After looking at my last posting, entitled “My Birthday? Already?”, I was tempted to write: “Summertime, already?!” because I’m just realizing how long it’s been since then.
I suppose it’s a testament to how busy these past several months have been!
Several months ago, I made the decision to follow my own path and work on my own bookings. I knew it would be a more difficult endeavour than playing in someone else’s band, but I felt the change was necessary. It was scary and I didn’t know what was in store for me, but the past several months has seen me doing some very fun and exciting things!
On April 29th, I was involved with a show called “Simply Divas”. It’s a phenomenal fund-raising event that benefits an institution called F.A.M.E. (Family Association for Mental health Everywhere, http://fameforfamilies.com/). They bring in several extremely talented young ladies to pay tribute to “Diva” artists over the years. This year, they did Janis Joplin, Tina Turner, Adele, and Gloria Estefan (to name a few). I accompanied the show and led the band throughout an afternoon performance that was simply magical. Of course, there’s so much more to the event than the music, but that was my focus and I was happy to be involved. To find out more about the event (and/or if you would like to contribute to it in the future), please check out their website: http://simplydivas.ca/
Later that same day, I played a show that was a tribute to the music of Joss Whedon with some incredibly talented friends of mine. We’ve played this show a few times before, and always to the delight of our audience! If you’re a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Dr. Horrible’s Singalong Blog or pretty much anything Joss Whedon does, chances are you’d enjoy this show! Several of the performers are instrumentalists as well, and our 9-person ensemble knocked it right out of the park! I’ve rarely played a gig in which the vibe from the audience was so intimate. Look out for “Once More, With Feeling”, in my calendar!
On May 12th, I was music director of a band that accompanied NewChoir (http://newchoir.ca/), showcasing the vocal talents of approximately 150 people. I’ve been the choir’s accompanist for the past three seasons, but I’ve never been available to play the concert until this one. Each season, the choir has a different theme for their concert; this season, it was “Road Trip”. We performed music such as “Life is a Highway”, “Shut up and Drive”, and “Radar Love”, to name but a few of the 18-song set-list. Between Scott Pietrangelo’s masterful choir direction (http://scottpietrangelo.com/) and the talents of the choir and its new band, the general consensus is that this is the best performance the choir has had in its 14-season history! I’m extremely proud of the choir and the new band!
Of course, I’ve also been doing more Dueling and Solo Piano shows throughout the GTA and receiving some very encouraging response. I like to keep my audience involved and with almost every show I learn something new that will keep them engaged and entertained. It’s almost as much fun for me as it is for the audience!
My own band, Jack Squat, has been getting more and more bookings of late, and that’s very exciting news. I had hoped that it would get more work, and as it stands we’ve got two major bookings each month between now and September. The response has been so great that I will soon create a website for the band. It will include audio and video for people to peruse at their leisure, as well as testimonials from people who’ve heard us play.
In short, it’s very exciting times around here and I couldn’t be happier!
Meanwhile, I’m back to editing/adding videos to YouTube! My channel: http://youtube.com/user/dlenabat/.