We drove to the border. People were nervous.
We talked about felonies and DUI's on the way. Half the people in our van had records.
We sat in a building in between America and Canada for 20 minutes.
There was tension as we waited for our passports to clear.
Cherith wouldn't sit down.
He took a picture.
Joe Bagale told everyone to be quiet. Some people grumbled. I was a tar demon and you could see the shit coming out of my skin. I thought the Canadians could see it and they wouldn't let me through.
The passports cleared. Everything was good.
We drove through the Canadian countryside and the air was clear.
We got to Montreal and our van went to the hotel. The rooms were nice. They were little apartments with bedrooms and kitchens. I washed up and changed my shirt.
Adam played with Crystal. He played with Joe Bagale. At 9 o'clock on the dot he was supposed to play with Shotgun.
It was ten minutes to Shotgun's show time and he hadn't showed up. I started to worry.
It was 5 minutes till show time and there was debate as whether to go on without him. The stage manager said we must go on. I cursed the stage manager.
It was show time and Adam hadn't showed up. I started to sweat. I walked out on stage and looked out a 6,000 people and spoke into the mic. I rapped accapela. That ended and I was out of tricks.
The band had to play so Tommy Folen played bass instead of Adam. He didn't know the songs. He played like he did. He was a man but it wouldn't last long.
It was 15 minutes in and Adam wasn't there. I called the strings up and Evan Francis counted it in and we began to play. I could have kissed Evan. He was feeding me confidence. We went through a song. It wasn't bad but I was still sweating.
Adam showed up with Jon and they set up they're gear. The shows had been scheduled for failure. They hadn't had time to get to the stage when we played but that was behind us now and we needed to work.
I wiped my brow and the show went on. The crowd called out for Joe Cohen. The called out for Evan and Sheldon and Mikey. They called out for Adam and Anthony. They called out for Shaina, and Cherith, and Alex. They called out for Pat with his SF hat on his head.
They called out for us and I felt it. I could feel that they felt it. They got it. I knew we had something special and the people in Montreal got it. I looked out at those 6,000 people and I felt it.
I played the show like I would have played any show and they responded. I rapped and the band played and we were accepted for what we were & embraced for our difference.
We walked the streets of Montreal. We were a living cloud of bliss. Everyone we met was nice. Everyone was smart. These Quebecians knew how life worked and they had mastered it. They had socialized health care. They had low cost of living. They paid $600 for three bedroom apartments. I wasn't jealous, just in awe.
We went to a club and it was jazz/hip-hop jam with Kommunity. They rapped and sang and kept it real. We sat in and they loved it and spoke with us and accepted us. There was no bullshit. There wasn't ego or beef. We were no longer in America.
It was the next morning, the day of Brass Bows & Beats on the main stage. I ate breakfast at a little spot near the hotel. I sat with Jon Monahan, Eric Garland, Matt Lucas, Steve, and Seneca. We ate and we felt good. Matt Lucas explained that the air conditioner in the restaurant was very advanced and that it was built with a cutting edge duct system. Eric said it was the most boring thing he had ever heard.
Me and Sen went back to the Hotel and watched the World Cup. Brazil scared me. They were too good and I couldn't root for them.
The night's show crept up on us. We were playing Brass Bows & Beats on the main stage. Sound men speaking French and smoking American Spirits scurried around in all directions.
The sun was going down and there was a chance of rain.
The 43 piece orchestra played "Darkness & Light" and I watched it on one of the monitors. Aima was the mother of the whole crowd. She nurtured all 60,000 people with her voice. Karyn Paige was an animated pixie. She was sent from another land to show the people of Earth how to get down.
The band went into "Sweet Memory" and I walked out on to the stage and looked out at the crowd and thought: "I had a dream about this once."
The show went on and I lost track of where I was and who I was. Matt Nelson shot gunned beers backstage. Big droplets of rain began to fall from the sky at the end of the set. The rain started to fall during the second set and many of the 60,000 left but we played on.
After we were done we traipsed through the streets like an occupying army. Most of us ended up at Metropolis where the band Coyote Bill blew our minds from the stage. The drummer Benji played jazz and funk licks with a metal touch and the room was alive. We all sat in one by one: me, Adam, Joe, Matt, Uriah, on and on.
Someone handed out acid and a few people got dosed. I got drunk. I got drunk and I wandered the streets until I ended up in the penthouse at the hotel with Aima, Karyn, Joe, Rita, and Crystal. We lounged with wine and camaraderie until we got a call and were told the party was downstairs. We went ten flights down and entered a room of smoke and sweat and glow in the dark juggling. There was something menacing about it. Rita was playing her flute and just like the pied piper she led everybody back up to the penthouse where the sun was coming up. I stood on the balcony in the rain and was overjoyed. It was a warm rain and it was perfect. Those that were on acid remembered they were on acid and talked about it on the balcony. Those that were drunk joined us on the balcony and I started to worry about the balcony breaking off the building and falling into the Canadian street below. I was ready for it if it did.
It held strong so I went downstairs and went to bed.
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