They’re simply one of those bands that *owns* a crowd, regardless of how many times they’ve played a city or how many times they play the same songs. The stage presence of all 4 members is overwhelming, which isn’t all that common in most bands. Flames Central might not be an ideal place for shows but it definitely worked out alright… maybe they’ll put a more reasonable limit on how many people they let in next time 
Can’t wait for the new album!!
It’s that time of year again: my mother’s 28th anniversary of birthing me (breach, jaundiced, 23.5 hr labour, no pain killers, I’m regularly reminded) is on June 13th. Huzzah, 2 points for mom! To celebrate her stubborness (and inhuman pain threshold) we’ll be gathering at the Ship & Anchor for big bottles of Newcastle, apple pie shooters, and Ship burgers this Saturday, June 16th. Show up anytime after 2pm if you’re up for a laugh, as I tend to break out my best impression of an overly-friendly leg-humping fiend who will do just about anything to make for a good photo opportunity. Photos to follow, I’m sure 
Edit: only one photo was taken that night – thanks Steve! And yes, that’s a hot pink giftbag hat…
edit 2 (by Alan):
It’s hot… HOT! Walking from the overly air-conditioned bus to the overly air-conditioned convention centre is more like swimming than walking. The direct sunlight just about takes my breath away (literally) when the breeze dies down. And even when it rains it’s 30 degrees out… I like it
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So The Girl and I made our way out to sunny Regina last Tuesday for to see Feist play some ditties. Imagine yourself front row, just right of centre (probably the only time I’ll use those words to describe myself – ha!), literally no more than a dozen feet away from one of Canada’s greatest singers. It was fairly intense to say the least! Continue reading
When: Sunday, May 20th (because Monday’s a holiday!) @ 7:00pm
Where: Hani’s Place
Games: The usual suspects, plus backgammon and anything new you’d like to bring. And lots of Liars Dice for Al…
What to bring: Your sweet selves, beverages of choice, iPods, your best dying giraffe impression, and your GAME FACE, BOYEEEE!! (or girl)
What not to bring: actual dying giraffes
Be there or be square!
Sitting on the plane in the sweltering heat wishing I had another 6 months here. And wishing that they would turn on the AC already… I’m meeeeltiiiing!
Had a really great last night in London. Part of it was spent with Jord and Hugo, part spent getting lost on the Tube, and the rest spent with the Aussie guys I met the night before. They’re a really great lot – sure hope to meet up with them again sometime down the road. And the captain just made an announcement saying the AC is broken “on the ground”, but he “hopes it may start working again in the air”. Not very comforting…
Well, this chapter of my life is now over. A great way to say goodbye to being 27 at any rate! I look forward to having the Calgary people over one night soon for pictures and stories (of how much food Jord can eat in a day, for example). And beer… Must have beer!
And AC…
Au revoir Europe, it’s been incredible!!
Just finished up my too-short visit to the Imperial War Museum, but at least I made it in before close. The day’s almost over now, and our last night here is about to begin. Jord will be heading out with his friend Hugo for some good times, and I’ll head back to the hostel shortly to meet up with some Aussie and Irish friends I met last night. It’ll be a good send-off for both of us no doubt
Until tomorrow…
I found a link to the poem I mentioned in my Vimy post: Young Fellow My Lad
It’s pretty simple, but you can imagine how many parents went through this same thing. Thought some of you might be interested
Another day spent exploring, and while Seville still seems very randomly organized (Random! Random!) to us it IS pretty damn amazing. The architecture is very cool, and spans a number of time periods. They’ve really done a good job restoring some of the older buildings and like pretty much everywhere else we’ve been there’s scaffolding up everywhere. I’m beginning to get the feeling our trip would have been tremendously different during high season!
We would have loved to stay longer, and if we had another week we could have spent time in other cities. But that’s the way this trip goes – and at least we got the one day. In less than an hour now we’ll be in the sky and off the mainland for a few years… I can’t wait to come back (looking at most of you and winking and nudging and planting the idea).
And I hate Ryan Air. I’ll never fly in Europe again unless I have a) no luggage or b) unlimited funds and c) all the time in the world. Trains only next time, thank-you very much!
In Seville, that is. Yay! It was a very strange drive… For the six hours it took us, it didn’t feel like we made much progress. I kept seeing signs for Faro, which is only 60km from Lagos, well into our trip. It felt like driving to Edmonton from Calgary but seeing signs for Airdrie the first 4 hours. It was definitely the milk run today
We’ve just checked into our hostel (very nice) and are finally able to have the first shower of the day. Then it’s off to practice our Spanish… I hope Jord remembers more than “two beers please”… Lol…
Only a few short hours left on the mainland now… Our London flight leaves at 9:30 tomorrow night. Crap, it really is coming to an end. Noooooooooooo!!! 