Canned Haggis

A wee present I received from one of my co-workers at the Belfry today. He recently returned from directing a play in Glasgow, Scotland. I realize that haggis is very much a part of my Scottish heritage, but I have absolutely no intentions of ever eating it. blech!

FernFest - A success

Yesterday's performance at FernFest went very well, despite a few relatively minor problems.. mostly technical related stuff; a much later start than planned (6:15!), a stage that was far too small (we had to set up in two rows) and a sound person that kept disappearing. Regardless, we made it work and did so successfully.

The audience was incredibly receptive -- more so than they were for any of the other groups I saw perform earlier in the day. We even got an encore which was pretty cool. After the performance we got a lot of great feedback from folks who watched. An acquaintance who has been familiar with Banquo from the start was pleasantly surprised by how good we sound these days (not that we ever sounded bad.. our sound has evolved a lot). As a group we came out of it very proud of our work and excited about the upcoming performances we have booked over the next while. :)

After the concert we all came back here to my place for dinner (the traditional Banquo potluck stir-fry!) and to consume beer. It was great to be able to spend some social time with the bandmates - we don't get to do that often enough!

CBC News: Clawless kitty chases bear up tree

CBC News: Clawless kitty chases bear up tree

That's one tough cat!

Banquo album: getting there!

I received the rough mixes of all of the tracks we recorded for the new Banquo album yesterday. Now begins the ardous task of listening to all 34 takes with a critical ear to determine which ones are the best. No small task -- that's over 3hrs of listening! Our production meeting is scheduled for next Wednesday when we decide our next steps to complete the album. It's been a lot of work and will continue to be for some time yet, but it's going to be so worth it in the end! :)

---

FernFest is on Sunday. Amazing how fast that has come up.. time is just slipping right by it seems. I'm looking forward to the gig -- I get to wear my new tricorn (aka pirate) hat for the first time in public. :P

We've got a great set planned. We decided to aim for our livelier material for the event and it's surprising how much we actually have in our repertoire now. The way it's worked out I'm mostly playing percussion at this gig, but I don't mind.. it's less to carry to the event!

That special kind of stupid

CBC News: City of Ottawa mangles Arabic on pot poster

Obviously, somebody was smoking a wee bit 'o the green when they were printing this poster! :Þ

Where did the week go??

How time flies... been a slacker with this blog lately. My bad. Just a quick 'un...

Tonight was another recording session for Banquo. We had hoped to get through three pieces. As it turned out we barely made it through one (Lamento di Tristano/La Rotta), and we decided to give it another go on Monday; we weren't happy with any of the takes. At one point my harp fell over, knocking four of the tuning pegs loose in the bottom octave. No big deal as they're friction pegs, but that was the end of harping for the evening because the tuning across the whole harp went to shite. Sigh.

Otherwise, the recording has been going incredibly well and everyone is in good spirits about it. We're currently planning a house concert on Mayne Island for Saturday, June 10th which will be a busy weekend for us with FernFest on the 11th. Folk on....

Sunday... again.

How do I know it's the weekend? It's not because of the calendar, assuredly. It's because the redneck neighbour across the street, an excellent example of trailer park trash, is hollering at the top of his lungs. What a freak. I can hear him clearly at the back of the house here. Oh how I wish they'd move..... sigh.

Otherwise, it's a relatively chilly day here in Vic, we just had a rain shower and the smell of it is a delight.

My day has been spent being domestic... laundry, vacuuming, washing floors. The fun just never stops here. :P

Not much else to report for the day, except that I made a pot of one of my favourite soups, the recipe is below. I found the original recipe on the internet, but tweaked it significantly to make it my own. Don't let the oatmeal put you off... it's awesome. This one doesn't keep very long so you should eat it as soon as possible... it's definitely not a soup to be frozen for later.

Oatmeal and Tomato Soup

Ingredients
2 med. onions, chopped
6 cloves (or 3 large) minced garlic
6 tablespoons butter
1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes
6 cups stock
salt and cracked pepper to taste
1 1/4 cups rolled oats
1 tbsp dried parsley

Directions
1 In a skillet, saute onion and garlic in butter, until onion becomes tender and begins to brown.

2 Add undrained tomatoes, water, parsley, salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer.

3 While soup is simmering, toast rolled oats in a heavy bottomed sauce pan, stirring till they are brown.

Stir in oats to soup and cook for about 6 to 10 minutes, and then serve.