mark tonin

I think Harvard Mouse might be a good choice as well in terms of an opener for the Fatties. Just a thought...

The April 14 lineup with Fat Cats, (Electric) Meat, and Mark Wilson looks sweet.

It would be a treat to open for the Fatties again at some point, and I'd love to tease those cats into chasing the mouse all the way to Ottawa!

I'd love to see a big contigent from the Ottawa area at Frontier Town in May ... it would crank things up another notch, that's for sure!

Peace, Mark

Looking forward to seeing some skanks on the floor in London! Up until now I haven't been the biggest Black Crowes fan, but lately I've been in the mood for some full-on jam rock, and many people have suggested that this band will deliver in a big way.

And apparantly the John Labatt Centre in London has pulled out of its relationship with Ticketmaster, at least that's what a Ticketmaster outlet employee told me. Which is why you can't buy tickets to the London show via Ticketmaster.

Peace, Mark

I heard Mihugh Jazzreaks is playing as well.

Yes, I think the acoustic stage will be set up right beside one of the port-a-potties.

Thanks for the morning laugh, Booche!

Peace, Mark

There is lots of great music planned for the acoustic stage as well. Here is a list of performers scheduled to play on the acoustic stage:

The Brooks Sisters

Shelley Young

Nate Coles

Mark Wilson

Scott Wicken

Mandi Hancock

Lucas Stagg

Hawk Dawsons

Mike Erb

John Mars

Peace, Mark

Diesel Dog

Saturday (late)

Saloon

be there.

Great news Doug ... thanks for posting it!

I'm glad that Mark Wilson was able to fit you guys in.

Wow, this is shaping up to be a great festival ... lots of Canadian jam favourites, that's for sure!

As far as tickets go, I don't think that they are printed yet. When I hear anything more about tickets, I'll let people know.

Peace, Mark

Here are some band additions to the May festival lineup:

Jimmy Swift Band

Slowcoaster

High Plains Drifter

Chameleon Project

Wow ... we're in for lots of great music over the course of the weekend!

Peace, Mark

Ditto to what scottieking, kitkat, and numerodos have said so far. I've been a teacher in the public high school system for the last 15 years, and for the most part, have enjoyed the job. There is a surprising amount of freedom in my job, despite the huge number of guidelines and restrictions placed on me by the ministry and administrators. I think some of this freedom comes from teaching in an elective area (Business and Law) ... often I'm the only teacher of a particular course, and there isn't the pressure of teaching to a standardized test.

I am a teacher, I teach chilren, and I will do the best job that I can in that role, given the system that I have to work within. And so far I've found enough flex in the system to suit my personality and style. But there are roadblocks and frustrations, that's for sure.

Having said that, I still question the validity, general approach, and effectiveness of our public education system. But ditto for many of our large public systems ... just look at the current state of our legal or health care systems.

When I find myself pissed at the view of some of my colleagues, or at the ministry, or at board or school officials, I do what many teachers do ... shut the classroom door and do what seems to be best for the kids in the classroom.

And yes, the public education system pays reasonably well, especially when compared to many private school jobs. That matters, and matters even more now that I have my own children that I have to support.

Peace, Mark

hopefully Neil would like our interpretation of the song if he heard it.

I'd think so. I went a few years not having heard the original and only knowing our cover of it' date=' and then finally heard it one day on the radio, and thought, wow, Neil Young sure sounds like Mark here . (Seriously!)

[/quote']

Thanks for the kind words, Dave ... you aren't so evil after all!

Looking forward to playing some music in Ottawa, and will be sure to add Time Fades Away to our list of song possibilities for that show.

Peace, Mark

I (used to) have Time Fades Away on cassette. I love this Neil Young recording, as it is a live recording and I love the raw, emotional, jammy feel to the lyrics and the music. Harvard Mouse plays the song Time Fades Away ... hopefully Neil would like our interpretation of the song if he heard it.

Peace, Mark

It was called the Come Together Music Festival, even when it was at Frontier Town. But people generally referred to it as being at Frontier Town, or at Ghost Town, and many people continued to do so, even after it moved to Izzy's.

I'm not sure why things fell through for this year at Izzy's, but they did.

There is going to be a limit on the number of tickets sold and the size of the festival in an attempt to keep the festival at a size that will stay "under the radar." This will undoubtedly disappoint some people, but many others look forward to a small grassroots Canadian music festival with 500 friends.

I will miss the on-site lakes, big trees, and facilities at Izzy's, but there is something magical about Frontier Town. It's a ghost town, it's dirty, it has a saloon, and it's where all of this "started" for me. So many friendships, so many memories ...

Peace, Mark

Here is some more info about the festival from Mark Wilson:

There will be a limited number of tickets sold to this festival, with the hope of selling out in advance. Only 500 tickets will be sold, with an advance ticket price of $65. I'm not sure about ticket locations or the on-sale date yet.

There will be three stages running - a tent stage, an acoustic stage, and a late night stage.

Mark Wilson is looking for a few volunteers to work at the gate, so email him at wilcometogether@hotmail.com if you are interested.

More info to follow.

Looking forward to returning to Frontier Town!

Peace, Mark

Willy, you are a huge music fan, and you love to listen to music, so you definitely know something about sound!

A number of people have expressed many of the same comments to me about the main stage sound at last year's two Come Together Fests that you did. A huge positive is the fact that the sound system worked for the entire weekend at both festivals, without any major problems. Yes the sound went down on one night, but that was because of a power outage caused by a tragic vehicle accident with a hydro pole on a nearby highway.

From a band perspective, the on-stage sound was very good, at least it was when I was up there. Lots of stage monitors, which was great for hearing vocals.

A number of people said that the main sound was too loud, and I agree that it was at times. It seemed like the sound was being mixed for a larger area than it needed to be. I will suggest that this could be an important issue to deal with at Frontier Town ... let's minimize the possibility of noise complaints.

Doug's mixing skills were being utilized on the acoustic stage at the Labour Day festival, and I know a number of audience members and musicians who were very happy with that.

Peace, Mark

Thanks to everyone who made it out for this ... it was a fun night, although definitely a mellower crowd than the one at the FUNdraiser show, that's for sure!

Thanks Ike, I wasn't sure if you were still around when we finally played All, or at least a chunk of it. The first time we went to play some Diesel Dog, I think one of us started playing All, one of us started into I Get Lifted, and one of us started into Animator, so it became a train-wreck in a hurry. When we finally decided to jam out on All, I think we ended up getting through a good chunk of the song, with a fun jam and timing change at the end. We like to jam out some Diesel Dog songs when we get together as a band ... we love your music! Some day we'll actually get a whole song down from start to finish!

To anyone who is interested, I'm playing at a show on Saturday March 25 at The Boathouse, with George Ensing (from Harvard Mouse), Colin Read (who has played with Harvard Mouse as a second drummer), and Matt Morris (trumpet player who sat in with us for some songs this past Saturday night). We're opening for Lucas Stagg, who is playing some great songs these days with two other people (Jesse and Marcia) ... sweet three part harmonies and some tasty guitar playing. Looking forward to that show, and to our next Harvard Mouse show in Ottawa on Sat. April 29.

Peace, Mark

** Wouldn't it be the Harvard Mouses? Like' date=' one Maple Leaf, two Maple Leafs (not two Maple Leaves).[/quote']

I'm not sure, so I took a guess; I have no objection to "Harvard Mouses", though. I suppose "members of Harvard Mouse" would work, but I found that a little cumbersome.

Aloha,

Brad

Hmmm, I'm not sure either, so I'll defer to Dr. Evil on this. He's the language guy in our band, that's for sure!

What I do know is that I am extremely excited to have an Ottawa date on my calendar! I love visiting Ottawa and the wonderful people that I've connected with over the last 5 years that call Ottawa home, I'm stoked at the thought of playing some music, and I look forward to hearing Inglewood Jack and to working on some new dance moves!

Glad to read that the March 10 show went over well. I was impressed with What The Thunder Said when I recently heard them play The Starlight in Waterloo.

Peace, Mark

Hey everyone,

I just received word from Mark Wilson that we're heading back to Frontier Ghost Town for this upcoming May long weekend festival! Lots more info in the near future, but here's a list of bands that have been confirmed so far:

Mark Wilson & The Way It Is

Caution Jam

Burt Neilson Band

Outside the Wall (Pink Floyd cover band)

Friends of Hefner

Freekbass

King Sunshine

What The Thunder Said

Harvard Mouse

Looking forward to another fantastic May long weekend!

Peace, Mark

Happy birthday KK, looking forward to celebrating with you tomorrow night at the Boathouse!

Peace, Mark

Hey everyone!

Harvard Mouse is playing this upcoming Saturday (March 11) at The Boathouse in Victoria Park, Kitchener. We'll be starting at around 10 p.m., and it's $5 at the door. It's shaping up to be a really fun night, and we're looking forward to playing and to partying with our friends!

I just noticed that The Boathouse has a web site, so here is the link:

http://www.boathousevictoriapark.com/

And some info about Harvard Mouse can be found here:

http://www.harvardmouse.ca

Peace, Mark

Lots of Fatty fun last night, and What The Thunder Said sounded great in that room ... very full sound.

It still floors me that I can see a band like the Fat Cats in a small bar or club ... I love the Fatties!

Peace, Mark

"I like to watch, Eve." Or something like that. Makes me smile and laugh thinking about it.

Peace, Mark

For those who know her, Simone is home from California and will be out for this one so come on out and shake some ass!

That's great news ... lookin' forward to seeing her smiling face and dancing body on the dance floor!

Peace, Mark

I posted some info about this show in another thread, but here it is again for people that may have missed it earlier:

Fat Cats are playing this upcoming Saturday March 4th at the Starlight in Waterloo. The Starlight is a really nice club, and this show is a fundraiser for a very worthy cause … the proceeds are going to the The Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario (POGO), which is and organization that was founded in 1983 by a group of pediatric oncologists to champion childhood cancer care and control. The organization’s web site is at www.pogo.ca

The doors open at 9 p.m., advance tickets are $10, What The Thunder Said opens, and there will be a raffle for one of Jimi’s djembe drums.

I was speaking with Todd Gillies from Fat Cats about this show, and he is really hoping to get a bunch of people out for this. This show is a class project for one of the classes he is taking at WLU, and his partner in the class has had some pretty heavy experiences with her daughter and cancer over the past year.

When I last talked with Todd, he wasn't sure whether Mark Crissinger would also be at the show. If I hear any more about that or about the show I'll post it. Or maybe edger can confirm whether or not Mark C. will be playing.

In any event, it is going to be a fun night in support of a very worthy cause.

Peace, Mark

What a fun night! Lots of smiling faces and dancing bodies were out to join in Scot's birthday celebrations. The place was full, but not unbearably packed, which was nice.

Happy birthday as well to Bre, who was also out celebrating at the party ... it made for even more fun!

Peace, Mark

Hey Sara,

You beat me to it by about 10 minutes ... you must have posted this as I was typing out my message! Here is my message:

Hey everyone,

Fat Cats are playing this upcoming Saturday March 4th at the Starlight in Waterloo. The Starlight is a really nice club, and this show is a fundraiser for a very worthy cause … the proceeds are going to the The Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario (POGO), which is and organization that was founded in 1983 by a group of pediatric oncologists to champion childhood cancer care and control. The organization’s web site is at www.pogo.ca

The doors open at 9 p.m., advance tickets are $10, What The Thunder Said opens, and there will be a raffle for one of Jimi’s djembe drums.

I was speaking with Todd Gillies from Fat Cats about this show, and he is really hoping to get a bunch of people out for this. This show is a class project for one of the classes he is taking at WLU, and his partner in the class has had some pretty heavy experiences with her daughter and cancer over the past year.

Hope to see some of you there.

Peace, Mark

Thanks for posting the story, SM ... it got me to do a bit of reading, and to once again get my head spinning on issues related to cloning and patenting life.

Peace, Mark

Although it is still a couple of months away, I am excited at the thought of making the trip to Ottawa. Hopefully things work out so that some Ottawa friends can make it to this show, as it's been too long since I've seen many of you!

Peace, Mark