July 7th, 2004 – Northern Alberta Swing:

Yes, you read that right… off to our home away from home again… this time up north a bit… we’re starting this 3 day commando raid in Spruce Grove, which is about 30 kms from Edmonton… leaving at 2pm… so it’s well after 2pm and I’m still at home, still waiting to be picked up, still not surprised… Elio and Tony (Demedeiros – soundman for this swing, as Mike Dinger is working the Calgary Stampede for the duration), arrive to get me just after 3pm… it’s the 3 of us in one van, and Chris and Jay in the other… Doug is meeting us out there as he had some business to attend to in Toronto first… Chris and Jay will pick him up at the Edmonton airport, then drive to the hotel in Spruce Grove. Minus his luggage… that’s right… they lost Doug’s luggage… so, after the airport personnel tries to give him someone else’s luggage as a replacement, which he promptly refuses, (I’m like that too actually… you know… you want your OWN stuff… I mean, it’s nice of them to try to accommodate by offering somebody else’s stuff, but I understand Doug not taking it), he ends up at the hotel with only the clothes he’s wearing… next stop, Walmart, or Saans…

There’s a stretch of highway, on the way to Edmonton, or Spruce Grove, where the speed limit drops down to 70 kms, then up to 90, then back and forth for awhile between those… I’m pretty sure this is the Department of Highways way of making sure that all drivers stay awake, but it really only makes you unsure of what the speed limit actually is… Tony’s driving and talking about this stretch, just as we’re approaching it… he’s telling us that there’s always cops on this stretch, so you really need to watch your speed… a few minutes after he’s forgotten all about that, we’re being pulled over… the cop is nice enough to reduce the fine to $78., but it’s still a ticket… oops…

July 8th, 2004 – The Whiskey Roadhouse, Spruce Grove, Alberta:

This place is actually attached to the Husky station, across the highway from our hotel… as a matter of fact, that starts out Doug’s rap tonight… he’s never played a Husky station before… neither have I… a small club, just trying to bring some recording acts to Spruce Grove, which sounds like a great idea to me… great management, Gina and Ron are the owners and really bend over backwards for anything we might want… good people… I’m not sure what else there is to do in Spruce Grove on a wet, rainy Thursday night, and I’m sure there’s not many people in Spruce Grove in the first place, but most of them obviously had something else to do tonight… I count 50 some-odd heads as we start the show… even in a place this small, it’s a small crowd… but the show is good regardless… the people that ARE there are happy… and, hey, they haven’t been booking entertainment in this venue for very long – I think Harlequin was the only other recording act they’ve had – and sometimes it takes awhile to get these things off the ground… that’s my excuse anyway, and I’m sticking to it… a few friends of the band make it out to the show – Rhonda, Wendy, Shannon, and Cheryl are here, (all of them from either Spruce Grove, St. Albert, or Edmonton), so a big hello and thanks for coming out, to them… and thanks to Cheryl in particular for having us at her restaurant for lunch the next day… Cheryl owns ‘Jack’s’ in Spruce Grove; if you’re in the neighbourhood, stop by for a burger at a very cool 50’s style burger joint… Whiskey’s even gives away a guitar tonight, that we all signed, and of course, we have the winner (who can’t play a note) onstage, playing air guitar for the crowd…

After the show, with the gear already packed in the vans… we’re all ready to go… and now it’s time to mention the other road story that Tony told us about… he was with the Headpins and they’d just finished loading the gear in… the key was in the ignition, the van running, but that was okay because the door was open… until Bernie came along and closed it… oops… well… remember Tony telling us about the speed limit in that section and then getting a speeding ticket?... the back door of the van is open… Tony needs to go and get cigarettes, so he walks over to the Husky… his jacket’s in the van, but he won’t need that… Elio comes along and closes the back door of the van… and of course, the keys are in Tony’s jacket, in the van… oops again… no more stories Tony – they keep coming true… one very talented tow truck driver later and we’re up and running again… no worries, except with the cost of the ticket AND the tow truck, Tony doesn’t make very much money tonight…

A short drive tomorrow… we’re playing in Whitecourt, which is only an hour and a half away… but even in that short space of time, we’re not letting Tony tell any more stories… take care all… talk to you soon. Marc.

July 9th, 2004 – Riders, (The Corral), Whitecourt, Alberta:

This place has just recently changed hands and is now called Riders… we’ve played here before, when it was called the Corral. The drive to Whitecourt is short, but even in the short space of time, we can’t stop Tony from telling just one more story… no, Tony, no!... This one is about the time when soundcheck took 6 hours, because he had to trace down a grounding problem to get rid of a very persistant loud hum… hmmm… any guesses as to what’s in store for us today? I’m not making any of this up by the way… this stuff really happens…

The first thing we notice about Whitecourt, or maybe it’s just the Travelodge and Riders in particular, is boobs… everywhere… maybe it’s the water here or something… and they’re not shy about showing them off… from the management down to all the waitresses… all of them looking very, um, healthy… the second thing we notice today is that as we’re pulling up to the club, so is the production crew with all the gear… uh oh… this stuff is supposed to be all there, already set up, all good to go… and we’re thinking about Tony and his story of course… we set up all the stage gear at 4pm… the production crew will have to set up around us for a change, but hey, that’s why they’re supposed to be here ahead of us… so they don’t have to do that…

Being that we have a lot of time before the production crew is going to be ready, I decide to pull a little joke on Tony… his cell phone has one of the standard, but not too often heard, ringtones on it… can’t really describe it… sounds like a video game, but they all do, don’t they?... anyway, it’s a series of 13 notes… I put my headphones on and spend a few minutes with my keyboard, dialing up a sound that matches his ringtone sound almost exactly… then the next few minutes learning the pattern… and I’m ready for
Tony… his mind is on other things of course, like trying to get the PA system to work, so he’s completely unsuspecting as his cellphone rings and he reaches for it from his belt… “hmmm… that’s odd… nobody phoned me… I’m sure I heard it”… rinnngggg… “what the… it’s not mine… somebody elses I guess”… by this time, Elio, Jay and I are cracking up, but it’s not over yet… Tony comes up onstage and is near the monitor… riinnnggg… “huh?… it’s coming out of the monitor! How the hell can that happen!? And it’s not my phone… there’s nothing on the display…” For some reason Tony thinks maybe one of us is playing a gag on him… and he picks Chris for some reason… only Chris isn’t even on the stage… and then, in walks Chris, cellphone in hand… aha! Tony’s now wondering how the hell Chris can phone his phone, and have it ring through the monitor… Elio saves him… tells him it’s me and I play it again for him to hear… then Tony even asks me if my keyboard came with that… um… that’s why he’s a soundman I guess, not a keyboard player… either that or he just can’t allow himself to believe that I’d actually sit there and waste my time learning a ringtone from a cellphone… that could be it I guess… but I’ve got lots of time on my hands today…

As you knew it would, Tony’s story comes true again… our soundcheck lasts until 9:30… the soundcheck in his story was 6 hours… our soundcheck was almost 5 and a half… close enough… shut up Tony!... no more talking… about anything… well, okay… talk about me winning a lot of money or something… no more bad stories… none of this is Tony’s fault by the way… I feel I should clarify that… he’s a great soundman (3rd best in the country), and a great guy to have around… but we ARE experiencing a very loud hum in the monitors… and somewhere in the back of my head are Tony’s words from a story he told us about this very thing… that can’t happen can it?... but it does… this time it’s a combination of bad wiring in the room – soundmen are always on the lookout for ‘clean’ power, and this isn’t it; and bad production – we’ve used these guys before too and should know better – I won’t name any names, but we ARE learning… okay, and Tony’s story I guess… I suppose you have to factor that in there too…

There’s nothing much to say about the gig itself… we can’t even hear the monitors, which we knew would happen, but after hearing how they sounded during soundcheck, that’s just fine thank you… the club had only pre-sold 9 tickets… yeah… you read that right… 9… there are a few more bodies by the time we start at 11pm, but not many… sometimes it happens like that… usually when the ticket price is high, as it is on this night… after midnight they open the doors to anyone, and the place starts filling up, but even these people are barely 18 and would rather listen to Eminem on the DJ system… but they tolerate us and our show, even dancing a little to the odd song… so we’re hoping tomorrow night, in Grande Prairie, will be the show that rocks our socks off… we’ve played the casino there before and it was a lot of fun… so I’ll talk to you then. Take care. Marc.

July 10th, 2004 – Great Northern Casino, Grande Prairie, Alberta:

Only one time during our drive to Grande Prairie did I feel the need to shut Tony up… he started talking about a friend of his who committed suicide, talking about the funeral etc… in light of all that’s happened over the past few days and Tony’s apparent soothsaying abilities, I thought it best we stay away from those kind of conversations… the drive is short and we arrive at the casino before 3pm… Elio and I walk into the casino to check out the situation and there’s gear up on the stage already… apparently someone ordered backline (drums, guitar and bass amps)… we’re travelling with our own gear, but hey, that’s okay… less to do during setup for us this way… we don’t mind using different gear… so setup goes smoothly, no problems… and we’re all looking forward to dinner here… all of us remember it being good last time… they serve a buffet on the weekends in this casino and the food is great… so we eat, and we’re ready for the show by 6:30… a far cry from yesterday… showtime is 9pm and it’s nice to have a little downtime beforehand…

The show is a far cry from yesterday too, which is nice... it’s sold out and the sound is great... we play 2 sets to a very enthusiastic audience who doesn’t want to quit at the end of it... we play 2 songs for an encore and the audience still wants more... it’s a little quieter than we’re used to playing, and Chris is behind a plexiglass divider which always looks weird to me, but it does help the sound, and the volume difference is probably good for us... after thoroughly embarrassing just about everyone in the place, Doug finishes the show from one of the tables in front, alternately singing, and having them sing during Satisfaction (first of the 2 encores)...

During the ride home, Tony, Elio and I are together again, and this time Tony keeps his stories on the positive side... but even then... as we’re driving through Jasper, he tells us of the time he saw two black bears on another trip... any guesses how many black bears we saw this time after he told that story? I’m not kidding... we’re off for almost a week now, then off to the Merritt Mountain Music Festival, followed by another long drive to Peace River, where we’re headlining a festival there with the Northern Pikes... CU then! Marc.