Hey Sister, wanna sing?

Here's my weekend update:

I said I would have pictures of my weekend and then I forgot to bring my camera. Imagine that's me and Janice in the photo singing sweetly.

Actually this is a photo of Carolyn and Mary Jane DeZurik, a.k.a., The Cackle Sisters. Click on the link and you can hear these Yodeling Queens.

Friday night I had a gig at the bar across the street, it was a 3 band show so I had lots of time for relaxing too. After the show had a select group over to the house for one last drink, and a bit of acoustic jamming. Saturday slept late, headed downtown for our weekly Rockabilly/Honky-Tonk open mike/jam thing got up and sang a couple of times with the house band, loads of fun and adult beverages with friends. Home early and a lazy evening. Sunday got up and cleaned house for about 4 hours, made chicken and dumplings, had Janice over for dinner then we rehearsed and wandered about a block down the street where we were the feature act at a little French Bistro/ spoken word venue (we sang our words).

Great crowd and sold some cd’s too. Home by 10:30 and to bed.

Great weekend all in all!

Any weekend filled with music is as good as it gets!

Do you wanna rock?

It's Fall , for real. I love this time of year!

I haven't been blogging much lately because I am sad to say, I hurt my back. I have a pre-existing condition that reared it's ugly head during a workout last Wednesday. The good news is I am stronger from my workouts and I seem to be healing pretty quickly. The bad news is I had to miss a couple of sessions. I hope to be back at it by Monday, even if I can only do some of the stuff I will try to do the rest and just stay focused. It's hard for me to sit in a chair for a long period of time so that's why no blogs for awhile.

I'm off to the jam at The Railway Club this afternoon. It's something we like to do every Saturday if we can. It's a place where some of Vancouver's best musicians gather to play music together with and for each other, and whoever wants to listen. We've been going for many years and it's a lot like family down there. It's also a great opportunity to play with people you might not normally play with. There have been countless bands formed from this Saturday afternoon jam over the years. I have been lucky enough to sing with some amazing people and Janice and I get asked to sing back-up with folks all the time too, fun!

I'll take some pictures this afternoon so you can see what it's like. If you are ever in the neighbourhood you really should check it out.

Mayne Again?

It was back to Mayne Island again on Friday night to play a wedding party for Ross and Sandra on their property. This time we had our solid rhythm section along for the ride. Here's a picture of the boys on the ferry. Kinda look like monkeys in a zoo, don't you think?

We were treated to a beautiful sunset on the ferry.

We arrived at Dave's house and had a little pre-party with the rest of the band and actually made it to bed at a reasonable hour. The next morning it was off to the local pub for a yummy breakfast. It was obvious that the wedding was going to be well attended and the folks at the pub all seemed to know we were going to be the entertainment and assured us that they had a great time at our gig the week before and there was going to be a lot of people ready to party at the wedding.

This is the view from the pub patio.

After breakfast I took a drive around the island and found Dinner Bay Park. I took a little walk through the trees and down to a pretty little beach. It would have been nice to have a swim but that water was cold.

The Japanese Garden was initiated to commemorate the island’s early Japanese Canadian settlers, was created almost entirely with equipment and time donated by the community. The gig we played the week before helped raise some money for this beautiful garden.

I thought I should check it out. I ended up having the whole garden to myself.

Back to the house for a little bit and then it was time to load up the vehicles and head over to the venue.

We arrived at the property and there was no one there, they were all at the wedding so we had a chance to set up all the gear, have a sound check and even run over some tunes.

Just as we were finishing up it started to rain. A lot.

Here is a picture of the main cabin, the entire front porch will be our stage!

The property was scattered with some really cute buildings and cabins.

Here's my favourite. Another travel trailer with a cute add on.

This is an adorable little outhouse with a sign on the side that says Nature House. I did stumble down to use it after dark. It was warm, dry, non-smelly and had a bucket of lye with a sign that said "one scoop per poop".

This little red rowboat was tucked into the corner of the yard and the swing was a lot of fun too. They also had horseshoe pits and three propane bonfires scattered around the area. A really nice set up. But.... it was really starting to rain hard when we left to go back to Dave's. We had a few hours to kill so we ate, drank, napped and showered and generally got prettied up.

Once again I seem to have packed my suitcase with my eyes closed, I sure didn't pack for a rainy, chilly show so I really ended up not having a clue what I was going to wear. I had to do some quick improvisation with a dress and a pair of scissors, I do that a lot. I managed to put together what turned out to be a cute outfit and it was time to go.

Here's a shot from the bottom of the property looking up towards the cabin/stage.

We arrived at the party in the rain and the first song was played for the bride and groom. I must say, it was my first time meeting Ross and Sandra and they were lovely people, really nice. I also couldn't help noticing that they were both extremely good looking!

And that's when the party really started!!!

The full band was Me and Rupert, Janice, Jessie, Dave, Dan and Kelly.

Here's a shot of me and Superman doing our favourite duet Jackson a-la Johnny and June.

We all put on a great show, mostly because the crowd was so incredibly into it. The rain stopped and the people danced and cheered and drank and just gave us so much fun energy that it brought our show to a new level. A real win win situation. The people of Mayne Island are pretty special. They are so friendly and welcoming and man can they party!

I just had a blast!

All good things must come to an end, we packed up sometime around 2am and loaded up the gear, back to the house and fell into bed around 3:30. Up by 10 loaded up the car with the rest of the gear and hit the ferry lineup.

Here is a picture from the car. Three ferries in this shot. They don't call it Active Pass for nothing.

Mayne Island

Wow, that was a pretty fun weekend. Mayne Island was amazing, chock full of super nice people and so pretty. The gig went off really well and we had a great time staying at Dave's beautiful house. All in all it was a great and exhausting weekend. Can't wait to go back next weekend when we will be performing at a wedding of some local folks. Those Mayners sure know how to party and have fun!

Here are some photos...

Me and Superman in the ferry line up.

We left real early because we figured there would be tons of traffic being the Friday evening of a long weekend. Turns out there was no traffic at all and we got there super early and had a pretty long wait and the ferry was late so we got to Mayne Island it was already dark.

We pulled up to Dave's house and there was a party/practice going on.We had some catching up to do. All the gear was set up in his living room so we had a full band sound, lots of songs to go over because there were several players who hadn't played together and we needed to bone up on each others stuff.

The next morning I had a chance to see the island and the property in the light of day. So beautiful and a fantastic, homey, comfy house. Imagine my surprise when I saw this...

So sweet!

We went to the pub for a yummy lunch and ran into some friends from Vancouver, small world. Here is the view from the pub patio.

After lunch we went back to Dave's and I found this on his property. I just wanted to clean it up and move in. Why am I so obsessed with travel trailers. This one could be so sweet though.

Here is a shot from the back of Dave's house looking at the sheep barn up the hill.

By now it was time to pack up all the gear and take it to the Community Centre for set up and sound check. What a beautiful venue. It's brand new and just set in a gorgeous clearing surrounded by trees. We set the band up in the adjoining tent. The walls opened up to the elements, nice for setting up in the heat.

After sound check it was back to Dave's to purdy up and de-stinkify and then it was back to the venue for the dance. When we got back to the house Superman surprised this guy just outside the back door. We later discovered he had been in the kitchen and ate through our cloth shopping bag to get to the peanut butter cookies I had brought. He also ate a bowl of Jr. Mints.

Little bugger.

People don't lock their doors on Mayne Island, they also leave their keys in the ignition of their vehicles. I talked to a guy who said when he bought his house it didn't come with keys. I think closing the doors would have been a good idea though. I think the raccoon might have been trying on some of my clothes and messing around with my makeup. Little bugger.

The place was filling up fast when we got there and the crowd was eager to hit the dance floor. Everybody was so nice and friendly and they were really digging the music so it was a lot of fun for the musicians. There was a great mix of musicians from the Mayne and some from Vancouver. I got to sing back up with everybody and did a little Boomchix mini set with Janice and some honky-tonk duets with Superman. Super fun! Here are some more pics...

I didn't get any shots of Superman or me because I was busy singing. duh. This is Janice and Dave and Jessie. That's Ned on the drums. Ned is super cute!

Check out this cool shot I got of Ned through the back of the tent.

Here are some cute young gals who were having a great time dancing the night away.

After the show we packed it all up and went back to Dave's for nightcaps and munchies. I fell into bed around 4:30 am plum tuckered out.

We were up and out by 11:30 am and back in the ferry line up desperate for a coffee. The ferry snack bar had the nerve to charge us $2 a cup for a tiny tepid, weak cup of shitty coffee. They asked if we wanted cream and sugar, we said yes and were handed 3/4 of a tiny cup of coffee. Lame.

Here are some pics from the ferry home. It was so beautiful we sat out on the deck all the way back to Tsawwassen, tired, hung over and happy.

Happy BC Day!!

Will you do your Civic Duty?

August 2, 2008
Mayne Island Community Centre Presents a
‘Hootenanny’
Community Dance Hosted By: Spank the Kitty
Featured Performers are" Spank The KittyFeaturing guest performers from:The Burrs, Boomchix,Wichita Trip & Mayne IslandSaturday, August 2 ~ 8:00 PM ~
Advance ticket: $10 / At The Door: $12 / Teens: $5Children under 12: Free
Tickets available at:Happy Tides Health Food, Tree Frog Gallery & The Trading Post

We are off to Mayne Island tonight to play this show on Saturday night.!
We've never been to Mayne Island so I am really looking forward to it. One of the organisers lives here in Vancouver but has a house over there so we will be comfortable and well looked after. Good thing because right now it's raining very, very hard. It is supposed to clear up by tomorrow, I predict it will stop raining by dinner time. Apparently Mayne Island gets a lot less rain than we do on the mainland. We won't be tenting so I'm not too worried. I am hoping to go to the Farmer's Market tomorrow and definitely want to try to get some swimming and beach time in. We are scheduled to go back again next weekend to play at a wedding. That should be fun too!
The great thing is, the people we are going over with to play both shows are the friends that we usually hang out with on the weekends. It's rare when you can get out of town with a whole group of folks that you like and get along with. Fun!
I will update with stories and lots of pictures when I get back on Sunday.

Monday is a holiday here in Canada, I just realized I don't know why. I looked it up and I found this on a government website:

August 4th,

Civic Holiday in Canada. The intent of the Civic Holiday is to "not work". So please don't work on Civic Holiday! In Canada Civic Holiday is in most cases the first Monday of August.

Ha! That's enough reason for me.

Happy Civic Holiday fellow Canuckers.

I love this country!

Did you axe me somthin'?

Today I was contacted by some friends of mine from Your Vancouver Roots (YVR) Productions BC Indie Music to do an interview for a podcast called Ladies Night. My partner in crime was asked the same questions as me but I haven't seen her answers yet. I thought I would share my answers here but you can listen to the whole podcast here. We released our first album last year and I've been having a lot of fun with the band for years. You can listen here if you like.

I'm a bit lazy so I figured I already wrote a bunch of stuff I might just as well post it here.

You can buy a copy of the cd here. Or check out our MySpace page here.

Okay, enough shameless promotion. Carry on.

Here ya go -

Q: When did you first start getting into music, and what or whom inspired you to do so?

A: I was inspired by my family. My Dad loved music and would call me over to the stereo to really listen to songs that moved him, Elvis, Roy Orbison, the Hollies, The Eagles. My Dad had a few friends who were musicians and we would have jam parties when I was a kid. We were allowed to participate and stay up late because we enjoyed it so much. My older brother started playing guitar and taking lessons when he was about 9, I was 6 and I always liked singing so I was learning harmony at a young age. I started singing in choirs in the first grade and continued to do so until I finished high school. From the grade 9-12 I was singing in a professional jazz choir all around town. I was in my first band at 15, it was a country band called The Ramblin' Rose Band. It featured my brother on bass and two other brothers on guitar and drums. Good times.

Q: Did you have any formal training - either in singing or in playing guitar/mandolin?

A: Most of my vocal training was in school singing in choirs and doing solos with the jazz band etc. Some of the most intense training I had took place when I was chosen to be in British Columbia Honour Choir two years in a row. They would choose the top 100 choir students in BC and bring in guest conductors from large American Universities. We would be billeted in different cities and our teaching workshops would be attended by music teachers from all over BC. The final concerts would be performed in large concert halls. I picked up the mandolin just a few years ago and taught myself a couple of cords. Still so much to learn there.

Q: When did you form the BoomChix, and how did that come to be?

A: 2000. Janice and I were feeling a little left out by the boys and decided to get together on our own and learn some songs. We'd show them. We had been singing together for a long time already, including another band for 7 years.

Q: Is there a particular artist whose really had a big impact/influence on you as a performer? Who - and why?

A: There are many, in the beginning we were influenced by The Indigo Girls. I remember being blown away by Blue Rodeo shows at The Commodore. R.E.M, Steve Earle, Lone Justice and of course The Beatles.

Q: What was your most memorable performance to date?

A: So many! probably one of the best, most fun shows ever was last years Honky Tonk Holiday Revue at The Commercial Drive Legion. Just such a great event supported by so many, amazing musicians and a great crowd!

Q: Do you have a dream performance - a particular place or person that you'd really love to play with or at?

A: Various Pubs around Europe, Vancouver Folk Festival main stage, The Commodore, Dear Lake Park with...Emmylou Harris or Steve Earle. Q: Is there a producer you'd really like to work with? A: I would work with Marc L'Esperance again anytime! I dunno, maybe Gurf Morlix or Bob Rock.

Q: And of course - the good ole Lottery Wish List question - if you won the lottery - what gear and/or equipment would you buy?

A: Being a singer I don't need a lot of gear, just a super nice platinum plated Shure 57 mic!

I would spend the money paying my favourite cherry picked musicians to play/tour with me. Oh, and an ultra deluxe touring bus so we could take it on the road.

Who's your daddy?

It's been a busy weekend already and we're not done yet. Friday evening we played the Country Fair in Surrey and all in all it was a lot of fun. The only thing country about it was us.
I find it really fascinating to watch how people react to live music at public events. At one point I had my camera onstage and I was snapping photos of the crowd. It reminds me that there are a LOT of people that never see live music, they don't go to clubs to catch their favourite band or they are too young to have experienced it.
At one point in the show I looked over and I saw this little guy had come up on the stage. Right away I thought there might be a problem. Superman once told a kid to get off the stage at a public event like this and was confronted by an angry parent who didn't like the way he talked to his kid. All he said was, "Get off the stage, kid". The kid wasn't upset but her Daddy was. The difference with the kid on stage this time was that he was just standing on the very edge and he never moved from that spot. He also had a little plastic guitar, and he was jamming with the band. I really think he thought he was playing, he was dead serious about the whole thing. It was pretty cute. And nobody got hurt...feelings.

Saturday was spent at a wake for a dear friend of ours who was taken from us after a really awful battle with cancer. He was way too young to go.
The wake was filled with friends, family, journalists and editors. It was just what I would want at my own wake. A bunch of people that knew me from all different aspects of my life telling stories and laughing at what a character I was. It was really beautiful, and a necessary part of dealing with a tragic death I think.
It was also a bit of a piss up and after many pints of beer and some single malt scotch in honour of our friend, we ended up at a barbeque joint drunk and hungry. Damn, we were hungry. There were four of us and we ordered some sort of platter with every kind of meat. I forgot to take a picture of the meal before we had a go at it but I found one online. The after picture was pretty gruesome.You may choose to look away if you are squeemish.

It started out looking like this- in no time at all it looked like this.

This morning we are thinking it wasn't such a great idea. It was pretty yummy though.

In a couple of hours we are off to the valley to spend the afternoon with my family and my wonderful Big Daddy.

Happy Father's Day Big Daddy!!!

...and all you other Daddies out there too!

Why isn't phonetic spelled the way it sounds?

When I was 15 years old my older brother started a band with two guys who are also brothers. The idea was that they would put together a country and western band for their sisters wedding. The guys used to rehearse in our basement because our parents were cool about that type of thing. They honestly enjoyed having assorted bad teenage bands in the basement on Saturday afternoons. Afterwords my Dad would say things like, "That drummer doesn't really know how to keep time too well." or "I think you need a new guitar player." He was usually right.

Being 15 and already being a somewhat experienced singer, I was hanging out a lot and learning all the words to the songs. Of course when the singer they had in mind for the band dropped out I told them I would sing for them until they found someone else. So there I was singing country classics at the age of 15, singing about heartache and love and drinkin' and never having experienced any of those things. I did develop a powerful crush on the drummer who was about 10 years older than me, but that's another story. After the first rehearsal the guys decided that I would be the new singer for The Ramblin' Rose Band and we had exactly one gig, the wedding, and we would learn enough material to do the whole reception.

When the wedding day finally arrived we were as ready as we could be. I had to sing the first waltz for the newly married couple, Can I Have This Dance (For The Rest Of My Life). I was so nervous in the beginning but as the night wore on it was getting more and more fun, the crowd was getting into it pretty heavily and I discovered my new calling. The reception ended up being an epic party that went late into the wee hours with lots of drinking and bridesmaids getting felt up and people telling each other what they REALLY thought of each other. I figure I sang for about 4 hours straight and I think when we ran out of material we just started at the beginning of the set list and played them all again. I loved every minute of it!

After the wedding the guys thought we should continue with the band and see if we could get some more gigs. One of the brothers lined up a bunch of shows in a row at a series of Legion Halls around the province that would require us to go on the road for a few days. I couldn't believe my luck. I mean this is exactly what I wanted to be doing. I figured I would go on the road for a while, who cares about school, I'd hone my chops and be a star by the time I could legally get in bars at 19. My parents were not so excited. They were dubious at first and never really agreed to any of it but things seemed to move forward anyway with me in denial and knowing it would all work out.

The weekend before the "tour" my brother was out for a jog at night in a local park. Running down a path, minding his own business when he was stopped short by an almost invisible chain pulled across the path. When your legs stop moving and the rest of you doesn't the natural thing to do is to throw your arms in front of you to stop your face from hitting the ground. When a person falls that hard with their arms straightened in front of them the results can be devastating. In his case it resulted in multiple fractures to BOTH elbows. He came home from the emergency room with both arms in casts crossed over his chest. Needless to say my Country and Western career was over for a while. The tour was cancelled.

Years later I sustained an almost identical injury to one of my elbows involving roller skates and homegrown. Sitting in the local Emergency room the doctor came in to give me the bad news. He said it was broken and it would require surgery eventually. I was crushed. In a bid to make me feel better the Doctor said, "Don't feel too bad, a couple of years ago I had a guy in here that broke BOTH his elbows!" He was talking about my brother.
Do you think things happen for a reason?

did you get the number of that train?

Well, last nights gig went very well. The crowd was into it, lots of people we knew showed up too. That's always nice. The band was rockin' and tight and we all enjoyed ourselves. The train went by behind the band just when I sang the train song so I told everyone that we had planned it that way. A really good night all in all.
This morning is another story. I feel as though I might have actually been run over by that train. I've had 4 hours sleep and that Chinese food I ate at 2 am is giving me a tummy ache now.
Superman ran into a friend from waaay back and lamented on how he was getting so old. I tell him all the time he's better looking every year as a lot of men do tend to age well and get more handsome, in my opinion. Then he turned to me with our heads on the pillow and told me I looked beautiful. Right then, with 4 hours sleep and hung over and all. He said he thought I was aging very well. That means a lot because we have been together since I was in my early 20's, back when I had no wrinkles and was quite a bit *ahem* thinner. That's one of the reasons I want to marry Superman, he doesn't see so well in the morning. And the buns of steel, obviously.
Did you get the number of that train?

does that train still stop here?

The sun is shining this morning and trying to turn our apartment into an oven. We face east and get the full on morning sun. I have got to get some plants out there. I need to beautify the area so we can enjoy our time out there but I keep avoiding it for some reason. I guess I'm not that confident in my abilities when it comes to container gardening.
I woke up way too early this morning. I really could have used a couple more hours of sleep because I have a gig tonight and I know my head won't be hitting the pillow any time before 3 am. We are playing at one of Vancouver's more colourful and interesting east side bars. The Princeton is a lot of fun because it come with it's own special crowd of merry misfits. They always seem keen for a good time and everybody is really friendly. Usually. You get a lot of longshoremen and working class types, neighbourhood folks and happy drunks for the most part. Good people. The best part of playing at The Princeton is that the train yards are directly behind the pub and you can actually see the trains go by the window right behind the band during the show. I can't tell you how much I love this especially when we are playing one of our "train songs" or songs about trains. Mostly songs about taking someone you love far away from you. And one pleading for the train to bring my baby back to me. Anyway it's usually good fun with good friends so I am looking forward to it. I'll let you know how it all went.

Are you coming out tonight?

don't it make my brown eyes blue?

When I was little I took baton lessons. I also took tap. Tap never did stick with me but baton stuck with me for a number of years. We would learn short routines and eventually we would be required to perform at old folks homes. I was just a little girl, maybe 5 or 6 and we would go to these funny smelling places full of old, sick people. Picture the place that Grandpa Simpson lives and you would be pretty close. The only routine I remember was a sort of sexy routine to the tune The Alley Cat Song, or something like that. I mean the old folks always seemed pretty happy to see us but I think anything would have been a good diversion. It didn't really look like a fun place to be. I remember feeling a lot of anxiety about performing there, I really wanted to do a good job and remember the routines. Looking back I think the anxiety came from the bleak, scary living conditions I witnessed.
The only other time we performed was in the Chilliwack Country Living Parade. That's where the above photo was taken. I wore many costumes for these parades but my favourite was the one pictured above. I don't have to tell you why do I? I mean the skirt was made of white shimmy fringe and there were sequins AND a cowgirl hat!! I remember how hard it was to march and remember the routine for several miles and I remember that it almost always rained. In retrospect I think it was a great training ground for the performances I do now. When I am on stage these days I still want to do a good job even if the audience smells funny and doesn't always understand why I am there. It's my duty. I just want to be a good little cowgirl. I just want to entertain you and if I have to wear a cute little outfit to do it. So be it.
Do you remember your first "performance"?