Well last friday the outfit played the last of 21 shows opening for Blue Rodeo. The tour was an incredible success. There are so many more copies of our record out in eastern Canada than I ever hoped or expected to distribute throughout the tour. The fans of Blue Rodeo welcomed us with open arms night after night by getting to their seats at 7:30 eager to find out what band they brought out with them this time around. It’s a prestigious stage to perform on and I could feel the lingering presence of it’s antecedents; Matt Mays, Kathleen Edwards, The Sadies, Ron Sexmith, Justin Rutledge… What an honor!

There were so many moments that I will never forget. Far too many to mention, but I will indulge in a few of the lighter moments from the last show in Cornwall Ontario. Kendel and I took to the stage to play a song from my first record called “Blackie” only to find the cord for her fiddle fastened to her mic stand with heavy duty tape. Of course I found this hilarious until I reached for my harmonica holder and the harmonica had been elegantly wrapped with the very same tape. As we struggled to get ourselves sorted out in front of 1000 or so people in the audience we couldn’t help but notice just about every crew member side stage bent over splitting their guts. We got through that song and then I brought the rest of the band out to the stage. Over my shoulder I could hear the sound of tape tearing and laughter. It wasn’t until after Del removed the four condoms off of the tuning pegs on his bass that he then had to unfasten the strap which had been taped to the floor. Now the crew, standing in the shadows, were really laughing hard. Especially when we started playing the first song and every time Rich hit his drums the baby powder that they covered them with began forming a little towering cumulus around him. It didn’t stop there. They patched a microphone which could only be heard on stage through the monitors so that anyone who wanted to sing “harmonies” from side stage could do so. To top it off when we finished the set and got back to our dressing room they had a smoke machine in there that had been running for the past 45 minutes!!! Derek Duke Ken Lindsay Brad Tyler Lee Trevor Mark Lorne Dean Mike Kevin Ken Scott and Jamie you’re all the best kind!

And cheers to the band for having us all up to play “Lost Together” to a standing audience 21 times in the last 2 months! What more can I say, you guys are amazing!

Thank you.