Any negative tone about Tricky Woo is intended for humourous purposes only and must be considered in context with Letter 4 and Letter 9.
HomeEmail me at jeffstonemusic@yahoo.com
Jeff Stone
PO Box 7156
Station A
Toronto, ON
M5W 1X8
Canada
Dear Friends,
What follows is a continuation of notes I made on my coast-to-coast travels.
Tricky Woo Have Their Revenge
Tom flew back to Toronto on July 2. Leela was to go to Yellowknife on Tuesday, July 7, and I had never been to the Northwest Territories, so I decided to go along for the trip. However, I did not want to spend another weekend not working in Edmonton, so I took a Greyhound bus to Calgary on Saturday, July 4.
Tricky Woo felt that if I was going to score off of their auto problems, then I was going to have some of my own. Tricky Woo are very tricky; so tricky that they found out which bus I would be on, and they sabotaged it.
The bus broke down in the middle of nowhere between Edmonton and Calgary. The wait was 45 minutes for another bus.
Please, Tricky Woo, listen to me. There were other people on that bus, not just me. Wasn't it going just a bit overboard to obstruct travel for all, in the name of getting at me?
We can all get along.
Calgary
I did not realize that the Stampede was on when I headed to Calgary. This is a huge citywide fair/ rodeo that I did not intend to go to. I almost did not get a place to stay. In fact, despite making arrangements at a hostel to sleep on a couch, the employee did not leave a note for security, who were going to keep me out on the street that night. Luckily, one person did not show to claim their bed. I got it. (Maybe Tricky Woo? Nah, they'd already played Calgary.)
I wandered around that Saturday night, looking for a place to play. In such a quick trip, my goal was to simply perform, so as to put another stop on my tour list, and perhaps sell some CDs to those in the audience.
I happened by a place called The Cozy Pub. The band was on a break, and they let me go on. I opened with "Let's Just Be Enemies", a crowd-pleaser. As I sang and looked around the room, I noticed that I had everyone's attention. Good sign. There is one line I sing where I expect a laugh. I got it from a couple of girls. Good sign.
My performance was good. I was hyped. I finished...and waited for the applause...and waited...and waited. Crickets could be heard.
Unbelievable! Amongst all of the performances I have ever had, there have been audiences that did not dig me. And there was always a reason. One, my playing was off, two, my singing was off, or three, my persona was off. But if I was on, and I got the crowd to listen, they would like me. It's just something I'm used to.
This crowd hated me. I continued playing. I was on fire. The crowd was on ice. Midway through my third song, as I sang, an employee told me in my ear that the music was going on in two minutes. I cut out a verse and went straight to the chorus. It was thirty seconds later, and the music went on. Over top of me. I mean, if I am to be humiliated, I might as well deserve it. But people; stuff like this happens when you're a nobody. Keep going forward.
We can all get along. But not me and the people at the Cozy Pub. We'll never get along.
I secured a gig the next night at Megabites Café, by the main Stampede grounds for the next night.
On the Sunday afternoon, an incredible hail storm hit Calgary. I was sitting downstairs at the time when I heard a lot of banging. There was so much noise that I had to check it out. I looked outside on this Sunday afternoon in July to discover that the streets were full of ice and the pellets were still coming down hard.
Then it quickly melted in the summer temperature.
At the Megabites Cafe, I shared a stage with a member of the house band, Scott Bennett, and it went me for two songs, Scott for two songs, etc. Scott liked my songs, and I went to an open stage in a better mood. At the Java Shark, I played three songs. I left the stage and had people say to me "Sweet!" "Great tunes!" I still didn't sell any CDs though.
I went back to Edmonton on Monday night. On the bus, I got to watch a couple of decent movies. The one I really enjoyed was "The Man Who Knew To Little", with Bill Murray. I was in the right mood for that kind of comedy. The movies spoiled me. I will explain why in a future letter.
Near Edmonton, I started to talk to a pretty English girl across the isle from me named Carmen. She was a traveller too.
It was a brief but cordial conversation. She told me about her disappointment that England had been knocked out of the World Cup quarterfinals in a penalty kicks situation. Carmen told me that she was eventually going to Kenora, Ontario, then to Toronto. I gave her the bad news that despite being in the same province, Toronto is a 22 hour drive from Kenora.
On Tuesday afternoon, Leela picked me up in her car. I had seen it before, but I was still impressed (recycled joke, sorry). We left Edmonton at 2:30 PM on Tuesday to go to Yellowknife, and we followed the Yellowknife road. We followed the Yellowknife road. Follow, follow, follow, follow...yeah, whatever. We arrived in Yellowknife at 10:00 AM on Wednesday. I was so exhausted that I was almost at the point of being delusional.
Until my next letter,
Jeff Stone