KEEP ON TRUCKIN’
Singer’s road trip works around dead van
“If you cultivate your friendship garden, you should need very little money.”
This, Carolyn Mark states in Chapter 3 of How To Be A Boozy Chanteuse — a funny little book she wrote about making it as a professional singer-songwriter.
Taking this advice, she “completely flattened the cushion of hospitality” at a friend’s house in Winnipeg, on the westbound leg of her Canadian summer tour earlier this week.
On her way east, she drove a 1992 Ford Econoline E-150. By the time she’d arrived in Regina on Aug. 2, the engine had already overheated once and a tire exploded — conveniently while the van was at a mechanic’s shop.
Her trip’s halfway point was the vehicle’s finale.
“My van died after Trout Forest festival, blew up,” said Mark, who lives in Victoria, B.C. “I had to load all my stuff into the festival organizer’s Boler trailer …
“I was like, ‘Maybe I’ll just move to Ear Falls, Ont., open up a brothel,’ I don’t know. The transmission seized in the middle of the road, and there’s no shoulder ... I don’t have hazards, so it was really quite a treat.”
Mark’s good nature and sense of humour come through on stage, between (and sometimes during) her guitar-strummed alternativecountry songs — which, if you’re lucky, will be accompanied by her vocalized trumpet impression.
“Some people think comedy is going to ruin your life or won’t get you paid or no one will take you seriously. But I love it. I just like a little bit of show with my rock, you know?”
Since scrapping her van, Mark has hitched rides with her friends on the Ragtag Misfit Tour: Kris Demeanor, Oldseed and Shirley Gnome.
The quartet will play Saturday at Amigo’s in Saskatoon, then Sunday at The Exchange (Club side) in Regina.
On Monday, they’ll perform in Brock, population 142 — 35 kilometres east of Kindersley. On Friday night, they were scheduled for Langenburg, population 1,165 — 70 kilometres southeast of Yorkton.
These more rural venues are right up Mark’s alley as a farm girl who grew up in Sicamous, B.C.
“Pretty much I only want to play farms from now on. Because usually they keep me for chores a couple days after, which I also enjoy,” she said. “I’m a compulsive weeder. I love that stuff, and I love being the only band around. … And I grew up on a farm and I just miss it I guess.”
These shows are part of Mark’s first Saskatchewan sojourn in a long time, along with three solo performances a few weeks ago in Swift Current, Regina and Prince Albert.
Among her last appearances were the 2004 Regina Folk Festival, and gigs at The State, Amigo’s and The Exchange in the early 2000s, when she played with bands like The Room-mates and The Corn Sisters (her duo with Neko Case).
“Bars, it has been a really long time,” she said. “You’ve got to let the crops lie fallow for a while before you return, I guess.”
The same can be said for the other Ragtag Misfits on this tour. They are:
Kris Demeanor (Calgary)
Mark says: “He’s the recovering poet laureate of Calgary. He’s very wordy; he captures these life moments . ... He’s f---ing amazing.”
Oldseed (Winnipeg/germany)
Mark says: “He’s a smouldering, intense singer-songwriter. He was like punk rock Winnipeg, but I met him in Germany, we were at a bar and we played together. … We fight about being really nice to each other.”
Shirley Gnome (Vancouver)
Mark says: “She’s great. She’s super smart and super funny, oh my God, she’s going to kill. Her songs are so filthy, and she’s such a good singer; it’s a bizarre combination.”