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!)

2012-04-07: Big Screen Barrelhouse II

Nearly three years after our stint at the first installment of this series, the Rio Theatre (1660 E. Broadway at Commercial Drive) swings back into action with another night of East Van bands playing its stage, this time all providing soundtracks to silent film screenings behind them. All the major players are back from last time, plus more more more!

Instead of working in tandem with the magic of Dr. T as we did before, this time we'll be doing music and foley for a black and white animated classic on the theme of responsible libation, which will this time be possible at the Rio! Your $10 (in advance from brownpapertickets, $12 at the door) doesn't just get you these filmic interpretations from some of East Van's most delightfully twisted musical minds, but also an electro-swing dance party at the end!

Depending on how things go, we may have to get together an expanded set to allow us to provide soundtrack to a whole film festival at some point! And speaking of how things went, congrats to the Lunchgroup Heavy Industries' raising of over $1100 at last week's fundraiser show.

Bonus! For your enjoyment, a picture-in-picture presentation of the Creaking Planks providing a soundtrack and foley effects for the 1928 Felix the Cat short Woos Whoopee, performed at this event to great acclaim.

2009-12-18: Planks celebrate Rio Theatre holiday open house

The Rev. Lucian Rumblebucket has ushered us in to help fill the room (and what a room! The Rio Theatre at 1660 E. Broadway @ Commercial Drive) with holiday spirits (Jacob Marley, pleased to meetcha!) along with the help of such fabulous performers as The Wet Spots! Maria in the Shower! Tall Brothers! Tribal fusion bellydancer Luciterra! Jenny Magenta! Burgundy Brixx! Lindsey Cherry! DJ K-tel! aaaaand "a Santa Claus who gets more inappropriate as the night wears on!" We're scheduled to hit the stage around quarter to 10.

The house will also be conducting a movie poster sale. Entry by donation; proceeds to the Food Bank!

2009-04-29: Planks at Big Screen Barrelhouse at the Rio

Running from 8 pm until well past midnight, this culmination of the Rio's (1660 E. Broadway at Commercial Drive) April series of concerts will be featuring screenings and musical accompaniment by Tarran the Tailor, Blackberry Wood and Maria in the Shower, including special guests the Mind of a Snail puppet troupe (of "the Laughing Disease" fame)... and (of course!) the Creaking Planks, joining forces with Travis to demonstrate a certain magical, musical spirit cabinet. A craft market will be set up and the first few rows of chairs removed to maximalise DANCE PARTY potential! Admission is $15, but these supertoys last all summer long.

2008-06: Catchup

Not all of our functions have turned up here, sometimes due to certain last-minute qualities of their booking and promotion, other times because they were essentially private parties and we had no business inviting strangers into our friends' homes.  All the same, we had a blast nonetheless and would like to commemorate those gigs here among the rest of our performances.

* June 6th we were invited to perform at Tally's fundraiser, the "Pan-Van Variety Hour" at the Rio Theatre, hoping to generate proceeds to help send her to Tanzania to do work with Youth Challenge International! We were invited to play in the middle of the night, which amounted to Squeezebeard taking the stage solo at the conclusion of the proceedings, performing a set to the other performers (including Jill Binder and the Baby Jessicas) before they went home.  Somehow, Tally ended the night up $400 and we ended up with a bottle of red wine, so all's well that ends well.  A good debut at the Rio, and I can't wait to return!

* June 13th was back to the Foxy House for the second party in three days, this time a joint celebration of Jhayne and Venus' birthdays.  Shortly following a visit from Vancouver's finest boys in blue, Dr. Steelhand wrapped up another incredible display of magic and legerdemain and a gaggle of unruly Planks crammed into a window vestibule to make a room sweat and tremble.  We have foxy resident Chelsea Johnson to thank for getting the dance groove started, one so unshakeable it would not be stymied even by the end of the planned set.  Greetings also to the Slavic lads of Mezamazing who came by to say (bellow is more like it) hello following their surprise appearance on that night's episode of Accordion Noir!  (Here's a photo by Andrew Bankley demonstrating our cramped dance floor.  (And some more!) We demolished that living room!) (Only figuratively speaking, however.)

* June 15th we streamlined down some grand plans to take to the Car-Free Festival, meeting up at the great granddaddy of them all on Commercial Drive for some of us to play a set directly opposite a drum circle.  If ukuleles could cry, they would.  Instead, we shuffled over a block south of Kitchener and stopped traffic for a glorious quarter-hour or so. Later, some of us reconvened on Main Street to catch Wyoming Johnny sitting in with Whiskey Jar.

* The next day, June 16th, traditional Monday evening Planks practice was derailed by hopes to crash a poetry party at the site of the emerging Cedar Cottage Community Gardens beneath the SkyTrain tracks, at the old Austrian-Canadian Friendship Park between Broadway and Nanaimo Station.  (Fortunately for us, the plans are all that were derailed.)  One by one all the Planks conked out until Squeezebeard was once again left by his lonesome with enough baked goods to feed the band that wasn't there.  Fortunately, the poets and gardeners were quite receptive (one might even say... hungry) for what he had to offer up for their mouths and ears.  Perhaps someday the full ensemble will revisit the stage there and perform a work especially commissioned to work around the indeterminicies inherent in the noisy movements of the trains rumbling overhead.  (Hey, a guy can dream!)