video from the 11.26 gig is up on the front page of the site.... and the working copy of the YEAR IN REVIEW is up at http://www.chriscawthray.com/2004YIR.html

gig post-mortem report coming soon....

so NOW magazine and Eye Weekly both failed to print my concert listings. Thanks very much. then again, if you're reading this blog you already know about the gig....

it's gonna be a great show, hope to see you there. We're rehearsing this afternoon, then I head down to the cc3 gig, then in between other things I'm being logistical about tomorrow's show (packing drums, organizing merchandise, getting the dv camera ready...).

see you at the show!

hello hello

a few more gigs have snuck in before the end of the year, which is most welcome ($$$$$)... :) Hot Buttered Soul is doing a one-off at the Oakville Athletic Club on Saturday December11 (we usually do two-nighters there), and with any luck CC3 will do new year's at Canyon Creek (still working that out...).

I've decided to compile a year-in-review webpage that will include audio and video clips from my main "creative" projects (projects that are very much original and/or creative work, like cc+mo and the "aware" dance project). It'll be a nice way to archive the work and clear up the site for new projects (and maybe help me spur these new projects on...). So, stay tuned to the site, it should be ready before year's end...

it's my first friday not working in some way in a while... it's nice to get to chill out, but I have that paranoia that the phone will never ring again with a call for a gig. I think most musicians get this; I remember reading an interview with super-tour drummer Ricky Lawson (Michael Jackson, Phil Collins, Steely Dan, etc.) where he said the even he was worried about the phone not ringing!

anyway, last night's cc3 gig was great; I may have been lulled into a false sense of accomplishment, but for the first time it really felt like people were there to listen (we have a few regulars that are always out to listen, so forgive me if you're reading this and you're one of those wonderful folks). coincidentally, last night was the loudest (and mosty dynamic) we've ever been able to play at Canyon Creek. Did that compel people to pay attention, or did we simply finally get a listening audience? Who knows? it was nice while it lasted. :)

MO is off next Thursday, so Bruno Ierullo (who just bought himself a new Telecaster) will be filling in. Next week's big event is the cc+mo+guests show at Dancemakers on Friday night.. I got together with Darryl Huggins yesterday afternoon to run down his tunes, man, he sounds great. I'm really looking forward to performing with him again. I think the last time was in 2000...

..it occured to me that I didn't conclude a previosu post regarding venue issues for the 11/26 show.

Everything is Ok, and the show is going ahead at Dancemakers, much to the collective delight of those involved, and hopefully you the audience too...

here's an old pic of cc+m in action:

the photo worked, now I'm dangerous!


my boys, they're coming to Toronto Dec. 5, it'll be very exciting (for those that don't know, that's Keith Jarrett Gary Peacock and Jack Dejohnette...

back from Montreal. great trip. great gig. lots of fun. The Studio 303 show was sold-out, and over 50 people were turned away. THIS NEVER HAPPENS IN TORONTO. modern dance just doesn't get a chance down here; Arwyn and I were talking about it (she is actually investigating this issue in a formal academic way too...) on the drive up--that modern dance audiences are chronically small--and then we come to MTL and there's people actually ANGRY they can't get into the show.

the only bummer was that 100% of the people we knew coming to the show (about 10 folks) didn't get it. Luckily they stuck around and we got to see them at the show anyway. A group of my old students from ESA who know are at university in Montreal showed up, so that was a real treat.

As for the performance, we were happy. We went first and it felt great to perform. There were technical issues for me in terms of the drums themselves: I use this old parade bass drum and it was sliding around on the very slick floor of this performance space; the temperature in the space tightened the calfskin heads on the drum too tight too; the lighting tech removed the marker on the stage to show me where to set up the drumkit, so the placement for the show was off.. Anyway, all nuisance details.... I think for the 11.26 show I'll use my regular drums for the piece because I know they'll stay in place, then I can concentrate on playing the piece. Also, with the cold weather upon us, everywhere will have their heat on, so the calfskin drum will be difficult to keep at a low tuning...

I'm determined to add photos to my blog, let's see if I can:



if this worked, this is a photo of the Habitat housing complex that I took on Sunday while taking a chilly walk with my family.

yikes!

there's some complications brewing with the nov26 gig... turns out the venue may not have any technical and/or admin staff (administrating my rental of the space) for the rest of the month.... hopefully it should be resolved tomorrow. maybe with the resolution being a new venue. bummer.

luckily it's not too late to re-promo with regards to a venue change...

but, you know, at this point, it'd be nice to focus on the music (not likely to happen, though)

in the meantime, Hot Buttered Soul plays friday night at the Oakville Athletic Club, and we may be filming this one for a promo video... then I'm off to MTL (family in tow, we're making a vacation out of it too). Arwyn's sick right now, but sometimes the best gigs come out under less-than-great conditions...

let's hope that holds true for nov26!

great news!

my old friend and former bandmate Darryl Huggins (he was the singer in HEARSAY) is available on nov26, so he's going to do 2 or 3 tunes with CC+MO at the Dancemakers gig...

Darryl's voice is wonderful, very unique timbre and my years of writing songs for him to sing in HEARSAY (1996-1999, roughly) were very prolific for me, due in no small part to the inspiring players I had to write for. I was already looking forward to this show, but now even more so.

Coincidentally, with the exception of Arwyn, the other three performers on this show are recent proud papas of baby girls....

MO called me tuesday night (while we watching US election returns at my Grandma's, of all places; none of us could really figure out the Electoral College system, and I have my doubts about whether anyone else can either), and told me he'd forgotten that he wasn't available this Thursday for the cc3 hit. So, I spent Tuesday and Wednesday electing a sub for the gig. After many calls, Paul Neufeld (pianist extraordinaire) was available. This will be the first time I've played with Paul since a jazz giga t an Ethiopian restaurant when I was a teenager. I was woefully under-prepared for that gig (I thought bringing an 18" bass drum was all you had to do to be "jazzy"), but then again, that feeling never goes away, right? That's the beauty of the creative career: you climb mountains, and at the top, the bottom of the next (higher) mountain awaits...

I'm listening to a (paid) download of a Wayne Krantz set at 55 bar in NYC. He's selling 1-hour sets for $4.95 each at his website www.waynekrantz.com. I think his price might be a bit too high (the mp3 download itself is just one long file, so you can't listen to selected songs from the set) to encourage regular purchases (he plays weekly at 55) from myself. However, I did want to show support for both his music, and the paid download concept in general.

I plan on doing this at my site, but will offer everything for free at first (and track the interest in it from visitors). Stay tuned.

Since my last post, I've begun rehearsals with Arwyn Carpenter for our upcoming shows (nov13 in montreal and nov26 in toronto). Our first rehearsal was really just a hang, checking out what videos we have of the piece to make some notes; wonderfully, we came to the conclusion that, hey, we like this piece. This is not as simple as it sounds. The piece works. It's fun to do. AND we can see room for it to get better. So, instead of re-tooling and re-writing, we're committed to refining the work, and disciplining our performances within it.

So, we got into a dance studio up at YORK University last night and did just that. We plan to get back in the studio once more before the gig in Montreal.

Otherwise, this week I'm just playing dance classes and doing the regular cc3 hit in Burlington, actually. So, that should allow me to get some work done on promoting the nov26 show, and finish getting the music prepared for that show. The following week is a bit crazy, with classes, cc3, a drum lesson to teach, a rehearsal with Arwyn, planning/packing for Montreal (my family is coming with me), and then doing a Hot Buttered Soul gig the night before we leave for Montreal.