Anchors Aweigh

We just got in from seeing a show by a band called Anchors Aweigh.  They have been performing at the Oceanview Motel’s Anchor’s Pub in Rocky Harbor, Newfoundland for sixteen years and are VERY good and hilariously funny.  During the summer months they perform three nights a week but really pack the pub every Monday night at $25 per person cover charge.  They have four or five CDs plus a DVD of their show and they are very popular in Newfoundland and Labrador among both locals and tourists.  They play mostly songs written by Newfoundland and Labrador song writers and has a sound that is very much like Irish folk music.  Between songs they tell funny stories and one-liners, mostly based on local culture. 

It’s been so long since we have been out to a club to hear a live band that I had forgotten just how loud it is when you sit within ten feet of the stage and speakers.  We left after the first set and only two beers but I was getting a headache in addition to loosing what little hearing I have left. I would really have liked to stay for the second set so will probably have to buy the DVD.

During the day, three of the five band members are also crewmembers of the Emm-Cat, a tour boat on which we toured Bonne Bay this morning.  If I had seen Anchor’s Aweigh last night I’m not sure I would have gotten on the boat this morning when I saw who the Captain was.  It was Reg, who was not only the band’s accordion and harmonica player but also their comic relief.  Just looking at the guy made you want to laugh.  He looked like a cross between Gomer Pyle and Barney Fife.  Even so, the 2-hour cruise was both fun and educational.  Wayne, the band’s front man, was the tour guide who provided a running narration of what we were seeing, the history of the area, its geology, and also pointed out a seal pup sunning on a rock and at least three of four bald eagles.  Before the tour was over they had their guitars and accordion out and entertained us with a few songs.

Tomorrow morning I may go on a 2-hour nature walk in “The Tablelands” with a park ranger.  This is an area that provides a rare example of continental drift (plate tectonics), where deep ocean crust and the rocks of the earth’s mantle lie exposed. This happened when the “super-continent” broke apart to eventually form North America, South America, and Africa with oceans between them.  This didn’t happen overnight.  It took about 485-million years for it to happen.  Geologists from all over the world come here to study the geological evolution of ancient mountain ranges.