Daytime at Wheatstalk 2005

After what seemed only a few hours sleep, it was over to the Wheathole to see if Sol,Fine-line and Paulette were up and about and so they were. Someone had got it together (I can only assume Esther!) to make a pot of coffee as well as a selection of muffins - a pretty good way to start the day :) At eleven, Jim got on the mic for the rant 'n' rave hour and Lyndon, Frankie, Victoria, Paulette and Tom told the story of the problems of getting to Alaska in the first place. Victoria recalled the day she met Lyndon, complete with pink rubber dress and high heels - that was what Lyndon was wearing not Victoria! Tom and Frankie told how they first met Alex and Lyndon.

In the afternoon, Lyndon gave a masterclass in the Wheathole with Caiti Hopper,ZiggyD, aka Deborah, Cil and Esther. Lyndon went through a song Caiti had written,making little suggestions to chord structures and various other tips to add something extra to the song. Even on this one song, I think Caiti might give her mum a run for her money in the songwriting stakes. Cil had written an arrangement of the Beatles' "Yesterday" which Lyndon went through as well. Lyndon also talked about how he contructs a song, showing various chords he uses that weren't necessarily "pop" chords. At the end of the time, I think the gang got a lot from Lyndon's tuition. They were much appreciative of Lyndon taking some time out to give them some tips.

- posted by Tom @ 11:00 PM 0 comments

 
North to Talkeetna

Talkeetna is approximately 170 miles north from Kasilof and we stop off in Anchorage to pick up provisions. I still can't get over the fact that while you're pushing the shopping cart picking up the coffee and toilet paper, you can buy a gun over the counter! Another unusual incident involved Frankie being asked for I.D. when he went to buy cigarettes. Now I'm not saying that Frankie's been around the block a few times,but there's no way he doesn't look old enough for ciggies. After thanking the cashier for the compliment, it turns out it's standard practice to ask for I.D. in Alaska when buying tobacco. Unlucky Frankie!!

Helen and Gwen bump into Sol and Fine-line in the shopping mall, obviously stocking up too. We head back to the RV and head up the Glenn Highway and once again we're witness to beatiful countryside. Further on we take the spur road that leads us to Talkeetna itself and we start to see buildings that we've heard Jim and Esther talk about on Wholewheat Radio.

The streets in Talkeetna are alphabeticised(!), that is A Street, B Street and so on. We know that Jim and Esther are on H Street and Paulette has no trouble getting us there. We see the CONCERT sign outside and all pile out of the RV excitedly. The first person I see is Esther coming down the path and burst out laughing and call out,"We finally made it Esther!" This is the start of the craziest twenty minutes in a long time. Esther and The Farmer's Wife hug each other like long lost sisters. At the Wheat Hole already are not only Fine-line and Sol but J-Walk and Mozie, who have come up from Tucson, Arizona and arranged their holiday around the concert at the Wheathole as well as Mr and Mrs Toad, all the way from Pennsylvania.

Then casually walking down the path, beer bottle in hand, is the man himself, Jim Kloss! More hugs and mad laughing from yours truly and The Farmer's Wife makes the formal introduction to Lyndon,Alex and Frankie. Hugs all round again. I'm beginning to realise this is going to turn into something very special.

The evening was then spent in the Wheathole and a song circle commenced. Those that were there had the privilege to hear Esther Golton, Robin Hopper and Larry Zarella. The Mice also did a few numbers as a warm up for the official Wheatstalk concert, the next night. It was a fantastic atmosphere having all these musicians just chilling and making music. Yours truly eventually hit the RV bed, but as it was still light had absolutely no idea what time it was. Suffice to say the howls of either wolves or sled dogs led me to bed.

Jim and Big Tom meet. Mozie and Frankie are much more polite! :)

Photo by Fine-line

- posted by Tom @ 1:36 PM 0 comments

 
Moose Monday

We wake up and take a look out of Mike's window.WOW! What a view. Simply miles of trees and mountains in background. Lyndon,Vic and Tom take a stroll onto Michael's balcony to take in the view and we get our first view of Alaskan wildlife. Casually strolling through Michael's property is a female moose and her two calves. After watching the family wander through after about 10 minutes, it's time for Lyndon to borrow Michael's washing facilities. He's been wearing the same clothes for a couple of days so needs them washed. Lyndon would like me to appeal on your behalf. Could you send him new clothes,underwear, oh, and DVDs. Let's hear it for Lyndon Aid.
Frankie,Alex and Mike are chilling out in Mike's home studio and Helen and Gwen and relaxing too.

Finally it's time to get it together and hit the road to the next town on our trip,Talkeetna, and Jim and Esther at Wholewheat Radio. Thanks, Mike for your hospitality!

- posted by Tom @ 12:34 PM 0 comments

 
On The Road Again

The Farmer's Wife and Big Tom are the first to wake up and take in the view. What a view it is! Even from the RV park which is just a 3/8 mile from the airport the view is stunning. A range of mountains are on one side, still covered in snow, scale the heights. Light aircraft are flying out of the airport and look like flys when they get close to the mountains.

A quick visit to the airport to see if Lyndon's bag has arrived but there's no sign. The tracing system has no record of it so things are not looking good. Lyndon has to borrow some clothes from the Farmer's Wife. The sight of Lyndon in one of Victoria's skirts was not a pretty sight.
Eventually we all gather at the office at the RV office and we meet Paulette, otherwise know to us Wholewheat Radio listeners as Latitude59 who has kindly offered to drive the RV to the World Music for the Kenai Solstice Celebration Kasilof. It was nice to put a face to a name after all the emails that had been flying back and forth between us with the Visa Fiasco. Lyndon, Paulette and Tom collect the hire gear and manage to fill up Paullete's Subaru. Back to the RV Park and stow the gear in the RV and the last pice of paperwork and we're finally on our way.

The drive to Kasilof is simply stunning. We're driving through mountain ranges and lakes and rivers made of glacial water of the deepest green. Lyndon has never seen anything like and we are all pretty amazed at the views. We arrive at Kasilof at Mike Morgan's place. Mike has a large plot of land and has built a open air venue in his back yard. It's a fantastic place and we're welcomed warmly by Mike and company.
We also get to meet Sol and Fine-line, a couple of regular listeners to Wholewheat who have made the trip up to Alaska from Washington to see the Mice!

On the bill is Radoslav Lorkovic who plays some excellent boogie woogie and blues piano and accordian who is coming to London at the end of July. Keep an eye out for him, you won't be disappointed. At around nine o'clock and it's time for the Mice to take the stage. They're off and the crowd are loving it. The locals are up dancing and in no time the band have won the audience over. The gig is over at 11:30 pm and it's still not dark yet. We're about to experience our first Alaskan midnight.
Thank you, Mike Morgan for a fantastic venue and all at Kasilof for making us so welcome.

We've been invited to stay at Paulette's friend, Mike Nadeau, who has a beautiful house not far from Moose Pass.

- posted by Tom @ 11:46 AM 0 comments

 
One day we'll Fly Away

So Saturday has finally arrived. We all go our different routes and arrive at Heathrow. We all get through the customs check pretty quickly but becasue of the last minute rearrangement of the flight, guitars are in the wrong seats to fly. Under the rules they have to be in a window seat.That finally sorted, we get on the plane. Under mouse rules something has to go wrong and duly does. Somewhere over North America the plane double backs on itself. The pilot ask if there are any medical personel on board. It transpires that someone has had a heart attack and the plane is being diverted to Montreal. Once we land a medical team comes aboard and the lady is taken off the plane. After about an half an hour, with thanks from the woman's husband and the captain, we finally are on our way again. We arrive at L.A. after about a 12 hour flight.

Luckily we have a six hour wait and even with the delay, we arrive in L.A. with plenty of time to spare. We all get onto the connecting flight and are on the last leg of our marathon journey. The trip from L.A. to Anchorage is about 5 hours. Some of the gang eventually manage to get a few hours sleep. Looking out the window at about an hour from Anchorage was an awesome site. The horizon is deep orange hue and has the look of a sunset,which of course it was but at midnight Alaska time. As we get closer to Anchorage, we begin to see the tips of mountain tops breaking through the clouds and on the horizon, Mount Denali and the surrounding mountains come into view.

Eventually we land at Anchorage at 1:30 am local time,and collect our baggage. Except we don't all collect our baggage. After about an hour it's apparent that Lyndon's bag hasn't made the trip to Anchorage. Enquiries are made with Alaskan Airlines and they put a tracer procedure into place. The next flight from L.A. isn't until 8:30 am so there's nothing that can be done except call in the morning. Taxis are hailed and some go to hotels and the remainder hit the Motorhome Park where the keys are essentially "under the mat". Once all the baggage is on the RV, then it's night night and some well earned rest.
- posted by Tom @ 11:24 AM 0 comments

 
It's Friday

5 am again and over to the Farmer's Wife again.I've been there three days now and the cats are still petrified of me!

8:20 am and the door bell rings. Could it be,could it possibly be? YES!! We now have the passports and visas. Once again phonecalls all round. Even though we won't arrive in Anchorage till one am Sunday and will still need to get the hire gear from Creative Light and Sound, we will make it to the the Kasliof concert. And more good news for us. Paulette has offered to drive the RV for us to Kasilof and back to Anchorage where she'll pick up her car and follow us to Talkeetna. Esther has also offered to drive from Talkeetna to Anchorage to help us if we need it.

It has to be said now and will probably said again but we have all been touched by all the offers of help and all the hard work that our friends in Alaska have done to help us get this tour off the ground.

So for the Mice today a quick get together to go through the songs and for the Farmer's Wife to get some well earned sleep!

- posted by Tom @ 8:53 AM 0 comments

 
And still no sign
Another 5 am for your scribe as I had to go over to the farmhouse as I'd put my name down to sign for the passports and visas and The Farmer's Wife lives not far from the Embassy so logically we should get ours quicker than them being sent to any of the Mouse holes.

Now if anyone from my 9 to 5 is reading this and thinking how can he get up this early yet he never manages to arrive much before 9:30, forget it. It ain't gonna happen!

So most of the day is spent waiting and waiting and waiting. Finally a phone call comes in that they will arrive on Friday between 8 and 6. Didn't think to ask them if they couldn't get it to us today. Finally the stress and the long days are beginning to show. The Farmer's Wife has smoked the entire contents of a cigarette packet in twenty minutes, there's now a coffee shortage in West London and once again calls to travel agents, vehicle rental, calls to Lyndon, Alex and Frankie and emails to Paulette and Esther to keep them in the loop.

Now the big question is do we risk booking a early afternoon flight on the Friday and gamble on them arriving first thing and mad rush to Heathrow or do we wait and get a Saturday flight so we're not rushed? It's a tough desicion as having had to cancel the first date in Homer, it would mean we would lose the Seldovia date too. Saturday was chosen as it was too much of a risk with Friday. Seldovia looked such a beautiful place to perform at but we had to contact the organisers and explain the situation.

- posted by Tom @ 8:29 AM 0 comments

 
Can't get much worse!!

It's 8 am on a damp Wednesday morning but instead of queuing up at check in at Heathrow, Alex,Lyndon,Frankie and Tom are queueing up for the emergency visa interviews at the U.S. Embassy. Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. Let's take you back a couple of months. We were told in April that the initial application would not be even be processed till after the tour that the Farmer's Wife had put together. Paulette, our petitioner in Alaska and the musical director of public radio station,KBBI in Homer, told us that the only other option was premium processing "guaranteed within two weeks" for the princely sum of $1000. This was duly paid as too much work had been done and there were Mice fans from around the U.S. arranging their holidays to come to Alaska, so it had to be done. So finally in May, Paulette sent the form to the necessary government department and we waited....and waited... and waited.

Behind the scenes things were not going well. The immigration people were asking Paulette all sorts of supplementary questions about the Mice and having to supply yet more information. Paulette had to arrange things with the American Federation of Musicians as well, who in their correspondence to her, told her it wasn't the first time they had had problems with Immigration processing visas for musicians coming into the country.....it was now the 2nd of June, the form should have been back weeks ago and still the days ticked by.

Esther at Wholewheat Radio and Paulette then came up with the idea of getting the State Senators involved. Letters were sent to Senators Ted Stevens and Lisa Murkowski .Thankfully a Mr Jim Egan at Senator Ted Stevens' office took up our case. Now for all you Brits out there, you have to realise who Senator Stevens is. In line to the big red button is President George W. Bush,then Vice President Dick Cheney, then Ted Stevens. Furious emailing proceeded between Jim Egan and The Farmer's Wife and he was regularly keeping Mouse Central informed of his progress. Through his intervention things started to move, even to the extent of him going to work at midnight just so he could contact the Consul in London and see how things were progessing. Could you imagine John Prescott doing this much?

Finally on Friday 10th Mr Egan got the news that the applications were in London. However, various calls to the call centre, which arranges the interviews, could only get us one on the Wednesday at the earliest. Yikes!!

Back to Wednesday....
So the Mice finally get into the building and get our ticket, number 137. After about an hour waiting we are all seen together, as we'd spotted a group of dancers who went up together. How did we know they were dancers? Well having spent half an hour outside the Embassy watching them recreate Flashdance it was fairly obvious, I think. Though how one particular young lady in the group was that energetic that early in the morning couldn't be down to the large cup of Starbucks coffee she was drinking, I'm convinced, sniff,sniff!

In the new age, biometrics are the order of the day and the U.S. now have mouse prints on record. Yours truly had to re scan them as the computer had somehow lost them between processing and interview. Fortunately my rubber human suit did not give away my true identity, General Klak of the Glandar Star System and the puny humans still believe I am Big Tom, a jovial Welshman from Cardiff.

The interview was painless and took less than ten minutes. Interestingly they had all the correspondence from Paulette and Mr Egan. The consular did query how we managed to get a State Senator involved and we duly explained the saga.Passports were handed in to the courier service with an assurance from the young girl there that she would ring us when they were on their way. Hopefully we would get them the same day. No luck! Although we got a call that they weren't in the first batch they may be in the next that day. Unfortunately no word was heard so flying out Thursday was looking less likely.

- posted by Tom @ 8:00 AM 0 comments