Last Pictures of the Year

The pictures are a bit grainy. I've tried not to use the flash in order include the Christmas trees' lights that Remko has put them on specially for us !.

Last rehearsal for 2009

This Thursday 10 December is the last rehearsal for 2009. I propose we make it quite informal, with lots of pagode, time for socialising, and lots of fun.

If you want to bring some nibblies you're more than welcome!

I will also have a little present for everyone....

And, this Thursday's class will be free for everyone again.

I really hope to see all of you there, before we break for the holidays!

Well done everyone!

Flamengo e Samba

Details for Sunday's gig @ SunCorp

Hi all, here are the details for tomorrow's gig at SunCorp.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to make it due to prior commitments that I thought I could change but it turns out I can't. Jason has kindly agreed to step in and lead the bateria! Please help him out.

Dress code: white pants, Orange Roar shirt. For those who don't have a Roar shirt, there will be some extra ones available in the dressing room. Hang on to them for next time!

Everyone assemble at Inform (radio lollipop) car park, opposite the main boom gate at Castlemain Street. Please be there 5.45pm. You will receive tickets, wristbands and be lead into the stadium and to the dressing room. I will have parked the trailer at the carpark previously, please carry all instruments and bags inside to the dressing room.

We'll have a dressing room, and I've asked for a separate dressing room for the 3 dancers. Please set up, ready to go for half time at 6.45pm. I believe the first 7 minutes of half time will be commercials, but don't count on it - be ready on time!

The half time performance will last 7.30 minutes max, and will go as follows:

1. bateria walks out of centre tunnel (without playing), sets up in front of stage
2. Jason walks out of centre tunnel, playing paradinhas. Bateria responds (of course!)
3. Jason walks to front of stage as well (whilst playing paradinhas)
4. Samba for 2 minutes or so
5. Dancers come out of centre tunnel (walking with grace, but not dancing) then dance on top of stage
6. Optional: Jason enters stage and interacts (musically) with dancers
7. bateria + dancers + Jason walk back to centre tunnel while playing

So ONLY the dancers (and maybe Jason) will go on the stage!

Following the half time performance, I'd like to ask the following players to play in the Den with Jason (repinique): Elwin (2nd surdo), Mike (1st surdo), Fernando (3rd surdo), Gail (shaker), Vitor (caixa)

Everyone else, please take instruments back to dressing room. I will arrive into the stadium about 7.30pm with my car + trailer, and we will be able to load the instruments into there without going back to the lollipop carpark.

Carol & Michael's BBQ

Short notice - entirely my fault as I've been 100% flat out since Wednesday. Sorry!

Carol & Michael are organising a BBQ tomorrow Sunday 29 November at the Roma Street Parklands (where we had the Multicultural festival). It starts around 11am (yes, in time for lunch!).

BYO drinks & food.

Please RSVP (0431 320 754) by Thursday (sorry!). They will provide plates, knives etc.

I understand it will be next to the main stage but check with Carol to be sure.

Flamengo

Possible SunCorp gig this Sunday evening

As you are all aware, over the last few weeks we have been playing with a small number of people (different people each game) in the stands during Brisbane Roar games.

It has been tough as not everyone likes samba, and the people that don't like something typically are more vocal than the ones that do appreciate it. But we are making progress and this might become a regular thing, with better cooperation with the fans down the track.

This Sunday, they again want 6 drummers in the stands. But on top of that, we have been invited (all of us!) to perform at half time on the stage on the field for 7 minutes. We haven't formalised anything yet but I'm sure we'll get there. We also have been asked to provide dancers in costume.

So, this might be our last gig before we break for Xmas, and it would be a great way of showing what we are capable of.

We'll discuss this further tomorrow during the rehearsal! Hope to see you there!

Denis' Party

Posting on behalf of Denis,

To all sambistas,

Denis is putting up a party for us all to celebrate Remko's new trailer mkII.

When: Saturday, December 5th @ 7:00 pm

Where: 14 Eckersley Street , TARRAGINDI

B.Y.O. drinks and musical instrument .
.

Merry melee this Sat

Hey sambistas,
Join the merry melee at 51 Burlington St, East Brisbane (5 min from Mowbray Park ferry stop) from 3pm this Saturday, 21st Nov. Bring an instrument if you feel the itch! Partners and kids welcome (we have a house full of things for kids to bash/juggle/watch/dance to). Food and non-alc drinks provided, additions welcomed.
Hope to see you there!
Will

Tonight's rehearsal

I particularly enjoyed tonight's rehearsal! Thank you all who were there, you were magnificent!

Christmas break

It's that time of the year again where people think less about Samba and more about Xmas presents. So, to allow you to plan your shopping trips, here's the holiday schedule:

• Last rehearsal 2009: Thursday 10 December
• First rehearsal 2010: Thursday 17 January

Don't worry, I'll give you homework to do for the period in between :-)

I hope to see as many as you as possible during the next 5 weeks - we have made some significant progress this year however we could do more and make it even more interesting if everyone attended every class each time.

By the way, why is it that the moment there is any sign of the slightest bit of rain, people don't come to samba rehearsal? Let me know your theory by commenting to this post (Brian is only allowed one comment!!!)

350 drumming event. Saturday 24th Oct.

Hi everyone,
If you want to make some noise this Saturday 24th Oct to voice concerns over arguably the biggest natural phenomenon we will ever experience (WHOA! climate change baby!) and the lack of action on behalf of the powers-that-be, then there is a 350.org event at the West End markets, 11-1pm.

350 drums and 350 frisbees is their goal - 350 cause that is the agreed safe upper limit for CO2 in our atmosphere (in parts per million).

It's a pretty ambitious goal and a pretty awesome cause, so I'm heading along. It would be great to have some rhythmically knowledgeable folks there, such as yourselves, to make 350 drums sound less like this and more like this or this or this, especially if you support the cause.

Here is the event page:
http://www.350.org/node/5431
and here is a video on the 350 project, a massive global project:


Hope to see peeps there. Volume up, CO2 down!
Will

Tomorrow's class cancelled

Based on the poll on the Blog, I have decided to cancel tomorrow's class :-(

Firstly, you all deserve a little break after two great performances in two weeks!

From a more practical point of view, for those who haven't heard yet, my two-week old trailer has been written off by the insurance company after a neighbor accidently hit the accelerator instead of the break when she was trying to reverse close to where my trailer was parked. I am of course trying to get a new trailer asap but this might take weeks. I will need some help in the next few weeks I think to transport instruments :-(

Enjoy your Thursday evening - can I suggest you put on a CD with Brazilian music to stay in the mood...

Claire's House Warming

Hi Sambistas!

I'm throwing a house warming party on Saturday 7th November from 3pm and it would be great if you could join me! There'll be a BBQ so bring whatever meat and alcohol you want to consume and I'll provide the rest. Partners and kids are welcome as well as musical instruments!

My new place is in Wynnum and because it's not a brilliant idea to post addresses on the internet, I will send you my proper address when you RSVP claire.petersen@brisamba.com .

Hope you can make it!

Cheers,

Claire

P.S. There is plenty of space if anyone needs to stay overnight (but you might be on the floor).

Thank you for today

Thank you all for yet another great performance today. To me, it sounded really good. It was fun, having to start and stop so often, and I saw a lot of people laughing because of it. Of course, we all wanted to play more at the end, unfortunately that was not possible because of the programming on the stages nearby, as we're a little bit loud...

Thanks to Elwin for doing a great job as a referee - this turned out to be really important as the inflatable pitch was so high I couldn't always see what was going on.

Regarding Thursday, I'll put on a little vote to the right of this page.

Thanks again all!

Details for Sunday's Multicultural Festival

Here are the details for Sunday's gig at the Multicultural Festival:

• Location: Roma Street Parklands, inflatable soccer pitch
• Time: performance 2.15pm - 2.35pm, please be there 1.30pm as we may need to discuss a few things
• Dress code: white pants, Mangueira shirt, no hat. Elwin, could you please dress in black?
• Parking only available for Dale and myself (access through gate 13 via Parkland Crescent)

Thursday we'll rehearse our cues again. Remember, don't get distracted by the game too much, keep an eye on me. Also remember to have lots of fun, this will be controlled chaos and I think we're going to have a good laugh!

Parading

One of the things that was clear last Sunday was that we still have some way to go in how we parade. Fair enough, we didn't even know we were parading until 2 minutes before time, and on the second occasion they even changed plans while we were mid way on the field, but I know we can do better.

And yes, the pace of walking has a lot to do with this.

Any suggestions and ideas on how we could practice this would be appreciated!

What was I doing in Melbourne on Saturday?

What can I say?

This picture says it all! I hope you all had a great time, I know the crowd really appreciated it and I've already been asked if we want to join the Orange Army again this Saturday! Thank you all for making this possible on such short notice!

PS: Jason - have a good look at the picture. Look at everyone's pants - looks great doesn't it? Look at everyones bare head - also looks great doesn't it. All the same, one might say 'uniform'. Very professional. Oh wait, someone is standing out...... ;-)