One week before our concerts at Blue Frog Studio and Westcoast Guitar Night Ben Woods and I dropped in on the Fort Langley Cranberry Festival to publicly rehearse a few tunes.
Join us behind the scenes in Gasoline Alley for the 2011 Fort Langley Cranberry Festival.
Here’s your Cranberry Guitar Slinger Video…
Enjoy!
Everyone kept giving me drink tickets at my gig!
Yes, I’m off to Kamloops to play Italian music for a corporate event!
Kamloops is a 3.5 hour drive North East from my home in Langley. I arrived in Kamloops and will be staying in a very cool hotel. Built in 1928 and I swear it has the worlds smallest Ottis elevator!
I’ll relax for a couple of minutes then it’s off to the Cassino for the Italian gig.
The performance went very well. I started a little earlier than originally planned and ended a few minutes earlier.
Then I was invited to enjoy a wonderful Italian dish!
Here it is, the behind the scenes video of my trip to Kamloops to play for a client appreciation Italian dinner music gig…
Click the small X at the lower right corner of the video to enlarge to full screen.
(The video may take a minute to load – the menu on the left will work once the video is fully loaded ~ Enjoy)
Now it’s time to prepare for tonight’s concert at the newly renovated Kamloops Playhouse Theatre.
Arriving at Harrison Hot Springs - Quiet this time of year
Today I’m off to Harrison Hot Springs to play solo rumba flamenco guitar for the Adult Basic Education Association of British Columbia conference.
Harrison Hot Springs Hotel and Spa
My performance is scheduled to begin at 6:45 pm. Harrison Hot Springs is approximately a 1.5 hour drive from my home in Langley so I’ll leave at 3:30 pm to allow me lots of time to get to the venue and set up.
The performance will be at the Harrison Hotel in the Cascade Rainbow ballroom.
The Cascade Rainbow room - My view from the stage
The toughest part of every corporate gig is getting the volume just right. It has to be loud enough to hear yet soft enough for conversation. This was a tough room to fill.
The clients view of my stage and setup at Harrison Hot Springs
On occasion I’ll bring a wireless system to position another powered satellite speaker in a different location to help fill the room. This would have been a good venue for the extra gear.
Fortunately the client wanted my performance to be at an intimate concert volume so filling the here became a little easier.
Everyone seemed to really enjoy the performance with an applause at the end of each song which is a little unusual during a corporate function.
The view of Harrison Lake after the gig from the hotel
Another great perk to this was that gas in Harrison was only $1.29 as opposed to $1.43 in Langley.
Tonight was a short one as the completion time was scheduled for 8:30 pm. Once again I played straight through and didn’t bother with breaks.
At 8:30 it was time to pack up and hit the road.
Next up I’ll be playing solo rumba flameco jazz guitar for a wedding reception a Vancouver’s Terminal City Club.
Stay tuned…
The back door entrance to the Vancouver Club
Today I’m off to perform solo rumba flamenco guitar for a private corporate event for HUB Insurance at the Vancouver Club on Hastings street in downtown Vancouver.
The entrance to the Grill at the Vancouver Club
Originally my performance time was to be 7 pm until 10 pm. This morning however, I received an email to play a 4 hour call. So today I’ll begin at 6 pm and play again to 10 pm.
The estimated attendance for this event will be 50. I’ll be there to provide live ambient solo guitar music for the clients reception and dinner.
The main room I was performing in
Being that this is a very small group I’ll provide a smaller sound system
consisting of 2 small PA speakers and a small powered monitor. I also bring 2 fifty foot speaker cables to place the main speakers as far apart as necessary to fill the room at a nice ambient level.
The adjoining room were I could not be seen. Only heard.
I’ll be leaving my home in Langley at 3:30pm and plan to arrive at the venue no later than 5 pm to meet my on site contact. Then it will be time to set up and get to work.
So, traffic wasn’t to bad and I arrived at the venue at 4:40 pm. The parkade is right beside the venue so it was an easy load in.
A shoe shinning station in the men's washroom, how cool is that!
For this event the client would be in two room so I set up to play in the larger room close to the door of the adjoining room. From there I could put one of my speakers in the other room to fill both.
As a rule I always bring more gear than necessary because you never know what you’ll need until you arrive on site. If I had brought in a single amp as most guitarist, I believe I could not have done a very good job filling the rooms.
My amazing beef dinner at the Vancouver Club
For this gig the main room I was in was full of people for the reception then for the dinner everyone went to the adjoining room. I performed the rest of the gig to an empty room! Of course everyone could still hear my performance. I guess it’s kind of like playing on live radio. You can’t see anyone however everyone can still hear you.
My performance set up and location in the Vancouver Club
One of the great perks to performing can sometimes be an amazing meal. As a rule I never ask for food or a drink other than water. I know musicians that have never been re-hired due to eating the clients food without an invitation.
This gig was one were I was invited to have a meal while on my break. Tonight it was beef and wow! It was amazing!
Towards the end of the event I had a lot of people thanking me for my performance. That’s always nice to hear at a corporate event that’s really all about networking and not listening to a live performance.
My performance location at the Vancouver Club
At 10 pm the last of the clients had left and it was time to pack up. Another bonus on this gig was that parking only cost me $14 instead on $18. The parking attendant had closed the till for the evening and couldn’t accept my credit card so she accepted the $14 cash I had on hand.
Stay tuned as Friday I’ll be performing another corporate event out in North Vancouver
