Chapter 4: July 8, 9, 2007

Off to Grandmother’s Land

She had eyes only for this huge, beautiful creature…It had caught her fancy utterly…Querida longed, yearned, lusted for ownership of this creature…. Dianne Wynn Jones

her name IS Julie Ragins (one G). Just google her name and you'll see she's the babe playing with the Moodies. --clipped off line (her hair is different, but it more or less looks like her. Gosh one blonde chick looks like another to me, sometimes)

I'm skipping Vancouver, I'm off to Victoria on the Black Ball express tomorrow! Well, one can’t follow the Moodies around all the time, if one has a life. I dropped back to the house on July 8, to do things like clean out my car, feed my hummingbirds, water my plants (my GOD it’s been hot here!) and to reassure my overly emotional dog that I had not run away forever. I actually had to talk to him on the phone when I was in Medford, to let him know I was ok. He knows all about phones. So it was washing, fixing the rhinestones on my own embroidered Moody denim jacket. I embroidered that while on deployment to Alaska, almost 14 years ago. (jeeze the jacket they were selling at concessions was $60! Mine is hand done!)

While I’m on the subject, I can talk about the Moody Goodies being sold at hijacker prices. The programs were $25 (last time I bought one it was $15, and had much better photos) the cute little hoodie with the Moody Daisies I liked was $50, and it was not a heavy fabric either. I noticed the posters gone, and ball caps new in Victoria. (Ball cap was too expensive). I DID get the poster, and it turned out to be numbered, that was a thrill. (only 1000 printed allegedly). The poly-cotton bandana was also too beautiful, I have collected those since the 60’s when they were chic, and had nothing to do with gangs. So I bought that, and a lovely lovely tee that has the Moon Child on it. I came out of the encounter with another $75 on my charge card. Jesus I’ll never pay it off, what with the gas on there. Shudder. I just ordered text books too!

At the Britt, people were really knocked out by my 1992 tour tee with the cover of DOFP on it. I had forgotten it was so old, it’s one of my fave tees, and I take good care of it, cold water rinse and so forth. Maybe I should sell part of my collection to pay off this plastic! Anyway, with laundry done, homework half done, posts to the on-line, my back pack packed, I headed to Port Angeles on the 9th of July to see my final show in Victoria. My passport is ready, and so is my ticket.

So, not QUITE at the crack of dawn, but shortly thereafter, white nights had me out of my rack………. Watched Crossing Jordan (one of my addictions) while I packed for my day trip. Used to be you could just go up from the USA with no hassle, but the newer security measures have me checking my passport to make sure it’s still good, and combing through my backpack to make sure no contraband is in there (like the toad sticker on my keychain). Hell I won’t even take a beer over the border. Just think of the poor Moodies and their road crew, they’ll have to dump all their coke and weed, then buy more on the other side. No fun going through customs, even when you AREN’T holding, those border guards can be real jerks. I bet they ran dogs through their tour bus. Shudder. Hope John locked up his jelly filled doughnuts. Dope dogs steal those, you know.

A lot of Americans don’t have passports, it’s interesting how many of us never leave the country. Some Americans are paranoid about the passport background check, and some just don’t have the money. AND I found something eerie and scary. Canada considers DUI a felony, and won’t let anyone in who has one. NO WONDER. Graeme fought his DUI for a very very good reason. If he was convicted, do you realize he would be stopped at the border? It might have even gotten him deported back to the UK, even though he's married to an American, and his home is in Florida. Boy I bet he was sweating that one! Thank God for good lawyers.

Got out the door, and off to Port Angeles. It’s a lovely day already, but weirdly I smelled a bit of Fall in the air. It’s an ocean smell, of things turning over a little early. The Olympic Peninsula is the Last Great Frontier, no California plates to be seen up here. Trip up uneventful, I parked my car on the street a few blocks uphill from the ferry dock, saving $10 and getting exercise walking at the same time. Port Angeles used to have more tourism, but again with everyone having to have a passport now to visit Canada, the tourism is dying, which is sad. It’s a cute town, but they really need a clam chowder bar near the ferry dock.

I left my night film camera in the car, and wish I hadn’t now. I was very firm with myself, the digital photos from the prior show C st M had been INCREDIBLE and all with no film cost, due to the lighting. I had ENOUGH Moody trophies! But I should have taken the low light camera for the gorgeous shots of Victoria After Dark. I swear if I ever get married again, I’m going to honeymoon in Victoria, it was that lovely and romantic.

The fishing boats go out along the evening water, smuggling drugs and dope across the Northern border……. The wind whips up the waves so loud, the ghost man sails among the clouds….. (with apologies to Al Stewart) I bought some Canadian money, went through customs, filled out the usual silly papers (who knows what for, I was tempted to write in "Margaret Dumont" for my name, but chickened out. Groucho Marx got his whole family strip searched going into Canada once for writing "smuggler" on his paperwork). The boat launched and soon we are into heavy swells. Uhhhh…. That fudge sundae I had for lunch was not sitting comfortably at all! Went out and put my head into the breeze like a dog, and got better. It was about a hour and a half to Victoria. We saw a whale on the way! It was lumping along spouting, all alone (no pod) either a baby grey, or a pilot whale. It was very exciting, I made new friends who also liked whales! We saw lots of critters out there, including nasty old seals, and a Coastie helo looking for naughty drug smugglers.

Watching the ferry tie up is an adventure in itself. And down deep in the water were lots of little salmon chum, doing their thing in their life cycle. Victoria and Port Angeles both need some water clean up, it’s kinda grubby on the docks.

Victoria is Seattle’s beautiful little sister, the lay-out and some architecture was similar. Same feel. Lots of tourists from everywhere (even a guy from Beijing on the ferry coming back!) There are many historical sites, one being the Hudson Bay Company, which is now a clothing store a bit like Nike Town in Portland. As in downtown Tacoma, many of the old brick warehouses have been renovated and turned into department stores, in an erratic pattern. It’s very chic, but when it all comes down in an earthquake, it won’t be so cute anymore. Keep our fingers crossed.

What a fun town! And the good weather holds, unto it being downright HOT (not at all usual!) Seaplanes are using the harbor entrance like a run way! The M.V. Coho (our ferry) is a BIG ship and all the small boats get out of the way, including kayaks (I want to try that!) Victoria is a lovely city, all lit up at night, and lots of fun things happening. My hotel is right on the Quayside, and the venue is a few blocks down, maybe 2 1/2 miles? I passed many street musicians, one of them was a true "Veteran Cosmic Rocker" he had all sorts of different instruments he would play in turn, including one which was a combination banjo and guitar. He was still playing that evening when I walked home from the show, and had quite an audience.

Found my Days Inn, it was over priced, and not that fantastic, but it DID have a hot tub! YEAH!!!! I hiked down Blanshard Street and found the venue (it was in a little less fancy part of town, all the action and beauty was down at the docks). Remember, Victoria is on an island, and you have to take a ferry to get there. Well, they did apparently, there were the two semi’s, the original tour bus, and then a SECOND tour bus (actually three buses but I‘m not sure one went with the Moodies). At least three of those came over on a ferry at probable huge cost. The second tour bus I have to surmise brought the roadies who were all wearing hard hats when they struck the stage afterwards. Oh yeah, no American union stage hands here, these are CANADIAN stage crew!

Then remember, all this has to go BACK on the ferry, to the next stop in Edmonds. What a huge problem in logistics!!!!

I hiked back toward the docks, stopped in little cute stores looking at books, biker gear, incense, yarn, and finally finding a BEER store (forgot my corkscrew, couldn‘t do wine). Two young-dude cuties were manning the counter. Man, there WAS no cheap beer, so I got Corona. "Can I walk down the street with this openly" "It’s advisable to have a receipt" they replied with typical British dead pan. "well I met some Canadians long ago, they were strolling down a suburb street drinking beer openly. Usually people kinda hide it on the sidewalks" "Ah must have been some French or something" they quipped. They were really funny, and saved my life, as I was parched. If I had one complaint about the city, there were too few pubs wherein to grab a pint, and far too many coffee shops, wherein to grab a case of the jitters!

Together with that nice comfy six pack, I grabbed Subway, hiked back to my little room, and ate……… and caught up on Star Trek on the telly! I heard bagpipes, no they were not on the bridge of the SS Voyager, they were in a nearby Scottish pub. Lots of Scots in Victoria, plus other UK species (Irish stores, etc). After swilling a coupla beer, I hot-tubbed for almost an hour (THAT was worth the price of the room!), and THEN it was time to get to the show!

You guessed it, I hiked BACK. Boy I’m burning off those Corona calories tonight! Got a blister from wearing the wrong shoes too! No camera tonight, at some point you feel like a real geek whipping that camera up, or trying to hide it in yer skivvies. Found my seat, it sucked, up on the far right side. I got this ticket calling on my cell in an English class full of noisy sophomores. They understood and were more or less cool, but you just can’t shut them up at that age, and I had trouble talking to the agent. When the show started, I could see huge seat gaps on the left (where I asked for). I moved at Intermission.

I tried to hang out a little bit in the lobby, but it was a typical sports arena, and I knew no one, felt lonely and was surrounded by cackling drunks who all knew each other. (Canucks really know how to drink). I found myself yearning for the cool blue "sky temple" of the theatre, and crawled back up to my crummy seat. It was all set up with the blue projector (as at the Schnitz) and really lent itself well to the stage design. Up high, you could feel the sense of "space" in the place, and it was nice for lights, indeed.

Thus I had a lousy view of "Never Comes the Day", but enjoyed it anyway. Justin really nailed it, one of the best I’ve ever heard or seen him do. Now we all know when the stage is first set up, there are always a bunch of guitars on stands out on the stage, and for these shows, Justin had a regular guitar museum standing at attention, two classicals, the Gibson 335, a white Fender (a dark blue Gibson classical appears at some point too, as well as another Fender (?) for the finale). One classical had to be the James Olssen, that fabulous guitar with the miraculous tone that features in "Nothing Changes". The other, was it his 1955 Martin?

Let me explain. Martins (oddly also the name of a swallow!) are very special to us Baby Boomers, and a tie to our musical history. The Martin guitar was the Penultimate in the early part of the 20th century, my uncle had one, it was a cowboy guitar, etc. Back after I divorced in 1985, I bought one because I was so sick of having cheap junkers, and it’s been a wonderful friend ever since. Their handles are ergonomic, they have a nice "steel guitar" voice, and mine is allegedly a "Shenandoah" with inlay on the neck head. After I got into the fan thing, I found that Justin also has a Martin he loves, he claims to have gotten it "from some gypsies in California" back in their very early touring days. 1955 is a collectible model indeed, it’s the year "Johnnie B Goode" was recorded (birth of Rock and Roll) and also happens to be my own birth year.

So anyway while other Moody fans obsess on the Gibson 335, I’m partial to his Martin and find connection! And during the first three shows, while the Martin was there at the beginning, it mysteriously disappeared by Intermission. HUM!!!!! This what comes of worrying about cameras and watching cute little children dance. So this time (my last show) I vowed to pay close attention.

The gods must have decided it was time to reward me, and give Justin a thrill at the same time. Something magical happened. AH he finally picked it up on the fourth song. He introduced "Never Comes the Day" and began…. Yes indeed, the voice of a Martin, it’s not some other guitar (hard to tell from a distance). In fact, Justin may very well have written this song on this guitar (he says as much in interviews, that many early songs were written on it). Justin opened up, let her rip and I got to see why this guitar is known as the Dreadnaught. It has a nice big bodied texture to it, and Justin really pulled some awesome sound out of it, nailed it and rocked. It was GREAT.

I swear to you…… when Justin finished, he gave his guitar a big hug, a kiss and put it to bed on its stand. The crowd really got off on it, and applauded louder. That is the only song he plays with the Martin. I'm still puzzling it out, and if anyone else reading was there, can you please email me? josiecuervo100@yahoo.com

I’d like to give some public kudos to Justin’s guitar roadie too, that man is awesome, appears at all the right times (a bit like a djinni), and was taking charge with the strike in Victoria with a masterful manner. He is also a bit of a wizard, and managed to make Justin’s Martin disappear as if by magic. I never saw him come get it but it was always gone by Intermission. (Martins ARE a bit magical, maybe it grew legs and walked off on it’s own?)

Like I said, my seat sucked, and when they set up a half a stadium for a rock show, they always leave some empty on the sides. So I moved over where I wanted to be. Weirdly the moment I moved, some nice looking old Baby Boomer came over and started rapping with me, I think he was trying to pick me up! What a shock! Gosh I was flattered, and he was a nice fellow (much nicer than the nerd at the Britt festival) but that’s all I needed, was to make friends with a guy who lives a nation away from me. I slid away from him a bit, and I’m sure he went to work on someone else. Que lastima.

John looked great tonight, came out in a very Spanish-looking outfit, wearing a black jacket with a grandee-tailored cut. I don’t know what brought it on, but Norda also had on a gypsy flamenco skirt, so they really matched. Justin went so far as to change his white loafers to black shoes. Gordon still looked muscular.

Audiences spend too much time in front of tellys, and have this "I must be centered" mentality about live shows. I guess my own stage life shows, but I rather like sitting off to the side. You can see backstage action. This night after I moved over to Norda’s side, I could see roadies juggling stuff around, ready to strike one more time, AND I got to watch Justin’s guitar work. I was also behind the speakers, which was ok with me, as it softened the blast a bit. I think the same "telly" mentality applies to this lack of "getting up and dancing" or maybe they were just being polite. But this bunch didn’t want to get up, not even for "Higher and Higher". There WAS a lot of chair jiggling going on, I could see toes tapping too. But most stayed seated most of the time.

Something was re-added (it was small) during IJASIARRB, there is a long jam (a good one) Justin began whacking his 335 on the bottom again for a warble effect! He HAD dropped it. He must read Lost Chords, because someone on there noticed it. Anyway he didn’t hit HARD, and it was only two gentle bumps on the bottom. Much different from the real smacks it used to get! (Hey it’s his guitar, he can do what he wants with it!)

Please don’t everyone assume certain Moodies have one foot in the grave and another on a banana peel, but I think they are passing around this year’s "tour cold" which they always get. Graeme had troubles in Victoria, and Justin was spacey. Having said that, Graeme is a trooper and did ok, and being stoned on cold medicine perhaps made Justin a little more mellow: both did enjoyable performances. HOWEVER they are all big boys and know how to take care of themselves by now! Graeme’s energy at first was fine, but by the time he got to his poetry, he was flagging. He worked his way on through his little routine with the dancing, hacking a bit. He’ll be ok eventually, but performing takes a lot out of a person, and adding a virus to it is no fun at all. Norda is high energy too, and so is John, but he’s the original energizer bunny. I see they have the 12th off, and that is a good thing, they should be enjoying the tour, not running about like performing fleas all the time.

The audiences are really extending the applause on "Nights" some of it being egged on by both John and Graeme. Justin looked a bit shell shocked by it in Victoria. He started to grab the wrong guitar, looked befuddled, then his roadie appeared like a magic genie with the 12 string (in open tuning) so he could start "Question". It’s odd to see Justin on stage without a guitar! He looks lost!

The show ended, Justin gave us all his last glances and Sun-child smiles, and finally was the last one off stage, waving good bye. I sadly watched him go. I’m such a sucker for that man, and I wonder if I will ever get to see him live and in the flesh again, every time the shows end for me. I THOUGHT I was over it, and I had moved onto other things in life, but I got sucked back in again. I stood around the stage door with the rest of the fools; well the evening WAS lovely, and Venus was high in the sky. After about 45 min out came the girls with Paul, then the rest trickled out slowly, no signatures. I gave Gordon a big cheer, I don't think the locals knew him. Graeme was clutching a hot cuppa something. No family members tonight, they either stayed home or were at the hotel (what a city to miss!) Off they went in their vans, into the night.

I wandered back to the hotel feeling very romantic in this lovely night town, with stars in my eyes, so many people out walking around in the warm evening. I smelled night blooming jasmine and picked some. The Empress hotel was all lit up, and may be where the Moodies stayed (I would want to if I could afford it, the view was probably incredible). I had this fantasy of Justin being held captive in the ivy covered castle, that’s exactly what the place looks like! That is how romantic Victoria is. It has the flavor of what Paris must have been like 100 years ago, especially on this balmy clear night.

I hope Graeme got time to look at the sailboats, and Justin found time to walk around. I missed seeing the Bug Zoo! (it was closed on the way back). I passed some Japanese tourists, their kid hopped up on a statue, and they took a picture, they were having a great time! Victoria also has the horse-drawn carriages, and the heavy horses don’t look tired and depressed. And the Governor’s palace (?) house (?) was all lit up with chaser lights. Out in front of that was a lovely statue of Queen Victoria. The Brits don’t understand what their Queens mean to us American women, we who have never had a lady President. She looked pretty cool.

I awoke the next morning to the sea birds cry. After getting my postcards in the mail and spending all my phantom money, I hauled out of town the next day on the ferry. We took longer to cross against the current this time, and kept seeing shiny sea creatures that dove as we came closer, no idea what they were. After enduring the taunts of jerky border patrol, I blazed for class in Olympia (driving down the Hood Canal, which was also gorgeous), was late to class, and had a hard time fitting back into my life and the silly things I have to do to make a living. I’ll miss the shows. I can sorta see why some of the people with money are following them around. Bye Moodies. Please come back again some day.