BELATED RE-CAP of 21 TANDEM REPEATS’ ‘Going Postal’ tour 2008.

Thursday November 20th

-Gig at Railway Club, Vancouver.

Solid performance. Moderately well-attended. K. Naso on trumpet. WB on right side of stage for some reason. Something about the bass amp needing to be on the left, according to never-seen-before soundwoman.

Friday November 21st

-Gig at Chemainus. Insanely wet day. Ferry ride from Tsawassen to Duke Point was like a voyage through a grey wet haze. A. Rojas and Shockk discuss music teaching woes. Once on the island, band ensconces itself in pleasant hotel. Pool and everything. WB gets his own room. Like a small suite. Very relaxing.

Superb meal at restaurant/venue. Pork dish. Utterly exquisite and tender, as if prepared by chef of Henry VIII. Venue is virtually empty for gig. Appx. 6 people, but they listened avidly through two sets and bought CDs afterward. WB on right side of stage again. Wait...there was no stage. Virtually every song in 21tr catalogue was trotted out. Band in good form.

Back to hotel. Band watches ‘The Great Escape’ while drinking beer. WB has Newcastle Brown Ale; should have brought a bit of whiskey.

Saturday November 22nd

Breakfast in the buffet room. Nice spread. Then up to Nanaimo via Saltair route at WB’s recommendation. Bad idea; road work backs up traffic for 1/2 hour en route. Scenic nonetheless, and sun has come out.

Band loads gear into venue. Cambie hostel and pub/club. W ‘Ritchie Blackmore’ B goes off on his own to check into Coast Bastion Hotel. Nice room with good view toward Newcastle Island and beyond to Georgia Straight. Rest of band bunks in hostel.

WB meets SR at Cambie. Hip adductor injury bothering WB. Canucks game is on TV, and as if by some disastrous synchronicity Luongo suffers groin strain. He is removed from the game, but Canucks still beat Penguins in Pittsburg. Band gathers and has lunch at fish and chip shop...restaurant has pirate name and attractive tattooed proprietess.

Band lounges around WB hotel room for a few hours. WB weary/testy with injury pain not abating.

Band performance good, but undermined by errant soundman. SR sets up large sign/banner with band name on stage. Afterward, WB is congratulated by patron on good set.

“What’s the name of your band?”

“Twenty-one Tandem Repeats.”

“Ahhh...like the sign.”

Yes.

Like the sign.

Band members linger around afterward as other acts perform. WB heads back to hotel; does not sleep as well as expected. Rest of band attends afterparty and then slumbers blissfully in hostel. Irony.

November 23rd

Down to Victoria. Stop along the way at Goldstream Park. Hundreds upon hundreds of dead salmon in the river from spawning run. Nice walk, then back on road.

Lunch at John’s. SR fumes over slow service. A Rojas and Shockk go shopping.

Off to venue; late afternoon show in pub. Packed with people for music and Grey Cup. In my view this was the best gig of the tour. A quick four song set. Band was on fire, ripping through songs like 'Mr. Greenie' and 'Famous Person.' The latter is a smartly-penned tune, made all the better by Rojas-constructed guitar/bass lines that complement each other. Audience was packed about five feet from the performers...again WB on right side.

Afterward band got a fistful of drink tickets, which were good for highballs as well as beer. At last, whiskey!

Mid evening ferry ride home. At the ticket window, the cashier can’t make out WB and Rojas in back.

“Just the two of you?” she asks SR.

He replies with a non-committal murmur that leans ever so slightly toward an affirmative response, but not enough to count as a lie or deception.

On the verge of giving him an unwitting two passenger discount, she hesitates and asks one more time, at which point SR grudgingly acknowledges the two in the back. Driving away from the window, the just-slipped-away twenty dollars worth of consolation after a weekend in the red sinks in to the band leader, and with a wounded animal howl he screams...

“FUCK ME IN THE FACE!!!”

Uneventful ferry ride, then home.