How to begin?

I guess that’ll do.

Well, this gopher crawled out of her hole this morning to participate in the walkathon at Nathan Philips Square (I still haven’t looked up the # of l’s) and to, of course, see the Frufour perform.

Leaving the house is never as straightforward as it should be. The problem today was the weather. I got up this morning and discovered it was not a clear-cut shorts day. Actually, it was downright cold this morning. And yet the forecast was 25C & sun. My brother, who has himself had the shorts-pants debate, suggested that I wear pants & take shorts, something I have often done in the past. But today I did not want to bear the weight of the world on my shoulders, much less a backpack, so I thanked my bro, opted for pants, and left.

When I surfaced from the subway tunnels, it was still cloudy outside and windy--it even looked like it would rain, much to my horror (you see, leaving one’s backpack at home also involves leaving one’s umbrella there, too). But I shrugged and went to register. I left the registration tables, brandishing my new walkathon T-shirt (cheerily coloured, but so large I think I’ll be forced to turn it into a nightshirt).

I meandered over to the stage and who did I see there but the Frulads. Jian, seeing a fan in Frugarb, came over to say hello. He then proceeded to shock the hell out of me by supplying my last name after hearing my first. We talked for a couple of minutes and then I left him be.

There was a band called Sulk on-stage before Moxy Fruvous. Not bad, I thought. But what I want to know is why anyone in the world would want to call their band Sulk? There is no redeeming feature to that name (okay, one: it’s a regular noun and thus it’s easy to hear & spell). But really. No one benefits from a sulk except maybe the sulker, and even that is not always the case. It’s true, the word describes a certain kind of music, but would you really want to deliberately associate your band with it? It’s not exactly a compliment. Oh, well. Nobody asked me. (What would I name my band, if I had one and had been given the power to name it? Hmmm)

I was thrilled when Moxy took the stage, thrilled for 2 reasons: 1) I was there to see them 2) it got rid of the Mix 99.9 announcers who insisted on shouting into the microphones in their attempts to get our attention. The guys did a very energetic set: I love my Boss, BJ, Darlington Darling,You will go to the Moon, Get in the Car, Love potion #9. I think that’s everything.

Earlier on, Jian had expressed to me some concern regarding how they would sound at this venue. The guys themselves held together well, but there was interference in the sound system. At one point, we found ourselves tuned into a radio station, “radio Moscow” as Mike said. Most unusual.

What was usual, however, was the comical banter. Here are some bits (not verbatim!) that I found memorable:

The Blue Jay bit (courtesy of Jian): Who here is a Blue Jays fan? I am because they are a winning team this year. Of course, if they don’t get into the play-offs, I will have to switch my allegiance fast so that I won’t look like a loser. And that, kids, is the lesson for the day: make sure your favourite team is always the winning one, otherwise you will look like a loser, and nobody wants to be a loser. (He gave absolutely no indication that he was kidding. How’s that for evil?)

The Bank Merger (courtesy of Murray): (What preceded this was a small discussion about how there were quite a few corporate sponsors in the crowd, specifically banks) Why don’t all the bank people just have a run at each other right here? Whoever comes out on top will be my new bank. I’m kind of between banks at the moment.

The intro to YWGTTM (courtesy of Jian, Murray & Dave):
Jian: This is song about our next destination.
Murray: Would that be Hell you are talking about?
Dave: No, Murray, we are referring to where the rest of us will be going.

Well, Murray needn’t worry about making the trip to Hell alone. According to a couple of my friends, that is my destination as well. (So I drink orange milkshakes and hate the sound of Leonard Cohen’s voice. Is that really so bad?)

In the time between the end of the concert and the beginning of the walk I had the chance to meet some Fruheads both local and not. Mike: I’ll keep my eyes peeled for you next time I go to your theatre. To the gang from Rochester: I hope you enjoyed your samosas and got home safe.

By the time the walk started, the clouds had cleared out and the sun had heated the city up to 25 degrees.

Goodnight,

Irene

Some other tidbits from the performance include:

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