Total Pageviews

Saturday, February 26, 2011

From The Road to the Classroom

It's been three weeks since I worked. 
Going back to a miscellaneous classroom after some time away, is hard in the body.
Little children can be bothersome early in the morning. 
Especially bratty ones who think they deserve everything.  
And the smelly ones. 
Those are always disliked.
Still working on getting up early in the morning. 
It's a struggle.



So the tour took us to Ottawa, Miramichi, Moncton, Fredericton, Halifax, Sackville, and Oshawa. 
We also spent time in Charlottetown and Montreal on our off days. 
Does playing an open mic in Charlottetown count as having a gig? 
A mix of music venues, pubs, bars, and coffeehouses.
What have I learned of these cities. 


Ottawa.
You are expensive. 
$100 for a parking ticket 3 minutes past the allotted time seems a little excessive. 
Politicians talk a lot. They also enjoy hearing themselves talk a lot.
Check out Avant-Garde. They play some crazy videos.
oh you, Parliament Building you.


Charlottetown.
Your bridge is expensive. 
No wonder people do not want to leave the island much. They can't afford to leave.
Also your snow is salty.
The Gahan House is awesome.



Moncton.
You get too much snow.
But your Poutine Pizza is delicious.
Plan B is a crazy fun place to hang out.
Ravens (or perhaps crows) are taking over your city. Be warned.


Sackville.
You have a horrible name. I can't believe there is also a Sackville in Nova Scotia. 
At least you have an awesome cafe (Bridge Street Cafe) and pub (Ducky's).
--Side note I assume the University Pub (yes Sackville has a University, but not a place where you can buy things like pants) is not for me. As I walked in with Julien we were looked upon buy a ton of dudes in collared rugby shirts. Then, as if a message from the Gods, my zipper split from the bottom up. Forcing me to leave and change pants. --- end side note
I like this pick. I'm fond of elephants.

Montreal.
If you are a girl/women living here you have a 87% chance of being hot. Oh ya, I did the math.
Schwartz has great sandwiches.
I now no longer dislike Montreal. 
Thank you hot Montreal women for helping me to change my mind.

Halifax.
You like cover bands.
You pay attention to them as if U2 were tearing up your little pubs.
If you are a cover artist move to Halifax. 
I am an original artist therefore my reception was not treated in the same manner.
Snaubar has amazing food. 

Oshawa.
Maybe the only city where an acoustic act can open for punk metal bands and still sell CD's.
Go to the Bulldog for drinks not food. 

Fredericton.
I don't know much about you except that you have lots of strip mall type areas. 
Also MDMA is quite he hit with the kids there (thats an organic ecstasy or something along that line)

Miramichi.
I learned to pronounce your name correctly.
Also that I don't know any up-beat songs. Thank you for informing me of that strange drunk lady.

I had a good time on this trip. 
I usually do when traveling. I'm big on eating out in local restaurants and trying local beer. 
We tried to live on the cheap, using couchsurfing.org for free places to crash ( a must for a traveler on a budget.) eating pb&j sandwiches. Stuff like that. But very quickly I turned around and was spending money on unnecessary things. By the end I almost broke even. I kept track of my spending and had I been more tight in the wallet I could have come home with a good profit. Ah well, I increased Eastern Canada's economy.

This time I mailed my posters to the venues. As emailing them did not work. 
I think half the venues put them up. Even the venue in my home town didn't put up my poster and I hand delivered them. 
It's frustrating. It costs money to print up posters and to have them go to waste makes my heart hurt.

We had some media attention, Snap Barrie, Snap Halifax and Snap Oshawa come out to take pictures of the tour, A small blurb of our show was in The Coast paper in Halifax and in an Ottawa paper but I can't remember the name. We also did a radio interview/performance for www.CHSRfm.ca head there to hear it. I forgot a whole verse to Pride have a listen and listen to garbled gibberish. 


I think I need to get a lap top for the road to write while travelling. I am forgetting much.

Death trap #2 good thing we had child workers.
Stuck in the ice twice.  Ran out of gas on the highway. Wore the same jeans for 9 days straight. Got sick of Subway. Became very broke at one point. Ate lots of continental breakfasts. Got Julien drunk followed by a killer hang over. and played lots of music. Met great people (minus the drunk cougar). 
Can't wait for the next one!

I'm going to watch Rescue Me I suggest you do the same.

C'est Bon.

-Neil
www.eyeswide.ca

Oh hey, if anyone wants a free Live Track from my London UK recording session send me your email and location.  
 









Wednesday, February 23, 2011

I broke the trophy.

Just a quick little update.
I've been meaning to write about the tour since I got back on Friday.
But have been busy with this and that.
Real work, emails, booking more tours.
Today I am in pain.
I wanted to get back in shape and take a break from the drinking of booze. As I had consumed quite a lot touring the East Coast.
Hey, there's a lot of good breweries over there.
So for the past 5 days I've been working out yesterday I did some leg exercises, had a run, and went to yoga class.
Today I waddle like a penguin.
Sitting down and getting up is a struggle.
A little too much activity when one is just getting back into physical movement.

So I went to a charity Bull Ride competition,
*Side note my girlfriend lasted 3 seconds. It was a disgrace to the Bull riding community.

And I said hey "take a picture of me pretending to steal the trophy."
It was just sitting on the bar all alone next to a can of Pringles.
As I picked it up, the bovine just came off. It was not attached properly, says I. 
So I grabbed some Cheetos and walked away. 
Here's said trophy.
Looking very underwhelming when placed next to a can of Pringles.
Ended the night by watching our beloved mayor rehearse for a Battle of the Bands contest this weekend. There were only 4 of us.
Quite an odd way to end a Wednesday night. 
And of course I had a beer. Bad Neil! Bad!
Now I am going to bed.
Very soon East Coast Tour and all it's foibles will be revealed....

-Neil 

And Hey, Hey! I actually got a comment on one of my posts! 
I'm quite pleased on that.