Updates: February - May, 2002
May 26, 2002 - We got some insight recently on the venue for the reunion show in Cambridge 6/21 from hometown boy (and a fair power-popster his own self) Nick Bastian of The Nowns - who, btw, is kind enough to have a link to us on his site. Anyway, here's what Nick says about Fiddler's Green:
"It is a really neat club on the banks of the Grand River. But it is built into an old Post office building and is spread over three floors. The stage is on the "main" floor, but there are two others that make up the club...A note on capacity- from the horse's mouth: 'we can get about 280 in here, once we clear out the tables'..."
"Spoke with one of the owners. He hasn't printed tickets (and from what he indicated - he most likely won't). Instead - as an advance sale- you get a numbered, and initialed wristband for the show. I would take that as an indication that there won't be any other outlets in which to buy tickets (as none have actually been printed)...He did mention that he had been in touch with many out-of-towners via telephone and internet and did confirm that he was holding tickets (or wristbands, I guess) with a credit card."
Thanks so much to Nick and thanks to all of you out-of-towners who've already contacted the club about this. If you haven't and you'd like to, the number is 519-622-5270 (word is the best time to do this is afternoons eastern time).
May 12, 2002 - The final piece of the reunion puzzle (the final one as far as we know) is now in place. The second warm-up show will be Friday the 21st in Cambridge (not far south of Kitchener-Waterloo, about an hour west of Toronto) at the rather picturesque Fiddler's Green, right on the Grand River at 12 1/2 Water Street. Tickets are $8 in advance and $10 at the door.
- So let's review our TPOH reunion shows: Thursday June 20th at The Foundation in Barrie, Friday June 21st at Fiddler's Green in Cambridge, and Saturday June 22nd at The Horseshoe in Toronto. Start your engines. If we get any more details, we'll pass them along.
May 5, 2002 - One of the reunion warm-up dates has finally been confirmed...sorta. Our friend at SEEN Magazine says TPOH will be playing The Foundation in Barrie, Ontario Thursday June 20th, and Moe agrees. Tickets should be $5 in advance and $7 at the door. You can sniff around for more info on the club's Flash-laden site linked above; but if you're intending to drive in from out of town and would like advance tickets, email us and we'll get you in touch with someone who can hold some for you. As for the other warm-up show Friday the 21st, it looks like it'll be in Kitchener, but the booking agent hasn't nailed it down yet.
- Btw, shoe leather has been spent, and tickets for the Horseshoe show are currently available at the front bar.
April 17, 2002 - Yes, you read the blue banner right. Tickets are now available for the reunion show for The Pursuit of Happiness at The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto June 22nd. They are available online from our friends at MapleMusic right here at $12 Canadian (approx. $7.56 U.S., according to them), which includes service charge. They'll give you all the useful info, like you won't be sent actual tickets, but they will be reserved for you and you will claim them at the door. (Make sure you read the instructions carefully!) If you're local and would rather use shoe leather, the Horseshoe site says tickets are available at $10 Cdn. at the 'shoe's front bar, as well as Rotate This and Soundscapes. Call ahead first to make sure they're available now before you use that shoe leather.
- As for the warm-up dates, they're still being confirmed, but it looks like there will be two, taking place on the 20th north of Toronto and the 21st in southwestern Ontario. Ticket sales will depend on the venue. We'll let you know as soon as these details are settled.
- And coming up sooner, Moe will part of a benefit show at The Rivoli April 23rd. To help out musicians who've been victims of theft, Moe will play a couple tunes, as will such luminaries as Ellen Reid of Crash Test Dummies (fresh off her new solo effort) and Kurt Swinghammer. One of the MCs is Canada's fabulous host with the most Jaymz Bee, always worth the cost of admission his own self. That cost for the night is PWYC ($5 minimum).
March 27, 2002 - The past week saw the release of a new album by a lovely Irish indie rawk band called Large Mound. You may be wondering what that has to do with The Pursuit of Happiness. Well, check out these lyrics (don't steal them or Anthony will pound the crap out of you):
Could be the fight song for all TPOH fans, couldn't it? Yes, it's a little something called "I Thought You Were Dead," and a video for the song (though it hasn't much to do with the song except for the dead part) is on Large Mound's new album called Raised On Rock. For more info on how to order it or the limited-edition single, go here. There's also plenty of other neat tunes on their very cool website.Moe wrote short simple and meaningful songs about life
And most of the time he got it right
Words like conciousness over A, G and D
After two albums faded into obscurity.......You could say it perfectly in just one line
Now it's the other three albums that I've got to findI Thought You Were Dead
"We've reached the end" was what you said
Thought I'd got all I was going to get
I Thought You Were Dead
March 17, 2002 - Tickets for the reunion show at the Horseshoe will be available online through our old friends Maplemusic. They'll be $12 Cdn., also the price for tickets at the door. Advance tickets elsewhere (the venue and possibly other places to be determined by the venue) will be $10 Cdn. No, they're not available yet anywhere - we'll tell you when they are.
March 10, 2002 - It's official: at least one reunion show for The Pursuit of Happiness is in place. Moe Berg, Dave Gilby, Kris Abbott, Brad Barker and Renée Suchy (the most recent lineup) will be playing The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern June 22nd, 2002. Tickets will be $10 in advance and $12 at the door. Opening acts have yet to be announced. As well, according to Moe, "there will hopefully be at least two warm up gigs in and around the area, (think Barrie, Oshawa, London, etc)," but those have yet to be finalized. Of course, getting tickets will be a big issue for folks coming from out of town - we will let you know the moment ticket sales are arranged and tell you how you can get them. Online sales are very likely. So keep checking the Updates for...well...updates. For the time being, you can help the band pick out a setlist by going to the bottom of the homepage. And again, a huge thank you to all the site visitors who sent their encouragement for a reunion. It honestly did make a difference.
- in other news...Not sure if it was the new (small, hot) venue of Healey's, or the spring-like weather outside, or the donning again of the suede-ish ninja shirts, but Friday night's Monteforte gig could've been the most dancin'est show ever (didn't we say that last time? Well, it wasn't as big, but it was dancin'er!) The dancefloor started to fill from the very first song of the very first set ("Hot Girls in Love" by Loverboy, so how could you blame them?) and strained at the seams for the rest of the night. The setlist was much like the shakedown of the last show, including the "Ghostbusters" medley, "Fame" and the one-two Cancon punch of Gowan and Platinum Blonde, but they still had a couple new tricks up their sweaty sleeves with the "West Coast sounds" of Jackson Browne's "Somebody's Baby" and the dramatic slow dance classic "Sara" by Starship. Hard to say when, but hopefully Vikki, Brad, Bobby "the Crunch" and Roxy can fire off another show before other projects take them away...
March 5, 2002 - What? Another one already? This reminder just in from the desk of Vikki Sleaze:
Hi Friends, Just letting you know that the mighty Monteforte is playing Friday March 8th at Healeys, (Bathurst just south of Queen). Two big sets starting at 10:30. Rumour has it that Jeff himself jumps onstage to jam with the bands who play his club. Be there and be able to say you were.(Again to review: Jeff Healey is the blond, blind Canadian blues guitar hero / old jazz devotée who tends to play sitting down and does indeed seem to have enough of a sense of humour to jump up there with Roxy.)
February 3, 2002 - It was a shakedown of the setlist at the latest Monteforte rock extravaganza Friday, including some fresh Cancon and a wanton raiding of the MF archives (perhaps Brad From Halifax was perusing the box set on his recent holiday in Barbados?). They even raided the old MF closet, sporting their vintage cutoff railroad overalls - with Roxy in a poufy conductor's cap. The big comebacks included Loverboy's "Hot Girls in Love" and Irene Cara's "Fame". The new tunes (we think...who can remember that far back?) included "I Ran" by A Flock of Seagulls, a medley of Ray Parker Jr.'s "Ghostbusters" and Huey Lewis and the News' "I Wanna New Drug" (or is that the other way around?) and a stirring rendition (mostly by Brad) of Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman." Not only that, they brought out some spanking new Cancon with Gowan's "(You're a) Strange Animal" and "Not in Love" by Platinum Blonde. AND you still had favourites like "Raise a Little Hell," "Lick It Up," "Bette Davis Eyes" and "My Sharona." All of it taken in by the biggest, dancin'-est crowd in ages.
Weren't in that crowd, poor thing? Remember March 8th at Healey's in the glorious 416 (that's Toronto).
Updates:
6-8/02 / Updates: 9/01-1/02 / Updates:
4-8/01 / Updates: 1-3/01
Updates: 8-12/00 / Updates:
4-7/00 / Updates: 12/99 - 03/00