August 19, 2004 - Club 279, (Hard Rock Café, Yonge St.), Toronto, Ontario:

It's been awhile since we've flown out to a gig, and I find first of all, that I've almost forgotten how to pack for it; well, not quite maybe, but I do have to think about it where it's usually second nature… for instance, besides the usual knives and nailclippers not being allowed in your carry-on luggage, you also can't have any electrical cords… apparently these are much better for restraining people than the strap on your actual carry-on bag, so they must be stowed in your check-in luggage now… stuff like that, you know; no chopsticks, but knitting needles are okay… syringes, of course, are not allowed, unless you have a note from your doctor stating that you need them, which has never made sense to me… apparently they're saying that undesirables either aren't also diabetic, or that they simply don't know any doctors… not sure which… anyway, and understandably for the most part, you do have to plan differently when flying these days…

We fly out at 2:15 on Wednesday… the day before we're playing, so we're not in a hurry at all… as a matter of fact, we have a night to kill in Toronto, which is somewhat of a luxury for us, as usually it's just straight to the hotel, then to the club we're playing… so what do we do with our luxurious time off? We go straight to the club we're going to be playing at tomorrow night of course, to check it out… and we walk into a time machine… there are more long-haired, mutton-chop sideburned guys in this club than in an Iron Maiden video! There's even a guy wearing an Iron Maiden t-shirt! Onstage, there's a band playing 'Paranoid' by Black Sabbath… followed closely by another guy, holding his microphone cable in the classic Robert Plant stance and looking quite like him, while singing 'Sunshine of Your Love' by Cream… what the hell happened here? Obviously, Toronto has fallen into some sort of slipstream and slid back into the 70's… or… it's a contest they've been running for quite a few weeks now, every Wednesday, and we've happened on the semi-finals… some very entertaining stuff to be sure, though I have to say, the three of us; myself, Elio and Jay are all quite happy we didn't sit through any of the preliminaries… so we grab a beer and watch for awhile, before noticing an old friend is one of the judges… 'Ratch' works at Long and McQuade in Toronto, and is a very good friend of Doug's, has been for years in fact… everytime we're in Toronto we run into him somewhere; he's helped out on more than one occasion and just generally a great guy to have around… he convinces the three of us to go onstage after the contest and play a tune - okay, maybe 'convincing' isn't the right word there - the contest director announces us as a band called 'Just in Town', and we grab one of the drummers there and have a great time ripping through Van Halen's 'Ice Cream Man'… it IS long-hair night after all… after the tune is over, the announcer gets back onstage and tells the audience who we really are, and to come back tomorrow night and see us… pretty cool, totally unplanned, and like I said… a lot of fun.

The next day begins with some well-deserved sleeping… it off… and we have a little time to wander Yonge street before soundcheck… there's an interview with MuchMoreMusic today as well, and Doug, Chris and Elio prepare to do that… here's an interesting dynamic in the band… you have Doug, no stranger to interviews, and to him it's just one more of the same, complete with his witty comments and sharp sense of humour… add to that, Chris, who very much wants to do this interview, making a special trip on foot, back to the hotel to get all dressed up, and do his hair, in preparation for this, his first big interview… and Elio, who is still eating in the restaurant, dressed in a Canucks t-shirt and shorts, right up until the time that Chris hurries in, complete with worried expression on his face, fearful that they'll be late, to get him - Elio actually takes his plate of food with him! Like I said, interesting dynamic… if you miss seeing this on 'The Loop', which is the up and coming news section on MuchMore, there's a funny bit I should tell you about… the question posed to all three of them is, "Who was your 80's crush?"… Elio answers Madonna… Doug says Paula Abdul… Chris freezes… he can't think of a thing to say and the silence stretches until Elio answers for him… "His crush was Boy George"… I'm hoping that part definitely makes the cut, and wondering if Chris will be so eager to do the next one…

The gig itself is great… what a club! Besides the fact that there is so much history here, as evidenced by the signed guitars, suits, keyboards etc. hanging all over the walls - there's even a leather bodice with straps all over it, worn by Madonna in the 'Erotica' video… this place is jam-packed with fans of the band, and lots of familiar faces… because Doug was born in Toronto, there are many old friends of his here, and the gig is amazing… not long enough, in fact… it's over too soon… I could've played all night… there's even a few laughs onstage, as Jay, who's normally wireless, doesn't have his wireless setup with him, and as a result, gets wound up in his cord and my microphone stand, knocking my mic over while tripping all over his tangled up feet… (sorry Jay), but really, there are so few moments where we're able to laugh in his direction that I'm compelled to put that in here… but as with all things, even good things come to an end, and we're not getting much sleep tonight, before heading out to Halifax in the morning… lobby call is shortly after 6am, and we don't get to bed until around 4am… most of the band doesn't even sleep, preferring to wait until the 2 hour plane ride… how could we know beforehand that we're to be travelling with 34 kids on a camping trip?... but that's part of the next entry's story… See you there! Marc.