Winnipeg
Winnipeg was yet another odd show. I have to do this thing called “advancing” the shows. This is where I play phone tag with the promoters to ensure that the rider will be ready, hotel rooms booked, time for load in and sound check etc… I have a terrible time getting in touch with the Winnipeg promoter. He is ALWAYS on the other line, doesn’t have voice mail and doesn’t call back for 2 weeks until finally he calls the day before the show to say “hi, call me.” This concerns us all, but in the end it all pans out completely professionally. The Rider is handled perfectly, the hotel is nice enough, the venue is huge and the sound is incredible. One problem, they forgot to promote the show. Friends in Winnipeg have no idea the band is in town. The crowd is nice and appreciative, but the venue is 1000 times too big for an unpromoted show. There is a waterslide and pool in the hotel but once again we just don’t have time to play… Two dudes wearing plaid seem to really enjoy the show. The show turns out (we assume) to be a trade off show where the promoter will do a favour for the booking agent in return for Matthew Good or Trooper playing the venue in the future. The promoter doesn’t really care how many people show up because he will get his sell-out down the road. This world is a weird one… The bar looks like a Las Vegas showroom complete with those stairs that light-up as you stand on each step. Drew does his best Michael Jackson Billie Jean routine. I’m becoming more and more impressed with how many different brands of hand dryers there are. I’m partial to the bobrick touchless model. Good temperature and airflow, but not too loud. We hear the crappy Big Yellow Taxi cover by Counting Crows way too many times. Why does radio insist on playing the crappy cover when the original is almost always better? Hang out with Stephen’s friend Tara in Winnipeg. We realize we’ve met before and I think I owe her money. She doesn’t remember. I give her no money (I offered and she wouldn’t take it…). Very, very, very small (and have I mentioned cold?) world. Mark loses his old wooly toque, his “longest serving piece of accessory clothing.” It may have been stolen, he thinks. He is sad and needs to raise his blood sugar. Then he is happy. I go outside in only a Jazzberry hoodie to get something from the van and I die of exposure after making the mistake of touching the doorhandle without gloves.