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January
2005
Departures
3
The
amateur's
guide
to
pub
food
and
concert
attendance:
volume
1
by
Kevin
Lalonde
FeaturesEditor
;y
After,
tvyo
weeks
of
frenzied
Organization
''
and
urimitigated3,tress,
it
had
(finally
come
together.
Ox
in
concert
t
Sgt's
i
'.i
.
yp;Flaherty;$2,J:riday,c;!17H!g1a,;;,
?iy.
My
friend
Gavirf
Elder-first
iled'mVjust;J
'-to
,wtwo
weeks
before
to
tell
me
that
Ox
wanted
do
a
show
in
Prince
George
before
returning
to
Vancouver
to
record
a
new
album,
-
and
that
he
and
1
were
to
put
on
the
show.,
,
Neither
of
us
had
much
experience
with
this
,,
kind
of
thing,
but
damned
ifthat
would
stop
usljtVasOxilW-ve
Those
of
you
who
read
bur
October
issue
featuring
an
interview
of
mine
with
Ox
front-man
Mark
Browning
will
certainly
be
aware
.,
that
this
band
is
a.
very
big
deal
for
campuscommunity
radio
geeks
like
me.
Dust
Bowl
Revival,
Ox's
great
alt-country-rock
masterpiece,
had
charted
number
1
in
Canada
on
cc
radio
this
year,
and
continued
to
chart
for
months
at
my
own
radio
station,
Prince
George's
UNBC
campus
radio
station
CFUR.
It
continues
to
be
my
favorite
album
to
this
day.
Jo
some,
this
isn't
a
very
big
.deal,
but
Ox
was
star-bound,
and
Jor
good
..reason.
And
they
wanted
to,
do
a
show!
This
was
cool.
Very
cooK
We
had
just
less
than
two
weeks
to
put
the
whole
thing
together.
It
had
been'ag'reed
,
thatjGayJa
wouli
arrange,
avenue
fpr,thef3j'
"shbw
and
that
1
would
worktbn
acquiring
a
.sound
system
Jor
them
to
play
onlWe
decid-5ed
that
Sgt.
O's
would
b"an
Ideal
venue,
Slv
,,
,
given
its
small
size
and
popular
appeal
to1;
-
IstudentsWhile'
he
worked
out
the
details
of
;rthe'vehue,
I
quickly
approachedJSound
-T-Entertainment
for
a
spundsystemrAfter
pro-;
yiding
themwitii
;!a.list'
ol
fstoff
we'd
heed,.
.-,
everhing'was
taken"e"ofHply
crap.
That
.
was
easy.
.
;
;
.
f
j.?9
f
jf;
-4f
.
h
Afterseverat
days
of
wrangling
and
discus-siqhwe'convinced
seminal
PG
favorites'
Floored
to
open
for
the
show.
Bryndis
Ogmundson,
Music
Director
at
CFUR"
crafted
"
some
beautiful
posters,
and
we
splattered
the
city
with
them.
Handbills
littered
the
academic
centers
of
PG.
Everything
was
set.
Sweet.
The
band
arrived
on
the
Thursday
night,
and
we
ended
up
putting
Mark,
Ryan
and
the
other
guy
(...
what's
the
new
guy's
name?
Josh?)
up
at
Gavin's
house.
Weeks
later,
we
would
discover
that
his
parents,
out
of
town
that
night,
were
not
impressed.
Whatever.
We
ordered
pizza,
and
as
it
turns
out,
Mark
Browning
makes
an
excellent
cup
of
tea
(thanks
Mark).
Afterwards,
we
took
Josh
and
Ryan
out
to
Sgt's
for
a
few
beers
and
tried
unsuccessfully
to
meet
some
girls.
Actually,
Gavin
went
to
meet
girls,
Ryan,
Josh
and
I
just
wanted
beer.
Mark
stayed
in.
Clearly
we,
weren't
cool
.
enough
for
him.
Friday
was,
of
course,
the
day
of
the
concert.
Gavin
started
stressing
out
again.
My
,
girlfriend
Jess
and
I
joined
everyone
at
Sgt's
that
afternoon
to
help
with
setup.
Sound
Entertainment
had
forgotten
our
microphones.
Crap.
Tess,
Gavin
and
myself
went
to
go
pick
them
up,
and
everything
was
cool
again.
When
we
returned,
we
decided
it
was
time
to
get
something
to
eat.
Upon
ordering
dinner
from
the
kitchen,
the
server
asked
us
for
ID,
and
it
occurred
to
us
that
Tess,
unlike
Gavin
and
myself,
was
underage.
Crap
again.
So
we
did
what
any
responsible,
mature
young
adults
would
do
in
such
a
situation:
We
fled.
"Umm,
honey,
let's
go
get
your
purse,
it's
in
the
car
isn't
it?"
We
were
convincing,
I'm
sure.
We
would
spend
the
next
half
hour
meekly
sitting
in
Red
Robin
figuring
out
what
to
do.
Man,
this
sucked.
I
called
Gavin.
It
seemed
that
the
management
was
a
little
upset
that
our
food
hadn't
been
paid
for.
I
sheepishly
went
back
to
get
the
food,
and
we
ended
up
eating
our
dinner
in
her
car
in
the
parking
lot
while
the
band
conducted
their
final
sound
check..There's
nothing
like
cold
potato
wedges
and
a
processed
chicken
burger
to
brighten
your
evening.
Good
wedges,
mind
iybu,
but
cold.
'"'
Tess
was
kind
of
upset.
Ox
was
one
of
her
favorite
bands
as
well,
and
she'd
been
anxiously
looking
forward
to
the
show..
Naturally,
the
only
logical
solution
was
to
sneak
back
in
,
and
pretend
she
was
someone
else.
So
we
'did.
There's
a
lot
to
be
said
for
changing
your
hair
and
losing
your
jacket
in
order
to
sneak
into
a
pub.
It
was
surprisingly
easy.
With
our
regained
admittance
into
the
pub,
it
was
time
for
a
pint.
As
the
room
filled
up,
the
atmosphere
eased,
and
it
seemed
as
though
everything
would
be
ok.
Gavin
started
drinking,
and
was
suddenly
no
longer
anxious.
At
9
o'clock,
Gavin
and
I
introduced
Floored,
who
promptly
proceeded
to
'rock
our
socks
off.
Props
to
Jeremy,
Scotty,
Pat
and
Mike
for
a
great
set.
If
only
they'd
played
Bulls
On
Parade
like
they
used
to,
oh
how
lovely
it
would
have
been.
Upon
consumption
of
several
more
pints,
Ox
finally
took
up
their
instruments
and
began
their
set.
They
opened
with
Transam.
After
that,
everything
is
kind
of
blurry
-
the
result
of
a
beer
and
elation
induced
haze.
I
know
I
sang
along
raucously
to
LA
City,
painfully
embarrassing
those,
around
me.
Christopher,
Bryndis,
Tess
-
my
apologies.
I
also
remember
Browning
informing
the
crowd
that
that
day
was
Oxmas;
the,
day
of
the
last
gig
the
band
played
before
Christmas.
The
crowd
seemed
very
glad
to
be
;
part
of
Ox's
first
Oxmas
away
from
Sudbury,
-and
again,
many
a
beer
was
drank
in
celebra-
tion.
.;
.
My
greatest
personal
highlight
of
the
show,
however,
was
when,
after
a
short
aside
dis-
.
.
cussing
the
previous
evening's
events
and
thanking
Gavin
for
his
hospitality,
Mark
Browning
dedicated
the
song
Weaving
to
me.
Sure,
I
had
slobberingly
asked
him
to
in
jest
before
their
set,
but
it
was
still
very
special.
It
was
the
first
song
I
learned
to
play
on
the
guitar;
I'd
learned
to
play
it
for
a
girl.
Had
I
been
any
more
inebriated,
I
may
have
even
cried.
Maybe.
It
was
really
great.
After
a
short
encore
featuring
CFUR's
favorite
track,
Stolen
Car,
the
show
was
regretfully
over.
We
all
hung
around
to
chat
and
drink
some
more.
Then
I
drunkenly
accused
Josh
of
hitting
on
my
girlfriend,
while
in
actuality,
he
was
just
keeping
her
company
while
1
drunkenly
flirted
with
other
girls.,
I
think.
He
then
kindly
told
me
not
to
ignore
her
any
more.
I
responded
by
telling
him
that
he
was
a
great
pal
and
an
awesome
guy.
Then
I
think
I
tried
to
fight
him.
Sorry
dude.-ybu're
still
a
great.guy.
Soon,
the
band
packed
up
their
gear
and
sold
the
last
of
their
merch
(you
guys
should
see
me
in
my
spiffy
new
t-shirt
by
the
way),
and
everyone
began
trickling
out.
One
last
beer,
a
round
of
handshakes
and
hugs,
and
a
final
visit
to
the
restroom;
we
were
off.
The
sound
gear
would
wait
until
the
morning.
Thanks
Mark,
Ryan
and
Josh.
You
guys
can
crash
in
Gavin's
waterbed
any
time
you
want.
So
long
as
his
parents
aren't
home.
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