"We're in a holding pattern right now guys," said Ricky as he came back to the band room. It was one of those portable office kind of band rooms, about 20 metres from the stage. It had been pouring down outside since we got to soundcheck at Ottowa Bluesfest – the daysheet was a little on the optimistic side with its "40% chance of rain" prediction – preventing us from plugging anything in or even putting anything on the front half of the stage. We had until about 6.00pm at the latest to get our soundcheck sorted out. If that rain kept on going like it was, it was going to be difficult to do the gig. But it wouldn't be impossible: I remember at least two occasions in the past where we dragged keyboards out of the rain and kept playing.
While we were stuck in the bandroom, the water slowly leaking in through the windows we kept open in in an effort to reheat the incredibly air-conditioned room, we found new ways to kill time. The most exciting was that game where you sit in a circle, name a person, then the next person has to think of a name beginning with the first letter of the surname of the person you just said. The name has to be someone that at least two people in the room have heard of. Go broad: not as many people have heard of Chris Noth as you might think. If the surname and firstname start with the same letter, (or if it's a one-word name like Madonna or Cher or Leon) play changes directions. It's quite easy for the game to degenerate into a playoff between two people, bouncing the same letter back and forth between each other. Harry and Ross got into a holding pattern of their own for at least an hour:
"Michael McDonald."
"Mick Meagher."
"Mike Murphy."
"Matt 'Guitar' Murphy."
"Medusa."
"Mary Magdalene."
"Mr Matey."
"Michael Moore."
"Mike Moore."
"Mike Munro."
"Michael Madsen."
"Mr Miyagi."
"Matthew McConaughey."
I couldn't remember them all if I tried. Eventually the rain eased up and we got a soundcheck in. Our gig was at the same time as Arcade Fire. Here's how many people in Ottowa haven't heard of Arcade Fire:
Next: two flights to Quebec.
Read more: http://www.myspace.com/thecatempire/blog#ixzz0yddqtRs9