July 27th - The Queens, Nanaimo, BC:

We couldn't ask for a better time to be here! It's bathtub weekend, only it's not called that anymore for some reason... now it's the Marine Festival weekend and the bathtub races no longer extend from Nanaimo to Vancouver, but instead race locally only... I'm not sure of the reasons for this - maybe someone out there can enlighten me - I don't know, to me it kind of 'softens' the whole thing... like so much of our language, it seems... you're not vertically challenged; you're short... you're not follicly challenged; you're bald... you're not 80 years young; you're 80 years old etc... the bathtub races were widespread, well-known and the name told it like it is... The Marine Festival? I don't know... it's still the bathtub weekend to me... but I'll stop ranting now...

The club is great! Again, a small venue, and, aside from the apparently expected hassling from the powers that be, (liquor inspectors, fire marshall, etc.), this promises to be a lot of fun... the authority figures really crack down on Marine Festival weekend... it's their job to make sure that no one has too good a time, I think... but, as evidenced by our show, they're not very good at it...despite giving the bar a hard time even before we play - the bar has a small balcony section, which is licensed for nine people; it will, of course, hold many more, but the liquor inspector has to come armed with his threats anyway; hey, maybe he wasn't invited or something, I don't know - but this place rocks hard!

We're on immediately following the fireworks that signify the end of Marine Festival/bathtub weekend... there are some very familiar faces in the club tonight... Vince Dietrich (I've probably spelled that incorrectly Vince, sorry), the drummer from Spirit of the West; and Scott the bass player from Trooper, among others that I won't even try to name, and the energy level of the show is electric... Doug gets roasted! We all hate this of course... I personally can't stand it when our fearless leader gets the gears - NOT!!!

There's a spot in our show when Doug occasionally calls a couple of men out of the audience up onstage... he comments on their 'Walmart clothing', the fact that obviously their wives dress them, that they're still trying to fit a 48" gut into 32" jeans etc... then he makes a 'pork sandwich' onstage, using himself as the pork and the two men as the bread... well, unbeknownst to Doug, Vince comes up onstage behind him and takes the place of the Walmart man standing there... Vince is really hamming it up to the audience and Doug is still thinking that his Walmart guy is behind him... AND THEN!... Vince starts grabbing Doug's ass and reaching around to play with Doug's 'man-boobs', and our leader clues in to the fact that he's not in Kansas anymore and in potential trouble when Vince wraps his arms around Doug and starts undoing the belt, button and zipper of his pants... Doug is, of course, fighting this - and losing - and the rest of us onstage are cracking up, until Vince finally wins and Doug's pants are lying in a heap at his ankles... he's standing onstage in the middle of a 'pork sandwich' in his shorts only... and I can hardly play, I'm laughing so hard... Doug is the consumate good sport about this of course, but doesn't think it fair that he's the only one standing onstage in his underwear, so he gets Vince to do the same... and somehow we finish the song - I don't even remember what song it is we're playing while this is going on... it doesn't matter... this is the most fun I've had onstage for quite awhile... thanks Vince!

There are many visitors to the dressing room after the show... we spend some time catching up with Scotty from Trooper, and the festival-like atmosphere carries on into the wee hours... this is the first time the band has played here in about five years - before I was even in the band... but I have a feeling we'll be back again sooner than that...

Marine Festival/bathtub weekend/whatever... thanks Nanaimo! You guys rock! CU next time... Marc