Making Room(s) for Baby

So we are over half way to the arrival of our little 'bean' and thought it was about time to start making a few changes to the house to accomodate the new addition.

Our guest room has now been in the process of becoming the nursery while we were wondering where we were going to put our guests. Scott decided, with some inspiration from our renovating friends Spencer & Brenda, that he would build a new room downstairs. So here is where we are at the first couple of days into the changes and lots of help from family.

And with the carpet removed to reveal the beautiful original hardwood, we are ready to do a little priming & painting. My good friend, Holly, will be up down this coming weekend to help paint the baby room. So we'll see how it goes...only about 4 more months to go and the time's a ticking.

The Quebec Festival

At long last here is the conclusion to my trip to Quebec.
So we arrived in Quebec at around 11:00am...that is the City of Quebec. I've been talking to our bus driver and it seems he's more then meets the eye (or is that the Transformers), he's worked in the music industry for years and has been the tour manager for bands such as Slayer, Poison, Tesla and Steve Earle. He drives bus cause it more relaxing. As we pull into the city I give our tour manager a call to tell him we've arrived. He sounds a little frazzled as the festival promoters are "dicking" us around. I offer to help him by getting the band and their wives into the hotel and also get our credentials for the day (I find out later from my friend that being given this responsibility is very rare for a tour security guy). I manage a quick shower in one of the hotel rooms...the Hilton seems nice...at least its shower is. My next order of business is to figure out transportation. normally this means talking to one driver about pick-up times. This festival is so big however that they have 16 vans driving around the city picking up various artists and VIP's. This means I have to make sure I give the entire schedule for the day to the director of transport unfortunately our schedule changes about twenty times a day. I don't know what they did on tours before cell phones. The days goes by like most others with press and meet and greets and show time finally comes around. Once again Alexisonfire is opening for Billy Talent so the Mosh pit is going to be huge. I don't realize how huge until I get my first look at the crowd. The Festival De Tete is one of the largest festivals in Canada and tickets are so cheap that they normally sell about 60,000 tickets for the ten day festival. Today we have broken all previous records with 80,000 patrons. The festival has never hosted a lineup with such a heavy Mosh crowd before and while I'm in the pit helping the security guys I notice a large problem occurring ... the barricade that has been placed to cut the mosh pit in half isn't holding up to the crowd crush and has broken. This is a metal barricade!!! Between Alexisonfire and BT's set we quickly fix the barricade with pieces of wood and about 8 security guys. The show goes pretty good with no serious injuries in the pit...the barricade barely held but it did hold (see picture above). As I'm down checking out the damages to the barricade I run into the only patron left in the venue...an intoxicated young guy. I say hello to him and he tells me to f#%k off and starts to climb over the barricade towards me...I think what the hell? Then after a short struggle manage to wristlock him and remove him from the venue...drunk people are stupid. It's know about 12:00am and some of the guys are looking to go to one of the local bars. I tell them I'll see what I can do (80,000 people are wandering around the city looking for bars as well) I manage to find a local who knows a guy who knows a guy that manages a bar...after a brief conversation through a translator the guy agrees to come pick up our party and drive us to the bar. Furthermore he tells me that we will get free alcohol, a VIP room and our own security detail. Sure enough when we arrive an hour later they have 5 security guys (well they look more like gorillas then guys) waiting for us at the door and they quickly usher us through the bar to a VIP lounge stocked with alcohol...so this is the rock star life style I hear about. We stay till 3:00am and it is by far the easiest night I've had working in a bar. We get back to the bus by about 3:30am and quickly start our journey back to Toronto. I hit my bunk by 4:00am...for once an early night.

Five Years and Counting...

It's time to get back to updating you all on what's new in Smalliver.

The main reason for my blog break is the impending arrival of our little 'bean'. That's what we have been calling our growing baby that will be arriving in Jan '08. We are very excited to have a little one on the way. And no, we do not know what it is yet, but maybe at the next ultrasound we will find out. Either way, boy or girl we can't wait. It has been a long time trying for us, over 2 years, but that still doesn't prepare you for all the changes that we know are coming. And we are very happy that our new one will have a cousin about the same age from Scott's sister & brother-in-law, Sheri & Vic.

Scott & I have just recently celebrated our 5th Wedding Anniversary. We decided on a nice quiet dinner at Fairview Mountain Golf Course, which is where we had our wedding reception five years previous. We also decided it was time to open up our wedding time capsule that was created on our wedding day. This consisted of messages written on small origami foldings created by our guests during the reception. So to those of you out there who helped us celebrate our wedding day...Thank you very much for all your lovely well wishes and funny marriage advice. We can't believe that five years have passed already, but we can't wait to see what the next five hold.

Toronto or Bust....by Scott

So this is a little late but oh well. I was out east again a couple of weeks ago with Billy Talent. We had a show in Toronto at the Molson Ampitheatre . This was the first time I have ever worked in an Ampitheatre and it was very cool. They are designed specifically for concerts and stage events...unlike a Hockey Arena which is designed for....well Hockey. The dressing rooms are nicer and are on a separate (secure) floor, the loading bay allows for ease of gear arrival and removal and what I found great was that the stage was about 8 feet off the floor, this helps stop stage jumpers. We arrived a day early to the venue to start pre-production. This helped the tech guys get the lights and sound in order and the band to check their instruments after their arrival back from Europe. Also for the first time ever Billy Talent used Pyro during their set. This got the band very excited as we had a bunch of small fireworks and a large amount of concussion powder for the final song of the set. One additional thing the band had to do on Thursday night was a "Game with Fame" event. This is set up by X-box and it has the entire band playing online against fans. In addition to the online play the band also got to play a bunch of different games set up around the room. At one point Ben (the lead singer) wanted a person to play a baseball game with and told me to play...I said "your the boss" and got paid to play video games...I told my Mom one day that would happen.
Well the night of the show came and nothing out of the ordinary occurred...well nothing out of the ordinary at a rock show. Since this was a "home town" show we had a very large after show party of about 400 guests and the party went on until about 2:30am. Then we climbed onto the tour bus for the 9 hour drive to Quebec City. This time the band was nice enough to give me a middle bunk on the bus...which is by far the best bunk as it is away from the road noise of the lower bunk yet there isn't as much motion as the upper bunk. Needless to say I slept the best I ever have on a tour bus....well any bus. The next thing I knew I woke up in Quebec City..... to be continued.

MMVA's by Scott

I attended the MMVA's this last weekend with Billy Talent, for those of you who don't know the MMVA's stand for the Much Music Video Awards. It's basically a souped up version of the Juno's...and the best thing was there was no Nelly Furtado dressed like a bird. So here is a blow by blow account of the MMVA's:

Sunday June 17 2007

900 - Lobby call for the crew (me included). The band members are at their individual homes because they are from Toronto.

930 - We get to the Rehearsal studio where the drum kit is stored and this is also where Billy Talent practices. I help the crew load the truck and then Paul (our Tour Manager) and I walk to Much Music.

1000 - The crew is doing load in and line checks. This gives me a chance to walk around Much Music. It's a pretty old building with a maze of hallways. I walk around as much as I can to get a lay out of the routes to and from the stage and find out were the media room, dressing rooms and washrooms are.

1100 - I have mapped the inside out in my head as much as possible time to check out the perimeter. I talk to some of the local security guys and figure out were limos will be parking and the unload and drop off points for rehearsals and of course find out were the red carpet is...for now its just a street but the barricades are up and fans are already lining the road. I also us the lure of bottled water on a hot day to grease some help out of the security guys for when we arrive later, it defiantly helps that I have been on the receiving end of good and bad tour security directors.

1330 - I had a quick meal at Subway and now I'm off to pick up the guys from the homes. Our driver for the day (Yoda is his nickname) is really good and the vehicle is a plush limo van.

1500 - I have picked up the guys and brought them back to much music, we grab credentials and head to the dressing room. Its on the fifth floor and is away from the hussle of the lower levels...being on the fifth floor will become a problem later.

1530 - Sound Check

1700 - The guys do some "shopping" at the much music swag store. Free X-Box's, watches etc. for all performers and presenters.

1815 - Have dropped the guys off at there homes and we are driving like mad back to my hotel so I can get changed and be back to get the guys for 1915. Did I mention that the hotel is across town?

1840 - Get to the hotel.

1844 - Back in the Van after changing clothes.

1907 - Back at the first band members home....I told you Yoda was a good driver.

1945 - We get dropped off at a local hotel to get into our rides to the MMVA's....two 1938 limos.

2010 - We get into the limo line for the red carpet. Turns out we are early and have to wait to get onto the carpet....its hot and the limos have no AC.

2025 - I'm out of the limo with our Warner Rep trying to negotiate our way onto the carpet early.

2030 - The guys are on the red carpet and the autographs/press dance begins. Red Carpets always look so relaxed on TV but in reality you really only have about 5 minutes to get everything done.

2045 - We are in the dressing room waiting for the show to start. One of the Alexisonfire guys informs me that they were just on the elevator when it dropped a floor and they thought they were going to die...no more elevator tonight for us...sure glad we are on the fifth floor!

2130 - Our first Spinal Tap moment. At awards shows they give you "wranglers" to assist with getting the band to their locations on time. They are usually high strung and always have the director yelling at the via headset. Our wrangler takes us down a stairwell that leads to nowhere and we have to backtrack. We still make it in time for Billy Talent to receive their first award, but I have a discussion with our wrangler about following me next time.

2220 - 10 minutes before BT play their song and I'm walking the route we will be taking for the next half hour with our wrangler. The schedule is something like this walk to stage, sing song, walk to holding area for potential award win, hopefully win award, walk to different holding area, hopefully win that award, walk to press room. This will all happen in 20 minutes.

2300 - The show is over and Billy Talent has won 3 awards including the fans choice award which is great. I'm helping our Warner Rep. get the guys through the press.

2345 - Off to the aftershow party.

0005 - We get to the party and its jammed with people, we have a private area that really isn't very private and I am constantly kicking people out that just want to wander in. The guys are spread throughout the bar so I do my best to watch them. Over the next few hours they go home one at a time.

0400 - Only one band member left and he's hanging out with the only remaining member of SUM 41, they have their own private room with Avril but shes long gone. I stand and talk with the SUM 41 security member and we spell each other off for washroom breaks.

0530 - The party is over and our two remaining guys still want to party a bit. They decide to go back to the SUM 41 hotel and hang out in the hotel room. This is good for both me and the SUM 41 security guy because this means we can both go to bed.

0600 - Back at the hotel and packing for my flight at 1200. I have to be up at 830 to meet the crew and go to the airport.

0615 - Ahhhh bed....hey is that the sun outside?

It sounds like long hours and hard work but its still alot of fun.

Taking a Break...

Sorry my posts have been few and far between. I have been taking a little hiatus on the blogging front but don't give up on me. I will have some great posts coming very soon. Just hold out a little longer...you don't want to miss them.

Only in a small town...

Just had to share with y'all my exciting morning events!
As I was getting ready for work this am, I looked out the front window and thought I saw someone's horse loose in the street. But as I took as second look I was surprised to discover that it was not a horse but a young moose. Not one to keep this phenom to myself, I started yelling to Scott that there was a moose in front of our house. He got out of bed and said it's probably just a deer, but as he looked out the window he too was just as startled by our early morning visitor. It must have been just as spooked to be in our residential area because it quickly turned around and headed back in the same direction from which it came.
It all happened so fast that I didn't get a chance to grab my camera to record this moment. But Scott was my witness and I wasn't just dreaming it all occurred.
Only in a small town...