The Stills, Canada Jan.10-Feb.3, 2009
Jan 10, Stills. Day 1, To Vancouver.
Yesterday I woke up in Mexico. Today I woke up in Brooklyn, and now, after 3 hrs of sleep, I'm flying to Vancouver to start the next leg of The Stills Canadian Tour with Sam Roberts.
I hate getting up early, but sometimes it just has to be done, so by 6:30am I'm in the car heading to LaGuardia. The bonus of flying so early is that there's very few people, very little going on, so it was painless to get through everything and the plane even left on time, which is a miracle in and of itself for LaGuardia. I had a stopover in Toronto where I was able to sit for a bit and do some work and soon after I was on the next flight to Vancouver.
I landed just after 3pm, waited for my bags for a little while and caught a cab to the Orpheum Theatre. Not even a break after my vacation. I basically flew straight from the beach to the show in the last 30 hours (26 of which airports and flying).
It was good to get back in to it though; I was ready to start doing the rock shows again. There was no time wasted as things started happening the second I walked in the door. The whole evening just flowed and before I knew it we were heading back to the hotel for the night.
To celebrate the first day back on tour, and to show how my tour chops have all but disappeared over the last 3 weeks, I backed the van into a tree when parking at the hotel and smashed a window. That was fun. It also killed the possibility of sleeping in the next couple days as I know have to find a way to get it repaired. Amazing.
Day 2, Whistler
I woke up early today to try and get the van window fixed, made a couple hours of phone calls only to find out that no one in Vancouver could help me. Every single place was either closed or didn't have the piece in stock. I had thought that the only saving grace of the whole thing was that at least it happened in a major city and I should be able to get it taken care of quickly, but how wrong I was...
So, instead sitting around and getting stressed about it, I went to Staples, got some copies made, and, while walking back to the hotel, I accidentally discovered an amazing little coffee shop called Wicked Cafe that serves my favourite espresso. At least I had that going for me. I sat down for a while and pumped myself full of fantastic coffee nectar and the day got much better.
And so we start the drive to Whistler. It was only a couple hours and it's some of the most incredible scenery in the country on the most dangerous highway. It went well, thankfully.
We got in to the club and soundchecked, didn't have to rush at all, went to the hotel to chill for a bit, and went back to Garfinkel's for the show a little later. For a Sunday night in Whistler, it was really good. Not much hang time afterwards because we have to leave at 10am (show finished at 1am, only got back to the hotel at 2:30am). And again, I have to get up early to try and sort out the wonders of the van window... This is going to be a thorn in my side for days...
Day 3, Kamloops
I almost got the window fixed today... There was a guy who was willing to do it, but alas, the part has to be special ordered and can take a week to get in. At least I know I don't have to think about it for a few more days now and can plan a repair later in the week.
So we start driving to Kamloops. This one will take us even further north, and much higher in altitude, through the Rockies. Sitting in the van as I type, the view is ridiculous, very surreal, very Lord of the Rings. The road, Hwy. 99, is insanely dangerous, but it's clear and visibility is good. So far, moving according to plan...
And a little later we make it to the Interior Savings Centre, home of the WHL's Kamloops Blazers. To celebrate playing in a hockey arena, I went up to the concession stand for dinner and ordered a couple hot dogs. It seemed to be quite a challenge though... dogs cooked in a bagel toaster, buns catching fire, mustard and ketchup pumps that didn't work... Alas... It was not the classic meal I was looking for...
In the end it was all good. Arena shows are always fun, it's a different class of rock show altogether. After we loaded up the van, we hit the road right away. 3hr drive to Revelstoke with a Tim Horton's stop coming up...
Day 4, Banff, AB
Ah, Banff. Lovely scenic town nestled among mountains. The very mountains that attempted to hinder our progress on this beautiful winter day.
We had been moving along quite well, negotiating fearsome hairpin turns along the highway that was somehow built on to the sides of the Rockies. After getting through a particularly harrowing stretch, we stopped for food and gas in Golden, BC, only to be told by the locals that the highway was closed past this point as there was an avalanche control team working to clean up the roads. It only delayed us for about an hour, but it was a reminder that we were lucky to have made it so far without incident.
We finally made it through and arrived at Wild Bill's only shortly after the Sam Roberts bus. It turns out that they had blown not one, not two but 3 (!) tires on their bus and trailer on the overnight drive they did. We were feeling a little more lucky. We took the extra time with which we found ourselves and went to the Saltlik Steakhouse, my all-time favourite steakhouse, for a quick dinner before soundcheck. And it was fantastic.
The show was a little funny tonight. Banff being a ski resort town attracts only the finest tequila swilling teenagers. I had never seen a tequila dispenser at a bar before tonight. Maybe they like it, maybe they were indifferent, but they were definitely intoxicated. We decided it wasn't necessary to hang out with that crowd and headed straight to the hotel after the show. I went straight to bed, I have an early morning...
Day 5, Banff, AB
Sometimes on tour it's very easy to get caught up in things and forget that there's a real world outside the rock show and all that it entails. Today was my reality check. I had to get up early to fly back to my hometown of Ottawa, ON, to attend a funeral for one of my uncles who passed away last week. Definitely not my favourite homecoming, or excuse to return. All I really care to say about it is that you should all go for regular, annual physicals and pay attention to your medical history.
I won't be writing tomorrow. I have more important things to think about...
Day 6, Ottawa, ON
See yesterday.
Day 7, Red Deer, AB
So today I woke up in Ottawa at 5am to get in a taxi and head to the airport. At 10am local time, I was waiting in Calgary for the boys to pick me up on their way through to Red Deer. I had a couple hours to kill at the airport, so I just used the time to catch up on some work and try and get ahead.
Once in the van, we stopped at a music store for supplies, where the salesman tried to instruct us on the proper use of a mic stand (seriously), and we then hit the road for the short drive up north.
The Red Deer Memorial Centre. Sounds like it should be an arena. It's really more like a high school auditorium. It looks like it's straight out of the 70s. It was ok, I guess. It was packed and the kids loved it. Just didn't really feel like a rock show.
We hung out after this one for a little while, had a couple drinks with the SRB guys and just chilled out. Nothing really happened afterwards, we were in Red Deer after all. I just went to the hotel to try and catch up on sleep. In the last week I've crossed the continent 5 times and have been through 6 time zone changes. I'm burnt.
Day 8, Edmonton, AB
Thankfully Edmonton is only a couple hours from Red Deer, so we were in no serious rush today. Got up, took our time, went to the hotel first and we were even able to find some spectacular coffee courtesy of Intelligentsia and the Three Bananas Cafe. Awesome.
So we were feeling pretty relaxed when we went over to the Jubilee, an incredible theater on the university campus. It's like a smaller version of the Nokia Theater in LA, or even the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, just a lot more modern. However, as a result of the beauty of the theater, it seemed a little hard to get the kids to rock out tonight. It seemed as though everyone thought they'd be misbehaving if they had a good time in such a nice place. Weird, but whatever. What are you going to do? We sold t-shirts, and lots of 'em.
We stuck around for a while after the show to have some face time with people, and the guys signed t-shirts at the merch booth for a while, but that was about it. This tour is shaping up to be pretty tame overall. In no time, I was in bed in the hotel.
Day 9, Edmonton/Calgary, AB
Today we have a radio session. Basically the full band gets stuffed in a room with 30 people and they play 4 songs. There's no way this room was bigger than an average bedroom, so it was pretty wild. Everyone there was cool and the kids had a great time. After it was over, we spent the rest of the day driving to Calgary. It was pretty uneventful. Had dinner when we got it, at the Saltlik of course, but I spent most of the day working on budgets for the Australian tour we have coming up in March with Kings of Leon. It's not cheap to fly down there, I'll say that much...
Day 10, Calgary, AB
Finally a chance to sleep in and it was great. We were hoping the hotel would let us stick around a little later than planned so we could take full advantage, but alas, it was not to be... At least we had the option of going for some fantastic Intelligentsia coffee, so we indulged.
We went to the venue soon after as we had lots to take care of today, on the biz side of things anyways... It was a little twilight zone-ish as well; the Southern Alberta Jubilee is a carbon copy of the Northern Alberta Jubilee we played in Edmonton a couple nights ago. Every room, hallway, seat, etc... It was like we never left.
After the show we had to leave though, to start the long drive to Saskatoon for the show tomorrow night. We made our stop in Drumheller, AB, home of the dinosaurs, and looked forward to waking up to a new US President in the morning...
Day 11, Saskatoon, SK
Today is a glorious day. Bush is gone, Obama is in, and it's official. The world can breathe a little more easily and start feeling optimistic and hopeful that the world we live in can finally start becoming a better place. We enjoyed the ride today as we listened to the inaugural speech, etc...
We arrive in Saskatoon a little early, which is something of a miracle for us. The venue was special though - we're playing in a church auditorium today. Usually that means the day will be nothing but nightmares, but they have it pretty together at the ol' Lakeview Auditorium. I thought it actually ended up being the best show of the tour so far, which was completely unexpected. We hung around til the end of the night and then slowly made our way to the hotel, a Best Western straight out of the 70s going through major renovations. Interesting...
Day 12, Regina, SK
We all got to sleep in today, which was absolutely necessary. We're all a little tired from all the driving. Because we were only a couple hours away from our final destination, we were even able to take time to go to a nice cafe for a meal, and we even had time to get lost 4 times as they kept giving us the wrong directions and spinning us around in circles while we tried to get directions over the phone... But it was all worth it.
So we took our time going to Regina. If you know my feelings about the city, magnify it by 6 and you have the feeling in our van. Whatever, eh? The crowd actually seemed to really be into it, which was pretty cool. It was a funny venue though, in the basement of the Conexus Arts Centre, and it sounded and looked really weird. At one point, I had to get Sam's tour manager to help push a speaker back on to the PA stack before it fell off and landed on a security guard.
We didn't stay long tonight as we had to start the drive to Winnipeg. We were supposed to stop in Whitewood, SK, where we had reservations at the Whitewood Inn and arrangements for a late check in. When we got there, we went through all the motions, and after half an hour of repeated phone calls to multiple numbers, no one had come to let us in. Somehow one of the doors to the hotel was open though, so we went inside and sat by the pool to warm up a bit while we tried to find other hotels on our route. It was pretty weird. We kept thinking we were going to walk around a corner and find a crime scene of some sort. It's not wonder half their sign was burnt out... you can't make money if you don't let people stay at the hotel.
We eventually found a place in the metropolis of Moosomin, SK, so we stopped there for the night before heading to Winterpeg in the morning...
Day 13 Winnipeg, MB
Ah, Winnipeg, how you freeze me. We stayed with the heat wave as long as possible, but today it finally outran us, and it got *cold*. Like -40C cold. The only redeeming factor about today was that we were finally getting our rear window fixed. The good people at Headingley Auto Glass tracked down the one and only piece of glass in the entire country that would do the job for us. So, on the way in to town, we stopped at the shop, picked up one of the guys, he came with us to load in and then left with the van to fix it during our show. We couldn't have had better service.
We were playing the Burton Cummings Theatre today, and for some reason, I had illusions of grandeur and beauty because of everything I had heard about the place. Turns out it's kind of a run down dump. The only difference between this "theatre" and a club is the fact that there's seating. That being said, it wasn't so bad... There was some character in the wall that was signed by all kinds of bands, and the toilets worked... Right on.
After the show we had our first after party of the whole tour. It was our last show with the promoter who put on all the west coast shows, so we had to send him off in style. It was actually the first night I went out after a show.
Tomorrow's sort of a day off, we just have press and a drive to Thunder Bay. Not so bad...
Day 14, Drive to TBay
So today started off in fine fashion. Got the guys up for their press, I was going to drive them to the CBC station, but the van wouldn't start. It was awesome. Played with it for a bit, but no love, so I threw the guys in a cab and called CAA. An hour later, after we had time to eat and the guys got back from their interview, the CAA guy showed up, played with the van a bit and decided he didn't have enough juice to boost us, so he called another truck. He said it could take another hour or so, so I went for a (freezing cold) walk and got a terrible coffee, stopped at Staples for some supplies, and by the time I got back the van was running. Turns out they linked the two trucks together to get enough power for the boost. Awesome.
The rest of the day was pretty tame. We drove til we hit Thunder Bay and that was it. Checked in late and chilled out for a bit before we crashed.
Day 15, Thunder Bay
I slept in today. That hasn't happened in months. Literally. I got up at 1pm and it was awesome. Part of the reason I could do that is that none of my phones work in Thunder Bay. They have full reception, but neither Verizon nor Bell have roaming agreements with the brutal monopoly of Thunder Bay Mobility or whatever the hell they are. Mixed blessing I guess, but it definitely affects my productivity.
So we took our time, went to a nasty restaurant for breakfast, and went to start the van to go to the gig, but alas, no start. We did a little research and found out that our model doesn't have a block heater! Coming from Canada, we didn't even know vehicles could come without block heaters. And it's the last time we get an American vehicle for a winter tour... I was right about to call CAA again when somehow it kicked to life. We left it running the rest of the night.
We got to the theatre, today it was a real one, did a quick check and sat down for two hours and watched the NHL Skills Competition for the All-Star weekend. We had to take a break to play a show that was a little weird due to a reluctant audience (I don't think they knew it was ok to have fun), and sat back down to watch a documentary about the history of the Habs. It was particularly cool because both The Stills and Sam Roberts were featured in it and we were all watching it together.
We ended up sticking around the venue for a while after the show (they had a nice backstage) before going back to the hotel. we tried to take some precautions to make sure the van would start in the morning, but we'll see...
Day 16, Drive towards Montreal, stop in Sudbury, ON
Day one of our drive towards Montreal. We made sure to have a full tank of gas in the van and parked it close to the hotel hoping the heat from the building would rub off. It was all we could really do. So, with fingers crossed we went out to start it. No go. At all. I pulled out my CAA card and made the call. It wasn't long before the guy showed up, played with it for a bit and pronounced it seriously wounded, but not quite dead... Solution: find a warm place to park it inside for a couple hours to thaw out. On a Sunday afternoon, this seemed like a longshot, but we hit the jackpot on the first try. Canadian Tire was open, so we had the van towed there and they made room for it inside the garage. They didn't even charge me for it. I threw around some CD's and got a round of coffee for everyone and they were all pretty happy. After 2 hours, we were roadworthy, so we piled in and made our way down the 17. The plan is to make it to Sudbury tonight, then the rest of the way tomorrow. Seems reasonable, it'll just be a late arrival, especially with the weather... It's very reminiscent of my driving across eastern Canada last December, and precisely why I never wanted to tour Canada in the winter ever again. Next year, this is a promise I keep. I'm done with winter. The point was driven home when we made a gas stop just outside Sault Ste. Marie and the highway was closed going in the other direction, towards what we had just gone through. The cop was surprised to see us. F*%k it, not worth it anymore...
When we eventually did get to Sudbury, it was about 3:30am. We briefly considered leaving the van running all night, but with all the gear we decided it wasn't worth the risk. I found a warmish place to park it and I'll just have to get up at 9am to go try and start it.
Day 17, Driving... to Ottawa?
So at 9am I get up to try and start the van. Shockingly it did nothing. Turned over a couple times and died. It was pathetic. So I made the call to CAA and waited. So much for leaving at noon...
The first guy (rookie) shows up with a regular tow truck, looks at the van and doesn't really know what to do. He tried to lift it from the back and quickly realized he had met his match. Not knowing what to do, I got him to call for a flatbed. I continue to wait. An hour goes by and the flatbed shows up. The seasoned driver knows what's up and how to move it, just there's a slight problem in that the flatbed isn't long enough for the van. So, he moves it into a slightly better position and calls for a wrecker. An hour goes by, the wrecker shows up. The guy had the van picked up and ready to go by the time I met him in the parking lot. Awesome.
While all this was going on, I was also making arrangements with Canadian Tire, hoping to get a similar deal as yesterday as far as the storage price. The Regent St. Canadian Tire in Sudbury proceeded to rip me off. They insisted on charging for a service bay, logiv being we were taking up workable space, but the garage was virtually empty. They charged me $166 to let it sit there for just over an hour. I didn't feel the need to buy a round of coffee or hand out CD's today. Regardless, the thing warmed up enough to start and finally, at 4pm, we got ready to leave Sudbury. And so we drove.
I think I got the lucky end up the stick today. Around 9:30pm I got dropped off in Ottawa, so I didn't have to go to Montreal and deal with parking the van. Killer deal. 3 days off now til the last 2 shows this weekend...
Day 18, 19, 20, Ottawa, ON
I slept.
Day 21, Ottawa, ON
Tonight is the first of 2 shows in Ottawa that will bring an end to the January tour. I went to meet the guys at their hotel downtown around 2:30pm to get in the van and head over to the venue. I grabbed the keys and hoped in the seat, cautiously optimistic about the dame thing starting up.
First try, no good. It was hurting. It's plus 3 C and it still won't start. I decided to wait a couple minutes before trying again, and I started telling people there was a good chance we'd be late, even though we were only 8 blocks from the venue. Good times. So I try again, fail, and then on the 3rd shot it finally kicked in. Incredible. I had all but given up when the thing sputtered to life. I let it run for a while to warm up and then drove over to load in.
Ah, the Bronson Centre. Home of so many memories of shows past from when I worked solely in Ottawa. Thank God bands tour... It was nice to walk in to familiar surroundings though, and see some familiar faces, use familiar gear. I think it was also the first time I've come through Ottawa on an actual tour too... Weird... Interesting. My first real hometown show on a tour. And it went really well. The guys played a great set and it sounded amazing. I guess I had an advantage walking into my old stomping grounds.
After the show tonight we had the end of tour afterparty. It was happening tonight as opposed to after the actual final show because we didn't have to tear down, pack up and load out tonight. Tomorrow's going to be a long one... We all headed over to Babylon after, but I didn't stay out too late, maybe 45 mins. I've spent more than enough time in bars on Bank St. in my life, and I'm still recovering and catching up on sleep from a pretty hectic month...
Day 22, Ottawa, ON
Same thing today, headed over to the hotel around 2:30pm to get the van, only this time it didn't work out. After trying to start it for half an hour, we gave up. We went to the venue in a rental car. This did pose a problem about how we were going to deal with our gear though, but thankfully we were able to strike a deal with the Sam Roberts guys to carry our gear back to the rehearsal space in Montreal. We were very lucky that they were going home tomorrow too, and there was space in their truck.
The show tonight may have actually been better than last night, both shows definitely in the Top 5 of the tour. Maybe the Top 2. Imagine that...
It was a little more tame after the show tonight. Some went out, some crashed, I did the latter. I just don't feel the need to party in Ottawa, and I'm tired in general. I need a break. It's coming soon though, just have to go to Montreal tomorrow, then Brooklyn, then Lancaster, PA to ditch the van.
Day 23, Montreal, QC
So today it was supposed to be +4C, which translates into van-starting weather. The reality was -10C, which translates into van-towing weather, and so we did just that. I got to the hotel at 11am, the thing didn't even whimper. I called CAA and began to wait. This time the guy got it up and out on the first shot, and I had it sent to the Canadian Tire just over on Coventry, not far from us. Today's advantage is that having grown up in the city, it's a lot easier to deal with things like this and the logistics of it...
We went with the van to wait, because at least there's a Best Buy and a Starbucks there so we could kill time. It went by pretty fast, I guess. It was still almost 5pm by the time we got out of town though. Thankfully we have a short drive today. Once we were on the road things were good, and we even had indoor parking tonight courtesy of Olympic Stadium. And the Canadian Tire guys didn't charge me a penny to store my vehicle. The Sudbury guys need to take a lesson in kindness from their counterparts.
Once the van was parked and I was in the hotel it was 8:35pm. The longest Ottawa-Montreal drive ever. It took almost 9 hours from the time I left the house til I sat down again. I missed the first half of the Super Bowl, but at least I got to see the 2nd and most importantly the crazy 4th quarter. I had to spend the rest of the night working though, so no time to party in Monty.
Day 24, Montreal to Brooklyn
Damned van I curseth thee! Even with indoor parking and plus temperatures the damn thing put up a fight. It took forever, but finally it got going under the impending threat of a CAA visit and started making my way to Brooklyn. The drive it self was pretty good. Spent a little more time than I would've liked at the border, but more than anything it was because they were curious about the big black van with an Xbox inside and how we could play while driving. Also, at the first gas stop I made in Champlain, the station owner was pretty impressed by the beast, asked for a quick look at it and ended up walking away with a Stills CD he put up on the wall, beside all the other eclectic decorations he had amassed over the years. His station doubled as a thrift shop, pretty wild place...
And I continued driving for the rest of the day. Once I got in, I went to park the van in front of the local Dodge dealer, thinking that at least if I have trouble in the morning, it won't have to go far. Walking back to the apartment, a stop for Indian food was in order. And then I went and sat down at home.
Day 25, Brooklyn to Lancaster
Today is the day! The van goes away! I just have to get it to start one last time and then drive it 3 hours. Again, despite everything being in my favour, the bugger put up a final fight. In the end victory was mine, however, and after 30 minutes of convincing, I had it moving down the interstate. I can't begin to say how happy I was that it started today. Because I got out on time, relatively, that means I'll also get the afternoon train back to NYC and I'll have a full night.
The drive was great, dropping it off was even better, and within minutes I was on the train. I started making calls to let everyone know the deed was done and we could start celebrating, and got news that we could celebrate a little more. The boys got nominated for 2 Juno Awards this morning (Canadian Grammy's), for Best Alt. Album and Best New Group. Don't tell anyone they've been around for 6 years... And so it is a fantastic day in Stills land. 3 more days off and one final show in Toronto, then I'm off for my first of 2 trips to Australia over the next 2 months.
Yesterday I woke up in Mexico. Today I woke up in Brooklyn, and now, after 3 hrs of sleep, I'm flying to Vancouver to start the next leg of The Stills Canadian Tour with Sam Roberts.
I hate getting up early, but sometimes it just has to be done, so by 6:30am I'm in the car heading to LaGuardia. The bonus of flying so early is that there's very few people, very little going on, so it was painless to get through everything and the plane even left on time, which is a miracle in and of itself for LaGuardia. I had a stopover in Toronto where I was able to sit for a bit and do some work and soon after I was on the next flight to Vancouver.
I landed just after 3pm, waited for my bags for a little while and caught a cab to the Orpheum Theatre. Not even a break after my vacation. I basically flew straight from the beach to the show in the last 30 hours (26 of which airports and flying).
It was good to get back in to it though; I was ready to start doing the rock shows again. There was no time wasted as things started happening the second I walked in the door. The whole evening just flowed and before I knew it we were heading back to the hotel for the night.
To celebrate the first day back on tour, and to show how my tour chops have all but disappeared over the last 3 weeks, I backed the van into a tree when parking at the hotel and smashed a window. That was fun. It also killed the possibility of sleeping in the next couple days as I know have to find a way to get it repaired. Amazing.
Day 2, Whistler
I woke up early today to try and get the van window fixed, made a couple hours of phone calls only to find out that no one in Vancouver could help me. Every single place was either closed or didn't have the piece in stock. I had thought that the only saving grace of the whole thing was that at least it happened in a major city and I should be able to get it taken care of quickly, but how wrong I was...
So, instead sitting around and getting stressed about it, I went to Staples, got some copies made, and, while walking back to the hotel, I accidentally discovered an amazing little coffee shop called Wicked Cafe that serves my favourite espresso. At least I had that going for me. I sat down for a while and pumped myself full of fantastic coffee nectar and the day got much better.
And so we start the drive to Whistler. It was only a couple hours and it's some of the most incredible scenery in the country on the most dangerous highway. It went well, thankfully.
We got in to the club and soundchecked, didn't have to rush at all, went to the hotel to chill for a bit, and went back to Garfinkel's for the show a little later. For a Sunday night in Whistler, it was really good. Not much hang time afterwards because we have to leave at 10am (show finished at 1am, only got back to the hotel at 2:30am). And again, I have to get up early to try and sort out the wonders of the van window... This is going to be a thorn in my side for days...
Day 3, Kamloops
I almost got the window fixed today... There was a guy who was willing to do it, but alas, the part has to be special ordered and can take a week to get in. At least I know I don't have to think about it for a few more days now and can plan a repair later in the week.
So we start driving to Kamloops. This one will take us even further north, and much higher in altitude, through the Rockies. Sitting in the van as I type, the view is ridiculous, very surreal, very Lord of the Rings. The road, Hwy. 99, is insanely dangerous, but it's clear and visibility is good. So far, moving according to plan...
And a little later we make it to the Interior Savings Centre, home of the WHL's Kamloops Blazers. To celebrate playing in a hockey arena, I went up to the concession stand for dinner and ordered a couple hot dogs. It seemed to be quite a challenge though... dogs cooked in a bagel toaster, buns catching fire, mustard and ketchup pumps that didn't work... Alas... It was not the classic meal I was looking for...
In the end it was all good. Arena shows are always fun, it's a different class of rock show altogether. After we loaded up the van, we hit the road right away. 3hr drive to Revelstoke with a Tim Horton's stop coming up...
Day 4, Banff, AB
Ah, Banff. Lovely scenic town nestled among mountains. The very mountains that attempted to hinder our progress on this beautiful winter day.
We had been moving along quite well, negotiating fearsome hairpin turns along the highway that was somehow built on to the sides of the Rockies. After getting through a particularly harrowing stretch, we stopped for food and gas in Golden, BC, only to be told by the locals that the highway was closed past this point as there was an avalanche control team working to clean up the roads. It only delayed us for about an hour, but it was a reminder that we were lucky to have made it so far without incident.
We finally made it through and arrived at Wild Bill's only shortly after the Sam Roberts bus. It turns out that they had blown not one, not two but 3 (!) tires on their bus and trailer on the overnight drive they did. We were feeling a little more lucky. We took the extra time with which we found ourselves and went to the Saltlik Steakhouse, my all-time favourite steakhouse, for a quick dinner before soundcheck. And it was fantastic.
The show was a little funny tonight. Banff being a ski resort town attracts only the finest tequila swilling teenagers. I had never seen a tequila dispenser at a bar before tonight. Maybe they like it, maybe they were indifferent, but they were definitely intoxicated. We decided it wasn't necessary to hang out with that crowd and headed straight to the hotel after the show. I went straight to bed, I have an early morning...
Day 5, Banff, AB
Sometimes on tour it's very easy to get caught up in things and forget that there's a real world outside the rock show and all that it entails. Today was my reality check. I had to get up early to fly back to my hometown of Ottawa, ON, to attend a funeral for one of my uncles who passed away last week. Definitely not my favourite homecoming, or excuse to return. All I really care to say about it is that you should all go for regular, annual physicals and pay attention to your medical history.
I won't be writing tomorrow. I have more important things to think about...
Day 6, Ottawa, ON
See yesterday.
Day 7, Red Deer, AB
So today I woke up in Ottawa at 5am to get in a taxi and head to the airport. At 10am local time, I was waiting in Calgary for the boys to pick me up on their way through to Red Deer. I had a couple hours to kill at the airport, so I just used the time to catch up on some work and try and get ahead.
Once in the van, we stopped at a music store for supplies, where the salesman tried to instruct us on the proper use of a mic stand (seriously), and we then hit the road for the short drive up north.
The Red Deer Memorial Centre. Sounds like it should be an arena. It's really more like a high school auditorium. It looks like it's straight out of the 70s. It was ok, I guess. It was packed and the kids loved it. Just didn't really feel like a rock show.
We hung out after this one for a little while, had a couple drinks with the SRB guys and just chilled out. Nothing really happened afterwards, we were in Red Deer after all. I just went to the hotel to try and catch up on sleep. In the last week I've crossed the continent 5 times and have been through 6 time zone changes. I'm burnt.
Day 8, Edmonton, AB
Thankfully Edmonton is only a couple hours from Red Deer, so we were in no serious rush today. Got up, took our time, went to the hotel first and we were even able to find some spectacular coffee courtesy of Intelligentsia and the Three Bananas Cafe. Awesome.
So we were feeling pretty relaxed when we went over to the Jubilee, an incredible theater on the university campus. It's like a smaller version of the Nokia Theater in LA, or even the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, just a lot more modern. However, as a result of the beauty of the theater, it seemed a little hard to get the kids to rock out tonight. It seemed as though everyone thought they'd be misbehaving if they had a good time in such a nice place. Weird, but whatever. What are you going to do? We sold t-shirts, and lots of 'em.
We stuck around for a while after the show to have some face time with people, and the guys signed t-shirts at the merch booth for a while, but that was about it. This tour is shaping up to be pretty tame overall. In no time, I was in bed in the hotel.
Day 9, Edmonton/Calgary, AB
Today we have a radio session. Basically the full band gets stuffed in a room with 30 people and they play 4 songs. There's no way this room was bigger than an average bedroom, so it was pretty wild. Everyone there was cool and the kids had a great time. After it was over, we spent the rest of the day driving to Calgary. It was pretty uneventful. Had dinner when we got it, at the Saltlik of course, but I spent most of the day working on budgets for the Australian tour we have coming up in March with Kings of Leon. It's not cheap to fly down there, I'll say that much...
Day 10, Calgary, AB
Finally a chance to sleep in and it was great. We were hoping the hotel would let us stick around a little later than planned so we could take full advantage, but alas, it was not to be... At least we had the option of going for some fantastic Intelligentsia coffee, so we indulged.
We went to the venue soon after as we had lots to take care of today, on the biz side of things anyways... It was a little twilight zone-ish as well; the Southern Alberta Jubilee is a carbon copy of the Northern Alberta Jubilee we played in Edmonton a couple nights ago. Every room, hallway, seat, etc... It was like we never left.
After the show we had to leave though, to start the long drive to Saskatoon for the show tomorrow night. We made our stop in Drumheller, AB, home of the dinosaurs, and looked forward to waking up to a new US President in the morning...
Day 11, Saskatoon, SK
Today is a glorious day. Bush is gone, Obama is in, and it's official. The world can breathe a little more easily and start feeling optimistic and hopeful that the world we live in can finally start becoming a better place. We enjoyed the ride today as we listened to the inaugural speech, etc...
We arrive in Saskatoon a little early, which is something of a miracle for us. The venue was special though - we're playing in a church auditorium today. Usually that means the day will be nothing but nightmares, but they have it pretty together at the ol' Lakeview Auditorium. I thought it actually ended up being the best show of the tour so far, which was completely unexpected. We hung around til the end of the night and then slowly made our way to the hotel, a Best Western straight out of the 70s going through major renovations. Interesting...
Day 12, Regina, SK
We all got to sleep in today, which was absolutely necessary. We're all a little tired from all the driving. Because we were only a couple hours away from our final destination, we were even able to take time to go to a nice cafe for a meal, and we even had time to get lost 4 times as they kept giving us the wrong directions and spinning us around in circles while we tried to get directions over the phone... But it was all worth it.
So we took our time going to Regina. If you know my feelings about the city, magnify it by 6 and you have the feeling in our van. Whatever, eh? The crowd actually seemed to really be into it, which was pretty cool. It was a funny venue though, in the basement of the Conexus Arts Centre, and it sounded and looked really weird. At one point, I had to get Sam's tour manager to help push a speaker back on to the PA stack before it fell off and landed on a security guard.
We didn't stay long tonight as we had to start the drive to Winnipeg. We were supposed to stop in Whitewood, SK, where we had reservations at the Whitewood Inn and arrangements for a late check in. When we got there, we went through all the motions, and after half an hour of repeated phone calls to multiple numbers, no one had come to let us in. Somehow one of the doors to the hotel was open though, so we went inside and sat by the pool to warm up a bit while we tried to find other hotels on our route. It was pretty weird. We kept thinking we were going to walk around a corner and find a crime scene of some sort. It's not wonder half their sign was burnt out... you can't make money if you don't let people stay at the hotel.
We eventually found a place in the metropolis of Moosomin, SK, so we stopped there for the night before heading to Winterpeg in the morning...
Day 13 Winnipeg, MB
Ah, Winnipeg, how you freeze me. We stayed with the heat wave as long as possible, but today it finally outran us, and it got *cold*. Like -40C cold. The only redeeming factor about today was that we were finally getting our rear window fixed. The good people at Headingley Auto Glass tracked down the one and only piece of glass in the entire country that would do the job for us. So, on the way in to town, we stopped at the shop, picked up one of the guys, he came with us to load in and then left with the van to fix it during our show. We couldn't have had better service.
We were playing the Burton Cummings Theatre today, and for some reason, I had illusions of grandeur and beauty because of everything I had heard about the place. Turns out it's kind of a run down dump. The only difference between this "theatre" and a club is the fact that there's seating. That being said, it wasn't so bad... There was some character in the wall that was signed by all kinds of bands, and the toilets worked... Right on.
After the show we had our first after party of the whole tour. It was our last show with the promoter who put on all the west coast shows, so we had to send him off in style. It was actually the first night I went out after a show.
Tomorrow's sort of a day off, we just have press and a drive to Thunder Bay. Not so bad...
Day 14, Drive to TBay
So today started off in fine fashion. Got the guys up for their press, I was going to drive them to the CBC station, but the van wouldn't start. It was awesome. Played with it for a bit, but no love, so I threw the guys in a cab and called CAA. An hour later, after we had time to eat and the guys got back from their interview, the CAA guy showed up, played with the van a bit and decided he didn't have enough juice to boost us, so he called another truck. He said it could take another hour or so, so I went for a (freezing cold) walk and got a terrible coffee, stopped at Staples for some supplies, and by the time I got back the van was running. Turns out they linked the two trucks together to get enough power for the boost. Awesome.
The rest of the day was pretty tame. We drove til we hit Thunder Bay and that was it. Checked in late and chilled out for a bit before we crashed.
Day 15, Thunder Bay
I slept in today. That hasn't happened in months. Literally. I got up at 1pm and it was awesome. Part of the reason I could do that is that none of my phones work in Thunder Bay. They have full reception, but neither Verizon nor Bell have roaming agreements with the brutal monopoly of Thunder Bay Mobility or whatever the hell they are. Mixed blessing I guess, but it definitely affects my productivity.
So we took our time, went to a nasty restaurant for breakfast, and went to start the van to go to the gig, but alas, no start. We did a little research and found out that our model doesn't have a block heater! Coming from Canada, we didn't even know vehicles could come without block heaters. And it's the last time we get an American vehicle for a winter tour... I was right about to call CAA again when somehow it kicked to life. We left it running the rest of the night.
We got to the theatre, today it was a real one, did a quick check and sat down for two hours and watched the NHL Skills Competition for the All-Star weekend. We had to take a break to play a show that was a little weird due to a reluctant audience (I don't think they knew it was ok to have fun), and sat back down to watch a documentary about the history of the Habs. It was particularly cool because both The Stills and Sam Roberts were featured in it and we were all watching it together.
We ended up sticking around the venue for a while after the show (they had a nice backstage) before going back to the hotel. we tried to take some precautions to make sure the van would start in the morning, but we'll see...
Day 16, Drive towards Montreal, stop in Sudbury, ON
Day one of our drive towards Montreal. We made sure to have a full tank of gas in the van and parked it close to the hotel hoping the heat from the building would rub off. It was all we could really do. So, with fingers crossed we went out to start it. No go. At all. I pulled out my CAA card and made the call. It wasn't long before the guy showed up, played with it for a bit and pronounced it seriously wounded, but not quite dead... Solution: find a warm place to park it inside for a couple hours to thaw out. On a Sunday afternoon, this seemed like a longshot, but we hit the jackpot on the first try. Canadian Tire was open, so we had the van towed there and they made room for it inside the garage. They didn't even charge me for it. I threw around some CD's and got a round of coffee for everyone and they were all pretty happy. After 2 hours, we were roadworthy, so we piled in and made our way down the 17. The plan is to make it to Sudbury tonight, then the rest of the way tomorrow. Seems reasonable, it'll just be a late arrival, especially with the weather... It's very reminiscent of my driving across eastern Canada last December, and precisely why I never wanted to tour Canada in the winter ever again. Next year, this is a promise I keep. I'm done with winter. The point was driven home when we made a gas stop just outside Sault Ste. Marie and the highway was closed going in the other direction, towards what we had just gone through. The cop was surprised to see us. F*%k it, not worth it anymore...
When we eventually did get to Sudbury, it was about 3:30am. We briefly considered leaving the van running all night, but with all the gear we decided it wasn't worth the risk. I found a warmish place to park it and I'll just have to get up at 9am to go try and start it.
Day 17, Driving... to Ottawa?
So at 9am I get up to try and start the van. Shockingly it did nothing. Turned over a couple times and died. It was pathetic. So I made the call to CAA and waited. So much for leaving at noon...
The first guy (rookie) shows up with a regular tow truck, looks at the van and doesn't really know what to do. He tried to lift it from the back and quickly realized he had met his match. Not knowing what to do, I got him to call for a flatbed. I continue to wait. An hour goes by and the flatbed shows up. The seasoned driver knows what's up and how to move it, just there's a slight problem in that the flatbed isn't long enough for the van. So, he moves it into a slightly better position and calls for a wrecker. An hour goes by, the wrecker shows up. The guy had the van picked up and ready to go by the time I met him in the parking lot. Awesome.
While all this was going on, I was also making arrangements with Canadian Tire, hoping to get a similar deal as yesterday as far as the storage price. The Regent St. Canadian Tire in Sudbury proceeded to rip me off. They insisted on charging for a service bay, logiv being we were taking up workable space, but the garage was virtually empty. They charged me $166 to let it sit there for just over an hour. I didn't feel the need to buy a round of coffee or hand out CD's today. Regardless, the thing warmed up enough to start and finally, at 4pm, we got ready to leave Sudbury. And so we drove.
I think I got the lucky end up the stick today. Around 9:30pm I got dropped off in Ottawa, so I didn't have to go to Montreal and deal with parking the van. Killer deal. 3 days off now til the last 2 shows this weekend...
Day 18, 19, 20, Ottawa, ON
I slept.
Day 21, Ottawa, ON
Tonight is the first of 2 shows in Ottawa that will bring an end to the January tour. I went to meet the guys at their hotel downtown around 2:30pm to get in the van and head over to the venue. I grabbed the keys and hoped in the seat, cautiously optimistic about the dame thing starting up.
First try, no good. It was hurting. It's plus 3 C and it still won't start. I decided to wait a couple minutes before trying again, and I started telling people there was a good chance we'd be late, even though we were only 8 blocks from the venue. Good times. So I try again, fail, and then on the 3rd shot it finally kicked in. Incredible. I had all but given up when the thing sputtered to life. I let it run for a while to warm up and then drove over to load in.
Ah, the Bronson Centre. Home of so many memories of shows past from when I worked solely in Ottawa. Thank God bands tour... It was nice to walk in to familiar surroundings though, and see some familiar faces, use familiar gear. I think it was also the first time I've come through Ottawa on an actual tour too... Weird... Interesting. My first real hometown show on a tour. And it went really well. The guys played a great set and it sounded amazing. I guess I had an advantage walking into my old stomping grounds.
After the show tonight we had the end of tour afterparty. It was happening tonight as opposed to after the actual final show because we didn't have to tear down, pack up and load out tonight. Tomorrow's going to be a long one... We all headed over to Babylon after, but I didn't stay out too late, maybe 45 mins. I've spent more than enough time in bars on Bank St. in my life, and I'm still recovering and catching up on sleep from a pretty hectic month...
Day 22, Ottawa, ON
Same thing today, headed over to the hotel around 2:30pm to get the van, only this time it didn't work out. After trying to start it for half an hour, we gave up. We went to the venue in a rental car. This did pose a problem about how we were going to deal with our gear though, but thankfully we were able to strike a deal with the Sam Roberts guys to carry our gear back to the rehearsal space in Montreal. We were very lucky that they were going home tomorrow too, and there was space in their truck.
The show tonight may have actually been better than last night, both shows definitely in the Top 5 of the tour. Maybe the Top 2. Imagine that...
It was a little more tame after the show tonight. Some went out, some crashed, I did the latter. I just don't feel the need to party in Ottawa, and I'm tired in general. I need a break. It's coming soon though, just have to go to Montreal tomorrow, then Brooklyn, then Lancaster, PA to ditch the van.
Day 23, Montreal, QC
So today it was supposed to be +4C, which translates into van-starting weather. The reality was -10C, which translates into van-towing weather, and so we did just that. I got to the hotel at 11am, the thing didn't even whimper. I called CAA and began to wait. This time the guy got it up and out on the first shot, and I had it sent to the Canadian Tire just over on Coventry, not far from us. Today's advantage is that having grown up in the city, it's a lot easier to deal with things like this and the logistics of it...
We went with the van to wait, because at least there's a Best Buy and a Starbucks there so we could kill time. It went by pretty fast, I guess. It was still almost 5pm by the time we got out of town though. Thankfully we have a short drive today. Once we were on the road things were good, and we even had indoor parking tonight courtesy of Olympic Stadium. And the Canadian Tire guys didn't charge me a penny to store my vehicle. The Sudbury guys need to take a lesson in kindness from their counterparts.
Once the van was parked and I was in the hotel it was 8:35pm. The longest Ottawa-Montreal drive ever. It took almost 9 hours from the time I left the house til I sat down again. I missed the first half of the Super Bowl, but at least I got to see the 2nd and most importantly the crazy 4th quarter. I had to spend the rest of the night working though, so no time to party in Monty.
Day 24, Montreal to Brooklyn
Damned van I curseth thee! Even with indoor parking and plus temperatures the damn thing put up a fight. It took forever, but finally it got going under the impending threat of a CAA visit and started making my way to Brooklyn. The drive it self was pretty good. Spent a little more time than I would've liked at the border, but more than anything it was because they were curious about the big black van with an Xbox inside and how we could play while driving. Also, at the first gas stop I made in Champlain, the station owner was pretty impressed by the beast, asked for a quick look at it and ended up walking away with a Stills CD he put up on the wall, beside all the other eclectic decorations he had amassed over the years. His station doubled as a thrift shop, pretty wild place...
And I continued driving for the rest of the day. Once I got in, I went to park the van in front of the local Dodge dealer, thinking that at least if I have trouble in the morning, it won't have to go far. Walking back to the apartment, a stop for Indian food was in order. And then I went and sat down at home.
Day 25, Brooklyn to Lancaster
Today is the day! The van goes away! I just have to get it to start one last time and then drive it 3 hours. Again, despite everything being in my favour, the bugger put up a final fight. In the end victory was mine, however, and after 30 minutes of convincing, I had it moving down the interstate. I can't begin to say how happy I was that it started today. Because I got out on time, relatively, that means I'll also get the afternoon train back to NYC and I'll have a full night.
The drive was great, dropping it off was even better, and within minutes I was on the train. I started making calls to let everyone know the deed was done and we could start celebrating, and got news that we could celebrate a little more. The boys got nominated for 2 Juno Awards this morning (Canadian Grammy's), for Best Alt. Album and Best New Group. Don't tell anyone they've been around for 6 years... And so it is a fantastic day in Stills land. 3 more days off and one final show in Toronto, then I'm off for my first of 2 trips to Australia over the next 2 months.
posted by t. at 8:50 PM
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