It’s such an anomaly to me that a city can band together to produce a festival like Hillside. It’s a beautiful site teaming with volunteers – but not a corporate sponsor to be found. I grew up in a town of about 10000 people in Saskatchewan and the closest thing to bringing the city together is the annual summer fair. A year’s worth of preserves are put on display, with medals awarded to the finest pickles. Teens drink atop the ferris wheel from a big gulp spiked with whiskey. Adults drink from the beer gardens just outside the rodeo. And my favorite neighbor makes an appearance just to dine at the corn on the cob stand. A couple of weeks back I was home to visit my mother and heard that this year 100 local citizens shows up with bats and 2×4’s to instigate a brawl with the carnies. My hometown is an excerpt from The Wanderers.

We had planned a Bocce ball tournament for Hillside, but unfortunately the torrential downpours were a bit of an obstacle. Early on day #1 a car spun its tire in an effort to get across a washed out road, and as a result I was covered head to toe in a tidal wave of mud. It was a Hanna Barbara moment.

We played the Island Stage at 8pm, sandwiched between Hey Rosetta and Woodhands, which was at the exact same time as Buffy Saint Marie performed on the mainstage. The set was a ton of fun, and the stage buckling and trembling under the weight of 9 nervous bodies added to the adventure – uncontrollably setting off the reverb springs in our amps and causing the bass amp to lean and sway like a drunken swagger. I somehow managed to break a tambourine across my palm, leaving a scab that looks like a botched crucifixion. Eoin caught the headstock of a guitar in his eye, leaving him with one hell of a shiner. From a distance it looks like he’s gone goth, but up close its an ugly mess on his eyelid.

On our way off the grounds our van got completely stuck in the mud. In a matter of seconds several gentleman appeared out of the forest with 4×4 trucks and hearts of gold to help us out.

Highlights of the festival included Bahamas, Ohbijou, Patrick Watson, Woodhands, The Arkells, The RAA, and a rained out Final Fantasy set, and this incredible Mexican band dressed in matching cowboy boots, shirts, and hats. The would have fit perfectly on the soundtrack to a Wes Anderson film. Final Fantasy also played an open mic at Jimmy Jazz later that night, performing a host of cover songs including Once In A Lifetime by Talking Heads.

It was a really great weekend and we’re certainly hoping they’ll have us back in the future. And now, with everything we have caked in mud, we’re headed back to Toronto for a couple of days.

I forgot to mention in my last post how incredible Detroit radio is. So many advertisements for hip hop BBQ’s and so much Lil Wayne. It finally gave us an opportunity to show off the hydraulics we had installed on the van. We be hittin’ switches.

After the great breakfast fiasco of 2009, we finally arrived in Peterborough. The extended drive really afforded us the opportunity to pillage through the Ipods. Duke Ellington to the Deep Dark Woods. Tangerine Dream vs. B. Fleischman. Okkervil River, The National, Lindstrom, and Blitzen Trapper.

I had never been to Peterborough before, although I have heard at least a dozen people refer to it as the armpit of Ontario on this trip. I thought it was a great city, full of friendly people. We had some pretty unbelievable tomato basil soup and sandwiches at a local bistro. Amanda finally found a decent meal – the eternal struggle of the touring vegan. We then took to the MoHo to play with the Burning Hell. That band should host clinics on stage presence and banter. The entire room was bouncing, dancing, and hoisting their drinks into the air.

Thieven and Eoin have started a healthy competition as to who will set up and man the merch table each night. So much time and care is put into folding t-shirts and designing the perfect display. Extension cords are run clear across the bar so that our lamp can illuminate their hard work. The table is garnished with “magic eight balls” and other knickknacks. It’s truly a labor of love. Although, I must confess that the moment the band receives their drink tickets both of them seem to disappear, abandoning all of their hard work in pursuit of cheap draft…

We stayed right down on the water. I watched the sun and the smog set over Detroit. It’s not uncommon to find a sign hanging in a lobby that reads “Not responsible for items left in your vehicle” or something along those lines. Last night was the first time I’ve ever saw a sign that states “If you have a GPS do not leave it in your vehicle. Remove the suction cup from your windshield and use a cloth to wipe away the ring it left on the glass”. Carl slept in the van and awoke to a brawl in the parking lot. I’ve been reading Raymond Carver’s Where I’m Calling From on this tour, and despite that fact that it all takes places in the Pacific Northwest, I get the feeling that the setting in most of the stories could be transferred to Windsor.

We met some really great people at the show. It’s pretty incredible how many people know the songs from CBC Radio 3. I’m also always amazed at how many couples come to see us. Maybe we make a good “date night” band.

There was a clearance bin in the record shop next to the venue. Lots of gems. In An Airplane Over The Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel was $5 and Despistado’s Emergency Response EP was $3.

At Drabble’s insistence we grabbed breakfast at The Golden Griddle on the way out of town. If Superman’s weakness is Kryponite, Iron Man’s is alcoholism, and Green Lantern’s is the color yellow, than Library Voices is breakfast. We traded an all you can eat buffet for spending 3 extra hours stuck in commuter gridlock.

“Me carrying a briefcase is like a hotdog wearing earrings.”  -Sparky Anderson

Aside from having incredible food next door, the Casbah has one of the best staffs we’ve ever encountered. Brothers Chris & Mike Bell of Chore, one of our all time favorite Canadian bands, man the soundboard in the venue and it’s lounge respectively. The DJ between sets played a ton of gems including The Velveteen and the Album Leaf.

Thanks to all who attended, especially our new friends who made the road trip up from Buffalo, New York for the show (see photo below).

Our hotel had a channel dedicated to a “Falcon Cam”. 24 hours a day it boasts a shot of a ledge outside the hotel where a couple of falcons live. How cool is that?

This morning I wandered down to the lobby in pursuit of coffee and stumbled across one of the most mind-boggling spectacles I’ve ever encountered. A line of young women and a few begrudging boyfriends lined the sidewalks for blocks and blocks, waiting in the pouring rain. My first inclination was that they were waiting for Jonas Brothers tickets, but it turned out they were all in line for a Lulu Lemon sale. The last number I heard was that they expect 14000 customers over the 4 day sale. It was a 6 to 7 hour wait in cue just to get into the sale. It seems a bit perplexing to me that people would take the day of work and give up 100$ in wages to save $30 dollars on a pair of yoga pants….but who am I to judge?

Library Voices Touring Tip #3 – If you are going to start a band, make it a 3 piece. It will result in a LOT less time wasted waiting around. It will always make sound checks a lot more efficient and your van will probably smell a lot better than our does.

Last night we played at Zoo Bizarre. I need to point out that I wouldn’t have referred to dark old bars as caverns in my previous blog post had I have realized we would be playing in an actual cave tonight…  We really can’t thank Blue Skies Turn Black enough for promoting and letting us split the bill with Pattern Is Movement. They put on such a great show. I must have heard Theivin say “This guys favorite drummer HAS to be Lenny White” at least a dozen times. If you haven’t already make sure you check out the album. Exclaim described it as “something like Caribou scoring a musical.”   Tomorrow we have a day off in Montreal and we’re going to spend it on working on some new songs. I’m also finally going to read the new Jonathan Franzen story in the New Yorker that I’ve started 6 times so far. I’ve only the first paragraph so far (albeit 6 times) but it already reminds me of how much I loved How To Be Alone.   Library Voices touring tip #2 – Invest in a GPS. After a decade of touring in bands and literally driving blindly through cities, with the assumption that the venue will be “somewhere” downtown the GPS has afforded us the opportunity to go wherever we need to whenever we need to with very little stress. Venue, hotel, restaurant, and music store addresses are stored in the device and the soothing programmed voice of a stern British woman guides us to our destinations.