Paid my car tax online at last. I just have to hope that the disc comes through by Monday. A maximum of 5 working days they say, so bearing in mind that Government working days now include Saturdays, the latest it should arrive is Tuesday.

   We had our ‘Road Show’ today. It was quite good, very much as expected really. We got an overview of where the service is now, where senior management wants it to be in the future and a reality check on where it will actually be !!! It was interesting to find out the type of information that was available to staff, that our manager is not disseminating.

   Just about ready to go to the pub now. It’s rehearsal night, and the drama group usually head off to the Red Lion at around 10:00pm. I’ll be in from just before, and I think it is my turn to buy a round. As it is a Sam Smiths pub, a round is not too expensive.

“Simply the best Jam Room in Toronto” - Hatch

“No other studio offers what you do” – Left Turn City

Back in the 70’s your average music rehearsal space in Toronto kicked ass. The rooms were huge, the sound was amazing and the perks were plentiful. It was a jam space suitable for any rock legend. Man, how times were great for practicing musicians back then.

When looking at music rehearsal studios today, the number one complaints are that band practice spaces in Toronto are small, dont supply good equipment (or any gear at all), the room is either too hot or cold, it’s over priced or it has terrible acoustics.

Well, a couple of guys from T.O. who recognized this problem decided it was time to make things right. They wanted things to be the way they used to be.

So they created the best music rehearsal studio in Toronto and called it The Groove Room.

Their Goal was to create a room that you never want to leave. And, they achieved that goal by giving their customers all the perks they could ever want such as:

• Huge Jam Room
• Big Screen Satellite TV
• FoosBall Table
• Fridge
• HardWood Floors
• Top of the line Music Equipment
• And much more included free…

If you are looking for a music rehearsal space in Toronto that understands your practice time is important. Become the next guest at The Groove Room in Etobicoke, Toronto and find out what it feels like to play in a Real Studio laced with all the goodies; Just like they used to have… back in the good old days.

**

Today’s plan was to simply run the piece for some still photography. There would be a second run for a very small audience. This is essentially the final leg before we begin the final construction phase and actual filming. SH and I met and reviewed our goals for the rehearsal and then it was underway.

Discoveries
Vest is too big around the shoulders. I will have to safety pin it down during shooting so that it will create a smoother line against my chest.
More hair gel is needed so that it is more adaptable to required positioning.
The “akimbo” positioning of my arms is overused. I need to develop different degrees by which I can demonstrate similar intentions.
Audibles are becoming clearer and proving to be all but a necessary addition to the piece.

Run #1
The slow deliberate stop and start pacing of the first run was an invaluable exercise in reaffirming my character and my story. I was literally able to work through spots that felt troublesome in real time. SH took over 140 stills for the piece of which about 110 are useable. I was very happy with several of the stills which really show the character and even more importantly the relationship between me and the other character. The coat.

Run #2
As I stated the first run was instrumental in the strength of my actual run. It was so eye opening that I will use the style in which I ran the piece for the stills as a warm up for the actual filming days. This style is reminiscent of an isolation exercise I once learned from BS back in the late 90’s. Essentially taking a moment and exploring it, often out of context of the story, by running it. It sort of is a dangling story, but somehow self contained at the same time.

The run was strong and it was without any transitional errors. It elicited some honest laughter. I think what helped this was the fact that I many clearly defined moments helped along by a variety of both tensions and pace.

Outlook
The next phase is to construct the white flats to create the room. Once these are constructed a shooting schedule will be finalized and then the crew will be set. My estimated date of shooting will be 12/13/09.

Long Range
Depending on the speed in which we finish Well-Suited and the amount of time required to prepare for ThanksFry there’s a very good chance that the next project for KFA will be The Big Cheese. Another film short featuring Winston and of course assisted by SH and DA.

• The studio will be closed Wednesday and Thursday this week. We just have senior group rehearsals in the afternoon. Happy Thanksgiving!!
• If you sold pumpkin pies they are being baked tonight at the First Baptist Church on Main St. here in Republic and can be picked up after 8:00. Some pies will be done earlier, so if you need to pick up earlier than 8:00 just call Carrie Davis at 343-1106 to see when yours can be picked up! We did great and sold 84 pies!!
• Our next fundraiser goes out today and will conclude on December 7th. This is the dip and cookie mix fundraiser from Celebrating Home. We will have a 35-50% profit depending on our sales. If you want a fundraiser form but do not have dance this week, please just drop by the studio to pick one up.
• Costume fees are due in less than two weeks!
• TOPS Tulsa entry fees are due in less than three weeks!

“Did you get a buzz from performing?” I asked an amateur guitarist who gave a concert on his 50th birthday in Amsterdam.

“Yes! The most incredible thing happened,” he exclaimed over the telephone today. “Before anyone arrived, I felt physically sick, facing all those empty chairs. But as soon as I started playing, I felt very relaxed. I just want to do it again.”

“Welcome to my world!” I said. “You get such a high that you just want to do it again. It beats drinking and smoking. It’s a natural high.” [Hint: quit smoking, my friend.]

Inspired by our morning phone conversation, I walked eagerly to my piano. There, piled in separate stacks lay the sheet music for piano and French horn, guitar, flute, and bassoon. My new chamber music repertoire for 2010 sat idle for the past few weeks when I had been traveling abroad.

It was 11:30 am when I started playing. I played until 1 pm and reluctantly got up to cook lunch for four people. Anything that interfered with the “flow” was an interruption. After cooking, eating, and cleaning, I resumed playing at 2:45 pm.

Even an accidental cut to my middle finger (from cleaning a sharp knife) didn’t stop me. Was it lightning that flashed outside? Thunder that shook the house? And rain that spewed through the front door?

Once I started playing, I couldn’t stop. My fingers glided over the keys. My ears swooned in the romantic music of Strauss, Saint-Saens, and Schumann. I was alone in my music, totally absorbed and relaxed.

At 6:15 pm I had to stop. The evening aerobics class that I had so looked forward to was now an interruption. 

I clocked 5 hours on the piano today.

But I wanted more.

Tomorrow I shall get up earlier than today, to squeeze an hour of playing before my morning yoga class. But the afternoon will be interrupted by a one hour piano lesson. And sadly there will be only 3 hours left before I cycle to my Rotary Club dinner.

Not enough time for a pianist on a roll…..

What ignited this passion? Could it be the three hours I had on a Yamaha grand in an apartment near the Finnish beach? Or sightreading with two professors at the Helsinki Hilton (below) at a doctoral dinner party?

Decision scientists playing 6 hand piano music at the Helsinki Hilton. Photo: Janne Kettunen

REHEARSAL

PERFORMANCE

@ the MAMAs

ZIP: http://www.sendspace.com/file/gdlkoo

Assinando CD’s

source: naver, bestiz, cube_b2st

A character in the opening and closing numbers of the show is selling chickens on the street. I’ve been having doubts about the chickens looking real from the audience. After spacing rehearsal, several people tried working the prop in order to sell me on the chickens. I documented:

Micky tries to sell me on the chickens

Kristen tries to sell me on the chickens

Holly tries to sell me on the chickens

Lots of news from the Sharon Band Program today!

MP Playoff Game – Our Sharon Tigers have advanced to the District 10 Championship game! The game will be held this Friday, Nov. 27 @ Slippery Rock University. We will meet at 3pm in order to play for the team’s send-off. Immediately following, we will have a brief rehearsal in the stadium and then prepare to leave for the game at approximately 5pm.

Jazz Ensemble rehearsals will begin on Monday Dec. 14 at 3:30pm. If you would like to participate in jazz ensemble, but do not have it scheduled, please see Mr. Butchy.

Pep Band’s first rehearsal will be on Monday, Dec. 7 at 3:30pm. We need to prepare for the Winter Sports Meet the Tigers Night which will be held on Wed., Dec. 9 at 6:45pm. We will be playing before and after the event. If you would like to play in Pep Band and have not signed up with Mr. Butchy, please see him ASAP.

Don’t Forget! The Middle and High School Band’s Winter Concert will be on Tuesday, Dec. 8 at 7pm! Click here for more information!

What do you know when the temperature drops and the snowflakes start to swirl? It’s time for Yes! And…’s “Winter Sort of Thing”! Well, there’s no sign of snow in Philadelphia yet, but rehearsals for this winter’s show, “It’s About Time!” have officially begun!

We hit the ground running this weekend with our first read-through if the script, which we think is pretty brilliant! Then we got our bodies and imaginations moving and started working out the details of the first few scenes. Two returning cast members had a few words to say about how it feels to be back with Yes! And… and beginning this brand new production.

“Today we read the script together and it’s exciting to finally know what’s going to happen in this year’s show!” says Shoshi, who will be playing a member of the marching band at Cooper Regional School (and the rumor is that she plays a MEAN triangle.) Her band-mate, Batya agrees: “It was really fun to get a better feel for what the play was actually about, and to come up with ideas about our characters together.”

So here we go! Stay tuned for more!

It was not all about the concerts. And you know Simon: if he can spread the word, he will. Any time, any place, any crowd.  And this month the crowd was the San Francisco Symphony orchestra:

“Don’t do anything correct,” he insisted. His next command was the order of business for last Thursday evening. Play Wagner!”

Oh yeah… that is one wild direction to get from your conductor, but there is a catch:

Time and again he urged them, in a series of admonitions, not merely to play, but to exude.

You have to give me all the sound and passion possible … Join every note … There’s no such thing as a single note in this piece … It’s not dark enough … It’s not deep enough … They take five hours to die … Now shock the hell out of us! … You’re playing exactly what it says, but nothing that it means.Make it a whole lot more caloric … More threatening — and make it dark! … I have to understand what you feel about this! … It should never be like this building; it should be like waves … There are pebbles in the water — I want the ripples, but not the pebbles … Every single person has to play something transcendent … It’s a soup of quivering long notes … In Wagner, not sweet, but SWEET!

You are in your 20s — is this all the sound you are going to give me for the end of the world? … Use your whole body — you cannot sit there like lumps … How about a nuclear explosion? Think of North Korea.

Striving for perfection.

Go insane, let it transform you, let it alter you… now that is soooo tempting. But that doesn’t mean that you go all wild and forget your training and your skill… oh no… it means you master it:

“dynamics” …  “If you have something to say, don’t say it fast”

And these kids experienced what other musicians have experienced with this man for years:

I thought it was amazing because he was demanding that we reach the potential that I feel like we’ve always had. And I’ve never heard the orchestra play that loud, ever. And the pizzicato: When he was working on that, the cellos were like Boom! Wow! Where did that come from? I thought, “Who are these people?” And he does it in such an inoffensive way. It’s like “That doesn’t sound good. Do it again.” I’m like “Oh, OK.” He’s polite, but also demanding, which is the perfect combination to pull something out of you.

Well I got into both of the shows I auditioned for a couple of weeks back: the Christmas sing along show out at PLT, and Die Fledermaus which the GnS society are putting on next year.

The Christmas show will be fun – it’s a lot of carols and sing along goodness! Also I get to be a soprano again, which is just such a nice relief. It’s been so good for me singing other parts, low and middle, but it is tiring and I have to concentrate with every note, not just to sing it in tune, but to sing it so I don’t sound like a dying buzzard. At least with soprano I can just work on sounding my best without the other distractions.  My goal for next year may be to just get my middle ‘blend’ area working properly.

Die Fledermaus should also be fun, but it will be a lot of work for a chorus appearance in just two acts… I may have to track down a full score and start learning some of the solo bits for my own benefit.  It also doesn’t start rehearsing until May next year!

I’m going to audition for ‘Curtains’ also out at PLT in a few weeks. It will be on in the first part of next year. A murder mystery musical apparently! Sounds like fun.

The show I’m currently in is pretty much sold out except for about 4 or 5 seats, this is pretty amazing! And it is going really well. We opened on Thursday last week, and have had 3 nights. Last night’s audience was amazing. They danced, they sang along, they rapturously applauded everything. I think the whole cast had an audience-crush by the end of the night. We wanted to take them home with us! Seriously, walking on stage was like being a rock star! This is what we do it for.

Oh, and my current delight is that in the Christmas show I get to sing ‘O holy night’ with two other women, and I get the high harmony, and it’s my favourite carol…basically: SQUEEEE!

Things to work on this week: Keeping my vocal chords relaxed and hydrated. I’ve not been doing this much singing for a while, I need to take care of my instrument!

I’ll link you here to my favourite trio from Die Fledermaus (Johann Strauss II) in English:

4 and a bit minutes but worth a listen, particularly after halfway through. If you can log into the Naxos database at Wellington libraries I heartily recommend looking it up and having a listen to other bits of the music!

Right, let’s crack on. Today I’ve got a number of things to do. The first was to download Spotify…check! For all of our music-referencing needs. A really handy tool to listen almost any artist you like.

I also hope to get a paypal account sorted so people can pay for the recording/rehearsal sessions online and with credit cards.

I’d also like to set up a dummy rehearsal set up to take photos for the website, and get a feel for the space we need.

I’ll also be organising some more gig stuff, and hopefully sending out the first newsletter (which I also need to design). So…exciting times!

Also! We have merch! Southcourt Studios hoodies are now available for £20! all sizes available. Photos will be online soon too!

Peace and love, peace and love.

Gary “Ringo” Mullins

Competition Team:

We will not have regular classes Wednesday, November 25th and Thursday, November 26th in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday.

We will have the following rehearsal schedule on Wednesday, November 25th for the senior numbers:

• 1:30 – Womanizer
• 2:00 – What Have You Done for Me Lately
• 2:30 – Sinner Man
• 3:00 – Layla
• 3:30 – Eternal Flame
• 4:00 – Passion

–
Tori Nelson
Studio Manager

So there’s this All County choir for the best singers in this county, which I happen to be in (and totally don’t feel I deserve to be in). The three rehearsals are incredibly long and a great amount of work, but also much fun. It’s so interesting to be able to work with different conductors (our main/real conductor has been all over the world and even to Lincoln Center! Pretty awesome. And he’s a doctor. Of something). I love experiencing different techniques that all music conductors have to offer. I feel like I learn so much from these All County concerts and rehearsals and am able to leave with a new enhanced sense of being a musician.

Anyway, I’m exhausted. Rehearsal ended around nine, home around 10:30 pm.

Sleep time. Goodnight.

Miss Japan and Miss Trinidad and Tobago...best friends...

Thanksgiving must be in the air, because this month of November has been a  cornucopia of riches for those of you out there, unlike myself, that enjoy watching leaked sex tapes of famous or soon to be famous people. 

Virginal Miss California, and a proud homophobe Carrie Prejean has made at least 8 solo sex tapes, that were for her former boyfriends eyes only, has been offered up to two million dollars by the porno production kings Vivid entertainment.

 Shauna Sands of all people has written an open letter to Carrie, encouraging her to take the money, and maximize her financial earnings by controlling its distribution, which will happen if she gets paid or not.

 Shauna, of course, is speaking from experience, as her former boyfriend released her sex tape, on the eve of ex-husband Lorenzo Lamas and current family had premiered their own reality T.V. program on a major cable network. Shauna has offered to sit down with her over ‘tea’ so she could consult her one on one, sex tape producer to sex tape producer. 

Let’s see what Carrie decides to do…take the devils money, or cash in and blaze new trials as a christian porno actress. Today, singing star, actress, and all around sex goddess, Carmen Electra stepped up to the plate and has leaked her own private porno sex tape, but hers is not a solo affair. 

 What it does mean is that the search for it will on the internet will make her the queen of internet searches for a few days, which should help promote the sale of her upcoming movie or book release. Electra, 37, can be seen wearing nothing but black high heels, stockings, panties, a red bra and a diamond-studded choker in a new short posted on website NucleonForce.com.

The most interesting one out of any leaked sex tape that I have been forced to review as a ‘journalist’ comes from newcomers Miss Japan 2008 Miroko Mima and Miss Trinidad & Tobago Anya Ayoung-Chee who both met and competed in the 2008 Miss Universe pageant with Carrie Prejean. 

Do not be too curious, because why mess up a good gig over some prurient entertainment, unless of course, your job is to report on such news for a blog or other legitimate news reporting services.

 http://fleshbot.com/5405254/alleged-beauty-queen-threeway-tape-rocks-the-internet/gallery 

I predict the two of them will be famous, but that Miss Trinidad and Tobago is flat-out beautiful. She will have an extensive career in front of the cameras, so do not be mad at her.

 I give this one 15 stars out of 10, and the leaked tape speaks for itself.

 It is being reported that the action was stolen off of her Miss Trinidad’s former boyfriend’s laptop, when he left it at a computer repair shop. That sounds to me like a lie, because we all know that most people delete their porn from their desktop before leaving it at a repair shop,….at least I do.

 I am obviously joking here with all of this, but it is amazing to me that there are so many high-profile people out there that film themselves having illicit sex. Carrie Prejean claims that she just wanted to give her boyfriend a gift, and I have heard that before many times from young girls.

I know when I bring gifts to an intimate female companion, I better show up with some flowers and merchandise if I plan on coming back. A sex tape will not cut it for the women I know, …but it would be great for them to make one and give it to me.

 I just would not be in it. Unfortunetly this does send out the wrong message to all the little girls out there that want to become celebrities. It seems as though that a ‘leaked’ sex tape is going to be mandatory for  young lady to rise to fame and popularity in today’s culture.

The viral nature of just such an exhibition has worked wonders for many of todays starlets and that might be a double-edged sword. 

I expect a lot of self righteous declarations of piousness to be espoused in reaction to this sexual exploitation in our culture, and I discourage any of my relatives to go down this path,so I do not have to be exposed to it.

 But, the reality of it is, is that it is not illegal if the parties are of age and consenting adults, it’s just inadvisable.

 I recommend a bit of discretion, but I do understand the pressure that we in Hollywood put on the female stars to stay relevant, and to be noticed.

If you are related to me, I suggest you make something eles for your boyfriend…

 Proceed with caution….as I call to book my one way ticket to Trinidad and Tobago with a layover in Japan!!!

 http://www.examiner.com/x-29916-Davidson-County-Headlines-Examiner~y2009m11d19-Carmen-Electra-leaked-video-Another-leaked-video-draws-attention

Miss Trinidad and Tobago 2008

Miss Trinidad and Tobago 2008

“The chase”.

On stage at rehearsals for the Rocky Horror Show.

Music rehearsal, led by Music Director Kenny McMullen.

• 12:30 – Taylor, Jordan, Holly, Ellie, Riley
• 1:30 – Let it Be
• 2:30 – Womanizer
• 3:30 – What Have You Done for Me Lately
• 4:30 – Sinner Man
• 5:30 – Layla
• 6:30 – Eternal Flame
• 7:30 – Passion

–
Tori Nelson
Studio Manager

Ho il piacere di confermare che il 21 Novembre 2009 lo spettacolo Testa d’Asino (liberamente tratto da Le metamorfosi di Apuleio), scritto e diretto da Adamo Toma, nato all’interno di The No Direction Workshop 2008/09, I ed. con il titolo Il buio e oltre debutterà nella stagione di prosa del teatro No di Parma. Il 20 e il 21 sarò a Parma per super – visionare l’allestimento e le prove e per il assistere allo spettacolo.

I’pleased to confirm the opening night of the show by Adamo Toma Testa d’Asino (freely based on Apuleio’s Metamorphosis. The show will debut on the season of the teatro No in Parmat the 21th of November 2009. The show was born on The No Direction Workshop 2008/09, I edition.  The 2oth and the 20th I’m on Parma to oversee set up and rehearsal. I’m in Parma to see the show.

>>>Adamo Toma Official web space >>>the show on the Teatro No official website