One of the world’s great musicians busks in a metro, makes $32

Pearls Before Breakfast - washingtonpost.com

Dragula, Queen of Darkness

Anyone who has seen National Lampoon's "Disco Beaver from Outer Space", will get the title.

Ahem.. anyhow... there's been a Dracula theme here the past little while.

Last week, Stephen and I went to see the Royal Winnipeg Ballet perform Dracula. It was based on Bram Stoker's novel and it was really good. The show stealer for me was the gargoyle dancers (who provided a bit of comic relief):


The costuming was very well done. I'm not one for ballet (dance of any sort challenges me), but this was a fabulous production.. I'd happily see it again!

In other Dracula related news, I finally got my hands on a replacement copy of the graphic novel, "Dracula: a symphony in moonlight and nightmares". Ya gotta love eBay. The illustrations throughout the novel are beautifully rendered watercolours.

Sad Kermit

Hurt by Sad Kermit

This is way too funny.

Album release in May

Good news.. the album is finally nearing completion! Everyone has been busy recording in the studio on their own time, and the tracks are coming out really nice. Over the next few weeks we'll be wrapping up the recording and then it's mixing and mastering. Rumour has it that Adrian Dolan of The Bills will be assisting with the final mix and doing the mastering for us.

We're tentatively planning a CD release show on May 18th, the day before our performances on Mayne Island. Visit the Banquo website or our MySpace profile to keep up to date.

We've been working on some new repertoire lately, and it's all sounding very good. One song in particular, "E, Dame Jolie", a 12th century French love song, is sounding unlike anything we've ever truly done.. sound like an early music consort in a classical sense. The arrangement so far is voice, hurdy-gurdy, harp, recorder, violin and light percussion. :-)

Home, sweet... home

For those of you who were unaware, the landlord of the house I have been living in for the past 10½ years put it up for sale in mid-January. This caused me some panic; although I do eventually want to move into a bigger place, I can't do it yet!

Well, the house sold last week for a mere $465,000 (eek). I am very happy to report that the new owners wish to keep me on as a tenant. I have yet to meet them, but apparently they are around the same age as me... more to follow. :)

Work extended

I found out on Monday that I have been extended to May 31st, which is great. I wouldn't be surprised if go beyond that after hearing what's coming down the pipe later in the year due to this.

Tuesday: Four seasons, one day

I was at Dunsmuir Lodge (located up the peninsula close to the airport) this past Tuesday for an all day workshop. While the workshop was a complete waste of time, the lunch and view from the lodge were good.

The weather was incredibly crazy.. it literally was four seasons in one day! Here's a few pictures I took while I was there. You can see a weather front rolling in.