Toronto

1/14/11


We leave Brooklyn at 7am to try to beat the blizzard descending on New York. It snows the whole way to Toronto but we manage to stay ahead of the storm and we make it over the border with time to spare. We are all a little skeptical about driving 10 hours to play a show at this tiny club but when we get there I ask the promoter if he has a hot tub and HE TOTALLY DOES! YES! It really does pay off to ask everyone you meet on tour if they have a hot tub. He promises that we can go soak before the show but that we HAVE to stick around the club for dinner. It turns out that the club is in the basement of an amazing rustic-gourmet restaurant run by a bunch of incredibly handsome Toronto hardcore dudes. AND as luck would have it they are all big fans of the band and they really want to cook us dinner. AMAZING. We are served a whirlwind of gorgeous food all introduced by the equally gorgeous chefs who hover around us attentively as we eat. Swoon! We have bone marrow, calf liver pate, pork shoulder confit, little pumpkin raviolis and an entree of seared ELK LOIN served with whole carrots and foraged mushrooms with dark greens and beets. WTF. So rugged. So Canadian. So awesome. After dinner, as promised, Mark takes us back to his place to soak in his hot tub and play in the heated pool. It rules. We roll back to the club for the show and it is super packed and everyone is really enthusiastic. The crowd is pressing up into our space in the corner and I think I maybe hit someone in the face with my headstock cuz it is so crowded. We were gonna try to get a head start and leave for Chicago that night but Mark insists that we stay with him and we decide that we might as well continue to take advantage of his excellent hospitality. We wake up super early the next day and take off, and I drive for hours across the flat northern plains listening to Earth while everyone else sleeps in the back. 


Parts and Labour

Toronto, Canada
January 2011