Just woke up from a dream where I went back to Moose Jaw for the Christmas holidays, and took the rest of Kow along with me.
It was December 21, and I was wondering why my family was still getting ready for school.
Mom asked me if I needed a ride from school today (for some reason, I was going back to my high school, Peacock), and I said, "Nah, I'll take the bus home. It's only a two block walk to the bus stop, and I'm used to walking a lot further than that. Besides, I've got my book to read."
Before school, though, some radio station had set up a live unit in my front room, because Kow was doing a media appearance, along with Quintessential, who had decided to add a woman to the group.
At one point, I, along with the female Quintessential member and another guy, did an impromptu version of Moondance, and I somehow sang lead, even though I didn't know the words to the song, and tried to muddle my way through it.
My friend Romy was in the audience, sitting at my dining room table.
Afterwards, EJ and Brade were in the living room watching TV, while I was frantically getting ready for school, trying to find Dev, who was also going to go to Peacock along with me.
I remember thinking, "If it's the 21st of December, wouldn't we get the week off for Christmas?"
Dev was getting a ride to school from a neighbour, and I was trudging my way through broken ice to get to the car before they took off.
I woke up then...
* * *
On Monday, Canton and I were gearing up for a season of video hockey, when I got a call from Marauder.
"I hear a rumour that you didn't get a turkey dinner."
"That's right. My family dinner was in Wetaskiwin yesterday, and I was working."
"My parents are offering to cook you a Thanksgiving dinner, if you're interested."
So I took him up on his offer.
Before Marauder, Neeta and I went to St. Albert, I made sure to stop off at the liquor store for a nice bottle of white wine. I picked up this good-looking South African chardonnay.
Before the dinner, the three of us watched The Impostors, one of my favourite movies. There's just something about a movie full of stars that wants to be a thirties comedy and succeeds, pratfalls, mistaken identity, singing and all...
The dinner was delicious. Mrs. Marauder went to the store to find some turkey parts so she could cook over some leftovers, but could only find a full turkey. And they made me a pumpkin pie, since there were no store-made ones.
So I gorged on turkey, buns, mashed potatoes, peas, dressing, cranberries, and of course, a crapload of gravy, along with a few glasses of milk and a great wine.
I was much appreciative of the Marauder family for going through all that trouble of making sure I had a Thanksgiving dinner this year.
Axler invited me to his family's dinner, but I had to decline since I was working until 5:30 on Sunday.
And there was no Heath this time around to come in from Prince Albert to visit his girlfriend, since she now lives in the same city as him.
So it's nice to know that the Marauders, who, while I've met them a few times, but wouldn't say were like family to me, were willing to go out of their way for me.
Thank you.
10.09.2004
A better-than-expected movie, shmoozing with small-c celebrities, and yelling at people...
So I've been a little slack in posting here. Not that there hasn't really been nothing to say, there has and this post will kind of show it...
It's just been, well, between work, sleeping, relaxing and sheer sloth...
Eh, in any case, here we go. Bah. One week. No probs. It's a lot more prolific than other people I know (looking at you, Marauder. And Nova. And, well, everyone other than Dev, Dan and Dave...
* * *
Last Wednesday, I was asked to participate in a choir event, singing at the opening of the new Churchill Square.
It was cold for the girls, not so bad for the guys (especially when you're like me, and have something like four layers on when wearing a tux).
A decent time, other than seeing Mayor Bill Smith pimp for the camera like his job was on the line. (Oh, wait. It is...) My old coworker Mike Jenkinson was there in Edmonton Sun capacity (EDIT: He says he wasn't there that night. Odd. Someone in the city looks eerily similar. Granted, he could be mistaken, although not usually when he looks like his Sun pic...), and my old GMCC Video News Writing teacher, Steve Hogle, was the MC.
Afterwards, the choir was invited to join in on the finger food and wine at City Hall. Very good wine, yummy snacks, and I was able to shmooze with Steve for a bit. Talked about what I've been doing since Grant Mac. And I've got an in for publicity for Kow's Christmas show. Not that I'm worried about publicity for it, since we were No Harm's media darlings, but it's always nice to be able to think ahead for a change.
* * *
Last Saturday was Marauder's birthday, and D!, Canton and I went to celebrate along with a crapload of theatre people. Highlight was the video Lee made featuring Marauder's best Edmonton Sketch Conspiracy moments, which must have been every sketch Lee taped that featured Marauder.
Including the infamous Bubba Bomb that D! sold like a madman two years ago.
* * *
Yesterday, Dev and I picked up The Girl Next Door, since we both wanted to see it, and didn't think it would be too appropriate if either of us watched it alone. We just imagined it being too much of a "sitting in the dark, lusting after Elisha Cuthbert" kind of way.
The ads all show the film to be a typical teen movie, in the style of Road Trip or American Pie.
But when Dev and I first heard the opening song (Queen's "Under Pressure"), we knew this wouldn't be what the ads promised.
The best way I could describe it is as the sort of "coming of age" film that Risky Business and Something Wild are: A high school senior realizes he's spent all of his school life studying for college, and when Elisha, a former porn starlet, moves in next door, his studious little world is blown apart.
Some great acting from Elisha, who Dev and I are used to as the dumbest girl on the planet, Kim Bauer.
Tim Oliphant, as a porn producer, was probably my favourite character, but everyone in this movie with a better-than-average part was pretty well-written and characterized.
If you're looking for a good "coming of age" film, you can do a lot worse than The Girl Next Door.
It's just been, well, between work, sleeping, relaxing and sheer sloth...
Eh, in any case, here we go. Bah. One week. No probs. It's a lot more prolific than other people I know (looking at you, Marauder. And Nova. And, well, everyone other than Dev, Dan and Dave...
* * *
Last Wednesday, I was asked to participate in a choir event, singing at the opening of the new Churchill Square.
It was cold for the girls, not so bad for the guys (especially when you're like me, and have something like four layers on when wearing a tux).
A decent time, other than seeing Mayor Bill Smith pimp for the camera like his job was on the line. (Oh, wait. It is...) My old coworker Mike Jenkinson was there in Edmonton Sun capacity (EDIT: He says he wasn't there that night. Odd. Someone in the city looks eerily similar. Granted, he could be mistaken, although not usually when he looks like his Sun pic...), and my old GMCC Video News Writing teacher, Steve Hogle, was the MC.
Afterwards, the choir was invited to join in on the finger food and wine at City Hall. Very good wine, yummy snacks, and I was able to shmooze with Steve for a bit. Talked about what I've been doing since Grant Mac. And I've got an in for publicity for Kow's Christmas show. Not that I'm worried about publicity for it, since we were No Harm's media darlings, but it's always nice to be able to think ahead for a change.
* * *
Last Saturday was Marauder's birthday, and D!, Canton and I went to celebrate along with a crapload of theatre people. Highlight was the video Lee made featuring Marauder's best Edmonton Sketch Conspiracy moments, which must have been every sketch Lee taped that featured Marauder.
Including the infamous Bubba Bomb that D! sold like a madman two years ago.
* * *
Yesterday, Dev and I picked up The Girl Next Door, since we both wanted to see it, and didn't think it would be too appropriate if either of us watched it alone. We just imagined it being too much of a "sitting in the dark, lusting after Elisha Cuthbert" kind of way.
The ads all show the film to be a typical teen movie, in the style of Road Trip or American Pie.
But when Dev and I first heard the opening song (Queen's "Under Pressure"), we knew this wouldn't be what the ads promised.
The best way I could describe it is as the sort of "coming of age" film that Risky Business and Something Wild are: A high school senior realizes he's spent all of his school life studying for college, and when Elisha, a former porn starlet, moves in next door, his studious little world is blown apart.
Some great acting from Elisha, who Dev and I are used to as the dumbest girl on the planet, Kim Bauer.
Tim Oliphant, as a porn producer, was probably my favourite character, but everyone in this movie with a better-than-average part was pretty well-written and characterized.
If you're looking for a good "coming of age" film, you can do a lot worse than The Girl Next Door.
10.03.2004
Back up and running...towards bed...
So the renovations are done. Which means I won't have to yell at customers to leave my store because we're closed. Now I have to tolerate them once more.
Seriously, these past few weeks have made it so I'm needing to get back on the horse, retail-wise. For the past two days, I've been trying to keep myself in the back room away from customers, because I don't want to look at them.
And will they get off my freshly waxed laminate floor already???
Unfortunately, my co-worker Ammon, who's a new hire, has fallen into the habit of doing what most new hires do when they don't know much about the product: Say "You know, I'm not sure. But Kyle will be able to help you out, since he's sure to know."
And so, I usually come out of the back room to find a lineup of customers waiting to talk to me. Or I'm helping one customer for a long time because they need the help, and I hear Ammon tell his customer to ask me about fuses when I'm trying my hardest to sell a set of speakers with no box.
I, of course, straightened out Ammon by telling him that that's my least favourite thing to have to deal with when I'm already dealing with my own crises...and that the catalog is his best friend.
It was when I started out...
* * *
Went to the No Mercy PPV tonight. I happened to have the line of the night. (I know so because I got a standing ovation by some in the room. Or at least a sitting-up-straight ovation...)
When Dawn Marie, Smackdown's resident lustbunny, came out wearing a "Charlie Haas [heart]s Dawn Marie" shirt, Elimination was stunned by her usual lack of clothing.
Elimination: "Oh! Hey, wait! Dawn's shirt has writing on it!"
Laughter from room.
Me: "Oh! Hey! It's written in Braille!"
Two minute laugh break.
* * *
I've been having odd sleeping habits these days. I mean, I've ALWAYS been borderline narcoleptic, usually falling asleep in the moment WHILE I'm putting my glasses on the nightstand.
Usually, I can't stand less than ten hours of sleep. I can make do with eight, but I thrive on more.
So ever since the week of Northern Harmony, where I was renovating and being bored for eight hours a day, and going to so many media stops, I've been falling asleep a lot earlier than usual, hitting the sack before midnight. (Before September, I wouldn't consider going to bed before one a.m.)
So these days, I' d get into bed, read a magazine, and two paragraphs in, I'd be out cold. Not so bad, until I wake up at three in the morning, realize my lamp was still on, find my reading material half-crumpled beneath me, and locate my glasses at the foot of the bed, sometimes folded neatly.
God, I've got to stop falling asleep before I fall asleep...
Seriously, these past few weeks have made it so I'm needing to get back on the horse, retail-wise. For the past two days, I've been trying to keep myself in the back room away from customers, because I don't want to look at them.
And will they get off my freshly waxed laminate floor already???
Unfortunately, my co-worker Ammon, who's a new hire, has fallen into the habit of doing what most new hires do when they don't know much about the product: Say "You know, I'm not sure. But Kyle will be able to help you out, since he's sure to know."
And so, I usually come out of the back room to find a lineup of customers waiting to talk to me. Or I'm helping one customer for a long time because they need the help, and I hear Ammon tell his customer to ask me about fuses when I'm trying my hardest to sell a set of speakers with no box.
I, of course, straightened out Ammon by telling him that that's my least favourite thing to have to deal with when I'm already dealing with my own crises...and that the catalog is his best friend.
It was when I started out...
* * *
Went to the No Mercy PPV tonight. I happened to have the line of the night. (I know so because I got a standing ovation by some in the room. Or at least a sitting-up-straight ovation...)
When Dawn Marie, Smackdown's resident lustbunny, came out wearing a "Charlie Haas [heart]s Dawn Marie" shirt, Elimination was stunned by her usual lack of clothing.
Elimination: "Oh! Hey, wait! Dawn's shirt has writing on it!"
Laughter from room.
Me: "Oh! Hey! It's written in Braille!"
Two minute laugh break.
* * *
I've been having odd sleeping habits these days. I mean, I've ALWAYS been borderline narcoleptic, usually falling asleep in the moment WHILE I'm putting my glasses on the nightstand.
Usually, I can't stand less than ten hours of sleep. I can make do with eight, but I thrive on more.
So ever since the week of Northern Harmony, where I was renovating and being bored for eight hours a day, and going to so many media stops, I've been falling asleep a lot earlier than usual, hitting the sack before midnight. (Before September, I wouldn't consider going to bed before one a.m.)
So these days, I' d get into bed, read a magazine, and two paragraphs in, I'd be out cold. Not so bad, until I wake up at three in the morning, realize my lamp was still on, find my reading material half-crumpled beneath me, and locate my glasses at the foot of the bed, sometimes folded neatly.
God, I've got to stop falling asleep before I fall asleep...
9.27.2004
Last performance for a little while...
Before we had a little rest to prepare for the Christmas season, Kow did a gig last night at the Kitchen Sink Cabaret.
It was a fun time. We got to the Druid pretty early, and made sure to have our mics and monitor just in case something like last year, where the sound tech wasn't prepared, happened again.
As it was, it seemed they had no sound tech at all. The bartender MIGHT be able to do it, if he calls his boss to coach him through.
Also, no mic stands.
So we had an uphill battle to begin. Not to mention that the Druid is the LAST place you want to go unamplified, since that place sucks up every bit of sound coming from the stage.
Since we got there early, Dev, Canton and I decided we'd get some food and drink. Well, I had the drink, since Canton always has iced tea, and Dev picked up some coffee.
The waitress tried giving us menus when we were walking from the bar, and Canton and I picked one up, Dev had no hands free.
When we get to the table, and the waitress (Nicole) comes up, she apparently decides that Dev would be the one she talks sass to. And decides to flirt with me the entire night.
Not that I'm complaining, mind you. Cute girl, shorter, raven hair. You know. My type.
It starts out with Nicole caressing my shoulder. A lot. When Dev would ask for a refill on his coffee, Nicole would say "Nope. Not a chance." Dev hides in his sweater like a turtle. I ask, "Can I have his coffee refill?"
"Sure. Coming right up."
Then she'd give me pet names, like "monkey." And I think she called me sweetheart once or twice as well.
Dev, on his journal, tells his side of the tale, saying "Our waitress, a keen judge of character, decided that in order to maximize her tips she needed to a) flirt like crazy with Jago, and b) be a gigantic smartass to me."
I do have one bone to pick about that. The flirting with me would not so much be more likely to make me give her a bigger tip. I mean, sure, it does inflate my ego a bunch, but if she was as sassy to me as she was to Dev? I'd still give her an equivalent tip.
In any case, the show went pretty well. The crowd was responsive to our songs. Both the ESC and Blacklisted did some very funny sketchcom, although Blacklisted went completely for the dark side of things, like two guys trying to molest a lamp, the drunk driver who gets home to find his family dead, the "Happy Eighteenth Birthday, Olsen Twins" song.
I'm not sure if I'd want to have Blacklisted perform that sort of stuff if we invite them to our Christmas cabaret this year. I mean, we apologized enough last year with the ESC's choice of sketches. If we decided to have both of them perform, I might as well just start drinking a crapload of eggnog during the show.
Wait. Did I say eggnog? I meant scotch.
Mario got great cheers, as did pretty much all of our songs. Before Hey Ya, you had a bunch of girls (who weren't there for the show, so much as they were there to drink) go to the performing area, and call out to us that it was Amanda's birthday.
Dev: "How old are you, Amanda?"
Amanda: "Eighteen."
Dev, me: "Well, happy birthday, Amanda!"
We then start setting up for our next song. There's a disappointed groan from Amanda's friends.
Dev: "What? Because we're an a cappella group, you think we're going to sing Happy birthday to Amanda?"
Me: (to the tune of the Blacklisted song) "Happy eighteenth birthday, Amanda-ah!"
Cheers from both Blacklisted, and Hughes, the MC, died laughing.
Me: "Tell you what, Amanda. Dev, we can sing the next song to her, can't we?"
Dev: "That works."
At which point we sing Hey Ya, and to their credit, the girls, who seemed to be the kind who really couldn't care less about the Cabaret, watched us for the rest of the set.
In all, a fun show. If only it wasn't just the usual drama/theatre patrons there...
* * *
(edited to remove the post about the book I just finished. I didn't think it made it into the last post, as my modem happened to get unplugged en-poste. I was wrong...)
It was a fun time. We got to the Druid pretty early, and made sure to have our mics and monitor just in case something like last year, where the sound tech wasn't prepared, happened again.
As it was, it seemed they had no sound tech at all. The bartender MIGHT be able to do it, if he calls his boss to coach him through.
Also, no mic stands.
So we had an uphill battle to begin. Not to mention that the Druid is the LAST place you want to go unamplified, since that place sucks up every bit of sound coming from the stage.
Since we got there early, Dev, Canton and I decided we'd get some food and drink. Well, I had the drink, since Canton always has iced tea, and Dev picked up some coffee.
The waitress tried giving us menus when we were walking from the bar, and Canton and I picked one up, Dev had no hands free.
When we get to the table, and the waitress (Nicole) comes up, she apparently decides that Dev would be the one she talks sass to. And decides to flirt with me the entire night.
Not that I'm complaining, mind you. Cute girl, shorter, raven hair. You know. My type.
It starts out with Nicole caressing my shoulder. A lot. When Dev would ask for a refill on his coffee, Nicole would say "Nope. Not a chance." Dev hides in his sweater like a turtle. I ask, "Can I have his coffee refill?"
"Sure. Coming right up."
Then she'd give me pet names, like "monkey." And I think she called me sweetheart once or twice as well.
Dev, on his journal, tells his side of the tale, saying "Our waitress, a keen judge of character, decided that in order to maximize her tips she needed to a) flirt like crazy with Jago, and b) be a gigantic smartass to me."
I do have one bone to pick about that. The flirting with me would not so much be more likely to make me give her a bigger tip. I mean, sure, it does inflate my ego a bunch, but if she was as sassy to me as she was to Dev? I'd still give her an equivalent tip.
In any case, the show went pretty well. The crowd was responsive to our songs. Both the ESC and Blacklisted did some very funny sketchcom, although Blacklisted went completely for the dark side of things, like two guys trying to molest a lamp, the drunk driver who gets home to find his family dead, the "Happy Eighteenth Birthday, Olsen Twins" song.
I'm not sure if I'd want to have Blacklisted perform that sort of stuff if we invite them to our Christmas cabaret this year. I mean, we apologized enough last year with the ESC's choice of sketches. If we decided to have both of them perform, I might as well just start drinking a crapload of eggnog during the show.
Wait. Did I say eggnog? I meant scotch.
Mario got great cheers, as did pretty much all of our songs. Before Hey Ya, you had a bunch of girls (who weren't there for the show, so much as they were there to drink) go to the performing area, and call out to us that it was Amanda's birthday.
Dev: "How old are you, Amanda?"
Amanda: "Eighteen."
Dev, me: "Well, happy birthday, Amanda!"
We then start setting up for our next song. There's a disappointed groan from Amanda's friends.
Dev: "What? Because we're an a cappella group, you think we're going to sing Happy birthday to Amanda?"
Me: (to the tune of the Blacklisted song) "Happy eighteenth birthday, Amanda-ah!"
Cheers from both Blacklisted, and Hughes, the MC, died laughing.
Me: "Tell you what, Amanda. Dev, we can sing the next song to her, can't we?"
Dev: "That works."
At which point we sing Hey Ya, and to their credit, the girls, who seemed to be the kind who really couldn't care less about the Cabaret, watched us for the rest of the set.
In all, a fun show. If only it wasn't just the usual drama/theatre patrons there...
* * *
(edited to remove the post about the book I just finished. I didn't think it made it into the last post, as my modem happened to get unplugged en-poste. I was wrong...)
9.26.2004
We gave it our all...
Alas, no awards for us this year.
Yesterday, Northern Harmony 2004 took place at the Eva O. Howard Theatre. Along with four other a cappella groups from around Alberta, Kow vied for the crown of Best Group.
First of all, before telling my thoughts of the other group, I'm going to pretty much go for my thoughts on our performance:
When we were introduced to the audience as the second group to compete, there was a pretty noticeable cheer for us. Hey, it looks like we've got a pretty big fanbase, which is nice. Maybe we'll nab the Audience Favourite award this year.
We came out to the big cheers, trying our best not to acknowledge the audience, since we get timed from our first second performing, whether it be a note, a look at the audience, anything that starts the show.
We opened with Mighty Mouse, and if there's one thing that Kow did to a 't' last night, it was channel every bit of energy we got from the crowd, and shove it right back out at them.
The air was electric with energy. It was amazing, and it has not too hard to throw a big smile on my face for the most part. Stan did a good job with the solo, and the audience seemed to enjoy the old theme song, as well as our added Grease riff at the end. (That was my idea, during a rehearsal. What can I say? I'm a jackass that likes making the others crack up.)
After the applause, I introduced us.
"Wow. What was that?"
Dev: "I love Olivia Newton-John"
Me: "Okay, then. Hi, we are Apocalypse Kow! That means our initials are A.K., which, if you're a bad speller like Joel here, also stands for Audience Participation."
It was a subtler joke, one that took a few seconds to sink in with the crowd.
At which point we sang Hey Ya. What can I say? We were on. I got the proper timing for the Beyonce bit. The crowd was into it, clapping at all the right parts. And they just died laughing when all five of us broke into the Kingston dance during the "shake it like a Polaroid picture" part.
Granted, there is something inherently funny with five guys dancing like spazzes, and it is a running joke within quite a few of our friends who were in the audience. Seriously, it's hard to describe the dance my old buddy Kingston does (or at least, did), but it's akin to taking out your knee and elbow joints before hitting the dance floor.
After Hey Ya, we premiered our "mystery song," the song that Kow made sure not to tell people about lest it ruins the surprise. Astro had arranged the Mario themes, everything from the main theme, to the water levels, underground, the star bit, the flag sting, and, of course, the dirge of Mario's death.
It went over quite well, but them, so did our entire set. We had most of the audience eating our of our palms.
We then finished off with a rocking Fat Bottomed Girls by Queen. Dev lost a bit on the high notes, but it was nothing major.
We did a very good job. We were playing with the crowd, we were solid, we didn't make many technical mistakes. I know for me, that even though I was channeling the audience's energy through me and throwing it back at them tenfold in everything I did, I was also very focused on what we were doing, not letting the music go to autopilot.
The things we were trying to fix minutes before the show were fine. Everyone was ON. It was a great show by Kow. We rocked, no, I'm sorry, we RAWKED the house.
We thanked the audience and ran offstage. We thought we went over the time limit by a few seconds, which by NoHarm rules would drop us a place in the standings regardless of how we did. We wouldn't be getting first place, no matter how much ass we kicked.
Dev thought he killed our chances by cracking on FBG's highest note. Which wouldn't have been the case regardless (losing because of one cracked note, that is...).
All I knew is that no matter which awards we didn't get, this was one set where I was really proud with what we accomplished. And nothing could take that away from me.
Ka (my old friend and producer of the show) came to me after the intermission, and asked how I was doing. I told her, quite honestly, that I was exhausted. Apparently, some people were asking her, "Jess, what's the deal with Kow?"
Jess: "What do you mean?"
Other people: "I can't believe that's the same group from a few years ago."
Other people were saying the same thing. Quintessential was telling me backstage that they loved our set, and they thought we had improved so much in the last year.
Vince, the group's tenor, said he was laughing so much from our set (in a good way) that he wasn't sure if he was going to be able to sing properly during their set.
Now, my opinion of the other groups:
Rhythm Speaks did a great job. Especially with their version of BoyzIIMen/Mariah Carey's "One Sweet Day." You can definitely tell these guys have practiced, and since they had a member change a month before the show, and they became a mixed group, it was pretty darn good.
Rhapsody was a tight Sweet Ads (female barbershop) group. Alas, I wasn't listening to them so much, as they went on after us, and that was when I had little energy to do anything except for reviewing our set in my head.
Quintessential was tight, as always, and their version of Glass Tiger's "Don't Forget Me When I'm Gone" was amazing. What I want to do this year is perform a joint concert with the group, and give them one of our arrangements in exchange for one of theirs. See how it'd sound with a different take.
It was also the first time I've ever heard a medley of Weird Al polka medleys. Yes, they actually combined a load of medleys and still made it pretty slick.
Vince was telling me they were having troubles with some of the risque songs that are in Weird Al's songs, so they added some from others, just so they don't alienate the audience. He then told me how much he liked Canton's slapping of Dev during Hey Ya's "Just wanna make you come-a" line as a way around potentially risque lyrics.
Last was No Assembly Required. They, as always, are very tight. Unfortunately, to ME, they're VERY whitebread. Not that it hurts them any when it comes to their audience. Their audience just isn't my audience is all. Different strokes...
Still, I can't say that they didn't sound good, because they sounded excellent. Joel, the tenor, has a great voice (and he won Best Soloist to boot), my old high school friend Spanks was a good addition as their high tenor. They did a few standards, a fast rollicking Newfoundland shanty. Good stuff.
No Assembly Required won the Audience Favourite award again this year. Good for them. Also, whichever fans of ours thought that trying to rig the voting so we'd win would be a good idea?
Please, we thank you for your devotion, but it's not necessary, especially when the producers can figure out that a ticket ripped in half is NOT two tickets.
Apparently, it happened in a bunch of voting boxes, but it was most prevalent in ours. Eight times.
Last year, thanks, but no thanks. Seriously, the only way we're going to win Audience Favourite is if we keep getting more people to come out to NH, not to have our friends try to cheat on our behalf.
The fact is, No Assembly Required is a safe group. And when it comes to NH, the audience is made up of (after friends and families of the groups) a lot of older folks who like the barbershop and traditional a cappella groups.
And No Assembly Required is definitely a traditional group. Good for them!
Kow's biggest weakness (and biggest strength, for that matter) is we ARE an edgy group. We don't always make our audience comfortable.
I mean, sure, we have fun performing (otherwise we wouldn't do what we do, obviously) and we have a lot of people who are fans of us. In fact, in the past two years, I can definitely say that not only have we improved in leaps and bounds, we've become known, as much as a cappella groups can be known, really.
But our musical tastes and tastes in most things, collectively, are not ones that are universal.
I mean, I can see us going back to NoHarm, because it is one of our favourite things to do, although it IS a competition, and sometimes we seem to be masochists in that respect.
And some people were thinking that the voting for Audience Favourite was rigged, since we seemed to have the most crowd support.
To which I say, quite emphatically, bullshit. We were not the most popular group there. I mean, sure, it might have been VERY close (and I'm sure it was), but the reason we keep on having good crowd support is, due in part, to the fact that we have VERY vocal fans. I'm sure that there were a lot of people who enjoyed us. I also know that when it came to the intermission, when I was selling shirts, there were a few people who wouldn't look me in the eye.
And, since NAR is a traditional, safe group, a lot of people felt a lot more comfortable voting for them. As well they should. We just have to get more of our friends' butts in seats next time. Same as it ever was...
(As it was, when we thought we went over in our time limit? We didn't. Out of 12 minutes allotted, we took up 11:55. So we were happy about that.)
Second place went to NAR as well. First place went to Quintessential. They took time for one last song, because Vince arranged with the producers beforehand to propose to his girlfriend onstage during their rendition of Good Lovin'.
The Chickadivas hosted the show, and did a good job with it. Although I DID have a sinking feeling in my stomach before they went on. Since I asked one of them:
"How many songs are you singing?"
Diva: "Oh, we've got 30-40 minutes."
Me: "Um...Oh."
Me, thinking: Do they know that it's already something like 10:00? Do they know they're not there to perform an entire concert?
As it was, Mike and Ka were almost killing themselves jumping up and down on the wings trying to get them to notice that they should stop after about 25 minutes.
* * *
So that's pretty much everything I remember about last night. I wouldn't change a thing about our performance, I'm proud of everyone in Kow for being so energetic, yet focused. Unfortunately, we fell a little short. Just gives us more of an impetus for next year.
* * *
In other Kow news, I've put our bootleg into my iMesh shared folder, so people are able to find Kow songs online in a file-sharing way now...
* * *
I finished Minister Faust's book The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad recently. Such a good book, I might use it as my book club's selection come my turn to host.
It was sort of sci-fi-ish, I guess. More like an urban fantasy with sci-fi elements that was brought to life and grounded it in reality due to Faust using Edmonton as the setting, as well as Faust knowing his characters' voices very well. I could actually see where these things took place, due to my familiarity with the city. It made it more real for me.
I heartily recommend picking this book up at the library or at your nearest bookstore.
Yesterday, Northern Harmony 2004 took place at the Eva O. Howard Theatre. Along with four other a cappella groups from around Alberta, Kow vied for the crown of Best Group.
First of all, before telling my thoughts of the other group, I'm going to pretty much go for my thoughts on our performance:
When we were introduced to the audience as the second group to compete, there was a pretty noticeable cheer for us. Hey, it looks like we've got a pretty big fanbase, which is nice. Maybe we'll nab the Audience Favourite award this year.
We came out to the big cheers, trying our best not to acknowledge the audience, since we get timed from our first second performing, whether it be a note, a look at the audience, anything that starts the show.
We opened with Mighty Mouse, and if there's one thing that Kow did to a 't' last night, it was channel every bit of energy we got from the crowd, and shove it right back out at them.
The air was electric with energy. It was amazing, and it has not too hard to throw a big smile on my face for the most part. Stan did a good job with the solo, and the audience seemed to enjoy the old theme song, as well as our added Grease riff at the end. (That was my idea, during a rehearsal. What can I say? I'm a jackass that likes making the others crack up.)
After the applause, I introduced us.
"Wow. What was that?"
Dev: "I love Olivia Newton-John"
Me: "Okay, then. Hi, we are Apocalypse Kow! That means our initials are A.K., which, if you're a bad speller like Joel here, also stands for Audience Participation."
It was a subtler joke, one that took a few seconds to sink in with the crowd.
At which point we sang Hey Ya. What can I say? We were on. I got the proper timing for the Beyonce bit. The crowd was into it, clapping at all the right parts. And they just died laughing when all five of us broke into the Kingston dance during the "shake it like a Polaroid picture" part.
Granted, there is something inherently funny with five guys dancing like spazzes, and it is a running joke within quite a few of our friends who were in the audience. Seriously, it's hard to describe the dance my old buddy Kingston does (or at least, did), but it's akin to taking out your knee and elbow joints before hitting the dance floor.
After Hey Ya, we premiered our "mystery song," the song that Kow made sure not to tell people about lest it ruins the surprise. Astro had arranged the Mario themes, everything from the main theme, to the water levels, underground, the star bit, the flag sting, and, of course, the dirge of Mario's death.
It went over quite well, but them, so did our entire set. We had most of the audience eating our of our palms.
We then finished off with a rocking Fat Bottomed Girls by Queen. Dev lost a bit on the high notes, but it was nothing major.
We did a very good job. We were playing with the crowd, we were solid, we didn't make many technical mistakes. I know for me, that even though I was channeling the audience's energy through me and throwing it back at them tenfold in everything I did, I was also very focused on what we were doing, not letting the music go to autopilot.
The things we were trying to fix minutes before the show were fine. Everyone was ON. It was a great show by Kow. We rocked, no, I'm sorry, we RAWKED the house.
We thanked the audience and ran offstage. We thought we went over the time limit by a few seconds, which by NoHarm rules would drop us a place in the standings regardless of how we did. We wouldn't be getting first place, no matter how much ass we kicked.
Dev thought he killed our chances by cracking on FBG's highest note. Which wouldn't have been the case regardless (losing because of one cracked note, that is...).
All I knew is that no matter which awards we didn't get, this was one set where I was really proud with what we accomplished. And nothing could take that away from me.
Ka (my old friend and producer of the show) came to me after the intermission, and asked how I was doing. I told her, quite honestly, that I was exhausted. Apparently, some people were asking her, "Jess, what's the deal with Kow?"
Jess: "What do you mean?"
Other people: "I can't believe that's the same group from a few years ago."
Other people were saying the same thing. Quintessential was telling me backstage that they loved our set, and they thought we had improved so much in the last year.
Vince, the group's tenor, said he was laughing so much from our set (in a good way) that he wasn't sure if he was going to be able to sing properly during their set.
Now, my opinion of the other groups:
Rhythm Speaks did a great job. Especially with their version of BoyzIIMen/Mariah Carey's "One Sweet Day." You can definitely tell these guys have practiced, and since they had a member change a month before the show, and they became a mixed group, it was pretty darn good.
Rhapsody was a tight Sweet Ads (female barbershop) group. Alas, I wasn't listening to them so much, as they went on after us, and that was when I had little energy to do anything except for reviewing our set in my head.
Quintessential was tight, as always, and their version of Glass Tiger's "Don't Forget Me When I'm Gone" was amazing. What I want to do this year is perform a joint concert with the group, and give them one of our arrangements in exchange for one of theirs. See how it'd sound with a different take.
It was also the first time I've ever heard a medley of Weird Al polka medleys. Yes, they actually combined a load of medleys and still made it pretty slick.
Vince was telling me they were having troubles with some of the risque songs that are in Weird Al's songs, so they added some from others, just so they don't alienate the audience. He then told me how much he liked Canton's slapping of Dev during Hey Ya's "Just wanna make you come-a" line as a way around potentially risque lyrics.
Last was No Assembly Required. They, as always, are very tight. Unfortunately, to ME, they're VERY whitebread. Not that it hurts them any when it comes to their audience. Their audience just isn't my audience is all. Different strokes...
Still, I can't say that they didn't sound good, because they sounded excellent. Joel, the tenor, has a great voice (and he won Best Soloist to boot), my old high school friend Spanks was a good addition as their high tenor. They did a few standards, a fast rollicking Newfoundland shanty. Good stuff.
No Assembly Required won the Audience Favourite award again this year. Good for them. Also, whichever fans of ours thought that trying to rig the voting so we'd win would be a good idea?
Please, we thank you for your devotion, but it's not necessary, especially when the producers can figure out that a ticket ripped in half is NOT two tickets.
Apparently, it happened in a bunch of voting boxes, but it was most prevalent in ours. Eight times.
Last year, thanks, but no thanks. Seriously, the only way we're going to win Audience Favourite is if we keep getting more people to come out to NH, not to have our friends try to cheat on our behalf.
The fact is, No Assembly Required is a safe group. And when it comes to NH, the audience is made up of (after friends and families of the groups) a lot of older folks who like the barbershop and traditional a cappella groups.
And No Assembly Required is definitely a traditional group. Good for them!
Kow's biggest weakness (and biggest strength, for that matter) is we ARE an edgy group. We don't always make our audience comfortable.
I mean, sure, we have fun performing (otherwise we wouldn't do what we do, obviously) and we have a lot of people who are fans of us. In fact, in the past two years, I can definitely say that not only have we improved in leaps and bounds, we've become known, as much as a cappella groups can be known, really.
But our musical tastes and tastes in most things, collectively, are not ones that are universal.
I mean, I can see us going back to NoHarm, because it is one of our favourite things to do, although it IS a competition, and sometimes we seem to be masochists in that respect.
And some people were thinking that the voting for Audience Favourite was rigged, since we seemed to have the most crowd support.
To which I say, quite emphatically, bullshit. We were not the most popular group there. I mean, sure, it might have been VERY close (and I'm sure it was), but the reason we keep on having good crowd support is, due in part, to the fact that we have VERY vocal fans. I'm sure that there were a lot of people who enjoyed us. I also know that when it came to the intermission, when I was selling shirts, there were a few people who wouldn't look me in the eye.
And, since NAR is a traditional, safe group, a lot of people felt a lot more comfortable voting for them. As well they should. We just have to get more of our friends' butts in seats next time. Same as it ever was...
(As it was, when we thought we went over in our time limit? We didn't. Out of 12 minutes allotted, we took up 11:55. So we were happy about that.)
Second place went to NAR as well. First place went to Quintessential. They took time for one last song, because Vince arranged with the producers beforehand to propose to his girlfriend onstage during their rendition of Good Lovin'.
The Chickadivas hosted the show, and did a good job with it. Although I DID have a sinking feeling in my stomach before they went on. Since I asked one of them:
"How many songs are you singing?"
Diva: "Oh, we've got 30-40 minutes."
Me: "Um...Oh."
Me, thinking: Do they know that it's already something like 10:00? Do they know they're not there to perform an entire concert?
As it was, Mike and Ka were almost killing themselves jumping up and down on the wings trying to get them to notice that they should stop after about 25 minutes.
* * *
So that's pretty much everything I remember about last night. I wouldn't change a thing about our performance, I'm proud of everyone in Kow for being so energetic, yet focused. Unfortunately, we fell a little short. Just gives us more of an impetus for next year.
* * *
In other Kow news, I've put our bootleg into my iMesh shared folder, so people are able to find Kow songs online in a file-sharing way now...
* * *
I finished Minister Faust's book The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad recently. Such a good book, I might use it as my book club's selection come my turn to host.
It was sort of sci-fi-ish, I guess. More like an urban fantasy with sci-fi elements that was brought to life and grounded it in reality due to Faust using Edmonton as the setting, as well as Faust knowing his characters' voices very well. I could actually see where these things took place, due to my familiarity with the city. It made it more real for me.
I heartily recommend picking this book up at the library or at your nearest bookstore.
9.23.2004
The Kow media juggernaut keeps a-chuggin'
So we just finished up the CBC gig, which went pretty well. A half-hour interview/concert where we got a pretty good lunch turnout in the heart of Edmonton.
Other than my mic level being a little low, and my voice sounding pretty gravelly, it was fun. We got some publicity out of the deal, we got free CBC shirts, and I went to Fat Frank's for lunch.
Fat Frank's, for those of you not in the know, is the best hot dog kiosk in Edmonton. I got addicted to their Honey Ham Smokie when they opened a booth on Whyte Ave last year.
Seriously, the smokie is HUGE! And it's SOOOO good.
But the kiosk on Rice Howard Way, a block away from my mall? They've got the biggest condiment table I've ever seen! Two kinds of homemade relish (corn and pickle), sauerkraut, onions, pickles, olives, five or six different mustards, the same amount of mayos (including my favourite, Hellman's Bacon and Tomato), chili sauce, ketchup...
It's great. And only five bucks for a huge smokie and drink. Bliss...
Anyways, back to the media blitz.
I was REALLY pumped to hear Shelagh Rogers introduce our "Hey Ya" cover on CBC nationwide this morning. They spliced it in with the original song just so viewers could tell the difference. And we got our names out across Canada! Whoo!
There's the Examiner article, as I posted earlier, and the CKUA show he had to turn down, since it's when three of the four of us are not available.
And in today's edition of See Magazine, we're mentioned twice for our two shows this weekend, which are both listed as Picks of the Week. (Saturday: NoHarm, Sunday: Kitchen Sink Cabaret - The Druid, 11606 Jasper Ave, 8 pm show start, 7 pm doors open, Pay what you can - $10 recommended...)
So, nice publicity for us.
* * *
Brian Wilson's finally releasing the album that broke his mind back in the 60s - Smile.
I'm not sure if I'd buy it or what. It's pretty interesting sounding, from what I've heard, but I think I'd just go ahead and buy Pet Sounds first. I mean, really, after 35 years of hype, Smile can't be all that it's made out to be.
I'd probably buy it for Dad's Christmas gift, mind you...
Other than my mic level being a little low, and my voice sounding pretty gravelly, it was fun. We got some publicity out of the deal, we got free CBC shirts, and I went to Fat Frank's for lunch.
Fat Frank's, for those of you not in the know, is the best hot dog kiosk in Edmonton. I got addicted to their Honey Ham Smokie when they opened a booth on Whyte Ave last year.
Seriously, the smokie is HUGE! And it's SOOOO good.
But the kiosk on Rice Howard Way, a block away from my mall? They've got the biggest condiment table I've ever seen! Two kinds of homemade relish (corn and pickle), sauerkraut, onions, pickles, olives, five or six different mustards, the same amount of mayos (including my favourite, Hellman's Bacon and Tomato), chili sauce, ketchup...
It's great. And only five bucks for a huge smokie and drink. Bliss...
Anyways, back to the media blitz.
I was REALLY pumped to hear Shelagh Rogers introduce our "Hey Ya" cover on CBC nationwide this morning. They spliced it in with the original song just so viewers could tell the difference. And we got our names out across Canada! Whoo!
There's the Examiner article, as I posted earlier, and the CKUA show he had to turn down, since it's when three of the four of us are not available.
And in today's edition of See Magazine, we're mentioned twice for our two shows this weekend, which are both listed as Picks of the Week. (Saturday: NoHarm, Sunday: Kitchen Sink Cabaret - The Druid, 11606 Jasper Ave, 8 pm show start, 7 pm doors open, Pay what you can - $10 recommended...)
So, nice publicity for us.
* * *
Brian Wilson's finally releasing the album that broke his mind back in the 60s - Smile.
I'm not sure if I'd buy it or what. It's pretty interesting sounding, from what I've heard, but I think I'd just go ahead and buy Pet Sounds first. I mean, really, after 35 years of hype, Smile can't be all that it's made out to be.
I'd probably buy it for Dad's Christmas gift, mind you...
9.22.2004
Free show! Come see!
For those of you who read this in time, and are able to come down to Edmonton City Centre tomorrow lunch, Kow will be performing live for a half-hour CBC Radio taping.
That's right, this Thursday, Kow will perform at 12 noon for Edmonton AM, as well as possibly shooting some video spots for the CBC news.
Note: This is not a concert we're performing just so you don't have to come to Northern Harmony to cheer us on. We still need all the audience we can get.
BTW, NoHarm is 50% sold. Buy your tickets here if you haven't already picked them up. Because they WILL sell out, like they do every year.
That's right, this Thursday, Kow will perform at 12 noon for Edmonton AM, as well as possibly shooting some video spots for the CBC news.
Note: This is not a concert we're performing just so you don't have to come to Northern Harmony to cheer us on. We still need all the audience we can get.
BTW, NoHarm is 50% sold. Buy your tickets here if you haven't already picked them up. Because they WILL sell out, like they do every year.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
