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ALL ABOUT THE MOST VIBRANT,
CULTURALLY DIVERSE NEIGHBOURHOOD IN VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Editorial


Hi folks,
Hope everyone enjoyed this past sunny weekend. I know mine was very full.
I spent some time at the Libra Room this week, and caught some footage of and the Amanda Tossoff and the Zoe Trio.
Also went to a good party last night at Kempton Dexter's and took some amazing video. Watch out for another video featuring Natalie von Rotsburg and a host of incredible musicians from that scene.

Kathryn Peterson aka Salmon Avalanche, of Blackberry Wood, and her prized squeeze box were at Kempton Dexter's fling on the weekend.

Speaking of the almighty Libra Room, I was truly sorry I had to miss the CD launch for the Monica Lee Band's newest release, a collection of songs recorded live at the Libra Room. The fact that she and her fellow band members, Marc L'Esperance and Jesse Waldman, sold 50 copies of the CD that night is a testament to their obvious talent and popularity. Buy this music!

A big high for me this week was getting a $40 donation from Annii McGuire Barta, whom some of you may remember as a Vancouver veteran and one-time publisher in the 90's of a small publication focusing on Main Street life called More On Main. I used to write the occasional literary review for it. Annii currently lives in Europe, so it was very gratifying to receive recognition for what I'm doing. I know she used to work very hard on that paper. If there were blogs back then, she might still be publishing it! Thanks so much Annii! While the blogging technology I use is free, my time and energy are required to distill information from off the web, and also to go out on occasion to cover live events. ... the fun part of the blog! Editing photos and videos take time and going out takes money!

Today was a busy day for me. I hosted a workshop on Tax Fundamentals For Artists. It was great to see so many people dedicated to improving the professional side of their career, battling the pull of a warm, sunny afternoon to learn about taxes, no less! I'm proud they did! Thanks folks!
Today ended in the best of possible manners. My friends Carol Anne and Ivett came over to this neck of the woods and did some way cool night photography. We had a lot of laughs. I needed that.
So what's up for me next week? Irish Spring is in the air. Coming up March 12-16 it is the 5th Annual Edgewater Casino CelticFest. I've been a volunteer since day one. As a matter of fact, I was the festival's very first volunteer.
Every year I put on some type of literary event for the festival. This year it's The Battle of the Bards Pub Crawl. A cross between Dublin's world-famous literary Pub Crawl, and the phenomenally popular Poetry Slam (which makes it's home right here on the Drive at Cafe Deux Soliels every Monday and produces consistently top spoken word artists.
For this event, hosted by the lovely Ravishing Rhonda, Dylan Thomas, W.B Yeats and Robbie Burns (played masterfully by Damon Calderwood, Mark Downey and Todd Wong - of Gung Haggis Fat Choy fame) go head-to-head in a poetry face-off at 3 different venues and are judged by members of the audience the grand finale is a karaoke battle at Ceili's Pub, with a live DJ (local spinmaster Michael Louw) and celtic fiddler Elise Bloer. It all ends with a wild dance party courtesy of
Sound crazy? YOU BET! Be sure to join us on March 13th. Email me at srduncan@shaw.ca or check out the CelticFest website at www.celticfestvancouver.com for more details.

Until next time, as Garrison Keilor says in his regular poetry podcast:
Stay in touch and do good work.

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Friday, February 08, 2008

Music: Monica Lee CD Release Party Feb. 21

"Live @ the Libra Room"

I'm very excited by the arrival of this CD. I've been fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with Monica on occasion over the last few years when I booked a couple of corporate events.
Her voice, style and range of music is delightful.
This is the consummate Commercial Drive CD! Recorded at the epicenter of the Drive, the Libra Room, where the Monica Lee Band has been playing for 2 years on Thursdays.

Backed by Jesse Waldman (who is currently artist-in-residence at Lime this month), and Mark L'esparance, Lee is definately a musical force to be reckoned with, and her Caribbean- influenced Drive anthem, "Down on the Drive" will forever be a favorite of mine.
Don't miss this fun night, and if you do, at least buy her CD!!



John Korsrud will be sitting in on Trumpet (oh ya!) and some other special guests as well!

CD RELEASE

‘live at the libra room’ – the monica lee band

‘because the whole damn thing was recorded at the club!’
Thursday Feb 21, 2008
CD’s will be available for 15$
10 live trax plus three ipod ready quicktime movies!

Can you see Jesse’s hand in my chin? This is a layered shot, my eye shadow is actually his shirt pocket!
More layered art shots throughout the CD design done by none other than the great Chris Bizzocchi!

Call ahead for reservations
Cover by donation

The Libra Room Restaurant
1608 Commercial Drive
(604) 255-3787

Visit our website for more info or to order a copy today. www.monicaleemusic.com
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email: monica@monicaleemusic.com
website: http://monicaleemusic.com
myspace: http://www.myspace.com/monicaleeband
Electronic Press Kit: http://sonicbids.com/MonicaLee


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Thursday, August 16, 2007

Music: Monica Lee Tonight @ the Libra Room


The sign says it all in this pic by the band's drummer Marc L'Esperance.
For a taste of what they're all about check out her websites: www.monicaleemusic.com and myspace www.myspace.com/monicaleeband.
These are a sneak peek to the upcoming Live @ The Libra Room CD the band will be releasing after the expansion of the Libra Room next month. Dates are still up in the air on the grand opening of the new space. It will be twice the size and hopefully twice the fun!!! The owners have taken over the space next door and are finishing off renovations as we speak.

For those of you who don't know, Monica got married this past June to Chris Bizzocchi. According to official sources, the wedding was fantastic and we got lucky with the weather as the day turned out to be perfect.She apparently asked Chris to marry her through a song. It is on of the ones up online called Only One. Listen for the proposal in the third verse!

Her 2004 release "Season's Greetings" that had three of it's tracks use in a CBC Doc last year continue to be for sale at shows. For more info visit www.monicaleemusic.com
Every Thursday
Monica Lee Band
@ The Libra Room
1608 Commercial Drive (btw 1st and Gravely)
8- midnight
Admission by donation.

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