August 15 2010 Halifax, Nova Scotia - The Carlton 10:30PM

Pikes soundcheck at TM 34 with fiddle extraordinaire Donny Parenteau

TM34

The Pikes were bestowed with the honor of being included in the national cast of TeleMiracle 34 in Regina, the band’s first TM experience. It was a fantastic event – the cast and crew were exceptional and being ‘home’, it was also a wonderful way for us to catch up with old friends. It truly felt at times like a bit of a family reunion.

I believe I was the hands-on favorite for ‘cast member who traveled the furthest to participate’. I am presently working on a Discovery Channel documentary series that had me start this journey back to the prairies from the south of Madagascar. I departed on my first of five flights with a severe fever and an inner ear infection. Though the fever broke somewhere over the Mediterranean Sea, the ear infection continued to worsen. By the time I arrived in Regina I was in desperate need of a doctor. During my stop over in Toronto I contacted a friend on the crew and explained my situation and asked him if he could reach out to the producers of the show to help me find some medical attention when I land. And sure enough, as soon as I did land I was whisked off to a clinic directly from the airport and had my problem attended to.

This was indicative of the entire weekend and what TeleMiracle is really about.

Love is not a feeling. It is not something written on a Hallmark card or the sensation of butterflies in your stomach when someone special walks into a room. Love is a verb. Love is action. Love is feeding a baby. Love is taking care of your parents when they are too old to take care of themselves. Love is picking up a pen and writing a cheque to help someone you don’t know. Love is arranging a doctor to see a sick musician whom you’ve never met.

TeleMiracle is about love – pure and simple.

During the wrap party Sunday night, testimonial after testimonial from cast members and volunteers spoke of the ‘full hearts’ everyone felt. Its not surprising at all because every one of us were cogs in this giant love machine that was firing on all cylinders for an entire weekend. Jay had the unique opportunity to visit various facilities and meet with staff and especially recipients of the donations made by the good people of Saskatchewan. He said it was a life changing experience and I have no doubt that he will view his own life moving forward through a different paradigm.

I want to thank everyone who made the Pikes experience at TM 34 special and I want to extend a personal thank you to Heidi for simply caring about my condition when I arrived.

Sincerely yours,

Bryan

c/o the Pikes

Hi gang,

I write this as we travel west on the #1 from Winnipeg (aka Winterpeg aakkaa Summerpeg, today very warm) to Brandon for a play at The 40 tonight.  Like the unconditional love of a best friend, the good souls of Manitoba’s capitol were out in full force at the McPhillips Station Casino last night.  We’ve experienced such wonderful consistency from the Pikes audience in this area and I shouldn’t be too surprised as Winnipeg over the last 25 years has been a superb market for the Pikes – whether it was The Spectrum, The Zoo, The Walker Theatre or Winnipeg Arena or the plethora of other stages we have been privileged to grace over the years in this town, we have always looked forward to coming back.  In 1985, Winnipeg was the first ‘big’ city the Pikes performed in outside of the province of Saskatchewan.  It was a significantly big deal to us…

It was a week long stint in the basement of the Fort Gary Hotel.  Cool bar that was well set up for live performance – maybe sat a hundred or so people.

We took the train – we all had private sleeper suites as the voyage left late at night in Saskatoon.  In all of the travel we have experienced since those very days, nothing has ever really compared to that night.  It was winter and the flat earth was frozen and sealed with a layer of white ice that glowed a deep opaque blue in the moonlight. 

We arrived in Winnipeg very early Monday morning and were greeted by what looked like a fresh coating of new snow.  We had a considerable amount of baggage with us (full drum kit, guitars, amps, luggage etc).

Fortunately (sort of), The Fort Gary is directly across the street from the train station so we took turns traipsing gear through foot deep dirty city street snow up the steps of the hotel and into the club.

We were lucky enough to also stay at the hotel while were employed there and not reside for the week at the “Craphole Spa and Inn” across town.

I love the hotel and specifically that vintage of the old CN heritage hotels in Canada.  There is something very special about them, a certain vibe you can’t really get anywhere else.  In fact we stayed at the Mac in Alberta’s capitol last weekend…

I’ll get back to Edmonton in a moment…

We used to crash 2 to a room.  Jay and I bunked together the first time we did this gig.  And though I cannot in my heart of hearts 100% definitively say that I believe this but Jay states that very early one morning a maid was dusting the inside of our room.  He said she had a flirtatious smile was very whimsical in her motions – sort of dancing.  Evidently I lay a sleep and woke only for brief moment.  I have a very vague memory of this event but honestly the visual associated is blurry and brief.  I have more of a definitive memory of Jay asking her why she was in the room and than actually seeing her - I probably rolled over and back to sleep thinking ‘he’ll take care of it’.

Now the big question is, was that a person or a playful spirit?  Jay is also wondering this.  The hotel has no shortage of ‘stories’ about it – strange uninvited visitors to guest’s rooms while they are sleeping.

So I guess that if the Pikes have any kind of ghost story to tell it (may have) happened to us long ago in this great city’s classic hotel.

As just mentioned, we were in Edmonton the previous weekend - home of the Oilers and my sister and brother-in-law.

We played the Century Casino to very enthusiastic crowd that made the night something to remember.  It was a great show.  We had not played a set together since last fall and other than a brief rehearsal in Saskatoon the previous evening, we were walking into this cold.  I was more nervous prior to hitting the stage that night than any gig in recent memory but as usual, within a couple tunes we began to lock in and play music without thinking about it.  I guess it’s a certain advantage we have playing the same songs for 25 years.

Special kudos to Shane & Jodie.

The next night we performed a private affair for Shannon’s 40^th birthday party hosted by her generous and amiable husband Craig.  Super nice people who took amazing care of us.  Barnie Bentall and his band were also on the bill and it was a very good feeling to catch up again with people we crossed paths so many times on the road.  They sounded great and genuinely looked as if they were having as much fun as we had. 

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Brandon was fun – visited with some old friends, some new friends included the always amiable Super Dave, Don-the-record-guy, Keith from P.E.I.  Matt took especially good care of us and we thank him for that.

We have begun serious discussing getting together this summer to write and record a couple of new tunes that more than likely will be available only in digital form.  In time, if we get a collection of material that makes sense to justify a physical release, we will pursue this.

Will keep you posted…

It’s been a long time since I addressed the site with some ‘reports from the road’  - anyone who takes the time to check this out, thanks for sticking it out with us for so long.  I know it s only a number but we are now officially a quarter of a century old and that milestone has seemed to invigorate our enthusiasm.  I think it says something about our music and us as people and particularly about our relationship.  Don, Jay and Ross are about as dear a group of friends as I will ever have in this life and when we hook up to play music I look forward to being with them as much as the work itself.  A definite advantage to growing older (if you are lucky enough to not only grow older but also lucky enough to listen to the wisdom accumulating inside yourself) is you appreciate every moment of time spent with special people – its almost as if the clock slows down – that’s the sweet spot.  I think those three guys are very special people…

See you soon.

B.