January 15th thru 19th, 2003 - Maritimes:

We leave on the Wednesday night for a Friday and Saturday gig... the extra day there will give us a headstart on the jetlag... we're on the red-eye and our plane leaves at 11:30pm, touches down for an hour and a half in Toronto, then continues on to Halifax where we'll get off 6 and a half hours later... well, except the plane, (Air Canada), is more than an hour late departing, so that quickly turns into 7 and a half hours... we've all got visions of another Doug and the Slugs flight, (Air Canada), where we sat on the tarmac - no coffee, no drinks, no information, not allowed to get off - in Toronto for 5 hours, before having to 'deplane' (I hate that word), and board another flight, so that, by the time we finally arrived, we were something like 7 and a half hours late... okay, stop me here before I go on a rant about airlines, (Air Canada)...

The flight attendants though, they're on the ball... well, maybe not on the ball, but really funny... we haven't even left the Vancouver terminal and Elio and I can tell that a couple of the flight attendants are talking about us... a few minutes later, one of them walks up to me and asks... "Are you guys the Barenaked Ladies?" I didn't laugh... well, not right away...

And we're still at the airport, (Air Canada), when I tell Chris that his ship's just come in... the AIDS benefit that we're playing at in Burnside - just outside of Halifax, Nova Scotia - is being emceed by the Trailer Park Boys... he just stands there for what's left of the flight delay, with his mouth hanging open and a faraway look in his eyes... okay, it wasn't that bad, but let's just say he was happy... as you may have guessed, the Trailer Park Boys is probably Chris' favourite show on TV... a good trip for Chris... never been to the Maritimes before and playing a show with his heroes...

say, did I ever mention the time we flew out, (Air Canada), just after I'd bought my brand new flight case for my main keyboard? Well, it's got wheels on it - airline rated wheels actually, to the tune of $50 per wheel - and the airline, (Air Canada), dropped the case, keyboard and all, so that now it doesn't fit together properly... and they busted one of the wheels! That must have been one of the few times they put the case down (dropped it), with the wheels bottom-side... usually by the time I get it back, it's upside down with the wheels skyward... I've stopped trying to figure out the logic of this one... anyway, I didn't mention that? That's probably a good thing... it might sound like I'm ranting...

It's 1:00pm by the time we arrive at our hotel... and all any of us want is a bed... we sleep until around 8:00pm and now we're wide awake when most people are winding down for the day... aahhh good, back to normal then... the hotel is really nice and we're staying in the same place for the full three days which is a bonus (not having to move around)... and there's a mall attached to this hotel... with a food court... I find a great little Lebanese stand (Ray's), that makes the best falafels... oh yeah, and there's a liquor store in this mall that has all sorts of beer and wine etc., which are, of course the best things to partake of after Lebanese food... hey, it's a night off... we rent the movie, 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' and stay up most of the night...

Scotia: Jan. 17th, 2003 - The Big League, Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia:

Our first gig in Nova Scotia this time around is a little pub at the end of a strip mall... maybe just over 200 seats and sold out... what a great crowd! It's small and a little crowded, but the audience makes this gig stand out... and the gear onstage is provided by TourTech, (the same company putting the AIDS benefit on tomorrow), and, as they're the biggest production company out east, the gear is awesome... it doesn't hurt to have a guy like Andy (TourTech) running the sound either! Thanks Andy! Great job...

So, did I say that the crowd was great? Well, let me revise that... there's this one girl... we're in the middle of our second set when it becomes obvious that one of the girls on the dance floor is attracted to me... that's because she's staring straight at me from right in front... to the point of everyone onstage noticing and laughing at how obvious it is... but that's not enough... she gets up onstage, past Jay, and, assuming the 'Kilroy' position (hopefully you get the picture),she stays there, leaning on my keyboards and just staring up at me... after a short time (it felt like longer), one of the doormen comes up and removes her... then at the end of the night when I'm backstage, one of the waitresses comes back and warns me to stay there, because I have a stalker in the club... guess who that might be?... apparently she is looking everywhere for me, and I mean everywhere... when the barstaff catches up to her and asks her to leave, she's actually looking for me in the fridge... yeah, that's what I said... in the fridge... lucky thing for me I wasn't in there I guess...

A couple of good friends of the band show up tonight too, and we all take the limo back to the hotel after the gig and stay up half the night in Doug's room, drinking his mini-bar...

Jan. 18th, 2003 - The Party; AIDS Benefit, TourTech Soundstage, Burnside, Nova Scotia:

Wow! That's all I can say about this gig... Lori and everyone else at TourTech knows how to throw a party!... I have no idea how much money we helped raise for AIDS at this event, but there are approximately 3000 people here and each of them pays $20. for coat check... that money goes to AIDS and that's not counting the bar... This is a 'by invitation only' event and the audience is like a who's who from the entertainment business out east... Kim Mitchell's in the crowd... I end up talking to Bruce Guthro a little later on... as well as countless others... the line-up for entertainment is Tom Cochrane and Ken Greer; The Arrogant Worms (a comedy troupe); Doug and the Slugs; The Hopping Penguins; The Trailer Park Boys... and lots more... there are two separate rooms, both live, both going at the same time... the main stage, where Tom Cochrane and Doug and the Slugs play is huge, multi-levelled with two giant, round screens to each side for the people at the back, and just about every latest thing as far as sound production goes... oh yeah, and the lights... I didn't count, but there are enough lights so that both Doug and I felt like we were about to pass out from heat exhaustion... seriously... and you'd think I'd like it after spending all that time in the fridge the night before... apparently last year, Kim Mitchell had to cut his set short because of the heat... yeah, it was hot...

We're picked up at 1:00pm by Jim from Capone's Limousines... great name, great service... and after a little bit of sightseeing (we were early), he drives us to TourTech... once inside, we stare at the room and the stage for awhile with our mouths hanging open and drooling a little (okay, not really drooling)... and we meet Beverly (okay, now we're drooling), who takes great care of us and lets us know where everything is... Elio's just a little green around the gills this afternoon... apparently it gets harder and harder to bounce back from a night like last night, as you get older... I wouldn't know about that of course... everything is running so efficiently, that we're back at our hotel after soundchecking, at 3:00pm... we'll be picked up at 10:15pm for a 11:30 show...

All I can say is this gig is a party! One of the smoothest operations I've been part of and everyone there has a blast... maybe when you get that many people together for one concerted effort to raise some money for a really great cause, maybe it can't help but be a great time... stay tuned to the site for upcoming pictures of Slugs and Trailer Park Boys raising their respective glasses for AIDS... Chris (or 'Gadget' as he's now sometimes referred to as), spends every available minute 'hanging' with the Trailer Park Boys of course... and they're great... not seeming to be aware of the wave they're riding, all four of them, Julian, Ricky, Bubbles and Randy, were very down to earth... well, okay, Randy was nowhere near earth, but he'd had a few... a lot... one of the funniest parts is after the show... we're in our dressing room and The Trailer Park Boys join us for a beverage... Chris calls up his girlfriend on his cellphone and gets each of The Trailer Park Boys to talk to her... Julian just launches right into character and starts yelling and complaining about Ricky... Bubbles only seems to want to talk about his cats... Elio's feeling a lot better too by this time, and helps us all stay up until around 7:30 in the morning...

Thanks TourTech, for an incredible night... can't wait to get back to the Maritimes! Look for us in the summer... We head back to Vancouver tomorrow for a week off, then to Vancouver Island (Parksville and Nanaimo) next weekend...

See you then! Marc.