The Swell was Pumping!!

Wake up to find Steve gone, I'm assuming he was on his breakfast date. Scott and I start packing and getting everything together. At 10:00 there is no Steve so we go down to the car to load up. As we putting Steve's obnoxiously large duffle bag in the car, that goofy kid rolls up in a taxi. He said he had a very nice time at breakfast and was upset that he was leaving Vancouver. We headed out for Salmon Arm, but I had to get breakfast. We stopped at a McD's on the way and I had the most difficult time ordering from this drone at the drive thru. She kept asking me if I wanted a double-double, over and over again. No matter what I said her response was, "Double-double?" To this day, I still don't know what she meant.

We then ran into an ass-load of traffic, which was a buzz kill, but knowing that we were heading to blues music festival in the middle of British Columbia was enough to keep me happy. And to make it better we were seeing one of my favorite bands, Current Swell. Check them out, they are pretty awesome. They are based out of Victoria, BC and mostly tour in Canada. I never thought I would see them play live, but that was actually happening.

The drive out to Salmon Arm was long as hell, but the country was beautiful. Driving through the mountains and then heading through a desert, finally ending up in Salmon Arm which had a beautiful lake with mountains all around it. When we got there we decided to post up at our campsite for a little bit. Scotty and I played an epic game of washers, and meanwhile we met most of our camping neighbors. Everyone was really cool and friendly, but we couldn't chat for too long because Scott and I had to go get tickets for tonight. Turns out we got cheaper tickets than Steve, even though he ordered his ahead of time. Sorry pal, but you save a ton more money than both of us with your couponing. We decided to do a quick walk through and watched this group of backporch blues musicians just kill it. We were all very impressed and excited about the rest of the festival. Back at the car, we drank a few more Kokanee (ko-ca-knee) and Molson Canadians then headed in to see the Swell. Steve was relishing in his role as commodore and had a ridiculous outfit on, but for the time it was fitting. We headed in, got front and center (right behind a group of ~16 y/o girls) and waited in anticipation. The concert was awesome. They didn't play the song that Steve and I play all the time, but every song they played was a hit.

Afterwards, Scott and Steve went to the beer garden, but I wanted an autograph. Luckily, we said the car would be our rally point. I went and bought their newer CD and then had the Swell sign it. I quickly told them my story about driving out and how I had been a big fan for a few years; they were pretty stoked to hear that, and said that one day they might make it to the east coast. I shook hands with them, told them the show was awesome and set off to find Scott and Steve. I couldn't find them so I went to the rally point, and sure enough there they were. We snacked a bit, then headed back in to see another show, but we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.

The "band" was called Ganga-Giri and was comprised of a bald Aussie, a crazy Cali bongo player, and a South African guy who was dressed to impress (AKA peacocking.) There music was electronic beats with a didjeridu, bongos, and occasional vocals. The place was going nuts; including the 3 of us. We were dancing like fools, but it was an awesome time. This concert never ended either, but I was glad when it did, because I was exhausted from jumping and dancing for an hour straight. We headed back to the car and curled up in the tent for one last night of sleeping as the 3 amigos. So glad I got to see the Swell play live, and they rocked it. ULTRA day 28/39: COMPLETE

JM