toronto

It was still mid-afternoon as we got to the border. we had all of our licenses and passports/birth certificates handy. the lady asked for how many people were in the car and then asked for all our licenses only. she looked at each one individually i guess to check if they were real and then asked what our reason was for being there and chelsea said we had a show and sightseeing. the lady gave back our licenses and told us to go on thru. easy

so we drove for a bit and ran into some traffic because of an accident and arrive in toronto late afternoon. we took a wrong exit on the free way but eventually found a way back and turned around. we found the big bop and unloaded all of our stuff. we were going second so we just left on the side of the stage.

we parked the Hanks in a parking lot and purchased the overnight pass just in case. the big bop had a nice stage and a lot of floor space with a full sound booth and a bar. it was a bit difficult to see from the outside though, and there wasn't anyone there yet. we had been told that the local band wasn't showing up so we had been bumped up to 1st with a metal band from Maryland playing after us.

so we got our stuff on the stage and did a soundcheck which was pretty decent. then we split up, a few went to find wine and the rest of us went across the street to eat pizza. cheap expensive pizza.

we saw on the way back that the big bop was charging 10bucks for entry to the show and we realized that no one was going to pay that much to see 2 touring bands that they've never heard of. so we played the show to the other band and the bartender, soundguy, and bouncer. that's it. lots of fun and it sounded pretty decent.

the other band was supportive and we had talked to them about their difficulties getting across the border. they drove in a camper and had all their equipment in a trailer. they said that with four of them sometimes that got on their nerves. i found that kind of appalling.

but they said that they were delayed four half of the day at customs and barely made it across in time for the show. and what a great show it was.

we also got to talk to jake the soundguy for a while about all the crazy gigs he'd done in brazil and around the world. we gave him a cd for free because he said he'd play it in the club between bands.

we loaded our stuff out and took it back to the parking spot then we had a band meeting trying to decide where we were going for the night. Beans wanted to stay and get drunk in toronto because it was the first time he was allowed to legally go into a bar and enjoy a drink or two.

so we stayed and walked down the street to a bar and got some pitchers. beans and ryan dueled at guitar hero a few times. curly and i made our way back to the van first where jake and chelsea were sleeping in the back seat. i didn't even feel like cramping in the van and was still sore from that small couch from the night before so i decided that since i hadn't slept in a parking lot yet this would probably be the best time to do it. i knew i would have been disappointed if i wasn't able to say that i slept in a parking lot while on tour. I set up one of the cots grabbed my pillow and borrowed curly's sleeping bag for the night.

i woke up hot cause the sun was beating down on me. there were people in suits running off to work that really didn't even pay much attention to me. curly and i walked to get some breakfast and it was delicious.

then we decided to go to montreal and skip over ottawa because there was no show and Jill was already waiting to meet us.