Saturday, December 30, 2006

Resolution

For me, New Years Resolutions are promises to yourself meant to be broken, consequently I no longer make them. In 2006, the only Resolution that mattered to me was at Banff when I had the privilege of performing Hugh Fraser's arrangement of Part 2 of Love Supreme.

I am a believer in the use of goal-setting techniques in order to advance my progress as a musician. At the start of every year, I make lists of the various projects in which I am involved and then detail what I would like to see happen in the coming year. I also take a look at my ever-expanding collection of instruments and list what needs tweaking, repairing, replacing, whatever. Nothing is too trivial.

Everything ends up on a single sheet of paper, which I refer to several times during the year. I cross things off the list as they are done. I amuse myself at seeing what was important to me in January, but no longer relevant in July. Some things never get crossed off - too big, too small. Some things require a lot of TME (time, money or energy), others, sometimes surprisingly, just happen without effort. In the end, most of the individual listed items don't really matter, rather it's more important whether or not I've made progress in the year.

I start out by reading the previous year's list one last time. I am usually pleasantly surprised with how much I have accomplished. Generally, the ones that aren't crossed off don't cause much regret. I can either carry them over or dump them. I also have space to add the good things that did happen, even if they weren't on the list.

There are times when I am plagued by artistic sef-doubt and feel that I am stuck in a rut. Looking over the list reminds me just how much I've done.

It's important to have some ridiculously large things on the list, say "Get the call from Maria Schneider to sub in". That one is not really on my list, but maybe it should be. The odds of that happening are so minute as to be incalculable, but just having that in writing allows for the possiblility of other big things to happen. And they do.

It's essential to be very clear, sometimes the more detailed, the better. I might write a separate page on something very important, say if I were to be in the hunt for a new tenor sax, which thankfully I am not. A lack of detail may cause unexpected results. Last year I wrote down "new clarinet" to replace the loaner I've had for a few years. By the fall, I had to return the loaner and I did get a very nice clarinet on eBay, an alto clarinet. D'oh! Gotta be more specific on that one.

Ideally there should be more of the "being" and "doing" sort of goals, rather than the "having". That sets up a better state of mind for good things to happen, rather than the mere accumulation of more stuff.

There are actually very specific and detailed goal-setting systems out there, ones that require daily writing and recitals of lists and so on, but that's really too much work for me. I know people who do that and have amazing results. People into the personal development movement like to quote Emerson (Ralph Waldo, not Keith): "Once you have made a decision, the universe will conspire to make it happen." A quick Google search on that quote got a lot of hits on self-help sites, very few on scholarly Emerson sites, so it may be paraphrased or misattributed, or completely fabricated. Nevertheless, personal experience proves that it works for me. It may be a little bit woo-woo for some, but I'll take it.

I prefer one of Stan Karp's memorable sayings, which I believe came from his mentor Bill Green. "People often overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten." I interpret that as taking the path to slow and steady growth. My goal-setting technique is just one more tool to use in making that journey.


Note: I always feel like I'm writing this blog in a vacuum. It comes as a pleasant surprise when someone comments on a post, so I welcome any feedback. And if there is anyone hanging on every word that I write - get a life! - I neglected to hit the "publish post" button back on Dec 12th and now there is another entry in its proper place.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Le fin de l'Espace

Late last evening I got a call to go down to l'Espace.

As many people know who read the vancouverjazz.com forum or the local papers, the city just closed down one of Vancouver's most unique and beautiful performance spaces. I received numerous requests for an on-line letter writing campaign to save this one-of-a-kind venue, but it was all for naught.

I first discovered the place several years ago when Viviane Houle started a short-lived Salon series, featuring songs by a wide stylistic range of local singers. The moment I walked in the door, I was in another place, certainly not Vancouver. Maybe Montréal, maybe Paris. The place was too damn cool, all this exposed brickwork and a giddy eclectic decor that was just so right. A lot of people spoke French, whether they could or not, and the wine and food flowed out of the kitchen area, and the music was transcendent.

As I understand it, Régis Painchaud and a friend discovered this place under the Granville St. bridge about 10 years ago. It was an early 20th century garage, probably one of the first places in the city where cars could be worked on. It was abandoned, full of ratshit and syringes and they were contracted to salvage building materials before the city demolished it. It was owned by the city, but rather than destroy it, these two realized the potential of this building and covertly renovated it.

By the time I discovered it, it was quietly being operated as a performance venue, a frequent film location, and a place to hold private receptions, including the COPE election-night party when Larry Campbell got elected as mayor. It stuck in the craw of of the beaurcrats at city hall that they had been outflanked. Régis had powerful political allies, particularly in Jim Green. They had a concept that the whole area around the l'Espace building could be converted to an artistic hub for the city. There was an ongoing battle between the politicos and the pencil-pushers to keep this place open.

I was involved with presenting a NOW Orchestra show there exactly three years ago when the city shut l'espace down. It was 5:00 the day of the show when Coat called me to tell me the gig was off. We all went down there for a drink as the musicians showed up for Coat to pay them for not playing. Régis had already been entered in negotiations with the city to do what was necessary to make the place legit. These talks dragged on for years and he was always optimistic that common sense would prevail. During this time, a very limited number events were allowed to happen.

When the NPA's Sam Sullivan stole the last civic election, the writing was on the wall. Any pet project of Jim Green's was doomed and the pencil-necks at the permits department saw their opportunity to move. They set conditions for Régis that could never be met, and no amount of public appeal would stop them.

I got down there at 11:00 pm, just an hour before the doors were to be locked forever. The first person I saw inside was a security guard sent by the city to ensure the deed was done. Régis was there, bone-tired but as gracious as ever, also Viviane Houle and Stefan Smulovitz. Régis had a few items left that he thought could be used at 1067, and some things he wanted to store there. The place was gutted to the walls, and there were a lot of boxes and various items strewn around the main floor. I loaded up my car with the things for 1067. At the end, just before midnight, Régis dug through a box to find a small gift for my daughter.

It was heartbreaking.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

'Tis the season to be active

Somehow I missed posting this one back on Dec 12th.

I'm about midpoint in my stretch of daily gigs and so far so good. There is something to be said for performing this frequently, namely the benefits of connecting with your instrument in a way that doesn't happen when you're solely in the practice room.

The Christmas show I'm playing in wraps up next Monday night, by which time I'll probably be ready to be done with it. At present, it's enjoyable to do and there's always room for improvement. As Bill Green used to say, "If you know it so well, why doesn't it sound better?"

The show itself is an institution in Vancouver, this being its 40th year of production. In total, about 24,000 people see it each year, no mean feat. I feel this may not be the strongest production they've ever done, but I'll leave the critiques for the audience. For me, this whole experience is always a fascinating peek behind-the-scenes at the Christian music thing, which is a world unto itself. There are some very good musicians in the show and some great singers and I guess they can make a decent living on the circuit. It's something I just get a yearly glimpse at, being an unrepentant heathen and all.

Sprinkled through this performance schedule are my more regular gigs, which are the tonic for the Singing Christmas Tree. With Wanda, we have a number of corporate Christmas gigs, always welcome at this time of the year. Tomorrow Sharon Minemoto's subbing in with us, so that should be fun.

The improv rolls along as well. Last week's show for the NOW workshops at the Western Front went very well. After that, I went to the Cellar for the second set. The music was pretty strong but there was an unusually small crowd there. I attribute that partly to a fairly dry wording for the billing that the VCMI people insisted upon. Too bad - the players had worked hard to put on a good show.

<- Carol Sawyer, Clyde Reed & me at The Cellar Last night it was ion Zoo's turn and I was very pleased how this group continues to develop. Here's a photo from the show. This shot is indicative of one of the challenges photographing groups at the Cellar, that it's hard to include the pianist in the shot unless you shoot long from the back of the room, which often results in a flat looking picture. The other way is to stand at the bar and shoot over the pianist's shoulder, which generally means you will have a depth of field problem and certain players will be out of focus. Plus, the area on stage right is usually underlit, despit my efforts to aim more lights over there. So you end up composing shots just for the pianist, or for the rest of the band, which is what happened here. Too bad, because Lisa Miller was just great last night. <- over Lisa's shoulder

Tonight Carol and I are off to Chris Gestrin's to finish off the mixdown from our last performance at the Cellar. As I anticipated, there was so much good material from last night, that it will be very hard to resist the temptation to include some of those tracks on the cd. By coincidence, that's Chris's picture on the wall just in front of my bass clarinet.

Also on the recording front, we've secured the funding to take the Wanda Nowicki Group back in the studio - thanks, Joe! So we will switch back into that mode early in the new year - always a fun and educational experience.

This is a good sign that I'll start off the new year in a fairly active mode.

Monday, December 04, 2006

Busy again

Why is is that for many of us, for two months of the year, that things are crazy busy and the balance of the time musicians have to scramble for work? Every 6 months it seems that the universe is unfolding as it should. June and December are quite active for musicians at my level of the jazz food chain.

I'm gigging vitually every night for the first few weeks of December, sometimes twice a night. The New Year's Eve gig that we were working on just fell through a couple of days ago (cheap bastards won't shell out any more than a regular night) and I don't even mind not working that night.

Tonight is going to be an interesting one. When Coat and I were programming the NOW workshops, we didn't think twice about following our annual pattern of making the last Monday in the series as an evening performance. All well and good, except that we had previously scheduled this evening as a special night at The Cellar for alumni of the Vancouver Creative Music Institute. Then Coat got the call from Canada Council to sit on a jury all of this week. So now, not only had we programmed two events for the same night, but Coat would be out of town.

With some help from Dave Chokroun, who will hold the fort at The Cellar until I arrive, I will make things work. I will host the show and conduct the large ensemble at The Western Front, then bomb over to The Cellar to host the balance of the evening's proceedings and maybe get some playing in as well.

Well it beats sitting home and watching the TV, except for the bit that I posted on vancouverjazz.com today. There is a great musical segment at the end of Studio 60 on The Sunset Strip. Who are these guys?

Why does strange shit happen on the day I'm trying to get my jazz festival submissions in? This is a regular pattern over the last few years. Though I'd started early enough, it went down to the last day yet again. And just like previous years, that's the day my computer slowed down to a crawl and the printer wouldn't work right. Then on the way down to CJBS, I got a flat tire. Brand new tires, no apparent holes or leaks, just flat. I was redlining as I had to head out to a gig right after that.

On the plus side, doing a couple of private Christmas functions over the weekend has its benefits. The food was good and plentiful and people are all dressed up, though the latter is a particular disctraction for our piano player. If only all of our gigs had such hazards.

Another positive is the we've also almost finalized the Monday lineup for The Cellar for the first half of next year, right up to the jazz festival. I'm just nailing down the last couple of slots in Coat's absence. The lineup just keeps getting better and better and it's quite gratifying to see the depth of talent in this city and give them a chance to be heard.