Regina
Regina (the queen would be shocked) is a scary place. It’s a Sunday night and the bar is packed with some of the toughest looking people I’ve ever seen (and that’s just the girls). I swear some of them still have the broken cuffs on one wrist. We all feel small and weak (at least I do and I’m the tallest and heaviest one in the crew). Things are tense until the Hell’s Angels show up. Then things calm down terrifically. The biggest Angels dude befriends me and asks about the band. He keeps talking to me and people look at me funny. I get to watch as the big, fat, old guy gropes the young and attractive bar staff. As soon as he leaves things get kinda tense again. I order a Pint of Big Rock Traditional Ale. It’s not Trad, it’s really gross and the wrong colour. They say this happens a lot with Big Rock… I think this happens a lot in Regina… The bar is split in two, dance club in the back and pub, where the band plays, in the front. Most of the kids are in the back, but there is a nice response as the band gradually wins people over. I end up selling a fair bit to people who had never heard of the band. The actual bar, the wooden structure of the front room, is from a bar in the midwestern states where there was a gunfight and a murder. Something involving “Billy” or “Sundance”. Bullet holes are still visible. I suspect there might be more added before long. “MC Infamous” does some freestyle rapping during “Shoe Shine.” He asked during a break if he could jam for a bit. We kinda thought he might suck but he actually did a good job (and I don’t like rap very much). He had a good attitude about the bravado and imagery that really bugs me about rap… He told Al to never give up, which was nice, and of course ironic… The bar staff is very cool and it turns out to be an ok night considering the murderous atmosohere. We stay in the youth hostel in Regina. It’s a 6-bed dorm for the 6 of us. Bunk beds and all!! I sleep on top of Al and Drew gets on Colin. Stephen and Mark grab the singles in the corner (like they always do, ha ha?). We jokingly lament not having 6 bed dorm rooms more often while on tour. It ends up being as expensive as 3 hotel rooms and we can’t get our 15 dollar key deposit back in the morning because check out is at 10 and there is no one around at 11 when we leave. We take the television and colin figures out how to wire it to the alternator via the fuel pump and we get cable!