The Rest

This is the rest of it, I think.

We had the pleasure of playing with Boats in Hamilton at the Casbah for the Matt Mays after party.  What a show.  It was like old times!  You see, I was once a member of Boats and Matt was gracious enough to let Oldfolks Home open up at some of the venues while on tour.  Although we weren't travelling together, it was like I was back with the old band...except that my place has been filled and I also have my own band.  Nonetheless, it was so much fun.  If you look closely, you can see Louis behind the plant.  I sent him there for playing with my chop-sticks before dinner was served.  He wasn't eating even, just horsing around.  Like a horse.

Winnipeg was very well represented in Hamilton.  A few ex-pats came out to hear the bands and one of those people was Shaun Gibson, former drummer for Oldfolks Home.  How I love to see that man and Whiney (his partner).  Shaun has been an integral part of the band even since moving to Toronto, and it was nice to show off the work he had put into the band on the record and over the phone.  So, Hamilton was a blast, then we drove back to TO to sleep at Shaun's place for one more night.  We went out for breakfast (lunch) the next day and talked about future OFH plans.  I'm always telling Shaun he needs to work in the music business with bands if he doesn't want to play in them.  His mind works perfectly and effectively in the industry.  He is a strategist and a planner and one smart advisor.  Truthfully, I'm happy to have his attention all to myself for the time being.  We had a nice walk around the boardwalk and then we packed ourselves in the van and drove to Montreal.

MONTREAL.

I almost cried when I drove into the city limits.  It's in Montreal I feel I grew up.  It's in Montreal where Oldfolks Home started taking shape.  A large part of my identity is tied to that city, and I was elated to be back in it.  We drove in and got settled.  I was staying with my friend, Mara, in what felt like a different city altogether because it was so far north of where I used to live, but thankfully the transit system in that city is amazing.  I walked down to the plateau to pick up some of the dudes.  We were going to see a show, but when I arrived, one of them was asleep and another had left to meet a friend, so I decided to walk the streets a lone wolf.  

There isn't a lot going on on a Monday night.  I stopped by Casa to see if a show was going on, but I had missed it.  I didn't want to go home so I walked to St. Viateur for some bagels and ate them up as I walked around my old neighbourhood, checking to see what was there and what wasn't.  I left Casa and I was filled a sense of longing and a desire to see KL.  She lives there now and I had wondered for the whole tour whether or not she would be at the show.  I thought about where she might be, who she might be with, what she might be doing.  Would I be ready to see her if she did show up?  Should I contact her and let her know what was going on?  Was I ready for that?  Would I be ok with it?  I walked and I thought.  It was brisk out.  The bagels were warm and my thoughts carried me to a bus stop where I caught the late bus back to Mara's.  

It was a hard night.

The next day I pretty much just ate everything I wanted all day.  Brennan and I walked around and talked until it was time to eat again.  We went to a Vietnamese restaurant I used to go to a lot when I lived there.  Surprisingly I can never remembered what I ordered, but everything on the menu is delicious.  I went back to Mara's, chugged my soup and made my way to the venue.  I had built this show up so much in my mind and it didn't disappoint.  I looked out and saw friends and smiles and it was awesome to be back in Montreal.  After the show I forced everyone one to eat some Shish Taouk, and then back to sleeeeeeeep.

Oh, if you're wondering - KL did not attend the show and I thought it best for myself not to make contact with here.  

We left MTL in the afternoon the next day and drove the 26 hours back to Winnipeg.  Something is up with the border.  Never have I driven through it without the van being completely unloaded when traveling with a band.  We were let through without that both on the way there and back.  

I've had time to think about the trip and my role in it.  I feel proud.  I planned it and pulled it off with a level of success I anticipated.  I'm already planning the next one - the album release tour.  ALBUM RELEASE.

Thank you, Canada, for coming out to the shows and being supportive.  I can't wait to see you again.

 On our way to eeeaaaatttt in The Hammer.

 Boats!

 Yeah, Boats!  Nice guitar (it's mine).

 Travelling in luxury and not happy about the flash - the Boats tour van.

 This was interesting.  It looks like to completely different worlds in downtown TO.

 The harbour.

 MONTREAL.  And the sky.  The clouds are so different there.

 Shish Taouk.  I had a total of 3, which is not enough.

Brennan and I spent some time at Moog audio playing with all the things.

 Walking.

 The view from Mara's office.

 Ditto.

 Jenn Mierau!  She is from Winnipeg, lives in Montreal and plays awesome music.  Check it out.

Mara and I enjoy our second last meal.  Good tour, good tour.

#saysomethingright

Vancouver

Two days in Vancouver.

This post is several days late.

I'm not beating myself up over it.  By the time we left Vancouver I was feeling like I didn't want to do anymore driving.  I am out of practice when it comes to this, but it's like riding a bike.  Except one day you hope that the bike turns into a bus, and someone else is driving it for you.  The coming and going is the hardest part.  You see your friends and you don't want to leave because you want to spend time with them.  Or because you want to explore the city some more, you end up cursing the trip.  By YOU I mean I.  The drive back was also less appealing because there was one show in 3 days on the way home.  That's a lot of downtime.  That's a lot of money and a lot of driving.  When I got to Vancouver, when I started seeing and hanging out with all of my close friends out there, I knew this would happen. I've gotten better at not letting affect me though.  I find it easier to look for a solution rather then to complain about a problem lately.  My mind automatically goes there, and it took a long time to get here.

Vancouver was a great show.  We played to so many people who were really into what we were doing.  I love telling people that we've only been playing as a band for a month.  They are blown away.  I am blown away.  I feel like I've been playing with these guys for longer than that.  I never know when to use THEN or THAN, and I don't feel like looking it up.  I woke up one morning before we left worried that I wouldn't be able to wear the "band leader" hat.  I was going to be a leader.  I had to look after four people.  I had to make sure everyone was comfortable, fed, rested (as much as one could be on tour), able to approach me with issues, and I had to deal with those issues as they came up.  I've never been in that postion.  I've never had to be a leader.  It was stressing me out.  Brennan told me I was doing well.  I feel like I could still use a lesson in patience.

I'd like to be a leader more often.  But I am often to scared to take on that role.  This has been good practice though.

I just reread this a realized I didn't make my point about this post being late.  The point is that I'm getting used to doing this again, and I did not have the energy to share.  The one thing about being an entertainer is that you have to be 'on' a lot.  You have to keep people engaged, you have to connect in person and now online, because people forget.  But you have to be careful not to be too forward, because you don't want to scare anyone away.  Sometimes I feel like I just want to make music in my basement and avoid all this promo shit.  But the truth is that I like it.  I've liked this job since I was young, and I've since quit all of my jobs to do this one full time.  Both feet in the dark.

So far, so good.

 Such cool clouds when we rolled in.

 If you look about a third up from the bottom, you can see the clouds connecting to the mountain.  It looked so strange.

 These pictures almost look like someone cut really thin sheet of linen and put them on top of each other, then on the mountain.

 Brennan and Jon, happy to be walking around.

 SUSHIYAMA.

 Jon meeting Garland.

 Ming and Brennan.

 Tom and Garland.

 GIANT PEICES OF SASHIMI.  The slice of tuna was the size of a deck of cards.

The Biltmore.

 Setting up the box.

 I love this picture of Adam.

 Julia McDougall

The Ruffled Feathers 

 My little experiment.  A burger with hollandaise sauce.

It worked.

 Peaceful.  This place had amazing food.  And they make their noodles fresh fresh.  I saw them make them right in from of my eye.  You can have them HAND-DRAGGED or BLADE-SHEARED.  Those are some badass noodles.

GARLAND LAM.  I love her art.  Check it out.  

It may be a while before I get the last post up for this first part of the tour.  There are a lot of pictures to sort through and I have to plan another tour too.

Thank you for being so amazing.

#saysomethingright