The Super Robertson Supper Show a one hour a week music scene feb 23 re-cap

Tanya Davis was one king hell guest for sure... always good to see people do things that they are very good at doing, that being playing wicked original tunes to intimate audiences.

Here is her whole damn show :



I got a congratulations notice from YouTube that said my account has now been authorized to post video's longer than 15 minutes. Normally I'm a shorter is better kind of guy but the facts are

1) not sure of all the names of the songs
2) it was a kind of neat show
3) it's easy
4) it might be preferred for somebody who wants to see the show.

I guess we will see... or as i like to say "time is the hunter and it will show the truth".

Then it was time for the Super Robertson Supper Show chameleon band "21 Tandem Repeats". We started out as a trio and ended with six performing a poem that the gracious audience wrote in the hour of the SRSS (Super Robertson Supper Show). We ripped through the song "wishing machine" from the 2004 release "the ocean is life", followed by a version of "Nothing was heard" from the soon to be released album "one little dream".... then it was time for a ROADBED classic a song called "bent". I invited some singers up but then a strange thing happened... one of the singers turned into a horn player, who played this beautiful looking original wooden horn that played a few notes... nobody is quite sure what the notes were, but that didn't seem to matter to some.



Then it was about time for the East Meets West artist fusion series, a Canada Lynx Records "fabric of culture" ongoing experiment. For this version we had Tanya Davis with an original poem and 21 Tandem Repeats with a simple musical canvass.



For sure we need a monitor feeding louder vocals to the camera... work in process people.

Now speaking of cameras and technology that fucking Zoom Q3 recorder cut out a few times and it cut out when we were killing it on the final number of the night. It was Poem Moment (audience writes a poem, performers perform it), but it was also cake candle lighting time.

Did i mention i baked a cake for the show? Hot damn i don't think i did... I was going to buy one but they were all too shitty and that would have been a kick in the balls to the celebration. Why the celebration? Well the Super Robertson Supper Show has been going for like 6 years now and in the early days when it looked like it might not fly, but there was one woman Kristy who came to all the shows... i believe she had 2 months of perfect attendance, so i got wind she was coming down and that it was her birthday, and i was also aware that Francis and Ed are leaving town so it was so long to them... it's also hard to be against cake, and Tanya had to be welcomed to town... in fact once you get it in your head that you need to make a cake the cylinders start firing. Lets just say 2 of my young children were overjoyed that it was cake making day which in turn caused certain problems and one of them being that i cooked the cupcakes under the cake, which i believe created a problem with heat distribution, which gave me cake paranoia... OH my god my cake is going to fall... THE SUPER SHOW WILL BE RUINED! and then the other problem was that the cake wasn't quite done by the time we had to leave to pick up my other daughter from school. Luckily when you are dealing with cake kids will listen and work with you.  Flying down Glen avenue was sighted a large scruffy man in lumber jacket pulling wagon with two 3 year old twins screaming cake and a 6 year old girl pushing the wagon from behind to keep pace and "save the cake".

The things i do for the Super Robertson Supper Show... so you can understand my disbelief that the camera cut out for the improv birthday, welcome, fair well song and the beginning of poem moment, and then again at the end of the song. Once again i don't think it's the greatest show in the history of the world but if your going to do it, and you decide to capture it then camera malfunction is bull crap.

The horn sounds as good as it has ever sounded on this one...



So that's what one little Canadian music scene did last week.

Feb 16 re-cap

I think the show was actually a CLINIC!  In the sense of the way Roadbed would have used the word Clinic...  Large emphasis on a loud long CL followed by a faster sped up INIC that ends sharply leaving only two bug eyes to stare down the one being spoken to.

Now I'm not saying it was the best show that ever happened on the history of Earth, but rather, if you had a collection of 6 performers who had never before played together...  then how could you get through a live show, have fun, groove hard and work together?  Well the answer to that query was demonstrated on this night.  A veritable how-to seminar.

I went through my collection of power adaptors to see if i could use less batteries on my recording device now that i am an expert on memory management with respect to SD cards... hey i had one... good thing we didn't donate that to Big Brothers... when Junk becomes useful... it just needs to wait for it's roll.

I was so pleased with my smartness i forgot to press record so i missed all of Gem Andrews and a version of Bent with a king hell Mo ad lib part.  I hate myself... I don't mind missing things i just hate failing at simple tasks.





so yea it was jam night.

Tomorrow it looks like we have cake to honour the birthday of a lovely woman who at one time had perfect attendance to the Super Robertson Supper Show... back when it was called the Super Robertson King Show and it was on Monday nights.

Also:

From Halifax
Tanya Davis is a poet. She is a storyteller. She is a musician and a singer-songwriter and she fuses these elements together in a refreshing matrimony of language and sound, side-stepping genre and captivating audiences in the process. With the release of her third album, Clocks and Hearts Keep Going, in November 2010, she affirms her well-earned place in the ranks of thoughtful and hard-working Canadian Artists.
http://www.tanyadavis.ca/fr_home.cfm

And another fine 21 Tandem Repeats trio with Shawn Killaly, Jason Jones, and Super R.
http://www.21tr.ca/


http://social media baby/

February 9th re-cap

If you have a flash memory card and you throw it in your computer and grab the stuff off it and then throw the stuff in the card in the trash you need to empty the trash while the card is connected to the computer or your card will appear to be empty but actually be full of stuff on "hidden " folders.

Because i didn't know that i was busy swearing my head off  wondering why nothing electronic ever works for me... it is usually because i don't know how to operate it and don't really care to find out because i know if i do then they are going to change everything.  I move from digital tape to flash memory to save myself some vital time and then i end up screaming bloody murder at a chip.

As a result i was a tad bit late for the show, and it was actually going when i got there.  Nick on sound, Legion of Flying Monkeys Horn Orchestra rocking (or should i say "honking") out.  There was a great crowd faithfully following the instructions of the Supreme Janitor and good times were being had by all.

Super Steve was minding the Canucks / Ducks game... everything was under control.  Except for the fact that i couldn't operate my camera and the 2 people in the room that could help me were busy with Legion of Flying Monkeys duty.  I did sort things and as a regular pro i learned on the fly... or did i just bum another card, like an addict with a problem?



before the pledge we were all given candies, i immediately scarfed mine down, because of course i was busy solving problems and didn't realize what was happening... even though i should know... remember the time i led the skytrain cab in version of this song.

It was a grand evening for sure... I got up and tried to carry on the participation vibe



finally got some of those videos from Jan processed:



On February 16 2011

Gem Andrews- solo folk artist
http://www.facebook.com/gemandrewsmusic
And a spanking version of 21 tandem Repeats featuring Slick on drums and Jason Jones on Jazz piano.
http://radio3.cbc.ca/bands/21-Tandem-Repeats
( i will not create a facebook page for my band... and i will not ask people to like it... it goes against all reason either way... I would recommend people do,  so I'm not trying to come off like some self righteous chump, i just can't have another page on the web, each page i have scrapes at my will to carry on)

I wonder if those links will work?
Things seem different... the internet has changed again.

OK OK OK... let me guess

Something strange happened right... The Super Robertson Supper Show blog was not updated for 2 weeks.  243 weeks in a row and then all of the sudden strike one and strike 2...  Why did this happen? What went wrong? Have the rails come off the wagon? What is Super Steve to do on those long Wednesday mornings?

No No.. It's just that i was in Barbados and for security measures i felt it was not prudent to mention the fact that i was leaving the Country as that would put my personal property in Vancouver as risk of easy burglary.  It was an easy common sense call that unraveled when the guest the first week failed to show up... how do you fail to show up for a gig?  I don't know but then remember i am the guy with the 243 week streak... lets just say it's not that we are on a different page, we are in a different book.

The last time i was at a SRSS i believe it was Shawn Killaly, C.S Rippin, Super Robertson, Genny Trigo, Simian Special and Fire-Man on stage ending a show with a ruckus version of 98 bottles of beer on the wall.  It was a strange show with another strong lesson for our fearless leader... Odd too because i touched on that lesson in the show before but it was from the other side of the problem.  I believe at that time i put it like "nobody knew what was going to happen so that was perfect" because people would then react.  Well for this show i had a stage piano and C.S. Rippin and Genny and a Mic so i got behind the idea of doing the damn record.  Just like last month i was going to get a tattoo that read "why ruin a perfectly good album with a live show".  And then there was the issue that an artistic director for a large summer festival came to the show and identified himself as such shortly before we played saying that he was there to check us out.  Of course we were a group of people who had never actually played together before and i had my mind wrapped around trying to do songs we didn't really know.  We were actually in a perfect position to wing down a number of easy 3 chord songs but i failed to see that right off the top.  After some time i clued into the situation but not before i led us into a few train wrecks.  Afterwords i tried to point out to the artistic director how well we recovered form the multiple train wrecks and how we learned so much from the journey....

I brought a guitar down to Barbados and did a version of the Knockin' Dog song "Chicken" for some locals and they had a real knee slapping laugh and then we drank a lot of Banks beer. In the second week i met a kitchen worker who told me he could sing to any groove so we had a pretty good kitchen jam... Otherwise i just plucked patterns while children slept and scientists discussed.   A little summer in winter never hurt anybody... also while i was away i got an email form Jesse Gander with the final mix of the song "Nothing was heard", and news that the latest 21 Tandem Repeats album has been mastered.  All i have to do is figure out a way to release an album on no money and we are all set... i think it's been done before.

On February 9, 2011 we have the legion of Flying Monkeys Horn orchestra playing the SRSS and to my knowledge there are 3 different facebook gig reminders with double digit confirmed attendance so for sure i feel good.

Jan 12 2011 re-cap

Poem and piano night all rolled up into one fine show with a great group serving as the nights 21 Tandem Repeats trio.  Shawn Killaly on drums, Christopher Johnson on piano and guitar, and our hero Super Robertson on piano and guitar as well...  And then there was Allie Bunt a beautiful young poet from the suburbs who answered and ad placed on craigslist that read:

Looking for some adventurous poets to come and share some words live at the Super Robertson Supper Show. We will provide some simple backing grooves (live and improvised) and you see what you can do live on the stage of the Railway Club.

The add had more information but for the purposes of the blog,  lets just call it a "buy the ticket take the ride" kind of moment.  In a lot of ways it was a near perfect Super Robertson Supper Show... why was it perfect you ask?  The key indicator was the fact that shortly before the show was about to start none of the performers had any idea what was going to happen, and a lot of the people had never really met before... this is key.  Then you ask the questions; What do we have? Who can do what? Anybody have anything they want to do for sure? What is prepared and what does the prepared need for backing?

In the end we had a king hell drummer (Shawn Killaly), a multi instrumentalist and songwriter (Chris Johnson), a poet with 20 prepared poems (Allie Bunt) and a Super Robertson... also a drum kit, a piano, a guitar, multiple mic's, a sound man (JLS), beer and food.


Ok I'll say it...  if you can't make that happen get out of the business... if that's not fun then go file some paperwork... if that's a bad vibe perhaps one needs to volunteer for jury duty... if that's a waste of time the one should pave their backyard.

In the end it's all just memories... flash memories:

Johnson on piano Shawn on drums:


Poem with Allie SR guitar, Johnson piano, Killaly drums:


Wishing Machine with the 21TR trio of the night:


A little fucking dark i would have to say we need somebody on lights... for christsakes can't a man get some production values around here... I'm Joking OK.

Do yourself a favour and don't miss tomorrow night... it looks like we will play the new album with Shawn Killaly on drums, Chris Rippin on Piano, Genny Trigo on vocals and Super Robertson as Super Robertson.  If you want to hear the new album check this out man.

what would you rather be doing? watching television?  You can catch the tail end of the Rangers Leafs game at the bar just before the SRSS.

Last week re cap... and my grand plan for tomorrow night.

You ever hear the poem "There once was a man from Nantucket..."

Well if you came to last weeks SRSS you would have heard it twice... which gets you in the ballpark of what went down.   It was the Cam and Jesse Gong show and lets just say the bell was a ringing... but that happens when you do the Super Robertson Supper Show.  I think there is some part of the brain that short circuits when you are on stage and you are thinking you have to be entertaining and do something different, and it's about that time you lose your fucking mind and forget that you are a person armed with an arsenal of songs and  all you have to do is just fucking play them... they don't even have to be weird, they can be beautiful.   Submit to simple groove and simple melody when the going gets rough is one thing i tell myself...

A little story... there was a time I got naked at the SRSS, actually a couple of times, and i might add i am loath to bring this back into the conscience of the SRSS collective but i believe it is fitting as an exercise to learn... the ideal job for me is the one of a teacher.

It was a Burlesque show I put on backed by some mates... at one point in time my man SMASH had it up on the Internet (the audio).  I would say it went really well.. it was a pure comedy piece with the punchline being me stripping down to these haggard worn pair of underwear.  I was trying to be all sexy (which must have been hilarious in itself) and then cut to the bad old worn ginch.  Unfortunately I had a "wardrobe malfunction" and ripped the damn underwear in half with the final exposure.  That was fine... there was guffawing and much laughter.

My mistake came the next week... at the time to make the show more interesting I was writing fake fan mail to myself to read out at the show, and I thought it would be funny to write out a letter stating how people were very offended by the nudity in last weeks show... so I got a phony host to read the letter  and the gag was that I was going to walk out right about the time the letter was getting really heated, and I would of course be naked in the middle of a "wardrobe change", because of course the SRSS was so "big" we needed wardrobe changes in the middle of the show.  The whole event was a mindboggling failure which essentially ruined any standing I hadn't previously eroded in this town.  Perhaps %20 of the people were listening to the letter, but everybody saw me stark naked casually standing there wondering if anybody had a pen.

Point is I did it because I was desparatly trying to make the show interesting and different, and sometimes interesting and different isn't what the brain needs to be thinking while managing a live SRSS... the reason you are there is because you are interesting and different... now lets hear some of your beautiful compositions.

Oddly enough I have a very interesting and different show lined up for tomorrow... I put an add in the paper looking for poets and i found some takers.  Also this is the year I play piano so I have been working on some grooves that will fit poetry, and we have 1 king Hell drummer (Shawn Killaly), so the poetry stuff should be good.

This means of course that we shall have a stage piano at the SRSS this week so I'm putting the word out to s few piano players I know, and Shawn and I and JLS will be there, and we just recorded a new album so there are some tunes to spank down.

I call it an interesting and different show with variables, but the varaibles will be put into equations where they can work and flourish.  There will be no nakedness and it will be essentially a "family" SRSS, except for the fact that it will take place in a bar... where minors are not permitted.

Other notes on last week: earlier in the day the Canadian Junior hockey team suffered a tragic defeat, that really killed the soul of the country... but later on The Crown Royals, a team i  play for went into the third period down 3-0 but ended up taking the game 7-6.

Re-Cap of the last SRSS of 2010

C-Dub, also known as Constance White came down to play on this particular night.  I asked her how she got the name C-Dub and apparently she has had some email correspondance with our good man Smash and he "dubbed" her C-Dub which is long for C W but short for Constance White... get it, got it , good.

C-Dub writes her stuff and this one is called My Opinion:



Then Super Robertson took the stage for some banter and some song playing... good old super steve was back there bobbing like a bouy in a winter storm in the Georgia Straight to the song "Famous person".  It should also be noted that Super Steve met Super Robertson's wife CT, or partner as she prefers to be called, and the two of them were gabbing like teens at the roller rink.  Good times for sure.

SR played a love song among others:





On Wednesday January 5 2011 we had the start of the third year of the can and Jesse show.... if you don't know what that means than I can't help you, I can only do what i do.

OK

Last SRSS Blogaroo of 2010... December 22 Re-cap and the usual diversions and rah rah propaganda

Speaking of smiley faced... King Dinosaur had a good analogy to watching the Legion of Flying Monkeys Horn Orchestra... He laid it down as smiley face/sad face that keeps flipping every few minutes. Apparently and older English gentleman was standing beside KD taking in the show for about five minutes and then turned shook his head said "Utterly regrettable, absolutely terrible!" and then walked out the door and around the same time a local music journalist was telling me "I love these guys, this is insane". It all has to do with perspective. For sure a little horn jam goes a long way, but then again so few bands have anything relevant to say, some bands can play, and some bands play. I like the LFM horn orchestra... I like the concept, the words to the songs and the grand spirit in which they are presented. I like the interaction, the freedom, the art in the horns, the fact that old English "proper" folk are irritated by it and the fact that there are their are no horns playing with me anymore.



then they did a Christmas song:



For the 21 Tandem Repeats representation I grabbed Steve (drummer for LFM) and JLS (sound man)... and we laid down a set which I thought went pretty good. Reminds me of an interesting point and so why not a digression? Lucky or not? Am I lucky? I feel very fortunate to play with great people such as Steve and JLS. Let's research the word Lucky.

luck·y (lk)
adj. luck·i·er, luck·i·est
1. Having or attended by good luck. See Synonyms at happy.
2. Occurring by chance; fortuitous.
3. Believed to bring good luck: hoped to draw a lucky number.

To me Lucky is like finding a $20 bill on the sidewalk... your eyes bulge out of your head and you immediately fall on it feigning a stroke and then jam the bill in your pocket and carry on, perhaps stopping to get some ice for the new goose egg on your fore head. I have a little bit of a chip on my shoulder with the world lucky, but being a spiritual man (in terms of omens and jinxes) i don't want to appear on the wrong side of the fence when the great decision makers decide to exercise their wrath.

I should write a song about lucky... like the hockey player that puts on a hard fore check and the puck pops up in the crease for them to "bang one home" and the guy who never bothered to fore check once in his life calls the other player lucky... but the guy who scored the goal doesn't give a shit what you call it as long as the red light goes on.

I guess if somebody calls you lucky it means you are living the good life, so don't go changing, and if you detect a little sense of bitterness in the one calling you lucky just remember that that is something that that person has to live with.

in the end it's all just memories:
digital ones at that
what can i say? I'm just a wishing machine.



Last show of the year

we have C-dub from Calgary and Super Robertson from Vancouver as far as i know but things at the SRSS are subject to change... maybe i"ll get lucky and have a band tomorrow, or maybe I'll get lucky and have a chance to run over a few more complicated numbers as a solo artist.

Happy Holiday folks... and don't go changin', I won't.

SR

BTW i Noticed that some guy named Super Robinson is on some poster for the show tomorrow... quick tip from a borderline illiterate OK.  There is this thing called Google Search... you can find who you need there... and then you can copy and paste the name of the person and then put it on your poster... It's amazing... you're going to love it!  And ladies and Gentlemen that's why you tune in to the SRSS blog... you get real advice for this real world.

December 15 Re-Cap... some sissy gibbering and another shameless plug for the next show.

Super Robertson and Tiny Tim Overdrive together at last... Yes it was another king hell night at the Super Robertson Supper show last week for sure.  The Canucks posted an overtime victory... and the SRSS went into overtime as well with a fine set by the Gizbah himself.  Mind you we only went into overtime because the sound man had to attend a pre game ceremony honouring  the Super Robertson Supper Show greats from 2007 and hence was late getting up from ice level.

Tiny Tim Overdrive are a really fun band and they brought half the city with them.  They play awesome cover songs with ukuleles... as you may or may not know I do have a reasonable paranoia of posting cover songs on youtube.   My general policy is to record what I can and process what I can after asking artists if they want me to record and post their music... and then, after the fact when it is posted I can delete or alter things to make everybody happy. 

It's funny, I bought this digital recorder to save me time but it seems like now everything is bizarre with the whole process.. I tend to be working out of Quicktime making all kinds of files some of them acceptable and others not so much, and I'll be a monkey's uncle to know which is which.  My cousin reminds me of the time I declared that "computers will be the downfall of society" as a friendly jab to point out all the damn time i do spend on a shithole computer... point taken and point still made I say.

Anyhoo it's late and I can attempt to process no more video at this time so we will have to wish you all the best for the holiday season and serve notice that the Legion Of Flying Monkeys Horn Orchestra is set honk their hearts out at the SRSS on Wednesday December 22 as part of the Railway staff people kind of Christmas party. ( **** production note... I wonder what an autotune pedal would sound like on one of those horns).  Then I will set up a bastard version of 21 Tandem Repeats after the LFM to play a quick slick set as a bridge into the later evening.

I do feel bad for only getting the one video done for the show and the blog... my commitment to caring about the show and the blog of the show is rather bizarre I would say... there could be a form of mental illness that I have.  It's just a little free show!

Not that i always take good advise but here are 2 good reasons I should never be out too late:

December 8 Re-Cap ukulele bands and royalty from back east

Tannis Slimmon and Lewis Melville came in and played a perfect supper show.  All cylinders were operating and the crisp passing play of musical melody warmed the hearts of all of those Canadian kids out in the audience. If you missed the show you missed a real Gem of an hour... worth every penny of it's free.

Speaking of pennies I hear the Mint is considering stopping making them... they are worth a cent but cost a cent and a half to make and nobody gives a shit about them.  Sure.  i should probably stick to Supper Show material and not delve into politics... I believe people want to hear me talk about the Supper Show... because hey, I have won the annual SRSS "Observant Kingpin" award on 3 separate occasions.  I Understand SRSS's and my opinion that  "those rich, self serving, conveniently religious,  fundamentalist quacks that run the joint" aren't going to spend the money they save on stamping pennies in a manner in which I approve of.

OK check this:





I feel better now.  I knew the call of the Sandhill Crane, but for once in my life I just shut the fuck up and let somebody else take us down the path... which was a smart move by myself... and considering I had just nailed a rooster and hit a pileated woodpecker at perhaps an inopportune moment, I was already over the line if you know what I mean.  The first time i saw a Sandhill Crane was over Thanksgiving weekend up at Tiny marsh... or in a farmers field by Tiny Marsh to be exact. It's near Elmville Ontario in Simcoe county.  Three of them came flying in and at first I thought  I was looking at Canada geese but as they got closer and closer they became bigger and bigger.  One last fact: Tiny Township is next to Tay township and the two townships are named after dogs of some English royal couple.

*** Hey Super Steve (super steve has no sound on his computer)... that last paragraph had to do with the song that was played by Tannis and Lewis... The crowd was called to make animal sounds and then in mid song Lewis Broke it down with a sandhill crane call... you would have been proud of me.

Where was I?

I'll have to admit, was a bit nervous going down... I was walking in there straight faced  and saying OK Lewis Melville your playing with me.  Lewis Melville: Cell Biologist, Multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer who was born in Saskatchewan, immediately accepted that as the best idea available and we started the show:





Then i smartly go the hell out of dodge and let the people play:





Tell me that's not fantastic.


And then of course I made everybody finish the show with me... Notice Fire-Man, who had just come in from outside to discuss an issue with Ed.





And Tomorrow on December 15 2010 we have the Tiny Tim Overdrive:





As well as Super Robertson and a man called Ian.
this guy:

December 1 re cap and December 8 promo blast and perhaps a rage on technology

Before i lose my mind let me start by saying we have a wonderful show for you tomorrow night on December 8 2010. From Guelph Ontario the Super Robertson Supper Show is proud to host the first stop on her western canadian tour: Tannis Slimmon who will be joined by Lewis Melville who is a Guelph, Ontario multi-instrumentalist (guitars, banjo, pedal steel, bass, mandolin), composer, and producer. He is also the man that has a Rheostatics album named in his honour... that would be the album Melville I believe.

I always like it when the SRSS gets to host touring acts: Ruth Minnikin, Jen Militia, Owen Steel, Khristian Mizzi, Tiger Prawn... to name a few. They seem to be some of the better shows... some new blood from out of town who are happy as a pig in shit to just have a gig to play. It is one of the things that i really like about doing the SRSS... a chanced to help people out and present some cool music to people who didn't know what was about to hit them.

What happened last week: I think i recall a Mason Raymond hat trick to power the Canucks to victory.

Some stuff happened on stage to:









Well probably not the best idea for me to go off on technology rage at this point in time... what purpose would that serve? The bottom line is that everything human is hopelessly screwed in order to fall in line with the mighty dollar. Now if you are smart enough or work hard enough or are lucky enough you can get yourself enough money and in fact insulate yourself from this reality... for a while... did i just start a rage? I guess i did.

I love my parents and they are great people and they worked hard all of their lives to provide me with the best of everything so that i could go out into the world and "succeed". Which i guess i did, somehow... some days i feel like the character in that Talking Head's song "Once in a lifetime". Anyhoo i just finished a record this weekend and i have been very pleased about what happened... i was so happy i mentioned it to my parents who then reminded me about "that thing" with the simple question "Do you make any money doing that?"... And i go from euphoria to mid life crisis... what happens when men hit their mid life crisis... do they buy a convertable and drive to Las Vegas? Even as a middle aged man i can't fit in anywhere.

SRSS Movember 24th re-cap

Let me tell you a story... another one about "The Pike" AKA Super Steve. If you recall he was given that name because he likes to stay in the reeds (the back of the room) out of the "pressure zone" (Where one might be called to the stage).

When i came into the club, Super Steve was up by the side bar having a fine dinner and the lovely bartender Shannon said "Steve you should go and sing with the choir"... to which Steve replied "I don't sing"... But yet it was around the time we did "ride em high" and then "Let it be" that the old pike was taking to the choir like a flatfish but yet once hooked there was no fight. His baratone voice was gaining confidence as the night went on...

There were some other folks that got sucked into the sing along, which i guess is the idea...

On Wednesday December 1st we have the Cameron Dilworth and Jesse Mathison Supper Show as they finish up their 2nd year of doing the SRSS on the first Wednesday of the month.

Movember 17 re-cap

First night with the new Zoom Q3:



I had big plans to try to get some company to sponsor me to get the use of a camera for this purpose. Sometimes it seems like a thousand miles of space between what i do and what i mean to do but that's the way we roll around here. What do you think of the quality? If anything it saves me time... like a lot of it... the old me had to load the tape footage into the computer in real time before i was able to cut it up... and there was increasing amount of errors most likely due to the fact that computers are designed to force you into the latest products by decreasing the support of older models. This fact enrages me to no end, but being a martyr at the expense of your own diminished free time is silly.

In the end it's all just memory... would you care to discuss that? ****

Quizz- Tell me where that quote is from and win a free copy of the upcoming 21 Tandem Repeats CD "One little dream".


Back to last week... Angela had to leave the stage suddenly so her band kicked into some grooves so i hit "It's just a touch of pepper":



And then JLS and SR kept the party going with a few numbers one of them being the latest SR Jones song The Choice of Voters.

Then we wrapped it up with a mash up... the audience determined that the subject be sex and globalization.



This Wednesday Movember 24th we have Queen Anna and the SRSS Choir also know as the Local Vocals Choir. Show from 7-8:30PM... band plays classic songs and all are welcome to sing... lyric sheets provided.

Movember 10th re-Cap

Last week Shawn Killaly, Super Robertson, JLS, Chris Johnson, Fire-Man and the audience of poets put on a show to a full house... It was a double poem moment night, and if you don't know what that means i can no longer help you... how does the saying go... you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink?  For the record "poem moment" is when the audience writes a poem by passing around a sheet of paper and the group has to preform it over improv grooves.

For the most part the show consisted of  Shawn and I running through the set that was written on a coffee filter so that we would have proper preparation for our recording session that happened over the last weekend.  Would you go into a studio without any rehearsal?  We essentially did, which i believe worked in our favour and i'll blood any bastard that say's otherwise...  To be perfectly honest i believe not being a band in the traditional sense  is the way to roll for a guy like myself, and doing the Super Robertson Supper show for years has trained me well to understand the elements needed... a lot of philosophy for sure but i just remembered something i have to do.

On Movember 17 the SRSS special guest is  Angela Latham and apparently she is up for some improv... so lets get some poets noses down and do this right.

Did you ever hear my poem about noses?

People who put their nose in things that break noses
end up with broken noses


A little bone Scarborough wisdom for you all... now i have to get me some free tickets...

Hot damn another week us upon us... Last week re-cap

                        It was The Jesse Mathison Birthday bash as the young bastard only turned 30.

 

Caleb Stull,  kingpin of the band Parlour Steps was there to play a few fine tunes

                                                    Jesse and Cameron sang along

                                    Ben Mahoney played with a king hell drummer Robert Linton

                                                   Robert Linton also plays in Parlour Steps

 Ben Mahoney wore sandals much like Jasper did when he was teaching Lisa Simpson's class for some reason and was warning the class about the things one could do to deserve a "Paddling" and one of them was "looking at my sandals".

 There is Ben but the damn light wasn't on him i tried to fix it but it didn't stay...  now i know  how Snapshot and Moustache man feel.

                                  Mule and Chris Scum enjoy some Smash / Greg Pohl banter

          And this is the elusive Greg Pohl in town on an entomology conference... He was telling an animated story and i thought the flash was ruining pictures so this is what happened.  Smash with pro facial hair as well.


I was given the business for a bit about my last minute, 11th hour supper show notifications and i had big plans but here we are at 12:23 am in the morning of the night of the next supper show.  In a perfect world things would be different, but lets face it the world is far from perfect, and its imperfection is a thing that can bring great joy and entertainment if you look at it from the right angle.

TODAY... November 10th Shawn Killaly and I are rehearsing for a rapidly approaching studio session...  I am about to test a few of my theories about how to make a good recording and it has to do with taking the old 4 track mentality into a place with greater clarity and more options than a 4 track recorder.

I heard they had a space program when you sing they can't hear there's no air
Sometimes i think i kind of like that place other time i think that I'm already there
-They Might Be Giants

October 28 re-cap

It was the Queen Anna and the local Vocals choir doing band night at the Super Robertson Supper Show on this night... Super Steve was slowly digesting the fact that his team was going down to defeat in the World Series, and it would be Stan in fact that would take home the hundred big ones. There was some slight hand wringing and a few whispers of faint hope, but as a veteran sports fan you know when a good team gets the hammer it's a bad omen.

It was an acoustic choir band that was perhaps a bit more folky than the amplified version from the month before but there was a good group and good times were had by all. Some people like to sing and i think it's great that they came and had a great time. I was talking with King Dinosaur after the show about the evolution of the Super Robertson Supper Show... he is a man that has been around long enough not to react to changes on a week to week basis... it's all part of the grand scheme of things like when that GM of a hockey team goes into the free agent season but then looks in the mirror, dose a Fonze, and says aaaahh! everything is OK.
Prediction of the night from King Dinosaur... just so we get it in print: The next time the Boston Bruins raise the Stanley Cup the first man to touch it will be Milan Lucic.

In an odd note there were some members from my hockey team that came down to see me play some music, but of course it was Choir sing-a-long night so i told them to grab some sheets and get in on it...  that went over like can i say a Led Zepplin.

Tomorrow Night is a Jesse matheson birthday Bash at the SRSS hosted by Camille Dangworth and Jose Mouthasin.

October 20th re-cap

Rachel Davis started the Super Robertson Supper Show.



21 tandem repeats finished it



Thanks to Snapshot for the video and to the Rachel Davis film crew as well.

I was kind of under the weather and in one of those questioning why i even bother kind of moods, and as a result there were no curtain pulls and such.  The old me never would have tolerated such insolence, but we did all right none the less.  The old old me would have thought it necessary to put up 200 posters on the rainy streets of Vancouver for just such an occasion, so i like the new me just fine.

On October 27 we have Queen Anna and The Supper Show Singers... and you can be a Supper Show singer too if you want, just show up grab a lyric sheet and join in.  Show from 7-8:30PM... last month was a blast so what could possibly go wrong?  Later on our man D. Trevlon will be playing  at the Railway as part of the Vancouver city Limits night... i don't know if you heard but D Trevlon was listed on craigslist as one of the Railway Staffs top picks when they got together for beers to define Vancouver's  best live acts.

October 13th re-cap

Wednesday the 13th, nothing unlucky about this night, 2 fine acts, 2 good hockey games... if i recall correctly it was a fabulous day as well. October kind of day... crisp and sharp... sun not too high but lighting the slight colours in the trees against the blue sky. Next thing you know it was time to feed the kids and get the hell down to the SRSS. Caught some of the Toronto Pittsburgh game at home(Internet streaming) and heard from Super Steve that they held on for the victory when i got to the club. For some bizarre reason there was a little bit of a late start at the SRSS this evening but when it got going Christopher Johnson put on a fine set of solo acoustic singer songwriter tunes... all great Fire-Man agreed, but Fire-Man also thought he should talk more and engage the audience rather than just being excellent at playing and singing music. Next thing you Know Fire-Man is on stage on the other Mic conducting an interview with the said performer in an effort to get the performer to enlighten the audience on the story of his life. It came out that Chris is about to go into a studio to record an album and this show was a chance to "road test", or should i say "SR supper show" test the songs. Shortly thereafter there was about 8 of us on stage 4 doing one part of a symphony, 4 doing the other, and Chris singing the song... then it was time for the LFM.

Old Fat religious White people rule the world, Burn the man (i jumped up and played a horn part), Aliens, a Jam, LFM SRSS theme song #2 were all hit and there were good time had by all. When Fire-Man made the crowd chant "Steve, Steve, Steve..." to encourage a drum solo i went back to hit the can and on the way out i ran into "the mole" and we got talking about song technique, and then i believe the Canucks went on a power play, and then i heard Fire-man calling me and then trying to razz me for watching hockey... but they were doing well and on a roll so i sat back in the reeds and let the show carry on letting my vocal symphony part and horn honking experience be my participation in  the show... i think it's bad form to be up there every time all the time. That's my story for now and I'm stuck in it, but i must say the LFM had a wonderful flute player named Melissa out and she was playing some very cool stuff.

Tomorrow we have Vancouver/Chicago and on the stage we have Rachel L Davis and 21 Tandem Repeats. I believe Rachel L Davis will be a trio, and 21TR will be a trio or a quartet backed by ace drummer Shawn Killaly... depending on who shows up 21TR could easily be more (add a few singers or such).

Be good.

Big night at the SRSS on October 13

Hell last week was one excellent show if i don't say so for Cam and Jesse.   Good crowd, good music, good guest, good awkward comedy... the whole shebang.  And let me tell you if the new imovie wasn't such a useless, loathsome program we would have more video up right about now showcasing last weeks Super Robertson Supper Show.  How does it happen that a company could have a simple great little program with some very useful features, and then in time weed out all the good and concentrate on all the useless, and become suddenly user unfriendly?



Tomorrow, on the 13th  of  October there will be Christopher Johnson solo performance at the Supper Show and The Legion of Flying Monkeys perform at the Super Robertson Supper Show


Which means of course that Super R will be free to watch the Canucks game at the side bar with the Pike,  and as the song goes "the Super Robertson supper show, it's the place where my friends all go, like Super Steve and King Dinosaur with one eye on the show and one eye on the score".

For the record Super Steve last week asked me about the Leafs this year, and i laid down my take on the events (Haven't had a goalie since Belfour, and they got rid of most of the indifference and replaced them with young players eager to prove,  rather than the Leafs classic move to sign overpaid has been, so at least it's not the same old same old...) and i noticed Super Steve started laughing, not in an "at me" kind of way but rather in a way a sports fan recognizes another true fan and their relationship with their native home team.   But alas, i pay taxes in Vancouver, and i have lived here for 17 years and there is always room in my heart for another team that has yet to win a championship in my 40 year old life.  Could be one of the better years in a while for a guy like myself.  It is kind of weird when you think of it, how the idea of the home team, has been diluted by professional sports league marketing.  When was a kid everybody loved the home team, if you showed up to school in a "Mike Bossy" sweater you might risk taking the beats... now it is just natural to wear the merchandise of the team you have chosen to root for as a measure of your loyalty. 

Would the kids today get this:





Hey another video has magically appeared... somehow the auto focus got taken off but Kevin Tuffy is good to listen to none the less:

Coming up next: Haggnm Dangworth and Jose Mouthasson

Haggnm Dangworth and Jose Mouthasson are set to do another one of their patented Supper Shows and word has it that they have Shawn Killaly on drums. I happened to play a show with Shawn on the weekend so i got the scoop. I believe I'll head down and if i get the call I'm a gonna try out my latest number called "Bold Point Road".

Haggnm Dangworth and Jose Mouthasson came down to the Super Robertson Supper Show last week on my urging as i was trying to pad the Local Vocals Choir with more singers, but we had a good turnout so they were free to swill beer in the back...  Fire-Man (my other plant, but a more natural schill) and myself were swilling up front with the lyric sheets and hearts full of love.

Which begs the question... what happened last week?

Stage piano, upright bass, slide guitar, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, accordion and banjo and 15-20 singers doing "You ain't going nowwhere", "those were the days", "ring of fire", "come together", "What a way to go", "nine pound hammer", 'angle from Montgomery", "las Mananitas" and "killing the blues". Our faithful Choir leader, Queen Anna, had lyric sheets ready to go for all and i believe we had a blast. The latest feature of the Super Robertson Supper Show on the last Wednesday of the month from 7:00-8:30 PM.

OK

that's it for this blog today... unless you want to hear a story about pike fishing and nude swimming north of Cochrane Ontario, years ago.

So Super Steve,

there was some Junior Ranger Jamboree happening when i was 17, which of course is the age one would be if one were a junior ranger, as was I.  Of course that was a long time ago, when i was much lighter and a lot less defeated... but as the saying goes, "you can't change the bed you are in, so you may as well just get use to stubbin' in it". Now i am just confused.. blogging is a jackass sport...

Somehow i ended up in a pickup truck with a few people, rather than the big van with most of the Junior Rangers, and i believe we stopped by a typical norther Ontario lake (beautiful stuff) and then we tried 5 casts each in search of the monster Pike, or tasty pickerel. On around cast 3 i snagged a log with one of my "flatfish", an orange lure with hooks all over it that could snag anything.

                                                     Mine was like the one on the bottom:

I'll always remember being at the Racicots cottage and trying to walk through the woods to the lake with a flatfish on my rod... it hooks everything... trees, leaves and then you will get one hook in your finger trying to free it from leaves and then you will get hooked again trying to unhook yourself... next thing you know it is in your sisters hair and all hell has broken out.

So by around the third cast, as the story was going, i snag a log, and I'm down to my last few flatfish, and i think there is good fishing where I'm going and boats (canoe it would be) so you can get away from the loggy shoreline.  Clearly you can see that i need that flatfish.... so i have to get it... so i have to go swimming and then the logical problem... do i want wet underwear in the truck for the next portion of the ride... clearly not... I'll have to go naked.  Just to clarify one issue here... i was not worried about being naked but the debate was more over "did i want my exposed male member wriggling around in the reeds where the pike with their serious fucking teeth are ready to attack

I figured i could man it up, and did of course.. BTW the fish in the photo came out of the Congo River (as a natural scientist i needed to make that clear) but when you are naked in the lake out under water  digging your flatfish out from a log and into your finger that is the visual image you keep thinking you see out of the corner of your eye.  At least it keeps your mind off leeches and beaver fever bacterium...

So i got my lure back and all i needed was to dry off so i needed to be in the sun, and to get to the point,  i ended up standing naked on a poll that supported a guard rail of the highway because it was the easiest on the feet, could keep the feet dry, was in the sun, could pass the drying time with some balancing exercises, could keep the feet away from annoying dirt... you get the picture right... all solid good ideas... so of course i was trying to sun the area between my legs when a ministry truck drove by with the head of the Junior Ranger Program, a big wig MP from Ottawa, and a few other bureaucrats... all on their way to the Junior Ranger gathering.

I don't think they really understood what was going on, and i too had my first opportunity to learn about the effects of being naked with regard to your career development.  In my heart i don't believe that that alone was the reason for the cancellation of the Junior Ranger Program... they wanted to cancel it, they just needed an excuse.