Oct 16-Oct 20 2007 - (Peter Speaking) - Entry #1

Back again!

Hello blog, here I am, driving through the beautiful rocky mountains (well, Rob is driving, otherwise we would have driven off the road by now), I digress... here we are, driving through the gorgeous Rocky Mountains, Rob is doing vocal histrionics (warming-up) and I thought I would take the opportunity to get this blog up to date. So, last we spoke, I was done my east coast tour and very excited for my impending west-coast tour with Rob. I'm going to catch you up on the first week and then Rob will take over and update you on what happened from there. We'll switch back and forth until we get to the end (at which point we will likely both be crying).

So, I picked Rob up at his house on Tuesday morning, we hugged, embraced, wrapped our arms around each other and jumped for joy with excitement at the prospect of once again hitting the road together. We headed out on our drive to Sault Ste Marie and we mostly chatted about how excited we were the whole time. 8 hours later, voices sore from talking too much, we showed up at Loplops (the great venue we were playing in Sault Ste Marie), did our soundcheck and then hit up the grocery store to have dinner. We sat in the rainy car, eating our bounty (I with wet feet – my shoes had big holes in them, more on that later) quite content with our new van-home. Rob had salad and chicken in a bag, I had sushi in a box.... delicious. We then headed back to Loplops and played our gig. I'll be honest, it wasn't exactly bustling, but the people that were there were very supportive and attentive and it was a great first gig to get the machine running.

The next day we woke up early and headed on our way to Thunder Bay. Not much to report about that drive other than the fact that there were some spectacular views along the shoreline and the fall colours were absolutely gorgeous. We arrived at The Study (in Lakehead University) where we were met by Kyle, the manager at the The Study and the guy who had booked us the show. He was extremely helpful and had make us an amazing meal at home and brought it in for us, sensitive to our dietary concerns (I'm a vegetarian, Rob can't eat anything). We also met Mike Filipovitch who was opening up the night. He plays guitar for lots of great bands so it was nice to have him on the bill. Kyle had obviously done a great job promoting the show as it quickly filled up with students, ready to listen to music. Mike played a great set and then Rob went up and did his thing. I felt really good about my set too, tried out some new tunes, lots of fun. This was definitely the first 'great gig' of the tour. After the set we chatted with a group of guys who were in a band called the Married Singlemen. I liked the name, that's why I mentioned it. We also met a girl who had done drawings of both of us during our sets, so cool! Oh, I forgot to mention that prior to the show I got an email from a girl named Ashliegh (that's the way she spells it) and she asked if I could read some of my poetry during my set. This was a terrifying prospect, but I took the challenge and read one about mid-set. The crowd seemed to actually respond really well to it; perhaps something to try again down the road...

After the show, we headed back to Kyle's place where he graciously put us up. It wasn't the most comfortable of sleeps in the world (I'm a big guy and I don't fit on couches so easily), but I'm certainly not complaining, we were happy to have a place to stay! The next morning, Ashliegh (poem-monger) came over and her and Kyle cooked us up a ridiculously delicious breakfast (Asparagus –omelette with sweet potato homefries, veggie sausage... oh yes). Very full, we headed back out on the road, destination Winnipeg.

We rolled into Winnipeg 8hours later and went directly to our venue, The Academy. It was a great little place, intimate vibe, good listening environment. What we didn't realize however was that there had been some crossing of wires and our opening act (Mike Petkau) had accidentally advertized the other Academy location. So as we wondered where he was, he was probably doing the same... Needless to say, there was a little bit of frantic driving around when we realized what had happened but in the end, he showed up and the show went off without a hitch. The crowd was great, the food was delicious. Only complaint was that my feet were still wet. After the show, we headed over to our gracious hosts Terry and Terry's place (I've talked about them before, the nicest people in the history of the world, man and woman, couple, both named Terry). They had prepared a post-show feast for us so we sat around the table and ate and drank beer and wine. Life is very good. We hit the sack, both completely exhausted, only to wake the next morning to yet another feast. Terry and Terry have a long history of being extremely kind to me, and in typical Terry and Terry fashion, they had also prepared a massive bag of food and drinks for the road... can you believe it!?!

8 hours later (Canada is big), we rolled into Saskatoon and did our soundcheck at the Refinery. The Refinery is a gorgeous converted church-hall in Saskatoon with a real-deal lighting grid and sound system. I was very excited about this show and my good friends Kelly and Sandy Gilchrist had helped set it up. The show went unbelievably well with such an incredibly attentive, supportive audience. It was a rather emotional show for me as the last time I had played that venue I was there for a benefit concert in memory of the Gilchrist's son Geoff who had been tragically killed in a car accident. The lullaby that I wrote for my niece Mikayla and played at their house concert on the last tour had inspired Kelly to write a lullaby for his grandson Joshua (Geoff's newborn son) which a local musician had then put music to and played at the funeral. I was pretty overwhelmed trying to play the lullaby but I just focused on the music and managed to make it through. Needless to say, it was a wonderful night; one that made me remember exactly why I want to write music and drive all over the country playing it for people.

I should mention that Rob had a fantastic set too and made many new fans in Saskatoon (as I knew he would). After the show we headed back to the Gilchrist's and finally got a good night's rest.

So there you have it, our first blog entry. I pass the 'buck' over now to Rob who will update you on the next 5 days, and then I'll be back for more.

Before I leave, I thought I would share with you the product of some of our long drives. I don't promise that you will laugh, only that we did very hard as we were thinking it up...

This is a list of things Rob and I will be demanding on our rider from now on:

That is all, I know, we're weird... but 8 hours a day in a car will do that to you! Alright, over to Rob! (I just looked outside and it's full-on winter out there, that was unexpected...)

n.b. The reason I am hugging the gas pump in the pictures is because we nearly ran out of gas but were saved by this lone gas station, in a town I can't remember the name of (Quingemer? Chizmoke?) I'm not supporting the oil industry or anything...

Oct 20th -25th - (Rob Speaking) - Entry #2

Hey humans ... it's me, Rob, taking over where Peter left off.
I'm writing this trying to remember the last few days as we drive from Calgary into the mountains on our way to Golden, BC. I always get kinda choked up driving into the mountains. The majesty. We're such puny humans. BC always kills me.

We left Saskatoon today after a great breakfast with our wonderful hosts the Gilchrists. There's another thing that kills me: The relentless kindness that people show us day in and day out while we're on the road. Some of them good friends, like family, some, very new friends … all willing to welcome us into their homes and feed us and basically treat us like kings. I really don't know what we do to deserve it.

So we had an uneventful drive from 'Toon town to Calgary … since we were driving through the prairies Peter tied off the wheel to keep us going straight and we both got into the back of the van to do a bit of rehearsal for the show that night. (Not really- Peter drove and I sat in the back … you wouldn't believe the jockey-ing around the van that goes on … since we're both tall and lanky we can basically stretch ourselves the length of the van to get whatever we need [see photo] … generally from underneath a pile of something else we thought we needed at some point … did I mention that the van is hopelessly unorganized? This doesn't seem to bother Peter. With my OCD tendencies, I'm finding it difficult to deal with: 6 guitars, an amp, 2 gear cases, 2 suitcases, hundreds of Cds and postcards, jackets, shoes, boots, workout gear, cameras, food bags, a plug in cooler … all shoe-horned into the back of the van in whatever order we happen to throw it in. I'm sorta getting used to it. I'll live. I guess my OCD balances out Peter's germophobia … he's scared to death of sharing anything that may transfer germs on the road … ). We rehearsed Peter's song “Posters and my song “Incandescent. Fun. We got to the venue checked and had a ridiculously good show. It was a packed house at The Ironwood. People were in the mood on a Saturday night. Peter played his best set of the tour. And I gotta follow this guy right? I'm gonna have to talk to him about that … It was a fantastic night all around. We played “Posters & “Incandescent as the encore on stage together for the 1st time. I felt lucky to be involved in music. I still do as I write this.
[click on link to see video of incandescent and posters]

The next day, we had our first day off of the tour, which we spent in Calgary hanging out with friends. We had a fantastic Indian meal, some wine … exactly what we needed.

On Monday we headed to Lethbridge for a show at The Slice. I love this area of the world. Badlands. Kind of a cross between the surface of the moon and a real old school western frontier town kinda-vibe. The show was really well attended for a monday night: 50 or so folks, many of whom had seen me play this past summer at South Country Fair in Fort Macleod. The crowd was really into it, and when I invited people to waltz during my song "Paper Planes" I was delighted when a whole slew of people got up and just started waltzing. I love that. People digging the music, getting involved and just generally enjoying themselves. A fantastic night!

The following day we were off to Red Deer. Neither of us had played there before. We weren't sure what to expect. We rolled into the club: The Vat. There was a group of people in the parking lot smoking who held the door for us as we loaded in. Nice folks. The show was sparsely attended, but the people who were there were really into it. The sound tech Udye, a recent immigrant from Japan turned out to be a yo-yo wizard … as we were loading out he rocked out on the stage whilst displaying some pretty scary yo-yo tricks. [check the video link].

Onto Golden, BC the next day. I love the mountains, have I mentioned that? I remember the 1st Western tour I ever did with one of my former bands (The Groove Daddys), we pulled into The Drake Hotel in Canmore,AB. We parked the van. I got out and looked around. 360 degrees of mountains. We would be there for the next 3 days. Heaven. I digress. Golden is the same idea. I always ask people who live in such splendor whether it ever wears on them … whether they feel like they really experience where they live daily and don't take it for granted. They generally look at me like I'm crazy: “Why do you think I live here?. Understood. Agreed. More on “agreed later. The show at Formerly Packers Place was small, but the mighty crowd sitting on couches right in front of the stage made it feel like a house concert. We stayed above the venue in the little hotel and were off through the mountains on our way to Kelowna.

The show at Doc Willoughby's in Kelowna was packed with folks in party mode. A whole group of Aussies at a job fair were among the revellers. Peter played a fantastic set and made believers out of the lot of them. A packed room like that, with lots of chatty folks and he ends his set with “Forgiveness sung off-mike … silenced the room. Beautiful.
I'll hand the next little bit off to Peter since it's very near his heart …

Oct 26-28 - (Peter Speaking) - Entry #3

Thanks Robert!

Me again, Peter.Before I say anything, I just want to announce that I bought new shoes in Calgary so my feet are no longer wet! Congratulations to me. (how Rob could leave this crucial fact out of his blog is beyond me, but there you have it)

So after Kelowna we drove to Armstrong, but before we got there we made a crucial pitstop on the way. (History break: 3 years ago I did a play in this area at a place called the Caravan Farm Theater.I lived in a tent for 2 months on this gorgeous property in the rolling hills of the Okanagan and we put on a production of Cyrano (I played Christian). We spent our days swimming in all the gorgeous rivers and lakes of the Okanagan and our nights being in this play that was attended by 300-500 people every night for the whole summer, absolute magic, best summer of my life, no contest). So, seeing as we were back on familiar (and extremely fond) turf, I decided to see if I could use my spidey-senses to locate one of my favorite places to go hiking/swimming. Miraculously (and I really was quite lost) we found our way there (Kalamalka Lake). My heart was so full of joy when we arrived!! We both got our adventure gear (sweaters) on and headed out on little hike in the woods. For everyone who has never been to BC, do yourself a favor and get out there sometime, it is absolutely stunning. We went for a much-needed walk through the woods and ended up at Rattlesnake point (my favorite spot for cliff-jumping that summer). We sat on the rocks and watched the sunset; perfect moment. After our hike, we headed to the Caravan Farm Theater. By a stroke of incredible luck, the farm was putting on a Halloween show that week and we had the night off. As we drove up to the farm, I had to remind myself to breathe. This place had meant so much to me, such a meaningful period in my life; it was incredible to be coming back. Who would I see? What would it look like?

We pulled in and all looked as it once did. Only difference I noticed was that they now had flush-toilets, a luxury we didn't have when I was at the farm. It was also WAY colder, as was to be expected given the time of year. So we got fully bundled up, winter gear and all and crowded around the fire waiting for the show (I should also mention that Angela, the woman who works the box office gave us free tickets to the show, I felt so special!)

After a little wait, the front of house guy/host called us all together and we journeyed up the hill for the show. There was a little pre-show band performance and then we went around to the bleachers. There were at least 250 people there. We all crowded into the bleachers, wrapped ourselves in sleeping bags and blankets and sat and watched the show for the next hour, totally delighted. It was a pretty cool show; nearly all the action took place behind this white screen so it looked like a silhouette/shadow play with all kinds of neat effects and projections. Rob and I both really enjoyed it. After the show we headed into the cookshack where I caught up with old friends and reminisced about the days of yore. After much re-acquaintance, we headed off to my good friend Kevin and Laurel's place (I met them on the farm, they're in many of my previous blogs as I always stay with them;they were in Calgary the past 2 times but moved back to Armstrong, GREAT people!) We had a late night feast and soon retired to bed.

The next morning we slept in late, cooked a scrumptious breakfast and then headed into town to check out the local farmers market, do laundry and hit up the thrift stores. I bought some Gordon Lightfoot records. Rob bought "The Potty Putter" at the thrift store. Is that self-explanatory? (It' a little golf green setup for when you're on the toilet. It's an alternative to Archie comics for the avid golfer) It's for a friend.

Rob decided that getting some writing done was in order (he's a disciplined man!) so I dropped him off at Lorenzo's (the place we would be playing the next night) and I headed off into Vernon to catch a play that was written by and starred 2 good friends (Courtney and Ajineen) that I had been in Cyrano with (another stroke of good fortune that they were in town performing that night!). Much to my delight, they were performing at the performing arts center in front of 600 people! I was very proud of them. The show was hilarious; a kind of musical-western-comedy. They wrote all the music, the script, acted and self-directed ---pretty impressive. We went for a drink afterwards and had a great catch-up session. I love seeing old-friends!

The next day I hung out with Kevin and Laurel all day, worked on writing (with Kevin's help, he's an incredible poet/writer as well as an English professor now, he just got the job, Go Kevin!) and then headed off to Lorenzo's for the show. I'll hand it over to Rob now to tell you about his Lorenzo's adventure...

Oct 27 - 28 - (Rob Speaking) - Entry #4

We left Kevin and Laurel's and drove through the splendor of interior BC. Peter dropped me off at Lorenzo's which is just outside of Enderby,BC in “downtown Ashton Creek. This is the real deal. As I've spouted to many of you, I'm often disappointed with so called “out of the way places since they never quite live up to my (maybe unrealistic) expectations. Basically, (in Peter's words) “I want to see something I don't recognize. I don't want to see strip malls and chain stores. Well, downtown Ashton Creek did not let me down. It consists of a general store and Lorenzo's. We were greeted by the Leo the resident friendly guard dog and his owner Lorne Costley, also the owner of the venue. He was outside in the big gravel parking lot hanging Halloween decorations for the night's party in the trees around the lot. Peter dropped me off since we didn't have a gig that night and he was going back to hang out with Kevin and Laurel and I was to spend a quiet night alone in the band room in Lorenzo's the night before our scheduled show there.

Lorne helped me lug my gear up to the band room and gave me a quick tour of the joint. Wow. Lorenzo's is a remodeled school house originally built in 1919!!. It's basically a Frankenstein-type structure superimposed onto the frame of the original schoolhouse. It's something to see: bright yellow with white trim on the outside, multiple levels with a 2nd story walk around deck. It's straight out of a cartoon. It looks otherworldly. It gets better. The main floor dining room has a sunken stage, so the crowd is looking down half a story at the performers, basically surrounding the stage on three sides. The stage is backed by red velvet curtains and … wait for it … the stage floor is made out of the lanes from a bowling alley!!! The surrounding crowd area is flanked with bowling pins and balls. You see, Lorne came across a good deal on an old bowling alley and all the flooring on the main floor is bowling lanes. There's even an actual functional bowling lane on the patio in the back. That was certainly “something I didn't recognize. I love this shit. I got a chance to talk to Lorne throughout the night and got a sense of the kind of person who would come up with such a novel idea. I love people who come up with crazy schemes and have the wherewithal to see them through. Lorne was certainly one of those. Later that night he surprised me in my room, where I had put on an old jazz LP on the hi-fi and was kicking back … I heard “knock, knock, knock … I'm comin' in (there was no door, only a curtain as entrance to the room) and there was Lorne in full costume as the devil: red face makeup, horns, 3 piece black suit with hell-red shirt, and a red velvet cape. “Rob, can you play blues? The band I had booked tonight are half an hour late and I can't get ahold of anyone. Can you play?. No sweat. I was downstairs and set up in a few minutes and playing to a small crowd of about 15 folks, a few in costume. The sound was fantastic since, not only is the stage sunken, but it's a vaulted ceiling, three stories high, so sonically it's very church-like. I played a short set and managed to keep the small crowd there for an extra hour or so, which is all I'm thinkin' Lorne was hoping for.

The room cleared out and left Lorne and I talking with Pierre the chef at the bar. We had some wine and got to know each other. Pierre left early, leaving just Lorne and I. The conversation got heated at points since we'd both had a quite a bit to drink. I had to give my head a shake a few times since Lorne was really in character and would go off into cackling fits to underline the point he'd just made … sorta like Michael Keaton in Beetljuice, and I kept imagining that I was having a conversation with THE DEVIL HIMSELF … especially since he had his back to the sunken floor with the red velvet drapes. Freaky.

Oct 29 - Nov 1st - (Peter Speaking) - Entry #5

Me again, Peter.
So, the following morning, Rob picked me up at Kevin and Laurel's and we headed on our way up to Prince George. 8 hours later, after a gorgeous drive, we arrived at the Artspace where we would be playing that night. It was nice to arrive with plenty of time as the last time we had been to Prince George we got a flat tire, got stuck in major snowstorm, nearly hit 20+ moose (mooses, meese) and were haunted by a crazy old man in the corner of a beat-down restaurant drinking beer at 11 in the morning and cackling away about how only a crazy person would attempt to make it through PINE PASS!! Turns out he was right... cheeky monkey.

So we got set up, had a bite to eat in the bookstore downstairs and then played our show. I was on first and the audience was a little slim when I started. In fact the audience was slim for most of Rob's set too, but for some reason about ¾ of the way through it started filling up and the new arrivals who wanted music! So, Rob just kept playing and called me up to do a bunch of impromptu numbers together. Turned out to be a great show! Afterwards we went out for dinner with a large group of people, including 3 actresses from the production of 'The Rez Sisters' in town, 2 musician friends (Eric and Neda, also our hosts for the evening) and the artistic director of the local folk festival along with her husband and son. It was a pretty mixed group of people all sitting around a table, made for some fascinating conversation.
Stuffed and exhausted, we went back to Eric and Neda's and crashed, happy to have a warm bed to sleep in. The next morning we got up early and had breakfast with Rob's friend Kerry. He's a really interesting guy who runs a guitar repair shop below the Artspace. He gave us a little tour of his place before we left. He's developing a line of electric mandolins that look like ripping glam electric guitars, super cool. He also plays exclusively with tortoise shell pics that retail at $200 a piece (at the rate I lose guitar picks, I would be a very poor man in a hurry with that penchant). He also had an acoustic mandolin on the wall with a barnyard of miniature plastic animals living in the hollow of the body. I love creative people.

After a great breakfast, we said our goodbyes and made our way north towards Fort St John. For the first time on the tour we had a couple of days off and so Rob had an idea that we should rent a cabin in the middle of the woods somewhere for a night and try to get some writing done. I agreed and so we set off on our hunt. Unfortunately, when we arrived in Chetwynd (the bustling metropolis that we thought would provide nearby cabins), all the places were closed for the winter. Fortunately, when we stopped in at the visitors center, the woman there pointed out that the local luxury hotel was doing a price-matching deal for October. Quite excited by this, we checked it out and landed ourselves a gorgeous hotel room, with kitchen, gym, etc. etc. for very little money. Rob was really excited at the prospect of making dinner and drinking wine so we totally spoiled ourselves. First things first we hit up the grocery store and bought all the fixings for a delicious spinach salad and vegetable curry, then we hit up the gym for some much needed cardio (and guilt-absolving, for me, Rob doesn't have guilt), then we cooked up a storm. Rob really did most of the cooking; I was in charge of the salad and pouring the drinks. We ate, drank a lot of wine, played guitar, laughed, and in true Peter fashion, I fell asleep. Our noble ambitions of writing a bunch of great songs together and getting inspired by the cabin in the woods were lost at the bottom of the wine bottle. Oh well, it was still a great night!

The next day, heads slightly sore, we headed on our way to Fort St John, excited to see our good friend Ryan Hennessey and his family. We pulled into his place around 4 o'clock and his house was abuzz as it was Halloween and the kids were getting into their costumes. The plan was to have an early dinner and Rob, Ryan and I would stay at home to hand out candy while his kids (Eli and Danielle) were out trick-or-treating with his wife Becky. There was an epilogue to this plan, but I'll tell you about it momentarily. So after a fantastic meal (thanks Becky!) we got into our killer Halloween costumes. I volunteered (eagerly) for the giant pink bunny costume (it was just my size), Rob volunteered (also eagerly, more or less) to be wrapped completely in toilet paper to be toilet-paper man, or was it to be a mummy... I'm going with toilet paper man, and Ryan was a murderous scientist guy. Our setup was Rob would stand still on the porch while Ryan waited behind the door. I would lure the kids over with my cute hopping and bunny-ish ways. While they were distracted by the candy, Rob would come to life and make scary mummy noises while walking towards them then Ryan would throw open the door and scream. Fantastic.
The plan worked pretty well, but the kids turned out to be generally smarter than we had anticipated. Generally...
Probably the biggest problem with the plan was that I kept eating the candy. I have 1 binge per tour, and this was it. Last tour it was the mini-bar in Edmonton. I really was a threat to the whole operation, sorry Rob and Ryan.
After the last trick-or-treaters had come and gone, we got to the epilogue.... IRON MAIDEN!!!
Ryan Hennessey is the #1 Iron Maiden fan in the world and has his shrine room in the basement where we were scheduled to drink wine and watch Iron Maiden DVDs. I, on the other hand was an Iron Virgin and all I knew of them was that they had scary shirts when I was a kid and that the kids that wore them were always the smokers. Turns out that they're not scary at all, just high energy metal gods with good business sense. We had SO much fun watching the movies, drinking wine and rocking out with the videos. The best part was watching Ryan go on and on about how amazing they are and his deep love for the band. Passion is a beautiful thing and Ryan has lots of it. 6 hours and as many bottles of wine later, we were spent and retired for the night. The Maidens would be back before long as the next day, the 3 of us found ourselves in the basement, 3 guitars in hand. Rob taught me the licks for 'Hallowed be thy name' (a Maiden Classic) and we rocked out in harmony while Ryan took us home on the vocals. Ryan was in ecstasy, in was a legendarily fun moment.

We left Ryan's house in the afternoon so we could catch up on some work at the hotel before our show at Egan's and also get another workout in (after 2 weeks in a van, your body feels like guacamole. It sure was nice to get some exercise in)
We headed over to the radio station for a great on-air session where we both played songs and got interviewed [Peter Video / Rob Video] and then headed back to Egan's for the show. When we arrived it was bustling full of people, a great night was in store... I have to tell you, there's nothing like the Fort St John crowd, and man do they LOVE Rob Szabo. It's kind of like you're at a wild rockin' party, but all the party-ers love singer-songwriters instead of AC/DC. The energy in the room was off the wall and it was a total blast playing for them. By the time Rob hit the stage, there wasn't a dry liver in the room and they were singing full-tilt to every one of his songs, full voice, full passion [Video Proof]. At the end of his set Rob called me onstage and we ended up rocking out on a bunch of extra songs including my personal favourite moment, singing 'I Live For the Summer' ---couldn't have had any more fun than we did in that moment. After multiple encores, we finally called it quits and hung around till closing time eating and drinking with everyone. Definite highlight of the tour.

Nov 1 - Nov 6 - (Rob Speaking) - Entry #6

Hey folks, It's me again, Rob, taking you in on our journey back east. I'm writing this as we make the 16 hr drive from Thunder Bay to Toronto. We decided to do it all in one stretch instead of splitting it over two days. We're both really anxious to get home ... So, back to Grande Prairie ... it's funny how my memory plays tricks on me. That seems like weeks ago, but it's actually less than a week! Speaking of my memory, I have to make and addendum of sorts to a previous blog entry ... you see, we often make these entries a week or so after the actual events themselves, and it's been brought to my attention that there was an oversight on my part in my Calgary entry. I neglected to mention a wonderful afternoon I spent with my good friend Donna, with whom I stay nearly every time I go to Calgary. She's awesome and truly an inspiration as a friend and fellow human. We went to the food court at a mall near her place, she had mexican, I had greek, what bounty! She was nice enough to give me a granola bar as dessert that I could actually eat too (which is saying alot—I have so many food allergies) ... and I NEVER get to eat dessert. Anyway, it was great to see her and she mentioned that I didn't write about it in my blog and I felt really bad about it, so it got me to thinking that it's likely that this has happened with someone else before ... meaning that I've had some great experience with someone who happened to read my/our blog(s) and felt slighted because I didn't mention them. So I thought I should make some mention of this, mostly for my own peace of mind and detail how this can happen. So here we go ...
List of Reasons why I may not mention something in the blog:

• 1- I forget most things that happen to me almost immediately after they happen. I'm not sure exactly what's wrong with me, but my memory is surprisingly bad. Ask my girlfriend Catherine. She often asks me about events we've experienced together, and I just stare back at her blankly, "Was I there"?, I ask her. (Most of what you've read in this blog is really just a fictionalized account of stories that Peter has re-told me about stuff that happened.)
  
• 2-I may decide that some event falls into the personal friendship/private category, and I don't feel like it's something is should share.
  
• 3-So much has happened since the actual event, that I'm caught up in the present ... and forget ... see #1. It's odd to be on the road and have so much happen in such a short time. Sometimes it feels like many memories are just a dream and the people I meet are kinda like ghosts to me ... not in a creepy way, just in a I-can't-quite-grasp-the-memory-and-hold-onto-it kinda way. If I'm reminded of course, YES!, it was great! But failing that ...
  
• 4-I thought no one else would find it interesting even though I personally found it gripping.

This list may seem like a list of excuses, and it effectively is, but I thought it was worth mentioning. My apologies to Donna (!) and to anyone else who I may have skimmed over because I am a forgetful man.

Ok, so back to the matter at hand ... we drove into Grande Prairie from FSJ after a fantastic show at Egan's. The Egan's shows are always such a blast and this one was the best ever. People in FSJ make me feel like family. So we got the oil changed on our way out of town (every 5000km right?), and hit the highway to GP. Easy drive, no sweat. Pulled into town and quickly reached the venue: Better Than Fred's. We were both anticipating a good crowd since the last time we played GP was at the GP Live Theatre and the theatre was pretty well full ... 150 or so. Better Than Fred's was hoppin' as we loaded in around 6:30 ... some kind of party going on. It's a huge room ... real long and wide with high ceilings ... packed with people smoking (!), drinking and getting serious about their weekend ... LOTS of activity. That's what GP always feels like to me: bustling. There wasn't much on the menu for Peter & I to eat, since our culinary requirements are so specific (Ed. Note: They are a HUGE pain in the butt to cook for). So we headed to Ichiban Sushi, where we had feasted on our last trip ... that's one thing I always remember in any city: a great restaurant. We returned to a packed house at Better Than Fred's, lots of energy in the room and a big helping of friends and fans from past shows. The GP music scene is really loyal and it always impresses me how a core group of folks come out to every show. The show went well, the room was a little louder than most shows we play, but that's cool ... people are having a good time on a Friday night right? It's not always gonna be a silent attentive crowd like at the Theatre or The Rabbit Hole (bookstore). People were really warm and into it and we got to chat with some longtime friends after the show. The highlight for me was a post-show onstage private concert Peter did for 2 fans, Lisa & Kristen .... he played his song “Apples just for them (and me) ... it was magic: the 4 of us onstage hidden behind a couple of big speakers, Peter singing his heart out, while the bar went on in the background unaware ...

Onto Edmonton the next day. It's a short-ish drive from GP ... funny how you can say that about a 4 hr drive once you've been calibrated with a few 9-12 hr drives eh? We pulled into The Metro about 5pm, had great dinner(I find myself fixating more and more on food as the tour wears on ... I think it's a coping mechanism: [Rob's Brain]: “Give him some good food and wine and he won't notice how tired he is. ) I find myself starting to think about dinner immediately after I've finished breakfast (who eats lunch anyway?) ... I fantasize about what wine I'll have and that maybe they'll have goat cheese on some menu item. Today was no different and when I noticed The Metro had a great wine selection by the glass, Peter and I both carefully made our wine picks and we were brought our meals and glasses shortly thereafter. I noticed a few flecks floating in my glass and close inspection revealed that there were a couple dozen fruit flies floating in my glass!!! Holy hell was I glad I hadn't drunk any by that point. Yeesh, that put Peter and I off. I couldn't drink the replacement glass ... neither could Peter (think of what that did to his ever-increasing tour-related germophobia).... you know how you get something in your mind and can't get rid of it? Anyway, the meal was great. The Metro is a fantastic place, that was just a little oversight that's bound to happen ... when you eat out as often as we do while on tour ... it's just a numbers game, right? Anyway, I'm over it. The show was pretty good too. There were several tables of folks there to see Peter and I and we managed to convert a bunch of people who were just there hanging out as well. That always feels good. There was some kind of Docu Film Festival wrap party afterwards and Peter and I played mini-sets after our actual show, and those unexpected sets are usually fun since we play different songs than usual. We were staying in a schwank hotel that night: The Coast right downtown. We had a great post show drink in my room, Peter: whiskey, me: brandy, overlooking downtown Edmonton all lit up and pretty from my 18th floor room ... I love it.

Off to Saskatoon after a good sleep ... check out time was 1pm AND it was daylight savings time, so we effectively checked out at 2pm. Wow do I ever appreciate a good sleep when I need it. It's a 7-8 hr drive, so we got into our routine which we've developed over the tour which is switching off driving while the non-driver sits in the back and plays guitar ... this drive was particularly fruitful for Peter since he managed to finish a song he'd started in Grande Prairie while we were sitting in the back room of Better Than Fred's. I'd challenged him to write a song in 30 seconds. The idea was, we would each play for 30 seconds, switching back and forth and coming up with whatever we could in the 30 second interval. The guitar never really got handed to me since Peter hit on something cool immediately and spent about ten minutes on it ... we went through the usual process of “oh, cool, this is a neat idea ... oh it's ok, ahh, it's not that great, probably won't amount to anything .. but Peter remembered it and worked it for hours today in the van while I was driving and finished a GREAT SONG. Man am I freakin' jealous! I've been kinda blocked lately ... and he's on fire! What if I had had the guitar 1st in GP???

We pulled into Saskatoon and met up with Carrie Catherine (who is a fantastic singer songwriter who Peter has toured with in the past) and her husband Curt for dinner. I had trout. MMMMMMMMMM. Did I mention that I've become obsessed with food? We stayed at Carrie's parent's place which is conveniently right next door to their place. Their house is probably the most efficient and user friendly, artful, beautifully decorated, futuristic/retro household I have ever stayed in. Definitely one of the top-ten showers I've ever had as well (2 shower-heads, one above you, rainforest-style, AND a temperature control gauge with actual degree increments i.e. you can set it to 97 Farenheit!). Thank you Carrie & Curt (and Carrie's parents!). We had that night off, so Peter and I watched a movie together and crashed early.
The next night's show at Lydia's was fantastic. It was a great turnout for a Monday night and a warm attentive crowd. An all around great show, and Peter and I ended by singing on each other's songs like we had on a few other shows ... a definite highlight. I like the idea of being part of a team, even if it's only a team of two. I think we're a good team, and I think we're in the lead.

We left town early the next day 'cause we had a dinner date in Winnipeg. Not much to tell on the drive ... I'm really just in a hurry to get to the dinner part. We met Peter's friend Michelle at a FANTASTIC Ethiopian restaurant on Osborne. We carried our 6 guitars into the resto 'cause we were paranoid about having them stolen since the van was parked in a lot and the 'Peg doesn't exactly have the best rep for thefts from vehicles. We must have looked like dorks walking into this beautiful, dimly lit, quiet restaurant with 6 guitars, both us over 6'2, unshaven, unshowered, both with hats on ... the list goes on ... anyway THE FOOD WAS WONDERFUL. If you're ever in Winnipeg you need to go to this place ... I think it's called Masada ... or something close. It's in Osborne village, on Osborne across from The Toad In The Hole ..., but back to the us looking like dorks thing though for a minute. We've been talking about this: As the tour trudges on we're getting less and less inhibited in public. We're both getting to be like old men. You know : "I don't give a rat's ass about what any of you think, I'm doing my thing and you can take it or leave it". It's actually closer to complete obliviousness (sic?) to one's surroundings. Peter was laughing at me the other day 'cause he was watching me from the van while I was unaware. We had gone into a Tim Horton's and I was performing my morning ritual of squeezing a fresh lemon into a cup of hot water and slicing fresh ginger into it as well ... but I guess everyone around me thought I was off my rocker ... all the folks having their Tim's coffee at 7am in Thunder Bay and here I am, sitting alone at a table slicing my lemon and ginger with my jacknife oblivious to all the incredulous stares ... I digress ... back to Winnipeg: We then headed back to our gracious hosts: The 2 Terrys, who we stayed with on our way west and who Peter has already introduced you to. We had a drink and got caught up. I feel really lucky to know them, and they're so kind to us that I find it hard to believe. (Thank you Terrys!)
Anyway, I'm jumping around from subject to subject here so I think it's time for me to pass this along to Peter to bring us home ...

Nov 7 -8 (Peter Speaking) - Entry #7

Hey folks, me again, Peter, here to take you on the final journey home. But first I must report on our final show of the tour, Thunder Bay. We arrived at the University and were met by Kyle, the manager of the Study and also the booker/promoter for the show. He had the whole university covered in posters and had motivated a lot of pre-sales for the show, we were pretty darn excited (and grateful). As with our last show there, he had also gone out of his way to make us dinner, according to our aforementioned eating specifications. What a guy!! (not to mention that he put us up at his house!)
We did our soundcheck and before long there was actually a line-up of people forming outside the door for the show. That was pretty cool.
Rob played first and had the room dead silent the whole time. His rendition of The Johnstown Kids was particularly well received (as it always is).
I felt really great about my set too and even read poetry again (I have to mention that Ashleigh, the girl that had asked me to read poetry the first time, gave me this INCREDIBLE gift. She handed me over this handmade journal in this painted bag and said that she was giving it to me in return for the vulnerability I had put myself through by saying my poetry up onstage at the first show. The book was full of all her poetry and writing, with photos and pictures, ALL HAND WRITTEN, personally, for me!! Can you believe that?! And we're talking a full on book here, like 50+ pages. I was totally floored, can't wait to read it all)

So the set went really well and I got to do 'Forgiveness' off mic at the end too which felt really great. At the end of the night, Alison (oh yes, there was a girl named Alison there who Kyle had brought in to paint us while playing, so cool -- [SEE VIDEO]), was chatting with Rob and found out that we had a couple of songs that we played together (Posters and Incandescent) that we hadn't done that night, so she demanded an encore. With a few of the remaining people hanging around, we sat on the edge of the stage and played for them off mic, ending with a sing-along to Cyndi Lauper's 'Time after Time'. It was a nice intimate way to end to the tour. We headed back to Kyle's place, slept for a few hours before getting up at the crack of dawn this morning to make our way on the long trek back to Toronto (16 hours!).

So... here we are, somewhere between Sault Ste Marie and Sudbury, having to come to grips with the fact that this tour is pretty much over. I'm comforted by the fact that we're planning future Lanky Wimps adventures down the road (including a very exciting, very ludicrous plan, which I can't announce just yet, but know that it's going to be exciting, and ludicrous!). The tour was by far the most successful one to date and I want to send an enormous THANK YOU to all of you for making it so. The only reason I drive all over the country, sleep on floors, eat too many carbohydrates ('cause the world still secretly hates vegetarians) and use public washrooms is so that I can play the songs for you live and feel that personal connection. That's what makes it all worthwhile, thanks so much for being a part of it. Thanks also to everyone who fed us, put a roof over our heads, let us use their showers (us=stinky), bought cd's, signed the mailing list, showed up to the shows, bought us drinks, sang along, and just generally cared about us and what we're trying to do, THANK YOU. The world is full of impossibly kind, wonderful people, and we get to meet them every day. Lucky us.
I also want to say an extra special thanks to Rob for being such an incredible friend, inspiration and touring partner. The man is a prince and I feel lucky to have spent so much time around him and hear him play every night. I'll hand it over to him one more time to say his goodbye and look forward to coming your away again in the very near future. Take care, lots of love, in Lanky Wimpy-ness, PEter

Nov 8 - (Rob Speaking) - Entry #8

Wow, well it's me again (Rob) ... I just read Peter's last entry and he said pretty well everything I wanted to say. It's funny, I was feeling aggro today ... you know the kind of grumpy aggressive feeling you get sometimes without knowing exactly why, and I realized that I was feeling sad about the tour being over, sad about not getting to see my friend Peter most of every day, sad not to get to see good friends in different cities every night, and sad not get to play most nights ... kind of a post-partum for the tour. While I AM excited to get home and see my love and my family & home friends (and get to work on my next CD!), it's hard to let go of a magic time like this. This Lanky Wimps tour with has been nothing short of delightful, beginning to end and I really have to thank Peter for being such a joy to be around, a loyal friend, an inspiration to watch in public and in private and just an all around model human. I also need to thank all the folks who extended such kindness and generosity to us over the span of the tour, whether it be opening their homes to us and feeding/watering us, setting up a show at their venue or just coming to the show to be part of it and hang out with us. Thank you. Like Peter said, we do have plans for future touring together, but that won't be for a little while ... until then, thank you all for your incredible support and I wish you as much health and happiness as you can stand. Your friend,
rob