Room 1313

It was summer 1986, it was the year of Expo, Bob Dylan and Tom Petty were playing BC Place, come hell or high water I was making it to Vancouver. To check off the list two awesome musicians at once. It was an opportunity that couldn’t be missed.  I was working in Jasper, Alberta at the time.

In those days there was no Internet, most people didn’t carry credit cards there were definitely no cell phones and most of all no Ticketmaster. So how do you get tickets? Line up with cash/credit which is  hard to do when you are a province away or you call the box office but without a credit card you can’t buy tickets. What’s a girl to do?

Well you call the box office and literally beg them to let you courier a money order to them for a ticket. Trust me this took a lot of convincing. I was successful though it was not cheap to overnight courier the money order to Vancouver. Then I had to wait with bated breath for them to mail the ticket back to me. Hoping they would get to me in time. In the meantime I booked the train to Vancouver and bought my Expo Passport. I was excited when the tickets finally arrived and I could relax.

I absolutely love travelling by train. Though these days they are much stricter. Back in 86 you could still sleep in the luggage racks. So much fun the conductor would wake you up and you would have to go find a seat for daytime travel. It was and still is an 18hour trip. The fare then was $90.

Arriving in Vancouver I found my way to the YWCA where I was to spend the night. There were only a couple rooms that were private, the rest available were dorm style. To my surprise there was a private room available so I thought why not. When they handed me the key, there in my hand was the reason for why not, it read 1313. I was floored. Up until that day I always believed there would be no such room as high rise buildings had no 13th floor. So much for that belief

As I pushed the button in the elevator for the 13th floor I must admit I was a little apprehensive, even more so when I put the key in the door. The room was quite nondescript almost clinical and a little spooky with a small window looking towards the North Shore. I hoped I didn’t go crazy over night.

I woke up the next day thinking nothing weird happened so we’re good to go. Yeah that is until you realize you left your Expo passport back in Alberta. So much for that idea. Here I was all set to check out Expo but no not happening. Interesting side note I live in the town with not 1 but 2 exhibits from Expo weird huh.

Now what to do until concert time. Vancouver is an awesome city to wander in. I spent all day just walking around killing time. Beautiful.

Concert time is approaching so I go back to my room and grab my ticket. So excited to be going. As I approach the entrance there are scalpers of course and they were selling tickets for 5 bucks! I couldn’t believe it 5 bucks. All the crap I went thru to get my ticket and I could have gotten one for 5 bucks seriously for real. Though thinking about it seeing as I ended up in room 1313 it would have worked out some other way and  I would have ended up with nada.

Carry on to the concert. Cutting right to the chase I was so disappointed. Concert bowl setup which probably explains the 5 buck tickets and the sound was so horrible. Perhaps others will remember this differently but I could not understand a word from Dylan and while I was there mostly for Dylan Petty rocked my world.  All in all a great adventure. And that’s all I have to say about that.

TS

Seriously

Twice now I have started a story about my early introduction to films such as Jesus Christ Superstar and Tommy and both times I have lost the story to somewhere in the lost file abyss. I give.

TS

No Way

I can't believe I just lost that whole story
Well maybe next time.

TS

What can I say

I am who I am and I make no excuses.
But part of me is stifled.
My work persona has invaded.
It’s slowly taking over.
The majority of my awake time spent as a retail zombie.

After 35 years it is beginning to take its toll.
I am slowly becoming a complete zombie.
Time has come to push the zombie back.
 
My way back is through words.
Bringing forth my own thoughts which have been stifled.
Pushing aside the zombie and bringing myself forward.

Some walls will fall, some walls will rise
At least they will be mine.

TS

A List

I wasn’t about to type it over writing it took long enough.
Which I did by the way with an app called Super Note on my tablet.
I am a writer not a typist

      

As I post this it is obvious the list is not finished as other headlining acts I’ve seen come flooding into my head. Such as Martha and the Muffins, Matt Minglewood and the Powder Blues, the list goes on.

TS

Where It Started

I attended my first rock concert at 9, it was 1972.
As I look back on this I believe this experience set me on my life's path.
The band I saw was Lighthouse and their hit was Sunny Days
That song became the motto for my life and my love for live music began.

The next band I remember seeing was The Stampeders, their hit Sweet City Woman I took quite literally. I was determined to get to the city.

It took a few years but in 1976 at the age of 13 I was finally allowed to go to a rock concert in the city.
My mom dropped me off and picked me up I was only 13 after all.
The city was Halifax and the band was KISS.
My life has never been the same.

Since that night I have seen over 200 live shows, a few I must admit I only recall glimpses as I tend to over indulge. Plus this is a time frame of 30+ years so give a girl a break .
None the less if you are interested I am going to share my experiences with you in hopes that you will share an experience of your own.

My first two stories are about Deborah Harry and David Bowie 
Would you like to relate a story about your experience with either of these artists?
Please do by adding your story in the comments of the original. I hope you will enjoy reading mine and I look forward to reading yours.

TS

To follow or not to follow

The other day someone asked me if I followed a particular person.
I replied no and if I did I inquired wouldn't that be considered stalking.
Oh haha TS you don't "actually" follow them.
You are following them online
Wouldn't that be cyber stalking
Oh they are allowing me to do it
In fact complete strangers are encouraging me to do it, whoa!
Follow me and your life will be so much better
Follow me and see how truly shallow I am
Follow me to the road to happiness
Follow me...

WHAT THE FUCK PEOPLE
WAKE UP!
Here I have some awesome kool-aid it will take you to Nirvana
I'll see you when we get there

Don't get me wrong I use Facebook
Which is an incredulous universe of following and stalking
I liken it to required reading  in school
If you don't have your finger tapping in at least one form of online social media you are lost

Does anyone else see the irony in online social media
What do they call those things oxymoron.
The last time I went to a party and tried to be social
I couldn't talk to anyone because I didn't have a cell phone
Nobody speaks WTF
Still the good damn wallflower :-)
That's not the type of social I was brought up on.

I have lost track on where I was originally going with this
Oh right something about social media and sheep
All I can say is my family is and my friends are
One degree of separation
Anymore than that and you open yourself to who knows what

Innocence lost
Common sense lost
Respect lost
Where the hell did it all go?
Oh right social media

I love it when people walk into things
Really you couldn't wait until you got home
How much you are missing because you have your head down in your phone/tablet
Though it is great enjoyment for me I am a people watcher lol
What is with this need for instant communication.

At one time in my life we had a party line telephone
If you had an emergency you would have to ask whomever was on the line to get off
No instant communication there

Other than in a emergency situation
Why is it so necessary to have this instant communication
If you answer my question does that make you a follower?
Does it make me a hypocrite
Not really as you would be following me
Who knows I must go

TS

I often sit and wonder

Do you ever wonder?
Do you actually take time to sit and wonder.
To wonder why things are the way they are?
To wonder who left that slipper in the square.
Perhaps to wonder where life may take you.
Or do you have blinders on?
I think, maybe I wonder and marvel too much
Is that even possible?
People often look at me strange as I stand staring into the sky following a bird around town
Or when I am watching bugs on a tree.
I have the wonder of a child most times and I think it is a wonderful thing
Others may disagree but that's when my blinders come on and I don't give a rats ass
Though curiosity did kill the cat
Is there a difference between wonder and curiosity?
Um perhaps I will wonder about that as I walk to the square as there is music playing and I am wondering who it is.

David Bowie

It was the summer of ‘83 and I was working in Banff, AB at The Banff Springs Hotel.
Living in Banff is so much fun but we’ll save those stories for another day.

One of the perks of working for a hotel was the discount at other hotels in the same chain. I think at the time the Banff Springs was a CNR Hotel later bought by CPR who later bought the Fairmont chain.

Anyway a group of us decided to go on a road trip to Edmonton to see David Bowie on his Serious Moonlight Tour. Rooms at The Hotel MacDonald were booked with a late arrival, or so we thought and we piled into the rented van and took off.  Honestly I don’t remember much of the trip there, I wasn’t driving so the party was on. We rocked that van all the way to Edmonton.

We arrived at the hotel hours past check in time but we had stated a late arrival so we thought we were good but oh no, front desk says no mention of late arrival was stated so our rooms were given away. So picture a van full of wasted people going WTF you gave our rooms away we just drove all this way you have to have a room. We made a point of saying we would be late your mistake not ours. I piped up “we’ll just sleep in the lobby until you find a room we don’t care”.  We were pretty defiant actually. And you can imagine that the hotel is rockin’ as everyone there is there for the same thing, the concert the next day.

Well the hotel can’t have drunk kids sleeping in the lobby so they gave us a banquet room to sleep/hang out in until they found us a room.  They did supply us with linens which was kind. I grabbed a sheet and lay down on a banquet table for a quick cat nap. 

I was awoken from my nap, it was time to move to a room.  Oh my lord what a room it was! It was a huge suite with grand bay windows overlooking the river. The only deal was we had to be out at check out time and then they would have a room for us to check in to for the next night after the concert.  Since we didn’t have to be out of the room until 11 we partied until the sun came up then went to sleep for a few hours until we had to get ready to go to the concert. Remember I said this was a suite, we found one of the girls stretched out, sleeping in the closet in the bedroom as we were gathering everyone together to head out.

The concert was to start at 3pm and as it was a general admission open air concert at Commonwealth Stadium having to leave the room pushed us to get to the concert grounds early and because we did we were in ‘row 5’. Back in the day general admission was such a great thing, especially at an outdoor venue. You could lay out a blanket, claim your space and hang out until the concert started and nobody jostled for your space or to get to the front.  Even when the concert was on and you had to stand as more people flooded the infield we remained in the same spot and this concert is in my Top 5 best concerts ever. There were 60,000 people at this concert it was if I recall 30degrees plus that day and it was the best possible day.

The line up was The Tubes, Peter Gabriel and David Bowie. The reaction to The Tubes was fun to watch as I don’t think anything quite like them had ever been seen in oil and cowboy country. Peter Gabriel was next and as much of a fan of Bowie as I was at the time Peter Gabriel rocked my world that day with his performance and I became an instant fan!  Shocked the monkey right off my back awesome show.

David Bowie was amazing of course, he played for 2 hours and took us all on a rock n roll odyssey. And there we were in the front in the thick of it all at the largest capacity concert every held at Commonwealth Stadium.

We made our way back to the hotel after the show and the place was off the hook. There was an open door party going on on every floor, people wandering the hallways, bouncing off the walls. I always welcome a wall when I have had to much to drink otherwise I’ll fall over. I have a hard enough time when I am sober to walk straight let alone drunk.

I wouldn’t have wanted to be a guest in the hotel having to deal with the rowdiness. It was so much fun though but extremely hard to get up the next day to drive back to Banff. The ride home was somewhat more subdued then the ride there. If I was true to form I slept the whole way home and there my fable ends as I can’t remember anymore.

Until next time
TS

Fable #1 
Series:  ‘A Rock and Roll Fable’
Series title in honor of my favourite movie Streets of Fire.

Bucket List?

What happens if you don’t fulfill your bucket list?
Do you leave your life feeling as if your bucket is half full or half empty?
Why make a bucket list at all?

Personally I have never thought about a bucket list.  It seems strange to me that you make a list of things to do before you die. You could die tomorrow and what have you accomplished nothing. So why set yourself up for something that may never be possible.

Perhaps instead of sitting around making up a list of things you want to do which empties the bucket why not make a list of the things you have already done that will fill the bucket full of special moments in your life. Good memories are so much more important than something that may never come to be. I don’t think there is any thing wrong in dreaming but we must be realistic. Appreciate life for what we have and make realistic goals not yearn for things that are unobtainable. Live life and don’t work so hard that you miss it.
I am going to live my life to the following quote and start to fill my bucket.

Dream as if you’ll live forever
Live as if you’ll die today
~James Dean~

The End of What?

Well here we are at the end of another year.
Are we any further ahead than we thought we would be?
Or do we find ourselves behind the proverbial 8 ball?

Personally I am a little of both.
After taking 6 months off for a ‘sabbatical’ this past year.
I find myself much further ahead in my own personal state of being.
But still a little behind the 8 ball, as are most people in the world
Some much worse than I.

Really what are my problems compared to others in the world?
They are miniscule, they are nothing.

We bitch about our jobs when others are even lucky to have a job.
We moan when someone else gets a promotion because we truly didn’t have the commitment to the job.

We are jealous of those who have more than us when we truly have so much more than others. One thing I have learned this past year is that it is all perspective. Those with more  are no happier than we are with less and there are so many more people out there much more unfortunate than us.

So truly think in this new year to make a change for yourself which in turn will help make a change in the world.  Think about someone less fortunate than you who works a lot for much less and never complains when you next bitch about your situation whatever it may be.

Compassion, peace and love is what I wish for in the year ahead and for many more to come.

Love and understanding
TS