Old Town School – On The Road
Dispatches from the road from our wayfaring travelers.
Joyeuses Pâques!
Easter weekend was a lot of fun. I got to know some of the girls from 5×5 a lot better.
Friday night, Cynthia and her girlfriend hosted a little dinner party for me, Geneviève, and Emilie. I loved seeing their place and being part of a group of friends close to my own age and situation. I also met Molly the cat, who is hilarious. She not only climbed the clothes-drying rack like a monkey, but also jumped inside the refrigerator to sit on the shelf, watching bottles she had knocked down from the bottom rack in the door rolling around everywhere. Along with my introduction to Ketchup-flavored Lays potato chips, we had tasty homemade pizzas on little square crispy crusts, salad and wine. Everyone was pretty nice about keeping me in the loop English-wise, and we shared much gossip and laughter and silliness. We also brought out some guitars and shared music… I am very excited to harmonize more with Geneviève and Cynthia this week!
After dinner and chocolate eggs we walked outside a little bit and then they wanted to take me out to see some nightlife. We tried to go to Sacrilège, a cool big dark bar which is apparently the place to be and which looked awesome, but it was packed so we left. We ended up at another nearby bar where we were going to have one drink and move on, but immediately after we sat down this guy came over to the table with a full pitcher of beer and glasses for all of us…. quickly followed by his five friends. This bar had regular sized pitchers, but also the biggest pitchers of beer I have ever seen in my life.
This is a GALLON of Maudite. Note that someone is filling a glass by submerging it in the pitcher.
What a crazy night. A little bit of dancing amidst the crowd and lights at Le Drague next door was the perfect way to end it.
The next morning was Easter and Genevieve invited me to come to Beauce with her to eat supper with her family. Beauce is small and beautiful, and it was a perfectly gorgeous day. I met her mom and her great, funny dog Jack. She showed me around, and took me to BOTH streets in the town. We visited this old bridge near an old railroad station where she used to work,
and then we had maple sundaes at this little place that used to be a maple syrup cabin. It is maple season, and maple is EVERYWHERE! And it is verrrrry good. This sundae had a vanilla custardy base, plus maple syrup and maple chip crunchy things and a stick with maple taffy like we had in the city.
Very tasty. Also tasty: dinner at Genevieve’s grandparents’ house. Her family was lovely and the food was good. Ham, turkey, stuffing, the usual kind of Easter meal…. plus fresh scallops, from her cousins in New Brunswick! I was so happy to be there with a family, and at the end of the night, I was BEAT!
Went to bed early to rest up for today’s first all-day full-band rehearsal at the Theatre. We met Pierre Flynn, the well-known Quebecois rocker who is in charge of this show, and started the morning just talking through each number and determining keys, backup vocals, arrangements, and the flow of the show. Then after a lunch break we rehearsed all afternoon.
Planning with Pierre
Cynthia helping me with my French. She speaks English the least of the 3, but she is the most thoughtful about my understanding!
The actual performance space in the theatre is very nice. The stage is a good size, they have a cool lighting system and the sound is awesome. The house band is also GREAT. When we first played Maggie’s Farm, I started out the first verse alone with guitar. But when everyone else came in for the second verse, WOW! It was so exciting and really revved up my performance. The other girls’ songs are good, strong performances. Funny, tender, fierce.
Un Canadien Errant is going to be pretty stripped down, just a duet with me on acoustic guitar and Pierre on piano and backups. The French is coming along and everyone says I speak with a good accent which sounds very charming, so I’m confident on that front. However, there are a few group numbers, and as it turns out, I’m singing in more French than I expected. Here’s one of the group numbers: Le Grand Incendie by Dumas. I sing a solo part with some English at 2:30, but check out the part at 3:30 that the four of us sing in unison.
!!!!!!!!
We’ll make it happen. I’m stoked after today’s rehearsal. It’s going to be a great show!
Filed under: Canada,Notes from Lindsay,Quebec by Lindsay | April 5, 2010 | Comments (1)
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