Canada: The Land Of Fluffy Towels And Clean Ashtrays

Center In The Square
Kitchener, ONT
October 25, 1999

October 26, 1999: We stopped off in Hamilton and picked up a few daily newspapers that had a picture of Al on the front page and a review of the concert and additional pictures inside. We then went to Kitchener to meet up with Beth. We met at a mall and had some lunch in the food court.

Amanda and I went to the venue and looked for Jon and tried to track down our tickets and passes. We waited by the tour buses until his bus showed up. It was getting cold that day. We found Jon before the show and talked to him for a few minutes and Amanda gave him some stuff she brought for him. We then met up with Beth in the parking lot and went back to see if the tickets and passes were straightened out yet. It took forever for them to track down the right people for the passes.

Amanda and I dressed up for the show. Since it was a rare and special occasion, I wore my "This is the Life" shoes. It's the first and only time I had worn them in public. The show finally had the new "It's All About The Pentiums" T-shirts so we bought them and got a free poster with every purchase. It was a "Bad Hair Day" poster with the band on it, probably leftovers from an earlier tour. We passed the time before the show collecting programs. There was a nice write-up about Al in the programs.

Sure enough, the photo Nazis were there. If you can believe it, they were even rougher than at the last show. They told us that we could only take pictures during the first three songs and we had to do it from the side. At least the security dude near us was pretty cool while we were taking pictures. He let me dance during "Yoda." The concert was really good and the theater was very nice. Seats opened up right by where we were taking pictures, so we sat there. The rows were wide though so it made for easy traveling for Al when he went into the audience.

After the show we almost had some trouble with our passes. I think the photo Nazis put out word to keep an eye on us wacky foreigners. Before we had to do any real explaining though, Steve Jay came by and cleared it up that we were welcome at the after show get-together. Steve didn't show up at the after show get-together, but it was nice that he was able to vouch for us to be there. I don't remember seeing Rubén either, but he may have shown up briefly and quickly.

Jim West stopped by and I talked to him for a little. He told me that he saw me from the stage over on the side. We were both talking to the cheerleaders from "Smells Like Nirvana." They seemed a little lost, but Jim convinced them that he wanted a picture of them with me. Jon came by, still sick, and apologized for feeling under the weather. There were some people from Woodstock who made an Al puppet from "The Saga Begins" video, except that it had long curly hair, glasses, and a mustache. Jon spent some time talking to them.

Al didn't recognize the shoes until I pointed them out. Once I asked him to look down, he recognized them immediately and wanted to know if they were *the* shoes. He tried to impress the cheerleaders by telling them the story behind it, but I think it just confused them a little bit more than they already were. Al was nice though and posed for a picture wearing one of the shoes. I wore one and he wore one. I also go to wear his Vans! It was pretty cool! I was so nervous.

Somehow I ended up taking out a Canadian five dollar bill and Al asked me if I knew the trick with the bill. I didn't so he was going to show me, but instead said Jon did it better, so he gave Jon my money and Jon drew all over my 5 dollar bill. I didn't know what to expect, but when Jon was done, the guy on the bill looked just like Leonard Nimoy! It's classic and a great souvenir.

Next thing I know, Al walks by, and I grabbed a piece of his hair off his shirt! I have AL'S HAIR!!! HA! It's a small piece but it's really cool. If this cloning thing ever catches on, I should sell it on eBay. ;)


[ Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 ]