Cuff the Duke

Sleeman Centre
Guelph, Ontario
November 5, 2005

If they sucked real bad I'd just have to tell ya but ya know what? They really kicked ass... I love it when a band I WANT to be good IS good. Never mind that I know the drummer, Matt Faris. We're not like best buddies or anything but one of his best buddies is a good friend of mine. We all went and saw Primus one night which was just an amazing evening of entertainment for all of us. I figured this would be one of Cuff the Duke's bigger shows at this stage of the game so I made an effort to get hooked up with a pass so I could immortalize the evening for them. Knowing that most opening acts don't get a whole lotta the light show showered on them, I knew I'd have a bit of a challenge getting some good photos for these guys but I also figured I'd get something better than what they have out there on their web site. See... I DO have a good side that wants to help out the little guy!!! I wanted to arrange a pass to shoot this show but I thought chances weren't good for getting the Blue Rodeo pass but I figured I'd go for it anyway. Turns out I got rejected for the Cuff the Duke pass but I got the thumbs up for the Blue Rodeo pass!!

See that's how things go for me. I don't necessarily have BAD luck, I just have backwards luck. Whatever I THINK is going to happen WON'T happen. In fact the total opposite normally does. Even though I got turned down for the photo pass from Cuff's management, I still got to shoot them cuz I scored with the headliner of the night. So I went and did my best and you're lookin at the best I could do under those lighting conditions. Fuck ya if ya don't like the results! Anyway, like I said earlier I was WANTING these guys to sound good. I'd never heard them before even though I know the drummer. Right from the opening note I thought they were cool. Nice n tight. No major fuck ups that I could hear. Good energy level... I was pretty impressed. So now I have to track down one of their CD's and buy it cuz I like supporting music I like. If ya know me, ya know I'm absolutely brutal at listening to a band and then turning around and telling you what they played. I don't fuckin remember WHAT they played.

It's HOW they played that I recall without a problem so that's what I write about. Don't feel bad, I would remember what U2 played either!! Wayne Petti, the singer, spoke with the audience more in his half hour than Blue Rodeo did the whole time they were out there which must have been a two hour show. I thought that was pretty cool. Shows a sign of confidence and a comfort level that is much higher than a lot of bands out there. There's lotsa bands out there that don't say fuck all to the audience any more. They just show up and play. You don't even know if it's actually the band out there cuz it could be some holographic image projected up on stage cuz they interact to let you know they're living human organisms. Well Cuff the Duke is alive and well, so check em out at an intimate venue in your neck of the woods. Now, I just gotta figure out why they named the band Cuff the Duke. Speculation tells me they have a problem with British royalty and there's nothing wrong with that. Bye now.

Cuff the Duke Official Web Site

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