« June 2005 | Main | August 2005 »

July 28, 2005

More Back in the Daze by Angel

Just had to write about seeing "The Who" in 1993. That wasn't back in daze, but it was one of the coolest concerts I've ever been to. It was the 4th of July and a really cool dude gave me 4 tickets to see "The Who". I couldn't believe it. I had done him a solid to keep him from being evicted at the apartment complex I was property manager at. Well, he in turn repaid me by giving me the blessed tickets. He was working at a local radio station and used to get promo tickets. So cool he gave them to me. Talk about good karma, you give and you receive.

Anyway, I bought two more tickets and invited my son Tom and his wife and my two incredible grandgirls to go. So it was me and my old man and my kids and grandkids; three generations of concert goer's. Man, it was so cool being there with my family. I had raised my kids on concerts when they were growing up, now they were raising my grandkids on concerts. It was so cool watching my grandgirls, 4 and 6 years old rocking out to the music. They loved it. They were dancing all around and having a ball.

"The Who" were incredible that night. Man, they played all of their famous songs. I was feeling so good and dancing and just enjoying life and loving my family being there with me. That concert brought back so many memories as the last time I had seen "The Who" was back in '75.

At the end of the show there was this incredible fireworks show. I'll never forget that night and that concert. It was the best 4th of July I've ever had. My husband became a total Who fan after that.

Posted by i220 at 08:18 PM | Comments (0)

July 26, 2005

Fri.Aug.6/04 - Medicine Hat, AB.

Corporate Cash Cow... Independent Musician Cross Canada Tour (Pt 1) Western Canada.

Fetish shops, free house boat trips and the dangers of prarie driving.

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!

Posted by i220 at 09:48 AM | Comments (2)

July 14, 2005

Corporate Cash Cow... Solo Acoustic Musician

The Independent Musician Cross Canada Tour, Part II

Sun.Jul.17/05 - The Scherzo Pub, Kingston, ON.
Wed.Jul.20/05 - Obrien's Pub, Moncton, NB.
Fri.Jul.22/05 - Piazza Joe's, Charlottetown, PEI.
Mon.Jul.25/05 - Sand Bar Lounge, Sydney, NS.
Tue.Jul.26/05 - Pogue Fado, Halifax, NS.
Sat.Jul.30/05 - The Cheshire Cat, Ottawa, ON.
Wed.Aug.03/05 - 100 Georges, North Bay, ON.
Sun.Aug.14/05 - Windy O'Neill's, Toronto, ON.

We're visiting 12 cities in 15 days. Hey Easterners, Get those pints ready!

Last year we hit 20 cities in 30 days with over a dozen gigs so this'll be a cinch... right? Again, we're doing the whole trip by bus but because the East is a little more "compact" and most of the stations aren't 24 hours, we've elected to not sleep on the bus every night like we did in part 1. This time we'll be taking advantage of Canada's fine hostelling system - ensuring that we'll be plenty rested - again a big ???

Planned the whole thing using the paradigm I set up last March: Check here for how. I'm still gonna be posting the antics of last years tour (intermittently): Chek antics. And I'll take notes and pictures this time around so expect this years mayhem to appear here once last years has all been revisited. But if you want a sneek peek, check back here in the comments section over the next 3 weeks or so and I'll be sure to post any happenings of note ;) Wish us luck.

Posted by i220 at 08:07 AM | Comments (3)

July 12, 2005

16/07/05 Weekend Promotion

http://www.minque.ca - Download the latest 3 song Domo by Minque including the new single Halogen.

Posted by i220 at 08:43 AM | Comments (1)

July 05, 2005

09/07/05 Weekend Show Dates - Canada

Fri.Jul.8 - Vincent Therrien @ The Office, Etobicoke, ON *acoustic* http://www.elephantband.com

Sat.Jul.9 - The Exchanges @ The Armories, Lindsay, ON w/ Maximum RnR. *All Ages!* http://www.theexchanges.ca

Posted by i220 at 04:45 PM | Comments (0)