Jack White is a pretty good bowler. Just ask Barry Wood, manager of Fairlanes Bowling in Moncton.

"He throws a nice ball," Wood said of the White Stripes guitarist. "He looks like he's bowled before."

White showed up at the alley three times this week to bowl a few strings: once for a private party Monday and again both before and after Tuesday night's show at the Moncton Coliseum.

Wood said he'd never heard of the American blues-rock duo before this week but now he's hoping the band's interest in bowling will bring more young people to the Mountain Road lanes. 

Wood said he told White: " 'Listen, you know you're making bowling cool here.' I said, 'You've got to let us get a picture with you,' and he says, 'Absolutely.' "

Wood didn't, however, get the bigger prize: One of the duo's signature surprise shows. The guitarist and his bandmate, drummer Meg White, had planned to play at the alley on Tuesday afternoon but called it off at the last minute, Wood said.

The guitarist and drummer were very quiet, and appeared to like to stick to their own small group of people, Wood said.  

The band has been touring Canada over the past few weeks to promote its sixth album, Icky Thump. Along the way the duo has played  impromptu shows on a Winnipeg city bus, at a Whitehorse park, at an Edmonton community centre and, during their P.E.I. stop Wednesday, on on the Charlottetown waterfront.

The White Stripes are scheduled to perform Friday at the Cunard Centre in Halifax and the Savoy Theatre in Cape Breton's Glace Bay on Saturday.

The band's 18-stop Canadian tour, with shows in every province and territory, started on June 24 in Burnaby, B.C., and wraps up July 16 in St. John's, N.L.