where I performed the poem three times for Grade 6 students at Mulgrave School. It went quite well, if I do say so myself. The students there are extremely bright and asked interesting questions, and at least two of the shows kept their interest for the full 1/2-hour. That's maybe a tribute to the poem, or to Mulgrave students, or to both. There were about 15 students in the audience for the first show, about 30 for the second, and 15 again for the third. Our host, John O'Flynn, was superbly welcoming, and gave the filmmaker an interview. What an excellent teacher.

This was performance with a vengeance, I may say: and I think the shows got progressively better. Cutting it down to half length on the fly is becoming easier. When in doubt, include something, and ponder how to shorten what is coming! Composition-in-performance -- that key concept of Homeric poetics -- is clearly an exercise in "the tongue swore, but the mind did not"; that is, in being able to think through what will follow on the line(s) currently being spoken, as something else is being spoken. But perhaps that goes for all performance.

Regarding meter: the audience clearly felt "a tremor in the Force" when the meter faltered (as it did a couple of times); there is no doubt that meter has a physiological effect, and two extra syllables, when included by accident, are disorienting. Also, the poet must never stumble, as I did once or twice today, as this immediately breaks the mimetic spell. Grade 6 students are good proof of this, being so honest in their gestures: when I did stumble, several would immediately yawn; if I did not, they remained fixed in the story.

Overall, if future performances go as well as these ones did, the Tour will succeed very well! Tomorrow I head for the other end of the socio-economic spectrum with the performance at the Carnegie Community Centre at the corner of Hastings and Main -- the poorest postal code in Canada, where the Carnegie is a real pillar of community (we stopped in yesterday to check it out). I am so much looking forward to it.

Tomorrow, the Tour Begins

2005-04-11T10:47:00.000-07:00

Well, the last tracks are being laid, and the train approaches. Tomorrow is the big day! We have three morning performances scheduled for the Mulgrave School in West Vancouver. Dave (my brother, who is making the documentary film about the Tour) was here in Vancouver this weekend while I jetted off to North Carolina; and he has collected the gorgeous Tour Brochures the Dominion Institute has sent us. (Also the page proofs of my young adult novel, The Roman Conspiracy -- it never rains but it pours, as they say in Vancouver quite often.)

UNC Chapel Hill is beautiful; and Classics is flourishing there. It was a wonderful conference, and my paper had to keep pace with a great number of quality presentations by archaeologists and philologists alike; my hosts, Sean and Amanda, were extremely welcoming. But I ended up flying eighth class both ways -- a category reserved for those people who sit in the single seat immediately in front of the emergency exit above the wing. What can I say? My mouse booked the seat online; my spine did not.

Today we are tying up loose ends; and preparing for the solemn ceremony of heading down to English Bay to scoop up a bottle of Pacific water, which I will eventually (inshallah) dump into the Atlantic. I did the reverse on Rhapsodic Tour 2000 -- discovering that seawater has a fairly short shelflife, in terms of smell. But how's an Ontario lad to know that?

First performance successful!

2005-04-07T14:58:00.000-07:00

Just came from the first, and quite successful, performance of the poem at my maternal grandmother's home, Trillium Lodge, in Parksville, BC. I think it was enjoyed by all. My first time all dressed in performative (well, performance-oriented) garb: black, ever-so-slightly-shiny shirt, black slacks, black belt, black shoes. Rhabdos aside, I look a bit like a Blues Brother. And my hair declared a ceasefire in our unending struggle, which had lately entered a neocolonialist phase.

Today's show was interesting as my first attempt to limit the duration of the poem by compressing the epic material -- in this case, to its bare bones, hitting the 15 minute mark. This seemed a trifle short to the non-senior listeners, I believe, but as the audience was generally over the age of 80 I think it was the right approach. People who have not heard the poem are unlikely to think that 15 minutes is an extremely short show for an epic poem, but it really is. I continue to think how to hit the 30 minute mark for younger audiences at schools; inevitably, much compression has to be spontaneous.

I see I completely forgot to describe the music we listened to on the way up to BC (which a veteran of many road trips had requested that I do) -- so here it is:

Pulling out of the driveway and some way along the 280: U2 (Greatest Hits)
Through San Francisco: Van Morrison and the Chieftans
Across the Golden Gate bridge: total silence but for the humming of documentary cameras
Stuck in traffic for an hour, north of Oakland: Smetana's "Die Moldau" (several times)
On the road that day: Bjork, Radiohead, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
On the road the next day: lots of recitation, also more Radiohead, also Neil Young's "Comes a Time"

And . . . I'm about to run out of time once again at the extremely friendly Parksville Library. Tomorrow I fly to North Carolina for a conference at Chapel Hill on "House, Home, and Household" -- strange as that sounds in the gear-up to the Tour -- which I'm very much looking forward to. When I return, the Tour proper begins!

Vancouver Island

2005-04-06T17:45:00.000-07:00

Must rush as I have one minute remaining at my public access terminal in Parksville, BC. But we made it to Vancouver Island! A lovely ferry ride -- no one on board, first car on, first car off -- and it's great to be in the midst of the incredible beauty of this part of Canada. Must rush -- more soon.

[added 13 April: Dave, with car, on the ferry to Vancouver Island]

Canadian border reached!

2005-04-06T00:34:00.000-07:00

Well, we made it to Canada -- up through Northern California, Oregon, Washington; this last in the pouring rain with both drivers' backs breaking -- and it's good to be back. We're staying with our friends Lizzie and Itai tonight; after a splendid supper they showed us their beautiful Arabian horses (and very philosophical donkey). Tomorrow we take the ferry to Vancouver Island to see two of our grandparents. In fact, travelling is quite pleasant when you're frantically practicing epic poetry; or that's the verdict so far!

Tons of email correspondence as the Tour approaches D-Day (April 12th in West Vancouver). Am just writing up more .PDF's for the website. Hope everyone is suitably impressed by our first video upload, less than completely spectacular though it may be. The struggle now is to find ethernet connections. Just got word that the 78th Fraser Highlanders are planning a huge demonstration of support in the show at the Vancouver Museum on April 14th. What spendid news!

Some pictures of the first leg of the roadtrip (Silicon Valley to BC):

Myself, looking very rhapsodic, in front of the Classics Department at Stanford.

Dave with camera, tripod, trunk on the morning we left California.

The open road.

Preparations in full swing

2005-04-03T16:25:00.000-07:00

Well, the intense days of preparation are almost at an end -- we leave for Canada tomorrow (April 4th). The trunk of the Lumina is packed with more digital equipment than Peter Jackson ever dreamed of; we've bought a serious quantity of freeweights, as buffness remains a priority; the filmmaker is already editing footage from Stanford campus; and my heart is lodged firmly in my throat. The website is all but complete. We're just about to go get the car thoroughly washed and the oil changed.

It's difficult to believe this is all really happening. My gratitude to my patrons grows daily, but also the sense of unreality. Yet there is no reason to think the Tour won't mark the rebirth of performative epic. Quel frisson!