Friday, January 30, 2009

Windsor/Detroit Live Music: February Listings


February
2 - Open Mic Surgery with Tara Watts
4 - Tara Watts with Shabaz Art Show opening
6 - David Martel (Montreal) w/ Mike O'Brien (Montreal) & The Mindframes
7 - No show, just a nice night out without a cover charge
9- Open Mic Surgery with Tara Watts
12 - Engineers Without Borders Benefit Night
13 - Fashion Show! Featuring (wh)y.m.e.(??) and designers: Petey The Troll, Dilly Daisy, Rejected, and Is This Too Real For You?
14 - Another open Saturday for hanging out. Lots of bands liked canceling in February.
16 - Open Mic Surgery with Tara Watts
20 - The Silvertones wsg TBA
21 - Ron Marston art show reception with The Peace Leeches & Vultures!
22 - SAC Songwriters Group
23 - Open Mic Surgery with Tara Watts
& The newly named Super Fun Film Society (Raw Shock) Video Night occurring BEFORE open mic!
27 - The DoneFors (Toronto) wsg James O-L and The Villains
28 - Whale Tooth (Toronto) w/ My Son, My Son & Another Saturday Knight

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Monday, January 26, 2009

Windsor/Detroit Live Music: Musicians Scoring Famous Talks and Speeches (MSFTS)

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Holy geez.
This night was more than special.
Tuesday, January 20th Phog Lounge held a group of musicians willing to put themselves on the line.
They knew they'd be playing to some famous speeches, but they didn't know which ones.

I thought I knew what I was doing.
I had twelve speeches ready, loaded, prepared to go.
I wish I had done more research into the length of the speeches. I was telling the musicians that the speeches were 8 minutes long, unless they were longer, like, 18 minutes.
Well, the first speech was 25 minutes or longer, and the second was almost 40 minutes long!
The bands were expecting one thing, and then being forced to persevere and give it all they had to last the length of an entire set on one song!

The musicians were:
Martin Schiller and Kyle Marchand of What Seas, What Shores.
Adam Rideout of Yellow Wood
Stephen Hargreaves of Not_Digital
Stefan C. formerly of Oh Vanya
Chad Howson of Another Saturday Knight

The speeches aren't perfectly represented here...recorded from the bar, there are some interruptions...technical and otherwise, but minor at worst. These speeches are MORE than worth listening to, and I am extremely grateful for the musicians who volunteered themselves to come out an perform in this way...exposed...brutally exposed.

Speaking with some of the people in attendance, it was the icing on the cake for their day, as it was held on the same day as Barack Obama's inauguration as President of the United States. Others said that, at first listen, Obama's speech was ordinary and uninspiring. But on the second listen, with a military drum beat and an emotional synthesized landscape of transitions, the speech came to life and was worthy of the praise being given it on the news.

It will happen again. It must.
I just hope the talented musicians (veterans now) come and participate in the next one.

Here's the first speech of the night:
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Ronald Reagan- Tear Down This Wall - June 12, 1987 in West Berlin, Germany
performed by Stephen Hargreaves, Chad Howson, and Stefan C.


Second speech:
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Richard Nixon - Resignation Speech - August 8, 1974 in Washington, DC
performed by Martin Schiller and Kyle Marchand
Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

Save File: nixons__resignation_speech.m4a



Third speech:
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This one has a little gap, where my batteries died, without warning. I stitched it together as best I could.
Martin Luther King Jr. - I've Been To The Mountaintop - April 3, 1968 (the day before his assassination) in Memphis, Tennessee
performed by Adam Rideout and Stefan (electronic)
Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

Save File: ive_been_to_the_mountaintop.m4a



Fourth and final speech:
2009 Inaugural Celebration in Washington D.C. National Mall thanks to Geoeye.com2009 Inaugural Celebration. Washington D.C. National Mall thanks to Geoeye.com
Again, there was an issue with this speech that the performers played through. The streaming video of the speech was slow, and choppy.
So, there was some overlapping, and I again, did my best to stitch it together.
Barack Obama - Presidential Inauguration Speech - January 20, 2009 in Washington, DC
performed by Stephen Hargreaves and Stefan C.

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Thursday, January 22, 2009

CBC Radio 3 wants to know the best venue in Canada!

I was flitting around the web yesterday when I came across Grant Lawrence's (of CBC Radio 3) Facebook page. He was alerting everyone that he wanted votes. CBC Radio 3 was compiling a list of venues that voters think is the best music venue in the country.

I couldn't help myself.
I went to the link and saw all of the other nominations...

When I told Jhoan about it, she nonchalantly asked me why I hadn't asked my customers to nominate Phog in that list.
So I did.
This was the overwhelming, awesome result.
THANKS SO MUCH PHOGGERS!!

















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Monday, January 12, 2009

Windsor/Detroit Live Music: Phog Celebrates it's 5 Year Anniversary

It is crazy to think Frank and I have been downtown for five years, but it's true.
We had a laid back, yet busy night on January 2nd, with an open mic forum show. We asked people who have a musical history to play a few songs each. They did. I captured some of them on camera.

So, here they are.

Stephan


Travis Reitsma and Derek Harrison


Murad, Chad Howson, and Trevor Malcolm


Eric Welton, Tara Watts, Derek Harrison, Travis Reitsma, Jamie Greer, and Stephan


Adam Fox and Johnny West - 4 Videos





Tom & Frank thank everyone after giving away the last prize of the evening.

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Moustache and Beard Competition in March



Just a little reminder that the Beard and Moustache competition in March is fast approaching...so get growing if you want to be the winner!

Prizes to be announced soon.
Thanks!

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Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Windsor/Detroit Live Music: January Listings

January
7 - FAM Event: Explode When They Bloom, Peace Leeches, Eric Welton + 9 (Tara Watts, Travis Reitsma, Stephan, Jamie Greer, Derek Harrison, Andrew MacLeod, & more!)
9 - Travis Reitsma w/ Derek Harrison - Derek Harrison's Going Away Party
10 - The Heels w/ Michael Hargreaves
12 - Open Mic Surgery with Tara Watts
17 - Art's Birthday being put on by Artcite with Teach Yourself Piano
19 - FAM-iversary FAM JAM with Tara Watts & many more
20 - Local band score Famous Speeches in History - Original Phog Event where bands will take the stage knowing nothing about the famous speech they will be playing to...and then they will score that speech from beginning to end.
23 - Vultures!
24 - Andrew Devillers (Toronto) w/ Roy Mahal (Calgary/Windsor)
25 - SAC Songwriters Group
26 - Open Mic Surgery with Tara Watts
27 - Teaching Tech to The Creative Class - Original Phog Event angled to teach musicians, authors, painters, photographers, etc., how to use free web applications to help them grow their audience online.
30 - High Mother
31 - Michou w/ Luke Nares (Toronto)

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