In late fall of 2006, six members of the band
Powerhouse, two additional musicians (to replace the
band members who couldn’t make the trip), three lady
singers, a Ray Charles tribute artist, a promoter, his
wife and a tour manager, took a two-week musical tour
through Portugal and the Azores Islands. For most of
the members of Powerhouse, this fifteen-member show
was a tour of a lifetime. The following pages are the
best of over 500 pictures and the story of an extremely
memorable tour, holiday and country.
The Singers
Sharon Musgrave, Heather Cadogan, Dawn Gibbs and Frank Rondell
as Ray Charles.
To the far right, the promoter, Carlos Santos and his wife Sandra.
And in the picture below, in the middle between Pete and Sharon, our
tour manager, Sebastiao Salgueiro -- or 'Sabby', as we came to know
him.
The Band
Back row: Michael Stevenson on piano, Paul Augustyn on tenor &
alto sax, Don Berryman on trombone and synthesizer, John
Willett on trumpet and Phil Kott on guitar.
Front row: Pete Grimmer on percussion (don't let the trumpet fool
you), Carlo DiBattista on trumpet, and Greg Smith on bass.
We left Pearson Airport in Toronto, Canada in the early evening, and with the time difference, we
managed to arrive at our destination of Lisbon, Portugal just as the sun was coming up. Once we cleared
customs, we met with Carlos, Sandra, Sabby and their three tour vans. We had two, 9-person, Mercedes
passenger vans and a something-or-the-other tiny truck with a big enclosed box on the back for the
equipment and luggage. These would be our travel homes for the next 2 weeks. We left Lisbon
immediately on the first leg of the tour -- up the Portuguese coast to the city of Porto.
The band arrived in Porto, a northern Portuguese
port town in the early afternoon. After checking into
the hotel (pictured, below) and getting the rooms,
everyone headed out the front door to go see the
city before the sun set. Even after a 6-hour flight, 2
hours in Lisbon airport and a 3-hour drive up to
Porto, energies were remarkably high as we
headed out the front door and scattered to go see
the city. Within about 8 or 10 blocks there was just
Paul with me as we headed down the hill, toward
the river. He'd read ahead that there was an artsy
area down there that he wanted to see.
The Hotel Sao Jose
The first thing we noticed was that every road in the
city was covered in interlocking stone and ceramic
patterned tiles. Only old Quebec City in Canada has
anything that even remotely, compares.
The ceramic murals that covered the surfaces of many of the
buildings and roadways in the city were quite spectacular.
Santo Ildefonso Church
The setting of this church was gorgeous, overlooking
a central square formed by the joining of 3 or 4
streets. We had to stop a moment at one of the local
vendors in the square and have a bite to eat.
Paul and Don, down by the river, with the Ponte Dom Luís in the background.
Unfortunately, it was a long way back up the hill, to the hotel, some rest and
the end to what had been a very long and eventful day. The next day, we saw
a bit more of the city, but today was mostly about our first show.
To the left: Porto Coliseum
(viewed from stage), to the
right: The stage during
soundcheck
Once it was showtime, there
was little opportunity for
picture-taking. As you can
see, the venue was
breathtaking -- old world
charm, a huge
coliseum/theatre-like hall full
of ornate wood carvings, with
an elevated balcony that
circled the room. Even the
ceiling was covered in
hardwood boards. The sound,
production and stage equipment were all top-of-the-line and the stage wings were full of TV
production equipment as the event was filmed for the local media. It was, indeed, a
memorable first show in Portugal that night.
Our third day was a travel day, as we made our way back to the south, through Lisbon,
to the ocean resort town of Estoril. Our tour manager, Sabby, who was quickly becoming
a good friend, decided to take us south on a secondary highway where the scenery was
a little nicer. We followed the river to the ocean, then headed south with the coastal
mountains on our right. Sandra, Carlo and the equipment van led the way, today.
Such a beautiful country, really -- white
stuccoed homes (many closer to small
castles, actually) and red-tiled roofs nestled
throughout gently rolling hills. Sometimes
the coastal mountains would be far off in
the distance, sometimes our morning drive
took us right through the middle of them.
We arrived in Estoril, the Atlantic shore
resort town, with still the whole late
afternoon and evening left in the day. As
seemed to be the way of things, we went
straight to the hotel (another 'beaut'),
unloaded the trucks, checked into our
rooms, met for our time schedules, then
headed out the front door and scattered.
This looked like quite an amazing place
to explore. The Atlantic Ocean was about
200 metres (yards) away. I met Pete,
Sharon and Dawn on the way out the
door, so it was with them, I headed
toward the water.
The casino was right next door (the
largest one in Europe, by the way). so
we checked out the grounds before we
headed to the beach area. Oddly, I
managed to snap a picture that
looks remarkably similar to a
Beatles album cover.
Sharon and Pete decided not to go out
farther on the pier once they saw the local
fisherman get swamped with a wave.
Up one side of the coast and down the
other. The far shore in the picture
below is Cascais, where we would walk
to and spend most of the next day.
To the left: A spectacular scene of the sun setting
over what will be, tomorrow's destination -- the city
of Cascais.
Again, cameras were a 'no-no' inside the casino, so
all we have is the front entrance on the way in.
Today, I headed out on my
own from the hotel, along
the beach toward Cascais. I
ran into John halfway there
and we continued on
together, as far as the
Citadel, then around the
edge of the marina following
the shore, through the
central park, back through
town and finally back along
the shore to Estoril. We had
a show to play that night, so
we needed to be back by
early evening.
Mont Estoril was more like a large hill, but it gave
some great pics back along the shore toward Estoril.
I ran into John along the way who,
like me, was giving his camera a
good workout.
Once we reached
Cascais, the fully-
sculpted stone walkway
along the water ended,
replaced by the more
natural seashore of
sand and rock
outcroppings. Some of
the buildings and
scenery along this
shore of Portugal were
amazing, with every bit
of land accounted for --
no vast, open spaces
like I'm used to as a
Canadian.
Every bit of sidewalk and roadway was
covered in ornate patterns of stone and
tile. I'll admit, I've never really seen
anything like it before.
The Citadel -- I found dates, embedded in
the rock, going back 1000 years. It made
our North American two to three hundred-
year history seem rather small.
We turned the corner, through a stone gate,
and walked into the middle of a huge,
gorgeous park in the middle of town.
All the streets were narrow (some, ridiculously
so) and covered in ornate tile and colourful
cobblestones. I saw cars driving here, so I
know it is possible, but as I look back on it
now, I wonder how they did it.
A close-up of the stonework on
the side of someone's home.
These tiled murals were
everywhere in Portugal (from
what we'd seen so far).
All that remained was the long walk back along the beach, back to
Estoril, and to get ready for tonight's show in the Casino. Shoes in
hand, the lukewarm ocean felt good on my tired feet. There was a
pretty good chance that I could be a little tired at tonight's show.
Portugal
Above: some of the stone work on the buildings in this area and, to the left, a
building (home?, castle?) by the beach where we first saw the Atlantic.
Today, our sixth I
believe, started as
another travel day.
We left Estoril on the
coast and headed
inland along the Rio
Tejo to Lisbon. From
there, we crossed a
rather large bridge,
the Pont d'Abril, and
headed south to our
destination of
Portimao in the scenic
southern Algarve
region of Portugal.
The equipment van and the other
passenger van, in front of that.
Lisbon, Portugal -- so much different
than large North American cities. There
were no steel and glass skyscrapers in
this city that I could see.
The Rio Tejo was
rather wide as we
headed inland to
Lisbon, which
made for huge
bridge to cross.
According to
Sabby (our tour
director), this
statue is the
original of the
same one that sits
high on the hill in
Rio de Janeiro.
We turned to the south and noticed the countryside changing. There was much more sand in the soil,
Sabby reminded us that the African continent was just across the straight from southern Portugal.
The outskirts of
Portimao, and wouldn't
you just know it, a Ray
Charles Show poster on
the first billboard we
passed.
As had been the case
throughout the tour so
far, we headed straight to
the hotel (right), checked
into the rooms (below
right, a view of Portimao
from the hotel room), met
for our time schedules
and headed out the front
door and scattered. It
was late afternoon, we
were playing that
evening, and leaving for
our next stop tomorrow
afternoon. Much to see.
Not a lot of time.
I'd read ahead that this area of the
Portuguese Riviera was noted for it's topless
beaches, so I headed immediately, a few
hundred yards (metres) down the road to the
walkway down to the beach.
There is, of course, one minor
problem with visiting the country
during the off-season.
The beach area in this part of the country was much
different than that in the Estoril area. Carefully sculpted
rock, stone and tile retaining walls were replaced with large
expanses of sand, dotted with yellow ochre-coloured rock
outcroppings, with the brilliance of the white stucco
buildings lining the edge of the hill that bordered the beach.
This place was gorgeous and definitely a contrast in colour.
The original venue was changed, replaced by a rather unique coliseum, closer to the
waterfront. This building (shown from the street and on-stage during sound check) was
semi-covered, with some rather unique wooden architecture forming a stage area.
Once sound check was over, I took the opportunity to walk down to the waterfront.
Showtime
The Ladies: Sharon, Heather and Dawn
All that remained for this day in Portimao was ...