Top 13 Things I Learned on the Powered by Poutine Tour

1. Sidney York defies all sizing restrictions.
   Fact: we travel with six people while on tour, and 21 bags of assorted clothes, gear, instruments and purses. However, we successfully were able to fit all of us into the plane (without excess baggage fees), a shoebox downtown Toronto aparment (honorable mention to Tara Wodelet for not getting annoyed with us and kicking us out of said apartment), one hotel room (three-to-a-bad-slumber-party-styles), a a cramped yet cozy minivan. Score 1 for Sidney York (and our budget!)
   
   
2. HATS OFF IN THE MESS!!!
   Ok, this I already knew. But, as a member of the Navy, I forget that there may be certain military traditions and etiquette that is not common knowledge. I was reminded when we played our first show of the tour, at CFB Borden, my old home zones from my past military days. My apologies go out to my band mates and our tour mates, Honheehonhee, for not forewarning them that all hats must come off in the mess (military speak for a bar), which accidentally warranted a stern shakedown from the military enforcement at the door. Sorry team!
   
   
3. Sheryl was a cheerleader in a past life.
   No person can be cheery for an entire tour. Through all of the late nights, early mornings, sporadic showering opportunities, and bad-weather driving. No one, that is, except for Sheryl. Nearly every situation illicits a good 'ol hands-in-the-air cheer from Sheryl:
   
   
   
   Sheryl was recently cast in "Bring it On 5: The Final Chapter." Watch for Sheryl coming to a silver-screen near you.
   
   
4. Krista cannot adequately operate a blow-up mattress.
   Krista is known in the band for being one of our top 5 most intelligent band members--however, we discovered on this tour Krista's white whale in the most difficult of all inventions: the air mattress. After repeatedly assuring us that she could inflate the air mattress in record time using a hair dryer, she quickly admitted defeat and moved on to blowing it up the old fashioned way. It wasn't long before she had given up completely:
   
   
   Note to Krista: falling asleep on the job is considered a forfeit. Air mattress FAIL!!!!
   
   
5. Luke is the internet.
   Luke knows all. The internet knows all. Thus, Luke = the internet. You need only to spend a short amount of time with Luke to realize that he is also Superman--just make sure that you ask your questions in email form between the hours of 10am and 10pm. After that, he turns into Sleepy Luke. (Luke may also be the member of the band with the most nicknames.)
   
   
6. Shaun knows how to Pack Like a Rock Star.
   This is not news to many of you, who have already read Shaun's great book "How to Pack Like a Rock Star." However, I feel very privileged to have witnessed the skill first hand. Shaun quickly took over as our designated van-Tetris master, and I will from this point forth consult the bible of rock-star packing for any and all of my problems:
   
   
   
   
   
7. Devon is not to be trusted with expensive property on tour.
   Devon won the "Don't Let This Guy Touch Anything Expensive" award on this tour, for dropping and shattering the film crew's light rig at the Steamwhistle Brewery video shoot. The evidence was caught on film (see #10 for the proof)
   
   *An honorable mention in this category goes out to Liam of Honheehonhee--who, on this tour, lost/misplaced a laundry list of items: hat, iPod, scarf, backpack (laptop included), and drum throne.
   
   
8. I have two new favorite bands : )
   Speaking of Honheehonhee (www.honheehonhee.com), I need to send props to our great tour mates. I loved them more and more each show we played with them--by the end, I wanted to dance like Erin, sing like Stefan, rock out like Matt, and grow a beard like Greg. My other new favorite band is the dashing Hands & Teeth (www.handsandteeth.com), who we shared the stage with at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto. Hands & Teeth may be Sidney York's Ontario cousin (the one you look forward to seeing at the family reunion.) Jeff Pinto, member of Hands & Teeth put it best when he said: "Hands & and Teeth is the eastern Canadian version of Sidney York--only angrier, because it's colder here."
   
   
9. Candice K is our new favorite radio host.
   When in Toronto, we stopped in to visit our good friend and former Calgarian, Candice K at Q107. To listen to our acoustic jams from our visit with Candice, including our cover of "Someone Who's Cool" by The Odds, check out her blog:
   
   
   
10. Highways to Fairways are our new favorite TV personalities/film crew/alcohol consumptionists.
    Even though Highways to Fairways (a golf program full of hilarity that is a must watch. Seriously, watch it here: www.highwaystofairways.com) have been our friends via the interwebs for some time now, we had a boisterous meeting in person at our Peterborough show, followed by a 24 hour Steamwhistle-drinking-music-playing-marathon-party. I can't wait to someday show them our skills on the golf course. These guys made us a great video from our joint visit to Steamwhistle:
    
    
    
    
11. Steamwhistle is our new favorite beer!
    Nothing like a little acoustic performance, brewery tour, impromptu office performance, and beer drinking at the friendliest brewery in Canada to fuel the passionate love affair between Sidney York and Steamwhistle:
    
    
    
    
    
12. Don't mess with a woman from Montreal.
    We arrived in Montreal in the middle of an icy snowstorm. Our chances of survival would have been slim, if it had not been for our host, Marie. Not only did she house us out of the wintery cold of the night, but she also successfully woman-handled our tour van into a parking spot that appeared to be a snowbank, and shovelled us a safe pathway from the van to the house. Shortly after this, we added into our rider that Marie (plus shovel) must be present at every Sidney York show.
    
    
13. A week-long poutine diet is not healthy eating.