More With Aaron

I just returned from Ontario from two gigs with Aaron.

July 28 - Delta ON - A fair in Ontario. We played the set - ate some mini donuts and drove 5 hours to get to our next gig as it was an afternoon start. Nice people. Darren had a hot dog that was half burned and half raw. MEDIUM HEAT people. Also, some carnival folk berated him into playing one of their games. After he won, they berated him into playing again as the prize they gave him was "something you'd find in a dumpster". God bless the Carny folk.

July 29 - Fergus ON - A truck show. Aaron and Greg Evigan from BJ And The Bear. Show business.....

Anyhow - nothing too eventful. We wrote some suggestive songs in the car ... one called "Da Shocka" .... ask me and I'll sing it to you. Bye...

June 21- July 16 - Aaron Pritchett, Al Foreman and Eric Martin (walk into a bar...)

Here is a brief recount of the last few week's events:

June 21 - Vancouver, BC - A benefit gig for "Rock Against Diabetes". I did a set with jam band Combustible Jimmy and finished up with a set with Eric Martin - a great singer noted for his work with Mr. Big. It's always an interesting experience getting to meet the people you listened to on the radio when you grew up. It's even more interesting when you become a musician and get to play with these people. This has happened to me a few times: playing "Taking Care Of Business" with Randy Bachman, "Working For The Weekend" with Mike Reno, "My Girl" with Bill Henderson. Well, it happened again with Eric. "To Be With You" was a #1 hit around the world. Playing that song as well as a bunch of his others was great fun. Hopefully we can do it again someday.

June 30 - Peterborough, ON - Last year Aaron and band were slated to perform a gig at the Festival Of Lights. However the outdoor gig was cut short as Mother Nature sent in a tornado about five songs in. The gig was rescheduled for this year. Gig went great. This was the first gig for my brother in law (nepotism?) bassist Shane Hendrickson. He nailed it of course. He phoned his other bosses, Natalie McMaster and the Leahy family who all came out to watch us.

July 1 - Toronto, ON - A Canada Day gig for CMT featuring Aaron and a few other bands (Jason Blaine, Corb Lund Band and The Roadhammers). We did a quick line check and hit the stage. Another good gig. Shane and I grabbed a taxi to the airport after wards and flew home.

July 2 - Vancouver, BC - The Yale blues bar. This gig is always fun and the band is always exceptional. Jerry Adolphe and Jack Lavin (the rhythm section) are great players and the hosts of this Monday night gem. The rest of the band was Tim Porter (a fellow Vancouver Islander and GREAT guitarist) and Al Foreman (highly entertaining - pianist/ harp/ vocalist). Al sings a bunch of great tunes and I get to blow lots of sax.

July 4 & 5 - Calgary, AB - The beginning of the Calgary Stampede run began with two corporate gigs with Aaron. These types of gigs are, to be perfectly honest, cash grabs. They're fun but generally because we make our own fun. The audience is never generally "into it" and these gigs were no exception, but they're gigs nonetheless and that's a very good thing.

July 10 - Calgary, AB - This was a gig at the Nashville North tent on the Stampede grounds. This gig always stands out at being one of the loudest onstage - not the band but the crowd. Women screaming for Aaron trumps the band everytime. Great crew and a great gig. See the bottom four pictures above.

July 11 - Calgary, AB - Another corporate gig at the Sheraton Au Claire. An acoustic gig - the change up was fun. I also saw Bon Jovi in the lobby of the hotel. They looked stunning. They were all wearing sunglasses inside which made them all look "incognito". Nothing draws attention like a party of ten wearing sunglasses inside. On steel horses they ride.

July 13 - Lloydminster, AB - A gig where the stage was in the middle of some rodeo grounds. My first mini donuts of the season. Finished the gig and got back on the bus for an all night drive to Peace River. Incidentally, our bus was used the previous two nights by Bon Jovi. So yes, I rode the steel horse they rode.

July 14 - Peace River, AB - This was a cool little music festival at a really cool location - a train trestle behind us and a river beside us. This gig was especially fun for me as we shared the bill with Nazareth and The Headpins. After the gig I planted myself side stage and watched both band's sets. Great fun. Hits aplenty and I took sadistic pleasure in watching the security weed the Peace River "undesirables" out of the crowd. There was a lot of arrests - and the police chose to put the guilty parties right beside our bus. We thought about bringing out the rider for them to snack on as their "last meal" before their incarceration into the town drunk tank. However, we chose not to as we were hungry. Sorry guys. Next time, perhaps.

July 15 - Craven, SK - Another all night ride and we pulled into the Craven Music Festival. We closed up the night in the "beer garden" after Reba Mcintire's set on the mainstage. As expected - another loud rocking night where the women were screaming at Aaron's every move. Aaron extended the encore and we pulled off a 2 hour ten minute show. Dwayne our bus driver intercepted a few young men who, fueled by alcohol. made their way onto the stage (perhaps they were from Peace River). The crowd was estimated at no less than 10,000 people. It was a nice way to finish up this little run. See the top two pictures including the sign which was thrown up onstage. Rock and roll.

July 16 - 5:22AM - Regina Airport - flying home to my own bed.