The Truth About the Chilliwack Concert

I've never listened to an album of Chilliwack's, nor have I listened to any of their songs on purpose. And I'm not 45 either. We went to see the sequel to that movie with Johnny Depp and Keira "I Ruined Pride & Prejudice" Knightley, and we dressed up. The preparations were hasty as we didn't have a lot of time. Mostly we tied a lot of things to our wrists and legs and drew moustaches on our faces, because neither Dale nor I were hirsuit enough to grow one. (Jennie's a girl, and therefore couldn't.) We watched the movie.

When I'm in a movie theatre, I like to spend most of my time looking around at the other moviegoers, pretending they're the undead. Everyone mindlessly staring at the screen, laughing at the same time in the same manner. It's a little funny. Of course, watching people in a movie theatre is pretty creepy.

It ended and we decided to go for a walk, as the Hope Music Festival was on that weekend and we wanted to see if we could sneak in. Walking around Hope is like walking around a juvenile prison. They are these cells on either side of the road that hold convicts usually for just a year or two before they're out. Convicts like Anna's Incense (her sentence is over), Skinny's Grille (should make parole before this summer), The Blue Moose Cafe (one of the longer term residents), and the Hope Pharmasave (a real lifer).

As you walk past these cells, there are calls and jeers from all directions, especially when you're dressed as a pirate. Everyone's family in Hope, even if all that means is everyone's open for conjugal visits. It's a depressing place, even if you've landed on "Just Visiting". So we walk towards the Hope Fair Grounds wondering what security is like. Pretty tight. One big guy in a yellow t-shirt. Frick.

We decide to head to the Zen Gardens, where at least if we don't get to the concert we might make it to some state of spiritual enlightenment. After climbing up to the back of the Zen Garden, it's obvious that if we just hop the fence between the sparse cedars we'd be in the fair ground, however, Chilliwack is in the middle of My Girl (Gone, Gone, Gone) and in the spirit of Zen, we don't want to ruin it. So, we stand, sit, crouch on rocks, trees, dirt in the upper level of the Zen Garden, a perfect view of the main stage, and of Chilliwack, setting a crowd of 200 midlife crisis cases on fire. They finish their set, the crowd disperses, we acheive Zen and pile back into Dale's Firebird and head back to camp.