Day 10: Salmar Classic Theatre

I usually feel bad for the people who canvas for green peace or hand out the metro newspaper. I feel bad because their job is to stand still and pester the people walking by with "Do you have a moment for green peace today?" or "Metro Newspaper!". While I feel sorry for them, I'm also one of the pedestrians who is annoyed by their presence. We use tactics like talking on our cell phone or avoiding eye contact to make the encounter as painless as possible. Sometimes we even lie/admit that we are late for work and can't stop. We use same tactics with pan handlers, because that is what these people are employed to do: beg.

Shawn and I saw the other end of this stick/panhandle before our show in Salmon Arm. Ticket sales for the show hadn't been as high as we expected so we resorted to the age old tradition of begging. Positioning ourselves in front of our old high-school's main entrance we waited for the final bell to chime. As the rush of students charged towards us, we learned how hard this art form really is. "Concert tonight at the Salmar, tickets at the door, Painted Birds.. 10 dollars.." the pitch hasn't been mastered yet. Most just walk by understanding that anybody trying to give you something for free is probably giving you something that you either don't want, or will eventually have to pay for. A few kids who are unlucky enough to make eye contact, admit defeat and take the handbill. Their loss is hardly a victory for us, however.

Finally I change my objective and forget about the hand bill, inquiring "Do you like live music?" or anything that can start a conversation. My empty hands seem less suspicious and I finally get some biters. Some kids recognize us, telling us that we went to school with their older siblings or took dance lessons from their mother. The whole experience was quite humbling, albeit exhilarating. By the end our skin had grown so thick that we could have cared less if they ignored us or not. The negatives were so out-weighed by the positive reactions that we felt accomplished.

After we headed over to the Salmar Classic Theatre. The room had a lot of significance for me. I can remember back to when that was the only cinema in town. I can remember going to see movies like Mighty Ducks with my dad, or forcing my sisters to drag me along to see Fern Gully with them and their friends. Bringing along your little brother was always an uncool thing to do. I also saw my first few concerts in this theatre including Moxy Fruvous, who was mind blowing, and 54 40 who I have always adored. The stage is huge, the curtain is glorious, and the nostalgia is wonderful but also horrible to surround myself in.

We load in, set up, go through sound check and head back stage and wait and wait and wonder. Shane announces to Shawn and I that we need to talk. This makes me nervous, I wonder as we come to the end of this tour, "Is Shane quitting the band??". He calms me by telling me that he wants us to chill out. He feels tension with us, for reasons he takes to be that this is our hometown and we have placed pressure on ourselves accordingly.

"Breathe. Take a deep breath, slowly" he says. Shane is a god send in more ways than one. Backstage is above the rear of the theatre and we watch our opening act Water Mark perform their set. They remind me a lot of Shawn and I at their age. Pumped full of excitement, conviction, nerves and confidence. Jared had told me before they went on that their last song had been written the night before. "Yup", i think "that was us".

Shawn turns to me as we peer at the audience "Nobody's here".
"Don't worry" I say, it's too late for any of that.

The audience sit in their comfortable theatre chairs for our first two songs. I see grimaces from friends of my mother's, perhaps too old to enjoy rock music. As they all sit and stare I have no idea what anyone is thinking. Finally, Shawn, another godsend, announces that everyone should come to the front and crowd around the stage. Amazingly, a lot of the kids comply and all of a sudden a theatre that seemed empty feels crowded as they all pile around the stage.

This was the golden turning point. Our next song was Colleen and everybody was bouncing up and down. From there on in, we didn't want it to end. It's truly amazing how in less than five seconds, somebody can say something that will change the situation from being painfully mediocre to perhaps one of the best feelings of your life.

At one point I noticed that 5 guys and girls in the front were singing along to every word of I'm a Radio. What truly perplexed me was the fact that i didn't recognize any of them. I wondered for a second, turned back to the microphone and forgot the words to the song.

I could go on to continually tell you how awesome it was to play our songs for and with all of the Salmon Armians, and enjoy the whole experience together, but you really just had to be there.

Thanks to everyone who helped make that show my favorite to date, especially Watermark, the 5 SASS students who helped us with tickets and merch, and Brian Coffey for doing sound and doing it well.

Peace

dom

Day 9 cont: Late Night Eats in Canmore

Sorry for the delay again. Went on vacation and got lazy and then well you know how it is. I promised to tell you about Salmon Arm, so here it is.

We'd had another late night in Canmore, as you might remember. After we'd put everything away (this task was lightened by the fact that we didn't even bother taking our merchandise out of the van) Josh went to bed and Shane, Shawn and I were once again, starving at 3 in the morning. Canmore, however was less equipped to serve us food at 3 in the morning. According to Derek the soundman our only option was the gas station, and i was not looking forward to a bag of chips or one of those vacuum packed sandwiches. While on the road i find i get sick of mainly two things. One is bars, you've been paid with enough beer and shots that on your off days you just want some tea and maybe a hot tub. The second thing, is crappy fast food or junk food from gas stations. We were lucky enough on this tour to have a few stops where our hosts provided us with delicious and healthy home cooked meals (thank you's to: Lynch family, Saab family, Fischer family, and Marshall family). On this occasion we found out that there was also a Tim Horton's nearby, which filled our hearts with elation.

I don't know why this always happens, but i was once again the sober one, and, therefore, had to drive. On route to the 7-11 my two drunken companions are both convinced that they know where we are supposed to be going. I have a pretty good idea of how to get around Canmore because my family owns a house there, but they insisted that we had to go this way, and then, no, the other way, and then, no we were right the first time. We ended up driving down the main strip about 3 or 4 times, both of them telling me where to go and then getting mad at me when we ended up at the wrong place. I finally, quite angry at this point, told them to shut up and let me try and find the Tim Hortons. You will most likely see all of this on our forth coming video podcast series, incriminating them of debauchery and poor navigational skills. At the point in which i make a U-Turn at a red light, please understand that it was almost 4 in the morning at this point, and our film maker Mr. Corey Fischer probably played with the color in the video to make it look red. It was actually green.

After nearly throwing Shane out of the van, with his camcorder, we finally arrive for some delicious soup and sandwiches. After we have been fed we completely forget about the tension that had just arisen, and go back to being the fun loving band that we are.

Dom