40 Years Later

I went to my first real concert on October 23, 1986. I went with my Uncle. It was Triumph at the Worcester Centrum in Worcester, MA. It had been rescheduled from an earlier date… I don’t remember what the original date was. I heard that guitarist/vocalist Rik Emmett fell down a flight of stairs while getting off of a plane and screwed up his knee so they had to postpone a couple of dates while he recovered. I don’t know if that’s true or not, it’s just what I heard.

I was 15 back then and early in my sophomore year of high school. I was a big Triumph fan, but maybe not that big a fan. Certainly not as big a fan as I was of the other three-piece band from Toronto, Rush. Still, Thunder Seven, Allied Forces, and Just a Game were A-List albums in my book. Never Surrender and The Sport of Kings were both really good too. They were touring to support Sport of Kings when I saw them that night, and a couple of years later my first real band would cover a song from that record, Tears in the Rain. It often went over surprisingly well when we played it, even though the guys in the band were probably the only people in the room who were familiar with it. I wonder if anyone thought we’d written it? Probably not. It was WAY better than our handful of original tunes. I mean, WAY better.

I didn’t know it at the time but Triumph was just about reaching the point where they were falling apart. I recently read Rik Emmett’s memoir and he mentions that the first nail in the band’s coffin happened during the recording of Sport of Kings. They had planned to record a song written by an outside writer, a groovy little ballad called Just One Night. It was expected to be the album’s big single and the band had decided that drummer/vocalist Gil Moore would sing it. The guy who was originally hired to produce the record had spoken privately to Rik Emmett and said he should be singing that song instead of Moore and he wanted Emmett to break the news. Emmett did, on an airplane flying home to Toronto, and I guess Moore lost his shit (probably very politely, given that they are good Canadian boys after all) and that was the first step toward everything falling apart. It took a couple of years but eventually, in ’88, Emmett quit.

Moore and bassist/keyboardist Mike Levine eventually tired to bring it back from the dead. They hired guitarist Phil X, who these days is best known as Bon Jovi’s lead guitarist, and made one more record. I heard a song or two on the radio and it was pretty good, but not good enough to really reignite my interest. I had high hopes for Rik Emmett as a solo artist but his first record was a glossy poppy disappointment and that was that for me.

Fast forward to a few months ago and out of nowhere Triumph announced a 50th anniversary reunion tour. Rock and Roll Machine Reloaded (Rock and Roll Machine was the name of their second record in Canada and their first in the US). I think the reloaded part of the tour’s name sort of points to some lineup changes. Early on they reported to us that Mike Levine would not be playing at every show. He had a medical issue to deal with (something wrong with his hand, I think?) and he would join the band onstage whenever he felt up to it. I’m pretty sure the tour ends next week and the total number of appearances he’s made is equal to zero. That’s disappointing.

Due to that, a second bass player, Todd Kerns, was added to the lineup. Additionally, Phil X would also join them. He wasn’t a member 50 years ago, but he was a member in the 90’s. That seems fitting. When I saw them in ’86 they did have a second guitarist on stage with them. His name was Rick… something. I forget. I do remember finding him a little annoying. Like, I wanted to see the trio. I was okay with the extra guy but maybe he could have stayed off to the side out of the way. I was an asshole. Sorry. As if two extra musicians weren’t enough, Gil Moore made it clear that he wanted to come out from behind the drums and sing a couple of songs from the front of the stage. That requires a second drummer. Brent Fitz was added. He’s a keyboard player as well so I guess he’ll also be covering some of Mike Levine’s parts.

So this Toronto trio is now a group of five or six (if Levine appears). I guess everyone sings so the vocal harmonies are going to be denser than they used to be. Also, Moore and Emmett are old now, both in their 70’s. Their vocal ranges are nowhere near what they used to be (especially Emmett, whose near-soprano days are long over) so the “new” guys are going to be singing lead on a some of the songs. That is… troubling to me. That sort of makes me fear that this is going to be a tribute band that just happens to have two original members. I don’t know how I feel about that, but I am choosing to ignore it and just enjoy having this long lost band back again.

When the tour was announced, the final show was scheduled for June 6th in Boston and it sold out instantly. I tried to get a ticket but no luck. A couple of days after they went on sale I went to ticketbastard’s site just to see how it looked and there was a show on June 4th with almost no tickets sold. Huh? I Googled and sure enough they had booked a second Boston show and somehow didn’t really announce it. I grabbed a ticket in the back. I don’t want to say a cheap seat… how about a less crushingly expensive seat.

Now here we are on June 4th and I am psyching myself up to go experience the Rock and Roll Machine in person for the first time in almost 40 years. I’m flying solo for this one. I didn’t want to subject anyone else to the 80’s of it all. I checked the venue’s camera policy and point and shoots are acceptable, so I am totally bringing one. We’ll see how it holds up to the lighting and the distance. I expect lots of blurry, shaky messes. Doors open at 7:00 and the show is supposed to start at 8:00. The opening act is April Wine. I’ve heard of them but I don’t think I’ve ever heard a single note. I know they are another Canadian band so I expect them to be very polite and I will be equally polite as I wait for the headliner.

My Uncle passed away a long time ago. He’ll be with me in spirit though. I’ll be thinking of him. Especially if Rik plays the acoustic solo from the Thunder Seven record, Midsummer’s Daydream. Uncle Johnny was very impressed with that one.

Happy 50th anniversary to the first band I ever saw live. Here’s hoping for a good time at the old rock and roll show.

PS: I tried to find the set list from October 23, 1986. I failed. I did, however, find the set list from October 24, 1986. It is probably the same, and from what I remember it lines up.

Tears in the Rain
Somebody’s Out There
Allied Forces
Lay It on the Line
Midsummer’s Daydream
Follow Your Heart
Drum Solo
Take a Stand
Magic Power
Rock & Roll Machine
Guitar Solo
Spellbound
Rocky Mountain Way
Fight the Good Fight

If there was a difference, my show might have swapped the last two songs. I remember their Joe Walsh cover closing the encore, but maybe it closed the set and Fight the Good Fight (by far their best song… like by astronomical units) was the encore? Who can say.

Anywhere in the World

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
Daily writing prompt

There is a short, obvious answer to this question. There is also the day dream fantasy answer. I’ll give you both and maybe give a photo or two.

Home is where my wife, Jen is. Where ever she is, that is where I want to live. Right now that is a little ranch house in North Eastern Massachusetts, just a stone’s throw away from the New Hampshire state line.

That’s the honest, real answer. I want to be where she is. Now for the daydream fantasy answer. There are a lot of options. I sort of see myself as a city guy when I fantasize about moving to a new place. I would probably prefer to live in the suburbs close to a big city, but for discussion’s sake let’s say we’re moving to the city itself.

First on the list is San Diego. I went there for the first time on our honeymoon and fell in love with the place. We’ve been back a few times and each time we’ve gone it’s gotten harder and harder to leave.

2012-04-26 - Balboa and Seaport Village 375

The second daydream choice would probably be Manhattan. This is conflicting to me given that I am a Boston sports fan and absolutely loath all New York teams. It would be hard to live in enemy (Yankees) territory, but I think I could manage it.

The dark horse candidate comes from our honeymoon again. We visited a bunch of places on our honeymoon. One destination was Washington, DC. While we were there we explored Maryland a little and spent a little time in Annapolis. That is a city I think I could live in.

As far as the United States is concerned let’s just say that I am a New England guy first and foremost. I could live in the mountains of New Hampshire, the coast of Maine, the lake in Vermont, the Southern cost of Rhode Island, and… well… Connecticut… not so much. If I could pick anywhere in New England though, it would absolutely be Boston.

What about places outside of the US? As we watch in horror as fascism rises here, I often find myself wondering if the time to leave has arrived. I would need to go someplace where they speak English. Canada is cold so I probably would not want to go there, even though Toronto is beautiful.

Montreal is pretty wonderful too, but that has the same negative that New York has. Living among the enemy (Montreal Canadians fans) and all.

England would be a decent choice too, but Brexit makes me think that it wouldn’t be different enough from the US as far as the political climate is concerned. Scotland and Ireland would be better. Glasgow or Dublin maybe? I’ve never been so no pictures. Australia would be another option, but I really don’t know much about that country beyond the Monty Python Philosophers sktech.

So there you have it. The correct answer to where would I live is where ever Jen lives. The fantasy answers are San Diego, Manhattan, Annapolis, and maybe some English speaking place outside of the US.

Baseball Playoffs

After picking both wild card games correctly, and then picking the first three Division Series’ correctly, it was probably too much to ask that the Dodgers win and let me run the table for a second round in a row. Jerks.

I picked the Cubs, the Royals, and the Blue Jays, but I failed to pick the Mets. That makes me 5-1 this playoffs.

Now, for the League Championship Series’, both of my favorites are still alive so I will pick them.

I’ve always liked the Royals, and I try to never pick American League East teams unless they are from Boston. This year though, I’m going with the Blue Jays, and after the way game five ended, how can you pick against them?

In the National League I am sticking with the Back to the Future prediction and going with the Cubs. If it works for Marty McFly, it works for me. Also, the Mets are from New York. Screw New York. Go Cubs.

So my prediction is for a Toronto vs Chicago World Series. Let us see how things unfold.

Vacation Picture Explosion

I figured I’d pick out a few vacation pictures to post. I meant for three of four. Instead, you get this absolute explosion of vacation snaps. Enjoy.

The best part of Montreal was the guy throwing soap bubbles around the square in front of the Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal. There were gigantic bubbles everywhere.

So… okay… I know that the enjoyment I take in snapping pics in humongous churches might make me a bit of a hypocrite… well, it does. Deal with it.

Especially when I take pics like this.

Can we get an organ like this in our house?

Candles are the best part.

I asked Jen, and she said it was okay if we took the red brick house with the green trim home with us.

In 2007 Jen and I visited Mike and Tammy in Wisconsin and we drove to lake Michigan. On this trip, we stopped at my second Great Lake, Lake Ontario. We also drove across a bridge over Lake Eire. That’s three Great Lakes for me.

Toronto was great. I would go back there in a second. I wish we could have spent another day or two.

Here’a a little Blue Jays, Rogers Stadium art work.

The view from the Canadian National Tower. Is this YYZ? Cue the music!

The street musicians outside of Blue Jays games are… different… than those at Red Sox games.

Obligatory blurry subway train pic.

Toronto lead to Niagara Falls. Get ready for a billion pictures of falling water.

The view from our hotel room was pretty spectacular.

They told us the walk from Table Rock to the Hornblower would be 10 minutes. Ummm… no.

It used to be The Maid of the Mist. It still is on the US side of the river, but on the Canadian side it is now called The Hornblower. The boats are bigger but they still make the same trip. Right into the mist on the Canadian side. Ponchos were supplied, and you did get seriously soaking wet.

The view from the Skylon Tower was pretty spectacular too.

Next door to a place we stopped for breakfast was a place called Gippy’s Place. I’m working that into 50/90 somehow. Somehow.

This is something you don’t ever see in the US. Never, ever.

On the Canadian side there is a little attraction called Journey Behind the Falls. Once again, ponchos are issued. There is an outdoor viewing area right at the edge of the water, and there is a tunnel with viewing ports that runs behind the falls themselves.

These elevator things were out of order when Jen and I came here last year. They made the whole thing so much easier.

The kids and I went for a walk. There was a water fountain that my step daughter saw from the 29th floor that she wanted to check out for real. I took the obligatory street lamp pic.

I took a picture of the love of my life from the street. 29 floors and a steep hill and a couple of blocks can’t keep her away from me.

This is the water fountain she wanted to see.

The falls are lit up every night, but the fireworks show is only on Wednesdays. We watched it from the room.

So we crossed back into the United States and celebrated by visiting the Hall of Fame of our nation’s pastime.

There’s a George Brett display, complete with the Pine Tar Bat.

Just a few of my favorite players…

Tom Seaver spit on my brother once. True story. I’ll tell it sometime.

Our next stop was Fort Ticonderoga on the shores of Lake Champlain.

The troops were re-enacting a division from Pennsylvania who had just retreated out of Canada in 1776.

Do you think this is authentic?

Next to the fort is a garden called King’s Garden.

Our last photo op was a ferry across Lake Champlain that connects route 74 in New York to route 74 in Vermont.

And there you have it. A few photo highlights of a trip that took us through four states, two provinces, and two countries.

CN Tower

We spent the day in Toronto today (the home of the greatest band in the universe). We went to the CN Tower, and wandered around part of the Path underground, and managed to get caught in the crowds both before and after a Blue Jays game at Rogers Center.

I really liked this city, even though the weather was seriously gloomy. I could handle spending more time getting to know it.

Starting the Day

I’m not sure what’s on the agenda for today other than a drive from Montreal to Toronto. I must remember that the speed limit signs are in kilometers per hour, not miles per hour.

The Next Vacation

Now that our long weekend in the mountains is over, it’s time to start looking forward to the next get away. The kids’ father is taking them on a trip during February vacation. That means we need to look toward April.

At first we thought of driving back to Disney. There are two downsides to that. First, my step daughter hates amusement park rides. If we went to Disney she would spend a lot of time being bored waiting for rides to end. The other problem is that my step son is a little nine year old dare devil. He will go on any ride at any time. That means one of the adults has to go on the death defying rides with him, and that just ain’t happening.

So we were sitting down to lunch today and we asked the kids to suggest a place we could travel to. My step son threw out Phoenix. That’s a good idea, but a little too far for a road trip. My step daughter came up with Quebec City. Now there’s an interesting idea. Jen then added a stop in Niagara Falls, which lead to stops in Toronto and Montreal. Now we’re talkin’, eh?

We often plan elaborate road trips like this, and we usually scrap the plans and just go to San Diego. For now though… Oh Canada!

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