2013-06-06: Tom Waits night at the Rio

/p>This won't strictly speaking be our first time up for one of Jess Hill's epic Tom Waits tribute nights -- Pavel and Blackbox previously backed Katie Gogo of Hoko's fame on a wacky and sweet take on "Misery Is The River of the World".

The enigmatic genius of the dusty hobo messiah and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Tom Waits

This time around, the venue is larger -- moving from the confines of Cafe Deux to the palatial expanses of the Rio Theatre -- and the roster of East Van luminaries paying tribute to their favorite Rain Dog is truly all-star:  C.R. Avery,

The Tailor, the Broken Mirrors, Antiparty, Company B, Poly Hatchet, Familiar Wild, Christie Rose, Chelsea Johnson, Jess Hill, Khari Mclelland, Jesse Waldman, Corbin Murdoch, and Lindy Gray.  Plus, of course, your friendly neighborhood jug band of the damned.

Doors 7pm /Show 8pm

Tickets $12 advance / $15 door.  Proceeds from the show are earmarked to benefit the battered women's shelter.

www.riotheatretickets.caThe enigmatic genius of the dusty hobo messiah and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Tom Waits

This time around, however, the venue is considerably larger -- moving from the confines of Cafe Deux to the palatial expanses of the Rio Theatre -- and the roster of East Van luminaries paying tribute to their favorite Rain Dog is truly all-star:  C.R. Avery, The Tailor, the Broken Mirrors, Antiparty, Company B, Poly Hatchet, Familiar Wild, Christie Rose, Chelsea Johnson, Jess Hill, Khari Mclelland, Jesse Waldman, Corbin Murdoch, and Lindy Gray.  Plus, of course, your friendly neighborhood jug band of the damned.

That'll be Thursday, June 6th, doors at 7 pm and showtime starting at 8 pm prompt!  Tickets will be $15 at the door or $12 in advance at www.riotheatretickets.ca, and proceeds from the show are earmarked to benefit Battered Women's Support Services.

(Like the picture?  You can own one, too!)

(And for the history books: we did present an impromptu set for the Rent Assembly at the Dogwood Centre on May 24th. Off the cuff, but good fun!)

2013-04-13: Electro Vaudeville Festival

Ladies and gentlemen, the fabulous Electro Vaudeville Festival has opted this year to include us in their exciting line-up of acts blending something old with a little something new, a gig so exciting... we're breaking our "one show a month" rule. (Hey, it's more of a guideline...) This year's acts come from as far afield as Germany and Italy and as near as Seattle and Nanaimo, and as we can report from their pre-festival show a couple of weeks ago, they put an emphasis on dressing up and dancing! That makes it... a very nice crowd to play to, and overall a great scene to be amongst!

We open the second night at the Grandview Legion Hall (2205 Commercial Drive, upstairs), slated to begin playing around 8 pm. The fest overall runs two nights and one afternoon with a smashing lineup -- $25 Friday night (17+), $28 Saturday day (all ages) and $35 Saturday night (17+), and we highly endorse... all of it!

2008-04-24: open mic feature at the Little Mountain Neighbourhood House

April's been a busy month of catch-up for us! In the aftermath of A Dybbuk, we enjoyed a fragmentary turnout at two after-parties (Squeezebeard keeps losing the addresses; he says, just gimme a treasure map an' I'se kin find X well enough!), played two great shows back in our goofy element, the first (Apr 11th) back at Trees (to which we will be returning again in early September) and the next (April 14th) a homecoming show of sorts, acoustic with friends sitting on the floor in the gallery of the Little Mountain Studios, where we're the house band, site of so many practices, rehearsals and residencies... as well as a big noisy party celebrating Squeezebeard's birthday. On top of the shows, a swell arrangement with some charming PAVI students had a couple of us recording some backbone tracks at Blue Wave Studios, drawing on the next-door-recorders Company B to provide some zombie gang groans with improbably professional equipment. We'll let you know how those turn out as we put down some overdubs on top. All that plus Lee Shoal and Planks pal Allan Macinnis got us a mention in the current issue (edit: huh! and an earful on the website) of the UK music magazine The Wire. Not bad for a couple of weeks getting back into the swing of things!

There are of course more shows coming up. Some of them are quite imminent, in fact. Tonight, Planks will be taking to the stage as features at the Little Mountain Neighbourhood House's (3981 Main Street at 24th Ave.) weekly Thursday night open mic, hosted by the man who put the cur in curmudgeon, Rick Keating! Our fiddler Johnny Wyoming, a regular at the series, recounts that the evening tends to unfold with socialising around 7:30 pm, the open mic rolling on at 8 through 8:45 for a brief intermission before an hour of feature performance starting around 9 pm.

More is coming up quick -- Planks should be playing at Beans (1804 Lonsdale Ave.) in North Vancouver next Monday (April 28th) 8-10 pm, then we have a special Tuesday morning engagement with FreeGeek, our other "house band" engagement, and new shows cropping up in May and beyond... but one thing at a time. First let's get through tonight and see what remains when Rick's done with us!