2015-09-14: 8th annual Accordion Noir Festival accordion parade flashmob!

Ah, was it only a year ago that we logged our final appearance playing at the Accordion Noir Festival? How did we put it?

[T]his year marks ... the final AN Fest appearance of the Creaking Planks. Gasp! Shock! Say it ain’t so! [T]he programmers have spoken... (And who knows, maybe in time we can be brought back... But it won’t be in 2015.)

Well... what can we say? We're big, fat, lying liars. We saw this year's Sunday afternoon community event promoted with an accordion parade, and then got a fire lit under us when we were told that no one had organized one. But the location, Spartacus Books, so close to Trout Lake! All you need is two people (a small parade, granted, but one person alone is never a parade) to musically march one block and do a loop of the park. Surely we could round up two people in 48 hours!

Well, those 48 hours were a roller coaster ride, I can tell you. Squeezebox Circle luminaries confirmed their availability, then cancelled hours before the parade. Planks themselves boldly issued "yea"s which then somehow twisted cruelly into "nay"s. But having been announced, the show had to go on! So I strapped the baby accordion on my three-year-old and went to Spartacus Books to rendezvous with Daisy-Jones Locher, the only constant element in my hair-brained, last-minute cockamamie scheme.

There we found additional accordionists! Accordionists setting up raffle tables, adjusting stage lights, setting up video cameras... accordionists, otherwise put, unavailable to join us in our parade. But the hosts of the afternoon's fest program, the Kate & Rich duo from Halifax, were there early and opted to join us for strange kicks. (Just as well, I'd be lying if I said that our motivation was so very different.) A further ancillary accordionist loitering around the facility also followed suit, and we were off!

It's no sousaphone but... #eastvan pic.twitter.com/H8Nn1wCYVM

— Sara Bynoe (@sarabynoe) September 13, 2015

Without necessarily being a criticism, I feel confident in making the observation that the sunny Kate & Rich, likely highly lucrative on the busking circuit, may despite their affiliation with this festival this year, perhaps be the least Noir ensemble in existence. It didn't help that to lighten her load, Kate elected to play & promenade not on her regular 120-bass accordion, but the student model being offered as a raffle prize -- the one with no minor chord buttons. But we were so happy just to not be certifiably crazy weirdos out there all alone in the world (instead, crazy weirdos out there in a very small group in the world) that we tempered our planned park-circuit set (mostly klezmer) to suit the limitations of the instrument. But it sure made for an emotional roller coaster: we played "Creep", they countered with "You are my Sunshine"; we upped the ante with our G-rated rendition of Nine Inch Nails' "Closer", and they centred the mood back with "When the Saints Come Marching In". But our bizarre procession did garner some attention and drum up some interest in the imminent proceedings nearby at Spartacus -- notably, the final notes of Closer were recognized ("No freaking way!") by a park patron who was squatting a picnic table for a goth clothing swap.

OK, throwing together a last-minute accordion parade flashmob was stupid, what can I say. But also it was fun. (It was also, I think, the third most successful accordion parade in the festival's 8-year history, and this time no one had to play through garbage bags to keep their instruments from being drenched by a torrential downpour.)

Anyhow, thanks to the Accordion Noir Festival for waiving their prohibition of us, and thanks to Kate & Rich for mellowing our tartness with some sugar -- and thanks to all the goths out there, who have no choice but to be themselves in this world gone mad. Now, we have another announcement coming up for early October, so stay tuned!

2014-09-13: Squeezebox Rendezvous

Well, folks, that time of year is coming up again: September is when Geoff Berner's offspring has a birthday, and so that's the time of year when he is traditionally close at hand, and so that is the time of year when he is available locally to headline at the Accordion Noir Festival! We've been here since the beginning -- and now it's the 7th annual Accordion Noir Festival. In addition to appearances from local legends and festival favourites such as Geoff Berner, Barbara Adler and Jack Garton, this year marks the first AN Fest appearances of such visiting luminaries as Socalled and Miss Murgatroid -- and the final AN Fest appearance of the Creaking Planks. Gasp! Shock! Say it ain't so! Maybe coasting on a guarantee of future appearances just because the festival basically ran off our backs for several years was making us soft and lazy. Last year's "choose your own adventure" song was a unique and curious presentation, but the programmers have spoken -- and chosen us to headline this year's festival's Saturday night dance party with our inimitable "power set". (And who knows, maybe in time we can be brought back for a command performance "by popular acclaim." But it won't be in 2015.)

But enough about us! Who else is on the bill?

Saturday, September 13th, starting at 8:00 pm
at the Russian Hall (600 Campbell, Vancouver)

Meet up at le coin d'Accordion and Noir where French and English music lovers translate toe-tapping beats from quatre bandes dynamique, into the best dance party of the festival!

Quebec's Ol' Crocodile brings their infamous "Folk Sale" (dirty) folk to the Squeezebox Rendezvous alongside Vancouver's own genre-bending, bilingual six-piece, Wintermitts. The evening also marks the final festival performance of fan favourites The Creaking Planks, led by Accordion Noir Festival co-founder Rowan Lipkovits. This evening marks the first time that Accordion Noir Youth Incentives has sponsored a band to play at the festival. The Plodes, is a smart-punk four-piece led by young up-and-comer Reid Blakley.

Dr. Jack's Jackpot of Cabaret Curios will be there to add to the mayhem.

$12.50 Advance Tickets Online Aug 1 - Sept 10
$15 Tickets at Door

2013-09-12: 6th annual Accordion Noir Festival launch party

Whoops, never got around to making a post about tonight's show on our own website! We've been very, very busy working on our debut performance piece for tonight.

The show will be great all-around; the out-of-towner performers are simply phenomenal and this chance to see them shouldn't be missed. So, ah, here's the promotional boilerplate from the festival's website.

This year’s Festival kicks off with the Accordéon Café, a presentation of accordion artists who boast equal gifts as storytellers, humourists, and genre-bending instrumentalists.  Featuring casse-croûte by Crêpe Bohème the Café is a chance to slow down, listen close, and be transported by the special intimacy that flows whenever musicians and audiences gather under the influence of each other.

Award-winning Francophone accordion legend Steven Normandin from Montreal makes his hotly anticipated return to Vancouver, following his hit performance at the 2011 MusicFest Vancouver. Fans of Normandin know to expect riveting renditions of traditional chansons from France and Québec, enlivened by touches of jazz and swing and performed with a uniquely theatrical flair. Audiences discovering Normadin for the first time will find themselves in the hands of a true master: an artist who can make you laugh, cry and dance in the space of one set of music. Equally accomplished as an instrumentalist and as a songwriter, Normandin has performed in work by Robert Lepage, appeared as a soloist with the Quebec Symphony Orchestra, and toured internationally with a host of musical projects and theatrical productions.
The raw feel of blues and country music meet the sensibilities of a first class storyteller in renegade accordionist David P. Smith. Hailed as one of Victoria’s most captivating and original songwriters, Smith is known for visceral, often hilarious narratives that crack open the boundaries between humor and despair. Appearing with his talented accomplice, violinist Rachelle Reath, David P. Smith’s performance promises to reveal why EXCLAIM! Magazine went so far as to call his accordion music a “siren song.”
The Creaking Planks, East Vancouver's jug band of the damned, are the best at what they do.  (Not coincidentally, they are the /only/ ones who do what they do.) A well-heeled crew of folk music misfits, they bring their instruments together to challenge the ghettoizing expectations of their respective traditional repertoires through détournement, the mash-up, and their specialty, the outright train wreck.  This festival's program sees them boldly charging off into uncharted territory (as usual) with an unprecedented audience-interactive suite of songs inspired by the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure children's book series of the 1980s.

(And a tip 'o the hat to Erin & Abe, whose wedding reception we performed at late on September 7th at The Ticket downtown!)

2012-09-14: ACCORDION DANCE PARTY at the 5th annual Accordion Noir Festival

The jug band of the damned (that's us!) return again to the Grandview Legion (upstairs at 2205 Commercial Drive) for our annual appearance at the Accordion Noir Festival of all squeezings dark and gritty (this is their 5th annual! Yow, outta sight!) Hopefully this party will simmer only slightly under the fever pitch of our last AN Fest appearance there, and perhaps be a bit less explicit than our last visit to the Grandview Legion.

We're joined by two other East Van all-star bands, High Society (who we've been waiting a year to play with) and the Flying Folk Army, recently reconvened after a 7-year hiatus, for what's been described as "a night of bellows-driven foot-scooting and boogying". So bring your dancing shoes and come prepared to cut a rug!

The jug band of the damned THE CREAKING PLANKS (ab)use old-timey instruments to pull modern pop music back in time, kicking and screaming, to a folksy bygone era with more dancing and less chin-stroking.

The soul groove of HIGH SOCIETY screams out joyful into the night and leaves you drenched in sweat and eager for more. Chelsea Johnson and Adam Farnsworth will be flipping coins to see who has to give up squeezing their heart out to give the other one a chance.

Because politics don't have to be dull, the FLYING FOLK ARMY has come off of a 7-year hiatus to remind people why music that matters... matters! Alison Jenkins rocks the box here while her crack squad of rebel folkies display precision musical maneuvres.

Thanks to Julie the Bruce for the accordionista avatar artwork.

2011-09-25: Planks close Accordion Noir Festival with Duckmandu

We opened for him last year at the Cotati accordion festival and now we're going to do it again at the 4th annual Accordion Noir festival -- San Francisco's infamous Duckmandu, the man who married the unhip squeezebox to the entire back catalogue of the Dead Kennedys, is joining us for the fest's closing party Sun, Sept 25th at Cafe Deux Soleils (2096 Commercial Drive). Show $10, starts at 8 pm!

Now, enjoy one of the strangest posters we've ever had:

Update: would you believe that Duckmandu got held back at the border by Canadian Customs? The whole festival pitched in side-acts playing a song or two to help fill the gap -- Barbara Adler, Katheryn Petersen, Geoff Berner. Sadly, the chaotic scene depicted in this unique poster would remain merely an artist's fevered vision, never realised.

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!

2010-09-24: Accordion Noir Festival Squeezebox Dance Party

The third annual Accordion Noir fest is upon us again, a whole week of festivities already underway (click here for full details) and as with the previous two years, the Creaking Planks simply had to log an appearance celebrating the bountiful local supply of the wonderful squeezy weirdness whose virtues the Accordion Noir radio show / podcast extols weekly. Otherwise put:

Friday, Septemeber 24th -- Vancouver's number one squeezebox dance party: Mezamazing, Maria in the Shower, the Orkestar Slivovica and the Creaking Planks!

This Friday night, we celebrate two of the greatest mechanical inventions of the 19th century: the accordion, brought to life in the hands of some of East Van's most bombastic purveyors of dance music from the Balkans and points further out in left field, and the bicycle, rolled along Vancouver's moist lanes and byways in defiance of the notion that the change of season has to bring with it a change in attitude.

Enjoy an earful of the sweet people-powered music that ruled over the pubs and campfires before steam power ruined everything, starting at 9 pm upstairs at the Grandview Legion Hall (2205 Commercial Drive) and running late into the night. Everyone can enjoy the show for the low price of $10, but helmet-clad Critical Mass riders pay only $8!

2009-09-11: Creaking Planks headline the second annual Accordion Noir Festival's launch party at Cafe Montmartre

We had so much fun closing last year's Accordion Noir Festival in the middle of the night (sold out, line-up down the stairs and out on the sidewalk) that we just had to open a supplementary stage at this year's festival to give us another chance to play at it (while opening some room on the mainstage the next day for Story and Jason Webley.)  Seeking some squeezy acts with smaller stage footprints and performers with lower individual profiles in this town, we managed to secure a very exciting line-up of some of Vancouver's choicest bellowers:  Andy Fielding, Dawn Zoe (Alchemy), Tina Tew (Wintermitts), Barbara Adler (of the Fugitives), Joanna Chapman-Smith, the Balkan brass razzmatazz of Mezamazing at what can charitably be described as long last... and the Planks close again, because why mess with a tradition of such success?  We'll be starting at 8 pm and seeing just how much we can squeeze in by 1 am.  We play for tips at Cafe Montmartre (4362 Main at 28th Ave.) but a suggested donation would be seven dollars for all these great acts!