Walkin' that dog

Day 15 – Hamilton / Hamiltron / Land of the Cheap Ceasar

After arriving at the Casbah we were informed that the show would be starting late (past midnight) and that we should sort out ourselves out with some food and drink and relaxes. This was accomplished at a nearby eatery, where we had one of the first sit down dinners of the trip. Ceasars were very reasonably priced and veggie burgers were on special.

We returned to the venue to wait for the gig. Luckily there was a beer representative for Flying Monkey (a local brew) handing out free IPA samples. We sampled thoroughly. The cats from Enjoy Your Pumas showed up and they joined in the sampling. After sufficient sampling they got their gear on and played some songs for us all.

One of the funniest parts of the night was the DJ – Ros Beef – who we realized we'd stayed with last year when we came through Hamilton (he had enjoyed cats and voiced his desire that we were all cats to increase our coolness factor). We played our sets, partied on and danced, played frisbee in the streets with some locals and carried on as anyone who is on an extended roadtrip is want to do.

With the night winding down, we packed up the van and voyaged back to Toronto – Scott's Aunt Stephanie had again offered us a place to lay our heads. Such kindness! A hot shower, load of laundry, and a well operating kettle certainly warm my heart.

Day 16 – Toronto, NXNE, and an unexpected meeting

A long lie in did us a world of good. Stephanie's place is very nice and a very friendly dog named Piper lives with her. He's a simple but kind hearted soul, and is always a pleasure to visit. We got some laundry on the go and fixed some breakfast and then headed into town to recover Scott's credit card (which he had misplaced during our escapades in Chicago).

The recovery of said card was expedient and we posted up at a nearby cafe to accomplish some interneting. We were without a show for the night (a friday during the North By North East festival) and decided to try out some last minute luck. Fortune again smiled on us and by 6:30 we'd been offered 2 gigs, one for the approaching evening at Hard Luck bar and one for the Saturday (a 3 am slot at Rancho Relaxo – we ultimately turned this one down as we had a previous engagement in Windsor with the Bulletproof Tiger).

We loaded into the venue and sauntered off into Kensington Market to get some eatables. A decent fish and chip shop was located – orders were placed and we sat on the patio in anticipation. While sitting there, taking in the hustle and bustle of a Friday night in Toronto during a music festival, a familiar face was recognized in the crowd – Jordan Minkoff of Victoria garage rock party bringers Slam Dunk. My brother Duncan and the rest of the Slam Dunk team was a few meters behind him. Hugs, high-fives and stories followed, along with a lie down in the nearby park. Turns out Slam Dunk was playing at the Hideout during the same time slot as us. We all travelled to Dundas Square (the epicentre of the festival) and looked on at the crowds and outdoor concert.

Later, we returned to the venue, raged through our set and met up with more friends – Simon and Cris, Dave, as well as some new friends – Zach from Enjoy Your Pumas (who we'd played with the previous night) and a hilarious dude named James. Drinks were consumed at Hard Luck, Duncan turned up after his set and we carried on at length.

As we got into the small hours we retired to a small back garden establishment where we were served beer sandwiches by Miley Cyrus' look alike. Scott found a bamboo spear that we kept for future foraging activities.

Simon had just passed his Bar exam to be a full-on lawyer. He had numerous hilarious things to say through the evening. Here's some choice cuts:

“I like justice almost as much as I like amaretto; I'm going to pour justice all over amaretto and fuck it”

“How to be a surgeon – Rule One: Cut; Rule Two: Surgeon”

We got back to Stephanie's place and had a good snooze, another great breakfast and a nice chat in her backyard. Thank you so much!

We rolled out for the Windsor show at about 2pm; I'm sitting on a curb outside the Phog Lounge writing to you all now. It's about 2 hours till show time so we're off to get something to satiate the never ending hunger.

Day 17 - WINdsor

Fed and watered we did some more sitting outside the venue with the rad guys from The Bulletproof Tiger - played with some yo-yos, rang some bicycle bells, drank warm PBRs and chatted. Red Red Run loaded in and then Ontario Plates rolled up in their severely beaten Chrysler LeBaron, jumped out looking like the wild children of Frank Zappa, loaded in and got the show rolling. Both were excellent, but Ontario Plates blew our fucking minds. I can't even really explain how awesome they were, suffice to say that this drummer, keyboardist, bassist, and guitar player (x2) Windsor outfit is a top notch group of young dudes that utterly devastated the Phog Lounge.

(above Red Red Run)

(above Ontario Plates)

We roared through our set and then danced crazy like for another astounding Bulletproof Tiger set. Ridiculous.

We were super fortunate to see another old friend in Windsor - Cindy (former Vancouver resident and friend to some of youse out there!). I have a graham cracker that seems to be important.



Post gigdom we drank, packed gear and located a house party that continued until the next morning. Jamming, dancing, Led Zeppelining, couching, imbibing and more of the general carrying on. I saw the sun come up as I walked along the river, splitting Detroit and Windsor like a hot knife through butter.

Julian had some excellent jams with band dudes, here he is adding the touch!



This is Greg from Ontario Plates - he plays the keys, but turns out to be a phenomenal drummer as well. Bastard.



We're on our way to Calum; A Zoo! now (actually Kalamazoo, but my name rarely works for these sorts of thangs)