Rocks and Trees
Hi Folks
I know there are probably a few of you who were expecting to hear how the latest tour was going.
Well, I was really looking forward to this group of shows, and I wasn’t disappointed, but it was an adventure.
The seven shows were all in Canada, in fact, right here in my home province of Ontario. Sault Ste Marie, Sudbury, North Bay, Pembroke, Kingston, Collingwood and Owen Sound, in that order.
The first show was Tuesday in Sault Ste Marie, an eight-hour drive from Toronto. The plan was for Barry to rent a large SUV and pick up the three of us who live in Mississauga around 1 pm Monday. It wasn’t big enough for us and our equipment, so we each drove our own vehicles. With the price of gas, this was really going to cut into the profits. The first part (a seven day trip), totalled 1855 kilometres or 1153 miles for those who don’t speak Canadian.
That was for the rest of the band. For me, it was 2386 kms or 1483 miles. The reason mine was so much more is that I had to return home after North Bay to pick up an accessory for my keyboard that was left behind. I had to rent keyboards for the first three shows that I had no experience with. I got through the concerts okay, but it was no fun. So with Friday being a travel day, I went home after Thursday’s show and up to Pembroke the next day.
Too much driving!
This is how the trip started. Just west of Sudbury, I was stopped by a cop for speeding. Hwy 17 is notorious for having long stretches of rocks and trees, and then suddenly, with little warning, a town appears, dropping the speed limit from 90 kmh to 70 kmh.
It was 11:30 pm. Why would a cop be hiding in the shadows to trap motorists at that time of night? Who was I hurting? Well, this kind of thing is known as a “Cash Grab”.
“Have you been drinking?” he asked.
“No, why?”
“Your eyes are red, and you’ve got food all over your shirt”
There’s no way you can eat a sandwich while driving without getting a bit of tuna, some mayonnaise, and about a hundred bread crumbs on your shirt. At least I can’t.
“That’s a normal day for me, officer.”
He went back to his car and got a breathalyzer. One evening a few years ago, during the annual Christmas spot-check blitz, I was pulled over twice in one evening to blow into one of those things. The second time I got a little snarky and said, “What? Was there a sale on these things?”
“Just doing our job, sir.”
They give you a little souvenir after a breathalyzer. The plastic tip you blow into. I showed the officer the one I already had. She let me go immediately.
It’s worth noting that all five times I was required to blow into one of those things, the result was zero.
I didn’t get into Sault Ste Marie until just after 3 am.
I don’t mean to complain. The shows all went well. Just too much driving.
Some Recognition
A big shout out to the folks at Long and McQuade in both Sault Ste Marie and Sudbury. Great staff at both stores. Thanks!
Also
When you go to a concert, the people you see on stage, whether it be a trio, quartet, sextet or an orchestra, only represent part of what it takes to get the show produced. There are sound and lights people, drivers, pilots, general managers and tour managers, just to name a few. It’s this last category that I’d like to speak of now.
I don’t have a great history with tour managers. Generally speaking, I’ve found them to be similar to the overly zealous security people we have in our industry. All puffed up with their own sense of importance, they are, in many cases, grown-up schoolyard bullies or, in some cases, the ones who got bullied. Either way, a lot of them have a chip on their shoulder and a target on their back.
Then there’s our tour manager, Warren “Wiggy” Toll. He’s been with us for fifteen years. He doesn’t fit the above profile…….That is, if he remembers to take his medication.
Seriously though, he makes it all easier for us.