Moose Jaw , Wednesday Sept. 21^st 2005 (700km)  

We were out the door at 10AM like the bat mobile out of the bat cave, only we stopped for at Tim Horton’s coffee, and started the 700km trek to Moose Jaw . Frances was the superstar ‘cos she drove all the way while I caught up with my Chronicles about this amazing trip. 700km is a long way to drive for a concert but when you’re mad about Naz like we are it’s nothing. This is the first time I’ve been back to Saskatchewan since 1989 when I escaped to California .

We got to Moose Jaw at about 5:30 and took some pictures of the venue and the Nazareth bus parked outside. Parked the van in the Casino parking lot for $4 for the night. We’re planning on crashing here tonight. Went to Houston Pizza (best pizza made in Saskatchewan ), just a block from the Mae Wilson Theatre , which is the location of the venue tonight. It just had a 12 million dollar face life and looked like it cost that much, it was astounding. Had a few beers in the lounge upstairs at the Mae Wilson while the support band played. Had a good chinwag was with Steve, the lights tech. What a great lad he is. Just loved to chat and loves to work. He hates the days off on tour ‘cos there’s nothing to do. He’s from Dumfermline http://www.dunfermline.info/ too, just like most of the crew. This is one huge family from one small Scottish town and now they have become our friends.   

As the intro music came on Frances and I made our way down the steps to the stage door. This time we would watch the band from back stage. It was a great feeling to be there. We saw them prepare to come on. Tom led them with flas h l ight and the crowd began to cheer and get excited. We saw all the little details that you miss when you’re watching from out front. Lee was gesturing to the sound guy to adjust something a little higher, maybe the loudness, yeah, that must be it. Anyway, he kept doing it until Lee gave the sound guy the thumbs up like “That’s it!” Then Pete had the sound guy do some adjusting for him too. Tom was playing the tambourine too. It’s not a simple job, even though no one can see him from the audience. Ha had to get a towel to tap it in to dampen the sound for certain songs. Can’t remember which ones though. It sure is different to watch them perform to the crowd when you’re off to the side.

It was still a brilliant show. When the guys came off the stage after “Love Hurts” they all got a hug from Frances . Just some inspiration for them to go back on and play “Night Woman” and “This Flight Tonight”. Frances got the set list from the guy at the end of the show, which was to be autographed later. For some reason “Changin’ Times”, that Black Dog type tune that we always want them to play, was struck off the list, just before “Hair of the Dog”. She came up to me and said “Too bad, too sad”.  

While we were waiting for the guys to get changed I ran back to the van and grabbed 4 beers for me and Frances to share. We stood outside for a bit and drank. A DJ from Saskatoon was there and we had a chat. He said he knew I was Hollis!! I was f&*king shocked. How did he know that?? He said he e-mailed me a while ago about interviewing me on air in Saskatoon but I never replied to him and he wanted to know why. I was a little confused now. Why would he want to interview me on radio?? My fame was short lived when I realized that he was taking about a musician called Hollis from Saskatoon . We had a good laugh about that once we figured out we were talking about someone else, but it was good while it lasted.

We were down in the meet and greet room soon enough and Frances got her set-list signed by everyone including Dan, Pete, Lee, Jimmy, Steve the light guy, Greg/Phil the sound techs and Robert Kennedy the drum tech. Without ALL these guys, there would be no show. The little party was fun. Greg and Brenda from Regina were there too. We hung out with the guys until the meet and greeters were all done. Then we had a good chat with Pete. He always loves to talk and it’s always interesting conversation. He had to round the guys up and get them to the hotel for the night so Frances and I headed off to the van to share vino before crashing on the air mattress in the van for the night. Pete thought about joining us for a second :-).  

Another Great night…

Dave (a.k.a. Hollis Brown)
Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow.
Don't walk behind me, I may not lead.
Just walk beside me and be my friend.