Rock and Roll on top of the world

I read that in the 1800’s Whalers from Nantucket would travel to the Arctic for a year at a time in order to turn whales into oil for lamps. I just returned from a ten day tour on the Arctic Coast. Instead of being armed with a harpoon I yielded a Martin D-41 acoustic guitar. Although I was there for Rock and Roll and not whale blubber, I get the feeling that the adventure was pretty much the same. Maybe it was the fact that I never went to bed before 4 four a.m but I have a feeling that it is going to take me awhile to recover. The details of my trip are pretty unorganized and chaotic but then again, so was the tour.
I had an early morning flight and an hour into the trip i realized that i had forgotten my coat and my guitar cables, In Barrow I met with one of the world”s leading expert on whales, listened to whale calls on his computer, listened to people talk about whaling, played in a basket ball tournament, took a hard foul from a 12 year old girl and even though the ref never called it and got a black eye to prove it. We did well in the tourney but were ousted by the teams that would eventually take first and second place I did however get al tourney shirt with Matt Lewis Band on the back so i can officially say, “been there done that go the T-shirt.” Got sick, watched jazz lose, partied all night at Tino’s, listened to more people talk about whaling, free-styled for a room full of people and had 109 dollars shoved down my shirt and into my sun glasses. Watched a bunch of Samoans roll dice all night one of them lost $1400 but it didn’t seem to phase him much. Watched my friend Mike chase down Chad in his socks, in sub zero weather and tackle him into a snowbank, had a BBQ even though it was 13 below, played a show in a rec. center/skating rink/archery range/concert hall/dance hall/indoor soccer arena, played on the radio where they were using a board from the seventies but had a band that reached every village in the North Slope Borough, stayed in Barrow an extra day, ate caribou stew and eskimo doughnuts, played for the kids after the tournament, sang somewhere over the rainbow to Amelia over the phone, woke up at 6 in the morning, flew from Barrow to Wainwright, saw hind quarters of a reindeer hanging out of a bag that had been loaded onto a plane, paid 4 dollars for a vitamin water, was offered a full dead caribou for 150 US Dollars which is strange when you consider the fact that that would be cheaper then a case of Vitamin Water. Listened to more people talk about whaling, packed up a lot of gear onto an airplane, was scared to land on the runway, played for kids in their classrooms, played a high school assembly, spent the night in in a school library on wrestling mats, my phone never worked so i couldn’t call home, ate school lunch for the first time in 10 years, cooked a pizza pocket in the microwave of the teachers lounge for dinner, played an hour long set in the Wainwright  high school gym, hung out with high school kids all night, walked out onto the Arctic Ocean and saw the bend of the horizon, Flew to Point Hope, the runway there was no runway just a bunch of pickup trucks. Chad and RB slept in the school, I opted for a place where i could watch the Jazz lose to the Lakers, met a musician named Joe who had a 52 modified Jaguar fender guitar, took a tour around Point hope with the Mayor, the truck had no breaks or power steering. Saw a graveyard where the graves were marked by whale bones. Saw A bunch of ravens attack kill a squirrel, listened to an elder pray in native tongue while i stood with a whale boat captain and crew around a skin boat that was going out to sea, went to help a native alaskan named Mona clean out a whale cash but our trip quickly came to a halt when there was no gun present and a polar bear attack was eminent.
Prices in the town store
2 pound block of cheese $21.98
gallon of milk $5.49
one dozen eggs $6.00
Played music in classrooms all day, received the eskimo name Atuktuk: which means singer. Camron was named Aquvik: Black Whale, Rb: Sosac: White Bird and Chads name left no room for debate:Nanook, whick of course is Polar Bear. We played another show in Point Hope, ate Muktuk (whale meat) and Herring Eggs for dinner, The weather started picking up so we flew to Fairbanks which is probably a good thing because Point Lay had closed the school due to contaminated water. Stayed at the princess lodge, had a band meeting in the steam room. Went to the Marlin, saw an old fan who gave us a Matt Lewis Band bootleg from 2003, went to his house and played Contra on an arcade machine: this is important because I remembered the code to get 30 extra guys, up,up,down, down, B,A ,select,start. saw a fight breakout in the family restaurant on airport road, gave descriptions to cops, slept in until 4 p.m ate dinner with some friends, went to another friends, hung out until for in the morning, shot BB Guns at MGD cans in the snow, dog piled each other and learned some very important lessons about life from El Queson. Saw Chad eat half a stick of butter.. plain, got in a wrestling match the hotel elevator. Slept in until four again, ate a train-wreck at hilltop, played a show in fairbanks and helped raise 2,000 dollars for the ailing wife of a friends old high school basketball coach, hung out with friends in the hotel lobby all night woke up in Fairbanks, hung out for an hour in Seattle and fell asleep that night in my bed back in Springville.
I am finally home. Amelia is a few pounds bigger. Her eyes are big and blue and she is not as dark as she used to be. She is much more alert, she grabs my hair and my beard,and the neckless that dangles from my neck when i kiss her soft little cheeks. I saw her smile for the first time today and I am glad that i didn’t miss that moment.
After only ten days I was tired and homesick. I missed home, I missed the springtime Utah when the bottoms of the foothills turn green and the snow on the tops of the mountains becomes wet and shines on sunny afternoons. I missed falling asleep next to Andria and the sound of the train in the distance when i fall asleep. Like the Whalers of old I feel like the arctic defeated me. But I feel normal again. As I slip more and more into my every day routine a small part of me misses the adventure. I have quickly forgotten the desolation and the cold, and find myself wanting to go back, if for nothing more then to prove to myself that i can handle it. The funny thing about the slope is that it constantly reminds you that you don’t belong there. Your coat is the only thing colorful on miles and miles of endless gray skies and blue hued snow. And every once in awhile you are reminded that you are unique and special and that you have a purpose. Then you come and start watching T.V again, you get up early and buy an energy drink at the same 7-11 and drive the same route to work every morning. Then all of the sudden you wish you were sleeping on the floor of a school library or walking down an arctic street looking over your shoulder because it it 3 a.m and the guy who is on polar bear patrol punched out at midnight.