Free Speech: themusicalrevolution.com

Friday, the 6th of August/04 will always stand out as a day of challenges for me. It starts out innocent enough. We say goodbye to our host family over a breakfast of take-out Humpty's and Tim's coffee. The drive between Lethbridge and Medicine Hat is pretty uneventful.

We pull into tha Hat early afternoon, load into The Silver Buckle (not nearly as country as you might thaank - LOL) and decide that some exploring is in order. It seems that coulees are more common in tha west as the bar is at the bottom of one and the town at the top. We decide to tackle the geography head on rather than go around it. We climb a staircase carved into the side of the coulee wall. At the top (out of breath) we find a bench overlooking the lower part of the town and the railyard. We reflect on the trip so far - the good, bad and tha uhgly.

Downtown is definitely interesting. I'm not sure about the folks from tha Hat but for a small town it sure has a lot of strange places of business. On one strip, about 2K in length we visit a couple of fetish shops (and I do mean fetish :S), at least one tatoo parlour, some dirty ol' hock shops and a store that seemed to have a little of everything maybe even some porn? I start to wonder..;)

Back at tha Buckle I do a little warm up and we order some food. I notice during my soundcheck that my voice has suffered from the party the previous evening and the prarie dry air. I re-adjust my setlist and get to werk. Overall the gig is a strange one. I think it is the first time I've ever opened up for a "houseboat trip". The place is packed with folks anticipating winning the BIG prize, video gamers, pool players, meth-heads and a few cats who are really enthusiastic about live music. I feel like one of the attractions in a big bar theme park. Overall, I play well despite my physical obstacles. The small crowd who care really enjoy the show. The bar treats us incredibly well and we're done in plenty o' time to hit the prarie highways before 1AM. S'all good right?

But... it isn't. Shit gets pretty perilous on the drive between Medicine Hat and Calgary. At one point, it starts to rain so we have to pull over to cover the gear in the back but it's still early so no problemo. About an hour later tho with Calgary still a couple of hours away I start to get drowsy. Real drowsy. I mean the roads are sooooo straight out there and with the exhausting last coupla days, 4AM is a pretty scary time. I start to do the headbobbing thing. The truck starts to do the grinding the shoulder thing. The road won't stop doing the same thing over and over. Gus finally says, "No More." We pull over and crash hard for at least an hour. It would seem that the catnap is just what the doctor ordered as by 7 AM we are pulling into Paul and Theresa's place ready for a good long nap. Head. Pillow. Goodnight!

Next time - Calgary/High River, back on my A game and a pub owner who KNOWS how to party!