Arts Brief: Rock Out With Your Dock Out
Its not hard for bands to get lost on tour. Long nights at clubs and endless stretches of road can easily lead to exhaustion and confusion. So, when Jamestown, NY-based singer Christopher Bell embarked on a six-week-long tour, he decided not to drive. In fact, Bell decided to take a canoe.
The easy part about a river is it's one way, says Bell. The Hudsons pretty self-explanatory you can really see where youre going. Just over a month into a tour that ends this Thursday at Think Coffee on the Bowery, the only thing that must be more exhausted than the indie-folksters upper body is his ability to answer questions about his damned canoe tour.
But, lets face it, if Bell wasn't really up for such a line of questioning, he likely wouldn't be investing eight to 12 hours a day, rowing from venue to venue.
His intentions, he insists, are far purer than a simple plea for media coverage. Bell is canoeing for the future of our planet, damn it.
On tour, I go through an average of a tank a day, says Bell. Ill be gone, three or four months at a time, playing five, six shows a week. Thats at least 60 gallons a week for seven, eight months out of the year. Thats a lot of gasa lot of driving. So I wanted to do something where I didnt have to pay for gas, something a lot more ecologically friendly, since I have the feeling that Ive single-handedly destroyed the ozone layer.
Its just Bell this timewell, Bell, a ukulele, a bag full of harmonicas and brand new iPod entombed in a waterproof case to stave off the monotony of those 12-hour days. Asked what sort of music makes the best canoeing marathon soundtrack, Bell answers simply, I have a few sea shanties.