With a title like September to Remember a few songs come to mind.  September by Earth, Wind & Fire, I Remember You by Skid Row & See You in September by The Tempos.  What has this got to do with anything?  Nothing actually, but it’s what came to my mind while writing this and I happen to like all 3 songs.

When I think about September I can’t help but think about the days of being in school and dreading the end of summer.  I mean, what kid didn’t really dread the end of care free days and back to a schedule of discipline?  The one bright spot of this month in my eyes was my birthday. Who doesn’t like those?

Gigs

This was one of the busiest month’s that I can remember.  I had a total of 8 gigs this month between the bands.   It started off with a really fun gig in Timmins for the Taste of the North.  It’s a really cool event where local chef’s come out and let you sample their food, and you vote for your favorite.  It’s a real elegant event too and this was our second year performing.  They really loved Neon’s setlist and what was really cool was bumping into a buddy from high school that I hadn’t seen in over 20 years!

The following weekend Elevation played for the CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind) as part of a walk at a beautiful park downtown Toronto.  My grandmother became a member of the CNIB for many years when she lost her sight, so it’s something that will always hold a special place in my heart.  Later that night Neon returned to the legendary Hideout.  They had extended serving hours that night as part of the TIFF festival and we literally played until 3:30am.  I think I got to bed just after 5am. Ugh..

Quebec

I never like using the word “Tour” as to me a tour is a span of 3 – 6 months of gigs 4-5 nights a week like a real touring act.  Many bands and artists use “tour” when they have 3 gigs in a month in different places.  That’s just one of my pet peeves I guess.  For sake of argument, I’m calling Elevation’s Quebec shows a “Mini Tour”.  See what I did there?

So Elevation played two nights in lovely Quebec in two different theatres.  Both were great shows and great turnouts.  They were about 3 hours apart from each other and about 7 hours from home.  Lot’s of driving that’s for sure!  The first night was in Beloeil at a smaller  venue but right from the first note they were up on their feet the whole show.  The 2nd night in Mont-Laurier was at a beautiful, less than 5 year old state of the art theater.  It was really breath taking how pro this was from the techs, to the equipment, to the green rooms and to the crowd.  This night, September 22nd also happened to be my birthday.  Imagine my surprise when Shawn announced it was my birthday and the entire crowd sang happy birthday.  I was rather embarrassed but loved it!  After the show the we went out to a local bar conveniently across from our hotel and I *remember* drinking some sort of 10% beer.  Good times!

Upon return Neon had a corporate gig just two days later at the beautiful Rebel Night Club.  This is a state of the art event place.  It’s usually rented for touring bands and for general corporate events.  I’ve seen so many bands there over the years I can’t even remember them all.  They supplied the video backdrop so we were able to do our full video show which always amazes people.

To cap off this month The Northern Sons returned to the 365 club at Fallsview Casino in Niagara Falls.   We love this 2 night gig.  Easy load in, great techs and you have the Saturday to do whatever you please and all your gear is setup for the 2nd night ready to go.  It’s often a joke in the band about going to a music store when you’re out of town.  The last time we went to a music store while being out of town it cost me money…. more on that in another post..

So naturally my brother Grant and I took a drive on the Saturday to the local L&M.  Some how completely unplanned we ended up in the acoustic room with an acoustic bass and guitar and played the intro to “The Trees” by Rush.  I swear that wasn’t planned!   Later that night we capped off night two with one of the best reactions we’ve had at the 365 club.  We can’t wait to perform there on New Year’s Eve!