"to the good times & the bad times & all of the above…"

Late last night I got home from another amazing weekend in Toronto. The last time I went (and my first time going ever) was at the end of May during the ‘Welcome to Your Hometown’ tour when TNC/The Febs/TSE played the MOD Club.
After that show Jenia & I knew that we wanted to go back very soon because I didn’t get the chance to see much, but I didn’t think I’d go back less than a month later. Definitely no regrets though; it was a really great weekend.

Laura, Jenia and I left Montreal at 8am on Sunday morning and got to our hotel, the Hilton downtown TO, at 2:30PM. We made really good time so we had 20 minutes to freshen up in our hotel room before venturing off in the subway system for an hour to Scarborough where The Februarys’ video shoot for ‘Rock N’ Roll’s Enemy’ was being held. This was the actual reason we went down- the guys needed extras for their shoot and we really wanted to see them again before they went all the way back home to BC. It was honestly one of the most wicked experiences ever. I don’t want to say too much about the actual music video but I’ll definitely post it when it comes out: It’s going to be awesome!

I’m somewhere on the right hand side of this pic above… The Febs twitpic-ed the extras in between sets- We’re partying in a trashed conference room, good times!

It was really nice to see all the guys again. They all thanked us a million times for coming all the way from Montreal to be in the video- It was just really nice to see how much they appreciated us being there. We had some really good conversations with them too, but the one that really stood out in my mind was the one that we had with Lucas (lead singer) about groupies. He told us how much he hated groupies- the kind of girls who follow bands around just to sleep with them. Jenia told him that her and I often get called groupies and he stared at her and said “It’s not the same thing AT all”.The two of us know that we’re not groupies (traveling to see a band and wanting to hang out with awesome guys who aren’t afraid to be who they are isn’t called a groupie, thanks) but it was REALLY nice to hear him say it to us. It’s not because we look for the appreciation or the acceptance or whatever you want to call it- but it’s really frustrating when people around us start assuming that we have other reasons behind going to shows. So it was definitely really cool that he told us how he’s seen it happen a million times and we were not those kind of people at all.

The video shoot ended around 11:30. After saying goodbye to all the guys for a little while (they headed back home to BC almost right after the shoot) we headed back to our gorgeous hotel room to get some sleep. The three of us were completely exhausted but it was totally worth it!

The next day we woke up bright and early and got ready for a day out in TO. We walked to the Hockey Hall of Fame, which was a really neat first experience. Although I’m not the hugest hockey fan, especially when you compare me to some of my other friends- it was still really wicked to see this huge part of Canadian history. I think my favorite part was the mock Habs dressing room where I got to see jerseys from ex-players like Gainey, Belliveau and Maurice Richard.

After the Hall of Fame we headed to Dundas Square where The New Cities were performing at the LG Texting Championships. It was a gorgeous day for them to play an outdoor set and they put on one hell of a show as usual, even though this one was pretty short. It honestly amazes me that no matter how long or how short their set, no matter how much time in between their shows that I go to- I never get tired of seeing them play.

Once their set was over the weather started to take a turn for the worse. We headed over to their merch tent where we had some fun umbrella bonding moments & goodbyes with the guys before we decided to head out and find a warmer/dryer place to spend our afternoon.

We ended up going to the Eaton Center to shop around for a bit but not too long after we wanted to go back out and see what the weather was like. It had stopped raining so we walked around for a bit until we ended up in a Quiznos right as the rain started again. The three of us hung out with Ari -who hung out with us until we had to leave- taking pictures, laughing hysterically and eventually eating.

I honestly had an absolutely amazing 2 days in TO. The three of us had a really great time together and we always know how to make the best of any situation, rain or shine, we always laugh together and make every moment worth the trip. I can’t wait to go back at the end of July with Jenia for 4 days. Hopefully by then the garbage strike will be over and we’ll be able to truly visit the city with some nice weather!