The next day we did the usual tourist thing, walking around the city and generally seeing the sites. Our sightseeing tour culminated with a trip to the top of the CN tower, which is the tallest free standing structure in the world.
| THE TRIP!!! | |||
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| Barry Connors, Carl Dixon, Me, Steve Shelski, Tim Harrington | |||
| My wife Ann and I got to Toronto on Thursday afternoon. Our first hotel was the Bond Place, which despite its wonderful name is currently top on my list of places NOT to stay while in Toronto. That afternoon we met up with Mike Mitchell, who was one of the first and arguably the most frequent visitor to this site. In addition, he is probably the second biggest Coney Hatch fan in the world, after me (he would probably see it the other way around). Mike was very hospitable and gave us a warm welcome to Canada. We had a few beers in the pub across from the hotel, then went to a place called The Docks which is on the shore of Lake Ontario in downtown Toronto. Mike treated us to dinner and showed us a really good time. Then to top it off, he gave me several Coney Hatch lps and a couple of t-shirts that he had collected over the years. Quite an addition to my collection, and I thank him again for his generosity. Below are my kids Sam and Hannah modeling the t-shirts. | |||
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The next day we did the usual tourist thing, walking around the city and generally seeing the sites. Our sightseeing tour culminated with a trip to the top of the CN tower, which is the tallest free standing structure in the world. |
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Despite a nearly clinical fear of heights, I was boldly determined to go up in this sucker. After all, it's only a tall building, right? (See picture at left). Then as we got closer, I was forced to revise my estimate and decided that it was in fact one 'big ass' building, to use a phrase from where I come from. (See picture at right). Still I soldiered on. | |
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| Okay, so you get up in this thing, and the view is kind of cool. They say you can see Niagara Falls on a clear day. We weren't that lucky, but the view still took our breath away. Then we went down to look through what they call the glass floor, which is basically a.... glass floor. | |||
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On the left is the view looking straight down from 1422 feet. On the right, Ann is sitting on one of the glass panels. Then came my turn. | |
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| Wait for it........ | |||
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After a few minutes Ann was able to revive me, and I bravely decided we should do the rest of our sightseeing from street level. | ||
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That afternoon we went to visit with Stacey, who is the wonderful person who put me in touch with Carl in first place. Though I have been able to spend quite a bit of time with Carl over the last couple of years thanks to his touring with The Guess Who, I had never met Stacey. We didn't have a lot of time to talk, but it was good to finally put a face with a name, and she is truly one of the nicest, coolest people I have had occasion to meet. I would like to thank her again for all she has done for me. |
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Then, Friday night, Carl and his wife were gracious enough to invite us to their home for dinner. There we met her for the first time, as well as their two lovely girls. As Ann visited with the Dixon women, Carl gave me a tour of his attic studio, where I got to see lots of Coney Hatch memorabilia. After dinner, Carl took us and the girls (and the dog) on a moonlight stroll through a downtown park. Apart from my gnawing fear of a being re-infected with poison ivy (from which I was just recovering) from walking through brush in the dark, it was quite fun. Thanks again to Carl and family for their wonderful hospitality. |
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THE SHOW!!! |
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| On Saturday we got up early and drove up north. The show was at a Canada Day Festival in Earlton, Ontario. For those of you not from Canada, and for a lot of you who are, Earlton is way the hell up north. Think south North Pole. On the bill were Coney Hatch, Helix, and Rik Emmett. I was not very familiar with Helix, but Triumph had always been one of my favorite bands. Carl introduced me to Rik before the show, and I got him to sign a picture I took of him back in 1979 when I saw Triumph for the first time in Memphis. But of course, Coney Hatch was the reason I made the trip. I was pleased that Carl, Steve and Barry were all there. Tim did a great job on the bass and the vocals on Monkey Bars and Stand Up. Ann and I got to spend quite a bit of time visiting with the guys, and they were all genuinely friendly and fun to be around. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate, so the drag races that were going on were delayed, which caused the show to be late getting started. I guess it was after 9:00 before Coney Hatch took the stage, and the races were STILL going on. But once the music started the crowd began to filter in. | Set List
No Sleep Tonight |
| I didn't want to do anything to distract me from the show, so I just stood there singing and playing air guitar throughout it all. Thankfully, Ann, had the presence of mind to take a few photos. We didn't have much of a camera for stage photography, but they turned out alright. |  |
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A couple of shots taken from the back of the stage. I don't know what Steve was reacting to, but he certainly seems to feel strongly about it. Meanwhile, Barry and Tim are holding down the low end. |
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| Steve and I. After having been a fan for so long, it was rather surreal to actually be standing there talking to him. But he was so down to earth that I quickly got past that and really enjoyed our visit. |  |
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THE SOUVENIR |
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