The Stills Day 39, Home

And so, with a final wild flourish of driving, it comes to an end. It started with a flight to Houston, TX, and somehow I ended up crossing the continent 6 times in 6 weeks, culminating with a tour bus dropping me off mere steps from my front door. Crazy.

 

It was a surprisingly tame ending. Everyone is exhausted and was sleeping when I got off the bus. Our internal clocks are shot, our perception of reality is warped at best. That’ll happen when you live in an aluminum tube on wheels for a few weeks with no real contact to the outside world.

 

These 5 days should be pretty interesting. Just long enough to pull things together before it all gets shot to hell again. And, to top it off, for the first time that we won’t be going into a different time zone every 48hrs, the stupid daylight savings thing kicks in this weekend. The concept of time will never again make any sense.

 

Next stop, Toronto, en route to London, ON, then around Ontario, eventually to London, UK, Paris, Istanbul, St. Catharines (too funny) and finally NYC. Crazy… It’ll be December before I see my bed again, but then again, I’ve learned that home is where you park it.

The Stills Day 38, North Bay, ON

There was actually more to do in North Bay than in Thunder Bay. I’m shocked. We had great wings at a wing joint called Moose’s, we had internet access in the hotel, there was a convenience store and a Tim Horton’s nearby. Not bad for a night off in the middle of nowhere.

 

This is also the homestretch. One more drive and we’re all home for a whole 5 days. I don’t know how to adjust. I have no idea how I’ll sleep in a bed that’s not moving, not to mention the lack of engine noise beside my head. Should be interesting…

The Stills Day 37, Thunder Bay, ON

I never thought I’d be able to say I went to Thunder Bay twice in 12 weeks. Not that I’m proud of that or anything, I just thought I’d never be able to say it.

 

The club today actually looks pretty cool. Big room, big stage, insane lineup that started early, the show was great... All things look good. I had a good lunch at the cafeteria, found a couple good books at the bookstore, had a good latt√© at the coffee shop upstairs… Everything was falling in place.

 

But alas, The Trews left early tonight to head to Waterloo, so there was no crazy dance party. Oh well, not the end of the world. The venue wouldn’t let us take our rider beer out to the bus. Sigh. We were done everything and sitting around at 12am. The bus was scheduled to leave at 7am. Do you have any idea how hard it is to kill time on a small university campus in Thunder Bay at 3 am? It’s impossible. It was just really dark and depressing. Damned Bay of Thunder, we curse thee.

The Stills Day 36, Winnipeg, MB

They call it Winterpeg for a reason. It’s really freakin cold here, and it’s not pleasant. Add to that that our bus is parked a 5 min walk from the venue and you have very crusty bus inhabitants. Thankfully there was a coffee shop in the building that saved the day, not only through coffee, but they make great food too, so we chose to have our dinner there.

 

The show went quite well once again, and once again there was a crazy dance party on The Trews bus. They’re good lads, those Trews, giving up their bus like that. We did have to come to the rescue though. They ran out of beer so we had to provide for our friends in need. It’s important to take care of each other out there.

 

We were so far out of town that we had neither the time nor the chance to do anything else today, so overall it was just another day. Hopefully things will pick up in Thunder Bay.

 

Then again, it is Thunder Bay… sigh…

 

The Stills Day 35, Saskatoon, SK

As far as places to spend a day off in go, especially in Saskatchewan, Saskatoon is the place to be. There’s some form of life here and it’s kind of interesting. Spent the afternoon shopping at the mall downtown, then we had dinner at an Italian place, which was ok, not too bad, not great, but good.

 

We returned to the bus after dinner where a couple of the Molson guys (we’re on a Molson sponsored tour) joined us for some beverages (Molson of course), and then we went to the hotel bar for the rest of the night, which ended up being the alcohol-related highlight of the tour for me. If you enjoy the Grand Marnier line of cognacs, you’ll understand the following recollection. If not, it’s like buying a Ford but when you start to drive, you realize they put in a Porsche engine by mistake.

 

I ordered a Grand Marnier, the bartender grabbed the bottle, and when he started to pour, he realized that the bottle was empty. He couldn’t find a new one, so he grabbed another bottle on the shelf to pour my drink. It just so happened that it was GM 150-ennaire. He didn’t say anything about it, likely because he thought I wouldn’t know the difference, but as soon as I saw the bottle I grabbed the arm of the guy next to me in shock. I didn’t say a word, other than “you know what, make it a triple…”, which he did, and he only charged me the price of the cordon rouge. I had about $70 worth of liqueur for $17.25, and it was incredible. I took my time and enjoyed it over the course of an hour and a half. Good things can happen in Saskatoon…

The Stills Day 34, Edmonton, AB

Edmonton, the city of champions. They didn’t win the Provider of Bus Water competition, that’s for sure. Three truck stops and three strikes. Understandable though; it’s pretty cold up here, they don’t want the pipes to freeze. Nevertheless, it’s hard to live on a bus without water.

 

So, accepting our fate, we make our way to the venue, typical day in that regard. Had dinner at another Earl’s, which again was spectacular, then went back for what may have been the best show of the tour, followed by a crazy dance party on The Trews bus afterwards. Ended up being a pretty decent day after all, and with that, we head to back to Saskatoon for a day off.

 

The Stills Day 33, Calgary, AB

So today is the show day in Calgary. The wonderful thing about university shows is that it’s near impossible to find the venues. Today was a perfect example. It was about 10 minutes from our hotel, but it took us 90 minutes to get there. It was amazing. Fortunately, I finally started reading The Da Vinci Code, so time flew by for me.

 

The highlight of today was the discovery of a restaurant called Earl’s. It seemed like a normal family style place, a little higher class, but a fairly general menu. And the food was insane. I had some sort of chicken curry that blew my mind. Not to mention they had great in-house beer. The Albino Rhino is the way my friends.

 

After dinner, we had a great show. I got to put to use some techniques my friend Ken Schultz had been showing me, and quite frankly, it changed the way I mix FOH for life. I had some good mixes before, but now it’s like I walked through a gateway to a whole new dimension. Amazing.

 

Pretty quiet after the show tonight, everyone kind of laid low. Next stop Edmonton.

The Stills Day 32, Calgary, AB

A day off in Calgary, or at least part of a day, was something we looked forward to. We had a chance to do some pretty cool shopping on 17^th Ave, though I didn’t buy anything myself, and have time to breathe in a real city. Then we went for dinner.

 

Dinner was special. When in Calgary, never, ever, in all seriousness, go to Caesar’s for a steak. It was terrible, even moreso after having eaten at the Saltlik (see Banff) a few days earlier. Bad soup, iceberg lettuce, WAY overcooked steak, horrifying service; I bought a $70 bottle of wine just to make the dinner bearable. It was just awful

 

Fortunately, redemption was at hand. Looking to kill time at the hotel, the manager led us down a back hallway to real live country western roadhouse. It was something else. The entertainment value was top-notch. We had a couple drinks, met great locals such as Bruce and Dale, and had a smile etched into our faces virtually the entire time. The whole thing was hilarious and I don’t think I’ve ever stood out more in a crowd. If we were here for two nights, I might actually go back. Hey wait, we are here for two nights…

The Stills Day 31, Regina, SK

Ah, Regina. How thou art, well, let’s be honest, revolting. No offence to anyone that lives there, I have nothing bad to say about the locals, but what a depressing town. There’s just nothing there and it really doesn’t seem like there’s any hope.

 

Anyways.

 

We started the day with a mediocre Chinese meal, a stop by Shoppers Drug Mart and then off to The Lazy Owl, where we had to park our bus about 1 km from the venue, making for the worst load out EVER. Somehow, we all survived, and I was able to watch a late-night rerun of Monday Night Football. Finally I got to see a football game. Sure, it was at 3am and the game was played four days earlier, but you have to understand. We’ve been so cut off from reality lately… no phone service, no internet, no tv, no newspapers… it felt so insanely good to actually see something familiar. At least I had one good thing happen in Regina…

 

The Stills Day 30, Saskatoon, SK

I finally made it back to friendly Saskatoon, home of Vern’s Pizza, which I was fortunately able to enjoy yet again, and it was really good. I’m having a great week for food.

 

We had a small “filler” show here tonight at Louis’ Pub on the U of S campus that was surprisingly good. The crowd was small in numbers, but rather large in enthusiasm. It made the night a lot of fun.

 

Unfortunately we didn’t really have a way, nor the time, to run around town too much, so it was a short and sweet visit, and despite the snow and ice (I know, hard to believe, but true), I look forward to coming back.

The Stills Day 28, Vancouver, BC

There is no better feeling than walking into a venue, looking around and realizing that you know everyone. Until you find out they’re all on the road with you for 2 weeks. The Canadian tour couldn’t have started any better, except that the Pit Pub is an absolute sound nightmare. I got really excited about the whole thing pretty fast.

 

The other things that made the day go so well were, in no particular order, we were back in Canada where a) the money has colour, b) there’s no corn syrup in the food and c) my bank is here. The weather was amazing, we all slept well, we were all relaxed. All good right from the start. We even had a real breakfast and shower. Travelling in the US can be pretty cool, but there’s just a different vibe that feels better when you get back up north.

The Stills Day 29, Banff, AB

Today is an off day that we are fortunate enough to spend in scenic Banff, AB. The drive from Vancouver through the Rockies was incredible, and we had the chance to make our first Tim Horton’s stop in Canada and initiate our American driver to the crack-cocaine of the average Canadian.

 

We got into town just in time for dinner, which for me was absolute perfection. Let’s back track for a minute here… (begin flashback sequence) I was last in Banff two years ago with the Sam Roberts Band. We happened to come upon a steakhouse called Saltlik and I remember walking out of there thinking that I had just eaten the best, most perfect steak that could possibly be served to a human being. I hung on to that thought and held every steak I’ve eaten since up to that criteria, and, quite frankly, some have come close, but have never surpassed the Saltlik. (end flashback sequence)

 

So, being back just in time for dinner was everything I could hope for and more. I managed to convince two of the guys to come with me for the experience, and after the appetizer and a glass of wine, everyone was sold, and then the steak. My God the steak. I’ve eaten there twice now and it’s the two best steak dinners I’ve ever had. The rest is just roadkill by comparison. The dessert was spectacular and we even went to the lounge downstairs for a drink after.

 

After that, we made our way to a place called Melissa’s, where the cops were raiding the bar and clubbing people in the street (seriously), so we kept on moving to the Rose & Crown, where there was actually a pretty good cover band playing. We hung out there with the band guys for a bit and had some drinks, then back to bus for a few more and our night in Banff came to a close. Could not have had a better day off.

 

The Stills Day 28, IA, MT, ID, WA

Today we continue our trek from Detroit to Vancouver for a show tomorrow, the first of our cross-Canada tour with The Trews. We boarded the bus in Sioux City this morning, and we have not stopped driving. Literally. Only for gas. I’m so sick of the bus right now. Today alone we’ve already driven the equivalent of half the USA, and we still have more to come. I’m so sick of the bus right now. We’ve done nothing all day, just listen to music, read, watch dvds, play poker, etc… It’s the weird zone where you’re tired cause you haven’t used up any energy, but you can’t sleep cause you’re too awake. I’m so sick of the bus right now.

 

The Stills Day 27, Sioux City, IA

Thank you Sioux City for what was quite possibly the weirdest day on record. That’s what happens when you start your day looking forward to a trip to Wal-Mart…

 

After the shopping spree, we eventually got to town and went into the hotel to take some showers. After that, we decided to go to the Riverboat Casino, which is supposed to be the main attraction in town, and it did sound pretty cool. So we head out there, have a mediocre dinner at the restaurant and then head into the casino. This casino just happened to be home to the most depressed looking bunch we’ve ever seen. People living and dying with every pull on a penny slot machine, wearing sweat suits and chain smoking / drinking. After a whole 3 minutes, a couple of us decide to bail and go back to the hotel, maybe hang out on the bus and watch some hockey on the satellite. But alas, the generator on the bus died (we have to get it fixed today) so there was no power at all. So we rally the troops, ask the hotel to call us a van cab because there’s 6 of us, they call a regular cab we end up stuffing into, and head to Historic Fourth Street, where all the nightlife is.

 

By nightlife, they mean 6 bars. And they were lame. By Historic, they mean est. 1995. Again, lame… We settled on Sweet Fanny’s, cause at least they had a pool table to distract us from the guy playing guitar in the corner, singing his favourite 90s hits (and misses). After a few games of pool (including a last game to beat a crazy local) and trying to figure out how an electronic dart board works, we had enough and tried to call a cab to get us back to the hotel, but they said that would take at least 30 mins, cause it’s Saturday night in Sioux City and all 3 cabs in town are hustling like mad. So we tricked the hotel into sending a shuttle to pick us up, and the man driving seemed to have no love for us whatsoever… didn’t even acknowledge our “thank you’s”. Sigh…

 

Now back at the hotel, looking for something to do, and the birthday party in the room beside ours did not seem like a valid option, we walked into the bar which was thankfully still open, if only for another 20 minutes. Within seconds there were rumours of The Stills playing New Year’s Eve in Sioux City in the corner of the hotel bar. The good side of this is that it got us a couple rounds of drinks from a couple nice local chaps. Couple more games of pool, a picture taken to send to a jealous sister / fan, and a few rounds of Mystery Phraze, and we head back to the bus, which again has no power, but remains our best option for entertainment. So we sit in the dark for about 2 hours waiting to leave, listening to Metallica on laptop speakers and getting hockey updates. Can’t wait to come back.

The Stills Day 25, Detroit, MI

Ah, Detroit. The city I’ve heard so much about, been through so often, but never bothered to stop and check out. Now I know why.

 

The show itself was fine, big old theatre, interesting sound, etc…

 

The fun part was walking the streets after the show. We literally only walked around the block, and we had one guy rap to us for about half of the walk, telling us why he was better than 50 Cent, and another man bummed a smoke from our tour manager, complained about the taste and then proceeded to argue about whether it was worth the $7 a pack. Then, a street drummer set up right outside the door of the bus and has been drumming for the better part of the last 2 hours. This is one block. I won’t even attempt to figure out how many people asked me for change today. It’s been an experience. Hopefully it’ll be a while before the next one. And, with that, off we go towards Vancouver for the next show on Monday night…

The Stills Day 24, Chicago, IL

After a few weeks in Texas, the desert and on the west coast, it’s very easy to forget what cold is. And when you step out of a bus onto the streets of Chicago, you remember realllly fast. I had bought a fall jacket a couple days ago in the hopes of having some insulation, but no good. It was absolutely frigid. Add to that that on two separate occasions I spent between 20 and 60 minutes on a street corner trying to hail cabs. I believe the high was 4¬∞C. With windchill maybe -2…

 

It was weird to work again after living in the bus for a couple days. We had been driving straight since Seattle three days before, we’re going to Detroit next and then three more bus days to Vancouver. After that touring life will return to whatever “normal” is with shows every couple days.

 

Anyways, I had long been looking forward to the stop in Chicago, not only for steak, pizza and shopping, but also because my girlfriend is there. Our warped travel schedule reduced (read: cut out) all of those things from my schedule, but at least I was able to spend some time at the apartment after the show last night. Wasn’t much time for us to spend together, but at least there was some… who knows when I’ll have a chance to spend another day there, especially with the way the schedule keeps growing…

The Stills Day 23, Mitchell, SD

Our day off in Mitchell, South Dakota did not look promising. After a quick shower, a not terrible dinner, and a check of the email, we headed off to Village Bowl for a rematch at the lanes. Churches McGee once again brought the house down, while Thomas Maximillian the 3^rd had respectable 3^rd and 4^th place finishes. Other notables were The Crow and Robert. After a sing-a-long in the taxi-bus with the locals on the way back to the hotel, we patiently await the beginning of the drive to Chicago…

The Stills Day 21-22, BUS!!!

The day is finally here! Today we got the bus. It wasn’t easy, but we got it. We started with a drive from Seattle to Vancouver that included a fantastic border stop. It actually wasn’t so bad… About 30mins of waiting around, a quick inspection of the vehicle and we were on our way. We had a chance to stop for lunch, pick up some new roadcases, and then we went to drop the RV at the local rental establishment.

 

We ended up spending a few more hours waiting than we expected… The bus coming to meet us was rerouted due to a blizzard and a rock slide, so they sent a bus up from Seattle to shuttle us to the bus we were supposed to meet. A smooth 3hr ride to the middle of nowhere, and we made the transfer. After fixing a couple lights on the trailer we were finally on our way.

 

The only thing was that because of the delays, there was no way we’d make the Minneapolis show, so we had to blow it out. We’re still on schedule for Chicago, but it’ll be tight…

 

We spent our first night in Butte, MT. Talk about a one horse town… I had a decent steak dinner at the local restaurant, and we spent the rest of the night bowling. Churches McGee brought the house down, with Thomas Maximillian the 3^rd coming in a close 2^nd. There will be a rematch tonight in Mitchell, SD…

The Stills Day 16, Drive to SF

The drive was fairly painless… a nice scenic drive through southern California. We got to San Francisco fairly late, but with more than enough time to hit 2 bars before last call. We stopped at Delirium first, which was a “cozy” little place with a weird raver type room in the back. We couldn’t really figure out what was going on so we stayed out front at the pool table.

 

After a couple drinks there, we moved on to the Arrowhead, which had a weird cave-like ceiling and very bad music. Nonetheless, it was fine for killing time. Come 1:30am, the bar staff was very effective at getting people out on the street, so we headed to a diner around the corner from our hotel for a late-night bite. All in all, a decent way to start a couple days in town.

The Stills Day 18-20, SFO-YOW-SEA

Day 2 in San Francisco began with a walk around the hotel area, which featured a great strip on Polk St. that had lots of amazing coffee shops and restaurants. 3 of us went for a coffee, stopped in a place for a reasonable breakfast, then I went on to Guitar Center to pick up some supplies, and walked around a bit more. It was raining on and off all morning, so that was a little unpleasant, but the F14 fighter jets later on in the day more than made up for that.

 

The one thing that’s interesting about SF is that they have lots of homeless people. They all seem to be out of it, most of them are crackheads and it’s pretty intimidating, but for the most part they’re harmless and provide great entertainment. For example, I saw one man stumbling and screaming his way down the sidewalk, when he just stopped and dropped his pants and pissed on a newspaper box.

 

So, about the fighter jets… turns out it was fleet week and they were racing them around the city. It was pretty wild. Loud and fast, fun to watch, it lasted most of the afternoon, or at least til we got to the venue.

 

The Independent is a cool mid-size bar. Lots of people out for this one; it was almost sold out. It was a fun night. After the show, the guys went and partied with The Dears, also from MTL, who happened to be in town, but I had to go straight to bed because I had an unbelievably early flight back to Ottawa for my sister’s wedding.

 

So, the next morning at 4am, I woke up and made my way to the airport for a long flight home. At 5pm EST I touched down, went straight to a bar to play a show, then to a big family dinner. That lasted a little while, so by the time I got to bed it was almost 1:30am. I had to be up at 8am to go for pictures, then there was the ceremony, then more pics all afternoon, and of course the reception and dinner. Not to mention that I had to play some classical guitar at the ceremony… That made for a long day. By the time the cake was cut, I had 2 hours to sleep before getting back on an airplane.

 

The only bonus about the flights today was that when I got to Chicago, there was a flight to Seattle leaving within 10 minutes, so I got to skip the stopover time and go straight out. It was rough… realllly rough, but I made it to Seattle where I was finally able to crash for a couple hours before coming to work.

 

The Showbox is a really cool and decent sounding room. We just had dinner at a great Chinese place next door called Genghis Khan. Amazing, really insanely good food. Now, just a show to go, tomorrow is BUS DAY!!! And then I can sleep for two days on the way to St. Paul, MN. Good times to be had by all…

The Stills Day 15, LA to San Diego

I started the day with a trip out to Jay Ruston’s place. He’s an old friend from Ottawa that I haven’t seen in a few years, so we hooked up at the show last night and worked it out so I could go visit his studio this morning before I left. Have to say it was really nice… Also really good to see Jay again. He’s started conquering the world and it felt like it was only two weeks since we saw each other, not the actual 4 years….

 

And then we drove to San Diego. Very nice town, but haven’t really had a chance to enjoy it. We got to the venue late because of traffic, soundchecked, ran to Guitar Centre and had an early show. All was good, everything worked out. After the show we all ordered some pizza to enjoy in our fine Holiday Inn establishment with a few beverages and tomorrow it’s off to San Francisco. I’m really excited about SF…

 

The Stills Day 14, LA

So LA is a little funny. You never really know what people are up to. The scenery is amazing though. I can totally understand how people adjust to the west coast lifestyle.

 

After a great breakfast at Caf√© 101, we went to the Fonda Theater for our first headline show of the tour. Everything in the afternoon went well. For this show, management flew in from LA, lots of label folk came out, the Kings of Leon showed up, etc… so there was some pressure. Not to mention FOH was in the very last row of the upper balcony…

 

But… all was good everything turned out just fine. A little bit of extra time at soundcheck paid off.

 

After the show I was rather hungry, so I went out in search of pizza. I happened to find a place on Hollywood Blvd. that was pretty good, not to mention I got to check out the stars on the Walk of Fame and the handprints at the Chinese Theater. So anyways, at the pizza place, I had my 2^nd “LA” experience… a drunk girl started following me down the street slapping my shoulders while her friends tried in vain to restrain her. They were very apologetic and all, it was funny…

The Stills Day 13, Drive to LA

I think we made it somewhere near Aspen after the show, some 3 hours out of Denver. Now there’s just another 15 hours to drive. I drove the first 4.5 or so, and the scenery was absolutely incredible. I was stunned the first time I drove through the Canadian Rockies, but this is a whole other level. And the drive through the Utah red rocks? Speechless. It’s something every travelling enthusiast has to do in their lifetime. There’s nothing like it.

 

So, after driving through the best scenery I’ve ever seen, I gave up the wheel, did some gear maintenance and right when I was finally ready to crash, we blow a tire. In Death Valley. At 8pm, pitch black, middle of nowhere, with a fox and a rattlesnake. Seriously. We made all the necessary phone calls, but it took over 4 hours before we were back on the road again. That’s not good when you’re less than halfway through a 15 hour drive. By the time we were rolling again, it was almost midnight and everyone was worn out, so, I figured I may as well drive again, cause no one else stepped up and it had to happen… and so I began my 6 hour drive to LA.

 

Everything was cool, and then we got to California. Right from the border, there was non-stop, rush hour like traffic. I’m talking 2 am here people. By the time I was getting close to LA, maybe 4:30am-ish, traffic was out of control. We going down these slalom like roads, I’m in an RV and trailer (45’ total length) doing 70mph, and trucks and cars are blowing by me at 90+ honking cause I’m too slow. The limit was 55mph. It was the most insane driving experience I’ve ever had. The last 2 hours were 100% white knuckle driving and I thought my hands would stick on the steering wheel for ever.

 

And that was my first LA experience.

The Stills Day 12, Denver, CO

We woke up to a beautiful day in Denver, and for once we actually had time before we had to load in. Took a drive around town, had a good breakfast, etc… Denver is actually a really nice city. We saw our first signs of fall as well… See, we’ve been in the desert for, well, every day so far, and today when walking to dinner, we noticed that we were walking on dry, colourful leaves… it was quite the shock…

 

The show at the Gothic Theater was great. It was actually our last night with Kings of Leon, so some of the guys stayed behind after the show to party a bit, but those of us less fortunate began a 20hr drive to LA.