Northern Adventure:
Island Lake
In
the mid-'70s we were invited to play two evening shows at Island Lake (Garden
Hill), an Indian reserve on an island on Island Lake. The lake is the sixth
largest in Manitoba and is situated 300 km northeast of Winnipeg on the
Ontario border.
Sue-On, Barry and I loaded our equipment onto a plane
at St. Andrews airport a little north of Winnipeg, and took off for the
two-hour-long flight over the rugged Canadian Shield area. I'm prone to
airsickness in small aircraft so I took recommended Gravol pills -- which
made me sick before we even boarded the plane. Approaching the airport
we could see that the runway pretty much took up the entire land area of
a small island which was separate from the other communities on neighbouring
islands.
The first thing I noticed after we landed was a mangled
refrigerator dumped on the side of the runway. An aircraft, a few weeks
back, had gotten too close to a recently brought in cargo and its propeller
and new refrigerator had both been badly mangled.
Our transportation to our destination on a neighbouring
island was waiting for us -- a canoe. We loaded our guitars, amps, drums,
and cases onto the boat, but our tall Shure Vocalmaster PA speaker columns
had to be balanced cross-ways, hanging a few feet over each side of the
canoe. We made it safely to our digs -- the teachers' dorm which was now
vacant since the teachers were all away on summer holidays. Since there
were kitchen facilities in our rooms Sue-On bought steaks at the trading
post which she soon had simmering in a pan. We had a few hours to explore
our rustic surroundings before setting up for our northern gig.
Have
Canoe, Will Travel
Our two shows
in Island Lake were in the school gym. We were surprised to see that there
was no stage. We were directed to set up in the centre of the basketball
court. Our audience, which consisted of everyone within walking or canoe
distance and of all ages, encircled us and sat on the floor. We had expected
a dance crowd, but for most of the performance the crowd stared intently
and showed their appreciation after every number with polite smiles and
applause.
Eventually, the areas beyond the spectators started
to beckon a few dancers -- led mostly by exuberant white guys who lived
and worked in some capacity on the reserve. The audience was very warm,
but unlike any other we had experienced to that date.
The next day saw us back in a boat, but now we were
being given a guided tour around the many islands in the area -- the most
popular being one on which the locals had found enough clearings and soil
to plant vegetable gardens.
Now that we knew what to expect we tackled that evening's
show with a little more gusto and concentrated more on creating audience
participation. After this performance we were invited to the chief's house
for a small party, drinks and chitchat. Our flight back was scheduled for
noon the next day, but we had time to visit the trading post again to purchase
souvenirs and to leave a box of our record albums for them to sell. We
then overloaded a canoe again and set out over treacherous waters for the
island airport.
I never had a chance to re-visit, but many years later,
while working as a travelling professor for Brandon University, I was slated
to teach a remote university course in the area. The program, however,
was moved to the Pukatawagan Reserve
at the last moment.
The complete Gig Note VI is featured at:
Part
VI: What A Ride!
