The cell phone camera is kind of the new thing in mass audience accessories. Along with signs requesting certain songs, funny hats, plastic glasses of beer and cardboard cameras, there are hundreds of cell phone cameras out there waving around. It's definitely weird to go over to a section of the audience and see these things pop up out of the crowd. People hold them up as high as possible to get a good picture or so the person on the other end of the line can hear us for a couple of minutes. It looks like a hundred people telling me I have a phone call. These camera things tend to make the timing of onstage wardrobe adjustments a little trickier than it used to be. I'm not into the whole crotch-grabbing thing in public so I wait until the lights go down at the end of the song and sneak behind the amp line. Otherwise the Internet will be flooded with pictures of you with your hand down your pants trying to get the seam in the right place before Joey counts off the next song. I mean it's a skill that we've all had to develop over the years along with nose blowing, sneezing, sweat wiping, goosing your amp or screaming something at your Tech so he can hear you over the screaming of the audience. These things all have to be done at lightning speed during the blackout between songs. (One night I spied a girl in the audience who didn't get her boobs adjusted in time when the lights came back up so I guess the audience has to deal with these issues too.)

Tonight we're playing Calgary, Home of the Flames and the Calgary Stampede. The Flames, just last night, won the game that will put them in the Stanley Cup battle. The Town went absolutely out of their minds. Hopefully they won't be all partied out for the show tonight. Today is a non-moving day. I love getting up and not having to pack. Packing is very grounding. Actually it just plain bites. It's a task we repeat usually every other day. I actually like it when I have a small room. Then when I pack I don't have go far in order to grab everything and drag it to my poor suitcase. I can procrastinate for a few more minutes. I usually start the procrastination process the minute I wake up. Before I wake up, a part of my mind analyzes the sheet that was slipped under the door last night saying what time we have to have our bags ready and when we're leaving. It then calculates room size, energy level and whether I have to take a shower or it can wait until I get to the gig. When that's done I jump up at just the right moment and spend the next hour or so running around in my socks and underwear frantically trying to get my bags packed in order to be acceptably late for when the bellman shows up. The other day I was in mid pack when I heard this weird sound outside and before I knew it the window washer guy on his scaffold dropped down from the floor above. That was pretty awkward. I couldn't go in the living room for a few minutes. And I was nowhere near packed. Sometimes, when the bellman comes I'm behind schedule and I have to ask them to come back in a few minutes. It's kind of sad to watch their smile disappear when they realize they're going to have to go to the other end of the hotel to get somebody else's stuff and then drag that luggage cart all the way back to my room when I'm ready. I wonder if everybody else in the band does the same thing.

It must drive them nuts. I just hope Jimmy tips 'em real good 'cause they really bust their asses.

Talk to ya tomorrow,

TH