31 May 2005

End of Tour statistics


[Atop Signal Hill in St. John's; behind me, in the distance, Ireland]

As mentioned in the Water Ceremony post below, the Tour is now officially over, and tomorrow we turn the car around. Notice, I beg, the licence plate in the photo above: how many cars reach St. John's with California plates? No one has commented on them since Montreal, but on this blog the world can behold our vanity.


Speaking of vanity, here are some end-of-Tour statistics.

Total days of Tour: 50
Days featuring a performance: 28
Days driving: 15
Days off / devoted to logistics: 8
Ferries taken: 7
Total kilometers travelled: 11 675
(=Total miles travelled: 7,254)
Total cups of Tim Horton's coffee enjoyed: as countless as the grains of sand in the Libyan desert
Total hours of documentary digital video footage filmed: 46
Total gigabytes of documentary digital video footage: 552
Number of print interviews given: 4
Number of radio interviews given: 7
Number of TV interviews given: 1
Number of blog entries: 61
Total schools performed at: 16
Total school performances: 29
Total public performances: 13
Total performances: 42
Total audience for school shows: 1315
Total audience for public shows: 292
Total audience: 1607
Average length of performance, in verses: c. 450
Total verses performed: c. 18900
Total verses in the Iliad: c. 16000
Average length of time to deliver one verse, in seconds: c. 5
Total length of time spent performing verses, in hours: c. 26

Dave and I would like to thank all the hosts at public shows and teachers at school shows along the Tour, without whom the project would not have been possible. Lorenz von Fersen and Jim Oborne provided invaluable assistance; our parents, Marg and Jim, always thought that we would make it to the end. Moira Johnson and Tracy Theobald at Moira Johnson Consulting did an extraordinary job on the publicity. Rudyard Griffiths and Alison Faulknor of The Dominion Institute, the Tour's sponsor, lent their remarkable talent for organisation and coordination to The Plains of Abraham Project, and the dedication of Annie Forget, who lined up all the venues (an immense task) and liased from start to finish, was almost superhuman. Lastly but most warmly, we feel a great debt of gratitude to the Tour's patrons, who believed in Canadian epic poetry. I hope we have been worthy of their trust.

He's looking away from the screen now, so I can sneak in one last comment: in praise of Dave. You know, there's not many people who could put up with a guy like me for a week, must less six -- and that almost 24/7. What a brother. What a guy. He's been as busy, or busier, than I've been the whole time, and he only grumbled when he saw I didn't want to grumble alone. Behind the cameras, at the wheel, on the phone half the time to media and contacts days in advance, his dedication is what's kept me going. I can't imagine a single instant of the Tour without him (and there wasn't one!); I'd take my hat off to him if I were the hat-wearing type. Salve, frater!


[Dave on the (Atlantic) edge of the continent]

Water ceremony - a mari usque ad mare


Just got back from the last show of the Tour, at the LSPU Hall Gallery in St. John's. The last show, can it be true? Well, it is, though I frankly cannot come to terms with the fact right now. Fortunately there is the "bonus" Tour-capping show coming up in Quebec City on Friday.

We celebrated with pan-fried cod at a pub on Water Street. Absolutely delicious. One really does begin laying plans in the back of the brain of how one could move to Newfoundland.

No pics yet from tonight's show, but it had a good success: about 12 people in the audience, and fine art by local artists on the walls of the Gallery around us. It was strangely hot under the lights! Also got the chance to shake the hand of Mr. Justice Malcolm Rowe, who stopped by and also warned us about the Moose on the Trans-Canada. I hadn't realised it, but they are apparently
attracted to headlights, so there are effectively several hundred thousand two-ton antlered torpedoes out there on the Rock, ready to zoom straight for you. Will I sleep better, knowing this?

Tomorrow we head off bright and early, but I can't forbear from blogging the Water Ceremony of yesterday afternoon.


[Bottling the Pacific]

The keenest reader of this blog may have forgotten that back on 11 April, the day before the Tour began, I wandered down to English Bay in Vancouver to fill up a bottle in the Pacific ocean. Dave and I pondered whether we should play it safe and use a screw-top bottle -- eliminating all chance of spillage -- or go for the classier wine bottle. The wine bottle won because we couldn't find a screw-top bottle, and every now and then throughout the Tour I would notice the bottle sitting in the trunk and think, "Whoa Nellie! I hope the cork doesn't come out." I had explained, you see, to Dave that, based on my experience on Epic Tour 2000, when I likewise brought a bottle of water
a mari usque ad mare (emphasis on usque), the shelf-life of bottled seawater is short. In fact, when I had opened it up in my grandmother Affleck's living room in 2000, I had unleashed an unholy odour.

But the cork held, and yesterday afternoon -- a gloriously sunny day -- I ceremoniously dumped the Pacific into the Atlantic. And Dave, standing 10 feet away with the camera with a strong breeze blowing, commented on the particular tang in the air.


[Pouring the Pacific into the Atlantic]

A mari usque ad mare. Literally, that motto encompasses more than the mind can easily conceive. This Tour has taught me a lot about this country and its people: we've seen mountains and prairies, vast lakes and quick brooks, islands and immense cities, snow and sunshine, and of course two seasides. But it's the people that make the nation, the young and the old; and even as we plan for the days to come, I hope we continue to look with interest to the epic past.

CBC radio interview in St. John's


The interview I'd given yesterday to Heather Barrett of Radio Noon was broadcast today -- and in a most wonderful way, as they played clips of one of yesterday's performances throughout the hour! Here's an audio file, in Quicktime format:


I've cut out most of the other material on the show. I was pretty wrecked -- had just performed 3 times and (you'll be amazed to read) signed many an autograph -- when I spoke to Heather, but in fact I'm oddly coherent (if I do say so myself)!

30 May 2005

St. John's school shows


[3rd show at Prince of Wales today; note stand-up mic in front of me]

Had a splendid time performing at Prince of Wales Collegiate today, the last school shows of Epic Tour 2005. Nice to go out with a bang! The students are really engaged, obviously bursting with creativity -- one had even constructed a diarama of the battle. Our host, Mr. Keith Samuelson, is really the paragon of the committed, can-do, think-outside-the-box high school teacher: one felt superbly energised in his presence. I was pretty impressed by St. John's already, but if this is what the city's youth are like, this province is headed for a bright future. (I see I'm mentioned on the school page, at the link above, with a picture; one student also added some flattering comments to the Final map of Tour route post below.) Thank you, PWC!



[2nd show. I used the projection screen to provide a white backdrop, which worked quite well]

Of the three shows, the third was the best, and also the first I've done in front of a stand-up microphone (which was collecting material for the Radio Noon broadcast tomorrow; see post below). I didn't quail in its presence, though it did forbid sweeping hand-gestures; but I didn't feel as cut off from the audience as I'd have expected. Still, I don't think I'll have one in front of me in the future if it can be avoided. Total audience today was about 130.

Alas, though, no more school shows! It feels eerie to have no more to look forward to. I'd had my doubts, before the Tour began, about the prospect of performing in front of younger audiences -- wasn't I reviving an essentially elite art form? Didn't that mean that only a few could understand it? Yet some of the best performances, and the best responses, have certainly been at the schools. I guess I hadn't hung around much with people aged 12-18 for a good while: the fact is, they should never be underestimated, personally or in their ability to understand and appreciate art. I will miss performing for them.

Quebec City confirmed

We have confirmation on the date, time, and location of the Quebec City show. I will be performing the poem at 8pm in Kirk Hall, 44 St-Stanislas St. in the Old City (sponsored by the Literary and Historical Society). Here's a useful map; Kirk Hall is just across the street from Morrin College.

Of course, the final official stop on Epic Tour 2005 is tomorrow in St. John's, at 7pm in the LSPU Hall Gallery (Resource Centre), at 3 Victoria St. (itself usefully mapped). I just gave another interview (7th and luckiest?) for CBC Radio today; it will be airing on the Radio Noon show and will, I hope, help attract a large audience.