Random Notes from The Road

It's been Robert W. Service week here on the Install Swing...

First, working up in Canada, it's been cold cold cold...

I was working in Ottawa at the ScotiaBank Center. I had a 6:30am call time because they were loading in the Meatloaf concert starting at 8:00AM. I wanted to get done with as much as possible before the roadies started moving in all the equipment.
I arrived at 6:30, the temp was (according to the temp indicator in my car) -14 degrees Centigrade.

I was working down in the TV Truck patch bay mounting my equipment on the wall when the concert trucks started rolling in...
They opened the big door and the wind came in and started to really make life difficult.
(Keep in mind, I don't have a nice thick warm jacket... It's just me in a polo shirt.)

As I was finishing the install, I kept hearing the lines from Robert Service's "Creamation of Sam Magee"
"Talk of your cold, through the parka's fold it stabbed like a driven nail; If our eye's we close, then our lashes froze and sometimes we couldn't see..."

My hands were chilled to the bone... I could barely hold my screwdriver...
But I survived it.

Then down in Buffalo a block or so from the arena was a funky little saloon, the Malamute.


The Malamute

I wondered, if I went inside would I find a character like Dangerous Dan McGrew or the Lady known as Lou...

"A bunch of the boys were whooping it up
In the Malamute saloon;
The kid that handles the music-box
Was hitting a jag-time tune;
Back of the bar, in a solo game,
Sat Dangerous Dan McGrew,
And watching his luck was his light-o'-love,
The lady that's known as Lou."


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I've been to quite a few bars and restaurants over the last 6 weeks... Taverns, bars, diners, restaurants, and a few places that a girl in orange shorts would serve up a plate full of wings...Irish Bars, Chinese food, Mexican, Sports Bars, and the occasional fast-food places.

But I came across one in Toronto that I was curious about...
Unfortunately it wasn't open when I was there...


The Shawson Grill


The Rallis Collection

I really wanted to try the Rallis Classic Strip Chicken Wrap...

Not.