Oh boy, do I have a story for you all.
Before we get into it, THANK YOU for those of you that picked up a CD or Tape, I'm very grateful for your support. A couple orders are held up, due to Canada Post being Canada Post, that I'm in the process of clearing up, if you ordered something and haven't received it yet, PLEASE let me know so I can resolve it for you. If you still want to purchase either a CD or Tape, click here to get one from my BandCamp.
Now, as some of you may know I headed down to New Jersey for the North East Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA) conference in Asbury Park. I headed down last year to showcase with Folk Music Ontario, but this year I went down with the intention of playing the ever-intimate private showcases which happen in hotel rooms. You'll find a link to a private YouTube playlist where you'll see one clip of me performing a new song called "Dew of the Morning" in the "Canadiana Content" showcase room I cohosted with Sam Krüger and Rebekah Hawker, another clip of me performing another new song called "All the Good Things" at the conference open mic, the post-show Neil Young Jam, and one last video that serves as a nice segue into the aforementioned story...
Rebekah and I took on the ambitious mission of driving to New Jersey through the night. Leaving Toronto at 9:45pm, we embarked on the eight-and-a-half hour drive to Asbury Park, New Jersey where we would be spending the weekend. Despite what you may think, those 8-hours flew by. We chatted for the better part of it although the conversation could have been mistaken for a therapy session by anyone eavesdropping with no context. I took up the driving at around 1am. Driving through upstate New York at around 2am, I was dodging deer left and right. We must have encountered 3 or 4 separate herds in the span of an hour, but then we didn't see any for the rest of the drive. What is it with you Americans and
We crossed the border from Pennsylvania into New Jersey at around 5am with the sun cresting. Those were weird hours to be awake, Rebekah was asleep and I think my body was confused having watched the night turn to day while at the wheel. We rolled into the car port of the hotel at 7:30am, kissed the ground a few times, and proceeded to wake up our roomie Sam so that we could catch a couple hours sleep before attending the various panels & workshops in store that day. The conference went really well. I got to reconnect with some folks I hadn't seen since the last time I was in New Jersey, and got to take in some really inspiring performances. I thoroughly enjoyed my experiences playing private showcases, it was as intimate as I imagined.
I also had a really great time hanging with Sam and Rebekah, and hosting our showcase room. Our room transformed from a luggage-strewn cave with the shades drawn, to an absurdly Canadian showroom. We adorned the walls with the finest of red plastic table clothes and cheap nylon flags, and managed to smuggle in some all-dressed and ketchup chips, and aero and kinder chocolates. We turned and shoved the couch to face our makeshift stage, and the showcase room was born. Our room quickly became the place for any Canadians in attendance that weekend to slink away and get a little slice of home in the middle of America. Once our performances concluded, our room evolved into a jam session, and it had to be one of the best jams I've been a part of. People were dancing, crying, singing, laughing, the full range of human emotion on display. That's what it's all about.
Then Sunday happened. Sunday began like each day before, rolling out of bed on a few hours sleep and immediately on the hunt for a nearby cup of coffee. Sam was headed to the Newark airport to fly back to Montréal to be home in time for a VERY cool show he had that evening, he asked us to drop him off at the train station, we insisted we drive him to the airport, because we're so nice and accommodating!!!!!!! 10mins later we driving on the Garden State Parkway in the fast lane and Rebekah stops talking mid-sentence. "Uh, guys? My accelerator isn't working". Awesome.
We begin to lose speed, and the flow of traffic is quick, with no chance of crossing the 2 lanes to our right and pulling off to the shoulder, Rebekah is forced to pull over on the left shoulder which has just barely enough room for her Kia Rio. We're not at all safe in the car so we get out as quick as we can and take our guitars with us. We tried to turn the car on again with no luck. Traffic is whizzing by us on both sides, it's loud and cold, we can't hear the people we're trying to reach on the phone. Fortunately, we were situated right next to an overpass with a gap in the fence so we were able to walk down an embankment to street level to be out of traffic and in a place that was quieter. Sam called an uber to the airport because it didn't seem like we were going anywhere anytime soon. He climbs back up and grabs the rest of his stuff from the car, we exchange hugs, and send him on his way (Sam made is flight and had a great show!). At this point while flustered, Rebekah and I are remarkably calm. No one is crying, no one is panicking, we're just dealing with the situation at hand. What else could go wrong?
20-minutes after Sam leaves, we turn to back climb back up the bank and grab something from the car. I'm in front of Rebekah, and climbing up that hill I could just feel something was off. In the moment I didn't know if it was just the anxiety of situation setting in, but it became clear when the parkway came into view. The car was gone. No sign of it. My clothes, my wallet, my money, my passport, still inside. It was like scene from a movie, or Punk'd, it's like it vanished into thin air. The only choice we had left was to call the New Jersey State Police. It was from calling the police that we discover that a state trooper had happened upon the vehicle, called a tow truck, and impounded the car on the grounds of abandonment. Abandonment. We were quite literally no more than 50 yards away from the car the whole time, we were just not visible. The window of time between Sam gathering the rest of his things (which thank God he did when he did, or else he surely would have missed his flight) and the car going missing must have been no more than 25-minutes.
Enter our guardian angel, Brenda Wirth. Brenda and Rebekah had met that weekend at the conference. Rebekah played her showcase room and the two exchanged contact information. Brenda got word of our situation and called me to see if we needed help, which we really did. I don't think I've ever been in a situation where I was as helpless as I was. Rebekah and I were on the side of the road, I literally had my phone and the guitar on my back, that's it. We were able to locate where the car had been taken and were lucky enough to be given access to the car despite the lot being closed that day, we weren't going to be able to get the car released until the following morning. Brenda was running an open mic at the time, she left the open mic to come rescue us and drive us to the impound lot. In that time, Brenda offered to house us that night which we gratefully accepted. We collected our essentials from the car (phew) and got back in Brenda's car.
Now, while Brenda did us a mighty service, she still had an open mic to run. So that's where we were headed. It just so happened that this open mic that only happens once a month, had 2 cancellations that day. You lot are smart, I'm sure you know where this is going. We pull in to the little Belmar Arts Council parking lot with our guitars and proceed to each play 15-minute sets within hours of our plans completely derailing. While that may sound like nothing but an added stressor, Rebekah and I both maintain that it was exactly what we needed at that time. I nearly cried after that set.
That's the exciting part of the story, I'll speed the rest up since this is turning into something rather long-winded. That evening we ate a warm home-cooked meal with Brenda and her husband George, quite the treat after surviving in a hotel room with no fridge or microwave. We shared songs into the night and just had a great time overall. Brenda and George really showed us a good time when we really were just happy to have somewhere to sleep. The kindness we were shown feels supernatural and is not something we'll soon forget. We found out the next day that issue with the car was not something that would easily be fixed. We made the decision to fly to Buffalo and catch a ride to Toronto that night, leaving the car in New Jersey. Now, it's not my car, but I was kind of relieved we wouldn't have to drive another eight-and-a-half hours back to Toronto but I do empathize with Rebekah and the situation she still has on her hands. She's a smart cookie, she'll figure it out.
As you may have seen on my Instagram, we made it to the airport and got back to Toronto safely, thanks to my Dad for coming to get us in Buffalo. Quite a lot of excitement for one weekend. I definitely feel like I cashed in on whatever good karma I had banked up. Now I have a couple week's respite before I make my move out west to British Columbia (no cars involved), which I'm equal parts nervous and excited for.
Thanks for reading! It was a long one but I hope I made my account of the events enjoyable. I've got my last Ontario show on the 25th in Guelph, hope to see any Guelph pals out.
Cheers,
-Zack
