(no subject)
Sarah Slean show on Dec 16th
Much less rushing to do today. We got to sleep in 'til 10 and then Andrea and I matched up some fonts to add some last minute contributers to the card, it actually worked out pretty well :) Then we headed out to get some wrapping paper (which turned into a gift bag instead) and the blank cards for the card and we also photocopied the text out so it was all neat. The people at Staples must be wondering about why I'm photocopying SO much there lately lol.
Then we hit V.V. on the way home and I abused Andrea's discount :D
Then home for showing and card making. Somewhere along this day we decided to make Tod a card as well; not with all of the donations stuff on it, but just a card to say thank you for all that he does.
Then we got all dressed up and went out for dinner at Jack Astors with some lovely Passioneers (Jim, Kat, Neal and Viv showed up :) ) we had lots of fun. Jim lost $100 on a bet with Neal (probably not so much fun for him ;) ) and we ate some pretty decent food for Jack Astors. We then walked to the Theatre Center and got the extra front row ticket stuff all figured out and paid for. It turned out that the box office had seats in row DD available for the show! But online you could only get seats in the side gallery so I don't know how ticket sales were organized between the box office and ticketmaster but seriously that is just not fair to people who happen to order from the one that doesn't have access to the better tickets.
Everyone made it to tonight's show which was good, no snowstorm delays :)
Setlist
Lucky Me - The strings on this... still wow. I loved having a string quartet instead of the band (although I enjoy the band as well but the strings were so intense) and for the second night in a row we were right on with our "declined" and "first prize" *yay* I hope that the string version of Lucky Me goes on the live recording... actually I hope most of the string stuff ends up on there because it is just so different but so great.
Eliot - and my favourite part of this is when the strings are playing during "the city in winter/the sewage, the steam/they fill buildings with people/and they rip at the seams" SO perfect.
I Know - I'm very impressed she did this song again. This time we got a little more back story about when she wrote it. It was during the Paul Bernardo trials and she said she was still young enough to really be offended by evil. Hell I'm older now than she was there and those people scare me so much, no remorse... it's frightening. This song hit me harder tonight just having that particular influence behind it.... I never knew what had happened when I was younger because my dad kept all newspapers and tv news and radio etc out of the house during that time so I only recently found out some of the horrific things that went on so it's still sort of fresh in my mind....
High - talked about Martin again. I feel bad for Martin but the stories she tells are so sweet.
Then she talked about her wrap dress she was wearing and how it kept coming unwrapped lol and then talked about how in Halifax she was wearing a strapless dress and in the elevator on the way to the venue she streached and her dress of course slid down but she was wearing a jacked and didn't worry about it. And then when she got to the venue and on stage she forgot to fix her dress so she started to take off her jacket and flashed some of the audience before she realized what had happened. She ended this story with "so if you see pictures of my chest on the internet... you're not special" LOL
Then she said she was playing a song that people had asked about it being on the live recording and she said that yes it would be....
Last Year's War - I liked it better tonight just because I knew the song a bit better now :) I'm so glad this one is going on the recording!
Then she introduced the Blue Spruce Quartet: (thank you to the mysterious commenter who corrected my spelling :) )
Karen Graves - first violin
Kathryn Sugden - violin
Alex Grant - cello
Anna Redekop - violo
Bank Accounts - she talked about this being the song for Paris Hilton again... and got a "that's hot" from the audience (it was Jarita's cousin and Jarita made her yell it ;) ) and then Sarah said that's the first time she'd actually got a "that's hot" lol. Also she said we were doing the trumpet solo tonight because Karen Graves thought it was "kind of nerdy" when she played it solo on the violin. She said we did "pretty good" --- seriously, next tour we're busting out kazoos, much more in unison than everyone making their own trumpet noise ;)
Weight - with a string arrangement by (again spelled wrong probably) Todar Kodakov and it was simply brilliant. I'd like that one to be on a live recording too but she missed the first line so I don't know if it'll happen :S
Then the quartet left for a bit and we had our first guest of the night: Ron Sexsmith
They covered
The Magdolin Laundries originally by Joni Mitchell - and I'd never heard this song before (I feel I should probably invest in some Joni) it almost brought me to tears. So beautiful!
Then continuing solo on the piano
Out in the Park - lovely song, I miss the introduction about "joy armies" though
Pilgrim - Sarah told us that actually she'd gotten food poisoning so she'd been sick all morning! :( However while she was sick she thought of the first line of this song and was laughing to herself. And she played it wonderfully (from her playing tonight you'd never know she was so sick all day) and I really really really hope that a live version of this song is on the live album because it just has evolved so much.
The floor was opened for requests. And I promptly forgot what I was going to request for that night until I heard someone behind me call out "John XXIII and I remembered that that was the song I had wanted lol so I called that one out too :) Strength in numbers and all that...
John XXIII - This was the first time I'd heard this song after finally buying Universe and thus knowing the song really well. So gorgeous!
Then a few people called out for Day One and someone who was really loud (maybe in the balcony) called out "DAY ONE PLEASE" and Sarah said she couldn't resist a please so:
Day One - which she forgot the words to a little bit and went into "Beauty faked a heart attack" instead of "pushing paper is not enough" and stopped and commented on how lovely it was that this show was being recorded lol and then Neal called out the right words :)
Then there were multiple requests for
Count Me Out - I've been so eager to hear this song, so many people talk about it and it's one that I've just missed. She said she mixed up the words a bit but I still hope this goes on the live album it was just so beautiful and really for me summed up some of the feelings I felt being stuck in Sudbury for 4 years. I'd love for this song to be on an album somewhere.
Our next guest was Todd Clarke from Pilate! That was a total surprise. They played:
Vertigo - which was dedicated to a special Passioneer (which was Jarita! *yay*) because it was her favourite song. This was a neat version of the song as well... I wonder if any of the guest star stuff is elegible for the live album?
The strings came back out for
Pie Jesu - and I think I still prefered the version we got in Kingston, it was so spontanious and just wow.... there were no words for that. But with the strings this song is still so mind blowing!
then there were some technical difficulties with the viola so we had a few covers of
The Charlie Brown Christmas Theme - this was so spontanious and fun and the strings were all joining in.
Then we had a couple of lines from
Jingle Bells
after which Sarah said that now we couldn't say it wasn't a christmas show. I can't remember who started that rumour, I know it was in LJ that someone said she was playing all Christmas songs because I think we all found it via LJseek or Google...
Then she finished off the night with
When Another Midnight - which I love the intro too with the piano.... I hope this goes on a live album too! (seriously I think at this point I just need about 8 live albums to cover every version of every song I want on there, I'd also love a recording of Sadie...)
Encore
Duncan - I am so glad she played this song too, I love it! This was the first song of hers that really pulled me in and made me go "I must buy these cds and find that song and see her again live asap" it's simple but just very strong too.
Sweet Ones- During which Neal and Kat did some kick ass harmonies (they sounded so awesome) and Sarah pointed them out after the song :)
Narcolepsy Weed - with a similar intro to last night except this time Sarah said she wanted to be the angel who just flew down and saved him... complete with "wooshing" angel noises and said she'd get him a coffee, on her :) Tonight the line "warm your hands on my shoulder blades/my parents gave me this peace" just jumped out at me... what an image! I wish I could write something that just jumped like that!
and then the night wrapped up with
Playing Cards With Judas - I just love this song :)
There was much applause for a second ovation but I guess Harbourfront wasn't into that because they put the lights up right away :(
We went out to the lobby, milled around for a bit, chatted with people, met a few people who had donated to the card who we'd not met before which was lovely :) After Sarah came out we waited for the crowd to die down a bit (and somewhere along the night we lost Rob! :( still have no idea where he ended up)
When we gave her the card my mind just went totally blank... I have no idea how to introduce this project, so much went into it and watching it go from just a random idea in my head to something that worked so well is still amazing to me! But I think I said something along the lines of "this year we all wanted to do something for you for christmas so the Passioneers all got together and donated to their local food banks and we made you a card of everyone's donations" (probably far less coherent than that though and picture me saying it very very quickly... however Sarah seems to understand me when I get up to full speed so she's a fast listener, I like that.)
ANYWAYS
Sarah looked like she was just blown away by everything. If you check out the thread called "the card" on www.sarahslean.com under tour news/shows there is a great picture of her initial reaction. She was full of smiles and was so happy when she saw the list of names of everyone who had donated and that there were people from all accross Canada and some from the US and even some overseas participation! It was great! Big hugs for us and then she suggested we take a group picture which turned out really well and it's now posted on the board as well.
Then Andrea and I gave Tod his card and I don't think I've seen him look that happy when he's talking to us, usually he looks more scared of the fact we're in line so early for shows lol but tonight he was happy :)
Then I ended up talking to Sarah again about the art show briefly and how she cited Edward Gorey as an influence and how I grew up loving his work. and she reccomended a few more artists to me. The ones which I got written down were:
W.W. Denslow (who I knew already from doing the Wizard of Oz illustrations! and of course love because I grew up with those as well)
and Arthur Rackham who I know (after reading this site: Arthur Rackham and his art ) that I must have seen his artwork in some of those books, but it's really great, I want more! I'll have to go on some second hand bookstore hunting for more classical childrens books. (as if my collection isn't large enough already lol... seriously I have to hide books whenever I bring them home, I'm not allowed to buy anymore) also he did a really neat set of illustrations for Alice in Wonderland... that might be an edtion to search for along with my Oz original editions....
This just makes me more excited for the art exibition in Febuary.
Such a great night. I'm so impressed that even when she can't have been feeling great Sarah came out and talked to everyone! It was very much appreciated :)
Black Widow Jan 19th
Art Show Feb. 3rd.
:)
Much less rushing to do today. We got to sleep in 'til 10 and then Andrea and I matched up some fonts to add some last minute contributers to the card, it actually worked out pretty well :) Then we headed out to get some wrapping paper (which turned into a gift bag instead) and the blank cards for the card and we also photocopied the text out so it was all neat. The people at Staples must be wondering about why I'm photocopying SO much there lately lol.
Then we hit V.V. on the way home and I abused Andrea's discount :D
Then home for showing and card making. Somewhere along this day we decided to make Tod a card as well; not with all of the donations stuff on it, but just a card to say thank you for all that he does.
Then we got all dressed up and went out for dinner at Jack Astors with some lovely Passioneers (Jim, Kat, Neal and Viv showed up :) ) we had lots of fun. Jim lost $100 on a bet with Neal (probably not so much fun for him ;) ) and we ate some pretty decent food for Jack Astors. We then walked to the Theatre Center and got the extra front row ticket stuff all figured out and paid for. It turned out that the box office had seats in row DD available for the show! But online you could only get seats in the side gallery so I don't know how ticket sales were organized between the box office and ticketmaster but seriously that is just not fair to people who happen to order from the one that doesn't have access to the better tickets.
Everyone made it to tonight's show which was good, no snowstorm delays :)
Setlist
Lucky Me - The strings on this... still wow. I loved having a string quartet instead of the band (although I enjoy the band as well but the strings were so intense) and for the second night in a row we were right on with our "declined" and "first prize" *yay* I hope that the string version of Lucky Me goes on the live recording... actually I hope most of the string stuff ends up on there because it is just so different but so great.
Eliot - and my favourite part of this is when the strings are playing during "the city in winter/the sewage, the steam/they fill buildings with people/and they rip at the seams" SO perfect.
I Know - I'm very impressed she did this song again. This time we got a little more back story about when she wrote it. It was during the Paul Bernardo trials and she said she was still young enough to really be offended by evil. Hell I'm older now than she was there and those people scare me so much, no remorse... it's frightening. This song hit me harder tonight just having that particular influence behind it.... I never knew what had happened when I was younger because my dad kept all newspapers and tv news and radio etc out of the house during that time so I only recently found out some of the horrific things that went on so it's still sort of fresh in my mind....
High - talked about Martin again. I feel bad for Martin but the stories she tells are so sweet.
Then she talked about her wrap dress she was wearing and how it kept coming unwrapped lol and then talked about how in Halifax she was wearing a strapless dress and in the elevator on the way to the venue she streached and her dress of course slid down but she was wearing a jacked and didn't worry about it. And then when she got to the venue and on stage she forgot to fix her dress so she started to take off her jacket and flashed some of the audience before she realized what had happened. She ended this story with "so if you see pictures of my chest on the internet... you're not special" LOL
Then she said she was playing a song that people had asked about it being on the live recording and she said that yes it would be....
Last Year's War - I liked it better tonight just because I knew the song a bit better now :) I'm so glad this one is going on the recording!
Then she introduced the Blue Spruce Quartet: (thank you to the mysterious commenter who corrected my spelling :) )
Karen Graves - first violin
Kathryn Sugden - violin
Alex Grant - cello
Anna Redekop - violo
Bank Accounts - she talked about this being the song for Paris Hilton again... and got a "that's hot" from the audience (it was Jarita's cousin and Jarita made her yell it ;) ) and then Sarah said that's the first time she'd actually got a "that's hot" lol. Also she said we were doing the trumpet solo tonight because Karen Graves thought it was "kind of nerdy" when she played it solo on the violin. She said we did "pretty good" --- seriously, next tour we're busting out kazoos, much more in unison than everyone making their own trumpet noise ;)
Weight - with a string arrangement by (again spelled wrong probably) Todar Kodakov and it was simply brilliant. I'd like that one to be on a live recording too but she missed the first line so I don't know if it'll happen :S
Then the quartet left for a bit and we had our first guest of the night: Ron Sexsmith
They covered
The Magdolin Laundries originally by Joni Mitchell - and I'd never heard this song before (I feel I should probably invest in some Joni) it almost brought me to tears. So beautiful!
Then continuing solo on the piano
Out in the Park - lovely song, I miss the introduction about "joy armies" though
Pilgrim - Sarah told us that actually she'd gotten food poisoning so she'd been sick all morning! :( However while she was sick she thought of the first line of this song and was laughing to herself. And she played it wonderfully (from her playing tonight you'd never know she was so sick all day) and I really really really hope that a live version of this song is on the live album because it just has evolved so much.
The floor was opened for requests. And I promptly forgot what I was going to request for that night until I heard someone behind me call out "John XXIII and I remembered that that was the song I had wanted lol so I called that one out too :) Strength in numbers and all that...
John XXIII - This was the first time I'd heard this song after finally buying Universe and thus knowing the song really well. So gorgeous!
Then a few people called out for Day One and someone who was really loud (maybe in the balcony) called out "DAY ONE PLEASE" and Sarah said she couldn't resist a please so:
Day One - which she forgot the words to a little bit and went into "Beauty faked a heart attack" instead of "pushing paper is not enough" and stopped and commented on how lovely it was that this show was being recorded lol and then Neal called out the right words :)
Then there were multiple requests for
Count Me Out - I've been so eager to hear this song, so many people talk about it and it's one that I've just missed. She said she mixed up the words a bit but I still hope this goes on the live album it was just so beautiful and really for me summed up some of the feelings I felt being stuck in Sudbury for 4 years. I'd love for this song to be on an album somewhere.
Our next guest was Todd Clarke from Pilate! That was a total surprise. They played:
Vertigo - which was dedicated to a special Passioneer (which was Jarita! *yay*) because it was her favourite song. This was a neat version of the song as well... I wonder if any of the guest star stuff is elegible for the live album?
The strings came back out for
Pie Jesu - and I think I still prefered the version we got in Kingston, it was so spontanious and just wow.... there were no words for that. But with the strings this song is still so mind blowing!
then there were some technical difficulties with the viola so we had a few covers of
The Charlie Brown Christmas Theme - this was so spontanious and fun and the strings were all joining in.
Then we had a couple of lines from
Jingle Bells
after which Sarah said that now we couldn't say it wasn't a christmas show. I can't remember who started that rumour, I know it was in LJ that someone said she was playing all Christmas songs because I think we all found it via LJseek or Google...
Then she finished off the night with
When Another Midnight - which I love the intro too with the piano.... I hope this goes on a live album too! (seriously I think at this point I just need about 8 live albums to cover every version of every song I want on there, I'd also love a recording of Sadie...)
Encore
Duncan - I am so glad she played this song too, I love it! This was the first song of hers that really pulled me in and made me go "I must buy these cds and find that song and see her again live asap" it's simple but just very strong too.
Sweet Ones- During which Neal and Kat did some kick ass harmonies (they sounded so awesome) and Sarah pointed them out after the song :)
Narcolepsy Weed - with a similar intro to last night except this time Sarah said she wanted to be the angel who just flew down and saved him... complete with "wooshing" angel noises and said she'd get him a coffee, on her :) Tonight the line "warm your hands on my shoulder blades/my parents gave me this peace" just jumped out at me... what an image! I wish I could write something that just jumped like that!
and then the night wrapped up with
Playing Cards With Judas - I just love this song :)
There was much applause for a second ovation but I guess Harbourfront wasn't into that because they put the lights up right away :(
We went out to the lobby, milled around for a bit, chatted with people, met a few people who had donated to the card who we'd not met before which was lovely :) After Sarah came out we waited for the crowd to die down a bit (and somewhere along the night we lost Rob! :( still have no idea where he ended up)
When we gave her the card my mind just went totally blank... I have no idea how to introduce this project, so much went into it and watching it go from just a random idea in my head to something that worked so well is still amazing to me! But I think I said something along the lines of "this year we all wanted to do something for you for christmas so the Passioneers all got together and donated to their local food banks and we made you a card of everyone's donations" (probably far less coherent than that though and picture me saying it very very quickly... however Sarah seems to understand me when I get up to full speed so she's a fast listener, I like that.)
ANYWAYS
Sarah looked like she was just blown away by everything. If you check out the thread called "the card" on www.sarahslean.com under tour news/shows there is a great picture of her initial reaction. She was full of smiles and was so happy when she saw the list of names of everyone who had donated and that there were people from all accross Canada and some from the US and even some overseas participation! It was great! Big hugs for us and then she suggested we take a group picture which turned out really well and it's now posted on the board as well.
Then Andrea and I gave Tod his card and I don't think I've seen him look that happy when he's talking to us, usually he looks more scared of the fact we're in line so early for shows lol but tonight he was happy :)
Then I ended up talking to Sarah again about the art show briefly and how she cited Edward Gorey as an influence and how I grew up loving his work. and she reccomended a few more artists to me. The ones which I got written down were:
W.W. Denslow (who I knew already from doing the Wizard of Oz illustrations! and of course love because I grew up with those as well)
and Arthur Rackham who I know (after reading this site: Arthur Rackham and his art ) that I must have seen his artwork in some of those books, but it's really great, I want more! I'll have to go on some second hand bookstore hunting for more classical childrens books. (as if my collection isn't large enough already lol... seriously I have to hide books whenever I bring them home, I'm not allowed to buy anymore) also he did a really neat set of illustrations for Alice in Wonderland... that might be an edtion to search for along with my Oz original editions....
This just makes me more excited for the art exibition in Febuary.
Such a great night. I'm so impressed that even when she can't have been feeling great Sarah came out and talked to everyone! It was very much appreciated :)
Black Widow Jan 19th
Art Show Feb. 3rd.
:)