Vancouver Larrivée Get-Together / Jam

[ST]

Working on getting there.

Just clearing the decks.

[dermot]

I'll be hosting a casual jam this Friday, April 17 - any Vancouver-area forum members are welcome, 7:30 pm onwards, please p.m. for further details...

Mike

It's 7:26 on Friday evening, and i am still working.... no end in sight..... kinda frustrating... but beats not working....

d.

[johnny37]

Well Dermot, I just got home from Southpaw's place.  Great time, and I arrived back home at 2:30 AM.  Yes, in the morning.  What a blast.

[ST]

Dermot,

I am happy and sorry to say...

You missed a great time at Mike's (Vancouver Southpaw) place tonight.

Met some great people, caught up with old acquaintances, lots of great tunes. Got to play some really neat instruments. 

Hey Mike!

Thank you so much for inviting me.

[dermot]

5:10 am and i'm shutting down for what remains of the night.....  there's a saying in the film biz.. "sleep is for beginers".... kinda true some days....

Glad someone was having a great time..... i do enjoy what i do for the most part, but once in a while when deadlines and producer's expactations conflict i end up in the middle of it all....

this city is very pretty at 5 am.....

d.

[tuffythepug]

Mike, John, and ST,

Glad you had a good time last night.  Sure wish I could have been there.   Don't know when I'll be able to make it back to your fair city but I hope to do so some day.   I'm sure there were at least two Forum IIIs getting a workout.   How did they sound in the mix with all the other great guitars on hand ?
ST, I'd love to hear you play again.   Did anyone record some of the tunes ?  I was sittin' at home playin' by myself but my mind was in Vancouver at Mike's place.

[ST]

Once again - Thanks go out to Mike (Vancouver Southpaw) for opening his home for this great evening.

Lynn (Tuffy),

I didn't see that anyone was recording, although there were a few comments that we may not have actually sounded 'at our best' last time a recorder was running in that room.

My hands are in rough shape today. I guess I got there about 7:45 and left about five hours later. That's a lot of play-time for me - especially without an amplifier to do the heavy lifting. Because I all my playing out is done amplified, I rehearse that way too. It is pretty rare that I play straight acoustic (unplugged) and that's when just sittin' at home entertaining the cats. Playing solos with  two, sometimes three or four people strumming is a real workout for the hands. But it's not as though I was playing all night that way. I try to pick my parts. But my hands don't completely get that after a certain point, working harder doesn't get any louder when playing acoustic.

I'd say the Forum III's more than held their own in the room last night. I was pleasantly surprised out how much volume was coming out of them. Mike's (Vancouver Southpaw) mahogany is a real beauty.

[ST]

Dermot, I know the rigours or work, hurry up and wait, and the occasional bout of hours of boredom followed by moments of sheer terror. Missed you last night. But I get it. Work is work and you gotta make hay while the sun shines - even if it's while burning the midnight oil.

5:10 am and i'm shutting down for what remains of the night.....  there's a saying in the film biz.. "sleep is for beginers".... kinda true some days....

Glad someone was having a great time..... i do enjoy what i do for the most part, but once in a while when deadlines and producer's expactations conflict i end up in the middle of it all....

this city is very pretty at 5 am.....

d.

[Vancouver Southpaw]

Dermot,

I am happy and sorry to say...

You missed a great time at Mike's (Vancouver Southpaw) place tonight.

Met some great people, caught up with old acquaintances, lots of great tunes. Got to play some really neat instruments. 

Hey Mike!

Thank you so much for inviting me.

You're quite welcome....any time. I'd been fighting a vicious cold the last coupla days but was determined not to cancel, so glad it worked out for everyone. Feeling the effects of the late night today, but as the saying goes, ya gotta seize the fish.

Nice mix of people and playing styles in the room, and it was great to hear my F-III played by John, first time someone else has had a go on it.

Looking forward to the next one...Mike

[johnny37]

Looking forward to the next one...Mike

  And next time I'll give the mahogany F3 a little more time in my lap.  That's one real nice sounding guitar, and it is quite noticeably different sounding than my IS/RW.  Great mix of people there, nice to meet some new people, and introduce someone new to the crowd too.  We really enjoyed ourselves, thanks again mike for opening your home to us all.  ST, great to see you again.  I really enjoy hearing you play, and hearing what you are working on now.  Who knew, sax is pretty cool with a room full of guitars.    

[Vancouver Southpaw]

  And next time I'll give the mahogany F3 a little more time in my lap.  That's one real nice sounding guitar, and it is quite noticeably different sounding than my IS/RW.  Great mix of people there, nice to meet some new people, and introduce someone new to the crowd too.  We really enjoyed ourselves, thanks again mike for opening your home to us all.  ST, great to see you again.  I really enjoy hearing you play, and hearing what you are working on now.  Who knew, sax is pretty cool with a room full of guitars.    

I enjoy playing the sax but prefer to avoid the violins. 

Mike

[rpm60912]

Mike, John, and ST,

Glad you had a good time last night.  Sure wish I could have been there.   Don't know when I'll be able to make it back to your fair city but I hope to do so some day.   I'm sure there were at least two Forum IIIs getting a workout.   How did they sound in the mix with all the other great guitars on hand ?
ST, I'd love to hear you play again.   Did anyone record some of the tunes ?  I was sittin' at home playin' by myself but my mind was in Vancouver at Mike's place.

What? A get together just this past Saturday and I missed it? Serves me right for having been away for too long.

I sure hope I get to be there for the next git-together --- if only, to listen... okay, to ham it up with the rest.

Mike, thanks for hosting - you're a fine one!   BTW, I lost track of when you'll be in Edmonton.  I know you already gave me some info - that it's such a short window of time.  We gotta do the Satay Soup at Thanh Thanh Noodle House by The Brick.

Okay... ST and friends --- please keep organizing these!  Hope Lynn and others and I will be in Vancouver for one.

ricky

[ST]

Just reminder about the house concert  event on Friday May 29th.

Date: Friday May 29th
Location: Crescent Beach (White Rock/Surrey)

Meet and Greet:  Soft start 7:00
Event Start: 8:00

Food and Drink
Refreshments: Bring your own - it would be nice if you brought an appetizer tray or pot luck dish to share.

Provided
Sound System, microphones, stage, lighting, chairs, kitchen area for light food preparation.

Needed
Instrument: Bring your own instrument. If you have an instrument with a built-in pickup that makes things a lot simpler.
Microphone: If you have a preferred vocal microphone - please bring it.

Audience
This is a big part of making this work. Bring some family, friends, fans, supporters. If everybody does this then we can make this into a really nice house concert.


Can we talk?
Do you want to do some workshop topics? Do you have anything you'd like to bring to the table?
e.g. Preparing to play live / Working Solo / Working in an Ensemble / Vocal Techniques / Guitar Techniques / anything interest you here? / any suggestions?



Recording
Do you have any thoughts on recording? Do you have an easy way to do that?


Please post here if you are planning to come and please send me a private message with contact info so we can work out logistics for who is on stage as the night progresses.

[Danny]

   ST, I'm not going to make it. We are going out of town for a week right before this. Thanks for the PM last week.

[fongie]

Hey!, what about us Aussies, Kiwis and South Africans?   
cheers
fongie

[johnny37]

ST, it looks like I'll be there.  I'm kind of nervous about it, never having really "played out"in front of an audience of people I don't know.  Or an audience, period.  I think I'm looking forward to it though.  PM on its way to you.

[Danny]

ST, it looks like I'll be there.  I'm kind of nervous about it, never having really "played out"in front of an audience of people I don't know.  Or an audience, period.  I think I'm looking forward to it though.  PM on its way to you.

Johny, you were so relaxed and playing your heart out at Mike's place. I would think this will be something that you will have a lot of fun with. I really would like to be there too. But I'm heading too many places in the next two months as is.

[ST]

Hi John.

ST, it looks like I'll be there.  I'm kind of nervous about it, never having really "played out"in front of an audience of people I don't know.  Or an audience, period.  I think I'm looking forward to it though.  PM on its way to you.

Great news.

I'll reply in detail to your questions-probably in the morning.  Out having too much fun tonight!

[lyric_girl]

John, I'm shocked. From the way you played at Mike's place, I thought you were a seasoned pro. I'm sure you will thrill the audiece.

[ST]

Hi Johnny37,

Thanks for your great questions. With your permission I am quoting your message to me with responses below for everyone's sake. 

Hi ST
Looks like I'll be there.  None of my instruments are electric, they're all straight acoustic, so I guess they'll need to be mic'd. 

Okay John, I can work with that.

A couple of points I'm curious about...

Great Questions.

1. How long of a set is expected/usual for a performer?  For me, I'm thinking maybe 15 to 25 minutes at the outside. (3 to 5 songs, max).  Too short/ too long?

Sounds about right.
Depending on how many people are performing, we may have to tweak this a bit. I hoping we can give everyone at least 15 minutes. That translates into about 3 acts per hour including turnover time and breaks.

2.  Are "cheat sheets" acceptable?  Not because I don't know the song, but more as a "backup", maybe off to the side.

Completely okay. I'm hoping that whatever  performers do in this regard will allow their audience an unobstructed view.

    3.  Never really having played to an audience I don't know, do you have any advice or anything that I could work on, other than the material I'm going to play, that can make things better for not only myself, but also the audience? 

This is a wonderful question and I'll probably start a new discussion for this (link coming). That way we can all get involved in this extremely valuable thinking.

Edit: New discussion Prep for Vancouver House Concert - tips for performers?

Your workshop topics such as solo prep, live play prep, and guitar techniques definitely pique my interest.

Are there any topics on which you would like to lead a discussion?

[...]

I've got audience members coming too, so I think I can do my part to help this come along nicely. 

Thanks John. I'm sure that you're going to be a big part of the success for the evening.