Tuesday, June 30th/09. The Media Club, Vancouver BC

The days are just packed!

For the last few years, I have felt the slightest bit odd celebrating the summer season and I think I know why. Now, it could just be me, but over the years, it seems that everyone, including myself, does it to an extreme when it rolls around, or as we at Acres of Lions Inc. call it, the “Vitamin D high.” Even before it is here, we scurry around and try to fill each summer day and night with as many activities as possible. It’s like a ritual and it is prepared for carefully, all our future hopes and good times are placed in the 3 month period of June, July and August, signifying vacation, around these parts anyways. I sincerely enjoy this time of year, in fact, I care for it a great deal. I guess it is a bit different now, though. As a child it held such wonder and delight for me; no school for 3 months, sno-cones, the lake, visiting relatives, reading comic books, bicycle adventures, playing guns with friends or some other subconcsiously programmed violent kid’s game. It was magical. As a teenager, it changed but only slightly; no school for 3 months but an undesirable summer job in it’s place, instead of sno cones it was developing the taste for alcohol in large quantities and experiencing the inevitable hangover, I still read comic books but interspersed them with Bukowski and numerous fantasy novels, still went to the lake alot, adventures now took place in a car with your new license, games are still played but only with the mind, sleeping all day and staying up all night with your friends under the stars, both 16 and it feels so right… wait… that may or may not be a Yellowcard song. Anyways, it feels like things have changed a great deal since I was a kid, like we choose not to come alive until june hits and we forget all our worries under the sun, getting a bitchin’ tan while drinking sangria and wearing as least as possible, like hibernating creatures who toil endlessly throughout the winter to emerge refreshed and new and in a good mood. I will not lie to you, I get really good and nostalgic this time of year, makes me miss being a kid.

We boarded the ferry at 5:00 pm and like always, it was a treat. Oh the glorious smell of sea air, car exhaust and pent up frustration, combined with beautiful scenery, large groups of people and the sound of car alarms below.  We are a touring band which has been speculated recently by many other bands in our position that it is right next to being homeless, thus making the ferry from the island to the mainland daunting and way out of our price range. And since we choose to reside in Victoria, it is the first and last stop of any tour we plan. We had a show at the Media Club in Vancouver tonight, which is always the best of times and totally makes up for zombie-ferry. Our friends were there, which include The Grave Life and Sweetheart, two amazing bands, there was beer, there was bonding, there was reflection and at the end of the night, there was rest in the comfort of an old friend’s home, where we philosophized  over Kraft dinner and the most influential board game we’ve ever had the pleasure of trying to understand: Bruce Lee, Kung Fu Madness.

The show tonight was most excellent, a great start to the tour, and we made alot of friends. The Grave Life also played one of the best Hot Water Music covers of “Jack of All Trades” I’ve heard. I’ve missed this, and although this tour is short, I will enjoy it for what it is.

Now let’s go hit the beach in Kelowna!