Oh Wonder West Coast Tour Diary

Oh Wonder West Coast Tour Diary



We’ve
been on the road for almost two years now and, amid the
daily load in, sound check and performance, I always try to find
time to explore the streets in the vicinity of the venue. Sometimes
they can be quiet areas of the city – a tree-lined suburb or an
empty park – but I often find myself in a dynamic part of town. I
take out my camera and hope to capture a moment. Sometimes shots
fall perfectly into place, and an eye glances towards my lens at
the precise moment that I click the shutter.

The US is a perfect place to wander and find beauty in the
strangest of scenarios. I remember in Detroit when a man came up to
me with a $20 Canadian bill. He was topless; his ripped shorts and
toeless shoes made me wonder where he’d been, or who he’d once
been. He was frantically waving the note and screaming that he
would take $5 US dollars for the Canadian bill. I stopped him in
the street, disregarding the parental advice of never talking to
strangers. I offered him a $20 US bill in exchange for his $20
Canadian note, under the condition that I could take his
photograph. I could sense his confusion: I had offered him four
times what he was asking of me. As we exchanged the notes, I
noticed his three missing fingers. I took his photo and I hoped the
money would help him, but knew that it was a drop in the ocean. He
walked on down the street shouting, “I got twenty dollars!”

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