| grayline tour stories |
| GRAYLINE TOUR STORIES |
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| Monday July 16, 2001 Hartland, New Brunswick |
| We got up this Monday morning and headed once again to Subway for breakfast. We were in dowtown Fredericton beside the Capitol were we played almost a week prior. Randy went into the guitar shop we had ventured in and sure enough they still had his pack of smokes. Even though he had lost his smokes, clothes and contacts, his Karma must be good since he was able to get everything back in the end. Before hitting the road, we went into a variety store and stocked up on some adult oriented magazines. This helped make the drive from Fredericton to Hartland go by in a flash. We arrived in Hartland and the plan was to pick BJ up from work and all head back to his place. We got there a bit early and talked to some of the guys we had met just a week ago. They all loved the CD and made it sound like tonight's show was going to be very well attended. BJ and his friends had built a stage out in the middle of the field beside his house but the weather was overcast and calling for rain. This was the only concern. BJ got off work a little early and informed us there was still a lot that needed to get done so we hit the road for Chez Downey. While in the van BJ noticed our Stack of porn and started to look though it. "Is this all you guys do all day. Play shows at night and look at porn in the van all day long" he asked. "Yeah, pretty much" Darren answered. "WOW! I can't wait to go on tour" He said as we all burst out laughing. He lived outside of the town and we had to make sure there was enough signage so that the masses would all know which way led to the ROCK'N'ROLL. We got to his place and after checking out the stage and the sky it was decided that we may need to move it inside, or do something near the garage. BJ's mom was preparing a HUGE supper for us and also told us to get our laundry done. The P.A. still needed to be picked up, so Randy and I went with BJ to get it in his grandmother's van. Once the P.A. was loaded up we still had time to grab some alcohol from the liquor store. While Randy went in, my cell phone rang only for it to be my boss at work. He seemed to have forgotten that I was on my vacation. I kind of started thinking about work a bit until BJ started talking about how all the kids were pumped to see Grayline tonight. When we got back to the house a decision was made to set up a tarp over the garage and put the equipment just inside so that if it rained everything could still go on. It was really entertaining to watch but Yoda, I mean Pete had the whole thing figured out. It actually worked out really well and sounded pretty good also. It was time for food and we certainly had a feast! BJ's folks were just awesome and we ate a lot to show our appreciation. His sister and her friend were kind enough to volunteer and collect the cash as the kids started flocking to the first ever BJPALOOZA! This was great. Cars were arriving by the minute. Next thing I knew there were well over 100 kids in the front yard. Sadly though, my friend Hayley was not in attendance. My other observation was that the bugs were relentless. I seemed to be the only one complaining so Pete and Darren drenched me in bug spray as they mumbled comments about being a wimpy city guy under their breath. I can tell you that I now have a new respect for the smell of Muskol. The boys told me not to worry about the strong smell as it was considered small town whorelure. Road Kill took the stage and put on a great show. These guys were really good. BJ had a good control of the crowd and finally there was a good crowd at the show. It's really funny that the last minute show had the best attendance. There were very brief moments of a few rain drops but nothing to be worried about. Road Kill ended with a blast and it was once again time to rock. I could tell that we all had even extra bounce in our steps but I'm not sure if it was from the feeling of electricity from the energetic crowd or because we had just eaten a huge home cooked meal (or trying to avoid the mosquitoes- Darren). Regardless we were going to kick some ass. We put on our HIGH OCTANE, FOUR WHEEL DRIVE, TURBO CHARGED rock show and the crowd was fucking loving it. These people were alive! Finally we had loud cheers between songs, lots of people dancing up front and yells from the crowd! "I love you Randy!!" one girl yelled. "Hey, it's always Randy. What about Pete, Darren and Nick!" I screamed right back to her over the microphone. "I love you Pete, Darren and RICK!" she yelled back. OUCH! That hurts. The boys got a good laugh on stage. Oh well, it's a good thing I'm not in it for the girls. Kids were actually screaming out songs they wanted to hear. We even got an encore!! They actually wanted to hear GIV'ER twice. After our set the one thing that we had been waiting for finally happened. Kids were lining up to buy our stuff. I think we sold over 20 CD's that night along with a couple home videos. It was awesome. This is how a show is supposed to go. BJ and his friends only had 6 days to prepare but they knew exactly what they were doing. He had put on shows in the past but told us that this was by far the best to date and he definitely wanted us to come back in the future! While everyone was still hanging out we slowly started to pack up the van. There was this really stoned surfer type guy that just kept talking to Pete and it was easy to tell that Pete was getting very irritated by him. "Yeah man, so like, you know, you should let me play your guitar, 'cause, like man, I can play some stuff like, uh.. well" he mumbled. "DUDE! Are you like totally fucking fried!?" Pete asked as everyone around started laughing at this guy. We did get our stuff ready and even after BJ's mom told us we were more than welcome to stay the night, we had a long way to Ottawa so it was time to go. We said our goodbyes and hit the highway to leave behind our best show of the tour!! Pete drove for a while but I decided that I was good to go for a couple of hours. Darren sat in the front with me as we drove by tons of DANGER signs warning of moose in the night. We laughed as we both scanned the road looking for moose, deer, bigfoot, etc. as we cruised down the highway. Pete would jump into our conversation now and then as he just can't sleep when someone else is at the wheel but Randy was well into dreamland. We did eventually pull over and assume positions. I felt great this night! We put on an awesome show, people bought our stuff, and we had a great homecooked meal. We even got paid a decent amout of cash that night, and people were telling how great they thought the show was. It is trully a great feeling. Even though in Hartland, I would only be known to the masses as Rick. |
| This show was one of those great ironies. I had talked to BJ before our tour about him being able to set up a show for us in Woodstock, NB. He seemed excited about it but in the end couldn't help us out as he had a couple of other shows he was doing and it would be too much. He'd mentioned that he lived outside of Woodstock in a smaller community and by pure coincidence we happened to stop at the place where he worked in Hartland when we were passing through. He immediately recongized us and said that we would have been able to do the show after all. He asked what days we had open and immediately told us he was going to do a show for us on our way back through in a weeks time. To cut costs he held it in his backyard and all the kids in town came out. BJ's band Roadkill opened up and it was an awesome show and the true essence of diy punk rock. The Downey family were more hospitable than we could ever have imagined and we thank them for the awesome supper and a great time. Pete |
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