We are very excited to be playing the Women's Stage this Saturday night as part of Capital Pride. It en plein air in front of City Hall, Marion Dewar Plaza. The show starts at 5pm and runs til 9 - we are the second band up, so I'm estimating maybe 5:30 or 5:45 we'll be embarking on our material - it's a shortish set, 25 minutes.
Stand up close to the stage to benefit from a limited time giveaway offer ;) - we recently made a demo CD and we're going to chuck a few into the crowd.
Also, of course, the topic of who will be wearing what is causing many pre-show conversations. I was going to wear my friend Wenna's cowboy hat, but when Carmel tried it on during a practice, we all agreed that it looks so excellent on her, SHE should wear the hat. However I am very much looking forward to finally wearing a funky pair of high heels that I bought two years ago at a now-defunct consignment store in Carleton Place (three sisters - it was soooo great). They are cowboy-ish in nature, that's all I'm gonna say.
What will we be playing - a mix of covers and originals:
Shame on You
Shady Grove
Redemption Day
Young Women to Old
Women's Stories
Monday, August 24, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009
I heart Pete Medway
I met Pete when I was in grad school. At that time, he was a professor who taught in the Writing Studies stream of my program. I was not officially concentrating in Writing Studies (it's my field now, though). However, I either took or audited every course he taught, and even talked him and the department into letting me be his TA for a third year writing course that was not officially large enough to warrant a TA assignment.
His sardonic humour and habitual frown of puzzlement, not to mention a willingness to critique dearly held orthodoxies (including his own), are not intended to endear, yet Pete is loved by many, something that seemed to baffle him at times.
To talk with Pete is to participate in an ongoing experiment, a testing process for half-a-dozen theories, all of which can melt, mingle, and appear to evaporate, only to condense later into an insight that could not have taken form without going through that shared, discursive process. His enthusiasm for a new idea does not preclude his later enthusiasm for jettisoning the idea if it seems warranted. If the idea is any good, it comes around again.
At a time in my life when I was struggling to make sense of who I was and how I appeared to straddle many different worlds, finding a home in none, I found refuge at Pete's soirees, held roughly every month or two months, prefigured by a group email with the subject line: "Soireereons, enfants!".
Everyone who came had to bring, perform or enact something that they had created. The evening always encompassed a vast range of creativity and appreciation: I remember balsa-wood architectural models, dragonflies fashioned out of pipe cleaners, found music made by dangling recording devices out of windows at busy streetcorners, poems in a variety of genres, subversive posters that had been plastered all over downtown Ottawa, paintings, interactive sculptures, songs. Everyone had equal floortime to present or perform, followed by a question and discussion period.
When Pete moved back to England to work at a university there, I was sad. Sad for me and the other people who were (officially or unofficially) his students here in Ottawa. But happy for him, since he moved closer to his family.
I still miss Pete, and I really enjoy his blog. It's very petesian. Or medwavian. Or something like that!
His sardonic humour and habitual frown of puzzlement, not to mention a willingness to critique dearly held orthodoxies (including his own), are not intended to endear, yet Pete is loved by many, something that seemed to baffle him at times.
To talk with Pete is to participate in an ongoing experiment, a testing process for half-a-dozen theories, all of which can melt, mingle, and appear to evaporate, only to condense later into an insight that could not have taken form without going through that shared, discursive process. His enthusiasm for a new idea does not preclude his later enthusiasm for jettisoning the idea if it seems warranted. If the idea is any good, it comes around again.
At a time in my life when I was struggling to make sense of who I was and how I appeared to straddle many different worlds, finding a home in none, I found refuge at Pete's soirees, held roughly every month or two months, prefigured by a group email with the subject line: "Soireereons, enfants!".
Everyone who came had to bring, perform or enact something that they had created. The evening always encompassed a vast range of creativity and appreciation: I remember balsa-wood architectural models, dragonflies fashioned out of pipe cleaners, found music made by dangling recording devices out of windows at busy streetcorners, poems in a variety of genres, subversive posters that had been plastered all over downtown Ottawa, paintings, interactive sculptures, songs. Everyone had equal floortime to present or perform, followed by a question and discussion period.
When Pete moved back to England to work at a university there, I was sad. Sad for me and the other people who were (officially or unofficially) his students here in Ottawa. But happy for him, since he moved closer to his family.
I still miss Pete, and I really enjoy his blog. It's very petesian. Or medwavian. Or something like that!
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Impromptu concert
Turns out that Irene's only runs the open mic every second week in the summer - I shoulda done my research. But on the other hand, if we hadn't gone on a non-open mic weekend, we wouldn't have ended up doing an impromptu concert. Ray, thanks for the picture.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Tomorrow Irene's, then ... the World!
Hey, Elizabeth Riley is playing at Irene's open mic tomorrow afternoon (August 8th) - it starts around 2pm. We'll be running through a mini-set in preparation for our gig downtown on August 29th at the Women's Stage of Capital Pride. Whoo-hoo!
Hope to see some friendly and familiar faces tomorrow.
Cheerio!
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Blissing out to ALT
I was lucky enough to attend a rare performance by my favourite band, Astronaut Love Triangle. Here's a shot taken by Dave (the only one withOUT a pseudonym) of me and my son, playing with their discarded props in a transition between songs. I'm hoping to get their permission to do a cover of Large American Car. I can't say it's my favourite of their songs - because I can't pick a favourite - but it is the one that might be translatable in some way. Most things ALT does, you just can't imagine anyone else doing them, which is kinda part of the beauty and hilarity of it all.Go here for Zoom's review, here for the ALT blog, with links to pics pics pics... but no video, sadly.
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