Life has been exciting and hectic and even a bit rollercoastery over the past few weeks. Here are a few things from this exhilarating time period - I will post about them... uhhh, soon...
-ERTB's trip to Morin Heights. Sarah couldn't come. However it was a magical experience... starting with packing the van.
-fan video from one of our practices (thanks Andrew!)
-more clips from the Ashton open mic (Wagon Wheel and Helpless)
...in fact, we are going to set up a wiki for Elizabeth Riley's Travelling Band, so that the multimedia can all be deposited in one place, in a collaborative fashion, rather than being randomly situated throughout the youtube continuum.
What else can I say? Heather and Ric got married. Yes they did, in a beautiful ceremony with lots of music. I enjoyed the fact that they saluted the four directions as part of the church wedding. I missed the part where they become officially married because I had to escort my 4 year old escort to the washroom. The reception was fun, but I was a bit cast down because I could not wear my silver sandals. Despite being purchased in the one of the most exciting fashion venues in the city (Value Village, natch), they indisputably are too big for me. I can only wear them on occasions that don't require movement, since I have to walk like a robot when I wear them. Maybe I should shoot some video of that, too. hmmmmmm
PS: You MUST go to the Black Sheep this Wednesday to hear Dave Norris and his cronies. Don't forget!
PS2: I found an apartment. Yes I did. Thanks for the leads and the morale-boosting!
Showing posts with label ERTB. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ERTB. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
Nostalgica report
Last night at about 7pm I was feeling a bit nervous and damning the fact that I knew for sure a few people were coming to hear us - because our AMAZING lead guitarist, Patricia Reynolds, came home from work yesterday sick sick sick!
I started playing guitar about seven years ago, entirely because of Patricia, and we've been making music ever since. I have some insecurity about my guitar skills (which I need to address with proper lessons and scales and drills, I think), and I always feel like I'm missing about half or more of my brain when I play without Patricia.
BUT - we did it! And it went really well, actually. We got good feedback from the crowd (not only our friends, also people who didn't know us from Adam). One of our most stalwart fans, Eliora, who has come to every single performance of ERTB ever, told me that the transitions went smoother than the Ashton open mics. (Because we all sing lead for different songs, we always have to do a switch instruments/switch place thing between each song.)
What else? Thanks to Eliora, Hasana, Nathaniel, Susan L., Karen and her sister Jane, Andrew (belatedly), David P. from Wakefield - thanks for coming out.
And - one more thing - a link to a posting on one of my favourite blogs. In this one, Zoom writes about learning to play the guitar as an adult: "It's okay to suck at stuff".
I started playing guitar about seven years ago, entirely because of Patricia, and we've been making music ever since. I have some insecurity about my guitar skills (which I need to address with proper lessons and scales and drills, I think), and I always feel like I'm missing about half or more of my brain when I play without Patricia.
BUT - we did it! And it went really well, actually. We got good feedback from the crowd (not only our friends, also people who didn't know us from Adam). One of our most stalwart fans, Eliora, who has come to every single performance of ERTB ever, told me that the transitions went smoother than the Ashton open mics. (Because we all sing lead for different songs, we always have to do a switch instruments/switch place thing between each song.)
What else? Thanks to Eliora, Hasana, Nathaniel, Susan L., Karen and her sister Jane, Andrew (belatedly), David P. from Wakefield - thanks for coming out.
And - one more thing - a link to a posting on one of my favourite blogs. In this one, Zoom writes about learning to play the guitar as an adult: "It's okay to suck at stuff".
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Be there or be square: Ashton part deux
Well, it went GREAT last Sunday, so we are going to do it again next Sunday - the 22nd of June, to be exact.
Sarah's lovely boyfriend shot some video, so I hope to be able to post that soon - it may be available already on our Facebook Group.
If you are interested in checking out our Facebook Group, look for "Elizabeth Riley's Travelling Band Fan Club" and join. Or add me as a "friend" and ask me for an invite to the group (or look for the link to the group on my profile).
Stay tuned...
Sarah's lovely boyfriend shot some video, so I hope to be able to post that soon - it may be available already on our Facebook Group.
If you are interested in checking out our Facebook Group, look for "Elizabeth Riley's Travelling Band Fan Club" and join. Or add me as a "friend" and ask me for an invite to the group (or look for the link to the group on my profile).
Stay tuned...
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Progress already?!
Gosh, my sabbatical hasn't even started, but I'm making progress on my sabbatical goals.
After a long winter in hibernation, finally got on a stage again. I was playing as part of Elizabeth Riley's Travelling Band, even though not all of our members were there. It's a bit of a fluid collective. We went to The Old Mill at Ashton, which has an open mic on Sunday afternoons except for July and August. I LOVE it there. I feel as comfortable as if I'm in my own living room, which could be partly because of the fact that I used to live in Ashton, and partly because of the fact that when I was four I got up and sang "Oh Sinner Man" there (backed up by my dad's band, The Jock River Boys).
The credit for the lovely atmosphere actually goes to Jaan, who hosts the open mic every week. He's a lovely and gracious man. We prepared four songs and were told while we were up there that we could do five, so we finished with "I'll Fly Away". (The first four songs were: Redemption Day, Young Women to Old, Running on Empty, When it Comes my Turn.)
Who is "we"? On this occasion, me, Patricia Reynolds and Carmel Whittle. Mike Barker and Sarah Ryan were travelling and couldn't come. But I'm hoping we can all gather this weekend for a practice and set some performance goals for the summer and maybe even the fall.
Had a recording session the previous week with Carmel. We've recorded practices before, but this was the first time I was planfully recording tracks so that other people could record their parts in a separate session. It is really, really different from just sitting around playing for fun or even more focused group rehearsal. It has pros and cons. The pros include being able to focus on only one task at a time and do a really good job, e.g. just do the guitar, don't worry about the words, then just sing and don't worry about playing well at the same time. The cons include having to kind of hype myself up a bit more to perform well - not having the buzz of fellow performers or an audience to respond to. We've got another session this week. I'm looking forward to it!
After a long winter in hibernation, finally got on a stage again. I was playing as part of Elizabeth Riley's Travelling Band, even though not all of our members were there. It's a bit of a fluid collective. We went to The Old Mill at Ashton, which has an open mic on Sunday afternoons except for July and August. I LOVE it there. I feel as comfortable as if I'm in my own living room, which could be partly because of the fact that I used to live in Ashton, and partly because of the fact that when I was four I got up and sang "Oh Sinner Man" there (backed up by my dad's band, The Jock River Boys).
The credit for the lovely atmosphere actually goes to Jaan, who hosts the open mic every week. He's a lovely and gracious man. We prepared four songs and were told while we were up there that we could do five, so we finished with "I'll Fly Away". (The first four songs were: Redemption Day, Young Women to Old, Running on Empty, When it Comes my Turn.)
Who is "we"? On this occasion, me, Patricia Reynolds and Carmel Whittle. Mike Barker and Sarah Ryan were travelling and couldn't come. But I'm hoping we can all gather this weekend for a practice and set some performance goals for the summer and maybe even the fall.
Had a recording session the previous week with Carmel. We've recorded practices before, but this was the first time I was planfully recording tracks so that other people could record their parts in a separate session. It is really, really different from just sitting around playing for fun or even more focused group rehearsal. It has pros and cons. The pros include being able to focus on only one task at a time and do a really good job, e.g. just do the guitar, don't worry about the words, then just sing and don't worry about playing well at the same time. The cons include having to kind of hype myself up a bit more to perform well - not having the buzz of fellow performers or an audience to respond to. We've got another session this week. I'm looking forward to it!
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