the SRSS is run by a sane man who appears a lunatic in this world

that's one of the things that happened last week.

I decided to lock antlers with my computer and video camera in an effort to lesson the strain on the blog... what if this show didn't really happen and i just made up some nonsense in a blog and said it did? Clearly i have proven myself... that the show exists and everything i have ever written on the fabulous Internet is absolutely accurate. Well glad to get that out of the way... it's funny you know years ago i bought the camera and an state of the art computer (Mac G4 tower) and i set out and made some videos for the band ROADBED...



that was my first effort and i remember people thinking i was incredibly talented with computers to be able to to that... for the record i never believed the hype... in those days of digital video the possibilities were just so grand. and now about a decade later i can't work the fucking basic program that comes with my operating system (which would be I movie)... i use to be able to use it until i accidentally upgraded to a new version. Well i can use it obviously... just not very well and strange things happen when i try to do basic things. Perhaps my computer is fucked, or perhaps they just figure any ass hole still recording to tape deserves all of the problems he gets trying to import his fucking shit art to express his inner hammerhead non important bullshit... spend the money and upgrade... it's good for the economy. aint it time you got rid of that fool tape collection anyway... all the new programs come with auto tune and a bunch of pre-recorded schlep so you don't even need to think anymore.

shit what blog am i in... did i just black out into another rage?
No No No... I'm just kidding it's all good.

last weeks Supper show was great... i chipped my tooth... you see there was a band sound checking so i waited for that and i guess in that time by beard grew like fucking 20 feet because they had to get it right so when i went to go to the bar i tripped over it and chipped my tooth. Ok that was untruthful... it's just that i have played with the truth before so i wanted to see what it felt like and i needed to clear my head of the rage from the computer "incident".

We had a good crowd out... a lot of the old Super Robertson Supper Show faithful came out and ate dinner and drank beer. These are the folks who helped the show survive in the start, and have surly seen me go up there so many times they must have nightmares from time to time.

Tomorrow on April 21st we have a band i need to nickname.. and they are going to play and then they are going to back me up... or at least some of them are. They have a name but i think i need to come up with an alias for them.

I am a man with a number of 2 and 3 chord songs (as well as others with more complex arrangements) and i kind of like that as a possible SRSS format. so if you are reading this and you are in a band and you want to play a show and being blindly led in to foreign territory sounds like a good exercise for you the perhaps you should get in touch with me.

In the end it is all just memories, and memory is cheap... flash memory that is, and i guess that's where the game has gone.

also of note... the Super Robertson Supper Show and hockey playoffs can all co-exist at the Railway Club in Vancouver B.C Canada.

go team go

speaking of "auto tune" i happened to be at the gym tonight and i have to say, does every fucking song have to be soaked in auto tune? Seriously have we completely lost our fucking minds? what the hell is wrong with our species when we keep accepting this nonsense... mind you the same gym was playing on the TV a basketball game and Much Music with the sound off but the captioning on. And of course there are 2 playoff hockey games going on. So i get on a bike and there is a guy on another bike by the TV and i say "isn't there a game on" and he looks back at me agrees and looks at the Much music channel in exasperation... i say i'll fix that and go up to have a talk with the people in charge... he says "you are a good man"... I also might add that i was cheered on by everybody that happened to be by that TV. What i found out was that it was strict policy that in the gym 2 channels will play (every other TV down the club) and having sports on both channels is prohibited... which is nonsense of course because a few days ago i was on the bike beside a fellow and we switched bikes to catch portions of Detroit/Phoenix and then San Jose/ Colorado. i smartly didn't point that out as to make an issue of it because clearly people are napping over this issue, and it's happened before, so the last thing we need is a rage hero making a point that people remember which will remind them of their policy... one TV on sports (basketball seems right for Canada) and one TV on much music and then you can listen to a dance track soaked in auto tune. i don't even have to do the bike i can just stand in the club and get my heart rate up.

the Date is April 13

It's 10:30 PM and it's time to get down to some serious blogging... right now I'm listening to Devilsplender in an effort to provide the proper enthusiasm for Supper Show Blogging... almost a little taste of 13 Engines in there. I remember when i was in University (UWO)in London Ontario and 13 Engines were set to play the campus pub.. this was after the release of "A Blur to me now"... so we were pretty stoked. I had developed a particular dance for the song "Mothra" which was a song from an early release... the problem was that there was some weird law about promoting events on campus and nobody knew about the gig so there was this band playing all your favourite hits and the crowd was like what you might see at one of my shows... not to put down my shows, but just saying i saw the same band months before at Wonderland Gardens and the place was packed, and on this night it was the band playing and me on the dance floor on a table i had moved to the dance floor standing on it with one shoe and one sock off trying to separate my toes as if to be a set of talons on a killer mutant moth... but that was a long time ago.

Last week it was Cameron Dilworth's birthday... well it was actually on the weekend but there was a cake and a celebration. It was a fun show and there was cake.

For the supper show on April 14 2010 we have an excellent guest in a duo from Graham Brown & the Prairie Dogs... and on my end I'll have a fine mutant version of 21 Tandem Repeats ready to flog any horses that happen to be in attendance... there is an outside chance of some other weirdness but i'm still not too sure. It's a problem running the SRSS it's kind of low key so people say yes and then later they say they are not sure but they will try and in some ways randomness can be good but yet in other ways it can reduce potential. In some ways it can be like Nuclear Physics... makes sense on paper but in the lab it could blow heads off... i don't argue i just continue.

wow like 200 posts.. or blogaroo's for that matter

Last week was one king hell show... that mean i think it was good.

Genny Trigo and myself ran through 5 of the songs that we play together and there were some eager listeners for that set. I beileve i mentioned the set list somewhere on one of these internet media promotion tools... and as i walked in a table of fine folks told me that they were excited to hear the song "4 feathers". I guess the lesson is if you dig long enough you might find some water. Nothing is etched in stone at this point but i looks like i might have picked up a few gigs in the future as a result of the show.

Next up was Connoisseur Casino, which is an impossible name to spell but i'll get it right one of these days (for now there is spell check)... they played as a duo and brought fan's in from Castelgar B.C., well Pass Creek to be exact.

And then it was Owen Steel and his pal Mumble playing a drum box who is on tour from Fredricton New Brunswick promoting his CD Owen Steel et al. It was another great moment for the Super Robertson Supper Show... it' on the record that before he went on to become a major player in Canadian music scene he played the SRSS... It's moments like that that make me glad i do the show... i wish he played for longer but it was all good in the end.

after the show i was actually kidnapped and brought to a jam space for what we in the business call a "forced Jam"... the forced jam is a necissary component of any healthy life and only a fool would see otherwise. In a "forced jam" scenario the Jammer has no time to put his mind in perhaps the wrong frame and comes in to the room like some one who has just climbed a mountain and looked over the top to see a beautiful and vast scenery. the person was of course looking down at the surface of the mountain to secure their footing and then suddenly realized that they had arrived.

In my particular situation i had a few or perhaps more than a few beers in me and it was stated to me that i should get a ride home with a man who found a free parking space in Vancouver... i can't tell you where that is for obvious reasons, but what happened was that there was a detour and then a Jam... which is fitting because often jamming has similar features to detours. Detours can be great... i remember on time while on vacation with my family in British Columbia we were off on some road and there were whispers of us being lost and my dad said "Oh let's go down this road, they say it's really nice", which of course was hilarous to my sister and myself as we asked the two obvious questions 1) what is this road called and 2) who recommended it... in the end it doesn't matter. I believe the best way to put it is "Buy the ticket, take the ride".

I got on the drums and had fun... had some trips down memory lane looking at the jam space, and then i led a version of "Nice Bucket" and went ape on the song... i believe i was feeling it, it was fun... shortly thereafter i walked home and next thing you know i'm walking my daughter to school packing up the car and i was gone to RECOMPRESSION 2010. On saturday night at recompression i walked into a jam space and managed to get on the drum kit again and we had a monster Jam there was drums guitar bass keys, violin, vocals congas... it was KING HELL and i believe that late night after Supper Show Jam was just the homework i needed for that event.

Off topic again..

Cam and Jesse tomorrow (wed April 7)... always a good show.

Ok

SR

This is the poster made by Owen Steel who is on his Eh Canadian Tour, March 7- April 12... he is from Fredericton, New Brunswick and he lands on the left coast @ the Railway Club to play the Super Robertson Super Show on March 31... lets show some class people.

Also set to play are Genny Trigo


We are not set to play hat particular song but rather some others:
Rage Hero episode #37
Broken Record
One Little Dream
four feathers
Wishing machine



and the boys from Connoisseur Casino...

Last week what happened... Oh yes.. i remember now it was the Legion of Flying Monkies Horn Orchestra, and the 21 Tandem Repeats sextet. Good times indeed... there was actually 3 singers in the 21 Tandem Repeats sextet... and come to think of it the LFM were a sextet from time to time... hot damn i missed a real opportunity for some wacky t shirts. Two all male bands who are sextets! amber alert baby.

So many distractions on the computer these days... we had a script for the show opening... that is pure professionalism i say.

March 17 re-cap

March 17, otherwise known as St. Patrick's Day a good time to be in a bar... if you can get in, because bars are fun when they are full of people celebrating and having a good time, and that's what happened.

And for once i have to give myself a clap on the back for making a series of calls that were in fact the right calls made at the right time and of course i must also give another slap on the backs of all of the performers who did so at such a high level on this particular night. We worked a ton of people on the stage and kept the flow going... everybody played great and good times were had by all. Extra huge Kudos to Shawn Killaly on the drums who was right for every situation thrown at him and for playing with style and groove and not volume and volume.

And for tomorrow we have Legion of Flying Monkies Choir practice doing that thing that they do and i have the pleasure of being joined by Shawn Killaly and WB again... and who knows others may show up and be worked in somehow... actually come to think of it it's kind of hard not to get roped into a LFM show for good or ill. An example would be the last time LFM played good old Super Steve was trying to pass by the back bar and escape into the "safe" zone otherwise known as the side bar... but just as he was rounding the corner he got the call to get up and join in the crowd participation portion of the song "aliens"



so I'm looking for a good show just like last nights Super Robertson Chatroulette show that had its moments

March 10 re-cap

The 21 Tandem Repeats trio of Super Robertson, Willingdon Black and Shawn Killaly led a jam packed railway club in one of Vancouver's sexiest parties of the year. Although it was not their idea to hold a "wet t-shirt" competition it was that kind of action that the solid grooves inspired.

Word has it that there was a national Pole dancing competition in vancouver that week and i guess through the power of the internet and the glow of the supper show the citizens of the earth gathered for an awesome party.

what a night to forget the camera?

somebody must have some pictures... do post.

today the Land of Deborah, King Ian and the 21TR trio.

March 3 re-cap

Cam and Jesse play a few songs... Jesse say's "it's been a month... what's been going on with you Cam", to which Cam replies "well, I've grown resentful of a co-worker"

Later as they finish up a song a band playing the late night show comes in... Jesse "Hey here is the band... Hi guys where are you from..." "Vancouver"... "Vancouver.... where abouts... we need exact addresses and a copy of your keys, and a schedule of your whereabouts" I don't think the band enjoyed that one as much as i did.

And near the end of the show Cam played a really nice song and then said "That was a pretty song... a bit choppy in places but i did pretty good"

Feb 24 re-cap

Canada stomped the balls of the Russian Hockey Team much to the delight of the sold out crowd and when it was over Chris and myself walked over to the Railway and the first thing we did was run into a "giddy" Willingdon Black who was enjoying a fine scotch. I think he might have even tried to initiate a hug there for a second... Canada had just won Gold and silver in the woman's 2 man bobsled. Come to think of it it was right around then that Canada took off going on a medal tear that set records. It was in the air for sure... so we had no drummer and set up and left the big TV on (no sound) with Super Robertson on one side, Genny Trigo on the other, and nestled comfortably behind the screen was WB.

Right off the top a woman was shouting to get rid of the screen... some folks wanted it... i explained what happened the previous week and we carried on... then another man cam up and said "why don't you take the screen down while you play your set"... he looked concerned. And then CTV news came on and there was Lloyd Robertson so i dubbed the show the Lloyd Robertson Supper Show which sent the crowd into a riot and put the end to the screen once and for all. By then the room was endeared to the show and all you had to do was mention victory to get rapid cheers so there were good times had by all. It was just the three of us so we played all the numbers Genny could sing and then WB and SR played a few and when it was over we got our glassed clinked and filled and the crowd said how they loved the music... then the bar played "Never wanted to be anyone" and some folks were asking the bar about the music indicating that they loved it. People bought drinks and thanked SR... love was in the air for sure. People even offered up seats to our crew.

It's an interesting philosophy although given the great Canadian performances on that day it's hard to compare. AS King Dinosaur said Feb "24 is a good day for Canada", and there is history there... it was a good day for the Supper Show that's for sure. The point i was thinking about was the idea of the TV screen... take it away from people and they hate you, make them take it away and they love you. Simple reverse psychology in a world where everybody values their right to choose (for good or ill)...



Looking back on it February 24th that was the day the great wave came out of the horizon, gaining momentum exploding on shore in overtime on the afternoon of February 28th... and we happened to be in a place to feel all of the good in the Canadian spirit at the moment things became aligned.

next week Cam and Jesse...

always a good time... Super R will go down and perhaps play a song if he gets the call up.

what's it called when you write an mention yourself as if... refer to yourself in first person?

February 17 re-cap

Funny how things go. The idea of having a show in downtown Vancouver in the middle of the Olympic party might seem like a grand opportunity. So much so that i have received a lot of inquiries from people to play the Supper Show on these weeks. I even considered doing a "medal ceremony" of my own... see the Super Robertson supper show Anniversary show clips on You tube for reference. Basically the idea was that you would make up a category and give out a "gold medal" for it... great idea on paper. But there was this thing in the back of my mind that sort of said "OK Robertson how does this golden opportunity blow up in your face"... so i laid back called out my crew of ace friends and musicians and said "lets see what happens". I can't begin to put into words how happy i was that i didn't have a Gung-ho band on my hands thinking that their big break was upon them when i walked into the room... one can only imagine the conversation one might have to have... overzealous band member complaining to me over the fact that they might have to compete with a TV. Remember that time i tried to insist that we have a TV on stage for the Canuck playoff run... people weren't to keen on that one

Bar packed full of patrons, big screen on the stage with CTV projected... a Canadian soon to be presented with a Gold Medal... we rallied at the back still unaware we were without a bass guitar instrument about what we were going to do.

I made the announcement that the Supper Show would go on and the TV would be on in the back room.

Our real problem then became the break to get the drum kit all ready and then to realize that no we did not have a bass guitar, which caused an unfortunate delay giving people an opportunity to re-locate and wonder what the hell was going on.

Given that the sound on the TV wasn't really on, we could have played the whole thing better, and once we got going we had excellent versions of Bob Style, Everything, and Mr. Greenie (with a complete set of push-ups and sit-ups) and we had a special guest (Cameron Dilworth) who played a fine number. We had a few tables of our own "regulars" who came and had dinner, or supper for that matter and they quite enjoyed the snowboard crashes that projected on the back curtain behind us. We pulled the screen up but left the projection on... could be that Pink Floyd moment the SRSS has been waiting for.

Tomorrow Feb 24 should be an interesting night... you see Canada Plays Russia in a quarterfinal elimination game just down the street from the Railway Club 3 hours before the SRSS and myself and another member of "21 tandem Repeats" (may as well work the band name in) will be at that game, so by the time the SRSS starts the City will either be in an insane frenzy or struck down with an new all time low... what to do? time will tell. we have some stuff lined up and i hope to use some sporting visuals as part of the show.

time will tell, and i get nervous just thinking about it.

OK on that note i should mention that the Railway Club is an excellent venue to watch Olympic sports.... good big hi def screen, beer and good pub food... and perhaps the comedy of sports fans being subjected to independent local art.

OK

the poem and what it tells

the following is the poem written by the audience at the SRSS on Feb 10 2010:


Yellow banana on a banana stand
Airplane flies... where it will land
I don't know where it will go,
I just know where i will go
As time goes slippin' through my hands

the Guitar falls and crashed to the floor
the girls come running through the door
And she has way too many Cats!
The dogs are running wild,
who let them out.
And life will open up again
All i thought I wish I had,
I lost it all today
Amongst the glitter glare
of the lights in Robson square
I searched under the patio lanterns

Wrestlested 2 men 1 bobsled
who ever is left in the sled at the end of the run wins
And now we are drinking beer at the Railway
And doing cartwheels
And we came over the long way Just to see

*** GO SLOVAKIA GO***

Haiku's are easy
But sometimes they don't make sense
Refrigerator
We should just sing covers
then we don't have to write songs...

read into it what you like and know that of course i started the bastard with the banana talk. The first table was hesitant to the point that i had to make like a school teacher and stand over them but slowly things built. The Slovaks were into it for sure and you know things are pro when you have a few ladies who had read the poem and realized that the ending that sat should stay so they were looking for a line to insert somewhere in the middle of the poem.

No that's the kind of commitment i like to see at the SRSS, so you can imagine my dismay when the lead singer of the rock band that was playing (for a full hour) tried to get out of doing the whole poem. Totally unacceptable and defies logic when you think about it... the same guy who was there at the first Supper Show back when it was called the Super Robertson King Show... this man came in a different disguise every week to change up the hosting pattern. This man enrolled in a dance class and wrote a column about it when i was publishing my newspaper "the Lynx Paw Courier".

In some ways I'm at a loss for words to why he tried to say "OK that's enough of that... lets get back to something else", but at the same time i know why.

He lacks poem moment experience... and i as the leader I failed him with lack of direction.

The big problem was that he started trying to sing the poem... I have done that myself and it always leads to confusion and despair. The dead give away was he got about 7 lines in said OK lets start from the top again (the logic in the mind at the time, i would guess, was, now I'll really nail it thinking it was going sub par).... So he started again and gave up around the same point trying to slide the poem backstage.

Might have worked except for the fact that i was at the back with the Slovaks, and they felt, quite fairly, that they had paid there dues... So i had to commandeer the stage and finish the damn poem.

Trick to poem moment : Speak the poem clearly so that people can hear their creation... hit the throttle when you are riding easy.

Later on i ended up in a dart game... 501 i think it was called i was getting tarred and feathered people were trying to "double out" while i was still in the 200's... i kept telling them i was a "third period player" and i was just a few good tosses away, and quite remarkably i was right i spanked a few money shots and a double three and crossed the line like a dark hoarse out of nowhere.

anyhoo this is Connoisseur Casino from last week:



Tomorrow February 17 we have the reunion of the Super Robertson Supper Show Stalwarts Willingdon Black, Great White Shark, Simian Special, Super Robertson and some more great folks to play under the all inclusive 21 Tandem Repeats Banner.

FEB 3 re-Cap... and other notes

One of the finer moments of the Super Robertson Supper Show occurred last week at the Cam and Jesse Supper Show, if that makes sense, and it does. Super Robertson was in attendance, there to enjoy the free show and suck back a few ice cold beers, and he was called up to the stage. Andrea SUPERstein, a Jazz singer, and female Super was in the house as well, and she was called up at the same time. The two "Supers" met for the first time on stage and were challenged to define chemistry with respect to the art of musical collaboration. Cam was the man that made it happen, and this is precisley the kind of thing that one had hoped would happen with the genesis of the Super Robertson Supper Show all those years ago.

They stayed smart, had a curtain pull and a quick huddle. Shawn Killaly was there and ready to groove so they picked a few chords ( i believe it was Am C and G) went with a picking pattern and made a song up on the spot called "we are the SUPERS" that took off like a spark in a powder keg. They even managed to work in a few lines about "poetry that you grandfather composed", which was one of the themes of the evening.... what the hell was the other theme? Shit i can't remember, i guess that's why you have 2 themes, one might be remembered. Cam and Jesse called up a number of guests and proceeded to mis-pronounce all of their last names properly, some things never change. That's one of the great things about Nick-names... easy handles.

Tomorrow, which is almost today the SRSS presents "Connoisseur Casino", or i guess i should say Connoisseur Casino presents themselves at the railway club for a full hour show... no cover. Minor details... Shockk tells me that they can rip the "blues" pretty hard... perhaps the audience should rise up and challenge the band to do something that they weren't expecting... it's good for the live "chops". I'm just saying... i mean they are a great band with a lot of things going for them, but can they manage "Poem Moment", or something of equal derangement? Time is the hunter... it's all love, just how you see it.

signed

Earl Parrish

Jan 27 Re-Cap

Last weeks SR Supper Show was about as perfect as a SR Supper Show could get in terms of the fine mechanics and diversity of entertainment. I was also up too late sipping beers until a Raven Bird that serves as a Tap head gave me a good peck to let me know that my time was up.

To start the show Shawn Killaly, Willingdon Black and Super Robertson (21 tandem repeats) played a pretty neat little set of tunes... tight quiet and fluid. There was no bass due to a scheduling error on behalf of our fearless leader, but i personally didn't mind it. On paper and with regards to the low end it's good to have bass, but i have to recall the first band i was ever in... it was guitar guitar and drums... we had excellent rhythm good melodies and smart words... we were also naive, and suffered from that fool affliction where you end up listening to chumps who think they know everything. A bunch of experts told us that we needed bass if we were going to make it "big", and the result was that we shut down a very functional, highly creative unit to try and write bass into the equation. We spent a year trying to find bass players and in the end the two of us (who played guitar) ended up both making "custom" double neck guitars with "bass" and "Guitar". My man put a raven bass neck on a Jimmy Page double neck, and i screwed a Horner headless guitar on the bottom of a "mockingbird" bass.

We ended up making one more record which could go down as one of the more purely insane recordings ever made and it took us the rest of our "chemistry" "Money" and "time" that was left on that particular band and when we were done we failed to record all of our finest material. Was it the quest to sound "full", and be like the rest, to run with the best? Fuck that shit i say. If you are playing songs play them.

The second half of the evening had the Legion of Flying Monkies Horn Orchestra who were also down a man... A bass horn for that matter, but they were awesome. The Drummer really holds that shit together, not that there are any flies on the rest of the crew... just saying. Of course the songwriting is the other thing that the LFM have over your average bar band... it's like the leader (Fire-Man) is in front of a camp fire at a summer camp leading a sing along, but yet the lyrics deal with the here and now of our society. It's hilarious, refreshing, smart and insane... did i mention ridiculous? After seeing like a million fucking bands try to imitate some fucking sound, the LFM is a breath of fresh air... or at least a change for a bit... i wouldn't listen to it at home on my stereo but 1/2 hour show in a bar made my day that's for sure.

Tomorrow its Cam and Jesse.

world class baby.

I pulled this photo from facebook... i believe snapshot took it



speaking of facebook somebody who is a "friend" of mine sent somebody else to the Supper Show and they had a "GREAT TIME", which i guess is good... should i sent them an email asking them if they want to be a FAN of the SRSS on facebook?

What has this world come to? Now the artist makes "friends" with people and then suggests that they should become fans of their product. doesn't seem right... i mean i have never really been much of a "fan" kind of person... i appreciate shit and i get excited about things but being a "fan" is something i don't really understand. I never wanted to be anyone, just want to be like myself.

January 20 re-cap

Nothing quite like strolling into the club and everybody being ready to go... JLS and I put the finishing touches on sound set up while some of the other band members socialized and or watched the Canucks / Oilers game. I went back to get the beers and Super Steve looked at his watch and announced rather loudly that it was in fact 7:29 PM at which time the members of the band quickly raced up on stage as if some fear precedent had been set over this issue. It was kind of like the time i was on Pender island looking out at the water over a cliff and i noticed that all of these sea lions were jumping up on shore like it was a fucking major emergency... which of course it was as then next thing i noticed was a pod of Killer Whales out on a hunting mission.

Perfect.

We started with a strong version of Mr. Greenie... punching hard, not like that sissy version on the album, some might say. The reason we punched that song was because of course our bass player was the sound man... JLS "Dr. Multitask" got a line on the bass sounds while old SR stomped bass on that tune.

Next up Genny Trigo and JLS to join SR and WB and Shawn Killaly. We hung tight on a completely unrehearsed set of songs some people knew on others didn't and sometimes when the person thought they knew the song we changed the key just for laughs. There was actually a beautiful tension in the air... a high wire act of ears pouncing from note to note with lynx like reflexes... sometimes the hair got away, and other times it's bloody carcass was eaten on the snowy white field.


I remember loving the shit out of the end of "Never wanted to be anyone"... i goaded JLS into a bass solo and WB followed and Shawn was on fire. To me that's all i ever wanted out of playing music... moments like those.

I didn't tape the show as it is just too much fucking work on many levels... it is an emotional shit kicking to watch yourself suck turtle cocks week after week. And it goes back to my desire to stop doing the SRSS... just too much fucking work if you become "video guy" and it becomes, i believe, impossible to maintain the right attitude to play the show when you have just spent the previous weeks free time re-witnessing a train wreck you led a team of good musicians into on a lack of your proper preparation or perhaps some insane bad call you made on a whim without really thinking... which perhaps may be some of the charm of the Super Robertson Supper Show, but it's a hard road and one which I'm glad to abandon. The other real problem is that you are the guy taping your show like it is something really fucking important... Mr. fucking hammerhead with the picture breath and his oh so important vanity project.

Don't get me wrong, I'm having fun... I'm just a scientist working as a starving artist observing truths.

Tomorrow Jan 27 we have another version of 21 tandem repeats with The Legion of Flying Monkies Horn Orchestra.

Kick ass folks, we are alive lets fucking live!

Oh by the way i went to that concert with Smash last Friday... Smash won the free ticket give away... Imagine that go to a free show and win a free ticket to another event.. who does that shit... that would be Super R.

The high comedy of that was witnessing what a concert veteran Smash was ans what a concert Rookie SR was... Smash knew what was going to happen before it happened, where he wanted to be content and focused with his decisions while SR was clucking like a decapitated chicken second guessing and re-locating... when you go to a concert you have got to "BE THERE", if you know what i mean. it always helps to know the music... I'll be going to "The Great Lake Swimmers" this Friday and I'll be sure to bone up on the tunes for proper enjoyment... live and learn

win tonight! Jan 20th...

SMASH WON!!!

It was a brilliant final curtain pull... first time in some time the final curtain pull wasn't a case of the back curtain momentum having too much mustard and over-shooting and creating a "stage left" opening thus exposing the flank of ace guitarist Willingdon Black.

Flanking maneuver
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In military tactics, a flanking maneuver, also called a flank attack, is an attack on the sides of an opposing force. If a flanking maneuver succeeds, the opposing force would be surrounded from two or more directions, which significantly reduces the maneuverability of the outflanked force and its ability to defend itself. A psychological advantage may also be present, as flank forces usually do not expect to be attacked.

A larger scaled tactical flanking is called a strategic flanking, where the targets of the flanking could be as large as entire divisions.


Well done sir.

I'll see you there.

time to post

Note to bloggerson's... if you hit the return key after writing your title what you do is publish your blog. Nothing too serious of course, not like you spilled you "dry hopped" amber ale on your mouse pad in the middle of a serious blog or something like that. That would be a disaster... lime cordial in the laser lines is not what you are looking for under the most serious of blogging conditions.

Last week S. Robertson wowed a packed house with his song smithery, and tomorrow, or i guess today if you want to be technical we have a full band featuring Willingdon Black, Shawn Killaly, JLS, Super R and Genny Trigo... should be fine but if it's not I'll be sure to give it a smiley faced PR review because shoveling shit is what you are to do in the business... make it all fluffy and right... take the "a" out of "shat" and turn it into "awesome". What could possibly go wrong? Put it to you this way. Super Steve had to work @ 6:00 last Thursday morning, but it didn't stop him from celebrating last week's full clinic in the back room with SR and JLS until the wee hours of the morning.

I remember at the play gym the next morning i met a woman from the neighbourhood who mentioned that i looked tired that day... and i was worried that she was focusing on the vomit in my beard... Oh come on I'm just joking... It would be impossible to take care of twin 2 year olds while hung over... If Super Steve can be at work by 6:00 AM old Super R can hit the play gym for 10:00... even if his eyes can't yet focus.

Speaking of drinking and blogging and hockey analogies check this:



That's me refereeing a game at General Motors Place last night... or Monday night if you want to get technical... that right those are Levi strauss & CO jeans to go with my Ref garb. The big question is why mention this in the SRSS blog? It comes down to leadership and being on the other end of the line. I played a game of hockey the other week and i took a "phantom" high sticking call that put me in the box for 4 minutes and we lost the game on account of it which left me insanely enraged as a result. Well some of the guys i play with decided to rent GM Place for a pickup game... a very expensive pickup game i might add, and one that was too dear for a guy like myself who is on leave without pay from work so he can stay home with his 3 kids... but of course as a natural idea man i volunteered to ref the game... i would get to skate on the ice and be part of the experience and hopefully help out... make it feel official.

WE decided that if there was a penalty then it would be a penalty shot so that people that paid top dollar wouldn't be sitting... and for the rest we would try to keep the puck moving... if the goalie froze it there would be a whistle and then the defensive team could rush the puck out...if there was a mad scramble we could have the occasional face off... same with off sides... if you blow it then they have a chance to dump it in and clear the zone... failing that it was a face off.

The bottom line was that i did a poor job as a ref. The key problems were timing and positioning. First my instincts were to chase the puck which are not good instincts if you are not wearing equipment. It's more a matter of predicting where you need to be to cover and follow the play. My other major problem was having the balls to call shit and call it when it happens... which is our major SRSS analogy point here. I called a few and took aggressive resistance from the perpetrator which stunned me into being afraid to call shit... the other problem was sometimes something would happen any you would think "that should be a penalty" but then a few steamboat counts would happen and it would be too late to call it, and then you let it go so you have set a standard to let things go, which ultimately I'm all for as a player but perhaps in retrospect it would have been OK to call a few more, have a few more penalty shots for fun and a bit of a rest for the players.

As the Ref of the SRSS i have some similar problems... and in the end it's all just memories.... memory is cheap, would you care to expand on that?

WE had 2 hours and they cleared the ice after an hour... for the second hour i tried to film the action with my camera following the play... i guess we will see what that gave us


Timelaps of the game by Peter Lolley:

week 187

You see when you sign into these here blogs you see how many posts you have and this is # 187 which roughly translates into this blog being 187 weeks old... or 3.59 years old... why mention this? Well i just wanted to take my mind of the whole idea of what to write this week... an old writers block trick... just start observing random things and next thing you know you are pecking away at something that Super Steve will be looking forward to on his no sound computer.

Where was i... procrastination. This blog has been causing me a lot of trouble lately, which is good in a sense because now i am thinking about the show... I have a set list for tomorrow... and hopefully my new story series "Me the Nannys and the Grandmothers" doesn't bomb like a led Zeplin... or i guess i should hope that it does. The Show has to be done by 8:00 PM tomorrow... it was requested and i happily agreed... speaking of that we are now on the Calendar at the Railway Club... MOVING ON UP! (I used the Jefferson's theme song for my version of "Moving on up"). I should really put a hyperlink to the song that would play while the blog continued... except what would happen is i would do a search and then sped the next 5 hours watching old Jefferson's clips and accidentally drink too much and come back to the blog with a bunch of fine points that get lost in translation. The other Bizarre thing, well i guess the first is that i actually spelled bizarre correctly for perhaps the first time ever... its one z and 2 r's... all my life i tried to throw two zed's... sometimes there would be a couple of r's and I'd always try it with one r but the red line never went away. Which is Bizzare (fuck me)... Which is bizarre because i liked the T.V. show Bizarre.

But this Blog is about the Super Robertson Supper Show, and last week Cam and Jesse kicked off their second year of doing the first wed of the SRSS. It was a fine show with some excellent guests... Super Steve gave the show 5 stars and he's the most discerning regular since 2008. During the end of the set a few bands came in with a couple of tonnes of equipment and a drummer asked in mid song if he could set up his kit, too which Jesse replied "yea after i finish my set".

Now, me being at the back of the room gave me a new perspective on the old band walks into the Railway thinking they are about to play their big gig and some fucking lunatic is on stage and panic runs through the folks. In all fairness to everybody he could have though that they were doing a sound check and since there was no drums on the stage maybe he could get going. I know it's always good to get your shit up on stage... it's part of a religious ritual of playing music. Come in get set up... take your time, be at one with your instruments, spatial arrangement, power source, mic placement to pedal arrangement, tuning... I'm starting to feel it!

But at the same time if you play music and you play it live, often there are certain things you are hoping to achieve, and sometimes sharing stages is not one of them, or perhaps it gets lost in the struggle to be heard. Now with the slightest observation skills one could have seen that the room was full of people who came to watch the supper show and who were watching the show when the person did what they did which in some ways leads to a crack in the moral values of the Vancouver Music scene in general.

People want to be heard but they don't want to listen. It's almost a fundamental problem with our whole concept of society. I guess you could word it people want to buy but they don't want to pay... that is if you wanted to identify the same cancer in the human dynamic.

It's fucking midnight what the hell am i doing with my life?

The other odd thing i discovered when i went to the Railway Club website (hyperlink would be good here), was the the Supper show is listed @ 7:00-8:00PM which means I'm fucked like a cheap whore in a red light district. I was focusing on a 1/2 hour show... you mean i have to put a SRSS together at the last moment? Never happened before:)

March 8 2006:

I found this on a disc Snapshot gave me some time ago when i was looking for something else. he gave it to me as an AVI file but i had to knock it down to a .mov file for easy uploading.

Hobbs on drums... awesome!



OK

The last show of the decade= first blog post (or blogaroo) of the new decade

The last SRSS of the decade (December 30 2009) saw Super Robertson, Robert Malowany, and a fellow named Robin who apparently plays slide guitar in Robert's band devilsplender, to play some mellow acoustic singer songwriter kind of stuff and then a full attack from Buffalo's own TIGER PRAWN.


I didn't tape the show which is too bad because Tiger Prawn were awesome as were Robert and Robin... been having some serious computer trouble lately that has been cutting into my ability to render files, which in some way could be a great relief on the time saving front. If i could just find somebody to write the damn blog... think about it.

Next week is the Jesse and Cam supper show which is always a good time and then the week after we have to be done 1/2 hour early so it will just be a half hour show... provided the SRSS can start on time. It got me thinking though... perhaps the show doesn't have to be a full hour all the time... maybe as a listener or show connoisseur for that matter the show could be stronger if it was a more solid 40 minutes... i always end up in these bizarre traps i set for myself... the sequence usually goes i get something in my head in the way it should go and then try to stick to it with blinders on. So for the January 13th show i shall have ready a 25 minute show and just do the bastard giving myself a 5 minute window for errant puffery.

I did finally get the SUPERSIMIAN loaded... i accidentally upgraded to a new version of imovie which for some reason always causes guys like me a whole lot of problems.

We played a few songs from the album How the Tiger got Lionized that we don't often play when we get together to grace the Supper Show. We always play "Bill Von Bacon Tell" and have hit "Disappear" and "Fragile Day" a few times but i don't believe we ever tried "Bob Style" before...



The wink of an eye is hard to define like an unknown beast at the end of the line but the eye can play tricks and it's a long way to shore and I'm feeling sick stuck in a spinning door

By the time i came down i was drunk in a bar, the waitress was sultry i watched from afar she got in my head i thought i was there she left alone and i dragged myself home

The lights are all out the rain hits the roof and the peace of her sleep and me so aloof... now a slip of the foot brings a chair to the ground and the 4:00 AM lights cast a blue glow all around back to my corner my own writers nook i pick up the pen and take a stab at the book but the words are all sloppy and there's mud in my head i don't feel frustration but like a hero instead.

The Dilema

I love all the bands, or projects that i'm involved with... and that's a good thing because you don't make "Independent music" for money if you know what i mean. On the same idea i have never been keen on joining the ranks of the "starving artist" movement... really not my style. That's why i got up and went to work every day for the better part of my life starting with a paper route and eventually graduating to a Mail route with some detours in between. Now of course, or for the next 3.5 years i stay at home with my 3 children while my wife leads the charge to try to cure Cancer in a Lab.

Our life is busy, insane, rewarding, trying, joyous, impossible, special, fun, agonizing, hilarouis... you get the idea. I loath complaining unless it is put in a humourous self depricating way, in which case i encourage it, and i loath inaction and big talk.

It was exciting to get together to play some ROADBED... i remembered my parts, i love the songs, and it is a real treat to play your part in the song to make it one rather than playing the chord progression and singing the words and having people play along... which i have nothing against, for the record.. it's just nice to be a apart of something different and excellent (in my point of view).

For this show i was quite looking forward to it on some levels and for a while i was even excited about the supper show and questioning my desire to stop doing the Super Robertson Supper Show (which happens every Wednesday from 7:30-8:30PM @ the railway Club in Vancouver British Columbia). In fact i have had a number of people try to give me a hard time about this very idea "I don't know why you don't ask me to help you", "You can't stop doing it it's too valuable", "Anything you need any time"... is the usual kind of talk.

For this show there were big plans and lots of talk and multiple scheduled rehearsals... it was going to be the best of the best and Roadbed was a part of that.

On the day of the show as the last rehearsal was being canceled i mentioned to a few people that i would be running late because my wife was running an experiment. She had a "time trial" at 5:45 PM which means that at 5:45PM you look at your cells in and do an observation, assay, and then change the cellular medium. Now the show is set to start at 7:30 so i have to feed 3 kids (the 5 year old is no problem but the 2 year old twins are another story) have her food ready do some clean up and be ready to fly when i can... Keep in mind that i spent the day with three kids in science world and then raced to the printers to get a new batch of supper show posters because for some reason i was feeling good about the show and thinking of carrying on for good or ill...

Now i say this not to gain sympathy because i think I'm blessed... good family, get to play and all that... but in the sprint of the day i got the the Railway 5 minutes before showtime... just long enough to plug in my shit and go... i come up the stairs and see my neighbours sitting down having some food, the room is full... AND NO FUCKING DRUM KIT IS SET UP ON STAGE! OK let me get that... OK i'll get the beers now... OK i'll let everybody poke at me for being late... OK now I'll be engaged in a discussion on "should we do what we planned even though we found a way to get out of the planned rehearsals"... yes lets discuss that right now... perfect this is what i need right now.

By the time we started which was about 7:50PM my neighbours said good bye... you see they have a few children as well and they had a sitter and it being a few days before Christmas, sometimes these days are busy... they still had to go to a toy store, but they were downtown and had hoped to catch the first 20 minutes of this show i have been talking about for 5 years... "Oh yea we go 7:30 on the nose to 8:30 on the nose"

Well at least they got to seem me fly into the club like a maniac trying to take care of everybody, and get a show going against impossible odds. What a fucking joke.

For the record:

I fucking loathe starting late... it's the ultimate insult to everything. I realize some bands and scene sucking fuckheads often prolong their start time to "wait for a crowd to appear"... I don't buy that either... Ruth Minnikin has a song called "You can't choose your audience"... and you can't and in the end you wouldn't want to even if you could.

Who else was in that room watching that Clown show? I don't know and i never will... i do know that an opportunity to show something good became an opportunity to show something bad.

When the show finally got going, all was fine. SUPERSIMIAN started with 3 fine songs that my neighbours would have quite enjoyed... I'll take the blame... part of being the "leader" is to stand over everybody and make sure the do what they need to do to get the show on the Road... Bed time in the city of fallen heroes (that's a lyric i snuck in... first person to email me the song name gets a copy of the CD). I have songs on file but for some reason the "video" computer is down so we might have to wait a few days to see SUPERSIMIAN online... I dig the stuff Sim's got a great voice.

after SUPWERSIMIAN we had a visit from Santa... he did a few songs and on the second one he called me up to do some cursing... good old SR always trying to help out. Swearing my head off on stage is something i'm trying to get away from... i think i did a bad job... my focus wasn't there... too much childcare in this day and i was trying to get ready for the Roadbed show that was happening after that song, and i was also the guy that was solely responsible for the late start and everbody in the room seemed to know that... why do i do the SRSS?

Then Roadbed played... we cut Carolina as we were over time, everybody seemed to have a good time, except for me of course, but what else is new.



Remember the movie "Field of dreams"? If you build it the will come?

"Field of supper" if you build it they will appear with their thumb up their ass and say "whats going on"

You want to play the supper show? Get in touch with me... I'll give you what i can, the big thing being a stage in a good venue in a town where everybody is whining about "there is no place to play". For fuck sakes be ready to go for 7:30... if you can set up in a minute then come @ 7:29 for all i care... play your music, be brief and have fun. If you are doing sound be fucking ready... you are being fucking paid. Never fucking engage me in ideas that you are not fully and absoloutely committed to doing... if you want me to try something with you OK, maybe we bomb maybe not... we try. If this show gets lazy and starts late and goes late it becomes a pain in the ass to everything else that has to happen that night... NEVER PLAY MUSIC AND BE A PAIN IN THE ASS... that's as stupid as it is dumb. This show could be something, but it needs committed effort and accountability...

And if you are at the Supper Show and I'm not there and it's getting close to starting time, there is a very good chance i'm up to my neck in things that are far more important to me, and far more dependent on me than the SRSS... so get the fucking show on the road... if it's 7:30 somebody get the fuck up there and start doing something... it just occurred to me to leave a copy of "songs of the doomed" in the SRSS equipment stash for somebody to start reading at 7:30 PM if there is nobody in the house with the balls to go up and do something else but the reality would probably be that the book would disappear in a few weeks because some fucking peckerhead would think "what's this doing here".

Am i getting my point across here?

do we need a sports analogy?

FORECHECK! force the fucking issue... don't stand back an wait for me.

and tomorrow we have Tiger Prawn! and ROBERT MALOWANY and friend and Super R.

The Cult

The Legion of Flying Monkies Horn Orchestra put on a fine clinic last week... Horn puppets and a few group sing along tunes... in all seriousness what else do you need?

The version of "flying Monkey Cult" was just spectacular, and when i mentioned that to Fire-Man after the show, he was kind of like.... "well it better be we all know it by now". I'm sure in some ways he would see the show as a failure... the kid of failure i might go on about... you have these great expectations and you will always land somewhere short of them. But that's life as an artist and He is an old pro who has come back off the canvass many times before.

It was Fire-Man's birthday but for some reason we celebrated my birthday and i was presented with my very own horn:



It shall be mounted on the wall above the fireplace with the 2 Dave Hind drums on either side for symmetry. It will be easy to remove for proper blasting when the time comes but right now is is under the severe threat of children hands.

The real story of the night has to do with the ride home on the Skytrain when i Ping Ponged into a train compartment with my new horn and there was a large enough and eager enough group of people in the right frame of mind anxious to find more information on the Nature of my horn. I smartly opened with "I can only blast this beast under the conditions of a group song at this time due to an arrangement i have with the Supreme Janitor".

Fate was on my side... or was it just the natural way in which a Cult operates. I had no time for that inner discussion it was time to teach this car the "Flying Monkey Cult song"

Help Help Help Help Help Help An Evil cult leader is using us... UUUUSING us. And then the beat started (some rhythm folks in the crowd) and then i had to teach the other part of the song

Flying monkey Cult
Flying monkey Cult
Flying monkey cult

12345678

By then i realized i had to move into the center of the car so that i could easily group into 3 regions... for the most part they wanted it and i noticed that what happened on the next couple of stops was the those that didn't want to be involved left the car and those that did stayed... by the time we hit my stop we were just about to get rolling so i figured i would have to go long and come back later.... after all it's not every day you get to rock a Fire-Man horn on a skytrain car with everything going fluidly. So we were in Burnaby at Royal Oak when i realized it was time to shut her down... that became clear at about Metrotown, but none the less we stomped down a fine version and there were good times and high fives and hugs all around. Fire-Man would have been proud... so i guess if a show can do that... carry on and reproduce spontaneously on public transit later that evening it has some merit.

It became clear to me that rocking a horn is all together a different beast than rocking a guitar or a bass... it's all about creating the environment... well that's true with guitar and bass but it's just a little less obvious so i guess i should say that instead.

Tomorrow we have our holiday treat ROADBED, SUPERSIMIAN and THE MANX.

OK

a fairly major disaster ha happened

OK so i went to find some of the old SRSS posters... the classic ones with a cartoon version of myself eating a hamburger and the other one with my head with a fork in it, which spurred a massive search for my backup disks which came up empty handed... hours of time which then sparked me to get out the old tower and try to use it as a target dive to grab the file... to make a long story short so that later in the blog i can make a short story long, my main computer is now down and out and i have this paranoia that i reset the bastard by holding the start button down for too long, which of course will have disastrous consequences if i have indeed deleted our family digital photos... good thing i burned MULE that disk of 21 tandem repeats live album that sits somewhere in my house.

So there will be no email for this show... that's right i had problems importing my contacts... what simple tasks using computers do i not have trouble with one could ask... it's just not my thing.

Should have emailed Sim and gone with a new poster, but no Old Robertson can solve the problem... as my dad would say "1 step forward 3 steps back".

Last week was a fun Supper Show with Camille and Jose in Santa suits singing songs... i hit a few numbers one of them being "after the birth" a crude song on the birth of Jesus, which I'll probably never play again and a version of "Nothing is heard".

After the show i ping ponged down to the Roxy to catch "The Manx" and once i cleared security i was able to enjoy the end of their set which rocked hard. We should all go to the Roxy as a pre Olympic warm up... you want to pay to go see some entertainment... well then lets eyeball you use a medal detector on your ass and then scan your drivers licence and question your legitimacy as a potential consuming customer. The real comedy came when i tried to pluck a ticket out of the bowl that was on the desk where you pay and the woman snatched the ticket out of my hand and then moved the bowl of tickets away and placed them out of reach. Often with these roxy deals you get a free beer with your admission fee if you have a ticket... i guess you have to actually have the ticket before you pass the first level of security and the bowl of tickets is just there to say fuck you you cheese eating surrender monkey. Marty ended up buying me a beer which he totally didn't have to, and he didn't even know my problems at the door... he's just a swell fellow. i still feel cheated the the Roxy cheated me out of a beer and tried to make me feel like a criminal in doing so. Oh the time they are a chaingin'.

Tomorrow night or on Wednesday December 16 we have "The LFM Shareholders Report and Puppet Show" which will be a Fire-Man special:




OK we are back in business... there will be an email The computer is back from the dead... thanks to Reeserv on some chat line... hold down Command Option p, r and let it chime a few times.

Jesus Christ it's a quarter to midnight and the whole blog is a lie now that my computer genius has come through in spades... Lets talk about Super Robertson's professionalism for a little bit shall we. The man brews an amber ale and had 3 computers on a table all for the purpose of enriching the Super Robertson Supper Show with some classic Simian Special poster designs. The man runs into a snag but still keeps a focus on the goals: 1) brew properly 2) operate computers 3) Update the blog because you said you would 4) occasionally go upstairs to hush children 5) start working on how to break it to CT that the family photos are gone.

A smart man would now immediately backup those photographs, but I'm on a roll and smart has never really been the kind of word people use to describe me. It could be that i generally hang out with really smart people... which happens to be true, so a person with a reasonable intelligence backed up with actual logic,fine street smarts, creativity and a healthy paranoia of most situations goes unnoticed on the charts of "smart".

Where the hell am I?

My computer works again ( i did the first half of this blogaroo on a laptop, and in the process had to reset my password)... which reminds me Mule send me an email and we can get it set back right again... ie what the hell was the old password? everything is automated which is not ideal for major crashes. Passwords and security codes... there must be some major evolution going on in the human brain these days to deal with this.

December 16 is Fire-Man's birthday and as he is planning to announce on Friday is Super R's birthday... for my birthday i give myself a horn show. Death come quickly! Now that my computer is back up i have received a late email that apparently i will have to bring down a guitar after all, so i guess I'm playing... I'm highly allergic to LFM rehearsals but I'm a master of winging it especially when being in key don't matter.

The Plot thickens.

OK for the record... there is a puppet show written and i thing there are grand thing planned, songs to do. The LFM has made great progress in moving from errant horn blasting to something greater. For my part I'll do what i can which i believe is play a song and announce a few things.

which came first the Blog or the show?

The answer is obvious, or course, the show... back when it was on Monday night and it was called The Super Robertson King show, for some reason. In the end i think the blog might be bigger now however. I found that out after last weeks posting, or should i say Blogaroo. Of course i noted that i had come to the happy conclusion of ending my time running this SRSS just after Vancouver officially becomes a world class city which would also coincide with the 5 year SRSS anniversary... and within 12 hours i had messages from 4 continents and numerous local folks who believe for some reason that the Super Robertson Supper Show is important... there is actually a person in Europe who is saving up for a vacation and plans to come to Vancouver and The Railway for a Wednesday to complete the SRSS Blog experience... part of me wonders if it is actually a fake email sent by somebody in Vancouver... it would be like that time in high school when i got that note on my locker that some girl wanted to meet my runt ass outside the library by the main hall at lunch which of course provided fine comedy for some people seeing me stand there like a jackass for 20 minutes, luckily for me my tolerance for humiliation has always been unmatched... but in the metaphorical sense i guess in the end i ended up with the perfect woman so maybe we just have to take our hits and it will all work out in the end.

I seem to have lost my train of thought, and my train of thought is wandering from the the title of this here blog... the rules strictly stipulate that the blog should be a re-cap of last weeks show followed by a smiley faced PR for the upcoming show scattered with video footage. One of the problems is that i am currently on the other computer going over last weeks show, rendering things, half distracted... I am also a bit worried about the Germans... what will they think of this format. OK lets bark a file down:

OK I'm rendering a version of Bay City Kitty now... By the way it was a most excellent show last week... i went down alone thinking "why bother"... but then i was pumping myself up "It will be good old Robertson... you can do those songs the way you know them rather than the way they become once a team of musicians who have no idea how the song goes start to play it without any proper cues or notes"... where is the fun in that though! Anyhoo when i walked into the bar i saw some Supper Show stalwarts huddled at a few tables and one table had Fire-Man and Marty... and i thought perhaps Sim was here, which he was! D Trevlon confirmed this fact, so all of the sudden the show had legs again all i had to do was find Sim which was kind of hard... i looked all around... the show was about to start... I'll try the washroom. It turns out the Simian Special was just in the washroom re-in acting a battle from the Boer war. The bottom line was he was ready to rock and rock he did:



Now i have a version of Jupiter rendering. Note to self this is not the way to write... you need the files ready to go so you can focus on getting to your points, or in my case find your deviations and then just copy and paste the links.



I should note that last week was the first Wednesday of the month which is usually the Cammile and Jose Supper Show but Cammile got another gig that had some importance so we switched nights, which of course means that those guys do tomorrow night (December 9 2009) but fortune was on my side because a guy named Ian came to play at the Camille and Jose show but ended up playing at the Super Robertson Supper Show. I like their "supper shows" they are both excellent they work together and they have this vast network of amazing songwriters that come out to play a tune. the show is strong the momentum keeps going and when its over you don feel full you just feel fine. I tend to have lost that balance, having started playing with a full band every week perhaps the setup was different but it seems like when i put together a show i am always fighting the guest to cut down their set as they always want to play "a full set" to make it worth their while in coming out. It's really a reflection on me for the most part, i mean sometimes it's good, but after a while it becomes a pain in the ass to fight for stage time with your guests... and it's not really stage time i want i just want the show to keep flowing:

Check out Ian:



my point being this guy comes out to play a tune to add to a show (which it clearly does in spades) and for some reason i give the idea to people that they need to do the whole show... i mean i guess i get "bands" from time to time which is a bit of a different story, and some of my ideas to integrate people into the show have had disastrous consequences, so once again i lay the blame on myself.

But this show went well for a show that started when i walked into the room saw D Trevlon who asked who's playing and then immediately had to retreat when he heard that he was on the "penciled in" bill... being the sound man for the super Robertson supper show can come in handy from time to time... we had another guest named Jason Harder who was fantastic as well but it's like fucking midnight here and i can render no longer... my sense of failure is dogging me again... i have big plans but lack the time and energy and resources to have them fly... could be the plans suck too... just saying.

after the show I squirreled away in the back room, with a few of Vancouver's prominent PR Kingpins... mostly it was a chickenshit move on my part because i was afraid to sit at a table with some hyper pro super show people and defend my position to essentially quit. Word from the PR camp is that having a video is very important these days... like a good well shot smart video... OK

for the record I'm really not happy with this blog post... i find it unnecessarily negative and totally lacking in good comedy. The real comedy now is that i have begun to apologize for the blog posts as well as the show which is free... Totally Canadian Eh!

Movember 25th re-cap

It was just like good old times... 21 Tandem Repeats with a full compliment: Shawn Killaly, JLS and WB. Land of Deborah was in the house, and the said musicians have played on her latest EP titled "You are here" so we stomped a version of Blue Skies and then i handed LOD the axe and they smashed home a few numbers... which essentially in some parts was what the SRSS was to be all about when i started it about 5 years ago. It wasn't until after the show that i got bogged down in a few bad ideas that cost me a hangover and a stick bag that i started thinking about the SRSS. I mention this because i believe, after careful consideration, that it would be in my best interest to kill the Super Robertson Supper Show. I'm thinking i should go to March have a big 5 year anniversary/ "the last SR Supper" show... I still have a goal with the show, and that is to get a story about the show in the Georgia Straight... why? I don't know, I'm weird that way... i thought it might be possible, and it should be with the right amount of hounding... or at least the properly directed hounding. It's kind of like the same logic as stopping on the 5 year mark... the other option would be to go for the full decade, but i think i made my point in 5 years. It's not a sad thing, or as i would usually frame things a "definite failure", but rather quite the contrary... for half a decade I somehow led a crew of good natured and generous artist to put on an early reliable and free show that i know entertained many people... it provided a stage for artists to bring their stuff and try something. Sure we had some all time lows as i led the team of a cliff and into a cauldron... but we had some highs as well... there were some King Hell Moments for sure. I guess i shouldn't talk in past tense yet because there are many a shows left and it would be better to nail them, or at least go right off the rails at the railway club. It's nothing negative or bad, i just thought that if i used 6:45-11PM ever Wednesday to do something else in a non performing but yet creative endeavour i might be better off.

man I'm really starting to run the yap on these blogs... the whole world is getting shorter and more brief (texting twitter) and i'm here re explaining unimportant thought lines.

When i was about 23 and i lived in a "warehouse" in Kitsilano i had on my fridge a schedule of my week broken down into 1/2 hour segments.. there was work, jamming, exercise, and then a couple types of artistic thought... there was even 1/2 hour of cartoon drawing scheduled for Tuesday night 8:30-9PM... the idea of course was to exercise all of the "creative muscles". Of course as a disorganized sloth of a man i fell off course from time to time. One day i had a party, and people were smoking grass, and somebody saw the schedule and drew attention to it... the were having a real hoot, and of course i failed to see the humor and tried to explaining the logic behind everything, which of course caused the laughter to become uncontrollable. i happened to have a brick in the kitchen, and i thought about grabbing it and smashing some faces to bring peoples attention to reality, but then i relaxed and got in on the joke and i started telling some of my ideas that didn't make the first schedule but would definitely be present in the second schedule once i felt a certain mastery of the first schedule. I was a regular Charlie chuckles that night as people were hitting the floor and we had a lot of good laughs. The next day i kept the schedule... i was going to tear it down, but then i saw it as a representation of somebody that wanted to be doing things for a purpose. Never underestimate dedication, life is long, but it's the accumulation of your short game that gets you places, and generally the places aren't recognized by the standard values of success but rather the peace of mind in knowing you did what you thought you had to do.





I guess the big news last week was that Peter lolley won "SRSS Best Moustache Movember 2009"



that would be here:



What is this Lynx Paw Beard Shampoo?

Movember 18 re-cap

Clip courtesy of the Rilcofs: (I can't take credit for that edit job)



It was a packed house for Connoisseur Casino, friends, co-workers, family and a pack of the SRSS faithful led by Super Steve who had his eye on the Vancouver Giants game... the local heroes were down by 3 at the start of the third and Fire-Man and ED had some good stories so we kind of missed the end, but the Bruins were playing a strong game.

Notice the U2 song they covered has a similar progression to "Hey Rock's Living room"... perhaps U2 had a bug planted in the shockcenter years ago when rumours of a Jackass has hay-breath session started a swirling.

Connoisseur Casino put on a fine show and there was a small wedge of time left for the old SR to stomp down some music. I met a drummer named Tony Dallas during the CC set and dialed him in for drum duty. I left Rilcof up on stage to help us do a version of "summertime will end when it's over", which we totally rocked... it was an absolute domination (one can say that when there is no video evidence). Next I called Fire-Man up to help lead the capacity crowd in a version of "Dish Pig" Tony rocked it like none other, and Fire-Man was able to bring a few of the shocked and scarred audience members out of their shells... this kind of effort was something that was very new and shocking to their version of what a show is. To finish off the night i called up some singers (the two CC boys and another person showed up)... i taught them how and when to sing "everlasting chameleon ego"... and then we hit the song that was written years ago on a fine Saturday afternoon... I had the 4 track at the house and the crops were in (if you know what i mean) and i happened to have my drum kit in the house... a perfect combo under almost any circumstances. The negative circumstance i had to deal with was the fact that the tenant below me (and above Hey Rock) in the house apparently had a migraine headache and a short fuse... Clearly i couldn't hear the door pounding with all the drum racket that occurs when a said professional does a proper mic level check.

We did have a little meeting just before my first and only take... she was kind of in disbelief that i had to argue for at least 1 if not 2 takes... truth be told i started arguing for 4 takes knowing that I'd probably be pruned down... she argued fairly well for somebody who was suffering a migraine... i suspect it was a hangover and the word migraine was used to promote a sense of helpless innocence.

I nailed the drums in 1 take... and the song went like this

Gail my neighbour
doesn't like me playing drums
well i guess i should have figured that, Gail you are a good sport and i love you for that

you see this one here is a short one
and it won't really last

Rocking is good therapy
and it makes me feel like a man
i kind of like to live like that, grooving on a good feel and you don't look back

you see this one here is a short one
and it won't really last

everlasting chameleon ego
(repeat for 3 hours)

so anyhoo we did the song... the 3 hour bit was a joke of course... mind you there was a marathon version i played years ago at a house party in the basement of Rev. Richard Badcock's house, and the song kind of peaked that day... a basement full of people singing the part with drums lead guitar bass. The song lay dormant for a while and made a brief low key comeback atempt that fell short and landed on the cutting room floor when putting together 21 Tandem Repeats "Never Wanted To Be Anyone"

One of the guys that came up to sing last week was happy as a (insert simile here), and said that he woke up feeling kind of shitty that day but now he feels great.

I like to think that that's what the Super Robertson Supper Show can do for you.

Speaking of the SRSS doing for you... this is the last Supper Show of Movember so we will be awarding props and a trophy to the person with the best Moustache at the SRSS on Movember 25th. Only a fool would miss that opportunity. A full 21 Tandem Repeats compliment will be on hand to administer a proper "Moustache quality" event.

Remember last week.

Well you should, it was Remembrance Day after all... some folks out there took a lot of hits so we could be "free".

OK, it was a pleasant night at the Supper Show where we had an electronic based version of 21TR:



who needs a drummer when you have a Neighbour like Hixon... I wouldn't even have to lug a drum kit somewhere for a drummer to play. (when you play with a failure you don't get much so i don't usually mind)

and then DeNiro and Hixon= Allies:



Because the light was dim i went and shot the show using "super night shot" and it chewed back the battery... the battery died at the portion in which it cut out. But none the less you get the idea... perhaps i will be able to retire and let the "music live on" after all.

So on Movember 18 2009 The Super Robertson Supper Show will have a debut show by a band called Connoisseur Casino. Connoisseur Casino, has the original Supper Show host D Rahil aka "Jack Freelance" as one of the singer /guitar player members. The report from the Sanctuary is that this band is quite good... I know I'm looking forward to it. We will see what kind of a member less 21 tandem repeats (that doesn't sound too good) show i can come up with at the 11th hour... good things often happen at the last moment. Kind of like last week when i took a call from Alvaro around 5pm and it turned out he was playing in one of the bands later in the evening, and was coming down, and had childcare solved and wanted to play which begat a proper "21 TR electronic version".

I was watching Monday Night football in the gym last night, because it was on in front of the cardio machines (i couldn't care less about football), and the sound wasn't on but the close captioning was and near the end of the game the Ravens were up on the Browns 16-0 and the announcer was talking as the Browns had possession and were trying to move down the field. He said "I always tell my son, Son NEVER give up on a game" ( the point being if the Browns score on this rush they are right back in the game). What is the ability to learn something from something that you couldn't care less about? I like that attitude however... nothing more annoying than being in a key hockey game being down a few and have you team give up... which usually translates into taking a few idiotic roughing penalties and playing out the game 5 on 3.

Damn this was going to be a short blogaroo that just relied on the video and tomorrows show announcement and yet we managed to throw in a sports analogy. i don't think i have watched a football game since that time Annette Plesner dragged me to to the Superbowl up in Whistler a few years ago. The best part of that is people watching... you get to watch die hard fans live and die with their teams... always cheer for the winning team and be around the folks with the greatest passion it becomes rather infectious... beer helps also... a plate of hot wings never hurt either.

the Tuesday Movember 10 Blogaroo

The good news is that tonight's ginger beer (for blog power) has a fine carbonation coefficient... the bad news is that i have to go and pick up some bedding, write a few letters, and create a new "Band Bio" for the next waste of time effort and money under the guise of "music career". Well on that grand old positive note lets begin.

Last week's supper show was King Hell... it was a Jose Mouthason, and Camille Dangworth show (I will now refer to them as that for the next year as i was addressed again as "super RobINson"). They even did the "thanks for coming to the super Robinson supper show" which of course had me under the Robinson curse. Growing up as a Toronto Maple Leafs fan Larry Robinson was an archenemy... great player for sure, just the wrong team...

None the Less it was Jose's birthday and there was a great crew present (standing room only). I had come down with 5 guys who are all fathers of children in our neighbourhood... there has been talk over the last few years about a crew of people going on a "Man's" night out and Briac called it and it happened. When you have a bunch of kids making a 7:30 show takes a fair amount of co-ordination, unless your name is Super Robertson... more on that later.

I took a few panic calls from a few of the guys @ around 6:45 PM... their wives weren't home yet... they might be late! I calmly explained that this is the first part of the SRSS experience, i like to call the 6:45 panic... The pressure isn't as bad when you don't have to play and introduce yourself to a guest that you may have never met before 5 minutes before showtime. By around 7 we were all at my house... that happens to be the closest house to the SKYTRAIN, so we went Downtown. I had wisely called ahead to get a few prime tables reserved and we arrived just before showtime, got supper, beers and the show started.

Jose and Cammille played great and they had Shawn Killaly on drums, we sang happy birthday to Jose... (anybody know how to put an accent over an o with a keyboard?)
and then i got called as a guest... it was a plant, i knew i was going to play... once i had the guys lined up and we had the night i made a call and used my SRSS clout to play 2 songs. But the night was full and there were many things to be done and i could see what would happen if the first guest of the evening played 2 songs... then every guest would want to play 2 songs... the show would never end, and even though i knew that Jeff Younger was playing later (meaning friendly crew who won't flip out if we went past 8:30 and cut into their sound check time) you could feel that the show would be better if we kept it moving... more on this later.

Jesus that's two strings i have to tie yet... and the bedding was not worth taking... luckily CT was there to decline or i would still be driving around town looking for a spot to dump some garbage mattresses (I wouldn't actually do that, but i do know the spot where most assholes dump mattresses in this neighbourhood).

I played the song "famous Person" and explained to Jose what i was "going to do" for his birthday until i found out how expensive a dildo actually is.... it was comedy people!

Other guests included a guy by the name of Ian who had a cool song about some cliffs that had a nameplate on a highway, and Caleb Stull who is always excellent.

After the show, me and the V5T crew were discussing life, and it was around the time i had suckered Annette into coming over to my house the next evening to sit in the house while the kids slept and i was playing hockey, and Mike noted my dedication to playing hockey when Briac had a theory. This theory of course is the first string to tie... background... among the fathers that came to the SRSS that evening I am the only full time stay at home dad... also the only one with 3 kids 2 being twins... however the theory goes like this. For the other guys to get out they have to take out a "line of credit" with their partners... by going out tonight they are going into debt, where as Me (old SR) who is home caring for the kids all day i am just spending credits accumulated over time. I guess i can drink to that, but then again it seems like i can drink to anything these days.

Later when i was talking to Mule Hughes, around the time i learned the origin of the name Mule... which came from Isac Asimov, which of course reminded me of one of my favourite "my dad" stories that happened years ago... the punchline being my dad saying "the problem with this game is that this Isac Asmiov is such a complete friggin arse hole"... It had to do with a trick question on an Isac Asimov trivia game. Holey shit its 10:34... GOOD GINGER BEER FOR SURE... sorry about the caps lock. So later when i was talking to Mule Hughes about life and music and aspirations and songwriting and perceptions Cammile came over and mule Submarined me (what comes around goes around) by telling Cammille how i got stiffed only playing one song... and of course Cammile was ready to let me play 2 songs so his eyes bugged out of his head ant there was some explaining to do. In fairness i was just bitching to the Mule, or wondering for that matter as we looked at some posters why I never get invited to play any shows? My point was that it is because i suck... Mule took the high road and tried to build some case wherein people view me as a KINGPIN and not somebody in need of playing outside his kingdom. Then i was remembered i was a guest tonight so all you have to do is set up a show play it for 5 years farm it out to somebody and then you can be a guest... to play a song. Which of course is what Mule revealed to Cammile which sparked a Nobody every wants me wa wa debate between Cammile and myself...It's all good we were just fucking around, because the point we really believe in is NOBODY SHOULD HELP YOU... you should do what you do because you want to do it... not because it might (on the thinnest of thread chances get you somewhere). After all setting up a show is a pain in the ass, why should somebody do it for you? seriously.

you ever written in a blog and had the urge to just delete everything and just go to sleep.. that's where i'm at now. All in all last week was a great time, killer show, full house , cake, great people... hats off to Jose and Cammile.

Tomorrow we have "DeNiro + Hixon = ALLIES

Live computer music never sounded so bold, as Jake "Chemistry Major" DeNiro of UBC and Chris "Steve Biloba" Hixon of BTD battle it out for the hearts and minds of Supper Show attendees. Expect swirling ambient soundscapes, glitchy crackling chirps, throbbing beats and dramatic visuals.

DeNiro has played before and was most excellent... The computers are going to play back up for 21 tandem repeats who will open the show with a short set

Movember

Well last week i had the opportunity to share the stage with 2 beautiful women, Genny Trigo and Jacqui Brown... it was a low key song orientated show with a generous crowd... the bands after had enough equipment to sink a small ocean liner so we dialed it down a few minutes early and just enjoyed good company... I taped the show but i haven't looked at it yet... you know Halloween kids, hockey season, record company executive duties... yada yada.

Tomorrow (Movember 4) we have the Jesse Matheson Birthday show... word out on cake.




And the week after that (Movember 11) we have DeNiro + Hixon = ALLIES