On a Saturday night in downtown Thunder Bay, Tamiko and I went to The Foundry Pub to hear Ruby Reds & The Silver Lining. No, this was not a random thing. Our daughter is, as Facebook puts it, in a relationship with one of the members of the band, Quintin Golka. They were really good! My impression is that there’s a huge alternative food/lifestyle/economy/music/culture scene in the Thunder Bay area. Musicians draw a lot of people to the restaurants and pubs, the pubs feed people locally grown produce and meat & serve local beers, ciders and wines. Everybody helps everybody else. Win. Win. Win.
Before the show, I asked Quintin if he thought the people at The Foundry would mind me taking some photos. I was thinking of clubs in Toronto where there’s no way you can pull out a big DSLR and start shooting. He smiled and said: “This is Thunder Bay.” When the music started, I knelt right in front of the stage and stayed there for 20 minutes before moving to stairs at the back of the venue. I would never have been able to do that in Toronto!
