The Gods of Now On Tour – Day 26

I open my eyes. It’s late. So I sleep in, is that so bad? No not really. Not after all we’ve done – yeah that’ll be my reasoning. I go for a shower. A long one. The hot water, like magic, effects me immediately. I’m somewhere else. A long time ago – when the road wasn’t hotels and three meals a day. When their was no tour support – when no one believed me – where each town was fight for survival to get you to the next one. Where you were desperate but couldn’t show it – they’d smell it – they’d hate you. The hot water pouring over me does the same magic tho. That’s all I needed then. I didn’t even need to sleep. I could do that at the club before we’d play. 5, 10, 15 minutes and that would be enough. But what I couldn’t live without, EVER, was a hot shower. I’d pimp out my old band mates for one. “Dude, yeah, go with her. Just ask her if we can shower at her place in the morning!” We always could. I’d be hanging outside a 24 hour convenience store someplace in New Jersey or New York or Illinois with the bass player or the drummer or whoever wandered up and wanted to talk. And that promise of a hot shower just kept me going… baptism. Didn’t matter what you did the night before – that shower would wash you clean again.

This water is exactly the same now. But everything else is different. Better.

Except for the fact that Alex, when he shaves leaves what looks like Woolly Mammoth clippings knee deep in the sink. We don’t live here for more than a day so we don’t care but we notice. I think it’s funny.

So we’re all up and one by one we go down to Shoeless Joe’s for breakfast. It’s good and our waitress behind the bar is a very exotic looking woman who at first seems stand-off-ish. But later she asks where we’re playing and what our story is.

We hang out and do some work and rest up. I go down to the terrace and have a JD in the sunshine. It’s a very pleasant moment. I watch the homeless guy way down at the bottom of the hill at the end of the off ramp of the 401. What a great day for being lonely. Writing infected songs down by the highway. Feeling each sip like a throbbing tattoo. Thinking if I had the money…

So we’re all a little slower than usual. Cathy Fudge contacts us and says she’s not feeling well and has no way to get back to her place, (it’s like 579 miles to where she lives out in Yakoupitzville, a little known suburb of Toronto.) so she may not be able to come to the show. I shake my head. She has a fucking tattoo of our logo on the side of her torso! I think we could drive her home.

We get into the Banyion and head to the Kathedral. The drive is fine and by now we know our way. Easy.

We get to the venue and Scott and Tasha from Awsum Ink are there to greet us. They are so friendly and we like them immediately. Scott gives off the air of being on top of all the details. He points out the postering (which is everywhere!) they’ve done in the area. We are going to be working with them for our Toronto record launch on OCTOBER 24th so this makes us feel very reassured. Great!

They are expecting the other acts so we have some time to go and eat. Jon really wants to go to the Hard Rock Café which is fine with me. I love all those rock star things on the wall. I think it’s great that they have the clothing that each of these amazing performers have worn during one show or another. What I don’t like – and neither do Alex, Zasta or Jon is the instruments, amps and equipment that are all up in their glass cases. These things are like horses or musicians – they’re happiest when they’re working.

We have hamburgers . Mine’s veggie. It’s good. And a chicken wrap. It is also good.

I have to go for a quick shop in the Eaton Center to buy two things for my two girls. I don’t have a lot of time so I choose two dolls very quickly. I don’t realize one of them is a special edition Barbie – Those Tartan Nights – The Pinup Collection. She’s wearing this tiny tartan nightie. Oops. Maybe a little too Scottish for a little girl?

So I go back to the Hard Rock Café and we pile in the Banyion and go back to the club. This time Rob Power the head guy from Awsum Ink is there. He is a straight up rock and roller who is all about the live music. He looks after us.

We set our gear as the other bands arrive. The stage layout is established and it’s all a go. We need some coffee so we let Scott know we’re leaving for 15. We walk down the street to a little coffee place. We look outside on the other side of the street and see Cathy Fudge walking along. We call to her but she doesn’t hear us.

We head back and each give Cathy a hug when we see her. She’s the girl that got the TGON tattoo on the side of her torso – “TGON torso Cathy!” We sing.

So we sit back and enjoy the show…

A 15 year old guitarist who is going to be a fucking power to be reckoned with in just a few short years opened it up.

Next Blood Runs Cold played. They had great energy and a really hard vibe. Nice.

Then West Memphis Suicide who slammed down the whiskey bottle and played Hard Greasy Rock until the dust was falling from the rafters.

Tasha’s camera has run out of batteries. So I grab my Nikon D70 which she takes to like that! She’s clicking away. I really want to take a photographer on the next tour. It’s so important to have a record in pix.

Then we played. Soon, when the expectations of what we do are as great and satisfied as the surprise and shock you feel when you first see us – we’ll be getting closer to our goals. We kick fucking ass.

So, sweaty as I am! And I sweat like Michael Jordan when I play! We hang with Rob, Scott and Tasha after the show. We make some plans. Gotta do an all ages show with Rob and Scott for sure. But as usual it’s time to book outta there.

Cathy comes with us in the Banyion. She’s sitting with me in the back and is also as hungry as we THE GODS OF NOW are. So we go for something to eat at Markham station.

We have breakfast and then it’s time for the long ride to Cathy’s place. I don’t think content matters at all as much as intent. Large grey spires that reflect no light. Deep, dark hidden things that are all just a Point Of View. Fog everywhere. I drop her off and head back.

I turn on a Classic Rock Station. What is it? Harlequin? Streethart? Strange Advance? The huge road is all mine. 7 or 8 lanes of room to breathe. 579 milles is a long way to drive someone home but I love to drive. It dawns on me – “That helps.” Of all the problems that I have just trying to get from birth to death the fact that I like to drive “helps.” The thought makes me happy.

I get back to the hotel and lay on the bed.

I close my eyes. Home is right around the corner.

The Gods Of Now On Tour – Day 25

I open my eyes. Sunshine. Nice.

I shower and get ready to go. Ahhh, that feels so much better. Today is going to be a very good day!

The Banyion won’t start. Aww, crap!

Okay, okay…

Okay…

Okay, okay.

What did you see that guy that did that thing back in that place where you can’t remember where you were, do?

I CAN’T REMEMBER!

Okay. Pop the hood. That might fool the Banyion into thinking you know what you’re doing. – POP-.

-Click- Power but no cigar. Damn! And I popped the hood and everything!

Wait! It’s coming back to me! He jiggled the negative connection to the battery! I can do that. I’m no Hot Holly the Mechanic – but I can jiggle something. I do that when I piss!

Whoa! The hoods already popped – I’m so going to do this! Yeah!

I reach in and jiggle.

!!!

The fucking negative pylon connector came off! AWWWW FUCKKKKK!

Okay, okay…

Okay…

Okay, okay…

CAA! Yeah, should’ve done that before popping the hood! That hood fucked me up! Fuck you hood – I curse you!

I call. They’ll be here in 79 hours! Agh! Okay just come here! My battery is broken.

They come in a bout 8 min. Cool.

He looks at the connection to the battery. “Yep, it came off.”
???

Yeah, okay.

“You need to fix that.”

???!!!

Come on!

He boosts the Banyion so it starts. And then tells me to take it to a garage. They’ll fix me up. It’s just down the street.

By this time Zasta and Alex are with me. Jon is just getting his stuff together. We decide that I’ll go to fix the Banyion and they’ll go to the resto right across the parking lot and have some breakfast. We have our missions.

I pull out and go down the street just as Alex and Zasta walk over to the Resto and go inside.

This is the precise moment that Jon walks outside. And in his head the quiet voice speaks up and says “They left you behind!”. Jon calmly walks to the sidewalk next to the street with his luggage. He puts it down, takes out a cigarette and lights up. He takes a long drag. “In about an hour, they’ll see I’m not there… aw fuck.”

Alex and Zasta watch Jon from the inside of the Resto. “What the hell?”. “One of us should go get ‘em.”. They eventually do.

I get the the garage in no time and pull in. I’m just in time to see Tanya, a curvy parts girl showing off her new tattoo on the side of her body. Can’t lose all of Sault Ste-Marie… I give her a sticker and tell her to check out the web site. She tells me that The Sault is a week-end town. Everyone works to get to Friday and then they party hard. Hmmm. Everybody’s working for the weekend. Was Loverboy in the Sault when they wrote that?

The guy from the garage fixes the problem in record time and asks for a nominal fee. I’m happy to give it to him. This would have cost $250 in Montreal.

I go back to the resto. I have peroggies. None of the guys think the food is very good. But I like my peroggies just fine.

We’re out!

We drive – and for those of you who know – all I have to do is say Hwy 17. Yeeesh.

We haven’t been taking any pix for a while so we snap a few at The Hungry Bear when we stop for salads and soup and a burger. We enjoy it. It’s good food and the asparagus soup is homemade and really delicious. We go back for all kinds. Our pee will smell tonight!

At this point we’re all farther than tired. Over tired doesn’t even come close to where we’re at. We’re almost catatonic when we sit down. That’s a problem for when we drive of course. It’s very difficult now. Zasta takes the wheel – he’s dead tired tho – like all of us. He conks out in about an hour.

I take over and drive to our Hotel. A nice clean and big Travelodge. We move on in.

Alex yells when he walks into the bathroom. “No! This…this…this can’t be!”

We’re all thinking that he found MORE shit on the floor. Zasta and Jon both look at me. “What?” I say.

We all go to see what’s up. I look into the bathroom and there’s Alex with his hands open, grasping at nothing but trying to find a hold on the nothingness that he exists in at this moment. He can’t believe it.

The tub is normal and straight. The sink is normal. The toilet. Oh my Gawd and poor Alex! The toilet is at a 33 ½ degree angle to everything on the earth. It’s fucking crooked. Personally, I’ve never seen anything like this. Their is no reason for the throne to be placed so. So why? Why is it like this. Why? Could it be the currently tortured Alex is right? Could it be that it was placed like this JUST to drive him crazy? I’m starting to be drawn into his paranoia.

We are tired guys. We would love to be in the arms of the soft ones we need. We are all looking forward to going home. “Beaucoup, beaucoup”!

We need food so we go to Shoeless Joe’s. It’s a resto in the hotel. It’s nice and pub like. The staff are friendly and nice. Savaighn was very nice to us and told us that the Kathedral, where we’re playing should be a good show as it is a popular place. Good.

We toured across Canada for a reason which I’ll get to at the end of this. But right now I’ve got to sleep. Only three shows left. Tomorrow night, Ottawa and then Brantford. I’ve played Brantford in the past and the place is out of control. This should be a great gig. At the very least we’ll play with a local band and their friends. But there is the specter of A PAUL HUSBAND show – the same guy who gave us the amazing Imaginary Friend gig in Edmonton (St. Albert). But we’re going to check on this one – make sure the venue knows and the local bands are going to be there.

Jon wants to sleep in the van so he goes out there.

I close my eyes. There is nothing I feel but tired.

The Gods Of Now On Tour – Day 24

I wake up tired. That’s normal. So I’m normal. Good. Therapy is working. I tell everyone we’ve got to get goin’. We’re all up and in the Banyion in record time.

We drive out of town and go by the Husky for breakfast. This the Husky where, on the way out West, the guy came running out asking if we’re a band and couldn’t give us his money fast enough for our merch. He was there. He asked how it all went…

What do you say to that question? How to you put it all into one word? How do you cover all the angles with one phrase?

“Oh yeah, it was… great.” Sigh – that’s all anyone wants to hear anyway. It just doesn’t come close to covering all the angles.

We have breakfast at the Husky. We all have straight up breakfasts and they are all reliable and loyal. Not slutty like an Egg McMuffin – fucking morning meal whore.

Jon starts his campaign to have the next tour booked in Husky’s across the West.

Zasta will probably be still eating his breakfast by that time – he takes the longest of all of us to finish. Bite. Knife and fork down. Begin silent contemplation upon the “belle fesses” of the girl out in the parking lot. Share said observations. Pick up knife and fork. Oh! Put them down again. Take a sip of water. Pick up knife and fork, take piece of food (I’m finished my meal at this point) rest it on the side of the plate to remark on a song playing on the Husky speakers. Take the fork of food and slowly, ever so slowly – I SAID SLOWLY!!!! Devour it. Repeat.

Alex can’t stand the fact that the pictures on the wall are all crooked. He hates it. Can’t deal with it. All through the tour he’s been trying to straighten pictures. And while I admit ALL of these Husky pictures on the walls are crooked he’s obsessing mightily about them. He looks away – but I see him looking back again and again.

If you were to take a snap shot a this point – and we don’t – we stopped taking pics for some reason – you’d see four very tired performers who don’t have much left in the reserve tanks.

We’re tired.

We start the 692 km drive – and their’s no stopping. This is going to be a close one. But we have to do it. It was booked so we’re there.

The Truth of Entertainment:

The Show must go on. This is one of those statements that covers it all. From being too tired to move (get out there fucker – and do it right!) to losing you’re personal and private life (sign the damn divorce papers and get out there you fucker – and play it like you mean it). If it’s booked for you – which is why booking is so important – because professional performers MUST play no matter what – then the Show must go on.

We are tired. All of us. We can’t drive more than an hour and a half each before the nodding off and the delirium/hallucinations start. A bear running upright across the highway carrying a stack of pizzas and wearing a trucker hat shouting “Beer for the bear!” is a pretty sure sign you need to give the other guy a shift at the wheel.

Drive and drive and drive again. And then drive and drive and drive some more. No time to stop. Just a snack and then the SWAT team exit into the Banyion.

So tired.

We roll into Sault Ste-Marie and drive to the club. We’re only a half hour late – we took some dangerous chances but we’re there in a perfectly acceptable amount of time to load in, sound check and then chill before we play. We’re just hoping we’ll all hold out. We WILL all hold out.

We see the venue.

!!!
???

It’s locked up tight – and we even look around the side and back thinking it was like The Black Pirates in Thunder Bay.

No. There is no one there.

Okay. Breathe. We’ve driven 8 hours to be here. You’re falling down tired. Stress and Anger wouldn’t help the situation. Call the guy and find out what’s going on. After all our booking guy must have called ahead to find out for us. Right? Maybe the booking guy told our record company that the gig was moved and we need to check in with AMP.

I do. Gig not moved. I phone SSM promoter: Here’s what he said:

“No, that gig was cancelled – I told Sam your booking guy last week. Geeze, I don’t know what to tell you. That really sucks.”

Yeah. Sucks.

I have given and will give anyone more than enough chances to rise to the level of professionalism that I want to see from the people I work with. This is too much.

As a band we have lost all confidence in the booking guy. Showing up on the other side of Canada and the club doesn’t even know who you are – or that their is a show! A show where all the local acts have dropped out so it’s cancelled. A cancelled show because the 14 year old boy that it was booked with was out playing hockey. A cancelled show (that the booker new about for a week!!!) that we’ve just driven like bastards to get to and is locked up – cancelled. You tell me what I should do about this?

We have some very good, dark and unspeakable ideas of what we can do about this when we get back to Montreal.

Nothing to do but go to the fucking Hotel. The Travelodge again. Ha! We have tour support but we chose the wrong booking agent. Damn – how hilariously ironic.

Well, if their’s no place to play, let’s find some fun. Ummm. There’s no one on the streets. At all. Okay, that’s cool. Lets go to a resto. There’s bound to be something going on. Uh, no restos open. The Sault is dead as butter.

Wait a minute! A Boston Pizza. The food is better than the last one – maybe because we’re just all so tired and hungry but it tasted just fine.

We go back to the Hotel.

Things just float away from me.

Time: I have no idea where I am now. It’s a quiet place and I don’t want to be here. It’s dark. Why are there no street lights here? Why are their no people? Why does the clock run backwards? Is this what I want from life? Is this paying for something that no one else can have?

Friends: It’s been years since I’ve seen anyone I know. My other personalities are with me. Wait! They’re not imagined! It’s Zasta, Alex and Jon. We talk less now. Too tired. Adrift, staring at each other in the leaky hull of a ghost ship. We’re dead. This is purgatory. We’re paying for sins. What sins? Oh! The sins against the relationships that we’re so far from right now.

Reality: Howl. I hear demons chattering under the floor. Everyone has this, right? Everyone does what they want and is accepted by those around them, right? We all think life is fucking great, hilarious, dramatic, tragic, wonderful and amazingly sad, right? We all love color. We all love each other. We all have our own thing going and have room for everyone else, right? We’re all alright, aren’t we? You understand me right this moment, right? Please?

My eyes close and I think I’m very far from everything and I want to come back now.

The Gods of Now On Tour – Day 23

Flick- eyes open.

Up and at ‘em boys! And yes, I’m talking about my nuts! Ha! Just kiddin’. I kid cuz I love – you know this about me!

We have to drive from Kenora to Thunder Bay. That’s 411 km! Not counting construction and pit stops.

This gig better be there! We’re assured by AMP that it is. When she says it’s on – it’s on.

Anyway, we get up, get ready and move out. I get in the Banyion and put the key in. I turn the ignition and…

Oh shit. The battery is dead. Someone left the dome light wheel in the “on” position! Argh! I’ve said a million times to make sure it’s off! Arghhhhhh!

I’m good at the big things – not these little things. I lose it! I jump out of the Banyion in a rage. But I just slam the door and say “Aslrirleefal!!!” Which is basically – I hate the fucking world – in language of Anger. But I’ve been taught to recognize the sudden onslaught of negativity that pounds down on me. “You’re such a loser!” “Why are you even here!” “See! You can’t do anything right”. I would have had a fit right there and then (I know this because that’s exactly what I used to do) and made as many people as I could feel bad about leaving the light on, bad about themselves and bad about life in general as I could. After all – if I feel like shit – so should you.

What a jerk I am. Or at least, was. I know this isn’t my fault or anyone’s fault – it’s just an oversight that could’ve happened to anyone. It simply happened. And I’m tired and I have unconquered feelings because of the lost show last night and this just makes me feel all the more powerless in this situation and susceptible to negativity. So this situation has in fact – nothing to do with me as a person. I am simply in the situation. Now, if I rage about it I’m a chump. I figure the best thing to do is deal with it.

I call CAA. “No problem for a tow truck. It should be there in 2 hours.”

??? !!!

Psychotic break #7

“You mutherfucking, goddamn piece of cunt discharge! Why am I paying membership fees? For you to suck cocks between calls?”

End of Psychotic break #7

Okay, okay, I don’t say that. But I want to. I figure that’s playing into taking things personally so I don’t say anything mean at all. I mean, it’s not going to take 2 hours because it’s me, right? It is going to take 2 hours because that’s how long it’s going to take.

“Really? 2 hours, eh? Okay. But do you think you could put a rush on it? We have to be in Thunder Bay to play tonight.” I say nicely.

She’ll do her best she says. I’m sure she will and I mean it.

God, I realize I might be making some progress with this Negative Thought Process Recognition after all.

I go out to the Banyion. Alex, Jon and Zasta are there. I sit down and say it’ll be two hours. They look as shocked as me. I tell them to go look for breakfast, but I have to stay here and wait – I don’t want to wait. I like having breakfast with these guys – it’s fun. You’d like it too if you had the chance. But they tell me they’ll go and grab something and bring it back so we can eat together.

I get an idea. I get up and run into the hotel. I ask the maintenance man if he can give me a boost. Before you know it we’re joking with the guys that drive up to boost the Banyion. They’re super great old guys that probably ice fish drunk and play cards with a nudie deck. Cool.

We’re on our way. But we have to keep the Banyion going. Got to charge up the battery.

We bullet down the highway – until we see a Kitchen Resto. One of those places that has nobody in it. Attached to a house – so you know the people who live there run the place. We stop there, leaving the Banyion running for the charge.

Inside it looks like a dusty log cabin. There are shelves of fishing tackle still in their packages from the ‘70’s, washed out from years of sunshine. There’s even an old Fender Guitar cable still in its package hanging on the shelf. Why it’s there I have no idea. Could it be that maybe one summer years ago, maybe 1979, Loverboy, April Wine, The Kings and a fresh faced Honeymoon Suite all passed by here and each one of ‘em asked if they had a speaker cable available cuz one of theirs was bum? The family running the place ordered one and then live music failed. Ha! Yeah, lets go with that story. It’s good.

Anyway in the dining room they have two kinds of tables. The one is the metal kind. The kind you expect to see. And the other (there are about four of these out of the 15 or so tables) is a hulking table and chair set made out of tree logs. They’re stripped of bark and sanded smooth. That’s it. Just big tree bones made into furniture. Like the Ontario Chain Saw massacre but for trees. I gotta sit on this – it looks like the king of the forest would sit here.

Another straight up great breakfast. Everyone loves the food. We talk about the TGON Record Launch coming up. I swear it’s going to be unlike any other Record Launch you’ve seen. And I know that now some people reading this know that when I say you’ve never seen anything like it – you better fucking believe it.

The older lady who runs the place knows everyone who comes in there except one guy who looks a little cranked up. He’s looking for a cigarette. Jon gives him one.

The guy’s a booker in Toronto and we exchange info so he can check us out cuz he’s wanting to bring in some heavy music – Hey, maybe that story about Loverboy and April Wine etc wasn’t too far off the mark. This place seems to attract us. Hmm, and I do need a speaker cable.

We hop back in the Banyion and hit the road. We don’t stop. Just for gas once and a wild piss now and then. Coffee sometimes. And then their was that tree that looked like an old man – had to check that out. Oh! And then we saw a big pile of rocks. That had to be looked at… Okay, we’re distracted really easily. But to tell the truth we whipped the Banyion on until she was frothing.

After a while the thoughts that pass through our minds become as blurry as the rush of trees, rocks, steams and rivers outside. Sometimes one thought takes shape and makes it into words. If they’re important enough we’ll say them out loud. We’re all pretty quiet tho.

So we drive and drive and drive
Looking for a place to die
When we had the whole thing held in place
I knew that it would break and break and break
So before the whole thing falls apart.
Before the never ending rain
Falls on us like memories
Makes me call your name
We’ll drive and drive and drive
And pretend that it’s all right.
No bloody ugly fucked up mess
Broken teeth, swollen lips
No damage in the head
No Heart completely dead.

It’s all blurry as I write this.

We get into Thunder Bay late. About 8:30. Usually we’d be loaded in and sound checking. Hope it’s all okay – but we lost an hour thanks to CP Rail and we lost another because of construction delays.

We find the address of the club. It’s called The Black Pirates. When we get there it doesn’t look good. We jump out and try all the doors. IT’S ALL LOCKED UP! WHAT THE FUCKING HELL!!!!??? I yell for a cell phone – “I’ll kill the bast…”

A vagrant (who incidentally looks exactly like a Pirate! Scarf on his head – big hoop earrings – beard. The only things he’s missing was a patch on his eye and a bird on his shoulder) comes up and says “If you’re looking for the club it’s around the corner”. We peek around the corner. Whew! Thar she blows! And there’s people there!

I give Bummy the Pirate 2 bucks for pointing us in the right direction. I also say – “It’s cool that your pointing out The Black Pirate and you totally look like a pirate yourself”. He didn’t understand. He didn’t think he looked like a pirate at all. Oh, well then, thanks for pointing out the club.

We walk up and are greeted like long lost friends. Wow! This place is awesome!

Onur – the owner – yes, that’s his name AND his title (we find out later it’s Turkish), is a big, cool mutha fucking rock dude who paid his dues playing in live bands and touring. So he knows the score. He started his club in May and already it’s THE place to Rock in T-Bay. He’s got a great sound system run by Shawn – the best sound guy in town. If you’re a serious act – this is the place to play. You’re welcomed like you’re meant to be there and this alone is worth making the trip.

Franz – the guy who booked us into the club is a music lover who treats us with professionalism and genuine respect. We will definitely be calling him to book us shows in the area. Great guy and thanks again for booking us, man.

So that same night Bad Religion is playing somewhere else. They’re expecting 1500 but not quite 500 show (we’re told) but we’re told the club will wait until that’s over so the spill off will come to The Black Pirates. That’s cool. We have about 3 hours to go check in to the hotel and eat.

We’re starting to get the idea that Thundarian Bayers are really great people.

We go to the Travel Lodge by the airport. It’s clean and because we’re moving out to Sault Saint Marie the next day we don’t care if it has a pool. I think it does. We take our stuff in and I have to move the Banyion. I put the key in and…

Thump! That’s the sound of my head banging on the steering wheel. Awww Christ! And by Christ I’m referring to Teddy Christ who with his business partner B.J. Allah have a garage in Montreal where they said they could fix this.

Awww fuck. Why now?? Why not, right? I try and try. I go to the battery and jiggle wires that do something that only Hot Holly the Mechanic would know about. I go back in the cab and whisper a little prayer to you baby.

Yes! It starts! That’s the power of pussy! I mean prayer.

I drive it to park and shut her down. I start it again and no problem. I’m gonna have to do something about this sooner or later. This isn’t ambivalence, this is laziness.

I’m feeling pretty deflated at the moment. So when I go into the room and the guys are there I tell them that I feel alone in this. They point out the fact that they didn’t know that the Banyion wasn’t starting because they had left already. I explained that I didn’t want them to do anything but be aware that I was feeling this.

Zasta quickly picked up what I was talking about. He’s a very intuitive person to begin with and we’ve been talking about these kinds of things for years now so he zeroed in on it. “Well, you’re right, we can only say collectively that – that sucks.” We all laugh and that’s all I needed. Just the band on my side.

But Zasta did more than just solidify our situation together. He started this Ultra-energy kind of vibe going. And when TGON is like this, time and space becomes our bitch.

Time to eat. We go to Montana’s – the same one we went to on the way through last time. This time it’s at night. It’s all you can eat wings for 5 bucks or something and the place is packed – but it’s packed with all these hot little cheerleader girls. Everywhere we turn we just chat up anyone walking by. It’s sort of like sharks with too much food in the water. You stop eating and just swim around looking.

We have exactly 25 minutes to eat. It’s going to be a thirty min wait. Awww fuck it! Ha! What a jip! We go to Kelsey’s down the street. It’s quiet. Too quiet. We’re loud tho.

There we meet Jessica – she tells us that The Black Pirates is a great little bar. She goes there often. Nice – Onur has only been open since May and already people are up talking about it. Sweet. We give Jessica two stickers. Too bad she doesn’t finish until late.

We get lost four times in the pitch dark of the streets. But we finally get down to The Black Pirates.

People are there. Nice. We set up the merch. Alex and me play a game of pool. The first band Legoman Haircut goes up. They do their thing and people like them.

The next band go up and start their American Stoner Heavy Rock. The drummer from that band, Jim Laukka gives us a CD from his other band Faceless Hulk. Choice track on that one…”you’d have to be a cow to stomach my load.” Hilarious.

Me and Alex go out to the Banyion that we hitched in the front of the club. Jon’s there smoking.

Two guys from the first band, Legoman Haircut, Kyle and Lion-Oh! Start to talk to us about the plan for their band. We talk about the road, selling a lifestyle and recording. Lion-oh – a really tall guy with a black beard talks like he’s venting in therapy. He tells me about wrestling with the 5 knobs on a plug-in EQ – clearly 4 knobs too many. He believes they were invented just to diminish his self worth. I’m dying. He’s hilarious. Should be a stand up. The only knobs he’d be working with there would be the hecklers.

We go in and after a few songs it’s time to play. So we do.

Awesome reaction to the tension Alex and I cultivate in the first part of the show. When we resolve the tension through violence in Lobotomatronic and the song ends we shake hands TGON style and smile. The audience actually, collectively went “Awwwwww!” and I hear about four people say “Their friends again!” I love Thundarian Bayers! Same species – different planet.

We finish. What a fantastic group we played to. Some came up to me speechless with just “thank you”s. They couldn’t believe we did what we did. All of them were blown away. Zasta was overwhelmed by the recognition of his talent by T-Bay. The fact he can play what he plays and can sing at the same time – AND perform (because that’s different from playing, right kids?) just knocked them all out. And rightly so! He’s Zasta.

While packing up, me and Shawn the sound guy talk shop. Studios, mic pres, comps, mics and technique. Great guy and a top notch sound man.

It was nice to do this gig. Our confidence in the booking agent was at an all time low so we needed this. Good job on this one.

Someone from the second band comes up to me and says that their are lots of sections in our music. That it’s very loud and heavy. He says, “Yeah, I get that you guys perform and put on a crazy show. You know, you got all that stuff down.” Ummm. Okay. But what’s your point? He continues and I’m not sure if he’s criticizing us or giving me a play by play of what we just did. He then says “You should groove it out more. Like my band. Cut down the number of sections. You know, like, I don’t even know what to call what you guys do. It’s all… I don’t know…It’s abstract. Yeah, it’s like abstract you know?” Ha! Like art, fucker? Are you telling me that it’s abstract like art. Like those moments in life that are too good to describe? Ha! I’m smiling at him when I say, “Well, maybe your music needs more sections in it?” He shakes his head “No, my music isn’t like that. It wouldn’t work.” Of course he totally missed my ironic point. Why would I do what he’s doing when he’s doing it? Why would anyone want to do what I’m doing when I do it better than anyone else because it’s mine? Still, he’s a really nice guy – and he has a solid “groove” band that won’t surprise you with anything you haven’t heard before… He’s just out of his depth. Here there be monsters.

Onur invites us for a drink and tells us his road stories – about the sub zero stall on Hwy 11 (yeah the one we accidentally took an hour out of our way on the way to Vancouver). We drink and laugh. Life on the road: Our friends for tonight, our regular bar for the night, our home until morning.

We say good-bye to everyone with promises from both sides of rocking shows and parties down the line.

We go back to the hotel. Alex goes to sleep in the Banyion. Everyone feels they’ve done a great job tonight. Me too. You can feel the great, fat, satisfied energy of it.

Why is it when you’re up in the stars that it’s the only time you can see how much garbage you covered your earth with? Do you understand what I’m trying to say here? Someone told me I’m going to wind up alone. I don’t believe she was telling me the truth but at the time she meant it. How far along do I have to go before I “wind up…” anything at all.

I’m alone and I close my eyes.

The Gods of Now On Tour – Day 22

I open my eyes. It’s 8 am.

The phone rings. My two little girls saw a show about bending spoons with your mind. 14 bent spoons later… “Did you do that with your minds?” They said “Sort of.” Gotta give it to them for the effort.

I fall asleep after I put the phone down. I open my eyes at 11am! I never sleep that late. Someone connected to me must have gotten up at 9 then, because life is balance. It works that way.

I shower and Zasta calls from the Zoo. Big after show party. Rock and roll and no sleep ‘till Brockville or Steinbach or whatever the hell town in Manitoba. Gonna meet them over for breakfast.

Caroline and Kristina want to go too, Caroline told me, so I call. Such energy in the morning! “I’ll be there in 15 minutes.” I say.

I pat the Banyion on the nose as I walk by. She’s been acting up. Needs some attention. I fire up the beast and away I go. Whooo-hooo!

The last place I lived in Winnipeg before I moved was right behind Caroline’s apartment downtown. All I remember about the place was recording a killer drum sound in a utility closet and the endless number of fire alarms in the middle of the night.

There’s Caroline sitting on the step. I pick her up. What a little rock star with her big sunglasses on! We go over two streets to pick up Kristina. We drive over the bridge and we’re in The Osborne Village.

It’s the “colorful” street in Winnipeg. It’s fun there all right. And that’s probably, mostly due to the Osborne Motor Inn that is plunked down at the end of the street. It’s known, as I said a while ago – as the Zoo. This is the Foufounes Electriques of the West. It’ll smack your ass and call you a sissy if you go there expecting anything other than REAL. It’s dirty, it’s rock, it’s sexy and seedy. But we love it.

I place the Banyion in the front drive of the Zoo and we all meet up and go to Stella’s. Alex wants to work out – like usual but he’ll always opt for some food if it’s available. Once again – the best breakfast place in Winnipeg. Their food is all free range and fresh. It’s not any more expensive than anywhere else you could go for a large portion, tasty and healthy breakfast. Ham omelet, eggs, yogurt and granola, fruit cup. All straight up breakfast tuck. Excellent. I notice that Tammy puts Ketchup on everything. My dad used to do that, so does Alex. I’ve always found this a strange but endearing habit.

Tom (Do it Now!) suddenly comes in. He grabs a root beer and an orange juice. I didn’t ask him if it was good. He seemed to like it though. Yeesh.

Now we need to do some laundry. So we go to a nearby Laundromat. Everyone comes along. It’s funny to watch as these girls sit outside and TGON is in the Mat doing their laundry.

But there we are. A happy, dysfunctional, sexy group of friends. Connections looking for anything to hold onto. Searching for meaning. No shadows in the bright sunshine. Some times it looks like diamonds reflected in our eyes.

Tom is using Kung-fu to kick wasps away and pick up girls walking by. He doesn’t score a hit on either.

A little walk to the Forks with Caroline – I’ve never seen it. I moved before it was there. Very pretty but like usual time is pulling me by the scruff of the neck.

Banyion loaded up and ready to go. And it’s “see you later”. A silent wave of a hand, a sad but lovely smile and then the sound of that stupid thing that makes life unfair. See you later.

We seem to have lost the small set of keys to the Banyion. Zasta figures that he must have left them in the room at the Zoo. S’ok. I’m sure we’ll find them. Besides Tom has parked his truck in front of the Zoo so he’ll grab a ride back. In two minutes were back there.

Holly is at the front desk looking so adorable.

We go up and look for the key. Nothing. We come back down and I say my last good bye to Holly. I hope she finds someone who recognizes who she is. She’s something.

Outside Tom opens the door to his truck and puts the key in the ignition. He then gets out to tell us that he’s going to call his brother to borrow his car and come to Kenora with us for our show tonight. He closes the door to his truck and immediately falls to his knees. His arms outstretched to the heavens and a wordless scream emanates from him. Actually he just yelled “Fuck! I locked the keys in my truck! Fuck!” Alex and I are in hysterics.

The next thing I know I see him using a coat hanger to try and unlock it. It’s not working at all until…

Jon Fact #4
Jon can open any locked automobile in less than 14 seconds.

So Tom gets his keys. We pile in the Banyion and follow Tom until he turns off. We keep going. We have a show in Kenora.

We buy Pringles select and coffee and don’t stop until we get there. We’re warned from The Record Company back home that this gig may not pan out because our booking guy can’t get in touch with the guy he booked it with. And then, to make matters worse, instead of trying to figure it out himself, he gave the job to our Record Company to fix. So, AMP (our life line to reality) called to fix the mess. Unfortunately the guy who was putting on the show in Kenora wasn’t there (so said his dad) but who can blame him – hockey comes first – ESPECIALLY FOR A 14 YEAR OLD BOY!

Sigh. We all sigh.

So, not surprisingly, when we get there the place is all locked up tight and dark.

We drive to the hotel. Then it’s to Boston Pizza. We look at each other and eat our salty food. Can’t complain though. It’s the only thing open.

We go back to the Hotel. Alex goes to sleep in the Banyion. He says it’s the best sleep ever. I understand. I slept in the back of my other Rock Van for years. All great sleeps.

I lay with my eyes open for a moment. I think of what is in front of me. I think of what is behind me. What I want and what I need. I think of you…

I close my eyes.

Sigh.

The Gods of Now On Tour – Day 21

Nope, not dead. Still alive. Should I be happy about this? Hey, just being dramatic.

I get up and go to the spa. Dip in the pool and sit in the steam room – the schfitz – like they call it in the movies. Ohhhhhhh, nice!

Zasta calls and says they’re going for breakfast. Sleep came late but the boys got a few hours. Those days of cheap hotel rooms – the Maximum Rock ‘n Roll are gone for me. My cheap hotel room is in my head. My bourbon soaked spirit can attest to it. But I totally understand why they want to sleep over there – it’s dangerous. It’s alive.

So I have to go and do a few things. My Fender guitar is acting up so I have to find a music store (I know where their’s one near Corydon). I need electronic contact cleaner too. Canadian Tire? Radio Shack? Do they still have that here in Winnipeg? Or is it the Source now?

I go over the bridge listening to Broken, our record – god, it’s so good. And I remember each note being composed, performed, recorded. All of it. And over there I see the path that me and Erin used to walk down when we got off school. I had such a crush on her. She never knew it – It was a secret. I don’t have those now. Nothing that’s mine.

I turn left on Corydon. I remember my old friend Mike used to live right there. And my close friend Bruce (R.I.P.) used to live right over there. We used to go walking down to Polo Park. We used to walk to Keith’s house. We used to listen to all his fantastic LP’s. Read every word written on the gatefold jackets. Fume because his record player didn’t turn backwards. I think it did but Vic, Keith’s dad, just didn’t want us fucking with his turntable. I remember Vic walking into the room and looking at all of us with our mouths wide open listening to some new band or new record from an old band and saying “Kids these days know two words – wow and fuck.”. If you haven’t noticed. I still use them because they are really great words. Wow! Fuck!

And there – Hey I actually know that guy! Wait a minute! It’s Tom (Get out! Get out now!)!!! There are the guys! I bump into them on Corydon – by accident! Wow! What are the fucking chances of that. Fuck! They still haven’t eaten so they’re going for food. I have to accomplish these missions I’m on so I say I’ll meet ‘em all back at the G Hotel. And I drive off.

I’m driving along and I see the Spa/salon that Caroline works at. I’ll drop in. Ha! I didn’t call her first! So I walk in and the whole place turns to look at me. I love the attention. The distraction I am. They say she’s with a client. I just want to say hi and make sure she’s coming to the show tonight. I wait. Finally she sends someone out saying that she’s still got half an hour with the client. No prob, I just peek in the back and wave. She tells me she’ll be there tonight. Cool. I am pretty sure I was totally disruptive to the establishment. Ha! I love that punk side of me!

I hop back into the Banyion and make my way over to the music store. It’s customer appreciation day. They have a band set up – BBQ hamburgers and extra staff on. I ask if someone can help me with my guitar. I’m playing tonight at the Zoo and it’s giving me some problems. Ironically no one can help me! I fucking love irony! Customer appreciation day and they don’t help me. It’s so fucking hilarious.

I go back to the G Hotel – Just in case the boys are back there already. They aren’t yet so I go for dinner alone at Grapes again. Alone, alone, alone. What a state to be in. Today, I like it. Beaucoup, beaucoup.

The hostess – always a hot girl – you know it. She asks where I’d like to sit. I shrug. She says that Bree is bored in the lounge so I’ll give her something to do – that came out wrong but I wasn’t in the mood to tell her that. She seats me at the same table I was at last night. I face the bar and the whole lounge.

There’s Bree. She is a kick ass platinum blond – she looks like a porn star crossed with a debutante. I order. She’s nice but self conscious. This I don’t understand. She’s wearing almost nothing and is clearly the bright light in the room. Why the looking at the ground and self-conscious walk? You wonder these things when you’re alone. You also wish things like “I wanna be her chair with a tongue” or “I’d drink her bath water”. I eat the same meal I had yesterday. Greek salad and a hunk of salmon. It’s good.

I go back to the Hotel. The boys are back. I go for a swim with Tom and Zasta. Back into the steam room. It is Hot! Like walking into a wall of burn. Hot and cold. Alive and dead. It’s time to move out to the Zoo.

We arrive. Right off the bat we meet Steve from Dreadnaut – great guy from Thompson MB. We talk a bit – other lives and tragedy. Straight up nice guy – nicer for letting us play with him. I thank him.

We’re on first so we set our gear. We do this on auto-pilot. We’re ready to go.

I set down the merch. We’re running out. Especially the purple shirts (ha!) and the women’s hot shorts. I sit down with a water that Randi-Lee (one of the hot Zoo bar girls) gives me.

And there they are. Angie and Kristi show up. And they’re as sexy as ever. They’re helping us with the merch. When we come back we’re taking them out to dinner.

Caroline shows up (she a breath of fresh air). Just someone familiar. Kristina her friend too. Then Juice and Tara.

A moment for me? No. I suppose not. That would be asking too much of this life – any of the lives I’ve lived with Josephine, Juliette, Melisande or any of the rest that have left scars on my psyche. This should be no different.

The place is filling up and we’re on. Full circle from where we started, remember? So much has changed. And I have learned nothing. Absolutely nothing. Just changed. How can that be?

I look at Caroline who wonders why I’m not on stage. I say, watch. And I point to the stage just as Zasta once again aligns the time line of our lives. Now seconds beat at 200 bpm. Time is ours. Alex pulls the spine of the earth and she moves because of it. Jon fills the air with electricity. Lightning of sound.

And I walk out and straight to the front of the audience. I open my arms wide. All of them are mine. Whether they like it or not.

I walk to Alex. He hates me as much as I hate him. He hates to even look at me. I don’t care why. But I hate him back. With everything I am. I’ll deal with it in exactly three songs…

I walk over to Jon. He’s intense, grinning. I can’t help but grin back. Tonight is something different – we’re all different. We all have learned nothing.

I pick up my Kate and hold her. She’s with me 100% of the way. She’s an angel. She’s a devil. And she loves it when I make her scream.

I walk over to Zasta. He’s too busy controlling time and changing lives to bother with me. Wait a minute. No he’s not. He snaps his eyes up and sees me waiting to be pushed too far. It only takes a moment. Four cut time pulses in our lives. Our lives that will never be the same again…

One: Like I’ve said, it helps when the friends you have are talented muthafuckers. Two: But this is beyond that. Three: This is to the very core of what drives us. Four: This is the hand of fate clenching into a fist and…

The show is over.

From now on if you want to know what we’re like live… Come and see us. I can’t explain it – and I’m pretty damn good at explaining things, don’t you think? It is sight, sound and performance. It is love, hate and pleasure. It is shaking our fists at God and at ourselves. It’s who we are and who we’re becoming. It’s absolutely Now. And it is everything.

Alex and I don’t hate each other anymore – we’re perfectly fine. Zasta is quiet. Balanced once again. Jon is comfortable. We have learned absolutely nothing.

We pull off our gear in record time. And we tetris up the Banyion. And who should appear beside me but Hollie the girl we played to acoustically in our rooms the last time we were here. But she isn’t looking like any housekeeping staff girl I’ve ever seen. Holy fuck! This girl is a knock out! She tells me that she could smell me for a week after I gave her the two cheek Quebecois kisses. I give her a big hug. I’m from Montreal.

Caroline is with me. She tells me that from the first scream she was done. She loved it. That made me so happy to hear. Fuck conditional happiness. It was so fucking great to hear that someone that I wanted to get it, got it. Wow! Fuck!

And now I’m tired. I go and tell Zasta that I’ve had it. I’m going back to the Hotel. I leave.

I’m in a fantasy.

I’m in the moment once again. Can I have nothing to myself at all? What belongs to me? I’m stretched so thin. But I think I can reach you. Over time and distance – you are there and I am here. My moments alone are moments with you. And I’m keeping them. They’re mine. I’m a private guy. I told you this. You’re mine. And that’s that.

I fall asleep. Dreaming about being anyone but me.