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A Vegetable Band

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I was just leafing through our Maclean’s Magazine and found this one just screaming out at me! It can be found in the Feb., 25 2008 version on page 60. They call themselves “The Vienna Vegetable Orchestra” and yes they perform with vegetables as instruments.

As you see here, they have no vintage instruments. The musicians themselves create their devices fresh and daily. Talk about your green band!

The only thing I have to say is to check out the video and go to their site. I wonder what they serve back stage after a gig?

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Keep on Jammin’




Let my Zeppelin PLAY

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Just a quick post here guys and gals!

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The question of the day is …

Would you go see Zeppelin if they were in your area?

To add your voice to the petition to get them to go on a world tour, please go to this site and sign up now!

Keep on Jammin’


Oscar Peterson RIP

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I don’t know where to start on this post because I have been in a state of disbelief ever since it has happened. One of the last jazz giants Oscar Peterson has left the building. On top of it all, was Canadian! Not many people are aware of this fact, especially Canadians themselves.

He was born on August 15, 1925 in a limestone house on Delisle Street in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He played trumpet THEN piano, he had TB at the tender age of 7 then concentrated solely on piano. He did most of his recognizable contributions to jazz in the 50’s and 60’s and was best known for his impeccable playing technique. Some may have thought that was his only real gift but when he flew up or down the keys in either PPP or FFF, it was obvious the the guy knew exactly how to execute his talent like no one before. To all of you guitar speed freaks not familiar with him, think Eddie Van Halen!

Over the years he played with the many of the great Jazz Masters. He worked with Ray Brown, Herb Ellis, Ed Thigpen, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Clark Terry, and Joe Pass. Most of these are not household names, but trust me they are giants in the Jazz world!

Most of his major musical influences more well known though. They were Nat ‘King’ Cole, the legendary Art Tatum, Teddy Wilson and James P. Johnson.

Some people consider Oscar Peterson a jazz player who plays standard blues licks over and over again. Although this maybe true, he sounds like he was comfortable in blues as he was in jazz.

As they say ” the world is smaller then you think “, a great guy that I work with is his 1st cousin! He told me that his part of the family was not that close to them. He can’t remember the last time that he saw him which is sad.

I have always wanted to see this legend live, but sadly I didn’t. Not witnessing one of the last remaining great Jazz pianists to play live, is one of the many great acts that will have to be played only on DVD and regrettably not within my memory.

Oscar Peterson RIP

Keep on Jammin’ Oscar

The rebirth of Rock and Roll Heaven

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If you lived in Toronto during the 80’s you would remember a great bar called Rock and Roll Heaven at Bloor and Young. Ohhh the memories of seeing bands and meeting people in this place! My old band Pylis even played there.

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I can recall one night going there and watching Robin Trower playing with his band and met a very old friend who played in a fellow 80’s band in Brantford called Vigilants.

Robin Trower’s sound was the sound of Rocking Roll heaven during that time so check out this video to get a little taste of what it was like.

Recently Rocking Roll Heaven has had it’s rebirth in Toronto at it’s new location. I love the venue that they took over from and the outside patio is quite nice as well.

On their site they have a good schedule of who is playing and they also have a acoustic jam sessions on Sundays from 2-6 PM, I hope to do a few sets there some weekend soon!

I hope that they rekindle the feel of the old place and I wish them well.

Keep on Jammin’

Ball Media Productions

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This is a company that is owned and run by an old guitarist buddy that I use to play with way back in the day. His name is John Ball and what a success story his is.

John and I always played together but not in the same band. We hung around the same circle of friends and musicians and to make a long story short, we had different playing styles that never really over lapped. He gravitated to the harder speed metal sort of arrangements while I was under a more Progressive Rock, Jazz and to a lesser extent Pop genre.

My sister and John were closer in age and they both were in the same grade at St. John’s College. Boy did both of them get themselves into a little bit of trouble as kids during those years! Then again, I was no angel either.

His company is called Ball Media Productions and he had his humble beginnings in our home town of Brantford, Ontario. He at first started his empire with a recording studio in the basement of a well known Brantford music studio called Music and Sound. Over the years he has branched of into different area’s as he sees fit.

Now his company has a jaw dropping amount of specialized services that can now compete with the big guys!

Ball Media includes Printing/Bindery, Packaging, Branding/Indentity, CD / DVD Replication, Graphic Design and Web/Multimedia plus video area’s of expertise. Take a look for yourself and if you do need his services for anything no matter how small, just tell him “Stickman” sent you!

I wish him well with all of his company’s future endeavors but I know that he doesn’t need it!

Keep on Jammin’ Johnnie!

It’s Rocket Robin Hood

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I decided to wake up this Saturday morning very early and the TV was on. What I saw on the old idiot box, that’s what my dad called it, was Rocket Robin Hood of the 30th century.

As a kid growing up, the Saturday morning cartoons were part of the weekend routine and good old Robin, Little John and Friar Tuck were right there in the middle! The sound of the intro called In Troubled Times or the Countdown brought chills up and down my spine.

I was watching The Incredible Gem of Cosmo Khan. Seeing the name Cosmo brought to mind a inter-galactic Kramer with rag tag army of bad guys, if only he did the voice over it would have been my favorite episode!

Kramer, I mean Cosmo Khan was shrunk the tiny planet of Thor, on the outskirts of the galaxy, and held it for ransom until the U.S.S. (United Solar Systems) make Khan the Supreme War Lord of the universe! So now the U.S.S. had to ask Robin to join in their fight for the little planet. One thing though, Robin is a outlaw himself. Ok, they grant him amnesty and all is forgiven.

So the U.S.S. give the boys a ship and they take off immediately to Kramer’s, for some reason I can’t get him out of my head, Khan’s asteroid planet of Xanador to try and stop him. The ship is a bird and while descending to the planet some red neck hunters shot them down, wait there’s more!

After using their gravity boots to land safely, they finally reach Khans castle. They enter by digging under the wall using their disintegrating rays. Ok, their in.

They now must swim in the moot and get into the castle proper. Now inside, Khan is having lunch while admiring the shrunken planet of Thor on his galactic side table that has a magnetic field around it but for some reason it doesn’t work covering the top.

Now Khan is a little sleepy after his umpteenth home made solar chardonnay and finally passes out! Robin notices this flaw in the protective shield and jumps up on a ceiling beam with little John and they do some fishing, well that’s what they said. They got it, until Little John screamed out We got it and woke up Khan and he called his thugs.

Ah, it’s a two parter, can you believe it! Now I have to wake up next Saturday morning to see the Escape from Xanador episode!

Well I hope that I brought you all back to your Saturday morning cartoon memories, I know Robin did.

Keep on Jammin’ Rocket Robin Hood

Back from Vegas Baby, part 2

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So, now for the our next experience in Vegas.

Tricia, the brains behind everything technical, was trying to connect to our hotel wireless connection while I put away all of our belongings in the room.

3 hours later and countless calls downstairs and the company who is running the entire network system and we had to get a new room! Yes, 3 hours into our stay in the hotel that bragged about their wireless internet connection, we had to move to a new room!

Before we even accepted any new room, we asked if we could go to the rooms that we were offering us, to check out our connection there before even thinking about moving anywhere. It was something that they encouraged as well. Ok, that sounds like a good idea, let’s do it!

They sent us a attendant with the new rooms keys and off we went. I forgot to mention that while Tricia was attempting to connect to the system, the one and only Mr. Fab called us on our cell and wanted to get together at the Outback outside our hotel!

Now with this little factor adding to the drama of finding a room in a hurry to meet the infamous Mr. Fab, the first room was chosen. Our signal strength was pathetic at best! In total, while being in the Imperial Palace for 4 days, we had 3 connections to the internet lasting 15 minutes each. That’s right, on-line for 3 times lasting 45 minutes in total.

I do have to say that they did not charge us at all for this unacceptable service. If they did charge us then the tone of this post would be considerable different. The staff on the phone was polite both at the hotel and the Hotel Wireless company who ran the system. The only thing that was unprofessional was some of the lies they told us. They may have been small but insulting none the less.

So my advice to anyone who is going to stay in a hotel on the Las Vegas strip and want wireless connection, do not go to the Imperial Palace. They didn’t even offer us a free meal or anything at all for all our wasted time – and that wasted time trying to connect to the internet and making all those calls must have amounted to about 6 hours!

In my next Vegas post I’ll tell you about partying with Mr. Fab and all the other bloggers we met Thursday night and so on!

Keep on Jammin’

Late in the Evening drumming

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This is a song that I just love playing! It has everything a player, with heavy rythum guitar influences would want.

The rhythm is very catchy. It’s Simon and Garfunkel so everyone has at least heard the song one. The chord can be played in such a way that they all open with really big fat sounds to them!

stevegadd.jpg The biggest thing about this tune is the drummer is and drumming itself. I can play the drums at a decent level but I would love to play this song the way that only Steve Gadd can.

I have never seen a drummer play with 2 sticks in his hand but this guy certainly does and he does it well!

If your a drummer looking at this post here is a challenge for you! Go get on your kit and try this one out. Wait until you reach 0:48 on the video counter at the bottom left of the screen. Try it out and get back to us! If your not a drummer, go and get the old pots and pans out or if your not that ambitious then do it air drumming style!

Enjoy.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDU9691Q-Uw&NR=1&feature=fvwp

Keep on Jammin’

Back from Vegas Baby

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If there is only one phrase that I can use to explain Las Vegas N.V. it would be, this place is way over the top!

las-vegas.jpg The buzz of the city was not that apparent when we landed at McCarren airport. We got off the plane, picked up our luggage then got a cab. I had never seen a live palm tree before so I certainly got my fill before we reached the new Las Vegas strip. There is a new and old part of Vegas, but we were going to be exposed to the new part only. Our cabbie informed us that these trees cost the city around $30,000.00 US each.

Now the buzz of the city did not just creep up on us, it exploded right in front of our eyes!

Traveling on the strip was like entering a place similar to Disney World, but for adults! The buildings were like nothing that I had even seen before and I love my architecture. They were polished like a brand new diamond rings, while being very ornate in every fashion. They all had their own individual architectural look to them that when all put together, surprisingly did not clash at all.

The people, well they must have numbered in the 1000’s, they seemed to be walking around in all directions, looking up and gazing upon these very large temples of excess in awe, just like I was! The billboards were in a category all by themselves. If you think that time square in New York has great billboards then you have got to go to Vegas.

We then were let off at our hotel called the Imperial Palace. Before we even walked in the door, you could hear sounds and cheering like I have never heard on any CSI show or a documentary on this famous city. You could feel the sounds of the machines that everyone was on. There was a strange and unique buzz in the air to put it mildly.

After trying to navigate through the literal sea of gamblers and onlookers, desperately struggling with our bags of belongings, we finally reached the correct elevators. The people coming off them were all acting like kids in a candy shop! They were all of different ethnic backgrounds wearing smiles on their faces as wide as the desert which we just flew over.

After getting off the elevator and into the suite, we were on a this adrenalin rush like only the great city of Las Vegas could provide! I was in this dream like state of mind and was just waiting for something else to happen, this time it was not that much fun.

I’ll fill you in on the rest in another post! Stay tuned!

Keep on Jammin’

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