Saturday, January 05, 2013
December 27th 2012 Re-Cap
The show was a number of things... for us the evening started @ 5pm for a rehearsal... perhaps that's when the first beers were had. You see we hadn't played music together in a year, and weren't sure what we were going to do. Perhaps we should have gone in cold... these set lists can really cramp a style (an inside joke for certain people).
If anything we hung out like brothers from 5pm-6:30pm, and then it was time to get to the Club... set up you know, get ready to Kill. I found my old conch shell that my Uncle Bruce gave to me when he got back from Hawaii somewhere around 1982. Did i mention that somebody on social media suggested Blogs are dead and that they heard it from a reliable source. Blogs are dead EH! I guess that makes me a Jack Ass... alright, more on that later in another blog. So i took the damn conch shell and we grabbed a cab after a fair wait and ba boom! There were people there and more coming in... all these people i know... and SUPER STEVE, who i didn't even talk to that night. Well after he tapped his watch and eyeballed me @ 7:40PM... old habits die hard.
Notice that we haven't eaten dinner yet but it's time to play... Tiger Prawn were tight and dynamic, Super Robertson sang like a goat and they punched through an hour long set... hot damn did i just change persons again... luckily blogs are dead so this never happened... right. Well i had to get a personal dig in on myself right... that's the way it rolls here at the SRSS blog. While the music industry experts stress fluff the positive, in doing so, they force my hand (180 degree wisdom) to focus on the negative.
In my defense i have spent the year trying to master banjo folk music and then i show up for the big show with an acoustic guitar for a punk rock show. It was all good, heads were bobbing and smiles were all around the room, and i don't believe many were there out of obligation, and if they were at least they got to eat dinner. The biggest thing i missed was poem moment, damn shame too, given the number of ace guitarists that were in the crowd. I could have handed of my axe to any number of them and improved a song written by the audience with a king hell trio providing the soundtrack. That would have been a sweet touch... damn, damn, damn.
We played the song dish pig and i had my conch there, but no Fire-Man, so we had to do animal sounds instead... it was going well until the word "squirrel" got mentioned... it got some laughs however.
We did some cover songs out of the Los Neighbourtones songbook one being a speed/ bad vocal version of the Gillian Welch song "Everything is free" a fitting number for a long running free show. We also hit the Neil Young Classic "Hey Hey, My My" missing the last verse... Mule said that it was fine and people were singing along.
Historically i have been against posting cover songs for obvious © reasons, but it seems like everybody is doing it and if my account gets deleted then maybe i can start a new, better online presence. It appears i have 666 videos up on this youtube account... i see them as records of events of people playing music in a room. A smart man might have the 30 best available but can you imagine the amount of waffling that would take.
I believe Smash appeared again at the end of the night when things were getting sloppy... i think i asked him what he thought of the covers, and i believe that while he enjoyed them he seemed to indicate that some want to hear the originals... sometimes you win losing i guess. I was then going to ask him about the version of the beggar where i sang the first line wrong and basically hummed a bastard version of the first verse, but i think we got distracted. I imagine Smash could see beauty in that too, a sense of chaos, like a surfer on a big wave with a rocky start... can he right himself and bring this one home, perhaps a perfect tension.
It seems that Super Steve was upstaged by John Tweed for the line of the night. You see most of the crowd was by the back bar and Stephanie said to John "we should go sit up at the front"... john looked back in horror and said "are you kidding me, that's like sitting front row at a Don Rickles show". We don't call Super Steve "the pike" for nothing... sometimes staying back in the reeds is a good idea.
That said i think a room full of people knew what they were getting into when they came down, and they had a good time. I even showed them how to relax...
We did some other songs, and you can find them if you want. I'll give you one more however. A song by and old friend who is now a professor at U of Vic. His name is Cam Owens and the song is "None of these things mean that much anymore".
later dudes.
SR
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Special Thursday Night SRSS
Here we go again, as King Dinosaur has said "It's time for and old five fingered musical spanking". Indeed back at the old stomping grounds, the Railway Club stage, backed by the legendary Tiger Prawn. In fact as a trio we use to play this configuration a decade ago under the name "the Renfrew boys". I believe the last time was at the Cottage Bistro many, many moons ago.
Shockk, Johnny Wildkat and Super Robertson... Drums, bass and guitar. What will happen? This is a good question, and one which in recent days has been much on my mind.
I imagine there will be more improvisation with this line up... perhaps a good time for poem moment, beer yoga and songs about people like Earl Johnstonerbreath. I guess i will have a list of songs that i think will go well and we shall see where the show is going once it takes off.
Shockk and I cut our teeth making up songs on the spot in the 90's, songs which became the repertoire of the band ROADBED . And Johnny Wildkat did sound and played various instruments sometimes at the same time through the 7 year run of the SRSS, he also handled the bass on my last record One Little Dream . To go back even further Shockk and Johnny Wildkat were at my first ever show with the band Knockin' Dog at Studebakers in Burnaby B.C and a few weeks later i was at their first show at the same venue when they played as Gradient Profile. We are back to the egg here!
Trio's are neat animals... i always liked the trio, easy to maneuver... you see there is only one other person playing notes so it can be easier to follow so you can take greater chances. It is a different beast however... With a full cast one can play a simple song, like the song Bent for example in a relaxed manner and let the solos fly. With a trio you need more personal attack from each of the 3. I think if you are looking for personal attack then you can't beat the combo of Tiger Prawn, and from talking to Shockk tonight it appears that is just what they are set to do. Shockk is even thinking about how to make the stage layout optimal for the upcoming musical massacre.
Something tells me most of the show will occur at warp speed, so get out your cannons folks.
Anyhoo, it will be good to be back in town so if you want to stop in and say hi and toast a drink please do so, the show is of course free Thursday December 27th 7:30-8:30PM @ the Railway Club 579 Dunsmuir Street.
Friday, September 07, 2012
Re-Cap of the July 18 2012 show
The old me never would have allowed a re-cap to take so long, but the new me See's things differently. I have always thought of this exercise as a chance to see what went wrong and why, because i do believe you need to fail to succeed. Succeed in life that is... don't think i think i am going to succeed in music in the way that people view success in music... it's too fucked of a web to get snared in at this hour, and i believe i have been over it before...
It's also a better music career building philosophy to pump pump pump and shill the good in what you did and pass over the errors you made, but that's not my style. A long time ago when my life was met with a fork in the road a good man reminded me to focus on the negative, which i did and then chose a new path that landed me in a far better place. You see i taught myself music, preforming and band leadership through a series of trial and error, so one needs to focus on the negative, to understand it, so hopefully you can correct it.
So what went wrong? There were 2 major things: 1) banjo could not be tuned easily and had no pickup so it could not be distributed properly. I now have a proper pickup (Schatten), so the banjo works like my guitar would... and 2) I brought a fine person up on stage to sing some numbers, who worked all day then went home to feed her son, and then came back to the show and we botched the shit out of the song that had a few different changes in it. Somehow the spirit of "come on lets do this people" got mistranslated and people that didn't know the chords just kept playing anyway until as Super Steve said "this train is off the tracks". It pains me to see a good colleague up on stage in front of a mic sort of frozen wondering what part of the song we are in. Here is a pro tip... if you are on stage playing a song and you don't know what is coming you always have an excellent option... PLAY NOTHING! Not many people will notice that you weren't playing... i tested that theory one time when i was playing with Roger Dean Young and the Tin Cup... we were doing a song i didn't really know and the key of the song was changed from the version that i didn't really know, so i just turned down my volume and pretended to play... i remember Shawn Brodie saying "i can't hear super"... i said "cause I'm not playing, not sure what notes to hit". When the song was over people applauded and i felt like a dog but after the show a bunch of people said they liked my playing and loved the show. Now you don't necessarily have to do a handstand through the song, which i also did another time... it came out of embarrassment that i didn't know what to play... just turn down and let the song be played by those who can carry it.
I blame myself for this error, i could see it coming... i trained people playing the SRSS to rely on 3 chord songs, and even though i sent out an email, it was never my style to enforce a standard of learning but rely on spontaneity within simple frameworks. I rolled the dice and the singer got burned... well we all got burned, make no doubt about it... but i specifically invited her to come and do a few specific numbers and then failed to ensure that the knowledge and skill and mindset of all those on stage could handle the job at hand.
Some fool once told me my ability to inspire those around me make me an ideal leader, but they forgot to add that my attention to detail can nullify everything.
OK- it was just one song, but i had to scrap another because the same thing would have happened and then there is the person who came out specifically to do those numbers foiled... a big pill for me to swallow... but i am washing it down.
Otherwise it was a pretty fine show and we had some great highs for sure... The best thing it did for me on that level was to ruin the sense of invincibility i had when i finished up the SRSS last year.. we had some pretty hot shows at the end, so it has been good feeling that we went out on top. But thanks to that train wreck i orchestrated i have the hunger to ponder what i might do next.
The show started with "Wishing machine", well liked by many and easy song:
I thought we did pretty good. A good start, nice and laid back, solid. I was then eager to pull out the banjo for some reason, and went with a 2 chord song called "average guy" from the debut 21TR CD "The Ocean is Life". When you go with 2 chord songs people get to soar on their instruments... nice piano on this one:
Next i went into a brand new song called "when the $'s gone".. a song i might just release as a single this fall. I have given it one recording here at home, and then this... I'm getting better at delivering. The band did a king hell job sticking to this one. Nobody had ever head this before... i had written out some sheets, and we got through it in serviceable fashion. Then onto Bay City Kitty, a song that first saw the light of day on the cassette release "Jackass has hay breath" and was revisited on the 12TR CD "Never Wanted to be Anyone". The song has been played on national radio and people often request it, and it went well after i remembered to play it in the right key. There was a bit of a train wreck in the beginning that i have edited out for our viewing pleasure. After this is where we had our train wreck of catastrophic proportions... keep in mind of course there were no rehearsals and we hadn't played all together before, and i hadn't played with any of the people in half a year... not a lot of people would even attempt that... to get back on track we hit "Never Wanted to be Anyone": Genny escaped the stage after that having salvaged face somewhat... smart woman... i do hate it when avalanches caused by my neglect bury people... probably why i need to go solo for a while... i need to walk on my own wings and learn the ropes there, and then selectively add what i need, when i need. But never mind that cause we then ripped "The recurring hurrah" a remade Knockin' Dog number that added punch to the latest and greatest 21tr CD "One Little Dream", and Jason Jones was gracious to let Kat Toren take a stab on piano. I can stand behind this kind of performance any day: With Shawn Killaly on drums you can never go wrong with a song of that nature... I love playing with Shawn! With the earlier fiasco in mind i requested to do a song as a trio... a new song about Mt. Tabor, my new hood... i really couldn't even play the song that well as you can tell by my failed falsetto chorus.. I can play the song a lot better now and i have fixed some of the problems... I'm glad i tried it as a trio rather than a 7 piece... i look at it as a record of an even of people playing music in a room, I am also a fan of playing incomplete songs live... maybe not best to post them on the Internet, but again... I'm looking to develop not "succeed": We also hit Saskatchewan and a few other numbers and then finished off with a number i stole from a songify version of a preachers prayer at a race car track, trying to come up with ways to thank the people for coming out and making it happen. Boogiedy Boogiedy Amen! In the end not too bad for a show that was totally winged.
Thanks to Chris Johnson for keeping the show going and giving me the opportunity to come back and learn some more.
It's also a better music career building philosophy to pump pump pump and shill the good in what you did and pass over the errors you made, but that's not my style. A long time ago when my life was met with a fork in the road a good man reminded me to focus on the negative, which i did and then chose a new path that landed me in a far better place. You see i taught myself music, preforming and band leadership through a series of trial and error, so one needs to focus on the negative, to understand it, so hopefully you can correct it.
So what went wrong? There were 2 major things: 1) banjo could not be tuned easily and had no pickup so it could not be distributed properly. I now have a proper pickup (Schatten), so the banjo works like my guitar would... and 2) I brought a fine person up on stage to sing some numbers, who worked all day then went home to feed her son, and then came back to the show and we botched the shit out of the song that had a few different changes in it. Somehow the spirit of "come on lets do this people" got mistranslated and people that didn't know the chords just kept playing anyway until as Super Steve said "this train is off the tracks". It pains me to see a good colleague up on stage in front of a mic sort of frozen wondering what part of the song we are in. Here is a pro tip... if you are on stage playing a song and you don't know what is coming you always have an excellent option... PLAY NOTHING! Not many people will notice that you weren't playing... i tested that theory one time when i was playing with Roger Dean Young and the Tin Cup... we were doing a song i didn't really know and the key of the song was changed from the version that i didn't really know, so i just turned down my volume and pretended to play... i remember Shawn Brodie saying "i can't hear super"... i said "cause I'm not playing, not sure what notes to hit". When the song was over people applauded and i felt like a dog but after the show a bunch of people said they liked my playing and loved the show. Now you don't necessarily have to do a handstand through the song, which i also did another time... it came out of embarrassment that i didn't know what to play... just turn down and let the song be played by those who can carry it.
I blame myself for this error, i could see it coming... i trained people playing the SRSS to rely on 3 chord songs, and even though i sent out an email, it was never my style to enforce a standard of learning but rely on spontaneity within simple frameworks. I rolled the dice and the singer got burned... well we all got burned, make no doubt about it... but i specifically invited her to come and do a few specific numbers and then failed to ensure that the knowledge and skill and mindset of all those on stage could handle the job at hand.
Some fool once told me my ability to inspire those around me make me an ideal leader, but they forgot to add that my attention to detail can nullify everything.
OK- it was just one song, but i had to scrap another because the same thing would have happened and then there is the person who came out specifically to do those numbers foiled... a big pill for me to swallow... but i am washing it down.
Otherwise it was a pretty fine show and we had some great highs for sure... The best thing it did for me on that level was to ruin the sense of invincibility i had when i finished up the SRSS last year.. we had some pretty hot shows at the end, so it has been good feeling that we went out on top. But thanks to that train wreck i orchestrated i have the hunger to ponder what i might do next.
The show started with "Wishing machine", well liked by many and easy song:
I thought we did pretty good. A good start, nice and laid back, solid. I was then eager to pull out the banjo for some reason, and went with a 2 chord song called "average guy" from the debut 21TR CD "The Ocean is Life". When you go with 2 chord songs people get to soar on their instruments... nice piano on this one:
Next i went into a brand new song called "when the $'s gone".. a song i might just release as a single this fall. I have given it one recording here at home, and then this... I'm getting better at delivering. The band did a king hell job sticking to this one. Nobody had ever head this before... i had written out some sheets, and we got through it in serviceable fashion. Then onto Bay City Kitty, a song that first saw the light of day on the cassette release "Jackass has hay breath" and was revisited on the 12TR CD "Never Wanted to be Anyone". The song has been played on national radio and people often request it, and it went well after i remembered to play it in the right key. There was a bit of a train wreck in the beginning that i have edited out for our viewing pleasure. After this is where we had our train wreck of catastrophic proportions... keep in mind of course there were no rehearsals and we hadn't played all together before, and i hadn't played with any of the people in half a year... not a lot of people would even attempt that... to get back on track we hit "Never Wanted to be Anyone": Genny escaped the stage after that having salvaged face somewhat... smart woman... i do hate it when avalanches caused by my neglect bury people... probably why i need to go solo for a while... i need to walk on my own wings and learn the ropes there, and then selectively add what i need, when i need. But never mind that cause we then ripped "The recurring hurrah" a remade Knockin' Dog number that added punch to the latest and greatest 21tr CD "One Little Dream", and Jason Jones was gracious to let Kat Toren take a stab on piano. I can stand behind this kind of performance any day: With Shawn Killaly on drums you can never go wrong with a song of that nature... I love playing with Shawn! With the earlier fiasco in mind i requested to do a song as a trio... a new song about Mt. Tabor, my new hood... i really couldn't even play the song that well as you can tell by my failed falsetto chorus.. I can play the song a lot better now and i have fixed some of the problems... I'm glad i tried it as a trio rather than a 7 piece... i look at it as a record of an even of people playing music in a room, I am also a fan of playing incomplete songs live... maybe not best to post them on the Internet, but again... I'm looking to develop not "succeed": We also hit Saskatchewan and a few other numbers and then finished off with a number i stole from a songify version of a preachers prayer at a race car track, trying to come up with ways to thank the people for coming out and making it happen. Boogiedy Boogiedy Amen! In the end not too bad for a show that was totally winged.
Thanks to Chris Johnson for keeping the show going and giving me the opportunity to come back and learn some more.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
I was really going to do something tonight
A late Tuesday night SRSS blog... the calm before the storm... just like the old days... this blog must be about change he announces to himself, as he tries to log in for two fucking hours... boys will be boys and men will be men, and it can be hard to describe when you don't really have it... like another broken soul at the end of the road... bed time in the city of fallen heroes.
For the record i was quoting, in part, the Roadbed song "with a damaged hand", because my brain was filled with rage after trying in vain to log into this here blog... after all of those thoughts i had today about stepping back into the domain i flew from. Why didn't i just quit and enjoy my holidays and let it slide? Cause that ain't my style of course... it's like playing hockey and not fore checking... absolutely unacceptable! If you are going to do something then overdue it... it's the only real sign of character left in this rusting carcass we call "the music industry". I, of course operate outside of the music industry... I don't think they like my kind, but i don't mind, i don't like them either... Rodney wrote that one... it was a line in a song called Margaretta ville... that never got recorded.
So how am I? Well shit i did no show last week to carve up, so i guess i have to talk about something... Super Steve will be @ the Super Robertson Supper show and i sure don't wand to take heat for some lame ass "mail it in blog"... we need to get to the root of the super robertson being, as i sit in Mike's house knowing full well there is a very well stocked wine cellar down under lock and key... we just need to find the key. A key will get you in, it's key what you give, through a need to please, honesty is the seed... live life with the heart of a lover, stand tall and you shall hover... hot damn did i just quote another obscure song... was it "the key of 5"... i think it was. Never be afraid to shill your wares... that's what it is about... it's just that they don't like my kind.
So when i play the Super Robertson Supper Show tomorrow it will be the first time i have played live since the last SRSS. Even with the insane concept that i have the ability to work in the USA, which of course is a major boon to the "aspiring artist", i have not tried to seek such a thing. Actually seeing that in writing jarred me a bit... opportunities are everything in life... you got to get what you can while you can. I guess i just quoted "Never wanted to be anyone", to keep the theme rolling. the thing is, with this whole thing, comes down to personal happiness. I live in a new town now, people call me mark we talk about our lives and our successes and our struggles, and none of them are music or band related, and that's a good thing... well i guess Brian and i have a few chats of the comedy of that, and there is the Los Neighbourtones block party and its email thread... when there is comedy you have to laugh. But on a more serious note, the act of trying to push original compositions into the machine of commerce to satisfy a dream can really cost a man a lot of sleep... you are going upstream if you know what i mean. In a world where people post images that quote things akin to "don't judge a book by it's cover" but yet only have "time" to look at the cover and pretend they read it... we are all the same like grains of sand on a beach striving to be special, trying to make a difference.
I am a supremely blessed person... my life is incredible, i know very few people that have everything i have... and i just keep getting more... it is bizarre... so to try and get something, that i already have, to do something that nobody really wants me to do, leaves me with a window for unhappiness... a chance to get in touch with my inner failure. Music gives me so much all the time, so to try and turn tricks with it, just creates problems for the mind, and general well being of our hero. Who knows, i have been know to flip on this issue from time to time, and that's OK, It's not like i am some politician promising accountability and openness, and then once elected i declare martial law on the citizens who elected me... i am just a songwriter trying to entertain and perhaps enlighten.
That said, i am kind of looking forward to playing the Super Robertson Supper show tomorrow, or i guess today if you want to get all factual. It's kind of like a gathering of old friends, doing the thing we use to do, but this time with banjo for a bit. The band is looking very full, Shawn Killaly on drums which makes it worth while immediately, Genny Trigo singing for a bit, Willingdon Black and Christopher Johnson on guitars, Jason Jones on piano, Jan Toren and Perhaps Johnny Wildkat on bass, and then there is the chance of a couple of Roadbed numbers... shit by all accounts we might even go late and cut into the Legion of Flying Monkies Horn Orchestra set going on after the show... irony alert!
Should you come? You need to answer that one for yourself.
For the record i was quoting, in part, the Roadbed song "with a damaged hand", because my brain was filled with rage after trying in vain to log into this here blog... after all of those thoughts i had today about stepping back into the domain i flew from. Why didn't i just quit and enjoy my holidays and let it slide? Cause that ain't my style of course... it's like playing hockey and not fore checking... absolutely unacceptable! If you are going to do something then overdue it... it's the only real sign of character left in this rusting carcass we call "the music industry". I, of course operate outside of the music industry... I don't think they like my kind, but i don't mind, i don't like them either... Rodney wrote that one... it was a line in a song called Margaretta ville... that never got recorded.
So how am I? Well shit i did no show last week to carve up, so i guess i have to talk about something... Super Steve will be @ the Super Robertson Supper show and i sure don't wand to take heat for some lame ass "mail it in blog"... we need to get to the root of the super robertson being, as i sit in Mike's house knowing full well there is a very well stocked wine cellar down under lock and key... we just need to find the key. A key will get you in, it's key what you give, through a need to please, honesty is the seed... live life with the heart of a lover, stand tall and you shall hover... hot damn did i just quote another obscure song... was it "the key of 5"... i think it was. Never be afraid to shill your wares... that's what it is about... it's just that they don't like my kind.
So when i play the Super Robertson Supper Show tomorrow it will be the first time i have played live since the last SRSS. Even with the insane concept that i have the ability to work in the USA, which of course is a major boon to the "aspiring artist", i have not tried to seek such a thing. Actually seeing that in writing jarred me a bit... opportunities are everything in life... you got to get what you can while you can. I guess i just quoted "Never wanted to be anyone", to keep the theme rolling. the thing is, with this whole thing, comes down to personal happiness. I live in a new town now, people call me mark we talk about our lives and our successes and our struggles, and none of them are music or band related, and that's a good thing... well i guess Brian and i have a few chats of the comedy of that, and there is the Los Neighbourtones block party and its email thread... when there is comedy you have to laugh. But on a more serious note, the act of trying to push original compositions into the machine of commerce to satisfy a dream can really cost a man a lot of sleep... you are going upstream if you know what i mean. In a world where people post images that quote things akin to "don't judge a book by it's cover" but yet only have "time" to look at the cover and pretend they read it... we are all the same like grains of sand on a beach striving to be special, trying to make a difference.
I am a supremely blessed person... my life is incredible, i know very few people that have everything i have... and i just keep getting more... it is bizarre... so to try and get something, that i already have, to do something that nobody really wants me to do, leaves me with a window for unhappiness... a chance to get in touch with my inner failure. Music gives me so much all the time, so to try and turn tricks with it, just creates problems for the mind, and general well being of our hero. Who knows, i have been know to flip on this issue from time to time, and that's OK, It's not like i am some politician promising accountability and openness, and then once elected i declare martial law on the citizens who elected me... i am just a songwriter trying to entertain and perhaps enlighten.
That said, i am kind of looking forward to playing the Super Robertson Supper show tomorrow, or i guess today if you want to get all factual. It's kind of like a gathering of old friends, doing the thing we use to do, but this time with banjo for a bit. The band is looking very full, Shawn Killaly on drums which makes it worth while immediately, Genny Trigo singing for a bit, Willingdon Black and Christopher Johnson on guitars, Jason Jones on piano, Jan Toren and Perhaps Johnny Wildkat on bass, and then there is the chance of a couple of Roadbed numbers... shit by all accounts we might even go late and cut into the Legion of Flying Monkies Horn Orchestra set going on after the show... irony alert!
Should you come? You need to answer that one for yourself.
Monday, January 09, 2012
the last review... because you know i might have some points to make in the future
Life is good, the SRSS experience is over and we went out like champions. That's all you can ask for and the champions is like whip cream on a blueberry pie. Speaking of pies and toppings, my mother use to always say "a pie without cheese is like a kiss without the squeeze"... I kind of always thought of that as nonsense, and believed it was all about the ice cream, but later I learned a good apple pie with a slice of old cheddar does have a particular brilliance to it.
You see in my own mind, months ago i thought "nobody will want to come to a show over the holidays so I'll just give a talk about the pro's and con's of the SRSS to nobody and it will be, as a whole a pretty neat piece of art". Kind of Monty Pythonesque... giving a talk on something nobody really cares about to nobody... but really getting in to it... making those points, and then asking for questions. Ahh the dream sequences...
But of course i got busy, 3 kids, full time job, 2 hockey teams, this albatross, and of course i never properly prepared. Well i did lie awake at night, or in the morning for that matter making points, in mumble form, to my pillow robbing me of needed sleep... if it wasn't this then it would be something else. But another amazing thing happened... it was like that movie "field of dreams"... people just came, they came to play, they came to be there... it was an actual event!
The band, people who i have collected, by the fate of making music, were going over chord changes before the show, I'm sure because they heard about the seminar, and knew that any seminar given at the SRSS can be done over music... its a solid law, much like the first law of thermodynamics, which of course states that energy cannot be created or destroyed it just moves from one form to another. It's the energy management of the SRSS that is the real trick... i speak in terms of band energy... if we were a band in the sense of a band that had a band mission statement there would be so much energy going into friction, persuasion and totally inappropriate assumptions that there would be little energy left for playing.
so it was like: this is a chance to play lets kick it:
Probably one of the more stressful moments for SR... a promise of wisdom, a good groove and a deer in the headlights imitation... i reached inside and tried to remember all the things i had thought about, and i remembered some of them, and i think i stayed on topic for the most part. The key thing was a few points were made we sounded good musically and we got out of the bastard before it got too old. That's the one thing people have a hard time doing... shut this down and do something else... keep the show moving. I learned that in a number of ways but the key one that was the fang that burst the bubble was after i published my paper "The Lynx Paw Courier", and all i heard was that the articles were too long... people don't have time for that, and then 24 hours came out and people were reading fresh copy after fresh copy. Now I'm not saying one should give people swill rather give them what you think quality in a format that is recognizable... but rather a little of the old in and out if you know what i mean.
******* KEY POINT **********************
I'm a way off the deadline and have forgotten much of what i felt, or the views from my perspective. Because it was the last show i thought i could really deliver one KING HELL blogaroo, but of course by not adhering to the deadline i did nothing, and now i sit among packed boxes wondering why i fell into the trap again. Much like all the big events i tried to do that just suffered from the differential of my dream state and my reality state.
Lets face it... I'm a supper show kind of guy... know your shit, have some skills and hit it unprepared over and over again. It's like moving... are you ready for the big moving day... no fucking way, shit's all over the place... but can you live with it? Sure no problem, it's only stuff, recovering from disaster is my strong suit... I go down with my ships, but I'm a marathon swimmer, so I'll find shore again build another ship, until a high rock and a low tide causes a new predicament.
All in all it was a great era, great highs, mind boggling lows and much real love from many fine people. When the going gets weird the weird turn pro is one of my hero said (H.S.T), and to adapt that to our city we could say When the no fun city gets no fun like, fuck it, have fun anyway... in the end it's your life, who cares what "the establishment" is looking for, they just want your money anyway, don't give them your spirit. Laugh hard and carry a big stick, and don't be afraid to use it, do unto others before they get a chance to undo to you... OK OK just being silly here.
Wishing Machine with Jack Freelance:
He got all the words right, which is king hell as far as I'm concerned... great job singing as well, but delivering and leading the song to it's proper place... that's teamwork. Wasn't even sure he was going to be there, but he came and he came correct... well done sport!
The Voters choice:
How bout that egg shake by Billy Johnson!
The Recurring Hurrah:
Johnny Wildkat finds his bass line in a few passes... the one he made up in the studio on the fly during the recording of the CD "One Little Dream"... when memory and ears work together.
Never Wanted to be Anyone:
The classic 21 tandem repeats theme song "I never wanted to be anyone I just want to be like myself" with Wildkat bass solo, and powered by the vocals of Sandra Bouza.
Mr Greenie:
Wildkat leads on bass after not playing the song for 2 years... SR does 60 push ups and 60 sit ups, 20 of them up on the street.
Dish Pig:
King Hell save by Christopher Johnson at the end of the song... or last song, almost went out on a train wreck but instead when out as listening musicians. Classic WB guitar solo, grand boogie piano by Jason Jones, total pro drumming by Shockk and a great lesson by Sandra Bouza. What is the lesson? It has to do with bands and people and parts... Fire-Man had a nice part repeating the dish pig that became part of the song... which you can actually hear the audience doing, so the part has been absorbed into the culture of the night. But Sandra missed those years and did what she did and at that part sang "I must be going crazy" in a most excellent fashion. Sometimes in crews when roles and parts are established you can miss the opportunity to reinvent songs and their nuances
Bent:
a good song to hit early... let people find their groove... get Sandra singing... good sharp ending by Shockk "the leader" on drums... don't let it go on too long, i believe we talked about that earlier.
On frozen Pond:
An ode to growing up in Canada before global warming destroyed the opportunity of pond hockey for the community... no worries you can always watch the made for TV NHL special around New Years to get your "modern" dose of Pond Hockey... and you can tweet about that one.
Round of solos for all
1st star- audience clapping solo
2nd star- Tambourine solo
3rd star- Sandra Scat solo
Thanks to everybody for being there and participating
that's it, cat's ass, no more
SR
OK one more thing, since we are a community and all i think somebody should have checked to see if the camera was framing the band properly... that said the right person got cut out of frame.
You see in my own mind, months ago i thought "nobody will want to come to a show over the holidays so I'll just give a talk about the pro's and con's of the SRSS to nobody and it will be, as a whole a pretty neat piece of art". Kind of Monty Pythonesque... giving a talk on something nobody really cares about to nobody... but really getting in to it... making those points, and then asking for questions. Ahh the dream sequences...
But of course i got busy, 3 kids, full time job, 2 hockey teams, this albatross, and of course i never properly prepared. Well i did lie awake at night, or in the morning for that matter making points, in mumble form, to my pillow robbing me of needed sleep... if it wasn't this then it would be something else. But another amazing thing happened... it was like that movie "field of dreams"... people just came, they came to play, they came to be there... it was an actual event!
The band, people who i have collected, by the fate of making music, were going over chord changes before the show, I'm sure because they heard about the seminar, and knew that any seminar given at the SRSS can be done over music... its a solid law, much like the first law of thermodynamics, which of course states that energy cannot be created or destroyed it just moves from one form to another. It's the energy management of the SRSS that is the real trick... i speak in terms of band energy... if we were a band in the sense of a band that had a band mission statement there would be so much energy going into friction, persuasion and totally inappropriate assumptions that there would be little energy left for playing.
so it was like: this is a chance to play lets kick it:
Probably one of the more stressful moments for SR... a promise of wisdom, a good groove and a deer in the headlights imitation... i reached inside and tried to remember all the things i had thought about, and i remembered some of them, and i think i stayed on topic for the most part. The key thing was a few points were made we sounded good musically and we got out of the bastard before it got too old. That's the one thing people have a hard time doing... shut this down and do something else... keep the show moving. I learned that in a number of ways but the key one that was the fang that burst the bubble was after i published my paper "The Lynx Paw Courier", and all i heard was that the articles were too long... people don't have time for that, and then 24 hours came out and people were reading fresh copy after fresh copy. Now I'm not saying one should give people swill rather give them what you think quality in a format that is recognizable... but rather a little of the old in and out if you know what i mean.
******* KEY POINT **********************
I'm a way off the deadline and have forgotten much of what i felt, or the views from my perspective. Because it was the last show i thought i could really deliver one KING HELL blogaroo, but of course by not adhering to the deadline i did nothing, and now i sit among packed boxes wondering why i fell into the trap again. Much like all the big events i tried to do that just suffered from the differential of my dream state and my reality state.
Lets face it... I'm a supper show kind of guy... know your shit, have some skills and hit it unprepared over and over again. It's like moving... are you ready for the big moving day... no fucking way, shit's all over the place... but can you live with it? Sure no problem, it's only stuff, recovering from disaster is my strong suit... I go down with my ships, but I'm a marathon swimmer, so I'll find shore again build another ship, until a high rock and a low tide causes a new predicament.
All in all it was a great era, great highs, mind boggling lows and much real love from many fine people. When the going gets weird the weird turn pro is one of my hero said (H.S.T), and to adapt that to our city we could say When the no fun city gets no fun like, fuck it, have fun anyway... in the end it's your life, who cares what "the establishment" is looking for, they just want your money anyway, don't give them your spirit. Laugh hard and carry a big stick, and don't be afraid to use it, do unto others before they get a chance to undo to you... OK OK just being silly here.
Wishing Machine with Jack Freelance:
He got all the words right, which is king hell as far as I'm concerned... great job singing as well, but delivering and leading the song to it's proper place... that's teamwork. Wasn't even sure he was going to be there, but he came and he came correct... well done sport!
The Voters choice:
How bout that egg shake by Billy Johnson!
The Recurring Hurrah:
Johnny Wildkat finds his bass line in a few passes... the one he made up in the studio on the fly during the recording of the CD "One Little Dream"... when memory and ears work together.
Never Wanted to be Anyone:
The classic 21 tandem repeats theme song "I never wanted to be anyone I just want to be like myself" with Wildkat bass solo, and powered by the vocals of Sandra Bouza.
Mr Greenie:
Wildkat leads on bass after not playing the song for 2 years... SR does 60 push ups and 60 sit ups, 20 of them up on the street.
Dish Pig:
King Hell save by Christopher Johnson at the end of the song... or last song, almost went out on a train wreck but instead when out as listening musicians. Classic WB guitar solo, grand boogie piano by Jason Jones, total pro drumming by Shockk and a great lesson by Sandra Bouza. What is the lesson? It has to do with bands and people and parts... Fire-Man had a nice part repeating the dish pig that became part of the song... which you can actually hear the audience doing, so the part has been absorbed into the culture of the night. But Sandra missed those years and did what she did and at that part sang "I must be going crazy" in a most excellent fashion. Sometimes in crews when roles and parts are established you can miss the opportunity to reinvent songs and their nuances
Bent:
a good song to hit early... let people find their groove... get Sandra singing... good sharp ending by Shockk "the leader" on drums... don't let it go on too long, i believe we talked about that earlier.
On frozen Pond:
An ode to growing up in Canada before global warming destroyed the opportunity of pond hockey for the community... no worries you can always watch the made for TV NHL special around New Years to get your "modern" dose of Pond Hockey... and you can tweet about that one.
Round of solos for all
1st star- audience clapping solo
2nd star- Tambourine solo
3rd star- Sandra Scat solo
Thanks to everybody for being there and participating
that's it, cat's ass, no more
SR
OK one more thing, since we are a community and all i think somebody should have checked to see if the camera was framing the band properly... that said the right person got cut out of frame.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
December 21 re-cap
GoGo Bonkers, not Gongo Bonkers opened up the night... I hate it when i get a name wrong... such a simple thing to check and get right... but i failed.
GoGo Bonkers was set to play in November but there was a conflict where they received a paying gig so i threw them into this night... unfortunately there were many things set to happen so they only played for 13.5 minutes... but they took it like pros did their thing, and what a good thing it was. I was delivering mail the next day singing "green slime", although i didn't have the harmonies down like they did:
Next up was Chris Rzepa, a Vancouver cellist and scene builder herself. She had a looping pedal and set up some loops and played to them and then sang over them... very delicate and brilliant. I was sitting in the back with Rob from "Devilsplender" trying to enjoy the show while a couple of dudes were talking loudly over the show... i felt conflict. I believe i was barking on about stage volume and audience respect last week, and truth be told i have seen this shit for a long fucking time and in my heart i was just like... "enough is enough"... so panicked, nervous and conflicted i went up to the table and in my most polite manor asked the gentlemen if they would mind moving to the back room where their conversation would be less disturbing to the performance that was happening. they looked at me incredulously and suggested i move closer to the stage so they wouldn't be between myself and this apparent performer that it seemed so fucking important for me to be able to hear... i tried to re-explain but there was nothing... apparently they were done anyway and they left but they made sure to let me know that i was way out of line.
Oddly enough a few weeks ago... after the 30th show there was improv acting crew and i was at the back and king Dinosaur was telling stories and a lady came up and told king Dino that his voice was a very dominant presence in the room so we immediately moved to the back... it is what it is. You know people do things, and it's one thing to not listen but it is another thing to put up competition for sound waves... and believe it or not i think most people might want to catch the performance than rather hear about what happened between you and your co-worker and why you feel crossed by their actions.
After they left some patrons thanked me saying "I didn't realize how much that was annoying me"... It is an unfortunate part of the Vancouver Music scene... almost like an irremovable culture... one that i will not miss.
Chris Rzepa was was solid on the loops, killer on the melody, and sang like an angle... and then Shawn Killaly joined her and put on a clinic himself:
Next up it was the 21 Tandem Repeats collective marked by the return of Alvaro Rojas on bass... forgot what a treat that is! He really is a Bobby Orr type player... solid defensively on the bass but yet easily able to shift into offence with a quick bass run and then back patrolling the blue line holding it all together. Shawn Killaly on drums never hurts of course, neither does Sandra Bouza singing, finding spots and harmonies like she has heard the songs a hundred times. First time 21 tandem repeats had Cello, and Chris Rzepa was totally solid... did i mention Johnny Wildkat and Willingdon Black on twin guitars. Kind of going out with a line of Division 1 hockey players for a division 8 game... total control, good passing collecting your own rebounds.
We had decided to play "Hey Rock's Living room" before the show and Super Steve and Willingdon Black were going over some old western Hockey league trivia book... there was mention that it might be a good idea for anybody answering and questions to know some Portland Buckaroos trivia... i snatched the book out of Super Steve's hands and tried to remember that "In 1960, Portland was granted a franchise in the minor league Western Hockey League (WHL) for its newly-built 10,500 seat Memorial Coliseum, and the Buckaroos name was reincarnated. The new Buckaroos were composed mostly of players and coaches from the New Westminster Royals, including its head coach Hal Laycoe. The Buckaroos went on to beat the Seattle Totems in the league championship and win the Lester Patrick Cup in its first season of existence.That 1960–61 Buckaroos team was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1990.
But that proved to much so i made sure that WB was too far away from a mic and that he would have to shout questions to Sandra who had never heard the song before and in the chaos i would slip the noose of being embarrassed by those who carry themselves as Western hockey trivia elitists. I wonder if Harper would know this stuff? The press releases say he has an encyclopedic knowledge of hockey, but the press release might just say that to make him feel Canadian to the average consumer... i mean voter. Hard to know for sure but you know it's bad when you are doing a song and wondering if Harper could help you:
We also did that hockey song written by that nobody:
King Hell thanks to GoGo Bonkers for letting us use their bass amp and guitar rig and Rob for doing sound when Johnny was pulled from the soundboard and on to Ian's guitar rig.
Tomorrow is the last Super Robertson Supper show for sure... I know there has been some confusion... i kind of did the last "big one", on November 30 cause i knew we had a good band and i also knew that December is a very busy month haunted with all kinds of sickness, obligations and debauchery... so i didn't want to try to rally the troops at such a time, but it appears that the troops have rallied themselves and we have a good crew coming out to play tomorrow... Oh yea i was going to give a seminar on how to run a SRSS... i do have some notes... and at a supper show you can always improvise something over improvised music... as the sound man from the old Malcolm Lowery room use to say... "It doesn't matter nobody is listening anyways."
GoGo Bonkers was set to play in November but there was a conflict where they received a paying gig so i threw them into this night... unfortunately there were many things set to happen so they only played for 13.5 minutes... but they took it like pros did their thing, and what a good thing it was. I was delivering mail the next day singing "green slime", although i didn't have the harmonies down like they did:
Next up was Chris Rzepa, a Vancouver cellist and scene builder herself. She had a looping pedal and set up some loops and played to them and then sang over them... very delicate and brilliant. I was sitting in the back with Rob from "Devilsplender" trying to enjoy the show while a couple of dudes were talking loudly over the show... i felt conflict. I believe i was barking on about stage volume and audience respect last week, and truth be told i have seen this shit for a long fucking time and in my heart i was just like... "enough is enough"... so panicked, nervous and conflicted i went up to the table and in my most polite manor asked the gentlemen if they would mind moving to the back room where their conversation would be less disturbing to the performance that was happening. they looked at me incredulously and suggested i move closer to the stage so they wouldn't be between myself and this apparent performer that it seemed so fucking important for me to be able to hear... i tried to re-explain but there was nothing... apparently they were done anyway and they left but they made sure to let me know that i was way out of line.
Oddly enough a few weeks ago... after the 30th show there was improv acting crew and i was at the back and king Dinosaur was telling stories and a lady came up and told king Dino that his voice was a very dominant presence in the room so we immediately moved to the back... it is what it is. You know people do things, and it's one thing to not listen but it is another thing to put up competition for sound waves... and believe it or not i think most people might want to catch the performance than rather hear about what happened between you and your co-worker and why you feel crossed by their actions.
After they left some patrons thanked me saying "I didn't realize how much that was annoying me"... It is an unfortunate part of the Vancouver Music scene... almost like an irremovable culture... one that i will not miss.
Chris Rzepa was was solid on the loops, killer on the melody, and sang like an angle... and then Shawn Killaly joined her and put on a clinic himself:
Next up it was the 21 Tandem Repeats collective marked by the return of Alvaro Rojas on bass... forgot what a treat that is! He really is a Bobby Orr type player... solid defensively on the bass but yet easily able to shift into offence with a quick bass run and then back patrolling the blue line holding it all together. Shawn Killaly on drums never hurts of course, neither does Sandra Bouza singing, finding spots and harmonies like she has heard the songs a hundred times. First time 21 tandem repeats had Cello, and Chris Rzepa was totally solid... did i mention Johnny Wildkat and Willingdon Black on twin guitars. Kind of going out with a line of Division 1 hockey players for a division 8 game... total control, good passing collecting your own rebounds.
We had decided to play "Hey Rock's Living room" before the show and Super Steve and Willingdon Black were going over some old western Hockey league trivia book... there was mention that it might be a good idea for anybody answering and questions to know some Portland Buckaroos trivia... i snatched the book out of Super Steve's hands and tried to remember that "In 1960, Portland was granted a franchise in the minor league Western Hockey League (WHL) for its newly-built 10,500 seat Memorial Coliseum, and the Buckaroos name was reincarnated. The new Buckaroos were composed mostly of players and coaches from the New Westminster Royals, including its head coach Hal Laycoe. The Buckaroos went on to beat the Seattle Totems in the league championship and win the Lester Patrick Cup in its first season of existence.That 1960–61 Buckaroos team was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1990.
But that proved to much so i made sure that WB was too far away from a mic and that he would have to shout questions to Sandra who had never heard the song before and in the chaos i would slip the noose of being embarrassed by those who carry themselves as Western hockey trivia elitists. I wonder if Harper would know this stuff? The press releases say he has an encyclopedic knowledge of hockey, but the press release might just say that to make him feel Canadian to the average consumer... i mean voter. Hard to know for sure but you know it's bad when you are doing a song and wondering if Harper could help you:
We also did that hockey song written by that nobody:
King Hell thanks to GoGo Bonkers for letting us use their bass amp and guitar rig and Rob for doing sound when Johnny was pulled from the soundboard and on to Ian's guitar rig.
Tomorrow is the last Super Robertson Supper show for sure... I know there has been some confusion... i kind of did the last "big one", on November 30 cause i knew we had a good band and i also knew that December is a very busy month haunted with all kinds of sickness, obligations and debauchery... so i didn't want to try to rally the troops at such a time, but it appears that the troops have rallied themselves and we have a good crew coming out to play tomorrow... Oh yea i was going to give a seminar on how to run a SRSS... i do have some notes... and at a supper show you can always improvise something over improvised music... as the sound man from the old Malcolm Lowery room use to say... "It doesn't matter nobody is listening anyways."
Monday, December 19, 2011
A Spectre was blasting the Railway Club
From the boys themselves-
After the show one of them members asked me if they lived up to the "ace freak show" billing? I said that they had and it was mentioned that they are not usually that self deprecating... which was odd seeing that their review of their summer show started "Our first live show in two years went off like slightly damp firecrackers in a rented paper bag..."
Who can tell anything anymore... at the show on the 30th there happened to be a woman from the garden who got called out for inadequate watering and happened to read about it in the S. Robertson Man Gardening Blog and was perhaps a slight bit offended... apparently certain blogs have been known to bite... from time to time. Never be hurt by the truth, the truth is your ally, the truth needs to be circled like a prey and eaten, digested and absorbed.
So what about the show?
You want the truth?.. Can you handle the truth?
The band was really good, Wildkat loved them, Tyz loved them, Super Steve was diggin' it, some people came to see "the gig" that the band didn't know because they heard about it and liked the band.
On the negative side they emptied a room full of people hanging out... who moved to the back, but it was mentioned by one server that the band is driving away customers. The rock and roller says "fuck it... you don't like it fuck off", but the supper show kingpin says " A SRSS is about playing to the audience that is there".
A number of factors have me saying the word "meh"
1) I'm fucking out of here in a few weeks
2) Last time a band blasted a room clear it really bothered me and i tried to resolve it, but nothing was heard... as we say in the business, "it is what it is". Know what you can control and live with what you can't.
3) It was billed as a gig... i kind of saw it coming, but as John Candy said, or his character said in the movie "The Blues Brothers" ... "Now hold on I haven't even seen these guys play... alright"
I found it... It's the looking over the glasses on the "alright" that kills me.
Now again i feel sidetracked... Just spent some time watching John Candy clips on Youtube... Where was i? I think i was dancing around the idea that in my version of a perfect world it is totally unacceptable to play high volume at a Supper Show... you want to play nice and quiet so all the fucking ass holes can talk over your whole set... the dilemma. I go for low volume cause i like my hearing... it seems insane that people who go into music because apparently they love music and end up going deaf as a result. Very human... full of spirit but yet dumb as a post.
For Wednesday December 21 2011:
We have Gogo Bonkers, Chris Rzepa, and a retro 21 Tandem repeats line up featuring Shawn Killaly, Willingdon Black, Alvaro Rojas and Super Robertson... perhaps more...
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