Acres Tour Journal, Entry 8

Quote of the day:

“Hey, Freddy Frugal! Slow and steady don’t win this race!”

– Craig, taunting Pat, Ten Second Epic

Saturday, November 12th, 9:00 am, Victoria

This morning I split up with the rest of the boys in my band because my wallet has been found, Hallelueja, and has been returned to my bank. If you can’t recall my previous words on the subject of “dumb things to do before going on tour,” (#) I lost my wallet the day before I left. We have an interview at noon in Vancouver so I am forced to stay behind and roll with the TSE boys to catch the bank when it opens. Apparently, Tyson had a little too much beauty sleep and had to race to pick up Lew and Dan. If my sources are reliable, they made the 9:00 am ferry at the Schwartz Bay terminal in record time, 9:35 am – 9:55 am, and were able to roll right on. Another early morning miracle. TSE and I were not so lucky and we miss the 11:00 am ferry by 10 minutes, so we stop in Sidney for breakfast at “Beacon and Eggs,” a rather popular local breakfast nook. Pat orders “The Breakfast Club,” which is made of 3 giant waffles, layered with corn beef hash, bacon, eggs and sausage. It is $20.00, and as the tradition goes, if you eat it in 20 minutes, not only is your meal free, but you get your picture on the “Wall of Fame.” Excitement, for sure. Pat starts out slow, realizing that he will need to douse the monster in at least 1.5 cups of syrup to be able to force it down. We cheer Pat on and he starts to sweat and groan. The meal is too much and sadly, Pat is defeated. “Those goddam waffles!” he shouts and throws down his cutlery. The waitress takes his picture and puts it on the “Wall of Shame.” Legendary. Well, almost.

4:00 pm, Vancouver

We make our way through the city, the traffic and the rain, to The Media Club on Cambie Street, late, of course. We arrive to find that there is a private event before the show tonight and thus cannot hang out in the club until 8:00 pm. I also find that Dan and Tyson have unloaded all the gear and have made a nest in the back of our van. There is nothing cuter than two grown men shacking up in the back of an illegally parked vehicle next to a crowded city street, a mere 3 hours from home. While Tyson remains in the back, Dan and I jump in TSE’s van and we eat Porchetta at “Meat and Bread.” The best, for sure. Dan and I wander the streets for a bit and find our way to the Holiday Inn where Lewis and his special friend are staying. We have some beers, blow dry our shoes in the bathroom and watch The Simpsons. Our pal Tamara Stanners and her lovely daughter Alex, who I will be singing with tonight, grace us with their presence a few minutes later and we chat about the Peak Performance Project and the upcoming finale, our old band “Accident Scene,” and the importance of foot hygiene. That last one was prompted by the smell of feet in the hotel room, which, let me assure you, was overbearing and enhanced by the heat of the blow dryer. Once again, we are all class.

8:00 pm

Tamara drives us back to the Media Club in her swanky new ride, and the rest of the night is a blur of old friends, family and one of the best shows to date we’ve played in Vancouver. An amazing pop band “San Sebastian” has been added to the show at the last minute, and having listened to them for awhile now, it is great to finally see them live and on tour from their home in Hamilton, Ontario. “Seth Anderson” performs next while Alex and I rehearse and warm up in the back room for our little “duet.” It feels good to play at The Media Club again, in a city where so many of our friends reside, on tour with a band who we’ve looked up to for such a long time. I tell a short story on stage about how when I was little, my sister Jaclyn, who is watching side-stage, hit me in the back of the head with pillow this one time and I threw up EVERYWHERE. I no doubt embarrass her, but she will forgive me. Alex comes up on stage and sings “Reaction” and “This was not my best day ever” with me. I see Tamara smile big. It is a wonderful moment. I watch Ten Second Epic perform more intently tonight and it’s the best. They certainly know how to write REALLY catchy pop songs, but appear a lot more rock and roll to me at the moment. The way they talk to the crowd, their choice of songs and the way they arrange their set, the spitting and cursing, their ability to drink and even greater ability to drink play their instruments. They are champions, for sure.

A special thanks to Lanny and The Media Club, for the great work that she does , to our pal Christine, for photos and putting us up, to Tamara Stanners and Alex Badger, for their love, talent and support, to my sister Jaclyn, for putting up with my shit, and to Sean Jackson, Steve Lockhart and Cody Beer, for being the nicest bunch of dudes ever.