ray davies, part 2

Whisking into HMV, K & I asked a worker where Ray Davies was due to perform. We were directed to the second floor. As we stepped off the escelator we turned right and saw Ray's equipment being unpacked by a mini-roadie team. I took some photos of K by the equipment. One turned out really nice, as it has a close up of K with Ray's name visible on a nearby amp case. For the first half hour the floor was pretty empty. I spoke to a couple of Kink fans who were also waiting for the performance. Eventually the area in front of the escelator/stairs was set up with a small aresonal of cords, amps, and speakers with two chairs (one for Ray and one for his sidekick). As more people started to come upstairs K & I found a spot on the floor right in front of Ray's chair. The escelator and stairs leading to the second floor were corded off at around 5:30. At about 5:50 K told me she had to go to the washroom. I tried to convince her to wait but this was not up for negotiation. So, I spoke to a sympathetic HMV employee who offered to help. Nervously, I set my gear on the floor to save our spots and the kind worker (who has very good karma) took us down to the staff washroom in the basement. He walked us back up too and our front row spots were patiently waiting for us.

Ray materialized about 6:15, and with a smattering of audience interaction he played three songs from his new album - Vietnam Cowboys, Working Man's Cafe, In A Moment - followed by Lola (with energetic audience participation). K & I both took photos of the Godfather of Britpop. K's photo includes his sidekick while mine includes his Asics running shoes. The performance lasted about 20 minutes. K and I were third in the autograph line up. I gave Ray the Orson Welles book I had brought for him (Don't worry, I have doubles of that book) and he was quite excited. Somewhere I remember reading he is an Orson Welles fan (and he references Citizen Kane on his Think Visual album). Ray chatted with K a bit. He asked her if she's a fan and of course she said yes. He asked her name and personalized a CD booklet for her. Then, he opened a red box he had on his table & said to K "Would you like a chocolate? These are very nice. Very expensive." K said thank you and took one. There were two left and Ray recommended a diamond-shaped white chocolate, but K wanted the star-shaped chocolate. Ray then signed a CD booklet for me and the HMV worker who had helped us earlier took a couple of photos of us with him. Feeling very happy K and I went to the a market in the Eaton Centre for pizza and soup and then took the TTC home.

ray davies, part 1

After being rivited by the latest episode of LOST last night I tiptoed (S is an incredibly light sleeper) over to my office to check out the scoreboard on nhl.com. Before heading to bed with a book (BFI Guide to Lawrence of Arabia) I surfed over to the Unofficial Kinks website to read over some reviews of Ray's new album and see if he had any tour plans. While on the website I noticed that Ray was rumored to perform an acoustic set at Toronto's HMV Superstore this evening.

Before heading to work this morning I pulled a book off of my Orson Welles bookshelf (Orson Welles: A Critical View, by Andre Bazin) and grabbed a bunch of Ray Davies & Kinks CD booklets. Shortly after work SJ picked me up, sped downtown, and dropped K and I off across the street from the HMV Superstore. We got there around 4:30pm. Ray's show was due to start at 6pm.

rehearsal & ray

Strolled down to Koreatown after work & had a rehearsal from 6:30-8pm (in a cafe). With a cast of 2 playing 11 different roles, transitions are crucial. We're getting a better handle on the characters and the transitions. We've got to map out the scene & character connections. It looks like it'll be called Another Problem with H-Theorem (perhaps a more accurate title would be: Another Problem with Coming Up with a Suitable and Catchy Title).

Before getting to the cafe I popped into Sonic Boom and picked up a copy of Ray Davies' new album, Working Man's Cafe. I've only listened to the first half so far. It's vintage Ray - thoughtful, wistful, cynical, and melodic.

6 mts later ...

Yikes! Has it been 6 months since my last post? I'll have to newsreel myself back-up-to-date in a series of fleeting words: start work new school (which happens to be K's school), work on thesis proposal, teach TESL course on weekends in Sept, celebrate K's birthday (she's 5), read lots of Shaffer (both Peter and Anthony), rework plays, celebrate SJ's birthday, read lots of Stoppard, prepare term 1 report cards, teach TESL course on weekends in Dec, work on a project for JR (not Ewing) during winter holidays, read lots of hockey books, teach TESL course on weekends in Jan, apply for the fringe festival, achieve a certain degree of enlightenment in watching the season premier of LOST (what's up with these freighter people anyway?), get accepted into the fringe festival, await booking of thesis proposal hearing, begin term 2 report cards, cast the play (quite painless), and begin readings/rehearsals for fringe festival ... whew! That was busy.

busy summer

Busy summer. I'll have to add some posts about the summer when I'm able to put things in a witty way (which means, dear readers, we may have to wait an eternity for my next post).

Notorious Byrd Brothers / Al Stewart

Went on a nice Sunday run today around town. After ending up at Yonge & Bloor I picked up an album and a book. The CD is by a guy called Al Stwart. I listened to some of the CD before buying it and hearing some of the tunes make the purchasing decision very straight forward. Al Stewart is very high up on the stratosphere of coolness. The album is called Past, Present, and Future. The book I got is about the album The Notorious Byrd Brothers. Ric Menck invites readers to join him as he recounts his own personal journey into the music of the Byrds, and more specifically his favourite Byrds album. Menck himself is a musician.

lunar new year

Happy Lunar New Year! We some traditional Korean fare on the weekend, that is everyone except S. Solid food isn't really her thing yet.