Woke up in Golden after 4 hours sleep – but at least we were sleeping indoors. Packed up the gear from last night’s show. I hate packing up the
morning after. It reminds me of clearing away the debris in one’s bedroom after a night of passion. Without the excitement and adrenalin and immediate payoff of playing rock and roll, gear hauling is just impossibly irritating – just a lot of heavy awkward objects to wrestle with before my First Cup.
The only thing I usually do before my First Cup is get up, shuffle confusedly and resentfully into the kitchen and make coffee. Then I stand there and wait for the First Cup to dribble oh so teasingly into the pot. Then I snatch the pot off the burner, pour my First Cup, and say a thankful prayer to the coffee goddess for her elixir of life. Then I apologize to my sweetheart for all the nasty things I said before the First Cup. Sometimes, if I’ve been good, he gets up and makes the coffee and brings it to me.
No use pining for home comforts. Today I had coffee with the boys at the A&W in Golden and it was just fine. We came up with a great video concept involving Jesus, some grateful party dudes, and turning water into wine.
Today we are driving to Edmonton to open for the mighty Choke. We successfully cooked our first roadside meal. Stopped for lunch somewhere on the highway between Calgary and Edmonton. It was rainy, and windy and very chilly. Within 20 minutes,
FemCentral had constructed a hardy A-frame lean-to with a tarp and tent
poles (thanks dad…it worked great), a warm, dry and cozy environment where Mike and I made spaghetti sauce and pasta on our new camping stove. Keith and Ferdy washed the dishes. We ate in the van, with a couple of candles burning cheerily. Warm, dry, and pleasantly satiated, Grief mused ” now this is the good life…I wonder what the poor folk are doing.”
We pulled up to the Sidetrack cafe in Edmonton, loaded in, set up, and
played. The sound was great. I had fun. Ghosts of Modern Man and Choke were both very awesome and very heavy. Might have been the heaviest show we’ve been added to so far. And now I’m here at Ferdy’s friend Matt’s house…who saved us from sleeping in the van…thanks Matt… and we are readying for cast-off. Tonight we play in Saskatoon. And I’m pretty sure we’re going to have to sleep in the van.