Bear’s Paw Dinner Café
NEWSLETTER No. 2, Vol. 1
June 27, 2006
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July 11 @ 9 pm @ The Bear’s Paw
Mr. SOMETHING SOMETHING
“If you were withus at ‘Supermarket’ on Friday, you
know what these guys are capable of.
Everyody in the room was dancing, me included,…If you’ve never seen
them before, trust me when I tell you that they put on a fantastic show.”
-Matt
Galloway, host of CBC Radio’s Here & Now
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MUSIC EVENTS at THE PAW
Clear the
calendar!
July 2 – MURRAY BOAL – The
singing organic farmer! Murray is a
Cariboo Chilcotin musical icon, as well as Box a week provider for Dragon
Mountain Farms. He writes and sings about us, sometime poetic, sometimes
political. I’m going to make sure he
sings “Company Town” while he’s here, and you can count on a rendition of Jack
o Clubs Hotel. This concert will be
great cause he’s going to drag the ‘help’ out of the kitchen for an old school
revival! Murray Boal and Bob Campbell,
for those of you who remember Murray’s first album! Visit www.murrayboal.com
to see what you’re getting!
July 11 – MR. SOMETHING SOMETHING – Please
plan to attend this event! This highly acclaimed 6 piece afro-jazz beat band
from Toronto is on tour this summer.
Wildly energized and unpredictable live shows have brought Mr. Something
Something a hard-earned, solid reputation as an act that really gets through to
people. The unique combination of African percussion, saxophones, voice and
guitars, with improvisational rhythms and uplifting melody lines promises an
exciting listening experience.
Listen to
Mr. Something Something play an amazing outdoor concert athe the Bear’s
Paw on Tueday, July 11th at 9 pm.
Entrance is by Donation! Check
out the unique sound at http://www.mrsomethingsomething.com/music.htm
and then call us to reserve a spot for ashow you will not want to miss.
Lots of Parking and RV spaces
available, visit www.wellsbc.com for
accommodation details. Email us at thebearspaw@whitegold.ca or call the
café at 1-866-994-2345 for information, discounts, or dinner reservations.
HIKES – PAST AND
FUTURE
7 Summits in 7
Days.
It’s on
again. Climb any 7 of 8 specific day
hikes sometime this summer, collect the token in the summit cairn, stop in at
the café for your free token holder/key chain, give us a picture for our wall
of fame. Collect 7 tokens and get the
GRAND PRIZE, (or is that a token prize), Delicious piece of Cranberry Carrot
Cake and a cup of tea of your choice!
This year we’re putting together a September Bike and hike race….7
summits in one day! Stay tuned for
developments; the professional division is not for the faint of heart! More
pics at website www.whitegold.ca/7summits.htm
Racetrack
Flats – We took a school group up to Racetrack
Flats this spring. What a powerful
experience. There is SO MUCH history on
this trail. It puts all of Barkerville
history in a deeper perspective as you hike through all the eras that both
predate and post-date Barkerville’s heyday.
If you get a chance to hike to Racetrack, do it. It is one of the easiest hikes going, and
takes you to a place that once saw race horses from across North America go
head to head, for a few short years in
the 1860’s. It’s a beautiful sub-alpine
meadow, that once housed a hotel, corals and thousands of miners!
Photos: Left: School Group lunching on
the track at Racetrack Flats, and Right: Dave showing his appreciation for the
restored grave marker of a long gone Expressman.
Mount Burdett – June
13th saw Cheryl and I reflagging the route to the summit of Mount
Burdett. This is a great hike! It was
our first trip ever up there. The walk
up the ditch line is very historic, and interesting. Then, when you leave the ditch, the grades are very gentle(for a
mountain!), but you are already so high that even with the gentle grades, it’s
not long before you’ve reached the alpine.
Burdett is a broadly rounded peak mostly surrounded by steep cliff. It sits in an isolated fashion with
expansive views in all directions. We kind
of felt like we were in an enormous fish bowl up there. The descent from the peak is along a ridge
running eastward. This is an unusual
direction, and when you come down, you spend a long time enjoying grand views to Mount Tinsdale and the
Cariboos in Bowron Park. In all it’s a
delightful hike, but watch out…as the season goes on, the midsection of the
trail is going to crowd up with Rhododendrons and become a little difficult to
negotiate, despite the easy grades.
Take Nothing but Pictures
The mountains are a gift to all of us.
Even though we climb to summits and find cairns built by our
predecessors, I always feel a little bit like I’m also the first person ever up
there too. Please remember how good
that feels! We found these amazing
Cariboo Antlers on one of our hikes, and were trhilled to think that we were
standing on the same ground where a big bull had dragged his itchy head over
the tundra, and broken them off for the next season. Although they seem to make a great memento of a hike, it’s your
responsibility to leave items like this exactly where you find them. Just imagine the joy of discovery that you
leave behind for the next “first person” to climb that mountain!
Taking Care
Please take
care in the mountains. We will have a
log at the café soon, so you can log in and out on your way through. Take sturdy shoes or good hikers, Always
have a warm hat, and rain gear, regardless of the weather(it’ll help with the
emergency bivouac!), and count on being chilly at the summit. Take extra food, lots of water, and your
camera!
CAFÉ NEWS
Canoesongs CD
Thanks to Jeff
Dinsdale for turning us onto Canoesongs.
These CD’s are collections of songs which all have the canoe as their
central theme, and are compilations of tunes from well known artists from
across Canada. Canoesongs II has to be
my favourite though, since it has tracks from 3 people whom I consider Wells
residents, and songs about my favourite paddle… The Bowron Lakes!
Yael Wand, http://www.yaelwand.com/
definitely qualifies as a Wells resident.
Her house is just up the street after all! With ‘One Stroke’, Yael has written one of the greatest love
songs of all time. It is beautifully
melodic and describes a true experience in which, in one fell swoop she fell in
love with canoeing, the Bowron Lakes, and best of all her partner…Jason Griffin
Ross Douglas
is a defacto Wells resident, after spending the last 10 years making
pilgrimages up here every summer. He takes me back to his 9 years on stage in
Barkerville with his just-plain-fun song ‘Kokanee, Canary, Canoe’ His songs about Wells set the standard for
storytelling in our area.
David Essig, http://www.davidessig.com is an honourary
Wells resident, having played wicked concerts up here for 4 years, as
sound-track man for Theatre Royal, musical supporter of IMA and just plain good
friend, who comes to visit! David wrote
Class V…specifically for this compilation, and thusly proved his superiority as
a wordsmith. Anyone who can rhyme with
j-stroke and make it sound as natural as David did, deserves a medal. It only takes the first bar of music to
recognize David’s unique slide style on this tune.
As if that
wasn’t enough, every song is a gem on this album, but the medley of Voayuer
tunes by tanglefoot can not beheard lying donw. You WILL be tapping your toes, if not outright dancing when the
superior fiddling on this tune pulls you up!
Mike Ford,
from Moxy Fruvous, has a track called Les Voyaguers, which is the
quintessential piece covering our entire canoe history in 3 minutes. It starts by describing the Voyaguers as ’13
Men in a Birchbark Stationwagon’, which I think is the greatest description of
a 36 Montreal Canoe I have ever heard!
As you can see
we love it, we got it and now you can get it from us. $19.95 (free shipping in
Wells!)
MENU CHANGES
More Beers and Wines, Don de Deux
– By Special order from Unibroue!! This
exceptionally smooth and subtly flavoured beer has put every other excellent
unibroue product in second place!! You gotta try this!
Summit Platter – Dave makes
this no yeast mountain bread and we serve it with great tasting cheeses, sliced
meats and pickles, and a secret addition you gotta come here to see. We even brought in a particular New Zealand
wine to have with this because the flavours are so outrageously complimentary,
but it also stars with Maudite!
Veggie Burgers – We are introducing a new Veggie Burger at the café, t compete with our
meat burger. We found a faboulous
veggie pattie with a perfect texture and taste. It is a permanent addition to our menu and part of our expanded
vegetarian selection this year,
Including frequent vegetarian specials, Veggie donairs, Burgers, Thai
salads, Slide Mountain bowl, House salads with Tofu, and all of our Appetizers.
Come for Dinner? We have lots of people coming to the café
now, just for a night out. And why
not? It’s a pleasant drive from
Quesnel, through beautiful, mostly undeveloped scenery, teeming with wildlife,
(Grizzly Photo at the top of Devil’s Canyon by Karen Kellett, on her way home
from the Celtic Concert last Sunday), and a great meal waiting at the end of
the road. (for you, not the Grizzly)
The other increase we’re seeing is people coming up from Williams Lake
or Prince George, just to stay the night at a Hotel, or one of the B&B’s,
and have a nice retreat for the weekend.
Some do Barkerville, but lots are finding other reasons to be here like
knocking off a day hike, walking the galleries in Wells, or taking in a special
event
Everyone gets
a charge out of the café, and so do we!
Most of the time we’re a great source for Bowron Lake or Cariboo
Mountain information, Special Events in Barkerville, or Wells, cool spots worth
driving or cycling to, or just about anything else.
OTHER EVENTS YOU
SHOULD TELL PEOPLE ABOUT
call us or them for more info.
It happened
already…so you missed it!! But Rae Spoon and Ivan Coyote put on a tour de force
at the IMA gallery earlier this month.
Their traveling performance, “YOU ARE HERE” was dynamite. For fans of the Stuart McClean genre of
storytelling, or anyone wo like to me emotionally touched, Ivan Coyote is an amazing
storyteller you must experience. Rae did an
awesome job of providing a musical backdrop for Ivan’s wordsmithing… Given the
chance, done’t ever miss an opportunity like that again…Meanwhile:
July 1 – Dominion Day Celebrations at Barkerville. All day long it’s a great day
to be in Barkerville. My favourite is
the greasy pole climb…parade starts at noon…come and celebrate our joining the
union..1860’s style
July 1,2 – Theatre Royal “An
Evening of British Music Hall: An audience sing-along” This is a new theatrical concept this year,
and gives you the permission you never needed anyway…permission to sing along
with the cast! Saturday is preview
night. Sunday is opening night.
July 8 Ross Douglas -
Sunset Theatre – This is the eagerly awaited
return of Ross Douglas, veteran of the 9 years war, the Wells Yacht Race, and
numerous bobings by mosquitoes and no-see-ums.
Ross escapes from the confines of Vancouver to give us a taste of our
own medicine…Music. The café is already
booking up with dinner reservations for this concert. Call us to make yours.
Call the Sunset for show tickets. karenjeffery@shaw.ca (The Sunset Theatre is fully reopened this
year with performances of some time almost every night in July and August!)
July 2 – Murray Boal Remember?
….read the notes at the top of the page…8:30 pm indoor concert.
July 11 – Mr. Something Something - also described at the top of
the newsletter. This will be a very
cool experience.
Autumn Moon Festival isn’t until
August, but…dare I say?…if you want to eat at the LUNG DUCK TONG that night,
you better get your reservation in there soon.
Call us:
locally at 994-2345, or toll free at 1-866-994-2345 to make a dinner
reservation at the Bear’s Paw for one of our music nights.
Concert shots
OUT OF
ALBA
June 24
Cheryl dances her way through the BBQ crowd.
The drum must be glowing from the heat in this night shot of the stage.
HER SWEET
TIME
Caroline and Beth worked it up with beautiful melodies,
during their indoor concert on June 22
If you are seeing this newsletter for the first time because someone
passed it on to you, and would like to be on our regular mailing list, click
here thebearspawcafe@whitegold.ca
and send us an email titled “Add me to the Paw!”