We got up this morning to instantly hit the highway. We were at some rest stop when I woke up. There was still a lot of road to cover before getting to Ottawa. This would turn out to be what I consider the hottest van ride of the tour. Still, it wasn't all that bad. We had lots of reading material and were coming off a good high from the great show the night before in Hartland. I wasn't even sure where we were right now as wehad figured it was a 14+ hour drive to Ottawa so we took off right after the previous night's show and I had passed out in the bunk. Obviously we had to drive through Quebec again which made Randy and I remind Pete and Darren about their favourite street, Papineau.
Late afternoon we pulled into our nation's capital. We stopped at a chip wagon and grabbed some food. It wasn't dinner time for me yet so I had to get my fix from stealling some of Randy's poutine, and let me tell you, they make it good in Ottawa!! Pete called the t-shirt guy again to see where our shirts were and came back pretty pissed off because they still hadn't been sent out and our tour was almost done. He also called our friend John (aka Willy Wanker), who lived in Ottawa at the time and we were off tp pick him up from work and take him to the show. On our way to get there, Darren was showing all the cars beside us various centerfolds from our magazines. We got a mixed reaction. Some laughed, some turned in disgust, and some made a straight b-line for a place were they could be alone for a while.
We got to John's work and chilled out for a bit. It was really good to see him again as he was not only a friendly familiar face but I hadn't seen him since we drove to the Kiss concert together almost a year before. He gave us all CD carry cases which was really cool of him. Once we got back to his bachelor apartment we realized it may be a little small for all of us to crash there that night. I wasn't worried since I had become quite content with my spot in the van. I also got to check out the Playboy spread of Belinda Carlisle! SCORE! You see, the GO-GO's album cover, you know the one with them all just out of the bath, with the back cover that shows them in the bath, it has special meaning to me. Believe it or not, but when my parents bought me and my sister that album, my life changed. It wasn't their great powerpop music that changed my life, oh no, it was the back of that album cover. I must have been 7 or 8 years old at the time and I spent a lot of time staring at these pictures. I had a funny tingly feeling that was new to my then young body. This was when I am quite sure that I had my first errection. God bless the GO-GO's!!!
We got to our venue for the evening -Bumpers Roadhouse- and after some fancy van maneuvering by Pete, we unloaded our gear. As the day grew to night and the other bands arrived, we started to notice that the front part of the bar where the stage was had become clustered with equipment. It actually resembled a music store. We tried to figure out some sharing strategies but with little co-operation. I was going to be 4 bands and 3 drum kits. There were pool tables downstairs so we went down to get into our ready and chill out. We met three girls who were playing pool so we decided to have a few games with them. It seemed that one had taken liking to Darren while her friend was chatting up Randy. The third just looked at me weird when I informed her that the pants I was wearing were in fact real leather, and real rockers don't settle for synthetic. I went back upstairs to find Pete who was now in a very bad mood. It turns out that free food was included in our deal but since nobody told us, we all went out to eat and now the kitchen was closed. Go figure with our luck that the one bar that would feed us, we go and buy food. Darryl from Billy Jack had now shown up with his band and it was yet another familiar face that was good to see. We were all happy to see each other but no time for catching up yet, Billy Jack had to get up and rock.
I was really impressed with them especially since they only jammed once with Dom, Darryl's cousin who would be filling in on drums. The crowd, which was a good one this night also, seemed to be digging them as well. The other two bands played well also. One was a Rockabilly band playing their first show whose name I can't remeber, and the other was a great old school punk band called Crankensteintthat had a special place in their hearts for the Misfits.
I wasn't sure how this crowd would react to us but I had nothing to worry about. We rocked the house at Bumpers none the less. The punkers all got involved in the singalong for GIV'ER and Darren and Randy's three new friends watched the whole set as well. Turns out the were from the band Spygirl. We even sold a couple of CD's this night. One thing is for sure, we did not hold back for this set. I felt I may have even jumped one too many times as I could feel my ankles swelling up. It is a small price to pay for Rock'n'Roll.
After our set it was decided that Randy and Darren would go off with Darryl and his crew and meet up with Pete the next day. I would be departing back for London in the morning via train for work purposes and would meet up with the boys again to play on the weekend. Darryl was skeptical about the shows he had planned for us and as of yet there was no show booked on the Friday. He told us not to bother with the Saturday show since he didn't think anyone would show up. We were a bit shocked with this as we needed a Friday and Saturday show to help cover the gas expense of the tour and try and sell some more stuff. I was able to get to anywhere within driving distance from Toronto on the Friday but Darryl was not encouraging about our prospects. Pete, John and I took off back to John's place to get our rest for the night.
As I drifted off to sleep this last night in the van I felt a sense of accomplishment. We toured around almost half of Canada in a week and a half and had a blast. In just two more days, I would drive back up north to meet up with the boys for 2 more shows so we could Rock the North! Funny thing is, all that kept going through my head was, what the hell was that girl's problem with my leather pants. Doesn't she know cool when she sees it! I think I was born 20 years too late!
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