Last friday night I performed as a guitar duo at the Hotel Vancouver. Would you like to know what it was like??
This event was a private engagement for the hotel chef that was retiring after his twenty-five years of service at this wonderful establishment.
Our job was to provide live background music and what made this event special was that the client asked that we play music to fit a French theme!
Fortunately playing rumba flamenco tunes by the Gipsy Kings made perfect sense as the band is based in France. Also this event allowed me to dust off all my Django Reinhardt charts. Plus a few other French titles I added to the mix such as La vie en Rose.
Anyways… here’s the Guitar Slinger video taking you behind the scenes on my gig.
Yes, it’s been awhile since my last behind the scenes gig video! August has been a slow month for live guitar performances. I really don’t mind it to much as I had kept busy with house reno’s. (Yuck!) However the old place sure looks great.
Anyways, on to the gig…
Today I was Playing solo guitar for the Fraser Valley Regional Library employee recognition celebration.
The venue was the Ramada Hotel and Convention Centre in Abbotsford, BC.
This was a great gig in a nice sounding room with a wonderful audience. The event was corporate so I performed solo guitar background music from 6 pm to 8 pm. Then I performed a couple of pieces center stage for the group.
Once I was done I stayed until the event was over to strike my gear and head home.
Here’s the latest guitar slinger video for you to join me behind the scenes at the gig…
Today I’m playing rumba flamenco guitar with guitarist Andre Stepanian at the Rocky Mountaineer Station in Vancouver. This is a private corporate event that we’ll be providing our wonderful ambient background music to all the conference guests.
Once again I had no idea what to expect walking into the gig. Today the venue was dressed up to be an indy race car track finish line. They even had a real indy car. The client took turns on stage with all the hot indy girls for a photo as though they just won the race. The event was really for an internet marketing firm and I think they wanted to make their clients feel like winners. It was all very cool.
For this gig I arrived at 3:45pm to set up. I was to enter very quietly as the event was on. I found my on site contact and was directed to the room were we would set up and play. We were to begin at 5:00pm and finish up at 6:30pm. As it was a very short gig we decided to play for the 1.5 hours without a break. The client was really nice and offered us food and beverages.
At 6:30pm it was time to pack up and browse the local music store before returning home.
It will be a corporate performance with my fiery rumba flamenco guitar trio with Andre Stepanian playing flamenco guitar and Lyndon Dewitt on percussion.
Once again I’ll be performing background music for an unknown companies annual gala event. I’ll plan to arrive at 5pm to set up and our performance will begin at 6:30pm and will play until 10:30pm.
I have no idea what to expect for this gig so I’ll be bringing a medium size system with 4 Yamaha PA speaker cabnets for the room and a single powered monitor for the band. If it’s a really big group I’ll also be using in ear monitors.
Here’s a video I shot of the shark tank with my blackberry while we were hanging out before the gig.
I plan to leave at 3:30pm and if the traffic is light as it usually is on a Sunday, I should arrive between 4:30 or 5pm. This gig is also formal attire therefore we’ll all be wearing a suit and tie.
Once I arrived I entered the aquarium to find the event coordinator to find out were we’ll be setting up. I’ve played the aquarium a number of times now and the big room we were to play in is not the best for sound. Lot’s of glass and smooth surfaces. (yuck)
We began playing after a short speech at 7:15ish, the people at the event really enjoyed us and it looks like I’ll be back next year. Unfortunately I didn’t bring cd’s as there were a number of people from the group that would of loved a copy. It’s never my intention to sell cd’s at a corporate performance however it’s always a good idea to have a few copies on hand in the car. (bad packing today)
After the gig it was time to pack up, unfortunately it was pouring rain outside. Good thing I was able to park very close and a bonus was that parking for tonight was only $2!
Last friday night I performed as a guitar duo at the Hotel Vancouver. Would you like to know what it was like??
