I played a gig downtown with the Land of Deborah on Friday. Unfortunately, I forgot my guitar strap, leaving me no choice but to sit down and tap into my inner Robert Fripp.
Certain parties will no doubt be amused.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
BELATED RE-CAP of 21 TANDEM REPEATS’ ‘Going Postal’ tour 2008.
Thursday November 20th
-Gig at Railway Club, Vancouver.
Solid performance. Moderately well-attended. K. Naso on trumpet. WB on right side of stage for some reason. Something about the bass amp needing to be on the left, according to never-seen-before soundwoman.
Friday November 21st
-Gig at Chemainus. Insanely wet day. Ferry ride from Tsawassen to Duke Point was like a voyage through a grey wet haze. A. Rojas and Shockk discuss music teaching woes. Once on the island, band ensconces itself in pleasant hotel. Pool and everything. WB gets his own room. Like a small suite. Very relaxing.
Superb meal at restaurant/venue. Pork dish. Utterly exquisite and tender, as if prepared by chef of Henry VIII. Venue is virtually empty for gig. Appx. 6 people, but they listened avidly through two sets and bought CDs afterward. WB on right side of stage again. Wait...there was no stage. Virtually every song in 21tr catalogue was trotted out. Band in good form.
Back to hotel. Band watches ‘The Great Escape’ while drinking beer. WB has Newcastle Brown Ale; should have brought a bit of whiskey.
Saturday November 22nd
Breakfast in the buffet room. Nice spread. Then up to Nanaimo via Saltair route at WB’s recommendation. Bad idea; road work backs up traffic for 1/2 hour en route. Scenic nonetheless, and sun has come out.
Band loads gear into venue. Cambie hostel and pub/club. W ‘Ritchie Blackmore’ B goes off on his own to check into Coast Bastion Hotel. Nice room with good view toward Newcastle Island and beyond to Georgia Straight. Rest of band bunks in hostel.
WB meets SR at Cambie. Hip adductor injury bothering WB. Canucks game is on TV, and as if by some disastrous synchronicity Luongo suffers groin strain. He is removed from the game, but Canucks still beat Penguins in Pittsburg. Band gathers and has lunch at fish and chip shop...restaurant has pirate name and attractive tattooed proprietess.
Band lounges around WB hotel room for a few hours. WB weary/testy with injury pain not abating.
Band performance good, but undermined by errant soundman. SR sets up large sign/banner with band name on stage. Afterward, WB is congratulated by patron on good set.
“What’s the name of your band?”
“Twenty-one Tandem Repeats.”
“Ahhh...like the sign.”
Yes.
Like the sign.
Band members linger around afterward as other acts perform. WB heads back to hotel; does not sleep as well as expected. Rest of band attends afterparty and then slumbers blissfully in hostel. Irony.
November 23rd
Down to Victoria. Stop along the way at Goldstream Park. Hundreds upon hundreds of dead salmon in the river from spawning run. Nice walk, then back on road.
Lunch at John’s. SR fumes over slow service. A Rojas and Shockk go shopping.
Off to venue; late afternoon show in pub. Packed with people for music and Grey Cup. In my view this was the best gig of the tour. A quick four song set. Band was on fire, ripping through songs like 'Mr. Greenie' and 'Famous Person.' The latter is a smartly-penned tune, made all the better by Rojas-constructed guitar/bass lines that complement each other. Audience was packed about five feet from the performers...again WB on right side.
Afterward band got a fistful of drink tickets, which were good for highballs as well as beer. At last, whiskey!
Mid evening ferry ride home. At the ticket window, the cashier can’t make out WB and Rojas in back.
“Just the two of you?” she asks SR.
He replies with a non-committal murmur that leans ever so slightly toward an affirmative response, but not enough to count as a lie or deception.
On the verge of giving him an unwitting two passenger discount, she hesitates and asks one more time, at which point SR grudgingly acknowledges the two in the back. Driving away from the window, the just-slipped-away twenty dollars worth of consolation after a weekend in the red sinks in to the band leader, and with a wounded animal howl he screams...
“FUCK ME IN THE FACE!!!”
Uneventful ferry ride, then home.
Thursday November 20th
-Gig at Railway Club, Vancouver.
Solid performance. Moderately well-attended. K. Naso on trumpet. WB on right side of stage for some reason. Something about the bass amp needing to be on the left, according to never-seen-before soundwoman.
Friday November 21st
-Gig at Chemainus. Insanely wet day. Ferry ride from Tsawassen to Duke Point was like a voyage through a grey wet haze. A. Rojas and Shockk discuss music teaching woes. Once on the island, band ensconces itself in pleasant hotel. Pool and everything. WB gets his own room. Like a small suite. Very relaxing.
Superb meal at restaurant/venue. Pork dish. Utterly exquisite and tender, as if prepared by chef of Henry VIII. Venue is virtually empty for gig. Appx. 6 people, but they listened avidly through two sets and bought CDs afterward. WB on right side of stage again. Wait...there was no stage. Virtually every song in 21tr catalogue was trotted out. Band in good form.
Back to hotel. Band watches ‘The Great Escape’ while drinking beer. WB has Newcastle Brown Ale; should have brought a bit of whiskey.
Saturday November 22nd
Breakfast in the buffet room. Nice spread. Then up to Nanaimo via Saltair route at WB’s recommendation. Bad idea; road work backs up traffic for 1/2 hour en route. Scenic nonetheless, and sun has come out.
Band loads gear into venue. Cambie hostel and pub/club. W ‘Ritchie Blackmore’ B goes off on his own to check into Coast Bastion Hotel. Nice room with good view toward Newcastle Island and beyond to Georgia Straight. Rest of band bunks in hostel.
WB meets SR at Cambie. Hip adductor injury bothering WB. Canucks game is on TV, and as if by some disastrous synchronicity Luongo suffers groin strain. He is removed from the game, but Canucks still beat Penguins in Pittsburg. Band gathers and has lunch at fish and chip shop...restaurant has pirate name and attractive tattooed proprietess.
Band lounges around WB hotel room for a few hours. WB weary/testy with injury pain not abating.
Band performance good, but undermined by errant soundman. SR sets up large sign/banner with band name on stage. Afterward, WB is congratulated by patron on good set.
“What’s the name of your band?”
“Twenty-one Tandem Repeats.”
“Ahhh...like the sign.”
Yes.
Like the sign.
Band members linger around afterward as other acts perform. WB heads back to hotel; does not sleep as well as expected. Rest of band attends afterparty and then slumbers blissfully in hostel. Irony.
November 23rd
Down to Victoria. Stop along the way at Goldstream Park. Hundreds upon hundreds of dead salmon in the river from spawning run. Nice walk, then back on road.
Lunch at John’s. SR fumes over slow service. A Rojas and Shockk go shopping.
Off to venue; late afternoon show in pub. Packed with people for music and Grey Cup. In my view this was the best gig of the tour. A quick four song set. Band was on fire, ripping through songs like 'Mr. Greenie' and 'Famous Person.' The latter is a smartly-penned tune, made all the better by Rojas-constructed guitar/bass lines that complement each other. Audience was packed about five feet from the performers...again WB on right side.
Afterward band got a fistful of drink tickets, which were good for highballs as well as beer. At last, whiskey!
Mid evening ferry ride home. At the ticket window, the cashier can’t make out WB and Rojas in back.
“Just the two of you?” she asks SR.
He replies with a non-committal murmur that leans ever so slightly toward an affirmative response, but not enough to count as a lie or deception.
On the verge of giving him an unwitting two passenger discount, she hesitates and asks one more time, at which point SR grudgingly acknowledges the two in the back. Driving away from the window, the just-slipped-away twenty dollars worth of consolation after a weekend in the red sinks in to the band leader, and with a wounded animal howl he screams...
“FUCK ME IN THE FACE!!!”
Uneventful ferry ride, then home.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
BELATED RE-CAP of 21TANDEM REPEATS ‘Open for Ross Vegas Two-gig Tour 2005.’
Beautiful weekend in early August. Band consists of WB and SR, with drumming duties to be supplied on-the-fly by RV drummer.
Trip starts with an On The Buses moment when SR, who has called in sick to avoid his mailman duties for the day, emerges with gear from Jam Spot to find his Canada Post supervisor standing outside discussing mail delivery with building owner.
What are the chances!?
He furtively ducks back inside, Stan Butler style. Eventually he makes it over to collect WB, then Jeff Younger, who will play guitar for Ross Vegas.
Off to Nelson BC via the Crowsnest Highway. I’m embarrased at my lack of experience with the BC interior. I had only been on this route once before, but it was a memorable trip that I associated with the end of one phase of my life and the beginning of another; in fact, it was the beginning of my favorite era.
And now I was back weaving down the same road. JY was quiet in the back, deftly deflecting SR’s attempt to recruit him on bass for the two gigs to come. SR’s driving style reminded me of my late father’s, who once advised me that following the preceding car at a close distance had the advantange of not allowing ‘some bugger’ to sneak in front of you. The same philosphy seemed to be at play now, except at higher speeds and on a weaving mountain road.
We reached Nelson by late afternoon. We loaded gear into the venue and checked into a hotel, declining Hey Rock’s offer to bunk in ‘the sound man’s basement.’
Nelson is a wonderful little town. It was some years since the film ‘Roxanne’ was released, and thankfully there were no advertisements for ‘Roxanne walking tours,’ but it is pretty.
We had dinner in a funky restaurant, then headed over to the venue.
It was a Friday night, and it was an adequate crowd. The drummer picked up on the tunes quite well, considering he’d never heard them before. WB was in pretty good form in his guitarist/pseudo bassist capacity. Regrettably, SR had the volume turned down on his accoustic. This made for some sound issues.
Still the set was decent, and the rest of the evening was fun. Ross Vegas played well with a set of covers and some originals; Smash, the bass player, nailing Bob Marley bass lines that we had been listening to in the car one the way up to Nelson. A good time.
Next morning good breakfast at the hotel. Kicked around Nelson a bit then spend a pleasant afternoon down the highway with some friends of SR.
Then off to Rossland. Very small town in mountains. The venue was ski pub/restaurant. Very nice.
21TR set lasted about 12 minutes. Perhaps I’m exagerrating, but not by much. It was Ross Vegas’ evening.
The staff were very friendly, but I confess the evening dragged on. Not musically; it’s simply that you’re done and have no further role. I wandered outside for a while under all the stars. At one point, SR and I devised a plan to cut out later in the evening and get part way back to Vancouver. We’d crash in a roadside motel, then be ahead of the game in the morning.
In the end we accompanied the rest of the band to Hey Rock’s parents house where everone fell about the place, to quote Thin Lizzy.
We were up early the next morning, a Sunday. More hot weather and blue skies. Our first stop was at a cafe in Rossland for coffee and to-go snacks, SR’s mind-of-its-own car alarm announcing our arrival.
After that, back to Vancouver, with Jeff Younger and Smash in the back. Or was Smash in the front?
Perhaps he was, because my chief memory of the trip was a series of conversations between him and SR. Something about SR having his own TV show. The name Fire-Man came up. SR also touched on his efforts to sell jingles to advertisors, and how he had written a candy-bar jingle.
“Did you send it to anyone specifically?” asked Smash. “Or did you just address it ‘Chocolate Bar People, New York, New York?’”
Smash bought everyone milkshakes in Cawston, the we followed the winding Similkimeen back toward the Lower Mainland.
Jeff Younger chills out in the background while Smash and Super Robertson discuss their next move just outside of Hope en route back from the Interior.
Beautiful weekend in early August. Band consists of WB and SR, with drumming duties to be supplied on-the-fly by RV drummer.
Trip starts with an On The Buses moment when SR, who has called in sick to avoid his mailman duties for the day, emerges with gear from Jam Spot to find his Canada Post supervisor standing outside discussing mail delivery with building owner.
What are the chances!?
He furtively ducks back inside, Stan Butler style. Eventually he makes it over to collect WB, then Jeff Younger, who will play guitar for Ross Vegas.
Off to Nelson BC via the Crowsnest Highway. I’m embarrased at my lack of experience with the BC interior. I had only been on this route once before, but it was a memorable trip that I associated with the end of one phase of my life and the beginning of another; in fact, it was the beginning of my favorite era.
And now I was back weaving down the same road. JY was quiet in the back, deftly deflecting SR’s attempt to recruit him on bass for the two gigs to come. SR’s driving style reminded me of my late father’s, who once advised me that following the preceding car at a close distance had the advantange of not allowing ‘some bugger’ to sneak in front of you. The same philosphy seemed to be at play now, except at higher speeds and on a weaving mountain road.
We reached Nelson by late afternoon. We loaded gear into the venue and checked into a hotel, declining Hey Rock’s offer to bunk in ‘the sound man’s basement.’
Nelson is a wonderful little town. It was some years since the film ‘Roxanne’ was released, and thankfully there were no advertisements for ‘Roxanne walking tours,’ but it is pretty.
We had dinner in a funky restaurant, then headed over to the venue.
It was a Friday night, and it was an adequate crowd. The drummer picked up on the tunes quite well, considering he’d never heard them before. WB was in pretty good form in his guitarist/pseudo bassist capacity. Regrettably, SR had the volume turned down on his accoustic. This made for some sound issues.
Still the set was decent, and the rest of the evening was fun. Ross Vegas played well with a set of covers and some originals; Smash, the bass player, nailing Bob Marley bass lines that we had been listening to in the car one the way up to Nelson. A good time.
Next morning good breakfast at the hotel. Kicked around Nelson a bit then spend a pleasant afternoon down the highway with some friends of SR.
Then off to Rossland. Very small town in mountains. The venue was ski pub/restaurant. Very nice.
21TR set lasted about 12 minutes. Perhaps I’m exagerrating, but not by much. It was Ross Vegas’ evening.
The staff were very friendly, but I confess the evening dragged on. Not musically; it’s simply that you’re done and have no further role. I wandered outside for a while under all the stars. At one point, SR and I devised a plan to cut out later in the evening and get part way back to Vancouver. We’d crash in a roadside motel, then be ahead of the game in the morning.
In the end we accompanied the rest of the band to Hey Rock’s parents house where everone fell about the place, to quote Thin Lizzy.
We were up early the next morning, a Sunday. More hot weather and blue skies. Our first stop was at a cafe in Rossland for coffee and to-go snacks, SR’s mind-of-its-own car alarm announcing our arrival.
After that, back to Vancouver, with Jeff Younger and Smash in the back. Or was Smash in the front?
Perhaps he was, because my chief memory of the trip was a series of conversations between him and SR. Something about SR having his own TV show. The name Fire-Man came up. SR also touched on his efforts to sell jingles to advertisors, and how he had written a candy-bar jingle.
“Did you send it to anyone specifically?” asked Smash. “Or did you just address it ‘Chocolate Bar People, New York, New York?’”
Smash bought everyone milkshakes in Cawston, the we followed the winding Similkimeen back toward the Lower Mainland.
Jeff Younger chills out in the background while Smash and Super Robertson discuss their next move just outside of Hope en route back from the Interior.
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