Friday, August 7th/09, The Pawn Shop, Edmonton AB

I am very surprised at us this tour, about our musical tastes and the arrangement of songs we have selected for our own personal tour mixes, another ritual in which we share. I went pretty mellow this time around, choosing bands like The Decemberists, The Format, Attack In Black, Mother Mother, Wilco, Get Up Kids, as well as many others (indiefuck) Dan firmly adheres to metal and rock n roll, something he’s done for years, but still manages to sneak in “Life is a highway” before any of us get a hold of the stereo, within the first 5 minutes of driving. I don’t know though, somehow we decided to listen to a vast selection of R&B, Rap and hip-hop, something we all listen to, just never together, a strange, yet moving realization. Seriously, we had R.Kelly, Run DMC, Ludacris, NWA, Wu Tang, Public Enemy, Shad, Lil’Jon and I don’t know how many more artists blasting for hours… now it may be to early to say this, but so far, it was the most inspiring moment of the tour. As I write this, this very moment, it is “Rhiannon” by Fleetwood Mac slowly turning into Lady GaGa, and it is truly great… I suggest jumping in your car and turning it up really loud so people can think you’re weird too!

I’m okay with Edmonton. It’s a great city, but for a long time, even before Acres, I felt this city did not want anything to do with me. But now, it is perfect. There are great venues, still great bands and we have made good friends here (ie. Drive By Punch, The Maddigans, Mapping The Escape, Felix, Define The Line, The Raptors, wut up son!?) After hitting various music stores in search of a power cable, a hard piano road-case and drumsticks, we ended up at the pawnshop, a venue, as far as we are concerned, is one of the best venues in Canada, and yes, it was absolutely magical (They even played lots of R.Kelly between bands) John, the sound-tech and vocalist for The Raptors did an amazing job on all the bands, especially Mapping The Escape, and this was their cd release. Needless to say, we were stoked to be a part of it. This band, as nerdy as they are, do fantastic work and love it so much, and it is really great to share something like that with 5 other dudes.

We got out of the club at about 2:00am to find a girl, not sure of the age or name, passed out in front of our van, cel-phone in hand, and I’m sorry to say, in a large puddle of urine. We checked if she was okay but she didn’t wake up, so we got the bouncer to call an ambulance and everything was just fine, I hope.

To the drunken unconscious girl under our van, we hope that you are okay and feel better soon and listen to lots of Ludacris.