My Dream Date With The Smugglers
by Dawn Osadchuk

At the Smugglers' 10th Anniversary show back in Sept 98, amid the records, buttons, and shirts on sale at the merchandise table was also an entry box, with the prize being to win a date with all five members of The Smugglers. This was a much talked-about and highly coveted prize that night, and like any fan, I really really really wanted to win. So after putting my name in the box (more than a couple of times), I was looking forward to see whose name would be drawn from the box. For those of you who were at the show, I don't need to tell you how kickass all the bands were, especially The Smugglers! At the end of their set, they brought out the contest box and explained how they would take the lucky winner out for a night on the town consisting of dinner, a movie, and bowling. Even with my fingers crossed, I was still very much surprised when lead singer Grant Lawrence called out my name, and I was so excited that I don't even remember scrambling up on stage and Grant saying that he'd be calling me very soon to set it up.

Well, I was ready to go out on my date, but it took quite a few months for it to actually happen. Aside from playing together, it seems it is quite difficult to get all five Smugglers together in the same town on the same night. So finally, on Tuesday, January 19, 1999, exactly four months from when I won, my date looked like it was finally gonna be a go. The plan was for all five Smugglers to pick me up at 5:00PM and take me to dinner. When they got to my door, I noticed a slight change in the plans: drummer Bryce seemingly wasn't able to make it, so longtime Smugglers roadie SKA-T came in his place. I must admit that for no good reason I was pretty nervous and fairly quiet throughout the night, even though Grant, Nick, Dave, Beez and Ska-T are all super nice and seemed like they were really into taking a fan out on a date. One thing that you should know is that they are all tons of fun to be out on a date with. Throughout the night they entertained me with lots of funny stories and dirty jokes. They picked me up in style all right, Nick drove us all around in this really cool old car of his, but I couldn't tell you what kind. They even gave me the choice of the radio station on the AM dial.

So we went to dinner at this sushi place near the movie theatre. I'm such a novice with chop sticks, so it took me a really long time to eat my food and I think Ska-T ended up eating most of my soup. Grant took this really embarrassing photo of Beez feeding me his noodle. After dinner we rushed over to the movie theatre to see "A Simple Plan". After the movie we all talked about how good the movie was and what we would do to get away with all the money. I had the pressure of picking a movie "that was downtown, that no one had seen yet, and one that everyone would like"; luckily, "A Simple Plan" fit all three requirements. Next we were off to the fabulous Commodore Bowling Lanes for a couple of games of bowling. You could tell that Dave was a pro because he brought his own pair of bowling shoes along. There was a little bit of friendly competition between the guys, and I had my own cheering section everytime I made a strike or a spare! To top if off, they were even buying me lots of beer! They took a few more pictures of us bowling, and then it was time for them to drive me back to my place. On the ride home I was feeling a little bolder and asked if this date would get me into their next show free, which Grant assured me it would (but then at their next show at the Brickyard I thought Grant would have probably forgotten about that since it was awhile ago, but he remembered and had my name on the guest list, what a guy!). All The Smugglers walked me back up to my apartment, and then I had to let them in so they could all use the bathroom, which took quite awhile. Then it was time for one last picture, some hugs goodbye and my date with The Smugglers was over.

Dawn Osadchuk,
North Vancouver BC, Canada