C-Tran commuters were treated to some on-board entertainment during the evening commute Friday. Musicians played live concerts on Vine buses as they rolled along the Fourth Plain corridor.
“I totally forgot about this,” Ashlie Schassberger said with a laugh as she stepped inside one of the buses and saw James Powers Trio, a jazz group, playing at the back. “I totally wanted to be on the bus for this.”
Friday marked the first night of Vine Tunes, a live music series C-Tran is hosting on its bus rapid transit route all through August. At 5 p.m. every Friday through the end of the month, musicians will spend an hour on Vine buses serenading passengers from stop to stop, between Vancouver Mall and downtown Vancouver.
On Friday, the jazz trio set up near the back door of C-Tran’s big articulating bus and braced themselves through the turns, leaned against the stops and swayed with the bumps as they played.
The bus aisles were a tight fit for the band, but the trio made do. Drummer Demetrius Raymond Frank squeezed himself and his kit between the bike racks, where it was occasionally too tight to play his hi-hat. Bassist Matt Holmes stood with his back braced against a pole, his legs wide and a tiny amplifier at his feet. Trombonist James Powers switched between sitting and standing in the aisle; the smoky evening sun gleamed in his instrument’s brass bell.
Nearly as fast as they sat down, passengers pulled out their cellphones to snap photos or shoot video for social media as the trio played. As is often the case with jazz, the crowd was divided in their appreciation for the songs. Still, most everyone seemed excited to hear a live performance on what’s usually just a way to get from point A to point B.
Krystal Mickley listened from a few seats away, nodding her head and tapping her toes.
“I’m not a huge jazz fan,” she said. “But I think they’re pretty great.”
The band members said they enjoyed seeing new faces come off and on, the changing scenery and the rising and falling momentum of the bus. And although they didn’t miss a beat, the gig came with its own challenges.
“It was like, I don’t have enough air to fill the horn if I’m getting jostled around,” Powers said.
Although jazz legend Miles Davis and other titans of the genre may have had mixed reviews, just about everyone’s face lit up when the group started playing, “The Wheels on the Bus” with its own twist.
“That’s one we play every time now; it’s a crowd-pleaser,” Powers said.
In addition to the jazz trio, two guitarists — one of whom also plays a ukulele — will be performing Fridays. The trio and one of the guitarists played similar bus concerts during the Vine’s grand opening in January.
“So, one: we know they’re good; two: we know they know how to play on the bus” said C-Tran spokeswoman Christine Selk. “They’re aware of all the interesting occurrences that can happen on the bus.”
The Vine’s grand opening coincided with one of the largest snow events in Vancouver’s recent memory so the agency was forced to rely on its regular buses instead for the first few days.
“Our grand opening, while still a great success, was a bit hampered by the blizzard conditions,” Selk said. “I view this as our kind of second grand opening of The Vine and a really fun incentive for new riders and a kind of thank you for regular riders.”
For their part, each musician receives $125 per performance.
