Long time no post

Yes, it’s been a while since I’ve posted, but between organizing myself for the new job, and then deciding to take a last minute trip, I haven’t had much time. I’m actually writing you from Vancouver, one of my favourite cities. I decided to take a super last minute trip to visit some friends of mine, Rock Dude & his wife, Rock Queen, as I hadn’t been over here in years. How long has it been? The last trip I took to Vancouver was in 1998, and my last to BC was in 2004 for their wedding. So I am long overdue for this one.

Managed to snag the last flight of the night out of T.O. which was actually good, because then I slept a bit on the plane, and arrived at 1am, so I could just go to bed right away. None of this staying-up-as-late-as-you-can thing to overcome jet lag. The time difference is 3 hours, so nothing too horrible, but still enough to mess you up. Oddly enough, after only one day I feel pretty good. We went out last night to hear some live music (more on that in a moment), and I wasn’t tired at all, surprisingly. We were all expecting me to crash a bit before we went out, considering I should be 3 hours ahead of everyone, but no, I felt fine, and was rocking out to Incura till the wee hours of the morning. Okay, not the wee hours, but till about midnight.

Speaking of live music, the Rock Dude & Rock Queen are big proponents of live music, in particular of local bands. They’re always going out to see this band or that. So last night they took me out to the Red Room here in Vancouver, one of the coolest places to see a show, IMO, and there were three bands playing, Jackfish, Chris Witosky and the headliners, Incura. They’re a prog-rock band based here in Vancouver, and I must say I quite enjoyed them. The Rock Dude wasn’t sure if I’d like them, since he was a bit concerned about me enjoying some Madonna & the Police videos earlier in the day (haha). But that’s just cuz we haven’t talked music in ages. The Rock Dude & I went to high school together and he had forgotten that my musical tastes are all over the place. So yes, while I will enjoy a good Madonna pop song, or a rock tune from Placebo, a head banger from Def Leppard, or even a good rendition of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, I’m up for pretty much anything except country. So off we went.

The Red Room is a pretty neat venue for live music, small, but not too small, plus there are some tiered seats near the back, so if you don’t wanna mosh out, you can chill in the back. Jackfish and Chris Witosky were good as well. But everyone was there to see Incura. They came out and just ROCKED! Good tunes, with lots of changes in tempo, so the songs seemed much better than just a prog-rock song, if that makes sense. The Rock Dude is a drummer by passion, so he was just jamming to Zul as he hit the skins with abandon. Kyle, the lead singer, was just all over the place! He jumped and danced and sang like a madman! Great stage presence, as well as knowing how to interact with the crowd. Sure, they had lots of friends there, so they were able to call them out by name, but still, he knows how to talk. I hate seeing bands where the singer or the musicians don’t do much with the crowd, you know?

Before this turns into a tome, let me just stop the Incura talk by saying you should definitely check them out. Kyle says they’re hoping to get out east later on in the fall, so if you see them around Toronto or anywhere nearby, I highly recommend going. I know I’ll be there!

That’s it for Post 1 from Van City. Stay tuned for more reports from the West Coast.