Tractor Square Dancing

What would we do without YouTube?

MBBJE at Arnold's Sports Bar Tuesday, December 29, 8 pm

The Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble

presents:

“Live At Arnold’s Sportsbar ”

Tuesday, December 29 8:00-10:00 PM

Cover Charge: $ 5

Arnold’s Sportsbar

485 Morden Rd.

Oakville

905-844-2613

www.arnoldssportsbar.ca

It was a blast!

Kensington Festival of Lights, December 21, 6-8 pm

I'll be marching and playing with Richard Underhill and the Kensington Horns, who include the Rambunctious lot, at the Kensington Festival of Lights on Monday, December 21, 6-8 pm.

Gordon's Acoustic All-Reguest Night Sunday December 13 2009 Free Times Café

Wee Stinky Band at Sticky Fingers Saturday December 5

Big Trouble at Mitzi's Sister Thursday, December 3, 2009 at 10 pm

Go to this site and vote for this idea - right now!

Planned and perceived obsolescence has created the myth that a computer needs to be replaced every 2-3 years. Working hardware becomes e-discards that is being sent to landfill sites, shipped illegally to the Third World where it causes huge environmental and health problems, and since April of 2009 in Ontario, trucked to destruction plants, further wasting our precious fossil fuels and spewing toxic substances into our air.

Meanwhile, many individuals can’t participate fully in the digital economy because of the high cost of hardware, software, and Internet access, creating an ever-widening "digital divide" between the rich and poor. The Bloor & Lansdowne area encompasses the federal riding of Davenport, one of the poorest in the country, and this is exactly where CyberEquality expects to create its 2000 sq. ft. community technology centre in the first quarter of 2010.

Axes of Evil Saturday November 14 2009 The Annex Live 296 Brunswick Avenue just south of Bloor

Suite Life Fundraiser

If you go to this, I guarantee you will be glad you did.

Afterwards, you can come to the Free Times Café, 320 College street west of Spadina, and hear Gordon's Acoustic Living Room, 8-11 pm.

Sign the Declaration of Voters' Rights!

Are you fed up with voting in federal elections where seven million of us cast ballots that elect no one? Are you tired of Parliaments that don’t represent the people of Canada? Are you angry that a party can win a majority of seats even when 60% of us vote against them?

You’re not alone.

Several weeks ago, Fair Vote Canada held a press conference at Parliament to launch the Declaration of Voters’ Rights (see the article, photos and video on our website).

This document is not a petition. It’s not a request. It’s a people’s declaration. Canadian voters have a fundamental right to equal votes, fair election results and legitimate majority rule.

Between now and the next election, we intend to circulate the Declaration as widely as possible.

How many signers can we get? How loud will our voices be? That depends on you and other citizens.

If you sign today, and pass it along to just five friends, we can jumpstart this campaign and build real momentum.

At our press conference, the first three signers were Nathalie Des Rosiers, General Counsel, Canadian Civil Liberties Association; Ed Broadbent, former NDP leader; and Dr. John Trent, former secretary-general of the International Political Science Association.

Many others have since joined them. And now we need you.

Please sign the Declaration of Voters’ Rights today and forward it to your friends.

Yours for a democratic Canada,

Bronwen Bruch

President

Fair Vote Canada

Fair Vote Canada

Palm party postponed

Hey Fanz!

OK, I've had a couple of bars shut down right after I played there. But this is the first time a restaurant has closed up just before I arrived. Apparently the mere prospect of my appearing there was enough to make them throw in the towel and go out of business.

Well, not exactly. However, in a sudden development, Sage West Restaurant is now under new ownership.

It is also under renovation for the next month, which is why the breathlessly anticipated debut of the ROYAL PALM ORCHESTRA is POSTPONED until an indefinite time in the not-too-distant future.

Sorry for the inconvenience. I know some of you have been trying to call the restaurant for reservations. Put away your tiara and await developments.

However, you needn't be without entertainment in the meantime!

Start making plans to attend the Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble Christmas Concert, 7 pm on Sunday, December 6 at the Cooksville United Church, 2500 Mimosa Row, in Mississauga near Dundas and Hurontario, to see if reindeer really know how to swing!

And come and hear me make music with these bands (count 'em!) in these places at these times:

Saturday, November 14, 8 pm

The Axes of Evil

Annex Live, 296 Brunswick Avenue (just south of Bloor)

Kevin & Deborah Go Coastal!

(RSVP to bcampbell@pathcom.com)

Sunday, November 15, 8-11 pm

Gordon's Acoustic Living Room

The Free Times Café

320 College Street (west of Spadina)

(new tunes every month!)

Friday, November 20, nineish

Patio Dave & The Lanterns

The Brig, Norfolk Hotel, Port Dover ON

(Private Party)

Tuesday, November 24, 8-10 pm

Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble

Arnold's Sports Bar

485 Morden Road, Oakville, 905-844-2613, www.arnoldssportsbar.ca

Cover charge $5

(Regular monthly gig — handy to Burlington and points west!)

Thursday, December 3

The Big Trouble Band

Mitzi's Sister

1554 Queen Street West (at Sorauren)

Saturday, December 5, 9pm-1am

The Wee Stinky Band

Sticky Fingers Bar & Grill

199 Essa Road, Barrie ON

Sunday, December 6, 7pm

Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble

Annual Christmas Concert

Cooksville United Church

2500 Mimosa Row

in Mississauga near Dundas and Hurontario

Tickets $20

Sunday, December 13

Gordon's Acoustic Living Room

The Free Times Café

320 College Street (west of Spadina)

Fifth Annual All-request Night!

And every Tuesday, get Rambunctious at 11 pm at the Painted Lady, 218 Ossington Avenue just south of College, http://www.thepaintedlady.ca/

Of course, January is just around the corner, and that can only mean — yes, haggis! Can't wait!

Speaking of tiaras, I was on my way to Sage Restaurant after school today, sitting on a westbound Carlton car at Queen's Park watching the OCAP demo in front of the Legislature. Screaming sirens approached from the south. Instead of an ambulance, a flurry of motorcycle cops took over the intersection. I was wondering if the demo was about to get rough, when a couple of flagged limos went by. Hmmm, I thought, what visiting dignitaries are in the neighbourhood? Aha! The Prince of Wales!

Yes, I was that close to him. And no doubt to the Duchess of Cornwall as well. Probably just had their flu shots down the street.

What a day!

A shop assistant who was told she could not sing while she stacked shelves without a performance licence has been given an apology.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/tayside_and_central/8317952.stm

A shop assistant who was told she could not sing while she stacked shelves without a performance licence has been given an apology.

Sandra Burt, 56, who works at A&T Food store in Clackmannanshire, was warned she could be fined for her singing by the Performing Right Society (PRS).

However the organisation that collects royalties on behalf of the music industry has now reversed its stance.

They have sent Mrs Burt a bouquet of flowers and letter of apology.

Mrs Burt, who describes herself as a Rolling Stones fan, said that despite the initial warning from the PRS, she had been unable to stop herself singing at work.

They would need to put a plaster over my mouth to get me to stop, I can't help it Sandra Burt Singing shop worker

The village store where Mrs Burt works was contacted by the PRS earlier this year to warn them that a licence was needed to play a radio within earshot of customers.

When the shop owner decided to get rid of the radio as a result, Mrs Burt said she began singing as she worked.

She told the BBC news website: "I would start to sing to myself when I was stacking the shelves just to keep me happy because it was very quiet without the radio.

"When I heard that the PRS said I would be prosecuted for not having a performance licence, I thought it was a joke and started laughing.

"I was then told I could be fined thousands of pounds. But I couldn't stop myself singing.

"They would need to put a plaster over my mouth to get me to stop, I can't help it."

In response to the furore created by their initial hardline, the PRS contacted Mrs Burt to apologise.

In a note attached to a large bouquet of flowers they said: "We're very sorry we made a big mistake.

"We hear you have a lovely singing voice and we wish you good luck."

Stuff Coming Up

Hey Fanz!

Come and hear me make music with these bands (count 'em!) in these places at these times:

Tuesday, October 27, 8-10 pm

Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble

Arnold's Sports Bar

485 Morden Road, Oakville, 905-844-2613, www.arnoldssportsbar.ca

Cover charge $5

(Regular monthly gig — handy to Burlington and points west!)

Saturday, October 31 - Hallowe'en!

Patio Dave & the Lanterns with Mark Haines

Lighthouse Festival Theatre, Port Dover

(Party of the year! Worth the drive to Dover.)

Saturday, November 7 at 7 pm

The Royal Palm Orchestra

Sage West Restaurant

924 College Street (west of Ossington)

Sagewest@rogers.com 647-346-6183

www.sagewestrestaurant.com

(George Gershwin, Cole Porter, yada, yada, yada)

Saturday, November 14, 8 pm

The Axes of Evil

Annex Live, 296 Brunswick Avenue (just south of Bloor)

Kevin & Deborah Go Coastal!

(RSVP to bcampbell@pathcom.com)

Sunday, November 15, 8-11 pm

Gordon's Acoustic Living Room

The Free Times Café

320 College Street (west of Spadina)

(new tunes every month!)

Friday, November 20, nineish

Patio Dave & The Lanterns

The Brig, Norfolk Hotel, Port Dover ON

(Private Party)

Tuesday, November 24, 8-10 pm

Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble

Arnold's Sports Bar

485 Morden Road, Oakville, 905-844-2613, www.arnoldssportsbar.ca

Cover charge $5

(Regular monthly gig — handy to Burlington and points west!)

Thursday, December 3

The Big Trouble Band

Mitzi's Sister

1554 Queen Street West (at Sorauren)

Saturday, December 5, 9pm-1am

The Wee Stinky Band

Sticky Fingers Bar & Grill

199 Essa Road, Barrie ON

Sunday, December 6, 7pm

Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble

Annual Christmas Concert

Sunday, December 13

Gordon's Acoustic Living Room

The Free Times Café

320 College Street (west of Spadina)

Fifth Annual All-request Night!

Big Trouble at Mitzi's Sister Friday, October 23, 2009 at 10 pm

Stuff Coming Up

OK, back to reality! Here's where I'll be playing soon (without Bono).

Sunday, September 20, 8-11 pm
Gordon's Acoustic Living Room
The Free Times Café
320 College Street (west of Spadina)
(Our regular monthly gig - year six!)

Sunday, September 27, 3-5 pm
Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble
Pedestrian Sunday, Kensington Market
(Rare downtown gig — don't miss this opportunity!)

Tuesday, September 29, 8-10 pm
Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble
Arnold's Sports Bar
485 Morden Road, Oakville, 905-844-2613, www.arnoldssportsbar.ca
Cover charge $5
(Regular monthly gig — handy to Burlington and points west!)

Friday, October 9, evening
The Big Trouble Band
The Black Swan Tavern
154 Danforth Avenue, 416-469-0537
(This is a legendary blues room, so we're very excited about this gig. New tunes!)

Sunday, October 18, 8-11 pm
Gordon's Acoustic Living Room
The Free Times Café
320 College Street (west of Spadina)
(Our regular monthly gig - year six!)

Friday, October 23
The Big Trouble Band
Mitzi's Sister
1554 Queen Street West (west of Lansdowne)
(We're getting to be regulars here, too!)

Tuesday, October 27, 8-10 pm
Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble
Arnold's Sports Bar
485 Morden Road, Oakville, 905-844-2613, www.arnoldssportsbar.ca
Cover charge $5
(Regular monthly gig — handy to Burlington and points west!)

Saturday, October 31 - Hallowe'en!
Patio Dave & the Lanterns with Mark Haines
Lighthouse Festival Theatre, Port Dover
(Party of the year! Worth the drive to Dover.)

Fun with Bono

I had a blast this week on Wednesday and Thursday at the U2 concerts. (They can call it the Rogers Centre all they want, but you and I know it's Skydome.) I was there (at Bono's invitation) volunteering for Amnesty International, promoting the Demand Dignity campaign with a photo petition (link to follow when I get it together) and petitioning on behalf of Aung San Suu Kyi.

At the climax of the show they sing a song about Aung San Suu Kyi, and at that point, I and about forty other volunteers from Amnesty, One.org, and Canadian Friends of Burma got to walk out on stage wearing Aung San Suu Kyi masks. Woo hoo! Being adored by 50,000 screaming fans is definitely something I could get used to.

We also got to watch the show from the "Red Zone", between the runway and the stage, so from where we were, the band looked like this:

photos by Dawn Michael

Why we are winning even though it feels like we are losing

I came across the passage below in a blog on third-party politics in the US. It helps to explain why we should keep beating our heads against this concrete wall we call electoral reform.

Wayne


http://washparkprophet.blogspot.com/2009/09/political-theory-401-beyond-high-school.html

It isn't that I believe that major political changes in an ideologically positive direction aren't possible.

Seemingly against the narrow politics of self-interest, the franchise was consistently expanded in nations across the world, to broader groups of people. In the end, the abolitionists and the suffragettes won, not just in the United States, but worldwide. The Progressive movement, for better and worse, had an immense political impact in what was then viewed as a liberal direction, a century ago (culminating in the ultimate political experiment, Prohibition) .

The Civil Rights movement was so effective that most leading segregationist politicians and religious denominations who outlived it ended up endorsing an end to de jure racial segregation and the legalization of interracial marriage. Almost every non-European country has gone from being a European colony to achieving sovereignty and independence, the largest share in the 1960s. In the 1960s, abortion was illegal or highly regulated in the vast majority of the world. Now, it is legal in most of the developed world with only modest regulation. Government safety nets for those in need were once non-existent and are now the world norm. The death penalty has been abolished is most of the world and a minority of U.S. states; in many of the countries and U.S. states where the death penalty is still on the books as an available punishment (e.g. Kenya which just commuted the sentence of more than 2,000 death row prisoners, or the U.S. military), it is carried out
rarely or not at all in practice, even in aggravated murder cases.

Women have vastly more career options than they did half a century ago, and domestic violence is now taken much more seriously by the legal system. Gay rights have dramatically expanded in the last generation.

In the United States, today's progressive Democrats are the intellectual heirs to the advocates of these earlier, stable, yet progressive political sea changes. Conservatives, meanwhile, have consistently opposed these changes.

When these issues emerged, they were highly partisan, even though many are the subject of a broad bipartisan consensus now. There aren't a lot of Republicans out there publicly arguing that the vote should go back to being restricted to white, male property owners (although the less overtly racist and sexist argument that the vote should be restricted to those with sufficient civic education is popular among conservatives today and isn't dismissed out of hand by liberals).

Even in the midst of a national debate about health care, where an impotent "public option" has become a poster child for people fear mongering about "socialism" sweeping America, very few legitimate political figures with any actual power are arguing that the taxpayer funded American single payer health care system for the elderly (a classic example of a "socialist" welfare state program), or its welfare state fellow traveler, Social Security, should be dismantled. Socialism is a lot less frightening when encountered at a personal level (something also true of immigrants, homosexuality, and transgender individuals) .

How did these big changes come about?

Yes, there was activism within political parties. In fact, third parties were also created around most of these issues. But, ultimately, the real progress came though movement politics. Ideological and political leaders changed people's views in society as a whole. This happened over time, not all at once. It was done with combinations of electoral politics, legislative politics, public interest litigation, private civic action and public awareness campaigns. The mix has differed with different issues.

Movement politics has its own logic. Philosophers come up with ideas. Pioneers in the movement spend a lot of time engaged in futilely banging their heads against the wall, making sound but not light in formal legal and political institutions, and crying in the wilderness. Effective leaders take up the cause and allow it to gain legitimacy with a progressive "vanguard of the revolution," often an educated elite, and gain traction in formal legal and political institutions.

Two steps forward are often followed by one step back. The abolition of slavery and the political gains of reconstruction after the Civil War, were followed by almost a century of lynchings and the segregationist system. Women entered the workforce, outside a narrow handful of professions, a couple of generations after they gained legal and political equality rights. A great reduction in the use of the death penalty in the United States has been accompanied by a dramatic rise in criminal incarceration and life imprisonment sentences. In most of the world, political independence from colonial powers was swiftly followed by autocratic dictators or autocratically controlled political parties that remained in control for many decades. But, after these social and political movements stall and peter out, the cycle repeats itself and there is more progress. And, gains made in a first round of reforms are rarely completely reversed.

Successes in one movement teach the leaders of the next generation's movements organized around different issues how to bring about change. The gay rights movement, for example, has mostly consciously and intentionally followed the model of the Civil Rights Movement. Civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., the most prominent figure in the movement, who is now a national and international icon, in turn, consciously modeled his approach on that taken by Ghandi in his efforts to seek independence from colonial rule for India and on the tactics of the union movement. He was probably informed by the model of the movement for women's sufferage and the abolitionist movement in the United States as well; his embrace of the term "progressive" that had advocated both causes, is one of the important reasons that liberal Democrats today embrace that terminology.

As these movements illustrate, the real leaders in movement politics often hold no formal position of authority in the political system. Martin Luther King, Jr. never held elected office outside of civic organizations that he helped to found. The Ghandi that Martin Luther King, Jr. emulated was never a prime minister or president. The leading sufferagists were self-appointed.

The flame that keeps these movements going, in both their dormant and seemingly futile stages, and as they gather steam and become unstoppable global waves of policy change, is the power of ideas. Powerful ideas are pilot lights ready to ignite immense political and policy change when enough fuel for political action is present.

Missisauga Big Band at Arnold's - twice!

Hey Fanz!

I'll be playing with the Mississuaga Big Band Jazz Ensemble at Arnold's Sports Bar in Oakville—twice in one week!

TONIGHT—Saturday, August 22—we'll be playing at 9 pm. Come on out and support the band!

Tuesday, August 25, at 8 pm is our regular last-Tuesday-of-the-month gig.

This is a great opportunity for those of you who live in Oakville, Burlington, Hamilton, and points west. You know who you are!

Love to see you there!

Arnold's Sports Bar
485 Morden Road, Oakville

905-844-2613
www.arnoldssportsbar.ca

Also coming up:

Sunday, September 20, 8-10 pm

Gordon's Acoustic Living Room

Free Times Café

320 College Street (west of Spadina)

Friday, October 9

Big Trouble Band

The Black Swan Tavern

154 Danforth Avenue (east of Broadview)

Friday, October 23

Big Trouble Band

Mitzi's Sister

1554 Queen Street West (west of Lansdowne)

Saturday, October 31 (Hallowe'en)

Patio Dave & the Lanterns with Mark Haines

Lighhouse Festival Theatre

Port Dover ON

Tiff's Backstage Pass

Beaches Jazz Fest

If it ever stops raining, I'll be playing at the Beaches Jazz Fest with the Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble Friday and Saturday, 7-11 pm. Look for us in front of Bellefair Church.

Perpetuum Jazzile - Africa

This is cool! They're from Slovenia.

Busy times coming up!

On Sunday, July 19, I will be playing with the Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble at Port Credit Memorial Park at 6:30 pm as part of the Sunset Concert series.

Then I will zoom back to Trawna to join Gordon's Acoustic Living Room for the second set of our regular monthly gig at the Free Times Café the same evening.

Also coming up with the MBBJE:
Friday, July 24 and Saturday, July 25, 7-11 pm, at the Beaches Jazz Festival and
our regular fourth-Tuesday gig at Arnold's Sports Bar in Oakville on July 28.

Followed in short order by:
Big Trouble at Mitzi's Sister on July 30 and
Kempenfest at Tiff's in Barrie with the Wee Stinky Band, July 31, 4-9 pm.

And I'm doing a wedding on August 1! Whew!

Kempenfest fun July 31

I'll be playing with the Wee Stinkies again in Barrie on July 31 at Tiff's Bar and Restaurant, 130 Dunlop Street East.

It'll be fun.

Neon News 090630

Hey Fanz!

I'll be making lots of music during this busy Canada Week!

Tonight! Tuesday, June 30, 8-10 pm, $5
The Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble
Arnold's Sports Bar
485 Morden Road Oakville 905-844-2613
www.arnoldssportsbar.ca
Last Tuesday of every month!

Wednesday, Canada Day, July 1, 4:30 pm, Free!
The Shuffle Demons and 1000 saxophones
Nathan Phillips Square
(That's in Toronto.)

Friday, July 3, 5:30ish to 9:30ish, Free! (who'd pay?)
The Wee Stinky Band
4th Annual Promenade Dayz After Work Patio Party
Tiff's Restaurant Bar, 130 Dunlop Street East, Barrie ON


Also coming up:

July 11 & 12, Afrofest!, Queen's Park, Toronto
North America's largest festival of African music, food and culture
and the biggest party in Toronto that nobody knows about.
I'll be coordinating volunteers for Amnesty International.

Sunday, July 19, 8-11 pm, no cover no minimum
Gordon's Acoustic Living Room
Free Times Café, 130 College Street, Trawna
Halfway through year six of regular monthly gigs!

July 25 & 26, 7-11 pm, No charge!
The Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble
The Beaches Jazz Festival

Tuesday, July 28, 8-10 pm, $5
The Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble
Arnold's Sports Bar
485 Morden Road Oakville 905-844-2613
www.arnoldssportsbar.ca
Last Tuesday of every month!

Thursday, July 30
The Big Trouble Band
Mitzi's Sister, 1554 Queen Street West

Friday, July 31, 4-9 pm, Free! (Who'd pay?)
The Wee Stinky Band
Kempenfest After Work Patio Party
Tiff's Restaurant Bar, 130 Dunlop Street East, Barrie ON


and don't forget—

You can still see ART by Pattie Walker and me
at the Ontario Craft Council Gallery
990 Queen Street West
http://www.craft.on.ca/
until July 11.

See ya!

Wayne

Mala's eggplant recipe

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Puncture eggplant twice on one side.

3. Fill the holes with slices of garlic.

4. Wrap the eggplant in foil.

5. Put in oven until soft. Check after 45 minutes.

6. Cut out the stem from a tomato and insert a few drops of olive oil into the hole.

7. Put the tomato in a separate baking dish and put in oven when the eggplant has been in for 30 minutes.

8. When the eggplant is soft, remove eggplant and tomato from oven and cool.

9. Remove the foil and skin the eggplant.

10. Skin the tomato and put in the same bowl with the eggplant.

11. Sauté one or two chopped onions in a pan with olive oil.

12. Add chili powder if desired, and green herbs such as thyme or basel.

13. Add onions to eggplant and tomato.

14. Salt and pepper to taste.

15. Crush everything with a fork and mix into a soft paste.

16. Add more olive oil if needed.

17. Serve cold or reheat.

Quick version: Cook eggplant in microwave, (without foil!) ten minutes on one side, eight minutes on the other. Cook tomato in microwave for three minutes.

For Immediate release: Calling All Sax Players July 1, Nathan Phillips Square at 4:30pm

For Immediate release: Calling All Sax Players July 1, Nathan Phillips Square at 4:30pm

It’s been a long time since the last Richard Underhill email, so hi to everyone old and new, hope you’ve been keeping well! Here’s some ‘exciting’ Shuffle Demons news!

To celebrate 25 years of audaciousness, the Shuffle Demons and are embarking on a 2 month cross Canada tour (dates below or at http://www.shuffledemons.com).

To celebrate this momentous event we’re releasing ‘Get on the Bus,’ the long awaited Shuffle Demons DVD featuring all 6 videos, live performances from China, India, Stonehenge and Europe plus amazing photo galleries and interviews with the band.

The DVD will also include footage from our 2004 Guinness World Record breaking event with 900 saxophones. To celebrate this launch and to also regain the record (which was unofficially broken by a Taiwanese group last year) we are Calling all Sax Players to Nathan Phillips Square on Canada Day, July 1 at 4:30pm to help us retake the record! We’ll be playing a slightly demonized version of O Canada and with your help, will break the record with at least 919 saxophones! What the hey, let’s go for a cool 1000!

You can register online for this event at http://www.torontojazz.com/Pages/Toronto_Downtown_Jazz_Festival_pgM241.asp

On site registration starts at 2pm at Nathan Phillips Square, we’ll rehearse a bit at 3:30 and then attempt to break the record at 4:30 pm. Then as an added bonus, the Shuffle Demons will play a set of all your faves at 5pm!

The Shuffle Demon line up this year is Rich Underhill, Perry White and Kelly Jefferson on saxes, George Koller on bass and Stich Wynston on drums.

Be sure to come out and bring your horn and help us break the record again. And if you were there last time, pick up a copy of ‘Get on the Bus’ to see our last date with destiny!

Get on the Bus – the Legend of the Shuffle Demons

The long awaited DVD from the Shuffle Demons features 25 years of great demons memories including all 6 videos, their Guinness World Record breaking event with 900 saxophones, live performances from around the world, the Shuffle Demons in China, India, Stonehenge and Europe plus amazing photo galleries and interviews with the band.

The Legend of the Shuffle Demons awaits you on this fast paced, funny, digitally re-mastered 2 hour DVD.

Shuffle Demons 25th Anniversary Tour:

June 25 – Calgary Jazz Festival
June 26 -Medicine Hat Jazz Festival (noon)
June 26 – Edmonton Jazz Fest (Yardbird Suite)
June 27 – Victoria Jazz Festival
June 28 – Vancouver Jazz Festival
June 29 Saskatoon Jazz Festival
June 30 – Winnipeg Jazz Festival
July 1 – Toronto Jazz Festival 4pm-6:30pm Nathan Phillips Square – World Record
July 10 – Montreal Jazz Festival 6pm
July 11 - Hildebrand Jazz Festival
July 17 – Halifax Jazz Festival
July 18 St. John’s Jazz Festival
July 19 - Waterloo Jazz Festival
July 31 – Cumberland, BC the Waverly
Aug 1 – Hornby Island festival
Aug 2 – Vernon, BC
Aug 7 Edge of the World Festival – Haida Gwaii
Aug 8 Maple Ridge, Jazz Festival
Aug 13 Collingwood Jazz Festival
Aug 14 Collingwood Jazz Festival
Sept 11 Sudbury Jazz Festival
Sept 12 Guelph Jazz Festival 5pm - 7pm

As usual, if you would like to be removed from this very occasional list of music events, Please email back with ‘remove’ in the subject line.

Thanks very much.

Rich

http://www.richardunderhill.com
http://www.shuffledemons.com

Fluid Edge - steel, sandblasted plate glass, neon 19" x 65"

My good friend Pattie Walker has won the Ontario Craft Council's Hey Frey Award for excellence for 2009.

Congratulations, Pattie!

As a result, she gets to show a piece in the Award Winners' Exhibition.


She has chosen to display a piece we did together, a set of three sandblasted glass and neon pieces. So once again I am treated to the thrill of seeing my work displayed in an art gallery!

Please join us for the Opening Reception on Wednesday, June 3 at The Ontario Crafts Council Gallery, 990 Queen Street West, 6:30-8:30 pm.

The exhibition will continue from June 3 until July 11.

Afrofest is coming!

Afrofest 2009 will take place in Queen’s Park (behind the Ontario Legislature), on Saturday and Sunday, July 11 & 12.

Afrofest is Canada’s largest African music event, and one of North America’s largest festivals of African music and culture.

It is also Amnesty International’s largest annual volunteer event in Toronto. Once again, we will have a significant presence at Afrofest, with general information on AI and actions on African issues.

We will be meeting thousands of people, and we will require 20-30 volunteers to do a three-hour shift over the course of the weekend.

Don’t know anything about African issues? No problem!

We will be holding a pre-Afrofest orientation meeting for volunteers on Thursday, July 9 at 7:00 pm in the NEW Amnesty offices at 1992 Yonge Street.

Can you help?

Please contact:
Wayne Smith
Wayne@wayneon.ca
416-407-7009

Oh, and one more thing—there’s food, crafts and music!

Afrofest is fun!

Image by Randy Holder

Neither will we.

Wayne Smith has left a new comment on the post "Lessons from the Tragedy of BC-STV":

Electoral reform is dead only until the next horribly distorted election result, which should be coming along right about the time of the next election.

As a result of the election just past, BC once again has a "majority" government that most people voted against.

Once again, most voters are "represented" by someone they voted against.

Once again, most MLAs "represent" mostly people who voted against them.

Citizens, mystified at why politicians just don't listen, continue to sense that their vote doesn't make a difference. Turnout hits an alltime low. Most people don't bother to vote.

Our current voting system doesn't work. It doesn't work in the literal and straightforward sense that it does not accurately translate the votes we cast into political representation in our legislatures.

Because most of our votes have absolutely no effect on the outcome of the election, the outcome of every election is horribly distorted.

The people we vote for don't get elected, and the government we end up with is not the government we voted for.

As a result of the referendum campaign, thousands more people understand that our current voting system just doesn't work, and must be changed.

Once you get it, it's hard to forget it.

We need a fair voting system!

The problem hasn't gone away, and neither will we.


Posted by Wayne Smith to TruthTalkOnline at May 18, 2009 12:17 PM
http://truthtalkonline.blogspot.com/2009/05/lessons-from-tragedy-of-bc-stv_18.html

Big Trouble Returns

Big Band Update

Hey Fanz!

I'm now the regular baritone sax player for The Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble!

We have a series of performances coming up this spring:

Tuesday, May 26, 2009 at Arnold's Sports Bar in Oakville
(8:00 - 10:00 PM)
Arnold's Sports Bar ($5.00 cover)

Sunday, June 7, 2009 at The Bread & Honey Festival in Streetsville
(11:00 AM - 1:00 PM)
Bread and Honey Festival

An Afternoon of Latin Jazz with special guest Rick Lazar
Sunday, June 14, 2009 at the Cooksville United Church
2500 Mimosa Row, Mississauga
(2:30 PM - 4:30 PM)
Mississauga Big Band

This video is taking over YouTube!

The current system is not representative

St. Christopher House Music School

presents our 10th annual

Scoff ‘n' Scuff

(Newfoundland Kitchen Party)

Featuring traditional music, story telling, and square-dancing.

Performers include:
Merasheen,
Daughters of the Rock,
story teller Steven Lush
and more!

Saturday, May 2, 2009
7:30 p.m.
Community Hall
St. Christopher House,
248 Ossington Ave.

All proceeds go to support St. Christopher House Music School

Advance adult tickets are $20 and $25 at the door.
$15 for students and seniors

You can purchase tickets through reception at
St. Christopher House, 248 Ossington Ave.

For tickets or further information call
416-532-4828 x127 or e-mail sherrysq@stchrishouse.org

I'll be performing at this wonderful event, and serving once again as The World's Greatest Sound Man. - Wayne

The Neon News is a Blog!

Hey Fanz!

Sorry you haven't heard from me for such a long time! I know some of you count on my posts to bring a little light into your dreary lives. It was just that putting together the Neon News was getting to be a 12 hour marathon each month! I'm going to try something a little different.

You can now find your Neon News in blog format at this address: http://wayneon.blogspot.com/

This should make it easy for me to just throw interesting stuff up there from time to time.

I will continue to send you an email notice when I post something important. You might also want to click on the button that says "Follow Blog". Not sure what that does, but it's probably very clever.

So, what you need to now right now is that I will be performing on Thursday, April 30, 2009 at 9 pm with Chris Watson and the Big Trouble Band at Mitzi's Sister, a great restaurant and music spot at 1554 Queen Street West, not too far west of Lansdowne. This gig will feature the Big Trouble Horns, trumpet, trombone, tenor and baritone sax! So I am crazy busy writing horn charts.

I am making lots of other music, so stay tuned.

Gordon's Acoustic Living Room is well into our sixth year of monthly gigs at the Free Times Café, 320 College Street, west of Spadina.

You can catch them this weekend, Sunday, April 19, 8-11 pm, but I won't be there.

I'm off to British Columbia to promote electoral reform. BC citizens will be voting in a referendum on a new, proportional voting system on May 12. Check it out here: www.stv.ca

Wayne Neon

P.S. Did I mention I'm looking for a job? Resume here: http://www.wayneon.ca/links/WayneSmithCV.doc Pass it on!

Big Trouble at Mitzi's Sister April 30

Featuring the mighty, thundering Big Trouble Horns!
(Trumpet, trombone, tenor and bari sax)

No cover, no minimum!

But the band will get 10% of everything you eat and drink after 9 pm, so be there, bring your friends, and come hungry! (The food is famous.)

RSVP at the facebook event:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=86396934738

Big Trouble Band at Mitzi's Sister, 1554 Queen Street West, Thursday April 30 at 9 pm

From: Barry, Richard (CAB)
To: CHRIS WATSON ; de Launay, David (MNR) ; David de Launay ; FRANK ROONEY ; Frank Rooney ; Jonathan Ison ; Richard BARRY ; Wayne Smith
Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2009 3:38 PM
Subject: Mitzi's Sister Events Calendar

Hey man, we're in the calendar. I guess we really have to do the gig now.

http://www.mitzissister.com/events.html