080107 The Allman Brothers Band, Rama, ON

On August 1st, 2007 I woke up in a tattered Motel 6 across the street from the Casino Rama in Orillia, Ontario.  M’lady and I had celebrated her birthday the night before with The Allman Brothers and a very large bottle of Jack Daniels (separately, unfortunately) but somehow we woke up without too much trouble, and with very little bruising.  Which was good, because we had another night of The Allman’s ahead of us, and that bottle wasn’t anywhere near empty.

That said, we headed over to the casino fairly early in the day, and dead sober at that.  We had met a couple the night before that had come up from the states for the concerts and we had arranged to meet them at one of Casino Rama’s restaurant/bars for dinner.

As we perused the menu our new friends asked if I would go up to the bar and order the drinks on my credit card, and they would pay for dinner on theirs.

“Sure,” I said, “but why?”

And then they told me a story I wasn’t quite prepared to swallow:

If you are staying at the Casino Rama hotel (as this couple was) you are only allowed a small amount of alcohol per person, per day.  This nice couple claimed that the casino wouldn’t allow any of their guests to become intoxicated; in fact they would monitor their guest’s credit card purchases and if someone seemed to be hitting their limit they could be subjected to a sobriety spot check, right there on the casino floor.  Furthermore, if a guest is indeed deemed to be intoxicated the hotel staff will escort the guest to their room where they would be subject to twenty-four hours of self-incareration.  If one doesn’t agree to lock themselves in their room overnight they are forced to check out, with no refunds.

Of course this was patently absurd, but I didn’t know what not to believe: the casino’s insane policy or my new friend’s unbelievable claim that this was actually their policy.  But the pair seemed very convinced, hence they were quite convincing.  I got the drinks.

And wouldn’t you know, just as we were finishing up dinner I saw security approach a woman just outside the restaurant and – oh, the horror – he made her submit to an on-the-spot sobriety test (which it seemed like she passed)!  Now, I wasn’t standing next to them or anything so I was left to infer what was going on but I tell you, what I saw sure jived with the nuttiness I had just heard.  

I was mortified.  Sure, the casino was owned by the Chippewas and I’m sure back when they were agreeing to build the casino there was much debate about having drunk gamblers staggering all over their reserve, but this was pretty ridiculous.  I was so shaken I bought us all another round.

Mental note: never, ever book a room at Casino Rama.  Especially when you’re there to see a hard-drinkin’ Southern rock band like the Allman’s.  Sheesh.  

Getting to the show, it was fantastic, with lots of fan favourites like Melissa, Done Somebody Wrong, In Memory of Elizabeth Reed, Stormy Monday and tons more.  They even did a cover of Franklin’s Tower by The Grateful Dead.  So yeah, great concert.

But the venue?  Not so much.

Sauntering back across the desolate highway to our low-budget home for the night, I swear a Motel 6 never looked so inviting.