Stoolshed

Love to Meldau. He's my favourite pianist besides Bill Evans.

Other comment: overuse on the bold.

Additional comment: Not to romanticize heroin, but are you saying Billy Holiday would be the immortal great she was without dope? Jerry without drugs?

The same arguement can be used for any drug. I have multiple friends and musician friends who just aren't the same because of acid. Should I therefore assume that it has no purpose? Should I belittle the drug because it has ruined multiple lives? Or changed them?

I speculate that the drugs definitely have played a role in making certain musicians who they are, for good or for bad. Do you think Miles Davis would have been the same person that put out such a vast and diverse body of music without coke and heroin? I personally don't think so. It made hime the introvert, the focused nutbar that was able to chase the melody, surf the sound, put himself in the middle of the whole thing, etc. How about Lenny Breau or Roy Buchanan? Let's not even get into the Beatles!

Musicians without habits: Kenny G and Winton Marsalis.

I just don't see how you can separate someone's path and their drug use and say they would be the same person without the path.

My thoughts...

Stephen.

Jay, the cheapest way I would suggest doing email lists, which is what I do, is to have a database driven website, and have a back door on the website that lets you add to (also on the main page), edit the email list, sort in order of province, state, international, etc. In fact, I can log onto my website's back door, write my email, type in the subject line, select which or all prov/state/country I would like to send to, and it gets sent from my site, with everyone's own email address in the 'to:' line, just like a mail-merge. And it's absolutely free to do, unlike email web companies. Our webguy can do if for you cheaply. He's the bomb, and very very reasonable for a webguy.

Whenever these threads start, I must admit that I too, hate being added to people's lists, mainly if I don't know them. It's common that music industry people that I know add me to their list, and vise versa, but often it's strangers and it pisses me off. I hate spam. It's made it so that when I send out my own email list about shows, etc., I have to navigate a whole hoard of inbox defences. People often don't get the emails, or they haven't added me as a contact though they signed the list, or they just don't get the message because it's blocked because it contains a word not allowed. Or I have to get a program to test my emails first. etc. This is why I am against spam. And of course the privacy factor. If everyone who had a band or did music stuff did it, I'd get 1000 emails a day, and never get to the personal ones.

Actually, we never discussed the drive from the airport or anything with them...I'm surprised you don't know more details Jay (this last part would be in purple if I knew how).

Evolve wasn't paying the flights, or even one flight. In fact, we said for months and months we weren't too worried about lots of money, just needed to confirm a booking to use the 3 airmile flights we'd saved up over the last year. Instead we were one of the last acts booked, 40 days before the festival and by that time the airmile flights were all booked up. At that point we asked for a bit more and Evolve couldn't make it up so now we've cancelled. This is noone's business, but I wanted to clarify Jay's strangely uninformed words.

We're not playing so we announced it. This is a messageboard, not a billboard.

Go Canucks. See you all soon.

Stephen

You guys are soooo close minded. She's been legal for THREE YEARS!!! Hell, when he hit 30 she was already 3 years old. She just looked a lot older.

We regret to say that 'Stephen Franke and Noises from the Toolshed' will not be playing this years Evolve festival after all. Due to circumstances, we have cancelled our appearance.

It's too bad, we were looking forward to it, but it took them too long to get around to booking us, and by that point flights were way too much, etc.

Thanks all, and see you on the east coast during the fall, and Halloween!

Stephen

Thanks for the advice on london venues, and YES! Meggo, and BradM, there is an Ottawa stop. Because of past venue problems, we planned ahead, both bands will be at the Rainbow on Saturday October 21st. Looking forward to it! And, although I shouldn't be suggesting this, because they'll get mad, party at sharon and Bouche's house afterwards...

Stephen

Hey there, we need some help finding a good venue...

'Stephen Franke and Noises from the Toolshed' and 'Slowcoaster' are doing a joint tour of the country in October, and we're looking for a venue in London Ontario for Thursday October 19th...we've tried the Salt Lounge but are having trouble getting hold of them.

Are there any other recommended good spots? Looking for a good environment with a good PA system. Also maybe a room that cates to a wider variety of genres and ages...

thanks, if you have suggestions, leave them here or email me at: stephen at stephenfranke dot ca.

Ciao, Stephen

www.stephenfranke.ca

My bottom line: F@ck Tibet...Free Palestine.

It is beyond my understanding why the world hasn't done something about this yet. 75% unemployment, up to 20 hours a day curfew (so how could anyone work anyways), no infrastructure left, and 1 in four palestinian kids are physically afflicted in their upbringing due to starvation. Not to mention constantly assaulted by missile attacks and threatened by a biased nation that has nuclear weapons, against world policy.

I'm not saying it's one sided, because Israel has to maintain a heavy presence because they're surrounded by 7 aggressive nations.

Other important reading is the connection between USA and Israel, and why the USA continuouly vetos UN motions involved with funding or probing palestinian deaths.

Unfortunately, being someone who hates all religions equally, I'll never understand what gives the western nations (england included) the right to assign a huge chunk of land (thereby transplanting others) to a group based upon a religious fable believed by a small minority of the world (being the bible people- mainly the christians and the jews).

Stephen

I take it you're gonna be having a baby? When are you due?

I'm thrilled for you! All that stuff people say about how incredible it is, it's all true. For me it's not the 'I'm so incredibly freakin happy I'm gonna melt' stuff, it's more like the last piece of a beautiful and joyous puzzle fell into place, and I'm weirdly calmer than usual and my relationship with the world has changed it's focus most positively. Even through all the brutal lack of sleep, loss of personal freedom and inability to get normal things done, it's the thing in my life I'm most glad I committed to.

The biggest balancing act has been trying to keep up music and art (I play music; my girlfriend paints). It's easy to keep up work, because it's recognized as money, the necessary thing, but to keep your art up I find you have to focus, prioritize and sacrifice a few hours of sleep a night. I get on average 6 hours a night, but that includes 2-3 wakeups.

Worth it all the way.

Stephen.

We had a very different take on the baby in the bed situation. After 2-3 weeks in the bed with us, the baby made the move to the crib, beside the bed. After 3 more weeks, the baby moved her crib to her own little room.

Our baby is not weened (or weaned), and now in our opinion, through patience, etc, has developed what we think is good sleep patterns, and a healthy dose of trust and self-confidence by sleeping alone.

Although people who share the bed with kids find lots of good in it, likewise people who don't find the opposite. A friend of ours slept with her kid til it was 6 and now has been through a huge year of hassle because the kid wouldn't go to sleep without mama, ever! So the mother would have to lie down with the kid every night for 30min-1hr til she was asleep.

As for the west vs. east arguement, typically I find it all to be a romanticizing of a foreign culture more than truth. The west does a lot of weird screwed up things, and the east does a lot of weird screwed up things. I don't much care what the east does, or the west...

As well, I personally enjoy sleeping alone a lot. It's refreshing. I would never kick a kid out of the bed if they wanted to come in (unless we were scrogging), but for the most part, even as a kid I always enjoyed my own space: reading before bed, playing with models, "I grew up with dinosaurs..."

The other side of it...

We found, when doing research on SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome), some pretty strong claims that it's related to fire retardent in crib mattresses. It's mandatory, and by enveloping the mattress with a certain density of greenhouse grade plastic (you can buy the ready-made package cheap) they claim to have erased 100% of SIDS. We got it just to be safe.

Makes sense, because the babys weigh so little, and sleep with their nose pressed against it...

Stephen.

I've never slagged a band on this forum ( except for Randy Bachman - and he deserves it for f*cking with Lenny Breau), but I have never in my life been as mind bogglingly bored as I was at a Be Good Tanya's show. It's like watching a rich kid dress up in straggly clothes and panhandle. Or like watching Vin Diesel do drama. Ouch. And they're notoriously bitchy to each other and others. Hence they don't tour ever and are no longer a band (unless they need some press for their solo careers).

As for Kevin Breit, I'm betting he sat in at the studio when they weren't there and they never met him. Someone should ask him. C o'Phish?

Incidentally, I feel the exact opposite about Sarah Harmer. IMO, she was born with so much grit, heart and soul. I don't know why, but I feel everything she sings, mainly because I think she actually feels and means it.

Hello All,

Stephen Franke and Noises from the Toolshed

Saturday April 22nd

Logan's Pub (1821 Cook st)

w/ Jon Middleton of 'Jon and Roy'

Yet again a hometown show for us. We took the advice of folks around us and are returning to our old haunts for a show at Logan's Pub.

Hope of the victoria board folks can make it down. I hear the new stage is great and we're looking forward to the room.

See you soon,

Stephen

www.stephenfranke.ca

As per usual, we're going to post our Victoria show here because there's more than likely a few lurkers in the shadows...

Stephen Franke and Noises from the Toolshed

w/ Maurice

Friday April 7th, 2006

Steamer's Pub

It's a double bill, but we'll be hitting the stage first, as Maurice is more of a rock band and it seems appropriate...

We've got some new tunes to haul out, so I hope we see some of you there.

Stephen

www.stephenfranke.ca

I once disliked and made fun of the Barenaked Ladies. Then I heard the song Sell, Sell, Sell that they wrote and submitted on the Gas CD. I immediately developed huge respect for them.

Find it. It's up there with one of my favourite songs of alltime. The most intelligent criticism of the Bush admin I've heard through song.

Stephen.

Hey man, I'm purple. Far out. Plus I'm a sarcastic f*ck, so it's appropriate...

Ciao, Stephen

I have this to say of the venue: it was at least a venue. Without Lara's help and without the venue we couldn't have come to Ottawa at all because everything else was booked. Mavericks wouldn't even return an email, The Rainbow was booked, as was the Bayou, Irene's gave us a date, and when the proposed local band joining us decided not to play the show, immediately gave the date to someone else. Le Petit Chicago was full, The Pourhouse, Zaphod's, etc. We tried everywhere, and I'm a pretty good booker. Problem is, when we come from out of province, we typically have zero flexibility on the date.

So f@ck it. We had a great night, and we're glad we were able to come to Ottawa, and we'll keep coming back. If there's the off chance that anyone knows a local promoter to help put on shows, send them our way.

A big thanks to Lara, Dave and Bouche, because the show wouldn't have gone on without them.

Stephen.

Hmmm, thought I'd throw in some thoughts on the lack of jazz thing...

We haven't really changed or done anything different lately and we still have jazz in us, we just played a bit of a different selection of songs. This coming weekend out here on Vancouver Island, we're playing two sitdown shows, one at a small dinner theater and the other at a Church/community hall in Cumberland. Those shows will be far jazzier than you're used to because we'll be focused on catering to an all ages audience.

Sometimes when we dash in and out of Ontario, we like to rock out a bit because we're partying with everyone, and this last weekend we were sucking back tequila, beer and vodka, not to mention that after a full day of travel from Victoria, starting from leaving my house at 5am, catching planes, renting gear, driving to Hamilton, we were riding off of liquid energy alone.

In a perfect world, we'd add lots more jazz in, but we're also conscious of still playing bars, which means it's typically a late crowd, rowdier, and seeing as we still don't even break even yet, we're still focused on doing and playing whatever it takes to build a larger audience base.

We will continue to play and be influenced by jazz, we're just expanding our repertoire, and as well, we're working on a set of folk and old swing jazz tunes.

So we'll be back soon, and at that point we'll be again picking through our repertoire for stuff we feel like playing at the time.

Thanks, see y'all soon. Stephen.

Meggo, I don't know how much help I can be on the job front because my indifference to bathing and changing my clothes has ostrasized (sp?) me from the teachering community, but I can definitely bring you a Gnu/ragtime CD next time we come out. I O U. It was great to see you again, we'll be back sooner than later.

Stephen.

Thanks to everyone who came to the shows. As always we had a blast and I feel like I should sleep for a week, but life goes on...by the way Sharon, did you notice that my hottub apparel now has a fulltime home in the closet?

To clear up the A Particular Wave/Lift/gnu thing, I (Stephen Franke) was the keyboard player from A Particular Wave and played keys and guitar in Gnu and the Ragtime Millionaires. Chris Vansickle was the keyboard player from Lift. Ryland Haggis was never in Lift. Brent Norman was Lift's second drummer. Allan Cameron (our new drummer) is the old drummer from Doctor Yellowfever.

A Particular Wave, Lift and The Gnu Ragtimers were all bands from Victoria. We used to play lots of shows together because we shared a scene and on special occasions we would do a A Paricular Lift thing, which was the two bands playing a joint show and joining each other for songs.

Because of the BC ferries making it a pain to get off the island, we have an insulated music scene, so while different genres still don't mingle that much, at least everyone knows each other and is relatively friendly...

Stephen.

Bump! Leaving for Ontario at 7am tomorrow morning...

Mark your calendars...We've got three shows we're doing this coming weekend in Ontario. Canada Music Week gave us a showcase, and we booked a few shows around it because we like to play!

Thursday March 2rd, 2006: Hamilton, Pepperjack's Cafe (w. friends of Hefner)

Friday March 3rd, 2006: Toronto, CMW 2006, Cadillac Lounge (our set at midnight)

Saturday March 4th, 2006: Ottawa, Avant-Garde Bar (135 1/2 Besserer St. - w. 'Dave Rahmer' and 'Heather Kelday from Barefoot')

Our show in Toronto on Friday March 3rd at midnight is at the Cadillac Lounge (1296 Queen st. W), but we're only playing for 45 minutes, so we encourage everyone in the Toronto area who wants to see a full night of music, to come to our Hamilton show the night before. Pepperjack's is an awesome place!

As well, we love Ottawa and it'll be a great night, so come early for the openers. Their great! Doors at 9pm, music around 10pm.

See you there.

Ciao, Stephen

www.stephenfranke.ca

I'm trying to get hold of you for the hockey, but am not getting any answer when I send to your hotmail account. Can you PM me your phone number? Thanks.

Stephen

Hey there, this is Stephen Franke here. We're going to try and field a team in this year's exclaim cup tournament. For those who don't know what it is, every easter weekend, musicians and other entertainment industry folks and friends get together in toronto and play a big tourney. About 400 players and 30 teams show up, 3 divisions, good parties, etc.

Our deadline is coming up on February 20th, and we may need a few more players to round out the team. Anyone interested? I must add, that although we respect all players, we would like to field a relatively competitive team, because you play more games that way, and it sucks to fly into Toronto for 3 games...What I'm saying is, having a long history with hockey is a good thing.

Anyone interested, email me at: stephen@stephenfranke.ca

Let the games begin.

Jesus Bradm, you even beat me to the announcement, and I'm the guy booking the show! It was only confirmed yesterday afternoon.

Indeed with the help of Bradm and Lara Purvis, we finally found a venue for Saturday March 4th. If they have a PA, great, and if not, Dave Lauzon has offered to lend one, and as mentioned, we can rent as well. Either way, we made it our mission to find a venue in Ottawa because we're coming to play til our fingers bleed, then run over to Quebec and party like crazy maritimers in Mike and Sharon's hottub til we look like prunes and they kick us out or until the chlorafecal count becomes dangerous...

Oh boy, we're excited to be coming...