It's just that we've been busy. And, there's been a dearth of computers out here, at least in the circles we've been travelling in.
So to recap:
We lost our roadie less than 24hrs. into the trip. He (we guess) got on a Greyhound at the Sudbury bus station with his guitar and went home. Said he couldn't do it for two and a half weeks. After that first show at the Townehouse, we sat up 'til about 5 o'clock and had a few cold ones and passed around his guitar. It's not like we were doing lines of coke off of each other's bellies or anything. So we're not sure what scared him off. Hope he's well. In any event, we ended up with more room in the van.
In Sault Ste. Marie, we were treated to the hospitality of Trevor and Amanda, who operate the Downbeat Lounge. They set us up with dinner and drinks and let us stay at their home, and then sent us off with an acoustic guitar and some DVDs, asking nothing in return but a couple of pounds of good Alberta jerky, which will gladly be procured. Their generosity will be rewarded.
With a couple of days off, we beat it to Thunder Bay with an eye toward having the van serviced. We ended up holed up in a little motel on the outskirts of town and wrote a bunch of songs, and hatched a plan for how to record them. So Thunder Bay is not all bad. Here's Todd doing some research at the Fast Lane. The Fast Lane was a bar near our motel. Life in the Fast Lane will surely make you lose your mind.
Then we went to Winnipeg, where we got to meet Eric who runs the Soul Survivor Tattoo shop, and who was kind enough to sponsor our show at the Pyramid Caberet. Dave and Rob at the Pyramid treated us very well, and we're looking forward to our return trip to their wicked club next Saturday. We feel lucky to be running into so many great folks on our first trip out here.
Next, we went to Edmonton. We had a good show at the Sidetrack Cafe, and then got to hang out with Mark Davis of our western brothers Old Reliable. Also Dawn and Owen from the Calgary label
Saved By Radio drove up for the show, and we had a nice visit with them.
Now we've just arrived in Cowtown. Here's Jakey (aka the BK Berserker) getting us here.
We're in the middle of setting up some instruments in Owen's living room, and we're going to sing some songs. We'll be back soon.
Later, JJ
The boys are hurtling from Winnipeg to Edmonton right now, and so this FiftyWife is here with the news... first the Winnipeg show went very well last night by all accounts. Hello and thanks to the
D-Ranger contigency in the crowd...
The big news of the day is that the music director from
Y101FM has decided to add 'For the Sake of My Pride' to its rotation. [
Read Joël Lamoureux's comments here] It will start out being played on their Saturday night show, from which they will gauge listener response to it. So FiftyFans, if you're willing and able, do the boys some good and request FIFTYMEN with Y101FM! Call 750-1011 or email
requests@y101.fm. - jli out.
Here we are on the purported couch on which Stompin' Tom perched on to scribble "Sudbury Saturday Night." We didn't write anything on it.
...but we are in Sault Ste. Marie. We enjoyed a lovely drive from Sudbury today, having played our first show of the tour at the legendary Townehouse Tavern. We had a great time, despite the guy yelling for us to play Led Zeppelin who wouldn't believe that I met Robert Plant behind the laundromat in Wakefield. Which, of course, I did.
All of the members of the band are now safely tucked away after a hard day of scrambling around gathering strings and tubes and drumsticks and whatnot. Meanwhile, Jarrett Bartlett is sitting at home, polishing his bass guitar. He's coming on tour with us in place of Michael Houston Hanlan, who has bigger fish to fry. (Watch this space).
Stay tuned for updates from Ontario's Near North, the Lake Superior Circle Route, and, you know, the Prairies.
