Today I’m performing in my passionate and fiery guitar duo for a wedding reception at the Eagle Harbour Yacht Club in West Vancouver. Joining me on the second guitar will be Andre Stepanian.
This performance will begin in the club house at 4pm and end at 8pm. It’s also a little more formal than most of the corporate performances. Usually our attire is all black. (Black dress pants and a black dress shirt). Today will be suit and tie.
Once again I’ll plan on arriving at least 1 hour before the downbeat. (Downbeat is a term musicians use to indicate the start of a bands performance)
What a beautiful place to hold a wedding reception and what a fantastic place sit, play guitar and watch the world go by. I love playing venues along the ocean. Even on a really hot day you seem to feel refreshed with a little cool air from the sea.
The toughest part about this gig was having to wait in line for the little service elevator. Also if you have claustrophobia I’d recommend hauling your gear up stairs rather than using the elevator.
So, it’s now 6pm and we’ve played our first 2 sets with 2 more to go. Everyone seems to be enjoying the music. The down side to playing beside the door is that every now and then someone will walk into us or the music stand. I guess it’s kind of a tunnel vision thing.
Unfortunately I haven’t figured out how to upload the pictures I take at these gig’s from my blackberry so it’s now the morning after the wedding and I’m uploading the photos. The gig ended very well and after we finished playing Andre and I had a glass of wine and a wonderful meal. I was back on the road at 9pm, unloaded my gear at home then I was off to a backyard pig roast! What a busy day and lost of fun.
BTW… At the wedding I met musician, singer, songwriter Damiano Angoli who plays keyboards and accordion. Damiano was performing after me and unfortunately I couldn’t hang around to listen. However, Damiano did give me a demo cd he created and it’s great! I really loved his music and hope to hear more of him in the future.
As for later today, I’ll be performing solo guitar at the Cielo Building for an outdoor patio event for Colliers International.
Stay tuned…
Hey John,
It looked like a wonderful wedding. Although I know it’s sometimes necessary, I’m not a fan of playing with a suit and tie. The tie always feels like somebody has a rope around my neck ready to hang me anytime he wants. As the joke goes: “What did the tie say to the hat? You go ahead, I’ll just hang around.”
I don’t know if you captured some pictures over there or not, but the way you described the place seems like it’s worth being seen. Waiting in line for a little elevator sucks, and since people won’t respect the fact that a musician should go first so he can fit all his gear in & have enough to set up for a performance… it’s NEVER like that! Lol Everybody just wants to jump inside all at the same time! The thought of elevators always makes me laugh because it reminds me of my mother. My mom always says, “I don’t trust that metal box called an elevator, nor do I trust those inside it who like to make it angry by pushing it’s buttons.”
I’m so glad that everyone enjoyed your music. I hope you can upload some pictures of the event (if you have them) or maybe even the music set that you played on.
~Alaa Marzouk