“The Show Must Go On” Justin’s Blog

Hi again friends! Been meaning to write this blog for a few days now but with a lot on the go and being under the weather, it’s been challenging to find an opportunity.

We recently got back from a quick trip to London in the UK after doing a couple shows there and making some great memories. I was REALLY looking forward to this trip for a few reasons but knowing that my wee Granny (who is currently living in Northern Ireland and am lucky to see once a year) was going to be meeting us there certainly put it over the top exciting. I wasn’t sure if whether or not she’d make it out to the first show, which was an intimate performance at a place called the Slaughtered Lamb. I shouldn’t have doubted her though as my Granny is a very determined lady who brought tons of personality with her that eventful night and I was delighted to see her smiling face in the front row. I love that wee lady so dearly… My Mom also joined us for the trip and stayed behind in Belfast to be with my Granny for a few more weeks. I’m a lucky guy with wonderful ladies in my life.

Anyway, I digress. I have to tell you all about our journey to actually play this first show. We weren’t actually 100% sure if it was going to happen or not. Let me explain. Due to some misunderstanding, we weren’t actually aware that the venue itself was down a flight of stairs with no elevator access. Unfortunately, we didn’t find this information out until sound check time. This was a dilemma for several reasons. First and foremost, it’s next to impossible to carry my chair down stairs as it weighs close to 400 pounds and there aren’t many places to securely grab it. Basically, it wasn’t going to make the trip down. So then the challenge becomes how to do the show without my electric chair at all. I must admit, I wasn’t too open to the idea of doing the show in an alternative seating arrangement as a) I had never done it before, b) wasn’t sure if I could even physically do it and c) it’s been years since I had been carried down stairs and there was a whole other set of insecurities wrapped around that. It was great to see the team rally to find a solution though and eventually Aubrey (our fearless leader/manager) and Richard (agent extraordinaire) located a manual wheelchair after a great tip from a fellow mobility challenged Londoner.

So, how did we actually get downstairs you ask? By hover chair of course! Well, it was actually just me sitting in a comfy dining chair carried by my band mates and Savanna. Pretty great nonetheless. The show went on as planned and we did our entire set with me doing the usual choreography (hehe), only sitting on a dining room chair rather than rolling around on 6 wheels. The only awkwardness was when I kept grabbing for a joystick and got nothing but air. No one noticed though…I think, I actually really enjoyed the experience of being WAY out of my comfort zone. I just had to remember that we were fortunate to have this opportunity to play and simply just have fun by getting lost in music.

The next day we were honored to be part of the Canada Day show at Trafalgar Square where tens of thousands of people showed up to enjoy a Canuck style party. The crowd was amazing and it was simply surreal watching London celebrate a country 3000 miles away. There must have been a few actual Canadians in the audience though as a large part of them were singing along with us performers. A memorable Canada Day weekend to say the very least…

I’m going to sign off for now friends but have a great few weeks and thank you so so much for the continued support. You’ll never know what it means…

Much love.

Justin