7:44pm
Aaron is entertaining me while I write. He plays an exciting brand new chord progression through variations in speed and volume. We're sitting in our coed dorm room at the hostel that we thought we were going to be sharing with several other people, but so far it's just us. And I'm glad.
Although I do find the idea of this place terribly intriguing, I'm not nearly as trusting as Aaron, and he not nearly as paranoid as I. However, watching everyone make supper in the open kitchen earlier gave me a big sense of like community or something.
The place is filled with various accents and I love to listen to people talk here.
Downstairs, the bartender, a superfriendly girl with a delicious Australian accent, told Aaron that he remarkably resembles a friend (of everyone's, it seems) named Chad. Chad is in Equador, she tells us, but several people have already mistaken Aaron for him. She asked if she could take a photo to show Chad when he returned. Aaron was happy to oblige. They've taken to calling him "baby chad".
Earlier, I ate what was left of the garden burger Debbie bought me at the Rainforest Cafe and watched two guys play pool and speak some language I couldn't begin to guess the origin of, and it makes me realize how small my world has been. And just to be clear, I'm not saying that that is a regret of mine. On the contrary, it makes me realize how much I need that small world of mine. Everything out here scares me.
I've been fairly mopey all day. (Sorry Chris, I know that's not allowed.) I'm going to blame at least part of that on the significant lack of sleep Aaron and I got last nite. We had a perfectly comfortable bed and a full day behind us, but Aaron felt more like talking than sleeping. Unlike the usual traveler's weariness, Aaron finds himself energized by long plane rides. Consequently, we spent a good portion of the nite awake discussing subjects as varied as how to know when you give a girl an orgasm and the trouble with mixing sex and friendship.
In the morning we ate muffins for breakfast and met Debbie's boyfriend, Glen, who had just gotten off the nite shift at work. Now I can report back to the extended Sask family that she's found herself a good one.
Debbie spent her day off work touring us around the city. She most generously bought us lunch at a tropical-forest-themed restaurant (the very kind that Rosie O'Donnell once took Melissa Etheridge's kids to; they cried when the artificial thunderstorm started). Then we picked up some maps (good good things to have, esp when Debbie "doesn't know directions";). Finally, we made the venture downtown. After checking into our hostel (Debbie made sure it'd be safe for us, thus making Mom and Baba's lives a lot easier), we set about Exploring. Aaron was truly excited. I was just really annoyed by all that pesky walking stuff. But it was nice out today and Debbie showed us all the notable spots she could remember.
It occurs to me that I am an awful tourist. Buildings generally don't interest me, even ones with history. Most of the time I think I'd rather just hang around this room all day.
Tomorrow we've decided to venture down to the YTV building to drop off my remaining YAA application items. We were planning on walking, but Aaron just left the room on an enthusiastic search for bus and subway routes and somehow I think our plans will be changing. I'm also going to call David tomorrow. I haven't seen him in like a decade. I don't even know what he looks like anymore.
Well, we have a gig to get to in about half an hour so I'm going to stop writing now. With any luck, we won't get raped and/or murdered on the way there and back. 8:30pm
2:36am
One has to walk through Chinatown to get from our centrally located hostel to the site of our only TO gig, Graffiti's. The whole district is a "bouquet of stinks" (as my uncle Rick might put it), every store you pass is a new combination of fragrances that I've never known before. It's different in the daytime when swarms of people crowd the sidewalk market and store owners yell at people in Chinese. At nite it's basically just dirty, garbage from the business day piled on the edge of the sidewalks. Aaron walked fast through the dark, dirty streets and I did my best to keep up with him.
Graffiti's has more of a coffeeshop feel than a bar. Even the table of loud drunk bicycle couriers and dispatchers didn't interrupt the vibe. One of them, Daeran, after hearing that we'd come all the way from Saskatoon, came over to start what would become a long involved philosophical discussion with Aaron.
The showcase was called "Getting Naked" and after inquiring as to the origin of the title, I was told that it refers to the emotional bareness required to take the stage and sing your heart. And here I thought we were going to get to lose some clothes.
Suzanne DeBussac and her guitar player Keith Mariash took the stage first. Suzanne was the organizer and host artist of the event. I found her performing style to be quite hypnotic and spent most of her first set watching the way her face moved when she sang a particularly satisfying note. We later traded cds. After Suzanne was Clay Tyson (a very country sounding name, but really anything but). He was like Joshua Kadison with a guitar and more blues. Aaron and I were both extremely impressed. We later learned that he is planning on releasing a CD in the new year and we both eagerly await it.
Aaron and I played a particularly enjoyable set tonite. That's not necessarily to say that it was all good, (what are the chords to the chorus of "she wears glass slippers"?) but fun. Fun. In fact, I can't remember the last time I had so much fun at a gig.
Tonite also counts as the first time (believe it or not) that we've ever been paid with beer. 3:01am
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