This past Saturday Strange Ways was playing George's Pub at the Northern Motor Inn in Terrace BC.
As some of you may recall, our last visit was cut short by a plumbing problem. Previous tries to play the Northern had been derailed by hospital visits, and deaths in the family. Coupled by a bad experience the other guys had years ago, we had a feeling that our attempts were cursed. So this is the story of us trying to break the Terrace curse.
Our day started fairly early, as the venue likes us there sound checking in the soft time in between lunch and when the hockey game starts. Garry also had to bring his truck in for a service.
We loaded up the trailer and set off.
Pete and I drew the short straw and got the back seat. We carpooled and enjoyed the spring day. Terrace is a quick 45 minute drive from our little home town.
I always get a kick out of seeing our name in lights.
We start our set up dance. This is a really easy load in. The door at the side of the stage leads to the parking lot. We back the trailer up right to the door. The pub also has a nice pair of subs, so we didn't have to bring our own.
Garry asking Pete to give him some kick.
Pete giving Garry some kick.
One of the managers of the bar came up to us as we were setting up and guaranteed that we wouldn't have a repeat of the plumbing problems.
All set up and ready to go. I'm not OCD, but the curtain on the wall is firmly attached and that it's not centred to the stage drove me crazy all night. Maybe next time we'll bring more black curtain to make it even.
The NMI gives us accommodation for the night. This time it was two separate rooms. Paul and Garry got one room, Pete and I shared the other. We had lots of time to kill so we headed to our local music store. Pete wanted another set of sticks. He's like a beaver the way he chews through sticks. Garry's wife was in Terrace and saw their truck in front of the guitar store and stopped . She burst through the door and says loudly "put the credit card away". We had a good chuckle. Stops at Canadian Tire and the liquor store before dinner.
Ate dinner and then headed back to the hotel to hang out before show time.
The pre show drink. We hit the stage around 10:00 to a fairly sparse crowd. As the first set progressed there was a steady stream of people arriving. At the 2nd break, there weren't any seats to be had anywhere.
This is Caesar, he was our DJ/MC/lighting guy. He's also super funny.
This is Lisa, she took care us that night. She's quick to share Facebook posts and we appreciate the work she puts in for us to have a good night. When I asked her at the end of the night if the bar did well, the response was "we had a good night".
Our very good friend Michelle came out with some friends.
Our buddy Wilkie (blue shirt) with his wife and friend sitting with Paul. Wilkie worked with Paul and I for many years, him and I did our apprenticeship's together, he is a ton of fun. At one point they came up to dance and Wilkie flashed us. I have to admit, it threw me and I hit a number of clams before I recovered. I should have expected it from him.
The night ended to requests that we come back and a number of compliments from people that stayed to the end. The general manager of the NMI was extremely happy with how the night went.
We went back to our rooms and celebrated the breaking of the curse of the Northern.
Thanks for letting me share what's going on with my little band in my corner of the world.
Our next gig is May 4th at the Bistro.
As some of you may recall, our last visit was cut short by a plumbing problem. Previous tries to play the Northern had been derailed by hospital visits, and deaths in the family. Coupled by a bad experience the other guys had years ago, we had a feeling that our attempts were cursed. So this is the story of us trying to break the Terrace curse.
Our day started fairly early, as the venue likes us there sound checking in the soft time in between lunch and when the hockey game starts. Garry also had to bring his truck in for a service.
We loaded up the trailer and set off.
Pete and I drew the short straw and got the back seat. We carpooled and enjoyed the spring day. Terrace is a quick 45 minute drive from our little home town.
I always get a kick out of seeing our name in lights.
We start our set up dance. This is a really easy load in. The door at the side of the stage leads to the parking lot. We back the trailer up right to the door. The pub also has a nice pair of subs, so we didn't have to bring our own.
Garry asking Pete to give him some kick.
Pete giving Garry some kick.
One of the managers of the bar came up to us as we were setting up and guaranteed that we wouldn't have a repeat of the plumbing problems.
All set up and ready to go. I'm not OCD, but the curtain on the wall is firmly attached and that it's not centred to the stage drove me crazy all night. Maybe next time we'll bring more black curtain to make it even.
The NMI gives us accommodation for the night. This time it was two separate rooms. Paul and Garry got one room, Pete and I shared the other. We had lots of time to kill so we headed to our local music store. Pete wanted another set of sticks. He's like a beaver the way he chews through sticks. Garry's wife was in Terrace and saw their truck in front of the guitar store and stopped . She burst through the door and says loudly "put the credit card away". We had a good chuckle. Stops at Canadian Tire and the liquor store before dinner.
Ate dinner and then headed back to the hotel to hang out before show time.
The pre show drink. We hit the stage around 10:00 to a fairly sparse crowd. As the first set progressed there was a steady stream of people arriving. At the 2nd break, there weren't any seats to be had anywhere.
This is Caesar, he was our DJ/MC/lighting guy. He's also super funny.
Our very good friend Michelle came out with some friends.
The night ended to requests that we come back and a number of compliments from people that stayed to the end. The general manager of the NMI was extremely happy with how the night went.
We went back to our rooms and celebrated the breaking of the curse of the Northern.
Thanks for letting me share what's going on with my little band in my corner of the world.
Our next gig is May 4th at the Bistro.
