High Heeling It at the Junos
Friday, April 9, 2004
High-Heeling it at the Junos
It’s 6am and Monty and I are at the airport (again), about to fly to Vancouver to rehearse for the start of the tour this May in Australia and New Zealand.
Well, I didn’t stay up all night partying (or golfing) with Alice Cooper, but I do have some Junos stories. The verdict: they were more fun than the Grammys! I guess it’s because we were on home turf and everybody knew everybody. The vibe was much more relaxed; security was nowhere near as tight as in the States.
In rehearsal in Vancouver beforehand, Sarah brought in a dress for me to wear on the Junos. She said she thought it suited what she called my ‘50’s Retro Film Siren’ style, and asked me if I had any ‘(Come-Up-And) Fuck-Me Pumps’ with a minimum 4-inch heel and pointy toe. I like a girl who knows what she wants.
I brought many pairs of shoes on that trip not knowing what I was going to wear on the Junos, and I thought I owned just about every variation of black shoe, but no ma’am, no F--- Me pumps with a minimum 4-inch heel and pointy toe. That evening back at the hotel I tried on the dress, and it fit, so it was settled. I knew what I had to do. After all, any 50’s retro film siren worth her salt must own such a pair of weapons.
I hadn’t really eaten all day, but I had my priorities straight. I set out into the Vancouver dusk to hit the stores an hour before closing time. I also had to get some extra passport photos taken for our Australian and New Zealand work visas, so I stopped off and had my picture taken by a really weird guy at a really weird store. I decided not to wait the ten minutes for the shots, but to go shoe-shopping and come back for them.
Forty-five minutes later I had 2 pairs of pointy-toed F--- Me pumps from 2 different shops, both very nice but one pair was plain and the other had detailing across the foot. I needed a second opinion. I ran into ‘DP’ our monitor man and Graeme our lighting designer on their way out of the weird passport photo store, ‘that passport guy was so weird!’... ‘I know!’ ... ‘You wanna go for Indian food?’... ‘Okay, let’s go’... and whipped the pumps out for their consideration at Taste Of India.
If there’s one thing I know, and this is a general comment, present company that night excluded: even the most neanderthal of men can tell you when a high heel shoe is working for them. I believe it was Lauren Hutton who said, ‘the only place for stilettos is in the bedroom.’
They favoured the plain pair, either naturally or with my subliminal urging, and I was glad because those were a little cheaper and a little more comfortable than the fancy ones. Just to be sure, the next day I showed them to Sarah. She pegged the plain pair as 'the classic', and the man at Pegabo disapprovingly refunded my Visa card.
Back to business: off we all flew to Edmonton. After rehearsal at the Junos site, the aforementioned ‘DP’ who lives in Edmonton, had us all over to watch the Canucks vs. the Oilers, and well, we all know how that went, but it was great fun to watch it with Vancouverites and Edmontonians. We were also given a beautiful home-cooked spread by DP’s wife Carmen, and I’m sure I don’t need to mention how great that is when you’re on the road.
The next day we did a dress rehearsal at Rexall Place and experienced the pyro of Nickelback. Our faces still hot from the explosions, and from laughing, we ran through ‘Stupid’ and went back to the hotel to rest for the big show that night.
Although at first it seemed truly bizarre, it was fun to go on right after Nickelback at the top of the show. We were in place and ready on a separate stage while they did their song, using our in-ears as plugs, watching the pyro (and laughing). It was also nice to have the 12-person string section from the Edmonton Symphony there playing on Sarah’s song. I know them already from having played with that symphony on their home turf at the Winspear Center on Peter Brennan’s Jeans ‘n Classics tours.
Right after we performed, I was ‘walking’ back to the dressing room (remember the 4-inch heels?) when I heard a male voice say my name. I turned to see the Barenaked Ladies standing in a very nice straight line (all except for Jim Creegan who said hi to me 30 seconds later), with their arms up waving at me. I wish I had a picture of that.
More folks I was glad to see again and talk with: Greg Keelor, Gary Craig, John Diamond and Colin Linden from Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, Larry LeBlanc from Billboard Magazine and Mark who plays guitar with Nelly Furtado.
After the show we went to an EMI afterparty where I immediately started dancing with the girls of Shaye (Dahmnait Doyle, Kim Stockwood and Tara MacLean). After 5 minutes they said, ‘let’s pee!’ and I had to pee, so off we went to the bathroom, but it was slow-going, walking behind their long trains.
My friend Wally had come in from Calgary as my guest for the Junos, but he was deeply engrossed in a Steely Dan bonding session with David Kershaw, so I milled around and found Kevin Fox. Kevin is playing guitar with Shaye right now, and I just saw him last week because I hired him to come in and play cello on my album, which he did gorgeously. I found our production manager Paul and his wife Catherine and we had fun comparing our weddings, I drifted over to Ash on the dance floor and got down for awhile (good DJ) and then just before leaving the party I had a nice talk with Kevin Hearn and another one with Jian Ghomeshi.
It was a good trip. I took some photos and will have them posted soon on my website.
Oh yeah! Congratulations to Sarah on her 2 Juno Awards!
I’ll write again from my month-long set-up in Vancouver.
Best wishes everyone,
xo KR
High-Heeling it at the Junos
It’s 6am and Monty and I are at the airport (again), about to fly to Vancouver to rehearse for the start of the tour this May in Australia and New Zealand.
Well, I didn’t stay up all night partying (or golfing) with Alice Cooper, but I do have some Junos stories. The verdict: they were more fun than the Grammys! I guess it’s because we were on home turf and everybody knew everybody. The vibe was much more relaxed; security was nowhere near as tight as in the States.
In rehearsal in Vancouver beforehand, Sarah brought in a dress for me to wear on the Junos. She said she thought it suited what she called my ‘50’s Retro Film Siren’ style, and asked me if I had any ‘(Come-Up-And) Fuck-Me Pumps’ with a minimum 4-inch heel and pointy toe. I like a girl who knows what she wants.
I brought many pairs of shoes on that trip not knowing what I was going to wear on the Junos, and I thought I owned just about every variation of black shoe, but no ma’am, no F--- Me pumps with a minimum 4-inch heel and pointy toe. That evening back at the hotel I tried on the dress, and it fit, so it was settled. I knew what I had to do. After all, any 50’s retro film siren worth her salt must own such a pair of weapons.
I hadn’t really eaten all day, but I had my priorities straight. I set out into the Vancouver dusk to hit the stores an hour before closing time. I also had to get some extra passport photos taken for our Australian and New Zealand work visas, so I stopped off and had my picture taken by a really weird guy at a really weird store. I decided not to wait the ten minutes for the shots, but to go shoe-shopping and come back for them.
Forty-five minutes later I had 2 pairs of pointy-toed F--- Me pumps from 2 different shops, both very nice but one pair was plain and the other had detailing across the foot. I needed a second opinion. I ran into ‘DP’ our monitor man and Graeme our lighting designer on their way out of the weird passport photo store, ‘that passport guy was so weird!’... ‘I know!’ ... ‘You wanna go for Indian food?’... ‘Okay, let’s go’... and whipped the pumps out for their consideration at Taste Of India.
If there’s one thing I know, and this is a general comment, present company that night excluded: even the most neanderthal of men can tell you when a high heel shoe is working for them. I believe it was Lauren Hutton who said, ‘the only place for stilettos is in the bedroom.’
They favoured the plain pair, either naturally or with my subliminal urging, and I was glad because those were a little cheaper and a little more comfortable than the fancy ones. Just to be sure, the next day I showed them to Sarah. She pegged the plain pair as 'the classic', and the man at Pegabo disapprovingly refunded my Visa card.
Back to business: off we all flew to Edmonton. After rehearsal at the Junos site, the aforementioned ‘DP’ who lives in Edmonton, had us all over to watch the Canucks vs. the Oilers, and well, we all know how that went, but it was great fun to watch it with Vancouverites and Edmontonians. We were also given a beautiful home-cooked spread by DP’s wife Carmen, and I’m sure I don’t need to mention how great that is when you’re on the road.
The next day we did a dress rehearsal at Rexall Place and experienced the pyro of Nickelback. Our faces still hot from the explosions, and from laughing, we ran through ‘Stupid’ and went back to the hotel to rest for the big show that night.
Although at first it seemed truly bizarre, it was fun to go on right after Nickelback at the top of the show. We were in place and ready on a separate stage while they did their song, using our in-ears as plugs, watching the pyro (and laughing). It was also nice to have the 12-person string section from the Edmonton Symphony there playing on Sarah’s song. I know them already from having played with that symphony on their home turf at the Winspear Center on Peter Brennan’s Jeans ‘n Classics tours.
Right after we performed, I was ‘walking’ back to the dressing room (remember the 4-inch heels?) when I heard a male voice say my name. I turned to see the Barenaked Ladies standing in a very nice straight line (all except for Jim Creegan who said hi to me 30 seconds later), with their arms up waving at me. I wish I had a picture of that.
More folks I was glad to see again and talk with: Greg Keelor, Gary Craig, John Diamond and Colin Linden from Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, Larry LeBlanc from Billboard Magazine and Mark who plays guitar with Nelly Furtado.
After the show we went to an EMI afterparty where I immediately started dancing with the girls of Shaye (Dahmnait Doyle, Kim Stockwood and Tara MacLean). After 5 minutes they said, ‘let’s pee!’ and I had to pee, so off we went to the bathroom, but it was slow-going, walking behind their long trains.
My friend Wally had come in from Calgary as my guest for the Junos, but he was deeply engrossed in a Steely Dan bonding session with David Kershaw, so I milled around and found Kevin Fox. Kevin is playing guitar with Shaye right now, and I just saw him last week because I hired him to come in and play cello on my album, which he did gorgeously. I found our production manager Paul and his wife Catherine and we had fun comparing our weddings, I drifted over to Ash on the dance floor and got down for awhile (good DJ) and then just before leaving the party I had a nice talk with Kevin Hearn and another one with Jian Ghomeshi.
It was a good trip. I took some photos and will have them posted soon on my website.
Oh yeah! Congratulations to Sarah on her 2 Juno Awards!
I’ll write again from my month-long set-up in Vancouver.
Best wishes everyone,
xo KR
posted by Kathryn Rose (aka KR) at 11:26 p.m.
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