Friday, March 03, 2006

03.03.06 - Pierre's Blog: "Back to Paris...again" I have no idea what time it is right now because I'm somewhere over the Atlantic ocean on my way to Paris on an overnight (also called red eye) flight and Chuck and Seb are asleep next to me.  We are going to land at 8:30am Paris time and we will head to a huge arena called Bercy where we will perform tonight for a big NRJ radio show after which we will fly right back home.  It seems a little absurd to fly all the way over here for just one performance and then return so quickly, but NRJ has been a huge supporter of the band and we figured we owed it to them since our record is finally doing so well in France.  Judging by the response at our last show in Paris a few weeks ago, it should be a blast anyways. Over the last 10 days I've had the chance to go back home and relax a little as well as spend a weekend in the world famous ski resort in Canada, called Whistler, where we played a show to celebrate the upcoming 2010 winter Olympics which will take place in Vancouver, BC.  I arrived at the mountain on Thursday evening where a few of my friends from Vancouver came up to join me for some fun in the snow. On Friday we rented snowmobiles and went out on an amazing back country adventure in the mountains where we launched our sleds in the powder, climbed up steep hills, drove down treacherous paths and basically risked our lives for the pure adrenaline rush you get from going 60 MPH on the snow.  I loved it!  I still can't wait to develop the picture that our guide took of me flying 4 feet in the air on my snowmobile. On Saturday, the day of our outdoor performance, I went out early morning for some snowboarding since I had brought all my gear up with me anyways.  I was told that it hadn't snowed in Whistler in about a month, although there was a good base, but the conditions were hard packed and icy which was a disappointment.  I called it a day after a few icy runs and at 4:30pm we played a show right in the heart of the village for about 2,000 snow lovers.  The show was pretty damn fun considering we played outside where the temperature was approximately 10 degrees Celsius below zero.  It started snowing halfway through our set and it didn't stop for almost 48 hours. Needless to say, we woke up on Sunday to about 2 feet of fresh powder and to the most incredible snowboarding day of my life.  We hooked up with Ross Rebagliati, who you probably all remember as the Canadian Olympic snowboarder who was stripped of his gold medal in 1998 in Nagano after failing his drug test because of a tiny amount of THC (the drug found in marijuana) found in his blood.  After some debate, he did get the medal back because THC is not a banned drug in the Olympics since it has no enhancing purposes.  So anyways, he took us out riding for the day and showed all of us the secret off-trail spots with smooth powder runs, huge drops and little cliffs to have fun on. I've never seen so much snow in my life.  We were going down some spots where we were thigh deep in the white stuff, and it was still coming down hard. David, Chuck and I stayed out all day and had the best snowboarding and skiing we have ever had, and we have been doing it since we were kids!!  All I have to say is WOW...  Thanks Ross.  What a day. After our legs couldn't take anymore punishment, we all hooked for a sushi dinner where Ross came with his wife and even brought his gold medal so we could all check it out. Oh and FYI, this guy is a maniac on his board.  He is definitely the craziest person I've ever seen go down the mountain.  He is now training to compete again in the 2010 Olympics.  Good luck Ross. After the great weekend at Whistler I went to my parent's house for 2 days and spent some time with my family and close friends.  We had a Texas Hold'em poker night at my brother's last night and I cleaned up the pot. YES!   It was great to see my brothers, my parents and all their dogs.  In a weird way, all this traveling and being gone so much has somehow brought me closer to my family and I've learned to appreciate and cherish them now more than ever, and I feel lucky to have them. That's all folks. Pierre.