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After waking up to a beautiful, BEAUTIFUL vista (my favourite so far), we packed up, grabbed some supplies at the grocery store (including the holy grail of meat products – a roll of Maple Leaf bologna to fry up over the fire!), we headed to the beach and ate some food, admiring the view, before heading out on the road again.

We didn’t really know where we wanted to go in New Brunswick so we opted for a whirlwind tour. First stop – Moncton to see Magnetic Hill! The highways in New Brunswick are strange…you can go 110 km/hr (sweet!), but it feels like you are driving through the forest the entire trip. It’s definitely not like the 401 in Ontario where you have a truck stop every 50 kilometres. In fact, I found there were little to no signs along the way and there definitely weren’t any signs for gas stations! I realized I would have to be conscious of this on the trip through New Brunswick.

We got to Moncton and after a wrong turn towards Magnetic Hill we ended up downtown. We toured around the main strip and got some gelato and I used the wireless Internet to check on some things concerning work while she sat on some Freesmason Temple steps.

We then rolled into Magnetic Hill after paying our $5 entry fee. The scoop with Magnetic Hill is that you park your car at the bottom of a hill, throw it in neutral gear and your car will roll towards the top. Sure enough, we were travelling around 20km/hr at one point UP the hill! It was such a fascinating mystery that we had to try it a few other times.

Fast fact: After our trip, Dad was telling me how it was all an illusion. Sure enough, the hill actually heads downwards but appears to be going upwards! It has something to do with the horizon and the treeline which makes it look like you are going up. I would like to actually go back and walk the hill myself. I still don’t believe that it is an optical illusion!

We found a great little flea market before hitting the road where Vero bought a new pair of sneakers (to replace the ones which were still soaked from Perce Rock) and I found an ancient version of the Clue boardgame (circa 1965) and a tour book of New York City (which would end up helping us immensely even though it was 2 years old).

Hitting the road again, we headed towards Fredericton. We ended up there around 5:30PM and the town had essentially shut down for the evening. We dropped into the tour area and they said the only thing of interest would be the changing of the guard at 7PM. We toured around the main strip, then sat down to watch the changing of the guard which was a good time. There was a concert afterwards but we decided to head for the United States border that night and camp on the other side. Considering there was a timezone change, we figured it would save us time to get on the other side.

After we hightailed it out of Fredericton, Vero made me a great bologna sandwich (second one of the day!) and we almost ran out of gas before strolling into the smallest town imaginable. When I got to the pumps, the gentleman had to turn the pumps on and it wasn’t working! Just my luck. I stroll into the only gas station for miles and it doesn’t work! He switched the pumps on and off again and there was success! He said there was someone coming out to fix it but they were a few hours away.

After getting some helpful directions from him to the border, we headed to the Maine border. The sun was going down fast and I made a decision to just keep going instead of hitting up a campsite (the Yogi Bear campsite!) before the border. This was the biggest mistake of my life.

We approached the border to the United States. He asked us some standard questions like where we were travelling from, where do we live, where do we work. Then he asks if we have any meat in the car.

Me: “Why yes, I think there are a pack of weiners in the car for camping.”
Border Guard: “Oops! We’ll have to take that from you. Hoof and mouth disease, you know.”
Me: “What, really? Alright, well go ahead.”
(Border Guard is going through the cooler in the backseat)
BG: “Hey, look at this bologna! This has to go also!”
Me: (thinking) What the heck?! I forgot about my huge roll of bologna! NOOOOO!
Me: “Really, you need to take that?”
BG: “Yep.” (throws the weiners and bologna in the trash.
BG: “Oh, here’s some pepperettes!”
Me: “HOLD ON ONE MINUTE! I let you throw out my bologna, the least you can do is let me eat those three peperrettes!”

He was gracious enough to let us take the remaining pepperettes. If only I had that option for the sweet, sweet bologna that I was going to fry up that night!
He also threw out a Granny Smith apple which was from South Chile and made a comment about my firewood in the trunk of the car, but he said he would let that one slide. Personally, I wish he would have took the firewood and left the bologna.

He then let us know about a campsite down the road called “My Brother’s Place.” I replied “How convenient that it’s your brother’s place!”. We all had a good laugh.

While the border guard was amazingly nice, I was disappointed with their policies. I mean, if there is fear of hoof and mouth disease (aka the mad cow disease), how would it spread from my bologna? Couldn’t I just sign a piece of paper indicating that I would not feed it to an American? That’s what I’m talking about!

Distraught, we pulled into the campground (which was super cheap) and found out ginormous lot to set up camp in the dark. It was also getting chilly out so I set up a fire while Vero handled the tent. In the end, we sat around the fire while I fried the only meat I had (a pepperette) and drank a few beer. Oh yes, the border guard said there was no problem with my beer. What the heck? Why not take my beer and not my bologna?!

Clearly you can tell that I was very disgruntled about losing my bologna. I think Vero thought it was amusing.

—— (original posting while in Moncton using the wireless Internet)

Moncton has free wireless Internet.

Cool.

I guess I have time to add more to this entry. I’m in Moncton with Vero after a wrong turn towards Magnetic Hill (7th Wonder of the World?). She’s sitting eating some gelato on some Freemason temple steps so I figured I would get some time in to see if work emailed me about some human resources stuff.

Driving along the coast is fun. I find that it goes well with the iPod on shuffle with the Beatles.

Gotta run, Vero’s back. On the road again.

Taken from Wikipedia:

Percé Rock (French rocher Percé, “pierced rock”) is one of the largest and most spectacular natural arches in the world.

It rises sheer from the Gulf of St. Lawrence just off the tip of the Gaspé Peninsula in Quebec near the village of Percé. It is a massive limestone stack 433 metres (1420 ft) long, 90 metres (296 ft) wide and 88 metres (289 ft) at its highest point. The rock gets its name from a large 15 metre/50ft high arch near its seaward end.

If you go to Gaspe, you must go to Perce Rock. With that in mind and the nice day ahead of us, we left Gaspe and headed to the Rock. The only problem with heading to the rock is that the tide is your enemy so you never know when to head out to it.

The village of Perce Rock is beautiful, yet very touristy. It consists of one main strip of restaurants and souvenir shops. You can head down to the docks (which offer a great spot to take a picture of the rock with your girl) or walk down the beach to the stairs leading down to the rock itself.

Once we arrived closer to the Rock we realized that all we had to do is remove our shoes and we could navigate across to the Rock! I have never been to the hole in Perce Rock and it was my hopes to do so on this trip. However, we never really planned ahead. From a distance it looked like the tide was too high to cross over but it wasn’t until we got closer that we realized we could walk through. But here we were with my jeans and sneakers on. Oh well, hike the jeans up and carry the sneakers in your hands, here we go!

I must admit that with the chilly water and the sharp rocks, my feet had seen better days. It was really hard on Vero and once we got to the Rock itself and decided to keep going she decided to put her shoes back on and get them soaked.

To get to the center hole of the rock, you have to walk along the edge and jump from rock to rock and get wet. We were doing alright but it was starting to get harder as the water got deeper and the waves kept pounding us against the rock wall! I think it would have been fine if I put some sandals and a bathing suit on but I was trying not to get my wallet wet and it was hard navigating with bare feet. In the end, we were close, but decided to leave it for another trip.

On the way back I was in a precarious spot and Vero kept telling me “If you put your foot there, you’ll fall in!” and I dismissed her warnings as I plotted my course like a seasoned video gamer playing a hard level of Super Mario Bros. As I put pressure onto my left foot to swing myself over to the other side of the rock I did in fact lose all friction between my foot and the rock and found myself in the water! I was not impressed as my wallet had become the victim after all this work.

In the end, we had the most fun part of our trip at Perce Rock as it was a nice day (although the water was chilly) and it always feels like and adventure when you’re surrounded by saltwater and seaweed.

We headed for shore and I convinced Vero to walk all the way back to the car so I could change my clothes and after some complaining we got there, changed, headed to a restaurant and had some great fish and chips before heading back out on the road.

Continuing on the coast, I set my iPod on The Beatles and shuffled the songs. I found it to be a great mix for the drive around the coast. Just some happy music that I can lose myself into. I let Vero drive for awhile and I think she appreciated it as you get to stare at the ocean along the road for all that time.

We crossed the border into New Brunswick, readjusted our watches and headed for Dalhousie to find a campsite. The campsite is right in town along the water and was…interesting. It was very modern and there were not many places to actually set up a tent. You’re very close to your neighbour.

After sarcastically speaking with the kid who rented us the lot for the night, we set up the tent and went on the hunt for some wieners and wiener sticks. We had to go to the grocery store up the hill and take a bunch of fliers to use for the fire and when we got back the sun was going down over the water. Just in time to set up the fire and set our wieners and marshmallows into!

Me: Hey, why are our shoes steaming? I guess they must be really hot.
Me: HEY, WAIT A MINUTE! (grabs shoe to discover the leather has melted on the back of it.

That’s right, my new shoes took a hit from the fire. Ah well…it’s not too bad and I can still wear them.

After a few beer we put the fire out and headed to the tent to watch an episode of Jekyll on the laptop. I found it amusing that they had a giant lamp over our tent so it was bright all night long. Very strange if you are used to camping in the deep dark woods at night.

iplaying: Rain King – Counting Crows (August and Everything After)

We hightailed it out of Levis Quebec so we could get to Gaspe in some decent time. It was still a good seven hours away so it would be one of the longer hauls on the trip. We’ve been trying to keep the long road trips to a bare minimum for sanity.

Vero continued to sleep most of the way there while I enjoyed the scenery and listened to some tunes. The scenery definitely increased as I hit the highway along the coast. Imagine driving for hours with only the ocean by your side. This is how to live! I didn’t even care if it’s a lower speed limit than the major highways.

We stopped off in Matane for a bite to eat the Casse-Croute. For those of you who don’t know what the Casse-Croute is, think of a chip stand. Now, I asked Vero about the name and she said croute meant hunger so I guess the literal translation would be hunger-killer or hunger-breaker. Interesting how someone ixnayed that idea and just called it a chip wagon in english.

Let us also point out that I had forgot how bloody cold it is along the ocean! I had to go grab my jacket from the car as soon as we stepped out.

After a tasty burger and Vero getting an excellent vegetarian poutine, we hit the road again. I stopped at the turnoff sign for Gaspe. Some people may wonder why there are two arrows to Gaspe. If you look at a map, you can see that if you keep going straight you can keep driving along the coast (longer trip but still scenic), or you can cut through the hills into Murdochville (where my Father is from).

Considering I had already had my fill of the coastline, we turned right and discovered a wilderness and windy roads. I always remember cruising down this highway at top speed and Mom yelling at Dad about something to do with reliving his youth. I also sped down the windy turn and imagined myself in such great James Bond flicks such as Goldfinger.

We got to Murdochville and filled up the tank of gas and luckily Vero had some cash with her as the credit and debit card machines were down for some reason! Otherwise, I would have been scrubbing toilets for a weekend to pay off my gas. We drove through Murdochville which lasted 2 minutes and headed out.

I was asking Vero if there was anything she wished to do while in Murdochville but she was confused and say “No, I’ll wait until the rest of the weekend.” which I thought was strange considering it was an hour away from Gaspe. Turns out that for some reason she thought we were staying at my parents cottage in Murdochville!

We arrived around 3PM and met Dad who had been downtown. After touring the cottage and relaxing a bit we headed into town for some Mastro’s Pizza (excellent pizza) and Mom and Dad gave Vero, Nanny and I the tour (which is funny to say considering Nanny lived there for years). We went to the docks, Camp Holdimand, up to the Sanitorium and toured around the neighbourhood trying to find some new condos that had gone up. We then headed home and had a few beers before retiring.

Let’s talk about how it got dark really fast in Gaspe. One could argue that the Gaspe coast needs their own time zone as it is pretty far on the map. Whereas Ottawa may have the sun going down around 9PM at this time in the year, Gaspe was pitch black around 8PM! Very strange and it must have been even odder for my parents who have summer nights lasting until 10PM back home.

The next day was cold, rainy and cold. Ugh. Not the best day to be in Gaspe. We skipped the idea of going to the beach and headed to Snowman’s for some lunch. We then went to tour some old forts along the coast and along the way stopped into Fox River (hence the Michael Scofield reference in my previous post) to check out the damage of flooding. It’s unbelievable to think that a bridge was wiped out and houses were destroyed in a matter of hours after a flash flood.

We headed home after meandering around the area and got ready for a lovely supper put on by Nanny. I then brought out the laptop to map out where we would head to next and decided Halfax would have to be scrapped from this trip as it would be too much of a detour.

The next morning before heading out we headed to the cemetary to visit the family. It was the running joke that Vero must have had the best time in Gaspe – visiting dead people and hanging out in the cold rain! Hopefully the next time will be nice Vero!

After saying hello to Eric and Kay, we hit the road to spend an afternoon at Perce Rock. Thanks to the hospitality of my parents and Nannies at the homestead.

I love the province of Quebec. I find it so picturesque. The rolling hills, the sea, it has everything.

We headed out from the KOA Campground at a fairly decent hour and made our trek to Quebec City. This was the first time I had ever taken the 401 between the 416 turnoff to Montreal so I was interested to see how it looked. I suppose it doesn’t look any different from any other highway but it was an adventure!

I ended up in Montreal while Vero was sleeping around noon and was stuck in some nasty traffic. I’ll know for next time that I can take some alternate ways through Montreal to make it to Quebec City.

Tip Trip #2: Never wake a sleeping girlfriend for directions.

On our way into the area of Quebec City it started raining on us and we had to make the decision of staying at a motel or camp. We stopped into the information booth and they showed us the weather forecast predicated a cloudy evening.

Considering it was raining pretty hard on us we made the decision to take a motel for the night in case the weatherman was wrong (gasp!). I don’t think either of us care for this decision as I am cheap so I preferred the $20 campground for the night. But I also didn’t want to set up a tent in the rain or sleep in the rain either.

We ended up driving to Levis, Quebec on my father’s suggestion as it’s cheaper to stay across the river and just get a ferry into the city of Quebec. We found this amazing motel for only $80 a night! At the time, neither of us knew if that was a good deal or not, but Dad informed us that it was a steal of a deal. In fact, we may have stayed at the same place they did the last time around.

It was funny when we went into the motel lobby…

(in French)
Vero: How much is it for a room for the night?
Guy: (looking at the two of us…points to a flyer showing the honeymoon suite with a jacuzzi tub for only $160 a night!): I have the room for you here.
Vero: No, no! We just want a regular room. The cheapest you can get.

So we had a good laugh at him trying to pawn off his uber-deluxe suite on us. He ended up upgrading us to a king-size bed for free which was awesome.

After hauling our stuff in during the pouring rain, and discovering they had free wireless Internet (bonus!), we packed a bag and headed for Quebec City. The weather was starting to clear up so we were hopeful for good weather for the rest of the day.

We parked down in Levis and caught the ferry. What a great system they have. The ferry doesn’t take long at all and it wasn’t overly expensive either. This was Vero’s first time in Quebec City so I looked to her for guidance on what she would like to do. We hiked up the hill and headed for the Citadel where we got lost for some time but managed to make our way to the entrance inside the fort where they were offering guided tours. Because it is an active military base, this is the only way one can actually visit the site, so we decided to spend the $10 and go for a tour.

It was a great tour although it was pouring on us again and we were so high up that we thought the lightning clouds may have rolled right over us and zapped us! There was a woman from New Jersey who seemed VERY scared of the clouds so she hung out near the walls of the fort. The Citadel has a pretty fascinating history and it just renewed Vero and my ambition to learn more about our great country. After a couple of hours of touring around with our excellent tour guide (who had graduated from the same program as Vero), we headed back into town. Let us not forget how the tour guide was blatantly picking up Vero as he said she looked like Ann-Margaret from Viva Las Vegas! We had never seen the movie so he described her a sex symbol of the time. When we got back to the motel we checked out imdb.com and couldn’t really find the resemblance but I assured Vero that she is pretty well a modern sex symbol of our time. 😉

We checked out the Quebec City Parliament buildings and toured around the city. I LOVE Quebec City and the reminder of the European architecture. We were starving by the time the tour of the Citadel was over so we headed to a restaurant and ordered some good pizza. We loved our waiter, he was so sarcastically funny…I ended up bumping up the standard tip I usually give out due to his amazing demeanor.

We then toured around some shops that were still open (it was after 9PM at this point) and Vero found this amazing medieval type store and she found a ring that her friend had lost awhile back so it was nice to find a shop that carried it. We picked up a few things, headed for the ferry and drove back to the motel.

All in all, we both enjoyed Quebec City although it was pouring on us and we got there too late to do much. I think the next trip will be planned to spend an entire day there at least.

iplaying: Forever Yellow Skies – The Cranberries (To The Faithful Departed)

So, I don’t know how Vaughan, Ontario is pronounced ‘Vauhn’ (like Agent Vauhn in Alias!) but it is. I would think it would be something like Vohan or something like that.

Vero’s friend Emilie moved to Vaughan along with her boyfriend Ryan so we dropped by on our way back from London. Turns out that it was a packed house that night as her parents were also visiting! We managed to find the house easily and then we sat and talked for awhile before heading out to a winery in the area. Nothing too special to be seen at this winery tour…we got to see the manufacturing area and then the basement where the kegs of wine sat to be aged. Pretty neat. We then had a taste test of a few wines (which Vero hated by the second wine).

We then headed home where we met up with Ryan who got off of work. After picking up some beer and touring around Vaughan, we sat down to enjoy a few brewskis and had some excellent dinner.

Ryan also introduced me to the fact that snowmobiles can travel over water if you get up to a good speed. I couldn’t believe this when he was telling me. I was just sitting there going “Uh huh, uh huh.” when I clued into him actually saying he was going across the water in the summer! He showed me some videos on the Internet and I couldn’t believe my eyes! Has anyone witnessed this? I also can’t believe that this was happening all over Hearst but I had never heard about it in Kapuskasing.

Considering some people had to work in the morning, we called it a night (after having some sausages and herring…mmm…herring) and we witnessed the fastest blowing up of an air mattress ever! I couldn’t believe the power in this little rechargeable blower-upper tool. Emilie and I had a good laugh at how fast it blew up. We are talking 15 seconds here! Unfortunately we discovered that the mattress had a leak so I had to bail onto the couch during the middle of the night and then also nabbed a bed when Emilie’s parents left in the morning.

The morning after we had some great pancakes and headed to Emilie’s new school to check out her classroom. Vero and I then decided to hit the road and take us where the wind took us. Destination – Quebec City. After stopping in Brockville for a grocery and camping run (new air mattress and a sweet LED lamp) we realized that the sun was setting fairly soon so it may be in our best interest to find a campground. Let me tell you that my road atlas isn’t the best thing money has bought in terms of finding camping areas. We found on on the 416 and having thinking about it, we decided to camp there even though it was only 45 minutes more of a drive to our actual houses in Ottawa! Hey, we’re on vacation, let’s make it a vacation. In the end, we found a KOA campground (which wasn’t listed in the Road Atlas…boo…hiss!), set up our tent, went for a swim and then retired for the night while playing some games on my computer like Connect-4, and Marsala. Vero thinks she kicked my ass in these games but she was seriously mistaken.

Trip Tip #1: Check more carefully at the road atlas that you bought for $20 to make sure it lists A LOT of the campgrounds along your route and not just the Provincial Parks.

It was nice to see more of Emilie and Ryan as I had only met them a few times. Excellent friends to have!

iplaying: Waiting All Day – Silverchair (Young Modern)

Once again, taken from The Palmer Project as I am lazy from writing up all these past days of the East Coast Trip.
http://the-palmer-project.blogspot.com/2007/08/house-guests.html

The house had another Palmer in it, as cousin Ryan and his girlfriend Vero stayed with us for a few days on their vacation. After the great concert and late night the day before, we started our day late. A tour of the city was in order to show them around as they had never been to London before. We stopped by T.J. Baxters for lunch and sat on the roof while we ate. (London is actually a beautiful city and it seems really wealthy (although this may be biased judging from our tour in the better parts of the area. Western University was amazing campus.)

Next we introduced the couple to our favorite outdoor game Texas Horseshoes (aka Ring Toss). It didn’t take them long to get the hang of it. We played in teams with the guys against the girls. I’m happy to say the male team of Palmer & Palmer dominated every game against the women. They received a down home ass whooping!!!! (Let us also point out that we were not impressed when Vero decided to cut off our heads in a picture of the two champions! Let us also point out that Troy managed to sack himself with his chair when it hit the fence on his way out. The man was in pain while I was in stitches.)

We worked up an appetite so we headed down to Chaucers Pub for some fine grub and beer. The sausage platter is one of my favorites, and Ryan really enjoyed his. Three sausages, sauerkraut, cabbage, and potatoes. We were stuffed at the end. The ladies on the other hand enjoyed mushroom stuffed chicken. Chaucers offers approximately 90 plus different beers from around the world, so Ryan and I took a look at the “Beer Bible” to decide on our beverage of choice. After a few beers and a great dinner it was back to “Casa Palmer” where Ryan and I broke out the guitars and sang a bunch of tunes while recording the session. (The sausage platter is still on my mind to this day and I want to go back. They had this amazing mustard concoction. The Beer Bible is comparable to the one at Pub Italia in Ottawa. Very nice descpriptions. I’m glad that I introduced Troy to some excellent beers such as Paulaner. He introduced me to a Scottish beer which was aged in oak barrels. I must admit the first two sips had me wondering but after that I really enjoyed it and actually wanted another. Reminded of scotch. Speaking of scotch, I consider Troy my mentor in scotch as I haven’t had much experience drinking it outside of with him and Rick. I must admit that I’m still at the novice stage of drinking it and have to learn to appreciate the taste. After my second drink I was at that stage.)

The following day we had some breakfast then Connie and Vero sat outside reading and enjoying the weather. (Excellent breakfast at the Little Beaver!) It was a good opportunity for Ryan and I to head into the music room and record a song. Ryan brought out an original that he wrote, and before too long we had bass, guitar, and vocal tracks recorded. We spent the next hour trying to come up with an appropriate drum track for the song. (This was the infamous recording session of ‘The Stomper’, coming to a CD player near you soon! I was impressed with Troy’s recording outfit and am jealous that his system has built in drum effects. I’m actually thinking of selling my Fostex off to get a system comparable to his. I was having a good laugh at Troy trying to nail the harmonies at the beginning but then he found the right voicing and let ‘er wail.) The ladies were getting fed up with hearing it over and over again, so the timing was right when we stopped to get ready for more friends coming over for a BBQ.

Our friends, Shannon, Jay & Heather joined us for an afternoon of intense Texas Horseshoe games. After kicking some ass with Ryan as my partner I fired up the BBQ and fed the hungry gamers. We finished off the evening by watching the DVD “The Life & Hard Times of Guy Terrifico”. I thought Ryan and Vero were going to piss their pants a few times as they were laughing so hard during the movie!! (Always good to see Shannon, Jay & Heather as they are good times. Guy Terrifico is the must see movie of the year. It reminded me HEAVILY of the FUBAR style of film. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s by the same director.)

It was great to have our two house guests join us for a few days. I guess it’s our turn now to head to Ottawa to visit them.

(Vero and I send out a heartfelt thanks for putting up with us for a few days. Very nice of the two of you and we give you guys 5 stars! Well, Vero wanted to give you 5 stars but I was more on the 3.5 star side as chocolate isn’t really my thing, you know?)

Taken from The Palmer Project (my cousin’s blog) to give an overview of our stay along with comments by yours truly:
http://the-palmer-project.blogspot.com/2007/08/alice-in-chains-velvet-revolver.html

“Sunday August 12th, my cousin Ryan and his girlfriend Vero came into town. We jumped into the van and headed to Toronto’s Molson Amphitheater to see Alice In Chains and Velvet Revolver. The drive up wasn’t the greatest as it was poring rain, but once we arrived it seemed to clear up. Thankfully the weather turned out to be good, and it didn’t rain at all while we were at the venue.

We started out with a sausage on a bun, and had a couple of beers prior to heading to our seats. Thanks to Ryan for finding a great deal on the seats…………$20 in total. You can’t go wrong with that price! The only hick up of the night was when security wouldn’t allow Ryan to bring in his camera. (Bastards! I couldn’t believe it. I thought there would be NO PROBLEM. It all comes down to looking at the security guards and determining who is the best one to pat you down.) We managed to store it in a locker after trying to secure some change from fellow concert goers. The opening band Kill Hannah was pretty good and the highlight of their set was a version of Billy Idol’s Rebel Yell. Ryan got lucky as a seagull almost shit on him. The bird shit landed right between his legs as he was sitting in his seat!!! (I couldn’t believe it! I didn’t even notice until Vero started laughing hysterically and she pointed between my legs. Good thing it didn’t hit my beer!)

Alice In Chains were next to take the stage. I was curious to see how they would do, as the original singer Layne Staley died a few years ago. The replacement William DuVall did an admiral job, and sounds very similar to Layne. Alice In Chains tore up the stage…….they were simply amazing!!!! It’s great to hear a band that is on their game and enjoying what they are doing. (I echo Troy’s sentiments. They played all the songs I wanted to hear and they were in fine form. How does Jerry Cantrell get his hair oh so straight and rocker like?!)

The closer for the night was Velvet Revolver. For those of you not aware, three quarters of the band members were previously in Gun’s & Roses. Drummer Matt Sorum, bassist Duff McKagan, and lead guitar player Slash. Velvet Revolver is rounded out by Dave Kushner on guitar and former Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland.

They played a very energetic rock & roll show. Scott Weiland paraded around at times with a megaphone. A number of Stone Temple Pilots and Guns & Roses songs were played. The highlight of their show for me was when they performed an acoustic set. Interstate Love Song and Patience received the most response from the crowd. (I also liked how they played Wish You Were Here. I ended up recording it on my dictaphone and sent it to Mike who proceeded to send back expletives to me considering I was rubbing it in his face that he missed the concert.)

At the end of the show we headed back to London where Connie had some late night snacks ready for us. We called it a night after a couple of drinks. ” (Connie, you are the best. Those were the greatest treats we could have along the way. The ride home was great also as Troy and I talked about family and swapped stories. I never realized he had a jacket and beret that my grandfather used to own. I’ll have to take a look at it the next time we meet!)

Setlist

Again
Grind
We Die Young
Them Bones
No Excuses
Angry Chair
Rain When I Die
Would?
Down in a Hole
Rooster
Man in the Box

Vero and I decided to leave a day later and head out on the Saturday to Maren’s wedding after I found out it started at 5PM. We figured we could get there in plenty of time.

After packing the car the night before and making sure we had everything for the coming weeks, we headed out on the road where I gave Vero her travel pack – a bunch of crossword puzzles, fun games and other assorted goodies. I don’t know if you ever had this when you were a child, but we used to go on annual summer trips (usually down to Gaspe) and as soon as we got in the car, Mom passed us our goody bags which were chock full of stuff to amuse ourselves with – puzzles, connect the dots, and those pieces of cardboard where you can draw on this cellophane sheet and then lift it up to have it erase the picture. Do you guys know what I’m talking about? Either way, it was a good times as I always got sick while reading in the car so it was a fun alternative.

The trip to Kitchener was uneventful and we arrived at Uncle Gary and Aunt Lois’s place after dropping into The Bay to pick up a pair of black socks (how I could forget the ever-important item?!). Uncle Gary gave us the tour of their wonderful new house which culminated in a walk through this massive garden in the backyard! We couldn’t believe it was theirs as the backyard was sectioned off from the garden so we just assumed it was someone else’s. Very beautiful (as seen in the picture) and there was a lot of good work put into it. The house was nice also and we really enjoyed the paintjob they did in the living room. It had something to do with putting paint on plastic sheets and swirling it around. Yes, that’s the technical term. 😉

I then brought Vero out to Campus Pizza (formerly Gino’s Pizza) for their world famous slice of pizza. Man, I miss that place!

We headed over to the University of Waterloo campus where the wedding was being held. This was one of the few weddings that we were going to attend where we knew virtually no one. I was pleasantly surprised to see Christina and Kevin and Dan as I had known them from a few gatherings in the past. I also saw Kim and Chris (I worked with Kim years ago) and we headed into the chapel.

The ceremony was great and I enjoyed the priest. He was quite entertaining. There were 12 (?) bridesmaids and 8 (?) groomsmen. When it comes down to it, why does anyone have to choose who their best people are anyhow? Maren and Allan-Paul looked great and everything went off without a hitch (as far as I could tell). It was sweltering hot inside the chapel so I was happy to have a fan near my back. Dan pointed out that my vest would probably make me even more hot and I realized he was right after shedding five pounds in sweat. I promptly took it off after leaving the chapel.

We headed over to the reception hall (the name of the building escapes me) but it was beautiful. They had some good lounge tunes going on and were handing out free drink tickets at the door. Score! After proceeding to have a few drinks the following conversation occurred while I was at the bar:

Vero: So we’re heading to Gaspe after this.
Kevin: Gaspe eh? We were just there. Actually I’m from around there.
Vero: Really, where?
Kevin: Murdochville.
Vero: Murdochville! That’s where ‘s is from!

So it turns out that I have known Kevin from a few gatherings over the years…maybe met him five times…he’s a good chap but in the end, he comes from Murdochville and I know his uncle from the Gaspe Golf Tournaments and I asked my folks and they know his father Keith. Incroyable! What a small world.

After dancing the night away and listening to a few excellent speeches (and meeting Maren’s mother for the first time. She was having a good time that night trying to hook her daughter up with some eligible bachelors) we finally decided to leave the festivities after a good night. It was also good to see Whitney and Mikey as I haven’t seen them in awhile and I have a good time with them. Mikey and I talked guitar for a bit.

We arrived home to find Aunt Lois awake (as she had flown in from Gaspe that evening) so we chatted it up with her for a bit before going to bed. We arose to have some breakfast (Thanks Aunt Lois!) and chatted for a few hours before heading out to London, Ontario.

Thanks to Uncle Gary and Aunt Lois for the warm hospitality and a place to stay during our trip to Kitchener. We love your house…a wise purchase.

Congrats to the bride and groom!

Did you know that the Guinness Brewery (or members of the brewery) are responsible for creating the Guinness Book of World Records?

Huh.

http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Artists/C/City_And_Colour/2007/08/09/4404631.html

Here’s an interesting article about Dallas Green not wanting to play his hit song ‘Save Your Scissors’. It goes on to talk about other artists who get tired of playing the same hit song and want to stop.

I remember years ago reading this about Counting Crows Mr. Jones and how they stopped playing it for a tour.

Where do you stand on this issue? Where do I stand on this issue?

Mmm…years ago I saw the sense of it and how you could get tired of playing the same old thing. Even I hit a wall playing Mr. Jones because everyone wanted to hear it all the time. I was thinking “But I have so many other songs I can play which I have fun with and I think you’ll like them also!”

I think it was when I started reading a lot more about U2 and the Rolling Stones that I realized that part of the music business is the fact that you are there for your fans, not for your self-indulgent ways on stage. So if you can take 3 minutes out of your life to play the crap out of a song that you don’t care to play, but then you make the entire audience be moved, then play the song! Back in the day, music was more of a business and musicians knew that a lot more. They knew they had to go play the hits. Heck, why do you think cover bands appear at bars? We’re not there to see them drone out their own material, we want to hear some Billy Idol playing!

That being said – I feel for the artists who get tired of playing a song, but I think you should remember who you’re there to entertain. Sure, you can throw the argument that the hardcore fans would rather you be happy and play what you want, while all the while getting a few gems you pull out from yesteryear instead of playing a hit. But do you really think a band’s audience consists of only hardcore fans? Do you really think when AC/DC goes out on tour, their fans own all their albums? Why do you think Greatest Hits albums are a great seller year after year?

Artists – play your hits. Please the masses. Even your hardcore fans aren’t going to say “Oh man, not THIS song again.”