ON STAGE: Grant Lawrence and Friends: An Evening of Songs and Stories
Where: Mary Winspear Centre, 2243 Beacon Ave., Sidney
When: Wednesday, May 4, 7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $24.15 from tickets.marywinspear.ca or 250-656-0275
Note: Lawrence will also appear at the Victoria Event Centre (Thursday, May 5) and Campbell River’s Tidemark Theatre (Tuesday, May 24)
In today’s world, when something posts a profit and reaches critical mass — and this applies to books, movies and music — a sequel is all but assured. And preferably, in short order.
But where does that leave the creator, who is saddled with the massive weight of such lofty expectations? Vancouver author Grant Lawrence can tell you.
Lawrence, the popular CBC Music host, said he needed a decade to extend the narrative of his bestselling debut, 2010’s Adventures in Solitude, his memoir (and B.C. Book Prize winner for book of the year) about growing up in Desolation Sound.
Though he would go on to write more books, and win more awards, Lawrence ran into roadblocks when he attempted to write a sequel. The delay stemmed from an age-old problem: Lawrence, whose work is almost exclusively B.C.-based non-fiction, had nothing left in the tank, story-wise.
“When the first book came out, everyone said it was too regional, nobody was going to get it, nobody cared about these places,” Lawrence said from his home in East Vancouver.
“But it was a surprise success, because there was a general understanding there. The publisher told me to quickly write another one, but I couldn’t do it. There is only so many stories, and I had really tapped the well in that first book. I literally had to wait for stuff to happen.”
Harbour Publishing released Return to Solitude: More Desolation Sound Adventures with The Cougar Lady, Russell the Hermit, the Spaghetti Bandit and Others, on April 30. Lawrence has been on the road promoting it with mixed-medium “songs and stories” concerts and readings throughout the province.
For appearances tonight at Sidney’s Mary Winspear Theatre and tomorrow at the Victoria Event Centre, he will be joined by musicians Kathryn Calder (of the New Pornographers), Jay Malinowski (Bedouin Soundclash), and Ashleigh Ball (Hey Ocean!). When he visits Campbell River’s Tidemark Theatre on May 24, Ball and singer-songwriter Leeroy Stagger are his featured guests.
The promotional tour will take Lawrence to less-populated areas of B.C. such as Squamish, Harrison, Powell River and Gibsons, places that are home to characters not unlike the draft dodgers, hippies and frontierspeople he writes about in his Solitude series.
That explains why his writing has struck such a chord with audiences. Lawrence is equal parts Farley Mowat and Stuart McLean, with life experiences in remote areas of the province that provide quick reference points for many B.C. residents.
Cabin life is universal, and eventful, Lawrence said. For an author, that’s a well of inspiration.
“So much of the area is people sitting around and talking about what happened yesterday or last week or last month, and I’d try and go to those sitdowns and happy hours, because it was on those decks where I would find myself saying: ‘Hold on — what happened?’ ”
