Living on the 2nd Floor

Here in New Westminster, Vez and I live in a suite on the second floor of a Vancouver Special.

It's a heat trap. During the peak of the heatwave exactly a year ago, I got home from Chris Fraser's jazzfest gig at Ocean Art Works and saw the indoor thermostat reading 37 degrees. Fortunately we have an AC unit!

But during this festival opening weekend, I found myself basically living in the heart of Vancouver, on a much different second floor – the 2nd Floor Gastown.

Bonnie Northgraves, who books the venue, called me to host and emcee the music there while she played other gigs throughout the weekend.

There were both brunch sets and evening sets to host, so I took my meals, got caffeinated, and hung out there to my heart's content. (I even learned that the restaurant director, Eli Brennan, is a fellow New Westminster Secondary School graduate.)

I saw and heard four consecutive gigs there, all with guitarists: