2017-08-26/27: washing up at the Wooden Boat Festival

So here's the thing: we've spent literally a decade being incorrectly introduced as "Vancouver's premiere pirate band, so get ready for some sea shanties!" because, well, we never got around to changing our name... and it was indeed with an eye toward filling that particular hipster niche that we initially formed beneath that banner. But with the exception of our standout Vancouver Public Space Network gig at Pirates of the SeaBus literally a decade ago, a "Lowbrow on the High Seas" art party at the (long-defunct) Marine Club, a couple of pirate parties, a cancelled engagement launching Salesforce.com in Gastown... and of course that Hallowe'en spent at the McBarge... well, suffice it to say that if you thought that our central conceit was an empty one, you'd have been hard pressed to be proven wrong. Our not-so-secret secret identity as a chanty crew sailing the high seas of melody was just a left turn at Albuquerque we'd failed to make.

But now, arguably at our least nautical ever, we've finally been invited to perform at the 30th annual Wooden Boat Festival, presented by the Vancouver Wooden Boat Society. Go figure. "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win," right?? OK, actually, that comparison is totally inappropriate, so moving right along...

There's a lot going on there at Granville Island (where we haven't played since our Fringe Festival appearance accompanying Melinda Gidaly's Jew! A Musical at the BBQ pit) over the course of some four days -- music, workshops, and yes, actual boats made of actual wood. (Irish coracles, go take a long walk off a short dock.) Turning you on to the complete schedule of events would... overstep our actual knowledge of the festival proceedings, but we can tell you with authority that we are slated to perform twice across two days, from 3:15-4:15 pm both on Saturday the 26th and Sunday August 27th at the Market Courtyard venue -- which I expect is out back behind the Public Market, so ... don't let the seagulls steal away your hot dog!

Years ago I had no success getting Planks to join me busking (to middling reception) in the environs thereabouts, but this time we will do much better because this time around I do solemnly promise I will refrain from singing Kurt Weill's Alabama Song with my amendment to the lyrics "Show us the way to the next bag of soup", in deference to the nearby "Stock Market" stall, selling prefab soups in little baggies.

You can't reasonably expect us to end on a higher note than that, so... see you at the market! (And thanks to the guests at the Dunbar garden party earlier this month for making the most of our diminished turnout... one accordion still can crank out quite a bit of music!)

2017-08-04: Support the the Transgender Law Center by buying our theme song

We lied. The last time Bandcamp had one of these "our share goes to charity" fire sales, to benefit the ACLU, we said that it would be a one-time-only affair. We were wrong. Those crazy, beautiful purveyors of digital music are doing it again, this time to support the Transgender Law Centre. So if you'd like to support a strong defender of a marginalized group (seemingly soon to be on the receiving end of further marginalization when all they want is a safe place in which to go pee, for crying out loud!) but insist on getting a little something for your money, for one day only (this Friday, that is) pay what you like for a digital recording of our Kishka Anthem, hosted at Bandcamp. If you'd like to give more, go look up your favorite bands -- odds are that many of them are set up there, and purchases from them there tomorrow will also go to benefit this cause.

2017-07-29: Planks at LanaLou's with the Wayward Hearts and Joseph Blood

It's been a slow Spring for the Creaking Planks, but things are picking up for us this summer with an array of private and public engagements ahead of us. Next up is a set at LanaLou's (362 Powell Street) on Saturday, July 29th... a bit over two weeks away!

Though it's been on the table as an alternate venue since the early stages of the decline of the Railway Club, despite tentative arrangements to appear there with eg. the Legion of Flying Monkeys Horn Orchestra, we've never performed at LanaLou's before. Finally a chance to break it in! We're not there with the LFM this time around, but rather another character from our hazy and nebulous past -- Bend Sinister's Joseph Blood, who hosted us at the Penthouse (?!) a decade ago and who we most recently crossed paths with in a jam-packed Jeff Younger Presents evening at the Railway some nine years ago. Plus ça change...

But this time around it isn't JB who invited us up to the stage, but our rootsy fellow travellers (with whom we've never before shared a stage!) in The Wayward Hearts:

Subscribing heavily to the Southern Gothic aesthetic and lauding classic Americana, The Wayward Hearts tell stories about unrequited love, shameless self-destruction and the darker side of common truths. Founded in the fall of 2013, the band recorded its first self titled EP in the spring of 2014. That same year the band played the 100 000 person Khatsalano Music Festival and the legendary Whiskey A-GoGo in Los Angeles. Their first full length album, High Impedance, produced by Vancouver’s Jesse Gander, was released in the spring of 2017.

You can catch them presenting their Holy Roller Revue series at the Fox Cabaret, or of course... you can hear them playing with us at this occasion. Doors at 8:30, show starts at 9:30 -- Joseph Blood opens, we follow from 10:15-11 pm and the Hearts headline. Tickets $10 at the door! Don't miss it!

2017-06-18: Creaking Planks at the Accordion Noir stage at Car-Free Main Street!

Hey wow, so it's been a while, Vancouver! We've been making music videos and participating in fundraising and community-building, reflecting on human mortality and... just like that, whap zam!, we haven't played any gigs in town since last November! Well, we're here to shake that up a bit: both us and our eerily familiar friends in the Balkan / klezmer instrumental ensemble Der Royshiker Krokves are scheduled to be turning in hour-long sets (ours, 4-5 pm; theirs, 1-2 pm) at the Accordion Noir stage at this year's Car-Free Main Street festival, running from noon to 7 pm on Sunday June 18th at 21st and Main. But don't come out just to see only us -- the stage features a veritable catalogue of local alt-accordion, including Robyn Carrigan, Barbara Adler, Katheryn Petersen, the Vancouver Squeezebox Circle Orchestra (who we may be lending some guest vocals to!) and closing with a headlining set by our spiritual guide and mentor Geoff Berner. You can find a complete schedule over here. Cheers & squeeze on!

2007-05-04: the Creaking Planks joined Accordion Noir Radio in their "new" time-slot!

Well, friends, nothing new to report (but stay tuned for June), however... as part of the celebrations of their own decaversary (decade anniversary, see how that works?) our colleagues at Accordion Noir Radio have been going way back into their archives and re-releasing a "back episode" from more or less ten years ago. We've arrived at their 23rd episode, the first in their then-new time slot on the daywalker side of midnight at long last, and we were the first live guests to perform in that spot! This spot of primordial Planking predates even the earliest postings to our own website, so for the first time here we can announce the old, old recording which you can now go to enjoy, featuring... a much younger, far creakier incarnation of this musical ensemble. Cheers and creak on!

Creaking Planks on Swamp Rabbit Squeezebox Festival fundraising compilation CD

The Creaking Planks are proud to announce their appearance on a new compilation CD to benefit the inaugural Swamp Rabbit Squeezebox Festival in South Carolina this September (when we will be celebrating our own 10th annual Accordion Noir Festival.) Your friend and ours T.C. Costello is spearheading the venture after one too many late nights listening to back episodes of Accordion Noir Radio and wondering to himself: "how come THEY get to have all the fun?" Consequently the other performers on the fundraiser compilation include a great number of our past and present Accordion Noir Fest co-stars from the general vicinity of the Pacific Northwest -- Miss Natasha Enquist, Barbara Adler, Jet Black Pearl and even the great Geoff Berner! We probably will not be making the grand hike down from Vancouver to South Carolina -- at least, not in the fest's first year -- but if you support the festival with a financial contribution, you can purchase our appearance on the compilation (it's our fabulous and wholesome Pie song!) for either a virtual, digital copy ($10) or a physical disk to hold close in the middle of the night and warm with your hot little hands ($15). And of course, if you wish to support the festival with a still-higher financial donation... it's a free country! There are T-shirts, posters and more up for grabs... but we are not on them, this time around.

So's you know what you're getting into, here's a complete listing of all the tracks included on the compilation:

Crystal Bright and the Silver Hands - The End
T.C. Costello - How to Have a Good Time in the Afterlife
Miss Mousie and the Rigamarole - Dumpsters and Diverbars
Jet Black Pearl - Slug Song
The Brandy Theives - The Muse of Molly Malloy
Geoff Berner- Condos
Cascabel - Time & Road
Wasted Wine - The House
Tower of Dudes - We're Allright
Creaking Planks - Pie Song
Esmerelda Strange - Que Viva La Chava
Apathy Wizards - The Girl who touched the Moon
Barbara Adler - Moon
Miss Natasha Enquist - Golden Planet

PS, don't despair -- we do have live performances and more video recordings coming up, but all in good time.

2017-04-19: RIP Dick Contino

As you may recall, back in 2010 Renee de la Prade made good on our Accordion Noir networking with her and the Squeezebox Babes Calendar crew and secured for us an invitation to the 2010 Cotati Accordion Festival, a magical land that could be all things for all people -- an accordion festival celebrating the best of the old and the new, the traditional and the punk, the folk and the avant-garde. In all these ways it has informed our own programming philosophy for the Accordion Noir Festival, but of course just within the state of California it has the resources of an entire Canadian population to draw on, both to provide performers and audience members. But I digress.

This ... I won't say schizoid, but multi-faceted programming ethos led us to the following slice of mainstage schedule during our appearance there: the Alex Meixner Band, Dick Contino, the Creaking Planks, Duckmandu... bang bang all lined up in a row just like that. Now the first and second pairs have some internal consistency in terms of tone, but the gulf between the two pairs seems insurmountable. Emerging from the Italian community around Fresno, a young Dick rose to prominence winning the Horace Heidt variety shows and spinning it into charismatic stardom on radio and TV, appearing on the Ed Sullivan show a record 48 times. His trademark number "Lady of Spain", performed with his distinctive bellows shake technique, became a solid gold accordion old guard cliche. (Our solution to bridge the gap was to poach half of Alex's band -- hello out there to Matt Tolentino!)

As a scholar of accordion history, I owned several of his albums on vinyl -- presenting him as what he was, the difficult-to-parse-today bona fide accordion sex symbol that he was -- and gingerly packed them along on the airplane south in strange hopes of somehow getting him to autograph them backstage at Cotati when our paths crossed. Instead, my time before our set was spent desperately sniffing around the festival grounds in search of an accordion to borrow, as the kindly Tarkin-lent antique I'd taken custody of two nights before had crumbled in my hands the previous night in Santa Rosa, forcing me to temporarily squeeze myself into Amber Lee's heart-bellowed squeezebox.

Fortunately for the Creaking Planks, our Victoria-based friends at Tempo Trend were improbably vending at this festival, and were willing to lend Blackbox Squeezebeard an instrument on indefinite loan for that afternoon's set, another that night at the Revolution Cafe in San Francisco and the following night at Peri's in Fairfax. Just bring it back to us next time you're in Victoria, they said. I guess when you're made of accordions, the fate of one particular instrument is ultimately of little import. They got mad props from my profuse on-stage thanks, and the whole fest got a set it wouldn't soon forget.

And I never did get those albums autographed by Dick Contino. (There he is, sandwiched between the cello and mandolin! Thanks for the photo, Rachel!)