... by Kirstin Endemann of the Ottawa Citizen. She contacted me regarding the re-Cycles Co-op for an article she was writing, and we found we had a music connection as well.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
Monday, April 14, 2008
Upcoming IJO gig
This coming Friday night the Impressions In Jazz Orchestra offers up perhaps it's coolest program yet. We will be playing some great arrangements of the music from My Fair Lady, as arranged by Johnny Richards (best-known for his work with Stan Kenton). We'll also do the medley from West Side Story as made famous by Buddy Rich, which features your blogging drummer.
And to top it off, we'll also play a whole bunch of TV theme tunes from the 60's and 70's, mainly along the lines of spy and detective shows. So not only do I get to wail away on some great jazz, but also stuff like the theme from Hawaii Five-O, and Batman, and Perry Mason, and Star Trek...
Oh, and we'll even have Laurence Wall from CBC Radio as our "Guest MC and Quiz Master"!
For this show we are back at Dominion Chalmers Church, which has wonderful acoustics, but hard wooden pews to sit in. There are some seat pads scattered about, but you might wish to bring your own.
And to top it off, we'll also play a whole bunch of TV theme tunes from the 60's and 70's, mainly along the lines of spy and detective shows. So not only do I get to wail away on some great jazz, but also stuff like the theme from Hawaii Five-O, and Batman, and Perry Mason, and Star Trek...
Oh, and we'll even have Laurence Wall from CBC Radio as our "Guest MC and Quiz Master"!
For this show we are back at Dominion Chalmers Church, which has wonderful acoustics, but hard wooden pews to sit in. There are some seat pads scattered about, but you might wish to bring your own.
re-Cycles move
On Saturday the 5th we moved the entire re-Cycles Bicycle Co-op shop to its new address at 477 Bronson Avenue.
While a pedal-powered move would've been interesting, we had so much stuff that it was just not practical. We rented a 16-foot truck, and it took three full loads! We had a good crew of people, and the first loading to the last unloading took only 6 hours. And that included waiting a half hour for the new space to be swept of drywall dust and the floor mopped, which was supposed to have been done for us beforehand...
The new shop is quite conveniently about three blocks from my house. And I don't feel at all guilty about it, as someone else found the address. I simply approved it. ;) We were able to close on a Thursday night as usual and open the new shop for a regular Tuesday shift, so we did not miss a single evening. Which was good, as this is our busiest time of year.
And now a few photos, while I compile a full page of them for the re-Cycles website.
The old shop.
Quiet Mike and Derek hold back the pile.
The new space has two rooms plus basement storage. This is the "showroom", slowly getting organized, with the entrance to the work room just past the shelves.
Most of the moving crew after beer and pizza (some had left earlier).
While a pedal-powered move would've been interesting, we had so much stuff that it was just not practical. We rented a 16-foot truck, and it took three full loads! We had a good crew of people, and the first loading to the last unloading took only 6 hours. And that included waiting a half hour for the new space to be swept of drywall dust and the floor mopped, which was supposed to have been done for us beforehand...
The new shop is quite conveniently about three blocks from my house. And I don't feel at all guilty about it, as someone else found the address. I simply approved it. ;) We were able to close on a Thursday night as usual and open the new shop for a regular Tuesday shift, so we did not miss a single evening. Which was good, as this is our busiest time of year.
And now a few photos, while I compile a full page of them for the re-Cycles website.
The old shop.Quiet Mike and Derek hold back the pile.
The new space has two rooms plus basement storage. This is the "showroom", slowly getting organized, with the entrance to the work room just past the shelves.
Most of the moving crew after beer and pizza (some had left earlier).Tuesday, April 01, 2008
busy busy busy
I'm currently a tad swamped...
The re-Cycles Bike Co-op has entered into a partnership with Causeway Work Centre, and on top of putting this together we have been scouting for a new location in which to set up shop, as they will use our shop facilities during the day, since the co-op is only open during the evenings. The new location has been found, and we're moving in this coming Saturday!
It's going to be a ton of work moving all the bikes and tools and parts and getting the new space set up, but it'll be worth it, as we'll finally have a proper retail space, and will no longer be in our old basement space surrounded by noisy band rehearsals (yes, I know - strange irony for me to be driven half-nuts by other musicians, but even the best bands sound bad when more than one is playing at a time!).
A rather nice aspect for me is that the new space is at 477 Bronson Avenue, which is only three and a half blocks from my house. This will make it much easier to just drop by and help out, aside from my role as the co-op's Director. And no, I did not find this location for us, so I don't feel too guilty about its proximity ;)
On top of this fun, the Impressions in Jazz Orchestra has another fab show coming up on April 18 at the Dominion Chalmers Church. One of the numbers we'll be playing is the West Side Story medley made famous by Buddy Rich. Since it's a drum feature I'm doing my best to get this piece memorized, as it's eight pages long and my hands will be way too busy to turn them!
I'm also rehearsing with local bassist Tom McMahon for some shows we have coming up featuring some of his original music. And after four weeks off my gig with Propeller Dance starts its Spring season mid-month.
All in all the month of April is shaping up to be rather stimulating! Now if the snow would finish melting so I can get the cargo trike out of hibernation, as riding the winter bike and towing a trailer for the past four snowy months has lost whatever "fun" factor it may have had...
The re-Cycles Bike Co-op has entered into a partnership with Causeway Work Centre, and on top of putting this together we have been scouting for a new location in which to set up shop, as they will use our shop facilities during the day, since the co-op is only open during the evenings. The new location has been found, and we're moving in this coming Saturday!
It's going to be a ton of work moving all the bikes and tools and parts and getting the new space set up, but it'll be worth it, as we'll finally have a proper retail space, and will no longer be in our old basement space surrounded by noisy band rehearsals (yes, I know - strange irony for me to be driven half-nuts by other musicians, but even the best bands sound bad when more than one is playing at a time!).
A rather nice aspect for me is that the new space is at 477 Bronson Avenue, which is only three and a half blocks from my house. This will make it much easier to just drop by and help out, aside from my role as the co-op's Director. And no, I did not find this location for us, so I don't feel too guilty about its proximity ;)
On top of this fun, the Impressions in Jazz Orchestra has another fab show coming up on April 18 at the Dominion Chalmers Church. One of the numbers we'll be playing is the West Side Story medley made famous by Buddy Rich. Since it's a drum feature I'm doing my best to get this piece memorized, as it's eight pages long and my hands will be way too busy to turn them!
I'm also rehearsing with local bassist Tom McMahon for some shows we have coming up featuring some of his original music. And after four weeks off my gig with Propeller Dance starts its Spring season mid-month.
All in all the month of April is shaping up to be rather stimulating! Now if the snow would finish melting so I can get the cargo trike out of hibernation, as riding the winter bike and towing a trailer for the past four snowy months has lost whatever "fun" factor it may have had...
dance show
My friend Amanda Bon is a local dance artist, and she is in a show at La Nouvelle Scene this coming Thursday and Friday. She is also a very talented singer-songwriter, and I've been working with her since last September. We've done a couple of gigs and are constantly working on new music, and are in the midst of putting a demo together. Her "day job" is in Modern and Flamenco dance (both as teacher and performer) and I'm going to enjoy seeing her in action at the Friday show.
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