July 25th, 2006 - Vancouver, BC p2
Tuesday night in Vancouver was doomed. We have had some trouble with the Big City gigs. Places like Montreal and Vancouver won’t even answer the phone, let alone listen to our CD. For the first time in three tours, we had an official Vancouver gig.
We pulled into town Monday night to find out the gig had been cancelled. Jojo made a few phonecalls and had us a new gig within an hour. The promoter of the cancelled gig phoned another promoter who felt our plea. We had driven 5000 km to play in Vancouver, damn-it!
We played at the famous Picadilly, right in the heart of junkie-land. Loading in, you could see hypodermic heroin needles in the back alley. The streets were laced with soulless faces begging for their next fix.
Mim, Andrew and Kate at the Picadilly.
Clyde and Keith were our promoters for the evening. They were holding the last of an 8-week battle of the acoustic bands. We were to entertain during the intermissions, as the judges tallied their scores.
With a $10 door price in a shady neighborhood, we had no idea that the place would be wall-to-wall packed with young music fans.
We were given short stints to play, sometimes just one song at a time. Our longest set was 4 songs, 20-minutes. The audience was warm and receptive. We were well rested and ready to rock. Jojo rocked the hardest, having his little sister and brother in the audience.
The night was so satisfying. Finally, we’d been exposed to Vancouver.
Driving home down Hastings St. East was humbling. The junkies litter the stairwells of the storefronts, smiling and shaking.