what a weekend....

[scottieking]

Fragmented recollections:

Solid pre-party, met and re-met so many kind Skanks. You guys got a great scene up there.

Oh....the turkey bags...

what a way to deploy the troops and invade the Lanc (seriously, that was serious strikeforce action).

Great venue, reminded me of combination ski-lodge and Legion. So many familiar faces...the unoffical Southwestern Ontario Holiday Bash.

Mike and Jeff, thank-you, twice.

Nero, thank-you, 6 cities and a dozen times more. Carol of the Bells was my favorite yet. Your energy was off the charts. Echoes (shiver).

Then off to Max Webster's for late night antics. Mary slaps on the Dig A Pony right when I needed it the most, lots of smile and singin along. Home to crash (thank-you Schwa) and of my last memory being...biting a glass piece?

Jimmy's for the most unforgetable breakfast of 2004 and bobbin to Byrne all the way home.

Whew.

Can't wait for New's Years!

[Lazlo]

I took your soul Sloth. But I traded it for some rice pudding, a bag of nugs, 2 grilled cheese and a jar of the bands jizz so I can attempt to clone them. Sorry guy no soul for you.

[paisley]

time for some overdue thank you's

rides:

Velvet and BradM, wow, what a great ride and solid company... Velvet has quite a talent for the driving I must say, makes it looks effortless and somehow seems to defy the clock... cheers for makin the dream a reality and tacking the extra hour onto an already momentous journey then having the patience to put up with the pale backseat philosophers, awesome (BradM, can't wait to hear those recordings someday... you rock man)

thanks to QQC and LionLocks for the Kitchener lifts, I get lost quickly and thoroughly in Kitchener without assistance... an extra salute to QQC for having a trunk full of trophies when I went to put my beer in, I like your style

and god bless Alexis for the lift to and from Jstsmk1's, especially the lift back, you're a trooper kiddo, that last one was a life saver

- - -

homes:

Groove Fetish and Wierdness - always been my favorite nero afterparty for the warmth of your home and the awesome vibes, so truly good to be able to do a last one with you guys

Kung: nice to pop by the digs for a bit and really good to see ya

Little Miss Pink and Instagator - beautiful little home you have there, cheers and hope to see you guys a little more once you have some extra freedom

MaxWebster and crew - what can I say, you guys throw a great bash and are great company come the morning... will party again soon without doubt

Jstsmkd1 and Terra - perfect final stop on the run... your experience with wrecking crews came in quite handy and there's no better place anywhere to start a wild dance party at 3 in the morning... its so good to catch a breath of country air the morning after after such big times... great to see you guys and thanks so much

- - -

thanks to so many nero fans for rockin it! what an amazing crowd in every town, what a beautiful, interesting and high spirited bunch... can't even start to get into naming people as I'd be writing until Wednesday... you KNOW who you are

on that note a huge and special thanks to Dave, Chris and Jay... realized sometime during the run that all your hard work touring and playing has brought a lot of the best people I've ever met together... quite an amazing accomplishment... that was truly 3 totally ragin nights of sweet sweet nero to satiate my wanderlust and dazzle the senses... well done guys

definately need to throw Esau and Sloth on the list for keeping Team Lucky alive for duration of the run, wicked showing guys

new years

[guigsy]

well... see... the truth is, i dont really know what to say. i only managed to do one night of the run, just friday in kitchener, and after that, well, even though i partied my ass off, its not like i was too burnt out to go to hamilton or anything, but i didnt really want to. after a night like that, i really needed a day (turned out to be 2 days) to lay on my couch, and reflect. think about all the good things, embrace those memories. i've had a lot of great ones thanks to nero. this one was no different. thing was, though, and this is why i needed this time to think and reflect, was that while it was happening, the nero, i didnt do any thinking or anything. i was just strictly feeling it and letting it hit me. it was so good. man... so, i dont know, i dont really know what i happened, i guess. i just know what it felt like to be there... it felt pretty awesome. i think its pretty great that we have such a friendly community, and such wonderful music to bring people together from all across ontario.. i think considering its size, or lack thereof, its a pretty interesting phenomenon...

umm, i think i really owe a huge thank you to Lesley for taking care of the boys, we really woulda been lost without you... cheers..... and schwa, thanks for the floor space, brah.. max webster for being a wonderful host post nero, and miss pink and gator for being wonderful hosts pre nero... and all the rest of you skancs for making it such a wonderful time.

peace, everybody.

[Schwa.]

ya, it was pretty fun.

[Thorgnor]

word.

[LionLocks]

Yo NeRo RULeS man!!~ That friday night Show was one of my favorites of all the times I'v seen 'em I think. They Are SERIOUSLY AMAZING and one o my favorites. What A Party!!~, HEY! I Knew that was my trophy!!! **Kickass times seeing all the familliar faces btw. All y'all forigners come back soon~And I'll see ya on NYE!~ NeRo

[Im going home Donny]

HONK!HONK!HONNNNNNK!!!!! :: :: :: ::

[bradm]

Wow. It took until about 4pm Monday for me to get back to nominal (forget "normal", I gave that up a long time ago...).

My first thanks go to nero. These past three shows, along with the two at Dekcuf in November, are at a significantly higher level than what I'd seen before (e.g., Sept. 18 at Mavericks or Hallowe'en at the ElMo). I wasn't sure if these qualified at "Christmas" shows, but getting "Carol Of The Bells" every single night (IIRC) convinced me.

I also need to thank Velvet for the ride down, Pete & Tasha for the Guelph space and breakfast of slightly tired champions the morning after, Tonin for the ride to his place and place to sleep, gentlemonkey for the ride from K/W to Hamilton, and, last but very much not least, howler for the stellar effort of the drive back. It was dark and grim outside the car, and pretty dark and grim inside the car, but she got us from there to here in about as many pieces as we started with.

It was great seeing, meeting, and hanging with everybody, both old friends and new. I hope to see y'all on NYE.

Aloha,

Brad

[MuleMomma]

I'm having a really hard time wrapping my head around the idea that that Hamilton show may have been the last nero show for me. I don't know how many years you guys were together before breaking out of Ottawa in 1999, but it's been amazing to witness the steady climb in the calibre of playing and the level of support surrounding the band, and I'm hoping the hiatus is just another step in the evolutionary process of nero, 'cuz it's too good to end ::

I really wanna thank you guys for scheduling a show so close to my home on my birthday - you made it really special. It was my initial intention to have a 3-day birthday run, along with the rest of my fellow skancs, but my damn agency scheduled me for a damn job interview (which I didn't get) on Friday morning, effectively putting the kybosh on my Thursday and Friday night plans.

Huge thanks to Pablo, Monkey and Punk for blowing my mind and managing to save lots of enery for the third night of what sounded like the craziest of crazy nero runs. And to Velvet for keeping it all together - I'm going to miss you a lot on your journeys to SW Ontario, so please don't be a stranger.

Also gotta thank everyone else who contributed to my exceptionally positive birthday experience, including Tooly and kc, Stoned Phillips (thanks babe, you're a great friend), Esau (it never is long enough, so yeah, call me and we'll continue where we left off, if either of us can remember where that was), Jstsmkd1 and Tara (god I'm glad you two exist and it's great to see you out and about recently - thanks for the hospitality), Rossolee, Willy, Sarabelle, Studog, Hux, MarcO, Basher, Sloth, Paisley, Alexis, Bradm, and Lazlo (I'm not really thanking you, but you were thanking me for getting your drunk ass back to Hamilton ), and of course my good bud New Rider who was overwhelmingly missed, but nevertheless responsible for a certain amount of mayhem I'm sure ::

And where the fu©k was Del-head...you were missed buddy ::

[Lazlo]

Thanks again sister.

[FairySari]

more!

[paisley]

nice work Sari,

there was a decided lack of camera's for most of the run that I noticed (or didn't notice)

thanks so much for those!

left out Esau's and Paan's from my list of thanks for homes lived in on the run (forgot about them for a bit, Sloth was mentioning Paan's basement and I was like "huh?" :

what a week ::

edit to add: just did the full click through Sari and these are awesome!!

[Velvet]

Does Pan live on Erb?

[paisley]

naw, we went to Paan's after the afternoon at Esau's while you guys were checked into the hotel

pre-show Hamilton!

just downloaded and unzipped Guelph, time to decode the shn's! woohooo!

[mark tonin]

A very belated reply to this post, but it's been pretty much non-stop for mark tonin for the last 2 weeks ... work, family, music, family, work, family, music, family, work, a bit of sleep ...

My nero weekend consisted of only one night, but it was a special one, that's for sure. It was a treat to be able to have the nero boys play in Kitchener at the Lanc one last time before the big break, and having Mike & Jeff join them on stage was a very special moment.

Huge props to Eric Warren for the great sound and the awesome lights.

Thanks to everyone else who helped to promote, set up, tear down, etc., and to those of you that hosted before and after. I am always amazed at how many people are willing to pitch in and help out when called upon.

Thank you to everyone who made it to the show. Shows only work when people go to them, so thanks to everyone for being there, especially to those of you that made that long journey down the 401. It is such a treat to look around and see smiling faces and dancing bodies from all across Ontario. And it's such a treat to be able to read people's thoughts and pics from the show ... thanks for sharing.

Speaking of treats, may the wonderful taste of sweet nero candy remain for a long time!

Peace, Mark