tonight’s gig

I’m playing a benefit concert tonight in Toronto, and it also marks the live debut of Mike Whitla’s “Rock N’ Rainbow” band. We’re primarily a kids’ music band, but tonight we’re playing more grown-up material.

Here’s a link to the event that I just found:

http://www.lulalounge.ca/Events/2008/may1/Lucy_Sings_the_Blue_Benefit_for_Lucy_McCormick.html

please click this

The only way most of us can help out in the crisis situations in Myanmar and China is by giving financial assistance to those already in place to help out. Oxfam is one of these groups; if you can, please help.

You’ll also notice that I have a link for Oxfam donations on the ccfree page. I encourage you to make a donation to Oxfam after downloading the exclusive free music made available on the page. I am in the process right now of organizing a recording project with Glen Hall that will be made available exclusively on the ccfree site.

may15-17 photo report

I’m back from Victoriaville and wanted to share some of the (few) photos I took while there. They were very strict about not taking photos during the performances so I didn’t get as many pictures of other artists and events as I would have liked.

Here we go:

a few pics of the SMART car loaded up with my drums ready to head from Toronto to Victo:

Joey Baron’s drums (Yamaha Maple Custom Definitive 20″bd and 12″tom, 14″ Taye ft, and a 6.5×14 DW snare) for the Zorn/The Dreamers gig on 5/15:

EAR-CAM setup and soundcheck @ CEGEP 5/16:

my drums: Rideau 12,14,20, Yamaha 40th Anniversary birch snare drum (5×14), Lp jam block, MP acrylic cowbell (hard to see, it’s clear and purple and mounted under the jam block), 8″ 602Bell/Accent hihats, 18″ Traditionals Extra-Thin, 19″ 2002 Thin Crash

my percussion table: SONOR Jungle snare, wooden frog guiro, bottle caps, hollowed chestnuts

Back home in Toronto on 5/17, playing percussion with BURYA (a Ukranian dance band full of incredible musicians): Afro (Pearl) congas, LP cowbells and jam block, Rhythm Tech DST tambourine, Matador bongos (on floor)

BURYA drummer David Monis’ drumkit (his kit sounds AMAZING, but he sets up so different from me I can’t really play his kit. His drums are angled severely towards him and he sits as low as his drum stool will go: SONOR Hilite Nussbaums: 10,12,14,20 with a 7×14 Hilite Snare; Paiste Dark Energy cymbals: 15 hihats, 18 & 19 crashes, 10 splash and 21 Mark II ride

off to FIMAV

I’m leaving for Victoriaville tomorrow, and tonight I’m packing up my gear. I was so sure I was bringing the spiffy new Yamahas (check the geek page for details), but after using my Rideaus in rehearsals with Mike Whitla’s Rock N’ Rainbow band for the last two weeks, I’ve settled on them for Friday’s show.

The Rideaus are 60s Japanese drums made from wood that could best be described as “mystery meat”. The hardware is flimsy and somewhat decayed, but with decent heads, these drums have a tone all to themselves. In addition, owing to the generally crap nature of the shells, the drums don’t project a lot and are very easily controllable in a variety of acoustic environments. Since I have no idea what to expect at FIMAV in terms of hall acoustics or sound system support, I think the safe bet is the quieter, dead-er sounding drums so that in the event we are playing almost 100% acoustically, I’m going to be able to behave.

I’m going to bring the Yamaha 40th birch snare and maybe a 10″ Sonor Jungle snare too. For cymbals, PAISTE of course. I’m playing my own concoction of 8″ Micro Bell hihats (Accent bottom, 602 Bell top), and a few different 18″ cymbals (I’m bringing a few options to try out in the space when I get there: 18″ Sound Formula Full Crash, 18″ Traditional Extra-Thin and an 18″ Traditional Thin Crash) and most likely a 19″ 2002 Thin Crash.

There’s a percussion component to this gig too, I’m taking a few cowbells, an LP jam block (blue), a wooden guiro-type thing that looks like a frog, some finger cymbals, tibetan prayer cymbals, a Vietnamese 10″ gong, and some shakers.

I’m not sure what kind of internet access I will have, but I am going to take pics and video while I’m there.

talk to you soon!

full service

My catalogue is now available in its entirety at iTunes, emusic.com and Amazon.com.

This is good news, now all the albums are available in a few different digital formats through very secure services.

With this development, I’m pleased to share some free download tracks at chriscawthray.com, on a new page called “ccfree“.

Enjoy!