"You Make Me Feel Like I've Gone Halfway Around the World..."

Dec 8th, 2009- Day 2

I woke up to that Toronto Tuesday morning at 10 AM with sore eyes from the dry hotel air.

Getting in gear for the day was slow going. We didn’t actually leave the hotel room until after 2. Mom and I were looking forward to avoiding the chilly weather, so we made our way down to the PATH. Right off the bat, I was met with a handicap accessible elevator...that my wheelchair could not access. My chair was too long to fit inside.

I turned around and up to the cold, windy surface we went.

We hurried over to the Eaton Centre in search of a cheap replacement prepaid cell phone. Mine had finally turned back on, but I didn’t really trust it (plus the roaming rates are outrageous). After checking 3 different cell phone stores, the cheapest phone I could find was $50, as opposed to $15 back at home. No sale.

The Eaton Centre's giant Christmas tree

My store!

Next stop? Massey Hall.

The main point of this whole trip was to see Chantal Kreviazuk at Massey Hall. As a bonus, it was the only show of Chantal’s tour that Raine Maida would be joining her.

We got out of the cold and into the historic building only to be met by another tiny wheelchair elevator, just like the one in the PATH. This time, though, we had the presence of mind to remove my leg rests, which let me fit inside.

Shortly after 3, we were inside for sound check. A few minutes later, Chantal & Raine arrived. Chantal came over and chatted with us for a little while. We mostly exchanged tales of how hectic things have been for both of us.

First up during sound check was Canadian duo Dala. I was aware of them, but had never really listened to them before. I was pleasantly surprised and really loved what I heard. I made a mental note to look into getting any CDs they have available.

Next up, Raine started his sound check.

A few songs in, the cavalry arrived. Chantal’s parents arrived with Raine & Chantal’s kids in tow, as well as Chantal’s cousin and her kids. It was a big ol’ family reunion and Mom and I were smack in the middle of it, watching and laughing as the kids took over the stage while Mommy and Daddy played their songs.

After sound check, we had about three hours until show time, so we headed back to make a quick stop at the hotel and then to find somewhere to eat.

We tried Baton Rouge, a restaurant in the Eaton Centre. Unfortunately, the doors were too narrow for my wheelchair to fit through, plus it was extremely crowded inside. So, we settled for McDonald’s in the food court.

We left the food court around 7:20 to start the walk back to Massey Hall. Just before exiting the Eaton Centre, Kathy & Sandy spotted us, so we caught up a little and walked to the venue with them.

Not long after getting to our seats, Dala took the stage to start the show. They only played a few songs, including a ukelele-centric rendition of Moon River. My personal favorite song of their set was Horses.

Raine took the stage for his set, which consisted mostly of songs from The Hunters Lullaby. He did include one new song, which I don’t know the name of, but it sounded amazing. He also slipped Innocent in, which is always great.

During the intermission between acts, I got to meet Michelle, a friend from the internet and fellow Chantal/Our Lady Peace fan. It was brief, but it was great to meet her.

I look like I'm smashed

After intermission, it was time for Chantal.
She filled the night with an excellent mix of her classic stuff and newer songs from Plain Jane. She even snuck in a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s My Hometown.

At one point, Dala came back out and joined Chantal for God Made Me, which was the first song of Chantal’s I ever heard all those years ago.

There was also the inclusion of a new song, Not One Drop, a song inspired by the tragic passing of a friend’s young daughter, Sylvie.

I think the highlight for me was Chantal’s performance of 5000 Days, which featured some great home videos of their kids projected on a giant screen at the back of the stage.

Randy Cooke rocks the Santa hat. And the drums.

Later in the set, Karen and Kevin each got their turn to take center stage. Kevin sang a rendition of Joni Mitchell’s River. Karen sang Isobel, a song she wrote for her band, The Done Me Wrongs. Both performances were big change-ups from the rest of the night, yet they somehow fit perfectly.

Kevin has crazy cello skills. And wicked posture.

After “wrapping up” with All I Can Do, Chantal left the stage before coming back for a two song encore.

Just after Plain Jane was over, 5 year old Rowan (who earlier appeared on stage to ask his mom when she’d be done) returned to introduce his brother, four year old Lucca. Lucca marched up to the mic and proceeded to adorably sing a verse of Invincible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldP8uraTpFw
(Video courtesy of Angela)

Chantal followed that tough act by playing the song herself, bringing the nearly two and a half hour show to an excellent close.

That show made this crazy trip totally worth it.

We headed back to the elevator and through a couple corridors to the after party. I chatted a bit more with Raine and Chantal as Rowan and Lucca ran around. Before taking off, I got a quick photo with both of them.

We said our see-you-laters and left the party.

Mom and I bundled up and hurried back to hotel as a light snow began to fall. There was a big snow storm predicted to hit Toronto the next day. Luckily, we wouldn’t be hitting the road until Thursday.

W got back to the room at 1 AM and hit the leftovers as we sat and processed everything.

I was in bed and conked out by 3:30.

June 27th, 2009- "I Can Take a Wrong Turn, You're Right Behind Me"

Concert day had arrived.

I woke up on that nice Canadian Saturday morning without the aid of the fire alarm, thankfully. I did end up sleeping a little later than I wanted, though. Seems to happen a lot, doesn't it?

Once the rest of the crew was up, we set out to get a little something to eat. We ended up going across the street to The Famous, a diner-type restaurant inside the casino building.

It was okay, nothing outstanding and we had to wait a long for the food and the check.

I was hoping to get to the winery early enough to catch the sound check, so we hurried back to the hotel as soon as we finished eating to compensate for another potentially long wait for valet to bring the van.
I swear, they must have known how ticked we were the day before and sent out a memo or something. We had the van within five minutes.

Things were running smoothly and we were on our way. Until we got on the QEW, that is.
Traffic on the freeway was at a dead stop on a hot and sunny day. We were pretty much baking inside the van.

As we inched forward ever so slowly, we saw that the freeway was closed in both directions ahead of us.

We later found out there had been an accident earlier and that they usually only close down both directions if they have to land a medical helicopter on the freeway.

When we reached the detour, my MapQuest directions became useless, so we asked the officer directing traffic how to get to Niagara-on-the-Lake. He pointed out a van that was headed that way and told us to follow him. So we did.
Before too long, we were back on the QEW and lined up with my directions once again.
And then we got lost on the country roads and had to stop and ask for directions.

When we finally arrived at the Jackson-Triggs winery, the usually 20 minute long drive from Niagara Falls to Niagara-on-the-Lake had taken 2 hours.

Sadly, we missed sound check, but ended up bumping into Sandy and Kathy right as we were getting out of the van. I chatted with them a little bit, then Mom, Granny, Maude, and I headed inside the main building to pick up our tickets. While inside, my friend Nadia spotted me and we talked for a few minutes. I've kept in touch with her since the last time I visited the winery, but it was great to catch up in person.

Tickets in hand, we made our way toward the amphitheater and ran into Terence and Russell on our way. After chatting a little, we headed in.
Our tickets included dinner, so we popped over to the food tent. We found a nice shady spot and ate while having a nice visit with Kathy and Sandy.
I was a bit tense from the ride, so I didn't eat all that much, but what I had (pork, potatoes, fruit) was good. The wine certainly helped ease the tension. I went with the Chardonnay.

With showtime approaching, we headed to our seats. Nadia got off of work and came over to see us again before taking off. She told us about her upcoming wedding and all the fun and craziness that goes along with it. I'm sure it'll all go smoothly and I wish her all the best!

Before the show started, Mom and I went to shut off our cel phones and noticed we had both missed calls from Kris. Mom called him back to make sure everything was okay and found out Matthew ate gravel.
Literally.
He was standing right next to Kris in their driveway and in one quick swoop, bent down, grabbed a stone, and downed it.
He's fine though. He pretty much looked at Kris as if to say "Dude, chill. What's the problem?" when he was searching his mouth for the rock.

Never a dull moment at home, even when we're not there.

Finally, they brought Chantal down the hill on a little golf cart and she took the stage along with Kevin Fox and Karen Graves. She began with another great performance of Leaving on a Jet Plane and the show was rolling.

She looked radiant and, as always, sounded amazing. Last time she played at Jackson-Triggs, we were the first audience to hear Halfway Around the World, she continued the tradition and debuted two new songs from her upcoming album for us- Invincible and 5,000 Days. Both sounded excellent, I was especially fond of 5,000 Days.
And as a bonus, it was also her first time playing These Days, a song she wrote for the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants soundtrack, live.

The winery is such a great setting for a concert. The cool, Canadian night air mixed with Chantal's music, the intimate seating arrangement, and the great wine on top of all that. Combined, it just creates a magical vibe.

Chantal was her usual chatty self in between songs. The running discussion of the night was whether the occasional scent of manure wafting in from the surrounding fields came from a cow or a cat.

After a few more songs, there was a short intermission. I'll admit, I took the opportunity to get a refill on my wine.

Once the sun had finished setting, Chantal, Karen, and Kevin returned and continued the show under the stars.

So Cold, Half of Me, and Feels Like Home were some of the songs we got to hear in the second half. Plus, the guy who was calling out to hear Wayne all night got his wish.
After "finishing", Chantal came back for an encore and played All I Can Do to end the night.

It was another amazing show that I wish didn't have to end. Even with the overall hectic vibe the trip seemed to have, while I was at that concert, there was no stress and no worries. I love Twilight in the Vineyard.
In a bit of awesome news, they announced that the show was recorded and will be aired on the radio in the fall to coincide with the release of Chantal's new album.
I can't wait to hear it and relive that night.

As the crowd made their way away from the amphitheater, we followed and headed to the main building, where Chantal would be doing an autograph signing.
Inside, we caught up with Kathy and Sandy again. In their continuing awesomeness, they surprised me again with Chantal's setlist. I swear, I can't thank them enough.

Guardians of the setlist.

The gang.

The whole group of us hung around and talked about the show while Chantal signed autographs a few feet away. Once the line started to dwindle, we headed over.

When it was my turn, I got to have a nice little visit with Chantal. I found out her album, Plain Jane is coming out in September, so that'll be a nice little birthday-month bonus for me. Before saying our see-you-next-times, she signed the setlist for me and of course, we took a picture together.

Then, I spent some time talking to Del from Jackson-Triggs. He found my blog entry about Chantal's last show at the winery and was looking forward to (and waiting patiently for) this new entry. I know it's long and kind of rambly, but I hope it was worth the wait.
He's working at setting up some more great concerts there, so I'm sure I'll be seeing him again before too long.

It was approaching midnight and getting chilly, so we said bye to gang, piled into the van, and headed back to Niagara Falls. The return trip was much smoother than the ride out. We only missed one turn.

Upon getting back to the hotel, I was ready to parttake in our last-night-at-the-Falls tradition of going to Fridays. Granny didn't feel like going out and asked if we minded if she stayed behind and relaxed in the room. Of course it was no problem, though we missed having her there.

So Maude, Mom, and I made the late night trek to Fridays by ourselves. I split a meal with Mom and also got the fried macaroni and, of course, an ultimate long island iced tea. I guess I had a bit of a party night that night. It was a blast.

We wandered back to hotel somewhere between 3 and 4 AM and found, to our surprise, Granny still awake and watching TV. Apparently, she watched Braveheart and Independence Day while we were out.
That's my Grandma, folks.

Exhausted after a fantastic night, we all crawled off to bed for the pre-drive-home sleep. And man, I was really conked out.

Another Journey North

Yeah, I know my trip recap is a little late, but here it is.

All packed up and ready to roll, Mom and I left around 1 PM on Tuesday the 7th, despite winter giving us its (hopefully) last hurrah.

There's no way to sugarcoat it, the weather sucked. Especially for driving. It was the worst while we were still in Ohio. At one point, the snow was coming down so hard, we could only see maybe a quarter of a mile ahead of us. Observe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PtlJemyWSM

It improved to just some flurries in Pennsylvania and a few scattered flakes in New York, but the wind never let up. As I've written in the past, Mom's a bit of a nervous driver, so I'm sure it was a long drive for her, but she did great. A couple hours in, we made our traditional mid-journey pause at the rest stop in Angola. I swear, they play no music in that Denny's unless it's at least 30+ years old. Honeycomb, anyone?
We sat, we ate, we hit the road and crossed the border into Canada. Thankfully, we were out of the snow, though the cold and wind stuck with us.
We got to the hotel some time after five and settled in a little bit. Mom sorted our stuff in the room and I checked out the view. It was really weird to look out at the Falls and see almost nobody walking around. Even weirder (but way more impressive) was seeing the massive ice bridge spanning the river at the bottom of the Falls. Take a gander, won't you?

After a little bit, we headed off to St Catharines to wander the Pen Centre.

We didn't stay too long, as we wanted to be sure to have time to get back and have dinner at The Keg. The highlight for me was HMV, where they were having a sweet sale on DVDs. I picked up Sunshine and [REC].
We shopped around a little more, then back to the Falls and to The Keg inside the Embassy Suites. An awesome chicken dish and a glass of wine later and we headed back to the Marriott to crash before the big concert day.

I woke up to some bizarre Canadian children's TV shows. If I had caught the name of this one particularly odd show, I'd find and post a clip in a heartbeat. If my memory serves me, this one lady was supposed to be a doll or something and was dressed in a blue (or maybe purple) full body suit. The only part of her that remained exposed was her face and it was painted to match the rest of the costume. It was freaky, man.

Once we were up, we headed across the street to Tony Roma's for some lunchtime breakfast. It was a little less chilly, but the wind seemed to have picked up.
Tony Roma's was kind of a strange experience. When we got there, we were literally the only people there (excluding employees), yet the service was extremely slow. Seriously, after ordering our drinks (tea and hot chocolate), it was about 20 minutes before we actually got them. Don't get me wrong, I love it there, but that baffled me.
After finishing eating, we scribbled our names on one of the brick pillars (can you find them?) and aimed back toward the hotel.

You'd think crossing the street would be an uneventful thing. Not in this case. The second I got into the street, a gust of wind smacked me and I ended up with my sweatshirt and blanket blown up over my face. Mom quickly fixed it, but between the wind and how hard we were laughing, we had tears streaming down our faces by the time we made it across the street.
Finally, we made it back to room, got ourselves ready, and left for Brock University.

We were invited to get there early for the soundcheck, so we did. Upon entering the theatre, we were greeted by Karen Graves, so we sat and chatted with her for a bit. Not much later, Kevin Fox came in and joined us for a few minutes before the pair of them started soundcheck, as Chantal was still on her way and hadn't arrived yet.

When she got there, we talked for a couple quick minutes and then she hopped behind the piano for another quick soundcheck. To my surprise, she turned to me and asked "What do you want to hear?"
I thought, smiled, and said "Something new."
Chantal, Karen, and Kevin debated for a few seconds and Chantal said "Let's play something that's not in tonight's set."
I was in musical geekout mode as she played a new song called Say the Word from her upcoming CD. It sounded fantastic, I really can't wait to get my hands on a copy of that CD.
They played around with the sound a little more and headed backstage to get ready, so we headed up to our seats.

Kevin opened the show with songs from both of his CDs, Come Alive and Songs For Cello & Voice, including covers of River and Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This). His set was great and it was nice to see him at the front of the stage. You should check him out at kevinfox.ca

At intermission, I met up with my friends from Chantal's message board, Elements. It was great visiting with Kathy, Sandy, and Terrence again, the first time since the Jackson-Triggs show. I loved finally getting to meet Angela, after years of corresponding online. As intermission ended, we agreed we'd meet up again after the show.

Chantal made her way onto the stage and kicked off her set with Leaving On A Jet Plane. This was the last night of a seven show tour and everyone sounded excellent. They even played a couple more new songs- Today and Half of Me. Have I mentioned I can't wait for this CD?
Chantal was extra chatty that night, thanks to a visit from "The Claritin Man." She was on a roll and had everyone cracking up all night.
Toward the end of the show, Chantal thanked a fan of hers, whose family sent Chantal a letter, explaining how her music helped this girl through some rough times. Then she thanked her best friend and followed that with thanks to "Jacob and his mom." She talked about how we come up from Ohio to see her. "They're always traveling that road..." she said, and then tried to remember which road it was. People in the audience started calling out freeway names before she finally said "Jacob, what's the road?"

From the back of the theatre, I yelled out "90."

"90. Thank you, sir" she replied.

For her last song, she explained that during the other shows on the tour, two of her sons, Rowan and Lucca, would come on stage and sing What A Wonderful World together. They weren't there that night, so Chantal sang it on her own to end the night.
Just for fun, here's a clip of Rowan and Lucca doing their thing at a previous show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqHxKfBuzuE

I met back up with my Elements friends as the theatre emptied and Kathy once again surprised me with a setlist, this time, it was Chantal's. Thanks a million!
We eventually made our way out to the lobby and hung out for a few minutes and snapping a couple group pictures. Kevin and Karen even got in on the photo fun.

Eventually, we said our goodnights and our hope-to-see-you-in-Junes (Chantal's playing at the Jackson-Triggs winery again) and Mom and I headed backstage. Sadly, we just missed her, she had to get back to her kids in Toronto. Ahh well, next time. So, we said goodbye to Kevin and Karen and headed back to the hotel.

Before crashing, we scooted over to the Fridays in the Embassy Suites for our traditional last-night-at-the-Falls drinks and snacks. Such an excellent way to end a trip.

Thursday morning, we were up fairly early, which was nice , as some of the pressure to rush to get out on time was relieved. We ate some cold leftovers, packed our things, enjoyed the view one last time, and set out for home.

Thursday was actually a pretty smooth and uneventful day. It was a sunny day and much warmer, though it was still kind of windy.
We made a quick stop at Duty Free for some wine and a couple little gifts. The border was crowded, but the wait wasn't too long. It was the first time they've wanted to look inside the van, but even that was fast and we were on our way before very long.
It was a nice ride with wide open roads...except in PA. There was a traffic jam (with no apparent reason) that had us at a standstill for about 20 minutes. That sucked, but it was all easy going after that.

It was a great trip, I was definitely in need of a little getaway after this seemingly neverending winter. It was weird not being able to wander around and see the sights of Niagara Falls again, but hey, there's always June.

"Take a Ride Down That Yellow Brick Road..."

We took a last-minute one-day roadtrip last Friday. Raine Maida had been on tour to promote his CD, The Hunters Lullaby, for a couple weeks, but all of the shows except for two (Buffalo and Detroit) were too far away for us to make. As it neared, we decided to battle the winter doldrums and head for the Buffalo show.

Mom, Maude, and I hit the road a little bit after 1 PM. The ride was smooth until Maude started to vie for control of my iPod, a struggle which was waged all the way to Buffalo. Many excellent songs were tragically skipped as a result.

Not wanting to sit all the way in the back of our enormous van, we had a little setup with a lawn chair so Maude could sit near the front with us. It worked out fairly well, until we hit the parking lot of the rest stop in Angola, where a left turn sent her flying.

Artist's rendition

We peeled her off the floor and made our way inside to Denny's for a mid-drive bite. I loves me my mashed potatoes.

Once again, MapQuest dropped the ball at the end of our journey, leaving us circling a block, looking for the venue. Maude took a second spill as we circled. We ended up asking in a nearby police station how to find the Town Ballroom. It was two buildings down the street. In plain view from the police station parking lot.

After parking, traversing a shady alley, waiting outside the front of the building, backtracking down the same shady alley, and conquering a 5 inch step up through a doorway, we were greeted by Raine and led in to watch the the familiar faces of Chantal, Kevin, and Randy during soundcheck.

It's a music fan's paradise to sit and watch a soundcheck, I'm in awe every time. As amazing as it is to hear an artist play live, there's just something magical about watching them play without an audience. Those little random moments.
In between songs, Chantal would start playing different tunes. A few notes of Hallelujah, a Sting song I'm not familiar with, and despite it just being spur of the moment, it was beautiful. I felt so lucky as I took it all in, knowing I was seeing something not many get to see.

We chatted with Raine a little after they finished and even got to briefly meet their adorable son, Lucca.

After a few minutes, one of the opening acts took the stage for soundcheck. He didn't look or sound familiar, but it didn't take Mom, Maude, and I long to agree we liked what we were hearing. His name was David Ford and he impressed me. His voice is great and his use of a looping machine filled the room and made you forget he was performing alone on stage.

Here's a clip someone posted on YouTube from a performance in 2006.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6XZpQPJWzQ8

We sat by ourselves until doors opened and we positioned ourselves by the stage for the show.

"Good evening..."
My photogenic aunt

David Ford did his thing and sounded great. He was followed by spoken word artist Jared Paul. Aside from a few times on TV and the net, I've never been exposed to spoken word performance, but it was definitely interesting and thought provoking. I'm not sure yet if it's my cup of tea, but I am glad to have experienced it.

Raine and company took the stage shortly after 9. Aside from some audio trouble with a guitar early on, it was a flawless show. They played through all the songs from The Hunter's Lullaby, including Sex Love and Honey (a personal favorite). He also covered Neil Young's Ohio and did an excellent acoustic version of Innocent, which the audience helped out with.

Chantal had her moment in the spotlight as she performed a haunting cover of Where Is My Mind? by The Pixies.
I had such a great time and can't thank Raine & Chantal enough.

After the crowd cleared out, we headed for the doors we came in through. Before we made it outside, we ended up hanging out and talking to drummer Randy Cooke and some of the crew for a while. It still cracks me up that we've been around backstage enough that the crew recognizes us and vice versa.

On our way to the van, I recognized my friend from the internet and fellow fan, Gail as she chatted with Randy and Kevin Fox. I stopped to say hello, but it was just a quick chat, due to the cold night air of Buffalo in March. It was really nice to finally meet her though.

Randy, Kevin, and me (Thanks, Gail!)
Me & Gail

We were on our way home a little after 11 PM. Wrong turns are getting to be something of a tradition on roadtrips with Mom and me, but this is the first time it's happened on a toll road and we literally had to pay for our mistake.
We made our second stop at the Angola rest stop to eat before the rest of our late night drive home. We were back on the road around 1. The ride was smooth and peaceful. Maude slept for most of it and my iPod was free to shine.

The long, but fun day was rounded out when we arrived home a little while after 3 AM. It was a crazy day, but a much needed break, I had a blast.

Until the next one.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=aYvQji8KoUI