.. oh yeah, I'll be off the Trio gig next week (june30). I haven't booked a sub yet, but I'm one of two places next wednesday: at my brother's wedding or having a baby, whichever comes first... :)

The Trio has put two in the bag so far... last night was considerably better than the first night (last week). It felt like a band again, lots of listening and some unexpected turns. Why, oh why, do musicians seem to fall into the trap of ending songs the way they started? I mean, few films, books, plays, or dances really do that; why music? Is the musical language so foreign to the audiences ears that we can't assume they can appreciate something starting, changing, and ending? I don't know. Jazz standards are most noticeably stricken by this curse; you play the "head", solo, then play the "head" again. It would seem that jazz, of all musics, would be able to loosen itself from these shackles. In the end, it's up to us I guess to take these chances.

... I just read that Lollapalooza has been cancelled in its entirety due to poor ticket sales. WOW. So, right now, I have more gigs this summer than 30 bands who just days ago had way more gigs than me. This is a fragile business. It's a helpful reminder that music is its own reward, and the mere notion that I will pay my bills (and maybe, just maybe, save some money, or spend some money on my family and I) through music is a pretty wonderful thing. I've yet to reach any substantial notoriety in this business, and may never, but I do play my drums almost every day, and have yet to pick up a spatula and flip a burger for money, or ask "do you wear black?".....

.. new CD finds: John Abercrombie (w/Joey Baron)/Class Trip (ECM)

The Trio starts tonight, and should continue weekly all summer. I've been looking forward to this gig since it ended last fall. The venue (a restaurant called Canyon Creek) treats us well, and the music goes in lots of different places. Pre-production for the Trio has been impossible, what with everyone finishing up other projects and me expecting the expectation @ home (not yet, any day though)... So tonight we'll just wing it, and then in the next few weeks start working out of the band "book" (a collection of repertoire we want to do, as opposed to just showing up and playing the same old jazz standards all the time). The "book" requires me to do some photocopying.....

What else, the Hot Buttered Soul performance July 16 at the Docks is confirmed, although the details have changed. They originally sold it to us as a large (2000 + people) event. The reality is that it may be only a few hundred of the attendees that actually stick around for the band. So, the budget had to be scaled down, but it's all OK. They've offered us some other dates too in the future, so that make sme happy.

What else? The summer may shape up to be OK work-wise, stay tuned to the website for new dates.

Otherwise, come out on Wednesday night and say hello!

I got a call today from a promoter that stages running races (with parties attached), and they are looking for Hot Buttered Soul (my cover band) to play an event of theirs in July. We've done the Toronto Marathon through these people (we'd play on the course itself, so while the audiences were small at any given moment, literally a few thousand folks would hear us in the space of a few hours), and this race in July, they want us to play the end-party. That's cool. 2200 people, which I think would be the largest crowd this band has played for....

Anyway, details to work out, fees to be discussed, songs to learn (they want lots of classic rock). This is the business side of the music business, but I don't mind. The end result is always playing the drums (and paying the bills by it). How could I complain?

computers! such fun.

anyway, I'm re-arranging server space, so bear with the site for a few moments... the videos are offline right now, until I can find more space to keep them... but there's some great mp3 music to hear, so enjoy!

I've just put up some new audio, a track from 2001/2002 (I can't remember if it was recorded late in 01 or early in 02), from a suite of songs I did for PBJ dance projects. Laurel James is the featured vocalist, and she sounds great. I would like to officially release this stuff one day.... Anyway, go grab the mp3 and enjoy!

Ok, Canyon Creek has confirmed: we start Wednesday June 16 and for the first few weeks we'll be going 3 sets from 6pm-9pm. Once it warms up, we'll add a 4ths et until 10pm... Hope to see you there, you can get info on the venue from www.chriscawthray.com, just click on Canyon Creek's name in the performances calendar...

I just got some new cymbals, so I'm selling some old ones:

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3725513189&ssPageName=ADME:B:LC:CA:1

check 'em out. there's something funky between eBay and the Safari browser, so I couldn't get the photos up, so go to:

http://www.musicformovement.com/602.html

to see them...

not much else to report professionally right now, with the exception of the Trio at Canyon Creek I will essentially be off from June 10 to the beginning of July, in anticipation and preparation for the arrival of new (very small, in need of a lot fo assistance) person in our house.

welcome to Canada.... where your June outdoor gig may be postponed due to cold weather. :)

I got a call from Canyon Creek yesterday, they want to delay the start of the Wednesday jazz nights (we play outdoors on the patio) till the third week of June, as they fear the evenings will be too cold until then. OK. I was looking forward to getting started, but the anticipation will just be building even more now, I guess.

In other news, I've elected to change my role in the upcoming Martha Hicks ballet gigs. I am now going to be essentially a "producer" instead of performing. My dear colleague Romano DiNillo will be taking my place. Some very wonderful personal stuff is occuring around the time of the gigs that will require my entire attention, so I have chosen to limit my working hours during this time. It'll cost me money (lots, actually), but I'll make it back sooner or later.

Elvin Jones died yesterday, he will be very much missed by many drummers and music lovers (myself included). I had the pleasure of seeing him perform a number of times when I was a teenager, and he never ceased to amaze, inspire, and fill me with joy. Elvin had a sense for picking out the drummers in the crowd, and I do think he felt a kinship with them. I remember settling in to a seat right beside his drumkit one night when I was in high school, and before the set started, he came over and sat down at my table and welcomed my friend and I and he was genuinely interested in who we were and how we were doing (and he correctly guessed I was a drummer). Another drummer friend, Paul Fitterer, spontaneously related a similar story today to me. I am sure there are hundreds if not thousands of these stories out there being told today, all of them true. R.I.P. Elvin...

hello, long time no post.... here's the news:

-my Trio (with Mike Pelletier on bass and Eric Boucher on piano) will return for it's summer residency gig at Canyon Creek (a restaurant at the southwestern edge of Toronto, what was formerly called "Etobicoke"), starting Wednesday June 2, 6pm-10pm, and continuing weekly all summer. Eric can't do the first two weeks, so I'm hopeful Michael O. can sub in for him, and I anxiously await his confirmation of that.

-I am slow getting started on the prep for the Martha Hicks gig, but I will make some effort this week, it's a lot of work, and I am procrastinating like crazy. :)

- ABC (Australian Broadcast Company... Australia's national radio station), has shown interest in "winter music" for their "THE PLANET" show. I've sent off a CD (they won't make final decisions based on mp3s) and hopefully they'll dig it enough to play it.

-had lunch yesterday in Guelph, ON with Robert Blonski, the painter whose work I used for the cover of "winter music". great stuff. he has a show in Guelph right now until June 6 at the Bookshelf (a very Guelph-esque bookstore/gallery/restaurant/move theatre), also visit www.robertblonski.com

I've added some stuff to the website: some pictures and an old mp3 of Relax with Trudy; which by some reports, was probably the best power trio onstage anywhere for maybe a few seconds while we were playing. What I mean to say is that we had our moments....
I've been checking out iTunes (the store) too, and while it's not available yet for Canadian customers to shop, we can browse. They have "celebrity playlists", essentially song compilations. It's a simple thing, but the fact that the reader can actually get the songs listed immediately is quite cool... I've been thinking about making some mp3 lists of my previous bands, and then offering them on the website as condensed "best of"s for those who might be interested.

...just checking in during what has become quite a busy time... I was out on the road today doing more "outreach" dance&drums workshops in elementary schools, and have spent most of my evenings this week doing audio editing for various dance shows. That work continues tomorrow all day as well. Unfortunately, I won't even be able to see any of these shows I've been working on, since I have to move on the next project during the performances (I don't get paid to watch shows, so if work is being offered during those times, taking the work is my priority)... in other news, I just found a great piece of drum gear (a SONOR cymbal stand) on eBay... and I am enjoying a James Taylor DVD from 1998 that I just got that has the unparalleled STEVE JORDAN on drums; I'm learning alot from watching him on this DVD, and he's all over it, I guess the director found him worth watching, which we drummers should be thankful for...

I've uploaded 2 videos to chriscawthray.com.... a stage-right camera view of the dance piece from 4.24 and a song from the CC+MO 4.10 show.... watch 'em, download 'em, whatever you like... http://www.chriscawthray.com

we debuted the new dance work last night.. I'm very happy with the performance, and I love playing the piece, it's very open and simple, and the challenges inherent in that are so elusive: when something doesn't require technical facility, that doesn't make is "easy" necessarily. without pure technical hurdles, it's harder to assess the task at hand...

we shot the performance with my DV cam from a stage-right angle, and we should be getting a centre-view from the theatre; for now I'll put up our camera angle on chriscawthray.com just to give you a glimpse of what we did...

but, of course (morning after), what's next? well, I'm looking into more performance opportunities, and I think this piece would be a natural fit as a CC+MO show, as the music is more than playable by the duo, and I think stylistically, intentionally, it's in the same realm... So, perhaps a collaborative show between CC+MO and Arwyn Carpenter? we'll see... that's something worth taking on the road,IMHO...

But, before I get ahead of myself, I have to return to Earth (and finances), and do my other gigs. I have audio editing work for two dance shows to finish up for May2, three pieces to clean up and edit together for a dance show in June (music deadline is May1), then I have to begin planning out how to do my solo performances at the Martha Hicks Ballet shows June 10-13... I will be solo, but I need to be able to convey melody/harmony/ etc... all of it. I want to do it from the drums, so I may be investigating using some technology (sequences, samples, triggers) from a computer source mixed in with my instruments.. we'll see! I've basically got 3.5 weeks to figure that out before the show...

so, ok, go to www.chriscawthray.com later today to see last night's work...

summer gigs!

the Trio (myself, mike pelletier (bass), eric boucher (piano)) will be resuming our summer residency gig at Canyon Creek in Etobicoke, ON. Last summer we did Wednesday nights, 6-10, and I think it's going to be the same deal this summer. I am working out all of the details in mid-May... Suffice to say, we're very happy to be back, it proved to be quite a creative outlet last summer, and regular gigs mean regular money. :)

right now, I am overwhelmed by writing/recording/editing work for dance shows, including the 8:08. After this round of shows (I hope to be completed all of this work by end of April), I have to begin planning for the Martha Hicks School of Ballet shows, in which I perform solo (but have to sound like many musicians)... I am thinking about toying with some electronics this year, using some e-drums and samples, maybe triggering melodic/harmonic loops. Nothing new (to music in general), but very new to me....

...on the road today and tomorrow doing music and dance workshops for school children... fun stuff! Arwyn Carpenter and I are doing them together, which allows us time in the car to hash out ideas for the piece, which debuts Apr24. Lots of talk about what to do next with it, and where to find the $ to do it.... stay tuned!

setlist from saturday's cc+mo show:

jorge de capodocia (caetano veloso)
improv (cc/mo)
doxy (sonny rollins)
improv (cc/mo)
hope song (cawthray)
the oracle (dave holland)
chicken strut (the meters)

fun show... we got it all on DV, so sooner or later I'll put something on the web...

...after much deliberation (mostly with myself...), i've decided to continue making the "winter music" discs myself as home-made one-offs. The expenditure to produce 100s of discs is not really a wise move in this current industry. There is much debate of the future of CD as a commercial format, giving way to DVD or SuperAudio CD. So, for now, I can chrun 'em out at home and the buyer gets a truly independent, hand-made product, at a cheap price.
I've been thinking that maybe the direction to be moving in is towards some sort of DVD. Not a single release in DVD format, but (since the format itself can hold so much content), a DVD release that includes a video of a concert, some documentary/interview footage, "winter music" in mp3 format and playable from the DVD, and perhaps another studio project. So, you'd get a concert, a doc, and two records all on DVD.. Stay tuned...

In the meantime, I've changed the cover image on "winter music" to a painting by Robert Blonski, and the packaging is slightly different (slimline jewel case as opposed to a cardboard sleeve)...

they'll be for sale at the 4.10 show, so bring an extra five or six bucks!

... great rehearsal with MO today, a very short rehearsal (maybe 1 hour), but great. I'm excited for the show on the 10th.
... apparently they're spinning "winter music" over at CIUT FM in Toronto (89.5fm) www.ciut.fm

countdown...

12 days until the CC+MO show (we "rehearse" on thursday)
26 days until Arywn and I debut our new piece (we have four more rehearsals)

... and I have to do my taxes. :)