Occupy Regina

Strong and heartbreaking. In the morning, Baby crawled out of her young parents’ tent. She was kinda stuck between the actual tent and the tent’s covering. Her cute little face kept peeking out so I finally helped her out. She was wet from the grassy dew. And her clothes were dirty. And it looked like her diaper was way over due for a change and had soaked through her pants. Her face was covered in her mucus and she had a terrible smoker’s-like cough. When she crawled out, she had a rolling paper stuck to her hand.

I led her to the food tent and she hung on tight to my fingers. Got her face all cleaned up and we had breakfast in the sun together. From the time someone woke her parents up and told them that she needed a diaper change to the time they actually came out to do it was over 25 minutes. Poor Baby.

I was told that her super young parents are in transition. Left their town because of the bad influences there. They’re in search for a new place to plant their roots and make a better life for their two babes. It didn’t seem they were at Occupy Regina to support the cause, but because it was a place to stay.

Regina; Everyday on the Road

The Exchange in Regina the other night was a super fun show. Great crowd. Wayne + AJ were up to no good but we got ‘em back. All I’ll say is that someone cornish henned out on cornish henning and opted out for a less dirty but still distracting action and got double mooned. Poor D.Alex got a $400 speeding ticket on the way here. The cop stopped us and another vehicle at the same time! WTF?! Double fisting it. He took so long that we forgot what we were waiting for.

I caught the tail end of Occupy Regina’s march and met Shannon and Stella there. Shannon, a young eager activist, offered me space in her tent and Stella, a sweet homeless woman, passed the journal around. They came to the show on guest list! Me and Daniel used our food per diems on baseball gloves, two rubber balls and a soccer ball at the used sports store across the street. Our quality of life on the road improved by 75%. Luckily Nick quickly followed suit. He woulda been so jealous.

Some photos. A lot of tongue action. 

OUR RED CAPPED DRUMMERS

STELLA, SHANNON + JESSE

DANIEL OFF STAGE DURING CUFF

APES OFFSTAGE DURING CUFF

BACKSTAGE, CLEARLY THE END OF THE NIGHT

apes #4: Warm folk in a Cold World

We had a good show at Park Theatre. Another sit down audience, but their hoots and hollers indicated they were having a good time. Thanks for letting the band crash again, Mike! While the boys played pool after the show, I found myself around a warm sacred fire at Occupy Winnipeg. There were less than 20 tents set up. Only a few people around. Lucky me, I got offered another tent to myself. The beat of the djembe and the fire lasted all night – - – I think its been burning for days since some local elders started it. The morning was more lively. Everyone around the fire. One of the beautiful things about this occupation was all the walks of life that were present: really young, super old, working people, homeless people, Ojibwe, Inuit, Cree, Filipino me, white Canadians. I met some lovely elders who took care of me and everyone else around there. Fred told me that he was there because he was part of why this was all happening. I wasn’t sure if it was because he was homeless or Native or both. His face was weathered but handsome. Isaac and Mary Ann (pictured below) were there, hoping for a better day, knowing that we could get there together. Winnipeg is freezing cold but its folk are super warm.

april’s #3: Alright, some small gender observations

It was cold!! But the Thunder Bay crowd, as usual, was super warm. Cuff are so good. We stayed at good ol’ Sam’s grandma’s house. I finally got to do laundry (when we left on Wednesday, I only packed dirty clothes – - – sorry mom). I wonder if doing laundry and preparing food at 2:30AM is related to gender or to personality. Probably a bit of both. (Taking after mom!) I know I said that I was aborting the gender social experiment, but that doesn’t mean that I can help but observe differences.

Who knew that the boys would be so concerned about who the smelly half of the band was?!?! Pictured here, they are demanding for me to tell. I’ll never name names.

Book keeping with a pen for a cigar:

Mostly because the lady in the band demanded it, we picked up groceries before heading to grandma’s… and we found Nick’s article in Reader’s Digest! It made the cover! The second portrait in the mag is of Nick. Jamie the cashier, is running away from the camera.

There was no occupancy in Thunder Bay. There were a solid 15 that showed up on Saturday for a few hours. I’m looking forward to joining Occupy Winnipeg tonight though. So glad that its warmer here. So glad to see that Occupy Toronto is going strong!

april’s entry 2: Occupying Canada Instead

Day 2: I am aborting my gender-based social experiment. The myth that boys smell isn’t entirely true. Half the men in our van smell, the other half don’t, and I fall somewhere in the middle. So far, our differences have not been major and seem to be more cultural and political. One small example: I am traveling with a tabo and keepin’ it fresh. Last night I opted out of the hotel, and joined the Occupy Sault Ste Marie movement instead. It was super small, especially in comparison to the occupancy I slept at in Toronto the night before, but super powerful. I met Danielle and Chris, a sweet couple that started the occupancy over there. It started off with just the two of them and the numbers have slowly been growing. There were no more than 15 folk when I was there. People dropping in and out at different times of day and days of the week. Chris and Danielle were filled with passion. And hope. Danielle gave me my own tent to sleep in for the night! I fell in and out of sleep. It was cold. And rainy. And I woke up a bit damp. And I was sad when I left in the morning… it seemed that most of those that stayed the night were homeless. They were just under a tarp. And were super cold. And got rained on.

Anyway, my travel/me + ten men journal is now an OCCUPY CANADA journal. I was sad to be missing out on the excitement at Occupy Toronto, but now I get to go to many of the occupied cities along the way! The journal will travel across mid and western Canada and will serve as a place for people in different occupancies to share their ideas, expressions, thoughts, drawings, related to the occupancy. Not too sure what will become of this journal yet. I do think that it will be exciting for people to get their message out across the country, and see that they are not alone. If anyone has other ideas for my occupying travels, please do share!

Last, we had a wicked show with Cuff the Duke last night at Lop Lops! We added two brand new songs to the end of our set. It was a good way to kick off our tour. Thunder Bay will be fun tonight.