IJO gig

The show went very well. It's wonderful to work with fellow professionals; people that work hard to make the music happen. We did this show on four rehearsals, and some of the music was quite tricky. Each time we got together it sounded better and better, and we were rewarded by a very appreciative audience, and the room was just shy of a sell-out!

So as noted below I got Kyoto out of winter hibernation to get to this gig. Added some air to the tires, checked the brakes and shifters, and off we go. The main pain in the butt with being a drummer is moving all the gear, and that applies to getting it in and out of the venues. All of the hotels and conference centres I've been to have loading docks that are generally cheerless, dark places, sometimes with the added "bonus" of smelly garbage bins. And in many you battle for possession of the single freight elevator, which is also used by the staff, and then often face a few long hallways to your final destination.

For this gig I thought I'd be clever and bring my drums in through the lower front entrance of the hotel, bypassing the loading dock, as I remember doing a gig on one of the upper floor and it took forever to get loaded in. And while bell hops and security people tend to get fussy about equipment being moved through the front doors, this hotel has the lobby on the second floor, accessed by a driveway ramp, with doors to the ground floor underneath. The ballroom doors are about 25 feet from these doors, so I figured I'd park Kyoto right there, load up the dolly, and get the drums in before anyone objects.

And that's what I did. It worked great, and I came out and locked Kyoto to a parking meter. Then into the ballroom, which is quite large, and a long push to the back wall where I put my drums on the stage. I then looked to my left and saw the large doorway that led right onto the loading dock! Doh!! I could've parked at that dock, and moved the drums all of about 30 feet, instead of 200! So I got permission to park Kyoto there for the evening, and went and moved it. At least it made for a quick getaway at the end of the night! And it means the rest of the IJO shows there should be stress-free in terms of load-in.

And no, Kyoto is too wide to go up that ramp, otherwise I could have driven right to the stage, which is directly at the back of the dock! That would've been fun...

The crowd. And in that crowd were friends and family...

Brother Mike and his wife Jane at left, friends Andrea and Terrance on the right.

And a gaggle of HPVOoO types.


Lorenzo gets the timpani warmed up for dress rehearsal...


...and photographs his photographer.

And no, I don't get to play that silver bari sax (though it's the exact same make and model as mine) as it belongs to Mike Tremblay, who has the unfortunate seat right in front of my bass drum.

Professional photos of this event, along with hopefully audio and video, should be available soon at the IJO website.