November 1, 1995/Montreal: The Canada shows finally came together after an arduous episode with a sleazy promoter in Toronto who managed to get us one of the four shows he had originally promised. We crossed the border in a foggy rain, sweating bullets for no reason in particular. We had heard stories of bands getting turned away, strip searched, etc., but we were reasonably well prepared. We didn't bring more than a dozen t-shirts/CDs/singles and we had a letter from Kevin at Cargo saying we had booked recording time. As it turned out, we didn't even need the letter, as the guard let us through after only a few questions. We arrived in Montreal and drove up St. Laurent to the club, where we met John from Pest 5000. When I first met him in Burlington, I thought he was nice, but goofy to the point of annoyance -- he's over 6 feet tall and he was wearing a big jumpsuit a la Devo (who I later found out is his favorite band). Now I realize that he is just enthusiastic without any cynicism, which is very refreshing. He invited us to cook dinner at his his apartment, which we did after shopping at the local grocery. We made butternut squash soup and had bread and salad. I had been feeling a little tired and under the weather, but this dinner cured me. John's girlfriend Denise was also there, and she was also very nice and interesting. They live in a tiny East Village style apartment fill with American pop culture relics; Denise, for example, collects all of the Oscar Mayer Hot Dog Car paraphernalia. After dinner, we went to the bar, called Boomerang, which was right around the corner from John's apartment. The first band that played was called Sachville, and they were a sort of county/indie band -- very good. Genevieve of Pest 5000 played violin for them. Then we played and were warmly received. We sold a number of t-shirts and records after. Finally John's band Starbean played, and they were very good, sort of Stereolab/Blonde Redhead style drums (Bruce), keyboards (Miss Kim) and John played guitar. They were very cool to watch because the drums and keyboards were in the back and John played up front. We also played foosball with Kim, which was also fun. The place was actually pretty crowded for all three bands, so we got our guarantee and John even gave us some extra money at the end of the night. The one tense moment of the night occurred after the show when some guy for no apparent reason slammed his fist down on a table in front of where we were selling merch and shattered a bottle of beer in his hand, which sprayed everything. Jennifer was convinced that a sliver of glass had flown into her eye, and there was blood all over the table when the guy got up. After the show, we all went out for pizza and then bought bagels, which people from Montreal say are better than New York's. We stayed at Pat's, who runs a little label called Derivative Records. The funniest thing about staying at Pat's was his cat Sam, who looked like Oscar the Grouch because he had just been shaved because his hair had become too tangled.
November 2/Ottawa: We got up and ate bagels, which were pretty good, but not better than New York's -- a little crispier and sweeter perhaps, but less fulfilling. After picking up our equipment at Starbean's rehearsal space, we left for Ottawa. We played at this club called Zephod's, which was sandwiched between two strip joints, but still located in a rather gentrified section of town called 'The Market.' We almost fell over when one of the guys from the first band told us that he had bought our record at the local store. The first band played at 9:00pm and had a Spacemen 3 lineup (they covered 'Revolution'). We played at 10:00pm (the cover was $1 dollar) to a decent crowd, but the people really started pouring in at 11:00 for the alternative dance party. It was fun to see all these kids dancing to the Cure, New Order, etc (along with some crap -- Green Day, etc.). The club had given us so many drink tickets that we had to give them away at the end of the night. We did an interview with the local radio station (8 watts) and then drove back to Montreal. The promoter was very enthusiastic about having us back, maybe for a festival in the spring.
November 3/Montreal: Considering we went to bed around 4:30am, Mike and I got up at a relatively early 11:30am and went running. The day was gray and overcast, but the sky was bright on the horizon, way out into the distance, as if the light were a waterfall running over the clouds above. For me the sky was particularly remarkable because I had dreamed it the previous night. We ran through the old stone buildings of McGill University and to the top of Mont Royal, where it was incredibly windy and desolate, but where we could see the entire city around us. That afternoon, we all went bowling, which was fun -- Pat and Kevin came with us. We ate dinner at a little deli right next to where I had eaten with Matt K__ and Megan the previous spring. That night we played at an art gallery and again the crowd was pretty decent and very enthusiastic. It took us about two hours to soundcheck because the sound guy didn't seem to know what he was doing. We seriously wrote parts for about four songs while we were waiting around. After the show, we went out to a bar and Mike and I got slaughtered at foosball. Then we went back to Pat's and watch a few episodes of the X-Files, which is the hot show these days. Pat asked us if we want to do a single with his label, which would be great for us. We all went to breakfast in the morning and had 'godlike potatoes' and drove back to New York. Jim almost ran out of gas. I just finished 'Of Human Bondage' by Somerset Maugham; my favorite line was at the end: America was here and now.
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