February 15th, 2003 - The Franklin Hotel, Assiniboia, SK:

It's a fairly short drive from Saskatoon to Assiniboia... we've played here before - a few years ago, but we all remember the room... and how hot it gets... the rooms are great here - nothing fancy, but it's that 'motel' thing - you either get it or you don't I guess... there's an opening act called, 'Taming Susan' tonight and we're using their sound system... they have a female singer and I didn't hear their show, but judging from her voice, later, in the blues song from our set, they're probably well worth checking out - she rocked! The band was really good to us - waiting for us when we arrived, with the system all ready to go, and very helpful... I wish all opening acts could be so easy to get along with... there's a bit of a problem with focus though, in the setup... seems some of us band members are slightly distracted by the woman sitting in there with the very large... um... really large... um... she's got... really big... um... eyes... yeah, that's it... her eyes were real, real big...

I have a few leftovers from yesterday that I eat for dinner... dinner is, of course, provided, but an all too familiar scenario rears its ugly head: Elio talks to the club manager about arrangements for dinner and mentions that we have a vegetarian in the band... the response: "Does he eat chicken?" Ahhh... the prairies... where theroad goes on forever, everyone drives a truck, and chicken is a vegetable...

Anyway, the night is great... not a full house, but Doug gets everyone involved by getting right out there in their faces... it's so hot in this club that I go through 2 towels... and the best fruit and veggie tray so far, is waiting for us after the show! Where was that at dinnertime? And no chicken! Thanks to the Franklin Hotel for once again Making it Work! See you in Winnipeg! Marc.