Not Jaywalking...

Okay, this is too good not to publish. 

Tonight, post show, we all decided to head over to the one and only bar in this one horse town that is still open, which also happens to be directly across the street from the theatre, and kiddy-corner to our hotel.  There is a traffic light at the intersection, but at this time of night, cars are few and far between.  Now, we're in small town southern USA, on a Tuesday night, so there isn't much else going on in town.  Bar rail shots are dirt cheap and bottles are cheaper...the cast and crew are having a good time, blowing off some steam after a tough travel day and our first double show day in a while.  I have a few, and as the responsible adult, who still has show reports to write, I decided to call it a night well before the stroke of midnight.  I literally walk out the front door of the bar, turn towards the hotel (which, remember, is kiddycorner), check that the road is not only clear but in fact deserted,  and start to cut across the intersection, on the most direct path to the hotel.  No sooner had I made it three steps out into the intersection than a car became visible headed towards me, so, judging the distance to be too close for comfort, I hopped back up onto the sidewalk, continuing to cross the street with the light, in the accepted manner.  Besides, if television has taught me anything, it is that some areas of the states take Jaywalking very seriously.

Ofcourse, the car turns out to be a local police cruiser that slows down and pulls to the side of the road just through the intersection.  There is no crosswalk signs at this particular intersection, so I wait for the light to change, giving me the right of way.  As it does the young female officer steps from the car and calls me over.  One hand in her flashlight, one hand on her holstered sidearm.  She immediately asks for my ID, and wants to know where I'm coming from.  I very honestly tell her that I'm coming from "the bar" (the angle is now wrong for me to read the sign at this time of night, and I don't know what the hell it is called, I have only been in been here in town for exactly 1 day, all of which I spent in the theatre, but I keep that fact to myself for now).  Not impressed that I don't know where I've come from, or at least the name of the establishment, she has me put my hands on the car while she radio's HQ to see if they have the technology required to run my ID.  She literally asks if they can run Canadian ID...While she converses with HQ, I stand with my hands on the cruiser, trying desperately not to die laughing at this whole situation.

Finished with HQ, She wants to know where I was headed.  I explain that I am staying at the hotel, which is now literally steps away.  She wants to know how much I've had to drink.  I tell her the truth.  She doubts me, this in fact seems to confirm her suspicions.  She starts to tell me that she saw me weaving into the street, obviously jumping to the conclusion that I am impaired so I very politely interrupt her to explain that I was in the middle of choosing to Jaywalk across the street when I saw a car, and thought better of it. I am calm, coherent and far from inebriated, and she is slowing starting to catch on...but she has already called in my ID, so we're stuck here...

So I'm still standing with my hands on the back quarter panel of her cruiser, basically in the middle of the intersection, and I ask if I could stand on the sidewalk, out of the street.  She grudgingly agrees, which seems to ratchet the tension down a few notches.  Now we're getting chatty.  She wants to know if I am here with anyone, I explain that I am with the tour, and that most of the group are still at the bar.  She wants to know how long we're in town, and how the show sold.  Suddenly it becomes very apparent that she knows that she has no reason to detain me, so she's just making conversation to pass time while she waits for HQ to run my ID, and confirm what I have told her, that I am not in fact a fugitive from justice.  It has now been at least 15 minutes, and I am almost surprised that no one from the cast has come out of the bar to discover my predicament.  She just keeps making light banter.  Some people might even suggest that she was flirting with me at this point, but I am not even going to speculate on that.  I just kept up my polite, honest, mildly bemused Canadian routine, and eventually once her dispatcher confirmed my ID, she handed me back my license and jokingly drawled "I bet you hate this small town now".  After telling me I was free to continue on my travels, she then told me that while it was good that I decided not to Jaywalk, but it was my "disorderly travels" that caught her attention.  I apologized (I'm Canadian, it is what we do) for having wasted her time with such an insignificant incident, and before she hopped back into her cruiser, she admitted that it was the most excitement she had had all night. 

I laughed the whole way back to my room.

Only in America. 

     

No Weasels, Just Purple!

We don't need no stinkin' weasels!

After a 1 month hiatus for the Christmas holidays, we are officially back on the road! The 1st National North American Tour of Godspell began it's second leg on Monday, January 13th in sunny Florida.

After a god awful early bus call for our airport shuttle on Monday morning I discovered that my favourite kind of flight attendant is the kind that hands out free alcoholic beverages on commuter flights.  I always fly with a double jack and coke, and when its on the airline's dime, so much the better. 

After a couple of VERY CHOPPY, mostly calm flights, those of us that hadn't missed the flight (who shall remain nameless) were all happy to get our feet on solid ground, and the fact that the sun was shining made it all the better.  We must have been a sight.  Picture 15 Canadians in full January winter gear landing in West Palm Beach to immediately seek out the nearest washroom, telephone booth, or sidewalk to strip down into shorts, sandals, and tank tops.

This is just a short 2 week leg, with performances in new venues pretty much every night, but the first 10 days are all in Florida so with a little effort we should be able to soak up some sun and transform from pasty white Canadians into marginally less pasty white Canadians.

We had a brush up rehearsal at our first venue in Fort Pierce, before storming the stage for a 7pm show.  I hear through the grapevine that that first show was perhaps a bit of a shock to the system for many of the performers, but it looked and sounded great, and the audience loved it.

Oh!  I almost forgot!  We had our first live alligator sighting from the bus this afternoon!  Okay, so they were in captivity at a sketchy looking mini-putt course, but it still counts!

Tonight we are in Sarasota Florida, and just wrapped a big show at the Huge Purple Van Wezel Performing Arts Center.  The picture up above actually hangs in the star dressing room at the Van Wezel.  And it made me laugh!  I don't know what the staff have against weasels...but boy oh boy do they like purple.  The exterior of the building is PURPLE, the interior of the Theatre is PURPLE, even carpet and the sofas in every dressing room are PURPLE.

DAMN!  That is a PURPLE sofa.

All kidding aside, it was a big, beautiful venue, and the show went off without a hitch, and I'm sure that the Van Wezel's whomever they are, are very rich and possibly even lovely people...not at all Weasel-y.  Regardless, tonight's near capacity crowd loved the show.  We even had a couple from Ontario, who have been abroad with the Drayton Entertainment Travel Club hop on board the tour bus post show to tell us how much they enjoyed the show.

Tomorrow we hit the road for Bell Glade, where, just like Crockett, Texas, we may have to make some edits to the show...time will tell.

Tune in next time for more of our ongoing adventures!

The Walking Dead Mid Season Finale - In Atlanta! FAIL!

So life on the road is all swell and good, because this has been an easy week and since we left Austin, all I have been looking forward to is the Mid Season finale of The Walking Dead.  Icing on the cake, we are actually spending Sunday night in Atlanta, where they do a lot of the filming.  Awesome, right?  Wrong.  Our hotel has no AMC, and I can't get a decent internet connection to download the episode.

Total fail.

So now I have to avoid Facebook and Twitter until I can find out what happened...

First World Problems...I know.

This doesn't count as a blog post...just a rant.

I'll check back in once I finally get my hands on the episode.

Austin, Texas

Dipping our feet in the frigid waters of Barton Springs Pool on Nov 28th
 

  I know that most of my close friends know this, but for those of you just along for the ride here's a personal secret for you...I HATE flying.  To be honest, it's more than that.  I actually LOATH everything to do with airports...security, the tedium of waiting for flights, having zero control over the entire process.  But more than anything, I hate being strapped into a tin can 30,000ft above sea level, the entire time feeling like my life is in the hands of a stranger.  But, I love to travel, and often I have to travel for work, so flying is a necessary evil.  Truth: My trick...I try to never do it sober.  A double Jack & Coke and a couple of Gravol and I am good to go.  If I can be asleep before we even get off the runway, so much the better.  Of course this recipe doesn't work on show days for obvious reasons...but this was not the case last Sunday when we took our very first flight of the tour from Detroit to Austin, Texas, with a short layover in Charlotte North Carolina. We eventually landed safely at our destination, which I consider a win.

A few of us had friends and family flying down for the week, as this was the perfect week for a visit: only 2 shows over 5 days in Austin, and 2 whole days off inside that week, including American Thanksgiving.  We all took full advantage of the free time to explore everything Austin had to offer despite the unseasonably cold (for Texas) weather.

Over the course of 5 days we explored the bars & restaurants of 6th Street, ate some genuine Texan cuisine at Stubb's BBQ, wandered "The Drag" alongside the University of Texas at Austin (Go Longhorns!), Explored the local western culture of SoCo (South Congress) including Allen's Boots, and eventually made our way to Zilker Park, home of the beautiful Barton Springs Pool, a 3 acre spring fed swimming hole located right in the middle of a tributary of the Colorado River.  Free to the public on Holidays ($2 for non-residents otherwise) the pool is a vast public swimming hole with a natural (read: fish & plant life inhabited) bottom that's water stays at a brisk 68 degrees year round.  Since it was Thanksgiving (Nov 28th) and about 12 degrees outside, we only dipped our feet in the water, but there were a few brave souls enjoying a leisurely swim.  Proof that Texans are nuts! 

 



Here's an Arial shot of the pool to help you understand the scope and size.  Everything IS bigger in Texas.



We also had a company meal for American Thanksgiving at Threadgills organized by Technical Director and Company Manager. Good times were had by all.  With both the Longhorns and The Cowboys winning their Thanksgiving day Football games, it was quite the day to be rooting for Texas!

 

Of course, we are on tour with a show, not on vacation, so we also had a couple of performances at the beautiful Long Center for the Performing Arts.  The crowds here in Austin loved the show, and were very generous with their applause. 

 

I know for a fact that Austin has already replaced St. Louis as a few peoples favourite stop on the tour thus far, myself included.  This has definitely been a week to remember.

 

I am actually writing this post from my hotel room in Crocket Texas, where we are scheduled to perform in just a couple of hours.  A tiny little civic center with no wing space, available flylines for our lighting gear, and only 21' wide, tonight's show is guaranteed to be interesting to say the least.

 

But more on that next time! 



 



Meet Me In Saint Louis - One Very Busy Week!

Time for another Tour Update! This week we rolled into Saint Louis after a trio of long travel days with stops in Pittsburgh and Indianapolis. Indianapolis deserves mention as I got the opportunity to have an incredible meal at St. Elmo's Steakhouse. The city's oldest restaurant, founded in 1902, they know how to prep a steak!
We arrived in Saint Louis on Wednesday and the group immediately scattered to begin exploring the city. We were staying at the Westin directly across from Busch Stadium, a perfect central location for all of our planned expeditions. After dinner of smoked ribs, turkey and brisket at Joe Bucks, I crashed pretty hard. Thursday was a free day and I had big plans. After exploring the city around the hotel in the morning, a group of us took in the Saint Louis Zoo in the afternoon. I was really impressed with the facilities, especially consider that there is no admission charge for the public. It is entirely funded through government grants and private donations. While we didn't quite have time to explore the entire 19 acres of exhibits, I did get to see a large percentage of the animals that they have on display. While not as impressive as the Toronto Zoo, it is obvious that the staff and community take great pride in their facilities.
Thursday night was the highlight of our week. I had organized and arranged tickets for 15 of us to see an NHL game at the Scottrade Center. The St. Louis Blues were hosting the league leading Colorado Avalanche. The Blues group sales department cut me a great deal on the seats. We were in section 103, up and to the left of the visitors net, 14 rows off the ice. By far, these were the best seats I have ever had at a hockey game, and they were only $75 per person. The simple fact that average people could afford to see the local NHL team play, and not have to mortgage their house to sit in the lower bowl was a shock to a Leafs fan like myself. The hockey game was absolutely explosive. The Blues ran up the score 7-3, and every time an Avalanche player attempted to start a fight, hoping to shift the momentum, the Blues enforcers beat them to a pulp. It was amazing to cheer for a team that actually had the potential to win for a change!
As an added bonus, one of my cast members had an in with the Blues Assistant Coach, Brad Shaw, and was able to get us backstage guest passes, which allowed us the opportunity to meet the Blues, get autograph's, shake hands, and then get a full tour of the locker room and training facility. Pretty amazing stuff! The entire staff of the Blues were great with us, indulging our wide eyed excitement at this behind the scenes look into their organization.
Friday was also packed full of entertainment as I booked in on tours of both Busch Stadium, home of the 2011 World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals, and Anheuser Busch Brewery. Both tours were both informative and a lot of fun. One gave me the opportunity to stand behind home plate on Major League Baseball stadium, the other gave me free beer. Win, win. Also the supply and demand facts that I learned on the Budweiser tour made my head spin. For example the American Mid-West drinks 2.5 million cases of Budweiser product every 12-18 hours. Also for an individual to drain the contents of one of their massive beechwood aging tanks you would have to drink one beer an hour for over 127 years. FYI Budweiser has over 300 of these tanks on site at this brewery. That is a lot of beer. My favorite fun fact from Busch Stadium was the cost of entry to their exclusive Cardinal Club. These are special reserved seats directly behind home plate that also grant access to an exclusive club house restaurant before and after every regular season home game plus priority parking. Cost: $12,000 per season, minimum purchase 2 seats
($24,000), minimum contract 10 YEARS (total cost: $240,000) Sweet Jesus! If I ever change careers I am going to work for a professional sports team! I would be remiss if I didn't mention the fact that we also played 5 wonderful shows at the beautiful Peabody Opera House, a 3000 seat auditorium staffed by great people. I took the time to get to know a few of their staff over the course of the week (including the Head of Marketing, Production Manager, and General Manager) and everyone was really phenomenal to work with.
Other fun anecdotes: While we were in town we also shared our hotel with the Carolina Hurricanes and the Bosnian National Soccer Team. The NHL stars were very low key, not so much for the soccer players. Mobs of soccer fans swarmed the hotel hoping for autographs and photographs, necessitating added police and private security. At one point late one night I ended up on an elevator with about 6 of the soccer players, after having been told all day that we were not to be allowed anywhere near them by their private security force. I'm not a soccer fan, so I couldn't care less, but after their head of security waved me onto the elevator I kind of wondered what the big deal was. I also discovered a bar with more than 80 varieties of beer on tap, apparently the most anywhere in America. Be sure to check it out if you are ever in town. The Flying Saucer.
It was hard loading onto the bus this morning to leave St. Louis, but more adventures await. Next stop: Wisconsin, land of cheese...?!? Check back soon for more updates.

We Survived Hell Week!

This week was all about numbers: 9 shows, 7 venues, 9 days, 5 states, 20 hours on the bus. Welcome to touring. One-off performances, where you load in, do a show, or sometimes two, and then load out the same night, take an undeniable toll on your body, and your mind. This week it got real. It was a whirlwind. This is what I remember touring being like. I am not going to bore you with a list of where we were, or what the theaters were like, in fact I couldn't if I wanted to at this point. The entire week is already a hazy indistinct blur of scattered images of calling the show, riding the tour bus, vague hotel rooms, only to lather, rinse and repeat the entire process again, and again, and again. What I can tell you, is that the show is in good shape, the audiences are loving it, and the cast are in good spirits. Oh, don't get me wrong. We are all exhausted, but we have all more or less learned to adapt to make the most of the creature comforts that we have. For the cast, learning to sleep on the bus during our long drives has become a marketable skill. Personally, I prefer to take advantage of the quiet time created by everyone else's naps to focus on the administrative paperwork that goes with being a touring Stage Manager. If I can be done my reports, logs, and emails by our morning rest stop, the rest of the ride is suddenly mine, to curl up with the latest Chuck Palaniuk novel, shoot douche waffles on my PS Vita, text with all the folks at home or otherwise relax and unwind until we arrive at the next venue.

It really is the little things that bring you comfort during a week like this that make all the difference in the world. Things like Venti Mocha Frappachino's, bus jeans, comfy hoodies, Skype, Netflix, clean laundry, a bottle of JD in your suitcase, all serve a very important purpose. The small pleasures that they bring make you forget how tired you are in the moment and focus on what is going right, right now. Yes, we spend all day on a tour bus, and we wake up in a new hotel room all most every day, but we are never bored, and this company is never unhappy. They have figured out that as long as you can control the little things in life that matter to you, you can get through anything with a smile on your face. Add all that to the fact that each and every one of us is out here doing what we love, and it becomes a pretty incredible experience.

We have been a little spoiled up to this point, with two or three day sit downs at every venue. We have had the opportunity to explore, and to get to see the sights in the cities we've played. That was not the case with hell week. All there was time for every day was literally: Get up, get on the bus, arrive, do a show, drink a pint, fall asleep, depart for the next city. The end. But all of our hard work is now paying off. As I write this post we are on the bus headed to Pittsburgh, where we have the night off, on route to Saint Louis. Our next show is Friday night...4 days from now. 4 days of rest and relaxation between shows. Almost unheard of in this industry. Our only responsibility is to be on the bus on time each day so that we can continue our journey. Heaven.
Until next time!
Check back soon for more updates.

Oh, Canada! Godspell hits the East Coast of the Great White North.

The journey continues...when we last left our heroes, they had one final matinee to perform in New Haven Connecticut, before moving on to our first Canadian stops of the tour. 
The matinee was a success, and from what I have been told by the crew, their first load-out was relatively painless.  We were also asked to sign the wall at the historic Shubert Theatre, a tradition that I have seen a few times at various venues on the road.  Kudos to Charles for finger painting us a great piece of signage, that will now become part of the legacy of the Shubert.  At this point our Crew also moved off of our coach bus onto their sweet Rock Star sleeper bus, their new traveling home away from home.

After the show and dinner in New Haven,  the cast and band piled onto the coach for what I think was an amazing night drive up to Portsmouth New Hampshire, our stopping point before crossing back into Canada.  Now, I can't speak for everyone, but I had a wicked time on this bus ride because I snagged one of the rear "lounge" spots for the ride: to clarify, we have removed some seats from the coach, and at the very back we have two sets of seats that have been turned 180 degrees, and installed collapsible tables to form what I loving refer to as "the lounges".  They are perfect spots for someone to work on lines, write show reports, have a group card game, or just stretch out.

 Initially I set up my laptop to write my matinee show reports and then once they were sent, I settled in and relaxed for what was one of my favourite rides thus far of any tour.  I watched about 6 episodes of Parks and Rec, and then when that got old, just set my music collection to shuffle and watched the world flow by.  It was a very Zen happy little bubble.

Upon arrival at our hotel most people promptly made their way to our very first hot tub of the tour! Any hotel with a hot tub and a pool is always a hit after a long day on a tour bus.

The next day we had a full day of travel to Fredericton New Brunswick, where we had the evening off.  Our company manager and I promptly found a great spot to have a wonderful meal in town.  Brewbaker's was magnificent.
Our two  shows in Fredericton at The Playhouse were well received, and I met some great people on the local crew who are friends of friends that work out here fairly regularly.  We swapped a few war stories and shared some laughs.  It was a not so subtle reminder of exactly how small this industry really is.

After our Wednesday evening show, the touring company organized an impromptu pre-Halloween party in one of the banquet rooms of our hotel.  Hilarity ensued, and I don't know that many people got much sleep.

We also had the next day (which coincidently, happened to be Halloween) off in Fredericton, so many of us took the opportunity to see the sights, sample the local micro brews, and experience some of the local culture.

 I explored the banks of the St. John River, following a great hiking trail along the shore of the downtown core, before staring a little pub crawl, and eventually having another fantastic meal, this time at The Blue Door.  Some of the cast caught an evening movie at the mall by our hotel, but I opted for something a little more daring and caught the opening night performance of a local community theatre groups production of Evil Dead: The Musical.  My thoughts on this production are also available here in a previous post.

Friday we had a leisurely 90 minute ride down the highway to our next stop: St. John New Brunswick - NOT to be confused with St. John's Newfoundland - Ivan.  

The Imperial Theatre here in St. John is a beautiful space that celebrated its centennial this year.  A gorgeous venue with another fantastic local crew, both of our shows here went off without a hitch.  Many of us took advantage of our free time in town to take in the local attractions, like the famous -  if wildly misnamed - reversing falls, the local brew pubs (Like the High Tide and The St. John Ale House), and many of us decided to do the Maritimes right and had a big Lobster & seafood dinner at Steamers Lobster Company down by the Wharf.  Dinner was a huge, butter smeared, success.

Tomorrow we bid farewell to Atlantic Canada, as we continue our journey back into the US with a matinee performance in Orono, Maine. 

Tomorrow also marks the beginning of what I have come to think of as our first hell week - 7 different venues in 8 days.  I am sure we will all come out the other side unscathed, but it will be a shock to the system after such a smooth, sedate first few stops.

Check back soon for more updates!

Evil Dead: The Musical

While I was looking for a way to fill a Halloween evening off here in Fredericton NB I stumbled across a poster advertising a local community theatre production of Evil Dead: The Musical.  I have heard a lot about this show over the years, and friends of mine were actually in the original Toronto production, but I had never seen it.  I thought it would be a hoot to score a $20 ticket, and I wasn't disappointed.  Presented at a cute little theatre at the local francophone community center, the show featured a quirky local cast, that may not have had professional talent, but they certainly had a lot of heart. 

With its very own blood splash zone in the front row, this show focused on the gory, campy off beat humour that made Bruce Campbell and The Evil Dead trilogy of movies cult classics.  Blood packets and Hudson sprayers full of fake blood doused the audience throughout the show, much to their obvious delight.

With songs like "What the fuck was that?" and "Do the Necronomicon" the show kept tonights small audience laughing throughout.  Some of the cast may not have had the vocal range to belt these rollicking tunes the way they were written, but I will give them credit for their attempt.  They certainly were committed.

The show certainly had its share of technical difficulties, missed mic pick up, miss-cued sound effects, wigs falling from cast members heads, lighting levels that left the cast in near total darkness...the list goes on.  It was a little bit like being forced to watch the final performance of Waiting for Guffman.

Despite the technical elements of the show being a propper Tour De Farce I want to give full kudos to the 2 young ladies who played Cheryl and Shelly, as both of them had the pipes to sing their respective roles, and knew how to act their way out of a wet paper bag, qualities unfortunately not shared by the rest of the cast. 

Regardless, I laughed pretty hard both with, and at, the cast, and the show provided a solid two hours of entertainment.

The Cottage

A few weeks back I was lucky enough to have had the opportunity to spend a couple of days relaxing up at "the cottage" with my cast and crew. A spacious, modern, winterized home on the shore of Lake Simco, "the cottage" is owned by the aunt and uncle of the MD of my current show and was a perfect destination for a little get away for the members of our production company. Seven of us were able to make the trip, and a great time was had by all. Our MD proved to be a wonderful host, and an incredible chef, making all of our meals from scratch.
I was the first to brave the waters of Lake Simco, swimming right off the dock. I was actually pleasantly surprised at the temperature, considering that is was mid September. At one point two locals actually canoed past by me, as I stood chest deep in the frigid water and looked at me like I was nuckin' futs.
Watching theatre folk be sportific is always entertaining, and the impromptu volleyball game we had was no exception. We spent more time chasing the ball through the hedgerow into the neighbours yard than actually playing volleyball.
Yours truely hit the booze a little hard on day 2, I may have started with a cold beer at 8am, and graduated to a gin ceasar by 11am, and double fisting beergaritas by 1pm. Long story short I put myself to bed by 6pm, where I stayed until 7am on day 3. Lesson learned...when pacing oneself on an all day bender it is important to take breaks for food, and the occasional glass of water.
Despite my inherent stupidity, I had a great time bonding with my cast, and it was a much needed release from the stress and pressure of a very busy summer season.

The Beaches of Tiny

Finally got a chance to explore some of the better beaches up here around Penetanguishene.  I have always been told that the private beaches out at the concessions were far better than the public beach at Balm Beach, and I am now able to confirm that this is infact the case.

We started our day out at the public beach on the 11th Concession, in the Township of Tiny, where the beach features lovely, clean white sand, and the water was crystal clear.  My only real complaint about this beach was the amount of rocks that you have to traverse in order to get to the water.
There is a great sandbar, and the water temperature was seasonably warm.  There were a few families down at this beach when we arrived, but for the most part, it was pretty quiet.

Our second stop was the public beach at the 13th Concession of Tiny.  This beach had a much more secluded feel, but features coarser sand, that bordered on small gravel down by the waters edge.  But there were no submerged rocks to scramble over to actually get into the water.  The water at the 13th is uber shallow, meaning a long walk out to the first sandbar, but again, the water was crystal clear and was actually at least a couple of degrees warmer than the water at the 11th.  Being able to sit on the sandbars and soak up the rays was a pretty great way to spend the afternoon.

Of the two, I much preferred the beach at the 13th, dispite the fact that the 11th has nicer sand.

As a side bar, while both of these beaches are posted as public, the only parking available requires a valid parking pass, that only residents of Tiny can obtain.  Non residents take the risk of getting a $50 ticket every 3 hours for parking anywhere near these beaches.  The Township of Tiny has a funny way of encouraging tourism...Douchewaffles.  Haven't they ever heard of parking meters?  I would gladly pay 5-10 bucks to enjoy these beaches for day, but a mandatory  $50 fine for using a public beach just guarentees that I will trash them on the interweb...a classic case of heinous fuckery most foul.

Balm Beach - first impressions

So after spending 5 weeks soaking up the sun in and around beautiful Grand Bend, I have been transferred up north to Penetang for work.
A little over a week into the contract I finally have the time and the energy to hunt down the nearest public beach with a few co-workers for some fun in the sun.
Balm Beach is a really cute little community, not far from Midland, right in the shores of Georgian Bay.  Right away let me start by saying how shocked I was by the tiny size of their public beach.  Being raised on the shores of Lake Huron, I am used to miles and miles of available beach front property to choose from for all your beach related desires.  Here at Balm beach you are working with a clearly marked public area that can't be more than 600' in length.  And the sand is full of rocks...a shame.
When we arrived around 4pm the beach was host to alot of young families, and elderly couples, not the crowds I am used to after weeks on end spent in the Grand Bend area.
It seems as though every road is town us marked with no-parking signs, forcing you to park at one of the roughly 40 the municipal meters for a whopping $2/ hour up to a maximum of $15 for the day.  This blows my mind.  At Ipperwash you can park on the beach for free, all day.  What gives? 
On top of a tiny, rocky, beach, and the ridiculous parking situation, the first 30' of the water is carpeted in a solid stretch of stones.  Not fun.
On the plus side, because of the amazing weather we've been having this summer, the water was very warm today, likely around 76-78 degrees, which is warm for Georgian Bay.  The water was also a touch choppy today, with waves easily reaching 2' in height, which is apparently unusual for this area. 
What I will say, is that the view from the beach was stunning.  It really is a very pretty area of Northern Ontario.
I have been told that the better beaches in the area are private beaches on the local concessions.  I fully intend to brave the parking tickets that all non residents risk, should they be found parked at these private beaches in order to continue my quest for a better beach.
If I find one, I'll be sure to post pictures, and my impressions.