Sept.18/1997
A sunny afternoon.....
Ok.. I got in Toronto in time for the CFNY roof top lunch thing. I met up
with some Texture (mailing list) people I already knew, and some I got to know as the day
went on : ) We got a cool spot across the street where we could see CW well.
I took about 4-5 pics there. The sound was great and I actually got teary
eyed (thank goodness i had my sunglasses on) during Crank 'cause I havent
heard that song live in 2 years.. and then it all hit me that this was my CW
day and... yes, I'm mighty dorky : )
After that we were off to HMV to get them to sign our goodies. I took about
4-5 pics there too. So, I whipped out my CW pic from AP and my gold pen and
went up to the table. The order they were sitting in was
Neil, Brian, Dave, Rob... so Neil was first. He liked my gold pen : ) and he
started buggin Brian about the pic "oh look at this.. back when you were
good looking!" So then Brian laughed and signed it, and then I got to Dave
(wahoo!) he didnt recognize me so I told him my name, "Leslie! Wow you dyed
your hair!" eek! That was just too cool, he also then told me he put me on
the guest list, so once again I was shocked and I said thanks!
I also told him my buddy Sue in Boston said "hi" and he said "Oh Sue! Well tell her I said hi back" : ) I
had gotten to Rob for him to sign (we all had to move along quickly) but I
was still talkin to Dave.. he kept askin about my hair ("wow! when did you
dye it?..") so I answered him not even realizing that Rob said "so you're
coming to the show tonite right?" and Dave asked too.. so then Rob had to
repeat himself and I said of course!! I then met Merck who
was standing by the door we had to leave out of. He saw my shirt and asked
which Texture person I was.. so I told him Leslie and he asked me if I was
going to the show and then he said "you're old enough to get in this time!"
(I noticed this seems to be the running joke now!) : )
As the sun begins to set...
Ok.. now its later (7pm)... CW are going to be at the radio station (CFNY) but you
need passes (which I hadnt won) to get in. So I decided to hang around
outside and look in for the show (its all windows). CW arrives and 5 minutes
later the door guy comes outside, points to me (there was a small crowd of
people), and asks if I want to go in. So of course I go in! I later found
out that some of the Texture people in there were tryin to get me in "aw come
on.. she looks so lonely out there! we have the same shirts!" Well anyways..
during the interview Dave was lookin around the room and saw me and waved,
so I waved back. wahoo! i thought : ) As they were leaving, Merck walked by
me and said "Hey Leslie!! Havin fun??" so I said yes and he said I would be
havin a lot more fun tonite at the show! Then a little while after that, Dave walked by
and didnt notice me at first.. then he said "Hey! I still havent gotten used
to this new hair yet... But dont worry.. I will! I'm workin on it" wahoo
again! I took a couple more pics there.
Night has fallen and the crowd goes wild...
Ok.. now the show... For the opening groups, I actually didnt think they
were that bad. Geneva played a bit longer than most opening groups.. but I
thought they were pretty good : ) We were standing on the left side (between
Brian and Rob) and for the first few songs the stupid ass crowd wouldnt stop
moshing and body surfing. I was getting SO mad.. They had pushed me far
back, and they were makin me concentrate on them more than the songs! So I
punched each one of them as hard as i could : ) Some guy that was near me
noticed my distress and stood on the side of me that the moshers were on and
kept them away.. How nice! Well.. CW were SO great!!! Every time you thought
the concert was over (and get that depressed awwww feeling) they would wip
out another song. They played for 2 hours! I was in CW heaven (by that time
the crowd had calmed down more). They didnt play Goodbye.. but they did play
HCTFC and I LOVE singing to that song so i was one happy camper : ) Oh ya... I bought the CW shirt that has the CW logo on the front and "you're turning black metallic" written on the back.
After the show... I went to my dad's car and got my camera and headed back
inside. I went to the backstage area and the guy wouldn't let me in because
I didnt get my pass that said I was on the guest list at the beginning of
the show! Argh I said... I didnt know! Well.. when I found the Texture cult,
Merck got everything set up so we could meet them. CW werent there for very
long tho. Rob went off somewhere almost right away, Neil was there for a bit, I'm not sure about Brian, and Dave stayed the longest..
Which brings me to the way-too-cool part of my story...
Well when I saw Dave I went right over to the little semi-circle of about 5
or 6 people that were around him. I went up behind the person he was talkin
to and he saw me just as he was finishing talkin to the other person, and
said "Hey Leslie!" and I was like "Hey Dave!" and then we gave each other
this huge hug like we were good friends that hadnt seen each other in a long
time or somethin (you know, those hugs?).. hee hee ... So then we chatted.. We
talked about my hair for a while, he asked me why I decided to dye my hair
and I told him cause I was bored one day : ) Then he said he liked it and
that I have his total approval : ) He then asked me how I liked my new place
so we chatted about that for a while. He then told me he didnt see me in the
audience : ) So I told him I was on the other side and then I went into my
whole "the show was great but I hate those people in the audience!!!"
another fellow female heard me and joined in on how she totally agreed : )
Merck then came and cracked some jokes about Dave... then he said to me,
"We'll keep having these all ages shows in toronto until you turn 19 ok?"
hee hee..
Well, the group had to leave for the post show party at a club called the
Joker. I didnt think anything of it because I hadnt won passes. So, after
Dave said thats where they were headin, one guy just said, "hey, can i go?"
and Dave was like, "sure!" he then turned to me and asked, "Do you want to
go too?" So (after getting over shock) I said "sure!" He then said ok.. "Come with me" so I went with Dave to this other room in the place
where the rest of the band were, plus the people who won passes. Dave asked
if I wanted a drink and I asked what there was... So he named a bunch of
stuff. He then said, "Want to split a beer?" How on earth was i going to
turn that one down? Splitting a drink w/Dave Hawes! So he poured it into a
cup for me and noticed my camera, "How bout a picture?!" he asked. Like I would say no
to that one! So, (fingers crossed this comes out) I'll have a picture of
Dave holding a beer bottle, and me a cup : ) (aw! the pic turned out great, but my cup didnt make it into the picture. Oh well.. I know it was there!) After that everyone was ready to
go so we head out into the hall.. there was about 10 people (dont take my word on it.. I didnt count!) there with
Dave at the front, and I had somehow got stuck at the very back. All of a
sudden Dave stops at the front and shouts out "Where's Leslie?!!" So then
everyone let me pass and me and Dave went outside. He went over to take some
pics with people, and I noticed Rob standing there just finishing talkin to
someone.. Finally I can talk to him! So I went over and asked if he
remembered the b-day card and stuff from last year.. He said ya, and I said
"That was me" and he was like, "Oh I know!" I couldnt believe it! So then I
told him how I just assumed he forgot and then he asked how I was doing, how
I liked the show, and I said everything was cool, and then he had to go off
to wherever he goes to again : ).. A bit after that I went and stood by Dave
again, one fan who had a pass that was there looked at me and said "aw..
she's so sweet! you can tell she's a true fan and not some groupie. Dave!
dont ya know you have such a devoted fan here!" and he looked back at me,
"Leslie's a great girl!" hee hee...
Off to the club...
Ok, after that, the rest of the band had
left in a van for the club and there werent that many people left, but we
all had to go. So Dave said "Follow me" again, and so I did... Right into
the tour bus!!!!!!!!!! I went in and the lead singer for Feline, and the
lead for Geneva were in there, along with some other people (I think from
the opening bands too) and Merck was there too. So, at first I wasnt sure
where to sit, and Dave said i could sit on the couch-like seat (where the
two lead singers were sitting) so I sat on the end and Dave sat beside me.
At first I felt like such a dork.. All these cool music people and then
dorky ol me.. but after a few minutes I thought it was pretty cool. Me and
Dave chatted a bit more (he was pointing everything out on the bus 'cause I
had never been on a tour bus before), and then he got up to go to the
bathroom and accidentaly stepped on my foot .. he kept saying sorry.. he
thought he had hurt me or somethin : ) The lead singer of Feline (I wish
I would remember names) took a pic of all of us on the bus... So now I'm on
some film somewhere : )
Well eventually we got to the club (too soon I say! That tour bus ride was
too cool) And there was a huge wait... The group went in for not even 5
minutes and came back out and then security said, "Bar's closed. No post
show party. go home" I was so upset! CW seemed like they had to leave in a
hurry and I spotted Dave saying goodbye to some fans and getting closer to
the van.. There was no way he was leaving with out a goodbye from me! So, I
went over and he saw me and was like, "Aw! I'm so sorry Leslie" with kind of
a guilty/sad voice.. So I said it was okay (hey.. that tour bus ride will
keep me going for a looong time!) and we hugged goodbye and CW drove off
into the moonlight...
I want to give the biggest THANK YOU to Catherine Wheel for doing everything they did in Toronto that day... And an extra special Thanks to Dave for being so incredibly nice to me after the show. Catherine Wheel are truly the greatest band around.
-Leslie
© 1997 Leslie Marciniak - leslie@bserv.com