The Gods of Now On Tour – Day 22

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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.