Entertainment

Of all the bad times to come down with a bad cold, less than a week before starting a coast-to-coast Canadian tour is probably pretty high on the list.

Just ask Hawksley Workman. The award winning cabaret/pop rock performer, whose real name is Ryan Corrigan, is trying everything he can to get over a nasty cold before starting a tour to promote his most recent albums, 'Milk,' and 'Meat.'

The tour will bring Hawksley to Kelowna next week. He hopes to have beaten the cold back by that time.

“You should see the top of my fridge, it is littered with herbalist's ideas to drug store stuff. I have everything from Cold-FX, to olive leaf, to vitamin D, to oil of oregano. It's endless and I'm trying everything. I just have to believe it's going to end sometime, it's been three weeks now, so we'll see! I think it's like a prototype super bug or something,” says Hawksley.

He says he is looking forward to playing in Kelowna after spending a day here several years ago.

“I remember spending the most wonderful Easter Day in Kelowna some years ago with my band. We had been on the road for ages. We are all cooks and had been talking about how bored we were with eating at restaurants. Our bus driver had packed a BBQ in the bus and we had a day off on Easter Sunday, so we parked in the parking lot of the casino and there was a grocery store still open so we went and bought a whole bunch of food, got our lawn chairs out on the parking lot and just had the most wonderful day and it was just a total high point for the whole band, we still talk about it.”

Hawksley says he wanted to play as many venues as possible during this tour.

“For me, parts of B.C. are so stunning that even if the audiences are really small, it makes sense to go and enjoy the beauty of the place. So this time we are going everywhere that we kinda can and everyone is really excited about it.”

He says he finds smaller venues more intimidating than larger ones.

“You get to enjoy the intimacy a little more in smaller venues. I find there's an anonymity that comes when you are playing for 2,000 plus people. When you get higher than that, the stage starts to feel like it is separate from the rest of the people in the room. And the smaller the venue gets, the more intimate and oddly enough, the more nerve wracking the performance becomes. Everyone can see every wart.”

Hawksley Workman performs at the Kelowna Community Theatre on March 7. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and tickets are available at TicketMaster.