Suddenly, a blinding flash of light...a mushroom cloud...

Antiquing in rural Saskatchewan. Cannot. Be. Beat.

salt n' peppa! so...racy...

Yup, Canada can be neat. Me and heath got matching wooly sweaters. Mine has geese, his has curling rocks and brooms.

geese vs. curling rocks. 

We also tried to visit a corn maze, but nearly got mired in a giant mud puddle. were forced to turn back. Blast it!

Very creeped out in Calgary when in the middle of the night we overheard two drug deals ocuring in the motel parking lot, as well as what sounded like a gunshot, and a naked man and two women staring at us zombie style from a ground floor window as we checked in.....

On the other hand, the Calgary show was great, and we had to hand the 'neatest fan' award to Harris and Anna from Barcelona- they came to visit their brother, and couldn't believe that we were playing because somehow they got really into us in Spain...they came up and were like, we thought there'd be a line up around the block to see you! In Calgary, on a Monday night! haha! But it was incredibly sweet and we had a fun show, and they took all kinds of merch back for their friends in Barcelona. Man, the internet! Am I right??

Alright, last day in Canada. Tomorrow, Minneapolis! Assuming we have no trouble at the border. Fingers crossed!

Adios friends
xHP

A young lizard hatches from his egg, in the shadow of a palm...

what we have been up to in the van...

So turns out we aren't as good as keeping up with our posts as making funny noises. Sorry about that! But we're doing it now, and that's what counts. So let's see, a haiku for every show we've done so far.

Victoria:

Cassiotone for
the painfully alone was
sweet. Hello Dancat.

Kamloops:

Sweaty sweaty kids.
Don't put our hot sauce in beer
you will regret it.

Nelson

first time in Nelson
Just us, Boats, Roxanne and Nick
O thank god for them!

Catherine- day 3 no shower. Nice.

Brilliant! Anyway one final thing to add- experimenting with not showering is a bad idea.

HALF NELSON!!!!

Sirius.
Satellite,
Radio,
Why Won't You Play Us?

On a Small Island in the South Pacific...

Oh, hello there! This is the first instalment of the Hot Panda Experience! Aka, our tour blog. Thanks for reading!

Pam! In the glory of Mt. Robson!

So, defying all the ridiculous catastrophes we encountered leading up to our first show in Vancouver, I'm writing this from the 'business lounge' of the BC Superferry, ripe Triple O burger smells are creeping up from the cafeteria deck - which means we managed to actually get on the road. We took our van in a couple weeks ago for a tune up and an oil change- only to be told that it's tires were "fatally bald", not to mention could be wiggled off with one finger, not to mention the shocks were shot, and not to mention the mechanic saying 'don't even get me started on the engine', and 'if you were my kids, I wouldn't let you drive this thing'…In other words…we ran her to the ground. So we retired her (she had been through so much! and been second home to us for 2 years now. May She Rest In Peace…) and bought a shiny new used van on kijiji, one that had never been owned by a band before, one whose windows didn't need to be duct-taped up, and didn't smell at all! Then we named her Pam and got all excited! Until we found out she needed 600$ worth of work, had disastrously dirty seatbelts (I duct-taped over the dirt) and keys that didn't exactly fit in all the locks…But whatever, she's good to go. 

foreplay...

Made it to Vancouver sans disaster, and with a day to spare to enjoy ourselves or…lose our laptops and our passports (if you're Chris). Well the laptop was found right away…the passport on the other hand...well- that's a story for another night.

While Chris was running around like a crazy man I had a really R Rated experience at the aquarium….I saw two seals AND two seahorsies…um, in the throws of mad graphic aquarium love. And a majestic dolphin taking a big stringy brown crap. All in all an educational excursion!  

But seriously, after many years of debate, Hot Panda has finally decided to move to Vancouver, Catherine and I right after this tour is done, and Heath and Chris to follow shortly. Our couple of days here and a really great show with Cuff The Duke (standup gentlemen!) was a nice little, hey, this is going to be your new home!  It's so weird to think I won't be going back to Edmonton to live, maybe ever. Awh. Goodbye home, you were a good one! Time to move on and live with the beaches, monkey puzzle trees, and cheap sushi!

NOW! On to Victoria to play with Casiotone for the Painfully alone on their farewell tour! Bah! So exciting!

hot panda at the biltmore

xoMaghanpanda