We’ve spent most of August taking our vacations, but there was some excitement earlier in the month. Here is a point form summary of the month!
- We practiced a lot for our release show
- We brought the house down for our Toronto show at the Great Hall
- Gentleman Reg and Carmen Elle RULED as well! Pleasure to share the stage.
- The Arts and Workers Heritage Centre in Hamilton hosted us for a really nice intimate show the for our Hamilton release
- Then we have been on vacation! Kyle has been roadtrippin’ in the US, Christian has been playing shows, Mika’s been in Montreal, Tim’s been working (not really vacation, right), Claire’s back in Guelph working on the Jazz Festival colloquium, and I’ve been enjoying the time off and filling up sketchbooks.
So that brings us up to speed!
September brings us to wander about Ontario until it’s almost all done!
We shall see you soon!
xo
kb
I just had to share the fantastic time we’ve had in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. This has been our absolute most favourite (and awesome!) show on this tour. It all began when a girl called Cindy emailed us and asked us to play her town. I told her, “well, if you can get something together – we’ll be there!” And boy oh boy, did that town ever come together. We had the pleasure of working with Cindy and Shann (a lovely woman who helps run music events in town) who organised our night at the historic Lyric Theatre. The space was beautiful, expansive and old. The building has been saved from demolition by the local volunteer committee and they are working hard to restore it to its original beauty. Originally a popular theatre in war time, with live caberet and silent films, italso featured an apartment complex above the theatre for the caberet performers, and later the widows of the war.
Our show was such a success. We had a great all-ages crowd, so attentive and quiet, and it was really nice getting to know some of the audience members after the show. I can’t speak more highly of everyone that helped to run the night, they were incredibly hospitible and friendly beyond our wildest dreams. We will DEFINITELY come back to this town. And we have high hopes that others will stray from the Trans-Can and visit this inspiring community.
thank you so very much.
-kat.
Greetings from Enderby, BC!
We have a day off between Abbotsford and Calgary so we took a long, winding road and found ourselves in a quaint motel with a swimming pool and billiards.
In addition to sharing a stage with The Whitsundays and Shout Out Out Out Out Out in Edmonton, we also met a relative of Kyle’s!
After many long, heated debates on the long drives between cities our cardinal mascot finally has a name. Meet Cardinal Abraham (Abe for short) shown here in his natural habitat, the back of our tightly packed van.
We are looking forward to playing with The Whitsundays and our new friends Royal Canoe in Calgary tomorrow and meeting up with our Toronto tour buddies, Evening Hymns, for two shows at The Apollo in Thunder Bay.
Ta-ta for now,
Christian Miervaldis Rumney Ingelevics I
the web people can’t fix the photo at the moment and so please disregard that the tree is covering poor mika’s face. we are trying to fix it…gah
That’s a saying they have around here. Once again, the theme is use your imagination.
Last night was FUN. Wow. I don’t think we’ve ever played a show as sweaty as the one last night. We played with the lovely Rah Rah and Library Voices (and the amazing Andy Schoff) at the Exchange, and it was a packed all ages affair. They blew the roof off the place and by the end it looked like everyone had just won a million dollars in a wet t-shirt contest. Suffice to say, we continued the party long after the show. Kyle insisted we play Crazy Knucks (see photo below…) and we definitely wandered home as the sun was peeking its face through the mist. We love our new friends, they’re pretty rad. I also love my new sweater, which is fluorescent red with a maple leaf pocket. In intend on wearing that sweater every day for the remainder of this tour. Just the sweater. Watch out.
Okay so maybe we’re all pervs but we’ve come up with some pretty amazing nicknames for just about every city and place in Saskatchewan. And the province has a good nickname too but we’ll let you use your imagination. Remember Sesame Street? They were always telling us to do that…
So we made it to Bruno! After a very long 16 hour drive from Minneapolis…through the night and into the sunrise. Peps and I stocked up on tea and good tunes to try and stay awayke, but ultimately it was Christian that was a champ and took the last 8.5 hr shift. Crikey.
So we are here at All Citizens, the “smallest venue in Canada”, in the tiny town of Bruno (pop: 600). The owner, Tyler, is a gem. After showing us around his new artist centre that he’s building a few doors down from All Citizens, we got even more excited about the future of this town. It is reminiscent of early Sackville days, or so we imagined. Please keep tabs on what they’re doing there, it’s tremendously inspiring and encouraging to be able to see the growth and change that individuals bring to the community. We support that, eight hundred percent.
Hello Blog readers. Currently writing to you from the patio of Nomad’s in Minneapolis. We just finished playing the weirdest show ever-outside for a bocce ball tournament- but hey, there’s a first for everything. We already miss Chicago and our amazing friends there. We hung out with a buncha kids that we originally met at SXSW, and they are awesome human beings. We had an all American barbeque, spearheaded by our friend Kelly, and included roasted corn, watermelon, salad (complete with her grandma’s dressing that we obtained by phoning her in Arizona..) and chocolate chip cookies. Oh yes, and of course hummus. This is Forest City Lovers. There is always hummus. That’s all of us in the photo up there. We’re a good lookin’ bunch, no? We’re leaving shortly after this Minneapolis hang to drive a ridiculous 16 hours to Bruno, Saskatchewan. Ohhhh man.
Greetings from Rock Island Lodge! I am nestled inside the staff building, affectionately called the SCAB. We played a house concert here in the lodge for the guests and the staff last night, and I think it went pretty well! Everyone was very attentive and enjoyed the show. Our host, David Wells, has been very nice. We slept in a Tipi last night on the beach. Although it was a beautiful, sunny day when we arrived, a storm began around four a.m. It was pretty cold in the Tipi and the rain has been pouring since the middle of the night. It’s a pretty awesome sight to watch Lake Superior rear it’s stormy face. The waves are all white-capped an the winds are very very strong. So far we have spent the day in the lodge, relaxing and watching the storm through the windows. It almost feels as if we are on the coast. Last night a few staff members from Lake Superior provincial park came to the show, and it looks like they are going to set something up for us tonight. Playing at the park would be a perfect way to end the tour.
I can’t remember where we left off on this blog.. we haven’t been so good with updating it. Thunderbay was pretty fun though. We played the Apollo two nights in row with some nice bands, the Remains from Sydney, AU and the Good Lovelies from Toronto. Nice folks all around. Shelia, the owner of the bar, treated us nicely and we even all went out on a Value Village excursion. I’m sure Kyle is very sad that he missed it. [ Kyle flew home from Winnipeg to play Bluesfest, so we've been a three piece for the last few days ] In Thunderbay we also went to the Casino. We didn’t spend very much time there, but took advantage of the free pop, water, coffee and tea. Free things are good. I like to think that the $20 I lost was actually just really expensive pop, water, coffee and tea….
Winnipeg. Did we talk about the ‘Peg? Who knows. Who even goes on the Internet these days eh? So Winnipeg was nice…we played a couple shows there and stayed with our friends parents (who are so very very lovely).
Tour is done tomorrow! I am not sure that I want to come home and back to the same ol’ same ol’. I do miss my pets though, and I’m sure they will get a nice dose of affection upon my return. Thanks everyone for reading and keepin up with us. And for coming to the shows. And for liking us. We like you too. We’ll probably update this once in a while… otherwise, check our website: www.forestcitylovers.wordpres.com
bYE!!!
xo
kat
Oh Alberta, “Wild Rose Country”… four shows in four towns, and not a single wild rose in sight. Unless, of course, you count Kyle’s beard. It’s wild, and smells like roses.
Medicine Hat was one of the highlights of last summer’s tour, and once again, it did not dissappoint. Thomas of the Young and Pretty Folk Association puts on wicked shows at the Ottoman. Our western tour would not be complete without stopping there. Last year, we had the pleasure to play with a lovely band from Edmonton called My Robot Unicorn. Marshy Marsh (the Unicorn) and Sneaky Pete (the Robot) were there in fine Robot Unicorn form once again for a Canada Day extravaganza that included our two bands, along with the wonderful Blind Tiger Tiger, and the rockin’ John Mckiel. After the show, some our local Medicine Hat friends took us on a late night journey along a dark river path, deep into the prairie hills for a little do-it-yourself Canada Day firework show. These arid grasslands were probably not the best place to send sparks flying in all directions – we had to put out a few budding brush fires… but this just made all the more exciting, much more thrilling, even, than the crazy Canada Day fireworks of my Ottawa youth….
The next night in Lethbridge, we played to a small but enthusiastic audience at the Slice. The Lethbridgers are very good to touring bands. An old cowboy named Wes like my fiddling, but thought that Kat’s blue guitar was the ugliest thing he’d ever seen… he told her this outright while she was tuning it on stage, then promptly left the bar.
Now readers, you may remember that our dear Kyle came to Alberta with a mission – to take the T-ring challenge. T-rings are a very special kind of onion ring made only at a restaurant called Tubby Dog in Calgary. First, and average onion ring is deep fried. Then it’s dipped in pancake batter. Then it’s deep fried again. The result is a mutant onion ring of mammoth proportions, 1/8 onion, 7/8 solid grease. When Kyle was on tour with the D’Urbervilles in April, he was dared to eat an entire order of T-rings (which is about 6 rings – this may not sound like much, but believe me…. these things sit like rocks in your stomach…). He gobbled them up in less than 7 minutes, but promptly threw them up a few hours later. His goal this time around was to pace himself, eat all of them, and let them go through the full digestive process. However, after eating 4 rings, Kyle was at his breaking point. Normally we would have pushed him into eating the rest, but we still had to drive another 3 hours to Medicine Hat and play a show. It just wasn’t worth it. The thought of having nauseated, grease filled stomach in the van, ready to blow at any second silenced us, and we let Kyle admit his humble defeat. Kyle did, however, redeem himself by taking on the persona of the Bone Crusher and beating us all (Fire Fox, Wolfhead, and Putt Master that is) at mini golf at Canada Olympic Park 2 days later (although the Putt Master was only one mere stroke behind….)
In Calgary and Edmonton, we had the pleasure of playing with Marshy Marsh and Sneaky Pete’s other band, Spreepark. Our shows with them were super fun. They are one of the most energetic bands I’ve ever seen, with two drummers and their own interpretive dancer! Every band should have a dancer… maybe that will be the next big thing in indie rock, when glockenspiels and projections have grown old…
We had a little party time after our show in Edmonton… this band doesn’t party very much, but when we do, it’s always quite the time….
The next night made our Saskatchewan debut in Saskatoon. We ate some tasty Mexican food and made some amigos there at Amigos Cantina.
And thus concludes the Alberta/Saksatchewan leg of this voyage. Stay tuned for Manitoba madness…. oh my….