February 17th, 2003 - Coyote's, Winnipeg, Manitoba:

We take a day off between playing Assiniboia and Winnipeg... it's a fairly long drive and we have to pass right by Brandon on the way, so Doug and Della stop to visit some relatives while Mike and I pass the time at a chinese restaurant... we're pretty exciting guys, so our night off is filled with ordering pizza later and watching Elio and Mike play X-Box... wow... normal people would have a hard time catching up to our energy, I know...

The following day though, is good... it's nice to wake up in the same place as we're playing and not have to drive anywhere... Doug and I spend a few hours in my hotel room, writing music that will try and find its way onto a new Slugs album...

Setting up in this club is a breeze... we've played here before... Mike's with us... Vince is there again on the production crew... what more do you want? Anyway, that all adds up to a very quick and painless soundcheck... thanks guys. It's a Monday night, and this is a big club, but the show turns out great... Doug pits a man "who buys his ties at Walmart" against a woman "who obviously took the brown acid" in a not-regularly scheduled dance contest... I'm not sure if anyone really wins something like that... AND THEN!... a little later on in the night, Elio is talking to the same woman at the side of the stage, probably trying desperately to find even a single light on upstairs, and he decides to let her play guitar for awhile... she must have said something intelligible for him to trust her with his guitar... but of course Doug picks that moment to turn and cue the next musical interlude... and... nothing... and Doug, assuming that we've lost Elio to a more than enthusiastic female, spends the next few moments polling the audience, looking for possible replacements... "Are there any guitar players out there?" No takers however, and Elio manages to keep the siren's song at bay... this time...

The band plays 'Walk Away' tonight, for the first time in years, as a special request on an anniversary... the request was actually made days prior to the gig - now that's organization! - so we had time to relearn it... It's always a lot of fun playing at Coyote's! Until next time, Winnipeg! Marc.