[James A. Smith]

Wow!

What a pair of great shows.  Brigitte and I pulled into Montreal just an
hour or so ago.  What a blast!!

First up was the Killington show on Friday night.  The Picklebarrel
couldn't have held more than 800 people.  The dance floor wasn't much
bigger than a regular living-room.  Very nice.  Bullroarer was a really
great tune to hear... was definitely not expecting that.  Tone Poem and
Now or Never Land were another couple of good surprises. Rob and Bones
signed the VW van from Montreal -- very cool.  Three hours in freezing
cold in front of the club wasn't so cool, though. :-)  I wonder how the
miniskirt night on Saturday turned out...

Boston was also a great -- and completely different -- show.  Thank you,
Rich, for the hospitality and the great view of Boston. :-)  It was great
running into Nina and her friends, Allan, "Big Brother" Chris, Kate, and
everyone else! (Sorry about making you wait at the end of the day!)  The
guys played a great set after some great guitar work by Johnny A, a fun
set by Garbage and a relaxed set by Lisa Loeb.  The three year old girl
beside me kept trying to get a better view of Lisa by sticking her head
through the fence -- very cute.  Her brother had to put on earmuffs during
the Oils set because it was a tad loud; no complaints from me, though.  
The River Runs Red lead-in to Only the Strong made for a great
combination.  Loved that!

Got my Capricornia CD booklet signed by the guys after both shows (Jim,
Rob and Martin in Vermont, everyone but Jim in Boston); I was happy to
have remembered to bring my Fibromoon booklet to have Rob sign it at the
Boston show -- very cool!  Martin's got the most recognizable autograph of
the bunch. :-) Thanks guys! A couple of posters and a drumstick were other
highlights of the weekend.  

Whew! Now back to regular life. :-)

James