The hostel we are staying at is called the asylum. Monday nights they host a hostel party called 'Mad Monday'. They give you an inmate shirt, and you play drinking games in the basement with 'Goon Bags'. Goon bags are the bags you find in wine boxes, so it's not the greatest stuff ever. After you slam a couple cups they pass around pens and everyone writes dirty things on other peoples shirts, and then we head to the bar next door.
When we arrived it was the finals for "Backpacker Idol". We had a few more drinks then i heard them say over the p.a that two of the competitors had not shown up. I rushed the stage and asked if I could fill one of the spots. After a few questions the MC said "Alright Steve, you're on fourth." I walked back to the group of other 'inmates', and immediatly started the fist pumps. I had little time to decide which song to showcase, as each person only gets one song. After looking at the crowd I figured 'otherside' by red hot chili peppers was the song to play.
"Next up, Steve from Vancouver Canada." I walked on stage and grabbed the guitar. Gave a quick shout out to the inmates and then it was on. I was in the zone, chief. I nailed it. I don't think i've ever played so good, maybe it was the fact i had a microphone and the guitar was mic'd. Either way i was very happy and the crowd erupted. I now had to wait and see what the judges thought. "9, 8.5, 9.5". I'm in first place. Now i had to wait so see if I had qualified for a prize.
After the rest of the competitors performed they called us all to the front of the stage for crowd voting. I was tied for second with the judges scores, now it was in the hands of the crowd. After they sat down the bottem half, it was down to four. I was just happy i got to play. The guy that i was tied for second with gets sat down. Down to me and two girls. One of the girls is sat down, its down to two. The girl next to me had got higher in judges voting and her cheers were quite louder than mine up to this point.
In the end i walked out with second place, a hat with a built in bottle opener and a 12 case of cider bottles the size of wine bottles. I'll be drinking for free for a couple of nights. Some people got some picutres that i'll have to get on here as soon as i get them. All in all it was an amazing experience. I got a lot of free drinks from people, and i got an open invite to play some more tunes there next monday which i'll probably have to do.
"What's propane doin?"
