Roar Against Racism

Hi all,

Congratulations sambistas on a great gig at Suncorp Stadium today, Roaring against racism!
I raced home and watched every news service going, but none showed reports of our performance! Only one report about the soccer event was made at all. I think that was on Channel Nine.

Here's some photos from the dressing room.

Cheers,
Paul

Details for Suncorp gig on Sunday

Here are the details:

• Dress code 'creative' pink & green (no pirates allowed though!)
• Please report at 12pm sharp (not later!!!) at South West boomgate at Castlemain Street (close to Cordova Street)
• Car parking has been arranged for Melanie, Claire, Dale, and myself - just drive to boomgate. They may have listed us as 'G.R.E.S.'. I've passed on the licence plates
  
• There will be virtually no street parking available: your best bet would be to come by train to Milton train station
  
• We'll have be in dressing room 3/4, closest to the central tunnel, where we can also store instruments
• When we enter dressing room, please dress immediately and set up your instrument as we'll have to play at 12.50pm already
• First performance will be 12.50pm outside at South Concourse (Chippendall Str side of stadium). Various rhythms including Jungle
• 2nd performance 1.30pm on pitch (5 minutes) - Samba of the Primavera variety!
  
• 3rd performance 3.52:30 pm (yes that's 30 seconds!) for 3 minutes - I think we'll play Timbalada here
• Big hug for Brian after the 3rd performance!
  

There have been over 8000 tickets sold to date. Channel 10 is also involved.

A BIG hug for Brian

I just spoke with Brian, who was concerned it was going to be too cold for him to play this Sunday in Suncorp stadium. Fortunately, we came to the arrangement that he will play as long as I give him a hug on Sunday. To celebrate this, and to share the load, I suggest we all give Brian a big hug this Sunday! That will keep him warm!

Details about the Suncorp gig will follow soon. We'll need to be there at noon. Note there is going to be quite a bit of security, so I need to know exactly who will play, and everyone, I mean everyone will need to be there on time!

Dorian's " Arggggh " Birthday

Long awaited rematch after last week fight during samba rehearsal . . . " . . . ON THE BLUE CORNER ... PAUL " MONO DIABO " ! . . . ON THE RED CORNER . . . BRIAN " KILLER TOMATO" ! . . . AND OUR PROMOTER FOR THE NIGHT . . DORIAN FROM DORIAN's Inc !












Brian " Killer Tomato " and Coach

Exciting New Religion Coming Near You

Guru Nikki Wisdom . . . . seeking to establish religious franchises . Franchisees required.

• Tax free income
• Worship chocolate, Icecream, and Laughter
  

pictures!

Ok, I admit, these are not pictures of us, but I reckon you might still like them. There's a whole bunch of panorama pictures on this site which you can nicely rotate, zoom and scroll around in. Very nice!


And they even have samba sounds to go with it!

http://www.panoramas.dk/newspanos/2007/carnival-in-Rio.html

Urgent: Beer & Vodka night this Friday

As announced earlier, we've got another Polish night this Friday. It's promising to be great as they've got a lot of Uni student bookings already.

For those of you who haven't done so yet, please register here.

I have noticed that a lot of sambistas lately have been a bit slack in registering for gigs. Can you please register for gigs (or decline) as soon as you can, this helps me a lot with organising things. If you got issues with the booking system, just drop me an email. Thank you!

TV Pride - caption competition

Couldn't leave these two out - Also functions as caption competition: winner gets to play first, second and third surdo in the next parade! beaters will be provided.

TV Pride

Hi all,
here are some screen captures from the ABC and Channel 9 news items on Pride. Unfortunately, reception wasn't particularly good in my neck of the woods, and capturing didn't improve it either, so you'll just have to see through the static, I fear.
Also, I wasn't able to get that pirate out of the picture...

" So Proud ! "

Proud!

Well done all! This was a bit of an endurance test ... in style!
Just flicked on Channel 9's six o'clock news and it featured Patty the Pirate ... did anyone record this?

Pictures please!!!

Sorry if I was a bit stressed - this is always a hard gig to organise, and with me being in Cairns all week, Pride only confirming the gig late this week, some late sambistas and severe dehydration at the end of it all I wasn't 100% my happy self.

Details for Pride

OK, finally...

I'll add further detail to this later, but here's the deal so far:

• The parade will start at 10am from Queens Park in between the Treasury Casino and Treasury Hotel
• please please be there no later than 9.30am at the very latest - we need to sort out some instruments!
• People that have surdos in their cars, please drop them at the start point before 9.30am (I'll be there from about 9.10am); then park your car at Musgrave park (Google maps states South Brisbane park) and make your way back to the starting point. Keep any receipts for taxies if you need them;
  
• Dress code: creative pink & green
  
• Someone volunteering to keep Brian warm?

Marcel, Dale, Cedric: first surdo
Melanie, Brian: second surdo
Dorian, Claire: third surdo
Denis, Erin: Snare
Gail, Miki, Patty: shaker
Remko: repinique
Nicki: agogo
Jayne, Kathryn: tamborim

I can't remember where all the surdos are!! I've got two, Cedric has two, Dale has at least one, who else?

Gigs galore

Well, suddenly we've got plenty of gigs again! There's another Polish Beer & Vodka night, one of our old-time favourites, on Friday 22 June!

Please register here.

And, while you're at it, also please register for the QLD Roar game here.

Can I just remind everyone that it's really important to register for gigs as soon as possible? It saves me heaps of time if I know who is coming. If you have issues registering, please let me know by email. Thanks!

Arrrgh

To Celebrate Dorian’s 22nd Birthday come to a

Festa Junina!

A traditional Brazilian June country party, celebrating Saint John, the corn harvest, music, and other crazy traditions (including a mock wedding with a pregnant bride).
Come along and use your ‘party money’ to play games, send someone (or get yourself sent) to ‘jail’ or have an announcement made at the party.
To warm up, there will be lots of quentao (hot wine drink), forro and quadrilha dances!

When: Saturday 23rd June, 6pm to late

Where: 63 Sunset Rd, Kenmore

Dress to theme: CAIPIRA
(Brazilian country style – use google images for great ideas)
Fancy dress is COMPULSORY... dress misconduct is PUNISHABLE by jailing on arrival (yes, there really will be a jail as part of the party)!

BYO additional alcohol

RSVP: by 19th June
email- dorian.ribeiro@gmail.com, or just leave a comment on the blog....

Gigs

Quick note: could you all please urgently confirm your attendance for the upcoming gigs? If you have issues with the system, please drop me an email asap.

Wine & Cheese Festival

Chic Shamba Shakers . . . . . . or the Three Amigos ? ! ?

Class cancelled 14 June

As I said yesterday, I'll have to cancell the class next Thursday 14 June as I'll be in Cairns for work. Sorry! Keep an eye on the blog for details about the Pride gig... see you on Sunday in Rosalie!

Milton State School maps

Bonsoir mes amis,

Location for Sunday's gig is Milton State school, check out the map here . Address is

Bayswater Street, Milton. Just so you know.

[note from Remko: those with cars and heavy surdos should report to the main entrance of Milton state school at 1pm. Any issues, call Omar on 0400 014407 who is coordinating things. Note I'll be on a plane till 12.30 so I won't be contactable. I'll go to Rosalie straight from the airport]

By the way, the pride parade will be here.

And if you always wanted to know where Remko grew up (might explain a few things) well, that was here

And if you want to know where the bloody hell I was before I moved here, look here (I know, it's just not Brisbane).

Right, now what was I meant to be doing. Oh, I know: get a life.

Possible gig Sunday 1 July

Just a quick heads up: we might have a gig on Sunday 1 July between 2pm-5pm in Suncorp stadium during or before a Queensland Roar match! More details later - probably this will be confirmed early next week. I wonder if our old friend from the Strikers will be there.....

Register here

Thanks guys!!!

Just a quick thank you to all of you who played tonight - I had a great time. It sounded really tight and it was a lot of fun. So I think the theory that you guys play better just before a gig still holds!

Preparations for Rosalie gig (10 June)

Today I had a meeting with the organisers for the Rosalie gig. It's going to be a lot of fun, for this occasion we will extend our bateria with about 60 kids playing shaker and tamborim!!!

We only have two rehearsals until then, and I want to make a lasting impression, so I would appreciate it if you could all attend these rehearsals. If you could be there on time, even better!

For this gig we will need a few extra people on surdo, and we won't have any tamborims as this will be taken care of by the kids, so we'll need to reshuffle a little bit.

O pulo de Baixo

My sister is teaching one of her guitar students a piece of music with this name, and wants to know what it means. I think I get "jump" and "bass" but not sure what the whole phrase means. Can anyone help me?

Jason Machado trio this Sunday

why not spend a lazy afternoon with a view, sipping a wine or two, having some nice lunch, and enjoying the Brazilian music of the Jason Machado trio with Jason Machado on guitar and voice, Nicki Kancachian on cello and myself on Brazilian Percussion. Entrance is free, it tends to get busy so if you're planning to have lunch there it's worth making a reservation.

Sunday, 2pm-5pm 100 Acres Bar, St Lucia Golf course

New gig: Rosalie Food & Wine Festival

Just confirmed this morning: we've got a gig on Sunday afternoon 10 June from 2pm-2.30pm at the Rosalie Cheese & Wine festival. I don't have all the details yet, but I think we will parade together with kids from the Milton State School. They will have had workshops from Benedito da Silva (who we also played with last year at Bumba meu Boi).

For me it's a bit of a logistics puzzle, as I have a radio gig in Melbourne 10pm the day before. I have asked them to change my flight back so I'll land in Brisbane 12.20pm. I will need some assistance in getting instruments there etc!

Please register here.

PS: Paul - Camembert!!!

Samba School Logo: Draft

Come up with a simple and easy logo design ( draft ) for our school. Open to feedback from all of you.

Advantages:

• Cheap to print or screen printed ie. two colours only & small area
  
• Clean design
  
• All purposes: can be used as letterhead logo, t-shirts, stand alone logo, badges, sticker, bumper sticker, . . . . tea towel ! . . . . Coffee mug !
  
• Easy to read , especially parading pass people.
• Look good & effective on both white or black t-shirts. Green t-shirts are not always easy to find and subjected to fashion of the time.
  

prospective Australian citizens test

The Sydney Morning Herald has kindly provided our next Aussie-to-be (Mel-B) with some practice questions so she can sail through the Aussie test like a Cutty Sark on fire. Here goes, Mel, we know you can do it!

Here's what they think any prospective Australian citizens should know (of course, I only knew who the bloody hell Lara Bingle is, although I couldn't answer the actual question)

1. Australia is the only country:
a) that eats the animals on its coat of arms
b) where its prime minister disappeared while swimming
c) whose residents don't drink Foster's
d) All of the above

2. What is a bludger?
a) Whoever Today Tonight features on their program
b) A heavy object to hit people with
c) A lazy person
d) A distant relative of the wombat

3. A true Australian is:
a) Dinky Di
b) True Blue Dink
c) Fair Dinkum
d) All of the above, and drunk

4. Which state has the most prostitutes?
a) Western Australia, because it's isolated
b) Canberra, because there are many single men working there
c) Tasmania, just because
d) Northern Territory, because it's even more isolated

5. Which of these has happened in the Northern Territory?
a) A crocodile was found paddling about in a swimming pool
b) 11 cast-iron bridges were stolen from a railway line
c) A crocodile chased a man up a tree and grabbed his chainsaw
d) All of the above

6. What does the tall-poppy syndrome mean?
a) Australians don't like successful people
b) The cultural advantages of having a tall father
c) An illness associated with the First World War
d) Australians love to grow opium in their backyard

7. Which of the following is not the name of an Australian town?
a) Chinaman Knob
b) West Intercourse Island
c) Lickey End
d) Nevertire

8. Who the bloody hell has not been with Lara Bingle?
a) Michael Clarke
b) Brendan Fevola
c) Craig Wing
d) No one, she's dated every elite sportsman

Marcel who ?

Cedric's 21st Birthday

Claire's Birthday

Website redesign

As a first step in reorganising Primavera, I'd like to form a small task group for the redesign of our public website. I'm looking for volunteers with the following skills:

• communication planning (target audience, information analysis), this will determine the structure of the site;
• graphic design (in particular for web), this will determine the new 'look';
• written communication, the words that go on the site.

Please let me know if you'd like to participate, and what skills you could contribute. The plan is as follows:

• determine target audiences, information needs, structure of new website, taking into account any issues with current web site as well. This will result in a 'site map' for the new site;
• based on the site map, propose a few alternative graphic 'look & feel' for the new site, and choose the best one;
• start writing content for the new site.

Notice all of the above does not yet require any HTML or other web skills. That's the next phase: identification of tools to maintain the website + setting it all up.

Thanks!

I believe the key word is h-a-i-r-y ..... not a good look with fishnet tights; which is the reason Cedric got chucked out of the dance line in Rio. Sorry, Cedric, your dark secret is out.

Hi All,

I ended up watching a video from this guy Jamal on the web today (see link below). Hard to practise anything after that...

http://jamalmohamed.com/Jamal02.mov

Sorry for dial-up people but this is beautiful.

Cheers

A message from Lynne

Hi everyone, Patty here. Lynne has asked me to put a message on for her, as she's having a little trouble posting. Here's her message....

Hi everyone

Just wanted to say that the Brisamba group sounded awesome on
stage with
the
Melsamba group.

Well done guys.

Lynne

No class this Thursday 17 May

Sorry I'll have to cancel the class this Thursday 17 May. The good news is that our performance for Pride has pretty much been confirmed (parade, maybe not a performance at the end though) so if you haven't registered yet please do so here.

Tracks for Primavera CD 1

As requested, here are the tracks for the first CD:

1) Sergio Mendes: Fanfarra (Cabua-Le-Le)
2) Mocidade de padre Miguel: De Corpo e Alma na Avenida
3) Mocidade de padre Miguel: Brilha no Céu a Estrela Que Me Faz Sonhar
4) Salgueiro: Rio De La Pra Ca
5) Pega no Ganza
6) Beth Carvalho: Coisinha do Pai
7) Sergio Mendes: Magalenha
8) Mangueira: Exaltacao da Mangueira
9) Mangueira: Me leva que eu vou
10) Portela: Samba de Enredo Portela 2000
11) Olodum: Faras Divindade Do Egipto
12) Mocidade de padre Miguel: Olha A Virada
13) Uniao da Ilha: Live
14) Mangueira: Live
15) Imperio Serrano: Live
16) Imperatriz Leopoldinense: Live
17) Mocidade de padre Miguel: Live

Help!!

Hi All,

When I joined the Bateria, Remko gave me a CD with a few traditional songs, some of them obviously recorded on the spot during Carnaval in Rio. Does anyone have the titles of the songs or names of the bands? I know that Track 11 is from Olodum and called "Farao divindade do Egito".

I'm trying to get some lyrics on the web but my Portuguese is not as good as it used to be in one of my past lives, when I used to be a beautiful dancer from Rio...

That's me in the back !! (97th row on the left hand side with the big smile)

Cheers
Cedric

Samba Workshop with Carlos : Thursday

It's done!

Just a quick message that, after 2 months of very hard weekend work, I finally finished painting all rooms in our house. Why do I bother telling you this? Because now (well, after the Red & Black weekend), I finally will be able to progress with the organisation of the samba school as promised! Expect results soon!

Also, for those of you who haven't confirmed participation in Carlos' masterclasses this Thursday and Friday, please do so asap! And if you don't have ticket's to the R&B contact me urgently as well...

Cheers
Remko

Melanie's Becoming Australian Party (14th July)

A terrible mistake has been made by your good country! I have been tested and probed by John Howard (urgh the thought) and he has decided against the remote guano island option and has instead granted me citizenship, yae! So feeling all Australian I have decided to throw caution to the wind and have a party to celebrate on the 14th July Saturday afternoon at 1;00 pm onwards and fire up the BBQ in true Aussie fashion. Food will be provide but please bring a bottle for your own pleasure!! Oh also you should represent your country by exhibiting at least one Australia trait, other than drinking large quantities of beer. I also have a soundproof room and thats a clue so bring your noise impliment. RSVP so that I can sort out the food, also if you are veggie or like a particular burnt offering then please let me know in advance. My Address is 38 Rembrandt Street, Carina Tel: 3899 9968

Master classes by Carlos Ferreira

Carlos Ferreira from the Melbourne Samba School will do a couple of master classes in Brisbane on Thu 10 and Fri 11 May. Costs are $30 for one class and $40 for two classes. Please register here and include a comment if you will attend both classes or just one class. This is a great opportunity to learn some different samba rhythms and get some expert advice so I hope to see you all there!

Sambaspreadsheet

I can't remember what I had for breakfast, much less what beats we practice each week. :)

So in the spirit of the stuff we discussed at last Wednesday's meeting (ie being better organised), I've created a little spreadsheet with columns across the top, listing all of the beats we use, and down the side a list of rehearsal dates. So I can mark a tick against what we've done, and can see at a glance what still needs practice.

Now all I've got to do is find a pink and green clipboard to attach this list to, so I can march around the Polish Club on Thursday nights looking self-important. :) :)

Lawn Bowls to Celebrate!

Hello All,
I’ve organised to go barefoot bowling for my birthday! It’s not the same playing without a team, so I’m asking you fun people if you’d like to come along for a game (or three) and beer at genuine 19-something-odd prices!
Here’s the details…


Sunday 20th May – 3pm

New Farm Bowls Club

http://www.newfarmbowls.com.au/

Note: This is not the Merthyr club


Please let me know by 1st May if you can make it as I have to confirm numbers.
Cheers and hopefully I’ll see you there!

Getting thing done some more

Thanks to those who have registered for the "getting things done" day on Wednesday. Please note I need to know exactly who's coming to plan the day properly, so if you intend to come but haven't registered yet (you may have forgotten your password...) please register now or send me an email. Please don't rely on having told me - too much going on for me to remember ... Cheers!

Also note - start time has been moved to 12:00 noon as I'll need to finish painting one room first!

Getting things done!

As discussed yesterday, I propose to host a 'getting things done' day on ANZAC day, 25 April, at my house. Agenda to be confirmed, but there will be workshops in a number of areas, and hopefully we'll have some fun along the way.

Please let me know if you want to help out - I've used our gig info system for this so please register here!

Gail's house warmining party (finally)

We are having a house warming on the 28th April starting around 6 at my place 18 Neata Street Corinda. My house is near the back of Corinda High. I am trying to make it easy, so no bbq, but a chair, plate and something to eat would be useful. Everyone is welcome (it's a great place for kids). If you have any questions email me or reing me 0407583452.

Adopt-a-sambista

As discussed on Thursday, the Melbourne Samba School will fly up with about 10 sambista's for the Red & Black in May. If you want to host a sambista for the weekend, please let me know by email. Two free tickets are available for every host!

Lynne's travel news

As you all know, Lynne is currently travelling in Laos, before going on to China. Here's her latest news.....

Well have just arrived back in Vientiane (the capital) from an absolutely wonderful time in northern Laos.

Spent quite a few days in Luang Prabang which is the old capital and full of wonderfull French colonial architecture and great baguettees. My standard breakfast was to stroll down to the one of the small food vendors and get a small baguette with cream cheese with the freshest tomato and lettuce and this great spicy chutney all for about 75 cents.

Didn't often bother with lunch as it was so hot. The great fruit shakes were enough to keep me going to dinner. Mind you nothing as exotic as the fruit drinks in Brasil but still cold and yummy.

Spent a few days up river at a Hmong village which can only be reached by boat. Had a bungalow over looking the river which was very low because it is the dry season but still beautiful. Great place to relax, take a sauna, short walks and enjoy more fruit shakes.

Took the boat all the way back to Luang Prabang down the Nam Ou which eventually joined the Mekong. The deforestation is a real problem but there is no viable alternative yet for the farmers.

Dragged myself out of bed (twice) to watch the alms giving procession in the early morning. I really enjoyed it at Muang Ngoi where it was much more serene and the monks after receiving the alms stopped and gave a blessing.

One of the highlights was a overnight trip to visit the Asian Elephant Camp. They have a range of different activities and I chose to help out with the elephants. So we got to ride on their necks, return them to the jungle for feeding and fetch them in the morning and wash them in the river.

It was such a wonderful experience and a chance to contribute to saving them as they expect the Asian elephant will be extinct in the wild in 50 years.

The camp also has a 3 year old male who is just like a naughty child. Loves attention and is very wilfull.

So it is a day or so in Vientiane, more temples and then onto Bangkok and China.

Oh almost forgot. Whilst I was at the Elephant Camp the mahouts and guides had a little jam session. One guy (actually the mahout I was working with) could belt out a mean rhythm with a plastic buket and bamboo sticks. I was trying to recruit him for the samba group but I don't think he quite understood.

Rio, Red & Black in Brisbane!!!

Finally, the famous Rio, Red & Black party is coming to Brisbane on Saturday 12th May (in the Polish Club!). Starring the Melbourne Samba School (where I got addicted to samba), this party is one of the best. It is being held annually in Melbourne, Perth, and now in Brisbane.

I hope you can all make it, because this is your chance to see/listen to a bateria other than yourselves. Read all about it!

At next rehearsal I'll have discounted tickets for sale for $15. Please invite as many friends as you can to make this party a huge success.

Let's see if this works.....

Just testing to see if I can post on the blog. Soooo confused re accounts and passwords.

Reminder: no class this Thursday

Just a reminder there won't be a class this Thursday 29 March because of secret Polish business...

Hi All!

A quick one to say that the blog is also of great use to the ones far away abroad, missing their weekly 2hr drumming and laughing session and the rest of their family and instruments…

It’s great to see piccies of you all having fun and enjoying your music. Keep it up, it really helps getting through the poor weather and lengthy business travel!

I can’t wait to play again!! In the meantime, some pictures of my odissey...
The flying drummer who doesn’t know where he lives anymore…

PS: Happy birthday Paul! Sorry we missed it...

Boston in the snow… (= chaos in airports)

Spring in Cambridge (at least they have good beer)












Cheese in Paris… (that’s a positive)

Hi Patty!!!

Patty told us all yesterday that she checks our blog every day! That's great, and indeed that's what I'd like all of you to do, where possible of course. After all, the intend of the blog is to promote communication within the Samba School.

So, a well meant HI PATTY HOW ARE YOU TODAY?

Class tonight is going ahead

I understand there's a bit of confusion, but yes, tonight's (Thursday 22 March) class is going ahead as per normal, however next week's (Thursday 29 March) class will be cancelled because of secret Polish business.

See you tonight!

still more photos