Three Performances of John Mann
This week brought me news of the death of singer and performer John Mann of Spirit of the West. I had the good fortune to see Mann perform on 3 different occasions. The first time was the summer of 1989 when I was planting trees in Northern B.C. We drove from Prince George to McBride British Columbia and then killed time strumming a guitar in the parking lot while we waited for the show to begin. We watched a lovely performance of Spirit of the west as they played to a crowd of 50 or 60 people in a corner of the local hockey arena. The floor in front of the stage was open and young children swayed back and forth to the music. On the way home we ran out of gas in the car we had borrowed and had to wait all night at a gas station until it opened. The night sky was electric with the northern lights from one end to the other all night long, shimmering green tie-dyed with light. It was a good night. The second was a classic rollicking performance by Spirit ...