The whole problem with starting this review is that I said - at least a couple times - something like "not only is this making it into the review, but I'm leading off with it." I said it so often, in fact, that I forget what I said it about. So let me just say, right now, Tutti-Frutti Condom.

More on that later.

When my cousin Cathy picked me up to go see Moxy Früvous in concert, I had two CDs and a black marker in my jeans pocket. This wasn't quite as uncomfortable as you might suspect. Such is the cross that autograph-seekers have to bear. We got to Louis' Pub about 8:00, and as we walked inside, we discussed the important fact that a Louis' concert attended by a group of four or more people cannot be deemed an official concert unless someone orders chicken. Don't ask me why, it's just always worked out that way.

We headed down the stairs to the bar, and listened to the music coming from the DJ booth. It didn't sound like a total song... nope, the Früvoids were already on stage, doing their soundcheck. If Cathy hadn't been sure it was them, I don't know if I'd have recognized them. Well, the one guy (Jian) looked pretty familiar, but I don't know if I'd have recognized the other three guys.

At this point, it's worth noting the four members of Moxy Früvous. Jian is the recognizable (and some would say babe-a-licious if they were drunk and into that sort of thing) brown guy, Mike looks like a cross between Aaron Peter Lang and a young Vince McMahon, David is the guy with a shaved head (formerly known as the blonde guy), and Murray is the other guy.

The Frü played the start of Sahara, and just basically checked sound levels and joked around and stuff. This was really cool to see. The only other band I've seen doing there soundcheck was The Rheostatics, and I didn't care for them. Or about them. As they left the stage, I went after them, CD booklet and marker in hand. Jian and Mike promised they'd come out later, David and Murray stopped, signing "Thanks James" and "B is for James!" respectively. See, I had brought The B Album to get signed, and it has a big B on the cover, see, it says B but it doesn't have a picture of a bee on it...

Random Simpsons reference. Sorry. It will never, eeeeeeever happen again.

Random Chris Jericho reference. Sorry. Never again.

Somewhere around here, Pat shows up. Dayna Manning then showed up to do her soundcheck, which lead to the inevitable debate about whether or not she was cute (she is, dammit) and whether or not she was cute when she had braces on her teeth (she was, dammit). Dayna sang the first line from Half The Man (the only song of hers that everyone knows) about fifteen times, asking for the guitar or voice levels to be adjusted after every other time. Somewhere around here, Laurie As In Dana's Cousin Laurie - who's name I still don't know how to spell - showed up.

As this was all going on, Cathy was drinking Clamatto and beer. Yes, mixed together. It looked disgusting - I mean, nothing improves the godawful taste of beer than salt, tomatoes, and fish. It looked like some perverted Kool-Aid, some Fishtastic Tomatosaurus Brew or something. It tasted even worse, if that's possible.

I headed off to check out the t-shirt tables. He told me that the baby t's were $22. I told him that they probably wouldn't look good on me. This guy was about as big as me, so we basically made fun of each other for a few minutes ("You could buy two and wear them on your legs!" "Or I could buy three, tie them together, and wrap them around me!"). The friendly shirt-selling guy turned out to be their tour manager, so we had a nice chat about music websites and stuff. Of course I threw in a blatant plug for the CTD site I maintain at http://www.cybershack.qc.ca/ctd. Anyway, the guy assured me that the marroon shirts were a little bigger and would look great on me. So I bought one.

On the way back to the t-shirt table, I ordered chicken fingers and fries for me and fries for Cathy. You do what you must. I got back to the table, and Pat immediately headed off to buy chicken. I suppose, seeing that we were looking at a total of 7 people, two orders of chicken were necessary.

We sat, we talked, but mostly we read articles about bathrooms in The Sheaf. Good to see the U of S newspaper is up to its usual journalistic standards.

Our number was called, so we went up to go get The Necessary Chicken (tm). As we wandered up, Dayna Manning was signing an autograph for someone. I capitalized on this (thanks to Cathy keeping the CD and marker in her jacket), and got my CD signed too. She was very friendly and seemed genuinely happy that I like the CD. I've read people on alt.music.canada saying she wasn't friendly or approachable, but she seemed really nice to me. I'm sure she could have been faking it, but I'm impressed that she'd even bother to do that.

She signed the CD "James, luck and love," which (back at our table) Cathy took to mean that Dayna Manning wanted me. I thought this was pretty funny, especially after the infamous braces debate of months ago, so I said it to everyone we were with. Unfortunately, most people thought I was being serious so I quit saying it pretty quickly.

As if you care, the chicken was good. Pat's chicken, meanwhile, wasn't showing up. Somewhere Around Here (tm), Regan and Andreas did show up. Then Pat left, to go get his chicken. The he came back, with chicken. Then Deseree showed up. This may be completely out of order, I don't care. Somehow, I doubt you do too.

At about 10:00pm, Dayna Manning came back out with her guitar. Either the guitar is really big, or she's really tiny. I'd wager maybe both, actually. She opened with Half The Man, which is a good song, but maybe a mistake because everyone started talking as soon as they heard the song they knew. As people talked all through the bar, they missed a really good performance. It was kind of a shame. At one point, before playing the song My Addiction (the only other one that most people would know), she said she got the idea for the video by beating the shit out of someone who talked too loud during her performance. (This was the same video, by the way, where she looked really cute despite having braces.) This got a nice laugh, so I guess some people were watching.

She played for about 40 minutes, and I really enjoyed the set. I'd go see her as a headliner, not just as an opening act, and given the sheer number of horrible opening acts I've seen (including Xylon, Mr. Happy Salami, and 3/4 of the bands at 1997's Another Roadside Attraction), I haven't had the chance to say that too often in the past.

While waiting for Früvous to take the stage, several of the female-type people went off to the bathroom. They travel in herds, I don't know why. Anyway, Deseree came back with what was supposed to be a tutti-frutti flavoured condom. This was enough to tell me that things were weird. I knew that even before she tasted it. I also knew that *I* wasn't about to try it. It did smell tutti-frutti, but even smelling it was more of a concession than I really wanted to make. Then, in short order, it got unrolled and placed on Pat's cigar case (this is not a codeword), then stretched over a glass and inflated. So we had a ribbed centerpiece, yep. This, it turned out, could be used to launch matchbooks at people. Who knew that an inflated condom could be used as a catapult? The condom was also deflated and used as ice cube storage before it's time passed.

Meanwhile, Cathy and Andreas were having a spirited conversation about pumps and mining and Clear Lake and Wilfley or something.

Finally, at about 11:00, Moxy Früvous finally took the stage. They opened with Sahara, moved on to Jockey Full Of Bourbon, and played for the next two hours. There were far too many highlights to mention, but I'll give it a try - that's what I'm here for.

To start with, they altered the lyrics of some songs. In some cases, it was to provide local references;

from BJ Don't Cry So there we have a story, lived in person, told by proxy 'Bout a mild-mannered mannequin, every Thursday hit the Roxy Till there his own reflection looked just like Baby Huey's Now he hikes the Himalayas, but he'd rather mosh the mosh at Louis'!

Boo Time also included a part about "Howlin' at the moon in Saskatoon," and there was some spirited banter about Premier Roy Rachmaninoff. Later on, in the show-closing (or at least pre-encore) medley, they included a snippet of a song by Saskatoon-based band Wide Mouth Mason. which I thought was exceedingly cool, 'cause I really like WMM too.

Other lyrics were altered for no apparent reason. Robertson Davies now needs a grave instead of a shave (did he die or something?) in My Baby Loves A Bunch Of Authors. The King Of Spain was a communist or something. There were numerous Barney references in The Kids' Song. And something I found great humour in; the start of Boo Time included the lines "Hoot owl/Lord Baden Powell/Mario Lemieux throwing in the towel."

Also, they made up two songs on the spot. One was The Calgary Double-Gauge Song (Calgarians with guns, duh), and the other was The Irreverant Favourite Guy, who was this guy who sat near us and headbanged his way on stage by yelling requests for Dayna Manning and multiple playings of The Kid's Song.

Dayna Manning, it was noted by one of the band, is really good, especially considering she's seven. This was made funnier by Cathy's earlier wondering if she (Dayna, not Cathy) was legally able to be in a bar.

The band, as I said, played for two hours, including I Love My Boss, The Kids' Song, Stuck In The 90s, BJ Don't Cry, My Baby Loves A Bunch Of Authors, The King Of Spain, Michigan Militia, Get In The Car, Sahara, Boo Time, You Will Go To The Moon, Fly, Jockey Full Of Bourbon, Green Eggs & Ham, some unreleased songs, and some improv stuff. Needless to say, my superpowers were not sufficient to allow me to remember the track list. I really have to find a new superpower. I know enough, however, to think it was weird that they only played one song off of Wood, which is considered by many Früheads to be the NUMBER ONE AND THE BEST album ever.

They closed the show with a medley including Midnight Rain from Wide Mouth Mason, Staying Alive, Love Shack, Barbie Girl, and Love Potion #9. They left, people chanted, they came back. After Psycho Killer and The Drinking Song, they were gone again.

It was a great show, and I'd go back anytime. They have a reputation for being one of the best live bands around, and it's easy to see why. Incredible energy, very funny, and just an incredibly entertaining show. Not bad for $7 a ticket.

Cathy had to be at work in six hours, so I let her go. I still had autographs to get. First, though I had to buy my girlfriend a shirt. See, everyone paid me back for the tickets I had bought, but that was money already spent, so this extra money was just a bonus. I got her a grey shirt because we already have too many shirts that look the same.

Shirts in hand, we stood around and waited. And waited. Would they show? Of course they did. Or at least the two (Mike and Jian) who I wanted to talk to showed up. They signed "WWIII is WMM!" and "Cheers James!" respectively. No, I don't know why World War III is Wide Mouth Mason, but I bet Mike has never signed anyone else's CD that way.

Speaking about WMM (ever notice how I have themes that run through these reviews at times?), I was talking to Jian about their including WMM in the medley, and I casually mentioned to Jian that he kinda looked like Safwan Javed, the drummer for WMM. I mean, it depends on which picture of Saf you're looking at (hair tied back or not, goatee or not), and I really only saw it while Jian was going mental on the drums during the medley, but the resemblance was there. He kinda glares and says "Now that's a brown guy reference." I immediately panicked. Actually, first I was impressed that he knew that much about WMM, then I panicked. Hoping desperately that I hadn't offended him, I stammered out some lame-ass explanation about how it's wasn't a brown guy thing, at most it was a brown guy going mental on the drums thing. He didn't seem offended, and was still pleasant and chatty. Maybe I'm just paranoid. I had to be a step down from the other people he had signed autographs for that night - one gave him a copy of the scripts for Clerks and Chasing Amy, and I don't know what the story was with another guy, but Jian signed "fruvous.com - try losing this, you fuck!" Would be cool to know the story behind that.

I left, and got a ride home from Pat. When I got home, I tried on my shirt. Skin-tight. I pulled it off and cursed the name of the friendly tour manager. I considered e-mailing my girlfriend to ask her which shirt she wanted. Then I decided to try the grey one, just to check. It fit great. So I kept hers and sent away mine. Well, I will send it away, if I ever get around to it.

I learned a lot that night. I learned to watch what you say to celebrities, lest you look like an idiot. You can't go wrong with "It was a great show" or "I really like this album." It's quite dangerous to go beyond that. I also learned that an inflated condom can be used as a catapult. I learned that it was possible to fit seven people around a tiny table. Finally, I learned the benefits of arriving really early for concerts.

But, most importantly, I learned something during the writing of this review. Something that will undoubtedly help me in life. And that is:

ALT + 0252

End of reviü.

James (Kayaa)

From Drea:

Before I start my review of the Saskatoon show, I have to say one thing about Kayaa's review - Murray is a kick@ss bass player and a very cool person, and deserves more than being merely 'the other guy.' *g* That said, here is my long overdue Saskatoon show review :)

Winnipeg to Saskatoon: Net Cafe and BJ 9:30am is *far* too early for an alarm to be going off when you didn't get to sleep until *6:30am*...but when check-out time at the hotel is 11am, there's not much choice. A short time later we were on a bus heading for the Somepl@ce Net Cafe, to say hi to everyone before our flight to Saskatoon and to gloat about the show the night before *g* Somepl@ce is another on my list of places to see while in Winnipeg - it's small, but the milkshakes are huge and the food is great (I must admit though, it was strange being the oldest person in there!). We ended up confusing everyone on #mf, as we were constantly switching the keyboard back and forth (fighting over the keyboard is a more accurate statement actually *lol*). Quote of the afternoon (Adam): "It's like listening to a cocaine-addled schizophrenic." After promises to let everyone know when we'd arrived in Saskatoon, we headed off for the airport. Westjet is different than any other airline I've ever flown - though considering my experience is limited to Air Canada and Canadian Airlines, that's not saying much *g* The fares are cheap, and instead of a ticket, you're given an itinerary with a confirmation code. It's a strange experience only having to give your last name to receive your boarding pass..And on what other airline could you hear things like "I'm a little ahead of myself" and "We'll be doing this once more in french and then we'll be ready for takeoff" (both from the head stewardess during the safety demonstration)? The humour makes the flight memorable, if nothing else *g* We had our first Fruvous reference of the day just before landing in Saskatoon (which is by far the flattest place I've *ever* seen, southwestern Ontario pales in comparison). The head stewardess was doing the usual 'thank you for flying' introductions of the crew - pilot, copilot, other members of the flight crew, "and myself, BJ." Doug and I looked at each other and just started laughing ("X-Files and Fruvous in a single word" was my comment). Arriving at Doug's, we dropped off our stuff and hopped online to chat (where I met Richard for the first time *wave Richard*) and began typing the CJUM review. An hour later, we were off for U of S and Louis' Pub, ready for the evening's Fruadventure.

Hold On Tight, Surprises in Store: Saskatoon Show U of S (at least what I saw of it during Doug's short tour) is a beautiful campus with many older buildings. In front of Louis' we found the Frubus, Cal and Tobey, who had just finished unloading for the evening's show. We talked to them for a few minutes before heading into Louis', where Doug made a point of showing me the 'Wall of Fame' - autographed pictures of bands that have performed in the bar. For me it was like stepping into a time warp with some of the bands I knew...especially Fruvous. Doug had told me that they hadn't been there since 95, but it didn't truly sink in until I saw the picture on the wall - the *Bargainville* promo picture :) As we had a few hours before the show started, we hit the food court and the arcade to pass the time - pinball and racing games for me, while Doug worked on his shooting skills. Returning to Louis' around 6:30pm, we discovered our timing once again was perfect, as Cal was just beginning to do the sound check. We found a table nearest the dance floor stage Murray and settled down to wait. (The dance floor is small and, oddly enough, metallic, making me wonder just how noisy it was going to be when full of dancers.) If the dumbek on the stage wasn't a dead giveaway that we were getting Sahara again that night, Cal's words to the local sound guy would've been *g* (No complaints from Doug and I about another dose of Sahara :>) 7:28pm - Jian and Murray arrive, Jian bouncing up and down on the dance floor while quipping "Chris Sheppard's Love Inc. is here." I joked "You realize you guys are going to have to sing louder so we can dance," earning me a semi- glare and a sarcastic response from Murray (ok, so it was a bad joke, I never claimed to be a comedian *g*) 7:32pm - Sound check begins (Mike and Dave having arrived in the meantime). Peace of Mind (first hearing for me), bits of BJ and Darlington, Half as Much, bit of Michigan..During the sound check people were coming in and finding places to sit, usually looking at the stage curiously as they did so, which lead to the comment "This is only a sound check people, don't be alarmed. It'll sound better three hours and a few drinks from now. We're not even the band, we're the crew, we've just learned to play the stuff." (Jian) Then, for me, the surprise of the night, and the point where the offhanded, half-joking comment to Mike the night before came back to haunt me. I saw the guys changing instruments, Dave picking up a different guitar, and was just about to turn to reach for my water when Dave started playing...I gasped, my hands flew up to my face of their own accord, and all I could manage was "Oh... my...God...they're playing it..." before I started *blush* crying. Doug said "time check?" and in his concert notes is the simple statement "7:44pm - Drea gets Fly" FLY!!!! The song I've been waiting almost 2 years to hear, that was skipped in November at the Thunder Bay show (to my disappointment), #2 on my 'Top 5 Never Heard Songs' list...and they were playing it. The *entire* song, which I spent singing along through my tears *g*, still in shock that I was actually hearing it. You could've sent me back to Thunder Bay right then and I *still* would've been a happy Fruhead :) Poor Doug - for the rest of the time before the show he had to put up with me occasionally repeating "I can't believe they played it" (in a stunned voice) and wondering if Mike had repeated my comment of the night before to the rest of guys (I would've been in *deep* trouble if anyone had come to claim the offered bribe, the only stuff I'd brought with me were Mike's birthday cards *lol*!) Believe it or not, that wasn't the end of the sound check! Right after Fly they played Sahara, giving us a bit of the jam and a bit of the song. We spent the rest of the time before the show talking and eating (Louis' mozza sticks are *really* good), and in my case, recovering *g* And we *still* had a whole show to go! The show started on time *gasp* - or at least Dayna Manning did :) I find I like her music more when she isn't doing an introduction before each song, and her joke about getting the idea for one of her videos from beating the crap out of a guy who'd talked too loudly during one of her sets was hilarious *g* (She's so tiny!) She got a good laugh out of the crowd - at least at that point people were listening to her (people were talking loudly through her set unfortunately). Things were back to 'normal' for Fruvous' set (ie. they started 15mins late *lol*). There was already a couple sitting on the dance floor after Dayna left, and Doug and I headed down to join them as soon as the 'hero music' started, sitting along the railing stage Murray (where my drumming skills (or lack thereof) were again on display *g* I can't help it, there's just something about the rhythm of the dumbek during Sahara that makes me want to drum ;>) I was glad to see people heading down to the dance floor during the song, about 20 or so sitting down before it ended. Next came Jockey, and everyone got up to dance (it was odd hearing the 'Edna million' verse repeated again, I'm used to the other verse). Then Jian was started making fun of Calgary (their next stop on the tour) before correcting himself: "Actually, we shouldn't diss a city until we're actually out of it. People are going to be on the Net tonight saying we were badmouthing Calgary." *lol* BJ was next, then a return to the Calgary theme with an impromptu song - 'Shoot Fruvous in Calgary/Calgary double gauge (everyone has a gun in Calgary)' An improv about Dave's guitar followed, and a tribute to Herbie the Love Bug. Then a discussion about Gavroche and how it takes 6 shots to kill him in Les Miz, including Jian singing a bit of 'Little People' and pretending to get shot - hilarious! ("This only *boom* goes to show *boom* what little *boom* people *boom* can do *boom*") Then Mike and Dave launched into the last line from 'Lovely Ladies' ("Don't they know they're making love to one already dead"). At this point we found out "Mike played the role of the older Cosette in a transgendered version of a very gay Les Miserables." (Jian) "It was the same production, except it ended happily." (Murray) (Btw Jian...it's not Cosette who sings that line, it's *Fantine* *g*) I don't know what it is about the Frufour and Les Miz, but with all these references, I keep expecting to hear them do a *full* song from it one day (and you won't hear *me* complaining if they do *g*) Half as Much and Sad Girl followed, to a great response from the crowd. Then the band acknowledged the people sitting at the tables to the right of the stage (who could be heard talking when Sad Girl ended): "Hi people over there... people sitting on the sidelines...thinking they don't have to pay attention even when the band's talking to them. Look, that one guy's still not getting it." (Jian) Then the new Saskatchewan premier Ron Rachmanoff was praised for his contribution to the Saskatoon economy..where everyone there has had, has, or will have a boss..Who knows what pay equity will be bringing from dear old boss? Moon followed, with no problems on this night (though I couldn't help but laugh a bit when Murray pulled out the pitch pipe, remembering the night before). Mike then mentioned how great it was to have Dayna Manning opening for them, and Dave agreed, saying "You may not realize this, but she's actually only 7 years old." The guys then did a plug for Live Noise, joking that "We thought the studio albums sounded too perfect." "Yeah, it's all the same songs on the live album except they're slightly off key." (Mike and Jian) I thought Spiderman might be next, as it looked for a second that Mike was preparing to crouch down...until he turned around and reached for the harmonica holder (I don't know the technical term for it *g*), and Jian started the intro for the song...FLY!!! At which point I thoroughly embarrassed myself yet again by starting to cry - Doug put a quick arm around my shoulders during the intro before letting go to let me enjoy hearing the song for the *SECOND* time in one night. Singing through one's tears is difficult but manageable I discovered *lol* (Let it be noted that I've heard Fly God only knows how many times by now between listening to Wood and Live Noise, and it has *NEVER EVER* made me cry before...*NEVER* Just wanted that little fact known *g*) Guys, I didn't get a chance to say this after the show, but thanks :) Whether it was sheer coincidence and Fly was already on the setlist for tonight, or whether Mike repeated my comment and you did it as a request, it meant a lot to me to finally hear that song live...That song alone would've made the trip worthwhile, and it turned what was a great trip into something special *virtual hugs* Boo Time followed, but other than the beginning (I hear a hoot owl/Lord Baden-Powell/Mario Lemeiux throwin' in the towel) and the end (howlin' at the moon in Saskatoon) the whole song is a blur because of what preceeded it...I do remember it got a good response from the crowd though :) After that was the funniest version of the Kids' Song I've seen yet. I hope my pics of Mur's expression while glaring at Mike and the little dance he, Mike and Jian were doing turn out *g* How he can keep that expression for so long without cracking up is beyond me :> At the end of this song, someone at a table behind the back of the dance floor asked them to 'play it again!' The same guy had asked 'Where's Dayna?' earlier while the guys discussed the fact that she was 'only 7.' "I like you, you're irreverent..you're out there" "Outside the norms of society" (Jian and Murray) They then created a song about him 'the irreverent favourite guy' which was repeated twice before Mike quipped "Let's pick a key" and they did it again, all in the same key. Jian then called the guy up on stage, saying "That kind of headbanging should be shared." He complied while the guys did the song a final time, at the end of which "here we made up a song about him, got him up on stage and everything, and instead of saying thanks he says 'so you guys are going to play that song again, right?" (Jian) *lol* Michigan was next, at the end of which the bridge on Dave's banjo had a blowout, which meant that we were Saucep'nless for the evening, even though Tobey had repaired and returned the banjo to the stage before the end of the set. "Saskatoon is a city of bridges, and the bridge on Dave's banjo blew out.. coincidence? I think not." (Mike, while talking about Saskatoon.) Then a discussion about Chretien and the APEC protesters, and a brief mention of the Starr report, then Stuck in the 90s. I hadn't heard this song since November in Thunder Bay, where Tracy and I had earned a grin from Jian for singing the 'Soon I'll be 30/I don't want to be 30' line loudly (it was, after all, a mere month before Tracy's 30th ;>). It was fun to be able to sing it again, even though I'm much closer to 30 than Doug is *g* We were then informed that the proceeds of Fruvous' tour were going to 'save the Russian ruble' and out came the King of Spain! Poor King - those of us in the front row warped him from Bargainville to Live Noise in the space of two lines *lol* After the first 'Once I was the King of Spain', Doug and I were quiet, but the rest of the front row piped up 'now I eat humble pie' (remember, Fruvous hadn't been to Saskatoon since 95). Then came 'Oh my unspeakable wife Queen Lisa', and Doug and I were the *only* ones to yell out 'Don't mention Lisa!' - Dave glanced over at us and cracked up *lol* (Oh for a picture of his expression...;>) Took him about 30 seconds before he could continue the song. GE&H followed, with Mike threatening to beat Dave up for dissing the Beatles. Then an almost-right-from-Bargainville Authors, the only change being 'who needs a grave? He's Robertson Davies!' and Car, closing with LP#9 (Ohio, Stayin', a bit of a song by Wide Mouth Mason, Barbie, Love Shack) After much cheering and applause, the Frus returned for Psychokiller and Drinking Song. It was nice to hear people singing, even though not as many as the night before. Partway through the song it hit me that my Frutrip was now over - tomorrow I would be travelling home, not to another Frushow, back to the reality of work and school that I'd escaped for a few days. When the show was over, I headed to the merch table to pick up the bag I'd left with Tobey, and saw quite a few people adding their names to the mailing list - always a good sight :) Then I thought I'd grab a setlist to have a permanent record of actually hearing Fly..to discover that other people beaten me to them, and all the setlists were gone *sigh* Mike and Jian were the only ones to come out after the show..I delivered Mike's birthday cards, informing him that they were rid of me until at least Minneapolis, and if not there, then Iron Horse. He was impressed - and asked me if I had a costume yet *lol* (I do), though I didn't get a straight answer when I asked whether *they* would be in costume. Jian was also impressed - and then shocked the hell out of me by asking me if I was going to FruCon...and saying 'Bye Drea' (I know he reads the NG, but it's still a surprise hearing your name for the first time) Shortly after that the bouncers kicked us all out, and we headed back to Doug's, where I probably drove everyone nuts on IRC talking about finally hearing Fly and bragging about the rest of the show :) Doug headed for bed, but I ended up pulling an allnighter, chatting on IRC, and finishing and posting the CJUM review.

Saskatoon to Winnipeg: The Beginning of the End Waking Doug up around 9:30, we said our goodbyes to everyone on IRC and headed off to the airport, as my plane left at noon and his two hours later. Not long after we arrived at the airport we had to say our own goodbyes, me to board the plane out, Doug to wait for his own. 2:25pm - I'm hit by a sense of unreality as I reenter Winnipeg Airport. Has it only been 24hrs since Doug and I waited at this same gate, still a half hour from boarding the plane to Saskatoon? A mere 48 hrs since I met this exact plane to welcome him to Winnipeg? It feels like a week, though that may be a function of lack of sleep as well as yet another jump between time zones. Since I left Tuesday night there have been 3 constants on my trip - the excitement of getting to see Fruvous, definite places to go within a definite time frame, and the Eastern Daylight Savings Time-keeping of my watch. Though it got a bit depressing at times last night with the time change, I can now say that I was at a Fruvous show until nearly 3am - neglecting, of course, to mention the show itself was in a different time zone *g* Now the only constant that remains is my watch. Thought I'm still flying from the shows, there's also the reminder that there's still three weeks before Minneapolis (which I may not get to), and a month and a half before Iron Horse. Not to mention I have 6 hours before my bus leaves for Thunder Bay and nothing to do. Actually, that's not completely true, as I've promised to try to get to the net cafe that Doug and I visited before our flight yesterday to let people know I got to Winnipeg ok. The call of IRC is getting stronger as I sit here - time to go downstairs, check the address in the phone book and hop on the bus. I'll pick this up again when I get to the Greyhound station. 8:11pm - Greyhound station. After 2.5hrs of IRC, and some video and pinball games here, I pick this up again to help kill the time before the bus leaves at 10. I sit here thinking jealously of Doug and Doug Levy in Calgary, wishing I could join them. Another part of me however is tired, both physically and of travelling, and wanting to get home to regular routines, regular computer access, and to the city that, no matter how much I complain about the isolation and the winters, I have still come to love as my second home. Maybe it's listening to Wood that's making me philosophical again, maybe it's just because I'm tired, maybe it's being alone in a bus terminal in a city I barely know... I decide to roll with it, as whatever's causing this mood won't be going away soon. It's nice to be missed, but I'll be happy to be the one doing the missing. I haven't talked to Ed in a week, electronically or otherwise, and I can't wait to get back and tell him about the adventure these three days have been. 12:35am - Kenora ON. I wake up, look at my watch and think jealously of the Dougs in Calgary. The fact that it was pouring when we left Winnipeg and it's still pouring now doesn't help my mood any, especially knowing that I have about 6 more hours to go and the guy behind me keeps pushing my seat forward. All I can think of is "the guy behind me who keeps pushing my chair, he gets a KITA, a great big KITA." Things however improve as we pull out of Kenora, as I discover my seatmate was the only person to get off the bus. Being able to stretch out makes me feel better, and I suddenly remember that the two guys behind me are going all the way to Toronto. I feel guilty about being ticked off with him (even though I didn't say anything), and resign myself to the occasional annoyance of a pushed seat before stretching out to go back to sleep. For the rest of the trip I wake only to shift position and look out the window before checking my watch and going back to sleep. I wake for the final time 20 minutes outside of Thunder Bay, and sit up for the last part of the trip - starting it the way I began, awake and listening to Fruvous. Thunder Bay is grey, gloomy and the rain pours down as the bus pulls into the station, but now all I care about is getting home and into my own bed. 8:15am (EDT) - Home at last, greeted by two of my roommates' cats. I head gladly to bed, remembering the trip that was and ready to catch up on lost sleep.

Some other tidbits from the performance include:

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