This is the third tour blog dispatch from lawyer/musician RJ Phoenix. Check out all of his guest blog entries:
post #1
post #2
post #3
Days Three and Four
Rolled into Calgary and woke up before dawn to head to Breakfast Television. Inexplicably, our GPS led us astray and we ended up, half awake, in a residential neighbourhood on the wrong side of town 25 minutes before we were supposed to be on air. We called the producer who, rather than being in a panic, calmly guided us to the station, met us outside the station with a “what would you like in your coffee?” and carried our guitars in while we parked the car. Graham and I sprinted past the security desk into the green room and were on set singing in front of cameras a few minutes later. Our voices were a little rough without time to warm up, but on the upside, we didn’t have any time to get nervous before the show. Got to meet Tara Slone, the former singer for Joydrop and now host of BTV. Very engaging personality. Coffees, quick visit with the program director at Mix 97.7 and off to Shaw TV for another performance and interview.
Edmonton — my hometown! Great to be back. We found ourselves at Breakfast Television once again. It turns out one of the girls at the station was a big RJ Phoenix fan, so the host arranged to surprise her. Halfway through the interview he asked, impromptu, if I’d be willing to follow him to the control room. With cameras in tow, we walked down the hall and entered the control booth. I introduced myself to the girl, signed a CD for her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She blushed. Priceless.
After saying our goodbyes, we rushed down the street to CBC Radio to do a piece on a show called ”Edpod.” The idea behind the show is to have artists make an on-air argument to listeners about why they should download one of the songs from the artist’s CD. I chose the single “All I Want” and made a long, rambling, philosophical argument based on the premise of the song. At the end however, I couldn’t avoid the lawyerly “in the alternative” line (“I’m a hometown boy!”)
Packed up, off to meet various music directors at local radio stations and finally to a Shaw TV daytime interview. Next up: Winnipeg then on to Toronto.
Tour photos:
