Our next stop was in Spruce Grove where we were playing Horizon Stage for not one, not two, but THREE shows. We had a Friday night, a Saturday afternoon, and a Saturday night show. Yah, we’re pretty big in The Grove.

We’d played Horizon Stage many times before, but this was by far the most recent. Here is a picture of the place to help your visualizations:

Fortunately, this shot was not taken during one of the shows. During the show the seats were full of people (and perhaps a couple of animals).  All the concerts went super-great, although our shouts of “You want to party all afternoon, don’t ya!” at the early show fell a little flat.

As always, we were treated well, with a lovely basket of fruit awaiting us backstage:

Look it has three different kinds of apples! (Can you guess them all?)
At the end of the last show we were pretty darn tired. After all, we usually only work an hour or two a month! Fortunately at the end of our little meet and greet after the last show we were given a box of homemade worm cookies.

We gobbled them up, only later did we realize that this might have been a cannibalistic act.

And now…. Winnipeg!

We were very much looking forward to our first show ever in Airdrie. We had driven through many times (and had even stopped for coffee once or twice) but this was our first time actually performing there. We were playing at the Bert Church Theatre which, surprisingly enough, wasn’t in a church.  We didn’t meet anyone called Bert, either. The theatre was actually part of a school. And our dressing room was the cosmetology class.

It was fabulous!

We dropped off our stuff, did the soundcheck, and then had dinner at Peppercorns which sponsors the shows at the theatre. The food was delightful and plentiful.

Trevor had the ravioli. After dinner we waddled back to the theatre where we performed to a sold out audience!  At intermission, Trevor took some time to touch up his hair.

There was an awkward moment after the rinse when he wasn’t sure whether or not to tip himself.

The first day of our western tour was in Daysland, Alberta. “Where is Daysland?”  Well, it’s right here:

Yup, between Bawlf and Strome on highway 13, of course!

We were playing at the community centre. Here is a picture showing you exactly what it looked like:

Of course, this was taken right after soundcheck. By the time we went on the place was packed! And it was hot! So hot that the door had to be left open. And, at one point, Mike had to go to the door and kick out a little mouse that was trying to get in. Sorry, but you have to have a ticket!

The show was a whole lot of fun, especially since we made sure to say Bawlf as often as we could. And wouldn’t you know it? The mayor of Bawlf just happened to be there and gave Mike a little pin with Bawlf written on it. Now Bawlf will always be close to Mike’s heart.

After the show we went to sleep. That was fun! And after that we woke up. And then do you know what we did? We drove to our next show–which was all of two blocks away. Yes, a second show in Daysland!  Not even U2 has managed to do this! This time we were playing at the theatre. Here is a picture of Mike and Chris entering it:

What a magical moment! But there was more magic to come, as this was a special morning show for the local students who were bussed in from near and far. Some came as far away as Bawlf!  Sure, 10:30 in the morning’s a little early to be performing, but it was worth it to help the kids become more better edubecated. And there was popcorn.

The show was a great success, with Chris’ dance moves being particularly appreciated. Then the buses came and whisked them all away. And we, once again, pushed on. This time towards Airdrie.

We were very excited to begin our tour of the Maritimes. The first show was in Saint John and the last show was in Saint John. There was only one show. We decided not to make a tour T-shirt.

We were playing at the lovely Imperial Theatre. Here’s a picture to prove it.

See, they even put us on the marquee.

We had played the theatre before, the last time being six or seven or eight or nine or some other numbers of years ago. The Imperial Theatre is an historic theatre which had only grown more historic with the passage of time since our last performance there. How can you tell it’s historical? Well, it has a plaque:

You can’t argue with that.

The staff was very nice and the backstage food trays were superb:

The wine glasses for the toasted nuts was a delightful touch.  None of us had any of the dip, so if you’re passing by you’re welcome to it.

We played to a sizable audience (in numbers, the individual crowd members were of average mass) and had a thoroughly enjoyable time. We were sad to see the tour end. But it was also nice to get back home after so long away.

We flew back to Ontario and landed in Toronto where we had a night off. Did we party? Of course not. We just slept.

Then next day, we headed off to Stouffville, which is a little north-east of Toronto. We got in the rental car and drove as fast as we could!

Sometimes we were going as fast as 15km an hour! Man, there’s a lot of people in Toronto. Slowly, ever so slowly, we inched our way towards our destination. As we got out of the city, traffic finally picked up–which was obviously too much for some people to handle.

“Is this where we park?”

We finally made it to the theatre and gave the show of our lives! Or, at least the show of our day. There were even fans who came all the way from Sarnia (which rhymes with Narnia for obvious reasons) who sat up front and had their own choreography for almost all of our songs.

The End (of the tour)

We woke up bright eyed and bushy-tailed at 5am so we could catch the ferry to the mainland. Excited to be up so early and grateful to see a part of the day few seldom witness we drove to the ferry dock singing jolly, happy tunes and smiling vigorously.

Once again we waited at the ferry dock. Only this time in the dark!

What fun!

Then it was on to the ferry, off to the airport, returning the rental car, checking in, going through security, waiting for the plane, boarding the plane, sitting on the plane–and finally!–getting off the plane. Touring is exciting! Here is Chris excitedly waiting for his luggage.

We got a new rental car (with a bigger trunk!) and drove off to Camrose. I bet you’re wondering what that looked like. Well, turn off your imagination because here’s a picture:

Notice something different from BC? Snow! Lots and lots of snow. In Alberta they still think it’s winter. Silly Alberta.

After our thrilling day of travel we finally did our show at the Augustana Campus of the U of Alberta. It went swell, and we made jokes about talking books, the winter Olympics, and all sorts of other funny stuff. Because we were in a centre of higher learning Trevor even mentioned Plato in a joke (that wasn’t all that funny as it turned out.)

Tomorrow is a day off, and then we end our western tour in Stouffville, Ontario… which is actually pretty far to the east.

After the great success of Maple Ridge it was once again time to wait for the ferry. And wait we did! We waited like no one has ever waited before!

Then, next thing you know, we were on the ferry making our way to the Sunshine Coast. Here is a picture of Trevor on the ferry with the hideous BC landscape behind him.

Man, who’d want to live there. Especially because it’s February and green and sunny and nice. Real Canadians are freezing, covered in snow, and cursing while they shovel. It is unthinkable why anyone would ever give that up.

We got off the ferry, went to the motel and checked in. Here is the sign in case you would like to stay there yourself.

Yes, one day we’ll have to upgrade from this cellphone camera…

We went to the Raven’s Cry theatre where we were greeted, once again, by Matt Laundrie of High Tide Entertainment. He was in a more subdued mood than before as you can tell by his shirt.

The show was delightful and the audience was well-behaved for a change. The highlight occurred at the encore when some children requested the “Pressure Washer” song—because all children love pressure washers. As soon as the song started they got up and danced, other children joined them, and soon there was the most adorable mosh pit you ever saw at the front of the stage. And, yes, Pressure Washer will be on the next mini-pops album.

After the show we signed cds and met the cute children who requested the song.

Tomorrow we conquer another province as we go to Camrose, Alberta.

We left Campbell River and made our way to Maple Ridge. After a close vote we decided to take the ferry instead of attempting to jump over the water separating Vancouver Island from the mainland.  Of course, the best thing about ferries is waiting to get on them.  Here is Chris doing just that.

Once the waiting was over, we boarded the ferry, disembarked on the mainland, and drove all the way to Maple Ridge where we were staying at the lovely Penelope B&B.

Before the show we were lucky enough to have dinner with our good friend Tim Readman.  Here is Chris talking to him.

Actually, Chris is shoving food in his mouth. But there was much conversation.

Then it was time for the show! And this show was all Mike… at least as far as the audience was concerned. They shouted out things like “Mike!” and “Hey, Mike!” and “Mike! Mike! Mike!” Then one guy shouted, “I want your babies, Mike!”which, it must be said, was a rather awkward moment.

After the show we went out to sign cd’s, but little did we know that to get there we would have to go through the corridor of doom that led from backstage.

Ooooohhh!

What will tomorrow bring? Another ferry ride and a show in Sechelt on the sunshine coast.

We drove up the coast to Campbell River. We had played there before… but we couldn’t remember when. We pulled into the hotel and checked in. It’s then we noticed it: the captain’s wheel! The hotel was on the waterfront and, apparently, in emergencies it has the ability to sail. Chris quickly took the wheel in his hands.

“Aye, Aye, Captain Chris!”

Unfortunately, the wheel did nothing. And besides, all Chris could see out the window was a parking lot.

We went to the theatre for the big show. Fortunately it was easy to find as it is painted a noticeable colour.

Yup, you can’t miss that.

We went backstage to get ready. There was a piano there, and Mike began to play.

The music was deep and haunting… much like the look on his face.

Soon it was showtime! It was a good-sized crowd (and by that we mean there were a lot of people, not that they were big people) and, as with all our B.C. shows, they were very interested in talking–not as much as in Duncan, mind you.  One thing we learned from them was that Campbell River is where they first invented cows… or something like that… it didn’t make sense then and it still doesn’t now.

We have discovered much on our tour so far, and hope to discover even more tomorrow when we perform in Maple Ridge.

After getting our beauty sleep, it was time to move on. Unfortunately, once we added our baggage to the overly optomistic amount of merch we’d just got, it was hard to see how it would all fit in the car. At times like this, Chris and Trevor step back and let Mike do what he does best: make stuff fit.

If trunk-stuffing was an Olympic sport (which it should be) Mike would get a gold. Own the Podium, Mike! I Believe!

The previous night, a nice young man with a mohawk haircut asked us to sign his head. He also invited us to have FREE FOOD at his parents’ restaurant that was on the way to Duncan. Not wanting to be rude (and always hungry) we pulled up to the Village Chippery in Shawnigan and proceeded to stuff ourselves with light, nutritious food.

“Yum, Yum!” says Trevor.

“I am certainly enjoying this delicious meal!” says Mike.

With stomachs working overtime we returned to the car and drove on to Duncan. We were very excited because the theatre we were playing at was part of the complex that has the world’s largest hockey stick on it! Just look at it!

Okay, so it looks small in the picture, but if you were right there you’d see that it’s super-big!

How did the show go? We’re glad you asked. The people of Duncan were very communicative, often asking us questions before, after, and during songs. At times it felt a bit like an Oprah show (or maybe Jerry Springer). We aswered all the questions we could and forwarded the rest to our lawyer.

What’s up next?  Campbell River!