Soul.I.Am shared a flyer that said he was performing in Vermont. I hit him up to give him love and he asked me if I wanted to tag along. I asked how much, he gave me a fair price for half the gas, and I was in.
This was an impulse yes. Far too often in life we decline chances for adventure. With the open uncertainty in my life, I figured I’d ride this wave and tag along.
I didn’t look at the flyer outside of the location, Morrisville, Vermont. Turns out that is a 2 and half hour drive. Upstate Vermont and New York are closer to Montreal than Sherbrooke is.
Not all borders are created equal
I linked up with Soul around 11:30 in the morning at Namur metro. Both of us embracing our age understood the time to pee was now. We waited around in the Harvey’s for quite some time before realizing the regular bathroom was closed and we needed to use the handicap one.
It really doesn’t hurt to ask questions when things feel sus.
Once we finished our business, we hit the road. The weather and scenery were overall meh. The trees aren’t vibrant yet. It doesn’t have the fresh feel of winter, more like winter is still clinging on for dear life. I can imagine at the right time of year this drive would be gorgeous.
We crossed at the Abercorn/Richford Port of Entry. I’m used to the big boy border at Lacolle, the one you take to get to NYC. This little border was ridiculously small. Each side of the border had like 1-2 people working in total.
The buildings were super regular. You can tell there is no “these are the aquatic animals of Quebec” poster in these parts. It looked like some makeshift stuff from back in the day that just gets renovated. This border was not deemed worthy of modern infrastructure.
I guess this Vermont-Quebec passageway is not popular. We passed on through without problems and were on our way.
Upstate Vermont looks exactly like Quebec
The border is simply a line on the map. If you have ever driven across Quebec you realize it’s the same kind of tree/mountain vibe as you go. Occasional rivers and other expected sights as you travel between urban centers.
Heading through Vermont, you would not even realize you were in a different country. That is until you see the signs. Miles per hour and a vast sea of English clue you in that this is not home turf.
That’s it though. The general feeling of the building architecture and small-town vibes are the same. As we passed through the highway towns, we could have been driving to anywhere in Quebec.
It’s wild how our imaginations can build up the mystique of crossing a border into some foreign new land. Only to realize, logically so, that it looks and feels remarkably similar. Europeans must be laughing at me.
It also made me wonder why we rarely head down into the States to see what’s up. A trip to Toronto is logistically more complicated than Burlington. Unless you need a passport…
Welcome to Morrisville
Morrisville, Vermont is a village in the town of Morristown. Google says Morrisville has a population of 2086 people. Soul.I.Am met a guy from Morrisville when he was in school and that chance connection lead to this very road trip.
Now we were in Vermont so Soul could go rap.
You will need a car to operate a town such as this. Make sure to do coffee runs when you see the opportunity. Don’t assume that there will be a Dunkin’ or McDonalds nearby. There may only be one McDonalds for the whole area.
That being said it’s a gorgeous village. I could imagine a lot of people raising families and having quiet lives. Our destination was The Oasis, a small café/bar.
As we drove into town, I was hungry. I had a craving for unhealthy American fast food. To my dismay finding such a chain was not going to be easy. The eating options are mostly local restaurants operated by the good people of Morrisville.
Realizing this we went into The Oasis. When it came to food, neither of us had American dollars yet and they only had a tap option for my card. A good thing to remember is the first time you use a card in the States (if you are Canadian) is to use your pin. Then you can tap.
This left us, mostly me, on a mission to eat.
Finding the recreational stuff
When we arrived at The Oasis, the Big Homie Wes greeted us. He also gave us pre-roll and that was lovely. The next thing that happened is he asked if I wanted to rap.
Turns out the headliner wasn’t going to make it, I still didn’t think to ask who was headlining. I assumed it would be someone local. Turns out Soul drove out to open for Young Zee, big sad.
There were not that many people at bar. With 0 USA performances done, this seemed as great a time change that. I emailed the dude my beats and he gave us directions to the recreational stuff store.
It was 4 minutes away and we were to be back in an hour. We found the store and I went inside, and then into the back. There were 2 people ahead of me in line, I figured great this should be fast.
I was wrong, these people took forever to order. Asking all kinds of questions and smelling everything. When I heard the price for a three-five I was like OHHHHHHH. When it’s 45-60 USD for an eighth you really need to make sure you get what you want.
I needed pre-rolls, so the “local” option wasn’t a flex. Turns out a one-gram pre-roll is 12 USD. I got two of “Vermont’s Premium Craft” product and we headed back to the bar.
There was no fast-food restaurant that we passed. I was still hungry.
Performing in Vermont
When we got back to The Oasis the performances had started. I watched 2 minutes then headed outside to clear the first of my pre-rolls. Soul had made it clear to me, once we were done performing, we were dipping.
Knowing I had a couple of hours to smash them I got to work on the first one. It’s hard to say if it was good. When you cross the border and are somewhere new, everything hits harder.
As I walked back in, I watched the same performer finish their set. Then it was my turn to hit the stage.
My set list was:
Lose Weight
cold cuts are better when there are no pickles
unapologetically canadian
I did the three songs and got the footage. Normally Lose Weight is the banger. This time Lose Weight was not that well received but they loved the other two. Buddy told me unapologetically canadian was a bop I had to keep performing in the States.
I let them know they helped me pop my American cherry when it comes to performing. It was a small crowd and super intimate vibes. Not what I was expecting for a Sunday afternoon.
Soul.I.Am performed next and he brought his powerful message to the stage. He debuted some new material. He also did the Harry Mack pick 3 words thing and did a freestyle over a Biggie beat. He did well.
Mid pizza and the drive back
I still had another pre-roll so I got to work. Here I chopped it up with a dude named Michael Perry. He flexed heavy he had family in Laval. I guess when you are in Morrisville, Laval is next level.
I know Laval is dope, has strip clubs and all that. What’s cool is Michael liked my sound and has plugs to venues and things in Burlington. We talked briefly on what would make a trip to Vermont worth it. In moments like these you realize the value of networking… anywhere.
Across the street from The Oasis the pizza spot had finally opened. I got two slices from Pizza on Main for 8 USD. The pizza kind of looked like NYC pizza, but the crust made it very clear this was Vermont pizza.
It was mid pizza. However, it wasn’t trash. I was also high and hungry so at that point, trash pizza could be mid. Either way I ate the pizza and burned the roof of my mouth.
Then Soul.I.Am and I drove back. The drive was mostly uneventful. I took a picture.
At the border we got confused and turned around. The US border agent gave us a, “the f--- is going on here” look. Directed us to keep driving to Canada and we passed through the Podunk little border.
Off to the open mic
I was home by 7:45 PM. I went to a whole other country, rapped, and came home with enough time to still go out again. The homies from Smoking Ink and I have been trying to push this new open mic at Ye Olde Orchard pub near the Bell Center.
As many mid 30’s somethings do when facing the “do I go out” question, I started fantasizing about staying home. Then it clicked, if I rap in Montreal today, anywhere, I would rap in two
countries this Sunday.
Bonnie joined me, recently the words “pub food” have been enough.
The Vermont show was to 12 people in the middle of nowhere. At Ye Olde Orchard I performed for about 20 mins to a room of about 25 people. None of them were the people I normally rap at.
What needs to be said about performing at restaurants is that you are the entertainment for people eating. They are not there to give you maximum du bruit. They may not care about you.
You aim to entertain them and make them stay longer. It’s hella weird to perform to people that ignore you. Stick with it, as you go along in your set, you see people across the tables bopping their head and feeling it.
Someone flashed a pickle at me. What was valuable is practicing performing twice in the same day. It’s harder than you’d think, worth practicing.
This was definitely worth it
I spent more than I planned to go to Vermont. Mostly due to poor impulse control. As I travel more, I need to work on my discipline.
Still, I gained a new plug for venues in a new part of the world. I hit stages 14 & 15 of the year. I now get to brag about hitting two countries in a day.
If we dig deep, it becomes easy to knock this accomplishment. But even then, the fact is in a 25 hour period I hit 3 stages in 2 countries. Look at me moving goal posts.
Lately life really does feel on the up and up.
Live Long and Prosper Everyone
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