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Entry #: 59 Wednesday began with a quick ten and a half hour drive to Philadelphia. We had another great visit with Bill & Karen Reid, their hospitality, food & wine always make for an enjoyable and relaxing evening. Thanks so much guys! Thursday we were off to McGuinty's in Silver Springs, MD. This was a new venue for us, great place with a large open bar area to play to. We met many people who have seen us at the Mid-Winter Irish & Scottish Festival, so thanks to everyone for coming out, you made the drive worthwhile. One of the owners used to work at a bar in Ottawa that we used to play at back in the day, when all of us girls were in elementary/high school! We all had a good time reminiscing and we look forward to going back. Cuddy and I introduced Mike to IHOP later that night....always an entertaining place at 3 a.m. Friday we were off to Washington, D.C. to perform for the Annual Masonic Banquet. This was a long day, but everything went smoothly for a change! I especially enjoyed watching Colleen & Cuddy try out their new stretches before getting on stage...ask them to show you sometime! We performed in the Ball Room at the Convention Center downtown and even though everyone had just finished a huge dinner, we had people up dancing working it off. Met lots of new people that we look forward to seeing the next time we are back in their area. Thanks to John for his help on sound that evening. After we had loaded up we had a few drinks in the Hotel Bar, and I found a new favourite martini called a 50th Street...I slept very well that night. Big thanks to Albert and his wife Mary who were fantastic hosts all day. And to Mary who sent us with a huge care package of baked goods, snacks and lots of tasty treats. Saturday we were driving by 8 a.m. and made it to Syracuse by 3 p.m. After set up and sound check, we had a quick dinner. We want to send out a huge thanks to Bernie Coyle who treated us all to an AHL game before we had to play. Bernie along with his friends Tom and Chris (the girls thank you for the flowers!) and us had a great time watching Syracuse Crunch vs. Philadelphia Phantoms. It was a very entertaining game and we all loved having time to enjoy something in the city for a change! Syracuse won six to one...woohoo! Check out the pics in the photo gallery. We had to leave after the second period to make the show, but had a blast while we were there. Kitty Hoynes was completely packed, and I think this was one of my favourite times there yet. We can't get over how many keep coming back to see us here, thanks for your constant support Syracuse. We'd like to thank Luke (bartender from the bar who had the night off) for his limber dance moves at the front of the stage, it's a side of you we have never seen before. For once, we didn't have a super early morning the next day, so we were able to hang out after with the staff and as always they were great hosts. All of us girls want to send a personal thanks to David Hoyne who gave each of us a box of gourmet chocolates from a shop in town, for Christmas presents. You definitely know the way to our hearts and are always so thoughtful! Well, this was the last tour of 2006. The rest of December will be spent on continued preparations for the next album and seeing what kind of crazy tour schedule we can get ready for 2007! Happy Holidays! ................................................................................................................................
Entry #: 58 Syracuse! We played to a packed house. Crowd was a lively bunch, the drinks were continuous and Cuddy was rocking the drums so hard that he unplugged all of our power twice. Neil Emberg and Ashley McLeod even showed up for a surprise visit on their way to Fernwood. It was great to wrestle with David Hoyne again.
Fernwood. We
had the pleasure of hanging out with PA’s finest – Bill
“favourite colour: PINK” Reid and the illuminous Karen “red
wine” Reid. We had two great sets, and second set we had an all
female Canadian dance off: us three girls, Shelley Downing &
Ashley McLeod danced the ‘famous four’. Neil Emberg sang with
Erin on Wild Horses….what a beautiful rendition. After a night
of pleasant socialites, we packed’er in around 6 a.m. Sunday’s
set was beautiful. We packed’er up, Mike went to Myrtle Beach to
play golf and we packed’er away to Canada. ................................................................................................................................
Entry #: 57 We had a quick trip down to East Greenbush. The only tough part was getting up at 7 am. Once we arrived there was plenty of coffee to keep us alive. We were looking forward to playing after spending the last month writing music at home and playing just for ourselves. There might even be applause when we finish playing tonight! The Schenectady Pipe Band and the Braemar Highland Dancers joined us for a great night of Irish music. Before our show we were treated to fantastic catered dinner. I'm not joking when I say us girls were a little worried about dancing on such full stomachs. The best treat of the entire night was the surprise appearance of the Crown Royal from two gentlemen from the Schenectady Pipe Band. Apparently there is a rumour (that is definitely true!) that Searson has a little love called Crown Royal. We were given the gift of a bottle and crown royal glasses and believe me they went to good use. Once the show was done, people had left and the equipment was packed we headed to our hotel. Everyone was pretty wiped from the day and knew it was an early start the next day, to head back to Canada. Oddly enough we drove through snow on the way home, apparently this happened on the way down but I was sleeping. I know what you're thinking, but the snow was in the States. I was mildly surprised at how much warmer Ottawa was that day. Have no fear things went back to normal the next day, it was cold but still no snow. ................................................................................................................................
Entry #: 56 We are home! The travelling continued from Indianapolis for an easy 12 hour drive to Philadelphia. We had an excellent dinner out on Karen & Bill's back porch, I can't tell you how good it was to have a home cooked meal, thank you! We weren't sure if anyone was going to make it out for a show on a Monday night, but there was a great crowd at The Shanachie. Lots of people there who said they had seen us at the Mid-Winter Festival and are coming back again in 2007. The band was in an extra good mood that night because our drummer, Cuddy, had just found out that his wife was expecting their first child - Congratulations! We are super excited for you. Then if was off to NYC, and yes, we got lost again, but what else is new. I can't wait until we have a GPS system in the van. The city had a lot of extra traffic in it that day because of people visiting from the UN. It was so packed, that we couldn't find a parking spot for the van and trailer, so Mike ended up driving around for our whole first set. We had a great dinner with Marty and his family to wrap up the evening. Wednesday we were back at St. James Gate and we always look forward to it because the hospitality is awesome. We had a full, excited crowd that evening and I really enjoyed playing that night. Colleen also met an awesome Hairstylist, and made arrangements to get her hair done in the morning by Kevin Serratore - she looks amazing. While we were waiting to pick her up, the fuel pump in the van stopped working and after a few hours of having help unhooking and moving our trailer, we towed the van to a garage and thankfully after 5 hours, the van was fixed and we barely made the show to Toms River that night. Not sure if Colleen mentioned it, but this was our second car trouble of the week because we blew another tire on the trailer on our way to Indianapolis. We had another great night in Toms River and by the end of the night, we were all completely exhausted. Friday we headed to Bethlehem, PA - we couldn't believe this was the last weekend o the tour. The had motorized carts to haul all our gear around all weekend and we played various stages throughout the weekend. Great crowds, lots of excitement, lots of fantastic people! Everyone was so welcoming and we really enjoyed ourselves. It was great to hang out with some of our favourite Canadian Bands Enter the Haggis and Greenwich Meantime (sandwich anytime !) I was also introduced to The Waffle House for my first time ever with Cuddy on Friday night around 3 a.m....just amazing. Hopefully we have converted lots of new fans in the Bethlehem area, thanks to everyone who drove long (and short) distances to see us play, we really appreciate it. Monday we were driving by 6 a.m. and arrived home around 4 p.m. completely exhausted and looking forward to the next tour! It was a great month, thanks to everyone for making it so much fun. ................................................................................................................................
Entry #: 55
Our suitcases
were packed bigger than usual for the long trip. It was an
We started off
at The Hooley on the Hudson. It was a new festival for us in The next day was are only day off on the tour. We were only the second day in. We decided to go shopping since none of us girls packed formal clothes which we would need for the weekend. We tried on many outfits alot of them with sparkles, they reminded me of a figure skating costume. With dresses and shoes purchased we went out for a steak dinner than spent the night watching tv in our rooms. Bethesda MD was the next stop. Although we had played Flannigan's before the bar had moved to a new location and changed its name to the Harp and Fiddle. We had some delicious pub food and toured the town. It was great to see many a friendly face including our stalker family out in full force! The Smyrna Opera House we had only played once before but we're looking forward to playing the venue again. It's a great room and everyone has a fabulous dinner and than a show. Plus they make the best chocolate brownies with a bailey's icing on top. I'm not even going to tell you how many brownies we ate. After the show we drove to Philadelphia to crash at a friend's place. We had an early morning flight.
Once we were
all settled in at the airport we had a few hours to kill.
It was our
first time in Colorado and the shows all went well. We got to
................................................................................................................................
Entry #: 54 We started the week off on no sleep from Colorado, and left at five in the morning to drive out to Indianapolis. We played at a place called Fionn MacCool’s. It was a great warm-up show to prepare us for the Indy Fest at the end of the weekend. For the next two nights we played in St. Louis at a bar called the Dubliner. It wasn’t open yet, so we had two great nights of private parties, with lots of booze and food!!. Afterwards we headed to another bar to watch someone else play for a change. After hooking a ride to the bar in the back of a pick-up truck, we really let loose and closed the place down. The second day I toured around downtown with Tom (Irish dude we met the first night) and had the best smoothie in town!!! Friday, it was back to Indianapolis to play at the Indy Irish Fest. Tons of food, booze etc. Once again we headed to the Wild Beaver Saloon every night…. And I must say that I was doing some fine dancing on the top of the bar!!!! Unfortunately, on my way home I tripped on the curb and skinned the bottoms of my big toes. (well, I guess Erin and Heather will have to do some extra dancing for me) Sunday morning Mike and I went to our first ever tailgating party for the Colts. We had awesome BBQ chicken, pasta shrimp, and best of all was the people!!!! September has been a great month! ................................................................................................................................
Entry #: 53 Okay, so Colleen and I are both really late with our road diaries, I apologize. It seems like we have been going non-stop - well we have actually. This was our first time playing at the Buffalo Irish Festival and it was great to see many friends that we haven't seen in awhile! We had a great time and had some really fun shows. It was good to catch up with everyone in Greenwich Meantime and we had a few late nights hanging out with them. I also really enjoyed hearing the McKrells play again, they are very talented musicians and I have been inspired again to get practicing on that Banjo that I bought last year. All of us girls are big fans of the new RAW tea by Smirnoff that was being served that weekend - I don't think they have it in Canada yet, but keep checking for it. Big thanks to Liz Mason (one of Heather's best friends) for coming down to Buffalo! Yaah, Liz! After we finished our last set on Sunday we drove straight home, as we only had a few days to prepare before the September tour. Hmmm, I don't think I should wait so long before doing the next road diary, a few details seem to have slipped my mind. Cheers everyone! ................................................................................................................................
Entry #: 52
IT HAPPENED
OVER A MONTH AGO NOW, SO IT WILL BE HARD TO REMEMBER BASICALLY
ANYTHING. THAT’S WHY I’M WRITING IN CAPITAL LETTERS, SO IT LOOKS
LIKE I’VE WRITTEN MORE THINGS. ONCE AGAIN WE HAD A GREAT TIME.
THE WEATHER WAS PRETTY OUTRAGEOUS, SUNNY ONE MINUTE THEN THERE
WAS A FLOOD OF WATER UNDER THE STAGE. WE MET SOO MANY PEOPLE
FROM NEW YORK, INCLUDING A LOT OF COPS AND FIREFIGHTERS THAT I
REMEMBER SIGNING ALL PARTS OF THEIR BODIES. THE ONLY DAMPER ON
THE WHOLE WEEKEND WAS THAT YOU COULDN’T GET ANY FOOD PAST 10
PM!!! SO IT WAS THE CONVENIENCE STORE FOR US ALL WEEKEND. WELL
THAT’S ABOUT IT…. I HOPE WE ARE BACK AGAIN NEXT YEAR!!!! ................................................................................................................................
Entry #: 51
Packing for
this trip was a little different than usual. Since we were Pembroke Waterfront Festival on Sunday was a great way to kick it off. The second year into this festival and it just keeps getting better. The people of the valley were rested up from the April Wine concert the night before and ready for the hometown entertainment. We were sharing the stage with April Verch an accomplished fiddler from Pembroke. April and us girls spent most of our summers together growing up competing at stepdancing and fiddle competions around Ontario. We haven't seen eachother since we last competed in Pembroke, with both of our busy touring schedules. We took the stage and much to our delight lots of family and friends made it out who rarely get to see us play since we spend much of our time touring the states. After the show we headed to Cuddy's house (the drummer) for a little house party. All in all it was a fine night. Wednesday we met up in Pembroke again for the big concert at the PMC. We were performing with some of our favorite Canadian bands, Sam Roberts and Matt Mays with El Torpedo. The concert proceeds we're for the Kinsmen Club of Pembroke to use for community projects and as always it was great to help give back to our area. Being a hometown show it gave us the chance to catch up with friends from the other bands and people coming back just for the show. Needless to say there was many a 50 and Crown Royal had. After the gear was all loaded and rides figured out everyone headed to the studio for the after party. In true Valley style we did it up till the sun was coming up.
Thursday
morning I was quite tired out but managed to do some laundry and
pack for the early Friday morning role call to the states. We
caught up Cheers for now and enjoy the last few weeks of summer. Stay tuned for next weeks antics as told by the crazy fiddler. ................................................................................................................................
Entry #: 50 We left the Ottawa Valley at the awesome hour of 7 a.m. and arrived at Lake George, NY around 4 p.m. Throughout set up and sound check with the company from Albany, Heather and Cuddy had a good time checking out the guy in the TIGHT speedo who was checking out what we were all up to. This concert was in a beautiful setting, we played in a bandstand and the audience was sitting on the hill all around us. It really was a fantastic turnout of people, and I personally really enjoyed this show. Great sound, great crowd, and we even got to end off the night with some delicious pizza in our rooms for a late dinner! Everyone crashed out pretty early, as we were all exhausted from the drive that day. Next we were off to Kitty Hoynes in Syracuse, NY for a CD Release Party for our new LIVE album. We always have a great time time here - the hospitality and crowds are always appreciated and it was another packed night at Kitty Hoynes. I don't know how we manage to squeeze everything onto the stage area but it definitely makes for a very close night together as a band. David Hoyne's daughter is a great irish dancer and she definitely impressed the crowd. Thanks to everyone for the great turnout! Most of the band had stayed to enjoy a few drinks after the show, and I'll never forget the rainy walk home that night - Cuddy proved to us girls that he's not too cool yet, and can enjoy a good puddle as much as the next person!
On Friday, we
played on the beautiful grounds of Cornell Universty in Ithaca,
NY. We played in this park in the middle of campus, and it was
fun to see so many kids jumping around and dancing to the music
for the entire two sets! They had so much energy and were
fascinated with Colleen's fiddling. Theymade the evening a lot
more fun. After the concert, we packed up and drove to Kingston,
ON where we all had comfy beds thanks to Heather's friend
Lauren! Thanks Lauren :) ................................................................................................................................
Entry #: 49
Wednesday
started out nice and smoothly. We all hooked up in Watertown to
start the trek to Indianapolis. 18 hours in the car that first
day….the van was pretty smelly by the end. Thursday we played
downtown at the Indiana Historical Society. Outside by the
canal, the weather was only 94 degrees. I think the band shed a
good 10 pounds that day. Friday was a luxurious day off. Went shopping, and then we all hooked up for happy hour at a bar called Coaches. The drink of choice today was raspberry rum and lemonade…extremely yummy!!! The rest of the night, well….. It’s a little dark and hazy. Woke up to the Animal Planet on the tube. Saturday..ah yes… Byrne’s Pub. Never a dull moment in Columbus Ohio. We packed the place to a very boisterous crowd and even had some people get up on stage with us. Cuddy reminded me that he chugged a few Guinness….shocker! ( He’s awake now, but still drooling) Met so many new people, including the first person who’s our new friend at MySpace. Where do I begin about Sunday? Probably with me puking on the side of the highway. Back it up a bit… we get an awesome idea to go to McDonalds for breakfast…never again! So the displacing of my stomach left me a little uncomfortable for the afternoon, but once we started playing, I was fine. The show ended early because of a storm warning, so we had the best dinner known to man. Started out with calamari, then we each got a pot of shrimp to suck back. Margarita’s and wine, we enjoyed a great dinner on the water. So today we head back home for what I believe is 36 hours before we get back into the car again. Just enough time for laundry and to see Give’r.
Later ................................................................................................................................
Entry #: 48
Everyone was
excited for this trip to begin, since this festival last year
The first
night we crashed in Niagra Falls at the Skyline Inn. When we
The plan was
to sleep in and leave at checkout time to head to Eastlake
When we
arrived at our hotel who do we meet in the parking lot but the
After a solid
and much needed sleeping I enjoyed a salad for breakfast at the
steakhouse across from our hotel called Smokey Bones. I ate my
greens and watched the Portugal vs. England match. We headed off
to the Summerfest festival to do it all over again. We performed
a few shows during the day and they all went well. We hitched a
ride home in The Whole Shebang's van along with some Elders. We
pulled up a seat on drum sets, guitar cases and what ever floor
space was available and began our roadtrip back to the hotel.
Again all the bands met up in the bar to continue where we left
off the night before. There was also a huge jam session in the
banquet room next door. Passing by the door once I was very
surprised to see a Miss Colleen Searson playing her fiddle in
the corner. There's nothing you can do but recruit the rest of
the band and a few others to cheer her on from the door. Once
the bar kicked us out and the jam session was over the
With one show
during the day on Sunday we were up and eating lunch at the
festival. Mick's Pub provided us with the breakfast of
champions. We ate
We said good
bye to our hotel at quarter to seven in the morning and began
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Entry #: 47
We were on the road at 5 a.m. and
on our way to McIntyre's Pub in Toms River, NJ. After what felt
like forever in the car, we arrived around 4:30 p.m., unloaded,
set up and sound checked. After a great dinner, we headed back
for an hour of shut eye and then we were back a raring to go!
What a great crowd, thanks so much to everyone who came! Very
exciting audience and lots of great dancers out there too! You
guys definitely kept us awak and alert after a long day. After a
few after show drinks, we hit the sack. It was spitting rain all day, which put a damper on things, but the stage and audience were covered under tents, so the party continued! After our show, we were invited to the VIP tent for some celebration time after the festival was finished. Thanks to Tom and the committee for some great food and refreshments. We played a few tunes there and step danced a little as well, Colleen just can't keep her fiddle packed for too long! :) Bruce Springsteen was playing at the Arts Center that night, and we all wanted to go BADLY! Our friend Tom on the Irish Committee had been given 6 back stage passes and front row seats, and said he couldn't give them away to anybody! I guess some kid found him in the afternoon and was lucky enough to have the tickets given to him. Tom said if only he'd known we liked Bruce's music, he would have loved to have given them to us....next time, we'll be quicker on the uptake! Oh well, thanks anyways Tom! ................................................................................................................................
Entry #: 46 We left home in the pouring rain at about 4 am Saturday morning. The rain followed us for the eight hour drive all of the way to Connecticut. Once arrived, we had a few quick minutes of sleep then headed off to the festival. We met up with The Elders and Black 47 again. What a funny bunch of guys! One great surprise we had, was a few fans brought us a couple of bottles of Crown Royal….. with bags!!!! Thanks so much guys, we had many cheers in your honour! The last night of the festival, we went to a local bar… can’t remember the name of it (must’ve been a good night!) What I do remember is falling out of a hammock, but don’t… I saved my drink! We took the scenic route home at 2 am….too dark to see anything, but it didn’t matter at that point! Ace was an excellent tour guide…I’d recommend him to anyone.
We played
hard, partied harder, went home… what a great weekend!! ................................................................................................................................
Entry #: 45
We met up in
Watertown as usual and loaded into the van to head to East
We arrived at
the festival at noon and checked things out. We had some
breakfast, polish sausages and corn dogs. Not exactly the
breakfast of champions but what can you do if that's the
only thing on the menu. We performed our first show and we
were sweating buckets by the end. We than had to load up our
gear and move to the main stage for our evening show. The second
performance went off without a hitch. After a few beers and
chatting with different people we agreed we were all famished
and the situation needed to be rectified. We were given a
gift certificate to a local steak house and lucky for us we got
the friendliest waitress around. After filling up on red
wine and steak we debated joining in on the karaoke Once we were cleaned up, we sat on the porch outside our rooms and had some more red wine. Colleen became restless and decided to venture out and see who was around the resort. We called it operation Maple Sugar! A short time later Colleen comes back to base camp and we notice she has red wine spilt down half her body. We knew there was a story. Colleen was walking by a group of kids on the swings when they started teasing her by calling her Michael Jackson. She was looking at herself trying to figure out how she earned this nickname and apparently didn't notice the bump in the road. She took a little spill with most of her drink landing on her much to the amusement of the children. There was only one thing to do, go to the bar and hear Pour Some Sugar on Me. The next morning began much the same, corndogs and sausage. We ate our breakfast and listened to the music of the Kelly family. The afternoon show had a great crowd which made the show alot of fun. When our evening show was completed we had a few beers, relaxed and enjoyedthe performance of the Saw Doctors. The only thing open for dinner was McDonalds. No one felt to good a few hours later. We hit the road home at 6am and I was home unpacking in Ottawa by 1pm. It's beginning to feel like the summer touring has begun and I like it. ................................................................................................................................
Entry #: 44 Thank god we have our visas! We started off last week finding out that our visas had not yet been approved, even though Heather was very organized, and had our applications in, in plenty of time. For those of you that don't know how this works, basically every year we apply for a work visa that allows us to work in the U.S. for one year at a time. Unfortunately, we had to cancel a show in Maplewood, NJ at St. James Gate and we apologize! We have rescheduled another date in September, and we will make it up to you! After some help from a few congressmen and an Irish American friend in the FBI, our visas were approved Friday afternoon, so we hopped in the cars, and crossed the border Friday evening, and drove 10 hours to Philadelphia. We crashed for one hour, then we got back up and were raring to go for a beautiful morning in Fairhill, MD. Bagpipe music greeted us at the gates and a spread of breakfast food energized us for the day. We performed seven sets throughout the day, but had a lot of fun, because the crowds were great and excited to see us. After visiting with lots of familiar faces, we packed up, got back in the car, and drove straight home that night, arriving back in Canada around four in the morning! Gotta love being a musician.....Heather will be reporting soon on the great festival we just got back from in East Durham, NY. ................................................................................................................................
Entry #: 43 Maynooth!!! It was really exciting to be playing so close to home. Maynooth is about an hour’s drive from our home, it did feel weird to be leaving so late at night on Friday. Maynooth is a very small town, but luckily enough we found the liquor store without any hassles. Friday night we played in this huge building that resembled a barn…maybe it was. After the show we went to the 1 and only bar in town to watch the Brian Pickerall band. Once the bar closed for the night, we checked out the town and found ourselves at a campfire with some kids who had come home from a country dance that night. Saw some wildlife and went to bed. Saturday was very relaxing, a quick stepdancing workshop in the afternoon and our show at the barn again that night. Place was packed and very lively. After loading our gear into the van for a quick drive home, we are stopped at a ride program. Thank god it was ‘hottie’ Constable Pinkerton. If only I was driving, maybe I could’ve been frisked!!
That was the
weekend. Just a little quickie trip in Ontario. ................................................................................................................................
Entry #: 42
It was a
beautiful Monday in Canada and we we're sitting in the van
crossing the 1000 Islands. We were headed to Philly to crash
with friends Bill and Karen. The first stop of the trip was a
fav of the band Wegemens outside Syracuse. This grocery store
has everything, including a wide variety of samples which are
Colleen's favourite meal. We made it to Philly in good time, if
you consider 10 1/2 hours with a van and trailer a record. With Mrs. O'Leary's Irish Pub was the setting for our first gig. The entire ride there we discussed what each of us was going to have for dinner and that we should probably order wings after the show tonight. You might have guessed that this was a good food night for us. With the sound check completed and food in our bellies ( I went with the steak salad) we headed to our motel for a nap. We show up for our show or I should say the girls showed up for the show but the boys were no where in sight. The show was suppose to start at 8 pm, us girls figuring the guys were on their was over took the oppurtunity to talk and catch up with people we haven't seen since the last time we pulled through. Finally Erin goes to check on the boys and wouldn't you know it they are fast asleep. Their alarm clock stopped running at 7:20 pm. Plus they are the old guys of the group, they may have just needed the extra rest. We got the show under way. We were a little nervous since we were performing 7 new numbers throughout the night. Luckily we had a great audience to support us and it all went off without a hitch giving us a little more confidence with our new material. Needless to say the wings at the end of the night were amazing!
The next
morning after lunch at Mrs. O'Leary's we jumped in the car for
the
The next day
everyone separated to walk around and discovery the new place we
were at. We all ate at different restaurants around the square
and
The day of the
festival begins. The were some other bands there who were
We said good
bye to the Executive Inn in Knoxville at 6 am to head home. We
got on the 81 North and stayed there until we hit the border. 16
1/2 hours later Colleen and I were unloading the car and glad
that we weren't with the crew going back to the Valley. They
pulled into the farm at the 18 1/2 hours mark. It was a great
trip to get things under way for the summer. ................................................................................................................................
Entry #: 41 It was so great to be back in Toronto, it has definitely been way too long. The evening and the pub were full of all of our friends (yes, we have a few). I guess we just had to play a little closer to home to see some familiar faces again. There were so many people to catch up with and so little time, so we packed the evening with music and lots of talking! Thanks to everyone who came out, we really appreciated it. You made the CD Release a ton of fun. Friday morning we were off to southern Ontario, to play at the Windsor Casino. Playing at a Casino was a definite first for us. They are very strict with the bands, and after been given 5 pages of rules and regulations we came to the conclusion that as long as we didn’t drink, gamble, sell CD’s, hang out too long by the stage on our breaks and talk to people, and didn’t wear the same clothes in the gambling area as we wore on stage we wouldn’t get kicked out! Heather received her first verbal warning within 5 minutes of arriving which I thought was hilarious….pink slip for Heather! That’s the last time you’ll unload equipment through THOSE doors. The stage was raised up, behind the bar, so we got to look out at all the gamblers all weekend long. Once we get set up, sound checked and settled in, we got into the groove of the weekend. And what a groove it was. Let me tell you, we definitely earned our keep this weekend. Six 75 minute sets over 28 hours, is enough to exhaust anybody. I felt like I had been in the boxing ring all weekend. Every night we ate dinner around 2:30 a.m. and we were so starved, that we ordered enough food for 3 times the people. We had some family show up and surprise us, so it was fun to hang out and catch up with them – thanks Kim and Shaun! We left Windsor exhausted, but well rehearsed and it gave us lots of great ideas for the new material that we are putting together for the summer. We are spending the next few weeks at home, finalizing bookings, getting lots of new songs ready for stage, and preparing for the summer touring. So get ready everybody, ‘cause it’s going to be a great summer! ................................................................................................................................
Entry #: 40 It’s been a crazy few weeks for us. We were supposed to leave on Tuesday and work our way to the south throughout the week, but unfortunately a few people gained some weight over the last few weeks and the back end of the van had some damage to it. Need I mention any names? (bass and piano player?) So our beloved Beverly was in the garage all week getting a well deserved pampering. We were set to leave on Friday morning and drive straight to South Carolina, when our drummer Cuddy Z. told us that he couldn’t make this trip with us. Scrambling at the last minute we decided to trek on ahead without him. Being one step down from a starving student, we needed the money. I love the Carolina’s in March. It was 28 degrees and beautiful. Our Saturday show was at a local bar called Woodchuck’s. This place was awesome. About an eighth of the place was indoors, the rest was outdoors. There was a huge beach volleyball court, and our stage overlooked the entire backyard. More bars need to be outside. It was a great intimate evening. After the show, we had a few wind down drinks and went on a mini adventure. After discussing the philosophies of piano repair men, purple skies, and more piano repair men, we took our night caps and that was that. Sunday’s festival in Greenville, S.C. was absolutely beautiful. It took place in a park with waterfalls, and tons of gardens. It took about ten minutes in the sun until Erin and I resembled little burnt tomatoes. (Damn Heather and her ability to tan!) What can I say about the day? Good food, good booze, great music! (Some guy asked me if I was the Britney Spears of Canada.) We went to the cheapest, quickest Mexican restaurant in Greenville. Anyone who reads these things knows that we like to chow down, and boy did we ever! We ended the night at Woodchuck’s again. I introduced them to rye and coke, they introduced me to lemon drop shots. Win! Win! Situation as far as I’m concerned. After a couple of days off in Virginia, we were set to play at a new club in Herndon, Va. Funniest thing ever- We were parking Beverly and the new trailer (which we haven’t named yet) sorry, Erin was parking and we were watching. All of a sudden we hear “FREEZE DON’T MOVE!!” There was about 15 cops with ‘SWAT’ written on the back of their jackets, half a dozen cars and vans surrounding us, and a crap load of guns. Apparently the guys in the car across from us were wanted by these guys. So, we watched them take the guys down very forcefully, and arrest them. It was pretty exciting to see! After that it got a little boring, so we reluctantly went to go Play for the night. Heather went back out for something, I don’t remember what- when she came back she said there was a body lying on the pavement with a sheet covering it. Dammit! We left to soon. Apparently something crazy happened after we left. The 2 theories we came up with? Either they had to take a bad guy down in an awesome shootout, or there was a body in the trunk. The show was great as usual. We had a pretty solid crowd since it was the first time we were there. Our favourite “stalkers” came out in full force again, and we got to catch up and also reminisce about the Poconos. We all got splendid jewelry for Erin’s B-day. Check out the website at www.MysticalCreations.org Thursday was driving day. We went from Virginia to Indiana, which took 10 ½ hours. That’s all I have to say about that. Well the magical day was finally upon us, March 17th. Woke up bright and early to the alarm at 9am and we were off to our first show of the day. The Claddagh Pub was jam packed with drunks by 10:30am. We played until 2:30pm. Good people, good beer and good food. We met some Canadians who played on a bunch of farm teams for hockey, and basically taunted the Americans into drinking more. After that, it was a quick pack up and we headed to Plainfield. No matter what anyone says, outdoor concerts in March, in Indiana-BRUTALLY COLD. We were so numb that I was literally crying every time I had to play my fiddle. The pain reminded me of that Family Guy episode where Peter falls from the tree and catches his bottom lip on a branch only to have his lip stretched over his head. We met a bunch of young lads from the Indy Irish Fest…. Can’t wait to go back again….God I wish it was summer…soon. Back into the car we headed for an all night drive to Watertown, NY for another Paddy’s Day bash on Saturday. (Don’t worry; we took some road rockets with us to celebrate in the car.) Saturday, after driving all night we ended up in Watertown, NY. It was the best way to end the tour. We had a huge show on the 11th floor in some building. It was cool, an entire floor dedicated to a beer garden!! Everyone was dancing, and being very naughty, I loved it! After the show I was ready to be home… Just a quickie of a trip to get here. Now that I’m here, I am going out to heckle some other bands… Colleen ................................................................................................................................
Entry #: 39 Manhattan was where it all began. The Full Shilling kicked off the party. New faces and old were great to see out dancing to the music. After feasting on the delicious food we headed back to the hotel. In the spirit of the Olympics we decided to hold are own events. The first sport of the week long Olympics was the long jump. There was some trouble with the marking of the jumps. In the end the Gold went to Cuddy who turned out an amazing performance. We were all craving the mussels at St. James Gate; I think we started talking about them while we were still in Canada. We setup in the afternoon then feasted on mussels. We crammed onto the stage, it was a little tighter than usual with the drums but we had a lot of fun anyways. We were off to Tom’s River, home of the hotel with fresh baked cookies. I’m not going to lie the band ate a lot of cookies; I think Mike ate the most. The pub had just reopened from a little makeover and the place looked great. I think this was one of our best crowds there yet. We finished off the night with the standing long jump Olympic event. After 3 jumps we were down to the finals. That is where the jump of a lifetime came out of nowhere from the shortest member, yours truly, me. Mid-Winter is the family reunion for Canadian bands. We were able to catch lots of stellar performances and catch up with old friends. I don’t think anyone made it to their beds before sunrise. We had the new Live cd available and hope everyone enjoyed it. The cd is my favorite thus far. The ride home was long, although I missed it after sleeping the entire trip. I woke to mounds of snow in Watertown and a freezing chill of wind. The great weather of the trip was gone, we were back in winter. I’m already looking forward to the next trip and the sunny weather. ................................................................................................................................
Entry #: 38 We have not played in good old Pembroke, ON in a long time and it was great to be back. It always ends up being a big reunion of friends and family, so it keeps us on our toes all night. And of course, this is Cuddy’s hometown, so everyone came out to see this ‘Celtic band’ that he’s playing with. Within the first 15 minutes we had the stamp of approval from the crowd and it was a very upbeat night…everyone was definitely out for a good time. Big thanks to Brian Walters for the wicked job at the sound board! And Happy Birthday to Heather who turned a ¼ of century a few days before the gig. A few days later we were off to southern Ontario and I got to stay at my favourite hotel – The Grandparents. Nothing is ever better. Thursday morning we picked up where we left off and after many, MANY questions at the border they reluctantly let us through. We played at The Claddagh Irish Pub in Livonia, MI, where the people are welcoming and the food is wicked. A few drinks after the show and we were off to bed. This was Superbowl weekend, and in all honesty, I don’t watch any football…at all. But when we arrived in Windsor, ON the streets were buzzing with people and the hotel rates had gone through the roof. We were playing at the Armouries where a Superbowl party was being hosted for NFL Executives. Everything was pretty hush, hush, so as always, we had no clue who we were really playing for, but what else is new? After security did a sweep for any hidden bombs, we were allowed to load-in and sound check. There was a Motown group performing as well and man, were they good. One of the best bands I have heard in awhile. This event was lacking for nothing. It was decorated with a winter theme, black leather chairs, couches, tables etc…were brought in. Big ice bars were set up, and the food – I have never seen so much delicious food in one place. Of course, all the entertainers (that’s us) and workers were informed in our contracts that we couldn’t eat or drink anything from the party. We surprisingly restrained ourselves – that is until the party was over; I’ve never seen so many people gather around food tables so quickly before! Mike & Colleen had at least 30 Jumbo Shrimp each and they were only getting started. Okay, enough about us eating, that’s all we ever talk about. We had one main stage performance and then a couple in another room that was done up as a classy ski lodge with a more relaxed atmosphere. Great night! Supposedly there were a lot of celebrities in town, and everyone seemed to be scouting for them. As we were loading our trailer, people kept coming up and asking who was playing in there? Who’s in your trailer?...of course they were expecting someone exciting! Since the Rolling Stones were playing the half-time party I told them we had Mick in our trailer. And people believed me. Must have been the alcohol. After we finished loading we had to get back in that van and keep on driving. Doesn’t matter that it was 2:30 a.m., we just never stop. Another border crossing and we were on our way to Jamestown, NY, a first for us. We arrived around 10:30 a.m. and caught 2 hours of sleep in this gorgeous old home. Then it was up and at ‘em for sound check and a quick dinner. We were back at the theatre ready to rock and roll. We were excited to see that almost all of the seats were sold out and this was our first time to this area. Very encouraging. The show began, and within the first 30 seconds, Heather’s bass amp cut out and all of the lights in the theatre shut off. After continuing to play for what felt like a minute or two, everything returned to normal and we continued on. Never played in the dark like that in front of so many people, it was pretty funny. I could hear Colleen laughing beside me. We want to thank all of the light and sound crew at the show, most of them were college students, and they were very organized and helpful, so thanks guys! Another successful trip. ................................................................................................................................
Entry #: 37
Well obviously this
road diary is a little late, but I will scratch my brain to
remember all of the crazy, cool things that we did, or I just
think we did…. ................................................................................................................................
Entry #: 36 The first road trip of the New Year began as usual with everyone meeting at the border for the attempt to enter the USA. With the new drummer in tow Mr. Cuddy Z. we were ready to perform. We cut the trip to MD down by leaving the night before and sleeping outside Scranton. The next morning we headed to Mrs. O’Leary’s and after a sound check with the usual minor gremlins we sat down to a fantastic dinner. We had a quick nap and than got ready for the show. Our first show with Cuddy was awesome! We love playing with drums. The audience kept telling us they can’t imagine our show without drums, and Searson some how found a way to have even more energy. It was great to see so many familiar faces out. After feasting on wings we retired to the Super 6 Motel. The four hour drive to Virginia Beach flew by and before we knew it we were setting up at the Whitehorse. We were surprised again by the amount of people who made it out right after New Year’s and we greatly appreciate it. The drive to Williamsburg the next day was only an hour, which gave us time to investigate this historical place. After stretching our legs and sampling everything from breads to desserts to wine we decided to hit the local bar, the Green Leaf for an afternoon drink. With our martinis and beer finished, we headed to the Kimble Theatre for our sound check for the showcase. The wait for the sound check to happen was quite a wait. We ended up skipping dinner and than got ready to perform. With ten other acts there was lots of great music to listen too. We were singing along to all the old country hits from our dressing room. Our showcase spot was fifteen minutes and it went over with great reception. After meeting many people in the lobby and answering all their many questions we headed to the Variety Attractions suite. Here we were able to have a drink and keep socializing with people from the many fair boards of Virginia. We were also starving by this point and tried to subside the hunger pains with some snack mix. Every band member was inducted into the Wang Society (don’t ask what it is, it’s a secret we can’t reveal) and than we headed out to find some dinner. Seeing as it was after 2 am the IHOP or the Seven Eleven were are only choices. We went with the house of pancakes. Crawling into our beds well after 3:30 am everyone was beat and fell dead asleep. At 8:30 am we were back up and in the van to begin our long 13 hour trip home. We’re just outside Scranton and about 6 hours from the border. Hopefully the rest of the drive will continue without a hitch. Knock on wood, and hopefully will be home tonight. ................................................................................................................................
Entry #: 35 Happy New Year to everyone! I have enjoyed the holidays so much and it has been great to see friends and family after a busy year of touring. We have been spending the last few months preparing our tour schedule for 2006, as well as writing new music, and rehearsing with our new drummer which we are all very excited about! On December 26th Mike, Colleen, Heather and myself headed down to Hershey, PA. After driving in a blizzard for 9 hours – for a 10 hour drive – we arrived. We were especially excited to be staying at the Hershey Convention Center because they give away so much free chocolate!! The convention center had some fantastic restaurants that we enjoyed to the fullest and after every meal they would give us a big plastic cup full of Hershey chocolate bars. Nothing like waking up in the morning and eating some chocolate! Mmmmm….. The following day was spent preparing for the show. We were performing for the Free Masons of Pennsylvania and they were such a welcoming and interesting group of people. We were treated extremely well and really appreciated it. We had a sound check in the afternoon, and performed early evening along with a group of Irish Dancers from the area. After the show was completed and we had packed up, we joined some of the Masons for food and drinks in the hospitality suite and had some great conversation with people from all over the U.S. I honestly had no idea how much charity work this group did on a daily basis. On the 28th we got up early and drove straight home, got a few hours of sleep and then had rehearsals the next day with our new drummer as well as preparing for our showcase in Virginia. We have had lots of people emailing us and asking when the new CD is going to be ready – the art work was sent in this week and we are hoping to have the new SEARSON LIVE CD with us by the middle of February 2006. Keep checking the tour schedule for CD release parties near you! That’s all for now, talk to ya soon! ................................................................................................................................ » 2007 Road Diary » 2004-2005 Road Diary ................................................................................................................................ » Join The Searson Mailing List
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