Critical mass. We hit some

February 23, 2002

Critical mass. We hit some sort of stride in Calgary and I had one of those shows you hope to have when you really need to have one of those shows. The Back Alley is a real "rock bar" and I didn't have great expectations what with the oncoming technical confusion created by a four band bill. It wasn't a problem in the end. Received some very supportive comments from the other bands. They were all pretty vital and fresh musical combos... if I were to pass a general compliment back. The coupling of the in-ear monitors and the gigantic bass bins under the stage finally worked to our advantage as our monitor mixes became surprisingly inspiring. Thanks to Andrew White for setting up so many things for this little run and for hosting us in Edmonton. Cheers to Jenn Jenkinson for seeing a record number of shows...sorry I missed you afterward. Set list:

Giddy Up
Slow Motion
Take A Hit Off This
Satisfied
Write It In Lightning
Old Mistakes
Famous Grave
Make You Mad
After Walking In Space
Someone Who's Cool
Son's & Daughters

The highway was closed due to avalanches so we had to hole up in Golden B.C. for a couple of hours. managed to catch the last period of the Canada vs Belarus game at a local roadhouse. The highway opened just in time for us to miss the US vs Russia excitement. Damn. I figure sunday's game will be a bit exciting.
Had some fortunate radio reception on the drive home and managed to pick up a ton of strong signals from various open-line shows ranging as far south as Oregon. Wow! There sure is a lot to yell about in this world. Those open line hosts have a way of blowing a gasket about just about anything. Their incendiary tone is so carefully tailored to incite a riot of support from those people who just happen to have enough time to wait in line and gripe about people not taking a hard enough line about "topic A". It all boils down to sucking it up and taking the bastards to task. Every conversation immediately steers itself to the simple solutions: a) change the government b) fire someone c) eliminate social welfare and immigration. If the topic is the Russian plan to boycott the closing ceremonies in Salt lake it will still happen that our top three "answers" will be utilized. The "answers" might not make any sense but they somehow get around to them in the end. They will definitely start with the simple "take a hard line" approach. In the Russian example it would be, "well good riddance to the Russians." Within one call they would be talking about "the communist system" and why they should get rid of it in Russia (see answer "a" ...I know I know...the USSR has disolved...you see...that's the level of the conversation) and how its amazing that we allow these people into the country knowing they're going to defect and be a burden on the social welfare system that is already out of control (see answer "c"). The big finish would be to call for the I.O.C. to fire the board member responsible for passing the motion that allowed the Russians to compete at all (voila answer "b")! We've hit our big three "answers" within 5 minutes and the topic is Olympic diplomacy. If there is an argument in favour of these shows it lies somewhere in the idea that at least these people are at home waiting on the phone to say their piece instead of pursuing jobs as diplomats, politicians or labour relations arbitrators.