Music

Dan Mangan's Home Stretch Visual Tour Diary Day 6

by AUX staff

Calgary to Kelowna, Kelowna to Vancouver

Last night’s sleep was nothing like as luxurious as yesterday’s. After leaving SAIT in the wee hours we checked in to a cool mid-60’s motel – the kind with a vintage banker’s cage surrounding the front desk and sheets so strictly laundered that small electrical storms of static were created with every sleeping movement – and we woke early to begin the 7-hour drive to Kelowna. Before the day really began, however, we had the unfinished business of breakfast to take care of at the Communitea Cafe in Canmore.

After a while the drive through the Rockies becomes a blur of mountains, snow, highway and fog. After a while, the dates on this trip began to blur: as an observer I was witness to various shades of the same songs, similar venues, similar crowds and motels and food and beer. It would have been a blur, but that propensity for redundancy was defeated soundly (pun intended, as always) by great music, great hosts, and an exceptional cast of characters. John Walsh, fog-slayer, soon-to-be father, bass player extroadinaire; Aidan Knight, pop culture buff and iPhone App aficionado, humbucker-hummer and devoted knitter; Kenton Loewen, consummate brofessional, jazzman, cynic, and possible philosopher; Neil Mangan, Mr. Science himself, articulate articler, King of the Road and merch guru; and of course the dedicated and inexhaustibly talented Mr. Dan Mangan of the hard voice and soft words: you have all made this short trip unforgettable. It was a pleasure and a privilege to tour with you. Thank you for having me.

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Jonathan Taggart is a documentary photographer and writer based in Vancouver.
www.jonathantaggart.com
twitter.com/jonathantaggart