2011-09-05: Kozmic Zoo w/ Eugene Chadbourne

It's true: much like our legendary Nina Hagen show that never quite was, the Planks sometimes move through circles that enable us to eat above our weight class. Elizabeth Fischer of Dark Blue World is now booking at Kozmic Zoo (53 W. Broadway, formerly the Hennessey Lounge) and has sagely folded us into a bill with legendary noisy improvisor Eugene Chadbourne, with Darren Williams and Kenton Loewe in tow.

This is a bit of a dry run for the following night, where plenty of Planks are performing -- but not in any Creaking configuration -- at Nyala (4148 Main St.) for the Accordion Noir Festival precursor show ACCORDION HALLUCINATIONS on Sept 6th. Lee Shoal will be handling and mangling the squeezebox in Ejaculation Death Rattle, Rumblebucket will be exploring the darker side of bent and tweaked reeds as Polly Hatchet, and Airbeard should be backing up Mr. Chadbourne -- desperately trying to keep out of the way most likely. Also on that bill is a set from the Cross-Disciplinary Studies Department (Dream Casino) and the Antique Accordion Orchestra (BYO!)

Bonus! A fragmentary clip of us in action at the Kozmik Zoo!

2011-09-03: Franklinfest 4

When's the last time you had the Creaking Planks playing in your backyard to celebrate Labour Day? (You, in the back: sit down.) Well, you should have thought of it sooner -- we're taken this year, off to Salisbury & Franklin this long weekend to share some great tunes in a sunny yard with some other great bands: the Belushis, the Hunnies, and our friends the Gentle Infidels. We can't disclose Nathan's address to the public, but if you're in the vicinity of the funeral home around 6 pm you may hear us tuning up. Let your ears be your guide and maybe we'll wake the dead!

N.B. -- Voodoo Ben Franklin is (c) Rob Schrab from Scud the Disposable Assassin.

Update! This party was a total gong show (minus the gong -- though we do have a gong show story about a gong, you should ask us about it sometime) but it still garnered a glowing review in DiSCORDER Magazine including our first mention there in our six years of existence!

2011-08-13: Creaking Planks at the Summer Dreams Literary Arts Festival

We weren't able to make good on our invitation to attend this festival last year due to conflicting plans in California (say what!? Stay posted for that year-late update!), but prior incarnations of the Creaking Planks had attended two earlier installments of Pandora's Collective's Summer Dreams Literary Arts Festival (was this really the 8th annual?), and Airbeard's "57 Varieties" open stage series fielded performers to several others. The host organization does good work with a number of reading series, workshops, and even scholarships for high-schoolers, so needless to say, we jumped on an opportunity to participate this time around. They even featured a shot of us on their bus shelter advertisements! Can't see it? Look a little closer...

The still is from Graham Ballantyne's great work photographing us at the Prophouse back in May. This rendition wasn't blown up quite as big as our surprise pictorial at the Vancouver Art Gallery, but it's still a bold stamping of us out there in the world when we're being so relatively quiet here on the web.

(It's also one of a growing collection of photos of Airbeard pausing mid-chomp before he bites off more than he can chew. Can't he sing with his mouth closed? Well, I suppose that wouldn't be entirely unreasonable... still, the awkwardness of this increasingly frequent photo-op moment demands a gallery in the works sometime.)

Our Summer Dreams set lived up to the recent media hype: we were a folk duo, somewhat bewildered by the unanticipated shift of scale and schedule (and distracted by Lumberman's Arch and the natural splendor surrounding us all) but with a tight set of beautiful music nonetheless. Finally, an audience that really appreciates Margaret Atwood's Frankenstein song!

Here's to more of us entertaining more of you at future years' installments of Summer Dreams! (And, for that matter, more upcoming shows at the Prophouse! We had to back out of a stellar squeezebox bill there this coming Thursday night, Aug 18th, with our friends from the Gram Partisans along with Winnipeg's Ingrid Gatin, but you can still enjoy it in our absence!)