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

Party pics

Hi there everyone,

Here are some photos from the party gig last Saturday. I hope you don't mind that there's quite a few of them.

Birthday party thanks

Hi guys,

Thank you all for coming to my birthday party and for playing some great samba. I had such a great time. Despite turning 40, it was the best birthday celebration I've ever had. The other guests were very impressed with us - as you might expect, because we are bloody good!

Thanks to Remko for making the samba school such a welcoming and community spirited group. My friend Carla said yesterday that you reap what you sow, and that the samba school 'begs participation'. I think it was a compliment! Many friends commented on how memorable the day was.

Thank you so much to everyone who contributed to the gift, I really appreciate this. I can't wait to go shopping at Photo Continental for a new video camera - the one I'm using at the moment is a borrowed one from last century. The samba school will definitely benefit from this! I'll bring it to practice and show it off as soon as I buy it.

I've got some great photos from the party to post here but I don't have a cable to connect the camera to the computer. Might buy one of those first!

Cheers,
Paul

Samba Computer

Obviously, to make sure the Samba school keeps growing at the phenomenal rate it currently is (...) we need a good bookkeeping, webserving and music support system.
I have taken it on myself to look for something that would do the job, and finally found one that fits the Samba school's needs nicely. Here it is.


Patty, just to be clear: this is not a table.
More pictures here

Class cancelled 15 March

I have to cancel the class on 15 March as I'll be in Cairns for work. Sorry about that!

Paul's party

Hi all,

You are all invited to my 40th birthday party on Saturday 17th March.

Where: Red Ash, Bellbird Grove, Brisbane Forest Park

When: Midday to 4pm, bbq lunch provided - please byo alcohol, and gourmet steaks if you want a more upmarket dining experience

How to get there: head down Waterworks Rd and continue on Mt Nebo Rd into Brisbane Forest Park. Roughly 5km past the entrance turn right to Bellbird Grove. Head to the very end of this little road to Red Ash, which is a recreation area accessible through a series of car parks and is sectioned off for party hire. Please see the attached maps to the right of the page here.

What to bring: your instruments, a sense of fun, sunscreen and perhaps a picnic blanket or folding chair – there is a sheltered area with benches, tables and barbecues also. Feel free to bring some CDs if you don’t trust my choice of music. Beware I am in to salsa music at the moment.

No presents!

Please RSVP to paulshuffles@yahoo.com.au or 0427 753 408 by Monday the 12th of March, so that I can cater for everyone – I also have to pay per person for the park hire in advance.

I’d really love to see you all there!

Cheers,
Paul

Dale's Birthday

Remko says : " Hidden tiger, crouching sambistas ! "










Charlie's Angels











. . . . . . . . . ! ? ! ?

Rio Carnaval DVD Night

Image a bit blur due to low light
. . . . . and Dale was moving ( I'm on his shoulder ! )

No Samba on 29 March

Because of some secret Polish business, we won't be able to rehearse on Thursday 29 March!

Vodka Night Feb 24th

Paul's birthday party

Hi all,

I'm having a birthday party on Saturday 17 March. It will be held during the day at Mt Nebo, in a park. More details on that later.
For now, please keep the day free. Apparently it's also St Patrick's day so if that's an important day for you I'm sorry for the clash. As far as I know samba isn't a traditional Irish musical style so we probably won't get booked that day anyway.

I'll provide barbecue food for everyone. Just bring your instrument of choice, beverage of choice and perhaps a fold-out chair. A designated driver would be handy too.

Cheers,
Paul

New Samba Rehearsal Format

Remko,

I quite enjoy last night new Samba rehersal format . I hope you're consistent with this format throughout the year. It gives us a chance to learn new things and make mistake without being too conscious about it.

I'm thinking about going back to the surdo now, knowing I'll be able to learn new instrument.

Gig - Polish Beer & Vodka night

Late notice, although some of you are aware of this already: we've got another beer & vodka night this Friday 23 February, at the Polish Club.

Register here!

Primavera Screen Printing Workshop : Feb. 17th

Erin's friend, Rema, undercover talent scout checking out Primavera " emerging " artists

Dale, from Highgate Hill Securities, has kept the fashion police happy.

Proud Primavera artists

Secret women's business

Whoaaaah !

Marcel, William & Co

URGENT - Gig cancelled tonight!

Just received a message that the gig tonight has been cancelled, because of issues with the venue. I will try to get in contact with all of you, but if you get this message please sms me with your name and acknowledging cancellation.

The Primavera Photo Collection

As I announced some time ago, I want to create a photo library with pictures from gigs, rehearsals, etc. You may even already have gathered all your pictures.

Because I expect quite a few pictures, you'll have to help me to organise these. This may take you a little bit of time, but it will save me hours and hours. So here goes:

• Burn your pictures to a CD. Label the CD with your name, the date, and the titel "Primavera photos"
• On the CD, you have to create a directory structure as follows:
• Level 1: your name
• Level 2: a subdirectory named [YYMMDD tttt], where YYMMDD is the date (in that format!) and 'tttt' is either 'gig', 'rehearsal', 'workshop', or 'machado'. Use 'gig' for a primavera gig, 'rehearsal' for one of our normal rehearsals, 'workshop' for one of my other workshops (for example the Active & Healthy ones) and 'machado' for a performance I did with Jason Machado (without the samba school)
• Level 3: create 3 subdirectories: 'excellent', 'good', and 'other'.
  
• In subdirectory 'excellent', please put your photos that are, well, excellent, which means they are definitely good enough to put prominently on our website and use on flyers.
• In subdirectory 'good', put pictures that can still be put on our website, but are not good enough for flyers and other promotion material
• In subdirectory 'other' you can put all other pictures you've got.
  

• Note the actual photos only will go into the subdirectory in level 3!
• I have included a list of gigs in the comments to this post for your reference.
  

So, a sample directory structure will look as follows:

• Remko Wallach
• 040923 gig
• excellent
• excellent pictures go here
  
• good
• good pictures go here
  
• other
• other pictures go here
  
• 051021 gig
• excellent
• good
• other
• 070208 rehearsal
• excellent
• good
• other

It would be great if I could get your CD on Thursday 22 February. Thanks!

Gig - Carnaval party 18/2/07

Our first gig for the year is a Carnaval party on 18 February, 9pm in the City. Register here! This will be our first gig where we'll open with a massive FUNK rhythm, so bring your dark glasses and let's have some fun!

Mangueira's surdos

Here's an extract from a blog I've been following. It's written by a woman who's been in Rio for the past few months studying percussion. She's also been going to Carnaval rehearsals. Here's a bit about the Mangueira surdos.......

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I noticed that this year, Mangueira's bateria slogan is "Bateria Surdo Um!" (Bateria One Surdo!). It is printed on all the drum heads. They were also all wearing t-shirts that said, in Portuguese, "You gotta respect my one surdo!"



(the "Dedo Colado" written on the drum head is the drummer's name - "Glue Finger"!)

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