September 3rd, 2004 - RiverRock Casino, Richmond, BC:
This is our first time in this casino... as a matter of fact, we're almost the casino's first band... we're the first band with more than just electronics... in other words, we're the first band where they don't have complete control over our volume... the casino is huge, and it's not even near finished yet... the actual gambling area is done, but they're in the process of building a 1000 seat theater for future entertainment, and a huge glassed-in atrium, among other things... so to get to the stage door of this place we have to drive straight through a construction site... even the dressing room is still under construction, so right now it's kind of funny, because behind the stage is a door, with a sign reading 'Dressing Room' - and it leads straight outside... we didn't get dressed there...
Michael Kidder is the house tech here and he's an old soundman of the Slugs, so things run pretty smoothly with the two Mikes overseeing things as far as soundcheck goes... the gig itself is weird for us, because they want three 45 minute sets here... we've never done that... and it's not something we ever really wanted to do either... the crowd is up for it though and most stay right to the bitter end... in the second set, Doug runs the Twist contest and gets two couples up onstage... one of them is twisting... the other one isn't a couple to start with - Doug just picks a guy and one of the loudest women I've ever seen at one of our shows to dance with him... I don't know what they're dancing, but it isn't the Twist... she's rubbing all over this poor guy while he's trying to dance, and the people sitting at his table are falling off their chairs with laughter... he eventually leaves the stage... so she's left to fall, fondle, and fawn all over Doug instead... he makes a joke that 'in all the time he's been doing this, he's never been used as a pole before'... she was pretty obnoxious... and damn funny... there are also two women dressed up as showgirls, complete with the feather headresses, who appear to be paid by the casino to just walk around wearing next to nothing and entice men to dance... but we don't look at them of course...
We're here tomorrow night as well and looking forward to it just as much as tonight's show... hope to see you there...
Okay, it's tomorrow night now... and we thought the woman in the Twist contest last night was whacked... tonight the object of our hilarity is a couple - I think - they're sitting together anyway... at least they're sitting there until one or the other, or both decide to get up and dance... when he gets up, he dances right in the faces of any women seated nearby with a goofy expression on his face... if it's her she's very demonstrative with her dancing, often pulling her dress up to her midsection much to everyone's chagrin, (honestly, it's better if you look away)... if it's both dancing it only gets worse... we play Too Bad in the second set tonight and in the middle of it, where we usually get people singing... there's dead silence... nothing... not one single person sings... I don't think I've ever witnessed that before... it's an interesting night all around... the band has a pretty good night however... it's off to Woody's pub in Coquitlam tomorrow night... until then... take care Slugfans! Marc.