Free Speech: themusicalrevolution.com

Wednesday August 4th is a travelling day. A lot of it is spent in an old Uncle Jesse truck bouncin' across the western country side. Finally seein' Lethbridge is pretty decent as I've heard alot about the place (K territory from BITD). Meeting Gus' friends Chris, Natalie and their crew, partaking in the Moxie's HUGE chocolate brownie and blowing up my brand new air matress for the first time are all highlights of the day. But the biggest and best is meeting the kids - Maren and Mason. Beautiful younguns with energy to spare - at least until naptime :D

Thursday tells a different tale. During the daylight hours we play the part of tourists with C, N and the littleuns acting as our guides. We pack tha whole fam-dam into a minivan and head down to the coulee which is a Lethbridge spot of interest. Apparently, the railway bridge that spans the riverbed is the longest/highest of its kind. Also, apparently someone decides to jump off've the bridge monthly :S We check out an old fort with cows (alberta beef live :). We finish off our Lethbridge tour at the park watching the kids expend some energy on the apparatus there (climb the net seems to be a hit).

The gig that night is in Picture Butte, a small town just north of Lethbridge. I head out early for set up. Gus and tha gang decide to follow up later. So I pull into the Cactus Pub and immediately notice that the front is lined with pickup trucks; not an SUV or sports sedan to be found. LOL! I load in and there's the token regulars at the bar, country rawk on the system and typically over accomodating staff. The owner/operator, Greg is especially helpful. He gets me set up with the gear and notifies me that start time is 8pm - farmers hours. Woah!

I barely have time for a warm up and it's showtime! The first set is a quiet one performed for a few regulars and the staff. The encouraging thing is that the crowd is slowly growing in size and my posse hasn't even got in yet. About 4 or five songs into the set a rowdy bunch roll in, order beers and immediately begin heckling me; I sing, "They paved paradise, put up a parking lot." - Cat yells, "It was in the fucking way!" I can't help but flub the entire first verse laughing. A couple of more songs pass by and the same heckler decides it's time he ended the set so he invites me out for a session. About this time Kristi and her crew roll in so a coupla finale tunes are in order. The place packs up nicely.

During the break, I really start to feel the western hospitality. One older cat literally offers me the shirt off've his back as a souvenir. I'm thinking that either these folk really dig acoustic music or that they are pretty excited about the attractive group of out of towners that have just invaded their local; Gus, Nat and Nat's sister-in-law Kari definitely stick out lets just put it that way. Nah, it must be my playing - LOL!!

After the break shit gets blurry... Cats are yelling tunes at me right and left. "Do you know how to play this... that... (I need to know every tune ever recorded)." "Nirvana?" Out comes "Heart Shaped Box". Bingo! Shit gets rowdy. Shooters start to fly; the ladies receiving more that their share. One dude asks Nat out to dinner in front of her husband :O Luckily, Chris is pretty calm 'cause he's also quite built. At some point somebody produces a rubber chicken, puts a cigarette in it's mouth and lights it - "What tha...?" 3 sets later, a rousing choral version of Sandler's, "At A Medium Pace" and the dust begins to settle.

After the pics are snappt. After everybody's signed the chicken. After dude has apologized to Chris for the hundredth time. And after a very happy Greg has sent me off with his blessing, we roll back into Lethbridge, tired as hell, knowing that the kids will be keeping us honest in just a few short hours. What a gig.

Next time - Medicine hat. Fetish shops, free house boat trips and prar.i..e dr..i...vi...ng... *snores*.