Wayne D's Blog

Enough time has now passed and I have sufficiently recovered that I can, with some degree of detachment, write about Grey Cup 2007.

The Thursday to Sunday weekend started out somewhat inauspiciously when a large accident shut down 400 at Highway 7 on Thursday afternoon. I had figured that 2 hours was enough time to get me from Langstaff and Weston Rd. down to the Argonotes Central for the weekend, the Novatel on the Esplanade. Boy was I wrong, every southbound route was choked with traffic. Nothing was moving. At 5:31 p.m. I sent a text message to the Argonotes bandleader informing him that I was stuck in traffic and wouldn't make the 7:00 meeting time in the hotel lobby. I had travelled less than 2 km. in 30 minutes. Finally I headed north to Major MacKenzie, across to Dufferin and then down top the 407, 404, Don Valley and across the Gardiner to arrive at the hotel right at 7. I still had to check in, assemble my sax and get to the first venue for our 8:15 show. Luckily other members of the band had been delayed by the abysmal weather. Off we went following the PATH underground tunnel system to the Sheraton Centre. Then we went over along King Street to Tim Horton's for a snack before heading back to play some selections outside Roy Thompson Hall where the CFL Player awards were taking place. AT one point Damon Allan even conducted the band for a short time. After that we headed down to the Convention Centre for one of many appearances at the various parties that were taking place there. The it was back to the hotel where I was safely tucked into my bed by 12:30.

Friday morning began with a trek up to Bloor and Yonge for an appearance at the Fan 590, Toronto's sports radio station. I think that our wake up call was at 7. I could hear alarms and phones ringing faintly around us as other Argonotes tried to drag themselves out of bed too. Fan 590 has a tiny studio so Steve picked 15 people out of the fifty or so who were there to go up and play, the rest parked themselves at the Starbucks across the street to wait. Those who went up arranged themselves in the hallway just outside the studio door and waited. The producer went down the hall to warn the station broadcasting from an adjacent studio what was about to occur. At the appointed time the door swung open, a microphone was pointed at us and off we went. There was a short break, we played another tune and by 9:30 we were done. One of our band members snuck out of her office to join us as we went across Bloor to Yonge to play at the corner. She didn't even bring a coat and by the time we were done she was happy but frozen and she charged back to our office. We went down back into the subway to head downtown. We stopped at the Eaton's Centre to play for the crowds before heading back to the Convention Centre. We played outside, we played inside, we played in rooms, we played in the wide convention centre hallways. We had nine scheduled events and probably played as many impromptu ones including an unscheduled concert at the Vanier Cup. My lips were chapped and sore by the end of the day when we my roommate let me invite a few of the hardcore partiers back to our room for a warm up party. It was an early night by 12:45 a.m. the partiers had returned to there own rooms and I dropped into bed.

I was awoken from a sounds sleep by Steve the bandleader Saturday morning. He asked where I was, which seemed to be a strange question since he had called me and obviously knew where I was. I asked him what time it was and he informed me that it was 9:05. 9:05! The hotel had missed our wake up call. We were supposed to be on in 10 minutes at the Sheraton Centre! I grabbed the clothes that were lying on the floor, got dressed, grabbed my sax and rocketed out of the room. Luckily there was a taxi outside the hotel and a few minutes later I was at the Sheraton Centre only slightly dishevelled. My roommate had demurred from trying the make the appearance. It turns out that Steve had called because there were no snare drummers and he was percussion deficient. My roommate the snare drum player was who he really wanted. As usual the gig started late and I had to put up with the unmerciful ribbing of the other Argonotes. Then it was back to the hotel to shower, shave and change clothes. Lunch with the Saskatchewan Roughriders Pep Band was followed by an impromptu parade down Front Street Street, was followed by more appearances in and around the Convention Centre. The fans were excited, the events were well run and organised. After our final gig of the day some of us headed up to Yonge and Bloor to a Argonauts fan club party. Shortly after midnight we headed back to the hotel to join the Argonotes party that was already in progress. After receiving a couple of complaints from people who were obviously not CFL fans we moved the party to another room. At the tail end of the move a hotel staff member arrived to warn us that if there was another complaint they would throw us out of the room. Luckily the neighbours at the new location were sounder sleepers. The party finally broke up at 3:30 a.m. Thanks Tim for being our host.

I was jarred awake at 11:00 a.m. by my roommate to check out of the room. Checkout time wasn't until 1:00 p.m. I informed him but I was awake and I couldn't get back to sleep. I felt inexplicably fuzzy as I headed down to breakfast. First rule of grey Cup weekend, don't worry about the money. Who cares that breakfast buffet was $15, I made up for that with the two bargain street meat meals I had. It was off to the ACC to play as the Raptor's game let out, then over to the Roger's Centre to play for the commissioner's guests as they arrived for the game and them inside for the Grey Cup itself. I have never heard it so loud in the Roger's Centre. It isn't the same when your team isn't in the game but it was a great game none the less. Out we went for final Gate 2 concert for the year. We exchanged goodbyes and hugs and then drifted off. The Argonotes 2007 season was done.

There were many highlights of the weekend but the biggest one for me was when the band played C is for Cookie for Christina the Cheerleader. She is a veteran of the squad and this will probably be her last year. Her nickname is Cookie and at one point in the weekend she and the other Argos cheerleaders were in a large room at the Spirit of Edmonton. We started to play the song, she recognised it and I think there was a small tear in her eye she was so touched. She gave Steve a big hug.