Steve's Blog
Wednesday April 7, 2010

Hi everyone

It's been a crazy last few days at Rogue Towers. Not so much the concert activity as little glitches and complications like broken elevators and ticket printers - not to mention scheduling challenges for the April In Paris festival of gypsy jazz. It's all part of being a Rogue, I guess.

Here's the latest news:

1. The Matt Andersen and Wil concert at St. James Hall, 3214 West 10th Avenue, on Thursday April 15th is SOLD OUT. We have no tickets left at all. If you have booked already please make sure you arrive early. Doors open at 7pm, and show time is 8pm sharp. If you don't have a ticket, fear not. Shore 104fm will record the show for later broadcast. if you haven't tried The Shore yet, tune in to 104.3fm and hear their excellent music programming for yourselves, or visit their website www.shore104.com

2. The Tony McManus guitar workshop at Prussin Music on April 8th is also sold out, but there are plenty of tickets still available for the concert on Friday evening at St. James Hall. Tony will be joined by two special guests: renowned Galway fiddler Yvonne Kane and a brilliant Irish dancer as well. The concert will be followed by a Session in the Hall, so bring your instruments. www.tonymcmanus.com

3. If you need the elevator, please let us know before the day of the show. We will keep you posted as to its repair schedule. It's a new elevator, and was working fine until someone managed to spear it with a very heavy clothing rack, apparently. The repair crew started work on it today. We hope it will be fixed before Friday's show.

4. Next week is a huge week for us, with Oysterband at St. James Hall on Friday April 16th. Tickets are selling well, but there's still plenty of room. They are touring in support of their excellent acoustic CD, The Oxford Girl & Other Stories, and this will be a much more intimate show than their last one here in the summer. www.oysterband.co.uk

5. 2010 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of legendary guitarist / composer Django Reinhardt. We mark this special occasion with three amazing concerts, a swing dance, and several workshops in a festival we call April In Paris. Whilst we'd love to be able to fly you over to Paris for the weekend, we think it's far more practical to bring a little bit of Paris to Vancouver instead. Here is the schedule of events. Watch for more details on our website in the next few days:

Saturday April 17th

5pm - Gypsy fiddle workshop with Pearl Django's Michael Gray in the Small Community Room, downstairs at the back of the hall. Entry is via the back door off the lane. Cost $30 for one hour. Bring your fiddle, and learn from a master teacher.

6:15pm - Swing Dance Workshop. Learn the basic moves from some of Vancouver's top dance instructors. This workshop is FREE, and is recommended for increased enjoyment of the concerts and dances in the Hall. Small Community Room.

8:00pm - Caravan and Pearl Django in a concert / dance in the Hall. Tickets $25 ($22 members). Caravan is a special BC band made up of Marc Atkinson on lead guitar, Chris Frye on rhythm guitar, Joey Smith on acoustic bass, and Daniel Lapp on fiddle and trumpet. Basically, it's the very hot Marc Atkinson Trio with the amazing Mr Lapp performing exceptionally hot versions of the coolest tunes from the repertoire of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli. www.marcatkinson.com. Pearl Django hails from Seattle, and features Michael Gray on fiddle, David Lange on accordion, Rick Leppanen on bass, and Neil Andersson and Ryan Hoffman on guitars. They have released 9 CDs of Django tunes and originals, and are very fine players. www.pearldjango.com. The concert will conclude with a jam session at 11pm.

Sunday April 18th

2:15pm - Swing Dance Workshop. Learn the basic moves from some of Vancouver's top dance instructors. This workshop is FREE, and is recommended for increased enjoyment of the concerts and dances in the Hall. Small Community Room.

3:15pm - Swing Dance in the Hall with the Van Django Dance Combo, featuring Evan Arntzen on clarinet & vocals, Budge Schachte & Finn Manniche on guitars, Brent Gubbels on bass, and Craig Scott on drums. To 4:30pm.

3:30pm - Gypsy Jazz Rhythm Workshop led by Michael Dunn, renowned luthier and the rhythm king of Hot Club Of Mars. $30. Small Community Room.

4:45pm - Gypsy Jazz Guitar Workshop led by Don Ogilvie of Roma Swing Ensemble. $30. Small Community Room.

6:00pm - Introduction to Gypsy Jazz by revered guitarist / band leader John Jorgenson. Details to be announced.

7:00pm - John Jorgenson Quintet and Deanna Knight & The Hot Club Of Mars in a concert / dance in the Hall. Tickets $28 ($25 members). John Jorgenson is one of the most versatile and inspirational guitar players on the planet. He brings his Quintet to Vancouver for the very first time, to play the music he loves the best - the gypsy jazz of Django Reinhardt. He plays clarinet as well as guitar, and his superb band also features Jason Anick on fiddle, Doug Martin on rhythm guitar, Simon Planting on bass, and Rick Reed on drums. www.johnjorgenson.com. Deanna Knight is a thoroughly enchanting chanteuse, and she will be joined by Vancouver's masters of extra-terrestrial gypsy swing, The Hot Club of Mars (Michael Dunn, Don Kellett and Steve "Bugsy" Szabo on guitars, Tom Neville on fiddle, Charlie Knowles on bass, and Mark "Wind God" Dowding on sax, flute, and harmonica.) www.hotclubofmars.com. The concert will conclude with a Jam Session at 10pm.

Saturday April 24th

5:15pm - Gypsy fiddle workshop with Roma Swing's Lache Cercel in the Small Community Room, downstairs at the back of the hall. Entry is via the back door off the lane. Cost $30 for one hour. Bring your fiddle, and learn from a celebrated master teacher from Romania.

6:45pm - Gypsy Lead Guitar Workshop led by Budge Schachte of Van Django. $30. Small Community Room.

7:30pm - Swing Dance Workshop in the Hall. Learn the basic moves from some of Vancouver's top dance instructors. This workshop is FREE, and is recommended for increased enjoyment of the concerts and dances in the Hall.

8:00pm - Van Django and Roma Swing Ensemble in a concert / dance in the Hall. Tickets $25 ($22 members). Van Django is Vancouver's stunning string quartet that plays everything from straight-ahead, mind-blowing versions of Django's finest compositions to unique medleys of everything from classical music to pop and rock anthems - gypsy jazz style. The band comprises Cam Wilson (fiddle), Budge Shcachte & Finn Manniche (guitars), and Brent Gubbels (bass.) www.vandjango.com. Lache Cercel is an award-winning violinist from Bucharest, Romania, who has lived in Vancouver since 1998. His hot band, Roma Swing Ensemble, features guitarists Don Ogilvie and Steven Nikleva, bassist / singer Sam Shoichet, plus gypsy dancers and chanteuses from Bosnia and Russia. www.lachecercel.com. This concert will conclude with a jam session at 11pm.

April In Paris is an unforgettable experience. Especially in Vancouver! (Our Bar / Bistro will be open from 7pm to 11pm on the 17th and 24th and from 3pm to 10pm on the 18th.)

6. Still with me? Good!! I'll be Sheryl McKay's guest on CBC Radio One's North By Northwest this Saturday, April 10th, at 7am on 88.1fm and 690am. Then I'm off to host The Edge On Folk on CiTR fm 101.9 from 8am to 12 noon - also available on www.citr.ca - either live or via downloadable podcast. Please join me for four hours of the best in World, Roots, Folk - and Gypsy Jazz !

7. Quebec's Le Vent Du Nord perform at St. James Hall on April 21st. This marvellous band plays Celtic and French music from Quebec and Brittany and beyond. They are uniquely entertaining and very very good! Their new CD, La Part Du Feu, has just been released on Borealis Records. The band members are Olivier Demers (fiddle), Nicolas Boulerice (piano, vielle a roue), Rejean Brunet (accordion, bass), and Simon Beaudry (guitar.) All four band members sing, and each contributes original compositions - and an amazing repertoire of trad songs and tunes for such young musicians! Don't miss one of Canada's finest bands! www.leventdunord.com

8. We need volunteers to help make these concerts run smoothly. Please contact Brian Jones if you can help out. Especially if you are available early for the April In Paris shows (see start times above.)

See you at The Rogue!
Steve