Memories of Amarillo, Bowling Green, Calgary and miscellaneous...

Jeans 'n Classics is on the road in a big way right now. Check out our concert calendar here: The JnC Concert Calendar . Here are some shots and captions from a few of the recent trips I've been a part of.

JAN 25 & 26, 2013 - AMARILLO TX, USA 

PIANO MEN: THE MUSIC OF BILLY JOEL & ELTON JOHN 

WITH THE AMARILLO SYMPHONY

Poor Jeff Christmas' suitcase was maimed in flight... upon arrival in Amarillo,  we made the grisly discovery that only 3 of the 4 wheels made the trip.

Singer Jean Meilleur standing onstage at the Amarillo Symphony Hall. That venue is a thing to behold! A little like Noah's Ark, or a womb, or a cocoon... hard to describe... 

On the afternoon off before our second night with the Amarillo Symphony, Don Paulton, Katalin Kiss and myself took a drive out to Palo Duro Canyon State Park. Absolutely gorgeous!

Kathryn Rose and Katalin Kiss stage a stick fight on an open air stage.

Keyboardist Don Paulton emerges from the rocks after nimbly crossing a brook on a fallen log. Who knew he was so outdoorsy!

A Texas Longhorn checks us out on our way out of the Park.

FEB 1 & 2, 2013 - BOWLING GREEN, KY, USA 

EARTH, WIND & FIRE, BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS, AND A LITTLE CHICAGO

WITH ORCHESTRA KENTUCKY

 

No matter where we go, singer Jean Meilleur is never homesick with his Green Bay Packers bedspread and pillow from home! 

An offering from singer Jean Meilleur to drummer Jeff Christmas (or was it Jeff to Jean?) after some confusion leaving the hotel for a post-show drink.

Showing great team spirit, our leader Peter Brennan valiantly abides "bed pizza".

FEB 7 & 9, 2013 - CALGARY, ALBERTA, CANADA 

THE MUSIC OF THE BEACH BOYS 

WITH THE CALGARY PHILHARMONIC

Kathryn Rose's outfit outtakes / aka: looks that didn't make the cut:

My mom's maternity dress

My Buby's bathing suit

On our first night in Calgary on this trip, singers Leah Salomaa, Kathryn Rose and Stephanie Martin suddenly had a bottle of Moet & Chandon sent to their table from some admirers at the bar. We were still all "WestJetted" out, not yet at our glamorous, show worthy best... (That came the next night, hee hee!) The gentlemen in question were two very stylishly dressed legal and corporate moguls who fussed over us despite their obvious lack of appreciation for our winter booted feet, which they were not afraid to comment on... Just when we began to wonder if it was fun or uncomfortable, Stephanie made a great call and began singing. Leah and I joined in, in an impromptu 3 part version of "In My Room" as we do it in the Beach Boys show. Our singing instantly turned out to be a "forcefield" the two gentlemen were powerless to do anything but be quiet and appreciate. Our secret weapon! Timing is everything. After that, we bid them goodnight and retired for the night. The champagne was delicious. 

Leah demonstrates all of our amazement at the unexpected extravagant bottle sent to our table.



Stephanie Martin, Leah Salomaa, & Kathryn Rose all glammed up for the Beach Boys show.

A little orchestra humour... courtesy of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra's backstage bulletin board:

And:

MISCELLANEOUS IMAGES FROM VARIOUS TRIPS:

"We need some hand soap in the dressing room... do you have any Almond Pink?"

An airport bathroom, somewhere... "Please use smaller roll first."#toiletpaperprotocol

This week/end we have a triple header... 

Feb 14: The music of Sting and The Police with Wheeling Symphony (Wheeling WV)

Feb 15: The music of Motown with the Fairfax Symphony (Fairfax WV)

Feb 16: The music of Queen with the Huntsville Symphony (Huntsville AL)

Come back and see if we captured any more of our many magic moments!

xo KR

New Orleans! Jan. 4-5, 2013

2013 is off to a fabulous start!  Hope you all can say the same.

Every year we're booked in new cities across North America in addition to familiar favourites, and our first top this year was New Orleans with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, to do the music of Queen (which also includes a local choir joining us for the second set, this time students from the LSU Music Program).

I was thrilled to hear we were booked for two performances; when we're in town for just one show there often isn't a chance to see much of our host city—we fly in the night before, rehearse and perform the day of, and fly back the day after—but with two shows we usually have some time for sightseeing on the second day.

Naturally we had to get acquainted with Bourbon Street, where this intriguing sight greeted us on our way back to the hotel after Friday's rehearsal:

Katalin is trying not to giggle, so as not to
hurt the hand grenade's feelings ... wait a minute ...

I did not know that!

Frankly, I was having some trouble with the idea of a friendly hand grenade until we got a bit further down the street, when all became clear:

Friday night after our show at the Mahalia Jackson Theater we took a cab to Frenchmen St. and heard amazing bands in every club we strolled into; what an incredible scene!  Our last stop found us grooving to New Orleans brass funk band "Diablo's Horns", featuring a sousaphone bass player and glorious horn arrangements; it turns out that night was their first live gig and a CD release party—check them out, the CD's fab!

New Orleans, of course, has a mind-boggling array of things to do & see ... but I was told that I had to taste at least 3 things: a beignet, a hurricane, and a poboy (which I got from the legendary Mother's, a few blocks from our hotel near the French Quarter).  Done, done, done, and YUM.

Think I'll start making my to-do list for next time now.

xoL

p.s.  There was one little mishap ... a fire at the hotel on Saturday evening just before we headed over to the theatre, and due to smoke damage (no one was hurt, thank goodness) everyone was moved to a new hotel after we returned.  It would have normally been just another reason to stay awake and enjoy the sights and sounds ... except for that pesky 6:30am lobby call.  ;-)

AK in Anchorage (from Andrea)

Hello everyone!  Just back from an invigorating weekend in Anchorage Alaska, where Lis, Kat, Steph and I performed the fabulous music of ABBA.  We had 2 truly amazing audiences, who arrived ready to let their hair down, sing along to all the tunes, and dance like no one was watching.  I've got to say that Anchorage has captured my wild heart.  It's beautiful on every level.

Of course, this little journey north also taught me a few unexpected things:

-    I learned that hunters (just like singers) have to struggle with getting their make-up off at the end of the day.  (Who knew?)  For me it's the darn sparkles that I use in my eyeshadow, for them it's the dark greens and browns of classic camo.  The Anchorage Army Navy revealed these handy wipes ... and believe me they'll will take anything off your face!!

-    I learned that the Mayor of Anchorage is a music fan!  (He offered us the 'keys to the city' post show...)

-    I learned that Steve Meacher (our front of house sound guru) will spontaneously dance with bears in tutus. 

-    I learned that the Anchorage Symphony is one of the finest in all the land.

Thank you Anchorage.  We can't wait to see you again!

-AK (who's right at home in AK)

Lovely Katalin! (from Rique)

Check out this gorgeous shot of Katalin Kiss, which Rique Franks took when we were in Marshall TX last September to do "It Came from the Jersey Shore"!

Tucson Talent! (from Andrea)

We're on our way to Tucson for a Friday night performance of Michael Jackson's music, and Andrea sent along this clip she took in February 2011 when we were there to do the music of the Eagles with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra.

Steve Hogg is the juggler extraordinaire in this clip ... wonder what other extracurricular skills & talents lie undiscovered in the Jeans 'n Classics gang?

El Dorado, here we come ... now where was that fabulous fudge again?

As the symphony season starts we're looking forward to returning to some of the places we've been before, like El Dorado AR on Sept. 8 (we'll be doing the music of Queen this time).

As always, we love to try local food while we're visiting — but we don't have a lot of spare time this trip, so would love a breakfast recommendation for Saturday morning if you have one!  We'll also be hungry after the show Saturday night, so an evening eatery recommendation would also be much appreciated. :-)

Last time I was in El Dorado I got some amazing fudge and gourmet popcorn to take home, but I didn't write the name of the shop down so can't remember what it was called ... might be La Bella Gourmet Gifts and Deli (?) which is on the way to the venue from our hotel.

Wherever it was, I definitely want to drop in there again!

See you soon,
Lis

 

What To Do/See/Eat When We're In Your City?

Photo by Kate Krav:  http://www.sxc.hu/gallery/KateKrav

We're looking forward to meeting more of you this year, as well as seeing familiar faces in places we've already performed, and it's always great to discover new fave places to go, things to see, and food to eat ...

... SOOooooo ...

... just wondering if you might have some recommendations for how to spend any spare time (we don't always have some, but it does happen!) when we come visit you — please feel free to post any suggestions below.

Thanks in advance, and we'll see you this season!

xo Lis

p.s.  Click on "upcoming concerts" in the tabs above to see show dates for this season's schedule (and check out our Google map of where we've been so far):

Akron, OH

Amarillo, TX

Anchorage, AK

Austin, TX

Bartlesville, KY

Big Spring, TX

Binghamton, NY

Bowling Green, KY

Brantford, ON

Calgary, AB

Chattanooga, TN

Dayton, OH

Denver, CO

Duluth, MI

El Dorado, AR

Erie, PA

Hagerstown, MD

Halifax, NS

Huntsville, AL

Jackson, MS

Kamloops, BC

Kitchener-Waterloo, ON

London, ON

Marshall, TX

Midland-Odessa, TX

Nanaimo, BC

New Orleans, LA

Owensboro, KY

Peterborough, ON

Port Perry, ON

Reading, PA

Saskatoon, SK

Sioux Falls, SD

St. Catherines, ON

St. Joseph,  MI

Thunder Bay, ON

Tucson, AZ

Tulsa, OK

Victoria, BC

Wheeling, WV

Williamsport, PA

Winnipeg, MB

Winston-Salem, NC

February in Anchorage (from Stephanie)

Smack-dab in the middle of summer, it's hard to believe we'll have to bundle up for the cold weather again ... looking forward to another trip to Anchorage in October 2012 for the ABBA show with the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra!

Here are Andrea Koziol, Stephanie Martin and Dale Anne Brendon from when we were there to do the music of Queen this past February.

Keeping the Drapes Closed With Colin Mochrie!

You never know who you’ll run into on the way to or from a Jeans ’n Classics gig, and what pearls of travel wisdom they might have for you ...

For instance, in March on the way to perform the music of U2 with the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra, we ran into Canadian comedy icon Colin Mochrie, award-winning actor and world-renowned master of improv.  And in June we were on our way back from a Queen show with the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, and Colin was on the same flight back to Toronto.

(If you'd like to see all the shows we have to choose from, have a look here.)

Rique sings the theme song for “She’s the Mayor” — just one of the many shows in Mr. Mochrie's impressive career — and she said hi to Colin, who then chatted with us while putting some finishing touches on a new project on his laptop.  (Perhaps it was this: http://www.colinmochrie.com/classics.html)

He shared a great travel tip, too.  Getting enough rest on the road is a challenge, especially if you have to perform at night plus rehearse during the day, not to mention travel schedules; even if you have time for a nap it can be hard to drift off (or stay asleep) if the sun’s shining.  You can close the drapes in a hotel room, but if they don't close all the way a pesky, persistent sliver of light can stand defiantly between you and some much-needed shut-eye.

Colin's solution?  Use the pant hangers in the closet to clip the drapes closed.

Perfect.  Simple, effective, and takes up zero space in the carry-on.  Thanks, Colin!

Cheers,
Lis