February 27th, 2004 – Community Hall, Grassland, AB:

Wow... seems like forever since I’ve written one of these... I guess because it has been...

So we’re driving to Alberta for the weekend... I’m driving with Elio and Doug this time... shaking things up a bit from the norm... and this of course, means we’ll be leaving about 2 hours after the time arranged... it’s so regularly that way, that we just automatically add the time on now... even Doug, when he phones me, says, “around noon, so that means 2pm”... they arrive at 2:30...

Doug recently purchased a map program for his computer, designed by Microsoft... this is supposedly the best map program available and he bought it on the recommendation of a friend... comes in handy for a band playing Grassland and Valleyview over the weekend; none of us have ever heard of these places... well, apparently Microsoft has never heard of Grassland either... not on their map... but we know roughly where it is and we’re pretty sure somebody on the side of the road will point us in the right direction if we’re lost, so we go anyway...

Elio starts out driving... yup, you heard right... Elio... and he drives all the way to Chilliwack, where his favourite restaurant, Taco Time, is... then I take over, and drive to Hinton, Alberta, which is where we’ve decided to get some sleep before completing the drive the next day.

Once there, Elio decides he’s hungry again, and I go with him to the Husky station, which is the only thing open in Hinton at 1:00 am... we sit down at the table, and there’s a map of the Husky stations there, to be used as a placemat... and guess what? There are two Husky stations in Grassland, so it’s on their map... eat your heart out Microsoft, obviously you should’ve consulted with your local Husky station before marketing your map program... anyway, the combination of Husky/Microsoft gets us to Grassland (northeast of Edmonton), with no problems...

Once in awhile, there’s a show like this... a fairly large community center, nice place... and nobody shows up... I don’t mean nobody, but maybe half full at best... I’m left wondering what else there is to do in Grassland on a Friday night, that the residents would choose that over a Slugshow... it’s not like Eminem is playing down the street or something... I get the feeling that these people don’t see a lot of live shows... so where is everybody?

The people who are there have fun... it’s a good show regardless... and the promoter and the hotel staff is excellent... it’s very small town hospitality, which is always welcome... the manager of the hotel and some of her girlfriends even end up accompanying us to the gig... most of us are pretty tired after the driving etc., but Chris ends up partying with them later that night after the gig... and paying for it the next morning, but that’s a story for another page... next stop, Valleyview, Alberta... hmm... where’s that? Better go and check my Husky placemat...

Cya!

Marc.