Juno Awards Adventures: Fog Wreaks Havoc On JunoFest

I arrived in St. John's at 7 p.m. on Thursday (April 15) and got my cab driver to stop at a liquor store so I could pick up 80 ounces of Old Sam Rum to take back home for folks in Toronto.

I was at the home of my friends Jim and Lillian Fidler by 8 p.m. Jim invited me into The Roots Cellar, his home studio, to listen to some of the new songs he's been recording, and they sound quite good.

The fact that his Revolution Time wasn't up for a reggae recording of the year Juno this weekend is a major injustice. You can sample the album here and judge for yourselves.

We ordered in some of Ches's "famous" fish and chips while keeping tabs on the Montreal Canadiens-Washington Capitals hockey game. After the Habs won in overtime, we headed out into the snowstorm that had been raging for most of the day and dropped by Erin's Pub.

Dave Panting from Rawlins Cross (expect a new album from the group in the fall) had just finished a solo set, so we chatted with him for a while and enjoyed some pints (Erin's pours an excellent Guinness) with other regulars until closing time at 3 a.m.

We continued socializing back at Jim and Lillian's place until hitting our respective beds just before 6 a.m.

There were no Juno events I needed to attend until 6 p.m. on Friday, so I braved the cold and walked around one of my favourite Canadian cities and made mental notes on what had changed since the last time I was here six years ago.

The fog was so heavy I couldn't see much of the harbour and beyond, and it also closed down the airport. Just how much this would affect me came into clear focus later in the night.

Since I couldn't see much, I figured I might as well sample the wares at the YellowBelly Brewery & Public House. None of the Wexford Wheat, YellowBelly Pale Ale, Fighting Irish Red Ale or St. John's Stout were exceptional, but the stout was the best of them.

I then strolled up to S Restaurant in the Majestic Theatre, which was hosting the Satellite Spoke Club for invited people during the Junos. The performances had ended by the time I arrived, but there was still free food and drinks available.

I enjoyed bacon-wrapped scallops, fish cakes, meat balls, chicken wings and spring rolls and a couple of Black Horse lagers, which is brewed by Molson in St. John's and shouldn't be confused with the Black Horse Ale I enjoyed in my youth in the '80s.

I then walked up to The Rooms, a beautiful facility that houses the provincial museum and archives and offers a great view of the harbour, which I could now see a bit of since the fog was lifting somewhat. A five-piece native group was playing traditional drum songs and singing and dancing outside.

Inside, I did a bit of schmoozing at the Junos' opening reception while enjoying an open bar (that included Old Sam and featured tasty blueberry mojitos topped with champagne) and mussels, shrimp, maple-glazed and bacon-wrapped scallops, crab, spring rolls, breaded pork, battered salmon and cod tongues, vegetables and dip.

I then caught a luxurious full-sized bus to go to the Jack Byrne Arena in nearby Torbay for the Juno Cup hockey game. So did two other people.

The game featured former NHL players Gary Roberts, Andrew McKim, Brad Dalgarno, Harold Druken, Troy Crowder, Greg Smyth and captain Mark Napier. Mike Pelyk and Paul Coffey were also originally listed to be here, but didn't make it. Former Canadian Idol runner-up Rex Goudie played goal for the old-timers, and he was pretty good.

The Rockers squad was composed of NQ Arbuckle's John Dinsmore and Pete Kesper (who played goal), NOW Magazine's Michael Hollett, drummer Randy Curnew (C'mon, The Swallows), Digging Roots' Raven Kanatakta, Eagle & Hawk's Jay Bodner and Vince Fontaine, Cinnamon Dickweed's John Berry, The Hylozoists' Paul Aucoin, Classified, Ten Second Epic's Patrick Birtles and Andrew Usenik, Republic Of Doyle creator Allan Hawco, video director Francois Lamoureux, Wintersleep's Paul Murphy and Tim D'Eon, Great Lake Swimmers' Greg Millson, Great Big Sea's Sean McCann, Juno-winning singer/songwriter Dominic Mancuso, Billy Talent's Jon Gallant, singer/songwriter Rich Aucoin, Stars' Evan Cranley, Dearly Beloved's Rob Higgins and country singer George Canyon.

Blue Rodeo's Jim Cuddy was the captain, while his bandmate Greg Keelor coached the second period after Great Big Sea's Alan Doyle coached the first.

Mancuso scored two goals for the Rockers, while Bodner and Higgins potted singles. Cuddy scored on a penalty shot despite Napier throwing his stick at him, and the two of them essentially became a comedy act during a game that sort of reminded me of a cross between the Harlem Globetrotters playing the Washington Generals and midget wrestling.

There was a skills competition during the intermission, and the Rockers won the speed-skating portion, the target-shooting element (they got larger targets and could stand closer to the net) and the shootout.

Cuddy sang "Try" and Napier made up his own Newfoundland-based lyrics to the Blue Rodeo hit and tried to sing them. He was terrible, but crowd applause determined that he was the winner of the singing contest, which meant the game was knotted at sixes going into the final period.

The second half was more close-checking, or perhaps everyone was just tired, and the NHL team pulled out a 9-8 win.

I caught the bus back to the city (there were five of us on it this time) and went to Club One to see Handsome Furs. I ordered a Big Rock Traditional Ale, since it's a good beer, it was in a special display fridge and Big Rock is the official sponsor beer of the Junos.

After it was opened and given to me I was told it cost $7.25, while other beers were going for $5.25, because my bartender told me it was "very imported." Hey, sponsors and official JunoFest venues, please get your shit together so these types of travesties don't happen.

The PA system was blasting Bon Jovi as I waited impatiently until I approached a person wearing wearing a JunoFest T-shirt at the merchandise table and asked her if Handsome Furs were playing. She told me the group didn't make it, and she didn't know the name of the replacement band.

Most of the people in the room seemed to be there just to see Wintersleep later on anyway and didn't seem to care, but that news got me walking out of the club.

I arrived at Junctions at 10:40 to catch the end of Classified's set and to see Chin Injeti at 11. I was told that Classified would be going on at midnight, and none of the JunoFest representatives knew what was happening before that or if Injeti even made it to St. John's. I left.

The same confusion reigned at The Levee, where Tanya Mullings was supposed to be playing. She wasn't, because her flight didn't arrive either, so I left.

I then went to Shamrock City to see local singer/songwriter Mike Hanrahan, who had been recommended by my friends. The bar's door was locked tight because it was apparently at capacity. I moved on again.

There was surprisingly little foot traffic on the infamous bar-packed George Street as I walked through the rain to take part in one of my St. John's traditions: having a $4.75 double White Russian at Lottie's Place. With that calcium boost, my bones were ready for whatever else would happen during the night.

I went to Green Sleeves Pub Lounge & Restaurant to see Lazybones, but was told that it had been fogged out, too. A local band was filling in, but I wasn't impressed and left.

I know the weather is a wild card you wouldn't have been able to have predicted to cause a situation like this, so I understood why some bands weren't playing. But the lack of communication and information coming from the people at the venues who were supposed to be overseeing the shows was quite frustrating.

Wintersleep had become a very viable option by this point, so I returned to Club One.

I've never appreciated Wintersleep as much as some friends, but the large crowd was totally into it. The Halifax group's set didn't remind me of Pearl Jam nearly as much as they did when I first saw them years ago, which was a good thing.

I'm still not a fan, but I now like the band more than I used to. I concede that I liked the live interpretation of "Weighty Ghost," or maybe White Russians just have some eerie ability to make critics kinder. The group played "Oblivion" and a few other tunes before I joined the small but steady stream of people who were leaving.

I returned to The Levee to hear the last two songs by The Pathological Lovers, a decent but fairly mainstream funk-influenced rock band fronted by  former Thomas Trio And The Red Albino member Jody Richardson.

During the band change-over, the sound guy played an alternate version of Madness' "The Prince" that I'd never heard, along with lots of other good old-school ska and rock-steady. I knew this was the place I wanted and needed to be, but was disappointed few other people seemed to be enjoying the music as much as me.

The Idlers, a local 10-piece reggae band that have released two albums that I quite enjoy, had the dancefloor packed by the time they took the stage. Lead singer Mark Wilson also played trumpet and harmonica, and the horn section was excellent during a fun and up-tempo set heavy on material from the group's most recent album, which was produced by Bad Brains bassist Darryl Jenifer.

Wilson came into the crowd to join the dancers a few times, and the icing on the cake was a great ska-meets-polka-meets-The Who's "A Quick One While He's Away" that you couldn't help but move to.

I strolled down to Erin's Pub to meet my friends when the music was over and, after a couple of pints of Guinness, we returned to their house where the conversation continued until 7 a.m.