Musical Travels

"This I Believe": that it is worth "the Troubles and Trials" to drive to find and hear good music and favorite musicians. And also to make new discoveries. Our regular music trips include the local ones to the Rogue Folk Club concerts at St. James Hall in Vancouver and Cap College in North Vancouver, and to the Anza Club in Vancouver for bluegrass. Each year we attend the Wintergrass Festival in Tacoma and the Chilliwack festival out in the valley. In the summer we often make it to the Darrington Festival in Washington state and always catch at least one concert in the ZooTunes series at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. Occasionally we have made it to Nancy's Farm outside Bellingham and to the Tractor Tavern in Seattle.[ its worth it to hear Uncle Earl]
For the first time this year we went to Portland, Oregon on the first weekend of January for the River City Bluegrass Festival which is more than Bluegrass by design. It is a three hour drive to stay over with family in Seattle and then 3 more hours by car to Portland. Our stay at the Doubletree Inn at Lloyd Center was excellent, very good price and better accomodations than we usually take. Transit in downtown Portland is excellent and free on the tram known as Max. At Wintergrass each February there is a high energy, high excitement atmosphere which hits us as soon as we enter the Sheraton Hotel which is now called the Murano. This probably relates to the hope that winter is over if Wintergrasss is here, a sign of new life and the light of music. By contrast, in Portland the festival is young and has yet to develop that special spirit. But the
performers are excellent.
On Friday night, hearing Tim O'Brien and his Cornbread Nation is like renewing a friendship once a year. His band of Danny Barnes, Dennis Crouch and Casey Driessen on the fiddle makes something special from great individual talents. Tim's humor adds just the right touch. The 11pm show Friday featured the Flatlanders from West Texas who transported us to a Texas honky tonk. They were the Friday night highlight for us. In my dreams I never imagined that I would get to hear the Flatlanders in my lifetime and they did not disappoint. Jimmy Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely and Butch Hancock have their same roots in the Texas dust of Lubbock as Buddy Holly. They are not bluegrass but that unique music that comes out of West Texas. They have been described as being both 50 years behind the times and 15 years ahead. What a high energy endearing show they put on. They finished at 12:30 and we headed back to the hotel on the Max while the true bluegrassers played the night away.
Each day of a festival brings its surprises. Saturday brought Bryan Bowers, the legendary autoharp player whom we had not heard in over 30 years. He filled the center with his beautiful music and storytelling Thanks Michael for having introduced us to some much great music in your days of Ernie's Hot Wax. I remember listening to Bryan Bowers on LPs.
Five years ago we heard the Dry Branch Fire Squad and Ron Thomason for the first time and what memories they created. Now we got to hear them again. They are celebrating 30 years of playing as a band, and if not for festivals we would never have grown to love their music and Ron's storytelling. They are very funny, insightful and speak up for justice in daily living. They get inside your heart and remain in your head.
They are followed by the wondrous groups who never disappoint. Rhonda Vincent and the Rage, Del McCoury and the Boys and the Dan Tyminski Band. The finale featured Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives band. Marty did a salute to Porter Wagoner,intended to be here, but who passed away in October. This was special too.
Sunday is the festival day for Gospel music. Both Rhonda Vincent and the Dry Branch Fire Squad always do beautiful faith filled music at these shows and they have fun. Bryan Bowers encored in the afternoon, followed by Doyle Lawson and the Seldom Scene. A great way to finish a festival. John Reischman and the Jaybirds are an excellent Vancouver based band who showed the excellence of Canadian Bluegrass on Friday and Saturday. Also Rachel Harrington and the women of the Misty River Band made beautiful music on the lobby stage. I look forward to more of them.
We'll be back again to the River City Festival.
At the end of January we were fortunate to hear Martyn Joseph of Wales at Capilano College. He sings with such passion that you just want to tell others and introduce them to his music. He often sings of justice and political issues. Foremost he sings with a great appreciation of all that life has given him and us. In this unique performance he tried to reincarnate Elvis and it was delightful. Earlier in show he took on the persona of Bruce Springsteen and his Pete Seeger salute band and did a very incredible performance as he had all singing with him. Once more he gave us a night to remember.

Europe: Trip of Dreams

Brugge, Belgium

Forty years of dreaming, four months of planning, and here we are in the chaotic Paris airport with streams of noisy rugby fans coming for a big match, and the airport information officer sending us back where we started. Using my normal boldness to ask for help from just anyone, we got to the train bound for Brugge, Belgium and heaved a sigh of relief. It has been about 20 hrs since we left home.Brugge is a small city near the Belgian coast, with a city core that restricts auto traffic and retains the elegance of the Renaissance ages. It has canals that enhance the beauty. The architecture and city square make one feel like being in a Flemish painting. Yet the shops portray a modern sophisticated population. Known for fine lace, superb chocolate, and nourishing beer, this is a good place to rest and ease into days of wandering. Yummm!

As we start to find the greatest art in the churches, we see our first Michaelangelo sculpture, Madonna and Child. This is the start of trying to recall the history we learned so long ago, and seeing how many centuries of world events are layered here. Can I imagine how this region looked during the reign of kings and lords? during the Dark Ages? or during and after WW II ? The overall amazement is the high quality of building design and enhancement in the masonry we see. And it has lasted for so many years. Will current architecture last so long?

Day 4: Cologne Germany
The Rhine Valley has been high on my list of sights: Castles, cathedrals, and the general region of my father's ancestors who emigrated to America 160+ yrs ago. Cologne has one of the spectacular cathedrals of the world. Our good fortune is connecting with a guy who is a "friend of a friend" and offered to take us through the Rhine Valley to see the best sights. Upon meeting him in Cologne, we started at the Cathedral and he said we are going to climb to the top. And we did! All 509 steps of a narrow circular stairway. The climb and the view are breathtaking. The cathedral is a masterpiece of detailed masonry in honor of simple faith, and was spared bombing in WW II.
From there we drove upriver to see the WW II site of the Bridge of Remagen, and visit the oldest intact castle, the Marksburg. Views from the heights show the heavy Rhine barge traffic and the vineyards on such steep slopes. We enjoyed drinking local wines and food specialties.

Trier Germany
This city is on the Mosel River, which feeds into the Rhine and is the nearest city to the home of the Peiffers who came from Perl Germany. We were amazed to learn that Trier was once the northern capital of the Roman Empire. At the time Constantine made Christianity legal, the cathedral in Trier was being built. It is massive now, and was 4 times larger when built. Then they built a Gothic style church attached in the 13th century, just to be more modern!
Roman baths, an emperor's palace, and the city gate indicate this was an important Roman city. In the 1800s there were many landless poor who emigrated to the US from this region.





Wine production is important here too. I can imagine my ancestors working these fields.



Nancy, France:
Using a train pass made travel city to city quite easy and comfortable. Nancy is in Alsace, which has been a region disputed by France and Germany for centuries. Poor weather and unfavorable hotel location meant we stayed just one day. Here again, historical border disputes meant this was used as the government centre during the reign of Duke Stanislaus. He loved gold! These gates surrounded the government bldgs and park.

Strasbourg, France: Day 10-12
Strasbourg bore out the advice of the guidebooks as a worthy stop. It sits on the German border, on the Rhine River and was annexed by Germany in the 17-19th centuries. After WW I it was returned to France.This city now houses the EU parliament. But we just loved the beauty, the canals, and Renaissance buildings. It is so compact and walkable. Flowers are everywhere. Shops full of leather, boots, purses, and scarves.
Here we took a tour of the chocolate museum. I am savoring my souvenirs from that day. Coffee and tea shops are disguises for selling croisants and delicious pastries of every flavor. My kind of city. I want to stay!

Back to Germany to see Rothenburg, on "the romantic road".
Rothenburg is just north of Bavaria in central Germany, and feels like a small city lost in the middle ages. Being mid-October, we quickly found a B&B which had such old world charm. The buildings are squashed together, and it feels comforting with its medieval walls.





Old world sausages and pastries are delightful, except for the effect on the waistline. Traditional food, a castle, and the old market square make this a comfortable spot. Here we heard an organ concert in their historic church.Shops were full of linens and china. I want to stay longer.

On to Munich: end of week 2
We were warned not to try to visit Munich in October, but this transportation hub was hard to miss. So we went anyway. What a gorgeous city! After tremendous war damage, the city rebuilt in the heritage style and have a museum to help its people grapple with Nazi history. Wide boulevards, many pedestrian plazas, bikes used by a great number and an efficient subway system make this an easy city to visit. Oktoberfest added excitement, but no troubles to us. Peter visited their huge museum, equal to the Smithsonian, while I toured the last emperor's palace. (I am a sucker for glitz!) So much gold in one place! I just wondered what colonial lands suffered to produce all of this. This center photo is just their reception hall, not a subway tunnel! As a balance to that, we ate one evening in a gorgeous restaurant created in an underground space with lovely arched ceilings and many rooms. We left and wandered into the plaza where we saw an impromptu concert at a storefront. It was a classical 4 piece ensemble of young men, who continued to gather listeners closer. With the plaza lights, strolling tourists and warm evening it was magical. An English garden is at the city center, with a river running through. There we found the largest outdoor beer garden, featuring a Chinese style ampitheatre seating about 6000! Nothing rowdy there, just happy drinkers. The park was a restful, beautiful place.

Italy beckons: Siena, home of St. Catherine
From Munich to Siena is a long train trip, so we took a "couchette" (sleeper train) which was like being in a bunk bed that is being shaken all night. This meant we missed seeing the alps as we passed through at night. There are always trade-offs.
Siena is on hills and ravines, like much of Italy. Peter found our room operated by Dominican nuns with no English. It is in the neighborhood where St Catherine lived as a child. Seeing her church was inspiring, and our room had a view of the major cathedral, called the Duomo. Michaelangelo worked here as well as other noted artists of the era, sponsored by bankers and princes. The highest honor was to be commissioned to work for church property.
Italy is where one needs a playbook of artists. The Duomo is a work of art like we had never seen. Two colors of marble are used on the exterior, which makes it look stripped. The interior floors are full of mosaics in marble. They are covered 10 months of the year, but were open to view during our visit. The mosaics depict classical literature as well as biblical themes. The contrast of this detailed lovely building and the small stucco homes so densely placed spoke volumes. This city once rivaled Florence for trade and status. Now it rivals other cities for treatment of tourists.

Florence, Italy- the art center
We knew this was to be museum central so we took an art guide. One needs no guide to gape at the sculpture and art everywhere. An informed traveler would be able to place the art in meaningful order, but we just absorbed the wonder of it. The best is in museums and our tired feet verify that we spent time there. But building decor and outdoor statues abound. So we spent plenty of time roaming Florence. The city bus tour helped a great deal, taking us outside the city to see the Etruscan villages that pre-dated Roman settlement, and then to the residential neighborhoods where the established artists and the influential citizens lived . We saw the many olive groves and vineyards that keep both cooks and diners happy.
The Jewish quarter is a reminder of periods of discrimination, but now provides a thriving gold jewelry district. Italy would really be the place to find leather goods. The trendy shops, open air markets and the mobile "entrepreneurs" are ready to sell good deals. But luggage limits and realizing we still had many hills and steps to drag our stuff kept us buying very small scale.
These doors open to a museum of renowned art masterpieces. For me, the doors themselves will live in my memory. That is the message of Florence, and most of Italy for me: its citizens have breathed the air of highest quality art every day. And these artists expended their energies on public and religious art when they could. What does that do to their spirit? How can any day be humdrum? What does it say to our current strivings?

Rome, end of wk 3
We had a room that was within sight of the Vatican, but we unfortunately landed there on Friday & Saturday. The lines for the Vatican are longest then, and that museum closes early on Saturday.We made it to St. Peter's Basilica on Friday and were able to spend a long morning viewing the center of our faith. Everything we noticed about the churches of other cities was here in superlatives. But this is where Peter and Paul worked to establish the Church. Michaelangelo's Pieta is here. I could imagine the many thousands who stand here when the Pope is ill, or when they hope to receive a special message.
As we emerged to the noontime plaza, a deluge of rain came, so we sought out lunch. Easing our feet by taking the bus brought us to the Roman ruins across the river. Here we enjoyed a full afternoon freely wandering among giant column pieces and sections of ancient buildings that once kept the Roman Empire working. The site of the death of Julius Cesear is a small memorial, but there are always fresh flowers (from anonymous sources).
We wondered about the tremendous age of these ruins, but also the power of the Romans who lived here. In some ways, the area was not large for such a far flung empire that influenced the future in so many ways. The original beauty of these buildings was evident from the remains lying there. The official "sights" moved us, but we left Rome with deep impressions of people who enjoy each other, love to linger over meals, and are proud of their place in the world. I will never forget the multi-generational party beside us at dinner.

Cinque Terre, and rest: Week 4
With heads swimming in visions of masterpieces, we needed rest to absorb it. Our destination is a series of small villages that retain old time Tuscan culture. We head north of Pisa to the unofficial Italian Riviera, north of La Spezia. There are lots of photos on Flickr of these towns that hug the steep hills and live in the ravines by the sea. The train runs through tunnels connecting these towns that have a history back to Saracen pirate days. We stayed in Vernazza, then Monterosso. Vineyards and fishing, lemon and olive groves have sustained them for centuries.
Our luck in the room we rented made all the difference. We found a 3rd story room that had a large terrace overlooking a tiny intersection of 3 streets. We looked at this pink building with the grapevine on the 4th floor and its root 4 floors below in the wall. At street level was a wine shop playing Italian opera all day, and on the other side a grandma caring for the baby and calling out to her friends on the street. In the other direction we saw the church and the sea shimmering in the sun. We sat in the sun and read and walked along the Mediterranean. At night we ate their anchovy cuisine and lemon liqueur. There was a long pedestrian tunnel near the sea and most nights a musician would play for tips, letting the tunnel add dimension to the music. The sea, the simple villages, the food, the rest. This all stole our hearts. We stayed 8 days and drank it in.

Arles, in Provence France: our final week
Provence always meant lavender and food to my imagination. But in late October, the lavender is dormant. So I found a cooking class. Sheer serendipity that the B&B in my guide did have a class the days I was there and even better, the other students were women from the US Midwest. The French chef spoke no English, so his wife translated, and we cooked and laughed and ate so well. Even with one class I learned some good techniques, and came home with a Provencal cookbook.
Here again we found important remains of the Roman Empire. Arles is near the mouth of the Rhone and was a critical link for shipping and food supply. An ampitheatre, modeled on the Coleseum of Rome, remains in use today and even had a removable sunshade over the seats when built. This was the site of the first floating bridge, the first crossing of the Rhone.
Avignon is a short train ride from Arles, so we visited the historic site of the French papacy and learned why this relocation occurred. Avignon is a beautiful city, even if its bridge did fall, making another tourist photo op. Again, I wish I could come shopping here.

Paris: our final 3 days
The fast train slips along the countryside and we are in Paris in about 3 hours. From a tip by a fellow traveler, we see there is a walking tour of the Montmartre neighborhood, so we start our visit hearing details of the streets where many artists lived. We see Picasso's first workshop, the house of Renoir, the apartment where Van Gogh died, early neighborhood fountains, and the cabaret where Toulouse Lautrec was inspired. It ended on the hilltop with the Sacre Coeur cathedral, a real Paris beauty.
art museum. The next day we take in one more museum, immersing ourselves in Impressionist art. An old train station was refurbished for the museum. This Van Gogh was painted in Arles, right where we stayed. But we did not see the stars like he did. After a lovely garden stroll in the Luxembourg gardens, we bid farewell to Paris with a viewing of the Eiffel Tower from a Seine cruise boat-shivering in the windy night air. The tower is totally lit at night, and shimmers for 10 minutes each hour.

Home flight over the Arctic
Our flight to Europe began with views of the northern lights - BESIDE our plane. The homeward journey was just as blessed. The sun shone over the Arctic revealing its great beauty. It was a fitting climax to a wonderful tour.

NYC 2007 March 15-22

We travelled as members of the team leading 30 seniors from Archbishop Carney High School for an education trip that focussed on service, cultural experiences and the joy of travelling with friends. Chris Seppelt who teaches all of them in his Social Justice-Global Awareness course is the mastermind of the trip. We left YVR on Cathay Pacific on Thursday at noon. From JFK we used cabs to get to the Gerswhin Hotel in Manhattan on 27th near 5th Avenue. It is a unique combination of hotel and hostel which made it much more affordable. On the first night we walked three blocks to the subway at about 10 pm to buy our subway passes for the week and our first ride to Grand Central Station and Times Square. The kids were in awe of this great space and the bright lights of Times Square and found it it difficult to grasp that they were really in New York. By 1 am with the weather turning miserable we returned to our hotel to sleep for a short night.



Friday. We had breakfast at the 24 hour deli around the corner from the hotel. We left in smaller groups to our service assignments.The service locations included, the Sisters of Charity- South Bronx, Part of the Solution [POTS], CHIPS, Neighbors Together, Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen, Yorkville Pantry and the St.Anne's after school Reading Program in South Bronx. Each morning the groups basically worked at a soup kitchen type of service and met in the afternoon at St. Anne's in South Bronx to be like older brothers and sisters to the young children when they arrive from their school day. They did home work, played board games, used the computers, read, and ran around in the gym with their new young friends with whom they had corresponded. From the beginning there was a lot of joy and laughter. They bonded right away. These beautiful children were first introduced to us in the books of Jonathon Kozol, "Amazing Grace", "Ordinary Resurrections", and "The Shame of the Nation". The faithful witness of Mother Martha Overall and her parish staff has resulted in these children of Mott Haven receiving God's love in tangible ways for many years. When we arrived on this snowy miserable day we were made welcome by Raymond who was working the snow shovel and by the hospitality of Nora, Lesley and Dale.
The session ended at 5:30 with our group sitting at table with the young ones as they prayed and had dinner, Then we were off by Subway 6 to Times Square and had dinner in the area before meeting to attend a performance of Rent, the musical. We walked north in awful snowfilled streets after the show to Rockefeller Center. At the Top of the Rock we got our view of the lights of the city in a snow storm. We returned exhausted after just the first day to the Gerswhin after midnight. To make it to the end of the week, we told Chris that we would need to take Saturday morning off. What a pace he sets.


Saturday. St.Patrick's Day in New York. Fifth Avenue had been cleared of snow and the most glorious parade we ever saw marched for hours past St. Patrick's Cathedral. A whole army of firefighters passed to continuing applause. The crowd was six deep and more in places. We visited the cathedral and had the traditional corned beef and cabbage dinner. Later we travelled south to Ground Zero by subway and then to upper Manhattan to St.Ignatius Church where our group had gathered for Mass. In the evening we walked to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a two hour stay and then into the cold night for skating in Central Park. We both yielded, saying no to skating and returned to the Gershwin. A full day 2 and we had not worked in the morning like the others.


Sunday. We were all moving by 7 am. Our first destination was the Abbysinian Baptist in Harlem, the church of the Reverend Calvin Butts. Service was at 9 and with reserved seats we needed to be there by 8:30. We were welcomed to Harlem by a street guy who accompanied us to the church with a constant flow of good chatter.The music was good as expected, the preaching was memorable on the theme of "People, Get Ready". The kids were very tired and many worked hard to snap back when they caught themselves nodding off.The group in front of us was from Germany. We had lunch at local eateries around 125th. St. and also stopped at the legendary Rice High School. We then travelled by subway to St.Anne's in the Bronx to meet with 47 kids and their leaders. We managed to keep the group of about ninety together on the subway as we moved to the Astor Theatre In Manhatttan to see the Blue Man Group. What a crazy show, just perfect for the kids and good for the geezers too. We celebrated the day with veggies,pizza and cake at St. Anne's. It was a truly memorable day and thanks and appreciation were often spoken. At night the trusty subway took us to Brooklyn so that we could walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. Chris stopped several times to teach about the significance of the bridge.

Monday. Mary Jo led a group to paint a classroom at St.Anne's in the morning and I led a group to the soup kitchen at Holy Apostles. This is the largest soup kitchen in the state and on the days that we were there, we helped feed about 1000 people each day. This is a very impressively organized team of volunteers under the direction of Clyde, the e.d. who gave good time to speaking with both groups after lunch. He explained the comprehensive services which are offered including counselling referrals and health services. This Holy Apostles kitchen is a good example for the students to reflect on how poverty and homelessness are responded to by this church community.Many compliments came our way from the regular volunteers. We found the clients respectful and courteous. In the afternoon we returned to the children at St. Anne's. Mary Jo's group were given a neighborhood tour and commentary by Nora. In the evening we had dinner and discussion in small groups at restaurants in Little Italy. After that we took a harbor tour on the Staten Island Ferry, Rey Corpuz our chaperone and photographer did great work with his camera capturing this night and all other events.


Tuesday. We returned with a group of thirteen to Holy Apostles and they gave us all meaningful work, though they do not usually take volunteer groups larger than eight.They serve lunch and provide take-home food five days a week. In October they will celebrate their 25th year and will have served over 6 million meals. Then back to St.Anne's where our kids helped their young friends and Mary Jo and I worked very hard prunning woody forsythia and rose of sharon shrubs at the church. In the evening we attended the Broadway musical "Hairspray" and then walked to Carnegie Deli for orders of the largest sandwiches in the city. Another great memory.


Wednesday. Last day at St. Anne's and many tears of friendship were shed. The memories will stay a lifetime for many. In the morning our group greatly enjoyed their time at the Museum of Modern Art. Then we were onto Canal Street for shopping in Chinatown and for a view of the architecture in SOHO. When we got back to St. Anne's Mike and Rob joined both of us to finish the pruning in the church yard. May they bloom well for Mother Martha in the years to come. All of our group were presented with certificates of appreciation by the group leaders of the after school program.

When we went to the airport, Cathay Pacific treated us very well as our flight had been postponed to Thursday. They gave us a shuttle to the Holiday Inn with dinner, breakfast and a phone card included. We all rested well with this delay, giving everyone a chance to slow down from the hectic pace.


Thursday. We all flew out on Cathay Pacific, ate well on the flight and had lots of music and movies to entertain us. We arrived home in the afternoon weary, satisfied and happy. We were priviliged to keep company with such a great group of students and leaders for the week.

Photo credits: Rey Corpuz, Mary Jo Dawe