Entries tagged with "gig"
Monday 23 October 2006
Last week was music crazy - two gigs, three rehearsals and one free-form improv jam in the space of six days. And as of this week, the improvising trio has a gig in December. Yay some more!
One of those gigs last week was a CD release party and send-off for our good friend David Hein. He’s just put out a rockin’ disc called North of Nowhere and he’s now on his way across the continent - a man, a guitar, and a yellow VW bug. I’ve just launched his new web site too, and set up a blog, which he’s been filling with lots of fun touring stories and photos. And just wait until I get the music player finished…
In the meantime, if he comes to your town, go see him!
Words of the week:
- gosh
- “phwoaar”
- faffing
- explodey
- fraught
- Christ on a bike
but please not
Saturday 13 May 2006
Last night was a blast - great sets from Dave and Rich DeJonge and the David Hein Band. Each act did two sets, and for our second set we played as a quintet. Great three-part harmonies on “Gold Thieves”, and “Searchlights” finally came together live like it did on the CD. And we covered “Lucky” by Radiohead and “A Day In The Life”, which both benefitted enormously from having Lance and Ellen there. Hope we got a good recording.
Halfway through our breakneck rendition of “Idiot Grin”, I felt something sharp hit me in the back of the leg. I realized after a moment that it was part of one of Clark’s “hot rod” drumsticks. Hot Rods are essentially a slim bundle of narrow wooden sticks that are a little quieter than solid sticks, while still having a comfortable weight for playing, and Clark’s were disintegrating on the spot. Another piece of wood pinged off the back of my head during the bridge. After the show, Clark told me he’d bought them just when he joined Flickershow about a year and a half ago, and was curious to see how long they’d last. As it turned out… it was exactly long enough.
We’ll miss ya, Clark. Happy dadhood. :D
Clark lent me his DVDs of The Beatles Anthology, which are fascinating viewing (though how the band ever put up with the screaming fans I will never know). I wasn’t as familiar with their early stuff, so I’ve just heard “I’ll Follow The Sun” for the first time. What a nifty melody, with that augmented fourth!
Dreams: lots of people I didn’t recognize, all living together in a big (sometimes small) house for a few days. Middle-aged… but were we on some kind of sports team? Looked briefly like my Grandma’s house (the setting of many of my dreams when I was young). There was a thunderstorm, and lightning struck an old dead tree out the back, about three times. I could see the electricity snaking across the yard and into the foundation of the house to ground itself.
I woke up speaking in the voice of a mysterious new character for my radio plays.
Thursday 11 May 2006
Open stage tonight: J and I did “Catch-22”, “905” and “England”, which came off pretty nicely. Kurt Swinghammer was the feature, and played a great set of all covers (explaining along the way that he was too buried in recording his next album to want to sing more of his own tunes that night).
May have to book a gig at the Grasshopper - it’s a nice little place and the people are sweet. Just have to make sure there’s no hockey on that night.
Discussed things with the director of Midsummer Night’s Dream and watched a couple rehearsals of the play… it’s looking great, and I now know what I’m going to do for the sound design. Not surprisingly, it involves a lot of percussion instruments. :D
Monday 8 May 2006
I’m a frickin’ spaz today. So far I have lost (or discovered missing):
- my glasses
- a shock mount for a microphone (later found)
- a bodhrán
- my Metropass
- my wallet
The good news is, Midsummer Night’s Dream is looking awesome. I’ve got a lot of work to do. And between rehearsals, an open stage, and our Friday gig, this is going to be one busy week.
Saturday’s gig (‘twas Nigel‘s CD release) rocked. Packed house, great crowd, awesome openers. I’d never seen David Celia before, and he and his cohorts Joan Besen and Mike Celia were an absolute treat to watch). The rest of the band played a terriffic show - especially considering three of them had had only one rehearsal with us. Really great to play with such an experienced crew. And Don Kerr played cello! I’m thinkin’ his Gas Station studio might be a place to record our upcoming CD…
Sunday 26 June 2005
I had been secretly hoping that some totally unknown 80-year-old country singer from Kapuskasing would kick all our asses with a witty, heartfelt tune and a glint in his/her eye (shades of a certain David Hein song)... but it was not to be.
Nah, we didn’t get the encore either. But whatever - Julian said it best in his email: “It’s public broadcasting, so there are no prizes, and everybody wins!” We sang really well, people seemed to enjoy it, and they edited our mini-interview down to one sound-bite so we didn’t sound like total knobs. I’m happy!
They also cut the pre-song chatter with Steve Paikin, where I accidentally admitted to not having a television… aheh. It got a laugh, but oh boy. :D
Thursday 23 June 2005
Tune in to TVOntario this evening to catch Flickershow on Studio 2! We’re first on the bill with an acoustic rendition of “Erratic Satellite Aphrodite”, and from what we saw, the rest of the show should be great as well.
STUDIO 2 ONTARIO SONG CONTEST
Thursday 23 June - 8 pm on TVO (repeats: 11pm, 2:30pm Friday)
And as if that weren’t enough…
“INVINCIBLE” VIDEO LAUNCH PARTY
Friday 24 June - 9pm - The Renaissance Café
1938 Danforth Ave, west of Woodbine [map]
with Archery and Jessica Graham
CANADA DAY SHOW
Thursday 30 June - 9pm - The Pour House
182 Dupont Ave, east of Spadina [map]
with Some Of The Parts
Saturday 21 February 2004
I knew it would happen.
With a name like ours, it was inevitable: an unfamiliar name; a hastily scribbled listing in block capitals in a dark corner of the bar, passed to an innocent signwriter… And so we arrived at the Cameron House last night to find ourselves billed as “Fuckershow”.
It was a good gig. The folks at the Cameron are very good to musicians, and the sound was excellent. David’s band rocked - they’ve made amazing strides since their first gig only a month or two ago. And the Peyote Kings were wild jam lunatics and nice guys. As for us… we’ve done better sets, but this one went quite well all the same. I’m increasingly aware that I like bass much better than guitar, and apparently it shows. Seeing Davy’s songs come alive with a full band sealed it for us: we have to find a lead guitarist, and soon. Not to mention a drummer.
I’m off tomorrow to try out with a new band, too, whom we met at an open stage a couple months ago. I’m really looking forward to it - I haven’t played with new musicians in far, far too long! And perhaps I can snag one or two of them into playing with us. We’ll see.
Wednesday 12 June 2002
Sean arrived home from India on Monday afternoon. Plenty of stories. First order of business (after the obvious) was grocery shopping, as I’d been scraping the bottom of the barrel. I don’t think I’ll ever eat barbecue sauce again.
Sean kept watching all the busy, harried li’l North Americans rush about, and whispering, “go! go! gotta make my meeting!” and “deadlines!” and “just a few more years! my life can wait!” with a mischievous grin.
Back at home: “I had the weirdest shit.” In paroxysms of gasping-for-breath laughter.
Curtains are coming! We’re having ‘em sewn at one of the two dozen little fabric shops around the corner on Queen. This neighbourhood does rock.
Julian and I played at a cabaret fundraiser last night (for an Environmental Studies student who’s canoeing to Tuktoyaktuk[!] as part of her Master’s). We actually went on ahead of schedule, proof that the gig was organized by non-musicicans. Good show! Did “Lullaby For Alice” which we haven’t done in ages.
I’ve been starting to work on my own songs again, too, and as usual the stuff I have in mind is inspired in large part by the artists I’m currently obsessing over. This time that means Rufus Wainwright and Sarah Slean, who both mix modern pop with a big dose of cabaret show-tuney sensibility. I’d love to write some stuff that’s as much fun to sing while flouncing around the apartment or on stage… something that merits a video like “Sweet Ones”. *suppresses surge of costume envy*
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