Saturday 21 October 2006

flying to Newark again
As Gaël Minetti was driving me back to Dorval airport, I thought about what a lot has happened since he picked me up there nearly a week ago. And it doesn't feel like it's taken any time at all.

After my usual morning swim and some shopping for presents to take home, it was time yesterday to head for the Chapelle de la Visitation for the CBC Radio-Canada balance test and a quick photo session (this picture is from Gaël's phone though). The lashing rain rather spoiled the original plan to have us walking through the trees outside. That and the fact that it was already dark: coming back from sushi at dinner time it was snowing...

L-R: Sylvain Bergeron, DMcG, Suzie LeBlanc, Chris Norman, Betsy MacMillan, DG

Anyway, it was rather strange to be in front of an audience again after three days of recording, and there were plenty of unscheduled happenings in the concert. I still have sore calves from providing 7 minutes of harmonium drone for La Passion de Jésus-Christ: Chris suggested I should have been wearing a lurid track suit and a sweatband. We didn't rehearse this song, and what were meant to be little irregularities in the drone came out sounding like alien communication from Close Encounters. Oh well. Chris managed to get chants of 'Bunnahabhain' and 'Laphroaig' into Les Pélerins (discreetly of course), and my slightly perverse arrangement of La Pauvre Lisette where alternate verses are accompanied in different keys went almost perfectly: hardly a missed cue, and everyone keeping eye contact. Or as Marie put it afterwards: "you're the worst kind of control freak: you control everyone without them realising it". I asked Sylvain what he thought of my tendency to boss people about in rehearsal and he said "well, someone has to". I'll blame it on my producer's instinct to make decisions even if they're the wrong ones.

But the most spectacular unplanned moment in the concert was when Suzie prepared DG's chair for his playing of Pigeon on the Gate: he had to sit down so that he could do Cape Breton style foot taps as well. Unfortunately the chair slipped back and David hit the floor on his arse while still playing. Suzie and I were frozen to the spot for what seemed like minutes. Somehow he got up and just carried on ...

Matt W joined us for a great meal afterwards at café TNM and we compared notes on how many of us are the fourth child of four. Chris's theory is that number 4s can have a certain sparkle from 'all that extra love'. What a nice band.

A final burst of present shopping this morning. I like Montréal very much.