Hey everybody,

We’ve arrived safely in Cobalt, Ontario on Thursday night, and thought we’d fill you in a little bit of our progress since we met up in Southern Ontario this September, to get ready for the tour.

Arriving in Windsor about two weeks before our first show, we’ve rehearsed the material we are showcasing for you this fall. Though the two shows we played together earlier this year were unrehearsed and went great, we decided to get hard at work on new material, as well as putting together “unplugged” versions for the songs you already know! We now refer to those 2 weeks as the woodshed diaries. Equipped with a heater and a beer fridge, the woodshed was the perfect place for us to get away and work on some new arrangements for you.

The kick off date of the tour, October 1st, was a great success at the Maroon Bros. Bar & Grill in downtown Windsor. Overlooking the Detroit river and skyline, we played a monster set that night. Scheduled to play from 6pm until 10pm, we had to extend this somewhat. The band set to play after us had an unfortunate motorcycle accident. Bret is fine, but was unable to make the show that night, which left us playing until 1230. That’s 6 and a half hours folks!! But we pulled it off without breaking a sweat, because we were right by the window and a cool breeze was blowing in!

The next day, we played a sort of matinee at the local firemen club in town, The Hook & Ladder. I must admit we were a bit tired from the night before, but we pulled it off again, though this was only a two hour performance.

We’d like to thank everyone who came out to the shows and all the staff again for showing us a great time during our stay!

At this point in the blog, B.B. would like to mention that he is working on a separate project while on tour, called the “Clubs Across Canada” project. He will taste testing club sandwiches wherever available while on tour, and keeping notes of which city and restaurant offers the best club sandwich!

B.B.: “ I strongly recommend the peameal clubhouse sandwich at the Hook & Ladder in Windsor. It was just a well put together sandwich and the peameal was a nice touch. It sets the bar pretty high for the other sandwiches to come this fall.”

After leaving Windsor we headed straight to Toronto to meet up with our friends before our show on Tuesday. It turns out The Auditor General was in town, playing a show on Tuesday as well! Jamie Smith, the lead singer for the band, will be opening up the night for us in Thunder Bay next week. We decided to catch their set at the Horseshoe Tavern and invited them to do the same at Grossman’s later, which they did.

A now regular stop for the band, Grossman’s tavern on a Tuesday night is always unpredictable, but the turnout and response was great! The Toronto crowd showed up first, the Thunder Bay crowd, left last…they always do. Thanks to everyone who came out! We had a blast and we know you did too! There’s only one thing to do when Northerners unite in the big smoke…Party!

On Thursday, we left the city and made our way north to Cobalt. Thinking we could get a cheap room in town turned out a be fallacy, there are no hotel rooms. Haileybury, only a short distance away, would be able to host us before our playing arrangements kicked in the next day in Cobalt and so we hit the highway and made our way to the Leisure Inn. The Inn was almost full that night so we were offered the last available booking at a discount price, the jacuzzi honeymoon suite. It was very sweet of them, but they shouldn’t have. We have both agreed that there will be no further elaborations of this night at this point.

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