( Correction... the open mic isn't canceled. I was just canceled from hosting it. The rest of this post is accurate.)
No sooner did go about promoting the Bar None open mic, does it get canceled. Not to say that I'm surprised...
Bar None is a great venue. That has a whole lot to do with the Bass player in this band, Geoff Chown, who is the sound tech there. But I feel that panic may be setting in over there. Anyone who has ever been in the bar business, or the music business for that matter, knows how precarious things can be. If people don't show up for the shows at a music venue, the venue will die.
I, personally, have been hoping for a venue like Bar None in Kingston, for a long time. Since the Scherzo went south anyway. It was shameful that a city of Kingston's size did not have a venue to host touring bands on a regular basis. I mean indie bands that can't fill the ale house.
I've been hearing a lot lately about how the younger kids are reluctant to pay cover. I say, get those ear buds out of your ears, that attach to your ipods, that play crappy-encoded Mp3's, and go see a band. Support Live Music!
What people don't realize is, that without supporting live music, really good recorded music will become more and more obscure. The rock band will never go away, but they may be relegated to the basement or garage, more than they would like. And that really cool band you've been telling your friends about, probably played hundreds, or thousands, of Bar None-type places before they got to the point where they entered your radar screen.
Sure, you may see the odd really bad band. But even that is more of an enriching, social experience than walking around like a zombie listening to your ipod.
Anyway, support this venue, or it will be gone.
cheers,
Tom
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Open Stage at Bar None
Folks in the Kingston area might be interested in this...
I've been hosting an open stage at Bar None , a new venue downtown, for the past couple of weeks ( on Tuesday night). For folks who can't make it out to "the burbs" for the Rose and Crown jam on Wednesday, this is an opportunity to get some jamming in, or to try out some new material.
Things get underway around 9:30 or 10 ( depending when players show up).
Bar None is behind the Burger King on Princess.
Hope to see you out.
Cheers,
Tom Savage
I've been hosting an open stage at Bar None , a new venue downtown, for the past couple of weeks ( on Tuesday night). For folks who can't make it out to "the burbs" for the Rose and Crown jam on Wednesday, this is an opportunity to get some jamming in, or to try out some new material.
Things get underway around 9:30 or 10 ( depending when players show up).
Bar None is behind the Burger King on Princess.
Hope to see you out.
Cheers,
Tom Savage
Monday, October 20, 2008
Apparent Web Site Issues
Hey Folks,
We've had some complaints that the web site is not loading properly ( error message). It'd be great if you could help me out by clicking on to the web site, and reporting back to me if there is a problem, by leaving a comment on this post.
While you're at it, might as well let the video load on the home page, to see if that is functioning properly. It all works on my computer, but I do have a Mac, so there may be issues for PC users out there.
Thanks, Tom
http://www.tomsavage.ca
We've had some complaints that the web site is not loading properly ( error message). It'd be great if you could help me out by clicking on to the web site, and reporting back to me if there is a problem, by leaving a comment on this post.
While you're at it, might as well let the video load on the home page, to see if that is functioning properly. It all works on my computer, but I do have a Mac, so there may be issues for PC users out there.
Thanks, Tom
http://www.tomsavage.ca
Sunday, October 12, 2008
East Coast tour highlights
As promised, here are the east coast tour highlights...
I think the #1 cool thing that we did, was touring the Navy ship, with Joe's buddy Gord. He took us through pretty much every nook and cranny of the vessel ( H.M.C.S. Toronto ), including the nice bar/ recreation room they had on board, complete with a vending machine that dispensed beer for a buck a can! Needless to say, we ended up spending a good share of our time on board in there. They also had crazy cheap prices on liquor. Geoff took a bunch of photos that will be posted on the Facebook page sometime soon.
Aside from the cheap beer, it was just pretty interesting to get an insight into how the Navy operated on a day-to-day basis. Definitely, a tough grind for those guys.
So, that was the most touristy-type thing we did. As for music, we played some decent venues. I think our best show was at Gus' Pub in Halifax. It wasn't looking that way at the beginning of the night. There were only about 5 people for our opening act's set. But about 2 or 3 songs into our set the place filled up with people. And they were totally diggin' what we were doing. Good times!
Another fun show was at baba's Lounge in Charlottetown. The crowd was a little light but enthusiastic. And our opener, Dan Currie and What Happened Tomorrow, rocked pretty hard. Most of all, the place just had a good vibe to it, which I find of P.E.I. in general.
We weren't sure if we were going to make the gig at all though. We were stuck on the other side of the confederation bridge for a couple of hours due to wind restrictions. They were getting 100 km per hour gusts so they wouldn't allow any vehicle with a trailer. We were tempted to lock up the trailer at a gas station, drive across, and then find gear to borrow on the island, but fortunately the bridge opened up for us so we didn't have to resort to such measures.
Look for a photo of Geoff doing his 'karate kid' stance with the confederation bridge in the background.
Generally, as with most every place we travel, the people down east are really nice and welcoming. It always makes for a good experience when you deal with friendly,genuine people.
Cheers,
Tom
I think the #1 cool thing that we did, was touring the Navy ship, with Joe's buddy Gord. He took us through pretty much every nook and cranny of the vessel ( H.M.C.S. Toronto ), including the nice bar/ recreation room they had on board, complete with a vending machine that dispensed beer for a buck a can! Needless to say, we ended up spending a good share of our time on board in there. They also had crazy cheap prices on liquor. Geoff took a bunch of photos that will be posted on the Facebook page sometime soon.
Aside from the cheap beer, it was just pretty interesting to get an insight into how the Navy operated on a day-to-day basis. Definitely, a tough grind for those guys.
So, that was the most touristy-type thing we did. As for music, we played some decent venues. I think our best show was at Gus' Pub in Halifax. It wasn't looking that way at the beginning of the night. There were only about 5 people for our opening act's set. But about 2 or 3 songs into our set the place filled up with people. And they were totally diggin' what we were doing. Good times!
Another fun show was at baba's Lounge in Charlottetown. The crowd was a little light but enthusiastic. And our opener, Dan Currie and What Happened Tomorrow, rocked pretty hard. Most of all, the place just had a good vibe to it, which I find of P.E.I. in general.
We weren't sure if we were going to make the gig at all though. We were stuck on the other side of the confederation bridge for a couple of hours due to wind restrictions. They were getting 100 km per hour gusts so they wouldn't allow any vehicle with a trailer. We were tempted to lock up the trailer at a gas station, drive across, and then find gear to borrow on the island, but fortunately the bridge opened up for us so we didn't have to resort to such measures.
Look for a photo of Geoff doing his 'karate kid' stance with the confederation bridge in the background.
Generally, as with most every place we travel, the people down east are really nice and welcoming. It always makes for a good experience when you deal with friendly,genuine people.
Cheers,
Tom
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
East coast ass-whoopin'
Some times in this life as a touring musician you just have to get yer butt kicked. Get dragged through mud a bit. It is the true test, if at the end of the day, after being crapped on from above, you are still looking forward to the next show. I believe we passed the test with flying colours.
Needless to say, our eastern Canada tour did not exactly go as planned. Beginning about 10 - 12 days before we left, we were hit the first of what would be 3 cancellations. One due to a venue closing its doors ( which really sucks because The Mersey House is a really nice place), another due to a slacker employee who pretended to be the head honcho but wasn't even working there anymore when I called to double-confirm, and the third was due ( understandably) to Hurricane Kyle. It was an outdoor show.
And it was almost 4 shows canceled...
About 2 or 3 days before we left, I get a call from a bar manager from a venue that I won't name, saying that she was going to have to cancel us because we were too country-sounding. This gig was booked at least 3-4 months previous, and she waited until 3 days before the show to listen to our music on the MySpace page. So, I basically had to beg her to not cancel, and promised we would play all cover tunes ( rock music covers). So that gig was saved. But I was less than thrilled.
I mean, as much as I may like Neil Young or Jimi Hendrix or whoever it may be, I'm not really interested in driving halfway across the country to promote their music.
It turned out to be one of those gigs where the music in between sets is louder than the band. And the music isn't remotely near the style the band is playing. In this case, they kind of ran the gamut, from ACDC to bump and grind hip-hop type stuff. I think they played that 'Crazy Bitch' song you hear a lot these days.
So, the dance floor fills in between sets, and empties during sets. It's like they have to know every word to a song in order to find the rhythm. I always found that quite bizarre.
Anyway, the band rocked. So, screw 'em!
Bitch-fest over.
Tour highlights next post!
Cheers,
Tom
Needless to say, our eastern Canada tour did not exactly go as planned. Beginning about 10 - 12 days before we left, we were hit the first of what would be 3 cancellations. One due to a venue closing its doors ( which really sucks because The Mersey House is a really nice place), another due to a slacker employee who pretended to be the head honcho but wasn't even working there anymore when I called to double-confirm, and the third was due ( understandably) to Hurricane Kyle. It was an outdoor show.
And it was almost 4 shows canceled...
About 2 or 3 days before we left, I get a call from a bar manager from a venue that I won't name, saying that she was going to have to cancel us because we were too country-sounding. This gig was booked at least 3-4 months previous, and she waited until 3 days before the show to listen to our music on the MySpace page. So, I basically had to beg her to not cancel, and promised we would play all cover tunes ( rock music covers). So that gig was saved. But I was less than thrilled.
I mean, as much as I may like Neil Young or Jimi Hendrix or whoever it may be, I'm not really interested in driving halfway across the country to promote their music.
It turned out to be one of those gigs where the music in between sets is louder than the band. And the music isn't remotely near the style the band is playing. In this case, they kind of ran the gamut, from ACDC to bump and grind hip-hop type stuff. I think they played that 'Crazy Bitch' song you hear a lot these days.
So, the dance floor fills in between sets, and empties during sets. It's like they have to know every word to a song in order to find the rhythm. I always found that quite bizarre.
Anyway, the band rocked. So, screw 'em!
Bitch-fest over.
Tour highlights next post!
Cheers,
Tom
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