LIFE & LIMB WEST TOUR with REVIVAL DEAR OCT/NOV 2008
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Hey Everyone ... This is Rob writing as I collect my thoughts about this fantastic, crazy tour now that I’m home in Toronto. HUGE
thanks to everyone who made this tour such a great experience

for Shelley, Eddie and I!! I’m always humbled by the seemingly

endless kindness and appreciation shown to me and my fellow travelers on tour and this one was no exception. If any of you

ever doubt in the general good nature and kindness of folks around

this country, just go on tour as a musician, and you’ll be floored beyond your wildest dreams.

So … generally I’ve written tour blogs “as I go”, so I can document

stuff as it happens, before I forget. Not this time. This was the most grueling tour I’ve ever done as far as sheer number of shows, few days off, and routing which basically meant it was a survival affair: there was really only time to do the actually shows themselves, collapse into bed, get up earlier than we should, drive all day, and do the next show … now don’t get me wrong, I LOVE IT! … it just means there isn’t much time to write a blog … I’ll have to write this one from memory, and those of you who know me know that my memory is exceptionally bad, so please excuse any inaccuracies, omissions or just flat out fabrications … which means I'll probably have leave most of it to the photos and videos ... enjoy!

THE LIFE & LIMB LIST

24 shows in 26 days

13 766 kms of driving = 163 hrs, 24 minutes of driving = very nearly a FULL week of 24hr days spent driving in the van!
(The Distance from Paris to Beijing is only 8302 km!)

2 full days = approx time Shelley spent asleep in the van
5 hrs = approx time Rob spent asleep in the van
7 minutes = approx time Eddie spent asleep in the van

2 moose sightings (one alive, one dead)
13 goats (11 wild in Jasper park, and 2 living in the little barn at Piebird B & B)
59 pears (pears are an underrated fruit says Eddie, so does Mark in Victoria … apples get all the attention)

44 apples
1 pomegranate
7 kale leaves
2 containers of almond butter
5 loaves of rye bread
4 pounds of granola
1 stinky cooler
9 subway subs
79 bottles of water

lots of red & white wine and beer
26 fabulous outfits = Shelley’s tour apparel
1 pair of pants (each) = Rob’s & Eddie’s trouser selection

We left TO at 5am on our way to T-Bay on  the 1st day. Mapquest says the drive is 1400 kms and should take about 18 hrs … it took us 15 … lucky us. The fastest I’ve ever done it is 14, so we did pretty good. Not too many food or pee breaks, ‘cause otherwise it can literally take 19 or 20 hrs which is no way to start a tour. Overall the drive was uneventful. Dry roads, beautiful scenery. People always go on about the mountains in western Canada but I think some of the stretch from Sault Ste Marie to Thunder bay is the most picturesque drives you’ll see anywhere: Canadian shield, little lakes … group of seven shit. We arrived in T-Bay around 9pm, loaded out stuff into the Apollo band apartment which Sheila proprietor of the Apollo was kind enough to let us stay in even though we weren’t playing that night, grabbed a quick bite that Sheila and her mom were kind enough to prepare for us 3 vegan-vegetarian-no-wheat-or-sugar-or-dairy … what a pain the 3 of us are!! They made us oatmeal/veg burgers with rice, we had some wine and met the other band that was staying there that night: The Wintermitts who were heading east. They set up and played even though the bar wasn’t officially open and we caught a few songs, before we headed up to the band rooms to crash after the long drive. The second day we left early since we had to make it to The 'Peg that night for a show. I love the prairies. So do Eddie and Shelley. Eddie is a contrarian, he loves to fly in the face of commonly accepted notions, like for instance, that the mountains are more beautiful than the prairies, that apples are better than pears. We get along great. This was still the honeymoon stage of the tour: one day in, still fresh-faced and relatively well-rested. We went through a few jostling for position type things: who gets what seat, who drives when. Eddie loves to drive. He always wants to drive first and doesn’t really like Shelley to drive, which is fine with her since she has a special talent for sleeping in a vehicle. Eddie can’t sleep in a vehicle, I can sleep a little … We’ve all known each other for years, but getting to know someone on the road is REALLY getting to know them!  We got to Winnipeg late afternoon and set up at The Edge Artist’s Gallery & Village. Also on the bill were Justin Lacroix and his band. GREAT guys, franco-Manitobans, sang some songs in French, killer players. They did a killer cover of “I Shall Be Released” in soundcheck which made it to their set as well. We were lucky enough to stay with my friends the fantastic Terry & Terry who treated us like royalty after a long day. I remember sitting at their place after the show and thinking how lucky I am to be doing this & to get to hang out with people like the Terrys!

VIDEOS of Rap-offs in the van - Shelley explains in video #1 ... basically the rules are you get a beat, someone else picks a topic,  and you gotta start rappin' and go 'til it falls apart ... start with the vid on the left ... expect some cussin' in keeping with the genre ...

Ok, as I'm writing this I'm realizing that I'm gonna have to cut out some of the details otherwise this will end up as long as War & Peace. I don't wanna bore you good blog-reading folk!
So let's come an understanding about a few things so I don't have to keep mentioning them:

-Canada is HUGE, the drives are all really long ... generally in the 6-8 hr range, getting as high as 14-15 but never shorter than 2-3
-Canada is ridiculously, relentlessly beautiful. If it's not one thing, it's another: mountains, prairies, lakes, rivers...it can be hard on a guy
-I'm really grateful to be doing this, my passion, for a living, and I'm eternally grateful to all the people that showed Ed & Shelley and I such kindness during this tour that I can't really put it into words.  This would not be possible without you.

So are we cool?  I don't have to say it anymore, just assume that nomatter what we're doing, Shelley, Ed and I are punch-drunk from a long drive, worn out from the beauty, and thankful as hell because people are so ridiculously kind to us!

Ok, back to business ... We had a great show in Saskatoon the next day at Lydia's, caught up with some old friends (the friendship is old, not the friends) for a fantastic (himalayan?) dinner and crashed in the band rooms ... which is worth mentioning:  The band house is directly above the club, so in hardcore rock 'n' roll fashion they leave condoms and breath mints on the pillow of all the beds ... yes, rock AND roll.

The next day was a KILLER drive from Sask to FSJ ... i know, i said i wouldn't mention the drives, but we're talking 1200 km in a day here AND we have to get there in time to play a show. No sweat. We got to Egan's in time to get fed and watered (including showers...what luxury!) and play a fantastic show at Egans which has come to be a sort of second home to me. The kids were all geared up and rarin' to go since it was Halloween ... I love FSJ ...check out the pics below!

Next day was a house concert in Williams Lake,BC. I love house concerts. There's nothing like getting a bunch of music lovin' folks together and having an intimate show in someone's living room! Our host was Juli Harland Smith and her family & friends. They treated us like gold. I almost went into how grateful i am again, but I'll try and cut it out ...  

We had to split early to drive a ways, then catch the ferry to get to Victoria for the show. We had a bit of down time waiting for the ferry and had a good lunch ... Eddie got Shelley & I with a prank that he had the security guard in on letting us back to the car from the ferry ... crazy kid. The guard played along and totally got us ... I love it when people step out of their job and have some fun. We made it to Vic in time to essentially step out of the van onstage and play to a small but appreciative crowd. Some peeps from KW came out. We didn't have a place to crash that night and ended up meeting the coolest couple who put us up. These folks are really committed to food issues and farm alot of their own produce in their own backyard AND keep chickens ... all in the city!!  Mark handed Shelley a warm egg straight from a chicken right before he cooked it for her breakfast. Inspiring humans!  We had an easy ride on the ferry back to Van and I hooked up with an old friend and her family for a great dinner then headed to show at Cafe Montmartre on Main. We played immediately after a packed-house comedy show and had a crazy changeover to get setup all in front of a full house. Shelley and Eddie rocked the place ... we had a good crowd there to see us and a bunch of the comedy folks stayed behind and seemed pretty into it. I love it when that happens. A great night, with a great group of folks from all over ... that always happens in Van ... it's like "this is your life" ... people I'd originally met in KW, FSJ, Hamilton, Toronto ... and surprisingly even Vancouver! (No pics from Vic or Van shows ...not sure how that happens ...)

Back into the mountains for us. This is always one of my favourite drives. I figure i might retire(?) in the Okanagan one day. Osoyoos, Keremeos ... it always seems like a fantasy world to me. Eddie & Shelley were feeling it too. We stopped at road-side fruit stand and ate some of the best fresh fruit I've had. Yup, this is the life. It's a freakin' desert right? Never really gets too cold in the winter and it's hot as hell in the summer. THAT is good livin'. Bring it on. We had a great basically last minute show in Penticton at Voodoos. We got lucky. It was a combination of Paul who helped us set up the show only a few days before getting the word out(thanks Paul!) and a bunch of folks just walking in and staying. A good rowdy night with getting-to-know-ya drinks afterwards. Yup.

Another beautiful mountain drive. Dammit, I can't stop mentioning it! Anyway this might be one of the most amazing drives you can do. The southern-most mountain road right on the CAN/US border, AND it happened to be snowing, which got to be pretty hairy on the mountain tops ... check out the video below ... We were listening to Shannon Lyon's "December Song" in the background. Perfect. Good to hear a old friend's voice. We had a moment ...

We made it to Rossland in one piece and had a stupidly good dinner at The Old Firehall with some good friends from FSJ. The show was pretty sparsely attended 'cause of the storm, but you can't win 'em all ... fantastic venue for sure ... it IS an old firehall, with poles and all... that'll be the 2nd one I've played if you count Menoher firehall in Johnstown,PA  ... check out Ed ringing the bell before we went onstage ...

We crashed at my pals Alicia & Sean's place in Nelson after the show. Had a fun drive through the mountains at night getting there ... they'd brought walkie-talkies to talk back and forth since we were following them in case we got lost ... genius! ... Sean had had a few beverages at the show, so he had us killing ourselves with his CB lingo ... we had to be up at 5am the next morning in order to get to Calgary for a 2pm show, so we got precious little sleep.  The next day was a rock-bonanza.  The day went like this: Get up at 5am. Drive 8 hours through the mountains in the snow. Arrive at U Of Calgary just in time to set up and play for a standing room only crowd at That Empty Space. Rush to pack up so there's time to shower at the hotel before the nighttime show at Ironwood. Scarf some food at Ironwood and play to an amazing attentive crowd. Go back to the hotel. At this point Shelly left with her fiancee who'd flown out to meet her, and Eddie hit a wall and crashed, while I elected to stay up drinking with my good buddy Adrian (Ed's bro). I didn't last long.  Adrian cut me some slack after the 3rd or 4th time i fell asleep in mid sentence and that was it for me ...

... no pics from these shows(*#@!!) ... guess we had our minds on other things ...

We had a short drive to Lethbridge from Calgary. It's funny when a 2hr drive is like you're not driving at all. I know i said I wasn't gonna talk about the drives, but we got to talking about this in the van, so I just looked it up online. The total distance we drove on the tour is 13 766 kms ... to put this in perspective, as i mentioned earlier in the list, the distance from Paris to Beijing is 8302 km.  I gotta start touring in Europe and Asia! ...

The Lethbridge show at The Slice was AMAZING!  GREAT crowd and a blast all around. I always have the best time when I'm in Lethbridge and the area.  I played a great festival in Fort Macleod called South Country Fair which i can't recommend highly enough. Those 2 days were magic, a great mainstage nightime show with my band, and a few workshops the next day, sweltering hot, and a swim in the river to cool off with tons of other friendly folks. This night was no exception. The crowd was up slow dancing for some songs, clapping their asses off with Revival Dear, and singing every word to most of mine. We even took it outside for the last song of the night. Check the videos below for a taste of the night ...

PLAY LARGER

PLAY LARGER

We had a much-needed day off the next day and we took it easy in Canmore. We made some good food, got a chance to walk a bit ... not walking for more than a few minutes a day always makes my legs feel funny, so I walked around a bunch.  Eddie can't sleep so he'd already had a 2hr hike by the time Shell and I awoke.

The next day was a show in Golden at Bacchus Books, which turned out to be one of the big surprises of the tour. The show was a relatively last minute affair and ended up totally selling out!  The crowd was really warm and into participating, so we couldn't have asked for a better night since both The Dear and I are pretty new to the area. The staff and owners of Bacchus treated us like gold and had food we could eat!  The gods were smiling down on us that day for sure ...

We had our 2nd and last day off of the tour in Canmore. I cooked sausage on the barbeque. I love sausage. Nomatter what it is, if you wrap it in a pig's intestine and grill it on a barbeque I'll love it. I can't help it. I think it's 'cause my Dad is hungarian. I got that and the sad songs from him I think. They say that Hungarians are only happy when they're crying. Agreed. And they drink alot. The next day we were off for a house concert near Red Deer,AB in a little town called Lacombe. Another great house concert it was, and I'll give a HUGE thanks to Kim and Rob our hosts and their great group of friends. It's so cool to do house concerts, 'cause it's a really quick way to get to know someone ... you meet their "entourage" over music and drinks in their living room!

The next day had us playing to a full house at The Blue Chair in Edmonton. It was a great crazy crowd participation night with some close friends. Eddie broke the potato shaker during a blazing shaker solo in "That Cold Hard Sell". I did several encores. That's a cool feeling ... when there is absolutely no doubt that people want to hear more music.

The next night was a great show in Prince George. Another full house, and it was a special night since they announced the lineup for Coldsnap, the PG Winter Folk Festival that night. I was real amped up for that since I happen to be playing Coldsnap this year and can't wait. We hung out with some friends after the show at Boston pizza which has come to be sort of a ritual after shows in PG. Our friends Eric and Neda (who are also playing Coldsnap as Navaz !) put us up for the night. We also hung for a bit with my buddy Kerry who has a guitar/mandolin shop under the venue. Kerry is designing custom electric mandolins and is one of the most serious human beings you're ever gonna meet. He took a look at Shelley's mandolin and immediately decided she needed a strap ... he was dismantling her mando before anyone knew it ... what a guy. 

where's she get that shirt?

We saw our 1st moose of the tour on the drive from PG to FSJ.  It was frozen with it's legs in the air, poor thing. Shelley says you can see Ed's face in the moose's butt. You gotta get me on a good day for that. See if you can spot it in the video to the right >>>
The show the next night in FSJ was sold out in advance, and turned out to be one of the highlights of the tour. One of my best friends, the incredible Peter Katz joined us to make it a triple bill. We ended the night with a ramshackle version of The Band's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" ... what a blast ...

The next night found us in Grande Prairie playing a kinda dead Sunday night at Better Than Fred's.  I've played some great shows there, but this one didn't play out quite that way.  Just a quiet night. We headed back to the band house and crashed before the big drive back to Toon town for a house concert the next night. This turned out to be a really great night. Some old and new friends, all of whom were amped up to hear some music. As a performer, it was a really cool mix of people really listening and getting into it, and wanting to sing along and take part ... Cathy our host spontaneously jumped up for our encore with Revival Dear ... what a night!

We played a really great venue in Brandon, MB the next night called Lady Of The Lake Cafe ... they had INCREDIBLE food ... something for all of us pain-in-the-ass food people. They even had a celiac menu! (Sorry if I get excited about this kinda stuff, but it's really hard for me to find something I can eat on the road, so when I can ...)

We got pulled over with Eddie at the wheel and dodged a $450 speeding ticket!

Check out the video>>

The drive from Brandon to T Bay was pretty tough ... long and we're starting to get a bit worn out. The show at The Apollo was quite good.  The last few times I'd played had been pretty sparsely attended, so this was the best show yet. Sheila the owner and her mother are always great to hang with and the folks who showed up were either really friendly or already friends of ours, so yee-ha all 'round. We headed to The Soo the next day and got in early feeling pretty bagged. It's pretty easy to tell when I'm tired 'cause it starts to look like someone's been punching me in the eyeballs ... see pics below. We caved and went to a fancy restaurant before the show. It was one of those things where we were driving around and not finding anything and we came upon this restaurant, but it was pretty pricey, and it became: "well, whaddya wanna do?" ..."i dunno, what do YOU wanna do?". We ALL REALLY wanted to eat there so we did. Genius. It was what we needed. Funny how a good meal can rejuvenate a person. The show at Lolops turned out to be a hoot and we crashed at the hotel before our final swing home ...

What can I say about the Piebird B & B in Nipissing? Great, inspiring, committed people, beautiful, delicious, food. I can't say enough. It was a capacity night in this tiny 100 year old bed and breakfast. Sherry and Yan, the owner are committed to eating and serving vegetarian, local, organic food, and i find it inspiring to even be in their presence in their space. Shelley and Ed and I talked for hours on the road about how people are so disconnected from their food, and how it's so hard to find nutritious food, especially on the road, so this was like and oasis for us ... and I haven't even talked about the show yet!  People packed the little living room, and there's just no feeling like having a whole bunch of folks packed into a small room to share music. Thank you. Eddie and I got to meet their goats the next morning before we left. Kind of like a dream ... do these people really exist?!

The Final show of the tour could not have been better. It was at beautiful Humanities Theatre at The U Of Waterloo and was a benefit for Steve Sajecki who died of cancer. It was an emotional night for many reasons. I sang a Damien Rice cover with my friend Christen Zuch who organized the night. We'd never sang it before and had a beautiful moment rehearsing it in the shower of the dressing room. Showers always sound so good. It was a fitting way to end the tour in our hometown of KW ...

Wow. I guess we're done here. I do several tours a year, and I've been doing over 100 shows/year since 2005, but it never ceases to amaze me how I feel when a tour is done. I always want to get back on the road right away. You'd think I'd wanna chill out for a bit and take it easy, but that's not how I feel. In fact I usually get kinda depressed once I'm home for a few days. The other thing that always floors me is they just keep getting better ... I know that's the way it's supposed to go, but things don't usually go the way they're supposed to go now do they? I mean, this is by far the best tour I've ever done, the best shows, most well attended, least problems etc. etc. etc. ... Those of you who've read a few of these blogs that I've done must think: "that Szabo guy ... he's full of shit, how can each tour keep getting better than the last?". Well it's true. They are. Thank you for that. See you next time!!

rob

ps-enormous thanks to Eddie and Shelley for being two of the coolest people I've ever had the pleasure of living with ...