Looking for a Venue

A friend and I are planning to put on a recital sometime next year in order to raise money for two charities (Shirley will be raising money for Canadian Hearts and Hands and I will be raising money for the Canadian Cancer Society). Our current concern is trying to find a suitable venue. Basically, it will be a piano/double-bass duet and we're already looking into some music to play together as well as our own solo material. I've been working on Bach's Cello Suite #1 in G for the past little while, so I think this will be my Solo pieces. But, we need a place that can hold a number of people and has good acoustics in the Greater Toronto Area.

More on how things are going later.

Still Miss It

It's funny how something small can trigger deep emotions and memories.

I found myself surfing the net and found myself at a-capella.com. It was here I stumbled upon Vox One, a group that I have first listened to when I was back at York U. I never had a chance to fully listen to their stuff, but after sampling a few of their songs, I wish I had paid more attention to this group.

Back to what I was talking about.

After sampling through a large number of the a capella goodness at a-capella.com, I kept thinking about how all the learning and fun I had at York; more specifically with Wibijazzn. Sight-reading and working on learning and memorizing your part, making the best sound possible and having it blend with the other sections, the trials and tribulations along with the excitement and energy that come with working so closely with such inspiring people, and creating new music and arrangements are only some of the elements that I treasure greatly and constantly reflect on, and at this particular time, can only recount. What I seem to love and miss the most, is hard to actually put into words. I guess you could call it the 'team' aspect; the idea that a group of people at this one particular moment, are completely committed into this one task. Not just the performance as a whole, or coming to a practice. It was when the group was about to hit that one 'crunchy' chord, or that one difficult passage with arpeggiated runs that were in a different key, or trying to keep time and sit in the pocket with a sick rhythm. It was those times, whether it be in practice or performance, when people would bear down and start listening just a little harder or focused just little bit more to try to hammer out the intricate details of their part. And when it all came together, it was breathtaking. Granted the breath-taking could have been from holding a note for 30sec, but that's besides the point.

I guess the real point is that there is great beauty in the music that is written, but it's the musician(s) that breathe into it its soul.

L-dia

I was looking for Musiq Soulchild's "Just Friends" video on YouTube where I stumbled upon this clip.



Check her out at myspace.com/lydiakaboesj

Props girl.

Gig Tonight: Marlowe

Sorry for the late notice.

I'll be up at the Marlowe. Here are the details.

155 York Blvd
Richmond Hill, ON
905 771 8645

Ken and I will be playing from 7 to 10.

Hope to see you there.

Quote of the Week

An economist is a surgeon with an excellent scalpel and a rough-edged lancet, who operates beautifully on the dead and tortures the living.
- Nicholas Chamfort
I'm living so far beyond my income that we may almost be said to be living apart.
- ee cummings
A joke's a very serious thing.
- Charles Churchill
The phrase "just kidding" really means "this is what I think, but I don't want to hurt your feelings".
- bassbassdude

Gig Recap: One Up

It's always great playing with a live drummer. Period. There's a certain locking and connection that happens between a drummer and bassist. Moreover, there's a character that one can discover when playing with a live drummer, as opposed to a midi drum track. Anyway, I had a great time playing up at One Up with Lianne, Glen and Dan. It went very well and everyone there had a great time.

Thanks to all for coming out and showing there support.

Gig: One Up Lounge

I'll be playing this Saturday August 18th at One Up Lounge in Toronto. Here are the details.

One Up Lounge
130 Dundas St W 2nd Floor
Just West of Bay on the North side of Dundas St
8pm to 11pm
Public parking directly across the street.

For more information, please visit oneup.ca

See you there.

Clark Terry Red Mitchell

Ever since I re-tuned my bass to 5ths I've been trying to listen to more stuff with Red Mitchell. I found this with Terry Clark and love it.




Enjoy

Recap: Marlowe Recording

With my eye acting up that night and having great difficulty keeping it open, I still found myself enjoying playing Thursday night at Marlowe's. Everyone who came out had a great time and I hope the recording came out well. Thanks to all who had a chance to come out and support us. Hope to see you again.

Live Recording Sessions @ Marlowe

Join me and Melodious Vibes on Thursday July 19th for a Live Recording Session @ The Marlowe.

Here are the details:

Marlowe Restaurant and Wine Bar
Thursday, July 19, 2007
6:00pm - 9:00pm
155 York Blvd.
Toronto, ON (Just west of 404 on Hwy 7)

Join us in this Live Recording Session and be the select few to see and hear this exclusive performance. This show will be produced and released on CD and DVD! stay tuned for more updates!

For more info on Marlowe and Melodious Vibes visit:
www.themarlowe.ca & www.melodiousvibes.com


Come on out for some good food, great music and lots of fun. Hope to see you there.

Quote of the Week

The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised.
- George F. Will
The power of positive thinking is very powerful.
- BassBassDude
We are continually faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems.
- John W. Gardner
It's kind of fun to do the impossible.
- Walt Disney

Quote of the Week

Trust is the highest form of human motivation. It brings out the very best in people.
- Stephen R. Covey

Give me five minutes and I can bring the worst out of a person. Trust me.
- BassBassDude

New Travel Announcement

Just thought I'd share with you that I will be starting my own Private Travel Agency business. This is a very exciting time for me and I will be posting more about this new venture shortly. If you would like to know how I'm doing, give me a shout.

Gig Recap

Everything went great. It's always great playing with Allan and Glen. In the next little while, there will be a couple of Tuesday nights where I will be up at Marlowe with Ken. Once things are confirmed, I'll give you better notice. The dates will most likely be July 26th, August 7th, and August 14th.

Marlowe Thursday Night

Hi all,

Looks like I will be playing with MV up at Marlowe at Leslie & Hwy 7 this Thursday June 28th.
Here's the details:

155 York Boulevard
Richmond Hill, ON L4B 3B4, Canada
(905) 771-8645

If you're available at around 7pm, come on by and say Hello.

visit: www.themarlowe.ca

City Chase - Toronto 2007

Well, I'm still licking my wounds from the Mitsubishi CityChase - Toronto race. My buddy Dave-o and I, with my brother Dean sitting on a computer at home, went through our 4th CityChase. Although, we were sporting some injuries prior to the race, we did pretty well. First off, we received an honorable mention for most clever name "Limp-A-Lot-But-Will-Finish". Soon after all the formalities were through, we headed out from Metro Hall to retreive our at the Court House. The clue sheet was loaded with over 35 chase points written in code. We headed west to the Toronto Art School (Adelaide & Spadina) and had to sketch a model. After finishing, we ran east to the Fire Hall on Adelaide where we had to hook up a fire hose and spray a target. Next we ran south King and grabbed a streetcar to a park on Walnut. There, we teamed up with another team and ran a small course on 4-person skis. We then ran north to Trinity Bellwood Park where we had to shoot a target with a paint-ball gun in 5 shots. After taking one for the team, we ran back down to King and grabbed a Westbound streetcar to Joe Rockhead's. There, we had to climb up a 20ft wall and received a 'Pass' card to jump infront of long lines. We next grabbed a bus south to the Ex and ran across Lakeshore to Ontario Place. There was a long line of about 50 teams so we used our newly-acquired 'Pass' card to jump the line. We jumped into a paddle-boat and run the Olympic course under 3 minutes and completed the Chase Point. We next found ourself at the Chinese Light exhibit where we had to run through a maze and find 4 checkpoints. After completing this point, we ran back to the Ex and grabbed the 509 Streetcar to Rees street where we had to jump into a canoe in a small urban pond. Although we almost capsized the boat, we ran the canoe through a samll course and headed East on another Streetcar. We jumped off the streetcar at a parking lot close to Harbour. There, we quickly raised $25 for Children's Wish Foundation (thanks for the donation Dave) and jumped on the Subway to Yonge and Eglinton. We headed to the Running Room just north of Eglinton and had to do a photo hunt with a camera-phone. We jumped back on the Subway to King, grabbed a street car back to Metro Hall and finished the race approximately at 4 hours and 45 minutes.

Lots of fun and I still have the welt on my backside from Dave-o's Paintball gun. Thanks to all who made this race happen and I hope to be a part of it again next year.

Video Games Live - Classic game themes Orchestrated

Now, being a retired gamer and having grown up using the scarce funds that I had playing most of these games, I must say, seeing this was pretty cool.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVHGy9XEF9I

A true blast from the past... live.

Golf Recap

Yup. I had a chance to get out on to the links for the second time this year. Some good shots, but mostly bad. I started out parring the first two holes, only to double par the following par 3 and par 5 holes. Such was the case for the front nine. 49 (I could have sworn it was a 48). Anyway, the back nine led to mostly bogeys and double bogeys. 51 with the help of some 3-putts. Anyway, a good walk spoiled; such is the life of a golfer. I wonder if this still applies if you ride a cart.

Quotes of the Week

An ideal cannot wait for its realization to prove its validity.
- George Santayana

There are no such things as applied sciences, only applications of science.
- Louis Pasteur

A user of Mac applications makes a scientist not.
- BassBassDude

Recap: Forever Plaid

The run had to come to an end.

Over the weekend, Forever Plaid at the Herongate had come to a close and I, as the bass player, am happy of the time spent in this show. I had a chance to work with some wonderful and talented people and I hope to have the opportunity to work with them again. The time spent, although long, was worth while and fun. On a side note, I never realized how well I would be able to read music with my double bass tuned in 5ths. Nor did I realize how well I would be able to fill a room with its sound. Even with both a piano and drums, my bass cut through all that sound and was able to withstand being drowned out.

I learned a lot during this run and I am very thankful for the opportunity to play at the "barn".