Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Up or Down is a State of Mind

No disrespect to the great state of Michigan (state motto: "You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a pleasant peninsula") we're the ones in the confused state. First we're downstate, then we're upstate and basically we're just in a state and should be lying in state, flatly stated.

Port Huron is some hours south of us and we looked forward to playing at The Raven Cafe, nestled in one of the oldest buildings in Port Huron. It's beautifully restored and redecorated as a multi-level coffee house and cafe. When we read "elevated stage" we had visions of perhaps 4 or 5 feet off the floor...when we arrived we were escorted to the stage and were greeted by this:

                     goingup?

Yup...A trap door in the ceiling! Now picture Whitt hoisting my trunk and washtub bass and all the other paraphernalia that we use.  The stage ceiling was literally two inches taller than Whitt's head. If he'd a-been wearin' cowboy boots he wouldn-a fit!  Suppose it should have occurred to us that The Raven would have a crow's nest.  Whitt's favorite part was the sign on the top side of the trap door reading "Please keep hatch shut."  Yes, that would be an unfortunate misstep!

  







This should have been a tip off that things were not going to go as anticipated!  (He climbed down when we started to play, and just sat sulking in a mug of something foamy.)










Fast forward to August and we're in The Soo. The Mackinaw's 50th anniversary... Lake Superior as awesome as ever. The horizon is Canada and includes trees and enormous wind turbines.                            



We had a great time at the Soo Locks Park doing a concert in the Park.  Our camera batteries (company motto: "There until you need us") chose that time to die so we don't have a picture to share with you...


CornerPub
Spent two nights playing at The Corner Pub. Who knew Sault Ste. Marie was such a happening town at 2am?  Probably the police.















Check back later for some pics of the 25th Sault Ste. Marie Arts Festival!

tourists

We'll leave you with this shot we call "Big Propeller,"  having neglected to jot down the name of the ship whence it came.  (Whitt insists true salts call these "screws," but we decided to go with "propeller" for titling purposes.)