SARAHANDSUZANNE AT CASA during their adventure in toronto last month, sarahandaaron met and played a gig with the lovely and talented suzanne de bussac at a place called graffiti's. returning the favour, sarahandaaron appeared with suzanne during her journey saskatoon-ward at a cafe casa (on broadway) show on wednesday december 22 starting at 9:30pm. suzanne opened the show with an amazing set of selections from her cd "the valley of baca". sarah managed to crawl out of her cave of sickness long enough to get thru the 45 minute set. both of aaron's brothers attended as well as a whole whack of de bussac relatives that suzanne hadn't seen in a decade. suzanne inspires sarah to be a better performer.
THE REALLY BIG SHOW three bands will be taking over castle theatre for the nite on saturday, december 4, starting at 7:30pm. the show promises eclectic variety from the likes of the jay hails band, HOJA, and Sarah Stefanson (with SJ Kardash, Aaron Sinclair, and Chris Martin). tickets now available!!! check out the show's page for more details.
JONOVISION sarah was invited to play on jonovision, a late afternoon teen talk show on cbc. sarahandaaron appeared on "jonopalooza" competing with three other bands for the "coveted golden ear". winning would mean fame and fortune of gargantuan proportions. and either way, they got to meet jonathan torrens!! the air date is thursday, december 2 at 5:30pm on cbc.
TORONTO sarahandaaron were in toronto from november 23 to 29. in addition to the appearance on jonovision they played a songwriter's showcase along with two other acts at a club called "graffiti" (on baldwin, just off spadina) on wednesday, november 24, at 10pm. sarah would like to acknowledge the supergenerous assistance of various family and friends during this trip (you know who you are:).
INDIEPOOL a swell guy named pat paid sarah a visit recently and made her cd available thru indiepool's catalouge of artists.
REGINA TOUR sarahandaaron finally headed back to regina on the last weekend of october with their pseudo-manager for the trip, sarah's beautiful sister, amy. amy also joined them in performing a few times. the show dates, times and venues, and sarah's comments follow: Roca Jack's (Jack's Attic) [1939 Scarth Street] October 29, 8:30-11:30pm here we made a few very enthusiastic new fans and saw some ppl from back home. and we sold some cds which is always good. this gig was amplified and we dug that a bunch. i had forgotten how many things you can do with your voice thru a mic. this gig marked the public debut of both some new songs and amy's singing voice. Railroad Coffeehouse [1856 Hamilton Street] October 30, 1pm our motivation for getting thru this gig was that we had the most excellent scrumptious sandwiches waiting for us upon its completion. we picked up a friend at the uni for this show (only getting slightly lost on campus, but aaron is good at asking for directions) and she and amy eventually turned out to be pretty much our only constant audience. did ya ever notice how the clapping of four ppl can sound like alot more in an empty room?? it was like street-busking in the corner of a coffeehouse. Cafe Ultimate [1852 Scarth Street] October 30, 8-11pm we sing into the coffeebar at this place. it's just the way the room is set up. we end up singing for the guy that works there. this one was even weirder than last time. mostly, i think, due to the fact that the gorgeous guy with the joseph finnes eyes wasn't working that nite (so i didn't even have anything to focus on;) and that the mostly teenage customer population was pre-occupied with their halloween costumes (kudos, btw, to the girl dressed as an angel leading her boyfriend around on a chain). so no one really listened. so aaron and i started to get...uh...creative with the songs (we did all the verses of "temperance" in spoken word instead of vocal;). and amy drew us some groovy abstract personifications of our gig.
NEWMAN COFFEEHOUSE the new season of newman coffeehouses is starting at st. thomas moore auditorium on the uni campus and sarahandaaron appeared at the saturday, october 23 show. the coffeehouse is where sarah played her first official gigs and there are always all sorts of interesting performers (and some real talented ones too;). sarahandaaron played a three song set and mentioned the cd twice, prompting sarah's favourite intro of the nite from a boy in a nice orange sweater..."before i start i just wanna remind all of you that i do not have a cd that's available at record stores across saskatoon, but if you give me a dollar i'll play a song for you later". trent played old love songs of his and some sheryl crow stuff with roberta (her voice is amazing:). and kim played a song about hanging out with jesus.
PHOTO SHOOT amy played photographer for sarahandaaron at a photo shoot on october 3. the photos will be used for bio packages and posters, and will soon appear on the website.
AARON'S BACK! aaron sinclair (the original sarahstefansonband) has returned from a growing changing finding himself journey to michigan and will begin playing gigs with sarah again very soon. aaron is sarah's ground. she's been floating since he left.
RECORDING WITH SJ sarah's wonderful new friend/player/engineer, s.j. kardash did some recording for sarah on sunday, september 12. "the dawson song" started as a simple guitar/vocal song and after s.j.'s contributions has now has bass, drums, and hammond organ parts. chris martin lent his vocal skills to some harmonies on the track.
AIDS WALK sarah and chris played at the 1999 saskatoon aids walk on sunday, september 26. chris martin's lovely acapella band, hoja, played as well along with some other talented artists, including a band called jonah who's singer sounded uncannily like joshua kadison and a loud band that i think once opened for bent. the gig got rained out at the end. poor bluesway express only got to play one tune. 8:30am is wayyyyy to early for anyone who calls themselves a musician to be awake.
SARAH&CHRIS AT CASA sarah played a gig at cafe casa (it's been too long) on saturday, september 18 at 9:30pm. (luke was unable to play as it was his friend/bandmates birthday that nite.) sarah's friend and fellow songwriter, chris martin did a set of his originals and joined sarah for a set of hers. sarah got to the gig a little late (it takes time to get four girls out the door) and when she arrived chris informed her that some guy had approached him and asked him if he could play a few songs. kendra assured sarah that he was "kinda cute" so sarah went back to talk to him. and wonder of wonders, the mysterious guy turned out to be sarah's beautiful aaron sinclair who had just gotten back from michigan a few short hours ago! what a surprise, he's a crafty guy. sarah is so amazingly happy to have him back. aaron played a couple songs and then left the show to chris and sarah. twas a lovely show and the audience was splenderific, (even if that cute boy in the front did make sarah forget the words sometimes).
JEN LANE CD RELEASE jen lane is one of the very few artists on the list entitled "female musicians that sarah likes". her long-awaited cd was released at something resembling a "miniature lilith fair" at the bassment on september 17th at the bassment from 8:00pm-12:00pm. sarah and chris martin appeared on the stage that night (for a 20-30minute set, starting at about 8:30pm) along with some other fabulous artists who opened for the main attraction. there were some new faces (amy + feelium) and some familiar ness creek ones (tracey and lisa). jen played beautifully and made at least three new fans. sarah is very proud of her. the cost of the cd is $15. you can email jen for more details at jenlane@home.com or visit her website at http://members.home.net/jenlane
BENEFIT AT LYDIA'S sarah played a benefit show at lydia's on tuesday, september 7. the show was put on so that some people could "drive a school bus full of prosthetic limbs to nicaragua for landmine victims". or at least that was the way it was explained to sarah. sarah and luke enjoyed a particularly lovely set full of songs that sarah has forgotten how to play due to the long music break she's been taking. the infamous jay hails and rob palacol (they seem to come as a package deal these days) performed as well (nice to see both of them out of their current element without their bands.) the line-up was rather eclectic with musical styles ranging from folk-protest songs, to blues, to some very groovy playing by a fellow from chile.
BILLY TENT sarah is doing a very informal very casual show at shakespeare on the saskatchewan's sir toby's tavern (the billy tent, yellow and white) on august 15th at noon. the show will basically be sarah and a few of her friends jamming and having a good time. wanna watch? wanna participate? please come by. **due to the cancellation of the 15th performance of "boys & girls" sarah will likely be playing again that day at 4:30pm. same deal. ****ok, so sarah didn't play the noon show cuz only the ppl that worked there were in attendance. but she did play later for robbie, and jen's sister sarah, shanda, amy, dad, mom, and some other groovy ppl who contributed generously. lovely veggie burger and ice cream.
FRINGE sarah wanted to be busking every day at the fringe festival here in saskatoon, a street fair/theatre extravaganza. but the fringe is sad without tomko, and she found herself totally unmotivated. she did watch several hoja shows though.
PRIVATE PARTY yay for the private party! sarah played at a birthday party for one of maggie's former teachers, Mrs. Hobday-Kusch on august 12th. luke played the party with her and they had a groovy time together. they fed them well and were a kind audience. background music, gotta love it.
ART ON THE STREET sarah again did "art on the street" for the partnership this summer. the program consists of buskers performing at various set locations in an attempt to make saskatoon's downtown area more appealing to both tourists and residents. (sarah hates downtown but being paid to busk is an offer she can't quite resist...and she always meets interesting ppl down there.) so she'll probably do it next year too...
TASTE OF SASKATCHEWAN this year the festival is in the hands of SOMA instead of SRIA. it takes place by the river in saskatoon from july 21-25. sarah and luke played on friday, july 23, at 1pm. sarah is very excited about the instant stage connection that she and luke have seemed to develop, loves his voice behind her words, hopes they will play many many more shows together. sarah was happy to see her grandparents and aunt and cousin and pseudo-cousin-in-law and bev and daryl and micheal at the show. (oh, and those friends of luke's) despite her aspiring psychic friend from michigan's prediction, no one asked sarah out today. and the boats were loud. but other than that, a beauty of a day. the sunshine. :)
SONGWRITERS FESTIVAL after her submission was reviewed by a "panel of adjudicators", sarah has been accepted as one of 20 artists to participate in the 4th annual songwriters festival which is hosted at the songwriting centre, buffalo pound lake from july 20-22, 1999. "This fesival is run for songwriters to share their art with each other. This is not a performance festival for the larger general public, however, up to 50 songwriters, producers/artists may attend each performance. The main focus of the Festival is the recording of the live performances for recordlive.com" due to a miscommunication and lack of funds, sarah was unable to attend the songwriters festival this year, and hopes to participate next summer.
NESS CREEK sarah was asked to open the festival with a 45 minute set on thursday, july 15 at 9pm. in the absence of aaron, luke ryalls agreed to take on the illustrious title of sarah's new player. he had a little problem with the concept of time, but he made it. despite luke's self-deprication, sarah maintains that her set was beautiful with his voice and guitar behind it. it rained all day on thursday, it never stopped, and they had a small but appreciative crowd. luke's band "crown nectar" played a disappointingly short set on the youth stage on friday at 1pm. another highlight of the youth stage was that french band who were very strange. sarah also played a set change filler on saturday night, which prompted fred eaglesmith to enthusiasticly compliment sarah's songwriting (they swapped cd's). it was a different sort of festival than last year. kind of a rollercoaster of good/bad. sarah was happy to spend some "bonding time" with luke and to meet some very groovy people, including megan and craig from winnipeg.
MORE SHAKESPEARE she said she wouldn't do it again (maybe she's just a glutton for punishment) but sarah played two shows at shakespeare on friday, june 25 for some sort of arts council people or something or other. the noon show promised a captive audience as the arts council ate their dinner. they didn't listen, but at least they were there. and brenda baker thinks sarah's name is stefanie. oh well. the 4o'clock show was worse. sarah hopes the bellydancer that followed her got a little better reception.
BROS. ON 3RD due to the crazy situation with the non-existent washnslosh opening spot, five minute miracle asked sarah to open for them (for real this time) at bros. on 3rd on june 25. sarah was joined by chris martin for their 45 minute opening set. it's been a long while since they've played together and sarah hopes they do more of it in the near future. five minute miracle played an incredible show to end their self-titled "life sucks tour". sarah was wearing candy on her neck. and it worked.
SHAKESPEARE sarah played three shows at the shakespeare on the saskatchewan site (by the mendel art gallery along the river) in the billy tent (the yellow+white one). the dates were as follows: sunday june 13 at 6pm, friday june 18 at 10:30pm, and sunday june 20 at 6pm. last year's shakespeare shows were especially crappy (with the exception of one that ryan and robbie attended (and only robbie and ryan) which sarah recalls quite fondly:). these ones weren't much better. the first show came at a happy end-of-a-great-weekend time for sarah and she was grateful for the presence of shanda (and the macaroni) and tony (even though he kept bugging her). the second show was probably the best one. still bad that you could count the audience on two hands, but it was nice to see some ppl that haven't come in a while (torin+teri, patty, mom+dad). also, it was danielle's first sarahshow. and we can't forget those thronberg brothers. the third show was not a show at all.
GRAD sarah was asked by the graduating class of 1999 to perform at the ceremonies in wishart (good ol home town). she sang "hymn from pincher creek" at the church service and chris martin's "flying" at the exercises. (wishart makes weird things happen in the inside of sarah's legs.) she congratulates the grads and wishes for bright future things for them all.
WASH 'N SLOSH sarahandaaron were supposed to open for saskatoon's five minute miracle at the wash 'n slosh on broadway on thursday, june 3 at approx. 10pm. it would've been the first time for them playing at the slosh as well as opening for fm2. (sarah recently discovered that fm2 uses the word "groovalicious" in every day conversation and loves them all the more for it.) however, somewhere in the chain of command, there was a miscommunication and sarahandaaron ended up not playing after all. fm2 was groovalicious as always and sarah had a good time drinking fruity drinks and flirting with boys (even the ones that didn't flirt back).
ST. THOMAS sarah did a presentation for her good friends jolene and kate (and the rest of their grade eight english class) at st. thomas school on thursday, june 3 at 9:40 in the morning. the early hour and the unfamiliar territory were daunting, but she ended up feeling famous as she always does in the presence of certain girls. a special treat for sarah was the grade eight girls rehearsal for their grad ceremony after class. a room full of beautiful voices singing "goodbye" by the spice girls. there is real talent there.
SIP 'N CHAT walking out of the studio after a recent cfcr interview, sarah stopped at a nearby (brandnew) coffeeshop called the Sip 'n Chat (corner of 3rd and 22nd? or 23rd?) where she convinced the proprietor that live music would be a valuable addition to his business and that she and aaron would be the ideal artists to provide said music. consequently, (as it is a relatively new business) sarahandaaron did a "trial" performance, sort of an audition, at the coffeeshop on wednesday, may 26 from 8-10pm. sarah was happy to see a whole bunch of wonderful people who haven't been to asarahshow in a long while. hopefully, the show will result in some future gigs at the sip 'n chat.
RADIO INTERVIEW sarahandaaron will be doing a radio interview on saskatoon's community radio station CFCR (90.5 fm) on monday may 17. the show they will be appearing on is called "the hitchhiker's guide to the festivals" and starts at 8pm. sarahandaaron will be playing a few tunes and talking about such things as the ness creek music festival. due to a prior commitment, aaron was unable to attend the interview (how sad) but sarah went and had a great time with the host of the show. (incidently, if anyone taped the interview, sarah would like a copy) listen for a interview later with aaron.
P.A. ART ED CLASS sarah performed for two grade nine art ed classes in prince albert on friday, april 30. she spoke to them about the process of songwriting and how to get started in the music business. sarah was happy with the reaction from the kids and appreciated their enthusiastic questions.
BOWMAN CREATIVE WRITING CLASS sarah did a presentation for mr. butler's creative writing class at bowman on friday, may 7. she talked to the class about being a lyricist and (hopefully) taught them something about songwriting. aaron joined them for a song and they analyzed cher and ricky martin tunes. sarah is so sorry that she was ill and couldn't sing very well.
CAFE CASA sarahandaaron played a special phil-requested show on the 24th of april at cafe casa (on broadway across from the theatre) titled "amy's wowwy wow wow birthday show". it started at 9:30pm and admission was as simple as purchasing a refreshing beverage or sinful dessert from the warm and lovely proprietor and dropping something in the performer's tip box (please). (guess that was a little hard for that audience to comprehend.) so there were no guests (unless you count the show concluding singalong, thanx girls:) and the show ended up being more like a private living room concert for the birtday girl. oh, and there was some dancing!
CAFE CASA sarahandaaron played at two shows at cafe casa (on broadway across from the theatre) on april 9th and 10th. guests: although sarah expected trent lengyel to join them for these shows, he seems to have a tendancy to ignore her phone calls. guests that did show up were friday night's openers jolene kendzel and kate martelli of the band "matriarchal" who performed brilliant original material. jo also joined sarahandaaron for a couple tunes. the incomparable mr. aaron adair made an appearance on friday as well. the saturday audience enjoyed a pleasant surprise in the form of chris martin, fresh from a trip to yorkton with hoja. chris joined sarahandaaron to play some of his originals and some emm songs too!
NEWMAN COFFEEHOUSE sarah has been harassing rich, the director/organizer guy, for weeks now. consequently, she and aaron will either be included in the lineup for the upcoming coffeehouse or rich will have them arrested when they show up. either way there promises to be a scene at the stm auditorium on the u of s campus on march 26 at 7:30pm. oh, and there's something about wearing khakis to win cool prizes.... it turns out sarahandaaron played right after a priest who told jokes and their set list consisted of a lesbian song (she only whispers), a makeup sex song (random grope), and another sex song (Lover Sleep). so they made an impression. and a few new fans and emailing list recipients.
NESS CREEK OPEN STAGE sarahandaaron were included among the lineup at the ness creek open stage at lydia's which took place on thursday, march 18. sarahandaaron played after such stupendous bands as maelstrom. the set list included "Life + baggage", pearl jam cover "elderly woman" and "bitter love song". despite the presence (well, absence really) of a certain despised individual and some guy "blowing chunks" on sarah's shoes, the night was a success and enjoyed by all.
BUCKWOLD ASSEMBLY sarah was very excited to play at her sister and brother's elementary school, alvin buckwold during an assembly on march 11 at 9am. maggie ann joined sarah in signing a couple of her songs, despite having only learned "angel" the night before. also, sarah agreed to participate in a special series of readings to the students of buckwold. she performed for grades 6-8 students starting at 2:30 on tuesday, march 16 in the alvin buckwold library. sarah was flattered to be included in buckwold's theme week of "role models" and she appreciated everyone's support and enthusiasm.
BOWMAN VARIETY NIGHT sarahandaaron appeared at aden bowman's variety night on friday, march 12. the show started at 8 pm and admission was $5 with proceeds going to unicef. some other talented and beautiful bowman students featured in the show were farideh olsen and crown nectar. sarahandaaron played a pearl jam cover "elderly woman behind the counter in a small town" and, despite how variety nite directors frown upon talking before your song, double dedicated it respectively to a boy with unrecognizable shirts and to people who travelled from far away places.
WOMEN'S FESTIVAL sarah was invited at the verylastminute to join something that resembles saskatoon's own "lilith fair" or a variation on that theme. here's some info.... "25th Street Theatre Centre Inc is pleased to announce the arrival of a new festival on the Saskatoon art scene - The First Annual Women's Festival - a festival dedicated to women artists. From Monday, March 8 to Sunday, March 14, a round robin of activity will be presented at the Capri-Place (on the corner of 2nd Avenue and 20th Street). The venue will be transformed. A gallery space will be created to present the visual art exhibitions. A lounge for participants and audience to serve as a platform for works-in-progress. The performance space will host a continual flow of presentations. The First Annual Women's Festival will be open on Monday, March 8th in recognition of International Women's Day. The Gala Opening will introduce the visual artists and their work. Presentation snatches will give the visiting public a preview of some of the performance pieces. The evening will wrap up in a soiree of conversation and refreshments. Guests will have the opportunity to purchase festival passes which will enable holders to buy admission tickets to the indivudual shows during the rest of the week." sarah did a show on tuesday, march 9, from 8:40 to 9:10pm. it was pay-what-you-can so that eliminated one excuse. ;) bequie lake and megan williams (fellow bowman students) did a show right before sarah's (which sarah found extremely touching and moving and all those other nice adjectives... seriously, if, sometime in the future you get a chance to see "david's redhaired death", sarah strongly urges you to do so.) and she was followed by brenda baker.
update: following a successful and well-received show on tuesday, sarah was scheduled to fill in for another cancelled show at the women's festival on wednesday, march 10. she played a 45 minute set, starting at 8:05. sarah was happy to play an old song at the request of adrienne and happier still to almost flirt with a really cute boy...too bad he ran away so fast....
SARAH TURNED 19 ON THE 28TH OF FEBRUARY!!!!!!!!!
NESS CREEK YOUTH DANCE a ness creek youth dance was held on friday, february 19th, at the bassment. sarahandaaron played a 30 minute set. other acts that impressed the standing room only crowd were jen lane (jen is currently keeping herself busy recording her debut album), hawiian mafia (have developed quite the stage presence, of course their mysterious tuxedo-clad guest singer didn't hurt things any), crown nectar (amazing as always, and yes, sarah still wants to have their children...yes, all of them), and mcfly (mcfly is really coming together, made vertical dancing a nessecity, watch for them in the future).
CAFE CASA sarah played two nights of valentine's day love songs at cafe casa (706 Broadway Avenue, across from the theatre) on friday and saturday, february 12 & 13, 1999. friday night she was joined, as usual, by aaron sinclair. on saturday, the always delightful chris martin played an opening set of his own material and joined sarahandaaron later on. featured in both shows were some new tunes never before heard in s'toon and a couple old ones that haven't been played in a fairly long while. sarah would like to thank her boys for being so wonderful as always, phil for putting up with aaron, and the cute new guy that works at casa.
CFCR INTERVIEW sarah did an interview and performance on cfcr radio (90.5) wednesday, february 10, 1999. the show devoted to "women's music" was called "diva's den" and was hosted by a very cool girl named jen.
SOMA COMPILATION sarah submitted a song (temperance) to the soma compilation cd currently being made. the judges apparently felt that it did not deserve to be on the cd. ohwell, says sarah, just one of those stumblingblocks (thanks chris). she would, however, like to offer her sincere happiness and feelings of pride to the members of mcfly (especially her good friend farideh) on their success.
TOUR OF REGINA sarah and aaron have just returned from their first "tour of regina"! the tour schedule was as follows:
Roca Jack's (1939 Scarth Street) friday, january 22, 8:30-11:30p.m.
Railroad Coffee House (1856 Hamilton Street) saturday, january 23, 1p.m.
Cafe Ultimate (1852 Scarth Street) saturday, january 23, 8:30-11:30p.m.
sarah and aaron would like to thank everyone who came out to the shows, (esp. the guy who gave us the bath bomb and the guy who made sarah the bracelet, and brittany for the wonderful drawing of sarah and aaron singing at the railroad), the very friendly and helpful coffeeshop people (aaron would like to acknowledge the very scrumptious lemon poppy seed cake he had at roca jack's and they would both like to say that if anyone in regina is looking for a great place to have lunch, the railroad coffeehouse makes INCREDIBLE sandwiches and fantastic beverages. sarah also wants to thank the cute guy that works at cafe ultimate.), and last, but certainly not least, the assistance and support of the kluz family was absolutely essential in making this tour happen. thank you sooooooooooooooo much!!!!!!!!!
PAST UN-MUSIC-RELATED NEWS
sarah met the philosopher kings one day and gave them her cd. it is her new goal in life to seduce brian west. sarah recently saw them again, and has changed her goal to "kissing" brian west. beauty.
aaron is moving to michigan for the summer and sarah has spoken with another player as a possible replacement for the time he is gone. more on that later.
robbie and aaron graduated from aden bowman on may 26. (well, they did the symbolic ceremony anyway) outside of sarah's family, they are the most important people in her life and she was happy to share a little piece of this very special day.
luke ryalls of saskatoon's crown nectar will be playing some shows with sarah this summer during aaron's absence, including her appearance at ness creek. sarah has admired luke's playing for some time now and is very excited about the prospect of the pairing.
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